Chapter 4: Absorbing Memories (Part 1)

The handsome old man said, “Kid, there might be plenty of useful materials here. I just took a look at the materials you collected from bears—they’re different from those in the World of Talismans, with some unique features. I can study them when I have time. For now, among the materials collected, only these yellow crystals are the most useful.”
Guo Shieru flew atop the treetops, moving forward. Smiling, he said, “I know that in different worlds, the materials vary. But I still believe that all materials are useful; we just don’t know how to use them yet.”
As usual, each of them headed in a different direction. Guo Shieru flew south. He didn’t summon an altar and instead flew along the treetops, his soul gently fluctuating as he observed the beasts below. The beasts here were different from the mutated talisman beasts, much stronger than those in his memory, almost on par with the alienated talisman beasts.
Through the subtle fluctuations of his soul, he could determine the location of the beasts below. Soon, Guo Shieru spotted one. He slowly flew up and looked down—it was a leopard-like beast, lazily crawling among the tree branches, unaware of Guo Shieru above it.
Guo Shieru spoke to the handsome old man, “Sir, I’m not used to these beasts here. They’re too small, completely different from the talisman beasts back home. This leopard is only about five meters long from head to tail. I’m not even sure if I should summon an altar.”
The handsome old man laughed, “Just try it and you’ll know.”
Guo Shieru nodded. He reached out with an imaginary hand, and a virtual talisman hand appeared, descending from the sky and grabbing downward. Branches and leaves exploded as the virtual talisman hand instantly destroyed most of the tree before falling straight down.
The virtual talisman hand was dozens of meters long, covering the entire tree. The leopard let out a terrified roar and dashed away like lightning. The virtual talisman hand slammed down, crushing the whole tree right beside it. The leopard didn’t dare resist and fled desperately into the distance.
Guo Shieru was stunned. He hadn’t expected the leopard to be so fast, able to escape the virtual talisman hand’s grasp. He said, “Huh, it’s really fast…” and immediately chased after it.
The handsome old man sneered, “Kid, you underestimate these beasts here. Idiot, use a weapon. These beasts have almost no soul power; their power system is different from ours. Don’t get hurt and end up crying on your own.”

Guo Shier said, “What’s the point of crying? This leopard can’t even threaten me…” Yet he still took out a talisman sword. For him, using his life treasure as an offering was an overreaction; even though the old man warned him, he didn’t take this leopard seriously. The leopard was far too small—on the Continent of Talismans, such a large beast was not even as good as a talisman beast, so he couldn’t take it seriously.

The leopard fled desperately through the dense forest, leaping from tree to tree at speeds that seemed like flying. It was only then that Guo Shier could see clearly the leopard-like beast—its entire body was purplish-black, with a golden line on its back, which was actually a strand of golden fur. It had a slender yet strong body. What caught his attention most was that as it fled, its body emitted a faint purple glow from time to time.

Guo Shier couldn’t help but praise, “What a beautiful leopard… its skin.”

The old man smiled and said, “I knew it. You’ve taken a liking to its skin. It’s unlucky.”

Guo Shier replied, “I’m not interested in its skin. What I’m interested in is the crystal inside it!”

The old man said, “It’s the same thing. Anyway, it’s dead anyway.”

Guo Shier flew above the treetops at a speed even greater than that of the leopard. After all, the leopard was jumping around in the forest. Though it was extremely agile, it was still hindered by numerous branches. Unlike Guo Shier, who flew in a straight line—simple and direct—he quickly reached above the leopard and flew alongside it.

With a slash, a beam of talismanic light extended from the talisman sword, cutting straight down.

Swish… Crack! Boom!

The blade sliced past the leopard’s body, cutting through thick branches. A scar dozens of meters long appeared in the dense forest, scaring the leopard into turning around in panic. Guo Shier followed up immediately. He hadn’t expected the leopard to be able to dodge and couldn’t help but laugh, “What a sneaky guy. So agile.”

Boom! Boom! Boom…

Countless blades struck down, causing trees below to fly apart and broken branches to scatter everywhere. The leopard suddenly realized that all the trees around it had shattered, creating a huge open space in an instant. It could no longer leap to other trees and could only land among the broken trees. Guo Shier slowly descended.

The leopard let out threatening growls, its dark red eyes fixed intently on Guo Shier, with all its fur standing on end. It opened its mouth to reveal four fangs, making growling sounds, its body arched as it lay on the ground, ready to pounce.

Guo Shier had already changed his weapon. He took out a talisman spear and hovered it a meter above the ground, also staring into the leopard’s eyes.

