Chapter 81: Yuan Dasheng Reborn!
Lava Immortal Palace.
As Ning Zhuo’s soul returned to his body, the puppet vessel he had been inhabiting suddenly collapsed, scattering in pieces across the floor. Yet with Ning Zhuo’s swift return, the puppet’s form quickly reassembled itself on the ground and soon stood upright once more.
At the same time, a teleportation circle spat out Yuan Dasheng’s corpse.
Witnessing this scene, the Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle felt its vision darken. The outcome it most dreaded had come to pass!
For a moment, it glared at Ning Zhuo with wide dragon eyes, nostrils flaring, each breath spraying sparks. But Ning Zhuo sensed nothing.
The Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle’s breathing grew heavier and heavier until it threw back its head and let out a furious roar!
The bellow shook the palace in all directions, causing tremors throughout the Immortal Palace. The sound waves burst forth, and atop Fire Persimmon Mountain, magma splashed wildly, dispersing clouds of smoke far and wide.
Lord Meng Kui’s eyes snapped open; he immediately broke off his cultivation. “Is it happening again?”
Inside the main hall of Lava Immortal Palace, the Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle rampaged through the air, spewing columns of flame, setting everything ablaze as if possessed.
The palace grew ever more tumultuous.
Bathed in the blaze, Meng Kui’s expression grew increasingly grim.
Unaware of any of this, Ning Zhuo found himself in a tranquil, peaceful chamber.
He quickly examined Yuan Dasheng’s corpse, feeling both surprise and disappointment.
The surprise was that his first attempt at bringing Yuan Dasheng’s corpse into the Lava Immortal Palace had succeeded—a wholly new experience for him.
The disappointment lay in the fact that he had hidden storage pouches both above and inside Yuan Dasheng’s body, yet neither had been transported through.
“During my entry into the palace, I kept sensing my Buddhist Heart Demon Seal.”
“Ah, if only I could bring in a large quantity of materials.”
“Taking anything from the Lava Immortal Palace always consumes precious spirit stones.”
With ample supplies, Ning Zhuo was confident he could fortify the first three trials to perfection!
Collecting himself, Ning Zhuo began to ponder his next steps.
He had succeeded in bringing in the ape corpse, but how should he hand it over to the palace?
He didn’t know how to proceed; he was severely lacking information.
This information ought to have been provided promptly by the Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle, but the creature now clenched its jaws, frenziedly darting about the main hall.
Behind it, a fiery whip lashed through the air.
Crack! Crack!
The whip struck the Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle relentlessly, even as it flew in circles around the pillars.
On the summit of Fire Persimmon Mountain, Meng Kui summoned his full power, unleashing spells to conjure a giant hand that pressed down upon the Lava Immortal Palace.
The streams of treasure light shooting from the palace quickly pierced the giant hand.
Meng Kui sighed helplessly and resorted to activating the grand array of Fire Persimmon Immortal City. With the aid of its power, he finally managed to stabilize the situation.
“What madness has seized the Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle?!”
This time, the turmoil in the palace was unprecedented, bringing immense pressure upon Meng Kui.
He could even discern from the dragon’s roar that carried beyond the palace walls a thick sense of resentment, violent rage, and frantic despair—and, yes, cries of agony.
At first, only one fiery whip struck the Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle. But as the creature continued to resist and shirk its duties, more whips appeared, growing in number.
Five or six fiery whips now chased the Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle, beating it mercilessly!
Its entire spiritual form grew dim and insubstantial, unable to withstand the punishment. At last, it had no choice but to relay the crucial information.
In his chamber, Ning Zhuo was preparing to experiment when he received the information and frowned slightly. “The palace seems to have suffered serious damage; such vital information should have been passed along immediately.”
Without further hesitation, Ning Zhuo acted at once, dragging Yuan Dasheng’s corpse to the doorway.
His small puppet body found the task arduous, requiring considerable effort and time.
Once Yuan Dasheng’s body was placed before the door, a teleportation circle appeared and swallowed it.
The Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle curled itself into a ball, cowering in a corner, enduring the pain as the fiery whips continued to lash it.
The expression on its dragon head, aside from agony, was one of utter despair.
It knew Ning Zhuo had made the most appropriate choice!
Even if Ning Zhuo delivered the corpse of a Golden Core cultivator and crafted a spiritual mechanism, he would not be able to control it.
But Yuan Dasheng was not at the Golden Core stage; he was at the third layer of Qi Refining, ninth layer of Essence Refining. As raw material for a construct, he was precisely at the edge of Ning Zhuo’s capabilities.
Most crucial of all was the celestial essence!
Raw materials imbued with celestial essence were exceedingly rare and valuable!
The Lava Immortal Palace housed bronze, iron, silver, and golden furnaces, four tiers of fire furnaces.
To refine celestial-essence materials, only the golden furnace could be used.
Once used to refine celestial materials, even the golden furnace could serve only once!
Since the palace’s founding, there had been at most eight golden furnaces, now only four remained.
Now, to refine Yuan Dasheng, another furnace would have to be spent.
The Fire Spirit Dragon Turtle desperately wished to avoid this outcome, but reality was cruel.
It had no choice but to comply, directing the palace to place Yuan Dasheng’s corpse in the golden furnace.
The golden furnace began its work.
A tremendous amount of spiritual energy was consumed as a majestic beam of treasure light erupted from the golden furnace.
The light was blinding, piercing the clouds, thick as a pillar.
“What is happening now?” Meng Kui was bewildered, quickly using the grand array to stir smoke and clouds, doing his best to conceal the soaring pillar of light.
“If only I could enter the palace myself…” Meng Kui secretly gritted his teeth and could only sigh.
His skill in mechanism craft was meager. More precisely, compared to the standard of a Nascent Soul cultivator, it was exceedingly low.
Thus, he had not been chosen and could not enter the Lava Immortal Palace.
In this regard, he was less capable than some later entrants—Golden Core and Foundation Establishment cultivators admitted after the palace lowered its standards.
Two Golden Core subordinates in his command were likewise unchosen.
Foundation Establishment subordinates had been selected, able to enter the palace, but their overall advantage was slight, unable to surpass the Zhou and Zheng clans.
Because of this, when the palace emerged, Meng Kui personally took charge, stationed himself atop the mountain, and sealed off the palace under the pretext of investigation, barring all cultivators from entering.
The Zhou and Zheng clans protested, but Meng Kui rebuffed them forcefully.
After all, the City Lord’s Mansion had not sent any cultivators to storm the palace directly.
Meng Kui represented the Southern Bean Dynasty, using the investigation into demon cultivators as a pretext. The other two clans had no recourse but to watch the palace closely, wary of the City Lord’s Mansion sending someone in secretly.
“The greatest hope lies with Chong.”
Meng Kui had utmost confidence in Meng Chong.
Especially lately, Meng Chong had broken through and mastered the Rampaging Thunder technique at a new level, making tremendous progress.
“Chong possesses extraordinary talent and strong fate. Any pressure only makes him stronger. In fair competition, who can surpass him?”
The pillar of treasure light gradually faded, and the Lava Immortal Palace returned to calm.
Meng Kui gave a satisfied, cold snort.
Meanwhile—
A teleportation circle appeared once more before Ning Zhuo.
From its depths, a mechanism monkey floated gently down.
“So quickly finished?” Ning Zhuo exclaimed in delight, stepping forward for a closer look.
As if hearing footsteps, the mechanism monkey opened its eyes and slowly lifted its head.
It gazed at Ning Zhuo, its pupils glowing blood-red, emanating a formidable aura.
Ning Zhuo slowed his steps.
In that moment, Yuan Dasheng was reborn!