Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master

The time returned to before.

Ning Zhuo was still in the underground base.

"Life Hanging by a Thread?!" Sun Lingtong looked at Ning Zhuo, quickly revealing a look of surprise and joy.

"Xiao Zhuo, this is amazing! This is a divine ability, and it's one specifically left by the Three Sect Lords."

"Great, just great!"

"You're only at the Qi Refining stage, and you've already grasped the embryonic form of a divine ability. Even the true disciples in the No-Void Sect would find it hard to achieve this."

Ning Zhuo explained to Sun Lingtong how he had obtained Life Hanging by a Thread, and Sun Lingtong was sincerely happy for him.

Ning Zhuo continued, "I have tested the embryonic form of the divine ability many times and have achieved many results. For instance, many of the Ning family members have secretly been implanted with Life Hanging by a Thread by me."

"My idea is, Boss Sun, I’ll plant it on you too."

Ning Zhuo continued, "Here's my plan."

"Look, I can already use Life Hanging by a Thread to extract Yuan Dasheng's spirituality and place it into another mechanical creation."

"Extracting the soul is a bit harder than extracting the spirit, but not by much."

"This is what the embryonic form of the divine ability has allowed me to faintly feel."

"So, I plan to further enhance the embryonic form of the divine ability, and when we enter the Immortal Palace, see if I can extract your soul as well."

"Once your soul enters the palace, you can challenge the trials."

"As long as you pass the first trial of the Buddha’s path, you can use the power of the Lava Immortal Palace to obtain an excellent mechanical creation."

Sun Lingtong's eyes flashed with brilliance, and he immediately understood, "You mean, to imitate Yuan Dasheng’s creation method and turn Qi Bai into a mechanical puppet as well?"

"Great idea!"

"If the Lava Immortal Palace kills Qi Bai, even if the Soul-Devouring Sect wants to cause trouble, they would have to seek the Immortal Palace for it."

"In this case, Meng Kui would definitely not allow it, and the Southern Dou Country would probably have the same attitude."

"Brilliant." Sun Lingtong gave Ning Zhuo a thumbs up.

He fully trusted Ning Zhuo. "Then go ahead, plant Life Hanging by a Thread on me too!"

Ning Zhuo had an in-depth understanding of Sun Lingtong, and planting Life Hanging by a Thread was almost instantaneous.

"Is it done? Why don't I feel anything?" Sun Lingtong touched the top of his head but felt nothing.

To save time, Ning Zhuo didn't explain much and quickly parted ways with Sun Lingtong.

Afterward, Ning Zhuo returned to the family, where Ning Xiaohui proactively came to him to explore the Immortal Palace together.

In his heart, Ning Zhuo was more than willing, but outwardly, he appeared hesitant and reluctant, then unwillingly entered the Immortal Palace.

He successfully deceived Ning Xiaohui and then dealt with Meng Chong.

First, he enhanced the embryonic form of the divine ability and then retreated all the way to Room No. 1.

After several attempts, he luckily managed to pull Sun Lingtong’s soul into the palace.

At the moment of success, Sun Lingtong was dumbfounded, while the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was utterly stunned!

Its dragon head instinctively stretched out of its shell, its neck extended long, and its eyes widened.

The extreme shock made it resemble a statue, its entire spirit motionless. During this time, the fire whip lashed at it, but it didn’t move, as if it couldn’t feel the pain anymore.

It was too shocked, utterly shocked.

Ning Zhuo pulling other people’s souls into the trial stage of the Lava Immortal Palace, what did this mean?

It meant he not only possessed the Buddha Heart Demon Seal but also had mastered the divine ability—Life Hanging by a Thread!

Ah!

It’s Life Hanging by a Thread!

Life Hanging by a Thread!!!

How is this possible?

Why is it like this?!

He was clearly just a small Qi Refining stage cultivator! How could he have grasped the embryonic form of Life Hanging by a Thread?!

Is this a joke?!

What in the world is happening?

Could it be that you can cheat even in this world?!

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit couldn’t figure it out no matter how much it thought. It felt as if the world had turned surreal, like a weasel was about to ride a chicken!

How on earth did this happen?

Just who on earth was this Ning Zhuo?!

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit couldn’t comprehend it at all. The extreme shock left it unsure how to react or how to handle the situation.

It was completely dazed for over a dozen breaths, and then the accumulating pain from the fire whips finally snapped it back to its senses.

It let out a scream, howling in pain, and fire spewed wildly from its mouth and nose.

