Chapter 159

A group of Jin Dan cultivators slightly concealed themselves and flew toward the peak of Fire Persimmon Mountain.

Among this group of Jin Dan cultivators, the leader was Zhu Xuanji. Following him were the Zheng family's Jin Dan Zheng Danlian, the Zhou family's Jin Dan Zhou Nongying, and the Ning family's Jin Dan ancestor.

The Zhou family and the Zheng family received Zhu Xuanji's visiting card, and the Ning family ancestor was naturally no exception.

Fei Si sensed the movement, looked from afar, and his face was gloomy: "This Zhu Xuanji is worthy of being from the royal family, having won over local families so quickly."

"Sigh, I'm afraid City Lord-sama won't be able to stop this this time."

Zhu Xuanji led the three Jin Dan cultivators and flew to the mountain peak, coming to see Meng Kui first.

Meng Kui's face was calm and waveless, like an ancient well, and he even blessed Zhu Xuanji for having rich gains when entering the Xian Gong this time.

Zhu Xuanji carried the royal decree and used the reason of investigating a case to enter and exit the Lava Xian Gong; Meng Kui couldn't even find a reason to delay him.

Seeing Meng Kui suffer a setback made the accompanying Jin Dan cultivators secretly feel happy.

These three local families had really suffered under the City Lord for a long time.

This time, borrowing Zhu Xuanji's identity to suppress Meng Kui, the Jin Dan cultivators all vented a bit of their gloomy frustration.

"My lord, as long as we approach the Xian Gong, there will be treasure light to receive us." Zhou Nongying acted as a guide, "Of course, the premise is that the puppet art attainments have reached the entry standard."

Zhu Xuanji nodded and acted according to the instructions.

This was his first time entering the Xian Gong.

After approaching the Xian Gong, sure enough, a beam of treasure light shone on him.

The treasure light faintly emitted a slight suction force; Zhu Xuanji relaxed himself, without the slightest resistance, letting the treasure light drag him into the Xian Gong.

Entering the Xian Gong!

Not long after, Zhu Xuanji truly stepped in and entered the Lava Xian Gong.

Behind him were the three Jin Dan ancestors.

"Finally got in."

"How long has it been since the last time?"

"Haha, this time Meng Kui won't be able to take action openly."

The three family Jin Dan cultivators were quite excited.

Zhou Nongying said: "Zhu-my lord, I suppose you have already received the key information by now, right?"

Zhu Xuanji nodded slightly: "Received. According to the information, as long as we make contributions in the Lava Xian Gong, we can exchange our own contributions for rewards in the Xian Gong."

"The various rewards are diverse, not only including many fine materials related to Red Flame Demon Beasts but also spells, puppet blueprints, and so on."

"Once the contribution reaches a certain level, one can utilize many facilities in the Xian Gong. The range of movement for cultivators in the Xian Gong will also expand accordingly."

"And the biggest reward is the position of Palace Master of the Lava Xian Gong!"

After hearing this, Zhou Nongying felt relieved: "Zhu-my lord, the timing of our arrival is very good."

"It happens to be when the Lava Xian Gong is under siege by demon beasts, and the Jin Dan-level among the beasts has already fallen."

"We can mix into the battle lines and kill demon beasts to easily acquire contributions; the risk is not high, but the gains are quite good."

Zhu Xuanji nodded: "Then let's do that first."

Afterward, he and the three Jin Dan cultivators participated in the battle lines of the Lava Xian Gong.

When Jin Dan cultivators took action, it was naturally extraordinary; wherever they went, demon beasts died tragically, leaving behind corpses.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit saw this scene, its eyes widened, and it hummed in anger. Its truest thought was that it wished the demon beasts would breach the Xian Gong. But according to the constraints left by the Three Sects' Venerable, it had to do its best to help the Lava Xian Gong operate normally.

Of course, as the state of the Lava Xian Gong declined, the constraints on the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit were not as meticulous as they were at the beginning.

It was precisely because of various small loopholes that the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit utilized that it dragged the Xian Gong to its current state step by step.

Zhu Xuanji killed more than a dozen Red Flame Demon Beasts and slowly stopped.

The three family Jin Dan ancestors were still attacking incessantly.

Opportunities to rapidly accumulate contributions like this were rare.

Zhu Xuanji sent a voice transmission to the three, who were immersed in killing demon beasts, telling them to go around and take a look.

Zheng Danlian hurriedly reminded: "Zhu-my lord, you don't know. This Lava Xian Gong is not a place we can stroll around at will, unless it's a special situation."

The Ning family ancestor sighed along with him, touching the dent on his head. This dent was still there, constantly reminding him of how Meng Kui had once ruined his good deeds!

Zhu Xuanji didn't care and waved his hand: "Three fellow Daoists, don't be anxious, I have my own good method."

Saying this, Zhu Xuanji took out a talisman and activated it.

The talisman melted and rapidly turned into a strange light.

The strange light fell onto Zhu Xuanji's body and then disappeared, but Zhu Xuanji's aura had some subtle things added to it, becoming different from before.

It was precisely this difference that allowed Zhu Xuanji to stroll around the surroundings.

"This is the Spirit-Hiding Wall." Zhu Xuanji came to a wall, reached out to touch it, and immediately felt a movement in his heart, identifying it.

