Chapter 485: Mu Lan, Bear with It for a Moment
“Hmm?” The Demon Cultivator Elder furrowed his brows, once again sensing a change in Ning Zhuo’s fortune energy.
“The previous increase was only by a few strands… but this time, it surged so much?”
“This brat, Ning Zhuo, is truly insidious!”
“If I had been deceived by the illusion earlier and acted carelessly by casting the Three-Line Fortune-Breaking Curse hastily, wouldn’t I have fallen into his trap?!”
A chill ran down the Demon Cultivator Elder’s spine, and cold sweat broke out all over his back.
He gave a cold snort, his gaze turning ice-cold and venomous.
This time, although he took out a large amount of treasure materials, he didn’t immediately throw them in. Instead, he suspended them in midair.
Taking a deep breath and bearing through intense pain, the Demon Cultivator Elder tore open most of the fox fur on his chest.
Ignoring the blood gushing out, he flung the fox fur into the air with a flick of his arm.
With a muffled explosion midair, the fox fur burst into a cloud of smoke, completely enveloping the suspended treasures, not a trace of aura leaking out.
Clenching his teeth, the Demon Cultivator Elder continued arranging the treasure materials.
After obtaining the Mechanical Ring, Ning Zhuo didn’t return to the Three Generals Camp, but instead secretly left the city and used the Wanli Dragon to traverse the void, arriving at a secluded valley.
The Mechanical Ring showed no further signs of movement, which reassured him.
He shook out all his storage bags, releasing every single mechanical puppet.
In an instant, over four hundred puppets filled the small valley—on rocks, trees, and the ground.
Ning Zhuo activated his spiritual sense, invoking the Buddha Heart Demon Seal in his Upper Dantian, firing out waves of pink heart imprints.
As the imprints landed one by one, a close bond quickly formed between Ning Zhuo and each puppet.
He tried controlling them with his spiritual sense, but could only manage about 170 before reaching his limit.
The number of targets one could simultaneously control with spiritual sense varied greatly depending on the cultivator’s technique, talent, and magic tools.
The Mirror Platform Spirit Technique that Ning Zhuo practiced was inherently suited for multi-target control—but required the aid of a mechanical mirror.
The method to forge such a mirror was recorded in the Foundation Establishment chapter of the technique. It was called the Split-Mind Mirror.
“Once I return to the Three Generals Camp, I’ll refine a Split-Mind Mirror.”
With that thought, Ning Zhuo spread his ten fingers wide, firing out ten threads to control the ten strongest puppets nearby.
In that instant, his connection to these ten puppets became extraordinarily close and intense.
This was the most commonly used method among mechanical cultivators for control—
Strongest connection, but limited in number.
Although cultivators had techniques to split their control threads to operate more puppets, doing so would dilute the strength of the connection.
However, Ning Zhuo’s true strongest control method was still—
Divine Ability — Life Hanging by a Thread!
Unfortunately, this divine ability had no effect on the current four hundred-plus puppets in the valley.
“Life Hanging by a Thread can control cultivators, and also intelligent mechanical constructs like Yuan Dasheng.”
“So, if I want to use divine ability to control these puppets… there might be a way.”
He took out the Spirit Storage Box.
Inside were many spiritualities, collected since the Lava Immortal Palace, and greatly expanded during the Mist-Hidden Mountain incident, where many relics were burned.
A substantial and diverse reserve.
He opened the box slightly and drew out some spiritualities, letting them flow into the puppets one by one.
The mechanical puppets remained motionless.
Ning Zhuo kept increasing the amount of spirituality infused.
Inside the puppets, the mixed spiritualities clashed, tangled, and separated chaotically. They never unified, remaining in a scattered state—thus having no effect.
Still, Ning Zhuo tested the divine ability Life Hanging by a Thread, letting it briefly rest atop one puppet’s head.
“Success!”
A flicker of joy flashed across Ning Zhuo’s face—but it vanished as quickly as it came.
Though the divine ability worked, the mixed spiritualities were consumed at an alarming rate in this state.
