< Chapter 25: I Have a Head Now >
Darkness.
Endless darkness.
In the infinite darkness, Ning Zhuo gradually came to his senses.
“What on earth happened?”
“Where is this?!”
Just at that moment, a stream of information flowed directly to the depths of his soul through the Divine Ability—Life Hanging by a Thread: “Lava Immortal Palace, Puppet inheritance, Life-thread soul guiding, Qi Refining trial… Leave Room One, enter Room Two.”
Ning Zhuo’s spirit was invigorated, and he understood the whole situation.
“It seems that the peak of the third layer of Qi Refining is the first criterion for selection.”
“I have reached it, so my soul was drawn into the Lava Immortal Palace, starting the second step of the trial.”
“This is very different from the message left by my mother!”
“Indeed, the appearance of the transmission bell was already hinting—the method for Qi Refining stage cultivators to compete for the Lava Immortal Palace is completely different from previous ones for Foundation Establishment stage, Golden Core stage, and Nascent Soul stage!”
“Thinking about it, it makes sense.”
“Once a cultivator reaches the Foundation Establishment stage, the dantian is completely transformed and stabilized. Changing cultivation techniques then is extremely difficult, almost impossible.”
“But I, still in the Qi Refining stage, took the opportunity to change my cultivation method to The Five Elements Qi Regulation Art before my dantian was fixed. To the Lava Immortal Palace, I am like their own kin.”
“Compared to those who cultivate other methods, the difference in closeness is clear at a glance.”
“However…”
“Leaving Room One, entering Room Two? How should I proceed?”
Ning Zhuo calmed his mind and carefully sensed his surroundings in the endless darkness. Gradually, he realized that his soul was not existing independently but was residing within an object that also harbored a cluster of spiritual power.
Ning Zhuo tried to manipulate this spiritual power, but initially, he had no success. However, when he employed The Five Elements Qi Regulation Art, he immediately felt a response. The spiritual power began to flow slowly inside the object where his soul resided, following the pathways dictated by The Five Elements Qi Regulation Art.
Through this, Ning Zhuo gradually perceived that his soul’s abode resembled a long rectangular box. “A coffin?” he speculated. “Moreover, this sensation of manipulating spiritual power is very familiar to me. It must be a spirit stone. I am drawing spiritual power from it.”
He knew that the spiritual power in a spirit stone was limited, and by continuing to operate his technique, he was steadily depleting this power. Ning Zhuo ceased his cultivation technique, falling into a moment of hesitation. Surrounded by darkness, he could find no further clues. “It seems this is the only option…”
With a gritted resolve typical of his adventurous spirit, Ning Zhuo decided to take a risk. He fully activated The Five Elements Qi Regulation Art, causing a rapid depletion of spiritual power, yet he did not stop. The spiritual energy began to leak out from the “long rectangular box.”
As the spiritual energy dissipated, it acted like tentacles, giving Ning Zhuo a vague sense of something in a particular direction. “There seems to be something over there,” Ning Zhuo sensed through the darkness.
His curiosity peaked, he continued to guide the flow of spiritual power towards that direction, hoping to uncover what lay hidden in the shroud of darkness.
And indeed, this presence seemed to be faintly echoing him.
Ning Zhuo steeled his heart and pushed his spiritual power to its peak.
The echoing sensation suddenly intensified, and within a few breaths, it surged by dozens of times!
Until suddenly, a mysterious hard object struck the long rectangular box where Ning Zhuo’s soul resided.
The spiritual energy that leaked everywhere quickly pulled the long box and the mysterious hard object together, directly combining them.
The spiritual energy that Ning Zhuo released now had a new destination.
Spiritual power was infused into the mysterious object, allowing Ning Zhuo to gradually perceive its shape.
“It looks like, it looks like… an arm?”
A lightning bolt of realization struck Ning Zhuo’s heart, sparking a guess.
He continued to circulate his technique, confirming his previous speculation.
It indeed was an arm, with a hand at the end of the forearm, and the hand had four fingers.
In the darkness, Ning Zhuo keenly felt around.
He tried swinging the arm and then stretching out the hand, moving the fingers, exploring all around.
He had no sense of touch, but the spiritual energy spreading outward began to echo other mysterious objects.
Moments later, a cubic hard object was also drawn to his body and assembled.
The troubling darkness suddenly dissipated, and Ning Zhuo’s vision lit up in an instant.
He finally saw everything around him!
It was a huge room filled with countless puppet components—torsos, skulls, limbs, tails, horns, wings, and more.
The myriad puppet components were all made of wood, colored in shades of brown and yellow.
And Ning Zhuo himself was perched atop a small hill formed from these piled-up puppet parts.
Ning Zhuo observed himself.
“My guess was right!”
The long rectangular box that his soul had resided in was indeed a rectangular puppet torso component.
The first part he had drawn over with his spiritual power was the left arm.
The second component that was assembled, a cube, turned out to be a square puppet head.
“It really is a head!”
“I have a head now!”
“And it’s quite large.”
Ning Zhuo was delighted.
The head component had accessories similar to eyes, which is why he could see.
Now equipped with the ability to observe, Ning Zhuo found it much easier.
Following the same method, he found other components in the mound of puppet parts and assembled them onto his body.
By the time he climbed down from the mountain-like pile of puppet parts to the ground, he had both arms and legs.
“A puppet automaton’s body, huh…”
At this time, Ning Zhuo’s main body was the long rectangular box. He had two legs, one slightly thinner and shorter than the other, creating a slight imbalance.
His two arms were the same length, but the hands had three and four fingers, respectively.
His large, squarely shaped head, disproportionate to his torso, made him look somewhat comical.
“With a body, although I can move freely like a human, it also increases my consumption of spiritual power significantly.”
Ning Zhuo constantly monitored the spirit stone within his torso. So far, he had consumed nearly half of its spiritual power.
“Other torso parts should have spirit stones stored. I can take them out for backup.”
However, just as Ning Zhuo pinpointed the torso part and was about to proceed, new information came to him, informing him that he was not allowed to damage other parts.
“Then I’ll just assemble another body.” As soon as Ning Zhuo began, another piece of information arrived—currently, the limit for spiritual power components was one.
Ning Zhuo had no choice but to stand up.
He remembered the first message—requiring him to move from the first room to the second. This was a standard of assessment.
“The second assessment appears to have no time limit, but that’s not really the case.”
“Because there is only one allowed spiritual power component, and the spiritual power in the spirit stone is constantly depleting.”
“I must complete the first assessment before the spiritual power is completely exhausted.”
“I should leave here quickly.”
The first room was spacious, with copper walls and a golden ceiling, brightly lit.
Ning Zhuo had already seen the only door in the room.
He limped towards the door.
As he reached the door, his fingers just touching it, more information was conveyed to him.
One spirit stone, one hanging ring on a mechanical part, and a spell, “A Rush of Energy.”
“Can I only choose one?”