"This little rascal! When you come back, I'll hang you up and spank you until your butt swells," Ning Jiufan said, his teeth itching with anger.
A Flying Message, like a bird, kept colliding with the window lattice.
Ning Jiufan with a thought pushed open the window and let the Flying Message in.
It was a letter from Ning Zhuo.
"Dear Ancestor, by the time you read this letter, I must have already run away from home..."
The contents of the letter mainly dealt with Ning Zhuo's views on the current situation of the Ning Family, Fire Persimmon Immortal City, and the strategical games with the Zhu and Meng Families.
Ning Zhuo predicted that next, surrounding the positions in Lava Fairy Palace, the Ning and Zhou Families must have a significant conflict and competition with the Meng Family. On this matter, do not forget about Taiqing Palace!
Taiqing Palace had taken away a group of Zheng Family Cultivators, some of whom held positions in the Immortal Palace. Ning Zhuo felt that this influential sect's taking away the Zheng Family possibly indicated they had not given up on the Lava Fairy Palace.
This might be an exploitable point.
Ning Zhuo had deliberately left a batch of resources, and soon, his subordinates would deliver them to Ning Jiufan. This act was specifically to compensate and repay the main family line for their past nurturing.
Lastly, Ning Zhuo reminded Ning Jiufan: now that he had left without leaving any mechanical artifacts behind, Ning Jiufan needed to take extra care of the collateral family. Although the Nascent Soul Demon Ape could rely on official skills and magic treasures to defend strongly, Ning Zhuo highly advised against this.
As he said, ruling with affection was the true way!
After reading this, Ning Jiufan's anger subsided significantly, and he snorted, "This stinky kid, he still thinks about the family after all."
"He's just too meddlesome, even trying to manage me, the old ancestor. Hmph!"
"Wait, could this letter also be part of his schemes? Had he calculated even my anger into this?"
Ning Jiufan's face flickered with uncertainty.
It had to be said that the perseverance and strategy Ning Zhuo displayed in the pursuit of the Lava Fairy Palace had left a profoundly deep impression on Ning Jiufan.
So much so, that him, a Golden Core Cultivator of remarkable combat prowess, now began to doubt and secretly wonder if he was being deceived by Ning Zhuo again.
After pondering for a moment, Ning Jiufan exhaled a foul breath and stopped obsessing over it.
"Overthinking is of no benefit."
"Ning Zhuo, by nature, isn't bad. His heart is for the family, and though cunning and crafty, he has his lines. Such a talented individual still needs to be more earnestly won over."
Ning Jiufan had already started considering how to elevate Ning Zhong's status. Perhaps, by bestowing a posthumous title, he could elevate Ning Zhong's status and strengthen Ning Zhuo's sense of belonging to the family.
"Besides, during the Ghost Festival, the family's grand ceremony can communicate with the Netherworld. I should personally make an appearance, to seek higher blessings and reinforcements for Ning Zhuo."
City Lord's Mansion.
"Ning Zhuo left?"
"With his Nascent Soul Level mechanics, he can Escape Void… He indeed knows much about Lava Fairy Palace."
Fei Si breathed a sigh of relief upon learning this information.
How could he tolerate others sleeping beside his couch?
Despite Ning Zhuo's lower cultivation level, the combat prowess and strategies he demonstrated made almost all those in the know wary of him.
Fei Si was no exception.
Zhu Xuanji set off from Fire Persimmon Immortal City the next morning.
As he flew into the sky, he couldn't help but look back.
Fire Persimmon Mountain sprawled on the land, nestled among lofty mountains and steep hills, resembling a giant just waking up.
After the previous violent eruption, the cooled magma on the upper part of the volcano had turned into vast patches of red and black carpet covering the slopes.
The traces of flowing lava, like massive veins, twisted and turned, recording the silent roar of nature.
Further down, amidst the mid-part of the volcano, the large cluster of buildings constituted the appearance of Fire Persimmon Immortal City. Although somewhat damaged, it was overall intact. The city had once faced the disaster of being overrun by demon beasts, but thanks to the united spirits of the city's residents, disaster was averted and safety restored.
Below the volcano, at the foot of the mountain, lay vast stretches of persimmon forests.
Although the last Persimmon Fire Festival was just a few months ago, due to the volcanic eruption, endless geothermal energy had risen, which was fully absorbed by the City Protecting Great Array, thereby increasing the production of persimmons.
Once bare treetops now bore many small persimmons, newly emerged. Their round, bright red appearance resembled the future hopes of Fire Persimmon Immortal City.
However, the prospects for Fire Persimmon Immortal City still resembled the perpetual, unclear heavy clouds lingering atop the peak—ambiguous and unclear.
A flash of golden light flashed through Zhu Xuanji's eyes, instantly piercing through the clouds to see the Lava Fairy Palace floating over the magma inside the volcano crater.
The Lava Fairy Palace was being rebuilt. Meng Kui personally set to work, using Mana Power Hand to retrieve portions that had fallen into the magma. Many Cultivators assisted him wholeheartedly, endeavoring to reattach the cracked parts of the palace back together.
"The Three Sect Elders…" Zhu Xuanji showed a look of wariness.
These days, whenever he calmed his mind, he involuntarily remembered the final moment when he turned his weapon's aim and helped Ning Zhuo confront Meng Kui.
At that moment, he had inexplicably adjusted the mirror, locking onto Meng Kui's Mana Power Hand.
