Chapter 7: Deeper into the Earth (Part 2)

Guo Shier said, “Don’t move around. After all, I’m just a guest. If anything goes wrong, it’ll cause trouble for everyone.”
The old man scolded, “Coward! Foolish kid! Ah, never mind. Let’s talk about it later.” In truth, he didn’t dare act recklessly either—not out of fear of causing trouble, but because he was afraid of encountering some powerful entity. This wasn’t a place for fighting; if trapped underground, there would be no way out.
Although the old man didn’t dare act rashly, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t curse. Cursing brought him great pleasure, especially when targeting someone of higher status than himself, which brought immense joy. So he seized every opportunity to curse. Guo Shier had become numb to his insults, having grown accustomed to them over time.
While talking to Guo Shier, the old man kept working without stopping, continuously emitting virtual talismans to draw in the surrounding Fire Fiends.
Guo Shier understood what the old man meant—he didn’t want to miss even a trace of Fire Fiends. He wondered inwardly: Were Fire Fiends really that miraculous?
The old man said, “Fire Fiends are extremely useful, especially when added to altars. This can greatly enhance the power of natural fire-based talismans. It’s like an unsharpened sword—capable of killing people even without a sharp edge. But once sharpened, isn’t it even more deadly? The role of Fire Fiends is akin to sharpening that sword.”
“Of course, different types of Fiends have varying powers and uses. They must be applied according to need, and one must also know how to use them. Collecting them without knowing how to use them is pointless. In our era, Fiends were highly sought after by many altar masters.”
Guo Shier asked, “So do altar masters these days not compete for them?”
The old man curled his lips and said, “I don’t know about others, but take that Southern Qiang ancestor… a master of a fifth-tier altar. He came here but could only scrape for minerals on the cave walls. It’s clear he doesn’t understand the importance of Fiends at all.”
Guo Shier stubbornly retorted, “Maybe he hasn’t realized it yet. When you first arrived, didn’t you also scrape for minerals on the cave walls?”
The old man snapped, “You brat! That was because I didn’t expect Fiends to be here!”
Guo Shier asked, “By the way, what are Soul Fiends?” He was interested in anything related to souls.

The handsome old man said, “When there are too many dead people, soul demons are formed. There are actually many types of soul demons, and the most powerful one comes from ancient battlefields in secret realms, where countless people died. Once those realms are sealed, after tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years, extremely powerful soul demons are created. But they’re very difficult to capture. Once captured successfully…” Greed flashed in his eyes. “Once captured successfully, by combining soul demons with some materials, one can craft sacrificial artifacts that attack souls.”

Guo Shier took a deep breath and said, “That’s quite difficult… Once the secret realm is sealed, without the coordinates of the talisman sect, it’s impossible to enter.”

The handsome old man said, “Ancestor Nanqiang is coming. Oh, kid, don’t tell anyone else.” He gave a reminder—some things shouldn’t be shared with others.

Guo Shier nodded.

Ancestor Nanqiang flew over to Guo Shier and said with a smile, “Ancestor Guo, hehe, what are you doing?”

Guo Shier replied with a smile, “Gathering some fire energy.”

Ancestor Nanqiang was puzzled. “Fire energy?” He wondered what fire energy was. He had no idea that Guo Shier was just talking nonsense.

Guo Shier stopped smiling and said seriously, “Well, this is a secret technique I’ve obtained. It has special uses, but it’s probably useless to you, Ancestor.”

Ancestor Nanqiang didn’t care. Professionals all have their own secrets; it’s impossible to understand everything one sees. That would be exhausting. Even if not exhausting, it would be tiring. He said, “I see. Well, Ancestor Guo, I’ve obtained information about the Ancient Gold Family. There are two such magma caves in total. This is the smaller one. The other one is much larger. We’ll go there after you finish gathering the fire energy. Then we’ll look for an entrance.”

Guo Shier glanced at Nanyou in the distance and asked, “Is Nanyou coming too?”

Ancestor Nanqiang shook his head. “His strength isn’t enough to enter. It’s too hot in there—hot enough to melt gold and iron. There’s also a strange kind of fire energy. Anyone on the Illusory Altar could be destroyed if they’re not careful.”

Guo Shier nodded. “Then let him wait here for us, or send him back first.”

The soul of the handsome old man trembled subtly. “The fire energy he mentioned… it must be the Fire Demon. Hehe, as I expected. They still don’t know about the Fire Demon.”

Ancestor Nanqiang said, “When will you finish… uh, gathering this fire energy?” He said it awkwardly.

Guo Shier smiled. “It won’t take more than five minutes. I’ll be done soon.”

Ancestor Nanqiang nodded and said, “Good, I’ll go inform Nanyou. We’ll go look for another magma lake together in a moment.” Without waiting for Guo Shier to respond, he flew toward Nanyou on the altar.

The old man Shuai poked his head out and said, “Hehe, I guess there are plenty of Fire Fiends in the other place. We’re in for a fortune!” In this regard, he was very similar to Guo Shier—both were obsessed with materials, not treasures.

Guo Shier asked, “Is it almost ready?”
The old man Shuai nodded. “It’ll be done soon.” He cast a spell and shouted, “Gather!” The floating virtual talismans surged in like a tide, quickly forming a funnel shape with the old man Shuai’s palm at the bottom. In a moment, the floating talismans disappeared.

Guo Shier saw a bright red bead appear in the old man Shuai’s palm.
The old man Shuai said, “It’s too little. Only one Fire Fiend Bead has formed. After refining it, this bead will shrink by at least half. It’s not even enough for one use of the Moon Blade… Sigh, it took me so long.”

Ancestor Nanqiang returned quickly and said, “Follow me. There seems to be a passage in the northwest corner.” Guo Shier followed him there. They soon reached the northwest corner. Ancestor Nanqiang said, “You go left, I’ll go right. We’ll search separately and keep an eye on the top.”

