**: Whipped for Ning Zhuo's Sake (Seeking Monthly Tickets)**

"Ouch, Ning Zhuo, what are you guys doing?"

"What time do you think it is, and you're still exploring the Immortal Palace!"

"Don't you know what's important?"

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit had been closely watching Ning Zhuo's every move, anxiously pacing around the main hall.

"Hurry up, quickly deal with Ning Xiaohui!"

"Dragging things out, if this keeps up, she's going to discover our secret."

"I'm so anxious I'm about to burst into flames!"

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit growled low, and indeed, a flame burst forth above its head.

When it reached a certain level of anxiety and anger, parts of its body would emit flames.

If the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit were Ning Zhuo, it would immediately use the Life-Thread technique to go after Ning Xiaohui! But now, Ning Zhuo acted as if nothing was wrong, leisurely exploring the Molten Rock Immortal Palace!

This made the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit extremely anxious. It wanted to grab Ning Zhuo by the ear and yell at him—"Are you trying to get yourself killed by dragging your feet like this?!"

But in the end, it still didn't dare to do so.

In fact, it lacked the courage to speak with Ning Zhuo again.

It was deeply worried that a careless slip of the tongue might reveal the truth to Ning Zhuo!

While the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit fretted and hesitated, Ning Zhuo had already reached out and touched the portal to the next room.

There was no clearance reward on the portal, nor any blood qi reward.

This was somewhat unexpected for Ning Zhuo: "No blood qi? Then how do I use the Blood Path Diagram Board?"

The next moment, he stepped into the penultimate level of the entire Demon Path with Yuan Dasheng.

Thousands of eyes, glowing with bloody light, fixed on the two of them simultaneously!

Ning Zhuo was stunned. He had never seen so many martial arts puppets before.

Hundreds, even thousands of puppets stood in an orderly formation, all attracted by the commotion at the entrance.

This was an army of mechanical puppets!

The puppets' eyes glowed red, or their bodies were shrouded in a layer of blood qi, emitting Qi Refining auras ranging from the first to the ninth layer.

Ning Zhuo's eyes also lit up: "So the source of the blood qi for the level's setup isn't the portal, but these puppets."

Seeing Ning Zhuo and the Golden Blood War Ape, Dasheng appear, the mechanical puppets activated and charged towards them.

Hundreds of puppets moved together, a surging tide that gave Ning Zhuo an intense sense of pressure.

"My Lord, please step back. This general will protect you." Yuan Dasheng stepped forward, standing before Ning Zhuo like a city gate.

His body was solid, and the materials, replaced through the Buddhist Path, far surpassed their original quality.

Most importantly, he had been painstakingly repaired by Ning Xiaohui, gleaming like new, with crimson muscles and exposed golden bones, exceptionally domineering and reliable.

The martial puppets that rushed forward were all sent flying by Yuan Dasheng one by one.

Yuan Dasheng possessed superior martial skills, using both fists and feet, holding off the enemy horde single-handedly.

*Bang, bang, bang.*

Numerous martial puppets were sent flying by him; some thrown far away, some directly dismantled, some sent crashing back into their allies.

However, the number of martial puppets was truly overwhelming.

Yuan Dasheng only had spiritual power, not blood qi, and wasn't in his best state.

Concerned for Ning Zhuo's safety behind him, he could only slowly retreat step by step against the tide of enemies.

Seeing this, Ning Zhuo immediately cast spells.

Flames and frost descended, stone slabs and rolling logs covered the area, but instead, they stimulated the blood qi defense of the martial puppets.

Each one clad itself in blood tendon armor, largely resisting the spell damage.

"Crap." Ning Zhuo's heart sank, realizing his intervention had backfired, triggering the puppets' stronger capabilities.

"Yuan Dasheng has been using fists and feet, destroying many puppets without forcing them to use their own blood qi."

"Perhaps this level doesn't encourage using spells at all. Relying solely on close-quarters combat is the correct way to pass?"

Ning Zhuo instantly had many guesses.

And when it came to close-quarters combat, that was Ning Zhuo's weak point.

Back when he first reached the third level, he had been thoroughly taught a lesson by a single martial puppet. In the end, he only managed to extricate himself and pass the level by using the Embrace Ice technique.

Ning Zhuo had always wanted to hone his close-combat skills, but unfortunately, he was too busy and never found the time.

Ning Zhuo stopped using spells, and the demonic puppets also ceased using blood qi.

