: Crafting the Mechanism

In the secret room, five Golden Core elders from three families gathered together.

"The alliance of our three families... has failed." Zhou Nongying sighed.

Zheng Danlian looked towards the Ning family elder.

The jade slip made it clear that the key reason for the failure of the three families' joint exploration of the immortal palace was Ning Xiaohui's public infighting!

The nature of this act was excessively vile.

The Ning family elder seemed completely oblivious to these gazes: "Even if we had won this battle, the difficulty of exploring the Molten Rock Immortal Palace is evident."

"The path of soul entry into the immortal palace isn't that easy."

This analysis struck a chord with the others.

Even in this regretful narrow defeat, the Golden Core elders of the three families saw the combat power improvements of Yuan Dasheng and Qi Bai.

In this battle, the material quality of the two mechanical constructs was clearly a grade superior to before. Moreover, they utilized many novel mechanical components. The self-destructing ape mechanism, wind-fire wheels, the mechanical rope that captured Ning Xie, etc., all achieved significant combat results, not to be underestimated.

Naturally, the three families' Golden Core elders attributed such improvements to the Molten Rock Immortal Palace and the deliberate arrangements of the Three Sects' Master.

They would never imagine that a mastermind was manipulating everything from behind the scenes!

"Even if the Qi Refining juniors of the three-family alliance regroup and achieve good results, they cannot advance triumphantly."

"The soul entry path to the immortal palace still has its difficulties."

"Meng Chong possesses immortal aptitude, the City Lord's Mansion's modification team dominates the rankings. For our modification team to defeat such opponents... it's difficult!"

The Golden Core elders secretly communicated via divine sense for a while, gradually reaching a consensus.

That was: to set out together, cooperate with Zhu Xuanji, delve deep into the Fire Persimmon Mountain, and recapture the demon general mechanism!

From the perspective of the three families, they preferred Zhu Xuanji to ultimately obtain the immortal palace, not Meng Kui.

If Meng Kui obtained the immortal palace, the Meng family would massively enter the immortal city, greatly squeezing the living space of the three families.

But aiding Zhu Xuanji, if Zhu Xuanji ultimately won, then the three families would have rendered service to the royal family, which would certainly be more beneficial for stabilizing the three families' position in Fire Persimmon Immortal City!

Zheng Shuang gou said: "Fellow Daoists, delving into the volcano entails risking our lives."

"Before acting, my clan urgently needs to forge that mechanical weapon!"

The other Golden Cores were slightly stunned, then simultaneously nodded.

The Zheng family, years ago, obtained a mechanical blueprint in the Molten Rock Immortal Palace. According to the blueprint, the Zheng family expended great cost to secretly forge a mechanical weapon.

This weapon was extremely powerful; even unfinished, it had already provided the Zheng family with significant help.

Previously, during the bet between the four Golden Cores of the Zheng and Zhou families, the two Zheng immortals entered the Night Star Silken Array, relying on this weapon's advantage to successfully break through the array.

The Zhou family's dual-cultivator Golden Cores thus learned of this weapon.

The Zheng family proactively traded for the Nine Sun Ox Yellow Paste, gaining the approval of the Zhou dual-cultivators, who later agreed to help the Zheng family complete the subsequent forging of the mechanical weapon.

But relying solely on the Zhou family's array methods wasn't enough.

Afterwards, the Zheng family intentionally drew closer to the Ning family, hoping the Ning family would provide powerful extreme cold quenching methods to help complete this mechanical weapon.

The Zheng and Ning families thus became very close, secretly exchanging many benefits.

For example, Zheng Jian obtained the Ice Heart Talisman, and Ning Xiaohui, under the personal guidance of Zheng family cultivators, refined the Ghost Warrior.

Therefore, the Ning family elder also knew of this mechanical weapon and had even seen the blueprint.

"If this item is forged, it would indeed be very helpful!" Zhou Nongying had a rather deep impression of the mechanical weapon.

The Ning family elder frowned inwardly.

Truthfully, he was unwilling to see the Zheng family master such a powerful weapon.

In his interactions with the Zheng family Golden Cores, he pinpointed this ambition of the Zheng family and secured many benefits for the Ning family.

In the Ning family elder's plan, he wanted to dangle this mechanical weapon to keep the Zheng family interested.

But now, with the exploration of Fire Persimmon Mountain imminent, the Ning family elder also deeply felt the crisis. The Zheng family forging this item would indeed help ensure everyone's survival.

The Ning family elder frowned deeply, shook his head, and sighed, indicating that using his extreme cold methods would damage himself, greatly affecting his combat power.

He was unwilling to assist with quenching before delving into Fire Persimmon Mountain.

He preferred to find an opportunity to help the Zheng family after the Fire Persimmon Mountain trip.

Zheng Danlian and Zheng Shuang gou exchanged a glance, both seeing the other's determination.

The Ning family elder's evasion was within their expectations.

It didn't matter!

The Zheng dual-cultivators had their own method to force the Ning family elder to comply.

This method was—Zhu Xuanji.

The Zheng dual-cultivators found Zhu Xuanji, stating they had changed their minds; to enter Fire Persimmon Mountain, they needed to forge a certain mechanical weapon.

And forging this mechanical weapon required the Ning family elder's extreme cold methods for quenching.

Hearing this, Zhu Xuanji immediately expressed willingness to help. He soon found the Ning family elder. After a secret conversation, the Ning family elder, pressured by the royal family, had no choice but to agree.

Ning Zhuo came to the clan leader's residence and met the Ning family leader.

