The Five Elements Generating and Overcoming Technique!
Ning Zhuo sat cross-legged on a cushion, holding the Five Elements Ruler.
He infused his Five Elements Mana into this magic artifact.
Array patterns glowed around the Five Elements Ruler, releasing five strands of elemental mana—white for metal, green for wood, black for water, red for fire, and yellow for earth!
The five strands of elemental mana circled around Ning Zhuo, swirling up and down like a dragon.
Metal generates water, water generates wood... Following the relationship of the Five Elements Generating, the elemental mana ultimately transformed and merged into the yellow-brown earth-element mana.
Light gleamed in Ning Zhuo's eyes as the earth-element mana divided into two parts. He kept twenty percent as earth-element mana, while the remaining eighty percent transformed into metal-element mana through Earth Generating Metal.
The metal-element mana split into two parts. He kept one part as metal-element mana, while the other part transformed into black water-element mana through Metal Generating Water.
Water transformed into wood, and wood transformed into fire.
In the end, five strands of elemental mana still surrounded Ning Zhuo.
However, compared to before, these five strands of mana had significantly diminished.
Although the Five Elements Generate, considerable loss occurred during each transformation.
Ning Zhuo had practiced this thousands of times!
Initially, he had stumbled through this practice, taking a long time.
But now, his entire conversion process was extremely smooth, shortening the time to even less than one-tenth of what it had been initially.
After practicing generation, Ning Zhuo started practicing overcoming.
He let the five strands of elemental mana counter each other.
For a time, the five-colored radiance illuminated his face, as the five strands of elemental mana intertwined like snakes and dragons, fighting and constantly transforming.
The numerous complex changes were incredibly dazzling, making one dizzy.
"With the Five Elements Overcoming Technique, I can suppress any kind of mechanism artifact as long as it uses a mix of the Five Elements or a single element mana."
Ning Zhuo thought again of the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique and the Mirror Stand Spirit Communication Technique.
"The Three Ancestral Masters designed these three cultivation techniques to strictly control mechanism artifacts in terms of divine sense, mana, and blood ban."
"The Buddha Heart Demon Seal and the Divine Power Life Thread are even higher standards of control methods."
"The Three Ancestral Masters seemed very afraid of mechanism artifacts going out of control."
"The three cultivation techniques they designed and various spells were all to enhance control over the mechanisms."
Ning Zhuo slowly withdrew his mana, putting the Five Elements Ruler away in his storage waist belt.
"The Five Elements Generating and Overcoming Technique has shown some results."
Since acquiring this spell, Ning Zhuo had diligently practiced without interruption.
Now, he had drilled the spell to such an extent that it was second nature, almost like breathing—effortless and instinctive.
"The next step is to achieve mastery through experience."
"This cannot be achieved merely by diligent practice; it requires sudden insights during use."
Ning Zhuo decided to reduce his practice time.
Mastery through experience was an unpredictable training goal.
It could take days, dozens of days, or even years—anything was possible.
He knew it was time to go to the second Daoist Sect to receive the Five Elements Spiritual Conversion Disk.
Ning Zhuo's residence.
He summoned his comrades from the Renovation Team.
In the small courtyard, everyone gathered with excited and joyful expressions on their faces.
The youths greeted Ning Zhuo one by one.
"Brother Zhuo, how's your study on the substitute puppet going? I can also offer my flesh and blood for your research without a single Spirit Stone in exchange!"
"Brother Zhuo, can we really create that Mechanical Monkey? It's at the Golden Core Level! The Three Families have been busy with this, you're amazing."
This time, Ning Zhuo had utilized the power of the Three Families to forge a Golden Core Level Mechanical Monkey, making a massive impact.
Everyone knew that Ning Zhuo was only at the "Third Level of Qi Refining," yet he managed such an impressive feat.
His comrades couldn't help but feel envious and admiring.
On this point, Ning Zhuo needed to clarify.
He said, "The Golden Core Level Mechanical Monkey is still far from complete."
"I only wanted to start with its skeleton and outer armor."
"The real key lies in its internal structure and various mechanism components."
"I'm still designing these aspects. Alas, the difficulty is too high!"
As he spoke, Ning Zhuo shook his head and smiled wryly.
With an honest demeanor, he told everyone, "Actually, whether it's researching substitute puppets or creating the Golden Core Level Mechanical Monkey, it's driven by my inner fears."
"Sigh, the previous incident involving the collaboration of the Three Families, and Ning Xiaohui framing me, wounded me deeply!"
"If family members can do such things, what about outsiders?"
"Recently, Ning Houjun and Ning Youfu also specially advised me to stay safe."
"I happened upon the opportunity to take control of the black market and have been under scrutiny ever since. Many are secretly watching me; it is indeed very dangerous."
Ning Yong spoke up first, agitated, "Ning Xiaohui is a vile person. I secretly liked her back when we were in school!"
"She's a disgrace to the main branch, a disgrace to the Ning Family!"
