Chapter 201: Manipulating the Three Families'

Underground secret base.

A huge Blood-Transforming Pool, like a coffin, hung from the ceiling beams of the room.

A thick metal pipe extended from the Blood-Transforming Pool.

The pipe connected to a huge Blood-Oil Bottle, which was filled with turbid essence blood, presenting a black-red color.

And from the bottom of the Blood-Oil Bottle, five or six more pipes extended.

These pipes were finally inserted into the back of a mechanical ape.

Inside the mechanical ape, Yuan Dasheng's spirituality was exerting the ninth layer of the Demonic Dyeing Blood Tendon Art with all its might!

Essence blood was infused down from the Blood-Oil Bottle, constantly being infused into Yuan Dasheng's mechanical body. Then, under the operation of the Demonic Dyeing Blood Tendon Art, it became demonic-dyed essence blood.

Ning Zhuo sat cross-legged opposite Yuan Dasheng.

And between him and Yuan Dasheng, as well as around them, was a simple and slightly sloppy magic array.

The magic array emitted a faint red light and a faint smell of blood.

The ninth-layer demonic-dyed essence blood cultivated by Yuan Dasheng was purified through this magic array and finally entered Ning Zhuo's body.

Ning Zhuo then used the seventh layer of the Demonic Dyeing Blood Tendon Art to continuously transform it, in the process excluding the essence blood that did not fit his constitution, constantly accumulating Essence Sea cultivation.

Often, out of ten parts of demonic-dyed essence blood, only two to three parts could finally be used by Ning Zhuo.

But by doing this, Ning Zhuo did not need to cultivate himself at all, saving him a lot of time.

Moreover, as long as the scale was large enough, theoretically, the speed of his Essence Sea cultivation would be very exaggerated!

"Having clansmen is really good."

"How can I expand the number of clansmen so that I can obtain more flesh and blood?"

Ning Zhuo had been pondering this question.

After tasting the huge sweetness, he found it somewhat difficult to extricate himself.

But he did not lose his mind.

He knew very clearly: his large-scale public acquisition of clansmen's flesh and blood this time was already in a fairly gray area. As long as he took one step further, he would be suspected of cultivating demonic arts.

He had been too much in the limelight recently, contrary to his consistent principle of hiding his true strength.

Now, many people were watching him, waiting for him to make a mistake.

Previously, his large-scale purchase of clansmen's flesh and blood was like pulling chestnuts from the fire, extremely risky. Although he had declared to the public under the name of "researching puppet mechanisms."

Ning Houjun and Ning Youfu, the two former family elders of the branch, heard of Ning Zhuo's move and sent people or letters one after another to remind Ning Zhuo to pay extreme attention to his reputation!

The scale could not be expanded further.

If it expanded further, it would be very easy for people to falsely accuse him, catch his pigtail, and ruin Ning Zhuo's reputation.

And reputation is extremely important for righteous cultivators!

Snap.

Suddenly, the mechanical ape's left arm made a muffled sound, and then it broke off at the arm.

Subsequently, as if triggering a chain reaction, mechanical fragments burst out from the mechanical ape's shoulder, chest, abdomen, and other places.

A large amount of essence blood gushed out.

In the rushing blood flow, the mechanical ape could not bear the burden and shattered into slag.

Ning Zhuo frowned.

He was not surprised, nor did he feel heartache; after all, the mechanical ape was typically shoddy.

It was just that this was already the one hundred and thirty-second one.

The broken fragments of the body had already piled up into a small hill.

Ning Zhuo looked up at the ceiling beam of the house.

The giant Blood-Transforming Pool and Blood-Oil Bottle mechanical creations hanging there also showed fine lines, with signs of disintegration.

"It's time to properly build a mechanical ape." Ning Zhuo thought to himself.

Previously, he and Sun Lingtong had been shoddy, mainly to break through to the seventh layer as quickly as possible.

After reaching the seventh layer, Ning Zhuo's cultivation of the three treasures of essence, qi, and spirit broke through the shackles, so he could continue to rise.

Now that Ning Zhuo had reached the seventh layer of cultivation, he needed to look to the future.

