Chapter 10: Stupid Woman (Part 1)

Guo Shier said, “It’s not interesting. I’m just asking—do you still want this corpse? If not, I’ll take it.” He wasn’t collecting materials; instead, there were a bunch of Spirit Beasts and mutated ants in the Soul Calming Cauldron that needed feeding, and this corpse would suffice to feed them for a while.
Ezekiel laughed. He didn’t care about it at all. For him, hunting was for food, but this time it was more out of curiosity, just to taste it. Mei Li also had no objections. She collected a little meat and gave up. Ezekiel said, “We don’t want it. Take it and leave it here. It will stink if left for too long.”
Guo Shier didn’t say much. He immediately brought out the Soul Calming Cauldron and swiftly put the thousand-meter-long corpse inside.
The handsome old man specifically entered the Cauldron to collect the blood from the corpse and also grabbed some fresh meat, leaving it for Guo Shier. Finally, he cut off the pair of silver wings before throwing the corpse into the group of Spirit Beasts. In moments, all that was left of the corpse was a snow-white skeleton.
The skeleton wasn’t wasted either. Guo Shier moved it to the edge of the ant nest, and soon the ants covered it. With their extraordinary biting strength, the ants quickly broke apart the bones. Since this skeleton had no runes enhancing it, it was excellent food for the ants, especially the bone marrow, which contained a great deal of life force. The ants feasted happily.
Li Ran said, “There might be many similar creatures here, but they’re not strong. Everyone disperse and look for the materials they need. If in danger, release a signal token for help. Especially if you encounter… well, let’s call them Wild Beasts. Be careful. Although they’re not very powerful, being attacked by them can still be dangerous.”
Guo Shier flew out alone as usual. He was used to exploring by himself. After all, with the handsome old man around, he could discuss things if needed and wouldn’t feel lonely. But before he flew far, someone chased after him.
After separating from Ezekiel, Mei Li’s crimson eyes kept staring at Halechi. Halechi was extremely vigilant and immediately flew away with someone else. Before flying far, he heard that person say, “Halechi, why are you following me?”
Halechi whispered, “Shier, don’t ask. I separated after a while… Fly faster!” He sneaked a glance behind him.

Guo Shier was amused and said, “What the hell is going on…” Then he saw Meili flying toward them and immediately understood why Hachei had followed. Without any sense of loyalty, he said, “Oh, Meili is looking for you… I won’t keep you two waiting. Goodbye…” He teleported away without hesitation.

Hachei was furious and said, “Shier, you can’t just leave me behind…”

A voice came from afar, “I can…” After the voice disappeared, Hachei found that Guo Shier was nowhere to be seen.

Hachei flew forward desperately, thinking, “Damn it, none of them are good people…”

“Why are you running?”

Meili’s distinctive voice appeared beside him. Hachei trembled violently and almost fell onto the altar. He cursed inwardly, “How the hell can this bitch be so fast…?” Without another word, he teleported away, frantically this time, ignoring the cost in soul energy. He absolutely couldn’t give Meili any chance—let alone defeat her. If he accidentally angered Aizek, he wouldn’t even have a place to complain. The world really had no justice—how could a woman chase a man?

The thought of a woman chasing a man made Hachei’s face turn pale. He suddenly realized that Meili wasn’t a woman at all—she was a female aberrant beast in human form. At that thought, tears almost spilled from his eyes, and he cried out, “I’m so damn unlucky…”

Meili was also frustrated. Why could this man run so fast? No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t catch up. Just then, she heard an echo, “Unlucky… unlucky…” She immediately flew in that direction and saw Hachei in the air. She shouted, “Wait for me!”

If she hadn’t shouted, maybe he would have stayed, but as soon as she spoke, Hachei flew away at lightning speed and vanished instantly.

Meili screamed in anger. Even if she was slow-witted, she understood that Hachei was avoiding her. She pursued him even more eagerly, wondering why he was running so fast when she didn’t even want to eat him.

Guo Shier flew upward, where there were many floating mountains. He quickly arrived at one of them, searched for a while, then moved on to another. Guo Shier said, “Handsome old man, searching like this is going to be difficult. There are too many floating mountains. Where can we find the real treasure?”

