Ning Zhuo and Song Fuli met again.

Previously, the two finalized the Mechanical Fiery Ape business. Ning Zhuo ordered Chen Cha and others to work overtime and urgently produce a large number of Mechanical Fiery Apes.

Now, it was time for the two to hand over the goods.

“I never expected the situation in Fiery Persimmon Immortal City to deteriorate so rapidly, reaching the point of being besieged by demon beasts,” Song Fuli said with emotion.

He led the Cloud Merchants here, and before they could even conduct much business, the city was besieged by demon beasts.

Meeting Ning Zhuo again at this moment, he felt a deep sense of the capricious nature of fate.

Little did he know that the true culprit who caused the demon beast attack was right before his eyes.

Ning Zhuo also sighed deeply, saying, “Yes, I didn’t expect demon beasts to besiege Fiery Persimmon Immortal City.”

“However, the true main force of the terrifying demon beasts is still at the top of Fiery Persimmon Mountain.”

“Therefore, this time, we have no choice but to be unable to deliver the quantity we previously discussed. This is the first batch of Mechanical Fiery Apes, and it will also be the last batch.”

Ning Zhuo sighed helplessly at this point.

At the critical juncture of life and death for Fiery Persimmon Immortal City, the great battle continued unabated. Chen Cha and many other mechanical workshops were under the strict control of Fei Si.

The production tasks of these mechanical workshops had to be changed to manufacture battle mechanisms most beneficial to the war effort.

Compared to classic battle mechanism creations, the combat method of the Mechanical Fiery Ape was relatively ordinary.

Originally, its only combat method was self-detonation. Later, when Ning Zhuo fought against Zhou Zeshen, he paired it with another mechanical accessory – a firecracker that could be thrown.

Even so, with only these two combat methods, the Mechanical Fiery Ape was not essentially suitable for the battlefield.

Ning Zhuo’s design blueprint determined that this mechanical creation would be more valuable when used for picking fiery persimmons.

Regarding Ning Zhuo’s apology, Song Fuli nodded repeatedly, “Understood, understood.”

He casually took out a mechanical sample from the cargo box and began to inspect it.

A half-human-tall Mechanical Fiery Ape was presented before him.

At a glance, the appearance of the Mechanical Fiery Ape was very eye-catching. It had a body of extremely bright red monkey hair, its body was swollen with muscles, and its eyebrows and eyes were lifelike.

Song Fuli was naturally no ordinary person. His cultivation had reached the Golden Core level, and he was already capable of using his spiritual sense for inspection.

He immediately used his spiritual sense to scan the entire body of the Mechanical Fiery Ape from the inside out.

A sharp glint flashed in Song Fuli’s eyes as he commented, “The monkey’s skin is made of tinder mouse fur, using the most traditional sewing method of spiritual power embroidery.”

“The skeleton is made of Heaven Gold, primarily for lightweight and certain spatial efficiency, making it convenient to arrange storage arrays on it.”

“However, to compress the arrays and leave room for the fiery ape’s subsequent promotion, the array master needs to be highly skilled, and the labor in this area is not cheap.”

Speaking of this, Song Fuli extended his hands and opened the two hands of the Mechanical Fiery Ape, which were originally clenched into fists.

He felt the fiery ape’s fingers with his own fingers.

After a few breaths, he nodded slightly: “The miniature arrays here are nested with each other, saving a lot of space.”

“The mechanical ape’s fingers are agile and flexible, capable of performing very complex finger movements. This is the foundation for precise picking operations.”

“This shows, Young Master Ning Zhuo, that your foundation in arrays is quite remarkable, and your basic skills are very solid.”

“Considering you are only sixteen years old this year, this level of mechanical accomplishment is quite good.”

“The wandering pellet in the monkey’s brain should be your original creation, using it as a spiritual sense receiver is likely to fully suppress costs.”

“I personally would recommend replacing the wandering pellet with an array disk to form an enhanced model. After all, although the design of this wandering pellet is unique, the upper limit for precise control by Foundation Establishment cultivators is very low, far inferior to a standard array disk.”

“Of course, the more important point is: as long as it is replaced with an array disk, the unit price of the Mechanical Fiery Ape can be increased by at least thirty percent!”

Song Fuli’s words made Ning Zhuo look at him with admiration.

He didn’t expect that his mechanical accomplishments were also quite impressive.

However, upon reflection, Ning Zhuo understood: As a traveling merchant from the Flying Cloud Kingdom, leading a merchant team and having traveled extensively, Song Fuli naturally excelled in various cultivation arts.

Otherwise, when acquiring local specialties, he would easily be deceived.

Song Fuli continued, “The body of the Mechanical Fiery Ape should be made of a composite material created using alchemy techniques.”

“Because it is used to pick fiery persimmons, the composite material is primarily focused on stacking fire resistance.”

“Actually, I have a better method, which is Cold Cloud.”

“This cloud, which is very common in the Flying Cloud Kingdom, can be mixed in as the main material, not only significantly reducing the weight of the Mechanical Fiery Ape’s body but also further enhancing its fire resistance.”

“Are you familiar with Cold Cloud?”

Ning Zhuo nodded slightly and frankly said, “Among the many mechanical secret manuals left to me by my mother, this material is recorded.”

“Unfortunately, this is not the Flying Cloud Kingdom, but Fiery Persimmon Mountain.”

