Amidst the deep, swirling clouds, Ning Zhuo diligently practiced his arts.

At times, he was enshrouded in five-colored light, his aura surging. At others, his lifeblood coursed with vigor, a chilling demonic aura radiating from him. And then, he would appear serene and dignified, his face bathed in Buddha-like light.

Having tested the three cultivation arts, he gained a more intuitive and profound understanding of the newly acquired seventh to ninth layer techniques.

“These three cultivation arts retain their greatest strength—rapid cultivation speed,” he mused.

“But if I were to cultivate them in their original manner, the time required would be at least three times the sum of what I’ve spent so far.”

This was because the seventh to ninth layers of these arts possessed a new advantage—depth.

Whether it was spiritual sense, magical power, or vital essence, they were far more profound than what could be obtained through ordinary cultivation methods.

Although the advantage of rapid cultivation speed was maintained, the standard quantity cultivated was three times greater, thus drastically increasing the cultivation time threefold.

However, there was another point that caused Ning Zhuo to furrow his brow slightly.

“Starting from the seventh layer, these three cultivation arts begin to resonate with one another.”

“Minor realms are fine, but major realms must advance and retreat in unison, which is quite troublesome.”

In other words, the three cultivation arts had to simultaneously enter the seventh, eighth, and ninth layers.

However, one art could be in the early stage of the seventh layer, another in the middle stage, and the third at the peak.

Previously, Ning Zhuo had experienced a situation where his Divine Sea cultivation was as high as the sixth layer, while the other two arts were only at the fifth layer.

This kind of situation was absolutely forbidden in the seventh to ninth layer techniques.

According to the cultivation arts, if this situation occurred, it would greatly affect the possibility of successfully establishing his foundation.

Ning Zhuo knew the reason.

“Because this involves the integration of the three Dantians.”

As mentioned before, Foundation Establishment followed Qi Refining. There were three main cultivation paths in the Qi Refining stage: the Upper Dantian Divine Sea, the Middle Dantian Qi Sea, and the Lower Dantian Essence Sea.

Most cultivation arts focused on cultivating one Dantian.

Therefore, they did not have this concern.

However, for excellent or top-tier cultivation arts, they focused on more than one Dantian, often involving two.

Regardless of which two Dantians were involved, unification had to be achieved.

For example, the harmony of spirit and energy, the unity of mind and spirit, or the fusion of essence and energy.

In the case of the Three Sects Paragon, he had to achieve even more—the unification of the three treasures: essence, energy, and spirit.

This unification did not mean merging the three Dantians into one, but rather ensuring that their auras were unified, forming a single entity, truly opening the path to Foundation Establishment.

Without this unification, Ning Zhuo’s cultivation of these three arts would be like haphazardly cultivating three incompatible arts.

When it came to breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage, failure was inevitable. The three Dantians, each with their own cultivation, would clash violently if there was any disharmony or imbalance, leading to failure in breaking through. The three Dantians would collide and be damaged.

In mild cases, this would affect the foundation of cultivation, causing a genius to fall and become a cripple. In severe cases, it could lead to a life-threatening crisis.

This was the main reason why the simultaneous cultivation of three Dantians was still very rare in today’s developed cultivation world.

Ning Zhuo summarized: In the later stages of the Qi Refining realm with the Three Sects’ cultivation arts, the advantage of rapid cultivation speed was maintained, but the time required was tripled, and the three arts had to advance and retreat together.

He immediately thought of the difficulty involved.

“In that case, my Divine Sea cultivation cannot advance too quickly.”

“I must take into account the progress of the other two Dantians.”

“Fortunately, the minor realms do not have to be consistent. I can still use the Ice Jade Wine to boost my Qi Sea cultivation.”

“The question is, what about the cultivation of the Essence Sea?”

Ning Zhuo’s cultivation in the Essence Sea had always been the slowest.

It wasn’t that he lacked talent in this area, nor was it truly slow, but compared to the rapidly advancing Divine Sea and the boosted Qi Sea, the Essence Sea was always the last one.

Previously, this was not a problem.

But now, according to the later-stage techniques of the Three Sects, this was Ning Zhuo’s greatest shortcoming in cultivation.

“I’ve obtained the follow-up techniques, but new problems have arisen.”

Ning Zhuo only studied the later content related to the Mirror Platform Spiritualization Art for a few moments and he felt his Divine Sea cultivation faintly surging, showing a tendency to cross over to the seventh layer. Alarmed, he quickly dispelled all related thoughts in his Divine Sea.

His Qi Sea cultivation had also reached the peak of the sixth layer.

Only his Essence Sea cultivation lagged behind.

“I must focus all my efforts on improving my Essence Sea cultivation.”

Most of the research on the Essence Sea was done on Demonic cultivation arts.

Ning Zhuo hadn’t had much contact in this area.

His knowledge mainly came from the Ning family’s public library, and his mastery of mechanisms was mostly derived from his mother’s legacy.

Although he had been collecting information in the black market for many years, he had also paid attention to collecting books.

However, the quality of the cultivation arts, spells, and other items that had fallen to this market level was relatively low (Fire Persimmon Immortal City was, after all, a new city.)

Unless one picked up a bargain or attended certain auctions, it was difficult to buy high-quality cultivation arts.

Demonic cultivation arts were also subject to official suppression and bans, making them difficult to acquire from regular markets.

Before the age of sixteen, Ning Zhuo had always firmly believed in following the path of righteousness, and had little desire for Demonic cultivation arts.

He had never imagined that the Lava Immortal Palace’s cultivation arts would involve the simultaneous cultivation of the three Daos. This caused a serious mismatch between his preparation and actual needs in Demonic cultivation.

Fortunately, he had an elder brother who came from a major heretical sect.

