Ning Zhuo slowly opened his eyes and found that his surroundings had changed dramatically.
He was back in his underground workshop.
A strong sense of weakness welled up from deep within him.
Ning Zhuo stood up and examined himself.
"My physical body is fine, but my soul has been severely weakened."
In Room Two, he had suffered too many impacts from the massive logs.
"Although this was just my first exploration of the Lava Immortal Palace, and I didn’t make it to Room Three, I gained a lot!"
"Especially with the spell reward from Room Two, which I was fortunate enough to bring back."
Rather than immediately delving into studying the acquired spell, Ning Zhuo first drank some water and ate.
With his soul drawn away, his body had been left unconscious.
Although his heartbeat and breathing had been maintained, remaining immobile for too long wasn't ideal.
After all, Ning Zhuo was still only a qi refining cultivator without any specialized body refinement techniques. His physical body wasn’t strong.
While replenishing his body's nutrition, Ning Zhuo calculated the time elapsed.
"The first exploration of the Lava Immortal Palace took about three hours."
"For a qi refining cultivator who practices the Five Elements Qi Regulation Technique, entering the Lava Immortal Palace is now different from before."
"Previously, I could enter with my physical body, but now only my soul is drawn in… "
"This means that even if the City Lord guards the summit of Fire Persimmon Mountain, it won’t have much effect."
"No, the City Lord will probably continue the lockdown."
"On one hand, he needs to prevent cultivators above the qi refining stage from physically entering the palace. After all, the Lava Immortal Palace has now emerged."
"On the other hand, this is advantageous for his faction."
"His grandson, Meng Chong, is still in the qi refining stage and began preparing to seize the Lava Immortal Palace long ago."
"In this regard, the City Lord’s faction still holds the greatest advantage."
"Meng Chong possesses the supreme immortal talent—Wild Sprint Thunderclap! I can't possibly compete with him."
"Ah, I wonder how many rooms he has passed by now? Room Two would certainly be no obstacle for him."
Only mortals with a spiritual root have the basic qualifications for cultivation.
Above that, there are countless levels of cultivation talent.
Supreme talents are called immortal talents, remarkable abilities that enable a cultivator to defeat higher-level opponents as a norm.
Even though Ning Zhuo hadn’t reached Room Three in his first exploration, his gains were substantial.
The Lava Immortal Palace treated "outsiders" and "its own cultivators" very differently.
This difference greatly benefited Ning Zhuo.
In the past, he would have had to contend with competitors at the foundation establishment, golden core, or even nascent soul levels.
But with this testing method, his opponents were currently only qi refining cultivators.
Ning Zhuo recalled the intelligence he had gathered.
"Among the City Lord’s qi refining cultivators, Meng Chong is certainly the leader."
"In the Zhou family, there are two qi refining cultivators: Zhou Zeshen and Zhou Zhu, both of whom have joined the Mudflow Sect. Their expertise in mechanical arts is unparalleled."
"From the Zheng family, Zheng Jian is the standout among qi refining cultivators. He possesses Heart-Piercing Insight, a high-grade talent, and is also very formidable."
"As for the Ning family, among cultivators of the same level, Ning Xiaohui is the best. However, she refuses to switch to the Five Elements Qi Regulation Technique."
"Ah, these are all geniuses in cultivation."
"In comparison, I only possess a lower-grade early awakening talent—utterly ordinary."
"The key difference is that they have powerful backing from their families, even support from nascent soul cultivators."
"I, however, am alone, without any family support. In this regard, I can only look up to them."
Reflecting on the current situation, Ning Zhuo felt a headache coming on.
He found a bottle of soul-restoring pills, poured a few into his mouth, and washed them down with water.
Afterward, he threw himself onto his bed and quickly fell asleep.
While he was resting, a conflict erupted within the Zhou family.
"Why can’t I use the Spirit Mist Formation here?" shouted a qi refining cultivator, his face arrogant.
"Because I'm here," Zhou Zeshen replied coldly as he stepped forward.
The Zhou family qi refining cultivator sneered, about to retort, but saw Zhou Zeshen pull out a small flag.
He waved it toward the troublemaker, and the ground under the cultivator turned into a muddy swamp that quickly swallowed him up.
The cultivator shouted, "Zhou Zeshen, you’re out of line, resorting to violence on family grounds! Ah…!"
His words choked off.
Almost his entire body was swallowed by the muddy ground, with only his nostrils left above to allow him to breathe.
He struggled desperately but couldn’t move.
His face turned bright red, his eyes filled with fury.
Zhou Zeshen sneered, then addressed the onlookers. "I know some in the family are dissatisfied with Zhou Zhu and me."
"But using such petty tricks to disgust me is underestimating my patience."
At that moment, a sharp alarm sounded from below.
Zhou Zeshen’s face changed drastically.
He rushed into the underground chamber.
The Spirit Mist Formation had already come to a stop.
Zhou Zhu lay on the ground, eyes closed, blood seeping from his pores.
"Big Zhu!" Zhou Zeshen shouted, running to his side to treat him.
Shortly afterward, a Zhou family elder arrived, his face grim. "Investigate this! Find the culprit and punish them severely!"
In the Zheng family.
Inside the refining chamber, flames blazed.
A one-zhang-tall furnace glowed, casting a reddish hue on Zheng Jian’s face.
Stripped to the waist, muscles bulging and dripping with sweat, he worked on refining with all his strength.
In one hand, he held a pair of iron tongs; in the other, he lifted a hammer, repeatedly striking the artifact embryo.
The embryo was quite small, only the size of a baby’s palm.
Suddenly, the embryo radiated a bright light.
Zheng Jian’s eyes gleamed with sharpness.
He set down his hammer, scooped a ladle of water, and poured it onto the artifact embryo.
As the water hit the artifact, it sizzled, emitting thick white steam.
Sensing danger, Zheng Jian quickly backed away.
But he had already inhaled a trace of the white vapor, causing him to cough, blood spurting from his mouth.
"Damn it! The water was poisoned!"
Zheng Jian's face turned pale as he dashed out of the refining chamber.
At the City Lord’s mansion.
A black-clad assassin leaped over the courtyard wall, silently stepped onto the roof, and produced a blowgun-like artifact.
He cast a spell to melt a small hole in the roof and slowly inserted the blowgun.
But the next moment, a low voice shouted, "Thief, prepare to die!"
The blowgun was violently thrust upward, piercing the assassin’s mouth with a terrifying electric current.
The arrow shot out the back of his head and disappeared into the sky at high speed.
Amidst the blinding electric flash, the assassin convulsed before collapsing into a charred heap.
He rolled down the roof and landed on the ground below.
"Hmph!" Inside, Meng Chong calmly closed his eyes and resumed dissipating his energy.
In the Ning family.
Ning Xiaohui stood before the Clan Leader, accompanied by her grandmother and an elder from the Talisman Hall.
"Switching to the Five Elements Qi Regulation Technique isn’t out of the question. But I have some conditions!" Ning Xiaohui changed her tone.
It turned out that the Ning family’s main lineage had failed to produce a standout figure and had no choice but to push Ning Xiaohui forward.
Ning Xiaohui’s grandmother and the elder from the Talisman Hall, who supported her, could no longer withstand the mounting pressure from the others and were forced to compromise.