Soon, the large amount he had infused was entirely depleted.
His expression turned grim.
With no spirituality left, the thread of life disconnected from the puppets.
Ning Zhuo fell into deep thought: “Mixed spiritualities can enable Life Hanging by a Thread to control puppets—but only for a very short time.”
“During that window, I can achieve absolute control over them!”
“The combat power of this puppet army could potentially skyrocket to its limit.”
But… this must only be used sparingly.
It could only serve as a final trump card.
If used too frequently, the divine ability Life Hanging by a Thread would be exposed.
And once exposed, the consequences would be dire—for his travels and social dealings across the world.
“But if the situation becomes truly desperate, I’ll have no choice.”
War is cruel and dangerous.
On the battlefield, anything could happen.
That previous ambush was still vivid in his mind. He had no time to react to the Turning Spear from Horseback, not even with heavy military protection. Since then, Ning Zhuo had felt perpetually insecure.
Next, he began practicing the Thieving Breeze Formation—
Wait, no—the Swift Wind Light Step Formation.
His face quickly turned pale, his forehead covered in fine sweat, as his spiritual sense in the Upper Dantian was severely drained.
He only managed to rehearse about 30% of the formation before exhaustion set in.
In normal scenarios, soldiers would act independently based on formation training.
But now, every puppet’s move had to be handled and directed by Ning Zhuo himself.
As a result, the difficulty of forming the battle formation skyrocketed.
Unless a puppet reached the intelligence level of someone like Yuan Dasheng or Meng Yahu, it couldn’t move autonomously within a formation.
“Refine singular spirituality into smarter constructs that can follow formation patterns.”
“Forge treasures like the Split-Mind Mirror.”
“Expand my control techniques over puppets!”
“Increase the strength and scale of my spiritual sense, so I can control more puppets simultaneously.”
Ning Zhuo’s thoughts raced, rapidly forming multiple plans.
“By combining various approaches, I must reach a point where these puppets can form formations!”
By now, he had some real battlefield experience.
That ambush had made it painfully clear—only through battle formations could the weak defeat the strong.
Battle formations were refined and powerful tools that could condense the strength of many weak cultivators into a cohesive unit capable of contending with the strong.
In ancient times, before the arts of formation and military tactics in cultivation matured, sheer numbers had little impact. The world of cultivation focused on individual strength. History from those times was full of stories where one person crushed entire armies or razed immortal cities.
Sun Lingtong chimed in, “Little Zhuo, don’t forget—I can help you control some puppets too.”
That was indeed a good suggestion.
Sun Lingtong’s spiritual sense was excellent to begin with.
He also had experience in puppet control, having studied the puppet manuals left behind by Ning Zhuo’s mother for many years.
However, after only briefly practicing the Swift Wind Light Step Formation, Ning Zhuo turned to a more important experiment.
Military Art — The Warrior Returns Art!
With the power of this military art, Ning Zhuo began intentionally destroying his own puppets.
The level of destruction varied.
At the lightest, the puppet merely froze, going inactive.
Then came disassembly—taking the puppet apart without damaging its components, allowing for reassembly later.
Next was partial destruction—damaging certain parts of the puppet.
And finally, total annihilation—crushing the puppets completely.
After one round of testing, Ning Zhuo’s aura surged dramatically. He drew a preliminary conclusion:
“Just disassembly doesn’t grant any boost. The more complete the puppet was before destruction, and the more thorough the destruction, the greater the increase I receive.”
Sun Lingtong exclaimed with joy, “Little Zhuo, doesn’t that mean you can reach Nascent Soul-level combat strength?”
Ning Zhuo smiled and shook his head.
Sun Lingtong slapped his forehead. “Oh, I get it. You're only at the Foundation Establishment stage—your body and soul are both too weak to withstand Nascent Soul–level combat strength!”
After all, between Foundation Establishment and Nascent Soul, there was still the Golden Core realm.
Previously, Ning Zhuo had only used part of his spiritual sense in the Testing the Generals Diagram to condense a false body.
