Chapter 6: Mysterious Fluctuations (Part 1)

The professional at the eighth-tier altar had long noticed those two sneaky figures. He immediately recognized the tentacles beneath Guo Shier’s altar as those of the rare Guxi Bi, and thus understood what Guo Shier intended to do. Though still engaged in battle with his group, he took the time to deliver a palm strike.

Li Ran smiled. Without dodging, he rushed straight into that illusory palm, as if a blade piercing through tofu. In an instant, he dragged Guo Shier through it. The palm didn’t dissipate but instead struck the mutated rune beast behind them.

With a loud explosion, the mutated rune beast roared, abandoning its fellow professionals in battle and charging at the professional at the eighth-tier altar.

By then, the Guxi Bi’s tentacles had already pierced into the corpse, instantly extracting its soul.

Li Ran chuckled twice and, along with Guo Shier, darted away like lightning. The professional at the eighth-tier altar was shocked. He knew exactly how powerful his palm strike was—yet it had been ignored and passed through. How formidable must these two be? Before he could recover, he saw the mutated rune beast charging at him.

His companion shouted, “Elder! Be careful!”

Guo Shier turned and saw two high-level mutated rune beasts attacking the professional at the eighth-tier altar. He grinned and said, “Big brother… over there!” Overjoyed to have Li Ran as his backer, he became utterly unrestrained.

Not far away lay the corpse of a mutated rune beast. Li Ran flew over with Guo Shier. In such a short time, several Guxi Bi tentacles had pierced in, stealing their souls.

More and more professionals noticed Li Ran and Guo Shier moving around chaotically. Someone yelled, “Damn it, get lost! Push them into the beast herd and let them die!”

Several attacks came at them, but Li Ran moved carefree through them. With his strength, he wasn’t afraid at all. He cunningly darted around, avoiding direct confrontation whenever possible. His task was to lead Guo Shier in collecting souls; everything else could wait. This wasn’t the right time to fight.

Due to the vastness of the battlefield, Li Ran and Guo Shier never stayed in one place for long. So even if they stole souls by killing rune beasts, others couldn’t catch up to them. As more professionals joined the fight, the balance on the battlefield began to shift, with professionals gradually advancing forward.

Tens of thousands of altar-level professionals gathered together, and their strength was already astonishing. Moreover, they were all high-level altar-level professionals. Even the mutated rune beasts and aberrant beasts were of high rank, but the professionals could coordinate and support each other, causing the balance of victory to tilt in their favor. Countless mutated rune beasts and aberrant beasts died, and many professionals also perished. Guo Shier was in awe—this scene was truly shocking. Li Ran led him along the front lines of battle, so he witnessed the fiercest fights and the most intense battles between professionals and mutated beasts. Before meeting Qi Wu Zhen, Guo Shier had never imagined such terrifying battles. Compared to this, the wars he had seen among professionals were like children fighting—completely incomparable. Unnoticed, the two had already penetrated the entire front line. The old hero said, “Damn it… we’ve captured over 800 high-quality souls. Haha, we’re rich! There are also thousands of ordinary-quality souls, and only on the battlefield do we get such opportunities…” He was so excited he couldn’t stop dancing. Li Ran laughed and said, “If we did this again, we’d definitely anger everyone. Haha, Shier, want to do it one more time?” Guo Shier grinned and said, “If you dare, I dare too!” Li Ran asked, “What if I don’t dare?” Guo Shier replied with a laugh, “Then forget it. If you don’t dare, I’ll go alone and get killed. Hehe, just me… I’ll definitely be turned into meat paste. Brother Li Ran, there are indeed few professionals at the ninth-tier altar. We’ve only found one so far…” Li Ran said, “I guess there must be some. We just haven’t seen them. It’s a shame we haven’t encountered any professionals beyond the ninth-tier altar.” Guo Shier said, “The battlefield is too vast. Who knows if there are any freakishly skilled experts like you?” Li Ran retorted with a laugh, “Nonsense. What’s so freakish about me?” Guo Shier said, “It’s the act of pretending to be weak when you actually have great strength—that’s freakish, haha.” As the two grew more familiar, his words became increasingly bold. Li Ran said, “That’s not freakish. It’s just my habit.” Guo Shier stared at the battle not far away and said, “We’ve advanced a few more kilometers. Want to do it again?” Li Ran laughed and said, “You’re so greedy… Okay, I like it. Let’s do it again.” He led Guo Shier back into the battlefield, heading toward the other side. Along the way, the tentacles of the Gu Xi Bi swept past like brooms. This time, more professionals joined in. They were furious—after struggling so hard to defeat the mutated beasts, those tentacles would wipe everything away in an instant.

