After the injuries of the two geniuses from the Zhou Family healed, they couldn't wait to form a three-family united team to explore the Magma Fairy Palace together.
The forces of the three families clearly hadn't discovered the true situation of the City Lord's Mansion. Before setting off, they were still fantasizing that if they encountered the Golden Blood Battle Ape - Dasheng again, they would gather everyone's strength to deal with Yuan Dasheng!
As a result, the united team of the three families struck heavily, repeating the failure of the City Lord's Mansion. Over twenty Qi Refining Cultivators had their souls devoured, allowing Ning Zhuo to absorb them to his heart's content!
Ning Zhuo arrived at the third gate of the Buddhist Sect, repeatedly going in and out with an unrestrained and wild demeanor that enraged the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit to the point of pounding its fists on the throne.
The Illusion True Lotus Seed was his only option.
The nascent form of the Life-hanging Divine Ability surged once again, with the once palm-sized lotus leaf ferociously expanding, becoming the size of a washbasin, verdant and jade-like.
At Sun Lingtong's proactive request, Ning Zhuo also planted the Life-hanging Thread on the Netherworld Envoy · Qi Bai.
In this way, even if Sun Lingtong's soul returned to her body and was no longer in the trials of the Magma Fairy Palace, he could still leave Qi Bai behind under Ning Zhuo's control.
"Qi Bai's spirituality has diminished by eighteen percent." Ning Zhuo felt a sense of loss.
The biggest price Qi Bai paid for participating in battles and devouring others' souls was the loss of spirituality.
Without reaching ten percent, spirituality could not sustain itself, meaning it couldn't be restored.
But Ning Zhuo had tried many methods, yet had not found a way to increase its spirituality.
"Be optimistic, brother!" Sun Lingtong was more easygoing in this regard.
"I think this trade is worth it!"
"Losing some spirituality ultimately allowed you to absorb the Illusion True Lotus Seed more quickly and abundantly, elevating the Life-hanging Divine Ability."
"This is a huge gain."
"So, even if all spirituality is consumed, it's worth doing."
Ning Zhuo sighed, knowing Sun Lingtong had a point. But he had always loved mechanical constructs from the bottom of his heart and didn't want to see the "death" of the mechanized Qi Bai.
In the next ten days, Ning Zhuo rarely got some peaceful time for cultivation.
On the mountain top, Meng Kui continued to sit in command, sealing the surrounding area, but he couldn't stop Zhu Xuanji, who led the Golden Core members of the three families.
Zhu Xuanji knew the importance of priorities well. Upon discovering the weakness of the Magma Fairy Palace, he put the investigation aside and frequently entered the Immortal Palace, exploring and increasing his contributions simultaneously.
After the City Lord's Mansion recovered, under the leadership of Meng Chong, they launched two assaults.
The renovation teams of the three families reorganized, but under the joint attack of the Netherworld Envoy · Qi Bai and the Golden Blood Battle Ape - Dasheng, they decisively abandoned the idea of a collective action after their second complete failure.
According to their estimation, the Magma Fairy Palace had a mechanism to adjust the difficulty of trials based on the abilities of the intruders.
So, as long as they acted alone or in groups of two or three, they wouldn't encounter the overwhelmingly powerful mechanized constructs Yuan Dasheng and Qi Bai.
As they anticipated, Ning Zhuo greatly reduced the appearances of Yuan Dasheng and Qi Bai.
On the one hand, Qi Bai's spirituality had dropped below ten percent after several rounds of massive soul devouring. Although Sun Lingtong didn't mind, Ning Zhuo decided to preserve the seed of its spirituality.
As for the Golden Blood Battle Ape - Dasheng, it wasn't without battle damage. Currently, Ning Zhuo's proficiency in mechanical techniques could not truly repair him; he could at best patch things up. The overall combat effectiveness of the mechanism had actually been decreasing.
On the other hand, Ning Zhuo also didn't want to completely crush the united forces of the three families or the City Lord's Mansion, robbing them of all hope.
