Chapter 84: Oh no, Young Master Meng Chong Has Fainted!

It gave a low, piercing cry, then kicked and braced itself against the wall with both hands and feet. Its body of red-gold sprang upward like a dragon.

After a few leaps, it had reached directly beneath Meng Chong.

The instant it gathered force, its body suddenly unfurled, like a great war bow drawing back its string, bursting with the beauty of power.

Its right arm shot out with violent force. Though the motion was heavy and overwhelming, it carried an impression of lightness and agility, like a white crane spreading its wings.

Then Yuan Dasheng’s palm descended softly, its five fingers as nimble as they had been in life, and settled upon the wooden head of Meng Chong’s puppet body.

A gentle twist. A slight turn.

When it landed, its toes touched the ground first. Then its arms, like a cloak and a pair of wings, slid down along both sides of its body, slow in appearance yet swift in truth, leaving behind a brilliant red afterimage.

The fierce wind howled, but its touchdown was nearly soundless.

In stark contrast came the sound of Meng Chong hitting the ground.

With a loud crack, the impact echoed through Stage Three.

Yuan Dasheng let out a soft hiss, glanced at Meng Chong’s severed head in its palm, then turned its wrist over and opened its hand like flowing water.

Meng Chong’s head fell like a wooden ball and rolled a short distance from the momentum before coming to rest on the ground.

Though the puppet’s features were limited in expressiveness, one could still make out, faintly, the wide-eyed horror Meng Chong had worn at the moment of his fatal blow.

At the same time, in the City Lord’s Manor.

Meng Chong suddenly opened his eyes.

He looked as though he had been jolted awake from a nightmare. The sensation of death, vivid and complete, had crashed deep into his soul.

He sucked in breath after breath, his entire body slick with cold sweat.

If Han Ming were to see him now, he might not even recognize him.

At this moment, Meng Chong was skin and bones, like a long-suffering invalid who had not seen sunlight in ages. His once-powerful frame had become gaunt beyond belief, his cheekbones sharply protruding, his eye sockets deeply sunken.

In the past, his gaze had been frighteningly bright. Now even his eyes were dim and lifeless.

“That monkey mechanism is strong. Very strong!”

“But I won’t lose.”

“Give me some special training, and I’ll turn this around for sure. I’ll beat it, and I’ll pass this stage!”

Though badly battered, Meng Chong was not discouraged in the least.

However, just as he tried to prop himself up and rise from the bed, that slight movement made his vision go black, and he collapsed at once into unconsciousness.

Thud.

He flopped right back onto the bed.

The attendants outside the room had heard the commotion and knew that Meng Chong’s soul had returned to his body. Hearing this sound, however, they immediately sensed that something was wrong. They hurriedly called out, but received no response from Meng Chong.

The two attendants grew so anxious that their faces turned red. In their panic, they conferred briefly, then slammed through the door together.

“Young Master Meng Chong!”

“Oh no, Young Master Meng Chong has fainted!”

The cry for help spread outward, and the rear courtyard of the City Lord’s Manor was instantly thrown into chaos.

In the underground workshop, Ning Zhuo’s mouth hung slightly open, unable to hide the delight on his face.

This was far different from what he had anticipated.

The surprise was a little too great.

“The combat strength of the Golden-Blood Battle Ape, Yuan Dasheng, is far above Meng Chong’s.”

“After this real combat test, Meng Chong’s immortal aptitude, Thunderbolt Rampage, did improve, but it still couldn’t do anything to Yuan Dasheng.”

“The turning point was Meng Chong himself. Something seems to have gone wrong with him, and it appears he can no longer use Thunderbolt Rampage.”

Ning Zhuo inferred that this was likely because his soul had entered the immortal palace.

Without a physical body, many things became inconvenient.

It was just like when Ning Zhuo had previously sensed the Buddha-Heart Demon Seal, and had to use the Lifeline Thread to mediate the process.

Meng Chong’s situation was the same.

The activation of Thunderbolt Rampage continuously consumed essence, energy, and spirit. That drain was already fierce to begin with, and then it had to be transmitted through the Lifeline Thread, losing too much along the way. Once it reached the puppet body, Meng Chong used it again and again without regard for the cost.

“If Meng Chong and I were to clash inside Fire Persimmon Immortal City, his Thunderbolt Rampage would be even more effective!”

“By contrast, Yuan Dasheng is a mechanical monkey, so its combat strength is the same inside or outside the immortal palace.”

“Yuan Dasheng is terrifying in close combat. Meng Chong simply cannot compare.”

