**: Starting from Scratch**

Lava Immortal Palace, Main Hall.

Roar!

Seeing Yuan Dasheng defeated, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was so angry it threw its head back, its dragon claws slamming down hard on the armrests of the throne.

Although it wasn't explicitly shown on the leaderboard within the Lava Immortal Palace, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit knew that Yuan Dasheng's demonic arts had reached the ninth level, perfectly complementing his inherently robust physical body.

The problem was, after his soul was extracted and brought into the palace, he lost his original body and only had a puppet form. The puppet body lacked blood and vitality, making it incompatible unless he accessed the Demonic Path sections beyond Room Nine.

At that point, as long as Yuan Dasheng could exert even a fraction of his true capabilities, he would soar unstoppably.

The problem was, Ning Zhuo had blocked him!

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit had pinned its hopes on Ning Zhuo making a mistake during the battle.

From start to finish, Ning Zhuo never engaged Yuan Dasheng in close combat. This dashed the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's hopes completely.

What made the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit even angrier was Ning Zhuo's name on the leaderboard.

It was just too sneaky!

And Yuan Dasheng had been completely fooled by it.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit wished it could just scratch those characters off itself.

But it couldn't.

It was strictly forbidden from leaking any information about any disciple participating in the trial. This was a strict constraint imposed by the Masters of the Three Sects!

Room Eight.

Ning Zhuo began cleaning up the battlefield.

Although victorious, he felt no joy.

This outcome had been within his expectations.

Currently, he had mastered numerous spells, along with matching contraption components. His spirit stones and spiritual power far surpassed Yuan Dasheng's, making his overall strength quite formidable.

Furthermore, he had previously observed Yuan Dasheng and knew his specific performance in terms of speed, strength, etc.

Rather than an unexpected阻击 battle, it was more accurately described as a hunt!

"However, no matter how many times I defeat him, he will just come back again; he won't truly die."

So, this didn't fundamentally solve the problem.

Ning Zhuo carefully examined Yuan Dasheng's contraption components.

He hurriedly inspected them before the Lava Immortal Palace had a chance to clear them away.

During the recent fight, although Ning Zhuo held the upper hand throughout, he felt immense pressure and suspected Yuan Dasheng was hiding a Talent.

If he had a Talent, it might be evident from his contraption components.

Just like Ning Zhuo's own Early Wisdom Talent, which could be somewhat inferred from his large head.

However, after checking two or three times, Ning Zhuo found nothing unusual.

Although the components were generally large, their proportions relative to each other were natural and reasonable; there wasn't any single aspect that was overly prominent.

"Is it like Meng Chong's Frantic Charge and Thunderous Impact, only manifesting externally after activation?"

"No, if he could activate it, he should have used it during the previous fight."

"Is it the puppet body preventing him from using it? Or are there other restrictions?"

Ning Zhuo sighed.

The results of this search were negligible.

Soon, he left Room Eight and headed back, making the most of his time to repair the mechanical traps.

He also froze the Kung Fu Puppets and brought them to the preparation room. Placing them on various contraption workbenches, he used an array of contraption-making tools to repair and enhance them.

After confirming all the mechanical traps were repaired and reset properly, Ning Zhuo returned to the front-most checkpoint.

His current highest progress was Daoist Path Room One and Demonic Path Room One; he hadn't managed to enter the Buddhist Path room at all.

Inside Daoist Path Room One, he actively sensed his disciple mark and voluntarily left the Immortal Palace.

Yuan Dasheng could clear up to Room Seven in one go; others might have similar potential.

Therefore, he specifically chose to exit from the deepest point he could access, minimizing the risk of exposing himself as much as possible.

Ning Zhuo paid great attention to these details. He was very cautious, not wanting to suffer major losses for the sake of minor gains again.

Soul returning to his body, Ning Zhuo continued studying the intelligence on the Monkey Head Gang and Yuan Dasheng.

According to the intelligence: Yuan Yi had very poor aptitude and came from a humble background, once surviving by begging.

