Ning Zhuo deeply cherished every exploration of the Immortal Palace.
To this day, the environment he found himself in made it difficult for him to explore freely.
Mainly because more and more people had reached the peak of the third layer in their Qi Refining Level, Ning Zhuo had to hide among them to avoid standing out.
In Room One, he reassembled his body and merged with the people of the Zhou Family and the Zheng Family, allowing his precious Golden Blooded War Ape - Dasheng to appear in public.
In Room Two, Ning Zhuo ordered Yuan Dasheng to repel all his comrades and was publicly thrown into a mechanism trap.
In this way, he did not need to explain, as the people of the Zhou Family and the Zheng Family would naturally tell the Ning Family why Ning Zhuo was so late to return to his body.
Ning Zhuo first reset the mechanisms and then, together with Yuan Dasheng, cleaned the battlefield, digging out all the Spirit Stones from the puppets and taking them away.
When he pushed open the second door, Ning Zhuo selected mechanism components.
He did not use the Buddha Heart Demon Seal and retreated.
The reason was that the spell rewards for passing the second room had already been fully obtained. There were only two Spirit Stones, which Ning Zhuo abandoned, preferring to save as much Soul Power as possible.
Activating a trace of the power of the Buddha Heart Demon Seal consumed Soul Power.
The further he went into the levels, the more Soul Power it took to retreat.
Room Three, which was Meng Chong's record limit.
There were many mechanical puppets here.
As soon as they saw Ning Zhuo appear, they immediately pounced on him.
Yuan Dasheng growled lowly, standing at the forefront. Ning Zhuo unleashed several spells in succession, freezing all the mechanical dolls.
To this day, he had received many rewards from the ranking board, gaining substantial spellcasting experience, allowing him to cast these spells with great proficiency.
After passing the third level, Ning Zhuo arrived at the preparation room.
Under the ranking board, he received the reward for being first on the five rankings.
The number of Spirit Stones skyrocketed by hundreds!
Considering this, the earlier portal Spirit Stone rewards seemed pitifully small.
It's worth mentioning that the insights and experiences gained from receiving spells now provided Ning Zhuo with insignificant boosts, far less than at the beginning.
"I now possess the rudimentary form of Divine Skills. Can I use the Buddha Heart Demon Seal to remove my name from the ranking?"
"Or simply hide the ranking stone pillar?"
Ning Zhuo tried it once, without success.
Passing through the preparation room, he entered Room Four.
Ning Zhuo alternated spells, obtaining a dozen mechanism parts, such as Flying Hands and Qi Releasing Ring.
He was instantly fully armed.
Rooms Five, Six, and the preparation room.
Rooms Seven, Eight, and Nine.
Partnering with Yuan Dasheng, Ning Zhuo's overall combat power made a qualitative leap, making it much easier to pass through than doing it alone.
Yuan Dasheng himself did not like using spells. It stood at the front, attracting and engaging the enemies, while Ning Zhuo, in the rear, seized the opportunity to cast various spells.
After passing through the preparation room for the third time, Ning Zhuo entered the central hall again, where he encountered the three doors of Buddha, Taoism, and Demon.
His highest record was when Yuan Dasheng, relying solely on his strength without regard for consumption, had beaten the three levels of the Buddhist Sect and re-entered the central hall to see the new three doors.
By touching the portals, Ning Zhuo had obtained the Mirror Stand Spirit Communication Technique, the Five Elements Qi Regulation Art, and layers four to six of the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique.
Currently, his Qi Refining Level had reached the late stage of the fourth layer, his Refining Essence Level was at the peak of the fourth layer, and his Spirit Refining Level was distinctively at the early stage of the sixth layer.
This cultivation situation indicated that choosing the Buddhist Sect as the main path was the best choice for Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo first pushed open the Demon Gate, gaining the blood energy attached to the portal as a bonus.
With the blood energy amplification, Yuan Dasheng's power increased significantly.
