Chapter 548: Metal-Element Lung Temple
Today was the agreed-upon day.
The Wanli Dragon traveled through the void and arrived near the frontline main camp of the Liangzhu Kingdom.
Soon, Ning Zhuo made contact with Liu Er.
“Military Advisor, we meet again!” When Liu Er saw Ning Zhuo again, he warmly grabbed Ning Zhuo’s arm, his eyes reddening with excitement.
“Ever since the battle against the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts, I have thought of you day and night. Now that I see you again today, you’ve grown thinner. Please take good care of your health, Military Advisor.”
Ning Zhuo nodded. He grasped Liu Er’s arms with both hands and said with emotion, “General, you worry too much about me—how could I deserve such concern? To encounter you in the Liangzhu Kingdom is my good fortune and opportunity.”
“In this bag are two hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones. I entrust them to you as military funds!”
Liu Er’s spirit instantly lifted. Taking the heavy bag of spirit stones, he said, “Without the Military Advisor’s support, the Three Generals Camp would have collapsed long ago!”
Ning Zhuo replied, “Without the Three Generals Camp and the help of the three generals, I would not have reached where I am today.”
Liu Er also took out a storage bag. “This is the reward we exchanged with our military merit. Zhao Xi originally wanted to make things difficult for you. He has strong objections to you not returning to the camp…”
Liu Er then described Zhao Xi’s obstruction. In a very tactful way, he made sure Ning Zhuo understood the role he had played.
Hearing this, Ning Zhuo immediately expressed his gratitude. “Thank you, General, for trusting me and persuading Zhao Xi at the critical moment. It saved me a great deal of trouble.”
This thanks came sincerely from Ning Zhuo’s heart.
Liu Er waved his hand dismissively. What relationship did he have with Ning Zhuo? They were practically one of their own—if he didn’t support him, who else would he support?
Liu Er asked, “Military Advisor, do you not plan to return to the main camp anymore?”
After sighing, Ning Zhuo nodded slightly. “This battle against the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts was extremely dangerous. I exposed my trump cards, which has made Zhao Xi covet them.”
“But I cannot guarantee that the next battle will repeat the previous success.”
“And when facing the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts, escaping early is my optimal choice!”
“Returning to the camp is impossible. Once I go back, I may very well be placed under house arrest—or even killed for my treasures.”
“After all, I am merely a person from a foreign land.”
Ning Zhuo looked up at the sky and sighed deeply.
His background and cultivation were still limited, yet the value he had displayed was now too great. This had completely disrupted the previous cooperative relationship.
Liu Er very much agreed with Ning Zhuo’s decision and sighed as well. “Military Advisor, your reputation has already spread throughout the entire Liangzhu Kingdom frontline camp. In time, your name will surely spread across the nation.”
“Perhaps even throughout other countries as well. After all, the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts are famous experts across many nations.”
“To confront two Nascent Soul experts with merely Foundation Establishment cultivation—such a thing has not been seen for many years.”
Ning Zhuo nodded slightly.
“In that case, after this battle, when I travel the world, I will have to conceal my identity.”
For Ning Zhuo, the growth of his reputation was actually welcome.
The greater his fame, the easier it would be for him to move within the righteous path.
Moreover, such battlefield achievements were almost impossible to conceal. Hiding them would simply be too difficult!
The two did not speak for long before Ning Zhuo bid Liu Er farewell.
Watching the Wanli Dragon pierce through the void and depart, Liu Er stood there for quite some time before letting out a faint sigh and turning to leave.
The Wanli Dragon had already been completely exposed to Liu Bei, Guan Hong, and Zhang Hei during the previous battle against the Twin Ghosts.
Liu Er was not surprised—he simply lamented his own former blindness.
“Ning Zhuo possesses such combat power and such mechanical trump cards. No wonder the Ning Family allows him to travel the world freely.”
“Disciples of great clans truly are different from people like us!”
Meanwhile, inside the mechanical ship cabin, Ning Zhuo took out the items from the storage bag and examined them.
He had exchanged his military merit for three Golden Cores, belonging to the fire, water, and earth elements respectively.
There were also eighteen National Strength Bricks.
Additionally, there were two defensive treasures—one was a Golden Light Collar, and the other a Green-White Jade Ring.
However, the Nascent Soul that Sun Ning and the others had hoped for had not been obtained.
Instead, within the jade slip Zhao Xi had specifically given Ning Zhuo, he hinted that exchanging military merit for a Nascent Soul was not impossible—but the transaction would have to be done face to face.
After all, if such a deal were exposed, it would severely damage Zhao Xi’s official reputation and personal future.
Thus, Zhao Xi’s proposal of a secret private trade sounded entirely reasonable.
But Sun Ning and the others sighed in unison.
Sun Lingtong directly said, “Little Zhuo, don’t trust Zhao Xi. He can’t be trusted anymore!”
Ning Zhuo nodded. He also sensed the deeper meaning behind Zhao Xi’s hint and feared that if he personally met Zhao Xi, he might instead be surrounded and captured, losing his freedom forever.
Not obtaining a Nascent Soul was a considerable regret.
