: Divine Lotus Blooms

Author: Gu Zhenren

July 31, 2024

After the two Zhou family geniuses recovered from their injuries, they couldn't wait to form a three-family alliance team to explore the Lava Immortal Palace together.

Clearly, the three forces hadn't uncovered the true situation within the City Lord's Manor. Before setting off, they were still fantasizing that if they encountered Jinxue Zhanyuan·Da Sheng again, they would pool their strength to take down Yuan Dasheng!

As a result, the three-family alliance team struck out with full force, only to repeat the City Lord's Manor's disastrous outcome. Over twenty Qi Refinement cultivators had their souls devoured, allowing Ning Zhuo to feast to his heart's content!

Ning Zhuo arrived at the third Buddhist trial gate, entering and exiting repeatedly. His unrestrained, arrogant attitude infuriated the Longyuan Fire Spirit so much that its fists clenched tight, repeatedly pounding the armrest of its throne.

The Illusory Truth Lotus Seed was his only option.

The nascent form of the Life-Threading Lotus supernatural ability surged once more. The lotus leaf, once palm-sized, expanded fiercely to the size of a washbasin, emerald green like jade.

At Sun Lingtong's主动 request, Ning Zhuo also implanted a Life-Threading Lotus within the Nether Envoy·Qi Bai.

This way, even if Sun Lingtong's soul returned to her physical body and she was no longer in the trial gates of the Lava Immortal Palace, she could still leave Qi Bai behind for Ning Zhuo to control.

"Qi Bai's spirituality has depleted by one point eight tenths," Ning Zhuo felt regretful.

The biggest cost the Nether Envoy·Qi Bai paid for participating in battles and devouring others' souls was the loss of its spirituality.

Before reaching full capacity (ten tenths), spirituality cannot become self-sufficient, meaning it cannot recover naturally.

However, despite trying multiple methods, Ning Zhuo had yet to discover a way to increase its spirituality.

"Look on the bright side, brother!" In this regard, Sun Lingtong was more carefree. "I think this deal is totally worth it!"

"We lost a bit of spirituality, but in exchange, you can absorb the Illusory Truth Lotus Seeds faster and in greater quantity, boosting the Life-Threading Lotus supernatural ability."

"That's a huge profit."

"So, even if all the spirituality is consumed, it's still worth it."

Ning Zhuo sighed, knowing Sun Lingtong made a good point. But he had always held a fondness for mechanical constructs and genuinely disliked the idea of seeing the mechanical Qi Bai "die."

Over the next ten-plus days, Ning Zhuo fortunately enjoyed a period of peaceful cultivation.

Meng Kui still held his position atop the mountain, sealing the surrounding area, but he couldn't stop Zhu Xuanji from leading the three families' Golden Core cultivators.

Zhu Xuanji understood priorities well. Since discovering the Lava Immortal Palace's weakness, he had set aside the investigation. He frequently entered the palace himself, both to explore and to increase his own contribution points.

After the City Lord's Manor recovered, they launched two assaults under Meng Chong's leadership.

The three families' modified cultivation teams regrouped, but after suffering a second comprehensive defeat under the combined attacks of the Nether Envoy·Qi Bai and Jinxue Zhanyuan·Da Sheng, they promptly abandoned the idea of large-scale group actions.

Based on their speculation, the Lava Immortal Palace had a mechanism that adjusted the trial difficulty according to the challengers' specific strength.

Therefore, as long as they acted alone or in small teams of two or three, they wouldn't encounter the abnormally powerful mechanical constructs Yuan Dasheng and Qi Bai.

As they hoped, Ning Zhuo significantly reduced the appearances of Yuan Dasheng and Qi Bai.

On one hand, after several rounds of large-scale soul devouring, Qi Bai's spirituality had dropped below one tenth. Although Sun Lingtong didn't mind, Ning Zhuo decided to preserve this spark of spirituality.

As for Jinxue Zhanyuan·Da Sheng, it wasn't without battle damage either. Currently, Ning Zhuo's mechanical arts proficiency wasn't sufficient to truly repair it; at best, he could patch it up. The overall combat power of the construct was actually declining.

On the other hand, Ning Zhuo didn't want to completely crush the confidence of the three-family alliance or the City Lord's Manor forces.

