Chapter 268

Boom!

A violent explosion came from the distance.

Ning Xiaohui looked up, subconsciously looking into the sky to the west.

Sure enough, cracks appeared in the light shield to the west, and three Fire-Deviation Snakes seeped in, falling to the ground one after another.

The battle on the ground started immediately.

Ning Xiaohui quickly turned her head and looked at the gourd-shaped furnace in front of her.

For some time now, she had been driven crazy by Ning Zhuo and had been desperately earning merit.

At this moment, Ning Xiaohui was clearly much thinner, her eye sockets were sunken, and she had two large dark circles under her eyes; one look was enough to know that she was in a state of extreme physical and mental exhaustion.

But Ning Xiaohui's eyes were shining; her eyes were bloodshot, and every movement revealed a sense of madness.

A feeling of dizziness suddenly struck.

Ning Xiaohui sat cross-legged on the ground, her upper body swayed for a moment, then immediately steadied.

"This is a critical moment for artifact refining; I cannot slack off!" She hurriedly took out an elixir, pulled out the stopper of the medicine bottle, and poured it into her mouth.

She swallowed five or six elixirs in one gulp.

With the elixirs in her stomach, Ning Xiaohui's spirit suddenly lifted; she felt as if she were a deflated ball, and the medicinal power filled her exhausted body again.

"Hold on, once I smelt this furnace of materials, I will have another five merit points in my account!"

Ning Xiaohui knew well that her first-mover advantage would continue to shrink as time passed, so she acted frantically.

She used her natural talent, Ice-Fat Jade Hands, to the best of her ability to repair various large and small mechanism buildings.

The merit rewarded for this kind of task was often not small.

But Ning Xiaohui could not handle the frequent use of her natural talent either.

So in the gaps, she would come to the gourd furnace forest to accept some artifact refining tasks.

There were many furnaces in the Lava Immortal Palace, divided into four grades: copper, iron, silver, and gold.

The gourd-shaped furnaces were spaced apart from each other and arranged in an orderly manner. Looking from afar, it was a huge gourd forest.

The furnaces were different from important places like the medical hall, the Five Elements Artillery Tower, and the Pointing General Platform.

The furnaces were open to the public; even outsiders without the status of trial disciples could easily accept artifact refining tasks here.

Ning Xiaohui sat cross-legged in front of the furnace, and waves of scorching heat rushed toward her face, blowing her hair tips up and making them dry and yellow.

She stared fixedly at the furnace in front of her, not relaxing for a moment.

"My merit is already at one hundred and twenty-seven."

"I am still thirty merit points away from being able to obtain a position in the History Pavilion."

"Ning Xiaohui, fight with all your might! Let Ning Zhuo and his group see clearly, and let them fully appreciate the power of the Ning family's main branch."

"This time, I can only win; I must not lose!"

Ning Xiaohui shouted in her heart.

Ning Xiaohui had been squeezed out and driven away by everyone, forcing her to enter the Immortal Palace.

Her current situation made her feel as if she had been forced to the edge of a cliff, and this time, she had nowhere left to retreat.

The past humiliation, the pressure of Ning Zhuo chasing from behind, and the expectations of the Jin Dan ancestors all piled up on her, causing Ning Xiaohui to burst out with the strongest fighting spirit of her life!

Lava Immortal Palace, Main Hall.

On the throne, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was spinning in circles in anxiety.

Its gaze pierced through the long sky, watching Ning Xiaohui, and also watching Ning Zhuo.

Seeing Ning Zhuo lying on the bed sleeping soundly, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit complained: "Stop sleeping, it's already burning your eyebrows, do you still have the heart to sleep?"

"Look at Ning Xiaohui, how hard she is working, how desperately she is fighting!"

Of course, it did not dare to say these words directly to Ning Zhuo.

It just talked to itself, venting its emotions.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was really getting anxious!

It might have been fine if it didn't know Ning Xiaohui's real progress, but the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit had been paying attention to her all along.

Every time it saw Ning Xiaohui's progress, time and time again, getting closer to the position in the History Pavilion, it suffered greatly.

"That old guy Zhu Xuanji is also not doing human things; he is actually secretly using Ning Zhuo to stimulate Ning Xiaohui."

After spinning a dozen circles, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit finally could not bear it, took a deep breath, and took the initiative to contact Ning Zhuo.

"Young Master, Young Master..." The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit lowered its voice as much as possible, pretending to call out weakly and affectionately.

Ning Zhuo had not been asleep for long when he was woken up.

He opened his tired eyes and said weakly: "Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, has your condition improved a little?"

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit smiled bitterly: "No, Young Master, my condition is deteriorating every moment, but the situation is too urgent now."

"I have to try my best to warn you, that Ning Xiaohui! She is a huge threat."

"Her merit is only about thirty away from being able to obtain the lowest position in the History Pavilion!"

"Young Master, you must solve her as soon as possible!!"

Ning Zhuo sighed and immediately expressed that he was also very troubled and in a difficult position.

"Ning Xiaohui must be stopped."

"But I have no chance!"

"The Jin Dan ancestors are nearby, and that Zhu Xuanji is always watching me; he is suspicious of me."

Ning Zhuo appeased the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit: "There are still more than thirty merit points; Ning Xiaohui is still some distance away from success."

"We still have some time; it hasn't reached the final moment yet."

"At this time, we must be calm and find the right opportunity!"

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was so anxious that it stomped its feet on the throne: "Calm, how can you ask me to be calm! Oh my, you are really making me anxious to death."

Of course, it did not dare to say this to Ning Zhuo either; it could only vent in secret.

Ning Zhuo took the opportunity to instruct the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit to keep a close watch on Ning Xiaohui.

At the same time, he asked the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit about the question the latter did not have time to answer last time.

