"More money?" Zhu Xuanji laughed heartily, "That can be arranged!"
However, when Zheng Shuanggou quoted the exact number of spirit stones, Zhu Xuanji's expression changed.
His face showed a look of shock, his eyes expressing—Are you serious?
Thus, the second negotiation failed due to Zheng Shuanggou's high price. Both sides could only postpone the discussion, agreeing on a specific time for the third meeting.
"These local cultivator families..." Zhu Xuanji gritted his teeth.
Since the Recruitment Decree, his pressure had doubled.
More and more cultivators were flooding into Fire Persimmon Immortal City. The City Lord's Mansion had successfully "recruited" several Golden Core Cultivators with profound expertise in mechanical techniques.
These Golden Core Cultivators collaborated closely within the Magma Fairy Palace, catching up quickly to Zhu Xuanji.
The gap between both sides was visibly shrinking.
Zhu Xuanji knew this was a ploy by the Meng Family, using this method to bring in support for Meng Kui to contend for the Magma Fairy Palace.
The Meng Family needed the Magma Fairy Palace to gain control over the entire Fire Persimmon Immortal City!
Zhu Xuanji's plan was to recall the lost Golden Core Mechanism Puppet Demon General.
Through the Trace Origin Technique, he saw that the Demon General Mechanism was deep within Fire Persimmon Mountain, the domain of the Magma Demon Ape King's court, which housed a Golden Core-level Demon Ape King, and possibly other Golden Core-level Demon Apes.
Under such circumstances, Zhu Xuanji knew he couldn't retrieve the Mechanism Puppet Demon General alone.
Therefore, he negotiated with the Zhou Family, Zheng Family, and Ning Family to leverage the strength of five Golden Core Cultivators to assault the Magma Demon Apes' lair and reclaim the Mechanism Puppet Demon General.
After unsuccessful first and second negotiations...
Zhu Xuanji, being a Divine Hunter, pondered for a moment and realized, "The three families are stalling."
"They are, after all, risking their lives to venture into Fire Persimmon Mountain with me."
"They want to confirm if they have another option with significant opportunity. If so, they won't agree to take the risk with me."
"This implies that the renovation teams of the three families must have significant plans."
Zhou Family.
Underground hall.
The entire renovation team of the three families gathered to listen intently to Zheng Hua's teachings on the Ghost Martial God Soldiers Training Technique.
"Remember, using this cultivation technique will cut three-tenths of your soul. During this period, you will experience extreme pain."
"Our clan has prepared corresponding elixir pills. If you cannot bear it, you can take one to alleviate the pain."
"But I do not recommend it."
"The intense pain indicates a close connection between soul fragments. Maintaining this connection is very helpful for forging the ghost weapons."
"If you take the elixir pills, this connection will be greatly weakened. Even if you manage to forge the ghost weapons, they won't perfectly align with your body."
"Of course, when you must take the pill, you should. Passing out from the pain would be even more severe!"
Zheng Hua explained in detail and then showcased his own ghost weapon to everyone.
Afterwards, he had a Zheng Family cultivator publicly cut his soul and consume his soul power to forge his own ghost weapon.
After the crowd understood and mastered this unique forging method, some began forging their weapons.
"It hurts so much, my god!" The first person to try, under the gazes of countless pairs of eyes, managed to refrain from taking the pill.
Thus, he rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot.
Fortunately, Zheng Hua and others were closely monitoring him, and when signs showed trouble, they intervened early.
The fainted cultivator quickly stabilized under their treatment and did not suffer life-threatening backlash.
Witnessing the live example and bloody lesson, the rest of the renovation team chose a conservative strategy.
If they really couldn't bear it, they took the elixir pills immediately.
"Ah—!" Ning Yong screamed hoarsely but did not take the elixir pill.
In contrast, Ning Chen, upon feeling the pain of soul separation, swallowed the elixir pill from under his tongue immediately.
Ning Zhuo carefully contemplated the essence without taking action.
He observed the other talents.
Zheng Jian, a member of the Zheng Family, had long used the Ghost Martial God Soldiers Training Technique. He displayed a ghost weapon bow and arrow publicly.
Zhou Zhu and Zhou Zeshen operated the cultivation technique one after another. Zhou Zhu groaned, while Zhou Zeshen knitted his brows and twisted his face. Both held on without taking the elixir pill.
Ning Xiaohui looked at Ning Zhuo and sneered, "How long will you wait? Are you scared, Ning Zhuo?"
Ning Zhuo smiled, "You are a main line direct descendant of the Ning Family, while I am just a branch member. Naturally, I should let you go first. Otherwise, if you lose to me again, wouldn't that bring disgrace to the main line?"
Being so goaded by Ning Zhuo, this time Ning Xiaohui laughed heartily.
She publicly revealed a ghost sword, "Open your dog eyes wide and see, what is this!"
Seeing this, Zhou Zeshen's pupils shrank, further confirming that the Ning Family and Zheng Family were very close, already collaborating beforehand.
