: The Art of Five Elements Mutual Promotion and Restraint

Author: Gu Zhenren

Date: 2024-07-31

Ning Zhuo took only ten people with him to explore the Molten Rock Immortal Palace.

They pushed open Door One, Door Two, and Door Three, progressing smoothly along the way.

Soon, the group arrived at the preparation room.

Many eyes were fixed on the ranking list on the five-sided stone pillar.

The list was filled with names from the City Lord's mansion.

Meng Chong firmly held the second position.

The first place was the unshakable "Entry Standard."

"Meng Chong is still number one! Truly worthy of being an immortal talent!" Ning Yong sighed in admiration.

Ning Chen sighed, "With Meng Chong around, the City Lord's mansion's modification team always dominates the rankings. I really want to know what kind of rewards they get from the Immortal Palace each time."

Someone else added, "If it weren't for Meng Chong, we'd definitely be on the list. In that case, Brother Zhuo would surely be ranked first!"

Ning Zhuo smiled inwardly, "I already am, and always have been, number one."

"And the real second place isn't Meng Chong, but Boss Sun. It's just that he isn't on the list."

In this regard, Ning Zhuo had hidden things quite well.

So far, no one had discovered the trick behind the "Entry Standard."

Next, the Ning family cultivators also discussed the entry standard. Everyone marveled at the fact that the Three Sects' Masters were indeed Void Refining experts with high standards. Despite their long attempts, no one had yet met the entry standard. Even a talent like Meng Chong hadn't achieved it.

Some also speculated about Meng Chong's actual progress. Since he firmly held second place, just how far had he advanced?

With the Golden Blood War Ape, Da Sheng, as an insider, Ning Zhuo knew Meng Chong's actual progress very well—the first Dao Gate checkpoint.

This was the result of Ning Zhuo intentionally going easy on him.

The Golden Blood War Ape, Da Sheng, did not appear frequently to intercept Meng Chong.

Even though Meng Chong shouted and yelled every time he entered, constantly calling for the mechanical ape. He really wanted a rematch with Yuan Da Sheng to regain face.

Ning Zhuo needed Meng Chong to achieve results.

Ning Zhuo needed his cultivation to "progress." His publicly announced Qi Refining third layer cultivation was indeed a bit low. He needed a suitable reason to display stronger Qi Refining cultivation.

To become stronger, he needed the fourth to sixth layer techniques of the *Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art* to be revealed.

Ning Zhuo's plan was to let Meng Chong achieve such good results first, then follow up himself, reaching the checkpoint where he could obtain the subsequent techniques.

Meng Chong had to accomplish it first.

On one hand, it was about the rankings. On the other hand, Ning Zhuo needed to maintain a secret cooperative relationship with the City Lord's mansion.

If Ning Zhuo's results surpassed Meng Chong's, the City Lord's mansion would likely take action to suppress him. At that time, even if Fei Si appreciated Ning Zhuo, he wouldn't be able to defy the will of Meng Chong and Meng Kui and would have to act against Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo had just reclaimed the black market and didn't want Fei Si to expel him so quickly.

"Anyway, I've closed off the Demon and Buddhist paths."

"The subsequent checkpoints on the Dao Gate path have a sharp increase in difficulty. It won't be easy for Meng Chong to surpass me with his strength."

"Based on current reconnaissance, the possibility of Meng Chong surpassing me is extremely slim."

"Judging by the Three Sects' Masters' design style, there's likely a third Dao Gate that requires cultivating the *Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art* to the peak of the ninth layer to open."

Leaving other things aside, Meng Chong's cultivation was solidly at Qi Refining third layer.

To open the second Dao Gate, he would need to cultivate to the peak of the sixth layer of the Qi Sea. So far, he hadn't even obtained the subsequent fourth to sixth layer Qi Refining techniques.

Room Four, Room Five, Room Six...

The combined wooden puppet giant, under Ning Zhuo's control, charged forward recklessly.

"Brother Zhuo, charge! Charge all the way through!"

"Brother Zhuo, you're stronger than before!"

"Yeah! I feel the same way."

Ning Yong and the others were carried along by Ning Zhuo, shouting and cheering excitedly along the way, having a great time.

At this moment, their feelings towards Ning Zhuo were somewhat different from before.

Ning Zhuo controlled the black market with calm command. Especially since the older generation Foundation Building uncles had gone to work in the black market, becoming Ning Zhuo's subordinates, this deeply affected Ning Chen, Ning Yong, and the others, to the point of being shocking.

If before, they were sincerely convinced by Ning Zhuo.

Now, they were prostrating in admiration, completely bowing to him.

Ning Zhuo was deeply aware of their change in attitude because he could see the threads of life.

These people's life threads showed unprecedented toughness and solidity.

"The eighth checkpoint is cleared!"

"Brother Zhuo's strength has clearly increased, it's like a rebirth."

"Use my leg, Brother Zhuo!"

"No, use my arm to beat the enemies. Brother Zhuo, I'm too idle!"

"Ninth checkpoint, ninth checkpoint! Wow, this is my first time here. So this is what it looks like."

Amid everyone's cheers, Ning Zhuo cleared the ninth checkpoint and arrived at the transfer hall.

"Roar!"

At the right time and place, the Golden Blood War Ape, Da Sheng, appeared.

After a fierce battle, the giant wooden puppet disintegrated, leaving only Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo returned to his individual form and quickly rushed forward with Yuan Da Sheng.

He pushed open the second Dao Gate and entered, happily discovering that the Dao Gate checkpoint was indeed quite special!

Ning Zhuo was imbued with a spell called the *Art of Five Elements Mutual Promotion and Restraint*.