He was forced to join the Beggars' Gang and, along with others, became cannon fodder sent to explore the Scarlet Flame Demon Molten Cave.

During the exploration, he encountered an injured juvenile Fire-Melting Demon Ape.

Yuan Yi brought the juvenile out of the volcano and formed a contract with it.

The juvenile was the later Yuan Dasheng.

Yuan Yi initially named it 'Da Sheng' (Big Leftover). For a long time, the two depended on each other for survival, living in hardship.

Only after the Fire-Melting Demon Ape gradually grew up and possessed greater combat power did their situation begin to improve.

They first left the Beggars' Gang and made a living through beast fighting. Da Sheng experienced countless bloody battles, gradually building a reputation.

However, the black market beast fighting scene was soon cracked down upon, and Yuan Yi and Da Sheng lost their livelihood again.

The Beggars' Gang came after them, ambushing Yuan Yi.

Yuan Yi and Da Sheng suffered imprisonment, hit rock bottom, then rebounded. They teamed up with fellow prisoners, broke out of the Beggars' Gang's private prison, and after several days of fierce street fighting, ultimately overthrew the Beggars' Gang.

After the war, Yuan Yi, having made the greatest contribution, was elected leader by the others.

He seized the opportunity to reorganize and establish the Monkey Head Gang.

In its early days, the Monkey Head Gang faced joint suppression from the other gangs in Fire Persimmon City. It weathered several storms, relying on Da Sheng's fierce fighting to gain a foothold, then gradually developed and grew stronger.

During this process filled with bloodshed, the name 'Da Sheng' (Big Leftover) was gradually forgotten. More and more people respectfully called it 'Da Sheng' (Big Victory). Considering the gang's reputation, Yuan Yi gave it his surname, and eventually 'Da Sheng' became Yuan Dasheng.

"This is a story of starting from scratch, enduring tests of blood and fire, and ultimately building a foundation—a tale of a truly formidable talent!"

Ning Zhuo carefully studied Da Sheng's win rate during the beast fighting period, as well as key battles in the subsequent gang conflicts.

"Looking at individual fights, Yuan Dasheng had wins and losses. But if you calculate the overall win rate, there's a real problem."

"His win rate is too high, suggesting he possesses some powerful hidden trump card!"

Generally, figures rising from such humble origins, constantly facing danger, find it hard to keep a trump card hidden.

But Yuan Dasheng had managed it.

From this perspective, the hidden trump card was likely significant, very significant!

"He most likely has a Talent."

"But I didn't manage to probe it out during this encounter."

Ning Zhuo frowned deeply, racking his brains without finding a solution.

The underground workshop was deathly quiet, the atmosphere quite oppressive.

Yuan Dasheng's own strength was already formidable enough, posing a serious threat to Ning Zhuo's leading position and greatly jeopardizing Ning Zhuo's plans.

Even more frightening was the reaction of the other four major forces after Yuan Dasheng's exposure.

The reaction of these righteous path forces was almost uniform: to use a combination of threats and inducements to make Yuan Dasheng work for them!

With such a powerful weapon, any single faction could gain a leading advantage, potentially even ultimately obtaining the Lava Immortal Palace.

As for Yuan Dasheng practicing demonic arts, that was hardly an issue.

Aren't there plenty of demonic path cultivators acting as black gloves for righteous path forces?

Sometimes, righteous path cultivators even directly pose as demonic cultivators to do things inconvenient under their righteous identities.

And Yuan Dasheng was very easy to control.

The Monkey Head Gang and Yuan Er were both his soft spots.

Once a powerful alliance was formed, Ning Zhuo's defeat was almost certain.

The subsequent developments were easy to predict.

The righteous path forces and Yuan Dasheng join forces,破坏 the mechanical traps, rapidly surpass Ning Zhuo. Ultimately, one becomes the master of the Lava Immortal Palace, checks the records, learns of Ning Zhuo's actions, then captures Ning Zhuo and unearths the My Buddha's Heart Demon Seal!

(End of )