Lava Immortal Palace.
Inside the preparation room, Ning Zhuo sprinted over to a five-sided stone pillar.
He discovered that each face of the pillar displayed a leaderboard: the Qi Refining Leaderboard, the Essence Refining Leaderboard, the Spirit Refining Leaderboard, the Assessment Progress Leaderboard, and the Speedrun Leaderboard.
Surprisingly, his name was on the Speedrun Leaderboard, and he was the only one listed.
Ignoring the hidden messages behind these rankings or why he was the sole person on the leaderboard, Ning Zhuo’s primary concern was how to remove his name.
"The four major factions can’t even protect geniuses at the Qi Refining stage. If I get exposed, I can’t even imagine the consequences."
"The Sages of the Three Sects must have set up these leaderboards to foster competition, push everyone harder. But a weakling like me can't handle that pressure."
Ning Zhuo circled the stone pillar, turning with it. His name, "Ning Zhuo," was engraved in raised characters.
"Could I possibly grind it off?"
He jumped, but his name was too high to reach.
Being the only person on the list, his name occupied the topmost spot.
Hanging Loop!
With a "ding," a blue-purple diamond shot up to the ceiling, fusing seamlessly with it.
His large head fitted into the wooden ring, which began to rotate internally, retracting a long strand of fine silk and quickly hoisting Ning Zhuo upwards.
His head tilted as he gradually rose to eye level with his name.
He stretched out his hand, attempting to grind off his name, only to find he couldn’t scrape off a single bit of stone.
The pillar was remarkably sturdy!
Reviewing his techniques, he realized his only spell, the Ice Embrace Technique, was useless here, and he didn’t want to waste time and spiritual energy.
"I absolutely must resolve this issue!"
Ning Zhuo knew he couldn’t do it alone, so while suspended, he tilted his head to scan the surroundings.
Only now did he truly examine this unique room.
According to the messages, this was the preparation room, different from Rooms One, Two, and Three.
Indeed, the room was square-shaped, with walls and a ceiling made of bluish copper, reflecting soft blue light that seemed to emanate from an unknown source, casting gentle waves across the room.
In the center stood the five-sided pillar, and along the walls were five or six mechanical pedestals, numerous mechanical components hanging, dazzling in variety, along with several workbenches equipped with all kinds of mechanical tools.
Seeing all these tools, hope rekindled in Ning Zhuo’s heart.
"Maybe I can use these tools to erase my name."
Controlling the Hanging Loop, he extended the silk thread, lowering himself back to the ground.
Holding the thread, he sprinted over to the wall and grabbed a torch hanging there.
The moment he touched it, a message reached his mind: using the torch required a fee, calculated based on usage time.
Momentarily startled, Ning Zhuo suddenly understood. "No wonder the reward amount of spirit stones for each room increases!"
"These spirit stones aren’t just for spiritual power; they’re currency here too."
Agreeing to the fee, he successfully retrieved the torch, known as a welding torch, a common tool for crafting mechanical constructs.
Grasping the welding torch, Ning Zhuo ran back to the center of the preparation room.
Taking a few quick steps, he leapt up, synchronizing with the rotation of the wooden ring around his neck, causing the fine silk thread to retract rapidly.
Once more, Ning Zhuo was lifted into the air.
Swinging himself with the momentum, he returned to eye level with his name.
Extending the torch, he infused it with spiritual power.
The torch ignited instantly, producing a flame the color of salted egg yolk.
Pouring in more spiritual power, the flame roared to life, blazing intensely.
The tip of the flame glowed a bright blue-purple.
Directing the tip at his name, Ning Zhuo tried to burn it off with full intensity.
After a prolonged effort, however, not a single scorch mark appeared on his name; it remained just as prominent and distinct.
Clenching his teeth, Ning Zhuo had no choice but to give up.
The Hanging Loop at his chin rotated, extending the thread and lowering him back to the ground.
On his next ascent, the torch was gone, replaced by a rasp — the Demon Tooth Sound File, crafted from fierce beast canine teeth, capable of emitting ear-piercing noise when imbued with spiritual power.
This noise could be adjusted in volume and range and was often used for polishing various materials, both on the surface and internally, as its sound waves could penetrate objects, leaving them smooth and polished.
Ning Zhuo tried using the Demon Tooth Sound File on his name.
Meanwhile, in the main hall of the Lava Immortal Palace, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit sat on the throne, yawning in boredom.
Ning Zhuo’s first exploration had provided it with considerable entertainment, so when the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit noticed that Ning Zhuo’s soul had sufficiently recuperated, it eagerly summoned him back.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit wanted to derive more amusement from Ning Zhuo.
In his second exploration of the Immortal Palace, his strange actions while suspended in Room Two and his comical defeat by the martial puppet had been quite amusing.
But now, Ning Zhuo remained fixed in place, stubbornly trying to erase his name, which made the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit lose interest.
It sent him a direct message: the leaderboard pillar was indestructible!
Upon receiving this message, Ning Zhuo momentarily hesitated.
Normally, he might have given up, but the matter of his name was too critical; he couldn’t abandon it so easily.
Grinding his teeth, he continued using the Sound File on his name.
With a snort, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit spat out a small flame in annoyance, then activated its Life-Hanging Thread divine ability.
Instantly, Ning Zhuo was immobilized.
After a single breath, he regained his mobility and reluctantly gave up.
His name, "Ning Zhuo," was still as prominent and eye-catching as ever.
"What should I do?" A sense of despair gradually took hold in Ning Zhuo’s heart.
"No, I can’t just give up like this."
This time, when he landed, he ignored the smaller tools and turned his attention to the pedestals.
Each pedestal had a unique shape.
Ning Zhuo bypassed the motion balance bed and the formation engraving table, ignored the spiritual power compression bed and the white tiger blade wheel, and finally stopped in front of the thousand-pound hammer stand.
"The Lava Immortal Palace’s control over me is instantaneous."
"I’ll set up a simple mechanism. Just pressing the initial trigger should be enough to make the hammer strike the stone pillar!"
With his large head, Ning Zhuo quickly devised a shortcut.
He began to busily gather mechanical parts, dragging out the thousand-pound hammer stand and gradually assembling a catapult.