A medium-sized automat moved its limbs and quickly left Zheng Jian and the others.

Zheng Jian’s attention was on the Zheng family cultivators beside him: “How is it?”

The Zheng family cultivator’s face was full of confusion: “Strange! The merit I received isn’t much. It’s even less than if I worked alone.”

Zheng Jian’s face darkened, and he remained silent.

The Zheng family cultivators beside him felt very strange.

They had clearly imitated Ning Zhuo, but why was the effect so different?

The merit of the Ning family cultivators whom Ning Zhuo assisted soared, and they all rushed into the infirmary one after another.

On Zheng Jian’s side, not only was Zheng Jian himself delayed, but the merit gains of the others were also insignificant.

“Should we try again?” A Zheng family cultivator suggested.

Zheng Jian shook his head: “Forget it, we have already tried three times, there is no need to try again.”

At this moment, he thought of his exploration in the infirmary.

Zheng Jian had been sensing his talent throughout the process – Heart-Piercing Insight.

When facing some rooms he couldn’t enter, he would indirectly test them through his talent.

The other rooms were nothing special, but only when he faced the door of the Serious Injury Treatment Room and had the thought of breaking in, Heart-Piercing Insight was triggered, and a warning bell rang in his heart, telling him that the consequence of forcing his way in would inevitably be death!

“There is only one Serious Injury Treatment Room in the entire infirmary.”

“There seems to be something fishy in there.”

“Ning Zhuo has been in there twice, but I haven’t seen any related missions.”

Thinking of this, Zheng Jian said to the people around him: “Ning Zhuo was once controlled by the Boundless Sect, and he likely retains some secrets that he hasn’t fully disclosed.”

“Among these secrets, there should be the results of the Boundless Sect’s infiltration of the Molten Immortal Palace and continuous exploration.”

“Therefore, he can uplift his companions through joint missions.”

“However, this is nothing!”

“The Ning family is ultimately the bottom of the three families. When our clan starts to exert power, the disparity in strength will be quite obvious. Ning Zhuo, a mere Qi Refinement junior, hehe, won’t last.”

“We just need to wait for the right time.”

When Zheng Jian realized that he could not defeat Ning Zhuo and the Ning family through proper means, he began to leverage the power of his family and engage in competition at the family level.

In the sky.

A Fire Deviation Flood Dragon was circling and flying.

A Fire Deviation Snake that grows horns becomes a flood dragon, and most can master the ability to fly.

A Golden Core level aura permeated the surroundings.

Such a Red Flame demonic beast is extremely difficult to contend with using only the automatons in the Molten Immortal Palace, unless automatons of the level of Dao Masters or Demonic Generals are dispatched.

Ning Jiufan and Zheng Danlian rushed to the scene to help almost at the same time.

Zheng Danlian held an automaton scythe and smiled at Ning Jiufan: “Brother Ning, why don’t you guess, can the automaton weapon in my hand take the life of this Snake Flood Dragon?”

Ning Jiufan’s face sank: “Naturally, it can.”

Zheng Danlian then activated the automaton scythe.

The scythe’s blade merely flickered, seemingly flashing a faint, ethereal light.

The next moment, the Fire Deviation Flood Dragon, which was still hissing in the air, was directly beheaded.

Its demonic core was struck out of its body, falling to the ground, and the entire serpent body completely dissipated.

In an instant, it lost its life!

Ning Jiufan’s pupils constricted violently.

Zheng Danlian exhaled a breath of turbid air, a red flush in his eyes flashed and disappeared. Although he seemed calm just now, he had actually used his full power.

That single activation directly consumed 40% of his Golden Core magic power.

Although the consumption was terrifying, the result was excellent, strongly deterring Ning Jiufan.

“Brother Ning, congratulations, you guessed correctly.” Zheng Danlian continued to ask, “Then tell me, can my automaton weapon take that infirmary?”

Ning Jiufan was silent for a while, and then said in a muffled voice: “Yes.”

Ning Zhuo walked into Ning Jiufan’s study.

