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The City Lord’s Mansion.

Flames, frost, rolling logs, golden blades, and massive boulders, representing the five elements, ceaselessly assaulted Meng Chong.

His eyes gleaming with fierce light, Meng Chong executed his Prodigy Sprinting Thunder skill, his figure as swift as lightning, weaving through the gaps in the magical attacks.

It wasn’t until the final wave of spells that a golden blade grazed his shoulder.

The subordinates responsible for sparring congratulated him in unison.

Meng Chong’s progress was remarkable.

“Hahaha!” Meng Chong roared with laughter, “Ten more special trainings like this, and when I challenge the trials again, I won’t fear those magical automatons’ attacks!”

Meng Chong took a temporary rest, and Meng family servants immediately presented him with meticulously prepared refreshments, all of which were spirit foods.

After a few bites and sips, Meng Chong heard the latest intelligence.

“What?”

He raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Ning Xiaohui has attempted soul entry into the Immortal Palace three times today in a row, but she was intercepted by the automaton ape each time, suffering miserable defeats and failing to even reach the preparation room!”

“How is she so fortunate?”

“Why do I rarely encounter that automaton ape anymore?”

Meng Chong couldn’t forget his crushing defeat against the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape.

After all, he had fought Yuan Dasheng numerous times, always ending up the loser, and he had been holding back his anger, really wanting to get his revenge.

However, under Ning Zhuo’s arrangement and command, Yuan Dasheng rarely intercepted Meng Chong now.

Occasionally, Yuan Dasheng would barge in while Meng Chong was in the midst of fierce combat, launching sneak attacks and achieving considerable success.

This infuriated Meng Chong greatly, and he initially unleashed a torrent of curses.

Later, perhaps considering that the automaton ape couldn’t understand human speech, he proactively shut his mouth.

For Ning Xiaohui, Yuan Dasheng had become her nightmare.

For Meng Chong, however, it was a battle opponent he yearned for but couldn’t obtain.

The Zheng Family.

A special training room filled with mechanical traps.

Zheng Jian walked on the wooden floor.

His gaze was calm, his body exuded a chill, and his steps were slow.

With each step, he lifted his leg high and lowered it slowly.

During the descent, his Penetrating Insight talent frequently activated, alerting him to danger.

Zheng Jian walked from one end to the other without triggering a single mechanical trap beneath the floorboards.

He had undergone this kind of special training many times.

Zheng Jian had gained a deeper control over his talent, and the results of his training were significant.

However, what impressed Zheng Jian the most were the Ning family’s talismans.

“This Ice Heart Talisman is truly suited for me!”

“With this talisman, I can enter a state of absolute calm. My Penetrating Insight talent activates almost every time.”

“It’s a pity that Ice Heart Talismans can only be crafted by cultivators who specialize in the Ice Heart Art.”

“The Ice Heart Art is a core technique of the Ning family’s main lineage, and such talismans, which involve the mysteries of the Ice Heart Art, are rarely circulated outside the city.”

“I was only able to enjoy this convenience thanks to the joint cooperation of the three families.”

“Alas!”

The Zhou Family.

An underground training ground.

Zhou Zhu and Zhou Zeshen were preparing for a duel.

Both simultaneously took out medicine pouches, opening them to reveal a pair of silver-gray powders.

They tilted their heads back, opened their mouths wide, and directly poured the silver powder into their mouths.

This was the Dividing Soul Powder.

The effects of the medicine quickly manifested, causing a slight change in the expressions of these two Zhou family prodigies.

“Let’s fight!”

Zhou Zeshen muttered in a low voice.

Zhou Zhu responded with a muffled grunt.

Zhou Zeshen first initiated magic, launching an offensive.

Zhou Zhu, after retreating, took out a mechanical warhammer.

The Earth-Shaking Mud Hammer.

The warhammer was almost as tall as Zhou Zhu himself, and it weighed a considerable amount.

Relying solely on Zhou Zhu’s personal strength to wield it would be quite strenuous.

Multiple round holes were visible on the surface of the hammer, from which ferocious torrents of air were ejected.

The air currents propelled the hammer, assisting Zhou Zhu in attacking Zhou Zeshen.

