Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master

After the two geniuses of the Zhou family recovered from their injuries, they couldn't wait to form a joint team with three families to explore the Lava Immortal Palace together.

The three forces clearly hadn't figured out the true situation of the City Lord's Mansion. Before setting off, they were still fantasizing about how, if they encountered the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape, Dasheng, again, they would gather everyone’s strength to deal with Yuan Dasheng!

In the end, the joint team launched a heavy strike, repeating the City Lord's Mansion's mistake. More than twenty Qi Refining stage cultivators were all devoured by souls, letting Ning Zhuo feast heartily!

Ning Zhuo arrived at the third gate of the Buddhist Sect, repeatedly entering and exiting with an arrogant demeanor, angering the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit so much that its fists hardened, pounding the throne repeatedly.

The Phantom True Lotus Seed was his only option.

The prototype of his divine ability, "Life Hanging by a Thread," surged again. The once palm-sized lotus leaf expanded fiercely, becoming as large as a basin, vibrant green like jade.

At Sun Lingtong's initiative, Ning Zhuo also planted "Life Hanging by a Thread" in Netherworld Envoy Qi Bai.

In this way, even if Sun Lingtong’s soul returned to his body and he was no longer within the trials of the Lava Immortal Palace, he could still leave Qi Bai behind for Ning Zhuo to control.

"Qi Bai's spirituality has decreased by eighteen percent." Ning Zhuo felt regretful.

When Netherworld Envoy Qi Bai participated in battles and devoured others’ souls, the biggest price he paid was the loss of his spirituality.

Without reaching ten percent, the spirituality couldn’t sustain itself, which meant it couldn’t recover.

But despite trying several methods, Ning Zhuo had yet to find a way to restore his spirituality.

"Look on the bright side, little brother!" Sun Lingtong was more carefree in this regard.

"I think this deal is worth it!"

"We lost some spirituality, but in exchange, you absorb the Phantom True Lotus Seed faster and more abundantly, boosting your ‘Life Hanging by a Thread' divine ability."

"This is a huge profit."

"So, even if all the spirituality is consumed, it's still worth it."

Ning Zhuo sighed, knowing that Sun Lingtong had a valid point. But he had always been fond of mechanical creations and didn’t want to see the “death” of Mechanized Qi Bai from the bottom of his heart.

For the next ten or so days, Ning Zhuo had a rare period of peaceful cultivation.

Meng Kui continued to sit on the mountaintop, sealing the surroundings, but he couldn’t stop Zhu Xuanji from leading the three families’ Golden Core cultivators.

Zhu Xuanji understood the severity of the situation. Since he discovered the Lava Immortal Palace's weakness, he had set aside the investigation. He frequently entered the Immortal Palace, exploring while increasing his contributions.

After the City Lord's Mansion recovered, they followed Meng Chong's lead and attacked twice.

The three families’ modification teams regrouped after their failures. After a second complete defeat under the combined assault of Netherworld Envoy Qi Bai and Golden-Blooded Battle Ape Dasheng, they decisively abandoned the idea of full-scale operations.

According to their analysis, the Lava Immortal Palace had a mechanism that adjusted the difficulty of trials based on the strength of the challengers.

Therefore, as long as they acted alone or in groups of two or three, they wouldn't encounter the overly strong mechanized creations, Yuan Dasheng and Qi Bai.

Ning Zhuo, as they predicted, greatly reduced the appearances of Yuan Dasheng and Qi Bai.

On one hand, Qi Bai's spirituality had dropped to less than ten percent after these rounds of massive soul devouring. Although Sun Lingtong didn't mind, Ning Zhuo decided to preserve what remained.

As for the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape, Dasheng, it wasn’t without battle damage. Ning Zhuo’s current mechanical crafting skills couldn’t truly repair him, at most patching him up. Overall, the battle strength of the mechanized creature was steadily declining.

