Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master

Ning Zhuo cherished every opportunity to explore the Immortal Palace.

By now, his surroundings made it difficult for him to freely explore.

Primarily, it was because more and more people had reached the peak of the third layer of Qi Refining. Ning Zhuo had to blend in with them to avoid standing out.

In Room One, he reconstructed his body and joined forces with the Zhou and Zheng families, allowing his great treasure, the *Golden-Blooded Battle Ape, Dasheng*, to make a public appearance.

In Room Two, Ning Zhuo ordered Yuan Dasheng to repel all his companions and publicly threw him into a mechanical trap.

In this way, there was no need for him to explain; the Zhou and Zheng families would naturally inform the Ning family why Ning Zhuo had taken so long to return to his body.

Ning Zhuo first reset the mechanisms, then, along with Yuan Dasheng, cleaned the battlefield, digging out all the spirit stones from the puppets and taking them away.

When he pushed open the second door, Ning Zhuo selected mechanical components.

He did not use the *Buddha Heart Demon Seal* and did not retreat.

The reason was that he had already claimed all the spell rewards from passing Room Two. The spirit stones were only a mere two pieces. Ning Zhuo abandoned the spirit stones, preferring to conserve his soul power as much as possible.

Utilizing even a trace of the power of the *Buddha Heart Demon Seal* required the consumption of soul power.

The further he progressed through the checkpoints, the more soul power it would consume to retreat.

Room Three marked Meng Chong's recorded limit.

There were many mechanical puppets here.

The moment they saw Ning Zhuo appear, they immediately pounced on him.

Yuan Dasheng roared and stood at the forefront. Ning Zhuo unleashed a series of spells, freezing all the puppet fighters.

To date, he had claimed the leaderboard rewards numerous times, amassing a vast amount of spellcasting experience, allowing him to cast these spells with ease.

After passing the third checkpoint, Ning Zhuo entered the preparation room.

Under the leaderboard, he received the first-place reward belonging to him on the five-faced leaderboard.

The number of spirit stones surged by hundreds!

Looking at this alone, the previous door's spirit stone rewards were pitiful in comparison.

It was worth mentioning that the insights gained from receiving spells now provided little improvement for Ning Zhuo, far less than at the beginning.

"I now have the prototype of a divine ability. Can I use the *Buddha Heart Demon Seal* to remove my name from the leaderboard directly?"

"Or simply hide the stone pillar leaderboard?"

Ning Zhuo attempted this but failed.

Passing through the preparation room, he entered Room Four.

Ning Zhuo cast spells one after another, obtaining a dozen mechanical components like the Flying Hand and the Qi-Dispersing Ring.

He quickly armed himself fully.

Room Five, Room Six, preparation room.

Room Seven, Room Eight, Room Nine.

Ning Zhuo and Yuan Dasheng joined forces, resulting in a qualitative change in their overall combat strength, making it far easier than breaking through alone.

Yuan Dasheng, by nature, did not favor using spells. By placing him in the front to attract and distract enemies, Ning Zhuo stayed behind, seizing opportunities to unleash various spells.

After passing through the preparation room for the third time, Ning Zhuo entered the central hall, once again encountering the three gates of Buddha, Dao, and Demon.

His highest record was achieved by relying solely on Yuan Dasheng, gritting his teeth, and pushing through the three checkpoints of the Buddha Gate, before re-entering the central hall and seeing the new three gates.

By touching the door, Ning Zhuo obtained the fourth to sixth layer techniques of the *Mirror Platform Spirit Technique*, *The Five Elements Qi Regulation Art*, and the *Demonic Blood Tendon Technique*.

Now, his Qi Refining cultivation had reached the late fourth layer, his Essence Refining cultivation was at the peak of the fourth layer, and his Spirit Refining cultivation stood out, having reached the early sixth layer.

This level of cultivation meant that Ning Zhuo's best choice was to make the Buddha Gate his main route for clearing the checkpoints.

Ning Zhuo first pushed open the Demon Gate, receiving the blood energy attached to the door.

With the blood energy boost, Yuan Dasheng's strength surged.