But there was only one Yuan Dasheng, and a large number of puppets surrounded them from all sides.

Ning Zhuo had no choice but to engage in combat.

His basic close-combat skills were solid; he could handle two or three wooden puppets at once.

But now, over a dozen puppets were attacking him from various directions.

Forced into a corner, Ning Zhuo could only constantly reposition, using mobile tactics to buy time.

As the surrounding demon-blood puppets grew more numerous, the enemy formation thickened, and the space for Ning Zhuo to break through or maneuver shrunk, a growing chill settled in his heart.

"Am I going to fail this level?"

Ning Zhuo anticipated defeat but also felt quite puzzled.

He had already passed the Buddhist Path completely.

"Compared to the second level of the Buddhist Path, the difficulty here in the Demon Path far exceeds it, by a hundred times or more!"

"This is clearly unreasonable."

Just then, a large group of mechanical puppets swarmed over Yuan Dasheng one after another.

The wooden puppets each emanated blood qi, forming blood tendons that reinforced their bodies and granted greater strength.

They piled onto Yuan Dasheng like a human pyramid.

Then, their blood tendon armors merged, forming a massive surge of blood qi that coalesced, sealing Yuan Dasheng completely and crystallizing into huge blood tendon shackles.

"Crap!" Ning Zhuo inwardly exclaimed, about to cast a spell to break the siege.

But at that moment, a sudden change occurred.

The blood tendon shackles restraining Yuan Dasheng lasted only a brief moment before dissolving back into blood qi, sucked away by an invisible force into Yuan Dasheng's body.

More precisely, they were absorbed into the Blood Path Diagram Board inside Yuan Dasheng.

In an instant, Ning Zhuo understood!

"I see, this is the correct way to pass the level!"

"So that's how the Blood Path Diagram Board is used!"

When the Blood Path Diagram Board contains blood qi, it allows mechanical constructs to execute the corresponding level of the Demonic Blood Tendon Skill.

When the Blood Path Diagram Board lacks blood qi, if it encounters external Demonic Blood Tendon Qi, it can directly absorb it!

These demon-blood puppets originally intended to restrain Yuan Dasheng, but instead ended up delivering a huge gift.

Yuan Dasheng, who had previously struggled without blood qi, now received this massive infusion, and his combat power immediately surged.

He let out a low roar, shook his arms, and澎湃的血气 surged, forming a blood-colored sphere that rapidly expanded outward.

The layers of mechanical puppets piled on top of him were all sent flying and knocked aside, crashing to the ground.

Many puppets couldn't withstand the intense impact of the blood qi and disintegrated mid-air.

Yuan Dasheng roared again, clenched his fists like war hammers, and swung them like the wind. He charged through the enemy lines, invincible with the aid of blood qi; no mechanical puppet was a match for him.

Under his fists and feet, numerous demon-blood puppets shattered and were destroyed.

However, the good times didn't last long. Yuan Dasheng's combat power gradually weakened.

There were too many enemies.

Yuan Dasheng's attacks continuously consumed blood qi heavily. Insufficient blood qi significantly affected his performance!

Enemies were everywhere, incessant, wave after wave.

Ning Zhuo called out a reminder, telling Yuan Dasheng to continue absorbing blood qi.

Yuan Dasheng obeyed the order, reached out, and grabbed a puppet by the head.

He activated the Blood Path Diagram Board, which erupted with strong suction, causing the puppet in his grasp to shudder.

A stream of blood qi was thus drawn from the puppet's body, through its head, along Yuan Dasheng's hand and arm, and finally absorbed into his Blood Path Diagram Board.

Without the support of blood qi, the puppet immediately weakened, becoming very feeble.

*Bang.*

Yuan Dasheng exerted force with his hands and directly crushed the puppet's head.

Many of his attacks focused on his pair of palms!

Yuan Dasheng continuously grabbed and absorbed the blood qi from the martial puppets, then crushed them one by one.

Although these demon-blood puppets were numerous, they lacked intelligence and had no specific countermeasures against Yuan Dasheng's actions.

In contrast, Yuan Dasheng, having reached the Intelligence Stage, began learning from the battle, focusing on building up his blood qi reserves.

He would rather take hits than suck away all the blood qi from the demon-blood puppets into his Blood Path Diagram Board.

The more blood qi Yuan Dasheng absorbed, the stronger he became; the stronger he was, the more blood qi he could absorb...

In this positive feedback loop, Yuan Dasheng stabilized his position and gradually became unstoppable.

