The Ning Clan Estate.

Within a secluded chamber for cultivation.

The Ning Clan’s Ancestor was encased in a massive block of ice, seated in a meditative posture, regulating his vital energies.

In his embrace, a jade bottle-shaped treasure emitted a layer of radiant white light.

The ice gradually melted away, until nothing remained.

The Ning Clan Ancestor slowly opened his eyes, exhaling a breath of stale air. He then reached out and touched his forehead.

Even now, there was a dent on his brow, though it was less pronounced than before.

Anger and hatred simmered within the Ning Clan Ancestor’s heart.

To him, this had been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He had entered the Immortal Palace, and waited for the opportune moment when the side hall was breached. He was about to enter, when the “Unexpected Peach Kernel” descended from the heavens, severely injuring him.

The Ning Clan Ancestor was keenly aware of Meng Kui’s “Observer’s Stance” divine ability and the “Unexpected Peach Kernel”.

After suffering the crushing blow from the peach kernel, the Ning Clan Ancestor had no choice but to flee, actively leaving the Lava Immortal Palace.

Thus, a golden opportunity was completely ruined by Meng Kui.

“Meng Kui is truly overbearing!”

“The Lava Immortal Palace is an unowned entity, awaiting a destined individual. Everyone should have a chance!”

“Our Ning Clan was already at a disadvantage, entering late. This time, we finally had some good fortune, able to enter the side hall. But Meng Kui couldn’t even tolerate that, interfering and sabotaging us.”

“It seems that in his heart, the Lava Immortal Palace is already his property!”

“Truly unwilling to let anyone else even touch it!”

The Ning Clan Ancestor caressed the Ice Heart Jade Bottle, gradually calming his emotions.

The Ice Heart Jade Bottle was the Ning Clan’s treasured heirloom.

The entire bottle was meticulously crafted from a single piece of translucent, ice-like cold jade. The bottle’s body was crystalline and clear, resembling a pristine frozen lake, radiating a faint chill.

When the Ning Clan Ancestor touched the bottle, he never felt a piercing cold, but rather a warmth like jade.

The Ning Clan Ancestor pondered the current situation.

“Meng Kui is a Nascent Soul cultivator, and also the City Lord of Fire Persimmon City.”

“His reason for sealing off the volcano is legitimate and justifiable. If I want to enter the Immortal Palace, I must disguise myself, but if I disguise myself, I lose my righteous identity and will be shamelessly targeted by Meng Kui.”

“Alas, it seems…”

“Our clan’s greatest hope lies in the Qi Refining stage competition!”

“But in the Qi Refining stage contest, can Ning Xiaohui really contend with Meng Chong?”

The Ning Clan Ancestor’s heart sank at the thought of Meng Chong possessing Immortal Talent.

He couldn’t help but wonder: Has Meng Chong already reached the latter stages? Is he close to the finish line?

Touching the dent on his forehead again, the Ning Clan Ancestor’s gaze hardened.

“It seems we must increase our support for the family’s ‘Path Revision’ team.”

After a moment of thought, the Ning Clan Ancestor immediately gave the order.

Ning Xiaohui was the first in the revision team to learn of this good news.

“Oh? The Ancestor himself gave the order to retrieve the ‘Frosty Bloom, Proud Snow’ Cultivation Charts, and also activated three bottles of ‘White Snow, Spring Sun’ Pills for distribution to the entire revision team! He will even take out Ice Jade Wine from the Ice Heart Jade Bottle as a reward for the most outstanding cultivator in the revision team?”

“Heh!”

Ning Xiaohui glanced at her own hands and curled her lip. “Reward the most outstanding? Might as well give it directly to me, utterly superfluous!”

Since experiencing her brush with death, Ning Xiaohui’s mental fortitude had grown tremendously.

Later, with her grandmother’s help, she had preliminarily mastered the Heavenly Gifted Ice Jade Hands.

In this process, the Ice Jade Hands’ power had allowed Ning Xiaohui’s injuries to fully heal.

