Chapter 7: Exchanging Scriptures (Part 2)

Li Ran shook his head and said, “It’s not calculated that way. You go to the Greater World, but you bring with you the spellcraft and soul abilities of the smaller world—those are already great abilities in themselves. If you then learn various abilities from the Greater World, well, it’s impossible not to grow stronger, unless you refuse to learn new abilities.”
After being tempered by two scriptures, Guo Shier could now control himself, and his soul became lively again, no longer in a frenzied state. He said, “The world of spells… Haha, I never imagined it to be so complex. If not for you telling me, I wouldn’t have had any idea what was going on.”
Li Ran successfully made Guo Shier yearn for the outside Greater World.
Guo Shier said, “I hope I can reach the ninth-tier altar before leaving.” Going beyond the ninth-tier altar was beyond his hopes—he knew it was extremely difficult. With Li Ran’s strength, even after hundreds of years, no one had succeeded, which showed just how unimaginable it was to advance beyond that level.
Li Ran smiled and said, “If you hadn’t transformed into a Heavenly Altar, you might have been able to advance beyond the ninth-tier altar. But now it’s hard—ascending to a Heavenly Altar is very difficult. Haha, but since you have two soul scriptures, I think… reaching the ninth-tier altar shouldn’t be a problem. But going beyond it won’t be easy.”
Guo Shier was quite open-minded. He said, “I’ll just do my best. Even if I can’t advance beyond the ninth-tier altar, as long as I can get out, I can learn other abilities.”
Li Ran nodded and said, “The outside world is even more wonderful.”
Suddenly, Guo Shier thought of a possibility. He said, “This smaller world is a soul world. Then… here, our souls are greatly enhanced. Brother Li Ran, you are a fragment of the main soul. Given the strength of your soul now, the main soul… shouldn’t be much stronger than you, right?”
Upon hearing this, Li Ran’s expression changed drastically. He remained silent for a moment before laughing again and saying, “You clever brat… how did you come up with that?”
Guo Shier dismissed it as trivial. “It’s common sense—just some reasoning.”
Li Ran shook his head. “I did indeed have that thought…”
Guo Shier asked, “Do you think… you can surpass the main soul?”
Li Ran smiled slightly and said, “How can I know without trying? It doesn’t matter if I fail. After all, I’m just a fragment of the main soul. If I can win, then I become the main soul and can inherit everything.”
Guo Shier said, “No wonder you’re determined to go back at all costs. If you weren’t confident, you wouldn’t plan to return.”

Li Ran said, “Hehe, you guessed right. If I couldn’t advance to the altar beyond the ninth level, I wouldn’t have tried every means to return. As long as I return to the Greater World, I’ll be summoned by the main soul. But the main soul probably didn’t expect that in the smaller world, my soul could grow to this extent.”
“As for other abilities… maybe I’m not that great, but when it comes to souls, we are the kings! No one knows souls better than us, and no one knows the spells brought by souls better than us!”
Guo Shier said with a smile, “So you’re confident in defeating the main soul and taking control of everything?”
Li Ran nodded. “That’s right. The most important thing is that I have the altar beyond the ninth level—a weapon unmatched. The main soul is almost unprepared against me. With the altar to suppress it, I’m confident I can gain the upper hand and merge with the main soul.”
Guo Shier immediately thought of the advantages. He said, “If you replace the main soul, then… you can control everything. Hehe, that would be very helpful for us.”
Li Ran couldn’t help but say, “You… you guy. Hehe, but you’re right. If I replace the main soul, there’s no real winner or loser among souls—it’s just a matter of who has control. Once I have control, it’s of course beneficial for you all.”
Guo Shier thought for a moment and asked, “What if we lose?”
Li Ran spread his hands and said, “Well, there’s nothing much to worry about. Actually, the main soul is me—I am the main soul. It’s just a matter of control. But if the main soul has control, it won’t pay attention to you.”
Guo Shier gradually understood that the main soul and the split souls were one and the same; it wasn’t about who was stronger or weaker. The key was who held control of the soul. If Li Ran had control, he would be in charge. He said, “This… Brother Li Ran, I hope you can win!”
Li Ran smiled. “Of course. If I win, it’s good for everyone. But… we need to get out first.”
Guo Shier said, “With Sister Zhen around, the two of you working together, it shouldn’t be hard to get out. But before that, I hope to find our master and masteress, and we also need to prepare a large number of sacrifices. It’s only now that I realize there aren’t enough sacrifices.” Thinking about the number of sacrifices needed for advancement, he felt chilled.
Li Ran said, “That’s because you switched altars, going directly from the first level to the sixth. The number of sacrifices required is naturally enormous. Although more sacrifices will be needed in the future, it won’t be that many.”