He needed to give these people some hope, motivating them to keep moving forward and invest more resources.
Ning Zhuo's own cultivation level had advanced significantly thanks to the various cultivation resources provided by the united forces of the three families.
With the soul essence returned by Qi Bai, Ning Zhuo's soul foundation experienced a tremendous increase once again.
Compared to before he encountered Han Ming, it was a staggering one hundred and fifty times increase!
This made Ning Zhuo's soul power in the Qi Refining Realm unrivaled, allowing him to use the power of the Buddha Heart Demon Seal more frequently, aiding him in selecting rewards frantically.
The Illusion True Lotus Seeds... had all been used up by him.
The nascent form of the Life-hanging Divine Ability had also changed its appearance. In Ning Zhuo's Divine Ocean Dantian, on its jade-like lotus leaf, there was now a pink-white lotus bud. The bud was plump, giving off a sense of imminent blooming abundance.
"Just a little more to perfection."
"No, still a lot more..."
The nascent form of the divine ability conveyed a contradictory realization to Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong discussed, speculated, and concluded: the nascent form of the divine ability was very close to perfection! But this final step, though seemingly small, was extremely crucial. The difficulty of crossing it was high, and if one couldn't cross it, there would be no qualitative change, reaching the state of tenfold perfection.
Just like the tenfold spirituality before.
So, the distance to the perfection of the divine ability was both a little and a lot.
"Why not just a few more Illusion True Lotus Seeds?" Sun Lingtong lamented.
Ning Zhuo shook his head: "I believe the final step must be taken by the cultivator alone."
He wasn't guessing randomly but had reasons.
Ning Zhuo: "The last few Illusion True Lotus Seeds had very little incremental benefit to the nascent form of the divine ability. The growth rate of the divine ability's nascent form was minimal; the benefits from the Illusion True Lotus Seeds were indeed decreasing."
Sun Lingtong pondered for a moment, then nodded, agreeing with Ning Zhuo's speculation.
But what to do next?
How to perfect the divine ability?
Sun Ning discussed for a long time but could not come up with a reliable guess.
...
Atop the volcano, within the depths of the clouds and smoke.
Meng Kui invited Zhu Xuanji for a discussion.
"Lord Zhu, rumors are spreading, the winds are stirring."
"Although I sit here day and night, I can't stop the news from spreading further."
"In recent days, more and more outside cultivators have entered Fire Persimmon Immortal City. There are even reports saying that the Soul Devouring Sect and the Bukong Sect have dispatched true disciples."
"Taiqing Palace and the Purple Dawn Pavilion have also sent visiting cards, using the excuse of fighting the demon path, intending to send true disciples into Fire Persimmon Immortal City."
"In this situation, it's difficult for me to handle alone. I hope Lord Zhu will join me in petitioning for the imperial court to dispatch reinforcements!"
Zhu Xuanji looked deeply at Meng Kui. The evolution of the situation during this period had not escaped his notice. He nodded slightly: "Very well. I will join you in the petition."
...
Early stage of the sixth layer of Qi Refining.
Middle stage of the sixth layer of Qi Refining.
Peak of the sixth layer of Spirit Refining!
Ning Zhuo finished a day of arduous cultivation and exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.
In just over ten days, his cultivation level had made significant progress again.
Generally speaking, once reaching the mid-stage of the Qi Refining Realm, the pace of cultivation would slow down considerably compared to the early stages.
But the three ancestral masters, through their arrangement of the three cultivation techniques, had an advantage in cultivation speed.
As long as resources were abundant.
And Ning Zhuo's resources came from various sources and were truly plentiful.
His strongest cultivation remained his Divine Ocean cultivation, rising steadily without any slowdown, reaching the peak of the sixth layer.
At this step, Ning Zhuo could finally proceed again.
"It's time to showcase my extraordinary talent in mechanical constructs once again." With this thought, Ning Zhuo summoned Ning Chen and Ning Yong.