Chapter 25: I Have a Head Now

Darkness.

A vast expanse of darkness.

Within this endless black, Ning Zhuo gradually regained awareness.

“What exactly happened?”

“Where am I?!”

At that moment, a message traveled along the tenuous thread that tethered his life, reaching deep into his heart: “Lava Immortal Palace, mechanism inheritance, soul guided by a suspended thread, trial of Qi Refinement... Leave Room One, enter Room Two.”

Ning Zhuo’s spirit jolted awake as understanding dawned.

“So, the peak of Qi Refinement Level Three is the first criterion for selection.”

“I've reached it, so my soul was drawn here, into the Lava Immortal Palace, beginning the second trial.”

“This is very different from the information my mother left me!”

“As expected, the appearance of the Law-Passing Bell already hinted that the competition method for Qi Refinement cultivators in the Lava Immortal Palace is completely unlike that of the Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, or Nascent Soul stages.”

“Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense.”

“Once a cultivator reaches the Foundation Establishment stage, their dantian is thoroughly transformed and stabilized. To change cultivation methods at that point is extremely difficult, nearly impossible.”

“But I, still in the Qi Refinement stage, took the opportunity while my dantian was unformed to switch paths and practice the Five Elements Qi Law. To the Lava Immortal Palace, that makes me one of their own.”

“Compared to those outsiders practicing other techniques, the difference is clear as day.”

“However…”

“Leave Room One and enter Room Two? How do I do that?”

Ning Zhuo calmed his mind, carefully sensing in the unending darkness.

Gradually, he realized his soul was not existing independently, but was instead residing within some object, and within that object, there was a hidden gathering of spiritual power.

Ning Zhuo tried to mobilize this spiritual power, but nothing happened.

He pondered, then used the Five Elements Qi Law to guide it, and at once there was a response.

The spiritual power began to move, flowing slowly along the paths laid out by the Five Elements Qi Law inside the object housing his soul.

Through this, Ning Zhuo gradually perceived that the dwelling of his soul resembled a long, rectangular box.

“A coffin?” Ning Zhuo guessed.

“Also, this feeling of guiding spiritual power is very familiar.”

“It should be a spirit stone. I’m drawing spiritual power from within it.”

“The spiritual power in a spirit stone is limited; by circulating my technique like this, I’m steadily consuming it.”

Ning Zhuo halted his technique, falling into hesitation.

Lost in thought within the darkness, he could find no further clues.

“It seems there’s only this one option…”

Gritting his teeth, Ning Zhuo decided to take the risk.

He had never lacked the courage for adventure.

This time, he exerted the Five Elements Qi Law to its fullest, causing the spiritual power to deplete rapidly, yet he did not stop.

The spiritual energy began to seep outward from the “rectangular box.”

The escaping energy was like tendrils, granting Ning Zhuo faint impressions.

“In that direction, something seems to exist.” In the darkness, Ning Zhuo sensed a presence.

Moreover, that presence seemed to respond faintly to him.

Determined, Ning Zhuo urged his spiritual power to its peak.

The resonance immediately intensified, surging dozens of times stronger within a few breaths!

Until—a mysterious, solid object suddenly struck the long box housing Ning Zhuo’s soul.

The spiritual energy radiating outward quickly drew the box and the mysterious object together, fusing them instantly.

The energy Ning Zhuo sent out now had a new destination.

As the power poured into the mysterious object, Ning Zhuo gradually perceived its shape.

“It seems to be…an arm?”

Like a bolt of lightning, inspiration flashed through Ning Zhuo’s mind.

He continued circulating his technique, confirming his guess.

It was indeed an arm, with a hand at its end, and four fingers on the hand.

In the darkness, Ning Zhuo felt it closely.

He tried swinging the arm, then extended the hand, flexed the fingers, and groped about.

He had no sense of touch, but the spiritual power he extended began to resonate with other mysterious things.

Soon, a square-shaped solid object was also drawn to him, snapping into place.

The darkness that had shrouded him instantly vanished, and his vision was illuminated in a flash.

At last, he could see everything around him!

He was in a vast chamber, where countless mechanism components were piled up—torsos, heads, arms and legs, tails, horns, wings, and so forth.

The variety of parts was bewildering, all made of wood with a tawny hue.

As for Ning Zhuo, he was perched atop a small mountain formed by these mechanism parts.

He examined himself.

“My guess was right!”

The rectangular box his soul had inhabited was a rectangular mechanical torso part.

The first thing he’d drawn to himself was a left arm.

The second, the square-shaped piece, was a blocky mechanical head.

“It truly is a head!”

“I have a head now!”

“And it’s quite a big one,” Ning Zhuo rejoiced.

The head component had attachments resembling eyes, allowing him to see.

With the ability to observe, everything became much easier for Ning Zhuo.

He followed the same method, searching through the heap of mechanism parts and attaching more to his body.

By the time he clambered down from the mountain of parts to the ground, he possessed two arms and two legs.

“A mechanical puppet’s body, is it…”

At this moment, Ning Zhuo’s main body was a long rectangular box. He had two legs—one a bit slender, the other thicker, and not quite equal in height.

His two arms were the same length, but one hand had only three fingers, the other four.

His head was a perfect square, much larger in proportion to the torso, giving him a somewhat foolish appearance.

“With a body, I can move freely like a person, but the spiritual power consumption has also increased greatly.”

Ning Zhuo kept a close watch on the spirit stone within his torso. So far, he had already used nearly half its energy.

“There should be spirit stones stored within the other torso parts. I could take them for backup.”

However, just as he pinpointed another torso piece and prepared to act, a new message arrived—he was forbidden from damaging other parts.

“Then I’ll assemble another body,” Ning Zhuo thought, but another message came—currently, the number of spiritual parts allowed is one.

Ning Zhuo had no choice but to rise to his feet.

The first message returned to his mind—the requirement to leave Room One and enter Room Two.

That was the assessment criterion.

“On the surface, the second trial has no time limit, but that’s not really true.”

“Since only one spiritual part is permitted, and the spirit stone’s energy is constantly draining…”

“I must complete the first assessment before the energy is exhausted.”

“I need to leave here quickly.”

Room One was vast, its walls of red copper, ceiling of gold, and the lighting bright.

Ning Zhuo had long since noticed the room’s only door.

He hobbled toward it.

When he reached the door and his fingers just touched it, another message arrived.

A single spirit stone, a hanging ring on a mechanism part, and a spell called ‘A Single Breath.’

“Only one choice is allowed?”