The leopard immediately sensed a huge threat. A man and a leopard stood face to face. The leopard, unable to stay calm, launched the attack first. Guo Shieru hovered steadily in the air. He didn’t know how many fierce mutated or aberrant beast spirits he had killed, so he didn’t take this wild beast seriously—but he certainly wouldn’t be careless either.
Bang!
In a flash, his talisman spear was thrust forward. The leopard pounced, but in an instant, it felt its head struck by a powerful force that sent it flying backward, crashing into broken wood. Soon after, it felt pain in its throat as a talisman spear had pierced it.
A clean and decisive strike. Guo Shieru shook his head and said, “Though it runs fast, it’s still too weak.”
The handsome old man smiled and said, “It’s not that it’s weak—it’s you who’re too strong.”
Cutting open the body, stripping off the skin, and pulling out the tendons—these were the basic skills of a professional, and Guo Shieru was already very skilled at them. He quickly found the crystal inside the leopard. It was a sea-blue crystal, extremely beautiful—a rhombus-shaped crystal, like a diamond cut in his past life. It was very hard, emitting a faint sea-blue glow, with a strong vitality, about the size of an egg.
Guo Shieru sighed, “It’s too beautiful.”
The handsome old man said, “It’s different from the crystal of that bear.”
Guo Shieru replied, “Mm, the shape and color are different, but it still has strong vitality. There seems to be something else as well, but I can’t tell. Hehe, what makes us strong is our souls and talismans. We still don’t know what makes things strong in this world.”
The two crystals were different, but with Guo Shieru’s current abilities, he couldn’t distinguish them yet. He said, “Let’s continue hunting and collect more crystals. Maybe then we’ll be able to figure it out.”
The handsome old man said, “That’s the only way… The soul power of the beasts here isn’t strong, but other aspects are okay. After analyzing it, that bear could fight against a professional from the fifth-tier altar. Of course, its long-range attacks are much weaker. In close combat, a professional from the fifth-tier altar might not even win.”
Guo Shieru agreed, “Mm, even with Halachi’s level, he still suffered quite a bit.”
The handsome old man said, “That’s what he deserves. It would be strange if he didn’t suffer given his level, yet still went in for close combat.”

Guo Shier continued hunting and successively killed over a dozen various wild beasts. It was then that he discovered crystals also came in different sizes, with strength determining their size. He encountered an extremely ferocious winged beast that, though unable to fly, had outstanding attack and defense capabilities. He had to use the altar and the Moon Blade to kill it; the crystal inside was about the size of an adult’s fist, which surprised him greatly.

As he went on, Guo Shier didn’t see a single person, but the number of wild beasts grew. One day, he spotted a group of wolf-like beasts, which were somewhat different from the wolves he had seen before. They were over three meters long, with long narrow heads, slightly shorter hind legs, and strong forelegs. Their dark brown fur was covered with many black spots, and their howls were strange, sounding like bird calls.

Guo Shier said, “These things look like a mix of dogs and wolves. I wonder if they have crystals…” He was already fascinated by crystals and thought of them whenever he saw wild beasts. Given his collecting obsession, these beasts were in for a tough time if they encountered him.

In no time, Guo Shier killed all the wolf-like beasts, skinned and eviscerated them, and collected the crystals. He found that these crystals were quite small, only the size of quail eggs, with a light green color. Though beautiful, they contained much less vitality.

He also discovered many strange plants, all detected through soul fluctuations. Guo Shier didn’t know their uses yet, but since he had the altar sanctuary, he transplanted them all there to examine later. As long as one plant proved useful, his efforts wouldn’t be in vain.

Unnoticed, nine days passed. That day, Guo Shier prepared to return. Habitually, he sent out a soul fluctuation. Suddenly, he looked into the distance and said, “Elder Shuai… there are people!”

Elder Shuai replied impatiently, “What’s so strange about there being people… Well, there are people… Let’s go over there.” Only then did he realize they had encountered locals.

Guo Shier didn’t move. He carefully sensed the fluctuations coming from them and said, “There are over a dozen people… Their souls aren’t strong. Compared to us professionals, they’re just ordinary people.”

Following the treetops, Guo Shier flew over quickly. In just a few breaths, he arrived near those people. Guo Shier asked, “Elder Shuai, should we fly over or walk over?”

Elder Shuai said, “If you want to scare them, fly over. If you want to communicate with them, walking over is better.”

Guo Shier also thought it made sense—those who could fly must be powerful, making it difficult for them to communicate with others. He dropped into the woods and quickly moved toward those people. Soon, he stopped at a huge ancient tree and poked his head out. On a small clearing, he saw a group of people sitting there.

After some thought, Guo Shier sent a message token to Li Ran, informing him of the situation and leaving behind the location and coordinates. Only then did he begin to observe the people not far away.

With Guo Shier’s vision, he could clearly see those dozen or so people.

They were dressed in brown linen clothes and simple leather armor. Their heights varied—some were as tall as two meters, while others were around 1.7 meters. The tallest among them wore half a set of chain armor, with a two-meter-long two-handed sword planted beside him. The group sat around a campfire, roasting a pig-like beast while chatting animatedly.