"Here we are!" Early in the morning, Yuan Er arrived at Ning Zhuo's small courtyard entrance.
Seeing him trying to enter, a patrolling Qi Refinement cultivator of the Ning Family immediately appeared and blocked him: "Halt."
Yuan Er, being in the Foundation Establishment Stage, saw the identity token hanging from the Qi Refinement cultivator's waist and dared not act rashly: "I am here to see Ning Zhuo. I am Yuan Er, the current leader of the Monkey Head Gang."
"Please wait a moment, I will report it." The Qi Refinement cultivator glanced at Yuan Er and then exchanged a look with his approaching companion.
The companion nodded at him and stood at the courtyard entrance, blocking Yuan Er's path.
Yuan Er felt a sense of unease, secretly thinking to himself how he, a gang leader, was being blocked outside when trying to see a mere Qi Refinement cultivator.
However, he had gathered quite a bit of information over the past few days, knowing that Ning Zhuo was highly regarded by the Ning Family and was a favorite of young clan leader Ning Xiaoren.
"Why don't I have a powerful family to rely on?"
Just as Yuan Er was contemplating, the person who went to report came back and said: "You may enter now."
Yuan Er stepped into the courtyard, and after walking a few steps, he paused slightly.
He caught a whiff of the aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, only to lose it immediately.
He instantly understood that this was an intentional leak of the aura, meant as a warning for him not to act recklessly.
Yuan Er was startled: "What on earth does Ning Zhuo have that warrants such attention from the family? They even assigned a Foundation Establishment cultivator to protect him?"
The joint effort of the three families was kept secret from the outside world.
Yuan Er did not yet know the inside story.
"Master Yuan Er, please come in," Ning Zhuo appeared with a polite smile to greet him.
Ning Zhuo led him into the bedroom instead of the study.
"I apologize, I need to set up a training room, please forgive me, Master Yuan Er." Ning Zhuo explained.
Yuan Er saw three Array Masters, all busy setting up.
He immediately recognized that these three Array Masters were well-known in the market, all of them in the Foundation Establishment stage, none in the Qi Refinement stage.
Yuan Er immediately felt the extravagance of Ning Zhuo and became even more cautious.
Ning Zhuo did not offer him a seat, so Yuan Er had to stand at the door, feeling awkward.
Ning Zhuo communicated with the Array Masters while occasionally glancing at Yuan Er, gauging his reactions.
After a while, he turned to Yuan Er and said: "Master Yuan Er, as you can see, I am quite busy here. What brings you here?"
Yuan Er responded: "Mr. Ning, may we speak privately?"
Ning Zhuo did not agree, instead pointing to the training room: "You can see, I need to oversee this. I can't step away right now."
"I think I can guess why you're here."
"You want the customized mechanical monkey, right?"
"Yes, yes," Yuan Er nodded quickly, "Mr. Ning, you truly remember."
"I've always kept it in mind," Ning Zhuo sighed, "But I have been very busy lately."
"Just a few days ago, I was still living at the family residence."
"Although I was staying at our young clan leader's residence, which was very considerate of him, I decided it was more convenient to move back here. I am more accustomed to living this way."
"So, as you can see, I first set up a small room for cultivation."
"I am quite busy, so you need to be patient and wait."
Yuan Er, however, did not let the matter slide so easily.
He humbly asked Ning Zhuo about the timeline.
Ning Zhuo sighed again: "It is hard to say. In the next few days, the family will be preparing to test my talent."
"I can't give you a definite answer right now, but rest assured, you will get it."
"Testing your talent?" Yuan Er was taken aback.
Even the three Array Masters setting up the formation looked up at Ning Zhuo.
Having a spirit root was not unusual, but a cultivator with true talent was rare.
Even low-grade talent set one apart from the ordinary, truly making one a genius.
"Could it be that Ning Zhuo displayed some talent, which is why he gained such favor from the family?" Yuan Er couldn't help but make the connection.
In an instant, his estimation of Ning Zhuo rose to a whole new level.
Though he was the leader of the Monkey Head Gang, he found it difficult to maintain loyalty among his followers and lacked powerful assistants. Facing a genius cultivator and a favored young master from a prominent cultivation family, he dared not be forceful.
Thus, he was left to cool his heels for a moment and, unable to endure the awkwardness, took the initiative to leave.
Ning Zhuo smiled again: "I'll see you off."
Despite his words, he only accompanied him to the bedroom door.