After the Demon Gate, Yuan Dasheng did his best to absorb the blood energy of the Kung Fu Dolls and accumulated it to his limits.
Like the Buddhist Sect, the second level had no rewards. After reaching the third level, it provided a plethora of rewards.
What caught Ning Zhuo's attention was a mechanical component, the Blood Oil Bottle.
Using this mechanical component allowed the collection of various blood energies, mixing and refining them into an oil-like substance with a blood texture.
Blood oil couldn't match pure blood energy, but to some extent, it could serve as a substitute.
"The Blood Conversion Pool can consume living beings with blood, decomposing them into countless amounts of blood."
"By combining the Blood Conversion Pool and the Blood Oil Bottle, the mechanical puppets can sustain battles much longer."
Ning Zhuo chose the Blood Oil Bottle as his component reward.
He pushed the door open, returning to the central hall, and faced the second set of three doors.
To open these three doors, one needed at least the peak of the sixth layer in cultivation.
Therefore, Ning Zhuo looked to his side and found the first door of the Buddhist Sect and the Taoist Sect.
He approached the Taoist door, tried to push and pull it, but it didn't move.
Buddha Heart Demon Seal!
Ning Zhuo opened the door and walked in.
The mechanical puppets in the third level of the Taoist Sect heard noise, turned their heads, and upon seeing Ning Zhuo, rushed towards him.
Ning Zhuo pointed his finger, and Yuan Dasheng roared out, standing at the forefront.
The mechanical puppets in the third level of the Taoist Sect, surrounded by five energies, continuously exhibited various spells.
Under this barrage of spells, Yuan Dasheng quickly found himself at a disadvantage.
This was the advantage of spell cultivators—their attack power in a short period was strong with significant burst potential!
Ning Zhuo immediately took action, following up with various spells.
With abundant Spirit Stones, he quickly helped Yuan Dasheng stabilize the situation.
Once a stalemate was achieved, Yuan Dasheng could rely on his excellent solo abilities to smash each Magic Puppet.
When the number of Magic Puppets had dwindled to a certain amount, Ning Zhuo ordered Yuan Dasheng to slow down the attack and used spells to freeze the remaining Magic Puppets.
"I can move them to Room Three, let Meng Chong have a taste."
Then he thought, "Better move them to Room Six."
Since being defeated by Yuan Dasheng, Meng Chong had never re-entered the Immortal Palace.
But the City Lord's Mansion's Renovation Team, recorded by Ning Zhuo's hidden surveillance mechanisms, had explored many times.
Ning Zhuo had a strong premonition—if Meng Chong reappeared, he would certainly have a new look, with his combat power at least a level higher!
In such a situation, no amount of Magic Puppets would be of much use.
Only a being like Golden Blooded War Ape - Dasheng could deal with Meng Chong.
Even Ning Zhuo himself, with all his equipment, found it challenging to contend with Meng Chong using Frenzied Rushing Thunder.
Ning Zhuo started from the third level, retraced his steps through the second level and the first level of the Taoist Sect, and finally reached the first central hall.
It was his first time passing through the three levels of both the Demon Sect and the Taoist Sect.
Overall, the design of the levels for both sects was similar to that of the Buddhist Sect. Both the Taoist Sect and the Demon Sect had no rewards for the second level, concentrating rewards in the third level.
From the Taoist Sect's rewards, Ning Zhuo chose the Five Elements Chaos Qi Technique.
This technique targeted the Five Elements Mana, directly disrupting and scattering the orderly arrangement of the Five Mana, causing internal confusion and conflict within mechanism artifacts, rendering them immobile.
"The blood vessels of the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique and the Five Elements Mana both strengthen the control over mechanism artifacts."
"By focusing on these two aspects, if Yuan Dasheng ever loses control again in the future, I will have means to counterbalance."
"Perhaps this was the original intention of the Three Ancestral Masters. They created spiritual mechanisms, hence designed three sect techniques to be used in conjunction with mechanism artifacts."
