Chapter 3: The Ultimate Couple (Part 1)

Guo Shieru dashed forward and asked, “What?” Then he saw a stone tablet on the ground, covered with many patterns. After a brief attempt to decipher them, though he couldn’t recognize them, he had an epiphany and said, “It’s writing! It must be writing, but I can’t understand it. It’s not the runes of our continent.”
Li Ran glanced at the tablet and said, “This is a tomb…” With a gesture of his hand, he grabbed the tablet along with the soil on the ground in one motion, revealing a shattered skeleton. Everyone immediately saw the pale skull.
Guo Shieru said, “It’s a human. Indeed, it’s a human. Hehe, if it were some other intelligent creature, that would be quite interesting.”
Li Ran replied calmly, “It’s good that it’s a human. It’s easier to communicate with them, and we won’t stand out so much.” In the vast world, when two different intelligent species meet, it’s easy for conflict to arise. Moreover, once intelligent beings form, they often possess their own unique forms of combat power.
Guo Shieru said, “I wonder if there are any remaining humans here. Let’s search.”
Qi Wu Zhen said, “Wait a moment. I’ll do the searching!” As long as they knew it was human, things would be simpler. Humans have souls, and everyone present was at the master level in soul manipulation. Though they might not be skilled in other areas, they had extremely profound expertise in souls. She waved her hand to tell everyone to stay still, then flew high into the air.
A massive wave of soul energy spread rapidly as Qi Wu Zhen cast a spell. The wave was faintly red, like a stone thrown into a pond—the ripples spread from where the stone hit the water all the way to the shore. This was soul detection, aimed at searching for souls.
When the wave touched a living soul, it would send out another ripple. Countless tiny ripples returned, which Qi Wu Zhen carefully analyzed. This process was extremely exhausting and time-consuming.
Several hours passed before Qi Wu Zhen descended. She said, “Excluding the cracks, which can’t be detected, there are no signs of humans within tens of thousands of miles.”
Guo Shieru pondered for a moment and said, “It seems they’re all dead. I wonder what happened during the collision of the small worlds back then—maybe it was catastrophic. Brother Li Ran, there’s no need to rush if we can’t find anyone here. Let’s head straight to the lowest layer of the continent. Perhaps that’s the path to that small world.”
Li Ran smiled and said, “I’m not in a hurry. It’s good… Exploring here is a waste of time. It’s better to spend more time on the ninth layer of the continent to see what kind of humans there are.”

Guo Shier said in agreement, “I have no objections.”
Qi Wuzhen nodded slightly. Halechi also said, “Good. Let’s go to the ninth continent. Hehe, I’m very curious about what makes them different from us.”
Ezek and Meili remained silent; they didn’t have any ideas. Anyway, it was fine as long as they followed Li Ran.
Zhen Wuji, Goha, and Yao Zebusong exchanged glances and nodded together, “Okay.”
Li Ran activated Break the Boundary, unleashing an invisible force that tore through space. But this time it didn’t work as expected—he was surprised to find that even using 30% of his strength wasn’t enough to tear open space. Li Ran’s face turned slightly red as he realized he had been careless. After all, moving from one small world to another meant facing much greater spatial barriers.
After casting several spells in succession, a crack appeared in space with a loud noise. Li Ran was shocked—this time he had used 60% of his soul power and only managed to succeed by relying on the sacrificial artifact. Without it, relying solely on his own strength, he might have been able to cross alone, but the others wouldn’t be able to follow.
“Hurry up!”
They rushed into the crack at high speed. Everyone knew this crack was unstable—once someone was inside and failed to leave in time, they might never be able to escape. The sudden pressure could crush a person into molecules, leaving not even blood behind, completely dissipating them. As for the soul, it couldn’t escape either.
Li Ran was the last to cross. He was also drenched in cold sweat. He hadn’t expected that crossing just the space between small worlds would require such great effort, especially since the spatial strength had weakened significantly after the collision of two small worlds. In his estimation, the spatial strength had decreased by at least 30% to 40%. To cross an intact space, one would need to use Break the Boundary at full strength; otherwise, it would be difficult to get through.
If they were to go to a larger world, how much soul power would be needed? A sense of unease flashed through Li Ran’s mind—he felt he had underestimated the difficulties ahead.
This time it took a bit longer to cross—according to Guo Shier, at least ten minutes. On the way here, he had felt extremely uneasy. When Li Ran rushed out, Guo Shier immediately checked his Cross-World Talisman and found it unusable. In other words, if they wanted to return, they could only rely on Li Ran to take them back; otherwise, they would be trapped in this small world.

Without the Sacrificial Treasure to break through the barriers, Guo Shier thought it would be very difficult for Li Ran to return. Even if he forced his way back, he would have to pay a price. As for himself, there was not even a glimmer of hope. He said, “Let’s move together. This place is too unfamiliar, and the Great Boundary Talisman has stopped working… If anything goes wrong, we’ll be trapped here.”

