Chapter 194: Life and Death Danger
Zhu Xuanji led the three families’ Golden Core cultivators deep into the volcano.
The group openly and confidently entered through the volcanic crater.
Zhu Xuanji, acting as a royal envoy, ordered Meng Kui to properly guard the Immortal City without any mistakes.
The three Golden Core cultivators were in high spirits. On regular days, they were suppressed by Meng Kui, but now, seeing him under pressure brought them a sense of relief.
Unless Meng Kui rebelled and became a traitor to Southern Dou, he had no choice but to guard the Immortal City, defend the mountain top, and quietly wait for Zhu Xuanji and the others to return.
Ning Zhuo was unaware of Zhu Xuanji’s actions. On the same day, he began his first round of assembly.
He combined many mechanical parts together and assembled a massive black iron skeleton.
Previously, the Tree Martial Battle Ape stood at eight feet, slightly taller than Ning Zhuo. The Golden-Blooded Battle Ape was a bit shorter than Ning Zhuo.
The newly forged mechanical ape was entirely a medium-to-large sized construct.
Its skeleton alone measured fifteen feet, equivalent to a two-story building.
Just by looking at the skeleton, one could feel its hardness and resilience, like an ancient beast.
The ape’s skeleton and joints were made of Ten-Thousand Strikes Black Iron.
Ning Zhuo then assembled the mechanical ape’s chest and back, using Chiyang Copper, which was extremely thick and heavy.
Ning Zhuo also installed the ape’s claws and teeth, made of diamond stone, which were sharp and would enhance the mechanical ape’s attack power.
On the key joints, the skeleton’s surface, and the inner sides of the chest and back, were densely engraved grooves.
These grooves intertwined with each other, forming a highly complex array diagram.
Upon closer inspection, one would find the reason this diagram was incomprehensible was that at least three formations were superimposed.
This was an impressive array technique, highlighting the Zhou family’s mastery of formations!
In many of the grooves, thick bloodsilk threads were embedded.
These bloodsilk threads would later be melted into the formation lines with Ning Zhuo’s mana, enhancing the formations’ maintenance and longevity, extending their lifespan by at least thirty percent.
The first round of assembly for the mechanical ape was completed in secret cooperation between Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong.
Though its lower body, such as its legs, was still just a skeleton, the mechanical ape already weighed over 30,000 pounds.
Based on Ning Zhuo’s conservative estimate, once fully assembled, it would weigh around 40,000 pounds.
Such a weight, when placed on regular ground, would leave small indentations.
With such a heavy body, the demand for power became even greater.
Therefore, Ning Zhuo used the Mechanism Core Furnace, the Fire Essence, that was rewarded by the Lava Immortal Palace.
This mechanism resembled a large sphere, with a furnace forged at its core. The surface of the sphere was scattered with various cylindrical protrusions, differing in size, length, and thickness.
When filled with Fire Essence, it would consume it and convert it into immense power, causing the cylindrical protrusions to extend and retract, providing powerful force in multiple directions.
Since it consumed Fire Essence, the middle layer of the sphere was intricately engraved with a highly functional storage array.
But having only the Mechanism Core Furnace wasn’t enough, so Ning Zhuo also incorporated Wind-Fire Wheels.
According to his design, two large Wind-Fire Wheels would be installed on the calves of the new mechanical ape.
When necessary, the Wind-Fire Wheels would rotate at full speed, creating strong winds and flames, driving the heavy mechanical ape’s body forward with brute force!
The mechanical ape’s palms would be extremely broad.
This time, Ning Zhuo filled the palms and wrists with thirty-six Martial Arts Talismans, not just a dozen or so.
As for the design of the Martial Arts Talismans and the Wind-Fire Wheels, why were they similar to the mechanical apes in the Lava Immortal Palace?
Ning Zhuo had already prepared his excuse: “What? Am I not allowed to borrow from excellent design ideas?”
