Chapter 103: The Exhaustion of Fate
The small cultivation chamber was filled with layers of floating clouds.
“Meng Chong, Meng Chong, how formidable, truly formidable!” Ning Zhuo’s face was filled with a solemn expression.
“As expected of someone who possesses immortal potential.”
Although Meng Chong had still been defeated in this confrontation, Ning Zhuo had already felt the powerful impact from Meng Chong!
“Every time I repel him, he always returns swiftly, and his strength advances rapidly.”
“I feel like a whetstone, constantly sharpening him, making him even sharper.”
“If this continues, perhaps one day, he will break through the obstacles I’ve set, soar to the skies, and become unstoppable.”
The first time the Golden Blood Battle Ape defeated Meng Chong, it was because Meng Chong had overused his immortal potential, leading to a lack of follow-up strength, causing his line to collapse.
But by the second time, Meng Chong had already mastered a deeper use of his immortal potential, greatly reducing his energy consumption and accelerating a part of his body, allowing him to fight evenly with Yuan Dasheng.
He even gradually began to suppress Yuan Dasheng.
“This time I won because I relied on spells!”
“Now that this trump card has been exposed, Meng Chong will definitely find a way to counter it, but how long will it take him this time?”
Ning Zhuo had a premonition about this.
In fact, it wasn’t difficult to counter.
Meng Chong just needed to master some spells, using spells to counter spells, and that would be enough.
Meng Chong was only focused on breaking through, relying on his immortal potential without mastering or connecting with the spells rewarded by the checkpoints.
Ning Zhuo reviewed the battle results.
Yuan Dasheng’s body had suffered many injuries, far more severe than in the first battle.
Now, it wasn’t convenient for Ning Zhuo to send Yuan Dasheng back for repairs, so he controlled it to push open the door and head towards the maintenance room.
Upon reaching the maintenance room, Ning Zhuo controlled it to pay for spirit stones and selected several mechanical tools to repair itself.
Yuan Dasheng sat cross-legged on the ground, holding fire-type wood in one hand and using the Wood Connecting Technique with the other.
The wood flowed like water, winding and extending, probing into the various wounds and filling them completely.
Ning Zhuo then borrowed Yuan Dasheng’s strength to perform the Fire Embracing Technique, burning the wood into ashes, filling the cracks and gaps of the scars, big and small.
This repair method was far from perfect.
Ning Zhuo’s previous repair techniques were actually quite good.
Now, although Yuan Dasheng had treated the wounds, the wounds were left with streaks of black ash.
These charcoal-black scars were scattered all over its body, adding a lot of fierce ‘ferocity’ to it.
There was no other way.
Ning Zhuo couldn’t openly use all kinds of tools to smelt related fiery rocks and manufacture materials for filling and repairing under the watchful eyes of the four Ning family guards.
“Hmm? It seems the spirituality has diminished.”
While repairing, Ning Zhuo discovered an unpleasant phenomenon.
Yuan Dasheng’s spirituality had somewhat decreased. Originally, it was fully at eighty percent, but now it had dropped to seventy-nine percent.
Ning Zhuo’s heart sank, “I need to rely on Yuan Dasheng to stop Meng Chong, so I must find a way to replenish its spirituality.”
“Spirituality.”
Ning Zhuo knew very little about this.
Although he had memorized and mastered all the knowledge in the Ning family’s library, those were public books, not high-level ones.
Spirituality was related to spiritual treasures, which were high-end powers in the cultivation world, only recorded in secret manuals!
The pressure in Ning Zhuo’s heart grew day by day.
He had planned for fourteen years, but in the actual competition for the Lava Immortal Palace, unexpected events kept occurring. Whether it was Yuan Dasheng or Zhu Xuanji, they forced Ning Zhuo to change his plans repeatedly, leading to the current situation.
“Meng Chong is the direct grandson of Meng Kui, so he must have life-saving items gifted by a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.”
“I can’t possibly scheme against Meng Chong like I did with Yuan Dasheng.”
“Compared to the City Lord’s Mansion, the entire Ning family is insignificant, and I’m just a branch of the Ning family. If we were to truly face off against the City Lord’s Mansion, how could the Ning family possibly stand by me?”
In this way, no matter how many times Meng Chong failed, he could always make a comeback.
Meanwhile, Ning Zhuo’s energy, combat power, and time were heavily restrained by him, making it difficult to concentrate fully on exploring the Immortal Palace.
“Take this battle, for example. I gained no spoils, and instead, I have to spend various resources to repair Yuan Dasheng!”
“The only gain, perhaps, is that in the state of spiritual connection, I can fully sense Yuan Dasheng’s combat state, giving me significant insights into martial arts.”
“If I keep fighting like this, it won’t work!”
“I’ll only get weaker with each fight.”
Ning Zhuo had a comprehensive view and was not at all blinded by the victory before him.
As his thoughts deepened, he grew increasingly worried.
In the City Lord’s Mansion!
Meng Chong slowly opened his eyes.
His facial muscles twitched!
Phantom pain.
In the Lava Immortal Palace, he had been burned alive. The sensation was so vivid that it left an indelible impression on him.
For a while, Meng Chong didn’t get up, his gaze somewhat dazed.
After mastering the Lightning Shadow, his consumption of essence, energy, and spirit had greatly decreased.
This time, he could clearly sit up and move freely, but he didn’t.
He was filled with a sense of dejection and frustration.
Meng Chong had been detected to have immortal potential since childhood. Everything had always gone smoothly for him, and he had never encountered such a huge setback.
Not only was this setback immense, but it also happened repeatedly.
Even though Meng Chong was naturally bold and full of fighting spirit, at this moment, he still felt depressed.
“The difficulty of exploring the Lava Immortal Palace is just too high.”
