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The Zheng Family treated him with great ceremony, directly opening the main gate—a rare honor, especially considering that Ning Zhuo was merely at the Qi Refining Stage.

Not only that, but they also had Zheng Jian himself welcome him.

"Zheng Brother, you troubled yourself to come greet me," Ning Zhuo said as he stepped down from the carriage. Upon seeing Zheng Jian, he was momentarily surprised, but then his expression turned into one of deep gratitude, feeling moved by the respect shown to him.

At this time, Zheng Jian had not yet fully recovered from his injuries, with bandages wrapped almost entirely around his body.

He laughed heartily, "Don’t be fooled by how I look. My injuries have stabilized. How could a son of the Zheng Family neglect a friend over such minor wounds?"

"Come, I'll take you to the artifact refining room."

After the three families deepened their cooperation, they opened up some of their facilities to each other, such as the Ning Family’s talisman-making room, the Zhou Family’s various formations, and the Zheng Family’s artifact refining room.

The most popular, of course, was the Zhou Family’s *Gather-Disperse Spirit Tide Formation*. Everyone who used it praised it, and it was currently so overbooked that cultivators were being put on a waiting list.

The second most popular was the Zheng Family's artifact refining room.

Many of the Zheng and Zhou families' facilities were even better than those of the City Lord's Mansion.

Back when Puppet Immortal City was being constructed, the Southern Dou Court provided most of the funds, but the Zhou and Zheng families also made significant contributions.

Therefore, once the city was completed, these two families were given the two best plots of land and were in charge of two of the formation pillars, gaining the most advantageous conditions in certain respects.

The Zhou Family obtained the most spacious area for arranging formations, allowing them greater freedom to operate. The Zheng Family had access to the most abundant high-quality earth flames, making it convenient for them to refine artifacts.

From a broader perspective, this was a contest between local forces and the central court.

…

On the street, the flow of people was unceasing.

Yuan Dasheng walked with difficulty, his head lowered.

As he walked, he collided with pedestrians, but remained unmoved.

Some people were knocked to the ground by him, but they chose not to cause trouble, merely muttering a few complaints before walking away sullenly.

After all, Yuan Dasheng, wearing his Cang Tie Han Armor, was tall and imposing, exuding the aura of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. His expressionless face, combined with a strong sense of sorrow as if he had lost all hope, made it clear that he was not someone to be trifled with!

…

Under Zheng Jian's guidance, Ning Zhuo arrived at an artifact refining room.

Ning Zhuo looked around and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

The refining room was well-equipped with advanced tools, many of which Ning Zhuo was seeing for the first time, having only read about them in books before.

As the various arts of cultivation had developed to this day, each field had become highly specialized, making it difficult for someone to excel across different disciplines. Unlike in ancient times, when the threshold for various arts was relatively low, a single cultivator could use one cauldron to both refine pills and craft artifacts. Nowadays, even cauldrons were specialized, used exclusively for either pill refining, artifact crafting, and so on.

Zheng Jian handed over a jade slip. "Our Zheng Family has stocked a lot of materials. It's an exaggeration to say we have everything, but we definitely have more than what's available on the market."

"As long as it’s listed in this jade slip, feel free to use it, Brother Ning."

"According to the agreement between our three families, any materials consumed will be converted to market value and accounted for in each family’s share of the expenses."

After saying this, Zheng Jian handed over another jade slip. "These materials are from my personal share. Brother Ning, you can use them as well."

This was clearly a gesture of goodwill.

Ning Zhuo smiled and accepted it graciously. "Thank you, Zheng Brother."

"If you're not too busy, why not stay? I'm planning to use your refining room to craft some mechanical components," Ning Zhuo suggested.

"This is a design I've created for the mechanism. I'd appreciate your advice, Zheng Brother." Ning Zhuo proactively offered a jade slip.

Zheng Jian was pleasantly surprised, realizing that Ning Zhuo had accepted his family's goodwill and immediately reciprocated.

"Brother Ning, you were able to design the Mechanical Explosive Monkey. My understanding of mechanism techniques is too shallow to show off. Your generosity is humbling; I look forward to appreciating your new creation." Zheng Jian immediately accepted the jade slip.

Although he wasn't particularly interested in mechanism techniques, the competition for the Lava Immortal Palace and Ning Zhuo's previous display of incredible mechanism skills made Zheng Jian eager to see this new design.

As he unrolled it, he found it was for a mechanical monkey.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that this mechanical monkey was not designed for harvesting Huoshi Fruits but was clearly intended for combat.

The more Zheng Jian looked at it, the more his eyes gleamed, becoming so engrossed in the blueprint that he fell silent.

Ning Zhuo paid him no mind and walked straight to a corner, picked up some tools, and began stoking the fire and blowing air to ignite the furnace.

…

Yuan Dasheng had just passed through the western gate of Puppet Immortal City, heading towards the wilderness.

