: Peak of the Ninth Layer!

Author: Gu Zhenren

Date: 2024-08-14

The renovation teams from the City Lord's Mansion had been in closed-door cultivation for some time.

When the three leaders, Li Duolun, Feng Feidao, and Guan Tiesuo, met, they began discussing Ning Zhuo.

The fat Li Duolun spoke first, "Have you heard? Someone has already matched our record!"

The short Feng Feidao nodded, "I know, it was done by the Ning family's Ning Zhuo."

Guan Tiesuo's voice was muffled as he expressed confusion, "We had Young Master Meng Chong on our side. What about the Ning family? How did they manage it?"

Li Duolun then explained the situation.

Upon learning that Ning Zhuo had relied solely on the Five Elements spells, blasting his way through, even a tough guy like Guan Tiesuo couldn't help but gasp softly in admiration.

He said with respect, "Impressive!"

"We've all practiced these Five Elements spells. For Ning Zhuo to rely solely on them and make it to the second gate shows his extraordinary mastery of spells!"

"Keep in mind, we are on the ranking list and can draw rewards from it periodically."

"As long as we choose spells, we can receive direct knowledge infusion and gain spell-casting experience."

"Even so, none of us have been able to achieve what Ning Zhuo has done."

"He didn't receive any rewards from the ranking list and relied entirely on himself. That's truly terrifying!"

Feng Feidao, with his arms crossed, speculated, "How could Ning Zhuo master various Five Elements spells to such a level in such a short time?"

"Did he spend all his time practicing spells aside from cultivation?"

"Thinking about it carefully, he must have been stuck at the third layer of Qi Refining for a long time."

"But without subsequent cultivation techniques, he couldn't progress in his cultivation."

"In such a situation, it's only natural for him to devote all his time and energy to practicing spells."

However, Li Duolun shook his head and said, "That's the standard for ordinary people. From what I know, Ning Zhuo is not an ordinary person."

Li Duolun clearly knew more.

He briefly explained Ning Zhuo's achievements to the other two.

Ning Zhuo controlled the black market and dealt with the Ning family's young clan leader.

Ning Zhuo leveraged the power of three families to publicly forge a Golden Core-level mechanical ape.

Although he repeatedly clarified to the public that he was only crafting the shell and skeleton of the mechanical ape, achieving even this much with his third-layer Qi Refining cultivation was remarkable.

Now, the Ning family's renovation team was entirely under Ning Zhuo's control.

The Ning family's main branch genius, Ning Xiaohui, had already been sidelined by him.

"A young man like him, who climbed up from the bottom, should never be underestimated," Li Duolun held a high opinion of Ning Zhuo.

The other two fell into silence after hearing this.

As pioneers, they felt the pressure of being chased.

Feng Feidao sighed, "This Ning Zhuo is indeed no ordinary genius!"

"I'm curious, what kind of talent does he possess?"

Guan Tiesuo raised his eyebrows slightly.

With a somewhat incredulous expression, he guessed, "Could he possibly have Immortal Talent?"

The three exchanged glances and fell silent once again.

In the best cultivation chamber within the City Lord's Mansion.

Meng Chong frowned slightly as he looked at the jade slip in his hand, muttering to himself, "Ning Zhuo, huh..."

This was the first time Meng Chong formally learned Ning Zhuo's name.

"Hmph."

"You're still far from catching up to me. Try your best to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me first."

"If you can do that, I’d be quite pleased."

"Because the current exploration is somewhat boring."

Meng Chong eagerly hoped that the Golden Blood War Ape, Dasheng, would come to cause him trouble.

He longed for revenge.

However, recently, under Ning Zhuo's arrangements, Dasheng had been actively avoiding him, leaving Meng Chong feeling unsatisfied.

Setting aside the jade slip, Meng Chong immersed himself in cultivation once again.

Immortal Talent—Galloping Thunder!

In the next moment, countless electric currents surged through his body.

Propelled by the electricity, his cultivation advanced rapidly, improving with every breath.

