A few days later.

Ning Zhuo’s soul entered the Immortal Palace.

He swiftly assembled his body, stepping down from the small mountain constructed of mechanical components.

“A life hanging by a thread…” He walked slowly, carefully sensing.

As the embryonic form of his divine ability grew stronger, he could perceive the thread of fate above his head with greater clarity.

“Transmitting along the thread of fate causes attrition with each step. Now, when I channel the power of my Buddha-heart Demon Seal, the losses along the thread will undoubtedly be far less than before.”

“Ning Zhuo has arrived.”

“Look at his head, it’s indeed enormous!”

“Hmph, making us all wait for him, he certainly puts on airs!”

The puppets gathered around the first gateway, watching Ning Zhuo approach, murmuring amongst themselves.

Everyone else was already in position; Ning Zhuo was the last to arrive.

Ning Zhuo also looked at them.

Five from the Zhou family, two from the Zheng family, and only himself from the Ning family, a solitary figure.

“The three great families are beginning to exert their strength; more and more people will enter the Immortal Palace in the future.”

Ning Zhuo sighed inwardly.

Once their numbers reached a critical mass, the mechanical traps he had set would become increasingly ineffective, ultimately unable to withstand the onslaught, and he would be overwhelmed by a sea of bodies.

Compared to the three great families, Ning Zhuo was alone and isolated, at a great disadvantage.

Under the gaze of many puppets, Ning Zhuo walked to the door, touched the portal, and selected the hanging ring.

“Next, we need to combine our efforts to overcome the traps to open the door,” Ning Zhuo said.

The Zheng family cultivator nodded, but the Zhou family members refused. “The five of us are enough; there’s no need to combine forces!”

“We’ll go through first, and you can follow us in!”

“Haha, who told our Zhou family to have the most members!”

Although Ning Zhuo was the leader in name, the Zhou family cultivators acted against him, disobeying his orders.

As Ning Xiaoren had predicted, the Zhou family cultivators were attempting to weaken Ning Zhuo’s influence.

They put on a show of sharing the burden for the group and eagerly trying to pass the trial, making it difficult for Ning Zhuo to say anything against it openly.

However, Ning Zhuo had long been prepared for this.

With a thought, a teleportation portal appeared out of thin air.

The portal pulsed, and Golden-blooded Battle Ape, Great Victory, descended.

“What is that thing?”

The Zheng family cultivator cried out first.

“Who are you?” The Zhou family cultivators were all terrified, some of their voices trembling.

“Some of you, quickly disperse and surround it!”

Ning Zhuo shouted, displaying utmost courage.

“Wait, wait!”

Seeing that Ning Zhuo was about to give the order to attack, the Zhou family cultivators hurriedly stopped him.

“There’s something strange about this. Don’t attack!”

“Calm down, calm down! Everyone, please calm yourselves.”

Having suffered a great loss, the Zhou family cultivators knew very well Great Victory’s combat prowess.

They were not even in the same league as it. Once they engaged in battle, they would be finished.

The three families’ puppets were on high alert, staring intently at Great Victory.

Great Victory’s body was forged of golden bones, covered in countless black stripes, giving it a terrifying aura!

The injuries it had sustained during previous trials had been temporarily repaired by Ning Zhuo.

Although its related abilities were greatly reduced, it at least looked the same as before.

In short, the three families’ puppets dispersed, vaguely surrounding Great Victory, but no one made a move.

Great Victory scanned the crowd, ignoring them all, and walked straight towards the first door.

In the next moment, it pushed the door open and entered.

The spears on the walls came stabbing, but Great Victory easily blocked them.

A heavy hammer came crashing down from above, but Great Victory lightly caught it and tossed it to the side.

Then, Great Victory raised the heavy hammer high, resetting the mechanical trap.

It continued forward, leaping between walls and obstacles, as if frolicking in the mountain forest.

Everyone who peered through the crack in the door witnessed this scene and were speechless.

“What is going on with this mechanical ape?”

Ning Zhuo looked at the Zhou family cultivators. “You seem to know something.”

The Zhou family cultivators denied it outright.

One of them said, “Didn’t you see? This mechanical ape is clearly different from us. We gained the ability to move by assembling parts.”

“But this kind of mechanical ape is directly teleported in.”

Another Zhou family cultivator added, “Look at us, we’re all made of wood, but look at it, it’s a cut above us.”

“If we really were to besiege it, we would definitely lose more than we would win.”

The Zheng family cultivator stared at Great Victory in the second room, perplexed. “But why did this mechanical ape appear?”

“Perhaps…” Ning Zhuo pondered, “Perhaps it was specially arranged by the three Sect Forefathers to guide us.”

“Look at this mechanical ape. Even though it has the strength to pass through the second room, it keeps leaping between various mechanical traps, seemingly playing, and also teaching us how to pass the trials?”

Hearing Ning Zhuo say this, everyone’s eyes lit up.

The Zheng family cultivator slapped his thigh. “It seems that’s how it is.”

The Zhou family cultivators remained silent. Ever since the Golden-blooded Battle Ape, Great Victory, had annihilated them once, they had returned to their family and actively researched and speculated.

Their first guess was that Great Victory was a Flame-Melting Demonic Ape from the Fiery Persimmon Mountain, which had attained enlightenment after hearing the Dharma Transmission Bell, entered the Immortal Palace, and assembled the ape body to compete for the inheritance of the Lava Immortal Palace.

But the flaw in this guess was obvious. The mechanical components in the first room were all made of the same wooden material.

The materials used for the Golden-blooded Battle Ape, Great Victory, were clearly different.

Afterwards, they guessed whether this was an arrangement of the Lava Immortal Palace.