Among the three Golden Cores, Ning Zhuo chose the earth-element Golden Core and inserted it into the Five Elements Golden Core Wheel.
He put on the Cang Tie Han Armor and once again went high into the sky for a test flight.
Sure enough, with the continuous supply from the Golden Core, his mana became extremely abundant. The Cang Tie Han Armor tore through the wind in wild flight, leaving a long Li-Fire flame trail across the sky.
Ning Zhuo enjoyed the exhilaration of flying at high speed through the air, which made Sun Lingtong extremely envious.
“Let me try! Let me play with it!”
“Hey, you’ve been playing for so long already.”
“Don’t delay the important matters, Little Zhuo—let me try it!”
After repeated urging, Ning Zhuo reluctantly stepped out of the mechanical battle armor and handed it to Sun Lingtong.
Sun Lingtong piloted the Cang Tie Han Armor through the air, drawing extremely strange and irregular flight paths. He was so excited that he shouted wildly.
Meanwhile, Ning Zhuo took out the Mechanical Golden Swallows and attempted to command a large swarm of them to fly throughout the sky.
Sun Lingtong became somewhat carried away with excitement. Ning Zhuo urged him repeatedly and eventually snatched the Cang Tie Han Armor back.
“Little Zhuo, you must customize one of these for me!” Sun Lingtong made his request.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ning Zhuo nodded immediately.
A request from a good brother was something he had never considered refusing.
But Sun Lingtong then added on his own, “No rush. Your time is tight now. After this great battle ends, when you have free time, you can make it then.”
Ning Zhuo put on the Cang Tie Han Armor again and flew into the sky.
While piloting the mechanical battle armor, he simultaneously split his attention to command the Mechanical Golden Swallows.
The swarm circled around him—sometimes gathering like a school of fish, sometimes scattering in all directions like the wind.
Their golden wings shimmered under the sunlight, flashing brilliant sharp light and exuding powerful momentum.
When night arrived, Ning Zhuo stepped out from the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel, ending the day’s body cultivation.
He ate some Spirit Food to ease his hunger, then entered the interior of the cave and began an important cultivation session.
Sun Lingtong first activated the Fire Burial Prajna Spirit-Resolving Sutra, igniting a flame.
Ning Zhuo dug out his own lungs and threw them into the fire.
The empty space in his body was temporarily replaced with a false lung formed from blood tendons.
The pair of lungs burned within the flames and quickly melted.
Ten-Thousand-Year Metal Essence!
Ning Zhuo threw a portion of the treasure material into the flame cluster, refining it together with his lungs.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Metal Essence had come from his military merit reward.
Ning Zhuo had considered it for a long time before deciding to spend part of his military merit to exchange for it from the Liangzhu Kingdom.
“I have already modified the terms of cooperation and asked Sect Master Lin Bufan to bring back Ten-Thousand-Year Water Essence for me.”
“The Ten-Thousand-Year Metal Essence was obtained from the Liangzhu Kingdom.”
“That leaves only the Ten-Thousand-Year Wood Essence.”
Although Ning Zhuo had much military merit, he still had to calculate carefully.
After all, the opportunity to exchange for National Strength Bricks was extremely precious, so he had exchanged most of his military merit for them.
For cultivators to use National Strength Bricks, they had to obtain recognition and permission from a cultivation nation.
Otherwise, even if one seized such a treasure, it could not be used.
National Strength Bricks were assigned by the king or high officials to specific individuals. Once designated, not even their closest relatives could use them.
Unless the usage scope decreed by the king was broad enough to include multiple cultivators.
Ning Zhuo already possessed earth, fire, and water elements. Only metal and wood remained.
He chose the metal element first because Ten-Thousand-Year Wood Essence was easier to find in the current environment.
Every mountain in the Thousand Peaks Forest was actually a Sky-Pillar Giant Tree. The wood-element environment here was extremely prosperous. Ning Zhuo guessed that some large factions might have Ten-Thousand-Year Wood Essence in their treasuries.
Ning Zhuo focused completely and rapidly refined the lungs together with the Ten-Thousand-Year Metal Essence.
Everything progressed steadily, and success was already apparent.
Suddenly, a thought arose in Ning Zhuo’s mind—Wood-Within-Fire.
His profound mastery of the fire element reminded him that using Wood-Within-Fire could accelerate the refinement process and save thirty percent of the effort.
Ning Zhuo restrained himself.
By nature, he was cautious and decided not to take unnecessary risks. After all, the Ten-Thousand-Year Metal Essence was extremely precious. Proceeding step by step was sufficient.
Moments later, Ning Zhuo completed the process.
He inhaled lightly and drew a cluster of golden light into his body.
The golden light descended to the position of the lungs. The blood-tendon cluster there immediately disintegrated to make room.
The golden light restored itself into a pair of lungs, reinserting itself and reconstructing the circulation and balance with the rest of the body.
Metal-Element Lung Temple!
Ning Zhuo’s strength increased once more.
Somewhere within the Thousand Peaks Forest, in a certain valley.
Grandfather Long personally set out to visit Young Lord Shengxu.