Due to repeatedly using his Immortal Talent, Meng Chong had grown thinner again recently.

His cheekbones were prominent, and his eye sockets were sunken.

He had been using his Immortal Talent too frequently.

However, while he paid a price, he also reaped significant rewards.

Currently, his cultivation had reached the late stage of the fifth layer, approaching the peak!

City Lord's Mansion, study.

Feisi was handling official business.

He had started working as soon as the sky began to lighten.

The jade slips he had processed were neatly stacked in a corner of the desk, almost reaching up to his chin.

Just as Feisi was about to breathe a sigh of relief, his subordinates brought in a new pile of jade slips.

Feisi was already accustomed to this. He let out a deep breath.

Since the recruitment order was issued, the amount of work he had to handle had increased more than tenfold.

Many matters seemed trivial but were actually of great importance.

This was because too many important figures had crowded into Huoshi Immortal City, such as the Golden Core-level true disciples from the Taiqing Palace and Zixiao Pavilion.

Feisi had to handle these matters properly.

If mishandled, it could severely impact the stability of Huoshi Immortal City and Meng Kui's rule.

At the same time, he also had to guard against demonic cultivators like the Soul Devouring Sect.

Not long ago, Luo Shang took action, engaging in a battle at an underground secret base.

During the fight, even a trace of Nascent Soul-level aura erupted.

This situation sounded an alarm for Feisi.

After investigating the scene, they also detected the spell aura of the Bukong Sect.

Based on their speculation, at least one Golden Core-level true disciple from the Bukong Sect had participated in the battle, though it was still unknown who it was.

The recruitment order had turned Huoshi Immortal City into a whirlpool, stirring up winds and clouds!

The Southern Bean Kingdom's move had greatly drained Meng Kui's side of their energy and manpower.

Not only Feisi but even Chi Dun had been running around tirelessly recently.

Feisi had considered recruiting assistants, but he found the candidates unsatisfactory.

They either lacked capability or the right status.

Naturally, Feisi thought of Ning Zhuo.

Although the latter was only at the third layer of Qi Refining, lacking in cultivation, the abilities he had demonstrated had long been noticed by Feisi.

Feisi couldn't help but recall the latest intelligence about Ning Zhuo.

He never expected Ning Zhuo to achieve such a feat—matching Meng Chong's record!

"Now, this kid Ning Zhuo has also obtained the subsequent techniques of the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art."

"But going too far is as bad as falling short."

"Perhaps he doesn’t understand this principle yet, given his youth and the numerous great achievements he’s made."

"Only after suffering a lesson in this regard will he understand it deeply."

"Kid, you should stop now. If you go any further, you’ll be in trouble."

Feisi only thought this to himself and never actually advised Ning Zhuo.

He admired Ning Zhuo and had high hopes for him, considering him a younger version of himself.

He, too, had suffered from going too far in the past.

Now, he wanted to see Ning Zhuo make the same mistake.

Feisi waited silently for the opportunity. He intended to offer help when Ning Zhuo hit a low point.

That way, winning people over would be twice as effective.

Ning Family Territory.

"Damn it, damn it!" Ning Xiaohui suddenly opened her eyes.

Her aura boiled like water starting to heat up, her chest heaving uncontrollably.

Whenever she practiced the subsequent techniques of the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art, she felt restless and impatient.

Without comparison, there would be no sense of loss.

Especially after experiencing the great convenience the Flowing Clouds and Running Water Talisman brought to her cultivation, she found it increasingly hard to endure the current slow pace.

This made her miss the Flowing Clouds and Running Water Talisman even more.

It’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go back.

Every time she thought about the talisman falling into Ning Zhuo’s hands, she felt particularly upset.

Her precious talisman was helping her enemy and rival, aiding his cultivation progress!

Ning Xiaohui felt extremely uncomfortable and frustrated.

She didn’t know that after obtaining the Flowing Clouds and Running Water Talisman, Ning Zhuo had set it aside and handed it over to Sun Lingtong for inspection.

