Chapter 1: Xiao Haer (1)

Beautiful Madness left everyone at a loss—no one could bear to watch her go on a frenzied attack. The beast was pitiful too; encountering such a madwoman, it was bitten to the brink of death. It struggled desperately, clearly on the verge of collapse.
After a fierce struggle, Beautiful also suffered greatly, her body covered in blood. Yet she ultimately won, though it was a costly victory.
She bit through the beast’s neck and shook her head violently, tearing off a huge piece of flesh. The beast could hold on no longer; it trembled for a while before finally closing its eyes and dying. Beautiful raised her head and roared like thunder, as if declaring her victory. Her proud demeanor was unmistakable to everyone.
Ezek cursed, “Stupid woman!” He rushed down quickly, grabbed Beautiful, who had returned to her human form, and kept cursing while trying to stop the bleeding. But his method left Guo Shier and Hachechi utterly speechless. He simply stuck out his tongue to lick the wounds, while Beautiful moaned in pleasure.
Hachechi originally wanted to leave but hesitated out of pride—after all, Beautiful had come to save him. Leaving now would be unreasonable, so he forced himself to descend as well.
Guo Shier took out a bottle of talisman pills and threw it to Hachechi, saying, “Give these to her.”
Without hesitation, Hachechi took the pills and went to Beautiful, saying, “Here, these talisman pills can heal your wounds.” Then he handed her the bottle.
Even in her human form, Beautiful had countless wounds. Ezek cursed and licked the wounds, and strangely, wherever he licked, the bleeding stopped.
Beautiful was overjoyed. She took the bottle and swallowed several pills in a row, then exclaimed, “These are great! I feel much better…” She shot Hachechi a flirtatious glance, but her appearance was terrible—her face covered in blood, with someone else licking her wounds.
Hachechi lost all interest and ran away. He couldn’t stand such flirtatious looks; goosebumps covered his body.
Guo Shier also didn’t want to stay. Though he held no prejudice against Ezek and Beautiful, he disapproved of licking wounds. After giving them the talisman pills, he flew away on the altar at a speed comparable to Hachechi’s.
…
Guo Shier sighed bitterly, “We have to start over. All our previous efforts were in vain.”
The handsome old man said, “It wasn’t completely in vain. Who knew what would be here? But now I doubt we’ll find the talisman materials we need.”

Guo Shier said, “Who knows what’s there? Let’s take our chances.” He wasn’t sure either—this place was strange; there were no talismans unique to the Continent of Talismans, leaving professionals with far fewer usable materials.
Elder Shuai said, “Just search vertically from top to bottom. Let’s get started—no more wasting time. We have limited time.”
Guo Shier said, “Let’s just go all the way to the bottom and take a look. I think this continent is broken like a meteor belt…” He was referring to the interstellar concept of the greater world, which Elder Shuai couldn’t understand at all. He asked, “What meteor belt?”
Only then did Guo Shier realize what he meant. He gave a brief explanation, not caring whether Elder Shuai understood or not, and steered the altar downward.
They didn’t know how long they flew or how deep they descended. The deeper Guo Shier went, the more astonished he became. Elder Shuai also widened his eyes and said, “How deep is it? Haven’t we reached the bottom yet?”
It was still bright below, though they didn’t know where the light came from. As they went deeper, the floating mountains grew smaller and more dense, with increasingly narrow gaps. Numerous fragments floated in the air. Gradually, Guo Shier stopped the altar and said, “We can’t pass through. Unless we create a path.”
Elder Shuai looked down and shook his head. “Forget it. Stop descending. That’s enough. This broken continent hasn’t given us even a little surprise so far.” He was very disappointed.
Guo Shier smiled and said, “If there are too many surprises, they’re no longer surprises.”
Elder Shuai fell silent for a moment before sighing and saying, “Yes, if there are too many surprises, they’re no longer surprises. But… we want more surprises, kid. This is the World of Talismans.”
As they continued searching, they found some gold and other metals, but very few other useful materials. Guo Shier turned and searched vertically upward. Growing more disappointed, he said, “Elder Shuai, there’s nothing here. Let’s go back to the meeting point.”
Elder Shuai said, “Hmm. This layer of the continent is really disappointing. Let’s go back.”
Guo Shier continued ascending when suddenly, Elder Shuai tapped him and said, “Look quickly! What’s that?” With just one glance, Guo Shier felt his soul tremble, but he couldn’t see clearly. It was a floating island. He could faintly see a stream flowing through the woods toward the edge of the floating mountain, drifting along the cliff face into the air as a thin veil of white mist.
“A stream? What a strange feeling… Let’s go take a look.”

