Chapter 7 Reconciliation (Part 1)

Wang Keer said impatiently, “Stop asking. Anyway, the two of them just hate each other. Sigh, I’m the one who’s suffering—listening to all this… Zhen… Ran… Zhen… I don’t know if they hate each other or not, but I’m about to be driven crazy by them… Uh, I didn’t say anything… Go on, haha, continue…”
Qi Wu Zhen and Li Ran glanced at her at the same time, scaring Wang Keer into silence.
Guo Shier sighed. He had no solution. It was hard enough to get them to stop fighting, but now they were starting to hate each other. He stopped asking further, went to the edge of the talisman array, looked at the flames rising outside, placed the altar there, and began the ritual.
“Zhen…”
“Ran…”
“…”
Guo Shier was extremely frustrated. The two of them were even more cheesy than before. Not only could he not focus on the ritual, he couldn’t even sit still. No wonder Wang Keer was so annoyed, and no wonder Halechi looked like he had eaten several pounds of dog poop—their conversation was truly torturous. He wondered why Li Ran, who was usually calm and composed, had become so childish. Although Qi Wu Zhen was crazy, he never lost his sanity once his soul cleared, but even he had become strange this time.
Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen were still discussing how to construct the sacrificial treasure. This indeed required mutual understanding and had to be completed before the ritual, so they debated for seven or eight days before gradually figuring things out. Despite hating each other, they both admired the other in their hearts. The person before them was truly a master who surpassed the ninth-tier altar, with first-class insight and strength.
Since they were in a hostile state, even if they hated each other further, it didn’t affect them much. The unlucky ones were Guo Shier, Wang Keer, and Halechi, who almost died from being annoyed by them. But no one dared speak up, afraid of those two unscrupulous guys.
Guo Shier tried hard to block out their voices, but still felt as if countless mosquitoes were buzzing in his ears, disturbing him and preventing him from concentrating on the ritual. The destructive power of their conversation was immense.
Finally, Halechi couldn’t take it anymore. He started acting up—coughing, blowing his nose, making strange noises. In short, he was trying to disrupt things.
Guo Shier smiled inwardly. An eighth-tier altar professional could hardly get sick, except through injury or death. This guy kept blowing his nose noisily and coughing nonstop, acting like an old sickling who had been ill for decades. Everyone knew what he was up to.

Li Ran remained calm and continued to spout cheesy words. But Qi Wu Zhen could no longer bear it. It had already been extremely difficult for her to hold back until now, so Halqi’s antics immediately pushed her over the edge. She snapped, “Can you shut up?! Do you have worms in your nose or grass in your throat?! Do you want me to set fire to kill those worms and get rid of the grass?”
Li Ran continued to annoy her, “Zhen, let’s ignore him…”
Qi Wu Zhen flew into a rage and cursed, “Zhen, damn you!” She still lacked Li Ran’s composure and couldn’t help exploding.
Guo Shierou couldn’t help but cover his head and wail, “Damn it, it’s happening again! Will it ever end…?”
Li Ran said calmly, “My mom died long ago… Zhen.”
Pfft! Pfft!
Halqi was stunned, but Guo Shierou and Wang Keer simply couldn’t hold back. It was too funny—they never expected Li Ran to respond like that.
Guo Shierou was stunned beyond words. It felt like his head was burning on the outside while remaining tender on the inside, with smoke rising from it. He couldn’t hide the smile on his face no matter what.
Wang Keer hid in a corner of the talisman array, frantically covering her mouth. She knew Qi Wu Zhen was about to explode and certainly didn’t want to get involved, but Li Ran’s words were simply too funny. She couldn’t help laughing.
“I’ll fight you to the death!”
Suddenly, Li Ran roared, “Stop!” His voice was like thunder, like heavy drums and cannons, shaking everyone to their core. Flames surged outward from all around, and the entire mountain trembled.
Qi Wu Zhen leaped forward, but before she could move, the roar silenced her. She froze in a leaping pose, looking as suggestive as possible.
Li Ran said, “Zhen, calm down… I have something to do first. I’ll be back soon…” Before he finished speaking, he disappeared from that spot, leaving no trace of where he went.
Qi Wu Zhen was mortified by Li Ran’s teasing. She had never met such an infuriating person in her life. She gasped for breath, her eyes glowing red, scaring Guo Shierou and the others into shrinking back, too afraid to say a word.
After a long silence, Halqi said, “Well, he’s gone… Stop being angry, Zhen.” He tried to ease the tense atmosphere that was driving people crazy. Perhaps influenced by Li Ran, he unconsciously used the word “Zhen” himself, without even realizing the change in his address.

