Ning Zhuo slowly shook his head, "Why should I seize the Immortal Palace? For my mother, I alone shall bear the towering sins!"
"You can't bear it!" Zhu Xuanji bellowed in anger, encircled by the Mechanical Giant Snake, "For your selfish desires, slaughtering millions, what kind of Demon Path is this! If you do it, I will never forgive you!!"
"Little Zhuo..." Sun Lingtong's face was full of worry.
He knew very well the nature of Ning Zhuo.
If it ultimately led to the city being overwhelmed by demon beasts, Ning Zhuo's future would be bleak. He himself would feel boundless guilt.
All because Ning Zhuo, from beginning to end, considered himself a person of the Righteous Path!
The throne was melted by more than half, and the flames quickly weakened.
Noticing this scene, Zhu Xuanji and Sun Lingtong's expressions slightly relaxed.
However, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit burst into laughter, fixating on the space above Ning Zhuo's head, "Ning Zhuo, you can't do it, you can't do it!"
"Although you are the City Lord, you are only one of the three powers."
"You endanger the Lava Fairy Palace, violating the initial intention of the three founders' descent into the Fairy Palace. The Life Hanging Thread in the Fairy Palace is stopping you!"
"Stop it, this is the arrangement of the three founders. You and I are but mere insects and weeds, how can we compare with the three founders?"
Blood streamed from Ning Zhuo's seven orifices as he suddenly widened his eyes.
"Why not!?"
He defiantly shouted, lifting his head to gaze into the sky.
"I refuse to be that puppet on the stage."
"Do you know how much I detest, how much I abhor this stage called the Lava Fairy Palace, this puppet show taking place here?"
"Even if it grants me more achievements, I'd rather not have it, if only to exchange for even a day of my mother's life span..."
Ning Zhuo's voice was hoarse, his eyes almost splitting.
He suddenly reached out his hand, and with a snap, he actually grasped the Life Hanging Thread above his head!
He pulled fiercely, causing the thick Life Hanging Thread to deform severely.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit drew a sharp breath, but soon realized that though the thread had deformed severely, it was incredibly tenacious.
In angry surprise, it jeered, "Ning Zhuo! You're too naive. The Life Hanging Thread is not something you can just tear apart at will!"
Stubborn in his belief, Ning Zhuo pulled with all his strength.
Inside the Divine Ocean Dantian, white lotuses as pristine as jade, translucent and lustrous; green leaves like emerald, lush and dripping; pink lotuses like rosy clouds, charming and captivating.
The Life Hanging Divine Power transformed into lotuses and leaves trembled slightly, spouting mysterious light.
The mysterious light surged, shooting straight beyond the clouds, penetrating his body, and corroding the Fairy Palace's Life Hanging Thread above Ning Zhuo's head!
In an instant, Ning Zhuo was enlightened.
His hair disheveled, his face smeared with blood, he let out a fierce laugh, chanting loudly!
"Five Qi connect the spirit, the blood tendons are born, three sects unite, foundation is established."
"Sixteen winters and summers endured in harsh determination, thousands of tribulations make the will deeper."
"Affections and reason intertwine pulling the strings, all living beings bowing to eternally servant."
"No need to resolve the deep-seated Heart Demon, the persistent millennium questions the glory!"
I never let go.
I insist on being persistent!
Who can command me? Not even the three founders!!
I should be the one manipulating passions and reasoning, making all creatures bow as servants!!!
"Ah ah ah ah—!"
Ning Zhuo roared loudly, his state like a frenzied demon.
He fiercely clung to the Life Hanging Thread, exerting all his strength, mana, spirit, and will!
Snap.
Even though Zhu Xuanji and Sun Lingtong, who couldn't see the thread, had heard a faint noise,
in the view of the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, it was the Life Hanging Thread torn into two pieces!
"!!!", the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's mouth gaped open, its pupils bulging as if they were about to pop out.