Ning Chen offered comfort, "Brother Zhuo, don't worry. Our ancestor has already declared that you are the family's greatest contributor. The main branch won't dare to deal with you so openly anymore."
Someone opposed, "But attacking in secret is even harder to guard against and more terrifying, isn't it?"
Most people were indignant, "Hmph, those despicable people, they can't stand to see our branch producing a pillar, a future Family Elder!"
"Alright, alright," Ning Zhuo raised his hand to halt their discussion.
As usual, he began explaining his insights into spellcasting.
His comrades quickly became engrossed, listening intently and with fascination.
Ning Zhuo's demonstrations of the Five Elements Magic frequently elicited exclamations of wonder.
Ning Ji appeared to be smiling and absorbed, but he was not truly engaged. His heart remained detached, out of sync with the Renovation Team.
"I don't cultivate the Five Elements Qi Regulation Art!"
Listening to the spellcasting discussions, he felt bored and impatient.
In his mind, he savored the feeling of overseeing others and wielding power in the black market.
Initially, when he allied with Ning Zhuo, Ning Ji felt extremely uncomfortable and secretly complained to his father, Ning Ze.
He thought the black market was filthy and dangerous, the tasks unpleasant and laborious, with no sense of honor.
He also worried that Ning Zhuo might take revenge on him for past issues.
Ning Ze comforted him, saying, "Ning Zhuo will surely tolerate you."
"I've seen that Ning Zhuo is ambitious and aims for great achievements, so he must care about his reputation."
"He wouldn't do something like rising to prominence and then being ungrateful or harsh to his relatives."
This reassurance opened up a new world for Ning Ji.
After trying in the black market, he found that many people indeed feared him as Ning Zhuo's relative, showing tolerance and even flattery.
This allowed him to dominate, secretly receive tributes, and abuse his power, favoring some people.
He led a comfortable life, enjoying the taste of authority, even if only a little.
The former stewards had indeed reported his behavior up the chain.
However, Ning Zhuo ignored these reports, showing no reaction.
This attitude said it all. The astute former stewards followed suit, turning a blind eye to much of Ning Ji's corruption.
After explaining many spellcasting essentials, Ning Zhuo also commented on their crafted mechanism artifacts, buying excellent ones with Spirit Stones.
Notably, Ning Zhuo used the help of these comrades and Chen Cha and the Mechanical Workshop to continually purchase mechanism artifacts from outside. He accumulated them very quickly.
In his life-and-death battle with Qi Bai, Ning Zhuo had exhausted nearly all his combat reserves built up over sixteen years.
In a short time, his preparations of mechanism artifacts reached nearly thirty percent of what they had been originally!
When Ning Zhuo told his comrades that they would soon explore the Magma Fairy Palace together, they were thrilled.
"Brother Zhuo, we've been waiting for this day!"
"We can finally explore the Immortal Palace with you again, Brother Zhuo."
"Exploring with Brother Zhuo is super fun!"
According to the Immortal Palace's rules, each person could enter up to three times daily.
But in practice, trial disciples rarely used the full three times. Sometimes, they did not explore even once.
The main reason was that they gained little from their explorations.
They had already collected all the spell rewards they could bring out of the Immortal Palace. By sharing these spells after leaving, everyone quickly mastered all the spells.
This was the advantage of having a large group.
They also couldn't make it to the leaderboard to earn leaderboard rewards.
At most, they could train their mechanical techniques by challenging levels with puppet bodies.
However, this was far less efficient than making mechanism artifacts in the Fire Persimmon Immortal City's workshop.
Moreover, exploring the Immortal Palace consumed soul power.
For most, without significant progress in strength, repeated exploration held little meaning.
Soon, everyone gathered in the Magma Fairy Palace.
Puppet Ning Zhuo led the way, guiding his comrades through each challenge.
Seeing all kinds of spell rewards acquired by Ning Zhuo with ease, Ning Chen, Ning Yong, and others exclaimed in admiration.
When Ning Zhuo obtained dozens of Flying Hands, his spell offensives reached a new level.
With the Flying Hands mechanisms casting spells alongside Ning Zhuo's puppet body, it was almost like dozens of cultivators casting together. A large number of spells erupted simultaneously, creating a grand offensive display woven with a variety of spell lights—both magnificent and perilous.
Watching Ning Zhuo advance unhindered, casting wind, thunder, fire, and lightning with a wave of his hand, his comrades were deeply stirred.
At sixteen or seventeen years old, they idolized heroes and craved the spotlight.
The grace Ning Zhuo exhibited made them yearn from the bottom of their hearts!
During breaks in the challenges, Ning Zhuo encouraged them with a smile, "You can achieve this level as well."
"But it requires diligent practice, a lot of time, and effort."
"I have also put in much effort behind the scenes to master these spells!"
Having exchanged for a large amount of spell-casting experience through leaderboard rewards, Ning Zhuo said this without a hint of guilt.
Seeing Ning Zhuo, who had talent, was hardworking, and remained humble and approachable, everyone was deeply moved.