To apply that in the real world, he simply couldn’t achieve such a span of power amplification. If Nascent Soul–level strength were forcefully overlaid on his body, he would die instantly.
Ning Zhuo added, “It’s not just about me being unable to withstand it. There’s also the risk that the Warrior Returns Art could be countered by the enemy.”
“This military art, paired with a mechanical puppet army, can boost my combat power up to the Golden Core level.”
“But if used too often, the enemy will surely develop targeted counters. It could be broken easily.”
Sun Lingtong nodded, offering his opinion. “If you want to bring out even greater power, Little Zhuo, I suggest you take command of your own force!”
Ning Zhuo shook his head. “I’ve thought of that too. Taking command independently and being formally registered under the Liangzhu Kingdom would grant me national support from Liangzhu.”
“That way, when the mechanical puppets fall, the amplification I receive would increase.”
“In fact, right at the start of battle, I could intentionally sacrifice some mechanical puppets to raise my power level and improve my survival rate on the battlefield!”
Ning Zhuo’s strength lay in mechanisms.
From ambushes to the insights in Gao Sheng’s Testament, he had developed his own methods of deploying mechanical puppet forces in battle.
This method was certainly unconventional, yet held promising prospects.
He glanced at the Mechanical Ring, packed away all the mechanical puppets, even smoothed out the surrounding rocks, and only then departed using the Wanli Dragon.
Upon returning to the Three Generals Camp, the first thing he did was visit Liu Er, requesting an official formation slot for his mechanical puppet army.
Liu Er gave a bitter smile, clearly troubled.
“Strategist, you know the situation in the Three Generals Camp.”
“Our quotas are limited. If we allocate a large portion to the mechanical puppets, how much is left for me, Second Brother, and Third Brother to command?”
For once, Liu Er directly refused Ning Zhuo.
Though smiling on the surface, he harbored deep resentment inside—a disgust that came from the very core of his being.
Ning Zhuo nodded. “That’s a pity. In that case, I’ll have to head over to the Red Flower Camp to seek assistance. General, I’ll take my leave.”
“Eh? Hey?!” Liu Er was stunned, shouting inwardly. Instinctively, he reached out, trying to stop Ning Zhuo.
Had he known that arranging a meeting between Ning Zhuo and Mu Lan would lead to this, he definitely wouldn’t have refused Ning Zhuo.
“What was I thinking?! Sending Ning Zhuo straight to the Red Flower Camp? As if their relationship wasn’t close enough already!”
Liu Er regretted it deeply, wishing he could slap himself across the face.
But unable to come up with a reasonable excuse, he could only watch helplessly as Ning Zhuo walked away once more.
“They’re not going to start dual cultivating, are they?”
“But Master just wrote to me, asking me to suspend the external lending of the Yin-Yang One-Energy Vessel. What exactly is Master planning?”
When Ning Zhuo arrived at the Red Flower Camp, he found that he could enter without even needing to announce himself.
“Ning Zhuo... Young Lord.” Upon hearing the news, Mu Lan immediately set aside her military affairs and came out to greet him.
She was, after all, a general’s daughter—firm and proud. Even with no outsiders present, she did not change her address, and did not call Ning Zhuo her husband.
Ning Zhuo cupped his hands in greeting and stated his purpose.
Mu Lan nodded without hesitation and agreed at once. “The Red Flower Camp has a full quota of three thousand. It’s just that we’ve long been understrength.”
“I still have many slots available, which I can assign to your mechanical puppets.”
“Hold on!” Zhang Chongyi lifted the curtain and stormed in.
He rushed to Ning Zhuo, grabbing his arm. “You finally came, Young Lord Ning Zhuo!”
“Do you know how many days I’ve waited for you?”
“Look, General Mu Lan didn’t even hesitate. Just one word and your registration issue was resolved.”
“You two are already husband and wife. It’s time for you to make a gesture too.”
Mu Lan gave a light cough. “Uncle Zhang, don’t make things hard for Young Lord Ning Zhuo. If we’re talking about gestures, I still owe him thanks for what he did at the mechanical shop…”
Zhang Chongyi interrupted flatly, staring at Ning Zhuo. “What about General Mu Lan’s injuries, then? What do you say?”