On one hand, he needed a Golden Core-level mechanical ape to fully exert the value of Yuan Dasheng's spirituality, and on the other hand, he also needed a mechanical ape that produced higher-quality essence blood.

Combining the two, Ning Zhuo was determined to immediately start forging a new mechanical body for Yuan Dasheng.

He took the initiative to visit Zheng Jian and invited him to forge the mechanical ape together.

Zheng Jian was pleasantly surprised.

Last time, he cooperated with Ning Zhuo and learned a lot of mechanical knowledge, and he admired Ning Zhuo's mechanical attainments quite a bit.

"I wonder what ingenious ideas Brother Ning has this time?" Zheng Jian asked Ning Zhuo for advice.

Ning Zhuo shook his head: "I'm afraid I'll disappoint Brother Zheng; the mechanism I'm forging this time is different from the last one..."

After he explained, Zheng Jian was indeed full of disappointment.

It turned out that Ning Zhuo did not intend to publish the mechanical design drawings, but only wanted to forge high-quality materials, which required the help of the Zheng family and Zheng Jian for refining.

Zheng Jian hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded, feeling that based on his friendship with Ning Zhuo, he could help Ning Zhuo refine the materials once.

Ning Zhuo took out Red Sun Copper.

Zheng Jian was astonished.

"This kind of Golden Core-level copper material requires extremely high firepower to melt."

"No wonder Brother Ning came to me."

"It's just that I'm only at the Qi Refining stage; Brother Ning is overestimating me too much."

Ning Zhuo indicated: He could ask other cultivators of the Zheng family to do this job.

Zheng Jian then nodded: "As long as Brother Ning can afford the price, based on the friendship between the two of us, I will definitely be able to help you invite a good hand from the clan!"

"The price is easy to discuss." Ning Zhuo appeared very straightforward.

The good hand from the clan invited by Zheng Jian quoted a high price.

Ning Zhuo smiled and bargained: "What if what I want to refine is not just Red Sun Copper?"

He took out the second material.

As a result, the good hand from the Zheng clan frowned after seeing it: "The forging of this Ten Thousand Strike Profound Iron requires stupid effort, at least ten thousand strikes."

"Although it is a Golden Core-level material, it consumes too much labor."

"I don't have too much time to take on private work. There are still many heavy responsibilities on my shoulders in the clan."

Ning Zhuo took out the third material.

This time, the Zheng family's forging expert shook his head directly, indicating that he couldn't do it.

"Unless it is the Golden Core stage, one can directly refine it."

"I am only at the Foundation Establishment stage and need to use a Heaven-grade forging room to have hope of melting it."

"But currently, the Heaven-grade forging room is already occupied."

Ning Zhuo then asked how long it would be occupied.

"That's hard to say. I advise you not to have too many expectations." The Zheng family expert was very honest.

After Ning Zhuo left the Zheng family, not long after, he contacted Zhou Zeshen.

Zhou Zeshen praised: "Brother Ning really has spirit, touching a Golden Core-level mechanical creation at the Qi Refining stage, such a big move! Remarkable, remarkable!"

"I am willing to help with all my might!"

As a result, when Ning Zhuo stated his specific requirements, Zhou Zeshen expressed that it was quite difficult.

"Brother Ning, you want to set up arrays on these Golden Core-level materials, or set up such a huge and dense array; I, Zhou Zeshen, cannot do it."

"The Foundation Establishment cultivators in my family can barely do it, but it requires a large number of people to work together."

"Otherwise, the construction period will be dragged out very long."

Ning Zhuo calculated, and the unit price of the Zhou family's remuneration was very high; with more people, this remuneration made Ning Zhuo feel quite strained.

It was Ning Zhuo who gathered the former stewards under his command and delegated the task of making talismans to them, which received good feedback.

These elite Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Ning family expressed one after another that they could forge various martial arts talismans for Ning Zhuo for free.

However, how could Ning Zhuo agree?

Saving spirit stones was not important.

Ning Zhuo did not want to take the lead in breaking his own rules and the team atmosphere he had worked so hard to create.

The money paid to this group of subordinates under him was far more valuable than what was paid to the Zheng family and the Zhou family!