As for the refining of the Martial Arts Talismans, Ning Zhuo delegated this task to his subordinates.
These former deacons were Foundation Establishment elites, so refining some Martial Arts Talismans posed no difficulty for them.
Thus, Ning Zhuo prepared a whole stack of each type of Martial Arts Talisman, aiming to be fully battle-ready and never fearing overuse again.
The most important part was the internal structure of the mechanical ape.
A Blood Transformation Pool from the Lava Immortal Palace, of excellent quality, would be placed in the mechanical ape’s lung area.
The Blood Oil Bottle, also part of the reward, would connect to the Blood Transformation Pool and hang in the lower dantian area of the abdomen.
In the abdomen, a Blood Fountain Jar would be placed next to the Blood Oil Bottle.
The Blood Fountain Jar would contain Ning Zhuo’s blood, which would serve as a guide to automatically purify the blood in the Blood Oil Bottle.
Ning Zhuo’s blood would act as the standard, and the purified essence blood could be fully absorbed by Ning Zhuo, perfectly meeting his needs.
When Ning Zhuo lost blood, he needed to use medicinal pills to heal and quickly replenish his blood.
But healing was much better than him having to purify essence blood himself!
After all, during the healing process, Ning Zhuo could still do other cultivation, making better use of his time.
Zhu Xuanji and his group continued to delve deeper into Mount Huoshi.
Sometimes they used underground tunnels, while other times, they had to clear their own path.
Since they had many people, they could take turns acting as the vanguard, bearing the brunt of the danger and fighting on the front lines to forge a path.
There were countless Red Flame Demonic Beasts within Mount Huoshi.
Even though many had been lost during the previous riot, where the demonic beasts fiercely attacked the Lava Immortal Palace, the number left within the mountain was still uncountable.
Zhu Xuanji wielded a treasure ruler, cutting through all obstacles.
The Zheng family cultivators guided ground fire, launching fierce attacks.
The Zhou family cultivators threw formation plates, setting up battlefields.
The Ning family’s Golden Core Ancestor exhaled frost, freezing and killing powerful foes.
The six Golden Core cultivators assisted each other and grew increasingly coordinated, but after a few rest breaks, they gradually found it hard to keep up.
The deeper they went underground, the stronger and more numerous the Red Flame Demonic Beasts became, constantly assaulting them, leaving them no time to rest.
“We’re here!” Zhu Xuanji shouted, boosting morale.
They had finally fought their way into the underground lair of the Fire Fusion Demon Ape.
Zhu Xuanji immediately spotted the remains of the Mechanical Demon General.
But in the next moment, the Demon Ape King stood up and roared.
With the roar, several demonic apes emerged from the flames, heavily surrounding Zhu Xuanji and the other five.
“Damn!”
“There are five Golden Core-level demonic apes?”
“The enemy is too strong, should we retreat?”
The demonic apes had incredibly powerful bodies, far exceeding that of humans.
Unless they were body cultivators, it was nearly impossible to compete physically.
None of Zhu Xuanji’s group were body cultivators. Even the Zheng family’s Golden Core cultivator only had Zheng Shuanggou, who supplemented his cultivation with one body technique.
Zhu Xuanji wanted to retreat, but the demon ape pack’s formation was too thick, ultimately blocking their escape.
Thus, a life-and-death battle broke out!
Huoshi Immortal City.
Secret underground base.
Amidst thick dark clouds, Luo Shang was tightly entwined by several seductive ghost women.
These female ghosts were extremely adept at arousing lust and absorbing male yang energy.
However, Luo Shang, surrounded by many enchanting, seductive ghost women, remained calm and composed, his face icy, quietly cultivating his demonic techniques!
He was using the female ghosts to assist in his cultivation.
Suddenly, his eyes opened slightly as he sensed a faint disturbance.
Immediately, the disturbance expanded, as if a door had been pushed open in space.
Sun Lingtong stepped inside.
Every so often, he had to change locations and move to the next secret underground base.
This time, it was here.