The handsome old man said, “You’re in a hurry again. Take your time searching. This time we’ll be staying for a longer period, so you can make full use of it and visit more floating mountains. Maybe that way you’ll find what you need. Well, let me give you a suggestion—search along a vertical line. How about that?”
“A vertical line? Do you mean searching from top to bottom?”
The handsome old man replied, “That’s right. It’s a crude method, but since the continent has split apart, there must be some pattern to it. The upper part should be the original land surface, and below… it should be the depths of the original continent. If we explore vertically, we might discover something. Even if we find nothing, it will still help us understand this continent.”
Guo Shier sighed and said, “I don’t know what caused the entire continent to break apart like this, and yet still keep its fragments floating in the air.”
The handsome old man said, “I’m not sure either. We don’t need to worry about that. What matters to me is whether we can find suitable materials and treasures. Anyway, once we leave this world, we’ll never be able to return. Our task is to collect as many things as possible while we can.”
Guo Shier thought for a moment and found it amusing. This world was already very strange—completely different from his previous life. He wasn’t a scientist, and he believed that whatever existed must have a reason, so he didn’t bother to overthink it. He said, “Okay, let’s explore along a vertical line. Hopefully, we’ll find something good.”
The handsome old man added, “Not every floating mountain needs to be checked. There are too many. We should choose selectively—look for the larger ones and those that are more unusual.”
Guo Shier asked, “Unusual? What does that mean? As long as it catches my eye, that’s fine.” What he meant was to try everything at random; if they found something, it was luck, and if not, it wasn’t a big deal.
As they checked each floating mountain one by one, they indeed found some strange fruit trees and materials, but none of them were useful because this continent was completely different from the continents in the world of runes. The more Guo Shier searched, the more surprised he became. He said, “Handsome old man, I feel this continent… isn’t the one we’re familiar with. It’s too strange.”
The handsome old man replied, “Hmm, I’ve noticed that too. Many materials can’t be used because they lack runes. I’m a bit worried…”
Guo Shier asked, “Worried about what?”

The handsome old man said, “Once we leave the world of spells, if there are no runes in the outside world, how will we survive? Even if we collect as much material as possible, it will eventually run out. Once we go out, we’ll surely never be able to return. Boy, that’s when you’ll be in trouble, unless we find an alternative.”
Guo Shier said with a shake of his head, “I’m not worried about that. Once we leave this world, we’ll learn anew. We don’t necessarily have to rely on spell power.”
The handsome old man didn’t have Guo Shier’s broad perspective. After all, he had never experienced reincarnation and didn’t know about the wonders of the outside world. Guo Shier was only slightly better than him. The people on Earth in his past life hadn’t merged into the interstellar civilization either, but he had already seen the stars.
Halechi suddenly appeared in front of Guo Shier. Before Guo Shier could say anything, Halechi vanished. Immediately afterward, a dark shadow flashed by, and Meili cried out, “Did you see him?”
Guo Shier unscrupulously pointed in the direction where Halechi had disappeared. Meili giggled and then vanished as well. Guo Shier wiped a cold sweat from his brow and said, “No wonder Halechi ran away. This woman is too fierce. With her own husband still around, she chases after handsome men…”
The handsome old man said, “I don’t think Halechi is that beautiful… It’s a matter of taste.”
Guo Shier laughed and said, “It’s a shame Halechi is a bit weak. If he had a ninth-level altar, maybe he’d dare to fight Meili. Well, actually, with his skills, he should be able to match Meili, but he got scared first.”
The two chatted as they landed on a floating mountain—or rather, a floating island, because there were no mountains on this fragment of land suspended in the air; it was just a flat area of about 1,000 square kilometers.
There were sparse trees on the ground, mostly dead ones, with only a few low green trees. It was a desolate land. Guo Shier said, “This land lacks water…”
The handsome old man said, “Let’s look around and see what’s there.”
Guo Shier sent his soul out to explore, but this wasn’t an ordinary spell continent. He couldn’t obtain any useful information because souls resonate with natural runes, and there was no spell power here. He said with a wry smile, “This kind of exploration won’t work. Handsome old man, we’d better search directly…”
After circling around, Guo Shier said, “This isn’t working, Handsome Old Man. We can’t find anything valuable.”
Boom!
A roar came from afar. Guo Shier turned to look and asked, “What was that?”

The handsome old man said, “I don’t know. Maybe someone encountered a powerful mutated talisman beast?” In truth, everyone knew that there were no real mutated or aberrant talisman beasts here—those were concepts from the Talisman Continent. This shattered continent was likely not the Talisman Continent at all.
Guo Shieru rode the altar and charged forward.
……
Halechi’s face was filled with bitterness. He never expected to be ambushed and suffered a heavy loss in an instant. A giant snake-like creature perched on a floating mountain—identical to the one Aizek had killed last time, the one Li Ran named the Wild Beast—was far stronger. With its formidable body and weak soul, it had immense attack power. With just one strike, it sent him flying.
It should be noted that while Halechi was desperately fleeing, he hadn’t activated the altar’s defenses. That strike caused his altar to spin wildly in the air and be flung backward at least a thousand meters, crashing into another floating mountain. With a loud explosion, countless rocks flew everywhere. In horror, Halechi saw several cracks appear on the altar. He hurriedly crushed several Soul Bead Pills to quickly activate the altar’s defenses.