In the past few days, he had achieved great results, promoting more than half of the Ning family’s reconstruction team members into the infirmary.

Once in the infirmary, he used his position to specifically assign good missions to the Ning family’s reconstruction team, allowing them to earn higher profits.

Currently, the Ning family has fully surpassed the Zheng family in the infirmary job competition.

Ning Jiufan coughed and pointed to a stool: “Sit down first.”

Ning Zhuo sat down.

“Take a look at this first.” Ning Jiufan handed him a few jade slips.

Ning Zhuo placed the jade slips against his forehead and scanned them with his divine sense, finding that they were reports and requests for help from the main branch of the Ning family.

The letters stated that the Zheng family had launched a full-scale attack, repeatedly obstructing and attacking many of the Ning family’s industries. The Zheng family was attacking everywhere, strongly targeting the Ning family and making the Ning family’s situation difficult.

Other requests for help came from the black market, from those former Ning family stewards.

The black market controlled by Ning Zhuo was also frequently experiencing incidents. It was clear that the Zheng family was acting secretly.

The black market does not have the foundation of the Ning family’s main branch and is now in a precarious situation!

Ning Zhuo snorted coldly: “It seems that the Zheng family is determined to win the infirmary.”

He then looked at Ning Jiufan: “Old Ancestor, did you call me here this time to tell us to give up?”

Ning Jiufan did not express his stance, but only asked: “Ning Zhuo, what do you think should be done at this time?”

Ning Zhuo fell into deep thought.

He paced three times in the study, finally standing in front of Ning Jiufan and saying with a bitter tone: “The Zheng family is powerful. Logically, we should not directly confront them.”

“But I think there might still be a chance.”

“We can ask Lord Zhu Xuanji for help!”

Ning Jiufan shook his head: “The Zheng family’s actions against our Ning family are within the scope of unspoken permission. How can Lord Zhu Xuanji favor us?”

Ning Zhuo then said: “Then let’s ask Lord Meng Kui to uphold justice!”

Ning Jiufan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: “Inappropriate! Our clan has already signed an alliance with Zhu Xuanji, the Zheng family, and the Zhou family. Going to ask Lord Meng Kui to intervene is tantamount to betraying the alliance.”

Ning Zhuo said: “There is a way to solve this. For example, let me split from the family and lead the family branch to seek refuge with Meng Kui.”

“Anyway, almost all the members of the reconstruction team are from the branch families.”

“If Meng Kui can truly protect us, we don’t need to back down!”

“You little rascal, you want to split the family again!” Ning Jiufan was so angry that he gave Ning Zhuo a sharp tap on the head.

But Ning Zhuo held his head high this time, his eyes shining: “Old Ancestor, just tell me if my idea has any feasibility?”

Ning Jiufan was slightly startled.

He thought carefully, and indeed? It might really be possible to implement successfully.

Meng Kui wants to divide the alliance, which everyone can see. Otherwise, he would not have used the overt scheme of keeping positions unchanged.

If Ning Zhuo could really create a split in the family and seek refuge with Meng Kui, Meng Kui would likely gladly accept and then, using this point, openly intervene in the Ning family’s affairs.

With the Ning family’s internal affairs being intervened, the City Lord’s Mansion could also take the opportunity to intervene in the alliance and the affairs of other families.

But Ning Jiufan thought carefully and still rejected Ning Zhuo’s proposal.

Splitting the family was too risky!

Ning Zhuo sighed deeply: “If we cannot borrow strength, then I’m afraid we will only have to compromise with the Zheng family.”

Ning Jiufan said: “Very good, Ning Zhuo, you can bend and stretch, and you know how to adapt to the situation. At your age, it is truly rare.”

Ning Zhuo snorted: “I want to defeat Zheng Jian fair and square, but unfortunately, our clan’s strength is weak. I’ll find Zheng Jian again and, under the guise of actively backing down, ask him to compensate us for something. Alas… we can’t just back down for nothing, right?”

Ning Jiufan nodded: “Let’s do it that way.”

Ning Zhuo’s visiting card was first sent to Zheng Jian’s hands.

