Chapter 292

The Fire-Walking Snake suffered heavy damage and developed the intention to retreat.

It flapped its wings and darted into the thick magma, leaving a trail of flame snake paths along the way.

"Pity, I didn't calculate the time of its death." Meng Kui's pupils returned to normal, and he coughed a few times, his face pale.

Using his ultimate move just now had also cost him a great deal of vitality.

Once the Fire-Walking Snake retreated, the Red Flame Beasts also fell into chaos, their morale plummeting, and many beasts ran directly back, learning from the Nascent Soul-level Fire-Walking Snake and diving directly into the magma.

In contrast, the human cultivators shouted in unison, sweeping away the gloom.

They pursued the victory, with various magic tools, magic treasures, and spells crashing down; the infiltrating Fire-Walking Snakes had no follow-up support and gradually could not hold on.

Shortly after, they all fell on the battlefield.

Ning Zhuo stood on high ground and scanned the area.

Seeing the devastated battlefield, his mood was very heavy.

If this were to be settled, what kind of change would there be in his merit?

His heart sank as he checked his merit—positive three hundred and twenty-seven.

Thanks to the efforts of all members of the three families' renovation teams, Ning Zhuo's merit was finally not a negative number, and after turning positive, it soared to over three hundred.

"But if it's to be settled, my accumulation of merit is likely a drop in the bucket."

"Without enough merit, I won't be ranked at the top, so how can I squeeze into the palace examination?"

Ning Zhuo felt deep anxiety.

"No, I must find a way!"

"Befriend people from the City Lord's Mansion? Use their power?"

No.

Ning Zhuo's three positions, corresponding to three mechanical buildings, were almost all filled.

Besides that, Ning Zhuo could not enjoy the merit sharing from positions in other mechanical buildings.

"What if I enter the Immortal Palace with my soul and claim other Immortal Palace positions?"

Ning Zhuo found that this path was also blocked for him.

On one hand, the three-family alliance also included him, prohibiting him from entering the Immortal Palace with his soul during this period.

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On the other hand, the trial levels of the three sect masters did not have a winner-takes-all policy but took care of everyone, even giving opportunities to beasts like Yuan Dasheng.

Ning Zhuo had learned that even if he cleared the level again and claimed a position, the rights and positions from the previous identical path would be considered automatically forfeited.

In other words, by clearing trial levels, a trial disciple could hold at most three positions.

The three sect masters encouraged fairer competition, wanting to leave opportunities for latecomers.

Ning Zhuo pondered deeply and finally felt that he should still start from mechanical arts and make an issue of the beast tide.

He assessed the situation and judged that the Nascent Soul-level Fire-Walking Snake would likely attack again.

If he could find a more efficient way to eradicate the Red Flame Beasts and protect the Molten Lava Immortal Palace, there would also be a considerable merit gain.

Ning Zhuo possessed deep mechanical attainments, and he quickly found a direction. That was to modify the Fire-Exploding Monkeys so they could steal the core inside the Fire-Walking Snake.

The core was the Fire-Walking Snake's lifeblood; if it were stolen, the Fire-Walking Snake's combat power would plummet by ninety-nine percent.

In this regard, what gave Ning Zhuo the key inspiration was Yuan Dasheng's "Looking Back and Snatching" and "Shattering Yang Hand."

Sure enough, as Ning Zhuo expected.

In the days that followed, the Nascent Soul-level Fire-Walking Snake attacked repeatedly.

The Fire-Walking Snake swarm kept infiltrating.

Clearing out the Fire-Walking Snakes became a task that the cultivators in the Immortal Palace were exhausted by.

Ning Zhuo's plan to improve the Fire-Exploding Monkeys made very little progress.

In actual research, he found that there were too many problems to solve, and many links required experiments, trying out new mixed materials, and so on.

He was confident he could succeed in the research, but the key was time!

His time was too tight.

However, in this arduous process, he was not without gains.

He had managed to get his hands on items from Zheng Jian's life.

His subordinates in the black market had demonstrated their value.

But he hadn't managed to get many of Ning Xiaohui's relics. It was said that Ning Xiaohui's grandmother was quite devastated, seemingly falling into madness, shrinking into Ning Xiaohui's room day and night, pathologically keeping everything related to Ning Xiaohui by her side.

She would look at the objects and think of the person, sometimes washing her face with tears, sometimes screaming crazily. Whether it was the crying or the screaming, it sounded chilling.

Ning Zhuo cremated the relics of both in the intensive care ward.

He successfully replenished Zheng Jian's spirituality to one hundred percent.

Ning Xiaohui's relics were few, only pushing the spirituality of the Floating Ice White Jade Hand mechanism to sixty percent.

Sixty percent spirituality... although it could perform the Ice Fat Jade Hand, it was only enough to perform it once. According to Ning Zhuo's estimate, after performing the natural talent, the spirituality of the Floating Ice White Jade Hand would inevitably be greatly damaged, nearing obsolescence.

