“It’s right here!” Yuan Er arrived at Ning Zhuo’s courtyard gate early in the morning.

Seeing his intention to enter, the Ning family cultivator, who was at the Qi Refining stage and on patrol, immediately appeared and blocked his way, saying, “Halt.”

Yuan Er was at the Foundation Establishment stage, but seeing the identity badge on the Qi Refining cultivator’s waist, he dared not act presumptuously. “I’m here to see Ning Zhuo. I am Yuan Er, the current leader of the Monkey Head Gang.”

“Please wait a moment while I report,” the Qi Refining cultivator said, glancing at Yuan Er and signaling to a companion who had arrived.

The companion nodded and stood in front of the courtyard gate, blocking Yuan Er’s path.

Yuan Er felt uneasy, thinking to himself that he, a dignified gang leader, was actually stopped outside the courtyard when seeking an audience with a Qi Refining cultivator.

However, in recent days, he had gathered considerable intelligence, knowing that Ning Zhuo was valued by the Ning family and was a favorite of the young master, Ning Xiaoren.

“Why don’t I have a large family to rely on?” Yuan Er thought to himself. At that moment, the cultivator who went to report returned and said, “You may enter!”

Yuan Er stepped into the courtyard, but after a few steps, he paused slightly.

He had caught a wisp of Foundation Establishment cultivator’s aura, which then vanished.

He immediately understood that it was intentionally revealed to warn him not to act rashly.

Yuan Er was shocked. “What exactly does Ning Zhuo have that warrants such attention from the family? They even dispatched a Foundation Establishment cultivator to protect him?”

The joint cultivation venture of the three families was kept secret from the outside world.

Yuan Er was still unaware of the inside story.

“Gang Leader Yuan Er, please come in!” At that moment, Ning Zhuo came out to greet him with a polite smile.

Ning Zhuo led him into the bedroom, not the study!

“Sorry, I needed to set up a cultivation chamber temporarily. Please forgive me, Gang Leader Yuan Er!” Ning Zhuo explained.

Yuan Er then saw three array masters working together on the setup.

He immediately recognized that these three array masters were all well-known veterans in the market, all at the Foundation Establishment level, not a single one at the Qi Refining stage.

Yuan Er immediately sensed Ning Zhuo’s wealth and generosity, and the constraints in his heart grew even stronger.

Ning Zhuo did not invite him to sit down, so Yuan Er could only stand at the door, feeling awkward.

Ning Zhuo communicated with the array masters while glancing at Yuan Er from the corner of his eye, observing his reactions.

After a moment, he turned to Yuan Er and said, “Gang Leader Yuan Er, as you can see, I’m quite busy here. What can I do for you?”

Yuan Er then said, “Mr. Ning, could we speak somewhere more private?”

Ning Zhuo refused. He pointed to the cultivation chamber, “You can see that I have to keep an eye on things and can’t get away at the moment!”

“I can guess what you’re here for!”

“You want to customize a mechanical monkey, right?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Yuan Er nodded quickly, “Mr. Ning, you remembered!”

“I’ve always kept it in mind!” Ning Zhuo sighed, “But I’m very slow lately!”

“I was living in the family estate just a few days ago!”

“Although I was fortunate to have the young master of my clan care for me and let me stay at his residence for many days, I thought about it and decided that moving back here would be more convenient. I’m more accustomed to this kind of life.”

“So, as you can see, I first set up a small room for cultivation!”

“I’m quite busy, so you’ll have to be patient and wait!”

Of course, Yuan Er would not be so easily brushed off.

He maintained a low profile and politely inquired about a timeframe from Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo sighed, “It’s hard to say. In the next few days, the family will also be preparing a test for me to assess my talent.”

“I can’t give you a definite answer right now, but rest assured, you will get it!”

“Test your talent?” Yuan Er was shocked.

Even the three array masters, who were setting up the formation, raised their heads to look at Ning Zhuo.

Having spiritual roots was not rare, but cultivators with talent were uncommon.

Even lower-grade talent was different from the ordinary and was a true genius.

“Could it be that Ning Zhuo revealed his talent, and that’s why he gained the favor of the family?” Yuan Er inevitably made this connection.

In an instant, his assessment of Ning Zhuo rose again, reaching a whole new level.

Although he was the leader of the Monkey Head Gang, he had difficulty convincing the others and lacked strong helpers.

Faced with Ning Zhuo, a genius cultivator and a favorite of a large cultivation family, he dared not be tough.

Thus, he was left out in the cold by Ning Zhuo for a while, and he couldn’t bear the awkwardness, so he took the initiative to leave.

Ning Zhuo smiled again, “Let me see you out!”

Even so, he only saw him to the bedroom door.

As soon as Yuan Er left, one of the Foundation Establishment stage Ning family guards sent a telepathic message to Ning Zhuo, “There’s a tail following Yuan Er!”

