Chapter 1: Fragments of the Sacrificial Treasure (Part 1)

The handsome old man said, “This flame within the Sacrificial Treasure… is a very rare kind of flame that can break apart all soul seals. Although its power is not as great as that of purple seal flames, its unique burning ability is something seal flames lack.”
The so-called soul seals are the marks left by the owner of the Sacrificial Treasure. After the owner refines it, it becomes difficult for others to use. Even if they manage to use it, they cannot control it as freely as the original owner, so the existing seals must be broken. There are various ways to break seals, but it’s hard to remove them completely. This Sacrificial Treasure has the ability to do just that—break the seals cleanly and efficiently.
Guo Shier didn’t resist sighing, “There are quite a few surprises this time, hehe.”
The handsome old man replied, “Your good luck is also my good luck. With this treasure bead, my work will be much easier. Let me use this Sacrificial Treasure for now; you can’t use it anyway for the time being.”
Guo Shier nodded in agreement. The handsome old man could use it just as effectively as he could. He said, “Let me take another look at the Sacrificial Treasure to see if there are any restrictions.” After a moment, he exclaimed happily, “Not bad, not bad! The owner seems to have removed the seals, so it can be used right away.”
The handsome old man immersed himself in the Ancient Ink Lotus and got to work.
Guo Shier stepped out of his hiding place and flew outside, quickly finding another altar. He asked, “Handsome Old Man, should we continue absorbing souls?”
The handsome old man replied, “Yes. My soul power is still insufficient. After being adjusted by your soul energy, I can absorb more again.” Without Guo Shier’s soul scriptures, he would need time to digest and absorb, waiting until he had full control before trying again. But with the adjustment from Guo Shier’s scriptures, he could absorb souls right away.
Guo Shier could also absorb souls again. He had already reached the peak of a high-level Great Sage. After being refined by the soul scriptures, his soul became more condensed, while the number of souls he possessed decreased. If he relied on his own gradual accumulation, it would take at least a decade. Now, using the special abilities of the Ancient Ink Lotus, he could quickly replenish his soul power with the souls from the altar.
He placed a hand on the top of the altar, filled with anticipation. This altar was also intact. He hoped to find another altar-like entity, as that would not only provide him with a large number of souls but might also yield one or two Sacrificial Treasures.
The Ancient Ink Lotus began to spin, with countless threads piercing into the altar.

No head emerged from the altar this time; the pure soul was drawn into the Ancient Ink Lotus, with part of it slowly flowing into his own soul. Soon, his soul felt swollen. Guo Shier said, “That’s enough. Old Shuai, you don’t need to give any more to me. Take the rest.” Old Shuai sighed, “You’re really weak—can’t even handle this much soul energy. Alright, give me the rest.” The souls in the altar were quickly drawn out. Old Shuai said, “Let’s trigger another soul fluctuation so I can process it.” Guo Shier didn’t look for a hidden place anymore; he simply sat on top of the altar and began reciting scriptures silently. This time, he planned to recite them just a few times, enough to relieve the swelling sensation in his soul. Half an hour later, Guo Shier ended the soul fluctuation. Although Old Shuai was still eager, he knew this wasn’t the right place for cultivation, so he didn’t insist further. He said, “Let’s search again. My memory has recovered partly, but unfortunately, some parts… remain unrecoverable.” Guo Shier comforted him, “Take your time. Whatever you can find is good. As long as you’re alive, there’s hope.” Old Shuai sighed and said, “Am I even alive? I’m probably half-dead…” His sigh was transmitted through the soul fluctuation, giving Guo Shier a sense of humor. He said, “Old Shuai, let’s look for more fragments of the sacrificial treasure. It’s unlikely to find a complete one.” Old Shuai replied, “Okay. Release the Ancient Ink Lotus; I’ll help search!” The Ancient Ink Lotus spun above Guo Shier’s head, and Old Shuai emerged to continue using his bead-shaped sacrificial treasure for searching. It was indeed very useful—within moments, they found a fragment of the sacrificial treasure, one that Dai and the others had missed after their search. Guo Shier praised, “This thing is even better than a radar.” Old Shuai asked curiously, “What’s a radar? Is it also a sacrificial treasure?” Guo Shier replied, “Uh, no. It’s another kind of searching method, haha.” It was difficult for him to explain things from his past life. He got up and flew over, quickly digging out a fragment of the sacrificial treasure. He couldn’t tell what it was—the fragment was as big as a washbasin, covered in cracks, with a light earthy yellow color and red-brown ancient runes all over it. Old Shuai said, “Keep going. Go over there; they probably haven’t searched that area yet.” He took the fragment of the sacrificial treasure without examining it closely and put it into the Ancient Ink Lotus.