This action placed the Southern Bean Royal Family directly in front of Meng Kui, blocking his attack on Ning Zhuo.
"At that time, protecting Ning Zhuo… was it really my intention? Or was I being controlled?"
Just after the event, when Zhu Xuanji recalled that critical moment, it felt strange and fishy, as if a puppet had been manipulated.
But as he reminisced more, his feelings became blurred—it seemed like an instinctive action at the time, his body moving ahead of his mind's thoughts.
Now, after recalling it so many times, he even began to doubt and suspect himself.
Gradually leaving Fire Persimmon Immortal City behind, Zhu Xuanji ultimately couldn't resist and reached out to touch above his head.
"My head, is there a Life Hanging Thread tied above it?"
He touched nothing.
Once, the scene he had witnessed in the Royal Capital surfaced in his mind. A statement from the three religious masters made his heart grow colder the more he dwelled upon it.
At that time, the Southern Bean Supreme Emperor, in anger, had taken away the Golden Phoenix Mirror.
The three religious masters said to her, "Fate is already set. Since you have taken this Golden Phoenix Mirror, from now on, protect the legacy of the Immortal Palace for me."
After Meng Kui was succeeded by Ning Zhuo as the Master of the Immortal Palace, the more Zhu Xuanji thought about the religious masters' words, the more he felt that those words were not meant for the Southern Bean Supreme Emperor, but for... him!
"Thinking about it, ever since I set foot on Fire Persimmon Mountain, I've been led by the nose."
"I've always been cautious about this, maintaining vigilance towards the City Lord's Mansion and the Black Shadow Demon Cultivator. Many clues, even if plainly visible, still require maintaining my initiative."
"However, in the end, I still returned without any accomplishment."
"No, my real greatest accomplishment might have been representing the Royal Family at the last moment, using the Golden Phoenix Mirror on Meng Kui to save Ning Zhuo!"
"Could Lava Fairy Palace have been a stage set by the religious masters, and I'm just one of the puppets they've prearranged?"
"The first time I used 'Trace Back,' I saw Ning Zhuo as the true culprit. But during the subsequent investigation process, though I made progress repeatedly, the results ended up proving Ning Zhuo's innocence!"
Zhu Xuanji's heart filled with doubts.
After sorting out his affairs, he wished he could immediately return to the Royal Capital.
His mood was very urgent.
He was eager to see the Monarch again and express his doubts and speculations to her face to face.
Strangely, the further he was from Fire Persimmon Mountain, the calmer and more at peace Zhu Xuanji's mood became.
This feeling was like a beast escaping a huge trap!
A sense of security emerged spontaneously.
"Fire Persimmon Immortal City, Lava Fairy Palace... there's something odd."
A hunch arose in his heart, telling Zhu Xuanji to stay as far away from these places as possible in the future.
"And that Ning Zhuo!"
"Reducing contact would also be wise, this is the religious masters' chosen heir, the Son of Destiny in the Buddha-Demon Conflict."
As people like Ning Zhuo and Zhu Xuanji successively left, Fire Persimmon Immortal City gradually returned to its former calm.
With no more havoc from the Flame Demon Beasts and Lava Fairy Palace having an owner, foreign cultivators also left Fire Persimmon Mountain en masse.
Fire Persimmon Immortal City, Flying Disc Workshop.
An elderly man in a black robe, with grizzled whiskers, sat on a mechanical chair, performing breathing exercises and accumulating mana.
The mechanical chair floated several feet above the ground.
The old man had sunken eye sockets, his breath was long, he was Chen Cha.
Suddenly, Chen Cha's body trembled violently, as if electrocuted, before his eyes snapped open.
His pupils had completely vanished, leaving eerie whites in his eye sockets.
From the whites, plumes of white vapor escaped.
Chen Cha seemed transformed, slowly turning his head, looking around before fixing his gaze in the direction of Lava Fairy Palace.
His fingers moved quickly, leaving trails of motion in the air.
With his calculations, the white vapor from his eyes intensified, floating mid-air, making Chen Cha appear like a mystical being shrouded in fog.
"Zhu Xuanji should have stayed here, guarding the Immortal Palace. How could he leave?"
"And that Sun Lingtong also left!"
"This game was set up by the religious masters, it should not have any flaws. There's the Life Hanging Divine Power in Lava Fairy Palace, nothing should go wrong. But who has sabotaged this situation?"
"With this place compromised, my setup in Southern Bean Country has mostly collapsed. Headache, real headache. How can it be rectified?"
After finishing his calculations, Chen Cha's face was full of distress.
"Could it have been that Ning Zhuo who disrupted the situation?"
"The pressing task now is to first locate Sun Ning and see exactly where things went wrong."
After reflecting, Chen Cha slowly closed his eyes.
The white vapor filling the room quickly dissipated.
Chen Cha's breathing stabilized again, and he continued his breathing exercises.
After 30 minutes, he slowly opened his eyes, his pupils returned to normal. With his mana fully replenished, Chen Cha started studying technique classics.
These technique classics had been arranged by Ning Zhuo before leaving Li City, specifically gifted to Chen Cha by his subordinates.
"Having met Ning Zhuo is my fortune," Chen Cha thought, absorbing the knowledge from the jade slip, feeling grateful towards Ning Zhuo.
He had absolutely no memory or awareness of the abnormalities that had occurred to him earlier!