Everyone was secretly terrified. Ge Ha immediately checked his own Boundary Talisman and said, “It’s true… The Talisman Gate can’t be opened.”

Ezek asked, “What Boundary Talisman? What’s a Talisman Gate… Oh, I see. Anyway, I don’t have one either.” After briefly examining his inherited memories, he understood what a Talisman Gate was.

Mei Li was full of confusion and asked, “What is it?”

Halechi whispered, “Geriwaha!” It was a local dialect meaning “country bumpkin.”

Guo Shier and Li Ran understood this dialect, but the others didn’t. It wasn’t part of the rune language system but a commoner’s dialect. Guo Shier often talked to commoners, and Li Ran, having traveled to many places, also liked to converse with them.

Qi Wu Zhen frowned and said, “Do you feel something strange? Use your souls to sense it.”

Li Ran also said, “Hmm, it’s a strange feeling. I don’t know what it is.”

Guo Shier remained silent but sent out soul waves to sense the outside world. Suddenly, he sensed a strange flicker and exclaimed in surprise, “Hey, there really is something… But I can’t explain what it is.”

Li Ran pondered for a moment before saying, “It seems to be some kind of strange power. We just don’t know what kind. This place is different from the Continent of Talismans. Be careful.”

Everyone descended.

It was another vast forest. This was a common sight. Most of the continents and secret realms Guo Shier had visited were covered in forests, so forests were the most familiar and habitual environment for them. Instead of falling into the forest, they hovered above the treetops.

Li Ran said, “From the search results of the upper continent, it seems there should be people on this continent. We just don’t know how different they are from us professionals, nor do we know how strong their combat abilities are. So, be careful. Once you encounter people here, try to detect their souls first.” Qi Wu Zhen said, “Let me do the detection!” She emitted an extremely powerful soul wave that spread around her and into the distance. After waiting for several hours, she said, “Going this way, I found a few souls that seem… somewhat powerful. Of course, they’re far inferior to us. They might be humans or beasts.”

Li Ran said, “Okay, let’s go!”

There were also some low hills in the forest, making the entire forest layered and undulating. The group flew along the treetops, heading quickly into the distance.

After flying for a few hours, Qi Wu Zhen was the first to land. She said, “It’s here. Let’s go down and take a look.”

The others followed and landed as well. It was still a dense forest. Where Qi Wu Zhen landed was a small clearing, where a bear-like wild beast over three meters long was lying in wait. Guo Shier said in surprise, “Such a small beast… it looks like a bear!”

Li Ran glanced at it and said, “It is indeed a bear, but I don’t know what kind. It doesn’t seem very strong.” Accustomed to mutated and abnormal beast spirits with bodies hundreds or even thousands of meters long, they felt no threat from such a small bear.

Halechi couldn’t help but say, “Let me do it! Let me do it!” He wanted to test the strength of the local beasts, as it was a way to assess the strength of this continent. With their experience, Li Ran and the others were well aware that if the local beasts were strong, the locals wouldn’t be weak either; otherwise, their survival would be extremely difficult.

Li Ran warned, “Be careful. Don’t be careless and suffer a loss.” With that, he took off into the air to observe, and the others followed. Mei Li hesitated for a moment before also flying up. She had originally wanted to taste the local beasts, but since Halechi had stepped in, she decided not to press further, wanting to give face to her beloved.

Halechi didn’t summon any altar. He hadn’t even thought about how strong this bear was. With a flick of his hand, a thick talisman stick appeared in his hand. He actually planned to fight hand-to-hand. Perhaps he had been too frustrated in the team lately and wanted to vent his anger, so he chose direct confrontation instead of using the long-range attacks that professionals were best at.

Guo Shier flew into the air, and the handsome old man also poked his head out to take a look. He said, “Shier, this bear is so small. We can kill it with just one strike using the sacrificial treasure. What does Halechi want to do?”
Guo Shier laughed and said, “Who knows what crazy idea this guy has… Maybe he wants to work out?”
Halechi swung his talismanic staff and struck at it. The bear had been intimidated from the start—the soul of the newcomer was extremely powerful, and its soul fluctuations made the bear feel as though disaster was imminent. So when Halechi swung his staff, the bear turned and ran away at great speed, its movements very agile. The staff struck the ground.
With a muffled thud, a crack appeared on the ground. Halechi hadn’t used much force; his strike only left a narrow fissure in the ground. The bear let out a terrified roar and fled desperately.
Halechi snapped, “You run… You dare to run? Stop…”
Everyone shook their heads in disbelief. This was a beast, not a human—what use was talking so much? No one understood Halechi’s frustration. In an instant, he moved and appeared in front of the bear, kicking it, sending it flying. With Halechi’s strength, such a treatment was simply too cruel.