Chapter 204: The Achievement Comes From Personal Effort
Five Elements Mutual Generation and Restraint Technique!
Ning Zhuo sat cross-legged on a meditation mat, holding the Five Elements Ruler in his hand.
He infused the Five Elements Mana into this magical tool.
The array patterns on the Five Elements Ruler flashed, emitting five types of single elemental mana—white metal, green wood, black water, red fire, and yellow earth!
The five types of single elemental mana swirled around Ning Zhuo like dancing dragons, spiraling up and down.
Metal generates water, water generates wood… following the mutual generation relationship of the Five Elements, the single elemental mana ultimately transformed and merged into yellow-brown earth elemental mana.
Ning Zhuo’s eyes glimmered with faint light as the earth elemental mana split into two parts.
Twenty percent remained as earth element, while the other eighty percent transformed into metal element through the generation from earth to metal.
The metal elemental mana split into two parts.
A portion of the metal mana remained, while the rest transformed into water element through the generation from metal to water, turning into black water elemental mana.
The water element changed into wood element, and the wood element changed into fire element.
In the end, the mana surrounding Ning Zhuo remained the five types of single elemental mana.
However, compared to before, the five types of mana had significantly diminished.
Although the elements mutually generate each other, there was considerable loss during the transformation into the next stage.
Ning Zhuo had practiced this over a thousand times!
At the beginning, he had stumbled through this exercise, taking a long time.
But now, his entire transformation process was extremely smooth, taking only a tenth of the original time, or even less.
After practicing the mutual generation, Ning Zhuo began to practice the mutual restraint.
He made the five types of single elemental mana fight against each other.
For a moment, five-colored light illuminated his face, as the five types of single elemental mana intertwined like tiny serpents or dragons, continuously entangling, countering, and constantly changing and dissipating.
The intricate changes were extremely dazzling and stunning to behold.
“With the mutual restraint of the Five Elements, one can suppress any mechanism creation that uses either mixed or single-element mana.”
Ning Zhuo thought of the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique and the Mirror Platform Spirit Technique.
“The Three Sect Lords designed these three techniques to strictly control mechanism creations from the aspects of spiritual sense, mana, and blood prohibitions.”
“The Buddha Heart Demon Seal and the Life Hanging by a Thread divine ability are considered higher-level control methods.”
“It seems the Three Sect Lords were very afraid of mechanism creations going out of control.”
“All the techniques and spells they designed were to strengthen control over the mechanisms.”
Ning Zhuo slowly ended his practice and placed the Five Elements Ruler into his storage belt.
“The Five Elements Mutual Generation and Restraint Technique has shown some results.”
Ever since Ning Zhuo obtained this technique, he had been practicing diligently without interruption.
Now, he had honed the technique to an extremely proficient level, as natural as breathing, becoming an instinct that could be performed with ease.
“Next, it’s time to achieve mastery through practice.”
“This isn’t something that can be achieved through sheer hard work alone. It requires sudden flashes of insight during usage.”
Ning Zhuo planned to reduce his practice time.
The goal of achieving mastery through practice was unpredictable.
It could take days, dozens of days, or even years… all of these were possibilities.
He knew it was time to go to the second Dao Gate and claim the Five Elements Transformation Disk.
At Ning Zhuo’s residence.
He summoned his classmates from the modification team.
In the small courtyard, everyone gathered together, their faces beaming with excitement and joy.
The young men greeted Ning Zhuo warmly.
“Brother Zhuo, how’s your research on the substitute puppet going? I can offer my own flesh and blood for your experiments, and I won’t even ask for a single spirit stone in return!”
“Brother Zhuo, can we really create that mechanical ape? It’s Golden Core level! Even the three major families are busy working on this. You’re truly amazing.”
Ning Zhuo’s collaboration with the three families to forge a Golden Core level mechanical ape had caused quite a stir.
After all, Ning Zhuo was merely at the “third layer of Qi Refining” yet had accomplished something so grand.
His classmates couldn’t help but admire and respect him.
On this point, Ning Zhuo needed to clarify something.
He said, “As for the Golden Core level mechanical ape, it’s not even close to being completed.”
“I’m just trying to create its skeleton and the external armor.”
“The real challenge has always been the internal structure and all the intricate components.”
“I’m still designing that part. Sigh, it’s incredibly difficult!”
At this point, Ning Zhuo shook his head with a wry smile.
With a candid attitude, he explained to everyone, “In fact, whether it’s researching the substitute puppet or creating the Golden Core level mechanical ape, both stem from my inner fears.”
“Sigh, when the three families acted together before, Ning Xiaohui framed me. She hurt me deeply, and it had a profound impact on me!”
“If even family can act like this, how much worse will outsiders be?”
“Not long ago, Elder Ning Houjun and Elder Ning Youfu both specifically reminded me to be cautious.”
“Now that I’ve accidentally gained control of the black market, I’ve been in the spotlight lately. Who knows how many people are secretly eyeing me? It’s indeed very dangerous.”
Ning Yong spoke up, agitated, “Ning Xiaohui is a scoundrel! I used to secretly like her when we studied together!”
“She’s a disgrace to the main branch, a disgrace to the Ning family!”