Seeing this, Ning Zhuo felt relieved but also somewhat confused.

"Having found the correct method, the second level of the Demon Path becomes very simple. The actual difficulty is many times smaller than the Buddhist Path's."

"This is also unreasonable."

Ning Zhuo fell into thought.

Soon, an idea flashed through his mind. He tested this possibility himself in battle, actively selecting demon-blood puppets as opponents. After several trials, his understanding of the level's mechanics deepened.

It turned out the Blood Path Diagram Board's absorption capacity had limits.

For example, the Blood Path Diagram Board Ning Zhuo possessed only recorded up to the eighth layer of the Demonic Blood Tendon Skill, meaning it could at most absorb Demonic Blood Tendon Qi up to the Refining Essence eighth layer.

It was useless against higher ninth-layer blood tendons.

In fact, absorbing even eighth-layer blood tendons was quite difficult.

"Patriarch Three Sects designed this level to make cultivators focus on the application of the Blood Path Diagram Board."

"In the early stage, use mobile tactics to buy time, stretch the battle line, and select lower-level puppets to absorb their blood qi."

"In the mid-stage, use the absorbed blood qi to enhance one's combat power, eliminating puppets while sustaining oneself through battle."

"In the late stage, deal with the tougher opponents, fight fiercely, and finally carve a path through to pass the level!"

Spells were not to be used.

Once used, they would trigger many martial puppets to use blood tendons, significantly boosting the puppets' combat power.

This not only increases the pressure on the cultivators attempting the level but also drastically reduces the amount of blood qi they can harvest.

"So, the difficulty of this level is related to the Blood Path Diagram Board."

"Having a Blood Path Diagram Board for the ninth-layer demonic skill makes the level the easiest. The lower the skill level recorded—eighth, seventh layer, etc.—the greater the difficulty!"

"However..."

"I have Yuan Dasheng. When I crafted him, I used the true scripture of the Demonic Blood Tendon Skill as material. This resulted in him forging a Foundation Establishment-stage Blood Path Diagram Board in the previous level."

"This Diagram Board, in the second level, counters all demon-blood puppets; it's a supreme weapon!"

This was the main reason why Ning Zhuo found the level so surprisingly easy.

In a nutshell, he had cheated again.

The trial levels set up by Patriarch Three Sects were designed for Qi Refining stage cultivators.

A normal Qi Refining cultivator would only obtain the Qi Refining level version of the Demonic Blood Tendon Skill and simply wouldn't have the capability to create a Foundation Establishment-stage Blood Path Diagram Board.

Yuan Dasheng's existence exceeded the intended upper limit of the level's design.

With Yuan Dasheng's performance, Ning Zhuo smoothly cleared this second level.

Watching Ning Zhuo clearly intending to take Yuan Dasheng to attempt the final level, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit grew deeply concerned.

"Ah! Ah!"

"You can't do this! You can't take the Golden Blood War Ape, Dasheng. It's highly likely he'll get trapped, and you won't be able to retrieve him."

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit knew the mechanics of the final level and was extremely worried for Ning Zhuo.

If Ning Zhuo really took Yuan Dasheng in, the loss would be significant, and rescuing Yuan Dasheng would be difficult for a time.

Under normal circumstances, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit would have been delighted to see Ning Zhuo do this.

It would love to see Ning Zhuo take a big fall. But now, if something happened to Ning Zhuo, weakening his strength, who would it get to deal with Ning Xiaohui?

Ning Xiaohui was only at the Qi Refining stage; the Golden Blood War Ape, Dasheng, was perfectly suited to eliminate her.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit knew the Golden Blood War Ape, Dasheng, was very practical and didn't want to lose such a useful tool.

At the same time, it was quite worried that Ning Zhuo might act foolishly. Once the Golden Blood War Ape, Dasheng, was detained in the final level, Ning Zhuo might spend excessive time and effort trying to clear it to rescue him!

"Young Master, Owner." Seeing Ning Zhuo about to push the door open, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, forced into a corner, had no choice but to contact him again.

"Stop, please stop! Don't be hasty to enter." The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit urgently reminded him.

Then, in the next moment, a fiery long whip materialized in the air above its head.

*Crack.*

A sharp sound rang out as the whip lashed down on the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's body.

Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit: "..."

It had never imagined there would be a day when it would violate the rules to warn Ning Zhuo!

It was getting whipped for Ning Zhuo's sake!

Where was the justice in that?

(End of )