Chapter 257

Ning Zhuo and Song Fuli met again.

Previously, the two had finalized the business of the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkeys. Ning Zhuo ordered the Chen Cha side to work overtime and urgently produce a large number of mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkeys.

Now, it was time for the two to hand over.

"I didn't expect the situation in Huoshi Immortal City to take a sharp turn for the worse, to the point of being besieged by demon beasts," Song Fuli sighed.

He led the cloud merchants here, and they hadn't done much business for many days before the city was besieged by demon beasts.

Seeing Ning Zhuo again at this time, he had a feeling of the impermanence of fate.

Little did he know that the real culprit behind the demon beast siege was right before his eyes.

Ning Zhuo also sighed deeply: "Yes, I didn't expect demon beasts to besiege Huoshi Immortal City."

"However, the main force of the truly terrifying demon beasts is still on the top of Mount Huoshi."

"So this time, our side will not be able to deliver according to the quantity discussed before. This is the first batch of mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkeys, and it will also be the last batch."

Ning Zhuo sighed helplessly as he said this.

At the critical moment of life and death for Huoshi Immortal City, the war had been going on, and Chen Cha and many other mechanical workshops were strictly controlled by Fei Si.

The production tasks of these mechanical workshops had to be changed to combat machines most favorable to the war.

Compared to classic combat machine creations, the combat method of the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey was relatively ordinary.

Originally, its combat method was only self-destruction. Later, when Ning Zhuo fought Zhou Zeshen, he paired it with another mechanical accessory—a firecracker that could be thrown.

Even so, possessing only these two combat methods, the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey was not actually suitable for the battlefield.

Ning Zhuo's design drawing determined that this mechanical creation would be more valuable for picking fire persimmons.

Regarding Ning Zhuo's apology, Song Fuli nodded repeatedly: "Understand, understand."

He casually took a mechanical sample from the cargo box and began to test it.

The half-person-tall mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey was presented before him.

At a glance, the image of the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey was very eye-catching; it had a body of bright red monkey fur, bulging muscles on the monkey body, and lifelike eyebrows and eyes.

Song Fuli was naturally no ordinary person; his cultivation had reached the Jin Dan level, and he had long been able to use spiritual sense for testing.

He immediately used his spiritual sense to scan the entire body of the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey from the inside out.

The sharp light in Song Fuli's eyes flashed and disappeared, and he commented: "The monkey skin is Fire-Velvet Rat skin, using the most traditional sewing method of spiritual power embroidery."

"The skeleton uses Heavenly Gold, mainly pursuing lightweight and a certain degree of spatial performance, to facilitate the arrangement of storage arrays on it."

"However, to compress the array and leave room for the Fire-Exploding Monkey's subsequent promotion, the ability of the array arranger needs to be high; this kind of labor is not cheap."

Speaking of this, Song Fuli reached out and opened both hands of the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey, which were originally clenched into fists.

He felt the fingers of the Fire-Exploding Monkey with his fingers.

After a few breaths, he nodded slightly: "The micro-arrays here use a nested method, saving a lot of space."

"The mechanical monkey's finger movements are agile and flexible, capable of making very complex finger movements; this is the cornerstone for precise picking operations."

"From this, it can be seen that Young Master Ning Zhuo, your foundation in arrays is quite good, and your basic skills are very solid."

"Thinking that you are only sixteen years old this year, this mechanical attainment is still quite good."

"The 'strolling pellet' in the monkey's brain should be your original creation, right? Using it to act as a receiver for spiritual sense should be to suppress costs as much as possible."

"I personally suggest replacing the 'strolling pellet' with an array disk to form a reinforced model. After all, although the design of this 'strolling pellet' is unique, its upper limit for precise control by Foundation Establishment cultivators is very low, far inferior to a standard array disk."

"Of course, a more important point is: as long as it is replaced with an array disk, the unit price of the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey can be increased by at least thirty percent!"

Song Fuli's words made Ning Zhuo look at him with new respect.

He didn't expect his mechanical attainment to be quite good either.

But on second thought, Ning Zhuo understood: Song Fuli, as a merchant from the Flying Cloud Kingdom, leading a caravan, had been traveling north and south for a long time, and was naturally proficient in the hundred arts of cultivation.

Otherwise, if he wanted to acquire local specialties, it would be very easy to be deceived.

Song Fuli continued: "The body of the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey should be a mixed material manufactured using alchemy technology."

"Because it is for picking fire persimmons, it has piled up fire-attribute resistance as much as possible in terms of mixed materials."

"Actually, I have a better way, and that is Cold Cloud."

"This cloud, which is very common in the Flying Cloud Kingdom, can be mixed in as a main material, making the body of the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey not only drastically reduced in weight but also able to further amplify fire resistance performance."

"Do you know about Cold Cloud?"

Ning Zhuo nodded slightly and said frankly: "In the many mechanical secret manuals left by my mother, this material was recorded."

"It's a pity that this is not the Flying Cloud Kingdom, but Mount Huoshi."

