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Had it not been for Ning Xiaohui, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit would have simply scurried away.

After a moment of hesitation, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit finally spoke the truth, “Young Master, each time the Lava Immortal Palace unleashes a bombardment, it consumes a vast amount of Five Elements magical power.”

“If the minimum requirement for battlefield results is not met, then the Lava Immortal Palace will deem this bombardment a loss exceeding the gains, and the person who fired the canon will be held responsible, resulting in a deduction of merit.”

“In fact, in the infirmary, if you repair some crucial mechanisms and the final outcome is worse than before, your merit will also be deducted.”

“Similarly, at the Marshal’s Platform, if your decisions are flawed, the corresponding merit will be deducted during the post-battle assessment.”

Ning Zhuo nodded, finding such regulations quite reasonable. They effectively prevented incompetent individuals from occupying high positions.

He then posed a new question, continuing his inquiry, “What happens if all the merit is deducted?”

“What I mean is, my current merit is already a negative number. Does this affect my official positions?”

This was a critical question.

Upon hearing this, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Ning Zhuo, this little monster, was always acutely perceptive of key matters.

It could only reply once more, “A sustained negative number will cause a cultivator’s official rank to drop.”

“Young Master, your previous merit was negative, but it didn’t affect your positions because you had no official positions to begin with.”

“But now, you hold three Second-Rank positions. When the time limit arrives, if your merit is still negative, the ranks of these positions will significantly plummet.”

Ning Zhuo immediately furrowed his brow, “Then, when exactly is this time limit for my official ranks to drop?”

This was a major problem for him.

The reason being, he had just signed a contract with Zhu Xuanji and couldn’t enter the Immortal Palace with his soul.

In other words, once his official ranks dropped, he wouldn’t be able to regain Second-Rank positions by clearing trial levels.

Therefore, before that happened, Ning Zhuo had to quickly clear his merit deficit.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit pondered for a moment, deciding it would be better to tell the truth, and informed Ning Zhuo of the precise date.

The date was quite far off. Ning Zhuo calculated and found he had at least half a month left.

“No, that’s not right!” A glint of sharpness flashed in Ning Zhuo’s eyes.

Ning Zhuo fell silent for a while, carefully choosing his words before asking, “Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, for the subordinates under my Second-Rank positions, will I receive a portion of their merit contributions?”

“For instance, if I am the head of the infirmary, and others work within the infirmary, their positions are below mine. If I lead them to complete certain tasks, won’t there be a division of merit?”

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit trembled all over!

It circled the throne in disappointment, gazing up at the ceiling of the main hall, mumbling incessantly, “Ning Zhuo has discovered it, he has discovered it! In the end, he still discovered this!”

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit sighed deeply, its expression despondent, with a hint of anxiety.

“Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit…” Ning Zhuo called out repeatedly, but received no response.

He furrowed his brow slightly, a contemplative look in his eyes.

The reason he discovered this point was thanks to Ning Xiaohui.

Ning Xiaohui’s several repairs of the Golden Blood Battle Apes in the infirmary, which led to great victories, made Ning Zhuo keenly aware that his own merit had changed.

Although the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit didn’t respond to him or give him a clear answer, Ning Zhuo was almost certain this was the answer!

“In that case, my next task is actually to help others obtain more positions.”

“And these positions must be related to the infirmary, the Marshal’s Platform, and the cannon towers.”

Ning Zhuo made a quick calculation.

If he acted himself and completed various tasks, he could indeed gain a lot, but doing so was risky. Sometimes, if the tasks didn’t meet the standard, merit would even be deducted.

However, if he had a large number of people under his command in his positions, and he specifically benefited from the division of their merit, as long as the quantity was sufficient, the accumulation speed would be very considerable, possibly even far exceeding his individual efforts.

And the most appealing point to him was that he would enjoy these merit divisions without any risk; there would be no situations involving merit deduction.

“Zhu Xuanji and the others are my most threatening competitors.”

“But they are outsiders and cannot hold such positions.”

“So, I just need to cultivate these members of the reform team well, and at the same time, be mindful of the merit of a few outstanding individuals among them, ensuring it doesn’t exceed mine. That’s all!”

When Ning Zhuo returned to his residence, he heard the Ning family’s reform team members discussing the matter of accepting tasks.

He summoned them and briefly informed them about the contracts they would be signing later.

He then dismissed them and entered his room alone, beginning his daily routine of cultivation through breath control.

Since he still carried the monitoring methods planted by several Golden Core cultivators, he had to perform this segment every day to appear legitimate.

The next day.

Ning Zhuo opened his eyes. After washing up, he left his residence alone.

He arrived at the periphery of the Lava Immortal Palace.

Battles frequently occurred here.

Some Blazing Flame demonic beasts would break through the light barrier and charge in, only to be quickly slain by the mechanical creations.

