Chapter 115: Lock the Doors, No One Leaves!

Ning Zhuo cherished every exploration of the Immortal Palace.

Nowadays, his circumstances made it difficult for him to explore freely. The primary reason was that an increasing number of people had reached the peak of the third stage of Qi Refining; Ning Zhuo had to remain hidden among them to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.

In the first room, he assembled his construct and met up with members of the Zhou and Zheng families, allowing his great treasure, the Golden Blood Battle Ape "Da Sheng," to make a public appearance.

In the second room, Ning Zhuo ordered Yuan Da Sheng to repel all his companions and, in front of them, to be knocked into a trap. This way, he did not need to offer any explanations; the Zhou and Zheng family members would naturally tell the Ning family why Ning Zhuo’s soul had returned to his body so late.

Ning Zhuo first reset the mechanisms, then cleaned up the battlefield with Yuan Da Sheng, digging out and taking all the spirit stones from the defeated puppets. When pushing open the second portal, Ning Zhuo chose mechanical components. He did not use the My Buddha My Demon Seal to retreat again. The reason was that he had already collected all the spell rewards for clearing the second room. There were only a mere two spirit stones, and Ning Zhuo chose to abandon them, preferring to save as much soul power as possible. Drawing upon a sliver of the My Buddha My Demon Seal’s power consumed soul strength, and the further one progressed, the more soul power was required to retreat.

The third room was the limit of Meng Chong’s record. It was filled with numerous mechanical puppets. Seeing Ning Zhuo appear, they immediately pounced. Yuan Da Sheng let out a low growl and stood at the forefront. Ning Zhuo cycled through several spells, freezing all the martial arts puppets. To this day, he had claimed the leaderboard rewards many times, harvesting a vast amount of spellcasting experience, which allowed him to reach a level of proficiency where he could use these spells with ease.

After clearing the third stage, Ning Zhuo arrived at the preparation room. Under the leaderboard, he claimed the rewards for ranking first on all five lists. The number of spirit stones surged by several hundred. Just looking at this, the spirit stone rewards from the portals earlier seemed pitifully meager. It is worth mentioning that the insights Ning Zhuo now gained from the spells he claimed were of little benefit to him, far less than they had been in the beginning.

"With my current nascent divine ability, can I use the My Buddha My Demon Seal to remove my name from the lists directly? Or perhaps simply hide the leaderboard pillar?" Ning Zhuo attempted it, but did not succeed.

Passing through the preparation room, he entered the fourth room. Ning Zhuo cast spells in rotation, obtaining over a dozen mechanical parts, such as Flying Wanderer Hands and Qi-Releasing Rings. He was fully armed in an instant.

Fifth room, sixth room, preparation room. Seventh room, eighth room, ninth room.

With Ning Zhuo and Yuan Da Sheng working in tandem, their overall combat effectiveness underwent a qualitative change; it was far easier than tackling the challenges alone. Yuan Da Sheng’s own nature did not favor the use of spells. With it acting as the vanguard, attracting and engaging the enemy, Ning Zhuo stayed in the rear, seizing opportunities to cast various spells to his heart's content.

After passing through the preparation room for the third time, Ning Zhuo entered the transit hall and saw the three doors of Buddha, Demon, and Dao once again. His highest record previously had been relying solely on Yuan Da Sheng, who had gritted its teeth and ignored the damage to clear the three Buddhist stages, once again entering the transit hall to see the new three doors. Through contact with the portals, Ning Zhuo had obtained the fourth to sixth levels of the Mirror Terrace Psychic Manual, the Five Elements Qi Regulation Manual, and the Demonic Blood-Tendon Technique.

By now, his Qi Refining cultivation had reached the late fourth stage, his Essence Refining cultivation was at the peak of the fourth stage, and his Spirit Refining cultivation was unique, reaching the early sixth stage. This state of cultivation meant that Ning Zhuo’s best option was to use the Buddhist route as his primary path for clearing the stages.