The principle of this technique was quite simple: the Five Elements mutual promotion (Wood promotes Fire, Fire promotes Earth, Earth promotes Metal, Metal promotes Water, Water promotes Wood) and mutual restraint (Wood restrains Earth, Earth restrains Water, Water restrains Fire, Fire restrains Metal, Metal restrains Wood).

But using it was very complex.

From the simplest perspective, this technique could be divided into ten minor spells, corresponding to the aspects of promotion and restraint.

On this basis, the spells could be linked together. For example, after Wood promotes Fire, immediately followed by Fire promoting Earth, resulting in Wood element spiritual power ultimately obtaining Earth element spiritual power.

It wasn't just promotion; there were also chains of restraint.

The combination of these spells formed very complex relationship diagrams.

Ning Zhuo tried it out briefly and soon discovered that this *Art of Five Elements Mutual Promotion and Restraint* had extraordinary significance for the *Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art*.

"Before, to use the Embrace Ice Technique, I had to extract the Water element part from my Five Elements法力."

"But now, I can convert the other four elements'法力 into Water element法力."

"This way, I can have pure Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth element法力. Using this for techniques like Embrace Ice not only makes it more convenient but also provides ample法力, making the Embrace Ice Technique more powerful!"

After obtaining the *Art of Five Elements Mutual Promotion and Restraint*, Ning Zhuo faced another choice.

The room's walls were covered with palm-sized discs. Some were perfectly round, some oval, resembling formation disks.

Each formation disk had symbols of the Five Elements and intricate formation pattern carvings.

"These devices are called Five Elements Spirit Conversion Disks. I need to use Five Elements法力 to unlock the puzzles on the disks before I can take them for my own use."

Clearly, the more complex and difficult the puzzle on the Five Elements Spirit Conversion Disk, the higher its quality.

This time, Ning Zhuo's opportunity wasn't as favorable as in the Buddhist path.

In the first checkpoint of the Buddhist path, he presented Yuan Da Sheng's corpse and obtained the Golden Blood War Ape, Da Sheng, taking great advantage of his immortal talent.

But in the special checkpoint of the second Dao Gate, he could only rely on his proficiency in Five Elements spells to try to solve the puzzles and obtain a Five Elements Spirit Conversion Disk.

He was still too young and lacked time to practice spells. The reason he often taught others his spellcasting insights was basically relying on the ranking rewards, which caused an abnormal accumulation of his spellcasting experience.

Ning Zhuo tried for a while, then voluntarily exited the Dao Gate and entered the Buddhist path to attempt clearing it.

His Qi Sea cultivation had been directly boosted to the sixth layer peak due to his Divine Sea cultivation, aided by the Ice Jade Wine.

Ning Zhuo knew perfectly well that his greatest advantage still lay in the Divine Sea. Therefore, the Buddhist path was the most suitable for his main focus.

But the attempt still failed.

After his soul returned to his body, Ning Zhuo received praise from the entire clan once again!

He cleared the ninth checkpoint, entered the transfer hall, and saw the Dao Gate. Such achievement ranked first in the Ning family, breaking his previous record.

Amid the numerous praises, Ning Zhuo remained calm.

On one hand, this was due to Sun Lingtong's years of teaching; on the other, Ning Zhuo was very clear about the situation.

With the recruitment order issued, the situation was much more complex than before!

Ning Zhuo had to ensure he maintained a competitive advantage on the path of soul entry into the Immortal Palace while closely monitoring the competitive path of physical entry.

Zhu Xuanji was an outstanding figure on the latter path.

This made Ning Zhuo feel pressured but also庆幸 that Zhu Xuanji's focus had shifted from investigating cases to the Immortal Palace.

On the arena of soul entry into the Immortal Palace, Meng Chong, possessing immortal talent, was the strongest challenger to Ning Zhuo.

In exploring the Molten Rock Immortal Palace, Ning Zhuo also encountered a bottleneck, stuck at the first checkpoint of the second Buddhist Gate and second Dao Gate.

What Ning Zhuo needed to do now was fully advance his own cultivation!

Based on his understanding of the Molten Rock Immortal Palace, it was highly likely that third Buddhist, Dao, and Demon Gates would appear next. By then, he would need corresponding cultivation levels to push open the doors and enter.

Unlike Meng Chong or Ning Xiaohui, who had their families supporting them, allowing them to focus solely on one task.

Ning Zhuo had to maneuver among various major forces, finding opportunities to create space for his own development, and strive to absorb external resources to the fullest.

For example, the Ice Jade Wine was something Ning Zhuo urgently needed.

With it, he directly saved several months of hard work, boosting his Qi Sea cultivation directly to the sixth layer peak!

Ning Zhuo explored the Molten Rock Immortal Palace and achieved great results again!

When Ning Xiaohui heard this news, her face turned somewhat pale.

Recently, Ning Zhuo was definitely the talk of the Ning family! He pulled the young clan leader, Ning Xiaoren, from his position, and in the blink of an eye, unified the black market, becoming its new master.

Then, Ning Zhuo gathered most of the modification team members and achieved success in exploration again, reaching the transfer hall.

Ning Xiaohui felt extremely pressured!

Every time Ning Zhuo succeeded in exploring the Immortal Palace, Ning Xiaohui felt as if an invisible slap struck her face, making her feel ashamed and angry.

Ning Xiaohui knew deeply that she bore the dignity of the main lineage!

"I must explore the Immortal Palace and achieve results surpassing Ning Zhuo to be considered acceptable!"

"Exploring alone, that mechanical ape shouldn't find me so quickly, right?"

"Molten Rock Immortal Palace, here I come!"

Ning Xiaohui opened her eyes and, in puppet form, pushed open the first door.

Yuan Da Sheng was already waiting, baring his teeth at Ning Xiaohui with a slight smile.

Ning Xiaohui felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

(End of )