After reading it, Zheng Jian handed it to others.

The members of the Zheng family’s reconstruction team laughed heartily, and their morale clearly rose.

“Boss, you have divine foresight, that Ning Zhuo really surrendered!”

“He had to be beaten before he would bow his head. You say, how lowly is this person?”

“He refuses a toast and drinks a forfeit. Haha, this outcome is truly deserved. In my opinion, there is no need to even meet. Does he really think that he, Ning Zhuo, is something special?”

Zheng Jian shook his head: “Ning Zhuo does have some skills.”

“Putting aside everything else, I greatly admire him in terms of automatons.”

“Meeting and talking again is also good. I am also slightly interested in the cooperation mentioned in his letter.”

Ning Zhuo and Zheng Jian met again.

Zheng Jian cupped his hands in greeting: “Brother Ning.”

He was not arrogant, but the smile on his face revealed the superiority of a long-established family.

Ning Zhuo sighed faintly: “Brother Zheng Jian, this time I did not lose to you, but my Ning family lost to the Zheng family.”

Zheng Jian nodded: “Exactly. Tell me about the cooperation you mentioned in your letter?”

Ning Zhuo sighed again: “Your Excellency should know that I have mastered a technique, and after completing a multi-person mission, I can greatly increase the merit of my companions.”

Zheng Jian nodded.

Ning Zhuo said: “I can exert effort for your Zheng family and help your people quickly become medical practitioners.”

“As long as they become medical practitioners and have the equipment of the infirmary and the missions belonging to medical practitioners, the progress of the Zheng family cultivators will be astonishing!”

Zheng Jian was moved: “Your proposal is very interesting. So, what do we have to pay?”

Ning Zhuo took a deep breath and tentatively said: “My Ning family needs a few positions in the infirmary.”

Zheng Jian immediately shook his head: “That’s absolutely impossible!”

Ning Zhuo gritted his teeth: “What if only I keep a position?”

Zheng Jian shook his head again: “Brother Ning Zhuo, I dare not keep you in the infirmary. After all, there are higher positions above medical practitioners. And the higher the position, the fewer there are.”

“If I let you be active in the infirmary and you become the infirmary master in the future, I mean the highest position, then won’t my entire Zheng family, won’t I, Zheng Jian, be a laughingstock?”

“Even this isn’t acceptable?” Ning Zhuo stared at Zheng Jian.

Zheng Jian shook his head: “Absolutely not!”

A light sound.

Zheng Jian’s body stiffened, and he slowly lowered his head, disbelievingly seeing a section of a knife tip protruding from his chest!

A single-handed knife had pierced his heart from his back,贯穿 to his chest.

Ning Zhuo was also stunned for a moment, then immediately retreated violently, shouting: “Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!”

His voice reached the surroundings, and the Zheng family’s reconstruction team members, who were already nearby, rushed to support.

Then, they saw Yang Chanyù withdraw her single sword, having killed Zheng Jian.

Zheng Jian fell to the ground, his eyes wide, without the slightest breath of life.

Yang Chanyù cultivated the Old Cicada Art, which is best for accumulating power and performing assassinations. In the past, none other than Luo Shang was defeated by her sneak attack.

Not to mention Zheng Jian, who was only in the Qi Refinement stage.

“Boss!”

“Leader!!”

“Demonic woman, I’ll fight you!”

The Zheng family cultivators’ eyes were splitting with rage, their anger reaching its peak. A surge of hot-blooded fury made them not fear Yang Chanyù, a Golden Core cultivator, at all.

But Yang Chanyù ignored them and aimed at Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo shouted for help, and the Slippery Talisman on his body activated automatically, forming an oily shield.

Yang Chanyù slashed a few times, but they were all blocked by the oily shield.

“A little interesting.” She suddenly stopped and looked towards the southeast, “I’ll come for your life next time, little traitor!”

She stared coldly at Ning Zhuo, cruelly throwing down such a sentence, and then soared into the sky.

Leaving Ning Zhuo sitting on the ground, unable to conceal his fear, covered in cold sweat, and distraught.