Chapter 8: Fire Fiend and Gold Fiend (Part 1)

Although one layer of the altar’s defense shield had been broken, two more layers remained. Ancestor Nan Qiang realized the situation was serious—since the broken shield was the strongest protection generated by the altar itself, while the other defenses came from the sacrificial treasures. If the first layer couldn’t hold, the same would apply to the others. He was wise enough not to attempt to take the precious materials below and instead headed upward.

As he neared re-entry into the Sea of Fiends, Ancestor Nan Qiang spotted two broken altars in the distance. Sweat poured down his back as he exerted all his strength to propel the altar forward. Without hesitation, he rushed outward desperately. He knew that staying any longer would greatly increase the risk of death. If the remaining two layers of defense also broke, he wouldn’t be able to protect the entire altar. At that point, he would have to retreat it, and his body wouldn’t be able to withstand the attacks—leaving only death as an outcome.

Sweat dripping from his forehead, Ancestor Nan Qiang regretted continuing to covet materials. He should have left immediately after reaching the previous magma lake.

…

Guo Shier and the old man Shuai were talking; he wasn’t in a hurry to enter. According to Old Man Shuai, since someone else was scouting ahead, there was no need for him to take risks. It would be better to wait and act only after getting results.

The two discussed how to utilize the Fiends. Guo Shier said, “Old Man Shuai, pass on to me the knowledge of collecting and using the Fiends.”

Old Man Shuai didn’t refuse. He raised his hand, pointed his finger at Guo Shier’s forehead, and in an instant, a memory entered Guo Shier’s soul. After examining it briefly, Guo Shier exhaled and said, “What fascinating Fiends! So miraculous. Old Man Shuai, wait a moment—let me get familiar with how to use them.”

Old Man Shuai retreated into the altar. He had much more to do than Guo Shier—not only did he need to maintain the altar, but he also had to refine materials.

A moment later, a smile appeared on Guo Shier’s face. He couldn’t use the Fiends yet, but he now fully understood how to capture them—through a few special ancient runes, which were likely lost today. By combining these ancient runes with modern runes, he could capture various Fiends and condense them into Fiend Beads.

Just as Guo Shier figured out how to capture the Fiends, a loud noise was heard—the Sea of Fiends below surged violently, and Ancestor Nan Qiang rushed out.

Guo Shier stared in astonishment as he saw the Ancestor of Nanqiang in a dire situation. With the largest protective shield shattered, a small part of the altar was exposed and already being eroded and melted by the flames and goldish forces, dripping down like an ice altar melting in hot water—a truly horrifying sight.

The Ancestor of Nanqiang said, “I don’t know what it is, but it can erode the altar’s defenses…”

Before he could finish speaking, Guo Shier reached out and placed a golden hand on the Ancestor’s protective shield, the hand covered in several special ancient runes.

“Ancestor, don’t move! I’ll help you!”

Seeing Guo Shier reach out, the Ancestor was shocked. Just as he was about to counterattack, he heard Guo Shier’s words and his face turned slightly red. He thought Guo Shier wanted to take advantage of the situation.

The golden hand landed on the protective shield. The Ancestor witnessed a strange scene—the red glow that he had struggled so hard to get rid of was actually trapped by the golden hand. As the golden hand lifted, Guo Shier shouted, “Stabilize your protective shield!” Then, the golden hand clenched sharply before pulling back.

The protective shield trembled violently, and the Ancestor struggled hard to stabilize it, filled with terror. In an instant, he felt a lightness on the shield.

A crimson-gold bead landed in Guo Shier’s hand. The handsome old man said, “Troublesome. I still have to spend time separating it.”

The Ancestor was filled with confusion. The crimson-gold glow that had tormented him for so long was easily resolved by Guo Shier—he had no idea what was going on. In his eyes, Guo Shier became even more mysterious.

“What is this thing? So troublesome!”

Guo Shier smiled and said, “It’s nothing. Just too much heat. Just cool it down.”

The Ancestor was speechless. Too much heat? He didn’t understand what that meant. That heat had almost cost him his life.

Guo Shier asked, “What’s the situation down there?”

The Ancestor was also shrewd. Instead of answering Guo Shier’s question, he asked, “Do you… have a way to deal with… this heat?”

Guo Shier smiled and said, “Yes.”

After hesitating for a long time, the Ancestor finally gave up asking how to deal with the heat. As a master at a fifth-level altar, he understood well the importance of secret techniques and knew that his relationship with Guo Shier wasn’t close enough to ask for such things.

