Chapter 1: Walking the Dog (Part 1)

Guo Shieru used the altar to teleport continuously. Ji Yuntian was already struggling hard; with a few more expert altar users, he would definitely be overwhelmed. He knew full well that the strength of the three Void Form altar users like Eagle Demon was unreliable, especially Luo Zhan, whose soul wasn’t fully stabilized and thus couldn’t help him at all. So, he had no choice but to flee.

Guo Shieru was frustrated and cursed Fire Burning Heaven silently. This guy caused all the trouble, yet others had to bear the consequences. At the most critical moment, she disappeared without a trace, leaving them unable to gather even the necessary materials.

Guo Shieru spoke to the old man, “Old Man Shuai, can you sense Fire Burning Heaven nearby?” He knew that with their limited strength, they had no chance against the Gu Ji family. Any Gu family, as long as it hadn’t declined to the level of the Gu Shui family, had many altar-level experts, and they simply couldn’t compete with them.

Ji Yuntian was chasing from behind, but not too closely, waiting for other expert altar users to catch up. From time to time, he sent signal tokens indicating his location. After all, once an expert altar user used teleportation to escape, it was very difficult to track them down.

Guo Shieru glanced back accidentally and was shocked. “Damn it! Where did so many expert altar users come from?”

A dense crowd of hundreds of altar-level professionals was chasing them desperately. Guo Shieru said helplessly, “Damn, why are they chasing us? Old Man Shuai, where should we run?” He felt the urge to use a cross-dimensional token to return to the Thousand Lakes Continent.

Eagle Demon, sitting on Guo Shieru’s altar, said, “Fire Burning Heaven killed several of their altar-level experts, including one at the sixth level. Don’t they know that coming here is just asking for death?”

Nan You smiled bitterly. “They’re not like our small team. We just follow whatever Twelve decides. A Gu family is made up of countless branch families with large numbers of people, making it hard to unify opinions… As a result, they issue foolish orders. Just like our Gu Nan family—so many altar-level experts came, only to suffer heavy losses.”

Guo Shieru said, “There’s nothing strange about that. They’re confident they have the strength to defeat Fire Burning Heaven. The Gu families have vast manpower and resources; of course, they won’t accept being killed.”

The old man Shuai poked his head out slightly and said, “Run that way!”

Guo Shier’s altar instantly teleported to the left. The distance he could cover with each teleportation was nearly a hundred miles at a time, but continuous teleportations consumed a significant amount of soul energy, posing a heavy burden on him, so he couldn’t teleport recklessly without end.

Seeing that the professionals from the Guji family were closing in, he kept teleporting and then continuing to fly, driving the professionals from the Guji family wild with anger. They found it extremely frustrating—usually, it was hard to catch an altar-level expert who tried to escape, unless there was a huge gap in strength. For example, if Huo Fen Tian wanted to capture Guo Shier, he wouldn’t be able to escape.

Although there were many altar-level professionals in the Guji family, they couldn’t catch Guo Shier; he was incredibly fast at escaping. Over the years of wandering outside, he might not have mastered many other skills, but when it came to escaping, he had vast experience that most people couldn’t match.

The professionals from the Guji family were going crazy. Guo Shier’s escape routes were erratic—appearing ahead one moment and suddenly behind the next, moving as fast as lightning, making it impossible to catch this slippery guy.

The one escaping was tired, but the pursuers were even more exhausted. Hundreds of altar-level professionals were chasing after him in a swarm, occasionally launching attacks.

Guo Shier grew impatient too. He asked the old man, “Strange, where did Huo Fen Tian go? Old man, can you sense her?”

The old man smiled bitterly. “She should be following us, but… damn it, she just won’t show up.”

Guo Shier glanced back and couldn’t help but say, “Should we give them a taste of their own medicine? They’re being way too arrogant. Damn, they think they can bully me just because they’re in numbers!”

A dozen or so professionals from the Guji family with solid altars at level three or below were chasing especially frantically. What was worse was that these guys cursed as they chased, their shouts echoing loudly. Even though Guo Shier was several kilometers away, he could hear them clearly. Guo Shier knew they were trying to provoke him, to make him lose his temper.

The old man laughed. “Do you think… you can fight against such a large group of professionals? Hehe, you’re not Huo Fen Tian—you’re not that insane.”

Guo Shier said, “I know. I was wondering… is there any way to trick them?”

The old man replied, “Your only hope is to wait for Huo Fen Tian to return. Don’t think about anything else. So far, I haven’t found any entrance to a secret realm. This place isn’t a good place to escape.”

Eagle Demon said, “I really miss the Star Continent. That place is the best spot to escape—there are countless secret realms…” Back then, they were chased by a altar-level expert everywhere, and even as ordinary professionals, it was much easier for them to flee than it is now.

Luo Zhan suddenly shouted, “To the right… that’s a city!”

Guo Shier glanced at it once before teleporting to the left. He wouldn’t dare go to the city—it was a death trap. There were many professionals on the ground, all looking up at the sky.

