Chapter 63

A massive mechanical ape appeared before Ning Zhuo’s eyes.

The ape was at least four or five times the height of the puppet Ning Zhuo. Its body was quite burly, and its arms were as thick as the torso of the puppet Ning Zhuo.

The ape was not clumsy at all.

With a light push, it opened the first door, stepped forward, lowered its body, and squeezed inside.

The height of the door didn't even reach its waistline.

The mechanism activated immediately, and the Thousand-Jun Heavy Hammer Platform aimed directly at it and smashed down heavily.

The mechanical ape didn't even raise its head; it simply extended its arms and proactively reached upward.

At the same time, it straightened its body, its momentum imposing, like a mountain peak rising from the ground!

After its thick arms made contact with the Thousand-Jun Heavy Hammer Platform, it didn't block it rigidly, but rather deflected it softly, using clever force to divert the trajectory of the platform.

Bang!

The Thousand-Jun Heavy Hammer Platform was gently guided by the mechanical ape’s arms, its trajectory deflected, and it smashed into the wall on one side.

The mechanical ape’s posture was composed.

From the moment it entered the room, it had stood its ground, merely straightening its body without moving an inch.

Having neutralized this trap, the mechanical ape looked at its own arms.

If it had blocked it forcefully, its wooden arms would have shattered long ago. But at this moment, there were only a few small cracks.

"Deflecting a thousand pounds with four ounces!" Seeing this, Ning Zhuo realized instantly: the mechanical ape’s close-combat foundation was likely even more outstanding than those martial arts puppets.

Just now, it had handled the heavy as if it were light, with softness amidst hardness, displaying a kind of elegant and fluid power.

The mechanical ape continued to walk forward.

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Poof.

It triggered the mechanism again, and the golden silk fishing net came scooping up from bottom to top.

It leaped lightly, arms outstretched, its hands precisely gripping the edges of the golden silk fishing net.

It performed a backflip in mid-air.

Its heavy body landed on the ground, yet it made only a slight sound.

And the golden silk fishing net was torn apart by it, draped over its body following the momentum, becoming a cape with slight protective properties!

Ning Zhuo was left somewhat dumbfounded.

"This is definitely a martial arts master!"

The mechanical ape’s entire movement was fluid, turning the enemy’s weapon to its own use; its power was great enough to tear the fishing net’s connections, yet its control of force was quite precise.

Next, Ning Zhuo saw the mechanical ape continuously breaking through, its speed far exceeding the rate at which the floor tiles retreated.

During this time, a large number of horizontal timbers struck at it; the mechanical ape swung its arms, sometimes smashing the giant timbers like heavy hammers, sometimes piercing through obstacles like long spears.

Sometimes it leaped, its posture agile, handling the heavy as if it were light. Sometimes it stood firm, immovable, like a pillar in a great hall.

It proceeded step by step, smashing the various mechanical traps that were triggered, like an elegant, dancing mechanical bulldozer.

Upon reaching the second door, it showed a thoughtful expression. After a few breaths, it chose spirit stones as its reward.

Seeing this, Ning Zhuo’s heart stirred slightly: "Its body is so massive, the spiritual power it consumes must be significant. Therefore, it must be spirit stones."

After watching, Ning Zhuo re-installed the monitoring mechanical component in the corner.

He immediately went to Room No. 3.

The scene in Room No. 3 made his heart shake again.

Thirty or forty martial arts puppets were already lying in disarray, most of them having become severely disabled, with some being dismantled directly.

Over these past forty or fifty days, the number of times Ning Zhuo had entered and exited the Lava Immortal Palace was beyond counting.

This was the first time he had discovered that the martial arts puppets could be destroyed!

Ning Zhuo immediately took out the monitoring mechanical component, and after checking it, he was speechless for a moment.

After the mechanical ape arrived in Room No. 3, it was immediately besieged by numerous martial arts puppets.