Amidst extreme shock, it suddenly recalled an afternoon several hundred years ago.
That afternoon when it encountered the three founders.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, compressed extremely small, looked up at the three founders, as mere mortals or ants gaze up at huge pillars and the Buddha.
The three founders slowly spoke, "Eight hundred years later, the slaughtering calamity of heaven and earth will unfold, sweeping across the universe, blood drifting like chaff, corpses strewn everywhere..."
"Runaway Fire Snake, you inherently carry heavy sins."
"From now on, you serve as the Palace Spirit, control the Immortal Palace, guarding Persimmon Fire Mountain."
"As long as afterwards, Persimmon Fire Mountain is harmonious, without chaos and slaughter and the innocent spared. Just needing seven hundred and twenty years, you shall clear your congenital sins and break free from your turtle shell, truly possessing the spirit of a Jiao dragon."
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit trembled violently, communicating secretly with the spirituality of the three founders. It roared, "Seven hundred and twenty years?! That's too long, too long! Better to kill me."
The three founders transmitted a message, "Seven hundred and twenty is not fixed."
"During this period, if you ever encounter someone who can tear his own Life Hanging Thread, then follow him."
"Because..."
"Those who can tear their own, certainly can tear yours as well!"
Hundreds of years later.
At this very moment!
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit looked up at Ning Zhuo, sensing from the latter an imposing aura akin to that of the three founders!
The flames surged more fiercely than before.
Only a third of the throne remained.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit let out a low growl and charged into the flames, allowing its spiritual body to be burnt to ashes!
"Ning Zhuo, stop it!!" Zhu Xuanji, regardless of everything else, temporarily ceased suppressing the Buddhist Physician Meng Yaoyin, turned the mirror face around, and aimed it at Ning Zhuo.
A white light burst forth from Ning Zhuo's body, enveloping him.
It was indeed the Protective Talisman given to him earlier by Ning Jiufan and others!
The next moment, the Buddha Heart Demon Seal suddenly flew out, arrived beside Ning Zhuo, paused briefly, and then directly entered his Divine Ocean.
In the next instant, a layer of Buddha's light surged up, protecting Ning Zhuo from the mirror light.
This time, it was Zhu Xuanji's turn to bulge his eyes in utter shock.
"The Buddha Heart Demon Seal?!"
He had never forgotten the last words of the Southern Bean Supreme Emperor he received in the Royal Capital.
"The Buddha Heart Demon Seal is no trifling matter, the consequences are significant!"
"Lava Fairy Palace is definitely not a place the three Nascent Soul elders of old have casually set up..."
He always remembered the warnings the current Monarch of the Southern Bean had given him.
"In his later years, the three Nascent Soul elders placed the Lava Fairy Palace within the Persimmon Mountain for deep and unfathomable reasons. In your journey, do not act forcefully and abruptly; let things take their natural course and do not disturb the well-thought intentions of the three Nascent Soul elders."
Zhu Xuanji's heart shuddered: "The Buddha Heart Demon Seal is recognizing its master on its own? Could it be that Ning Zhuo is the successord that the three Nascent Soul elders had been preparing and waiting for?!"
He could use the Golden Phoenix Mirror because it originally came from the Southern Bean Supreme Emperor. Although he had presented it before, the precious mirror had not been re-consecrated and still served his purpose.
But the Buddha Heart Demon Seal?!
In Zhu Xuanji's view, this was Ning Zhuo's first encounter with it.
Even if, even if Ning Zhuo's situation was the same as Zhu Xuanji's, obtaining the Buddha Heart Demon Seal itself meant something significant.
Atop Persimmon Mountain Peak, deep in the clouds.
Meng Kui's face was ashen, and his tone was chilling: "Finally, the time has come."
He had painstakingly controlled the situation, leveraging three Nascent Soul level Demon Beasts to continuously weaken the Lava Fairy Palace, and finally, now was the time he could make his full move!
