Two days later.

Inside the teleportation room, a stream of light flashed, and Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong appeared in the teleportation array.

“Xiao Zhuo, come, follow me.” Sun Lingtong took the lead, stepping forward.

He pushed open the door directly.

Ning Zhuo followed him and entered the Formation Core Chamber together.

Sun Lingtong walked straight to the formation plate, which was the size of a millstone. He placed his plump little hand on the formation plate and directly infused it with magical power.

The formation plate hummed, emitting a faint glow, readily controlled by Sun Lingtong.

Sun Lingtong sighed, “The Luo Shu is truly a divine artifact. If I hadn’t used it for comprehension, I wouldn’t have been able to solve this place in a hundred days.”

In just two days, Sun Lingtong had deciphered the cave mansion’s formation array in Shouyu Zhai.

Ning Zhuo genuinely praised, “When it comes to deciphering formation arrays, we still have to rely on you, Boss.”

Sun Lingtong chuckled, very pleased. “Xiao Zhuo, you have talent. If we have time in the future, I’ll teach you properly, and you can be as excellent as me. Of course, you might even be better than me!”

Ning Zhuo, however, shook his head. “Boss, your perception of space is extraordinarily keen, and you can always point to the correct answer. This talent is extremely beneficial for laying out formations. I don’t possess it.”

“However, once I join Wanxiang Sect, I will certainly read through the sect’s ancient texts and study hard to enrich myself!”

Ning Zhuo was eager to learn.

He had once read all the books in the Ning family’s Hidden Scripture Pavilion.

It was only due to his quest to seize the Molten Immortal Palace and his travels outside that he hadn’t had time to read again.

He was still too young, only in his teens, with too many areas to grow.

Time was truly insufficient!

Sun Lingtong beckoned, “Come here, and also refine the formation plate once, leaving your magical power aura first.”

Ning Zhuo did as he was told. This way, he could move freely within Shouyu Zhai.

Ning and Sun traveled together, exploring Shouyu Zhai.

Although Ning Zhuo had accompanied Sun Lingtong on their adventure in Shouyu Zhai the whole time through Human Puppet Threads, as if personally present, experiencing it firsthand now in his true body was a different feeling, and his emotions fluctuated for a moment.

Sun Lingtong had by now figured out the layout of Shouyu Zhai.

Shouyu Zhai was a complete palace, but after Meng Yao’yin’s modifications, its true layout had undergone drastic changes.

The core was the Formation Core Chamber, where a small teleportation room had been added. The teleportation array inside connected to the mountain teleportation stone chamber of Bao Teng Cliff. This was a secret entry and exit route.

The Formation Core Chamber had six doors, leading to the Paper Puppet Chamber, Fish Dance Pavilion, Storage Room, Shouyu Garden, Divination Room, and Living Quarters, respectively.

Between the Formation Core Chamber and the six rooms, there were connecting corridors, known as the Six Winding Corridors, formed using the advanced technique of spatial array construction.

As Ning Zhuo walked through the shimmering corridors, he couldn’t help but imagine his mother living there.

“The colorful fish shadows of Biyu Lake flowed on Mother’s elegant magic robe, but she had no time to appreciate them. Her steps never stopped, heading straight for a certain room.”

Ning Zhuo arrived at the Fish Dance Pavilion. He stopped by the spring, gazed carefully, and with a thought, took out some spirit food and scattered it into the spring.

The red-scaled goldfish lived here, able to absorb spiritual energy and feed on water plants. Seeing the spirit food being offered, they rushed to compete for it, seemingly wanting a change of taste.

For a moment, the fish became active, splashing on the water’s surface.

Ning Zhuo couldn’t help but wonder in his heart, “Did Mother also feed the fish by the spring to relieve boredom when she was occasionally troubled?”

The goldfish ate the spirit food, then spat it out.

Some were choking on water, while others simply turned their bellies up.

“Hmm.” Ning Zhuo realized he was feeding the fish with dark cuisine.

He quickly cast a magic spell to rescue them.

The goldfish came back to life, each diving to the bottom of the pond, trying to avoid Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo came to the Paper Puppet Chamber.

He sat at the table, gently stroking the tabletop. “Mother must have often sat like this during her lifetime, bent over to make various paper puppets.”

He looked up, casting his gaze to the surrounding walls, and saw the twelve zodiac shadow puppets. “Did Mother make all these?”

Ning Zhuo came to Shouyu Garden.

He looked at the jade pit, but what he imagined in his mind was Meng Yao’yin sitting alone on the edge of the pit, making hand seals to collect jade stones.

Ning Zhuo then came to the Living Quarters.

A scene appeared before his eyes: Meng Yao’yin, dragging her tired body, returned here. She lay alone on the giant shell bed,

Sleeping with a furrowed brow.

Three hundred and sixty Dream Roaming Beads quietly floated around her, emitting a faint glow that soothed the soul, yet could not dispel the fatigue and hidden worries on her brow. Even in her dreams, Meng Yao’yin was training herself.