The wall was thick, and every certain distance on the wall, there was a talisman as huge as a window pasted on it.

Zhu Xuanji activated some magic power slightly, and it was completely absorbed by the wall.

While absorbing, one could also see lines of straight array patterns flashing on the wall.

The Spirit-Hiding Wall was used to store various spiritual powers.

Geothermal heat, magic power, and so on could all be accepted and stored inside.

Even if the wall was destroyed, these geothermal heat, magic power, and so on would not explode; more of them would still be stored in the individual wall bricks.

Moreover, paired with some special magic arrays, it could forcibly absorb the magic power contained in the spells fired by enemies.

Zhu Xuanji followed the wall and continued to explore forward.

Before long, his footsteps paused slightly, and he discovered a well.

The well surface was sealed, but Zhu Xuanji could be certain that there was no water in the well.

"This is the Earth Dragon Well."

"Under the Lava Xian Gong, there is a whole set of intricately laid out hidden dragon tunnels."

"The tunnels crisscross in all directions, spreading throughout almost the entire Lava Xian Gong. The Xian Gong transports puppet troops through the hidden dragon tunnels."

"Unfortunately, I can't get in."

Zhu Xuanji constantly investigated, and whenever he encountered some damaged places or obvious traces of battle, he would stop and use his Golden Eyes and the Source-Tracing Art to investigate.

The mission he shouldered on this trip to Fire Persimmon Mountain was to explore the secret of the Lava Xian Gong's premature appearance.

"Where is that?" Zhu Xuanji stood on a high platform and looked into the distance, seeing a row of bronze furnaces.

These furnaces looked like large gourds, sitting on the ground, separated by equal distances. Looking from afar, the furnaces were like a forest, exceptionally neat.

"Copper furnace, iron furnace, silver furnace, gold furnace!" Zhu Xuanji immediately recalled the relevant information.

"There are four levels of furnaces in the Lava Xian Gong, among which the gold furnace is the most precious, with a total of eight. Once damaged, it is almost impossible to repair. Only if the Three Sects' Venerable takes action personally is it possible."

"It is precisely these furnaces that manufactured various puppet creations."

"The Lava Xian Gong has operated to this day, and still has an inexhaustible supply of various puppets, all relying on these furnaces."

Zhu Xuanji walked down from the high platform and continued to explore.

He gradually discovered: even with the talisman given by the royal family, there were not many places he could move freely.

"Looking at it this way, I still have to raise the contribution to the Xian Gong."

"Fortunately, I was well prepared for this trip!"

Thinking of this, Zhu Xuanji took out three puppet creations from his storage bag.

White Porcelain Swimming Dragon!

Thermal Phoenix!

Spiral Dragon Worm!

The swimming dragon was as white as snow, and its entire body was constructed of exquisite ceramics.

The phoenix wings were gorgeous and dazzling, especially the thousands of gemstones inlaid on the phoenix tail, which could absorb and release a massive amount of light and heat.

The spiral dragon worm looked like an earthworm, but its metal body was extremely resilient. The front part was ferocious, with countless sawteeth rotating constantly. It was most skilled at underground excavation.

Each of the three puppet creations had quasi-Jin Dan combat power!

Zhu Xuanji offered these three beast-shaped puppets.

In an instant, his contribution to the Lava Xian Gong soared rapidly, surpassing countless predecessors.

Deep in the clouds, Meng Kui sighed faintly.

He saw the scene of Zhu Xuanji offering the three beast-shaped puppets.

It was clear that Zhu Xuanji had come prepared.

Regardless of the talismans he consumed earlier or the three beast-shaped puppets he took out later, they allowed Meng Kui to quickly identify — the Nandou royal family's true attitude toward the Lava Xian Gong.

Meng Kui was not surprised.

The Nandou Retired Emperor and the Three Sects' Venerable had deep friendship to begin with.

The significance of the Lava Xian Gong to the Nandou royal family was different.

Even if this layer were cast aside, the Nandou royal family should be concerned about the inheritance of a Void Refinement great expert under their rule.

Meng Kui didn't think so before because the royal family only sent one Jin Dan cultivator, which didn't look like they were really going to take action.

Now this fluke had completely disappeared.

The alliance between Zhu Xuanji and the three families put the City Lord's Mansion in a clearly disadvantageous position.

Especially since the two Jin Dan cultivators under Meng Kui's command were not qualified to enter the Xian Gong.

Meng Kui sent a voice transmission to Meng Chong: "Good grandson, next time you explore the Xian Gong, you must bring others along."

"The situation is urgent, and the opportunity is fleeting."

"Now that this opportunity is still in our hands, we must grasp it tightly!"

Meng Chong's expression changed slightly, and he nodded immediately, replying loudly: "Grandfather, grandson understands!"

The modification team of the City Lord's Mansion was even more excellent than the Zhou family's.

Meng Chong liked to fight alone, but since his grandfather had personally sent a voice transmission, he would take a group of people to break through the levels together.

Meng Chong summoned the modification team to meet him and gave special instructions:

"Let's say it beforehand, once that puppet ape appears, none of you are to help."

"I can defeat it alone!"

Three hours had passed, and Meng Chong immediately had his soul enter the Xian Gong.

Following closely behind were the results of the City Lord's Mansion's long-term cultivation — sixteen members of the modification team!