After the three checkpoints of the Demon Gate, Yuan Dasheng absorbed as much blood energy from the puppet fighters as possible, storing it to his limit.

Like the Buddha Gate, there was no reward for the second checkpoint, but after the third, a pile of reward information appeared.

What caught Ning Zhuo's attention was one of the mechanical components—a Blood Oil Bottle.

Using this mechanical component allowed the collection and mixing of various blood energies, refining them into a blood-like oil.

Blood oil was inferior to pure blood energy, but it could be a substitute to some extent.

"The Blood Transformation Pool can consume living beings with blood, breaking them down into countless blood droplets."

"The Blood Transformation Pool and the Blood Oil Bottle can work together, allowing mechanical puppets to sustain combat by battle, significantly extending the duration of fierce battles."

Ning Zhuo chose the Blood Oil Bottle and obtained one component.

He pushed the door and returned to the central hall, encountering the second set of three gates.

These three gates required at least peak sixth-layer cultivation to push open.

Thus, Ning Zhuo looked to his side and found the first gates of the Buddha and Dao.

He approached the Dao Gate, pushed, and pulled, but it didn't budge.

*Buddha Heart Demon Seal!*

Ning Zhuo opened the door and stepped inside.

The mechanical puppets in the Dao Gate's third checkpoint, upon hearing the commotion, turned their heads and, upon discovering Ning Zhuo, rushed at him.

Ning Zhuo pointed his finger, and Yuan Dasheng roared out, standing at the front.

The mechanical puppets in the Dao Gate's three checkpoints were surrounded by five elements, casting spells endlessly.

Under the onslaught of various spells, Yuan Dasheng immediately fell into a disadvantage.

This was the advantage of spell cultivators—strong short-term attack power with sufficient burst potential!

Ning Zhuo immediately acted, following up with various spells.

His supply of spirit stones was abundant, quickly helping Yuan Dasheng stabilize the situation.

Once the stalemate was established, Yuan Dasheng could rely on his excellent one-on-one combat ability to smash the spell puppets one by one.

When the number of spell puppets decreased to a certain level, Ning Zhuo ordered Yuan Dasheng to slow down his attacks, and he himself cast spells to freeze the remaining spell puppets.

"We could move them to Room Three for Meng Chong to have a taste."

After a moment's thought, he reconsidered, "Better move them to Room Six."

Since being defeated by Yuan Dasheng, Meng Chong had not returned to the Immortal Palace.

However, the renovation team from the City Lord's Mansion, recorded by the surveillance mechanism that Ning Zhuo had hidden, had explored it multiple times.

Ning Zhuo had a strong premonition—when Meng Chong reappeared, he would have a brand new look, and his combat power would have increased by at least one level!

Under such circumstances, no amount of spell puppets would be of much use.

Only a presence like the *Golden-Blooded Battle Ape, Dasheng* could handle Meng Chong.

Even Ning Zhuo himself, armed as he was, would find it difficult to withstand Meng Chong's *Wild Sprint Thunderclap*.

Ning Zhuo started from the third checkpoint and backtracked to the second and first checkpoints of the Dao Gate, eventually arriving at the first central hall.

This was his first time clearing the three checkpoints of both the Demon and Dao Gates.

Overall, the design of both gates' checkpoints was quite similar to that of the Buddha Gate. Like the Buddha Gate, neither gate offered rewards in the second checkpoint, concentrating all rewards in the third checkpoint.

Among the Dao Gate's rewards, Ning Zhuo chose the *Five Elements Disorder Technique*.

This technique specifically targeted the Five Elements Mana, capable of disrupting the orderly arrangement of the five streams of mana, causing them to become disordered and conflicting, leading to internal chaos within the mechanical constructs, rendering them immobile.

"The blood tendons of the *Demonic Blood Tendon Technique*, along with the Five Elements Mana, both serve to enhance control over mechanical constructs."

"By focusing on these two aspects, if one day Yuan Dasheng loses control again, I'll have means to keep him in check."

"Perhaps this was the intention of the Three Sect Patriarchs. They created spiritual mechanisms and thus designed the three gate techniques to be used in conjunction with mechanical constructs."