Zhou Zeshen dared not face it head-on, retreating continuously.

During the retreat, he loosened his storage pouch, from which a large number of mechanical bats flew out.

Mechanical creation—Wildfield Bats.

A large swarm of mechanical bats flew in mid-air, spewing out dense black mist along the way.

The black mist swirled, filling the battlefield and obscuring Zhou Zhu’s vision.

Zhou Zhu tried several methods, but seeing that he couldn’t disperse the black mist, he resolutely slapped his storage belt.

A large number of rats poured out from the belt.

Mechanical creation—Earth-Drilling Rats.

The mechanical rats landed on the ground and, under Zhou Zhu’s control, immediately cast their innate spell—Mud Slime.

The firm ground instantly transformed into a swamp.

Zhou Zhu hammered down with force, splashing countless clumps of mud.

The hammer head sank deeply into the swampy mud.

A dozen round holes suddenly ejected bursts of air.

The hammer head shuddered violently, plunging even deeper into the mud, pulling Zhou Zhu along with it.

The Night Sky Bats, having lost their primary target, fell into the swamp under Zhou Zeshen’s command to capture the Earth-Drilling Rats.

The Earth-Drilling Rats relied on the swamp for defense.

Whenever a Night Sky Bat missed its target, the Earth-Drilling Rat’s front-mounted spiral drill could pierce the fragile body of the bat.

And once a Night Sky Bat caught an Earth-Drilling Rat, its innate spell could immediately seal the rat, greatly hindering its spiritual power.

Zhou Zhu and Zhou Zeshen were locked in a stalemate until the Earth-Drilling Rats and Night Sky Bats were nearly depleted, at which point the two tacitly agreed to cease hostilities.

As the black mist dispersed, both sat down cross-legged and simultaneously took out Mind-Expanding Pills.

They immediately consumed the pills to solidify the gains from their training.

After a long while, Zhou Zeshen was the first to open his eyes.

Only a dozen breaths later, Zhou Zhu also opened his eyes.

With a hint of delight, Zhou Zeshen sighed, “The combination of the Dividing Soul Powder and the Mind-Expanding Pills is truly effective. It allows us to master deeper levels of multitasking, controlling more mechanical creations with divided attention.”

“If we continue training like this, we can control thirty mechanical bats and rats at the same time!”

Zhou Zhu rarely spoke long sentences, but he said, “Mana is too low. Longer battles, greater gains.”

Zhou Zeshen sighed, “There’s no way around it. The subsequent cultivation manuals haven’t been found yet. Fortunately, we are all at the third level of Qi Refining, equally weak.”

Zhou Zhu asked, “Is there really a subsequent cultivation manual in the Lava Immortal Palace?”

Zhou Zeshen replied, “Based on the current trend, there’s a higher chance that there is. We just need to keep an eye on Meng Chong. He has the highest progress. If his cultivation breaks through to the fourth level, there must be a subsequent manual in the Amorous Lava Immortal Palace.”

By this time, the modification teams of the four powers generally had a peak third level of Qi Refining cultivation.
Without subsequent cultivation methods, they were destined to stagnate.

Only the geniuses of each family could still progress by training their innate talents.

Almost everyone else chose to learn and delve into mechanical arts, seeking to become stronger through this path.

Progress was being made, but the scope was limited.

Including Meng Chong, they had all entered a relatively stable period of stagnation.

Enveloped in the floating clouds, Ning Zhuo silently breathed, continuing to refine his cultivation.

The magical artifact, Whirlwind Chariot, remained close to his chest, slowly rotating.

But within Ning Zhuo’s middle dantian Qi Sea, a whirlwind was brewing.

Countless units of mana were drawn into the whirlwind, grinding and diminishing against each other.

This was a purification!

The mana Ning Zhuo inhaled was impure and mixed, after all, it was raised through shortcut using Divine Sea Realm and Ice Jade Wine.

But now, after this process, the quality of his mana would be significantly increased.

Pure mana was exceptionally important. The purer it was, the more positive effects it had in all aspects, and the greater the individual advantages of the cultivator.

The Pure Yang Body among innate talents allowed mana to possess inherent Pure Yang power, free from impurities.

