“Brother Ning!” Arriving at the Zheng family’s gate, Zheng Jian personally greeted Ning Zhuo.

This was Ning Zhuo’s first official visit to the Zheng family.

The Zheng family’s reception was grand, with the main gate wide open. This wasn’t an easy feat, considering Ning Zhuo was merely at the Qi Refining stage.

Moreover, the Zheng family had Zheng Jian himself to receive him.

“Brother Zheng, you’ve troubled yourself to greet me.” Ning Zhuo stepped down from the carriage, surprised to see Zheng Jian, then showing a deep sense of gratitude, moved by such respect.

Zheng Jian’s injuries hadn’t fully healed, with almost his entire body wrapped in feather bandages.

He laughed heartily, “Don’t mind my appearance. My injuries have stabilized. How could the sons of the Zheng family neglect a friend due to a mere minor injury?”

“Come, let me take you to the Refinement Chamber!”

After the three families deepened their cooperation, they opened up some facilities within their respective clans.

For example, the Ning family’s Talisman Chamber, the Zhou family’s several arrays, and the Zheng family’s Refinement Chamber.

The most popular was, of course, the Zhou family’s Gathering and Dispersing As-You-Wish Spirit Tide Array.

Everyone who used it praised it, and it was currently overcrowded, with a queue for every cultivator applying to use it.

Next was the Zheng family’s Refinement Chamber.

Many of the Zheng and Zhou families’ facilities were better than the City Lord’s Mansion.

Back when Fire Persimmon Immortal City was built, the Southern Bean Dynasty provided most of the funding, but the Zhou and Zheng families also made significant contributions.

Thus, after the city was completed, they received two of the best plots of land, controlled two of the main array pillars, and obtained the most favorable conditions in certain aspects.

The Zhou family had the most spacious array deployment area, with more freedom to develop.

The Zheng family had the most abundant high-quality earth fire, convenient for refining.

From a broader perspective, this was a game between local forces and the central court.

On the street, the crowd bustled. Yuan Dasheng walked with difficulty, head lowered.

He bumped into pedestrians along the way, yet remained unyielding.

Some people were knocked to the ground by him, but they were unwilling to cause trouble, muttering a few words at most before leaving resentfully.

After all, Yuan Dasheng, clad in Azure Iron Heavy Armor, was tall and large, radiating a Foundation Establishment aura.

Coupled with his expressionless face and the intense aura of despair, he looked like someone best left alone.

Under Zheng Jian’s guidance, Ning Zhuo arrived at a Refinement Chamber.

Ning Zhuo looked around, praising repeatedly.

The Refinement Chamber was well-equipped and complete, with many tools that Ning Zhuo was seeing for the first time.

He had only seen them in books before.

The various arts of cultivation had developed into highly specialized fields.

It was said that separation in profession is like separating two mountains, unlike ancient times when all arts had lower barriers.

A cultivator could use a single pill furnace to both concoct pills and refine artifacts.

Now, pill furnaces were subdivided for specific purposes, such as concocting pills, refining artifacts, and so on.

Zheng Jian handed over a jade slip, “Our Zheng family has a large stock of materials. Saying we have everything would be an exaggeration, but it’s definitely far beyond what’s available on the market.”

“Anything on this jade slip, Brother Ning is welcome to use.”

“According to our three-family contract, the materials used will be calculated at market prices, and the total consumption will be tallied for each family.”

Speaking of which, Zheng Jian took out another jade slip, “These materials are from my family’s personal allowance, which Brother Ning can also use.”

This was a clear show of goodwill.

Ning Zhuo smiled, generously accepting it, “Thank you, Brother Zheng.”

“If Brother Zheng isn’t busy, please stay. I’m borrowing your esteemed family’s Refinement Chamber to craft some mechanical components.”

Ning Zhuo said.

“This is the blueprint for my mechanical design. Please give me your expert advice, Brother Zheng.”

Ning Zhuo proactively handed over a jade slip.

Zheng Jian was pleasantly surprised, knowing that Ning Zhuo was reciprocating after accepting his family’s goodwill.

“Brother Ning can design the Mechanical Fireburst Monkey. I shouldn’t show off my meager mechanical skills! Brother Ning’s magnanimity allows me to admire your new work!”

Zheng Jian immediately took the jade slip.

He wasn’t particularly interested in mechanism arts, but it was related to the battle of the Lava Immortal Palace. Moreover, Ning Zhuo had shown amazing mechanical talent before, so Zheng Jian had to take a look at this new blueprint.

He opened it and found four Mechanical Monkeys!

Looking closer, he realized that these Mechanical Monkeys were no longer for picking Fire Persimmons, but were clearly meant for combat.

The more Zheng Jian looked, the more his eyes sparkled. He was immersed in the blueprint, speechless for a time.

Ning Zhuo ignored him and went straight to the corner, picked up tools, started the bellows, and lit the furnace.

Yuan Dasheng passed through the west gate of Fire Persimmon Immortal City, heading towards the wilderness.