Finally, Ning Zhuo came to the Divination Room.

He stood before the water vortex, watching it constantly change, then scanned the unrecognizable, largely destroyed room, as if seeing Meng Yao’yin struggling to perform divination here, facing the pages of the Luo Shu.

The radiance of the spells made her figure appear exceptionally small and lonely, like an ant exploring the world, seeking answers to her own destiny.

Sun Lingtong, on the other hand, sighed at the water vortex. “This problem is too difficult to solve; it’s constantly changing.”

“The formation arrays in the corridors use external cloud phenomena as a reference for random changes. But this water vortex is calculated based on the pages of the Luo Shu.”

“To quickly obtain the Luo Shu, we have to violently destroy the water vortex. This formation array is only quite complex; its true volume is not enough. As long as we are well-prepared, we can still destroy it directly.”

“But doing so would cause a huge commotion. The entire Shouyu Zhai might even be destroyed.”

Sun Lingtong sighed repeatedly.

His nature was such that he couldn’t bear to see treasures within reach yet be unable to do anything. It made his heart itch!

Ning Zhuo, however, maintained his usual composure. “No rush, Boss.”

“That Niu Cheng has already been stabilized by me.”

“Let’s first move all the items in the cave mansion into the Wanli Youlong.”

Sun Lingtong nodded. “Let’s go, let’s do it together.”

Before, he couldn’t make a move.

But now it was different. The entire cave mansion’s formation arrays were under the control of Ning and Sun. Moving these items would not trigger alarms or the defense of the formation arrays.

After some hard work, basically all the items were moved into the Wanli Youlong.

After reviewing them, Ning Zhuo’s mood gradually settled.

At this point, he had successfully completed one of the tasks mentioned in the jade slip left by the Buddha Physician, Meng Yao’yin.

“According to Mother’s instructions, as soon as the Great Snake Scythe vibrates, I can burn all these things to replenish Mother’s spiritual essence.”

“I just don’t know how much spiritual essence a cave mansion like Shouyu Zhai will yield after being burned.”

“And there’s the Yunjuan Liucheng Workshop. The workshop has a Talisman Making Room, a place Mother often stayed during her lifetime. Many buildings in the Talisman Making Workshop, according to intelligence, Mother also personally participated in a lot of them.”

Originally, Ning Zhuo also included the Fetal Breath Spirit, but the Buddha Physician, Meng Yao’yin, left a message in the jade slip, specifically mentioning this quasi-spiritual treasure and strictly forbidding Ning Zhuo from burning it.

Ning Zhuo was a good child and, of course, would listen to his mother.

Sun Lingtong finished moving, clapped his hands as if dusting them off. “Xiao Zhuo, are you going to reclaim the Yunjuan Liucheng Workshop next?”

“According to the intelligence, that won’t be easy.”

Deputy Workshop Master Jin Mao had long become the controller of this Talisman Making Workshop. He greatly respected Meng Yao’yin, often mentioning her to others,

And he frequently issued tasks, driving many cultivators to search for Meng Yao’yin’s whereabouts.

Although within the sect, Meng Yao’yin’s soul lamp had already extinguished, and Shouyu Zhai was sealed, Jin Mao showed an attitude of disbelief.

Since taking charge of the Talisman Making Workshop, he had been diligent, without the slightest slack or carelessness, meticulously managing the entire workshop impeccably, and its business thrived even more.

Although Ning and Sun were young, they had both experienced the ups and downs of life and knew the beauty and ugliness of human hearts. They both saw through Jin Mao’s intentions.

His relationship with Meng Yao’yin was not close; he was merely one of the subordinates Meng Yao’yin had recruited, yet he put on a facade of never forgetting his old master, using the smallest cost to win people’s hearts and “justifiably” control the entire Talisman Making Workshop.

He was quite invested in the workshop, clearly treating it as his private property in secret.

Sun Lingtong therefore judged that if Ning Zhuo were to take the contract and directly go to claim the workshop, he might not succeed and would instead alert the enemy.

Ning Zhuo smiled. “No rush, no rush.”

With the relics already in hand, he was genuinely not in a hurry.

Ning Zhuo had his own plan. “Once Wen Ruan’yu finishes her debriefing and my identity is revealed and recognized, collecting the Talisman Making Workshop will definitely be much easier than it is now!”

Sun Lingtong chuckled, “It seems my worries were unnecessary. Xiao Zhuo, it’s good that you understand.”

That evening, Wen Ruan’yu sent a flying letter.

In the letter, he informed Ning Zhuo of the progress on his end: first, he had been stationed in Bai Zhi Immortal City for too long, with too many things to report, causing delays in time.

Because the Feiyun Grand Assembly was approaching, most cultivators were busy with this major event, so there weren’t many cultivators questioning and recording Wen Ruan’yu’s debriefing content.

Second, Wanxiang Sect attached great importance to Bai Zhi Immortal City. This time, such a major event had occurred again in Bai Zhi Immortal City, so they needed to invite sufficiently qualified high-ranking sect officials to personally inquire about this matter.