Ning Zhuo pushed open the Buddhist Sect door, entering the coffin room again.
He did not receive any information this time and found that he couldn't select another coffin to create a second mechanical artifact after trying.
Ning Zhuo regretfully shook his head and continued.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, seeing him shake his head, gnashed its teeth in anger.
Rushing through to the final door, Ning Zhuo decisively chose the Illusion True Lotus Seed as his reward.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's expression softened, and it became happy.
Ning Zhuo pushed open the door and left.
Buddha Heart Demon Seal!
He opened the door and returned, being rewarded with the Illusion True Lotus Seed again.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit laughed aloud.
Ning Zhuo pushed the door open and left.
Buddha Heart Demon Seal!
He opened the door and returned, getting the Illusion True Lotus Seed again.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit lay on its throne, kicking its dragon legs in joy.
...
Again and again, Ning Zhuo chose the Illusion True Lotus Seed.
The mocking expression on the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's face gradually disappeared, replaced by a look of suspicion.
It felt very strange!
Each time Ning Zhuo retreated from a level, it consumed Soul Power to activate the Buddha Heart Demon Seal. But the number of times he went back and forth was far too many, which didn't match the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's impression!
What was happening?
Ning Zhuo's cultivation had advanced rapidly, and naturally, he could harness more power from magical treasures.
Most importantly, with the continuous enhancement of the rudimentary form of Divine Skills, the power loss of the Treasure Seal in the transmission of the Life-hanging Divine Ability dropped sharply!
Therefore, Ning Zhuo's performance in retreating from levels was much stronger than before.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's eyes widened gradually, feeling increasingly anxious, even a bit heart-pounding.
It couldn't help but speculate that Ning Zhuo might have already mastered the Life-hanging Divine Ability!
But ultimately, it had no evidence.
The reason it could use the Divine Power Life Thread was thanks to the Magma Fairy Palace. It did not possess this ability inherently and couldn't see the Life Thread.
The tenacious Ning Zhuo finally stopped going in and out.
He had reached his limit.
His Soul Power was about to plummet, and at this moment, he sorely missed Han Ming: "After this time, Han Ming should have mostly recovered, right?"
"If my Soul Power continues to grow, I can inevitably go in and out more times, taking away all the Illusion True Lotus Seeds as soon as possible."
At this time, Ning Zhuo had one last bit of Soul Power left.
He could have chosen to collect another Illusion True Lotus Seed but decided not to.
He wanted to conduct a crucial experiment.
Ning Zhuo retreated from the level, all the way back to the first central hall.
Once again, he faced the three doors of Buddha, Taoism, and Demon.
"The Buddhist Sect and the Demon Sect are my weak points!"
"The Demon Sect has the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique, which Yuan Dasheng once wanted to display in public, catching Zhu Xuanji's suspicion."
"If, in the future, the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique is known by others and reaches Zhu Xuanji's ears, he will surely re-examine everything that happened during the Fire Persimmon Festival. As the person who ultimately obtained Yuan Dasheng's corpse, I will naturally be the prime suspect."
"The weak point of the Buddhist Sect lies in the first level!"
"If someone else in the future receives a special mechanism artifact from the Immortal Palace, they will find that they can freely bring this mechanism artifact in and out of the Magma Fairy Palace."
"People will suspect Yuan Dasheng's true identity again."
"If only I could hide the Demon Sect and Buddhist Sect!"
This had always been Ning Zhuo's thought.
He had tried before but had failed in his previous attempts.
This time, he wanted to try again.
"Because I have become stronger."
"I have grasped the rudiments of the Life-hanging Divine Ability."
"My cultivation has also improved significantly!"
Buddha Heart Demon Seal!
Ning Zhuo exerted his full strength, and his Soul Power drastically dropped.
In return, the stone wall slowly rose, ultimately completely covering the door to the Buddhist Sect.