Chapter 8: Traces of the Master (Part 2)

On the damaged walls of the cabin, there were hundreds of talisman bags hanging. Guo Shier didn’t see them at all from outside. He shouted, “Take them away!”
The old man pointed to Ban Xilong’s fortress and said, “There’s probably nothing inside. That guy has taken everything out. Nothing good remains. Go to that fortress over there!” There were numerous fortresses in this area, about 70% of which had been destroyed.
The group started collecting things cheerfully. Guo Shier summoned an altar and sat on it to direct the efforts. The old man stuck out half of his body, even more excited than Guo Shier. Having been trapped in the altar for so long, he was almost suffocated, but now that he could emerge, he directed the others eagerly.
The members of the Gu Xi Long family would probably cry themselves to death when they returned. Wherever Guo Shier and his group passed, it was left completely stripped bare, with no valuable materials left at all. With the old man using his soul to scan the area, it was hard to miss anything.
As they swept through the area, they also looked for traces of past battles.
In just a few days, they searched through the entire residential area where the Gu Xi Long family’s elite lived, gathering countless materials, many of which were quite rare. Not only did Guo Shier collect materials needed to upgrade his altar to the fourth level, but Eagle Demon, Luo Zhan, and Nan You also gathered all the materials required for their next upgrades.
Eagle Demon couldn’t help but exclaim, “Robbery is a very promising career.”
Guo Shier retorted, “Uncle, we’re not robbing. At most, we’re just picking up trash.”
The old man snapped, “Nonsense!” It was unclear whom he meant. He pointed in the distance and said, “Go that way! I can smell the materials.”
……
Yi Qiao Xilong had slept for seven or eight days. When he woke up, he realized that all the talisman bags containing the materials from the fortress had disappeared. He let out a scream and fainted again.
Guo Shier and the others flew quickly. He sent two messages—one to Qi Nanshan and one to Zhou Xiaoling.
After waiting anxiously for half a day with no replies, he grew worried and said, “Why haven’t there been any messages back?”
The old man replied, “How should I know?”
Guo Shier snapped, “I didn’t ask you!” He seemed impatient. The old man fell silent, realizing Guo Shier was truly anxious.

Flying forward, Guo Shier felt increasingly uneasy. He wondered to himself, “Could they have already left?” It seemed possible—after all, they had been fighting for over half a year, so it was normal for them to leave. Yet his unease grew stronger.

Dead bodies could often be seen scattered on the ground, which shocked Guo Shier. He had no idea how many people the two Black Symbolists had killed. The old man pointed ahead and said, “Look, the altars…”

Guo Shier looked up and saw a dozen or so altars on the ground, including a few broken ones. He knew they were left by fallen altar-level experts.

The old man said, “They fell not long ago. There must still be pure souls inside the altars. Go!”

Such an opportunity didn’t come around often, so Guo Shier immediately flew over using his altar.

“Someone’s here!” The Eagle Demon shouted, releasing his own altar as well.

Luo Zhan and Nan You also released their altars. The four altars flew in the air, creating a magnificent sight.

For Guo Shier, the Gu Xi Long family had always been enemies, not friends. Though they wouldn’t fight upon first sight, they certainly wouldn’t be friendly either. If anyone dared to provoke him again, he would act without hesitation. By now, he wasn’t afraid of anyone.

There were about a hundred professionals there, none of them altar-level experts— the highest rank being Grand Sage. They were all from the Gu Xi Long family. When they saw the altars of Guo Shier and the others, they stood up one after another, showing no signs of panic. The leading Grand Sage flew up to meet them.

He said, “Elder…”

Guo Shier stopped abruptly, his altar hovering in the air. He asked, “Who are you?”

The man replied respectfully, “I’m Han Xi Long, a senior Grand Sage of the Gu Xi Long family. It’s an honor to meet you, elder.” He began to feel uneasy because he couldn’t detect any identity tokens on Guo Shier, unsure which family’s ancestor this was.

Guo Shier said, “Enough. What are you doing here?” he asked pretentiously.

Han Xi Long replied, “We’re guarding the altars of our fallen family elders.”

Guo Shier nodded and said, “Retreat.”

Han Xi Long was stunned. He asked, “What… elder? What did you say?”

The Eagle Demon flew up and shouted, “Retreat! Can’t you understand?” With a wave of his sleeve, a gust of wind swept through, sending Han Xi Long flying. He hated the Gu Xi Long family deeply, having suffered greatly at their hands, so he was even more ruthless than Guo Shier.

Boom!