Young Lord Shengxu lay on the bed, weak as a sheet of paper. After coughing twice, he said, “What have you come to see me for?”
Grandfather Long remained silent for a moment before speaking heavily, “We agree to your request.”
“Oh?”
Young Lord Shengxu slightly raised his brows, revealing a trace of joy.
He struggled to prop himself up against the head of the bed and looked at Grandfather Long.
“Is that truly so?”
Previously, Grandfather Long had invited Young Lord Shengxu to help the Thousand Peaks Forest once more.
But the latter had made a demand—to obtain a Life-Sea Dragon Spring.
At the time, Grandfather Long had rejected it immediately without hesitation, with an extremely firm attitude.
Now, his attitude was equally clear—but completely reversed.
When vitality accumulated in great amounts, it would form an ocean of life force.
This was called a Life Sea.
If the Life Sea continued to accumulate and reached a certain threshold, a spring eye would form within it, continuously producing new vitality.
The Thousand Peaks Forest was a wood-element land with immense vitality. Several places had formed Life Seas.
But not every Life Sea contained a spring eye.
Yet Young Lord Shengxu knew that one Life Sea not only contained spring eyes, but more than one—and they were Dragon Springs infused with dragon qi.
This Life Sea existed inside the body of the Dragon Ginseng King.
Young Lord Shengxu had demanded that if he were to act, he wanted one Life-Sea Dragon Spring spring eye from the Dragon Ginseng King.
For the Dragon Ginseng King, this was naturally a tremendous loss.
Thus, at that time, Grandfather Long—one of the temple priests of the Dragon King Temple—had firmly refused.
But now, with the great war imminent, the Dragon King Temple’s high command held an emergency discussion and still wished to invite Young Lord Shengxu to take action.
After all, they could not contact the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts.
In this Liangzhu Kingdom pacification war, the decisive struggle remained a contest at the Soul Formation level.
Although Young Lord Shengxu’s cultivation was not at the Soul Formation level, he possessed Soul Formation–level battle strength.
In the current battlefield situation, this influence was extremely significant.
Grandfather Long sighed and directly took out a divine decree to answer Shengxu’s doubts.
“Of course it is real.”
Young Lord Shengxu merely glanced at the decree and immediately confirmed Grandfather Long’s sincerity.
The decree contained the dense aura of the Dragon Ginseng King—demonic qi intertwined with divine intent. Such a thing was extremely difficult to forge.
Only the Dragon Ginseng King himself could issue such a decree.
Since this transaction involved a Life-Sea Dragon Spring, only the Dragon Ginseng King himself could approve it.
Young Lord Shengxu used his spiritual sense to suspend the decree in midair and carefully read it.
Moments later, he nodded slightly.
“Since you have agreed to my condition, I can naturally take action.”
“However, this decree alone is not enough.”
“We must sign another one.”
As he spoke, Young Lord Shengxu took out another divine decree.
On the back of the decree was the image of a deity.
The deity wore a moon-white celestial silkworm cloud-pattern wide-sleeved robe, with a black dragon-shaped jade pendant at the waist and mountain-and-river boots on the feet.
His face was like polished jade, and a third eye opened upon his forehead.
In one hand he held the Mirror of Illuminating Causes; in the other, the Golden Contract of Consequences.
He rode a Three-Legged Azure Sound Crane. Dao inscriptions flickered among the crane’s feathers, and with every flap of its wings, golden contract characters scattered through the air.
Heavenly God—Qi!
An extremely ancient heavenly deity who governed contracts. Because of this authority, he had endured through the ages.
Seeing this, a sharp light flashed in Grandfather Long’s eyes.
“So, Young Lord Shengxu came prepared,” he said expressionlessly.
Young Lord Shengxu ignored the remark. Using his spiritual sense, he unfolded the blank decree of the Contract God and wrote the agreement upon it.
After finishing, he handed it to Grandfather Long for review.
Grandfather Long nodded.
The two divine decrees met in midair and transformed into a mass of light.
The light shot upward and disappeared in an instant, flying beyond the heavens.
A few breaths later, Young Lord Shengxu felt a restraint descend upon his body. After silently verifying the decree’s activation with a technique, he nodded to Grandfather Long.
“The contract is established. When do you want me to act?”
Grandfather Long respectfully presented the Life-Sea Dragon Spring with both hands and replied, “Please rest and conserve your strength for now, Young Lord. Wait for the most suitable moment to strike.”
Young Lord Shengxu accepted the Dragon Spring and lay back down again, so weak he barely moved.
Grandfather Long sighed inwardly and turned to leave.
Although his mission had succeeded, his mood was heavy.
The Life-Sea Dragon Spring could greatly help the Dragon Ginseng King recover from his injuries. Yet due to the current circumstances, they had no choice but to dig out one spring to recruit aid.
After returning to the frontline camp, Grandfather Long immediately mobilized the army and advanced toward Dragon King Sky-Pillar Mountain.
The allied forces of the Thousand Peaks Forest surged forward like a vast tide. They advanced all the way to the front of the Liangzhu Kingdom frontline camp before abruptly stopping.
The second grand decisive battle was about to erupt!