"Demon nature? It's just a weapon. Whether it's used for good or for evil depends on the user," Zheng Danlian shook his head.
Zhu Xuanji: "The cultivation techniques, spells, and artifact refining methods of the Night Rain Dynasty have been almost completely lost after being eradicated and sealed off by one dynasty and two empires. They are vastly different from what we have now."
"Your perspective only applies to the cultivation methods we are familiar with, but it is not applicable to the Night Rain Dynasty."
"Consider this: during the Night Rain Dynasty, whenever night fell, the entire world would be plunged into endless slaughter under the cover of darkness."
"Despair and madness filled the darkness, leaving no room for the people to live!"
"Wasn't there anyone sane in the whole world? The cultivation techniques themselves had significant flaws. With such methods, how could the weapons refined be without flaws?"
The group of Golden Core Cultivators fell into silence.
Zheng Shuanggou had to nod: "Indeed, every relic from the Night Rain Dynasty is overly bloodlust-driven!"
But then he changed his tone.
"That's why we've thought long and hard to come up with a comprehensive refining method for it."
"In this refining method, we first make it lifeless, then bring it back to life, essentially cleansing and renewing it."
"Lord Divine Hunter, we understand your concerns, which are also ours."
"Why not follow our predetermined plan and refine it first?"
"At worst, once we enter Fire Persimmon Mountain, we simply won't use it!"
"So be it," Zhu Xuanji sighed gently. The current situation left him with no choice; he had been slightly outmaneuvered by the three Golden Core families.
However, he was also in need of the three Golden Core families, so he had to compromise.
The light from the Heavenly Craft Lamp grew increasingly intense, casting a red glow over the entire refining room.
The red light permeated the surroundings, even penetrating the powerful array in operation.
Every Golden Core Cultivator's face was bathed in a crimson hue.
The red glow thickened progressively, condensing into fluffy clusters, forming clouds that filled the refining room.
The temperature inside rapidly soared!
The Heavenly Craft Lamp was specifically designed to gather and concentrate the power of flames into a single point, creating a potent melting force.
The fact that this heat was able to leak out indicated that the Heavenly Craft Lamp had been pushed to its limit, with the flame's temperature reaching an alarmingly high degree!
Within the world of the lamp flame, fierce flames burned, reaching up to seven or eight yards, completely engulfing the mechanical black snake.
The mechanical black snake lay on the ground motionless, the dark shadow emanating from it shrank to its surface, and its demonic aura became extremely weak.
Even so, the expression of the black snake remained defiant, resentful, and full of hatred, unwilling to submit!
Zheng Danlian's complexion turned ashen, and his body swayed slightly. He had exhausted too much mana in a short period, leaving even his Golden Core in a weakened state.
Fortunately, Zheng Shuanggou, having rested quickly, had recovered to thirty percent of his strength and hurried over to fully support Zheng Danlian.
Both of them cultivated the same technique and now jointly performed a spell.
Spell—Dragon Ascends the Sea of Flames!
With a dragon's roar, the towering flames of seven or eight yards rose, transforming into fire dragons in mid-air.
The fire dragons circled and intertwined.
Soon, they dove down, crashing into the mechanical black snake on the ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom...
Each impact unleashed boundless fire waves.
The fire dragons dissipated, but quickly reformed from the fire waves, their forms shrinking slightly, then flew into the air.
Within the fire waves, the shadow enveloping the mechanical black snake continuously retracted until it vanished from its surface.
The black snake hissed in pain, unable to withstand the relentless assault of the fire dragons, gradually melting from head to tail.
The two Golden Core elders of the Zheng Family watched closely, their expressions tense.
When the mechanical black snake was completely melted beyond recognition, the Zheng Family's Golden Core elders exchanged glances and nodded in unison.
"It's time!"
They performed a finger spell, suddenly releasing the mechanical black snake.
The black snake was placed into the array outside the lamp, immediately locked and fixed in mid-air by the array.
The Ning Family Ancestor had long been ready, fully unleashing a frost spell.
Beside him, Ning Xiaohui also extended her hands, urging her innate talent—Ice-jade Hands.
The two forces combined, ultimately forming a miniature blizzard whirlwind that enveloped the entire mechanical black snake.
The black snake was lifted, its body straightened by the pure white whirlwind.
The blizzard whirlwind dissipated quickly, leaving behind a circular ice pillar, trapping the mechanical black snake within.
The black snake's aura within the biting cold ice pillar gradually dissipated until none remained.
The ice pillar began to change, exuding a faint breath of life amid the freezing cold aura.
This was the quality change produced by Ning Xiaohui's participation in the refining with her innate talent!
Within the ice pillar, the breath of life grew stronger.
The mechanical black snake's body also swiftly regenerated at a visible pace.
When the breath of life reached its peak, it suddenly vanished, and the ice pillar shattered, transforming into countless ice shards.
The fine ice shards disintegrated into nothingness as they fell to the ground.
Finally, left on the ground was a perfectly intact mechanical black snake, with a huge and flat snakehead!
"The world dyed by dancing fire dragons, cold snow freezes to bring new life. Marvelous, simply marvelous!" Zheng Danlian's eyes sparkled as he was the first to touch the mechanical black snake.
His divine sense merged with his mana and poured into it.