As soon as Yuan Er left, a Foundation Establishment level guard of the Ning Family used transmission to ask Ning Zhuo: "Yuan Er has a tail following him. After Yuan Er entered the yard, this tail has been hiding around without leaving."
"When Yuan Er left, the tail left too."
"Do we need to inform Yuan Er?"
The guard was unsure of the relationship between Yuan Er and Ning Zhuo, so his report was timely and detailed.
Ning Zhuo thought for a moment and shook his head: "Master Yuan Er is strong, he doesn't need a reminder."
The guard understood and fell silent.
Ning Zhuo's gaze deepened.
From start to finish, he never intended to hand over the mechanism artifact made from Yuan Dasheng's corpse to Yuan Er.
The matter with Yuan Er would be settled without him lifting a finger.
For the elders of the Monkey Head Gang and Yuan Yi had countless enemies from their lifelong battles with Yuan Dasheng. These foes would gladly help Ning Zhuo solve this problem.
Ning Zhuo only needed to stall for as long as possible.
As for the family test of his talent, it was not an issue either.
"Considering Ning Xiaohui, the family wouldn't easily reveal my talent."
"At most, it would be a charade to prove to the Zhou Family and Zheng Family that I do have talent, though no definitive results were found immediately."
The Ning Family.
Ning Xiaohui's entire body radiated coldness, her hands immersed in ice, lips turning purple from the cold.
Her grandmother accompanied her the whole time, encouraging: "Xiaohui, hang in there!"
"You need to deeply experience the meaning of the cold."
Ning Xiaohui shivered: "Grandma...isn't there another way?"
Her grandmother shook her head slightly: "This is the fastest method!"
"Talent is the soil for divine skills; this method can fully stimulate your talent, bringing out more."
"If this were North Wind Country, you would have grown up in an icy environment and understood Ice-jade Hands better."
"Unfortunately, we are in Southern Bean Country, living on an active volcano. The different environment has limited your understanding of your talent."
"No, I can't do it, I'll freeze to death!" Ning Xiaohui couldn't hold on and withdrew her hands.
All efforts were in vain!
Her grandmother sighed deeply but seeing Ning Xiaohui's teary face, refrained from uttering reproachful words.
At the peak of Persimmon Mountain, clouds billowed and swirled.
Meng Chong hovered in mid-air, eyes wide, staring intently at the surrounding clouds.
Boom.
With a clap of thunder, the gray clouds flashed blue, lightning piercing through, tinging everything blue.
Meng Chong didn't have time to react before a bolt struck him, causing him to vomit blood and be flung backward.
"Darn it, so hateful!"
"These clouds block my vision, I can't see the lightning coming."
Meng Chong was extremely exhausted.
Though his essence blood was replenished by Meng Kui, his mana and spirit remained severely depleted.
Even someone as powerful as Meng Kui, at the Nascent Soul level, could offer no help for these two aspects.
It's not that he couldn't provide elixir pills to restore mana and spirit, but after consuming them, a cultivator had to use corresponding mystical techniques to quickly absorb the medicinal power.
Otherwise, the gathered medicinal power could backfire, harming or even endangering the body and life.
Meng Chong only had the Five Elements Qi Regulation Art, and only up to the third layer, which was inefficient in absorbing medicinal power.
In terms of spirit and mind, he lacked matching cultivation techniques, thus his absorption capacity was extremely poor.
Boom!
Meng Chong was struck again, his entire body charred, skin peeling layer by layer, blood oozing from cracks all over his hardened surface.
He turned into a bloodied figure, his body almost giving in, but his determination grew stronger.
"Come on!"
"Bring it on!"
"Again!!"
Boom, boom, boom...
Struck to the brink of death, he suddenly had an epiphany.
Crackle...
Lightning shimmered over his body, weaving into a shadowy figure.
The shadow intertwined closely with Meng Chong's body and limbs.
Another bolt struck; Meng Chong swayed, leaving a shadowy figure behind as his true body slipped away.
He avoided the strike, and the shadow absorbed the lightning, growing more solid with every crackle.
"Using my talent this way consumes much less than before."
"The key is, I can accelerate only a part of my body. Just this fact alone allows me to handle that special mechanical monkey."
"Hahaha, I'm coming, I'm coming!!"
Meng Chong raised his arms in triumph, laughing heartily.
Meng Kui nodded in approval, thinking silently: "As expected of my grandson, brave and diligent, fearless, not bringing shame to the Meng name."