Suddenly sucked in at the grand entrance of the main hall, Ning Zhuo's vision drastically changed into a swirl of five colors.
The intense feeling of weightlessness and dizziness assaulted him, a sensation Ning Zhuo recognized.
Previously, when Sun Lingtong had used the Teleportation Art to transfer him, it was this very feeling.
Ning Zhuo suddenly landed on his feet, and the dazzling five-colored spectacle before his eyes disappeared abruptly.
He immediately went on full alert, scanning his surroundings.
Red Copper walls, scorching temperatures, and a golden ceiling; this familiar scenario made him mistakenly think he was soul entering the Immortal Palace again.
But unlike the Soul Entering Immortal Palace, this time Ning Zhuo's spirit had not been pulled by a Life Hanging Thread—both body and spirit had entered together.
New information was transmitted into his heart—
"Lava Fairy Palace third round hall trial!"
"Cultivators will explore the Secret Pavilion of Transition, accepting unique challenges in each Mechanical Room, winning corresponding rewards."
"In the end, the one who finds the correct path, breaks out of the Secret Pavilion of Transition, enters the main hall, and sits upon the throne, will become the Lava Fairy Palace's Palace Master!"
"Please note: Mechanical Rooms vary in difficulty."
"Please note: During the exploration of the Secret Pavilion of Transition and the process of stepping foot into the Immortal Palace main hall, cultivators' Cultivation Levels will be suppressed to the Qi Refining Realm."
"Please note: Use of personal Magic Artifacts, Elixir Pills, etc., is forbidden; violators will be eliminated."
"Please note: Cultivators are allowed to use various props provided within the Secret Pavilion, allowed to use Spells. Spell power will be suppressed to the Qi Refining Level."
"Please note: Mechanical Artifacts within the trial stages can be used unconditionally during exploration."
"Please note: Every accumulation of thirty-six explorations in the Secret Pavilion of Transition will lead to a minor transition. Every accumulation of one hundred and eight will lead to a major transition."
"Please note: Cultivators may at any time initiate inquiry for the list and choose to surrender. Once surrendering, they will be immediately teleported from the scene."
"Please note: Every change in the trial list will be promptly notified to all participants."
...
A long string of information made Ning Zhuo stop in his tracks, pondering carefully before he started to take action.
He looked around and found himself in the first Mechanical Room, plain and unremarkable, save for a pedestal in the center.
The pedestal was covered with a column of light, upon which a Mechanical Artifact was placed.
It was a wooden ring. The circle was thick and inlaid with eighteen diamond-shaped crystals. The crystals shimmered with a bluish-purple light. A slight change in viewing angle would make the shimmer transform, quite exquisite.
"Hangman's Noose." For a moment, Ning Zhuo had the illusion of being brought back to the past.
He approached with caution, on high alert, using various Spells to detect, and after finding no traps, he reached out and took the Hangman's Noose.
The light column that enshrouded the pedestal immediately dissipated, and the entire pedestal slowly sank until it was completely integrated into the floor.
Finally, the floor on both sides closed towards the middle, sealing tightly with not even a crack showing.
Ning Zhuo stood in place, looking left and right, keeping watch for a while, but no movement occurred.
"That's it?" Ning Zhuo was surprised.
In another Secret Pavilion of Transition...
"Waah!" Sun Lingtong ran frantically.
Behind him, a Foundation Establishment Level Flame Stepping Lizard charged like a bull, relentlessly pursuing.
The room was limited in size, so Sun Lingtong was forced to jump up and down, sometimes resorting to running on walls.
His legs moved as if they were wheeling.
The Flame Stepping Lizard suddenly opened its mouth, expelling a string of fire.
The tip of the fire string touched Sun Lingtong's buttocks, igniting his pants straight away.
Sun Lingtong had no choice but to continue running at full strength while trying to pat down the flames on his smoking behind.
In another Secret Pavilion of Transition...
Ning Jiufan was pierced by over a dozen spears, pinned against a wall.
With a ferocious expression, ignoring the intense pain, he pulled out the spears one by one.
Unable to access Elixir Pills from his Storage Waist Belt, he resorted to using the Frost Technique from the Ning Family, freezing himself to urgently heal his wounds.
...
Ning Zhuo carefully stepped into the second Secret Pavilion.
With an arrangement identical to the previous one, there was another pedestal in the room.
A beam of light shone down, highlighting the Mechanical Artifact atop the pedestal very clearly.
Ning Zhuo cautiously approached, took the artifact, but it turned out to be a Blood Conversion Pool.
"This Mechanical component can dissolve blooded life forms into countless droplets of blood. Combined with the Blood Oil Bottle, it can allow the Mechanical Puppet to draw sustenance from battle."
"However, my precision-designed Golden Blood Battle Ape, Dasheng, has no space inside for such a massive Blood Conversion Pool part."
For the moment, the Golden Blood Battle Ape, Dasheng, was still with Sun Lingtong.
Ning Zhuo needed to meet up with Sun Lingtong first before he could retrieve Yuan Dasheng.
"Sigh, I hope I run into Boss Sun soon."
With the Storage Waist Belt unusable, Ning Zhuo had no choice but to carry the bulky Blood Conversion Pool as he left.
Every direction—even the ceiling above and the center of the floor below—had gates leading out.
Ning Zhuo randomly chose a door and pushed it open to leave.
…
In Shuzhong Jun's Secret Pavilion, there was just one door.
A vast door.
The door panel was filled with a large number of wooden blocks, all of which were interlocked and constrained within the doorframe.