"Clan branch member Ning Zhuo pays respects to the Clan Leader!" Ning Zhuo clasped his hands; his etiquette was flawless, but his tone was flat and distant.

The Ning family leader, however, piled on a smile, beckoning Ning Zhuo: "Come, little Zhuo, sit here. Don't stand."

Ning Zhuo's expression was blank: "Clan Leader, if you have something to say, please speak directly. I have some black market affairs to attend to."

"Haha. I know, I know you're very busy." The Ning family leader laughed a few times, his tone gentle, "I called you here mainly for Ning Xiaohui's matter."

"You know..."

Ning Zhuo immediately interrupted: "Ning Xiaohui harmed me! Is the Clan Leader speaking on her behalf?!"

"It's not framing, not framing." The Ning family leader repeatedly denied, "We're all family, how can it be framing?!"

"Ning Xiaohui is just too young, at the critical moment, she couldn't withstand the pressure and made a mistake."

The Ning family leader finally emphasized: "It was a mistake, truly a mistake!"

Ning Zhuo sneered thinly: "If the Clan Leader thinks so, I have nothing more to say."

"However..."

"Do you really think so? Or are you deceiving yourself?"

"Do the Ning family elders think so too? Or do most people think so?"

The smile on the Ning family leader's face grew even brighter: "So, I specifically invited you, little Zhuo, to have you come forward and clarify this matter. Any remuneration can be discussed!"

Ning Zhuo was slightly stunned, then his eyes lit up: "Oh?"

A short while later, he left the clan leader's study quite satisfied.

Once sure Ning Zhuo had left, the sound of things being smashed immediately echoed from the clan leader's study.

The noise lasted a long time before gradually stopping.

Ning Zhuo secretly went to the underground base and met with Sun Lingtong in secret.

Sun Lingtong was quite happy to see Ning Zhuo, jumping up, hugging Ning Zhuo's shoulders, and patting him hard.

"Little brother, you're here!"

Although the two had met many times in the Molten Rock Immortal Palace, their actual face-to-face meetings recently were few and far between.

Sun Lingtong spent his days in the underground secret base, seeing no outsiders, which had bored him terribly.

Seeing his dear little brother, Sun Lingtong was naturally exceptionally happy.

What made him even happier was the brothers inspecting the biggest trophy of this battle—the ghost cultivator Ning Xie!

Ning Xie was tightly sealed, motionless, with over a dozen talismans pasted all over his body.

"Big brother, how should we handle him? Do you have any good ideas?" Ning Zhuo asked.

Sun Lingtong shook his head: "If Qi Bai had soul-refining methods, we could let it refine him."

"But now, its spirituality has dropped to 56%, it's simply impossible."

Sun Lingtong looked up and sighed.

Before the battle, Sun Lingtong risked unlocking Qi Bai's storage bag and used the Cremation Prajna Spirit Liberation Sutra to burn Qi Bai's personal items, helping the Netherworld Envoy·Qi Bai regain significant spirituality.

Its spirituality once reached as high as 92%.

But after the recent big battle, Qi Bai's spirituality dropped sharply, now down to 56%.

Originally, Ning Xie possessed the innate talent Snow Soul Ice魄, and being a ghost cultivator, he was very suitable for transformation into a ghost general.

The ghost general Qi Bai controlled in life had suppressed Ning Zhuo, leaving a deep impression on the latter.

But for the Netherworld Envoy·Qi Bai to regain soul-refining capability, it would have to wait until it passed the灵动期 and developed strong spiritual intelligence; only then would there be such a possibility.

This pace was too slow!

Sun Lingtong preferred to use him now to enhance their own strength.

Ning Zhuo understood: "So, we refine him into a mechanical component?"

"Mm, mm!" Sun Lingtong nodded repeatedly.

The Ning family wasn't a major sect like the Soul Devouring Sect or the Unempty Gate; their markings on clan members weren't sufficient to identify the killer.

This allowed Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong to dispose of their enemy Ning Xie as they pleased.

Without hesitation, the two opened the furnace and threw Ning Xie inside.

Then, they simultaneously activated the Cremation Prajna Spirit Liberation Sutra, working together to light the furnace, granting Ning Xie true peace after death.

"Too hot, too hot." Sun Lingtong ended the refining, letting the furnace cool.

He used his small hands as fans, waving at his red, sweaty face.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He took out the Netherworld Envoy·Qi Bai and called to Ning Zhuo: "Little Zhuo, over here."

Qi Bai, in the recent battle, had eliminated several members of the modification team, using the Soul Devouring Technique multiple times.

"Big brother, you go first!" Ning Zhuo quickly came to Sun Lingtong's side.

Sun Lingtong didn't stand on ceremony, controlling Qi Bai to channel a large amount of soul essence into himself.

"Comfortable, so comfortable!" Sun Lingtong closed his eyes, unable to contain his joy.

"Little Zhuo, you come, you come." After absorbing half the soul essence, he gave his spot to Ning Zhuo.

Then, Ning Zhuo also received nourishment from the soul essence.

His soul foundation, over a hundred times stronger, was striding大步 towards the two hundred mark!

After taking all the soul essence, both were full of energy.

Once the furnace cooled completely, they opened it and took out a millstone-sized mechanical sphere.

The sphere's surface was a layer of glass casing. A circle of blue strip-shaped crystals ran around the midline of the casing, like a blue belt.

The upper and lower poles of the sphere casing each had a circular blue crystal.

Inside the casing, white mist constantly churned, sometimes expanding, sometimes contracting.

The mechanical sphere floated in mid-air, emitting a slight cold air.

Spirituality: 36%.

Mechanism—Weather Sphere·Ice Crystal Snow!

(End of )