**: Could Ning Zhuo Have Talent?!**

"What's wrong with you all?" Ning Zhuo wore an expression of 'sensing the atmosphere seemed off' and asked with a puzzled face.

Zheng Jian gave a dry laugh: "Little brother Ning Zhuo, you've oversimplified things a bit."

Zhou Zhu nodded: "Correct."

Ning Xiaohui snorted coldly: "That Molten Immortal Palace is one of the former palaces of the Three Sects Honored One, it's no small matter. The Three Sects Honored One was a Refining Void powerhouse. The trials left behind for their inheritance, how could their difficulty be easily dealt with?"

"Your fighting spirit is commendable, but you are indeed a frog at the bottom of a well, looking down on everyone."

"Don't say such things in the future."

Ning Zhuo let out an "Ah?" sound and quickly nodded in agreement: "Oh, oh."

He had been carefully observing everyone's expressions.

The reason he spoke like that was to provoke Zheng Jian and Zhou Zhu, hoping to顺势 probe out the subsequent action plans of the Zhou and Zheng families.

He hadn't expected his reminder to bring back the painful memories of the past, dealing another heavy blow to Zheng Jian and Zhou Zhu.

Zheng Jian smiled bitterly: "The difficulty of the Three Sects Honored One's trials is truly too high. Don't laugh, Brother Ning Zhuo, but we haven't even passed the first level."

"Ah?" Ning Zhuo widened his eyes, looking quite surprised.

Among everyone present, Zheng Jian was the oldest. Added to his inherently straightforward nature, he chose to frankly disclose his poor results rather than hide them.

In fact, since Ning Zhuo would definitely enter the Immortal Palace next, he would find out anyway, so there was no need to hide it from him.

"What exactly is the first level? It could actually stump Brother Zheng Jian and Brother Zhou Zhu?" Ning Zhuo couldn't help but press further.

Ning Xiaohui couldn't help but let out a light laugh, thinking: "What Zheng Jian said was still putting it nicely. In fact, they've never even seen the full picture of the first level."

She had never entered the Immortal Palace, not even once.

On one hand, she hadn't been at the third-level peak for very long; on the other hand, she was always protected by talismans and wasn't subject to soul extraction.

After the Ning family learned the information from the other two families, they determined that even if Ning Xiaohui entered the palace, she wouldn't be able to accomplish much, so they simply had her maintain her condition, waiting for the right opportunity.

Because of this, Ning Xiaohui hadn't tasted failure and felt no empathy for Zheng Jian and Zhou Zhu's experiences.

Seeing that Ning Zhuo was about to ask more questions, Zhou Zeshen quickly clapped his hands, interrupting him: "Everyone, just eating and drinking is a bit dull."

"My Zhou family recently recruited a Mechanism Cultivator named Chu Xiyao. She's quite talented."

"Brother Zheng, Chu Xiyao also came along to this banquet and is currently waiting in the main hall."

"How about inviting her up to set up a game board for everyone's entertainment?"

Zheng Jian looked deeply at Zhou Zeshen, then nodded: "Since Brother Zhou has this intention, I naturally welcome it wholeheartedly. Please invite that great talent up quickly."

A moment later.

Chu Xiyao opened the door and entered, bowing and greeting everyone present.

She was a female cultivator with above-average looks and an attractive aura. Her eyebrows drooped slightly, her expression sorrowful, and especially her waist was very, very slender, her posture like a delicate willow swaying in the wind, evoking much pity.

Although she was clearly at the Foundation Establishment stage, she adopted a very humble posture towards the Qi Refining stage cultivators present.

The cultivation world revered strength.

But given the circumstances, this wasn't surprising.

On one hand, the power gap between Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining wasn't particularly vast, and there were many situations where it could be bridged.

On the other hand, this was the Righteous Path, not the demonic path of jungle slaughter.

A significant part of Chu Xiyao's respect was due to Zheng Jian and the others' talent.