Often after these battles, numerous new tasks would be generated.

Ning Zhuo remained at the rear of the battlefield.

After the battles concluded, some mechanical puppets limped back in retreat.

Ning Zhuo actively approached these mechanisms, which were missing limbs, holding his merit token and examining the content of the new tasks.

Then, he accurately selected the task target, reached out and pulled, directly dragging the target mechanical puppet out of the retreating formation, and began repairs on the spot.

He dismantled these mechanical puppets as much as possible to examine their internal structure.

Soon, he made a discovery: the mechanical components used in these mechanical puppets were very familiar to him.

“These structures and components have almost all appeared in the trial levels.”

If it were anyone else, they might only understand the mechanical components involved in the Daoist path.

But Ning Zhuo had already cleared three paths and received rewards for many levels multiple times. He was quite familiar with these things.

However, on the surface, he still had to put on a show of research.

Ning Zhuo’s solitary actions in the morning attracted the attention of Zhu Xuanji and others.

By the time he returned, he had been criticized by the Ning family ancestor through spiritual transmission.

Cultivators who entered the Immortal Palace, besides facing the threat of death when fighting demonic beasts, also faced potential threats from other cultivators.

At this moment, there were still a large number of rogue cultivators within the Lava Immortal Palace.

Ning Jiufan did not want to see Ning Zhuo injured or even killed due to his solitary actions.

This would be a significant loss to the current situation and to the Ning family.

Even though Ning Zhuo was currently only a Qi Cultivation stage cultivator.

Ning Zhuo accepted the criticism and began to move with the main group in the afternoon.

In order to fully utilize the power of the Lava Immortal Palace and considering that each position they held increased their control over the Lava Immortal Palace, the Golden Core cultivators were very attentive.

Therefore, there were Golden Core level cultivators watching over each reform team.

Zhu Xuanji and the others were very cautious. From their perspective, the culprit who manipulated the Five Elements Cannon Tower to bombard Fire Persimmon Mountain had been hiding in the shadows and had not been exposed.

Since this culprit could manipulate the Five Elements Cannon Tower, they were clearly a pioneer on the path of entering the Immortal Palace.

The progress of the reform team members greatly threatened this culprit.

They were highly likely to launch a sneak attack and nip the threat in the bud!

The reform team members generally only had Qi Cultivation stage cultivation, and their combat strength was concerning, requiring Golden Core cultivators to look after them.

This arrangement made Ning Zhuo feel quite inconvenient.

He could only suppress his growing impatience and slightly accelerate the pace of his performance.

“Oh…”

“Good, so strong!”

“I didn’t expect Ning Zhuo’s mechanical skills to improve again. Amazing!”

Everyone was surprised by Ning Zhuo and praised him repeatedly.

Ning Zhuo’s exploration of “unfamiliar” mechanisms, his rapid understanding, and his speed of mastery were all impressive.

It was clear that he was on a completely different level from others.

Ning Zhuo really wanted to conceal his abilities, but the situation forced him to stand out.

“I need to accumulate enough merit to be able to enter and exit the infirmary as quickly as possible.”

“That way, I can stay in the infirmary all day and perform a large number of mechanical puppet repairs every day, providing a perfect explanation to the outside world.”

As the head of the infirmary, Ning Zhuo naturally knew what the minimum standard for the infirmary’s position was.

Ning Zhuo’s displayed mechanical skills were witnessed by many Golden Core ancestors.

Among the numerous reform team members, Ning Zhuo not only stood out but was truly exceptional, leading the way!

Even a figure like Zhu Xuanji, with broad vision and experience with many talented cultivators, couldn’t help but be shocked by Ning Zhuo’s current performance.

“This junior, Ning Zhuo, is truly gifted in mechanics!”

Zhu Xuanji had a clear comparison in his mind, which was Ning Xiaohui.

Ning Xiaohui possessed a talent like the Ice Jade Hand, making her repairs and treatments of mechanical puppets incredibly effective, almost unfairly so.

But even so, Ning Xiaohui’s speed of accumulating merit was much slower than Ning Zhuo’s.

Zhu Xuanji’s heart stirred slightly, and he recorded Ning Zhuo’s situation on a jade slip.

Then, Zhu Xuanji casually tossed it, and the jade slip transformed into a beam of light and flew away, finally reaching Ning Xiaohui and hovering before her.

Ning Xiaohui received the jade slip, placed it against her forehead, and after probing it with her divine sense, she was secretly startled.

“It’s Ning Zhuo?!”

“His progress is so rapid?!”

The jade slip also contained Zhu Xuanji’s voice: “Do you think Ning Zhuo will reach the minimum standard for the infirmary’s position faster than you?”

“I’ve heard. His recent goal is to strive for the position of Medical Practitioner.”

Ning Xiaohui’s pupils contracted sharply, and she almost ground her teeth: “Ning Zhuo!!!”