Meng Chong thought of the mechanical monkey burning with fierce flames and was at a loss for what to do.
He was utterly confused.
Every move he made was observed by his attendants and servants.
Seeing that this time, the young master had returned with his soul in such a different state, and something was clearly wrong, the servants hurriedly reported the situation.
Meng Chong’s condition was of the highest priority.
Soon, Meng Kui learned of the matter.
Meng Kui’s true body was atop Mount Huoshi, his eyes shooting out divine light, directly piercing through the sky, breaking through all obstacles along the way, and saw his beloved grandson lying in the room, silent, with vacant eyes.
“Something’s wrong. Let me calculate!”
Meng Kui pinched his fingers to calculate, but nothing came out.
He immediately took out an abacus-type magical treasure, his fingers quickly moved, and his mana and spiritual sense were consumed intensely as he continuously manipulated the beads on the abacus.
When the beads stopped, Meng Kui had calculated Meng Chong’s fate.
“How could it be this low?”
The Nascent Soul cultivator was secretly shocked.
In his understanding, Meng Chong had immortal potential, with naturally abundant fate, so such a low state was extremely rare.
Unlike his ancestors, Meng Kui’s natural talent was of a superior level, named “Lofty Vision.”
This talent allowed him to stand tall like a mountain; as long as he remained still, his own fate could stabilize, enabling him to calmly overlook his surroundings and observe the whole picture.
Because of this, he had the nickname “Mountain-Top Chancellor.”
When faced with confrontation, he was always as unmoving as a mountain, observing the layout and luring the enemy to attack.
His fate was naturally stable and rarely wavered, reducing his losses far more than his enemies.
This often led to the situation where the enemy, after a prolonged attack, would reveal flaws on their own.
Meng Kui would remain still, only taking action when enough flaws had accumulated, often striking the enemy down with a single blow, securing victory in one move.
He also practiced the art of calculations, which was very rare.
In the cultivation world, to master the art of calculations required rare spiritual roots or talents as prerequisites.
Lofty Vision was precisely such a talent. When the vision reached a certain level, it could “observe” a glimpse of the future.
Meng Chong’s situation reminded Meng Kui of the chaos in the world when numerous heroes vied for supremacy.
Often, the dragons that were most prominent at the beginning were not the true kings.
In the early and mid-stages of the struggle, they attracted too much firepower, and the fate of these dragons was mutually exhausted to a serious extent.
The seeds of true kingship would take this opportunity to develop and grow, eventually accumulating great momentum, establishing the heavens and earth, and founding a cultivation nation.
“According to Zhu Xuanji, the Lava Immortal Palace was not supposed to appear at this time.”
“Therefore, by forcefully seizing the Immortal Palace, we are going against its fate!”
“Since Chong’er is currently the first to progress, leading the charge, it has resulted in a great depletion of his fate.”
“If we could obtain the treasure of fate from the Lava Immortal Palace, or a fate-related treasure, it would be great. It could
help avoid this fate conflict as much as possible.”
Thinking of this, Meng Kui sent a distant voice transmission, while also using the abacus-type magical treasure to temporarily boost Meng Chong’s fate.
“Foolish child, why are you not waking up?”
“Ah, Grandfather.” Meng Chong’s spirit shook, his fate returning to normal, and his mind was no longer muddled.
His gaze sharpened, and a flash of insight struck him, “I’ve got it.”
“If the other side is using spells, then I can use spells too!”
“Among the checkpoint rewards, there’s the Ice-Embracing Technique. If I undergo special training and master this spell, wouldn’t I be able to counter that monkey’s flames?”
“Hahaha.”
Meng Chong laughed loudly, suddenly leaping to his feet.
He took large strides, pushing open the door, “Someone, bring me food.”
“I want to eat, eat, eat!”
“After I finish eating, I want to train, train, train.”
The servants, seeing this, all breathed a sigh of relief.
This was the Meng Chong they were familiar with.
Meng Kui gazed from afar, seeing this situation, he nodded slightly.
He then looked towards the territories of the Zhou, Zheng, and Ning families, his expression turning slightly grave.
“Chong’er and the Lava Immortal Palace are exhausting each other’s fate, like two strong forces clashing.”
“Now that the three families have united, although combining their fates is not simple, it still makes it easier for them to pick up the spoils.”
“I need to suppress this.”
Zhou Family!
Ning Zhuo was led into the Treasure Book Pavilion.
“This is the ‘On Spirituality’. Please, Ning Zhuo, read it here!” The Zhou family cultivator instructed.
Ning Zhuo nodded and accepted the jade slip.
After a quick inspection, he placed the jade slip on his forehead.
He infused his spiritual sense and began reading the jade slip.
The “On Spirituality” was neither a cultivation method nor a secret art, but a knowledge compendium about spirituality.
After reading it, Ning Zhuo’s eyes gleamed brightly, and this brilliance lasted for quite a while.
His vision had broadened, it was a complete qualitative change, and his gains were immense.
“So, there are so many aspects to spirituality!”
In the “On Spirituality,” spirituality was classified into five levels. The lowest level was non-spirituality!
Then came dead spirituality.
Next was living spirituality.
Higher still was intelligent spirituality.
The highest level was divine spirituality.
The so-called “stubborn as a mule” referred to the non-spiritual stage, with no signs of spirituality.
The dead spirituality stage was further divided into: spiritual charm, spiritual pattern, spiritual root, spiritual shadow, and spiritual image.
The living spirituality stage was divided from low to high into: spiritual star, spiritual vigor, spiritual longevity, spiritual movement, and spiritual sensitivity.
According to the book, Yuan Dasheng’s spirituality was at the spiritual longevity stage within the living spirituality stage.