Ning Chen consoled, “Brother Zhuo, it’s alright. The family’s Golden Core Ancestor has already spoken up. You are the greatest contributor to the Ning family. The main branch will no longer openly oppose you like before.”
Someone objected, “But isn’t it true that covert attacks are even harder to guard against and more terrifying?”
Most of the group was filled with righteous indignation. “Hmph, those despicable people just can’t stand the fact that our branch has produced a pillar of support, a future family elder!”
“Alright, alright,” Ning Zhuo raised his hand to stop the discussion.
As usual, he began to share his insights on spellcasting.
His classmates quickly became immersed, listening with rapt attention.
When Ning Zhuo demonstrated the Five Elements spell in front of everyone, it often elicited gasps of astonishment.
On the surface, Ning Ji smiled as if captivated, but in reality, his heart never fully engaged. He felt out of place with the modification team.
“I’m not even practicing the Five Elements Qi Regulation Art!”
Listening to discussions about spellcasting, he felt impatient, bored, and uninterested.
In his mind, he was reliving the feeling of wielding power and lording over others in the black market.
When he first joined Ning Zhuo, Ning Ji had been extremely uncomfortable and had secretly complained to his father, Ning Ze.
He thought the black market was dirty and chaotic, filled with immense risks. Doing these tasks was hard and tiring, with no sense of honor.
At the same time, he was also worried that Ning Zhuo would seek revenge on him for past events.
Ning Ze reassured him, telling him that Ning Zhuo would definitely tolerate him.
“I’ve already figured it out. Ning Zhuo is ambitious and wants great achievements. He has to care about his reputation.”
“He won’t do something like becoming successful and then acting ungrateful and harsh toward his family!”
These comforting words opened up a new world for Ning Ji.
After trying things out in the black market, he found that many people indeed feared him because he was Ning Zhuo’s relative. They tolerated him, and some even flattered him.
This allowed him to wield power and accept gifts from many people in secret, abusing his authority and granting favors.
He lived quite comfortably, indulging in the allure of power, even if it was only a little bit of it.
As for his behavior, former stewards had reported it up the chain.
But Ning Zhuo paid no attention to these reports, remaining silent.
His attitude spoke volumes.
The clever former stewards followed suit, turning a blind eye to many of Ning Ji’s corrupt and embezzling actions.
After explaining many essentials of spellcasting to everyone, Ning Zhuo also evaluated the mechanism creations they had made, buying the excellent ones with spirit stones.
It was worth mentioning that Ning Zhuo, with the help of his classmates and Chen Cha from the Flying Disk Workshop, had been purchasing mechanism creations from outside sources.
He was accumulating mechanisms rapidly.
In his life-and-death battle with Qi Bai, he had exhausted almost all the combat resources he had stored over the past sixteen years.
In a short time afterward, the mechanism creations he had prepared reached nearly thirty percent of what he had originally amassed!
When Ning Zhuo told his classmates that their next task was to explore the Lava Immortal Palace together, they were thrilled.
“Brother Zhuo, we’ve been waiting for this day!”
“Finally, we can explore the Immortal Palace with you again.”
“It’s always so exciting exploring with Brother Zhuo!”
According to the rules of the Immortal Palace, each person could enter the palace three times per day with their soul.
But
in reality, the trial disciples rarely used all three attempts. Sometimes, they didn’t even enter once.
The main reason was that they gained little from exploring the palace.
The spell rewards they could bring out from the palace had already been collected. Everyone had chosen different spells, and after sharing them, they quickly mastered all the available spells.
That was the benefit of having many people.
However, they couldn’t squeeze onto the leaderboard to claim leaderboard rewards.
At most, they used their puppet bodies to pass through the trials, using this method to practice their mechanism skills.
But this method was far less efficient than making mechanism creations in the workshops at Huoshi Immortal City.
Moreover, exploring the palace consumed soul power.
For most people, without any significant improvement in strength, repeated exploration held little meaning.
Before long, everyone gathered at the Lava Immortal Palace.
The puppet version of Ning Zhuo led the charge, guiding his classmates through the trials one after another.
Watching Ning Zhuo effortlessly claim various spell rewards, Ning Chen and Ning Yong exclaimed that it was like watching an art form.
When Ning Zhuo obtained dozens of Flying Hands, his spellcasting power took a huge leap.
The Flying Hand mechanisms cast spells in unison with Ning Zhuo’s puppet body, making it seem as though dozens of cultivators were casting spells together.
A massive wave of spells erupted simultaneously, their power immense, the colorful lights of different spells intertwining in a dazzling yet dangerous display.
As they watched Ning Zhuo confidently stride forward, casting spells like wind, thunder, fire, and lightning with a wave of his hand, looking dashing and imposing, his classmates were filled with excitement.
At sixteen or seventeen years old, they were at the age where they worshipped heroes and craved attention.
Ning Zhuo’s elegance inspired them deep in their bones!
During a break between trials, Ning Zhuo smiled and encouraged them, “You can reach my level too.”
“But it takes a lot of practice and a great deal of time and effort.”
“I’ve also put in a lot of work behind the scenes to master these spells!”
Through claiming leaderboard rewards and exchanging them for a large amount of spellcasting experience, Ning Zhuo said this without any guilt or hesitation.
Seeing a talented, hardworking, humble, and approachable Ning Zhuo, everyone couldn’t help but admire him.