Guo Shier felt relieved and said, “I was always worried that there wouldn’t be enough sacrifices. This really was a lesson. If you hadn’t been here, I would have been in trouble.” He and the old man Shuai had discussed this matter before. The old man Shuai hadn’t expected to need so many sacrifices; in the end, he even used the two most important Soul Beads—the souls of two Level 15 Aberrant Symbol Beasts—which caused Guo Shier great pain. If those two Aberrant Soul Beasts had been kept, they could have been of great help to the altar.

Fortunately, Li Ran provided many Soul Beads; otherwise, the old man Shuai might have even sacrificed Gu Xi Bi. It was really tense at that time—the altar was on the verge of collapsing. If it had collapsed, Guo Shier would have lost half his life even if he survived. More importantly, he would never be able to construct an altar again.

Li Ran said, “Alright, let’s go back. From now on, be careful. Although consuming Soul Beads is a shortcut, it can easily drive one mad. Once you lose your sanity… no one can save you.”

Guo Shier laughed and said, “Now you can save me!”

Li Ran was stunned for a moment. Remembering that Soul Scripture, he suddenly understood and said, “I see. But you still need to be careful. I’ve seen many advanced altar practitioners die from madness. Without the guidance of the Soul Scripture, their deaths were tragic.”

Guo Shier smiled bitterly and said, “I know. There was no other choice. This time, the amount of soul energy missing after switching altars was too large, so I had to take a risk. Otherwise, it would cause trouble later. Luckily, I have plenty of Soul Beads.” He had a vast supply of them—whether it was extracting souls from altars or forcibly taking souls from altar practitioners after killing them, he had plenty.

Li Ran tore open a space and took Guo Shier back to Ancient Miluo City. Only then did Guo Shier remember to ask, “What continent was that just now?”

Li Ran smiled and said, “It’s not a continent. It’s a small secret realm.”

Guo Shier was surprised and asked, “Could it be the secret realm you sealed?”

Li Ran replied, “No. I do have a sealed small secret realm, but I only use it to store things. The one we went to just now is an ordinary secret realm. It’s mainly very close to Ancient Miluo City, so it’s easy to reach.”

Guo Shier said, “Brother Li Ran, could you help me find a small secret realm? It doesn’t have to be big. I want to seal it inside an altar.” He could never understand this concept—just like the existence of altars, even though he already had a six-layer altar, he couldn’t figure out why altars could contain souls. He also couldn’t understand why small secret realms could be sealed inside altars, though that didn’t stop him from using and creating them.

Li Ran smiled and said, “Others really don’t have a way, but I know a place with many small secret realms. Well, starting with smaller secret realms, they can actually grow over time. With a sixth-level altar, you can indeed seal a secret realm, but with an ordinary altar, it’s far less effective.”
Guo Shier smiled happily. “Great, haha! I just feel that the token storage space is too small.”
The old man couldn’t help but curse softly, “You greedy brat! I’ve created so many token storage spaces, and you still think it’s not enough… Even if you get a small secret realm, you’ll still think it’s not enough…” No matter how softly he cursed, Guo Shier could tell. His soul trembled slightly as he said, “I still need to take a lot of things out—the bigger the space, the better!”
The old man sighed in frustration. “A never-satisfied guy… Forget it, I’m too lazy to argue with you. I still have many things to do…”
Guo Shier said, “Old Man Shuai, don’t you know that once you have a small secret realm, you can have a real home?”
The old man was stunned for a moment before shouting, “That’s right! I idiot… Exactly! Haha, I can’t leave the altar, but if there’s a small secret realm inside it, won’t I have control? Haha, great! Excellent!”
Guo Shier snapped, “Stop arguing!”
The noise from their argument was quite loud, causing slight fluctuations in their souls. Ordinary people wouldn’t notice, but Li Ran was different—his soul was extremely powerful. He asked, “Who are you talking to?”
Guo Shier replied awkwardly, “I’m communicating with my sacrificial spirit.”
Li Ran asked, “Your sacrificial spirit… still retains its memories?” He had already sensed the extraordinary nature of the old man.
Guo Shier remembered something and said, “I recall you obtained the soul of an ancient token person in the Bloody Secret Realm. Is it your sacrificial spirit now?”
Li Ran nodded. “That’s right. That soul is quite good. It retains all its memories. Hehe, finding a complete soul, especially one of an ancient token person, is extremely difficult. It was pure luck back then; otherwise, I still wouldn’t have a sacrificial spirit.”
The two flew into the headquarters of the ancient Miluo family. Led by several professionals, they went to Hai Miluo’s room.
Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan were sitting in the room. When Li Ran and Guo Shier entered, they saw many elders there as well. Clan Leader Feng Miluo was sitting beside Hai Miluo. Li Ran smiled and said, “It’s so lively here. Why are you all here?”

Guo Shier asked, “What happened?” He was quite perceptive; it was obvious that with so many ancestors gathered together, something must have occurred.