Chapter 39: Hanging Ring

Having had the precious experience of the first time, Ning Zhuo was no longer a stranger to the darkness.

He did not hesitate, fully mobilizing the spiritual power in the spirit stone, and circulating the Five Elements Qi Law.

Click.

He sucked the first mechanical component over and assembled it.

It was an arm.

He sucked over another component and successfully assembled it.

It was a wooden head.

Ning Zhuo regained his vision.

He lay on the hill-like pile of mechanical components, reached out to touch his head, and found it was still a square, big head.

"Why is it this kind again?"

"It catches the wind when running and jumping, which has a negative impact on passing Room Number Two."

Ning Zhuo turned his big head, dragged his torso with his only hand, and climbed around.

He patiently selected legs, and did not stop until he chose two of equal length.

Previous experience told him that spending time in this regard was completely worth it.

Not only that, his choice of arms was also determined to be as long as possible.

"I want long arms and long legs."

"And I want to change to a smaller head."

Ning Zhuo failed.

When he rummaged around, picked a small head, and was about to replace it, he received new information—the initial puppet body, based on aptitude, cannot be freely changed in Room Number One.

"There’s this restriction too?"

Ning Zhuo was stunned, then fell into thought.

"If it’s based on aptitude to assemble the puppet, this means—Meng Chong and others will have puppets much stronger than mine from the start of this room."

"It also means that the mechanical components piled up like mountains here, despite having similar quality, actually have considerable differences in performance."

Ning Zhuo then thought of himself.

"I used an Early Wisdom Pill in the womb, so I have the talent of early wisdom."

"It is precisely this talent that gave me this big head? So, I cannot replace it with a small head."

"I rely on the talent of early wisdom to possess this big head. This means that having a big head also has its benefits, it’s just not reflected."

"Also..."

Ning Zhuo thought of a suspicious point.

The first mechanical component he attracted was an arm, not a big head!

"The first time was like this, the second time was also like this. The arm component takes priority over the head component."

"Does this mean that I actually have a hidden talent, and this talent is related to the arm, and is even more excellent than the early wisdom talent?"

Ning Zhuo’s thinking was agile, his observation was meticulous, and he could discover problems from details.

This was also possible.

Because cultivation talents are varied, strange, and too numerous. Although the Ning family has been doing the work of testing immortal aptitudes, it can only cover the basic public and common typical talents. Many special talents cannot be detected by conventional means.

Perhaps Ning Zhuo’s arm hides such a talent, which has never been tested by the family.

Ning Zhuo continued to ponder the information just received.

"The message says this is the 'initial puppet body,' and also says it cannot be 'freely' changed in 'Room Number One'."

"Does this mean that it is actually possible to update the body? Can it be freely changed in a certain room?"

In just a few breaths, Ning Zhuo pondered through this seemingly ordinary message, realizing many hidden keys.

Despite the information’s reminder, Ning Zhuo still held a fluke mentality and tried to assemble wing components.

If he could attach wings, then passing Room Number Two would be much easier.

Sure enough... it didn't work.

"So it seems, these wings, short horns, claws, and other components are all prepared for non-human existences."

"In the future, will non-human competitors appear in the Molten Immortal Palace?"

Ning Zhuo climbed down from the hill-like pile of mechanical components.

In the process, he also made a quite important observation.

Very quickly, he discovered the various traces he had left during his first exploration.

"That is to say, this room is exactly the Room Number One I explored for the first time."

This observation result was quite important!

"This room does not belong exclusively to me."

"In fact, so many mechanical components also remind me of this point from the side."

"When I explored, the changes I left behind seem to have been preserved to a certain extent?"

"There is another question that is quite critical—when I explore the Immortal Palace, will I encounter others in the same room?"

Ning Zhuo walked to the door of the first level, paused his thinking, and reached out to touch the door.

Information was transmitted, just like before, still three options.

One, one spirit stone.

Two, mechanical component hanging ring.

Three, spell "A Burst of Qi."

Ning Zhuo had a plan long ago, did not hesitate, and directly chose the hanging ring.

The spiritual power now was 70%, far more than the first exploration. And there would still be spirit stones in the reward for passing Room Number Two.

From a long-term perspective, choosing the spell was the most advantageous. But for the moment, Ning Zhuo needed immediate combat power the most. Choosing the hanging ring would allow him to go further in this exploration.

"In the initial stage, intelligence is the most important."

"So, I want to explore as far as possible. Only in this way can I collect enough intelligence, and with such a foundation, can I make the correct decision."

"Sigh, I don't know where Meng Chong and the others have reached."

"I hope I can see their traces as soon as possible."

The light circle of transmission appeared again, spat out a wooden circle, and slowly disappeared.

Ning Zhuo took this wooden circle and observed it at close range.

The entire wooden circle had a diameter of about half a foot, the circle body was thicker, and eighteen diamond-shaped crystals were embedded on it.

These crystals all presented a blue-purple faint light. Whenever Ning Zhuo changed his observation angle slightly, the blue-purple faint light would also change, which was quite eye-catching.

"This is the hanging ring? How do I use it?"

"No instructions?"

Ning Zhuo did not receive any information about the hanging ring.

He understood: the reward of mechanical components was also testing the cultivator’s attainments in mechanical skills.

He needed to explore the correct usage himself.

Thinking of this, Ning Zhuo subconsciously pressed the hanging ring to his brow.

There was no movement.

Ning Zhuo smiled awkwardly in his heart: "I forgot, I don't have spiritual sense anymore."

Spiritual sense originates from the divine sea, and the divine sea is the cultivator’s upper dantian.

In this world, cultivators have a total of three dantians, which are the upper dantian divine sea, the middle dantian qi sea, and the lower dantian essence sea.

The upper dantian brow divine sea, the spiritual aperture mysterious pass, the source of the sea of consciousness, the condensation of thoughts in the void.

The middle dantian chest qi sea, the mansion of magic power, qi gathers like clouds, hiding sharpness and accumulating momentum.

The lower dantian abdominal essence palace, the convergence of blood vessels, the fusion of essence, the root of life.

Ning Zhuo’s current puppet body was all wooden, without three dantians. Even the "magic power" he used was just "spiritual power" drawn from spirit stones to act as a substitute.

Ning Zhuo held the hanging ring in his hand and tried to infuse spiritual power into it.

Very quickly, the diamond-shaped blue-purple colored diamonds embedded on the surface of the hanging ring were lit up one by one. ===== CHAPTER 40 =====