They saw an altar-level expert flying across the sky atop an altar. Someone exclaimed in delight, “Look! An altar-level expert is passing by…” Lower-level professionals rarely saw altar-level experts, so they were surprised and excited to see Guo Shier’s altar flying by. They had no idea he was trying to escape. Then, they witnessed something unbelievable.

Countless altar-level professionals flew across the sky, filling the heavens with colorful runes. The people on the ground stared in astonishment. The closer they got to the city, the more professionals there were. Ordinary people were extremely rare here, as the Frozen Continent was too cold for them to survive.

The altars roared as they flew through the sky, drowning out the sound of wind and snow.

Whoosh! Whoosh…

Professionals walking on the snow watched enviously. Someone asked, “I wonder what’s going on? Why are there so many experts… uh…” That person noticed that as soon as these altar-level experts flew by, another one appeared in the sky, flying in the opposite direction, followed by yet another group. This went on back and forth three times, leaving him utterly confused. Just then, they heard roars and shouts from the sky.

Guo Shier made three round trips before teleporting into the distance. In reality, he had just flown in circles around the city.

Eagle Demon laughed, “Shier, you’re too mischievous.”

Guo Shier replied, “Uncle, I’m trying to escape… I can’t be mischievous. Damn it, those people are completely unreasonable. If you’re so capable, go after Huo Fen Tian. Does chasing us give you any sense of achievement? This damned place is nothing but ice and snow. There are no powerful mutated rune beasts, and it’s impossible to set traps either…”

Hearing this, everyone broke into cold sweats. Nan You asked, “Shier, where are you flying to?”

Luo Zhan added, “Yeah, it seems like you’re turning back…”

Guo Shier said, “I’m going to find where Huo Fen Tian disappeared.”

Everyone was speechless. Initially, they had fled for their lives to escape Fireburn Heaven, and now they were turning back to look for her—quite a big change. Inside the altar, an old handsome man was helping to control things; whenever Guo Shieru got tired, he would take over and continue teleporting them so they could keep moving. Soon, they returned to the place where they had lost Fireburn Heaven’s trail, but found no clues and, of course, no sign of her either. With no other choice, they had to keep running back.

Guo Shieru, along with his pursuers, flew back and forth in the air. Every time he saw that huge ice and snow city, he would circle it once before turning back. Not only was Guo Shieru tired from flying, but even the mid- and low-level disciples on the ground were exhausted. The altar-level experts were furious. No one liked doing this—flying back and forth in a small area seven or eight times.

Guo Shieru lamented, “Have you ever seen someone walking a dog? I’m the fucking one walking a dog!” Eagle Demon said, “Forget walking a dog. Find a way to get rid of them. It’s so annoying. Wait… they’re starting to change! Ah, you can’t keep walking them anymore…”

Every so often, an altar-level expert would stop. Guo Shieru immediately understood. He laughed and said, “What fools. Setting up a siege isn’t done this way. Hehe, I’m done playing.” He suddenly changed direction, stopping the back-and-forth flight and flying toward the distance, infuriating the experts who cursed loudly.

Eagle Demon sighed, “Shieru, even your escape tactics are full of cleverness. You’re so slippery. Hehe, they’re going to go crazy.” Guo Shieru said angrily, “Let them go mad! Bullying an honest guy like me? Hmph. Are honest people easy to bully?” The three of Eagle Demon nodded repeatedly.

Guo Shieru asked, “You nodding… what does that mean?” Eagle Demon replied, “We agree with you—honest people are easy to bully!” Guo Shieru snapped, “Damn it, are you saying… I’m easy to bully?” Everyone shook their heads. Nan You summarized, “You’re not an honest person, so you’re not easy to bully. But honest people must be easy to bully.”

Guo Shieru was left speechless—these heartless guys. The old handsome man said, “Look ahead. Is that a mountainous area?” In the distance, a snow line could be seen, looking like snow-capped mountains. Since they had been flying over flat snowy ground with nothing to hide behind, they couldn’t escape at all. If they were in the mountains, they wouldn’t be in such a predicament—there were many things they could use in the mountains.

Guo Shier turned and teleported away, with a large group of professionals following him through teleportation. They had been chasing for two days, and the professionals from the Illusory Altar were already struggling to keep up. Such intense continuous teleportations had left them exhausted, both physically and spiritually.
However, this kind of pursuit wasn’t too taxing on the professionals from the Solid Altar. Guo Shier and the handsome old man took turns controlling the altar, maintaining their strength.
Guo Shier exerted all his strength and teleported six or seven times in a row, finally getting a clear view of the distant snowline. It was a vast expanse of snow-capped mountains. Although it was still quite far away, he now saw a glimmer of hope for escape.
Ji Yuntian’s expression turned extremely dark. He said to a skilled expert with a sixth-tier altar beside him, “Brother, it seems they’re heading for the Never-Return Snow Mountains… Should we continue chasing?”