After all, this talisman was taken back from Ning Xiaohui.

Ning Zhuo couldn’t guarantee whether she had tampered with it.

What Ning Xiaohui desperately wanted was something Ning Zhuo considered dispensable.

Ning Zhuo wasn’t concerned about improving his cultivation level; what he lacked was the purification and refinement of his Three Treasures cultivation.

In the cultivation chamber, Ning Zhuo sat cross-legged on a cushion.

He swallowed a Pure One Pill, circulated his magic power to quickly digest the pill, and then wrapped the medicinal efficacy with his essence-blood energy.

His qi and blood flowed throughout his body, spreading the medicinal efficacy everywhere.

He took out the magical tool, the Whirlwind Cart, to purify his magic power.

At the same time, he also used the Clear Source Treasure Mirror.

This magical tool, obtained from the Zheng family, was what Ning Zhuo acquired by selling the subsequent techniques.

The tool was of high quality and far more effective than the Whirlwind Cart.

Ning Zhuo channeled his Three Treasures cultivation into the Clear Source Treasure Mirror.

Then, the mirror would return the cultivation energy to him.

The returned cultivation energy was much purer and more refined than before.

Throughout Ning Zhuo’s cultivation process, the formation in the chamber continuously发挥作用.

The formation provided significant assistance to Ning Zhuo.

This formation was specially built for Ning Zhuo by several skilled formation masters from the Zhou family, sent by Zhou Zeshen. It had a powerful refining effect.

With all these methods叠加, Ning Zhuo’s speed of purifying and refining his cultivation became astonishingly fast!

The world of cultivation had developed to such an extent that the utilization of most resources had become highly efficient. Various辅助 cultivation methods were available for every aspect of a cultivator’s practice, making the system extremely advanced.

This led to an unprecedented demand for resources among cultivators!

As long as resources were sufficient and the right methods were used, cultivation could progress at an incredibly rapid pace.

Relying on his connections and skills, Ning Zhuo made use of the resources from all three major families.

In the past, even prodigies like Zheng Jian and Zhou Zeshen would have found it difficult to achieve what Ning Zhuo had done.

The emergence of the Lava Immortal Palace gave each of the three families their own objectives. Coupled with the pressure from the City Lord’s Mansion, the three families were forced to cooperate closely.

This provided Ning Zhuo with the perfect environment to grow.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been nearly impossible for someone to mobilize the resources of three families as effectively as Ning Zhuo did!

Several days passed quickly.

Cultivation Chamber.

Ning Zhuo was enveloped in layers of floating clouds.

He divided his focus three ways,推动 the ninth-layer technique, and began the critical breakthrough.

In an instant, he advanced from the peak of the eighth layer to the early stage of the ninth layer.

The breakthrough felt natural, without the slightest obstacle.

As Ning Zhuo continued to operate the three techniques simultaneously, his Three Treasures cultivation also skyrocketed!

Early ninth layer…

Mid ninth layer…

Late ninth layer…

Peak of the ninth layer!

Just as Sun Lingtong had predicted earlier, the dual cultivation of Yin and Yang energies last time was of great significance, giving Ning Zhuo a solid foundation.

When Ning Zhuo purified his eighth-layer cultivation to its limit and broke through, he directly advanced from the early ninth layer to the peak of the ninth layer!

Ning Zhuo felt that his three dantians were no longer as painfully distended.

He felt much more relaxed as a result.

"Peak of the ninth layer!"

"The speed far exceeded my expectations!"

"Next is further purification."

"And preparation for Foundation Establishment!"

Foundation Establishment with three dantians…

At the thought of this, Ning Zhuo couldn’t help but feel excited and full of anticipation.

In the world of cultivation, it was extremely rare for someone to cultivate three different techniques in three dantians simultaneously and then advance to Foundation Establishment.

Even in major sects like the Soul Devouring Sect and the Bukong Sect, such cases were few and far between.

(End of )