Ning Zhuo first pushed open the Demon Gate, obtaining the blood energy gifted by the portal. With the boost of blood energy, Yuan Da Sheng’s strength increased significantly. In the three stages following the Demon Gate, Yuan Da Sheng did its best to absorb the blood energy of the martial arts puppets, accumulating it to its own limit. Like the Buddhist route, there was no reward for the second stage, but after reaching the third stage, a wealth of reward information was bestowed.

One mechanical component caught Ning Zhuo’s attention—the Blood Oil Bottle. Using this component, one could collect various types of blood energy, mix them, and refine them to eventually form an oil-like substance with the texture of blood. Blood oil was not as good as pure blood energy, but in some respects, it could serve as a substitute.

"The Blood-Dissolving Pool can consume living beings with blood and decompose them into countless pools of blood. If the Blood-Dissolving Pool and the Blood Oil Bottle are used together, mechanical puppets can 'nourish war with war,' greatly increasing the duration of intense combat."

Ning Zhuo chose the Blood Oil Bottle and obtained the component. He pushed through the door and arrived at the transit hall again, seeing the second set of three doors. These three doors required at least peak sixth-stage cultivation to be pushed open. Consequently, Ning Zhuo looked to his own side and discovered the first set of Buddhist and Daoist doors. He walked over to the Daoist door and pushed, but it didn't budge.

*My Buddha My Demon Seal.*

Ning Zhuo opened the door and walked in. The mechanical puppets in the third stage of the Daoist route heard the commotion, turned their heads, and upon discovering Ning Zhuo, swarmed toward him. Ning Zhuo pointed his hand, and Yuan Da Sheng roared, blocking the front. The mechanical puppets in the Daoist stages were surrounded by the Five Elements and used an endless array of spells. Under the barrage of various spells, Yuan Da Sheng immediately fell into a disadvantageous position.

This was the advantage of spell cultivators—high offensive power in a short time with sufficient explosive force. Ning Zhuo immediately intervened, following up with various spells. With his abundant spirit stones, he quickly helped Yuan Da Sheng stabilize the situation. Once a stalemate was reached, Yuan Da Sheng could use its superior one-on-one combat ability to smash the spell-casting puppets one by one.

When the number of spell puppets dropped to a certain level, Ning Zhuo ordered Yuan Da Sheng to slow its attacks, while he personally cast spells to freeze them. "I can move them to the third room and let Meng Chong have a taste!" He reconsidered, "Better move them to the sixth room instead!"

Since being defeated by Yuan Da Sheng, Meng Chong had not sent his soul into the Immortal Palace again. However, the City Lord’s Office’s renovation team had been recorded by the surveillance mechanisms Ning Zhuo had hidden. They had explored many times. Ning Zhuo had a strong premonition that when Meng Chong appeared again, he would definitely have a brand-new look, and his combat power would be at least one grade higher. In such a case, even a large number of spell puppets would not be of much use. Only an existence like the Golden Blood Battle Ape, Da Sheng, would be able to deal with Meng Chong. Even Ning Zhuo himself, with all his gear, would find it difficult to resist Meng Chong if he unleashed his "Galloping Thunder Burst."

Starting from the third stage, Ning Zhuo worked backward through the second and first stages of the Daoist route, finally arriving at the first transit hall. This was his first time clearing the three stages of both the Demon and Daoist routes. Overall, the stage designs for both were similar to the Buddhist one. Both routes offered no rewards for the second stage, concentrating all rewards in the third. Among the Daoist rewards, Ning Zhuo chose the Five Elements Qi-Disruption Technique. This technique targeted Five Elements mana; it could directly disrupt and scatter the orderly Five Elements mana, causing the mana to circulate chaotically, contradict itself, and clash, thereby causing the internal mechanisms of mechanical creations to malfunction and become immobile.

"The blood tendons of the Demonic Blood-Tendon Technique and the Five Elements mana are both ways to strengthen control over mechanical creations! By starting from these two aspects, if Yuan Da Sheng ever loses control again, I will have the means to keep it in check! Perhaps this was the original intention of the Three Sects Master; he created spirit-based mechanisms and therefore designed these three techniques to be used in conjunction with them!"

