Chapter 8: The Unsolved Mystery (Part 2)

Soon, Li Ran led the four of them to an open area, about a kilometer away from the nearest mutant beast. He put away the altar and the garlands wrapped around it, then smiled and said, “It’s not as difficult as I thought. Hehe, if the mutant beasts in the Sea of Beasts attacked all at once, it wouldn’t be so easy for us to get in.”
Guo Shier said, “Good character and good luck.”
Hong Yuguang said, “It’s strange. How did those mutant beasts gather together? Look at the ones on this ice field—there are at least… um, I can’t even count them… too many.”
Although there were countless mutant beasts on the ice field, its vast size made them seem sparse. At first glance, it seemed endless, and it was impossible to determine exactly how many there were.
Li Ran said, “The fluctuations are becoming clearer. It should be in that direction. I wonder what it is.”
Guo Shier asked, “Has anyone noticed that the mutant beasts are slowly moving toward the direction of the fluctuations? It’s slow… but they’re all going in the same direction…”
Zhen Wuji said, “They seem to be struggling, but… they can’t break free.”
Guo Shier agreed, “Indeed, it’s a strange behavior. These mutant beasts are clearly affected by those fluctuations, and quite severely. Should we observe them first before making a decision? Anyway, we’re already here, and we probably won’t be attacked by the Sea of Beasts anymore.”
Li Ran nodded. “Mm, Shier makes sense. We don’t need to rush now. Hehe, I also want to observe how the fluctuations change—maybe we can discover some secrets.”
Zhen Wuji agreed. “That’s good. It’ll be safer that way.” All three agreed, and Hong Yuguang and Hong Mu naturally didn’t object either, nodding in approval.
Except for Li Ran, the others held the altar about a foot above their heads to keep the extreme cold at bay. The temperature here was extremely low—according to Guo Shier’s estimate, it was at least minus 100 degrees. It wasn’t just cold enough to freeze breath; ordinary people would die instantly in such conditions, and even lower-level professionals couldn’t withstand it for long.
This place wasn’t suitable for setting up a Hidden Symbol House, as a single mutant beast could crush it with a footstep. Guo Shier and the others could only land on the ground and spread a thick beast skin to rest for a while.

Guo Shier was busy checking the altar with the handsome old man. The fluctuations that had emanated from the altar earlier had excited both of them greatly. It was a skill that activated automatically, so of course he needed to explore it thoroughly to figure out what caused it, what its powers were, and how to control it better—all issues he had to resolve.

Li Ran and the others didn’t notice the quiet Guo Shier. They were engrossed in heated discussions about the fluctuations coming from afar, while also busy organizing their talisman storage space. Along the way, they collected a large number of abnormally mutated beast carcasses, but their gains paled in comparison to Guo Shier’s, as they didn’t have a freakish spirit beast like Gu Xi Bi.

By using his soul to examine the altar over and over again, Gu Mo Lian had fully merged with it, making the entire altar one unified entity. Inside the altar, the five colors and directions had a soul-shaking effect. Runes swam within the altar, forming arrays of various sizes. It was unclear how the handsome old man had designed it, but the entire altar was full of mystery.

Each layer contained numerous spirit beasts, all of which served as sacrifices for the altar. Since they had recently acquired a large number of spirit beads, there were plenty of sacrifices available, and the altar functioned smoothly. After a quick calculation, Guo Shier realized that each layer had hundreds of spirit beast sacrifices, including high-level mutated and abnormally mutated beasts.

The handsome old man knew the altar better than Guo Shier. He said, “This should be the most basic skill of the altar… Activating the arrays in this area can generate fluctuations… You can give it a try.”

Guo Shier replied, “This isn’t a suitable place for experimentation. I’ll learn more first.” He immersed his soul within it and quickly understood everything, as he was the master of the altar. Surprised, he said, “So the altar can be used like this? Heh, I’ve learned something new.”

At that moment, Guo Shier also noticed the seventh layer of the altar, which was only half-built. Smiling, he said, “My soul is ready for advancement, but unfortunately, I don’t have time… As long as you finish constructing it, I can advance right away.”

The handsome old man said, “This isn’t the place. For this advancement, you need at least sixty days of uninterrupted quiet time. Advancing here would be suicide. Moreover, advancing from the sixth to the seventh layer is a major hurdle for ordinary professionals. Although it doesn’t apply to you, you still need to be cautious.”

Guo Shier said, “Hmm. I’ll start advancing as soon as I return.”

