Han Ming devoured her food ravenously, completely shedding her previous reluctance.
After finishing, she asked eagerly, "Is there more?"
Ning Zhuo replied, "Apologies, I’ll bring more for you next time."
Han Ming nodded, "It would be best if you could bring some spiritual food. These mundane dishes are tasty, but they don’t offer much benefit to cultivators like us."
Ning Zhuo acknowledged, "I’ll consider it."
Han Ming continued, "And about my soul essence… I must tell you, if you keep this up, I won’t be able to hold out for much longer."
"Continually extracting like this will deplete the very foundation of my soul essence."
At that point, Han Ming would be utterly destroyed, with no chance of even becoming a ghost cultivator.
Aware of this fate, Han Ming had chosen to yield temporarily and accept the situation for her survival.
Ning Zhuo nodded. "Do you have any better suggestions?"
Han Ming replied, "Give me people! As long as I can absorb souls, I can nourish myself."
"With a solid foundation of soul essence, I’ll be able to provide you with a steady supply of soul essence flowers."
Ning Zhuo smiled, "In fact, I’ve already prepared for this."
"Oh?"
Ning Zhuo left the cell briefly and returned holding three to five monkeys.
Han Ming's expression darkened. "I said I need people. At best, I can absorb thirty percent from these monkeys."
Ning Zhuo chuckled, "Thirty percent efficiency is acceptable to me."
"I’m no demonic cultivator; I won’t harm people. But as for beasts and demons, that’s a different matter."
"Here at Fire Persimmon Mountain, there are plenty of monkeys. Eliminating a few will even help the Fire Persimmon City."
Unable to contain herself, Han Ming sneered, "And you claim you’re not a demonic cultivator?"
"You’re just worried because you don’t know my true capabilities. You’re afraid that if I absorb human souls, I might secretly build up my strength."
"Besides, killing humans and killing monkeys create very different disturbances. You’re worried it will expose you faster!"
Ning Zhuo smiled, "Thank you for the reminder, Han Ming."
"To be safe, I’ll continue monitoring you closely with these mechanical needles."
Seeing Ning Zhuo produce the mechanical needles once again, Han Ming's pupils shrank to needle points, overcome with fury and frustration.
But this time, she only glared silently at Ning Zhuo, refraining from cursing him.
Meanwhile, at the Lava Immortal Palace.
Meng Chong had lost count of how many times he had attempted the trial.
To him, the number of failures held no significance.
All he wanted was to break through!
For his checkpoint reward, he chose the Hanging Loop.
Slightly opening the door, creating a narrow gap, Meng Chong carefully extended the Hanging Loop into Room Two.
Ding ding ding…
He spared no effort, firing off all his rainbow darts.
Innate Talent—Wild Sprint Thunderclap!
Technique—Qi Breath!
Mechanical Component—Hanging Loop!
With the combined force of these three powers, Meng Chong flung open the door and launched himself like a cannonball.
His speed reached new heights, and although the traps behind the door activated, they didn’t have time to stop him.
The black metal net missed, and the thousand-pound hammer stand smashed only the floor tiles.
"Hahaha!" Meng Chong laughed heartily, his entire body shrouded in blue lightning as he sped toward the finish.
The floor tiles receded rapidly, far behind his speed.
But in the next instant, Meng Chong was torn to pieces!
Just before his vision went black, he saw it clearly.
Between the walls were transparent, razor-sharp threads.
The faster Meng Chong moved, the quicker he was sliced by these threads.
Shards of his puppet body scattered across the floor, the fierce blue lightning lingering briefly in the air before reluctantly dissipating into nothingness.
Back in his physical body, Meng Chong pouted, sulking for a good while.
Fei Si came over to ask, and after hearing the details, he sighed sincerely, "I hadn’t expected the difficulty of these mechanical trials to be so high!"
"Perhaps you should approach it differently, focusing on dismantling the traps first before moving forward."
"What? You want me to study mechanical arts?! I’m not even proficient in alchemy or artifact refining."
Meng Chong clutched his head, feeling deeply troubled.
"I don’t believe it!"
"I just didn’t control that speed well enough."
"If I can just see it coming, I’ll make it through the wire net and reach the end!"
"I’ve decided. I’ll undergo special training for three days and nights, without rest!" Meng Chong declared loudly.
Fei Si’s face changed, and he hastily advised, "Young Master Meng Chong, that won’t work."
"You’ve been overusing your Wild Sprint Thunderclap recently. You should take a look in the mirror."
Meng Chong checked his reflection and saw deep, dark circles under his eyes, his face haggard, and his cheekbones even protruding slightly.
"I can still charge forward!" Meng Chong raised his head, showing no hesitation.
Fei Si tried to persuade him, "Young Master Meng Chong, take it easy. Although the City Lord’s mansion provides unlimited resources, it takes time for your energy, spirit, and essence to recover."
"Right now, you’re consuming them much faster than you’re restoring them. This trend is not good."
Meng Chong blinked. "Is there any way for me to replenish my energy, spirit, and essence quickly?"
Fei Si replied, "Only through cultivation techniques."
"You’ve learned the Five Elements Qi Regulation Technique, which can help you quickly replenish qi, but it only has three layers and isn’t very effective."
"As for the spirit and essence, there’s no technique to help with those; your body must recover them naturally."
Meng Chong shook his head, "Natural recovery takes too long! I’ll ask my grandfather; he knows many techniques. I’ll just practice a few to quickly restore my energy and spirit."
"Hahaha, I’m a genius! With my Wild Sprint Thunderclap, my cultivation speed is insanely fast. In just six days, I could master two techniques."
Fei Si laughed bitterly, "If only it were that simple!"
"The City Lord has calculated that the qi refining trials have strict entry standards for the palace."
"If you practice other techniques, you’ll have additional powers and won’t be recognized. You’d have to completely disperse your powers to gain entry."
Meng Chong: "What?"
Fei Si continued, "However, the City Lord also deduced that the Lava Immortal Palace likely has two more techniques that, together with the Five Elements Qi Regulation Technique, allow cultivators to cultivate three dantians simultaneously."
Meng Chong sighed, "That’s pointless. I can’t even get past Room Two."
Fei Si: …
Back at the Lava Immortal Palace.
Under the indignant gaze of the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, Ning Zhuo had successfully cleared Room Nine.
He entered the preparation chamber and then exited once more.
The puppet Ning Zhuo entered a central hall.
As he walked to the center of the hall, a mechanism activated, the stone walls lowered, revealing three doors.
The door on the left emitted a faint yellow auspicious aura and bore the character "Buddha."
The central door gleamed green, with the character "Dao."
The door on the right exuded a thick scent of blood and bore the character "Demon."
"This is different from before."
"Buddhist, Daoist, and Demonic Gates…"
This surprised Ning Zhuo, but he quickly recalled that the Sage of the Three Sects had cultivated Buddhist, Daoist, and demonic techniques, and he accepted this.
When he touched the Daoist Gate, there was no response.
Upon touching the Buddhist Gate, he received a technique—Mirror Platform Spirit Communication Technique.
Finally, when he touched the Demonic Gate, he obtained a technique called Demonic Blood Vein Technique.
Both techniques, like the Five Elements Qi Regulation Technique, had only the first three levels.
But after studying them for a moment, Ning Zhuo was so excited that even his wooden body began to tremble.
"These three techniques correspond to each other, allowing one to cultivate all three dantians simultaneously."
"Buddhist, Daoist, and Demonic cultivation to build a foundation with three dantians?!"
"This… This foundation-building method is the pinnacle of modern cultivation."