Chapter 64

In the end, the puppet Ning Zhuo did not encounter the mechanical ape Yuan Dasheng.

When he arrived at Room No. 7, he discovered that the parts of the mechanical ape lying on the ground were being teleported away by a circle of light.

This was the Lava Immortal Palace’s cleanup method. The light circle could not only teleport rewards but also clear away debris.

Ning Zhuo had discovered this phenomenon before and was not surprised.

He looked at the monitoring mechanical component and discovered: the mechanical ape had been defeated by its spiritual power.

"Its physique is too massive; just maintaining it requires a lot of spiritual power."

"It chose spirit stone rewards all the way, but in the end, it couldn't hold up and couldn't withstand the consumption."

"Of course, this also has to do with the fact that I installed many mechanical traps in Rooms No. 1 through No. 9."

Ning Zhuo’s mood was heavy.

Yuan Dasheng’s strength was too great, causing a huge impact on his layout. And the negative influence brought by this impact could very likely lead to Ning Zhuo’s death!

"This was only Yuan Dasheng’s first time clearing the stage, and it cleared all the way to Room No. 7."

"Next, it will be even more familiar with this place."

"Although it still has weaknesses in spiritual power consumption, once it supports itself for seven days, it can collect the leaderboard rewards. By then, its spiritual power will be at its peak, and it might very well charge ahead of me in one go."

This brought considerable pressure to Ning Zhuo.

He was heavy-hearted, passed Room No. 9, and arrived at the transit hall once again.

The sound of mechanisms rang out, the stone wall lowered, revealing the Buddha, Dao, and Demon portals.

Previously, Ning Zhuo had already entered the Dao portal and discovered that the difficulty of the stage was extremely high. Although it wasn't without hope of passing, the time and energy consumed were immeasurable.

After deep thought, Ning Zhuo decided to first master the newly acquired cultivation methods. According to his understanding of the Lava Immortal Palace and the Three Sects' Venerables, these two cultivation methods must have their uses!

As the saying goes, sharpening the knife does not delay the work of chopping wood.

This time, Ning Zhuo arrived in front of the Demon portal.

He extended his hands, pressed his palms against the portal, and silently activated the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art.

After the demon art was activated, he quickly drew strands of blood energy from the portal.

The scarlet blood energy flowed along his arms into Ning Zhuo’s entire body, gradually condensing into a blood essence within the puppet’s body.

This was the essence crystal of blood power!

After Ning Zhuo obtained the blood essence, he could no longer absorb blood energy and discovered that the Demon portal could be pushed open.

He officially entered the Demon portal and discovered that the room was filled with mechanical traps, and many martial arts puppets were wandering within.

Ning Zhuo observed for a moment and reached a preliminary conclusion: "The difficulty of this stage is about the same as the Dao portal side. These martial arts puppets are all overflowing with blood energy; do they seem to possess blood essence as well?"

"Does this mean that they can also use the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art?"

Ning Zhuo attempted to clear the stage.

Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art!

He activated the cultivation method, and the blood energy throughout his body condensed into tangled fascia structures, distributed throughout his body, with the focus concentrated on his joints.

Under the enhancement of the blood energy fascia, Ning Zhuo’s speed in running, jumping, dodging, and so on increased by a large margin.

It wasn't just speed; strength and defense also saw an increase.

Although these mechanical traps were triggered, they posed little threat to Ning Zhuo.

The trouble was the martial arts puppets that came rushing over.

Ning Zhuo’s previous hypothesis was verified.

These martial arts puppets were indeed able to use the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art! With the help of the demon art, the threat posed by the martial arts puppets skyrocketed several times over, making them even more difficult to deal with.

Ning Zhuo persisted until the middle of the stage, where he was besieged by three martial arts puppets.

The martial arts puppets used blood energy to strike Ning Zhuo. Their blood energy fascia quickly covered Ning Zhuo’s puppet body.

Once these blood energy fascia were produced, they caused serious interference with every one of Ning Zhuo’s movements.

Ning Zhuo could only rely on spells and the flying mechanical arms to resist.

After resisting for a moment, he finally couldn't hold on; his entire body was enveloped by blood energy, and a large number of blood energy fascia sealed him from head to toe.

The three martial arts puppets attacked together, and Ning Zhuo’s puppet was ultimately smashed to pieces by them, scattering all over the ground.

"So, the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art can be used like this!" Although Ning Zhuo failed, he gained a lot.

Returning to the underground workshop, he conducted verifications in this regard.

The fascia condensed from blood energy could not only help the cultivator themselves, strengthening their mobility and providing a certain degree of defense, but it could also erode others.

By using one’s own blood energy to erode and pollute another’s blood energy, creating a large number of blood energy fascia inside and outside their body, one could carry out imprisonment.

"No, it’s not just imprisonment."

"More accurately, it is control!"

Ning Zhuo’s heart shook violently; in this instant, he saw the core philosophy of the three cultivation methods—

"The Three Sects' Venerables created these three cultivation methods with the goal of controlling mechanical creations."

"The Five Elements Qi Law can obtain five-element magic power, which has a very wide range of applications; the five-element suspension threads created can control the vast majority of mechanical creations."

"The Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art imparts blood energy fascia, increasing the mobility of mechanical creations in all aspects, which can strengthen the degree of control."

"The Mirror Platform Spirit-Communication Art communicates with spiritual objects through the spiritual sense and spiritual realm. Clearly, it will form a combination with certain mechanical components!"

Ning Zhuo continued his testing.

He also discovered that blood energy of the same origin was easier to erode and pollute, and even turn to one’s own use. Between blood energy of different origins, it was more manifested in suppression and interference.

These gains were gratifying, but Ning Zhuo’s mood became increasingly heavy.

Because he thought of Yuan Dasheng.

"This ape doesn't know where it got the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art in advance."

"Its Qi Refining cultivation should be the same as mine, both at the peak of level three. But in terms of Essence Refining, it ranks first on the leaderboard, pushing me down, which means it must have exceeded level three."

"What exactly is its true cultivation level?"

The mechanical ape cleared all the way to Room No. 7 on its first attempt; such a result was too terrifying!

What was even more frightening was that at this stage, it could only use spiritual power.

If it were allowed to come into contact with the Demon portal and gain the power of blood energy, its strength would truly be realized!

Ning Zhuo had already felt the wonderful uses of the Demon-Dyed Blood Tendon Art. The enhancement this demon art provided to oneself was immense.

With such assistance, the mechanical ape would inevitably be like a tiger with wings, soaring into the sky!

"By then, it will definitely surpass me and become number one."

"It must never be allowed to come into contact with the Demon portal!"

Ning Zhuo pulled open a drawer, took out a jade slip, and began to search for information.

"Found it!"

He soon made a discovery.

"It really is a Fire-Melting Demon Ape, just a cultivator’s spirit pet."

"The cultivator Yuan Yi founded the Monkey Head Gang..."

"The Fire-Melting Demon Ape Yuan Dasheng is precisely the gang’s guardian spirit beast!"

"I knew I had seen the name Yuan Dasheng somewhere. So it wasn't a person’s name, but the name of a spirit beast."

Ning Zhuo had paid attention to the Monkey Head Gang when he was building the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey, so he had an impression of the name Yuan Dasheng.

"The only thing worth being gratified about now is that I know its name, while it doesn't know mine."

"The enemy is in the light, and I am in the dark; the moment it climbed onto the leaderboard, it revealed a huge flaw."

"Eliminate it, I must eliminate it as soon as possible!"

A sharp glint of killing intent flashed in Ning Zhuo’s eyes.