The handsome old man added, “If you have time, you’ll also need to get familiar with the altar. You’re its master, and there are some things I can only assist with—I can’t take over for you.”

Guo Shier’s face turned slightly red. He knew he was sometimes lazy, leaving many tasks to the old man, and he was becoming increasingly dependent on him. Feeling a bit ashamed, he said, “Yes, thank you, old man. I really have been slacking off a bit.”
The old man replied, “I know. You have great seniors and an even greater elder brother, but… you can’t rely on them completely. One day, you’ll realize… you can’t count on anything at all. In the end, you still have to rely on yourself. According to your elder brother, it’s in the outside world that there are truly powerful experts. We’re not very strong.”
Guo Shier said, “Yeah, we’re just strong in terms of souls and talismans. Maybe in other aspects, we’re not so good.”
The old man said, “You don’t need to worry. If you can reach the top in this world, even if you go to other worlds, you won’t be too bad…” He had heard many conversations between Guo Shier and Li Ran and knew quite a lot, so now he spoke extensively about the world.
They spent a short time helping the old man organize the space and clean up the corpses. Soon, the hidden talisman space was tidy. The old man sighed, “It’s a shame. If you had a small secret realm, along the way… you could have collected the corpses of hundreds of mutated beasts. All of it wasted.”
Guo Shier said, “This is already great. It’s not easy to get these corpses at all. Hehe, last time during the robbery, we did get quite a lot of good materials.”
The old man became excited. He said, “Robberies are still the best. If you had to find many of these materials on your own, who knows how much time it would take? Hehe, robberies… that’s so fast.”
Guo Shier said, “Hmm, old man, you’re born to be a bandit. If you could be reborn, I guess you’d definitely become a robber. You definitely wouldn’t be an honest person!”
The old man dismissed him with disdain, “I won’t be an honest person, and I certainly won’t be a bandit. I want to be a lone traveler, free and independent. That’s what’s cool… that’s what’s stylish!”
Guo Shier felt dizzy, realizing that many of his speech habits affected the old man. With a wry smile, he said, “Alright, alright. Then it depends on successful rebirth.”
The old man immediately lost his enthusiasm. He understood that while it might be easy for Guo Shier to be reborn, it would be extremely difficult for him.
Li Ran said, “Be careful. The fluctuations are getting stronger again.” He stood up and looked in the direction they came from.

Everyone also stood up. Guo Shier even flew ten meters into the air and waited quietly. After about half an hour, a faint tremor could be heard. Zhen Wuji said, “The Beast Sea has returned… This isn’t a place to stay long. It’s better if we move away for a while.”

The five of them immediately set off, flying toward the source of the disturbance.

At that moment, the abnormal and mutated beasts on the vast ice plain began to roar one after another and also accelerated toward the disturbance, the thunderous sound of their hooves echoing across the ice field.

From the large canyon where Guo Shier and the others had come out, countless mutated beasts surged forth, forming a black torrent. On the icy landscape, this torrent stood out sharply and wildly, spreading rapidly across the ice plain. Their direction of movement was exactly where the disturbance was coming from.

Guo Shier said, “It’s fucking terrifying. It’s scary to death.”

Li Ran laughed and said, “After this battle, do you still find them terrifying? Haven’t you noticed that they’re not in their right minds? If they were, heh, we would never be able to get through them.”

Zhen Wuji pondered, “No wonder… I’m even more curious about that disturbance. What on earth is it?”

Li Ran said, “Just follow the herd. Heh, as long as we don’t attack, they’ll definitely ignore us.”

Guo Shier began to observe carefully. He flew forward with Li Ran, keeping an eye on the herd. Before long, he noticed something strange and said, “That disturbance has the strongest attraction on higher-level mutated and abnormal beasts. The weaker ones aren’t as affected at all…”

The fastest ones were the higher-level abnormal and mutated beasts, while the slightly weaker ones struggled harder and moved more slowly. Soon, the herd ahead split up, with the highest-level beasts at the front, followed by the relatively weaker ones.

As they ventured deeper into the ice plain, even Li Ran was stunned. There were large groups of mutated beasts at level 15 or 16, as well as groups of abnormal beasts at level 13 or 14. Among them, Li Ran even saw abnormal beasts at level 15 or 16—not just one or two, but in large groups, their massive bodies packed together. The scene was beyond description as spectacular.

Guo Shier whispered, “I can no longer tell their levels…”

Zhen Wuji said softly, “Very high… Their levels are extremely high…”

Li Ran said, “Indeed very high… My hands itch to fight… It’s a shame we can’t.”