: Forced to Show Off

2024-09-01 Author: Gu Zhenren

If it weren't for Ning Xiaohui, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit would have really slipped away just now.

After hesitating for a moment, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit ultimately decided to tell the truth: "Young Master, each time the cannon is fired, the Molten Immortal Palace consumes a massive amount of Five Elements magical power."

"If the minimum required battle result isn't achieved, the Molten Immortal Palace will consider the cannon shot a net loss, placing responsibility on the one who fired it, and thus deduct merit points."

"In fact, if you were in the Medical Hall and ended up making an important mechanism worse after repairing it, you would also have merit points deducted."

"Similarly, on the Command Platform, if your decision leads to an error, corresponding merit points will be deducted during the post-battle assessment."

Ning Zhuo nodded, feeling that such a rule was quite reasonable. It could effectively prevent incompetents from occupying high positions.

He then thought of a new question and continued asking: "What happens if all my merit points get deducted?"

"What I mean is, if my current merit points are negative, will that affect my official positions?"

This was a critical question.

Upon hearing this, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit inwardly sighed. This little monster Ning Zhuo always managed to pinpoint the key issues with sharp insight.

It had no choice but to answer again: "If the negative value persists for a period of time, the cultivator's official rank will drop."

"Young Master, your merit points were negative before, but it didn't affect your official positions because you didn't hold any positions back then."

"But now, you hold three second-rank positions. If your merit points remain negative when the deadline arrives, the ranks of these positions will drop significantly."

Ning Zhuo immediately frowned: "So, when exactly is this deadline for my rank drop?"

This was a big problem for him.

Simply because he had just signed a contract with Zhu Xuanji, which prevented his soul from entering the Immortal Palace.

In other words, once his official ranks drop, he wouldn't be able to regain second-rank positions by clearing stages again.

Therefore, before that happens, Ning Zhuo must quickly recover from his merit point deficit.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit thought for a moment and decided it was better to be honest, so it told Ning Zhuo the exact date.

The deadline was actually quite long. Ning Zhuo calculated and found he still had at least half a month.

"No, that's not right!" A glint flashed in Ning Zhuo's eyes.

He fell silent for a moment, carefully choosing his words before asking: "Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, regarding those under my second-rank positions, will I receive a share of their merit contributions?"

"For example, as the Head of the Medical Hall, if others working under me in the Medical Hall complete certain tasks under my leadership, wouldn't I get a share of the merit points?"

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit shuddered!

It disappointedly circled around the throne, looking up at the main hall's ceiling, muttering incessantly: "He found out, he found out, he finally discovered this point!"

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit let out a long sigh, its expression bleak and somewhat tense.

"Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit..." Ning Zhuo called repeatedly but received no response.

He frowned slightly, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Ning Zhuo actually had Ning Xiaohui to thank for discovering this.

Ning Xiaohui's several successful repairs of the Golden Blood War Apes in the Medical Hall made Ning Zhuo keenly aware that his own merit points had changed.

Although the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit didn't respond or give him a clear answer, Ning Zhuo was almost certain this was the answer!

"In that case, my next task is actually to help others obtain more official positions."

"And these positions must be related to the Medical Hall, the Command Platform, and the Artillery Tower."

Ning Zhuo did a quick calculation.

If he took action himself to complete various tasks, he could indeed gain a lot, but there was risk involved. Sometimes, if the task wasn't completed to standard, merit points could still be deducted.

However, if he had many people under his positions, and he specialized in taking a share of their merit points, as long as the number was large enough, the accumulation speed could be considerable, even far exceeding his personal efforts.

The most attractive point was that enjoying these merit shares came with no risk; there would be no situations where merit points were deducted.

"Zhu Xuanji and the others are my most threatening competitors."

"But they are outsiders and cannot hold such positions."

"So, I just need to cultivate these members of the Reformation Team well, while ensuring that the merit points of the particularly outstanding ones among them don't exceed mine!"

When Ning Zhuo returned to his residence, he heard the Ning Family Reformation Team members discussing matters related to accepting tasks.

He gathered them together and briefly informed them about the contract they would need to sign later.

Then he dismissed them and entered his room alone to begin his daily fixed meditation practice.

Because he still carried monitoring measures placed by several Golden Core cultivators, he had to perform this act daily to appear normal.

The next day.

Ning Zhuo opened his eyes, finished washing up, and left his residence alone.

He went to the edge of the Molten Immortal Palace.

Battles frequently occurred here.

When some Blaze Demonic Beasts broke through the light barrier and charged in, they would be quickly killed by mechanical constructs.

Often after these battles, many new tasks would appear.