"If I want to acquire Cold Cloud, I have to import materials, and the unit price is much higher than the current mixed materials."

"Considering the manufacturing cost, I directly excluded Cold Cloud."

Song Fuli was stunned for a moment, then looked up and laughed: "That makes sense."

"I know your mother was from the Flying Cloud Kingdom."

Speaking of this, Song Fuli looked at Ning Zhuo, his expression quite sincere: "Sorry, our side has secretly investigated many of your situations, Young Master Ning Zhuo."

"In fact, this is a convention for us cloud merchants wherever we go; after all, we have to do business on other people's turf."

"So we have to investigate many important local figures as clearly as possible, and then visit them one by one."

"In Huoshi Immortal City, City Lord Meng Kui, Divine Catcher Zhu Xuanji, and you, the black market master Ning Zhuo, are all objects we need to focus on."

Song Fuli, a dignified Jin Dan, actually spoke with flattery.

This attitude of doing business was truly admirable.

Song Fuli continued: "Young Master Ning Zhuo, you have half the bloodline of the Flying Cloud Kingdom in you, so the Flying Cloud Kingdom is also your home."

"I suggest that you can go home and take a look, especially at the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea; the sooner you go back, the better."

Ning Zhuo was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but show a look of longing: "Indeed, the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea... I have heard of its great name for a long time and really want to see it for myself."

Song Fuli laughed: "It's not just as simple as seeing it for yourself."

"As people from outside the Flying Cloud Kingdom, the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea is just a natural wonder to them, a place that can provide massive cultivation resources."

"But for us people of the Flying Cloud Kingdom, it has another important meaning."

"Any cultivator with the Flying Cloud Kingdom bloodline in their body, as long as they enter the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea, can receive its gift!"

"One of the lowest gifts is the ability to have a certain sense of the Flying Cloud Kingdom's bloodline."

"To be honest, I felt close to you the first time I saw you, and I could feel the Flying Cloud bloodline in your body precisely because I have been to the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea."

"This is an ability possessed by every person of the Flying Cloud Kingdom who has entered and exited the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea—sensing the bloodline of their own kind."

In the entire cultivation world, the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea has a great reputation.

Even if Ning Zhuo didn't have his mother's inheritance, he could still obtain a lot of information about the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea from the Ning family's library.

This is because this super resource point is well-known, so famous that it has become a kind of common sense in the cultivation world. Mount Huoshi cannot be compared with it at all.

The Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea is the gathering place of the Dao of Clouds, containing extremely rich Dao laws. It nurtures massive cloud-attribute resources, and there are even Nascent Soul-level and Void Refinement-level great cultivators who linger in it, comprehending the Dao of Clouds.

Song Fuli took a deep breath and continued: "It was indeed a bit abrupt to suddenly persuade you to go to the Flying Cloud Kingdom."

"But in fact, um... how should I put it?"

"The Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea can be said to be the spiritual sustenance, or spiritual home, of every one of us in the Flying Cloud Kingdom."

"Have you heard the myth about the Flying Cloud returning home?"

Ning Zhuo nodded: "I have heard of it; my mother told me before she passed away."

Song Fuli sighed softly: "The young Flying Cloud wants to go out and explore, but after drifting outside for many years, it understands that its hometown is its place of origin; it belongs there, no matter where it goes, it is like this."

"To be honest, I was the same when I was young, wanting to explore the world and see all kinds of things."

"When one day I came to the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea, I went deep into it, and I was moved to tears; that unparalleled shock and intimacy made me feel as if I had returned to my mother's embrace."

"The emotion and shock that the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea gave me are hard to describe in words. Only when you enter the cloud sea yourself one day in the future will you feel it deeply."

Ning Zhuo sighed, his tone uncertain: "Perhaps one day, I will go."

He could not be sure that such a day would come.

Because according to his life plan, he would seize the Lava Immortal Palace and become the Palace Master of the Lava Immortal Palace.

However, in this way, he would be trapped on Mount Huoshi. Unless he activated the Lava Immortal Palace and left Mount Huoshi.

But if he were the Palace Master, and the Lava Immortal Palace was responsible for suppressing Mount Huoshi, he obviously could not leave his post without authorization.

"Perhaps, I should indeed go to the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea to see, but how should I do it?"

All along, the Lava Immortal Palace had been Ning Zhuo's life goal, and he had never thought of any other life possibilities.

His mind was full of the Lava Immortal Palace, and his mother's entrustment to him before she passed away.

In fact, before this, Sun Lingtong had once persuaded him: once the seizure of the Lava Immortal Palace failed, or even if he succeeded in the end, he should run away and join the Unoccupied Gate to obtain a certain degree of protection.

Although Ning Zhuo recognized this as a retreat in his heart, in fact, he had never really thought about taking such a path.

But now, the words of Song Fuli, an outsider, made Ning Zhuo truly feel another possible route for his life.

Ning Zhuo's heart was moved by it.