When the challengers reached a certain standard, such as a certain number of people, the Lava Immortal Palace would deploy this kind of mechanical ape to snipe them.

They also wondered if it was still a demonic cultivator competitor who, in the later trials of the Lava Immortal Palace, was allowed to replace his puppet body.

Besides this, there were various other guesses!

The appearance of the Golden-blooded Battle Ape, Great Victory, was similar to its form in life, but it was difficult for others to make the connection.

Because in many people’s eyes, monkeys all basically look the same.

Even when looking at people of different races, they were basically face-blind.

After this incident today, everyone personally witnessed Great Victory being teleported in, rather than having its soul enter the Immortal Palace.

This caused some of the Zhou family’s original conjectures to stand out.

Main Hall.

The Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit kept moving its jaw left and right, grinding its teeth.

It snorted, anxious and angry, occasionally clenching its fist and slamming it on the armrest of the throne.
It was the one that knew the truth most clearly.

It watched with its own eyes as Ning Zhuo brazenly used Yuan Dasheng in public, yet deceived everyone. Even some of the Zhou family cultivators who were aware of the truth covered for him.

Fools!

A bunch of imbeciles!

Not a single one of them was clever.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit grew angrier and angrier as it watched.

But it couldn’t say anything.

It was so enraged that the entire Molten Lava Immortal Palace began to tremble.

At the summit of Fire Persimmon Mountain.

Within the heavy veil of clouds and mist.

City Lord Meng Kui immediately opened his eyes. Seeing that the Molten Lava Immortal Palace was about to erupt again, he sighed helplessly, his expression gradually becoming serious. He was constantly prepared to activate the grand formation and suppress the unrest.

Ning Zhuo peered through the crack of the door, observing Yuan Dasheng.

After Yuan Dasheng gained sentience, its reactions became even sharper than before.

Faced with complex obstacles and traps, it chose from a wider range of solutions.

It was no longer as monotonous as before.

It was as if it had truly come to life.

However, in Ning Zhuo’s perception, his control over Yuan Dasheng still felt like there was a thick layer of dust, making it very sluggish.

“This mechanical ape has been staying in room number two, neither advancing nor retreating, seemingly playing with these mechanical traps.”

“Let’s continue, don’t worry about it for now,” Ning Zhuo said.

The Zhou family cultivators hesitated, “The mechanical traps at the door have been restored. We need to combine to resist them.”

“If we enter room number two and are attacked by the ape, what should we do?”

Ning Zhuo shrugged, “We can’t just try nothing this time, can we? Staying here and waiting until our soul force is exhausted is worse than taking a gamble!”

These words aroused strong agreement from the two Zheng family cultivators.

The Zhou family cultivators looked at each other, finally nodding, “The five of us will form a formation, you guys follow.”

“If the mechanical ape attacks us, be sure to have the three of you hold on first, so that we can disassemble into individual units as much as possible.”

Forming into a giant mechanical puppet would greatly reduce combat power.

Ning Zhuo agreed to the Zhou family cultivators’ plan.

The Zhou family’s large wooden puppet squeezed through the doorway, enduring the wall spears, deflecting the heavy hammer, and also splashing away the net on the ground, clearing the traps at the door.

Seeing that Yuan Dasheng did not attack, the Zhou family cultivators breathed a sigh of relief, “Come in.”

So, Ning Zhuo and the other three pushed the door open and entered easily.

Just then, Yuan Dasheng let out a low growl, suddenly turned around, and charged towards the group.

The Zhou family cultivators were terrified. Some wanted to counterattack, some wanted to turn around and run away, and some decided to stand their ground. This caused the Zhou family’s combined puppet to spin around in place.

Yuan Dasheng fell like a meteor, directly shattering them.

“As expected, it still wants to fight!”

Ning Zhuo shouted in a low voice and pounced forward, very bravely.

Yuan Dasheng reached out and easily plucked off Ning Zhuo’s wooden puppet head, throwing it directly into the nearest mechanical trap.

This scene was clearly seen by everyone.

Bang bang bang…

Yuan Dasheng’s punches were extremely heavy, naming each wooden puppet one by one, completely defeating them.

The cultivators could only return their souls to their bodies.

Yuan Dasheng jumped back down into the trap, retrieved Ning Zhuo’s head, and reattached it to the puppet’s body.

“Let’s go!” Ning Zhuo stomped his feet, shook his hands, and began to act with Yuan Dasheng.

Zheng Family.

“Why did it end so quickly?” someone asked.

The Zheng family cultivators looked solemn, eagerly saying, “Although we lost this time, the gains are great. We discovered the mechanical guardian of the Molten Lava Immortal Palace.”

Zhou Family!

New information, summarizing new viewpoints.

“So, the mechanical monkey should be an obstacle specially set up by the Molten Lava Immortal Palace when the number of people traveling together is too large, in order to maintain the difficulty of passing the level.”

“Yes, very likely.”

Ning Family.

“Why hasn’t Ning Zhuo returned yet?”

Ning Xiaoren wondered!

“So that’s how it is!”

He looked at the information conveyed by the other two families and understood.

“Ning Zhuo is unlucky. His puppet head was plucked off and thrown into a trap. He can only return after his soul force is exhausted.”

Ning Xiaoren sighed.

At the same time, outside Fire Persimmon Mountain.

Two black-clothed demonic cultivators stood at the foot of the mountain, looking up at the Fire Persimmon Immortal City on the mountainside.

“The message for help was sent from here.”

“Hehe, I didn’t expect a genius like Han Ming to fall here.”

“She usually doesn’t take us seriously. This time after we rescue her, let’s see if she’s still so arrogant!”

End of this chapter.