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Having traded for “Record of Fallen Cloud’s Wanderings,” Ning Zhuo swiftly finished reading it.

The book, from the perspective of Fallen Cloud, recounted his tale of enduring misfortune, wandering the world in hardship, and traveling to distant lands.

The story was quite interesting, and Ning Zhuo gleaned much about the customs and culture of various locales.

However, the discussion of related topics such as the ebb and flow of fortune and the art of altering fate were only superficially touched upon, without any deeper exploration.

This was already the best scripture Ning Zhuo could currently acquire from the Scripture Tower.

The other books that touched upon fortune were, according to their brief introductions, even inferior to “Record of Fallen Cloud’s Wanderings.”

“The subject of fortune is not a widely studied field, and it only circulates within a small circle.”

“Currently, it seems that the Heavenly Fate Pavilion possesses the most secrets related to this!”

“Although the Heavenly Fate Pavilion is a super sect, it has few members and is extremely mysterious. According to Fallen Cloud’s own account, he once studied at the Heavenly Fate Pavilion, but “Record of Fallen Cloud’s Wanderings” makes no mention of it.”

“However, Fallen Cloud was able to alter the fortune of others to a certain extent, for a period of time.”

“Granting them wealth, official promotion, romantic prospects, and so on.”

“But these techniques all have drawbacks; once certain taboos are violated, the consequences would be even worse.”

Ning Zhuo sighed inwardly.

His previous plan had failed. He had not been able to rely on “Record of Fallen Cloud’s Wanderings” to achieve a qualitative change in the nascent lifeline thread divine ability.

But it wasn’t without its rewards.

At least he understood this much:

Changing the fortune of others has many drawbacks.

“Then, what are the drawbacks of Meng Kui’s Seated Mountain Observation divine ability, which can create different fortune fields?”

Ning Zhuo pondered this question.

As far as he was concerned, Meng Kui was also a competitor for the Lava Immortal Palace.

Reality was cruel.

It wasn’t as if Meng Kui being a Nascent Soul cultivator and Ning Zhuo only being a Qi Refining cultivator meant that they weren’t in competition.

When the final moment arrived, Ning Zhuo would inevitably have to face Meng Kui in the Nascent Soul stage.

“But if, before that, I can find the weaknesses of his divine ability, it would undoubtedly increase my chances of success!”

Ning Zhuo continued his arduous cultivation.

His Spirit Sea cultivation had progressed significantly.

His Qi Sea cultivation had also reached its limit, but his mana needed to be purified.

His Essence Sea cultivation still had room for improvement.

Ning Zhuo’s cultivation speed was quite impressive thanks to consuming large amounts of spiritual food and elixirs.

“However, even if the Essence Sea cultivation reaches the peak of the sixth cycle, I still won’t be able to break through the current bottleneck.”

Ning Zhuo was almost certain that the difficulty behind the second Devil Gate was the same as the Buddhist and Daoist gates.

Unsurprisingly, he would still be stuck.

“Behind the second gate is a special level that distributes Five Elements Conversion Disks. The better I am at the Five Elements generation and destruction techniques, the higher the quality of the Conversion Disk I will receive.”

“Referencing the coffin chamber of the first Buddhist gate, I might only be able to choose once, so I have to be extremely careful.”

“I must raise my attainment in the Five Elements generation and destruction techniques as much as possible. Before that, I will not choose the Five Elements Conversion Disk.”

The Five Elements generation and destruction techniques required diligent practice, and so did the Cinerary Nirvana Liberation Scripture.

In Ning Zhuo’s estimation, this cultivation method was the key to breaking his predicament.

After all, compared to the Daoist and Devil paths, the Buddhist path was his advantage.

And so, Ning Zhuo focused on the Cinerary Nirvana Liberation Scripture, followed by the Five Elements generation and destruction techniques, and finally the Demonic Corruption Blood Tendon Technique.

He precisely allocated his time for eating, drinking, and bathroom breaks to the measure of a finger snap.

Ning Zhuo was so diligent and hardworking that those around him were astonished.

“I always thought I was hardworking enough, but compared to Brother Zhuo, what am I?”

“To be so diligent and tireless, no wonder Brother Zhuo has achieved what he has today. I am completely convinced.”

“Brother Zhuo is already so outstanding, yet he is still working so hard. What right do we have to be so lazy?”

Ning Yong, Ning Chen, and the others were greatly inspired.

They all took Ning Zhuo as an example and began to cultivate madly.

As Ning Zhuo’s position continued to rise and he continued to succeed, his influence soared.

Ning Zhuo could change the mental and physical state of those around him without consciously trying to do so.

After discovering that Ning Chen, Ning Yong, and others were emulating him, Ning Zhuo decisively said to them, “You are all at the peak of the third level of Qi Refining. If you want to explore the Immortal Palace deeper, you must fully improve your mastery of mechanization.”

“How about this, I can introduce you to the Mechanization Workshop.”

“Once you get there, you can craft all kinds of mechanized creations and accumulate hands-on experience, which will be very helpful to you.”

Ning Yong, Ning Chen, and the others had no objections.

Since Ning Zhuo said so, there must be a reason.

All of these young cultivators chose to listen and none refused.

Thus, Ning Zhuo introduced them to Chen Cha.

Ning Zhuo also gave Chen Cha new mechanization blueprints: “This is the new model of the Mechanized Fireburst Monkey that I modified. It is mainly for combat!”

Chen Cha took it and nodded in satisfaction, “The materials used are much more solid than last time.”