However, the high-ranking personnel had not yet been finalized.

Wen Ruan’yu keenly sensed that the high-ranking officials of Wanxiang Sect had already developed an interest in the benefits of Bai Zhi Immortal City, and various forces were secretly competing, all wanting to secure the position of the principal.

In this way, a certain force could directly interfere in the affairs of Bai Zhi Immortal City through the principal.

He also directly revealed this conjecture to Ning Zhuo in the letter.

Wen Ruan’yu also mentioned that he had not yet informed the high-ranking officials about Ning Zhuo’s situation but asked Ning Zhuo to prepare as soon as possible.

“The Yin Tide Black Wet Swamp is located between Feiyun Kingdom and Beifeng Kingdom, which is very sensitive, and indeed needs to be controlled.”

“And there are extremely rich cultivation resources for ghost and soul paths. Even the two neighboring countries rarely have such a treasure land.”

“In that case—it’s not bad.”

Ning Zhuo needed time to adapt to the new environment.

His identity as Meng Yao’yin’s son was advantageous to him. Aside from other things, just the inheritance was quite substantial. The identity of a sect’s Golden Core True Disciple’s son could be said to have a proper background and would also make it easier for fellow disciples to accept him.

But once this identity was exposed, Ning Zhuo would also lose his hidden advantage. For example, Jin Mao would definitely focus his attention on him.

This was something Ning Zhuo did not wish to see.

Over a decade, Ning Zhuo was more adept at enduring and acting low-key. It was only when he started traveling that he gradually changed, adopting a grand and upright demeanor and a spirit of fierce competition.

“Staying in the shadows first allows me to see some things more clearly.”

“The identity of Meng Yao’yin’s son is also a very important identity for Bai Zhi Immortal City. Not to mention, I also have the position of Deputy City Lord. In the eyes of the higher-ups, this should be a chess piece that must be contended for.”

Ning Zhuo already anticipated that he would fall into the eyes of the higher-ups and become a target for many forces to contend for.

It was just that now, Wen Ruan’yu deliberately took care of Ning Zhuo and had not yet debriefed about him, indirectly buying him some time for free action.

Ning Zhuo was secretly grateful and actively cultivated.

The Three Sects’ Supreme Arts had reached the cultivation stage of comprehension; the Demon Infused Blood Meridian Art was still a drag.

Ning Zhuo’s cultivation focus was the Five Elements Golden Core Dial.

The previous Golden Core Dial could only accommodate one Golden Core of a Five Elements attribute. Then, through the formation array within the dial, one element would generate four elements.

The entire dial thus provided Five Elements magical power.

The new dial designed by Ning Zhuo was only slightly larger, and compared to the previous one, it had an obvious triangular array pattern.

At the three corners, there were circular grooves where any three types of Golden Cores from the Five Elements could be embedded.

Yes, the new Five Elements Dial could simultaneously accommodate three Golden Cores of Five Elements attributes. This way, the scale of magical power provided by the dial,

was at least three times more than before. The rotation of magical powers was also much faster than before.

Ning Zhuo took out three standard Golden Cores and tried to operate them, finding that the effect was similar to his design.

Design successful!

The inspiration came from Yu Heyue’s Reverse Five Elements Golden Core. After attempting to control it, Ning Zhuo gained a deeper understanding of the Five Elements.

And the greatest help was the pages of the Luo Shu.

It was with the deductive power of this Dao artifact that Ning Zhuo was able to obtain a new Five Elements formation array after a large number of calculations.

The Five Elements formation array was carved into the formation plate and then refined several times, making the formation plate and the formation array integrated. Only then was it considered a great success.

The art of array arrangement is widely used in cultivation. This can be seen from the Five Elements Golden Core Dial. Otherwise, array arrangement would not be recognized as one of the four great arts of cultivation.

After successfully developing it, Ning Zhuo showed it off to Sun Lingtong.

Sun Lingtong was genuinely happy for Ning Zhuo, his eyes shining. “This way, our Azure Iron Han Armor will be even stronger! Let me play with it quickly.”

Ning Zhuo smiled and handed the Five Elements Dial to Sun Lingtong, while instructing, “Boss, you should play it like this—”

Ning Zhuo had only instructed halfway when his expression suddenly stiffened, and he stopped speaking.

Sun Lingtong was about to ask what was wrong, but seeing Ning Zhuo’s expression, he immediately kept silent.

Ning Zhuo was urgently trying to capture the fleeting inspiration that had just flashed in his mind.

He caught it!

Once the inspiration was captured, it was as if he had pierced through a layer of window paper; his understanding of the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art deepened by more than twofold.

Ning Zhuo immediately sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and fully reviewed the content of the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art.

In his Qi Sea, his Dantian glowed, producing an auspicious phenomenon, which condensed into a talisman seed.

At this point, Ning Zhuo’s Qi Sea had also reached the stage of Manifesting Sigils through Auspicious Phenomena!