Ning Zhuo inquired about this with Sun Lingtong.

Sun Lingtong gave the answer directly: “This is very simple.”

“It’s actually easiest to improve your vital essence cultivation.”

“But Little Zhuo, you definitely can’t do it.”

“Eldest brother, please speak freely,” Ning Zhuo asked.

Sun Lingtong then gave an answer that made Ning Zhuo’s expression change slightly, and he immediately shook his head, “I can’t do it, I can’t do it.”

The method given by Sun Lingtong was very simple: kinsmen of the same sect, possessing the same source of blood.

The terrifying Demonic cultivators slaughtered their relatives for their own benefit, in exchange for rapid advances in cultivation.

The key was that as long as the Demonic cultivator paid attention to refinement and purification, this method really didn’t have any side effects.

Ning Zhuo was unwilling: “Eldest brother Sun, other than that, is there any other method?”

Sun Lingtong did offer a few solutions, but they all had extremely high thresholds or were too slow to provide immediate help.

What to do?

Ning Zhuo had no choice but to frantically cultivate his Essence Sea with all his might, while paying attention to collecting relevant information, to see if there were any opportunities in the outside world.

Sun Lingtong comforted him: “This can’t even be considered a bottleneck for you, you’re still moving forward steadily. It’s clearly a normal cultivation speed, but you’re not satisfied.”

Ning Zhuo sighed and told Sun Lingtong his concerns.

Fire Persimmon Immortal City had begun to become crowded. Outsiders attracted by the Recruitment Order kept arriving here to try to explore the Immortal Palace.

Ning Zhuo felt the pressure increasing day by day.

He had to go all out, racing against time, doing his best to increase the possibility of seizing the Immortal Palace.

He would not forgive himself for the slightest slackness.

“Alas, Little Zhuo is pushing himself too hard.”

Sun Lingtong sighed in his heart, but did not offer any comfort.

Because he knew very well the meaning of the Lava Immortal Palace in Ning Zhuo’s life.

He also knew that any persuasion would be meaningless. Assisting Ning Zhuo with all his strength was the most meaningful help he could provide.

This was why Sun Lingtong risked staying in Fire Persimmon Immortal City even while being wanted.

He always hid in underground bases, moving every once in a while.

According to his personality, this kind of life was more torturous than being in prison.

But Sun Lingtong endured it all, just to be closer to Ning Zhuo and see if there was anything he could help his little brother with.

He didn’t know that his situation was even more dangerous than Ning Zhuo’s—he had already been targeted by Luo Shang of the Soul-Devouring Sect and Yang Chanyu of the Unempty Gate, two Golden Core True Disciples.

When he moved to the previous underground base, he would fall into the enemy’s trap.

Ning Zhuo’s small courtyard.

“Good, this Mechanical Fire Monkey is well-made. I’ll buy it.”

Ning Zhuo paid for a Mechanical Monkey.

Recently, he had been doing this more and more often.

“Hmm, you modified and manufactured this jet nozzle based on the Lava Immortal Palace’s mechanism diagram?”

After receiving an affirmative answer, Ning Zhuo also bought the jet mechanism nozzle as encouragement.

After Ning Xiaohui withdrew from the modification team, the remaining main branch members were already few in number, and now they lacked a backbone, making them completely negligible.

Ning Zhuo had complete control over the Ning family’s modification team.

Ning Zhuo actively arranged for the people from the modification team to go to various mechanical workshops to accumulate mechanical skills.

After a period of fermentation, the effect was noticeably outstanding.

This once made Ning Zhuo wonder if the Ning family was originally a family focused on mechanical skills.

Was their current focus on Ice and Snow cultivation misguided?

A former Foundation Establishment Deacon cleared his doubts.

This former Deacon had once participated in the high-level selection of personnel.

Only then did Ning Zhuo understand that the members of the modification team were not randomly selected. Instead, the Ning family’s high-level management had spent a lot of effort, specifically selecting individuals with a talent for mechanical skills from a large pool.

“The more people a family has, the more talents there will be suitable for cultivating different immortal techniques.”

“From the family’s perspective, having more people is still a good thing. The more, the merrier.”

The carefully selected personnel of the Ning family had now fallen into Ning Zhuo’s hands and were being used by him.

Sun Lingtong’s former black market was also controlled by Ning Zhuo, and its profits were skyrocketing.

Everything had its advantages and disadvantages.

The influx of outsiders into the Immortal City brought him tremendous competitive pressure, but also brought more transactions and more income.

The funds in Ning Zhuo’s hands were increasing, accumulating rapidly at an unprecedented rate, even though he was constantly spending money.

When donating to the Orphanage, he donated a larger sum of spirit stones than planned.

The proportion of the total income spent on salaries for Ning family’s Foundation Establishment subordinates was rapidly declining.

Ning Zhuo also invested a large sum of money in secretly collecting information, especially information about Demonic cultivation arts that accelerated cultivation. He collected a lot, but most of it was unreliable.

Ning Zhuo had more than ten years of intelligence sensitivity in Yang City. He could roughly estimate the level of rumor in much of the information at a glance.

Many intelligence ‘leads’ were collected, but most of them were based on rumors and had no value.

Most of the answers were what Sun Lingtong had mentioned—starting with one’s own family.

“Because it involves Demonic cultivation arts and concerns the Lava Immortal Palace, I can’t start through normal channels, and I can’t seek help from the three major families.”

“The situation is still okay now. But if my Essence Sea cultivation advances to the seventh layer, and the time required is tripled, then it’s even more unbearable.”

Ning Zhuo pondered deeply for many days.

One day, he suddenly had a wonderful inspiration and achieved a breakthrough.

“Wait, I can have mechanical puppets cultivate for me!”

End of chapter.