Chapter 187: How the Righteous Ning Zhuo Uses the Flesh and Blood of His Kin
Recently, Ning Zhuo had been thinking about designing an entirely new mechanical body for Yuan Dasheng.
The Tree Martial Ape he previously designed and refined had been completely destroyed in the battle against Qi Bai.
The Golden-Blooded Battle Ape was well-suited for use within the Lava Immortal Palace, but it wasn’t as appropriate for outside use, especially when facing Golden Core cultivators, as the material specifications were significantly lacking.
Of course, the Lava Immortal Palace provided many opportunities. The Golden-Blooded Battle Ape would be upgraded in the future.
After passing through the second Buddhist gate, the following three checkpoints provided higher-grade materials, specifically meant for upgrading the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape.
In the previous joint operation of the three families, the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape, Dasheng, demonstrated extraordinary power due to the material enhancements.
“In terms of potential, it’s clear the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape has much more.”
Ning Zhuo still hadn’t fully figured out the design of the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape. Even the materials used for its body remained a mystery to him.
The Golden-Blooded Battle Ape came from the Golden Furnace, and even though the Three Sect Lords were powerful enough to reach the Void Refining stage, they only set up eight furnaces in the Lava Immortal Palace.
Of course, Ning Zhuo was unaware of the Golden Furnace.
After analyzing it and attempting to understand it, he confirmed that the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape made by the Lava Immortal Palace was indeed extraordinary.
“Even if I never fully grasp its structure, I can still enhance its combat power quickly by gradually replacing its materials.”
The strength of the Tree Martial Ape, Dasheng, lay in its materials. At the time, due to Zheng Jian, the material grade was far superior to that of the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape.
However, in terms of design, there wasn’t much innovation. The carefully thought-out ideas were also rather unremarkable. Another issue was that the blueprint for the Tree Martial Ape had already been leaked.
Zheng Jian knew this very well.
Naturally, this was because the blueprint itself wasn’t of much value, which was why Ning Zhuo had brought it out to strengthen his relationship with Zheng Jian.
Ning Zhuo wanted to replicate the success of the Tree Martial Ape.
He intended to refine a mechanical ape with Golden Core-level combat power to ensure his own safety.
Given the current situation, with many unfamiliar cultivators flooding into Huoshi Immortal City and Ning Zhuo now being in control of the black market, he found himself at the center of attention. Thus, he urgently needed Golden Core-level combat strength.
Qi Bai, in fact, had Golden Core-level combat power.
His Golden Core was hidden inside the Netherworld Envoy mechanical puppet, providing it with energy and more.
The materials used for the Netherworld Envoy, Qi Bai, also needed to be replaced. Forcing the puppet to exert Golden Core-level power would make it difficult for its current materials to withstand, and it might even collapse on its own.
But because Qi Bai’s spirituality hadn’t yet reached its full potential, even if it did, it would still need to pass through the Spiritual Movement stage, so it wasn’t Ning Zhuo’s first choice.
Before his death, Ning Xie possessed the extraordinary talent of the Snow Soul Ice Essence, which had been refined into the Weather Ball, Ice Crystal Snow.
Its materials were good and could be upgraded and replaced.
Although its spirituality was weak, since it was a member of the Ning family, his belongings from before his death could be collected and used to supplement its spirituality. There was a strong possibility it could reach a full transformation and advance to the Spiritual Movement stage.
However, Ning Xie had only reached the Foundation Establishment stage before his death. The mechanical structure of the Weather Ball, Ice Crystal Snow, was vastly different from how he was in life. Relying on its materials to exhibit Golden Core-level combat power wasn’t impossible, but it wasn’t likely.
After much thought, Ning Zhuo concluded that Yuan Dasheng was his best option.
Yuan Dasheng’s spirituality didn’t need to be supplemented, and he had already passed the Spiritual Movement stage.