As such, Ning Xiaohui, as a latecomer, had surpassed the Zhou siblings and Zheng Jian of the Zheng Clan!

While the latter three were still recovering from their injuries, Ning Xiaohui had already begun her special training.

Ning Zhuo returned to the family residence.

Along the way, he smiled and greeted any familiar clan members.

After disarming Qi Bai and having a brief conversation with Sun Lingtong, Ning Zhuo seized the time to secretly return.

At this critical juncture, he had to quickly return to the public eye to prevent Han Ming from being captured and revealing that she had seen Yuan Dasheng’s corpse.

On the surface, it was Ning Zhuo who had obtained Yuan Dasheng’s corpse.

Even though there was no evidence linking Ning Zhuo and the Disheveled Hermit together, Ning Zhuo had various excuses even if he was investigated.

For example, selling it on the black market, or that the corpse was simply stolen.

However, it would indeed involve Ning Zhuo’s true identity.

To deal with the potential investigation, Ning Zhuo couldn’t possibly stay in the underground base for too long.

The Ning Residence.

“Xiaozhuo! You’re finally back. The whole city was in chaos yesterday, with frequent conflicts. You weren’t hurt anywhere, were you?”

Wang Lan rushed over, asking with concern.

Ning Zhuo gently shook his head. “Aunt, don’t worry, I’ve been very careful since I was assassinated. Besides, the family assigned guards to protect me, nothing could have happened.”

“That’s good, that’s good!”

Wang Lan suddenly sighed. “Alas, you are unharmed, but your uncle suffered.”

“The prisoner in the cell next to his suddenly went crazy. Over a minor squabble, he grabbed your uncle’s hair and repeatedly slammed his head against the bars.”

“Your uncle is bleeding heavily and urgently needs a good environment to recover!”

“Xiaozhuo, please go ask the Young Clan Leader again, and have him release your own uncle.”

Ning Zhuo’s face darkened, revealing a look of sorrow, and he sighed, “Aunt, so that’s what happened.”

“Uncle has really suffered this time.”

“But I already pleaded with the Young Clan Leader last time, the chances of success this time are very slim!”

“Unless…”

“Aunt, can you return all the cultivation resources you owe me over the years!”

“This!”

Wang Lan’s expression instantly changed, her brows furrowing, her face full of difficulty, and a surge of anger rose fiercely within her.

She roared in her heart, “That Ning Xiaoren never gave anything in terms of cultivation resources, the truth is not like that at all!”

But she could only roar in her heart.

“Xiaozhuo, to be honest, your uncle’s family has very little savings, the daily expenses are too high, there is basically no surplus!”

“It’s simply impossible for me to take it all out at once!”

Ning Zhuo interrupted her, “Aunt, I still need to cultivate, return at least a portion first, you haven’t returned anything yet!”

Ning Zhuo impatiently disentangled himself from Wang Lan, politely refused, and plunged into the cultivation chamber.
Veiling himself in layers of the Floating Cloud Shawl, he obscured his form. Then, he withdrew the skeletal remains of the Arbor Battle Ape Triumph, along with the Golden Blood Battle Ape Mechanism.

The former, ravaged by fierce combat, was reduced to a mere framework of bones.

Had Yuan Dasheng not exhibited his innate celestial aptitude, even this skeletal structure would have been consumed by hellfire.

Ning Zhuo carefully examined the bones, confirming they were of the same material as before, yet now alarmingly fragile.

“Is this because it bore the Weighty Righteousness?”

Ning Zhuo’s eyes flickered with contemplation. The reason why Yuan Dasheng could manifest the Weighty Righteousness within the Arbor Battle Ape had always been a puzzle. He resolved to seek out relevant texts in the future.

With the Arbor Battle Ape Triumph nearing total destruction, Ning Zhuo produced the Golden Blood Battle Ape Mechanism.

Prototype of a Divine Power – Threads of Mortal Life.

He repeated his previous method, suspending Yuan Dasheng’s spirit from the Arbor Battle Ape’s bones and transferring it into the Golden Blood Battle Ape Mechanism.