Cultivators who possess a spiritual root can cultivate.

In ancient times, those with spiritual roots were extremely rare, so merely having a spiritual root was prestigious enough.

As times developed, the number of cultivators increased, and they began pursuing excellent spiritual roots.

Developing to the present day, spiritual energy has become increasingly abundant. For cultivators, spiritual roots are no longer a big deal; talent is what deserves admiration.

Chu Xiyao only had an immortal root, without any special talent. Given time, her cultivation would be easily surpassed by Zheng Jian and the others.

Therefore, her respect was essentially still based on revering strength.

It's just that those present would become strong in the future.

This was similar to how in some sects, promising disciples with excellent talent were immediately taken as personal disciples by the higher-ups. Even if they were only at the Qi Refining stage, they might hold an elder-level status and receive respect from the entire sect.

Ning Xiaohui felt curious: "Senior Chu's reputation, this junior has long heard of. My Ning family also once tried to hire you with a heavy reward."

"Senior refused our clan at the time, citing a dislike for constraints and a preference for freedom."

"This junior is quite curious, may I ask why you changed your mind and pledged allegiance to the Zhou family?"

Chu Xiyao sighed: "Isn't it all because of Zhu Xuanji?"

It turned out that Chu Xiyao herself was at the Foundation Establishment stage, skilled in mechanism arts, meeting the Immortal Palace's standards to enter personally and compete for the inheritance rights.

She had indeed entered the Immortal Palace before, suffered injuries, and also gained benefits.

During the Fire Persimmon Festival, Zhu Xuanji failed to intercept the shadowy demonic cultivator. Although not all his leads were broken, Zhu Xuanji believed these might be traps deliberately left by the real culprit.

Zhu Xuanji then obtained all the records from the four major powers of Fire Persimmon Immortal City and compiled a list of suspects.

He started verifying them one by one from the top of the list.

Li Leifeng was the first person he investigated.

After him was Zhao Die, who was killed by Zhu Xuanji for resisting and refusing to comply.

Chu Xiyao knew very well that she was definitely on this list as well. She didn't want to leave Fire Persimmon Immortal City and still wanted to wait for the chance to enter the Immortal Palace.

So, after much thought, she chose the Zhou family as a temporary patron.

Why do this?

She mainly considered two points.

First, it definitely couldn't be the City Lord's Manor. The City Lord's Manor was under the jurisdiction of the Southern Bean Dynasty, already a subordinate. If Chu Xiyao joined them, she would have even less reason to resist Zhu Xuanji's severe investigation.

Second, the conditions offered by the three great families were more lenient and far more attractive than the City Lord's Manor. Even if Zhu Xuanji came to trouble her, while the three great families couldn't resist openly, they could provide a degree of protection. At the very least, the three great families could secretly leak information, allowing Chu Xiyao to escape herself.

The three great families were rooted in Fire Persimmon Immortal City and all placed great importance on maintaining their family reputations.

After comprehensive consideration, Chu Xiyao chose the most powerful family among the three, the Zhou family.

Ning Zhuo's eyes flickered slightly.

By showing off and participating in this small banquet, he had obtained the first valuable piece of intelligence tonight.

"Are cultivators starting to form groups because of Zhu Xuanji's actions?"

"Some cultivators, with relatively clean backgrounds, will likely choose to依附 the four major powers. But there will certainly be some demonic cultivators who won't be accepted. They will either flee far away or band together. Fools who continue to act alone will almost certainly not exist."

"Zhu Xuanji is investigating the suspicious personnel one by one. I wonder if Mother is on that list?"

Ning Zhuo once again felt pressure.

Chu Xiyao patted her storage pouch and released a mechanical wooden box.

The box was square and rectangular. After landing on the ground, it quickly disassembled and gradually assembled into a rectangular maze board.

Ning Zhuo recognized at a glance that this board was modeled after the second room.

