## Lava Immortal Palace

As Ning Zhuo’s soul returned to his body, the puppet frame he inhabited crumbled to the ground with a *thud*.

But with Ning Zhuo’s swift return, the wooden pieces rapidly reassembled, and the puppet once again stood tall.

Simultaneously, the teleportation array spat out Yuan Dasheng’s corpse.

Upon witnessing this scene, the Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit felt a wave of darkness wash over it.

The situation it dreaded most had come to pass!

Instantly, its draconic eyes widened, glaring furiously at Ning Zhuo. Its nostrils flared, each exhale releasing sparks of fire.

But Ning Zhuo remained oblivious.

The Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit’s breathing grew more and more labored. It lifted its head and roared to the heavens!

The roar shook the heavens and earth, causing the entire Immortal Palace to tremble.

The sound waves leaked outwards, stirring up volcanic rock on the summit of Fire Persimmon Mountain, unleashing a vast cloud of smoke.

City Lord Meng Kui snapped his eyes open, immediately halting his cultivation, “Here it comes again?”

Within the main hall of the Lava Immortal Palace,

The Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit was frantically darting around in mid-air, spewing pillars of fire in every direction, scorching everything like a mad beast.

The Lava Immortal Palace was in even greater turmoil.

The towering flames reflected on Meng Kui’s face, making his expression all the more grave.

Ning Zhuo was completely unaware of all of this.

The room he occupied was tranquil and serene.

After quickly examining Yuan Dasheng’s corpse, he felt both elation and disappointment.

The elation stemmed from his successful first attempt to bring Yuan Dasheng’s corpse into the Lava Immortal Palace. This was an entirely new experience for him.

The disappointment came from the fact that he had deliberately hidden storage pouches both above and inside Yuan Dasheng’s body. Yet, neither of the pouches had been teleported along with the corpse.

“During the process of entering the palace, I constantly sensed the Buddha-Devil Seal within me.”

“Alas, if only I could bring in a large quantity of materials.”

“Obtaining resources within the Lava Immortal Palace almost always requires spending precious spirit stones.”

If he had a large supply of resources, Ning Zhuo was confident that he could make the first three trials impenetrable!

Composing himself, Ning Zhuo began to ponder his next course of action.

He had successfully brought in the ape’s corpse, but how was he to deliver it to the Immortal Palace?

He was uncertain of this next step, and he was severely lacking in information.

This information should have been promptly provided by the Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit, but it was currently gritting its teeth, frantically fleeing in the main hall.

Trailing behind it was a fiery whip.

*Snap! Snap! Snap!*

The fiery whip was incessantly lashing at the Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit, even as the latter flew swiftly around a pillar.

At the peak of Fire Persimmon Mountain,

Meng Kui mustered all his strength, frantically channeling his magic, and unleashing a giant hand to suppress the Lava Immortal Palace.

The myriad of precious lights radiating from the Lava Immortal Palace quickly pierced through the giant hand.

Meng Kui sighed helplessly, and was forced to activate the Fire Persimmon Immortal City Formation. He used the power of the formation to finally stabilize the situation.

“What in the world is the Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit going crazy about?!”

This time, the eruption of the Lava Immortal Palace was unprecedented in its intensity.

Therefore, the pressure on Meng Kui was immense.

Meng Kui could even discern from the dragon’s roars that reached beyond the palace a thick sense of unwillingness, rage, and exasperation. Oh… and also the sounds of miserable howls and cries of pain.

Initially, there was only one fiery whip lashing at the Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit. But as the Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit continued to resist, neglecting its duties, more and more fiery whips materialized.

Five or six fiery whips chased after the Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit, lashing at it maniacally!

The Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit’s entire spiritual form was becoming dim and ethereal from the relentless whipping. Unable to endure any longer, it had no choice but to speak, conveying the crucial information.

Ning Zhuo was in his room, preparing to make some attempts, when he learned the information, and furrowed his brow slightly, “The Lava Immortal Palace seems to have suffered considerable damage. This important information should have been transmitted immediately.”

Without hesitation, Ning Zhuo immediately did as instructed, dragging Yuan Dasheng’s corpse to the front of the room.

His small puppet body struggled greatly to drag Yuan Dasheng’s corpse, taking up a considerable amount of time.