“If I were to acquire Cold Cloud, I would have to import the material, and the unit price would be much higher than the current composite material.”

“Considering the manufacturing cost, I directly eliminated Cold Cloud.”

Song Fuli was slightly startled, then looked up and burst into laughter: “That’s right.”

“I know your mother is from the Flying Cloud Kingdom.”

At this point, Song Fuli looked at Ning Zhuo and said with genuine sincerity, “I apologize, we have secretly investigated many aspects of Young Master Ning Zhuo.”

“In fact, this is a customary practice for us Cloud Merchants wherever we go. After all, we are doing business on others’ territory.”

“Therefore, we need to investigate many important local figures as clearly as possible and then visit them one by one.”

“In Fiery Persimmon Immortal City, City Lord Meng Kui, Divine Constable Zhu Xuanji, and you, the master of the black market, Ning Zhuo, are all targets that require our special attention.”

As a dignified Golden Core cultivator, Song Fuli actually spoke with flattery.

Such an attitude towards doing business was truly admirable.

Song Fuli continued, “Young Master Ning Zhuo, you have half of the bloodline of the Flying Cloud Kingdom, so the Flying Cloud Kingdom is also your home.”

“I suggest that you might as well go back and take a look, especially at the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea. The sooner you go back, the better.”

Ning Zhuo was slightly startled, and his eyes involuntarily revealed a look of longing: “Indeed, the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea… I have long heard of its great name and really want to see it for myself.”

Song Fuli laughed heartily: “It’s not just as simple as seeing it for yourself.”

“For those outside the Flying Cloud Kingdom, the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea is just a natural wonder, a place that can provide a massive amount of cultivation resources.”

“But for us people of the Flying Cloud Kingdom, it has another layer of important meaning.”

“Any cultivator with the bloodline of the Flying Cloud Kingdom in their body, as long as they enter the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea, can receive its bounty!”

“One of the lowest bounties is the ability to sense the bloodline of the Flying Cloud Kingdom to a certain extent.”

“To be honest, when I first saw you, I felt a sense of closeness and could sense the Flying Cloud bloodline in your body, precisely because I had been to the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea.”

“This is an ability possessed by every person of the Flying Cloud Kingdom who has entered and exited the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea – sensing the bloodline of their own kind.”

Throughout the entire cultivation world, the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea held a formidable reputation.

Even if Ning Zhuo did not have his mother’s inheritance, he would still be able to obtain a lot of information about the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea from the Ning family’s library.

This was because this super resource point was renowned, so famous that it had become common knowledge in the cultivation world. Fiery Persimmon Mountain was simply incomparable to it.

The Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea was the convergence point of the Cloud Dao, containing extremely rich Great Dao laws. It nurtured a massive amount of cloud-attributed resources, and even cultivators at the Deity Transformation and Emptiness Refinement levels lingered there, comprehending the Dao of Clouds.

Song Fuli took a deep breath and continued, “Suddenly suggesting that you go to the Flying Cloud Kingdom is indeed a bit abrupt.”

“But in reality, well… how should I put it?”

“The Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea can be said to be the spiritual sustenance, or rather the spiritual homeland, of every one of us in the Flying Cloud Kingdom.”

“Have you heard of the myth of the Flying Cloud returning home?”

Ning Zhuo nodded: “I have heard of it. My mother told me about it when she was alive.”

Song Fuli sighed softly: “A young Flying Cloud wants to go out and explore, but after drifting outside for many years, only then do they understand that their homeland is their origin. They belong there, no matter where they go, it is always like this.”

“To be honest, when I was young, it was the same. I wanted to explore the world and experience everything in the world.”

“One day, when I came to the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea, I went deep into it, and I was so moved that I shed tears. That unparalleled shock and closeness made me feel as if I had returned to my mother’s embrace.”

“The感动 and shock that the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea gave me are difficult to describe in words. Only when you personally enter the Cloud Sea someday in the future will you deeply feel it.”

Ning Zhuo sighed, his tone uncertain as he said, “Perhaps one day, I will go.”

He couldn’t be sure that such a day would come.

Because according to his life plan, he would seize the Lava Immortal Palace and become the Palace Lord of the Lava Immortal Palace.

However, doing so would mean being trapped on Fiery Persimmon Mountain. Unless he activated the Lava Immortal Palace and left Fiery Persimmon Mountain.

But if he were the Palace Lord and the Lava Immortal Palace was responsible for suppressing Fiery Persimmon Mountain, he obviously couldn’t abandon his post without authorization.

“Perhaps, I should indeed go and see the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea, but how should I do it?”

For a long time, the Lava Immortal Palace was Ning Zhuo’s life goal. He had never thought of other possibilities for his life.

His mind was full of the Lava Immortal Palace and his mother’s dying囑託 before her death.

In fact, before this, Sun Lingtong had advised him: if he failed to seize the Lava Immortal Palace, or even if he succeeded in the end, he should run away and join the Unbounded Gate to obtain a certain degree of protection.

Although Ning Zhuo inwardly acknowledged that this was a fallback plan, in reality, he had never truly considered taking such a path.

But now, the words of Song Fuli, an outsider, made Ning Zhuo truly feel another possible path in his life.

Ning Zhuo’s heart was touched.