"Let’s begin," said the avatar of the Supreme Family Elder.
A late-stage Nascent Soul Supreme Family Elder held his breath and used the finger technique, his fingers fluttering like butterflies, conjuring an invisible force that stirred the Dying Star’s Dust in the box.
The dust swirled in midair, ground into powder. Under the mana of the Supreme Family Elder, it merged into a stream of gray-purple light.
The stream of light drilled into a copper ring on the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain, transforming into a gray-purple hue that crazily spread along the chain!
The original color of the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain was rapidly tarnished, like scrap iron rusted for a millennium.
The Pivot-Core Chain trembled violently, emitting a harsh grinding sound. The copper ring swelled and contracted as if struggling to digest a toxic substance.
The gaps between the chain links produced more and more decaying threads. These threads were gray, scattering onto the jade bricks, causing the bricks to decay into powder. On the pillars, they immediately made the beams and pillars appear rotten with patches of mold.
"Ning Zhuo! Becoming the target of our King’s Order Human Tribulation is your great misfortune!"
"First, let’s cut off your lifespan so you know what it means to be possessed by the Dying Star!!"
The spellcasting Supreme Family Elder murmured, full of confidence.
The Clan Fate Mechanism Chain operated faster and faster, a plume of gray-purple flame rising up, merging into the void above, and disappearing.
Meanwhile, in the Bluestone Cave Mansion.
Ning Zhuo was inside the Martial Arts Array, trying to maneuver the Green Forest Python Chariot.
This mechanical vehicle was primarily made of spiritual bamboo from the thousand-year Grounded Green Python Bamboo. Ninety-nine sections of bamboo tubes were interlocked, with dragon tendons embedded in the joints, stretching and moving like a giant live python.
The python’s head was cast in the shape of a Jade Roof-Wyrm, its eyes set with Ghostly Pond Soul Crystals, emitting three feet of green light at night, illuminating ten miles of miasma.
The bamboo green surface of the python body had Wind and Thunder Rotating Talismans engraved in shadows. When it moved, the talisman scripts floated, shredding obstructive vines. Seventy-two Mystic Void Wheels were embedded under its belly, neither metal nor jade, refined from Spiritual Bamboo Root Tumors, gliding quietly over ground and rotating like a lotus up steep slopes, climbing as if on level ground.
At seven inches of the python body, a Coiled Dragon Bamboo Chair was revealed, made of thousand-year Coiled Dragon Bamboo. The surface of the chair was engraved with a Dust Avoidance and Wind Return Array, catching fallen leaves and spinning them away three inches from the body.
The tail of the python had a bamboo whistle structure, which gathered fierce winds when moving rapidly, producing sound waves to propel the body and increase speed.
Ning Zhuo sat firmly on the bamboo chair, channeling mana and divine sense through the chair into the entire Green Forest Python Chariot. The python’s body didn’t move, but the intent directed it easily, like using one’s arm and fingers.
As the speed increased, the oncoming gust of wind was weakened by the Dust Avoidance and Wind Return Array behind the chair, allowing Ning Zhuo to breathe normally.
No matter how much he maneuvered, Ning Zhuo’s body, sitting on the bamboo chair, only slightly swayed.
The more Ning Zhuo manipulated it, the happier he felt.
From a young age, he dearly loved mechanical techniques, and driving the Green Forest Python Chariot was like having a new toy he couldn’t put down, playing to his heart’s content.
Suddenly, Ning Zhuo’s expression changed, his heart stirred, sensing an immense invisible crisis crashing down on him.
Instinctively, he commanded the Green Forest Python Chariot to immediately move away from its spot, but he still felt an attack closing in, hitting right on target.
"What’s happening?!"
In surprise and doubt, Ning Zhuo found that in the Upper Dantian Divine Sea, the Buddha Heart Demon Seal suddenly erupted, releasing a vast, mystical aura that swept around, instantly enveloping Ning Zhuo’s body and soul.
In the Ban Family Ancestral Hall.
"Ugh!" The Supreme Family Elder, who was maintaining the spell with all his strength, felt as if hit by a heavy hammer, spitting blood on the spot.
Subsequently, several Supreme Family Elders controlling the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain shook violently, their hair and beards turning white in an instant, each of their foreheads tearing open with a vertical slit, bleeding profusely.
"What’s happening?!" Everyone was shocked and pale.
Crack!
Even more shockingly, a large copper ring on the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain suddenly broke apart.
Bang bang bang...
Then, the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain underwent a series of collapses, with copper rings, chains, and tracks all shattering, sending fragments flying like arrows in all directions.