Among the Seven Flames, Glazed Purity Flame was sought after because this flame could burn away impurities, purifying the cultivator’s divine sense, mana, and blood essence.

Cultivators universally had an unyielding pursuit of pure mana.

“The purification ability of the Whirlwind Chariot is only a secondary function. Its true purpose is to accelerate the speed of mana refinement.”

“It would be even better if there were a dedicated purification artifact.”

After Ning Zhuo’s first purification, his original ten units of mana were reduced to less than six. The difference was significant.

Ning Zhuo continued to inhale spiritual qi, refining it into Five Elements mana.

After repeating this process two or three times, Ning Zhuo replenished the purified mana to ten units.

He paused his Qi Sea cultivation, intending to allow the purified mana to nourish his middle dantian Qi Sea.

He then began Essence Sea cultivation.

The source of blood essence refinement was his physical body.

The influences on the physical body mainly came from abundant spiritual food and elixirs.

Ning Zhuo never skimped on himself when it came to cultivation.

Not only that, but he also used one dose each of Marrow Cleansing Pill and Toxin Expulsion Pill.

These two elixirs were bestowed by the main branch of the Ning family.

Not long ago, after careful probing by Sun Lingtong, and after Ning Zhuo’s own meticulous testing.

Marrow Cleansing Pill slightly enhanced his physique, and Toxin Expulsion Pill mainly removed toxins accumulated in Ning Zhuo’s body.

The effects of both were not very noticeable.

On one hand, elixirs like the Marrow Cleansing Pill required long-term and large-scale consumption to produce gradual results.

Ning Zhuo had only just started taking it.

On the other hand, Ning Zhuo mainly relied on spiritual food and supplemented with elixirs, so he had not accumulated much elixir toxicity.

Soon after, his Essence Sea cultivation for the day ended.

Ning Zhuo began practicing his spells.

He took out the Five Elements Ruler, held it in his hand, and silently activated his Five Elements mana, performing the Five Elements Generating and Counteracting technique.

The floating clouds churned, barely concealing the fluctuations from Ning Zhuo’s spellcasting.

The Five Elements Ruler could rapidly separate Five Elements mana, making it quite helpful in assisting Ning Zhuo’s spell practice.

“Complex!”

“This spell is too complex, to a degree I have never seen before!”

“Alas, if there were corresponding rewards on the leaderboard, that would be great!”

“Perhaps there will be in subsequent levels of the Immortal Palace?”

Ning Zhuo had only just begun to practice this technique.

After practicing for a while, Ning Zhuo took out two Enlightenment Diagrams: the Towering Frost Diagram and the Arrogant Snow Diagram.

He stared at them for a long time, but he still had no clue.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Ning Zhuo took out an Enlightenment Pill and consumed it immediately.

He looked at the two Enlightenment Diagrams again, his gaze unmoving.

His thoughts gradually became scattered, and Ning Zhuo did not try to restrain them, allowing them to flow freely.

Ning Zhuo gradually began to feel the subtle sensations that the Enlightenment Diagrams gave him.

This feeling was something he had never experienced before.

However, the inspiration that the Enlightenment Diagrams gave him was very faint. On the other hand, the various mechanical blueprints in his mind, the mechanical classics that his mother had left him, became incredibly clear.

Besides that, there were the various cultivation methods and spells that Ning Zhuo had obtained in the Lava Immortal Palace.

“Cremation Prajna Spirit Severing Scripture!”

In the end, the entire text of the Cremation Prajna Spirit Severing Scripture clearly appeared in Ning Zhuo’s mind, not a single word missing.

Ning Zhuo suddenly had a completely new understanding of this scripture.

His face lit up with joy: “So this scripture has an even deeper layer of detoxification.”

“Fantastic!”

“I can now craft spiritual automatons on my own!”

It was a case of intending to plant flowers, but they don’t bloom; unintentionally planting willows, and they create shade.

Ning Zhuo himself never imagined that when he consumed the Enlightenment Pill, intending to sense the mysteries of the Enlightenment Diagrams, he would instead gain new insights into the Cremation Scripture.

End of Chapter.