Guo Shier nodded and flew in the direction indicated by the old master. He now knew that even fragments of sacrificial treasures were extremely precious. These fragments could be broken down into many rare materials, and if he had to search for them on his own, it would be even harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

The direction the old master pointed to was west of the territory occupied by the ancient Xi Bi. There were many damaged altars here, almost none of which were intact; most of them were completely ruined, with not a single soul inside. It was easy to imagine how fierce the battles here must have been.

Since Xian Ru Dai and the others didn’t have the old master’s methods, they could only fly slowly close to the ground, relying on their soul senses to search. This not only made their progress extremely slow but also caused them to miss some fragments of sacrificial treasures—of course, it couldn’t compare to the old master’s radar-like detection.

Standing on a collapsed altar, the old master searched again using the sacrificial treasure detection method.

Guo Shier asked, “Are there any fragments?”

After a long while, the old master replied, “Yes…” Then he sighed again and said, “Many! So many…” He didn’t seem excited at all.

But Guo Shier was very excited. “Many? That’s great! Old master, you guide me while I collect them.”

The old master replied listlessly, “There are twenty-one large fragments of sacrificial treasures, along with over seventy smaller ones… I wonder how many people died here back then.”

Guo Shier was stunned—there were so many fragments of sacrificial treasures.

The old master said, “I still can’t remember… why such a large-scale battle took place. Sigh, I can’t recall… Even with so many souls obtained, I still can’t remember…” He seemed a bit depressed.

Guo Shier comforted him, “Don’t worry. Whether you remember or not, let’s collect them first.”

After being depressed for a while, the old master regained his spirits and said, “I’ll guide you, and you dig. Many are buried underground. Let’s collect those on the surface first.”

Guo Shier agreed and happily began picking up the fragments of sacrificial treasures on the ground.

It took him half a day to collect all these fragments. Among them, there were three relatively intact sacrificial treasures, while the rest were of varying sizes. There were sacrificial treasures with various attributes, a dazzling array that left the old master deeply impressed.

Guo Shier asked, “Old master, most of the altars here are damaged, and none of the remaining ones are intact. Do we still need to absorb the souls inside?”

The old master replied, “Try to absorb as many as possible. Once we leave this place… there won’t be so many altars anymore.”

Guo Shieru absorbed one altar after another and found that very few souls remained—almost all the souls in those altars had already dissipated. He said, “No wonder this place is so strange. With so many souls of top professionals dissipating in this secret realm, there must be many rules governing it.”
The handsome old man replied, “Of course. This secret realm can instinctively suppress professionals who possess altars.”
Only now did Guo Shieru understand why hardly any professionals with altars came here. It was likely closely related to this factor. But he didn’t understand that even if those skilled individuals were suppressed by the realm’s rules, their strength would still be greater than that of a Grand Sage. If they entered, they would surely gain a lot.
After thinking for a long time without coming to a conclusion, Guo Shieru decided not to overthink it. He said, “It’s better if they don’t come. That way, it’s cheaper for us.”
The handsome old man smiled and said, “Outside this secret realm, there must be super professionals guarding it. They can get most of what’s obtained from within.”
Guo Shieru asked in surprise, “Why?”
The handsome old man replied, “It’s simple. If you don’t have the Ancient Ink Lotus and me, but only fragments of sacrificial treasures, what use are they? You’d definitely use them to exchange for other items! Hehe, sometimes, super professionals don’t even need to do things personally; they just need to use some tricks.”
Guo Shieru suddenly understood. The Grand Sage couldn’t break down sacrificial treasures and could only trade the fragments with those who possessed altars. Those people didn’t even need to come in—searching on their own was not only troublesome but also somewhat dangerous. He said, “Indeed. It’s more profitable to do it from outside.”
The handsome old man said, “Keep searching. We’ve had a good harvest this time. I can extract quite a lot of materials.” With the bead-shaped sacrificial treasure given to him by Guo Shieru, he became very interested in sacrificial treasure fragments. Without it, breaking down those fragments would be many times more difficult.
As they continued searching, more and more fragments of sacrificial treasures were collected. Guo Shieru felt like a master at picking up trash, not missing even the smallest fragments.
Xian Rudi also searched day and night and found quite a few fragments. She had been excited and proud at first, but after seeing Guo Shieru’s speed at collecting them, she became frustrated.
Guo Shieru hovered near her for a moment before digging up three fragments from the ground—right from the areas she had already searched.
Xian Rudi flew over to Guo Shieru and asked, “Brother Shieru, how many fragments of sacrificial treasures have you found?”
Guo Shieru smiled and said, “Not many, not many…”

The little girl was persistent and pressed further, “How much is not many?”
Guo Shier replied casually, “A few hundred fragments, I guess.”
Xian Ruidai exclaimed upon hearing this, “Wow… Brother Shier, how can it be that exaggerated? A few hundred fragments… Oh no, I can’t take it! A few hundred… It took me days to find just over eighty fragments. Brother Shier, do you have any secret tips? Tell me…”