Ning Zhuo gave a wry smile. “Of course, they must be treated.”
Zhang Chongyi immediately replied, “No time like the present—how about now? Do you know how many times I’ve gone to the Three Generals Camp, only to find you gone every time? What a coincidence, huh!”
Ning Zhuo then reached out. “If so, I’ll need to borrow the Mysterious Gold Armor-Breaking Art.”
The Mysterious Gold Armor-Breaking Art!
The ancestral art of the Grand General’s Mansion, the cultivation path that Elder General Mu had relied on.
Holding the jade slip, Ning Zhuo focused on reading it, his brow furrowing slightly.
The Mysterious Gold Armor-Breaking Art was a military art, not a metal-element technique. While it incorporated some metal-element principles, its core was centered on the deployment of military power.
“As expected of the Grand General’s ancestral art—truly profound!”
After pondering for a short while, Ning Zhuo couldn’t help but praise it.
Even within such a short time, he had already gained much from the military strategy components.
Zhang Chongyi asked anxiously, “Young Lord Ning Zhuo, can you treat her?”
“Of course.” Ning Zhuo nodded.
His understanding of the Five Elements was deep. Even though he wasn’t versed in military arts, he could still use the metal-element part to develop a treatment method.
“This method is more of a temporary relief than a cure, but it can greatly alleviate her condition.”
“Come, let me explain it to you both in detail.”
After explaining, Ning Zhuo was still held back by Zhang Chongyi to remain in the tent and treat Mu Lan.
Midway through the treatment, Zhang Chongyi’s left hand suddenly trembled, and the needle missed slightly, causing Mu Lan to cough up a small mouthful of blood.
“Quick, help the General with Meridian-Pushing and Blood Exchange!” Zhang Chongyi urgently called out.
Ning Zhuo, understanding immediately, stepped forward and pressed his palm gently against Mu Lan’s lower abdomen, rubbing it continuously, infusing mana.
Only then did Mu Lan’s condition stabilize.
Zhang Chongyi sighed deeply. “Sigh… I’m getting old. Didn’t expect my hand to slip at the final moment.”
“Sigh.” He sighed again, glancing at the now very close Ning Zhuo and Mu Lan, rubbing his forehead. “I’ll leave the rest to you two. This old man is dizzy and needs to rest.”
With that, he left swiftly, ignoring Ning Zhuo’s calls to stay—his quick steps showed no signs of dizziness at all.
Leaving Ning Zhuo and Mu Lan staring at each other in awkward silence.
It was the first time Ning Zhuo had ever been this physically close to General Mu Lan.
At that moment, he slightly raised his head and saw the clear contours of the female general’s face, full of heroic spirit. Her face was firm and resolute, yet now bore a touch of softness.
To receive treatment, she had removed her armor and now wore only a red undergarment.
Her jet-black long hair was loosely tied, with a few strands falling past the band to brush lightly across her forehead. Slightly disheveled and sticky from sweat, it showed both exhaustion and valor.
The tips of her hair lay across the red clothing—black and red contrasting starkly, vividly.
Mu Lan sat cross-legged, her upper body upright, exuding a strong military presence.
Ning Zhuo noticed that though her shoulders were broad, her waist was slender—a feminine feature usually hidden beneath heavy armor.
The two of them exchanged glances. Their breathing became slightly quickened, Mu Lan’s eyelashes trembled gently. Her gaze began to waver, as if wanting to look away, but she held firm, not wanting to seem weak.
Ning Zhuo lowered his head and looked seriously at her lower abdomen. “There’s one final blockage. I’ll give it my all—bear with it for a moment.”
Mu Lan gave a slight nod, just about to respond, when Ning Zhuo acted without delay.
Caught off guard, she let out a soft grunt that quickly turned into a faint moan.
In an instant, a flush of red surged across Mu Lan’s cheeks.
From childhood to now, she had never been this physically close to a man—never made a sound like that either.
The atmosphere in the tent became… subtly intimate.