After a comprehensive calculation, Ning Zhuo found that if he paid spirit stones, he almost couldn't even reach one-third of the project volume.

"This is not that the Zhou family and the Zheng family are deliberately raising prices; in fact, their prices are quite fair relative to the market."

With the materials reaching the Golden Core level, the capital accumulation in Ning Zhuo's hands immediately appeared much, much shallower!

His idea of leveraging various forces to forge the mechanism together was good, but when implemented in reality, he found many difficulties.

After pondering for a while, Ning Zhuo thought of a solution.

"It's time to expose some information about Meng Chong!"

Ning Zhuo, through the Turtle Breath Gang, secretly "leaked" to the three major families that Meng Chong had successfully passed the checkpoints and obtained the cultivation techniques for the fourth to sixth layers.

Zhou Zeshen exclaimed: "Meng Chong is indeed powerful! The City Lord's Mansion is far ahead!"

Zheng Jian clenched his fists: "I must obtain the subsequent cultivation techniques. Being stuck at the third layer is really too uncomfortable."

The Ning family head and the elders discussed: "The Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art was left by the three sect masters, and its potential is very sufficient. Its subsequent cultivation techniques are a major matter for our clan."

The elders discussed one after another: "Who can take on this heavy responsibility?"

"Ning Xiaohui has already left the reform team."

After discussing for only a moment, the name Ning Zhuo appeared in the minds of the Ning family elders.

For the Ning family to obtain the subsequent cultivation techniques themselves, it seemed, apparently, should... only rely on Ning Zhuo!

The elders continued to discuss: "Although I personally dislike him extremely, I have to admit that Ning Zhuo is capable."

"The key is, with Ning Zhuo's temperament, even if he obtains the subsequent cultivation techniques, will he hand them over to the family?"

When the elders discussed this, they couldn't help but look at each other and all fell into silence.

After a long time, someone broke the silence and looked at the Ning family head: "Ning Zhuo loves money, so please, Family Head, communicate with him more."

The Ning family head nodded with an ugly face; just thinking of Ning Zhuo made his head ache.

There are two routes to explore the Lava Immortal Palace. Entering the Immortal Palace in person can use achievements to exchange for various cultivation resources. Entering the Immortal Palace with the soul is tested by heavy checkpoints, but can obtain the subsequent cultivation techniques of the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art.

And this point is a reward that those who enter the Immortal Palace in person cannot obtain.

In the arrangements of the three sect masters, entering the Immortal Palace in person is aimed at outsiders and guests, while entering the Immortal Palace with the soul is to cultivate one's own people, and the true secret books will not be published to outsiders.

For the three families, they have deeply studied the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art, and even if there are only three layers, they have discovered that this technique is extremely excellent. Their desire for subsequent cultivation techniques has always been there, silently accumulating.

And this kind of desire is the "puppet string" that Ning Zhuo discovered and manipulated.

Ning Zhuo did not need to find them again; Zhou Zeshen and Zheng Jian took the initiative to find him one after another.

They did not know how many checkpoints they had to pass to obtain the cultivation technique reward.

But they knew that Ning Zhuo's strength was very strong and that he had a great conflict with the main branch of the Ning family.

If they could invite Ning Zhuo to help, it would be quite beneficial for them to explore the Immortal Palace itself. Moreover, strengthening the connection with Ning Zhuo and helping Ning Zhuo would be conducive to the occurrence of the Ning family's second civil war.

Such a multi-purpose move made the Zhou family and the Zheng family, who had ulterior motives, enthusiastic and took the initiative to lower prices for Ning Zhuo!

The problem that plagued Ning Zhuo was thus solved.

The main branch of the Ning family was furious when they learned of Ning Zhuo's cooperation with the Zhou family and the Zheng family.

Many people wanted to use this to take action, rendering that he was colluding with outsiders, disregarding the family's own interests, and wantonly destroying Ning Zhuo's family reputation.

As a result, they were dissuaded.

The Ning family head pinched his nose and took the initiative to summon Ning Zhuo again.

Ning Zhuo went happily.

After returning, the sound of things being smashed came from the Ning family head's study again.