Shuzhong Jun held the doorknob in one hand, needing to expend Mana and Spirit, shifting these wooden blocks so that the inscriptions on each block were arranged appropriately in succession. The overall text needed to properly form the entire Demon-infused Bloodline Technique.
But the problem was...
"I absolutely have no idea what the 'Demon-infused Bloodline Technique' is!"
Shuzhong Jun roared in his heart.
At this moment, he regretted why he had not participated in the Golden Core melee within the Fire Persimmon Immortal City to vie for the Demon Skill True Scripture.
Even if it was a fake scripture, there were still some true gains to be had.
"Or, if someone had sold me some of the Demon Scripture content during the second round of the palace trials, that would have been fine, too. At least I could have inferred a lot from it and not be stuck here now."
This was the second Secret Pavilion that Shuzhong Jun had entered.
A huge door blocked his way forward.
After struggling for a while, Shuzhong Jun, with a face slightly turned pale, gave up voluntarily.
"My strength has been suppressed at the Qi Refinement Realm."
"Not only the total amount of Mana and Spirit, but even the recovery capabilities are limited to the Qi Refinement Realm."
"I can't afford to lose too much in front of this door."
"I have to be on guard at all times in case someone else enters this Secret Pavilion and a battle breaks out between us."
Before leaving, Shuzhong Jun took one more wistful glance at the door.
He had a feeling in his heart that there must be significant benefits in the room behind the door.
"What a pity, I'm not a Trial Disciple."
"The first and second rounds of the palace trials show that the masters from the three sects treat their own disciples very well."
There were two external passages in this Secret Pavilion.
One was the large door, and the other a smaller door.
The smaller door was the very path through which Shuzhong Jun had entered.
He sighed, opened the small door, and went back to the first Secret Pavilion he had entered.
This time, he chose another small door and left.
He was still not resigned and silently memorized the route in his heart.
…
Ning Zhuo had just left his third Secret Pavilion.
From this Secret Pavilion, he had acquired Elixir Pills that could rapidly restore Mana after ingesting them.
He had just pushed open the door and entered the fourth Secret Pavilion when the whole room suddenly began to shake.
The shaking was not violent, and a series of mechanical noises came, reverberating throughout the room.
The mechanical noise continued for more than a dozen breaths and then stopped abruptly. During this time, the room kept vibrating. As the mechanical noise ceased, the room calmed down.
"Ha!" A Kung Fu Puppet of the Qi Refining Level took a stance and waited for Ning Zhuo with great caution.
"Finally, something different," said Ning Zhuo, his eyes lighting up as he stepped forward.
The Kung Fu Doll charged at him.
Ning Zhuo was well aware of his limitations and immediately retreated, using Spells to attack from a distance.
The Kung Fu Doll got increasingly bound by the rapidly growing vines.
"Demon-infused Blood Muscle!" Ning Zhuo walked up to it leisurely, using his own Essence Blood to perform the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique, forcibly subduing the doll.
"Before I get the Golden Blood Battle Ape Dasheng back, I'll make do with this," Ning Zhuo left his fourth Secret Pavilion, the Demonized Kung Fu Doll following his steps closely.
This time, he chose to return the same way he came.
However, upon opening the small door he came through, he entered an unfamiliar room instead.
This confirmed one of his speculations.
It was once said in the information that for every thirty-six Secret Pavilions explored, there would be one minor transition, and for every one hundred and eight explored, there would be a major transition.
"So this is the so-called 'minor transition'? The Secret Pavilion of Transition's connections are all shuffled, rendering the routes I remembered completely useless."
"I have explored up to the fourth Secret Pavilion, and there are thirteen Cultivators participating in the second round of the palace trials. Some have explored fewer Secret Pavilions than I have, so the total number of Secret Pavilions everyone has explored just accumulated to thirty-six."
"Upon reaching this number, the mechanism was activated, and a minor transition occurred."
"If this is the case for the minor transition, what about the major transition?"
Ning Zhuo racked his brains, mulling over his thoughts. To truly understand the rules of the third round of the palace trials, he needed to explore for a while.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit closely monitored the Secret Pavilion of Transition.
This was an intricately constructed Mechanical Building, the ultimate line of defense of the main hall of the Lava Fairy Palace.
The challenges set up by the masters from the three sects were realized through this particular and functional Mechanical Building.
And the various trial challenges were only making use of a fraction of this Secret Pavilion's power.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was the sole spectator; overseeing the entire situation, it immediately summarized the fortunes of various Cultivators after the first minor transition was triggered.
Some fared well, others poorly; some racked their brains, while others were still being hunted.
"The ones with the most gains are definitely Meng Chong and Ning Zhuo."
"Both have yielded results in every Secret Pavilion. Currently, the Mechanical Artifacts they've accumulated are equally impressive, firmly occupying the top tier."
In the top tier, there were only Meng Chong and Ning Zhuo.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's expression grew serious: "The route selection in the Secret Pavilion of Transition actually tests a Cultivator's Lifespan."
"The more abundant and robust the Lifespan, the better and more profitable the routes a Cultivator chooses. And vice versa."
"Meng Chong has Immortal Aptitude, born with a strong Lifespan. Ning Zhuo is showing a similar performance?"
"He possesses no measured Innate Talent, could he too have Immortal Aptitude?"
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit inevitably speculated as such.
"But that's not right."
"If he were of Immortal Aptitude, how could he live such an unsmooth and suppressive life for sixteen years in the Fire Persimmon Immortal City?"
"That is definitely not the performance of a Lifespan belonging to a Superior Talent!"