Chapter 3: West Outpost (Part 2)

Ahead lay layers of stacked rocks. This place was several kilometers away from the residential area of the Great Diving Fortress, a desolate rocky region uninhabited except for surveillance outposts. It was within a large defensive magic array, with a very simple stone building.

Guo Shier and the others flew low over the area. Nan You landed beneath the stone building, and immediately several professionals rushed out. Before they could ask questions, Nan You raised his identity badge and said, “Who is the outpost commander here? I am Nan You, the senior elder of our clan. Send your commander to meet me.”

A junior Grand Sage stepped forward and said, “I am the commander of the West Outpost. Grand Sage Nan Zhidong greets the senior elder.”

Nan You did not introduce Guo Shier and the other two. They all put away their identity badges, as Guo Shier’s status was too prominent—he was a guest of the ancestral level. If the outpost’s people learned of this, they would surely report it upward. Thus, Nan You had to handle the negotiations himself.

Nan You waved his hand and said, “I’m here on a special mission. No information may be leaked outside. Understood?”

Seeing Nan You speaking seriously yet nonsense, Guo Shier couldn’t help but smile slightly. This was the safest way to phrase things; the commander wouldn’t dare ask further. With Nan You’s status and power, along with the strength of the altar, he could easily suppress the local disciples.

Nan Zhidong replied, “Yes, senior elder. Please come in.” He indeed didn’t dare ask more.

Guo Shier glanced at Nan Zhidong. The man had gray hair and must be quite old. Having only reached the rank of outpost commander at the Great Diving Fortress, it was clear his potential had limited his further advancement. Perhaps in a few years, he could retire and return to his clan to live out his days.

Nan You turned to Guo Shier and said, “Come on.”

Nan Zhidong was stunned. If even a senior elder could speak to him so respectfully, Guo Shier’s status must be even higher. Yet he still didn’t dare ask further. Guo Shier said, “Let’s go in together.”

The stone building, which looked rough from the outside, was quite clean inside. It had three floors, and Nan Zhidong cleared the third floor for Nan You and the others to stay in.

Guo Shier’s room had a platform outside, with Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan living next door. To keep control over the people here, Nan You chose to stay on the lower floors.

After setting up the altar in the room, the old man in charge said, “These days, focus on strengthening your soul. I’ll prepare something to protect you… so you won’t be sacrificed.”

Guo Shier nodded and said, “Okay.” Then he called over Ying Mo and Luo Zhan, saying, “While I’m cultivating, you two should also cultivate. Stay in this room, and all of us will use Soul Beads to boost our spiritual power.”
Luo Zhan asked, “Should we let Nan You join too?”
Guo Shier pondered for a moment before saying, “No, not yet. We can let him use the Soul Bead once we leave here and go to another place… It’s better to be cautious.”
Elder Shuai also said, “Mm, that’s safer. After all, he’s from the Gu Nan family. If he has any ulterior motives, it could pose a huge threat to us.”
Luo Zhan nodded. He understood how crucial this was. Soul Beads could rapidly enhance one’s spiritual power, and Guo Shier could control the fluctuations of the soul and refine it—this was their secret to advancing quickly. Revealing it would benefit no one, so it indeed wasn’t appropriate to tell Nan You at this time.
Elder Shuai said, “During this period, the three of you should cultivate together. I hope there’s enough time.”
Guo Shier replied, “It depends on luck. I guess those from the ancient families have set traps here and are using a large number of altar experts to lure that person over… What a foolish approach.” Recalling the pressure that shook his soul, he shook his head inwardly—that person was truly too powerful.
Elder Shuai sighed, “Compared to our era, there are so few truly skilled experts these days… Sigh.”
Guo Shier said, “I think there are quite a few already. That person is just an exception.”
Elder Shuai sighed again and said, “Alright, let’s start. We don’t have time to waste. By the way, have Nan You keep an eye on what’s going on outside. We’re hiding here, so we can’t stay ignorant.”
Guo Shier agreed.
The three of them each swallowed a Soul Bead and immediately merged their souls. Soon, Guo Shier’s soul began to fluctuate.
This method of rapidly strengthening the soul was very risky, but with Guo Shier’s Soul Scripture, its drawbacks could be eliminated. Absorbing one Soul Bead only increased the soul slightly. If ordinary professionals used it, just a few Soul Beads would cause chaos in their souls, as the soul contained fragments of a person’s growth memories. If there were too many such fragments and they couldn’t be removed, it would affect control over the soul—a situation professionals avoided at all costs.
The function of the Soul Scripture was to refine and purify the soul, turning the Soul Beads into one’s own spiritual power and integrating them perfectly with one’s soul, thus allowing for rapid advancement.

Guo Shier understood this function in his heart, but it was the old man Shuai who felt it most deeply—he knew exactly how important it was. In their era, some people had recklessly absorbed the souls of professionals, resulting in madness and turning them into heartless killers. Almost without exception, they either died under attack or perished from their own madness.

Only two types of people could absorb others’ souls: those with black talismans and those who possessed soul altars. They could absorb others’ souls without restraint, though there were certain limitations— they couldn’t absorb endlessly, and there were also potential risks. There would be no problems in the early stages, but great caution was needed as cultivation progressed.