Ning Zhuo stayed at the rear of the battlefield.

After the battle ended, some mechanical puppets limped back in retreat.

Ning Zhuo proactively approached these damaged mechanical constructs, holding his merit token to check the content of the new tasks.

Then, he accurately picked out the task targets, pulled them out of the retreating line, and began repairing them on the spot.

He disassembled these mechanical puppets as much as possible to examine their internal structures.

Soon, he made a discovery: the components used in these mechanical puppets looked very familiar.

"These structures and components have almost all appeared in the trial stages."

For others, they might only be familiar with the components related to the Daoist path.

But Ning Zhuo had already cleared three paths, receiving rewards from many stages multiple times, so he was quite familiar with these.

However, on the surface, he still had to put on an act of studying them first.

Ning Zhuo's solo action in the morning attracted the attention of Zhu Xuanji and others.

When he returned, he was criticized via voice transmission by the Ning Family Ancestor.

Besides facing life-threatening dangers when fighting demonic beasts, other cultivators within the Immortal Palace were also potential threats.

At this moment, there were still many rogue cultivators in the Molten Immortal Palace.

Ning Jiufan didn't want to see Ning Zhuo get injured or even die due to acting alone.

This would be a significant loss for the current situation and the Ning Family.

Even though Ning Zhuo was only a Qi Refining cultivator at the moment.

Ning Zhuo accepted the criticism. Starting that afternoon, he set out with the main group.

To fully utilize the Molten Immortal Palace's capabilities, and considering that each position they controlled increased their control over the palace, the Golden Core cultivators were very committed.

Therefore, each Reformation Team was accompanied and looked after by a Golden Core cultivator.

Zhu Xuanji and others were very cautious. From their perspective: the culprit who controlled the Five Elements Artillery Tower to bomb the Fire Persimmon Mountain was still hiding in the shadows, unrevealed.

Since this culprit could operate the Five Elements Artillery Tower, he was clearly a pioneer on the path of entering the Immortal Palace.

The progress of the Reformation Team members posed a great threat to this culprit.

He was highly likely to launch sneak attacks to eliminate the threat in its infancy!

Most Reformation Team members were only at the Qi Refining stage, with limited combat capabilities, requiring Golden Core cultivators for protection.

Such arrangements made Ning Zhuo feel quite inconvenienced.

He could only suppress his growing frustration and slightly accelerate the pace of his act.

"Oh..."

"So strong!"

"I didn't expect Ning Zhuo's mechanical skills to have improved again. Impressive!"

People expressed surprise and admiration for Ning Zhuo.

His speed in exploring, recognizing, and mastering "unfamiliar" mechanisms made people view him in a new light.

Clearly, he was on a completely different level compared to others.

Ning Zhuo really wanted to hide his abilities, but forced by circumstances, he had to show off.

"I need to accumulate enough merit points to access the Medical Hall as soon as possible."

"That way, I can stay in the Medical Hall all day, performing large numbers of mechanical puppet repairs, providing a perfect explanation to the outside world."

As the Head of the Medical Hall, Ning Zhuo naturally knew the minimum requirement for positions in the Medical Hall.

The Golden Core Ancestors all noticed the mechanical skills Ning Zhuo displayed.

Among the many Reformation Team members, Ning Zhuo didn't just stand out—he was in a league of his own, leading far ahead!

Even someone like Zhu Xuanji, with his broad experience having seen many talented cultivators, felt shaken seeing Ning Zhuo's performance.

"This junior Ning Zhuo really has quite a talent for mechanical arts!"

Zhu Xuanji had a clear comparison in mind: Ning Xiaohui.

Ning Xiaohui possessed a natural gift like the Icy Jade Hands, allowing her to heal and repair mechanical puppets unreasonably well, almost cheatingly.

But even so, Ning Xiaohui's speed of accumulating merit points was much slower than Ning Zhuo's.

Zhu Xuanji's heart stirred slightly. He recorded this information about Ning Zhuo on a jade slip.

Then, he casually tossed the jade slip, which flew away as a beam of light, eventually stopping in front of Ning Xiaohui.

Ning Xiaohui took the jade slip, pressed it to her forehead, and after probing it with her spiritual sense, was inwardly shocked.

"It's Ning Zhuo?!"

"His progress is so rapid?!"

Zhu Xuanji's voice was also in the jade slip: "Do you think Ning Zhuo might reach the minimum requirement for a Medical Hall position faster than you?"

"I heard his recent goal is to obtain the position of Medical Officer."

Ning Xiaohui's pupils contracted sharply, almost grinding her teeth: "Ning Zhuo!!!"

(End of )