In life, he had Golden Core-level combat power. His combat style, specializing in close-quarters combat, allowed him to make full use of the material advantages.
The most important factor was that his “Righteous Bone Gold Frame” was immortal-grade!
“Yuan Dasheng mastered the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique when he was alive, and his proficiency in it was high.”
“Now that he’s a mechanical creation, he can still use the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique, just like how Qi Bai can still use the Nine-Turn Soul-Devouring Art.”
Using the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique required blood essence.
Therefore, Ning Zhuo planned to properly refine the Blood Transformation Pool and Blood Oil Bottle, these two mechanical components.
At this point, an idea suddenly struck Ning Zhuo, leading to a burst of inspiration.
Ning Zhuo secretly contacted Sun Lingtong again.
Ning Zhuo said, “The Blood Transformation Pool consumes the bodies of other living beings, transforming them into blood essence, which then becomes the source of Yuan Dasheng’s power.”
“Yuan Dasheng can use other people’s flesh and blood to refine blood essence for his own use. So, why can’t he use mine?”
“Since he mastered the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique, using my flesh and blood would mean that the refined blood essence would still be mine, right?”
“At that point, I could have him infuse the blood essence back into me, wouldn’t that be a shortcut to cultivation?”
Sun Lingtong nodded, “Xiao Zhuo, your idea isn’t wrong, but are you sure you want to do this?”
“You’ll have to constantly cut your flesh and draw your blood.”
Ning Zhuo’s expression turned resolute, “As long as I can cultivate faster, what’s a little pain and suffering?”
“Big Brother Sun, do you remember when I was a child, you used iron rods, steel whips, and other things to constantly beat me to train my endurance to pain?”
“Thanks to your special training, I no longer fear pain!”
“Now, all I’m doing is cutting flesh and drawing blood; I’ll just think of it as reliving my childhood training.”
Sun Lingtong’s heart trembled slightly at these words, then he burst into hearty laughter, patting Ning Zhuo on the shoulder, “Good boy, I didn’t waste my efforts in training you back then.”
Sun Lingtong felt deeply gratified.
As a man of the demonic path, he admired daring risk-takers and revered strength.
Ning Zhuo’s display of strong will earned his great appreciation.
“A real man should be like this: daring and decisive, ruthless to others, and even more ruthless to himself!”
“Whatever you need help with, just tell me.”
Ning Zhuo said, “Big Brother, I’ll give you the mechanical blueprint, and you help me refine a mechanical ape equipped with the Blood Transformation Pool and Blood Oil Bottle.”
“I’m short on time and too much under scrutiny to do it myself!”
“No problem!” Sun Lingtong thumped his chest and guaranteed.
Thanks to Ning Zhuo having shared his mother’s mechanical classics with Sun Lingtong long ago, Sun Lingtong, though lacking much talent in mechanisms, had still built up significant expertise over the past decade through diligent practice and research.
In just two days, Sun Lingtong finished refining the mechanical ape.
Ning Zhuo secretly retrieved it for his own use.
In the depths of the floating clouds, he extracted Yuan Dasheng’s spirituality and applied it to the mechanical ape.
Then, Ning Zhuo took out a sharp dagger, first drawing his own blood, then cutting flesh from his arm, thigh, and stomach.
Wave after wave of intense pain assaulted his body and mind, but Ning Zhuo made no sound, only furrowing his brow as his face grew pale.
Yuan Dasheng did not disappoint, using the ninth level of the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique to refine the flesh and blood into blood essence.
Ning Zhuo received the blood essence infusion, and his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds!
Three days later…
Ning Zhuo arrived at the underground base and met Sun Lingtong to share the good news.
Sun Lingtong was surprised, “Xiao Zhuo, I know your previous cultivation level. How did you progress so quickly to the peak of the sixth layer?”
“Although you’ve been cutting your flesh and supplying blood to Yuan Dasheng, you still need time to heal your injuries, right?”
