In the small cultivation chamber, layers upon layers of floating clouds overlapped.
"Meng Chong, Meng Chong, formidable, truly formidable!" Ning Zhuo's face was filled with solemn expression.
"As expected of someone with Immortal Aptitude."
Although Meng Chong still fell in this confrontation, Ning Zhuo already felt the powerful impact from Meng Chong!
"Every time I repel him, he always returns swiftly, his strength improving by leaps and bounds."
"I am like a whetstone, continuously sharpening him, making him ever more formidable!"
"At this rate, perhaps one day, he will break through the barriers I set and soar to new heights, becoming unstoppable."
The first time, Golden Blooded War Ape - Dasheng defeated Meng Chong because Meng Chong misused his Immortal Aptitude, exhausting his strength and leading to a great defeat.
But by the second time, Meng Chong had already grasped a deeper use of his Immortal Aptitude, significantly reducing wastage, accelerating part of his body, allowing him to exchange blows with Yuan Dasheng evenly and even gradually overpower him.
"This victory was thanks to the use of spells."
"Now that this trump card is exposed, Meng Chong will surely find a way to counter it. But how long will it take him this time?"
Ning Zhuo had a premonition about this.
In fact, it wasn't difficult to counter.
Meng Chong only needed to learn some spells, using them to counteract spells would have sufficed.
Meng Chong was solely focused on breaking through barriers, relying on his Immortal Aptitude without mastering or practicing the spells rewarded from the barriers.
Ning Zhuo examined his battle results.
Yuan Dasheng had many wounds, much more serious than in the first battle.
Right now, Ning Zhuo couldn't conveniently transport Yuan Dasheng back, so he manipulated it to push open the door and head to the preparation room.
Once in the preparation room, Ning Zhuo controlled it, paying spirit stones and selecting various mechanical tools to repair itself.
Yuan Dasheng sat cross-legged on the ground, holding Fire Movement wood in one hand and using the Grafting Technique with the other.
The wood flowed like water, winding and extending, probing into the wounds, completely filling them.
Ning Zhuo then, utilizing Yuan Dasheng, performed the Baptism of Fire Technique to burn the wood to ashes, filling the cracks and gaps of wounds, big and small.
This repair method was far from perfect.
The previous repair method Ning Zhuo had was actually quite good.
Now, although Yuan Dasheng had managed the wounds, they were marked by black strips of ash. These carbon-black scars covered its entire body, adding a savage and ferocious aura to it.
No way around it, Ning Zhuo couldn't arrogantly use all kinds of tools and related molten rocks to create the fill material under the watchful eyes of the four Ning Family guards.
"Hmm? Its spiritual nature seems to have diminished..."
During the repair, Ning Zhuo discovered an unpleasant phenomenon.
Yuan Dasheng's spiritual nature had decreased. It was previously at a full eighty percent, now it was at seventy-nine percent.
Ning Zhuo's heart sank: "I need to rely on Yuan Dasheng to stop Meng Chong, so I need to find a way to replenish its spiritual nature."
"Spiritual nature..."
Ning Zhuo knew very little about this.
Although he had memorized and mastered all the knowledge in the Ning Family's library, these were all publicly available books and not high-level ones.
Spiritual nature related to Spiritual Treasures, which were high-end powers in the cultivation world, recorded only in secret manuals.
The pressure in Ning Zhuo's heart was increasing day by day.
Despite planning for fourteen years, unexpected events frequently occurred during his actual competition for the Magma Fairy Palace. Whether it was Yuan Dasheng or Zhu Xuanji, both forced Ning Zhuo to change his plans, leading to the current situation step by step.
"Meng Chong is Meng Kui's direct grandson, he must carry life-saving items gifted by a Nascent Soul cultivator."
"I can't devise a plan to trap Meng Chong like I did with Yuan Dasheng."
"Compared to the City Lord's Mansion, the entire Ning Family is insignificant. I'm just a part of Ning's branch lineage. If I truly clash with the City Lord's Mansion head-on, how could the Ning Family stand up for me?"
The result was, no matter how many times Meng Chong failed, he could always come back.
And Ning Zhuo's energy, combat power, and time were heavily constrained by him, making it hard to concentrate fully on exploring the Immortal Palace.
"Taking this battle as an example, I gained no spoils of war, instead, I had to use various resources to repair Yuan Dasheng."
"The only gain perhaps was that in the harmonized state, I fully experienced Yuan Dasheng's combat state, providing immense inspiration for my martial arts."
"But continuing like this won't work."
"I'll keep getting weaker and weaker..."
Ning Zhuo had an overall perspective and was not confused by the immediate victory. As his thoughts deepened, his worry grew increasingly pronounced.
City Lord's Mansion.
Meng Chong slowly opened his eyes.
His facial muscles twitched.
Phantom pain!
In the Magma Fairy Palace, he was burned alive, the experience indelibly etched in his memory.
Meng Chong did not get up immediately, his gaze was somewhat vacant.
After mastering Thunder Shadow, his consumption of essence, energy, and spirit had greatly reduced.
Clearly, this time he could sit up and move freely, but he did not.
He was filled with dejection and despondency.
Having been detected to have Immortal Aptitude since childhood, Meng Chong had always had a smooth path, never encountering such a huge obstacle.
Not only was it a huge obstacle, but it also happened repeatedly.
Even though Meng Chong was inherently bold and high-spirited, at this moment he was still depressed.
"The difficulty of exploring this Magma Fairy Palace is really too high!"
Meng Chong thought of the flame-imbued mechanical monkey and felt at a loss about what to do.