Its body was massive and its martial skills were outstanding, but after all, it only had two fists and two legs; logically, it should have been at a disadvantage.

But after checking, Ning Zhuo finally understood what it meant by "any part of a martial arts master’s body can become a weapon"!

In Room No. 3, the mechanical ape rolled, leaped, and crawled; its fists, feet, elbows, head, chest, back, and even its tail and buttocks were all its weapons.

It swung its arms, sweeping across a wide area.

Its elbows were like awls, piercing through the chests of the martial arts puppets.

With a headbutt, it sent a puppet flying to the ceiling. When the puppet fell, the mechanical ape whipped its tail, lashing out fiercely, sending the mechanical puppet flying to smash into three or four other puppets.

Just like that, the mechanical ape seemed to stir up countless whirlwinds, spinning around the room multiple times.

The martial arts puppets came one after another, only to be knocked flying in succession.

Finally, when the mechanical ape stood in the center of the arena, motionless, all the martial arts puppets were lying on the ground, and even the yellow light in their eyes had dimmed.

Ning Zhuo had an epiphany: "I understand a little now."

"This is the correct way to pass Room No. 3!"

"Using martial arts to fight allows one to destroy the martial arts puppets. If one uses spells to take shortcuts, destroying the puppets would be explicitly prohibited."

"This mechanical ape’s martial skills are truly remarkable!"

Ning Zhuo sighed with genuine admiration.

Every time he passed Room No. 3, he used spells to take shortcuts.

He had not only learned all the spells but also gained a massive amount of casting experience through the weekly ranking rewards; he was already an old hand at this.

"If I were to fight it, I would have to keep my distance and use spells for long-range attacks to have a chance of winning."

"In close combat, there is absolutely no possibility!"

Cultivators in the first three levels of Qi Refining are sometimes killed by mortal martial artists. Such examples are not rare.

Seeing the mechanical ape choose spirit stones as a reward again and leave Room No. 3, Ning Zhuo hurriedly put back the monitoring mechanical component and caught up.

In the preparation room, there was no one else besides himself.

This made Ning Zhuo feel slightly relieved, but immediately he became even more nervous.

On one hand, he didn't need to fight in the preparation room, where the space was relatively narrow; on the other hand, this meant the mechanical ape had already passed through here and headed deeper.

After picking up the monitoring mechanical component, Ning Zhuo discovered that the mechanical ape had circled here several times, carefully observing various mechanical pedestals, and even picked up some production tools to examine them before immediately putting them down.

Finally, the mechanical ape stopped in front of the five-sided stone pillar leaderboard and studied it for a long time.

What made Ning Zhuo secretly heave a sigh of relief was that the mechanical ape did not infuse the stone pillar with spiritual power, and thus did not receive the mark of a trial disciple.

Ning Zhuo also arrived in front of the five-sided stone pillar.

When he saw the leaderboard, his heart shook violently!

He only had first place on four leaderboards; on one of them, he had been pushed to second place.

"I'm tied for first on the Qi Refining leaderboard, but I’ve actually fallen behind on the Essence Refining leaderboard. I’m at level three in Essence Refining now, too."

"What is going on?"

The mechanical ape clearly had other opportunities and had cultivated the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art early on!

"Yuan Dasheng?" Ning Zhuo stared at the mechanical ape’s name, lost in thought.

"The mechanical ape is clearly a non-human demon cultivator."

"From the martial skills it excels at and its various performances in the preparation room, it can be seen that its intelligence is not low."

"It has a name, and this name, I seem to have seen it somewhere..."

Ning Zhuo had many doubts in his heart.

How exactly did this demon cultivator named Yuan Dasheng obtain the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art in advance?

Does it live in Fire Persimmon Immortal City?

At first, Ning Zhuo thought that this mechanical ape was very likely one of the Fire-Melting Demon Apes in the volcano. But subsequent discoveries dispelled this hypothesis.

"Where on earth have I heard this name?"