Qi Wu Zhen heard it clearly. In a fit of rage, she rushed forward. A red figure flashed by, and with a bang! Halechi was sent flying as Qi Wu Zhen kicked him. He cried out in pain, “Hey, hey… why are you hitting me…?”
Qi Wu Zhen snapped, “That’s exactly what I’m doing!” The figure vanished, and she followed. There was a series of loud noises—Halechi was being beaten mercilessly, screaming in agony.
Guo Shier tapped his chest and said, “Idiot, if not you, then who else would get beaten at a time like this?”
Wang Keer sneaked up to Guo Shier, peeking down the mountain and asking softly, “Will Halechi get killed?”
Guo Shier replied, “Who knows? When Sister Zhen gets angry, it’s better to stay far away…” They exchanged a look and said in unison, “Sister Zhen is awesome!”
Wang Keer added, “It’s still Li Ran Senior who’s smart—he ran away when he saw something was wrong.”
Guo Shier said, “Sigh, it’s finally quiet. I can start my cultivation now…”
Wang Keer replied listlessly, “Another cultivation session? Aren’t you tired of it? It’s a shame Li Ran Senior ran away. Otherwise, it would have been more lively. Sigh, why did he run away? So boring!”
Guo Shier muttered under his breath, “Cherish your life… stay away from Sister Zhen…”
Wang Keer asked, “What did you say? Speak up clearly.”
Guo Shier rolled his eyes and said, “I’m busy. I don’t have time to chat…” Before he could finish, there was a thud as Halechi landed in the talisman array. Looking up, Guo Shier couldn’t help but laugh. Halechi had panda eyes, two blood streaks under his nostrils, and his clothes were smoking, torn apart like a beggar’s—his appearance was as pitiful as it could get.
Wang Keer covered her mouth and mumbled, “Oh my, that’s so tragic.”
Halechi struggled to sit up, took out a talisman pill, and swallowed it. Trembling, he asked, “Why are you hitting me?”
Qi Wu Zhen giggled, “You deserve it!” But there wasn’t a trace of humor on her face.
Halechi didn’t dare ask anymore. He crawled to the edge of the talisman array and lay down, muttering, “How could I ever like a woman like her… Ugh, it hurts my pride so much… being beaten by a woman… Sigh, lucky no one saw it, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to live…”
Qi Wu Zhen called out, “Shier!”
Guo Shier trembled in fear and rushed to her side, asking, “Sister Zhen, is something wrong?” He wasn’t as foolish as Halechi. He definitely couldn’t anger her at this moment—she was like a barrel of gunpowder that could explode at the slightest provocation.
Qi Wu Zhen said, “Give me wine!”

Guo Shier didn’t hesitate to take out a pile of strong liquor and said earnestly, “This is the best liquor brewed recently! If it’s not enough… I have more.” He secretly hoped that Qi Wu Zhen would get drunk so she might calm down, but he knew it was a delusion—given her strength, no amount of alcohol would affect her at all.
Qi Wu Zhen waved her hand, and Guo Shier immediately returned to the edge of the talisman array to continue refining the altar. He didn’t want to talk any more; his task was to refine the altar again. This was a rare opportunity he couldn’t afford to miss.
After taking a pill, Halechi’s wounds quickly healed, and the bruising on his face gradually disappeared. Yet, having suffered such a severe blow, he seemed somewhat dispirited.
Qi Wu Zhen held the bottle and drank greedily, her eyes filled with unrelenting fury. Waves of spiritual pressure from her made it hard for everyone to breathe. It wasn’t until she had consumed two bottles of strong liquor that the spiritual pressure lessened somewhat.
While refining the altar, Guo Shier secretly sensed Qi Wu Zhen’s spiritual fluctuations. Gradually, he felt relieved. He was also afraid that Qi Wu Zhen might go mad—once she lost control, no one could stop her, especially since Li Ran was temporarily away.
Guo Shier and the old man worked together to refine the altar again. In fact, it was merely about subjecting the altar to the fire’s purification, using the extreme flames here to consolidate it without making major changes. The flames here were special—they could remove impurities from the altar, especially since this was a rare celestial altar.
The more special an altar was, the harder it was to keep pure, so various methods were needed for refinement—such as these flames or lightning, all of which were highly effective.
Moreover, Guo Shier needed to reinforce the eight-layer altar once more. The old man had already begun constructing a nine-layer altar. With such rapid progression, the altar’s structure wasn’t stable enough. Through the fire’s purification, these shortcomings could be addressed.