Chapter 3: Plunder (Part 1)

Chen Tianyao said, “If nothing has changed, this warehouse is used to store various purification materials. The most common are those for ore purification and some plant purification. These are quite difficult to obtain, while the materials from mutated talisman beasts are a bit easier to find.”
Guo Shier asked, “By ‘changes,’ do you mean you were hired when there was the three-tier altar? How many years ago was that? Will things still be the same as before?” He wasn’t entirely convinced.
Chen Tianyao replied, “That’s how ancient clans are. Many things… not only remain unchanged for decades but even for hundreds of years.”
Guo Shier didn’t know much about ancient clans. Nan You nodded and said, “Indeed. In an ancient clan, many rules are passed down from generation to generation. Some castles and buildings have even been preserved for thousands of years. As long as there are no upheavals or wars, they will remain unchanged.”
Luo Zhan added, “Yeah, even in our Northern Talisman Sect, many rules have been passed down for countless years. It’s a pity… they’re all destroyed now.”
Guo Shier said, “Let’s storm in, hehe.”
It was a huge warehouse filled witha large amount of of materials, along with countless talisman bases—blank talismans. These weren’t meant for warfare but were used in daily life, such as strengthening buildings, and could also be used as money.
These talisman base bodies were crafted by grand masters, ensuring high quality, as lesser masters wouldn’t bother making them. Guo Shier took some, though he wasn’t very interested in them.
Guo Shier laughed and said, “There are indeed ore purification materials and plant purification materials. You were right, Chen Tianyao.”
Various ore purification materials filled the warehouses, many of which Guo Shier also lacked. These materials weren’t hard to find, but mining them manually would take a lot of time.
The old man hadn’t finished organizing the newly acquired goods when more supplies were stored in the talisman storage space. He wasn’t impatient at all and continued working enthusiastically. As a soul entity, he didn’t need to use his hands; a slight vibration of his soul was enough to move items quickly through the storage space.
However, this time Guo Shier took an enormous amount, leaving the old man momentarily overwhelmed.
Chen Tianyao was overjoyed, beaming with happiness as he collected the goods. Guo Shier didn’t take everything—he only selected a portion. No matter how large the talisman storage space was, there was a limit, and it was impossible to store everything. Eagle Demon, Luo Zhan, and Nan You took very little, as their talisman storage spaces were nowhere near Guo Shier’s, and they didn’t have any spirit helpers to assist them, so they stopped after collecting just a bit.

Robbery can be quite exciting, but soon Chen Tianyao lost his smile. Although he was an expert at the fifth-tier altar, he only had two storage spaces for talismans—one large and one small. The small one was used for precious materials, while the large one held materials for mutated or abnormal talisman beasts. Yet the warehouse of his family, along with the items obtained from previous warehouses, was already almost completely filled. Looking at the piles of materials everywhere, he couldn’t help but sigh bitterly, for the first time considering creating more storage spaces for talismans.

Guo Shieru scanned the area and said satisfactorily, “Burn this warehouse!” Everyone unleashed talisman fire to set the building on fire. The power of talisman fire was far greater than that of ordinary flames; just a tiny amount was enough to burn down an entire building blessed with talismans. In any other place, Guo Shieru wouldn’t have ordered a fire, but this was the Guomi Continent, and Mi Xia City was an important city of the Guomi family—so he felt no pity at all.

Flames rose rapidly, turning into raging bonfires that reached hundreds of meters high. In moments, the sky turned red. Talisman fire was already extremely powerful, and since the buildings here were blessed with talismans, those blessings collapsed instantly under its force, causing the buildings to burn even more fiercely. Chen Tianyao glanced at it and sighed, “It’s a shame—so much supplies were destroyed.”

Eagle Demon said, “We can’t take them… We can’t leave them to the Guomi family. It’s good they’re burned, haha, really good!” Chen Tianyao replied, “There are still some warehouses… Should we go? But our storage spaces for talismans are already full. Even if we created more now, it would be too late.”

Guo Shieru laughed, “Throw away the less valuable items… It’s a simple choice.” Chen Tianyao shook his head slightly. Some less valuable items were still essential, and discarding them would require searching for replacements later. He said with a bitter smile, “I regret not creating more storage spaces for talismans. Anyway, I’ll take you to the next place.” He flew away, constantly dropping items from the altar—things he had chosen to discard, otherwise he wouldn’t have space to store any useful items he might find later. Eagle Demon and the others were doing the same, discarding unnecessary items as they flew. Luo Zhan simply gave some items to Guo Shieru, knowing that Guo Shieru seemed to have plenty of space to store many things.

Luo Jie and Qi Nanshan continued their pursuit. They had no interest in robbery, as their altar upgrades had nothing to do with materials. The more professionals they killed, the faster their altar would upgrade, so the two turned into frenzied killers once again.