The number of pedestrians around him quickly dwindled.

Step by step, he walked into the wilderness on the western side of Mount Huoshi, his massive figure exuding an intense sense of loneliness and sorrow.

Finally, he stopped in a desolate area, sitting on an unremarkable hill, staring blankly at everything around him, watching the sky and the clouds.

…

Ning Zhuo exhaled a murky breath and carefully flipped his wrist, pouring the melted silver into the mold.

Zheng Jian then made a hand seal, guiding the molten silver to quickly spread and fill every corner of the mold.

Ning Zhuo placed his palm on the wall and activated the formation.

Immediately, a cold current gushed down from the ceiling, rapidly cooling the heated mold, freezing it into a block of ice.

Zheng Jian waved his hand, dispelling the cold air, then took out an oddly shaped mechanical component.

This was the last piece.

With the help of the Zheng Family’s artifact refining room and the assistance of Zheng Jian, a talented cultivator skilled in artifact refining, Ning Zhuo completed the creation of all the mechanical components in far less time than he had originally planned.

The next step was to assemble and combine them.

Without any unexpected issues, the assembly was smooth, and soon, a mechanical ape skeleton, eight feet tall, stood before the two of them.

Zheng Jian clicked his tongue in admiration. "Just by looking at this skeleton, it has over a hundred movable joints. The finished mechanical ape will surely be extremely agile, but it will also require a high level of control from the cultivator. Many people might not be able to fully unleash its potential."

Ning Zhuo replied, "I designed this for myself. I intentionally made it this way so that I would have plenty of room to improve my skills in controlling mechanical creations."

"Alright, next we’ll set up the formation."

"Then, install the formation disk and so on."

"Filling in the body structure and other tasks will come later."

Zheng Jian nodded, his face full of joy. "Let's follow your plan, Brother Ning. I'll assist you every step of the way."

Despite his injuries, Zheng Jian insisted on participating in the entire process. On one hand, it allowed him to directly observe Ning Zhuo’s level of skill in mechanism techniques, and on the other hand, it provided him with excellent training, enhancing his own understanding of mechanisms.

After two days and one night, they completed the task.

"Why don’t you stay at my place for the night? You can leave tomorrow morning," Zheng Jian suggested, trying to persuade him.

Having been involved in the entire process, Zheng Jian had gained a lot and experienced the brilliance and joy of mechanism techniques. He candidly said, "Brother Ning, I’d love to talk with you all night by candlelight!"

Ning Zhuo smiled wryly and pointed to the bandages covering Zheng Jian’s body.

The once white bandages were now stained with blood in several places and were covered in black soot.

"Zheng Brother, you really need to take care of your injuries."

"This time, you assisted me throughout. I’m extremely grateful, but if I stay any longer, your family might have some objections."

"In the future, there will surely be opportunities for us to chat in depth!"

Zheng Jian laughed heartily. "Alright, alright."

"By the way, I almost forgot to tell you."

"In a few days, our three families will be conducting a joint operation, and we need you to lead it."

"The rest of us who are injured won't be able to participate."

Although the geniuses of the three families could still send their souls into the Lava Immortal Palace, the physical injuries they had sustained required their souls to remain in their bodies during the recovery period.

Otherwise, the new flesh would grow improperly and would not perfectly match the soul. This could create many obstacles for their future cultivation, reducing their cultivation efficiency. Over time, the cumulative damage would become unacceptable.

As night fell, Ning Zhuo left the Zheng Family by

carriage.

Puppet Immortal City had no curfew, and Yuan Dasheng had also entered the city.

Before Ning Zhuo reached the family residence, Yuan Dasheng had already snuck into Ning Ze’s home, quietly waiting for Ning Zhuo’s return.

As Ning Zhuo had previously anticipated, emotions would eventually dissipate.

The stronger the emotion, the less it could endure.

After sitting in the wilderness for two days and one night, Yuan Dasheng's emotions ebbed away like receding tides, exposing the spirit beneath, which once again obeyed orders and acted as commanded.

However, the sorrow still lingered, like a heavy shroud over its spirit.

Controlling Yuan Dasheng was no longer as easy as before for Ning Zhuo.

"According to the *Treatise on Spirits*, after the Spirit Prolongation stage comes the Spirit Activity stage."

"With ten percent of its spirit fully developed, Yuan Dasheng has moved beyond the Spirit Prolongation stage and entered the Spirit Activity stage."

"So this so-called Spirit Activity manifests as this uncontrollable behavior?"

"If it experiences another emotional surge, I’ll be unable to control it again!"

Ning Zhuo definitely did not want to go through such a terrible experience again.

"There must be a way to solve this problem in the Lava Immortal Palace." Ning Zhuo thought.

This issue needed to be resolved quickly.

"I can't just soul-enter the Lava Immortal Palace for no reason; too many people are watching me."

"The best opportunity will be during the three families' joint operation in a few days!"