Chapter 1: Fragments of Sacrificial Treasures (Part 2)

The handsome old man’s soul trembled slightly. “Girl, if you had a sacrificial spirit like mine… hehe, you could find them just as quickly. That’s my skill, not your twelfth brother’s!”
Xian Ruidai’s face twisted in frustration as she said, “So it was you, this perverted old man! No wonder.”
The handsome old man shouted, “What do you mean perverted old man! I’m the handsome old man!”
Xian Ruidai pouted and said, “You’re still a perverted old man for being able to find so many fragments of sacrificial treasures!” She hid none of her envy and jealousy.
The handsome old man said proudly, “Twelve, ignore that girl. To the left… ten steps. Yes, right here, one meter underground.”
Guo Shier’s moon blade stirred gently, revealing a fragment of sacrificial treasure. It was palm-sized, and without examining it closely, he handed it to the handsome old man. The handsome old man shook the fragment and laughed, “Girl, keep envying… haha.”
Zhou Xiaoling flew over from not far away, also holding a fragment, and said with a smile, “I found another one!”
Xian Ruidai stamped her foot in anger. Guo Shier realized the handsome old man also had a childlike temper. Despite having lived for countless years, he still competed with a little girl for attention, which made him both amused and exasperated.
Xian Ruidai threw herself into Zhou Xiaoling’s arms and cooed, “Sis Dingding, Shier is bullying me!”
Guo Shier pointed at his nose and said with a wry smile, “Me? I wouldn’t dare bully you…”
Hugging Zhou Xiaoling, Xian Ruidai said sweetly, “It’s your sacrificial spirit that’s bullying me… It’s you! Sis Dingding, you must stand up for me!”
Zhou Xiaoling patted her back gently and said with a smile, “It’s good that you don’t bully others. When would you ever get bullied?”
Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan flew over. Eagle Demon said, “Shier, we found quite a few fragments of sacrificial treasures. All for you.” He handed Guo Shier a pouch for storing talismans. As followers, they didn’t know how to analyze the sacrificial treasures, so they naturally gave the fragments they found to Guo Shier.
Xian Ruidai grew even more frustrated. She knew best the value of those fragments and muttered, “Uncle Eagle Demon isn’t giving any to me either… Such a stingy guy!”
Eagle Demon asked with a smile, “What’s wrong, Xian girl?”
Xian Ruidai quickly complained, “Shier is bullying me!”
Guo Shier knew the little girl was being unreasonable, but he just smiled and paid no mind. After glancing at the pouch, he was surprised and said, “There are indeed quite a few… Nearly a hundred fragments of sacrificial treasures.”
Luo Zhan said, “We searched separately, and that’s about all we found.”

Guo Shier nodded and said, “Keep looking. We still need to stay here for a while.”
Xian Ruidai smiled cheerfully and said, “Brother Shier, what do you need so many sacrificial treasure fragments for? Can you give me some?”
The handsome old man immediately objected, “Little girl, don’t get any ideas! All these sacrificial treasure fragments belong to me, the handsome old man…” He snatched the talisman bag and instantly emptied it of all the fragments. Throwing the empty bag back to the Eagle Demon, he said triumphantly, “Little girl, it’s shameful to want something without working for it!”
If not for Zhou Xiaoling holding her back, Xian Ruidai would have rushed at the handsome old man. She screeched and fumed like an angry kitten, but she had no real threat and only seemed funny. Zhou Xiaoling patted her head and said, “We’re all advanced great sage masters now. Why act like a child? I’ll give you all the sacrificial treasure fragments I find later.”
Xian Ruidai was just playing around. She said, “I don’t want them.”
The handsome old man said, “Huh? You don’t want them when others offer them to you… Then give them to me.”
Xian Ruidai shouted, “I definitely won’t give them to you… Bad old man! Dead old man! Mean old man who bullies people!”
The handsome old man laughed and said, “The little girl’s going crazy, hehe.” Arguing with Xian Ruidai seemed to make him very happy. He added, “Little girl, what’s the use of so many sacrificial treasure fragments? You can’t even decompose them yourself.”
Xian Ruidai cried out, “Mind your own business! You can’t decompose them either, hmph!”
Guo Shier said, “Xian Ruidai, the handsome old man can decompose them.”
Xian Ruidai didn’t believe it at all. She said, “Is that so? Really? I heard only experts with altars can decompose them. He must be lying!”
Guo Shier shook his head and said, “He’s not lying. He can indeed decompose them.”
Xian Ruidai widened her eyes in doubt and said, “Handsome old man…”
The handsome old man smiled triumphantly, “Why not ‘dead old man’? Hehe, little girl, if you want me to decompose the materials… it’s not hard. I need a certain fee for decomposition—well, half will do.”
Xian Ruidai asked, “What do you mean half will do?”
The handsome old man said, “Half of the sacrificial treasure fragments… I’ll help you decompose the other half into materials!”
Xian Ruidai shouted, “Why don’t you just steal them! Dream on! Bad old men are the worst!”
Everyone stared in shock as the old man and the girl argued. In fact, they all realized the handsome old man was deliberately teasing Xian Ruidai and secretly agreed with her—he was a heartless old man.