Helpless, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit could only tell Ning Zhuo that his guess was correct.

As the master of the medical hall, one could indeed obtain a share from the merit of their subordinates.

However, likewise, once a subordinate messed up a task, the master of the medical hall would also be held responsible. In this case, the master's merit would also be deducted.

This result was still slightly different from what Ning Zhuo had expected before.

Just as Ning Zhuo was about to continue asking the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit took the initiative to disconnect the contact again.

It held its head and lay on the armrest of the throne, sighing. Every time it communicated with Ning Zhuo, it had to be fleeced for information and suffer losses.

But it had to rely on Ning Zhuo to deal with Ning Xiaohui.

It could not take it anymore; these days were really too hard to endure!

Ning Zhuo called out to the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit repeatedly, but there was no response; he sighed deeply and lay on the bed without moving.

He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling, his heart also feeling very heavy.

Ning Zhuo wanted to stop Ning Xiaohui and also wanted to get information about the History Pavilion, but there was no opportunity.

The protection the Jin Dan cultivators gave them was really a bit too good.

Ning Zhuo also had a lot of anxiety and unease in his heart.

Every day that passed, the pressure from Ning Xiaohui grew greater.

But Ning Zhuo knew that he had to be extremely cautious.

It was not easy for him to reach this point. He was just a small Qi Refining cultivator, and in dealing with Jin Dan cultivators, he had to be careful every moment, keep his nerves tight, and not make any mistakes!

And once he could not bear this pressure and blindly took action against Ning Xiaohui, he would fall into Zhu Xuanji's trap and expose himself.

Zhu Xuanji and other Jin Dan cultivators used the reformed teams as bait, wanting to fish out the true culprit who bombarded Fire Persimmon Mountain.

Likewise, Zhu Xuanji was also using Ning Xiaohui to fish.

If Ning Zhuo were in a hurry to take the bait, Zhu Xuanji would be the happiest one.

"Wait!"

"Even if I have to bite the bullet, I must wait."

"Wait for the right opportunity."

"What is Song Fuli doing? Has he still not realized that he has been robbed?"

The next day, City Lord's Mansion.

After receiving permission, Song Fuli entered the study to pay a visit to Fei Si.

Seeing Song Fuli's gloomy expression, Fei Si's heart tightened, but he still kept a smile on his face and asked about Song Fuli's purpose.

Song Fuli's first sentence shocked Fei Si.

"What?! All the auction items prepared by your side have been stolen?" Fei Si widened his eyes.

Song Fuli nodded with a heavy expression: "With such a major event, how could I joke with you, Lord Fei Si?"

"We only just discovered it!"

"As soon as we discovered this, we immediately sealed the scene, and I came to find you immediately."

"All along, since our side entered the Lava Immortal City, we have strictly followed the rules, and the materials, magic treasures, etc., we brought were all within the specified range."

"Our side is fully capable of setting up higher-standard magic arrays to protect our goods."

"It is precisely because we are constrained by your city's rules that we cannot exert our full strength, making the protection of the goods less than sixty percent."

"Now that this has happened, I ask Lord Fei Si to help. After all, our goods were lost in Fire Persimmon Immortal City."

Song Fuli said it was a request, but his tone was anxious and contained resentment toward the City Lord's Mansion.

Fei Si did not dare to be careless in the slightest and hurriedly got up to go back with Song Fuli to survey the scene.

In the treasure vault, fake goods were placed on the shelves.

If Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu were here, they would discover that these fake goods were all made by them, without exception.

Fei Si also checked the surrounding magic arrays.

To protect the Cloud Merchants' goods, the City Lord's Mansion had also put in effort. They had specifically made arrangements here, connecting the city-protecting array into the temporary array here.

Strictly speaking, the defense here was not low.

However, the fact in front of Fei Si was—the Cloud Merchants' goods were really stolen!

"This matter is tricky!"

Fei Si frowned deeply.

Just the emergence of this event alone was already very bad.

If not handled properly, Fire Persimmon Immortal City would seriously lose its credibility.

As a city, if it could not even guarantee the safety of the wealth of the merchant teams coming to do business, then what face did it have to ask the merchant teams to voluntarily limit their strength?

If this credibility could not be made up for, under a vicious cycle, the number of merchant teams coming to Fire Persimmon Immortal City would become fewer and fewer.

This was extremely unfavorable for the development of Fire Persimmon Immortal City.

And at present, the City Lord's Mansion still wanted to rely on the Cloud Merchants to help defend Fire Persimmon Immortal City and the Lava Immortal Palace.

"Which bastard stole the Cloud Merchants' treasures at this critical juncture?"

"Damn it, they deserve to die!"

Fei Si was extremely angry in his heart; he suppressed his anger and forced himself to calm down.

"Regarding this matter, our side will definitely give Brother Song an explanation!" Fei Si immediately guaranteed to Song Fuli, trying his best to appease him.

After issuing the order to continue sealing the scene, Fei Si left the Cloud Market, first reporting to Meng Kui, and then immediately contacting Zhu Xuanji.

"Lord Divine Catcher, I have to rely on you!" Fei Si asked for help, not caring about his own face at all.

Zhu Xuanji received his "distress letter," sighed lightly, and his face was full of worry.

Song Fuli and his group of Cloud Merchants were indeed a powerful aid.

Especially the Cloud Whale beast, which was at the Nascent Soul level.

In case several Nascent Soul-level Scarlet Flame demonic beasts besieged them together, Zhu Xuanji was counting on the Cloud Whale to share some of the pressure for Meng Kui at that time.

"It seems I have to go out."

"Investigate the case with all my might, capture the criminal, and try my best to recover the stolen treasures!"

"On this basis, try to win over the Cloud Merchants' group..."