After a while, the Ancestor asked, “Can you… protect me as we go down?”

Guo Shier said, “Of course. I can grant you a shield to protect you from… that fiery energy.” He chuckled awkwardly, feeling it was somewhat dishonest to hide it from Ancestor Nanqiang.

Ancestor Nanqiang was overjoyed. He had seen the metal islands below, all filled with various precious metals, many of which had already crystallized—their purity making his mouth water. He said, “Down there… there are countless precious materials. If we can withstand that fiery energy, our gains this time will be enormous.”

Guo Shier nodded. “No problem. First, repair the altar and strengthen its defenses.”

Ancestor Nanqiang agreed and flew to the side while sitting on the altar. He was secretly relieved. If they had delayed any longer down there, he might not have even been able to repair the altar’s defenses. That fiery energy was too powerful—even his fifth-grade sacrificial treasure couldn’t protect against it. He said, “Give me a few hours. It’ll be done soon.”

Guo Shier discussed it with the handsome old man. “It should be fine to grant him protection, right?”

The handsome old man replied, “No problem. But it needs to be applied to his defense shield. Hehe, use this spell to do it.” He then transmitted a short piece of knowledge to Guo Shier. It was a simple technique—difficult for those who didn’t know it, easy for those who did. Guo Shier learned it quickly and mastered the knowledge in no time.

After waiting over three hours, Ancestor Nanqiang finally managed to restore the altar’s defenses, at the cost of many precious materials. Due to time constraints, he would need to repair it again after this expedition. Though it was painful, the cost was worth it—just obtaining materials from one of the metal islands would mean a huge profit.

Ancestor Nanqiang approached Guo Shier and said, “It’s almost ready. Please grant me the protection.” He activated the altar’s defense shield.

Guo Shier smiled. “Okay. Just stay still. This kind of protection… only works once. After applying it, never retract it.”

Ancestor Nanqiang nodded in agreement.

The shield rose. Guo Shier inwardly praised it—truly worthy of a five-layer altar defense shield. Without hesitation, he chanted spells continuously, sending countless virtual talismans toward the shield, which then merged with it.

Ancestor Nanqiang examined it carefully. Unfortunately, Guo Shier had used composite talismans—several runes combined to form a short sequence of symbols. These symbols weren’t arranged normally but were layered on top of each other, making it impossible to identify which runes they were. He inwardly sighed—the secrets of experts were not easy to decipher.

After a while, Guo Shier said, “It’s done, Ancestor. You can give it a try.”

The Ancestor of Nanqiang guided the altar carefully into the Sea of Evil. Immediately, he sensed something different—the fiery forces that had once intimidated him were now repelled. Overjoyed, he said, “I’ll go down first!” The altar promptly flew downward toward the Sea of Evil.

The old man said, “Follow closely. I’ve modified your altar’s defense shield; you don’t need to worry about those fire and gold evils.” Not only was the defense shield altered, but the tentacles of the ancient Xi Bi were also infused with ancient runes to defend against the destructive forces of the Sea of Evil.

Guo Shieru slapped the altar, driving it downward into the Sea of Evil, and it vanished into it in an instant.

The entire magma lake resembled a vertical gourd, with the Sea of Evil gathered around its middle, and beneath it lay a vast magma lake whose size astonished Guo Shieru. The old man, with his sharp eyes, immediately spotted the scattered metal islands below and exclaimed in surprise, “Natural gold!”

Guo Shieru asked, “Are there natural runes?”

The old man replied, “No, not natural runes. It’s natural gold!” By then, the Ancestor of Nanqiang was already hovering above one of the metal islands, using various methods to collect materials from below.

Guo Shieru stopped the altar and remained motionless. He also realized that by “natural gold,” it didn’t refer to a specific type of metal but rather pure metals formed naturally, just like gold in his past life—some extracted from ores, while others formed naturally, such as gold sand or dog’s-head gold.

The natural gold here was similar—there were many metals that could be used directly after extraction, with extremely high purity. Some metals were difficult to refine, but they could be found here, no wonder the old man was so thrilled.

Guo Shieru looked around and suddenly narrowed his eyes, pointing into the distance. “That’s an altar!”

The old man dismissed it, saying, “I know. Since people have entered here, it’s only natural for them to perish if they can’t withstand the destructive forces of the Sea of Evil. Only those with the strength of a seven-layer altar can resist them. For other altar experts, the longer they stay in there, the more dangerous it becomes. Hehe, if they’re a bit greedy… they might never get out.”

Guo Shieru asked, “Should we try to extract the remaining souls from the altar?”