**: Crafting the Mechanism**

"Demonic nature? It's just a weapon. Used for good, it's good; used for evil, it's evil," Zheng Danlian shook his head.

Zhu Xuanji said, "The cultivation techniques, spells, and artifact refining methods of the Night Rain Dynasty were almost completely lost after being suppressed and banned by one subsequent dynasty and two empires. They are vastly different from what we know today."

"Your view only applies to the cultivation methods we are familiar with; it doesn't apply to the Night Rain Dynasty."

"Think about it. During the Night Rain Dynasty, every time night fell, the entire world would plunge into endless slaughter under the cover of darkness."

"The darkness was filled with despair and madness; the people lived in misery!"

"Were there no rational people left in the entire world? The cultivation techniques themselves had serious flaws. With such techniques, how could the weapons forged not have problems?"

The group of Golden Core cultivators fell silent.

Zheng Shuangou had to nod in agreement. "Indeed, nothing passed down from the Night Rain Dynasty lacks a heavy killing nature!"

But then, he abruptly changed the subject.

"That's precisely why, after much deliberation, we conceived a comprehensive method to refine it."

"In this refining process, we must first refine it to death, then let it be reborn from death, thoroughly remolded."

"Lord Divine Constable, we fully understand your concerns; they are ours as well."

"Why not proceed with our established plan and refine it first?"

"At worst, once we enter the Fire Persimmon Mountain, we simply won't use it!"

"Very well," Zhu Xuanji sighed softly. The arrow was already on the bowstring; he had to proceed. He felt somewhat outmaneuvered by the three Golden Core families.

But given the circumstances and his need for their assistance, Zhu Xuanji had no choice but to compromise.

The light from the Artificer's Lamp grew increasingly intense, bathing the entire refining room in a red glow.

The red light illuminated the surroundings, penetrating even the powerful operational arrays.

The faces of every Golden Core cultivator were tinged with a deep crimson hue.

The red light accumulated, growing denser, gradually coalescing into flocculent patches that formed rosy clouds, beginning to fill the refining room.

The temperature inside the room rose rapidly!

The Artificer's Lamp specialized in converging and concentrating flame power into a single point, creating a powerful smelting force.

The fact that heat was now leaking out indicated that the Artificer's Lamp was being pushed to its limit, and the temperature of the flame had reached a terrifying level!

Within the lamp's flame world, raging fires burned seven or eight *zhang* high, completely engulfing the mechanical black snake.

The mechanical black snake lay motionless on the ground. The dark shadows emanating from its body had receded to its surface, its demonic aura becoming extremely faint.

Even so, the black snake's expression remained arrogant, venomous, hateful, and unwilling to submit!

Zheng Danlian's face was pale, and his body swayed slightly. His magic power had been depleted too rapidly in a short time, and his Golden Core had entered a weakened state.

Fortunately, Zheng Shuangou, after a quick rest, had recovered about thirty percent and hurried over to support Zheng Danlian with all his might.

Both men cultivated the same technique and now jointly performed a spell.

Spell — Sea of Flames, Soaring Dragons!

With a dragon's roar, the seven or eight *zhang* high raging flames surged from the ground, transforming into fiery dragons in the air.

The fiery dragons coiled and danced, intertwining with each other.

Then, one by one, they dove down, crashing into the mechanical black snake on the ground.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!...*

Each impact stirred up boundless waves of fire.

The fiery dragons dissipated, only to quickly reform from the fire waves, their size slightly reduced, before flying back into the air.

Within the fire waves, the shadow of the mechanical black snake continuously shrank until it completely vanished from its surface.

The black snake hissed, its cry full of pain. It couldn't withstand the continuous assaults of the fiery dragons, and its entire body began to melt.

The two Zheng Family Golden Core cultivators watched intently, their expressions tense.

When the mechanical black snake was completely melted beyond recognition, the Zheng Family Golden Core cultivators exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously.

"Now is the time!"

They formed hand seals and abruptly released the mechanical black snake.

Placed into the array outside the lamp, the black snake was immediately locked in place by the array, fixed mid-air.

The Ning Family Ancestor had long been prepared. He unleashed a frost spell with full force.

Beside him, Ning Xiaohui also extended her hands, activating her innate talent — Jade Hands of Ice.

The two powers叠加, ultimately transforming into a miniature blizzard tornado that swept over the entire mechanical black snake.

The black snake was lifted by the pure white tornado, its entire body pulled upright.

The blizzard tornado dissipated quickly, leaving behind a cylindrical pillar of ice sealing the mechanical black snake.

The black snake's aura within the intensely cold ice pillar gradually faded until it disappeared completely.

The ice pillar began to change; a wisp of life force gradually emanated from within the extreme cold.

This qualitative change was a result of Ning Xiaohui's innate talent participating in the refinement!

Inside the ice pillar, the life force grew increasingly rich.

The mechanical black snake's body also rapidly repaired itself at a visible speed.

Once the life force reached its peak, it suddenly vanished. The ice pillar crumbled on its own, turning into countless grains of ice sand.

The extremely fine ice sand dissipated into nothingness before even hitting the ground.

Finally, what remained on the ground was an intact mechanical black snake with a large, flat head!

"'Heaven and Earth bathed in the dance of fiery dragons, new life gained through freezing snow.' Marvelous, absolutely marvelous!" Zheng Danlian's eyes shone as he stepped forward first and touched the mechanical black snake.