Ning Zhuo pushed open the Buddhist gate and entered the coffin room again. He received no message, and after trying, found he could no longer select a coffin to create a second-stage mechanical creation. Ning Zhuo shook his head in regret and continued on his way. The Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit saw him shaking his head and was so angry it ground its teeth!

After fighting his way to the final portal, Ning Zhuo did not hesitate to choose the Illusion-Truth Lotus Seed when claiming his reward. Seeing this, the Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit’s expression relaxed, and it couldn't help but feel joyful. Ning Zhuo pushed the door and went out.

*My Buddha My Demon Seal!*

He opened the door and returned! Reward: Illusion-Truth Lotus Seed. The Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit laughed aloud. Ning Zhuo pushed the door and went out.

*My Buddha My Demon Seal.*

He opened the door and returned; reward: Illusion-Truth Lotus Seed.

The Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit lay on its throne, kicking its dragon legs in delight. Ning Zhuo went in and out, choosing the Illusion-Truth Lotus Seed every time. The playful mockery on the Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit’s face gradually disappeared, replaced by surprise and suspicion. It found this very strange. Every time Ning Zhuo retreated from a stage, he had to consume soul power to trigger the My Buddha My Demon Seal. But had he not gone in and out far too many times? This was completely inconsistent with the Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit’s impression. What was going on?

Ning Zhuo’s own cultivation was advancing by leaps and bounds, allowing him to naturally draw upon more of the Dharma treasure's power. More importantly, as his nascent divine ability continued to strengthen, the consumption of the treasure seal's power during the transmission via the "Human Life Hanging Thread" dropped drastically. This resulted in Ning Zhuo’s performance in retreating from the stages being far superior to before.

The eyes of the Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit gradually widened, and the sense of unease in its heart grew stronger and stronger. It even began to feel a sense of trepidation. It couldn't help but form a terrifying hypothesis: that Ning Zhuo had already mastered the "Human Life Hanging Thread" divine ability. But, after all, it had no evidence. The reason it could use the "Human Life Hanging Thread" divine ability was only by borrowing the power of the Lava Immortal Palace. It possessed no such ability itself, nor could it see the "Human Life Hanging Thread."

The enduring Ning Zhuo finally stopped going in and out. He had reached his limit! His soul power was about to hit rock bottom, and at this moment, he missed Han Ming immensely: "After this period, Han Ming should have recovered most of his strength by now! As my soul power continues to grow, I will certainly be able to go in and out more times and extract all the Illusion-Truth Lotus Seeds as quickly as possible."

At this point, Ning Zhuo still had a final surplus of soul power. He could have claimed one more Illusion-Truth Lotus Seed, but he did not. He wanted to conduct a crucial experiment. Ning Zhuo retreated, working his way back to the first transit hall. He faced the three doors of Buddha, Dao, and Demon once more.

"The Buddhist and Demon gates are both my weak points."

"The Demon gate has the Demonic Blood-Tendon Technique; Yuan Da Sheng once tried to use it in public and was caught by Zhu Xuanji, who spotted a clue! If the Demonic Blood-Tendon Technique becomes known to others in the future and reaches Zhu Xuanji’s ears, he will definitely re-examine everything that happened during the Fire Persimmon Festival. And since I am the one who eventually obtained the corpse of Yuan Da Sheng, I will inevitably be the prime suspect!"

"The weak point of the Buddhist gate lies in the first stage. If others obtain the Immortal Palace’s specially crafted mechanical creations in this stage in the future, they will discover that they can freely bring these mechanical creations in and out of the Lava Immortal Palace. Yuan Da Sheng’s origins will be suspected once again!"

"If only I could hide the Demon and Buddhist gates, that would be perfect!"

This had been Ning Zhuo’s thought all along. It wasn't that he hadn't tried, but all previous attempts had failed. This time, he still wanted to try once more.

"Because I have become stronger. I have mastered the nascent 'Human Life Hanging Thread' divine ability. My own cultivation has also improved significantly."

*My Buddha My Demon Seal.*

Ning Zhuo exerted his full strength, and his soul power plummeted. In exchange, a stone wall slowly rose, eventually covering the Buddhist gate completely.