Besides that, other gains were Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu.

Under Ning Zhuo's care, the merit of Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu continued to soar, growing rapidly.

The spots for the palace examination were limited; if Ning Zhuo could help them squeeze into the palace examination list, it would also be very helpful to Ning Zhuo himself.

"Now the key to the problem is still my merit!"

The Nascent Soul-level Fire-Walking Snake attacked again.

Meng Kui repelled it.

Originally, everyone thought this was a victory they were gradually getting used to.

But with the collapse of a core building, the Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit in the main hall suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Hahaha, success, I finally succeeded!"

The golden light shield that had always surrounded the Molten Lava Immortal Palace suddenly revealed multiple holes.

No matter how magic power was poured into these holes, they just wouldn't close.

Once the holes appeared, a massive amount of Red Flame Beasts poured in like a flood.

The cultivators were caught off guard, and since they were in a huge numerical disadvantage, they could only watch helplessly as a large number of buildings collapsed one after another under the beast tide.

Some were even smashed to pieces, with stones, broken wood, and so on scattering everywhere.

Building after building became ruins, and roaring flames spread rapidly, as if to devour everything in the Immortal Palace!

Zhu Xuanji shouted in deep thought, stepping forward at the critical moment to serve as the battlefield commander-in-chief.

Under his command, the cultivators barely managed to set up a defensive line, slightly curbing the offensive of the Red Flame Beasts.

However, looking down at the Molten Lava Immortal Palace, most of its outer circle had fallen, becoming a place where countless beasts ran rampant.

The situation took a sharp turn for the worse!

Molten Lava Immortal Palace main hall.

The Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit danced with joy: "Sure enough, sure enough, the palace examination has also been brought forward!"

This was something that could be traced.

In the past years, whenever the Molten Lava Immortal Palace was damaged to a certain stage, it would automatically lower the standard for selecting cultivators by one level.

From top to bottom, it was lowered step by step—Nascent Soul, Jin Dan, Foundation Establishment, Qi Refining... until now, the palace examination, which had been some distance away, was greatly brought forward because of the dangerous situation of the Immortal Palace.

"Ning Zhuo, just wait to be eliminated!"

"Once the palace examination is out, it will settle everyone's merit in advance. You have no hope at all!"

"Hahaha, it's one thing that you used Fire-Exploding Monkeys to bomb the Immortal Palace, but you even used the Five Elements Artillery Towers to bomb it..."

"Hahaha!"

"You fell for it; no matter how cunning and insidious you are, you fell for my, the Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit's, scheme."

At the same time.

Ning Zhuo only felt a tightness in the index finger of his left hand.

Zheng Jian's natural talent, "Piercing Heart Insight," suddenly activated.

Ning Zhuo was just worrying about the merit issue, and when "Piercing Heart Insight" activated, it immediately made him shudder in shock.

"Not good!"

"The Molten Lava Immortal Palace is in danger; I'm afraid the palace examination is about to be brought forward."

"I feel a great sense of foreboding; with insufficient merit this time, I'm afraid I'll be squeezed out of the palace examination list."

"What should I do?"

Ning Zhuo gritted his teeth fiercely: "It seems I can only take the final path."

"I must offer up my My Buddha Heart-Demon Seal!!!"

A teleportation circle appeared, and Ning Zhuo resolutely took out the treasure seal.

In an instant, his mother's words echoed in his ears: "Ning Zhuo, my child, this treasure seal has been planted with the methods of the Flying Cloud Kingdom by your mother, and it is most intimate with you. You must keep it well; it is of a high grade and will be a powerful aid in your future cultivation."

"No, no, no!" The Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit was shocked at this moment.

Although it had long known that Ning Zhuo possessed the My Buddha Heart-Demon Seal, it still hadn't thought that without any information, Ning Zhuo would offer up the treasure seal in advance!

The Dragon-Turtle Fire Spirit resisted fiercely, wishing it could roar in Ning Zhuo's ear: "What are you handing over? This treasure seal is so good, and you're going to discard it? Are you worthy of your mother?!"

Ning Zhuo's eyes shone with a look of determination.

"Since I can even use my life as a bet, why would I be reluctant to part with a mere magic treasure?"

"Hand it over, hand it over, hand it over!"

The My Buddha Heart-Demon Seal was thrown into the teleportation circle and quickly disappeared from Ning Zhuo's sight.

In an instant, Ning Zhuo felt empty inside.

He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and silently endured the intense agitation in his heart.

A moment later.

A message was transmitted directly into everyone's minds—

The Molten Lava Immortal Palace palace examination has begun!

Merit settlement, taking the top thirty-three in the rankings.

The list is as follows:

Zhu Xuanji.

Shuzhongjun.

Yang Chanyu.

Ning Zhuo.

Meng Chong

Zhou Zeshen

Zhou Zhu

Entry standard.