Ning Zhuo pushed open the Buddha Gate and once again entered the coffin room.

He did not receive any new information and found that he could not select another coffin to create a second mechanical construct.

Ning Zhuo shook his head regretfully and continued on his way.

The *Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit*, seeing him shake his head, was so angry it ground its teeth.

At the final gate, when Ning Zhuo received his reward, he chose the *Phantom True Lotus Seed* without hesitation.

The *Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit* saw this and, relaxing, couldn't help but feel happy.

Ning Zhuo pushed the door open and left.

*Buddha Heart Demon Seal!*

He opened the door and returned, rewarded with the *Phantom True Lotus Seed*.

The *Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit* burst out laughing.

Ning Zhuo pushed the door open and left.

*Buddha Heart Demon Seal!*

He opened the door and returned, rewarded with the *Phantom True Lotus Seed*.

The *Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit* lay on the throne, kicking its dragon legs in delight.

…

Ning Zhuo went back and forth, each time choosing the *Phantom True Lotus Seed*.

The playful and mocking expression on the *Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's* face gradually faded, replaced by suspicion.

It found this very strange!

Each time Ning Zhuo retreated from a checkpoint, he had to expend soul power to activate the *Buddha Heart Demon Seal*. But the number of times he had been coming and going was far beyond the *Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's* expectations! What was going on?

Ning Zhuo's cultivation had advanced rapidly, naturally enabling him to draw more power from the treasure.

More importantly, as the prototype of his divine ability continued to strengthen, the loss of power during the *Life Hanging by a Thread* transmission had decreased dramatically!

This resulted in Ning Zhuo's performance of entering and exiting checkpoints being far stronger than before.

The *Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's* eyes gradually widened as a sense of unease grew stronger in its heart, even causing it to feel a little panicked.

A terrifying thought involuntarily surfaced in its mind: Could it be that Ning Zhuo had already mastered the *Life Hanging by a Thread* divine ability?!

But it ultimately had no evidence.

The reason it could use the *Life Hanging by a Thread* divine ability was merely by borrowing the power of the Lava Immortal Palace. It did not possess this ability itself and could not see the *Life Hanging by a Thread*.

Finally, Ning Zhuo no longer kept going in and out.

He had reached his limit.

His soul power was nearly depleted, and at this moment, he particularly missed Han Ming. "After this time, Han Ming should have mostly recovered, right?"

"If my soul power continues to grow, I'll certainly be able to go in and out more times and quickly collect all the *Phantom True Lotus Seeds*."

At this point, Ning Zhuo's soul power had only a little left.

He could have continued to claim one more *Phantom True Lotus Seed*, but he didn't.

He wanted to conduct a crucial experiment.

Ning Zhuo retreated to the first central hall.

Once again, he faced the three gates of Buddha, Dao, and Demon.

"Buddha Gate and Demon Gate are both my vulnerabilities!"

"The Demon Gate has the *Demonic Blood Tendon Technique*. Yuan Dasheng once tried to use it publicly, and Zhu Xuanji caught a hint."

"If in the future, the *Demonic Blood Tendon Technique* is known to others and word reaches Zhu Xuanji, he will undoubtedly reexamine everything that happened during the Huoshi Festival. And as the one who ultimately obtained Yuan Dasheng's corpse, I will naturally be the prime suspect."

"The Buddha Gate's vulnerability lies in the first checkpoint!"

"If in the future, others obtain the special mechanical construct of the Immortal Palace in this checkpoint…"

"…then they will discover that they can freely bring this mechanical construct in and out of the Lava Immortal Palace."

"Yuan Dasheng's identity would then be questioned again."

"If I could hide the Demon Gate and Buddha Gate, that would be ideal!"

This had been Ning Zhuo's long-standing thought.

He had tried before, but all previous attempts had failed.

This time, he still wanted to give it another try.

"Because, I have become stronger."

"I have mastered the prototype of the *Life Hanging by a Thread* divine ability."

"My cultivation has also greatly improved!"

*Buddha Heart Demon Seal!*

Ning Zhuo activated it with all his might, and his soul power plummeted.

In exchange, the stone wall slowly rose, eventually completely covering the Buddha Gate.

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