Han Xilong crashed to the ground. The disciples of the Gu Xilong family let out gasps one after another. After a while, Han Xilong managed to get up. He glanced fearfully at the Eagle Demon, realizing how far his strength fell short. Some disciples gathered around him, and one said, “You… do you want to offend our Gu Xilong family?”
Luo Zhan put away the altar and rushed forward, grabbing and throwing those professionals aside one by one.
Guo Shier still made sarcastic comments from the side, “Hey, you two uncles, that’s too violent. You need patience, you need to persuade… you need fucking harmony…”
The handsome old man burst into laughter, “I think you’re really a little jerk!”
After driving away those professionals, Guo Shier landed directly on another altar, with countless tentacles extending from the bottom of his altar.
The altar sank slightly, and the tentacles at its bottom quickly wrapped around the altar below. The handsome old man exclaimed in delight, “A complete soul! Haha! Hahaha!” He was so thrilled he almost went mad, his hands flailing unconsciously before slapping Guo Shier’s back hard with a crack.
Guo Shier exclaimed, “You old bastard, what are you doing?”
The handsome old man quickly apologized, “Sorry, sorry, accidental… just by mistake… Haha, a complete soul, ah…”
Guo Shier looked at the handsome old man speechlessly and said, “Hey, handsome old man, your soul is already complete. Why do you need another one?”
The handsome old man replied impatiently, “You don’t understand!”
A virtual human-shaped soul was forcibly dragged out by the tentacles and thrown into the altar. The handsome old man’s body followed, sinking into the altar. Moments later, he emerged satisfied and said, “It’s a shame—it’s just a two-layer altar. It’s missing a little bit, ah… such a pity…”
Guo Shier scratched his head. His master hadn’t been found yet, and the handsome old man was acting crazy again. He groaned in frustration, “Handsome old man, will it work? If not, at least lock the soul away first.”
The handsome old man said, “It’s fine, fine. It’s great. I’m fine. Old men are always fine.”
Guo Shier didn’t say much more. He controlled his altar and swept through one after another. Almost every altar contained a soul—some of them severely damaged, a few missing parts, with only the first altar remaining intact. The handsome old man was very disappointed, but he had also obtained some high-quality soul beads.
Nan You said, “Since so many altar-level experts died in this battle, I guess there are still…”

Guo Shier followed the traces of the battle at full speed. The Eagle Demon was too lazy to fly on its own; it folded up its altar, jumped onto Guo Shier’s altar, and sat cross-legged, smiling as it said, “Taking a ride, hehe.”
The handsome old man said, “You lazy bug! Kid, you’re already an expert at the first-tier altar level, a peak professional—being this lazy won’t do…” His emotions shifted too quickly from hope to disappointment, leaving him annoyed, so he took the chance to scold the Eagle Demon to vent his frustration. Fortunately, both the Eagle Demon and Guo Shier knew the handsome old man’s temper, so they didn’t care at all.
Guo Shier laughed and said, “That’s right. I’m just like a laborer, hehe. The handsome old man is right—let’s keep going!”
Hearing this, the handsome old man lost interest immediately. He said, “Kid, keep searching. Besides materials, altars are also valuable!”
Along the way, they found a few more altars scattered about, none of which were guarded. Guo Shier plundered them, extracted their souls, and then left.
On their way, they passed by a large fortress, still inhabited by many low-level professionals, who were driven away by the Eagle Demon, who then robbed it. Guo Shier felt no guilt about robbing the Gu Xi Long family. This time, they reaped a hefty harvest—several large storage warehouses were emptied completely.
The handsome old man was the happiest, while the others were indifferent. Guo Shier only wanted to find Master Luo Jie and Grandpa Nanshan as soon as possible. It would be great if he could also find Zhou Xiaoling, but so far, there was no news at all. He didn’t dare send more message tokens—each one he used reduced his supply, and he couldn’t afford to waste them recklessly.
Guo Shier said, “It’s strange. I haven’t seen any outsiders; it’s all people from the Gu Xi Long family. There isn’t a single member of any other ancient family. Where have they gone?”
The Eagle Demon said, “I’ve asked many low-level disciples, but they don’t know either. If we could meet a professional at the altar level, maybe we’d find out. So far… not a single one in sight.”
The handsome old man hid inside an altar, starting to organize the various materials he had obtained.
The Eagle Demon knew Guo Shier was in a bad mood and comforted him, “Don’t worry. We’ll get some news eventually.”
Guo Shier said, “If it really is Master Luo Jie and Grandpa Nanshan, I have a bad feeling…”
The Eagle Demon asked, “Why?”
Guo Shier sighed deeply and shook his head. “I can’t explain it. It’s just… I feel extremely irritable.”

Luo Zhan and Nan You flew ahead to scout the area, while Guo Shier controlled the altar, chatting casually with the Eagle Demon while pondering in silence. He was already convinced that Ding Ding had either encountered trouble or left the place. As for those two Black Symbol Men, he had an uneasy feeling but couldn’t put it into words.

The old man with the handsome appearance poked his head out and said, “Kid, I sense a soul fluctuation over there. You might want to go take a look.” After saying that, he retracted his head and returned to the altar.

Guo Shier was secretly grateful. He knew the old man had noticed his anxiety and was helping him find clues. First, he sent a signal for Luo Zhan and Nan You to return. He hovered in the air waiting. The Eagle Demon said, “The small towns here haven’t been affected yet. It seems only Xingbao has been attacked. Strange—could the Black Symbol Men be attacking selectively?”

Guo Shier pondered for a moment. He had actually already noticed that only places inhabited by high-level professionals were attacked, while low-level professionals were merely affected, and ordinary people’s areas remained unchanged. As a result, many low-level professionals took refuge in ordinary residential areas. He said, “It seems like they’re attacking deliberately… Hmm, there’s one thing I can’t figure out…”

The Eagle Demon asked, “What is it?”

Guo Shier murmured to himself, “That doesn’t make sense. If they’re attacking deliberately, then their souls shouldn’t be in chaos. If their souls aren’t chaotic… why haven’t they responded to my message tokens? Damn it, could it be Master and the others?”

The Eagle Demon had sharp ears and heard everything clearly. He now understood why Guo Shier was so anxious—he was worried that the old man and Qi Nanshan might end up with chaotic souls like Qi Wu Zhen. From his inheritance knowledge, he knew that the Black Symbol Men usually didn’t die from being killed but rather went mad and died, failing to even protect their altars. That’s why there were fewer and fewer of them.

After a while, Luo Zhan and Nan You returned. Luo Zhan said, “Shier, there’s nothing ahead.”

Guo Shier pointed north and said, “Let’s go that way. The old man sensed faint soul fluctuations over there. Let’s go take a look.”