Baffled and clueless.
Everything he did was being watched by servants and attendants.
Seeing Young Master Meng Chong return this time with a completely different state, the servants hurriedly reported the situation.
Meng Chong's situation was given the highest priority.
Very quickly, Meng Kui became aware of it.
"Hmm?" He immediately sensed something was amiss.
The real Meng Kui was atop Fire Persimmon Mountain, his eyes emitting divine light that pierced through the sky, straight through obstacles to see his beloved grandson lying silently with a vacant gaze in the room.
"This isn't right. Let me calculate."
Meng Kui performed some calculations but found nothing.
Immediately, he took out an abacus magical treasure, his fingers rapidly calculating, mana and divine sense continuously consuming as he moved the abacus beads.
As the beads settled, Meng Kui calculated Meng Chong's fate.
"How could it be so low?" The Nascent Soul cultivator was astounded.
In his understanding, Meng Chong, having Immortal Aptitude, naturally had a very strong fate, such a low state was very rare.
Unlike Meng Family ancestors, Meng Kui's talent was of a high level, named Distant Gaze of the High Mountain.
This talent allowed him to stand steady like a mountain, and as long as he remained unmoved, his family's fate would have a stabilizing effect, enabling him to observe the surroundings with a panoramic view.
Thus, he was nicknamed the "Mountain-top Prime Minister." When facing contention, he was always unmoved like a mountain, observing and planning, luring the enemy into attacking.
His fate was inherently stable and difficult to shake, reducing deleterious effects much more than his enemies.
This often resulted in the enemy revealing flaws from prolonged attacks without success.
Meng Kui remained immobile until the flaws accumulated to a sufficient extent, then he struck with full force, frequently killing the enemy in one blow, establishing victory.
He also mastered the Method of Deduction.
This was very rare.
In the cultivation world, mastering the Method of Deduction required extremely rare spirit roots or talents as prerequisites.
Distant Gaze of the High Mountain was precisely such a talent, allowing him to "observe" glimpses of future scenarios to a certain extent.
Meng Chong's situation made Meng Kui think of chaotic times and the competition among numerous heroes.
Often, the dragon with the most limelight at the start was not the true king. In the early to mid-stage struggles, it attracted too much firepower, dragons fought against each other, depleting their fates too seriously. The seed of the king's fate took the opportunity to grow and develop, eventually amassing a great momentum, establishing order, and creating a cultivation kingdom.
"According to Zhu Xuanji, the Magma Fairy Palace's time of emergence has not arrived..."
"Therefore, our forcible seizure of the palace is contrary to its fate."
"Chong'er being ahead in progress thus leads to excessive depletion of his fate."
"If we could obtain the Luck-stabilizing Treasure or a fate treasure from the Magma Fairy Palace, it would greatly mitigate this fate conflict!"
With this thought, Meng Kui transmitted his voice from afar, while using the abacus magical treasure to temporarily boost Meng Chong's fate.
"Foolish child, are you not yet awakened?"
"Ah, Grandpa!" Meng Chong's mind shook, his fate returned to normal, clarity restored.
His eyes sparkled with realization: "Got it!"
"I've thought of a way."
"Since the opponent uses spells, I can use spells too!"
"There's the Embrace Ice Technique among the barrier rewards; I can do a special training to master this spell. Wouldn't that counter the monkey's flames?"
"Hahaha!"
Meng Chong laughed aloud, suddenly got up, and jumped to the ground.
He took a big stride and pushed open the door: "Someone, bring me food."
"I want to eat, eat, eat!"
"After eating, I need to train, train, train!"
The servants, seeing this, sighed in relief.
This indeed was the Meng Chong they were familiar with.
Meng Kui observed from afar, nodding slightly at the scene.
He then looked towards the territories of the Zhou Family, the Zheng Family, and the Ning Family, his gaze darkening.
"Chong'er and the Magma Fairy Palace's fates clash and compete, like two strong forces contending."
"Though the alliance of three families, despite the complexity of fate combination, makes it easier for them to benefit from it."
"It's necessary to suppress them."
Zhou Family.
Ning Zhuo was led into the Treasure Book Hall.
"This is 'On Spirituality,' please view it here, Fellow Daoist Ning Zhuo." A Zhou Family cultivator reminded.
Ning Zhuo nodded, taking the Jade Slip.
After examining it, he placed the Jade Slip against his forehead.
Infusing his divine sense, he began reading the Jade Slip.
"On Spirituality" was not a cultivation technique nor a secret art but a compendium of knowledge on spiritual nature.
After reading it, Ning Zhuo's eyes sparkled intensely, lasting for a while.
His perspective broadened, undergoing a qualitative change with immense gains!
"So, there are so many nuances to spiritual nature."
In "On Spirituality," spiritual nature was divided into five levels.
The lowest level was Non-Spiritual.
Then, there was Dead Spirit.
Next was Living Spirit.
One level higher was Wisdom Spirit.
The highest level was Divine Spirit.
The saying "stubbornly non-spiritual" referred to the Non-Spiritual stage, lacking any manifestation of spiritual nature.
The Dead Spirit stage was then classified into Spiritual Charm, Spiritual Pattern, Spirit Root, Spirit Shadow, and Spirit Image.
The Living Spirit stage, from low to high, was classified into Spirit Star, Spirit Activity, Spirit Growth, Spirit Movement, and Spirit Sensitivity.
According to the book, Yuan Dasheng's spiritual nature was at the Spirit Growth stage within the Living Spirit level.