The Ning Clan Patriarch had already been quite curious about the suddenly emerging Ning Zhuo. Now, after examining a multitude of reports, he seemed relieved and said, “So, this child Ning Zhuo had already displayed a talent for mechanical contraptions.”

The first piece of information stated: Ning Zhuo’s mother, Meng Yaoyin, was a construct cultivator. Although she had passed away long ago, she left Ning Zhuo many classics on mechanical arts. Ning Zhuo treated these classics as mementos of his mother, cherishing them greatly, often falling asleep with them as a child. As he gradually grew, he was influenced by these texts.

During his childhood, Ning Zhuo began to show a strong interest in mechanical arts. He frequently visited the Benevolent Infant Garden to watch Li Leifeng’s puppet shows.

The Benevolent Infant Garden was an orphanage, sheltering homeless children in Fire Persimmon City, jointly funded by the City Lord’s Mansion and various wealthy families in the city.

This was a national policy of the Southern Bean Kingdom.

Li Leifeng was the warden of the Benevolent Infant Garden. He possessed a thunder spiritual root and was also a construct cultivator. The mechanical tower he constructed could absorb external lightning, converting it into power to maintain the tower’s operation, without consuming any spiritual energy. When facing enemies, the power stored within the tower would burst forth in flashes of lightning, like whips and chains, locking down enemies and continuously electrocuting them.

“Old Li’s puppet shows are indeed exceptional,” the Ning Clan Patriarch sighed sincerely upon reading this.

He had seen many of Li Leifeng’s puppet shows, finding them awe-inspiring!

Perhaps influenced by Li Leifeng, Ning Zhuo had always loved puppets and similar toys since he was young. The dolls he often played with were named “One Wheel,” “Cross-legged Erlang,” and “Three Hairs.”

When he entered the family school, he was most interested in mechanical arts, studying diligently, which left him overwhelmed, causing his other subjects to deteriorate.

It wasn’t until after the age of ten that his performance in various subjects gradually improved, eventually ranking in the middle to upper ranks in the school.

The Ning family emphasized talisman-making. Ning Zhuo’s uncle and aunt naturally didn’t want him to embark on a deviant path, ruining his future. They strictly disciplined him, smashing so many of his mechanical toys that they filled three large baskets.

However, although Ning Zhuo was outwardly suppressed, he still seized every opportunity to study mechanical arts in secret. He even voluntarily went to some mechanical workshops to work as a child laborer, even without pay. For him, being able to come into contact with mechanical creations was a joyful thing.

Perhaps because of his persistence and passion, Ning Zhuo’s mechanical skills continued to improve.

At the age of fifteen, Ning Zhuo’s creation of a mechanical parrot had already surpassed the level of all his classmates, and was unexpectedly seen by a family elder in the school, who praised him on the spot.

However, Ning Zhuo, who had been slightly expected by some family elders, performed poorly in the family examination.

“He was too nervous!” The Ning Clan Patriarch sighed after reading the jade slip.

The jade slip contained the specific details of the family examination of Ning Zhuo’s generation.

“Yes,” Ning Xiaoren agreed, “At that time, the control lines accidentally became tangled, and Ning Zhuo didn’t notice it. When he was about to act, the lines became entangled, leaving Ning Zhuo with no room to maneuver.”

“If I were the family elder supervising the examination, I would definitely make an exception and allow Ning Zhuo to retake it.”

The Ning Clan Patriarch shook his head, “The supervising family elder made no mistakes. According to the rules, candidates should thoroughly check before the exam. Since this happened, Ning Zhuo should be responsible.”

While the father and son were discussing, a servant came to report: Feng Jiqing has arrived.

“Invite him in,” the Ning Clan Patriarch nodded.

Feng Jiqing was a middle-aged man with squinting eyes, long cyan hair, and a tall, thin figure, carrying a windmill-like bladed wheel on his back.

Feng Jiqing possessed a wind spiritual root and had masterful skills in mechanical construction. Although not a conventional construct cultivator, the mechanical falcons he created and controlled were as swift as lightning and as fierce as a whirlwind, making them extremely sharp and effective.

After failing to recruit Diao Ke, the Ning family had not stopped absorbing external talent.

Until recently, the Ning family continuously increased its offers, finally recruiting Feng Jiqing. He was the greatest achievement of the Ning family’s recruitment of external talent to date.

“Patriarch, Young Patriarch,” Feng Jiqing cupped his hands in salute, his back straight. As a Foundation Establishment peak cultivator, he was well aware of the market value of construct cultivators, and prided himself on his worth, so his attitude towards the two high-level members of the Ning family was ordinary.

Young Patriarch Ning Xiaoren smiled, “Master Feng, we invited you here this time because we want you to identify these two mechanical fire bomb monkeys and evaluate the creator and manufacturer of these monkeys, and what kind of mechanical skill they possess.”

The Ning Clan Patriarch and his son, the Young Patriarch, did not want to reveal too quickly that Ning Zhuo was the inventor of the mechanical fire bomb monkeys.

On the one hand, Ning Xiaoren still wanted to rely on pretending to be ignorant to create his image, to make Ning Zhuo feel his “full sincerity”.

On the other hand, the mechanical fire bomb monkey was related to Fei Si after all. Revealing it would embarrass Fei Si. The Ning family did not want to offend Fei Si because of this.

As the immortal official who actually handled the most daily affairs of Fire Persimmon City, the latter had great power and was not easy to provoke.

The two men’s concealment unintentionally caused some misunderstanding for Feng Jiqing, and he could not help but guess: “Could it be that the Ning family wants to hire Chen Cha at a high price?”