He infused his divine sense, mingled with magic power, into it.

Compared to the significant obstruction before, his magic power now flowed unimpeded, smoothly coursing through the entire mechanical black snake.

*Click, click, click...*

After a series of light sounds, the mechanical black snake rapidly transformed into a black long-handled sickle, which Zheng Danlian gripped in his hand.

Zheng Danlian took out a remaining piece of Night Breeze Soft Iron and tossed it into the air.

As the iron ingot fell, the long-handled sickle in Zheng Danlian's hand vibrated slightly.

A faint dark light flashed momentarily.

By the time the Night Breeze Soft Iron landed on the ground, it had been cleanly cut into ten equal pieces.

Seeing this, Zhu Xuanji's pupils constricted slightly. His heart shook, and he couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice, "Such sharpness!"

Zheng Danlian gently stroked the surface of the sickle, his face filled with deep affection and excitement.

Zheng Shuangou laughed heartily, "If it weren't so, why would our clan go to such great lengths and spare no cost to refine it?"

Zhou Nongying congratulated the Zheng Family Golden Core cultivators, "This weapon refinement is a great success!"

Zhu Xuanji took a deep breath, his expression turning solemn. "Even so, we must remain strictly vigilant!"

"What you obtained is a relic from the Night Rain Dynasty. For it to survive from ancient times to the present, it's probably not simple."

"Our refinement this time is based on this old object. It was already formed using techniques from the Night Rain Dynasty era. We merely processed it further and don't fully understand its inner mysteries."

"Naturally!" Zheng Danlian responded absentmindedly, continuously stroking the sickle, his tone敷衍.

Zhu Xuanji's expression darkened further.

The Zheng family's mechanical weapon was successfully refined, but Ning Zhuo's Golden Core-level mechanical ape was still being crafted.

In the refining workshop.

Over thirty refining cultivators, stripped to the waist, worked sweatily amidst the steaming heat and flickering firelight, constantly hammering. Sparks flew with each strike of their hammers against the iron ingots.

Forging the Ten Thousand Strikes Mystical Iron required skilled refining cultivators to channel magic power, imprinting refining patterns with each strike to be considered successful. When the refining patterns accumulated to a certain extent, they would interconnect momentarily, and the quality of the Mystical Iron would improve by at least one grade.

This principle was common to the refining of most metals.

And it was particularly evident with the Ten Thousand Strikes Mystical Iron.

In the Earth-grade refining room.

Innate Talent — Metal and Stone Parted!

Zheng Hua activated his innate talent on the Crimson Sun Copper. The latter gradually liquefied into a pool.

The molten Crimson Sun Copper flowed through a pipeline into a furnace, where it was immediately heated.

Frequent use of his innate talent left Zheng Hua pale-faced, and he continuously swallowed pills.

Zhou Family.

Over a dozen array formation cultivators sat around a long table in a circle.

They all squinted, bending over to scrutinize the work being done on the Walnut Mountain Essence on the table.

The Walnut Mountain Essence was small, resembling a walnut kernel. It was the essence of mountain rock, with a solid foundation capable of bearing numerous array patterns.

Therefore, it was often used as an array base.

Among the dozen or so array formation cultivators, some held slender awls, some were grinding with magic power, and others were carefully inspecting the Walnut Mountain Essence.

Ning Zhuo practiced diligently without pause.

While others were responsible for crafting the mechanical components, he focused on his own cultivation.

This was the benefit of managing a faction.

Tasks that could be delegated were assigned to others, saving oneself significant time and energy to focus on more important matters.

"Although my faction has grown more than sevenfold, there's still immense room for expansion."

Ning Zhuo's current faction was far from being fully developed. He lacked various talents and had to enlist the help of the other two families to meet the needs of this refinement.

He cultivated the Demonic Taint Blood Sinew Skill, still using those crudely made mechanical apes for the time being. The progress of his demonic skill ranked second.

The Mirror Platform Spirit Awakening Art continued to advance a thousand *li* a day! Since Ning Zhuo started cultivating this method, he had never encountered a bottleneck, and his speed was fast. Ning Zhuo always treated it as his main focus, and the growth of his spiritual cultivation did not disappoint him.

This led him to wonder in his spare time: "Why am I so talented in Buddhist doctrines?"

"Is it because of my Early Wisdom innate talent? Or is it due to the mysterious innate talent I was born with?"

"Or perhaps, because I am inherently righteous at heart, upholding justice and punishing evil, which aligns with Buddhist principles?"

Among the three techniques, the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art was the slowest.

However, Ning Zhuo still had two *liang* of Ice Jade Wine in reserve, so he wasn't overly worried for now.

With progress in all three techniques, while refining his essence, energy, and spirit, Ning Zhuo also actively practiced spells.

His main focus was practicing the Five Elements Mutual Generation and Restraint Art.

Each time he practiced, he utilized the Five Elements Ruler. This magical tool could quickly separate his Five Elements magic power into five single-element streams.

Ning Zhuo then used these five single-element streams of magic power to continuously generate or annihilate corresponding forces, often gaining insights and becoming increasingly proficient.

As for exploring the Immortal Palace, he conducted three explorations daily.

The focus of these explorations was not on the Buddhist or Daoist gates but on the Demonic Gate.

He selected various rewards from the Demonic Gate, many of which were used on the newly refined mechanical ape.

Such as the Blood Spring Gourd, or the Drum of Frenzied Rage.

(End of )