Ning Zhuo smiled, “It’s mainly for the Monkey Head Gang, so it’s better for this kind of combat mechanization to be more reliable, after all, lives are at stake!”

More than ten days passed quickly.

That afternoon, as arranged, Ning Zhuo made a point of taking a short amount of time to listen to the reports from Ning Xiangguo and Ning Xiangqian.

Most of the deacons dismissed by the main branch had been recruited by Ning Zhuo, with Ning Xiangguo and Ning Xiangqian being the most outstanding.

Ning Zhuo then appointed these two as leaders.

After Ning Zhuo unified the Black Market and established the rules, he became a hands-off manager.

For the past half a month, it had been maintained by the Ning family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators.

With the emergence of the Lava Immortal Palace and the Talent Recruitment Order, many outsiders were attracted and poured into Fire Persimmon Immortal City, leading to the Black Market’s business being ten times more prosperous than before.

While the Black Market’s profits soared, the difficulty of managing it also increased.

Fortunately, these Ning family cultivators were all in the Foundation Establishment stage, and not ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators either. The Foundation Establishment cultivators who could be selected by the main branch as deacons naturally had their own specialities.

These cultivators were elites among the Foundation Establishment stage.

The frost spells they cast were also very suitable for capturing people.

After the cultivators were frozen, they could often retain their lives.

According to Sun Lingtong’s arrangements and power, she really couldn’t handle the current Black Market.

However, these former deacons of the Ning family managed the Black Market in an orderly manner.

“You’ve all worked hard these days!”

After listening to the reports, Ning Zhuo immediately began the distribution.

He had already investigated these Foundation Establishment cultivators and the specific salaries they received when they served as Ning family deacons. Ning Zhuo took 80% of the profits from managing the Black Market to use for distribution.

This reached the monthly salary standard that these Foundation Establishment cultivators once had.

“It’s the end of the month, so let’s distribute it to everyone!”

Ning Xiangguo said, “Young Master Zhuo, it seems like you’ve miscalculated. We’ve only been working for half a month, this is a month’s salary!”

Ning Zhuo nodded, “The extra part is my welcome gift to everyone. In the future, every clansman who joins us will receive half of their salary as a joining bonus in the first month.”

Ning Xiangqian was overjoyed, “That’s a good idea, everyone will like it.”

Ning Zhuo continued, “Next, we will calculate this month’s bonus based on the individual’s specific evaluation and merit.”

“Calculate it in detail according to the rules I gave before. The calculation process and results must be submitted to the cultivators themselves for verification.”

“This part of the bonus will be distributed at the end of next month along with next month’s salary.”

“In a word, the salary will be distributed at the end of the current month, and the bonus will be distributed at the end of the following month. This makes it easier for people who have objections to the bonus calculation to report and correct it.”

Ning Xiangqian nodded repeatedly, “This is a good method. In this way, everyone will earn at least as much working in the Black Market as they did in the family. The more they contribute, the more they earn, which is very fair!”

Ning Xiangguo frowned slightly, “In this way, there will be almost no profits left in the Black Market. Young Master Zhuo, you should keep some for yourself. Forgive me for speaking frankly, but you are distributing too much.”

Ning Xiangqian was stunned for a moment, and after thinking carefully, he nodded and said, “That seems to be the case.”

Ning Zhuo smiled and waved his hand, “It’s only the first month. I believe we will have an even better time next month.”

“More outsiders will come to the Black Market.”

“In fact, as long as the Lava Immortal Palace has not recognized an owner, there will be a steady stream of cultivators coming from afar.”

“Even if they come from afar and are not recognized by the palace spirit and cannot enter the Immortal Palace, most of them will choose to live in the Lava Immortal Palace for a period of time.”

“These people will greatly boost the business in Immortal City.”

“The scale of the Black Market is getting bigger and bigger, isn’t it?”

Ning Xiangqian grinned, “That’s the truth.”

Ning Xiangguo said with a profound look, “But Young Master Zhuo, do you really want to be in charge of the Black Market?”

“I personally think this is not a long-term plan!”

“We need legitimate businesses, after all, the Black Market is not what the righteous path does!”

“If we control it for too long and get too involved, it will hinder the reputation of our Ning family!”

“As it is now, it’s still fine. Everyone will think that the four major forces have reached a tacit agreement to let the Ning family intervene in the Black Market for the sake of the stability of the Immortal City.”

“In the future, once there are fewer outsiders and the Immortal Palace recognizes an owner, we will not be able to hold on to this territory and we will only be able to abandon it.”

Ning Xiangqian frowned and asked in confusion, “Why can’t we hold on to it? We are the ones who took down the Black Market.”

Clearly, Ning Xiangguo was more strategic and could recognize the situation. His vision could also be extended further.

Ning Xiangguo continued, “Therefore, I sincerely suggest, Young Master Zhuo, you don’t have to be so generous. Take advantage of this rare opportunity and try to collect more wealth and save it in your own hands. In the future, when you withdraw from the Black Market, at least you will have a guarantee of materials.”

Ning Zhuo looked at Ning Xiangguo deeply.

During this period of time, although Ning Zhuo stayed at home, he still used the fragmented time every day to contact the Ning family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators one-on-one as much as possible.

In this process, Ning Zhuo also used the Turtle Breath Gang to find out more real information about each of them.

Now, most of the Ning family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators have the lifeline thread.

Ning Xiangguo and Ning Xiangqian were among them.

End of chapter.