Feng Jiqing certainly did not want this to happen. Without revealing it, he began to test the two mechanical fire bomb monkeys.

One of the two mechanical monkeys was well-made and solidly made, and was the previous version. The other was rough and shoddy, and had been damaged a lot, and was Ning Zhuo’s later deliberate revision.

After Feng Jiqing tested it, he said: “The main material of the monkey skin is fire velvet rat skin, which is woven with traditional spiritual embroidery. Traditional craftsmanship, no need to mention.”

“Using Tian Jin as a skeleton is necessary, because a storage array needs to be arranged, and Tian Jin is usually the best option.”

“But if it were me, I would go a step further and choose the empty lungs of the Cloud Whale. In this way, the formation arranged can store living things, and the current one can only store dead things.”

“The mechanical fire bomb monkey was designed to pick fire persimmons. Although fire persimmons can be regarded as fire essence to some extent, they are essentially life and the fruit of the fire persimmon tree. Placing them in a storage formation space for living things is more suitable for them and can ensure a better taste.”

Feng Jiqing only talked about the advantages of his own plan, and never mentioned the rarity of Cloud Whale’s empty lungs.

“The material used for the muscles of the mechanical fire bomb monkey is not bad.” One of the biggest highlights was glossed over by Feng Jiqing.
“The array formations within the palm are quite numerous, and the way they are combined is rather novel. Not bad,” Feng Jixing said, minimizing his praise as much as possible when he couldn’t avoid complimenting.

“The ‘Strolling Pellet’ inside the monkey’s brain is, in my opinion, the most brilliant part of this contraption’s design.”

Feng Jixing quickly praised it, then immediately changed the subject.

“However, although this kind of material selection saves a lot of cost, only Foundation Establishment cultivators can use it, which greatly limits the number of buyers.”

“If not for this drawback, the Mechanical Agile Monkey’s sales would increase several times, even more than ten times.”

“This design has flaws,” Feng Jixing concluded.

The Ning Family Head and Ning Xiaoren exchanged glances. The former remained silent, while the latter asked, “Would you say that the designer’s skill in constructing such contraptions is strong?”

Among the hundreds of arts of cultivation, mechanics are the least respected.

Neither father nor son delved into this field. Moreover, as high-level members of the family, they were constantly entangled in heavy affairs or internal strife, making it difficult for them to grasp the intricacies of the Mechanical Agile Monkey.

In fact, not to mention mechanics, they would find it difficult to evaluate the merits of a brand-new pill formula.

They were neither alchemists nor dedicated mechanists.

In ancient times, Foundation Establishment cultivators were few in number. Families were generally weaker than sects, and cultivation nations were extremely rare, appearing only briefly in the early stages of history.

But as cultivation has developed to this day, the hundreds of arts have become vast and profound. For most cultivators, one profession is like a mountain to another.

Feng Jixing pondered, “It took Chen Cha so many years of running the Flying Disc Workshop to finally create such a mechanical construct.”

“It’s quite rare.”

“This mechanical construct has clever ideas, but not many. Even if it sells well now, the Fire Persimmon harvesting business will definitely be bleak next year, and its usage is narrow.”

“Overall, this mechanical construct is considered mediocre, slightly above average.”

“As for the person who made the contraption, I won’t comment much.”

The Ning Family Head and Ning Xiaoren exchanged glances again.

The former thought to himself, “Feng Jixing is a Foundation Establishment cultivator. If he assesses it as mediocre, then it’s a huge compliment to the Qi Refining Ning Zhuo.”

The latter became even more determined to win over Ning Zhuo.

At the same time.

The Orphanage.

Zhu Xuanji concealed his figure and entered the grounds.

An old man was basking in the sun in the courtyard. Suddenly, he frowned and looked toward the hidden Zhu Xuanji, “Who’s there?!”

Zhu Xuanji was taken aback and immediately revealed himself.

He made a hand seal, his eyes flashing with golden light, and activated a certain detection spell to observe his surroundings.

“I see. There are flowing electrical currents within this small courtyard, with invisible electrostatic potential differences. As soon as I stepped in, the difference in electrical potential formed, which allowed you to sense me.”

Zhu Xuanji praised as he stomped his foot.

Beneath his foot, a small thunderous explosion blasted away a layer of soil, revealing the bricks underneath. The runes on the bricks were dizzying at first glance.

These bricks were laid underground at short intervals, forming no real array.

It was precisely because it wasn’t an array that made it difficult for Zhu Xuanji to grasp, leaving him unguarded. Since entering Fire Persimmon Immortal City, this was the first time someone had called out his presence.

“So it’s Lord Zhu Xuanji, please have a seat.” The old man remained lying in his chair, without moving at all.

Zhu Xuanji had already revealed himself in public in Fire Persimmon Immortal City. This matter was already known throughout the city.

Strangely, the old man was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, and only at the early stage, yet his attitude was very casual when facing a Golden Core cultivator like Zhu Xuanji.

Zhu Xuanji didn’t feel offended in the slightest. He came to the old man’s side, a smile on his face, “Senior Li Leifeng, I have long heard of your great name, and have come especially to see you.”

The old man Li Leifeng snorted coldly, “You’re too late, Divine Catcher Zhu, if you wanted to see this old man.”

“To say you’re here to see me, you actually want to verify if I’m that shadowy demonic cultivator?”

Zhu Xuanji smiled awkwardly.

Li Leifeng sighed, “This old man has lived for so many years, and seen quite a lot of things. Lord Zhu, you may investigate as you wish.”

Zhu Xuanji cupped his fist, “Forgive me for any offense.”