So far, Guo Shier’s soul fluctuations were perfect. This was the old man Shuai’s personal experience, as he was a soul entity and extremely sensitive to such fluctuations. Thanks to Guo Shier’s soul fluctuations, he had recovered from his soul injuries. His current soul entity was no less powerful than when he had a physical body.

Four hours later, Guo Shier finished chanting. It only took him two hours to fully integrate a soul pearl. He chanted for four hours for Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan, as they relied on his soul fluctuations to integrate the soul pearls. The effect wouldn’t be as strong, so it took four hours to fully integrate them.

After taking a short rest, Guo Shier went downstairs and found Nan You to inquire about the situation. He said, “Nan You, do you have any way to get information about Great Hidden Fortress? I need to know about the movements of various major families and the tasks of those expert altar users. It’s best not to disturb Ancestor Nan Qiang.”

Nan You nodded and said, “I have a way. Hehe, many people from my family serve in Great Hidden Fortress. Well, I’ll send a message token to ask soon.”

Guo Shier nodded and said, “Eagle Demon Uncle and Luo Uncle are cultivating upstairs. Tell them not to disturb me. If anything happens, send me a message token first, and I’ll come down to see you. Also, be careful yourself and don’t let the ancestor call you back.”

Nan You nodded firmly and said, “I understand.”

Guo Shier patted his shoulder and turned to go upstairs.

According to the old man Shuai’s calculations, Guo Shier needed 100 to 120 soul pearls to advance to a third-tier solid altar, while Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan needed 12 to 20 soul pearls to advance to a first-tier solid altar. In addition, they would need a large amount of materials and the corresponding inheritance.

Guo Shier wanted to consume the Soul Beads one by one, but was stopped by the handsome old man, who believed it wasn’t worth taking such risks. There was still time—enough time to digest the Soul Beads. He didn’t want to see Guo Shier go mad; such consequences would be unbearable not only for Guo Shier but also for him.

Apart from enjoying an hour of soul fluctuations while Guo Shier chanted the scriptures, the handsome old man was busy refining the entire altar to resist that person’s powerful soul. A large amount of the materials obtained were used in the altar, especially the first layer, which was embedded with natural golden characters. Additionally, there were many precious materials found underground in the Red Gold vein, along with Gold Fiend and Fire Fiend.

He used every means at his disposal to try to give Guo Shier a better chance of survival. After coming into contact with that person’s soul, he knew very well that the person was completely invincible. Aside from professionals who died at his hands, few understood the terror of that person, including super experts like the Ancestor of Nanqiang.

About fifty days of peace passed. During this time, the souls of Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan both reached the level where they could construct a first-layer tangible altar. However, neither dared to advance further because they didn’t know when that person would arrive. Once construction began, it was difficult to stop, and this was a critical moment—disturbance could mean death.

Guo Shier hadn’t yet reached the threshold for advancement; he needed an enormous amount of soul power. Initially, he had risen directly from Great Sage to a two-layer tangible altar. Without the help of the handsome old man, he would have had trouble even controlling the altar. Over time, with the help of the Soul Scriptures, he gradually learned to control it, but his soul power remained insufficient.

After obtaining a large number of Soul Beads this time, Guo Shier’s soul grew significantly and reached a certain level. With a few more Soul Beads, he would have enough soul power to advance.

Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan stopped using Soul Beads because their soul powers had already reached the peak of an intangible altar. Whenever Guo Shier used Soul Beads and began chanting, they would sit aside, refining their souls, purifying them, and enhancing their power.

Guo Shier received continuous updates from Nanyou. That person had destroyed four continents in total, not including the Red Gold Continent. Aside from a few elite professionals who managed to escape, most were killed instantly. Guo Shier noticed a pattern: at first, the person killed anyone he encountered, then he only targeted professionals, and finally, only elite professionals.

When he told the handsome old man about this situation, the handsome old man said, “He no longer dares to recklessly devour souls at will. He only needs the souls of professionals. What he needs now is quality, not quantity. Have you noticed that professionals above the Void Form Altar tend to escape the fastest? He can catch very few of them. So, he should be arriving soon.”

That day, after Guo Shier finished reciting the scriptures, Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan left the room. He set up an altar to help the handsome old man refine a protective sacrificial artifact. This sacrificial artifact had only been refined for about twenty days. Earlier, the handsome old man had been strengthening the altar, and refining this defensive sacrificial artifact made him feel as though he were spitting blood, even though he no longer had flesh or blood.

This sacrificial artifact wasn’t newly refined but was remade from one of his previous artifacts—the umbrella-shaped sacrificial artifact. After listening to Guo Shier’s suggestions, the shape of the umbrella-shaped artifact was completely altered to that of a pagoda. However, this pagoda was quite short, with only three layers, and it was flat. Rather than being a pagoda, it resembled three umbrella surfaces stacked on top of each other, giving it a rather strange appearance.

Guo Shier named it the Umbrella Pagoda. He used Gold Fiend and Fire Fiend elements, along with a large number of soul beads from mutated and alienated people. Guo Shier had obtained many of these before, and he used almost all of them this time, along with the essences of many mutated magical beasts. According to the handsome old man, this thing had almost no offensive power but extremely high defensive capabilities.

Hearing this, Guo Shier was very happy. He asked, “Can it withstand that man’s attacks?”