After all this chaos, the entire Misha City was engulfed in raging flames. Guo Shier and his men plundered, set fires, and killed along the way. Along the way, they encountered local professionals who fought desperately, but they were all eliminated one by one. Eagle Demon was very happy. He said, “Shier, we’ve reaped a great harvest this time. I’ve already gathered all the materials needed to advance to the third-tier altar. Hehe, as long as my soul reaches the required level for the third-tier altar, I can advance quickly. It’s a pity I don’t have time to retreat for cultivation now.” Not only had Eagle Demon gathered all the materials for the third-tier altar, but Luo Zhan and Nan You had also collected most of them. With just a little more help from Guo Shier, they would have all the materials needed to advance to the third-tier altar, eliminating the need to search elsewhere. This was an enormous amount of material—if piled up, it could form several mountains. Altar-level professionals were built up through the accumulation of such materials. After advancing to the Virtual Form Altar, the two main conditions required for further advancement were the growth of the soul and the collection of materials—two hurdles that had stopped countless people. Guo Shier and his group never worried about soul growth because of their Soul Beads and Guo Shier’s Soul Scriptures. As long as they had enough materials, they could advance quickly. Nan You was extremely excited; he was also on the verge of advancement. The materials collected this time were sufficient. Even in his former Gu Nan family, he could never have obtained so many materials. The seven of them wreaked havoc in Misha City for most of the day before gathering together. They knew that a large number of altar-level professionals would soon arrive. Guo Shier said, “Master, let’s go cause trouble somewhere else.” Luo Jie laughed and said, “Hmm, I destroyed the teleportation array just now. Even if they come, it will still take a few days.” Guo Shier clapped and said, “Good. As long as their altar-level professionals don’t come in large groups, we don’t need to worry. Hehe, fighting them one by one is better—it will make them suffer greatly!” Nan You said, “As long as there are no experts like Qi Wu Zhen, we don’t need to worry about them.” Guo Shier said, “Experts like Sister Zhen… how many are there in this world? If the Gu Mi family had such experts, they could directly seize control of the continent.” In this world, altar-level professionals of the seventh tier were almost invincible, while experts with abnormally high strength like Qi Wu Zhen were virtually nonexistent. Luo Jie asked, “Chen Tianyao, are there any other valuable cities?”

Chen Tianyao pondered for a moment. This robbery had brought him many benefits, further boosting his enthusiasm. After all, he was a master at the fifth-tier altar. Though he was restricted in front of Luo Jie and Qi Nanshan and might even not be able to defeat Guo Shier, a professional at the fifth-tier altar had reached a very high level, far beyond that of ordinary altar-level professionals. If he wanted to continue advancing, he needed more supplies.

After a while, he said, “The largest city on the Gumi Continent is Gumi City, the headquarters of the Gumi family. However, there are many altar-level professionals there. If we add in hired and external experts, their strength is enormous—we might not be able to match them…” He glanced at Luo Jie, saw his expressionless face, swallowed hard, and continued, “If we attack forcefully… it doesn’t matter to you, but those few… it will be very dangerous for them.”

Eagle Demon said, “Ignore us. The main force is the old man; we’re just assisting from the side.”

Chen Tianyao shook his head. “If the two seniors get trapped, not only will you be in danger, but I’m not sure I can escape unscathed either.”

Guo Shier understood what the guy meant. When the number reached a certain level, their strength would change dramatically. For example, he was confident he could kill a professional at the fourth-tier altar, but if that person had a few more professionals at the second or third tier, he would find it tough. If there were even more, he would have to flee.

He said, “Since that’s the case… we need to gradually weaken their strength. Well, now really isn’t a good time to go to Gumi City. Master, how about we sweep through their big cities one by one? Hehe, a big city like Mixia City has at most a few altar-level professionals—killing them is easy.”

Luo Jie nodded silently. Qi Nanshan said, “That’s true. If there are too many experts, we won’t have time to come to their aid. Alright, let’s start with other cities and gradually erode their strength.”

Luo Zhan suddenly let out a strange laugh, startling Guo Shier. He asked, “Hey, Uncle Luo, what are you doing? That’s scary!”

Eagle Demon couldn’t help but laugh. “He’s probably calculating his gains from this trip.”

Luo Zhan’s face turned red. He was indeed counting the materials he had obtained. Since he had no help from a sacrificial spirit and had to do everything himself, he couldn’t help but laugh strangely after figuring out his gains. He said awkwardly, “Hehe, I’ve gathered all the materials!”

Luo Jie asked, “Gathered all the materials? Oh, are they the materials needed to advance to the second-tier altar? You’ve harvested quite a lot.”

Luo Zhan said proudly, “It’s about gathering all the materials needed to advance to the third-tier altar. Haha, I didn’t expect to get so much this time.”
The cheerful atmosphere diluted the gloom of revenge; robbery truly was an addictive activity.
……
Gumi City.
The headquarters of the Gumi family. The clan leader sat on an altar-shaped stone bench, with over twenty veteran professionals seated in front of him. The lowest-ranked among them was at the third-tier altar level, while the highest-ranked was a veteran at the seventh-tier altar level. This veteran sat beside the clan leader, who himself was also a professional at the fifth-tier altar level.