After Yuan Er entered the courtyard, this tail had been hiding nearby and hadn’t left.

“As soon as Yuan Er left, the tail also left!”

“Do we need to remind Yuan Er?”

The guard wasn’t sure what the relationship between Yuan Er and Ning Zhuo was, so the report was timely and detailed.

Ning Zhuo thought for a moment and shook his head, “Gang Leader Yuan Er is powerful and doesn’t need to be reminded!”

The guard immediately understood and stopped talking.

Ning Zhuo’s eyes were deep and mysterious. From beginning to end, he had never considered handing over the mechanical construct made from Yuan Dasheng’s corpse to Yuan Er.

Yuan Er’s problem didn’t need to be handled by him, because the elders of the Monkey Head Gang, as well as Yuan Yi and the countless enemies Yuan Dasheng had made throughout his life, would take action to solve the problem for Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo only needed to delay as much as possible.

As for the family testing his talent, that wasn’t a problem either.

“For the sake of Ning Xiaohui, how could the family easily test out my talent?”

“At most, they’ll just make a show of it to prove to the Zhou and Zheng families that I do have talent, but the results haven’t been determined yet.”

Ning Family!

Ning Xiaohui’s entire body exuded a chill. Her hands were constantly plunged deep into the ice, and her lips were purple from the cold.

Her grandmother accompanied her throughout and encouraged her, “Xiaohui, hold on.”

“You need to carefully feel the meaning of the ice and cold.”

Ning Xiaohui shivered, “Grandma, Grandma, does it have to be this way? Can’t we use another method?”

Her grandmother shook her head slightly, “This is the fastest way.”

“Talent is the soil for divine abilities. This method can fully stimulate your talent, thereby manifesting more of it.”

“If we were in the Northern Wind Kingdom, you would have grown up in the icy and snowy environment and would have a deeper understanding of the Ice Jade Hands.”

“Unfortunately, this is the Southern Bean Kingdom, and we live on an active volcano. The environment is inconsistent, making you understand your talent very little.”

“No, no, I’m going to freeze to death!” Ning Xiaohui couldn’t hold on any longer and finally withdrew her hand, failing miserably.

Her grandmother sighed deeply, but seeing Ning Xiaohui’s crying face, the words of blame were never spoken.

At the summit of Fire Persimmon Mountain, clouds and smoke churned!

Meng Chong floated in mid-air, his eyes wide, staring fixedly at the surrounding clouds and smoke.

With a clap of thunder, the gray and white clouds and smoke suddenly flashed a deep blue color!

This was the color of electricity passing through the clouds and smoke.

Meng Chong had no time to react before he was struck by a thunderbolt. He spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward.

“Damn it, hateful!”

“The mist here is so thick that it blocks my eyes, and I can’t even see the process of the lightning strike!”

Meng Chong was exhausted.

Although his vital essence had been replenished by Meng Kui, his mana and spirit were still extremely weak.

Even Meng Kui, a Nascent Soul expert, was helpless in these two aspects.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have pills to restore mana and energy, but after a cultivator consumed pills, they had to use the corresponding profound art to quickly digest the medicinal power.

Otherwise, the medicinal power would accumulate, and the extreme would reverse, inevitably affecting the body and even endangering life.

Unfortunately, Meng Chong only had the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art and only the first three layers, so the efficiency of digesting the medicinal power was too low.

He also had no corresponding cultivation method for essence and spirit, so his ability to digest them was extremely weak.

Meng Chong was struck hard again, and layers of scorched black skin peeled off, and cracks appeared on the surface of his hardened body, from which fresh blood continuously flowed.

He had become a bloody figure, and his body was overwhelmed, but his fighting spirit became more and more fierce.

“Come!”

“Again!”

“Again!”

Boom, boom, boom…

He was struck half-dead by thunder, and in the midst of life and death, he suddenly had an epiphany.

Buzz…

Electric arcs flickered on his body, forming an ethereal shadow woven from lightning.

The shadow was closely related to Meng Chong’s body, limbs, and depended on each other.

When thunder struck again, Meng Chong swayed, leaving a lightning shadow in place, and his real body had already flashed past.

He dodged the thunder, and the lightning shadow that remained was pierced, but it instead absorbed the power of the lightning.

The buzzing sound was loud and became more and more solid.

“Using my talent this way consumes much less than before!”

“The key is that I can only accelerate a certain part of my divine body. With this alone, I can deal with that special mechanical ape!”

“Hahaha, I’m coming, I’m coming!”

Meng Chong raised his arms in excitement and laughed heartily.

Meng Kui nodded secretly, a look of appreciation on his face, and thought to himself, “As expected of my grandson, brave and diligent, fearless, and not disgracing the Meng surname!”