Xian Ruidai was very conflicted. She knew that even if she brought back these fragments of sacrificial treasures, the experts in her family who specialized in altars might not be willing to help her break them down, and she would have to give most of the fragments as payment, only to get a small amount of material in return. She understood that the old man’s price request wasn’t excessive.

But Xian Ruidai was a little money-grubber. How could she give away the fragments of sacrificial treasures she had worked so hard to find? Frowning and biting her finger, she wondered how she could get a bit more.

Guo Shier smiled and said, “Old man, stop teasing her. Help her break them down—just don’t charge her.”

Hearing this, Xian Ruidai immediately became happy and stared at the old man eagerly.

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh. Zhou Xiaoling gently tickled her nose and said, “Such a little money-grubber.”

The old man probably thought it was boring to tease her any longer, so he said with a smile, “Alright, for Shier’s sake, I’ll help you. I’ll break them down for you when I’m free.”

Xian Ruidai was overjoyed and said, “I knew the old man was the best! The old man is the coolest!”

Everyone was speechless. The change was too drastic—from the worst old man to the coolest old man, in just a few minutes, the evaluation had swung to two extremes.

After saying that, Xian Ruidai also felt embarrassed. She said, “I’ll keep looking! You guys do whatever you want…” Then she ran away.

Zhou Xiaoling said, “I’m going too.” Worried about Xian Ruidai, she flew after her.

Guo Shier asked, “Uncle Eagle Demon, Uncle Luo, have you seen Brother Zhang?”

Eagle Demon replied, “I think he went in the northeast corner.”

Guo Shier nodded and said, “Let’s keep searching for fragments of sacrificial treasures. These will be very useful for us in the future. We should find as many as possible. Once we build our own virtual altar, we’ll need to refine our sacrificial treasures, and at that time we’ll need a large amount of precious materials. Right now, we have almost nothing. These fragments can be broken down into many good materials. We must not miss this opportunity.”

Eagle Demon, who had already reached the rank of Advanced Great Sage, also understood the importance of materials. He nodded and said, “Okay, Old Luo. Let’s split up and search. That way we can find more.”

Luo Zhan had been very confident lately, having advanced to the rank of Junior Great Sage. He had finally caught up. Although his strength was still a bit lacking, he was confident he could improve quickly. After all, he had received the same ancient inheritance from the Gu Mi Luo family as Guo Shier and Eagle Demon. Given time, he could grow rapidly.

The two flew toward the northwest corner.

The old man said satisfactorily, “The fragments of sacrificial treasures they brought are quite good—excellent quality.”

This group of people was like locusts passing through, sweeping away all the fragments of the sacrificial treasures left on the ground. There were also some buried underground; as long as they weren’t buried too deep, most of them could be detected by the old man.

The old man said, “At least dozens of experts with altars died here. As for those with Virtual Form altars, I have no idea how many died. Look over there… those dozen or so mounds are the traces left behind by those who died with Virtual Form altars.”

Guo Shier sighed and said, “I don’t know why such fierce battles took place. You were here back then—can’t you remember anything?”

The old man replied, “I seem to have some vague memories, but I can’t recall what it was. Sigh, I can’t even remember which sect or family I belong to, yet I still have various inherited memories. It’s strange.”

During this time, Guo Shier extracted the souls of a few more altars, but not many. Although there were numerous altars here, only a few were intact; most were damaged or broken, and even more were completely destroyed.

Soon, another intact altar was found, this time yielding a larger number of souls. Ever since he learned that Guo Shier’s soul fluctuations were very helpful to him, the old man became unrestrained. He absorbed almost all of the souls extracted this time by himself.

The old man’s soul gradually solidified, but having absorbed too many souls, he became somewhat chaotic, occasionally saying things that were both amusing and ridiculous. Eventually, Guo Shier had to find a place to use soul scriptures to help him sort out his soul.

It took two days of hard work before the old man regained his clarity. He sighed and said, “Oh my…”

Guo Shier asked, “What’s wrong?”

The old man pondered for a moment before saying, “I’ve remembered some things… but I need to think about them first.”

Guo Shier was surprised and asked, “Have you remembered who you are?”

The old man replied, “I’m the old man… I forgot my name. I can’t recall it…” In fact, he had already remembered but didn’t want to tell Guo Shier.

Guo Shier stood up and said, “Old man, since things have come to this, don’t overthink it. I’ll go check on the others first. We can talk again later.”

The old man said, “That’s good. Let me be quiet for a while.”

Guo Shier understood that once the old man recalled his past, his soul would surely become unstable. Allowing him to calm down was also a good idea.

Returning to the territory occupied by Gu Xi Bi, no Spirit Beasts came here yet. Perhaps because Gu Xi Bi had occupied this place for so long, the surrounding Spirit Beasts dared not approach. Even though it had disappeared, its lingering presence still intimidated them, preventing them from coming to investigate.

Zhang Yaojin sat on the ground, fiddling with a fragment of a sacrificial treasure, lost in thought.

Guo Shieru came over to him, sat down heavily on the ground, and said with a smile, “Brother Zhang, how many fragments of sacrificial treasures have you found?”

Zhang Yaojin replied indifferently, “Not many.”

Guo Shieru looked up at the sky. A Spirit Bird was circling in the distance. Suddenly feeling very calm, he asked, “What are you thinking about?”