As soon as Yuan Dasheng’s corpse was dragged to the doorway, a teleportation array appeared, engulfing it.

The Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit shrank into a ball, hiding in a corner, enduring the continued whipping with gritted teeth.

The expression on its dragon head, besides pain, also held a sense of utter despair.

It knew that Ning Zhuo had made the most appropriate choice!

Even if Ning Zhuo had sent over the corpse of a Golden Core cultivator, even if it were to produce a Spirit-infused Machine, Ning Zhuo would not be able to control it.

But Yuan Dasheng was not a Golden Core. He was at the third level of Qi Refinement, ninth level of Essence Refinement. The construct created from him would be right on the edge of what Ning Zhuo could handle.

Even more crucial was his Immortal Talent!

Raw materials possessing Immortal Talent were extremely rare and highly valuable!

The Lava Immortal Palace had four levels of furnaces: Bronze Furnace, Iron Furnace, Silver Furnace, and Golden Furnace.

To refine materials with Immortal Talent, one had to use the Golden Furnace.

Once a Golden Furnace was used to refine Immortal Material, it could only be used once!

Since the construction of the Lava Immortal Palace, there had been at most eight Golden Furnaces, and now only four remained.

Now, to refine Yuan Dasheng, one more had to be used.

The Dragon-Tortoise Fire Spirit desperately didn’t want to see this happen, but reality was quite cruel to it!

It had no choice but to do as it was told, controlling the entire Immortal Palace to cast Yuan Dasheng’s corpse into the Golden Furnace.

The Golden Furnace began to refine.

A vast amount of spiritual power began to be consumed, and a grand and magnificent light erupted from the Golden Furnace.

The light was blindingly bright, shooting straight into the sky, as thick as a pillar.

“What’s happening now?” Meng Kui was astonished and quickly used the formation, waving the clouds of smoke to try to conceal the towering pillar of light.

“If only I could enter the Immortal Palace myself…” Meng Kui gritted his teeth in secret, and could only sigh.

His skill in constructing machines was very low. To be more accurate, it was very low even by the standards of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Therefore, he had not been selected, and could not enter the Lava Immortal Palace.

In this regard, he was not even as good as some of the later Golden Core and Foundation Establishment cultivators who entered the palace after the standards for entry had been lowered.

Two of his Golden Core subordinates were like him, and had not been favored by the Immortal Palace.

Some of his Foundation Establishment subordinates had been selected and could enter the Immortal Palace. But their overall advantage was not significant and they could not create a gap between themselves and the Zhou and Zheng families.

Because of this, after the Immortal Palace was established, Meng Kui personally took action and sat on the mountaintop. Under the pretense of investigating, he blockaded the entire Immortal Palace, temporarily preventing all cultivators from entering the Immortal Palace.

The Zhou and Zheng families had raised objections, but they were all strongly rejected by Meng Kui. After all, the City Lord’s Mansion had not sent any cultivators to enter the Immortal Palace in person.

City Lord Meng Kui represented the Southern Bean Dynasty, and used the investigation of demonic cultivators as an excuse. The other two families had no choice but to stare at the Immortal Palace and prevent the City Lord’s Mansion from secretly sending people into the palace.

“My greatest hope is still Chong’er.”

Meng Kui had great confidence in Meng Chong.

Especially recently, Meng Chong had successfully broken through, and had put his ‘Rampaging Thunder Rush’ into another realm entirely. His progress was enormous.

“Chong’er has superior talent and strong fortune. Any pressure can make him stronger. Under fair competition, who can suppress him?”

The pillar of light slowly dissipated, and the Lava Immortal Palace once again calmed down.

Meng Kui snorted triumphantly.

At the same time,

A teleportation array reappeared in front of Ning Zhuo.

From the array, a mechanical monkey slowly floated down.

“It’s done so quickly?”

Ning Zhuo was pleasantly surprised and stepped forward to examine it.

As if hearing the footsteps, the mechanical monkey opened its eyes and slowly raised its head.

It looked at Ning Zhuo, its pair of pupils glowing with a bloody light, its power awe-inspiring.

Ning Zhuo slowed his pace.

At this moment, Yuan Dasheng was reborn!