“Earlier, Meng Chong could still rely on his immortal aptitude to hold the line. But once that aptitude failed him and Yuan Dasheng closed in, he had no chance left.”

At this point, Ning Zhuo felt a renewed surge of relief.

From his analysis of the intelligence, he had already anticipated Yuan Dasheng’s dreadful prowess in melee combat, which was why he had avoided direct confrontation altogether, making no attempt at a rush attack or a sneak attack.

As events proved, how wise that decision had been.

If he had previously chosen violence and charged straight ahead, he would have been handing himself over to Yuan Dasheng on a platter.

Ning Zhuo settled his mind and focused, his connection with the Golden-Blood Battle Ape, Yuan Dasheng, gradually intensifying.

After a few breaths, a white circle of light for transportation appeared out of nowhere. It expanded before him, and at last spat out the Golden-Blood Battle Ape, Yuan Dasheng.

Yuan Dasheng was a little shorter than he was, but its build was far more burly and imposing. Even standing perfectly still, its red-and-gold coloring and resolute features filled Ning Zhuo with sincere fondness.

The boy rubbed his hands together, his mouth splitting wide in a smile that rose from the very depths of his heart.

He reached out and squeezed Yuan Dasheng’s muscles, only to feel a chill instead. The monkey fur of the mechanism was remarkably soft, while the exposed golden bones were extremely hard.

Such a texture was something puppet-form Ning Zhuo did not possess.

Ning Zhuo inspected it and found that Yuan Dasheng had acquired a few new scrapes and marks.

They had been left by Meng Chong.

“The mechanical creations the Lava Immortal Palace provides for Qi Refining trial disciples are not made from premium materials.”

“The elder of the three sects probably intended to give each trial disciple a fairly refined practice mechanism.”

If the Dragon Tortoise Fire Spirit had heard this assessment, it would certainly have been furious enough to breathe fire.

What do you mean, “fairly refined”?

Is that even something a person would say?

The Lava Immortal Palace had consumed an entire gold furnace for this. In terms of materials and selection, everything had been pushed to the very limit allowed by the stage’s rules.

Nothing could be better than the Golden-Blood Battle Ape, Yuan Dasheng. Even the suspended coffins hanging in the air were nowhere near its match.

To put it in simple terms: if the normal standard was wooden knives and wooden swords, then Ning Zhuo’s mechanical Yuan Dasheng was like bronze and iron forged into weapons.

Ning Zhuo tried to repair Yuan Dasheng.

The body made of vermilion fire glaze bore many tiny cracks.

Upon close inspection, the body seemed faintly translucent.

The information conveyed to him by the Lava Immortal Palace did not include a mechanism diagram, but it did state that the body was made from Crimson Flame Stone.

There was plenty of Crimson Flame Stone in Fire Persimmon Mountain.

Ning Zhuo kept quite a stock of it in his materials warehouse. He immediately took some out, fired it, and turned it into a bright red fluid, clear and luminous.

He worked that fluid into the cracks, and before long all of them were repaired, leaving the body as good as new.

Ning Zhuo studied the monkey fur for a while longer, then showed a troubled expression.

He still had not figured out how the fur had been made.

So he decided to use his own method first, making some monkey fur of his own and planting it over the exposed areas of the body.

On the surface, it looked at least consistent with the other large patches of original fur. But Ning Zhuo knew its defensive performance had dropped considerably.

After the repairs were done, Ning Zhuo began cleaning Yuan Dasheng from head to toe.

At the end, he even took out a handkerchief, breathing on it from time to time as he polished the Golden-Blood Battle Ape, Yuan Dasheng, until the golden bones shone bright and clean, without a speck of dust. Only then was he satisfied.

Just as he was preparing to study the mechanical Yuan Dasheng in earnest, someone arrived with a letter.

After the messenger left, Ning Zhuo opened the letter and read it, slightly raising an eyebrow.

The letter informed him that tomorrow he was to go to the Zhou family, where his progress in his cultivation art would be tested, and where he would also use the Zhou family’s formation to assist his training.

“So the Ning family has joined forces with the Zhou family?”

“Hm... then the Zheng family is probably involved as well.”

“The three families are working together. What about the City Lord’s Manor?”

Ning Zhuo was not surprised. This shift in the situation had already been within his expectations.

What gave him pause was what sort of image he should present to the three great families.

After thinking it over for a moment, Ning Zhuo made up his mind.

“It’s time to show a little mechanical talent and make some waves.”