The two split up and began searching. A few minutes later, Ancestor Nanqiang called out, “It’s here! Come quickly!” His figure had already disappeared into the cave entrance.

Guo Shier flew in after him. The cave entrance was not large, only as tall as two people, and was a narrow crack. The old man Shuai said cheerfully, “I can already smell the Fire Fiends. It’s ten times stronger than in the previous place! Hurry up!”

The cave crack led upward, and it was hard to notice if you weren’t paying attention. Following the crack upward, in the blink of an eye, they saw a curved passage. This time, the path didn’t go upward but extended into the distance. After flying for over half an hour—Guo Shier estimated at least 700 kilometers—they were still in the underground passage, so their speed couldn’t be very fast.

Suddenly, the passage began to slope downward. The old man Shuai shouted, “We’re almost there! I can already smell… not just ten times more Fire Fiends, but a hundred, a thousand times more… Oh, heavens! I have no idea what kind of place this is, with such intense Fire Fiends… Wait, there’s also the smell of Gold Fiends!”

The old man Shuai was so excited that he danced around, constantly urging Guo Shier to hurry.

Eyes lighting up, Guo Shieru rushed into a cave-like space. This space was about the same size as the previous one—by no means as large as what the Ancestor Nanqiang had described. Moreover, instead of a magma lake below, there was a thick layer of crimson-colored airflow, resembling water’s surface, covering everything below.

The old man’s expression changed instantly. He pointed downward, murmuring something incomprehensibly. But Guo Shieru saw a broken altar not far away, meaning a master of altars had died here.

Guo Shieru flew over to the Ancestor Nanqiang and asked, “Is it here?”

The Ancestor Nanqiang stared intently at the bottom for a long time before saying, “It’s a very dangerous place. I can sense the peril inside, though I don’t know what it is…” He seemed hesitant, unsure what to do.

Guo Shieru pointed at the altar above their heads. The altar spun around before zooming down. He flew up and said, “How about… I go explore it?”

The Ancestor Nanqiang replied, “No, I’ll go!”

Before Guo Shieru could respond, the Ancestor Nanqiang dived in headfirst.

Only then could they barely hear the old man’s voice: “Ugh… This is… this is the damned Fire Fiend Lake… No, there’s also Gold Fiend in it… Ah… I’m doomed… There’s even a place like this… Good heavens… I’m going crazy… Sigh, this kid’s luck is really damn good… Ugh!”

Guo Shieru finally understood what he was saying and couldn’t help asking, “There’s Gold Fiend here?”

The old man excitedly rushed over to Guo Shieru, slapped his thigh hard, and exclaimed, “That’s right… You’re lucky… Ah, I forgot to mention—that guy’s in for a tough time once he goes down!”

Guo Shieru was shocked and quickly asked, “Are you talking about the Ancestor Nanqiang? He’s at the fifth-level altar! How could anything happen to him?”

The old man replied, “If he doesn’t understand Fiends, then he’s definitely in trouble.”

Guo Shieru smiled bitterly. “If he does understand Fiends… he’ll know I was talking nonsense earlier. Strange… how could they not know about Fiends?”

The old man said, “It’s not strange. This world is vast, and people in different places learn and inherit different things. It’s normal for them not to know about Fiends. Before I told you, didn’t you know either?”

Guo Shieru stared nervously at the bottom. He had a good impression of the Ancestor Nanqiang. Although the Ancestor Nanqiang had exploited him quite a bit, he was still a kind person who thought of him in many matters. Just for that reason, he wouldn’t stand by and watch the Ancestor Nanqiang fall into danger. He asked, “What should we do?”

The handsome old man said, “Wait. When he can no longer hold on, he will surely come out. The assault of evil forces is fierce; if he doesn’t know how to defend himself, well, he’ll be in big trouble.”
Indeed, it was a serious problem. With both the fire evil and the gold evil combined, Ancestor Nanqiang was immediately in trouble. He rushed headfirst into the evil forces, causing the entire altar’s operations to slow down. The fire evil began to attack the altar’s defenses, and the gold evil joined in as well. For a moment, he felt the altar to be incredibly heavy. Fortunately, being an expert in a five-layer altar with great strength, he could still barely hold back. After a brief hesitation, he controlled the altar and plunged downward.
In just a few minutes, he crossed the sea of evil forces formed by the fire evil and the gold evil and saw the magma lake below. This magma lake was different from those he had seen before—it was like boiling water, bubbling and roaring, with magma occasionallyeruptinging dozens of meters into the air before crashing back down.
Ancestor Nanqiang, with his sharp eyes, noticed that many precious metal ores were carried out by the magma. In some places, they had even piled up to form islands, all made of rare metals. After years of being washed by the magma, they had formed gold-like materials scattered throughout the entire magma lake—countless in number.
Suddenly, the altar’s defense shield began to crack with loud noises. Ancestor Nanqiang suddenly realized that a layer of crimson light, mixed with traces of gold, was clinging to his defense shield, gradually eroding it. His expression changed, and he released a sacred artifact—a jade-colored bottle with a square shape and countless ripples on its surface. He shouted, “Activate!”
Countless strands of water flew out and rushed toward the defense shield. With a whooshing sound, Ancestor Nanqiang’s expression changed drastically. In shock, he exclaimed, “What the hell? It can even dissolve my Water Spirit!”
Despite trying several methods, he couldn’t eliminate this layer of red light. Ancestor Nanqiang knew he was in trouble. Worse still, more and more red light was gathering, slowly wearing down the altar’s defenses. He quickly deployed two more layers of defense. With a crisp cracking sound, the first layer of the altar’s defense shattered completely.