“Yuan Dasheng’s spirit has undergone a significant change.”

The moment it was extracted, Ning Zhuo noticed a difference.

Previously, Yuan Dasheng’s spirit resembled a pink orb, its surface occasionally manifesting the visage of a young monkey’s head.

Now, the spirit, still a pink orb, had tripled in size.

The manifested monkey head was no longer that of a juvenile, but a mature primate.

The lines outlining the adult monkey’s head were more profound and lifelike than before.

Furthermore, a faint halo now surrounded the spirit sphere, a feature previously absent.

From this observation, Ning Zhuo swiftly recalled passages from the “Treatise on Spiritual Essence.”

“This halo is Spiritual Radiance!”

“When spiritual essence becomes so abundant that it overflows, reaching a certain threshold, Spiritual Radiance will be generated!”

“As the spirit continues to grow, the Radiance will intensify, interacting with all things, communicating and discerning them.”

“So, Yuan Dasheng has already entered the Spiritual Intelligence stage.”

Spirits are classified into stages based on their state: the Non-Sentient Stage, the Deceased Spirit Stage, the Nascent Spirit Stage, the Spiritual Intelligence Stage, and the Divine Spirit Stage.

The Deceased Spirit Stage is further divided into five sub-stages, as is the Nascent Spirit Stage.

From lowest to highest, the Nascent Spirit Stage comprises the Spiritual Spark, Spiritual Agility, Spiritual Sagacity, Spiritual Animation, and Spiritual Acuity levels.

Previously, Yuan Dasheng’s spirit had reached the Spiritual Animation stage after being nurtured.

In this state, the spirit is lively and impulsive, strongly influenced by emotions.

According to Ning Zhuo’s research, by guiding the spirit according to its nature, one can regain complete control.

Beyond Spiritual Animation lies Spiritual Acuity.

“But it appears that Yuan Dasheng has skipped Spiritual Acuity and directly ascended to the first level of Spiritual Intelligence – Spiritual Communion.”

“The Nascent Spirit Stage is also called the beastly spirit, governed by instinct. The Spiritual Intelligence stage, however, represents a wise spirit. The first major qualitative change is the ability to communicate.”

“This explains why Yuan Dasheng can speak!”

The first level of Spiritual Intelligence, Spiritual Communion, signifies that the spirit can now communicate normally with its surroundings.

Ning Zhuo placed Yuan Dasheng’s spirit within the Golden Blood Battle Ape Mechanism but refrained from immediately communicating with him, instead placing it back into his storage pouch.

Enveloped by layers of the Floating Cloud Shawl, Ning Zhuo retrieved his meditation mat and began his daily cultivation.

Mirror Platform Spirit Communication Art – Sixth Layer.

Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art – Fifth Layer.

Demonic-Tainted Blood Tendon Art – Fifth Layer.

“My cultivation is still too weak, far too weak!”

“This victory over Qi Bai was primarily due to Meng Kui’s peach pit, and secondly due to my years of accumulation.”

“When will I be able to overcome powerful enemies based on my own strength alone?”

“What other methods are there to accelerate my cultivation?”

“I must cultivate faster, I must become stronger!”

Having just endured a life-and-death struggle, Ning Zhuo’s desire for power was tenfold stronger.

Simultaneously, elsewhere within the Ning Clan estate:

“Peak of Qi Refining Third Layer, Icy Jade Hands – with these two alone, who among Zhou Zhu, Zhou Zeshen, and Zheng Jian can stand against me?”

Ning Xiaohui was filled with pride.

Because Zheng Jian and the other two’s talents are not offensively strong.

The Icy Jade Hands are different.

“Frost Sublimation and Snow Pride Enlightenment Diagrams!”

Ning Xiaohui unfurled the two diagrams, scrutinizing them intently.

“With my Icy Jade Hands, I possess a natural aptitude in this area!”

“If I can comprehend the Frost Sublimation and Snow Pride techniques, I will be like a tiger with wings!”

“At that point, only Meng Chong will be a worthy adversary!”

End of Chapter.