The number of pedestrians around him quickly decreased.

He stepped into the desolate suburban forest west of Fire Forest Mountain. Although his back was burly, he gave off a strong sense of loneliness and sorrow.

Finally, he stopped in a remote wilderness. He sat on an inconspicuous hill, staring blankly at everything around him.

Looking at the sky, looking at the clouds.

Ning Zhuo exhaled a breath of turbid air, carefully tilting his wrist, pouring the molten Rotten Silver fluid into the mold.

Zheng Jian immediately took action, using a spell to quickly spread the Rotten Silver fluid and fill all the corners of the mold.

Ning Zhuo placed his palm on the model, activating the array.

Immediately, a stream of cold air poured down from the roof, instantly cooling the hot model and freezing it into an ice block.

Zheng Jian waved his hand, dispelling the chill, and then took out a strangely shaped mechanical component.

This was the last piece.

With the help of the Zheng family’s Refinement Chamber and Zheng Jian, a genius cultivator proficient in refining, Ning Zhuo completed the crafting of all the mechanical components.

The time it took was far shorter than Ning Zhuo had planned.

Next was to assemble them.

Without any surprises, after a smooth assembly, an eight-foot-tall ape skeleton stood before the two of them.

Zheng Jian clicked his tongue, “Just looking at this skeleton, there are over a hundred active joints. The finished Mechanical Monkey must be very agile. But this also tests the cultivator’s control ability. Many people probably won’t be able to unleash the full potential of this machine.”

Ning Zhuo said, “This is designed for myself. I deliberately made it like this so that I can have a lot of room for improvement in the art of controlling mechanical creations.”

“Alright, next, we need to set up the array!”

“Then install the array plate, etc.”

“Filling the muscles, etc., will be later.”

Zheng Jian nodded, with a happy expression, “According to your plan, Brother Ning, I’ll be your assistant.”

Although he was injured, he wanted to participate fully.

On the one hand, he could directly observe Ning Zhuo’s mechanical skills.

On the other hand, it also gave him a very good exercise, improving his own mechanical skills.

Two days and one night later, the work was completed.

“Why not stay at my house for the night? It’s not too late to leave tomorrow morning.” Zheng Jian tried to persuade him to stay.

He had participated throughout the entire process, gaining a lot, experiencing the excitement and fun of mechanical arts, and saying directly, “Brother Ning, I wish I could have a candlelit conversation with you all night.”

Ning Zhuo smiled wryly, pointing to Zheng Jian’s entire body of bandages.

The previously snow-white feather bandages were stained with blood and a lot of black ash.

“Brother Zheng, you should rest well.”

“This time, you assisted throughout the entire process. I am extremely grateful. Staying any longer will cause trouble for your family!”

“There will definitely be opportunities in the future for us to chat to our hearts’ content.”

Zheng Jian laughed heartily, “Alright, alright.”

“Oh right, I almost forgot to tell you.”

“In a few days, our three families will be conducting a joint operation, and you need to lead it.”

“Those of us who are injured won’t be able to go.”

Although the geniuses of the three families could still enter the Immortal Palace in spirit form, their physical injuries required their souls to be constantly present in their bodies during the recovery period.

Otherwise, the newborn body was prone to growing crooked, and it would not perfectly match the soul.

This would cause many obstacles in future actions, reducing the efficiency of cultivation.

Over time, this cumulative loss would become unacceptable.

Night fell.

Ning Zhuo left the Zheng family by carriage.

Fire Persimmon Immortal City had no curfew, and Yuan Dasheng had also entered the city.

Before Ning Zhuo arrived at his family’s residence, he had already secretly sneaked into Ning Zhuo’s residence, quietly waiting for Ning Zhuo’s return.

Just as Ning Zhuo had guessed, emotions would dissipate.

The more intense the emotion, the less sustainable it was.

After Yuan Dasheng sat withered in the wilderness for two days and one night, the emotions receded like a tide, and the exposed spirituality once again obeyed orders, acting according to the commands.

However, the sorrowful mourning still existed, like a thick layer of gray cloth covering the spirituality.

Ning Zhuo’s control over Yuan Dasheng was no longer as obedient as before.

“According to the records in ‘On Spirits,’ after the Spiritual Growth stage is the Spiritual Awakening stage.”

“When ten percent of spirituality has reached self-sufficiency, Yuan Dasheng is no longer in the Spiritual Growth stage, but in the Spiritual Awakening stage.”

“Is this uncontrolled activity what is meant by Spiritual Awakening?”

“Once emotions rise again, I will not be able to control it again.”

Ning Zhuo didn’t want to experience such a terrible experience again.

“There must be a way. The Lava Immortal Palace must have a way to solve this problem,” Ning Zhuo said.

This problem must be solved as soon as possible.

“I can’t enter the Immortal Palace in spirit form for no reason. Too many people are watching me.”

“The best opportunity is the three-family joint operation in a few days.”