Ning Zhuo smiled and said, “Big Brother, after cutting myself a few times, I suddenly realized and came up with a better solution.”
“I found that by only cutting my own flesh, my body also needed time to heal, which significantly slowed down my cultivation speed.”
“Why not ask my clansmen to help?”
Sun Lingtong: “?!”
Ning Zhuo then explained how he did it.
Many of the Ning family members had cultivation, but the majority were at the Qi Refining stage.
It was hard for these people to make a living in the Immortal City, so they had to engage in low-level labor with minimal pay, such as weeding, blacksmithing, fire tending, or basic medicinal processing.
Thus, most of the Ning family members preferred to rely on the family and work within family-owned industries.
However, the scale of family industries was limited, and so were the jobs.
The majority of the Ning family members, with their limited cultivation, could only engage in low-level labor.
Knowing this, Ning Zhuo ordered his Foundation Establishment cultivators to select some of the poorer clansmen and arrange for them to offer their blood essence.
In return, after every blood extraction and flesh-cutting session, Ning Zhuo would reward each person with a sum of spirit stones.
Ning Zhuo said, “I’ve calculated the costs.”
“Although they get injured, they also receive a sum of spirit stones. They can use the spirit stones to buy the cheapest healing medicine, and they will still have more than half left.”
“They profit from this!”
“So, once this plan was implemented, it became very popular. Many clansmen who weren’t chosen even volunteered.”
With so much flesh and blood, Yuan Dasheng cultivated the ninth layer of the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique’s blood energy.
During the process of infusing this blood energy back into Ning Zhuo, it was purified, leaving behind what suited Ning Zhuo’s constitution. The remainder was returned to Yuan Dasheng as a backup energy source.
“With this method, my cultivation problem in the Sea of Essence has been solved. Hahaha,” Ning Zhuo said happily.
Sun Lingtong was the person he trusted the most.
Whenever he made a breakthrough or progress, Ning Zhuo immediately shared it with Sun Lingtong.
But Sun Lingtong’s next words showed a bit of insensitivity.
After frowning and thinking for a moment, he suddenly realized, “Isn’t this method still exploiting your kin? You’re treating them as cultivation materials. In essence, it’s no different from the methods of the demonic path.”
Ning Zhuo: “…”
*Cough, cough, cough!* He coughed violently a few times, “Big Brother, you can’t say that.”
“I’m helping my clansmen by giving them work. Their income has increased because of me.”
“You didn’t see the genuine smiles on their faces whenever they received the spirit stones.”
“When I see their smiles, it warms my heart too.”
Ning Zhuo emphasized, “I’m helping them solve their livelihood problems and improving their standard of living.”
“And with their help, my cultivation speeds up, and I achieve better results. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, a win-win, a successful model of righteous collaboration!”
After a pause, he added, “I’m fundamentally different from those of the demonic path!”
“They are cruel and cold-blooded, harming their own kin for selfish reasons. Such people are terrifying!”
“But my clansmen are all willing participants.”
“Our cooperation doesn’t harm their lives in any way!”
“Though they get injured, these wounds can be healed with a bit of medicine and some time.”
“After they recover, they can continue cooperating with me…”
Sun Lingtong clapped his hands, “I get it.”
“Those in the demonic path slaughter their kin in a one-time deal. But you, my little brother, you plan to keep the supply flowing steadily, continuously harvesting flesh and blood.”
*Cough, cough, cough!* Ning Zhuo coughed violently again.
“Big Brother, I can’t keep talking to you.”
“I am righteous!”
“I’m righteous!!”
Sun Lingtong shrugged, “Fine, whatever you say.”
Ning Zhuo sighed and sincerely said, “Big Brother, you can’t think like this. Even though you come from a large demonic sect, you should open your mind and broaden your perspective. You can’t always see things so darkly.”
“You’ve known me for over a decade. Tell me, am I that kind of person?!”
Sun Lingtong: “…”