Since the palace was blasted into the world, Meng Kui had been entrenched at the cloud peak.
He had been sitting there for several months.
This moment, he had waited too long!
He stood up and floated down.
He took out the Seal and aimed it at the head of the Flame Stepping Lizard, smashing it down.
Boom!
A loud noise erupted, the Flame Stepping Lizard's head was smashed open, brains splattering everywhere, still not dead it retreated in full panic.
Sleeves Holding the Universe.
His sleeves burst forth with a terrifying suction force, drawing in the Nascent Soul Runaway Fire Snake and temporarily suppressing it.
Mystery in the palm!
Meng Kui made a full-force swing, Mana Power Hand slapped ferociously, sending the Nascent Soul Demon Ape flying crashing to the ground.
Just as he was about to deliver the finishing blow, Ning Jiufan took a risk and moved faster, capturing the Demon Ape.
Meng Kui had long known that the Palace Lord's position had fallen to someone with just the entry standards; pressed for time, he decided not to quarrel with Ning Jiufan for now.
He waved his Mana Power Hand, lifting the main hall's roof off.
"This farce should end now!" Meng Kui, his face ashen, floated down.
The throne was completely burned away, its Spiritual Nature all absorbed into the Buddhist Physician.
Meng Kui snorted coldly, his Divine Sense maneuvered the Mana Power Hand, grabbing for Ning Zhuo.
The next moment, Zhu Xuanji, as if possessed by a ghost, shifted the mirror face, catching the Mana Power Hand.
"Huh?!" Meng Kui stared at Zhu Xuanji, his face stern with cold.
Sun Lingtong grabbed Ning Zhuo's hand, trying to use the Teleportation Art to escape with him. He was well aware, though, that in the face of a Nascent Soul Cultivator, using such a minor art, the chance of escape was almost zero.
Ning Zhuo patted Sun Lingtong's hand, smiling: "Boss, don't rush."
"Don't forget, I follow the Righteous Path."
With that, he shook his sleeve, bowed deeply to Meng Kui, and respectfully offered: "City Lord sir, this humble Ning Zhuo, is willing to hand over the position of City Lord to you!"
Zhu Xuanji suddenly turned his head to look at Ning Zhuo.
Sun Lingtong's eyes widened as he too turned to look at Ning Zhuo.
Meng Kui halted his steps, staring intently at Ning Zhuo.
Dead silence fell over the area.
Ning Zhuo broke the silence: "This humble one is weak in cultivation and low in capability, facing this perilous situation, only you, City Lord sir, have the ability to turn things around and uphold a collapsing building!"
"This position of Lava Fairy Palace Master is most suitable for no one other than you, City Lord sir."
Sun Lingtong glanced at the composed Ning Zhuo and then at where the throne had been; nothing but a pit remained. Finally, his gaze shifted to Meng Kui.
Meng Kui looked at Ning Zhuo, then at the body of Meng Chong in Ning Zhuo's hands, and at Qi Bai, the Netherworld Envoy who sealed Meng Chong's soul. Finally, he looked at Zhu Xuanji.
As if waking from a dream, Zhu Xuanji, with a solemn face, said: "Ning Zhuo, responding to the Recruitment Decree, volunteering to abdicate for the better worthy, is truly a hero of the Southern Bean."
"Given the current situation, I am powerless too. Only you, Lord Meng Kui, as a Nascent Soul, can suppress the beast tide and protect the citizens."
"In fact, this is exactly the responsibility of a Fire Persimmon Immortal City Lord!"
Meng Kui's eye twitched at last.
At this moment, he thought of the Omen Poem he had deduced—Good or evil, the rise and fall, all in a thought, a new lord stabilizes the populace and fills the old void.
Damn it! So it was this "Good or evil, the rise and fall, all in a thought"!
It was this "A new lord stabilizes the populace and fills the old void"!!
Bloody hell!!!
(End of Volume One)