Compared to the previous obstruction, this time his mana flowed smoothly throughout the mechanical black snake.
Click, click, click...
After a series of light clicks, the mechanical black snake quickly transformed into a jet-black scythe with a long handle, held by Zheng Danlian.
Zheng Danlian took out a remaining piece of Night Wind Soft Iron and threw it into the air.
As the iron ingot fell, the long-handled scythe in Zheng Danlian's hand gave a slight tremor.
A ghostly light flickered momentarily.
When the Night Wind Soft Iron fell to the ground, it had already been divided into ten smooth pieces.
Zhu Xuanji saw this, his pupils contracted slightly, and he was greatly shocked, exclaiming in a low voice: "So sharp!"
Zheng Danlian gently stroked the surface of the scythe, his face full of affection and excitement.
Zheng Shuanggou laughed heartily: "If it weren't so, why would our clan go to such great lengths and expense to refine it?"
Zhou Nongying congratulated the Golden Core elders of the Zheng Family: "A great success in weapon refining this time!"
Zhu Xuanji took a deep breath, his expression turning solemn: "Even so, strict precautions are necessary!"
"What you have obtained is an artifact from the Night Rain Dynasty. For it to have survived through the ages, it must not be simple."
"Our weapon refinement this time is based on an ancient relic. It had already taken shape using the techniques from the Night Rain Dynasty. We were merely processing it and couldn't fully understand its mysteries."
"This goes without saying!" Zheng Danlian continued to stroke the scythe, responding absentmindedly, with significant perfunctory intent.
Zhu Xuanji's face darkened several degrees.
The Zheng Family's mechanical weapon had already been refined, but Ning Zhuo's Golden Core-level Mechanical Monkey was still in the making.
In the artifact refining workshop.
More than thirty artifact refining cultivators worked bare-chested, dripping sweat amidst the rising heat and firelight, continuously hammering. The collision between hammers and iron ingots sparked with each strike.
The hammering of Wanji Xuan Iron required skilled artifact refining cultivators to use their mana, forging refining patterns to be successful. Once enough refining patterns accumulated, they connected in an instant, significantly enhancing the iron's quality.
This was almost universally applicable to all metal refining.
And with Wanji Xuan Iron, this was particularly evident.
Earth-level Artifact Refining Room.
Innate Talent—Opening Gold and Stone!
Zheng Hua used his innate talent on Redsun Copper. The latter gradually melted into a pool.
The liquefied Redsun Copper flowed through channels into the furnace, immediately subjected to intense heat.
Frequent use of his innate talent made Zheng Hua's complexion pale, requiring him to constantly take elixir pills.
The Zhou Family.
More than a dozen array cultivators sat around a long table in a circle.
They squinted their eyes, bent over, carefully examining the walnut-sized Mountain Essence.
The Mountain Essence was tiny, resembling a walnut kernel. It was the essence of mountain stone, heavy and sturdy, capable of bearing numerous array patterns.
Consequently, it was often used as an array base.
Each array cultivator, some holding fine awls, others grinding with mana, meticulously scrutinized the Mountain Essence.
Ning Zhuo diligently continued his cultivation.
Others took charge of refining the mechanical parts, while he concentrated on his own.
This was the utility of managing a force.
Tasks that could be entrusted to others were delegated, saving vast amounts of personal time and energy, allowing oneself to focus on more critical matters.
"Though my force has now grown over sevenfold, there remains significant room for further expansion."
Ning Zhuo's current influence was far from being fully developed. He lacked various talents, requiring assistance from the other two families to meet this refining need.
He was cultivating the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique, still using the crude Mechanical Monkey as a temporary measure. His progress in demonic cultivation ranked second in speed.
The Mirror Stand Spirit Communication Technique remained lightning-fast! Ever since Ning Zhuo cultivated this technique, he had never encountered a bottleneck, advancing swiftly. He always prioritized it, and his divine cultivation did not disappoint.
This left him speculating during his leisure: "Why is my talent in Buddhist techniques so outstanding?"
"Is it due to the early wisdom innate talent? Or is it because of some mysterious innate talent within me?"
"Or maybe it's because I am inherently of the Righteous Path, genuinely maintaining justice and promoting virtue, aligning with Buddhist principles?"
Among the three cultivation techniques, the Five Elements Qi Regulation Art progressed the slowest.
However, Ning Zhuo still had two measures of Ice Jade Wine as a fallback, so he wasn't worried for the time being.
All three techniques saw progress, and Ning Zhuo, while refining his essence, energy, and spirit, also actively practiced spells.
His primary focus was on the Five Elements Intergeneration and Interrestriction Technique.
Each time he practiced, he utilized the Five Elements Ruler. This magic artifact quickly separated his Five Elements Mana into five distinct forces.
Ning Zhuo then used these five forces to continuously generate or extinguish the corresponding mana, often gaining insights and becoming highly proficient.
As for exploring the Immortal Palace, he did so three times a day.
The focus of these explorations wasn't the Buddhist Sect or the Daoist Sect, but the Demon Sect.
He selected numerous rewards from the Demon Sect, many of which were applied to the newly refined Mechanical Monkey.
For instance, the Blood Spring Jar and the Rampant Thoughts Chaotic Drum.