He needed to give these people some hope, to motivate them to continue forward and to keep increasing their resource investment.

The various cultivation resources provided by the three-family alliance had been a tremendous help to Ning Zhuo's own rapid progress in cultivation.

With the soul essence returned by Qi Bai, Ning Zhuo's soul foundation saw another massive increase.

Compared to before encountering Han Ming, it had increased by over 150 times!

This made Ning Zhuo's soul power far surpass that of any other Qi Refinement cultivator. It also allowed him to use the power of the My Buddha, Heart Demon Seal more times consecutively, helping him frantically select rewards.

The Illusory Truth Lotus Seeds... were all selected by him.

The nascent form of the Life-Threading Lotus supernatural ability also changed in appearance. Within Ning Zhuo's Divine Sea Dantian, atop its jade-green lotus leaf, rested a plump pinkish-white lotus bud. The bud was full, giving a sense of being on the verge of blooming.

"Only a little away from perfection."

"No... still quite far..."

The nascent supernatural ability gave Ning Zhuo two contradictory perceptions.

After discussing and making educated guesses with Sun Lingtong, the two believed: The nascent supernatural ability was very close to perfection! But this final step, while seemingly small, was extremely crucial. The difficulty of crossing it was very high. Without crossing it, a qualitative transformation couldn't be achieved to reach the state of perfect completion (ten-tenths).

Just like the previous requirement for full spirituality (ten-tenths).

Therefore, the distance to perfection was both very small and very large.

"Why couldn't there be just a few more Illusory Truth Lotus Seeds?" Sun Lingtong felt it was a pity.

Ning Zhuo, however, shook his head: "I believe the final step must be crossed by the cultivator alone."

He wasn't guessing randomly; he had a basis.

Ning Zhuo: "The last dozen or so Illusory Truth Lotus Seeds provided very little help to the nascent ability. The growth rate of the nascent ability was minimal; the benefit gained from the Lotus Seeds was truly decreasing."

Sun Lingtong pondered for a moment, then nodded, accepting Ning Zhuo's conjecture.

But what to do next?

How to achieve perfection of the supernatural ability?

After discussing for a long time, neither Sun nor Ning could come up with a reliable guess.

At the volcano's peak, deep within the clouds and mist.

Meng Kui invited Zhu Xuanji for a discussion.

"Lord Zhu, rumors are spreading, the news won't die down."

"Even though I remain stationed here all day, I can't stop the news from spreading further and further."

"Recently, more and more outside cultivators have entered Fire Persimmon Immortal City. There are even reports that the Soul-Devouring Sect and the Unempty Gate have dispatched their true disciples."

"The Taiqing Palace and the Zixiao Pavilion have also sent formal notices, using the pretext of combating demonic paths, wanting to send their true disciples into Fire Persimmon Immortal City."

"Under such circumstances, relying solely on me to hold the fort恐怕难以周全 (kǒng pà nán yǐ zhōu quán - I'm afraid it will be difficult to manage comprehensively). I hope Lord Zhu will jointly submit a memorial with me, requesting the court to send reinforcements!"

Zhu Xuanji looked deeply at Meng Kui. He had also witnessed the evolution of the situation during this time. He nodded slightly: "Alright, I will submit a joint memorial with you."

Qi Refinement: Sixth Layer, Early Stage.

Essence Refinement: Sixth Layer, Middle Stage.

Divine Refinement: Sixth Layer, Peak!

Ning Zhuo ended a day of arduous cultivation, exhaling a turbid breath.

In just over ten days, his cultivation had advanced significantly once again.

Generally speaking, upon reaching the middle stages of Qi Refinement, the cultivation speed slows down considerably compared to the early stages.

However, the three cultivation techniques arranged by the Three Sects Sage all had advantages in terms of cultivation speed.

Provided resources were sufficient.

And Ning Zhuo's resources came from various sources; they were truly ample.

His strongest area was still his Divine Sea cultivation, which climbed steadily, its progress never slowing, reaching the peak of the sixth layer.

Having reached this point, Ning Zhuo could finally push forward through the gates once more.

"It's time to showcase my exceptional talent in mechanical arts again." With this thought, Ning Zhuo summoned Ning Chen and Ning Yong.

(End of )