Ning Zhuo was slightly startled, then sneered, "You got the training technique in advance yet only used it for yourself, forgetting all our other renovation team members."
"You secretly trained and secretly took elixir pills, no one would know. Well played, very well played."
Ning Xiaohui's face turned pale with rage, "How dare you! You, a mere branch member, dare to slander the main line?"
Ning Zhuo, "Then prove to everyone that you didn't secretly take elixir pills when training your ghost weapon."
Ning Xiaohui was about to refute when Ning Xie finally couldn't bear it, "Enough! There's no need to argue over this. Ning Zhuo, why haven't you started cultivating yet?"
"Perhaps you need my help?"
Ning Zhuo laughed heartily and stopped arguing, then activated the training technique publicly.
His body shook slightly, three-tenths of his soul was cut off, and the pain seared his heart, but his face only showed a furrowed brow, his eyes unwavering and staying firm without a hint of hesitation.
"I succeeded, I succeeded!"
"Look at my ghost hammer, huh, why is it so small?"
"I intended to make a sword, but why did I end up with a small knife?"
Zheng Jian, Zheng Hua, and others observed the various results of ghost weapon training without changing their expressions, as they had anticipated.
This technique required cutting three-tenths of the soul and consuming soul power to forge a ghost weapon.
If the cultivator's soul was not strong enough and their soul power was weak, the resulting ghost weapon would be much smaller than planned.
"Huh?!"
"What's going on!"
"Ning Zhuo, you, you, you..."
Ning Zhuo succeeded, and before him floated a massive ghost axe.
This axe was enormous, almost as if a door had been taken down.
The sheer size of Ning Zhuo's ghost axe starkly contrasted the miniature ghost weapons around him.
Zheng Jian and Ning Xiaohui's ghost weapons were instantly outshined, as theirs were just of normal size.
"Brother Zhuo is mighty!" Ning Yong cheered first, raising his arm.
Soon, the Ning Family's branch-line cultivators laughed and shouted, genuinely happy and celebrating Ning Zhuo.
Zhou Zeshen, looking at his normal-sized soul fan, couldn't help but ask, "Brother Ning, why is your soul so vast?"
"Thanks to the contributions of Soul Devouring Sect cultivators," Ning Zhuo didn't reveal his true thoughts, merely saying, "I recently started noticing that after each exploration of the Immortal Palace, my soul gets consumed, and when it fully recovers, it seems slightly more than before."
Everyone fell silent.
After a few breaths of silence, someone suddenly asked, "Brother Ning Zhuo, what exactly is your talent?"
"I also don't know." Ning Zhuo spread his hands.
An unchecked talent was his best, most convenient excuse!
Ning Xiaohui snorted, turned her head away.
With the ghost weapons in hand, Zheng Hua distributed various elixir pills to heal their souls or speed up soul recovery.
Then, under the guidance of another Zheng Family elder, everyone actively practiced using the ghost weapons.
Afterwards came the crafting of mechanical techniques, drills for three major strategies, and more.
In several days' time, the renovation team was entirely transformed! Their combat power soared!
The heads of the three families urged them repeatedly, and the renovation team, without rest, headed together to the Immortal Palace.
Magma Fairy Palace.
The puppets arrived at the first gate.
They queued up, orderly collecting their clear rewards.
Everyone moved quickly and without hesitation. This was because the reward selection and quantity had been predetermined through discussions.
Room One, Room Two, Room Three.
"No mechanical monkeys!" the crowd cheered.
They happily entered the first prep room.
The cultivators split their tasks, led by Ning Zhuo and Zheng Jian, fully dedicating themselves to crafting various mechanism artifacts.
Room Four, Room Five, Room Six.
In the second prep room, cultivators bought higher-grade materials and made more items.
Room Seven, Room Eight!
Golden Blooded War Ape - Dasheng appeared.
"Finally encountered it."
"Room Eight is far deeper than we imagined."
"In this battle, we will certainly win!"
The joint forces of the three families were highly motivated.
Yuan Dasheng roared and directly charged at them.
The joint forces of the three families braced themselves, treating him as a formidable enemy!
"Swift Thunder Crossbow, fire!" Zheng Jian commanded.
Within the team, eight bed crossbows fired simultaneously, arrows covered in a layer of lightning shot out.
Eight bolts of lightning shot straight forward, hitting Golden Blooded War Ape - Dasheng.
Golden Blooded War Ape - Dasheng's movement stopped, impaled by eight electric-wrapped, eight-foot-long arrows, deeply embedding into the floor tiles, pinning Yuan Dasheng in place.
Yuan Dasheng struggled, but the powerful electric current made him convulse, and broken mechanical parts leaked from his wounds.
"We did it, we succeeded!"
"Hahaha, we didn't expect a one-hit kill."
"The Swift Thunder Crossbows are amazing, despite being single-use, they are extraordinarily powerful, truly worth it."
The crowd cheered.
"Quick, dismantle the mechanical monkey."
"Don't let the electric current damage the interior further, we need to gather more intel!"
Several cultivators rushed forward.
Boom!