Although both Zhou Zhu and Zheng Jian had failed at the entrance heavy hammer, when the door opened, they would also catch a glimpse of the second room's appearance and layout.

After dying enough times, they could collect some valuable information.

After setting up the maze board, Chu Xiyao took out game pieces and distributed them to Zheng Jian and the others.

The pieces were also small mechanisms, like a wheel, with spokes and an axle.

"Isn't this a miniaturized 'One Wheel'?" Zheng Jian said, holding the piece and observing it.

Chu Xiyao nodded: "Yes, this is the One Wheel."

The One Wheel was a type of mechanical toy, often popular among child cultivators.

Children would pour their very meager bit of magic power into the One Wheel and then let the wheel move on its own. The children would compete to see whose wheel rolled the farthest.

It was called 'One Wheel' because the cultivator who invented it was of low strength and basically made an early exit (one-round trip) in various competitions and contests held by families, sects, and the state.

Chu Xiyao continued: "But the One Wheel I modified can not only absorb magic power but also store a certain amount of divine sense."

"What we need to do is infuse magic power and divine sense, then throw the piece into the maze board to see whose 'one-wheel journey' can go the farthest."

Zheng Jian had strong initiative. As soon as Chu Xiyao finished speaking, he threw his piece in.

His One Wheel swiftly moved through the maze board, turning multiple times, finally stopping after hitting a横亘 obstacle.

"Quite interesting." Zheng Jian's eyes sparkled with sharp light as he summarized, "Both magic power and divine sense need to be ample, and they must cooperate with each other. So, the calculation for each step must be precise and correct. Otherwise, once the coordination goes wrong, these tiny errors will quickly accumulate, continuously amplify, and affect and drag each other down until defeat."

Chu Xiyao gave a soft laugh and immediately flattered Zheng Jian for his sharp insight, hitting the nail on the head.

After Zheng Jian, Zhou Zeshen, Zhou Zhu, and Ning Xiaohui took their turns.

Zhou Zhu's piece went the shortest distance. Although Zhou Zeshen's cultivation was weaker, his piece traveled the longest distance.

Ning Xiaohui's One Wheel moved with clever steps, possessing a certain elegance, and the distance it covered was second only to Zhou Zeshen's.

"It's Brother Ning Zhuo's turn." Zhou Zeshen said with a smile.

For a moment, numerous gazes fell upon Ning Zhuo.

While Zhou Zeshen called it entertainment, its essence was more of a test. The cultivation world had always valued individual elites.

Without a doubt, based on this joint test, barring accidents, the internal competition among the three families would likely depend on the participants of this banquet.

The others were relatively familiar with each other; only Ning Zhuo had suddenly emerged. Even with gathered intelligence, he was the most unfamiliar.

Seemingly oblivious to the overt and covert attention from everyone, Ning Zhuo, after throwing his piece, kept his eyes closely following it, his face full of tension.

The One Wheel piece continuously turned through various obstacles. Its speed wasn't fast at all, lacking Ning Xiaohui's灵动秀气 or Zhou Zeshen's precision. But it simply reached the forefront, achieving a record unprecedented for everyone present.

"How could this be?" Zhou Zhu was stunned.

Both Zheng Jian and Zhou Zeshen looked at Ning Zhuo.

Even Ning Xiaohui showed a look of surprise, reassessing Ning Zhuo.

Chu Xiyao's beautiful eyes sparkled sharply: "It's the divine sense."

"This young master Ning's divine sense is exceptionally abundant, unusual for a Qi Refining cultivator."

"Therefore, he can sustain commanding the One Wheel piece for a relatively long time."

"Coupled with consuming magic power at a minimum level, he maximized the cooperation time between divine sense and magic power, achieving the best result."

Ning Zhuo scratched his head: "It seems that's the case. My divine sense does seem a bit more abundant than my peers."

"Could it be... talent?!" In an instant, the same question flashed through the minds of everyone present.

(End of )