< Chapter 29: Hanging Ring >
Having had the valuable experience from before, Ning Zhuo was no longer unfamiliar with the darkness. He didn’t hesitate, fully mobilizing the spiritual energy from the spirit stones, and began circulating “The Five Elements Qi Regulation Art.”
Click.
He drew in the first mechanical part and attached it.
It was an arm.
He drew in another part and successfully assembled it.
It was a wooden head.
Ning Zhuo regained his vision.
He lay atop a heap of mechanical parts like a mountain. He touched his head, finding it was still a large, square one.
“Why is it this kind again?”
“The wind resistance while running and jumping negatively affects passing through the second room.”
Ning Zhuo rotated his big head, using his only arm to drag his body and climb around.
He patiently selected legs, only stopping when he found two of equal length.
His previous experience told him that spending time on this was completely worth it.
Not only that, he decided to choose longer arms as well.
“I want long arms and legs.”
“And I want to change to a smaller head.”
Ning Zhuo failed.
When he rummaged and picked out a small head, just as he was about to replace it, he received new information—the initial puppet body, based on his aptitude, could not be freely changed in Room One.
“There’s this restriction too?”
Ning Zhuo was momentarily stunned, then immediately fell into deep thought.
“If the puppets are assembled based on talent, this means that from the start, Meng Chong and the others will have much stronger puppets than mine.”
“It also means that although the mechanical parts here appear to have similar quality, there are actually significant differences in their performance.”
Ning Zhuo then thought of himself.
“I took the Early Wisdom Pill while still in my mother’s womb, which gave me the talent of early wisdom.”
“It is precisely this talent that gave me this big head, so I can’t replace it with a small one.”
“With the talent of early wisdom, I was able to have this big head. It shows that having a big head is beneficial, even if it’s not obvious.”
“Furthermore…”
Ning Zhuo thought of a doubt.
The first mechanical part he attracted was an arm, not a big head!
“The first time it was like this, and the second time it was the same. The arm parts were prioritized over the head parts.”
“Does this mean that I actually have a hidden talent, and that this talent is related to my arm, which is even better than my talent for early wisdom?”
Ning Zhuo was quick-witted and observant, able to spot problems from the details.
This was entirely possible.
Because in cultivation, talents come in all sorts and varieties, many of them strange and unique. While the Ning family had always been engaged in detecting immortal qualifications, they could only cover basic and common talents. Many special talents could not be detected using conventional means.
Perhaps Ning Zhuo’s arm hid such a talent, one that had not yet been detected by the family.
Ning Zhuo continued to contemplate the information he had just received.
“The message mentioned that this is the ‘initial puppet body’ and also stated that it’s not possible to ‘freely’ change it in ‘Room One’.”
“Does that mean it’s actually possible to upgrade the body? In some room, it’s possible to freely change it?”
In just a few breaths, Ning Zhuo had thoroughly analyzed this seemingly ordinary piece of information, grasping many hidden key points.
Despite the reminder from the message, Ning Zhuo still harbored a bit of luck and attempted to assemble the wing components.
If he could attach wings, it would be much easier to pass through Room Two.
Sure enough… it didn’t work.
“In that case, these wings, short horns, claws, and other parts are meant for non-human entities.”
“In the future, will there be non-human competitors in the Lava Immortal Palace?”
Ning Zhuo climbed down from the pile of mechanical parts, which was like a small hill.
During this process, he made an important observation.
Soon, he discovered various traces left from his first exploration.
“In other words, this room is Room One, which I explored for the first time.”
This observation was quite important!
“This isn’t a room exclusively for me.”
“In fact, the abundance of mechanical parts also suggests this.”
“The changes I made during the exploration seem to have been retained to some extent?”
“There’s another crucial question—when I explore the Immortal Palace, will I encounter others in the same room?”
Ning Zhuo walked to the entrance of the first door and paused his thoughts, reaching out to touch the door.
A message came through, presenting the same three options as before.
1. One spirit stone.
2. Hanging ring on a mechanical component.
3. A gust of spell energy.
Ning Zhuo already had a plan and, without hesitation, directly chose the hanging ring.
Currently, his spiritual power was still at seventy percent, much more than during his first exploration. Additionally, the reward for passing through Room Two would still include a spirit stone.
In the long run, choosing the spell energy would be the most advantageous. But for now, Ning Zhuo needed immediate combat power. Choosing the hanging ring would allow him to go further in this exploration.
“In the early stages, intelligence is the most important.”
“Therefore, I need to explore as far as possible. This way, I can collect enough intelligence, and with that foundation, I can make the right decisions.”
“Sigh, I wonder how far Meng Chong and the others have gone.”
“Hopefully, I can see their trails soon.”
The teleportation circle appeared again, spitting out a wooden ring before slowly disappearing.
Ning Zhuo took the wooden ring and examined it closely.
The entire wooden ring was about half a foot in diameter, with a thick body, and inlaid with eighteen diamond-shaped crystals.
The crystals emitted a faint blue-violet glow. Whenever Ning Zhuo changed his viewing angle slightly, the blue-violet light would shift accordingly, quite eye-catching.
“Is this the hanging ring? How do I use it?”
“Is there no explanation?”
Ning Zhuo did not receive any information about the hanging ring.
He understood that the mechanical component rewards were, in fact, a test of the cultivator’s mechanical skills.
He needed to figure out the correct usage himself.
With this in mind, Ning Zhuo instinctively placed the hanging ring on his forehead.
Nothing happened.
Ning Zhuo chuckled awkwardly in his heart. “I forgot, I don’t have divine sense now.”
Divine sense originated from the Divine Sea, which was the upper dantian of a cultivator.
In this world, cultivators had three dantians: the upper dantian (Divine Sea), the middle dantian (Qi Sea), and the lower dantian (Essence Sea).
The upper dantian, located at the brow, was the source of the sea of consciousness, where thoughts condensed into the void.
The middle dantian, located in the chest, was the palace of mana, where Qi gathered like clouds, hiding strength and accumulating momentum.
The lower dantian, located in the abdomen, was the palace of essence, where blood gathered, essence merged, and was the root of life.
Ning Zhuo’s current puppet body was entirely wooden, lacking the three dantians. Even the “mana” he used was just “spiritual energy” drawn from spirit stones.
Ning Zhuo held the hanging ring in his palm and attempted to infuse it with spiritual energy.
Soon, the diamond-shaped blue-violet crystals embedded on the surface of the hanging ring were all illuminated one by one.