On the other hand, Ning Zhuo didn’t want to completely crush the morale of the three-family alliance or the City Lord’s Mansion.

He needed to give these people some hope, to motivate them to keep moving forward and to continue pouring resources into their efforts.

Ning Zhuo’s cultivation had advanced so greatly thanks to the variety of cultivation resources the three-family alliance provided.

Using the Soul Essence returned by Qi Bai, Ning Zhuo's soul foundation had once again increased massively.

Compared to when he hadn’t encountered Han Ming, his growth was more than one hundred and fifty times!

This allowed Ning Zhuo’s soul power to be unmatched among Qi Refining cultivators, and he could invoke the power of the "Buddha Heart Demon Seal" more frequently, helping him crazily select rewards.

The Phantom True Lotus Seeds… were all chosen by him.

The prototype of "Life Hanging by a Thread" had also changed form. In Ning Zhuo’s spiritual sea and dantian, the jade-green lotus leaf now bore a bud of pink and white, full and about to bloom, giving off an air of vibrant readiness.

"Only a little more to perfection."

"No, still a long way to go…"

The divine ability prototype gave Ning Zhuo a contradictory understanding.

After discussing and guessing with Sun Lingtong, they both believed that the divine ability prototype was very close to perfection! But this last step, though it seemed small, was extremely crucial. It was difficult to cross, and without crossing it, there could be no qualitative change to achieve full perfection.

Just like reaching ten percent spirituality before.

So, the divine ability was just a little bit away from perfection, but also far away.

"Why can't there be more Phantom True Lotus Seeds?" Sun Lingtong felt regretful.

Ning Zhuo shook his head, "I believe that the last step must be crossed by the cultivator alone."

He wasn’t guessing wildly, but had a basis for his belief.

Ning Zhuo said, "The last dozen Phantom True Lotus Seeds I absorbed had very little effect on the divine ability prototype. The growth rate of the divine ability has been minimal, and the benefit from the seeds has been diminishing."

Sun Lingtong pondered for a moment and nodded, agreeing with Ning Zhuo's speculation.

But what should they do next?

How could they make the divine ability reach perfection?

The two of them discussed for a long time, but couldn’t come up with a reliable guess.

…

At the peak of the volcano, in the depths of the clouds and mist.

Meng Kui invited Zhu Xuanji for a conversation.

"Master Zhu, rumors are spreading, and the winds are getting louder."

"Although I stay here all day, I can't stop the news from spreading further."

"Recently, more and more outsiders have been entering Huoshi Immortal City. There's even news that the Soul-Devouring Sect and the No-Void Sect have sent true disciples."

"Both the Taiqing Palace and the Zixiao Pavilion have also sent invitations, using the excuse of combating demonic cultivators, seeking to send their true disciples into Huoshi Immortal City."

"In this situation, relying on me alone will not be enough. I hope Master Zhu can join me in submitting a memorial, requesting reinforcements from the court!"

Zhu Xuanji gave Meng Kui a deep look. The development of the situation over this period had been seen clearly by him, and he nodded slightly, "Very well, I will join you in submitting the memorial."

…

Early-stage of the sixth layer of Qi Refining.

Mid-stage of the sixth layer of Essence Refining.

Peak of the sixth layer of Spirit Refining!

Ning Zhuo finished a day of grueling cultivation and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

In just over ten days, his cultivation had advanced significantly.

Typically, by the mid-stage of Qi Refining, the pace of cultivation would slow down significantly compared to earlier stages.

But the three techniques arranged by the Three Sect Lords all had advantages in terms of cultivation speed.

As long as the resources were sufficient.

And Ning Zhuo’s resources were plentiful from every source.

His strongest cultivation remained his spiritual sea, steadily progressing with no slowing, reaching the peak of the sixth layer.

At this point, Ning Zhuo could finally push the door open and advance once more.

"It’s time to show off my outstanding mechanical crafting talent again." With this thought in mind, Ning Zhuo summoned Ning Chen and Ning Yong.