"This is bad!" The avatar of the Supreme Family Elder’s eyes were wide open, "Quick, stop the spell!"
But the Supreme Family Elders controlling the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain were severely injured, their spirits shaken and minds in turmoil, unable to manage the wreckage.
At the critical moment, the avatar of the Supreme Family Elder disregarded his own safety, jumped in front of the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain, and inserted his arms into the mechanism.
The collapse of the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain was forcibly halted!
The avatar of the Supreme Family Elder became very dim, his entire being like smoke, ethereal and powerless.
The price was tremendous!
The other Supreme Family Elders finally regained their composure and quickly manipulated the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain to change its form, no longer targeting Ning Zhuo, stabilizing the situation.
"How could this happen?!"
"While we were trying to cut Ning Zhuo’s lifespan, we suffered such a backlash? Unbelievable! We are at least at the Nascent Soul level, and the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain is a treasure that stabilizes our family fortunes!"
The Supreme Family Elders were shocked and puzzled.
Attempting to cut someone else’s lifespan wasn’t a first for them; they’d never encountered anything like this before.
The avatar of the Supreme Family Elder’s voice was hoarse: "It’s a Township Fortune Treasure!"
"The forces behind Ning Zhuo also possess a Township Fortune Treasure."
An absolute silence fell in the ancestral hall.
A force in possession of a Township Fortune Treasure is certainly extraordinary. In this confrontation, the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain was clearly defeated by the opponent’s luck-stabilizing treasure.
Which force is really behind Ning Zhuo?
The cultivators’ faces turned ashen, their hearts churning, striving to digest and accept this harsh outcome.
The Supreme Family Elder finally broke the silence, a wry smile on his face: "I’ve forcibly interrupted the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain’s operation, bearing severe backlash. I must immediately return to my main body, or this avatar won’t survive."
"Following this, the matter is in your hands. Remember, handle it with care!"
After speaking, his avatar transformed into a wisp of smoke, dispersing on the spot.
The Supreme Family Elders glanced at each other.
They understood the intent of the Family Elder and agreed with his decision.
The half-broken Clan Fate Mechanism Chain and the heavily injured Divinity Transformation level avatar deeply intimidated them.
"This Ning Zhuo has significant backing, he can’t be easily insulted."
"Otherwise, he wouldn’t become the target of Ban Ji’s Human Tribulation. This is a Human Tribulation aimed at a King’s Order, can it be simple?"
"We can’t cut his lifespan, and we need to help Ban Ji pass the Human Tribulation. What should we do?"
"It’s not a total failure. We’ve completed half of the spell; Ning Zhuo’s lifespan must have been reduced somewhat. We have a mutual loss. It can’t have been easy for his side too!"
Bluestone Cave Mansion.
Ning Zhuo sat dumbfounded on the bamboo chair, his expression filled with wonder and doubt.
He had never seen the Buddha Heart Demon Seal react so immensely and intensely.
But this vast aura appeared quickly and vanished just as fast, lasting at most only a breath or two.
Ning Zhuo waited for a long while and saw no further reaction from the Buddha Heart Demon Seal. It hung quietly in the Upper Dantian Divine Sea, returning to its original state.
"What exactly was attacking me?"
Ning Zhuo touched his body, using his divine sense to probe his mind and body, checking many times but finding no problems.
Safe and sound.
Upon closer inspection of the Buddha Heart Demon Seal, it showed no damage, not even a single scratch.
"This is probably some kind of sorcery. An enemy far away secretly cast a curse on me!" Ning Zhuo’s expression was stern.
"The Buddha Heart Demon Seal’s passive trigger likely didn’t let the enemy off easily either."
"Will it or won’t it happen again?" With a treasure to protect him, Ning Zhuo, feeling safe, couldn’t help but look forward to it a bit.
After all, if such spells were used repeatedly, he might catch some clues.
He waited a while longer but saw no further oddities.
Ning Zhuo secretly regretted it, becoming more vigilant: "This isn’t surprising. I’m acting publicly now and gaining a reputation, which must have made many people jealous, increasing the number of hidden enemies."
"Alas, it’s truly despicable! I follow the Righteous Path and am not good at such plots and conspiracies. I don’t even know who my enemies are."
"Ultimately, it’s a lack of deterrent power against others!"
The trial by Qinghuangzi, although it made Ning Zhuo’s renown match his name, couldn’t intimidate others for long.
"Ban Ji!" Ning Zhuo’s eyes flashed with fierceness, "This person is perfectly suitable for me to establish my might! Taking him down will heavily intimidate others."