Guo Shier controlled the altar and flew over, landing gently. It was an extremely clear spring water flowing down from the mountain. He folded up the altar, walked to the stream, crouched down, scooped up some water, and watched it drip through his fingers. Suddenly, he noticed something strange about the water and said, “This water… it’s heavy!”
The old man poked his head out from beside Guo Shier’s shoulder and asked in surprise, “What do you mean?”
Guo Shier took out a talisman bottle, filled it with some of the spring water, and handed it to the old man, saying, “Take a look for yourself.”
The old man poured some water into his palm and also exclaimed in amazement, “Yes, it is indeed heavy, and there’s also a warm sensation. This water is quite interesting.”
To Guo Shier, the water felt as heavy as mercury. He said, “Let’s go to the source and see; maybe we’ll find something.” He quickly followed the stream upstream.
In a short while, they reached the mountainside, where there was a small cave entrance from which the stream flowed.
Guo Shier entered without hesitation. With his current strength, he had no need to worry—there wasn’t much in this world that could threaten him. Following the flow of water, they walked for a short distance inside the cave and arrived at a small stone chamber, about a hundred square meters in size. He cast a lighting talisman, and instantly, the entire cave was illuminated.
The dark blue stone walls were covered with water marks, and the ground was slightly arched, forming a small pool. The spring water gurgled, creating ripples. Under the light of the talisman, the water took on a faint green hue, and a very fresh scent filled the air, making one feel refreshed, as if they were in an open space rather than inside a cave.
The old man said, “So it’s spring water… Let’s check. Why do I feel like it might be a Soul Spring…”
Guo Shier cast a few spells and was surprised. “Huh, it can be combined with talismans… This isn’t a Soul Spring. I don’t know what it is, but it must be something good!”
The old man said, “It’s similar to a Soul Spring, but it doesn’t have its functions. It can make people… well, forget it. I’m not sure either. Kid, just collect this spring water. After all, you have the altar secret realm—adding another strange spring water isn’t bad.” He said this carelessly.
Guo Shier thought for a moment and said, “Alright, let’s give it a try. I wonder if the power of talismans can be used to extract this spring water.”
The old man said, “I’ll help you.”

Drawing spring water is an easy task for those who work at the Ninth-Level Altar, but to obtain special spring water requires a great deal of spiritual energy. With the help of Old Shuai, Guo Shier would find it much easier. Countless virtual talismans were dropped into the spring water, while Old Shuai kept chanting incantations. This advanced method of extraction was very complex and beyond the capabilities of ordinary practitioners, but both Guo Shier and Old Shuai were highly skilled in it—they were experts at acquiring items. Not to mention just spring water, they could easily obtain things like Fire Evil and Earth Evil as well. As the virtual talismans sank deeper into the spring water, the turbulent flow gradually calmed down. Guo Shier smiled and said, “I’ve found the source. I don’t know what it is yet, but let’s draw it out first and take a look.” A complete stream of spring water was drawn out from the mountains. Thanks to the power of the talismans, the stream resembled a green serpent, coiling as it fell into his hands before being placed directly into the altar’s secret realm by Guo Shier. Inside the secret realm, Old Shuai found a low-lying area and forced the spring water into it. Moments later, it connected with the underground veins, and streams of water began to flow out. As for the use of this spring water, neither Guo Shier nor Old Shuai cared much. For materials that were hard to assess but quite distinctive, they would collect them first and explore their properties at a later time. Guo Shier said, “Green spring water… heh, let’s call it Green Spring from now on. Hmm, I’ll ask Brother Li Ran in a bit; maybe he’s seen it before.” He knew Li Ran was well-versed—not only in the world of talismans but also in the broader world—his knowledge far surpassing Guo Shier’s. Soon, Guo Shier returned to the meeting point, but no one else had arrived yet. He sat on a mountain peak, leisurely enjoying the scenery around him. Old Shuai poked his head out and asked, “Regarding the structure beyond the Ninth-Level Altar that was passed down by Senior Li Ran and Senior Qi Wu Zhen last time… should we start preparing?” Guo Shier gave a bitter smile. He knew Old Shuai wasn’t giving up and wanted to reach the same level as Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen. He said, “Old Shuai, you know how difficult this is. Besides, we no longer have time. Sister Zhen advanced to a level beyond the Ninth-Level Altar… and has been asleep for countless years. Brother Li Ran also spent a hundred years. We simply don’t have that much time. Once we leave the world of talismans, many materials will be unobtainable.” Advancing to the Ninth-Level Altar often required exhausting an entire ancient family’s collection, while reaching a level beyond it demanded at least ten times more materials. Li Ran had barely managed to gather everything by establishing organizations like merchant guilds—the hardships involved were beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

After receiving the inheritance from those two, Guo Shieru almost gave up the idea of advancing to the ninth-tier altar. But the old man refused to give up; he had only reached the seventh-tier altar in his life before perishing, and later was taken in as a sacrificial spirit by Guo Shieru. His greatest wish was to help Guo Shieru reach the pinnacle of professionalism, just like a father who tries his best to help his son achieve what he himself could not.