Many professionals were still busy at this point, not only having failed to capture a single Soul Beast but also facing great danger. Countless professionals cursed violently, but Li Ran and Guo Shier ignored them and rushed forward at full speed, all of their attacks falling short.

With their speed significantly increased this time, Li Ran didn’t dare provoke everyone’s anger and quickly passed through the entire front line of combat. Professionals were already chasing after them from behind. As they moved through the battlefield, Guo Shier glanced back accidentally and was shocked to see hundreds of professionals following, roaring and cursing as they pursued them.

Guo Shier said, “Brother Li Ran, it seems we’ve gotten into trouble!”

Li Ran glanced back and laughed, “Heh, they’re already going crazy. Run fast, heh…” He suddenly accelerated. Although he seemed to effortlessly carry Guo Shier through the entire front line, it was because he was strong enough and fast enough to dodge. He could easily withstand truly powerful attacks, but other professionals weren’t so lucky.

Soon, most of the pursuing professionals were entangled by mutated and aberrant beasts. However, new professionals kept joining in, so there were still hundreds of them. The battlefield was in chaos, but the disruption caused by Li Ran and Guo Shier was limited to a small area and didn’t cause widespread chaos.

It took only half as long as last time for the two of them to get through. There were nearly three hundred professionals behind them, shouting as they surrounded them, “Hand over the sacrifices! Hand over the Soul Beads!”

“Cut these two in pieces!”

“Bastards! I’ll make you run again… Hand over everything you have!”

“Surround them and kill them!”

The more than three hundred professionals surrounded the two tightly. Guo Shier said, “Brother, we really are in trouble this time.” Yet he showed no sign of fear.

Li Ran laughed, “Of course. Even if they can’t capture the Soul Beasts in time, they won’t let you do it either. Heh, it’s probably you who provoked them. I’m just helping you run through the battlefield.” He acted as if it had nothing to do with him.

The professionals, seeing the two calm individuals, grew even angrier.

The cursing grew louder, but no one took action. No one was stupid—how could someone who could single-handedly cross the entire battlefield be weak? They relied on their numbers, planning to overwhelm them with force.

Li Ran yawned and mumbled, “Alright, alright, go back. Why bother fighting all those mutated beasts? It’s not worth it… Let’s go, let’s go… Are you all so idle? How boring…”

Guo Shier burst into laughter. This guy was simply too powerful—how could he say such things? It had to be said that he really liked to put on an act.

Instantly, the group of professionals became furious. This was absolutely outrageous! Where could there be such a shameless guy? A few irritable individuals rushed forward wildly, four talismanic lights flashing as they unleashed their sacrificial treasures, slashing viciously.

Guo Shier continued to laugh. He knew Li Ran was almost ready to intimidate them.

Sure enough, Li Ran glared at them and shouted, “Get lost!” A massive and astonishing spiritual pressure suddenly appeared. Then he slapped them—pop! pop! pop!—four quick sounds, and the four sacrificial treasures flew back instantly. In an instant, the professionals surrounding them felt as if they were trapped in a huge pressure chamber, their faces turning red. The most terrifying part was that they found themselves unable to move. Those who had intended to attack froze in place on the altar.

In the blink of an eye, all the participants were sweating profusely, their faces pale. The only thought in everyone’s mind was: Who is this person? He’s too terrifying!

The four professionals who had attacked were knocked over by Li Ran’s single slap, and the altar rolled away.

Li Ran suddenly smiled and said, “I’m a patient person. Noise doesn’t bother me much, but… if you try to attack, you’ll have to face the consequences. Understand? Go away!” He waved his hand dismissively, showing signs of impatience.

The professionals fled as if they’d seen a ghost. After a brief stunned silence, they scattered in panic, not even looking back. It was too terrifying! After all, one of them was a professional with an eighth-level altar, two with sixth-level altars, and one with a fifth-level altar—yet they were all knocked away by a single slap from their opponent. What kind of strength was that? They weren’t fools, so they ran away as soon as they realized what was happening.

Guo Shier said with a grin, “Big brother, you’re really domineering!”

Li Ran laughed and replied, “No such thing as domineering. This is just strength!”