Besides disbelief, its heart surged with anger, hatred, and disgust, along with a chilling sense of terror that rapidly grew.

What on earth was this Ning Zhuo?

A monster?!

A Qi Refining stage cultivator had mastered the embryonic form of a divine ability? This was something that even the true disciples of super sects could hardly achieve!

Stop him!

He must be stopped!!

At all costs, by any means, we must stop him!!!

If someone like Ning Zhuo, so cunning, devious, and scheming, were to become the new master of the Lava Immortal Palace, how could it, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, ever regain its freedom?

Freedom…

Freedom.

Freedom!

Who wouldn't want it?

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was a living being too and had its own desires.

It longed for freedom, truly longed for it, desperately longed for it.

It didn’t want to be trapped in the Lava Immortal Palace, never seeing the light of day again. It didn’t want to face endless waves of beast attacks. It was tired of being a guardian, a warden.

It didn’t want to do it anymore.

It wanted to leave, to regain its freedom!

Once, it was a Fire Serpent Dragon, freely roaming the vast Mount Huoshi.

So, when its spirit evolved over the long years, advancing from the dead spirit stage to the living spirit stage, and eventually accumulating enough to transform into the intelligent spirit stage…

It had been pondering how to escape the prison of the Immortal Palace and regain its freedom!

Although it had duties, in the endless years, it had constantly studied, always finding loopholes.

It did everything it could to exploit those loopholes.

It intentionally stayed behind, allowing someone to take the Buddha Heart Demon Seal. It deliberately let the Demon General be defeated in battle, causing the Buddhist Doctor to go missing, leaving only a single Golden Core level puppet, the Daoist Master.

It deliberately gave slow commands, using each Red Flame Beast attack to continually weaken the Lava Immortal Palace.

With every weakening of the Lava Immortal Palace, another layer of its prison was stripped away.

The four forces around the volcanic city acted to protect the Lava Immortal Palace, much to the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit’s displeasure.

When Ning Zhuo blew up the Immortal Palace, it was overjoyed and had even found Ning Zhuo quite pleasing to the eye at one point!

However, as Ning Zhuo continued to grow, successively revealing the Buddha Heart Demon Seal and Life Hanging by a Thread, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit no longer felt joy, only fear!

Because, at this rate, Ning Zhuo was undoubtedly the strongest trial disciple!

If he were to become the master of the Immortal Palace, would the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit have any good days ahead? Would it ever regain freedom?

Don’t even think about it.

In the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit’s view, the best master would be Meng Chong!

On one hand, he was simple-minded, very simple, extremely simple. Deceiving Ning Zhuo and deceiving Meng Chong was a world of difference.

On the other hand, Meng Chong came from the Meng family, which was powerful. In the future, when the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit left the Immortal Palace and roamed freely, the Meng family would be strong enough to guard the palace and maintain all of Mount Huoshi.

Roar!

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit roared in anxiety.

It raised its head and spat out a scorching, blinding pillar of fire, its entire spirit falling into chaos.

The Lava Immortal Palace trembled violently once more, with boundless magma splashing everywhere, even raising lava waves as high as a zhang!

Treasure light shot straight into the sky, and an invisible wave of energy, centered on the Lava Immortal Palace, spread out like a hurricane in all directions.

It blew away countless Red Flame Beasts and made the clouds churn endlessly.

"Sigh, again…" Meng Kui sighed and activated the grand formation of the immortal city, suppressing the Immortal Palace.

But this time was different.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was deeply afraid, nearly hysterical! It was jumping around in the main hall, ramming the pillars as if it were Ning Zhuo.

It was useless. It couldn’t even hurt a single hair on Ning Zhuo.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit looked hopefully at Meng Kui.

Its thoughts were simple and direct—Hit me!

Meng Kui, hit me!!

As long as you hit me, I can justifiably fail to defend, and the throne will fall into your hands. By then, you can sit on the throne, and I will have my freedom. It’s a win-win situation.

However, Meng Kui

‘s response was—“Again?!”

Since the Lava Immortal Palace was blown up, Meng Kui had personally guarded it, and this had happened far too many times.

He had experienced the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit’s rage countless times, leading to violent outbreaks in the Immortal Palace.

Each time, he personally acted, tirelessly and laboriously suppressing the Lava Immortal Palace. Sometimes, the palace would go into a severe upheaval, and Meng Kui would have to activate the grand formation of the immortal city to help him suppress it, ensuring absolute safety.

“This Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit is going crazy again?!” Meng Kui took a deep breath, his expression dark and gloomy.

Judging by the severity of this Immortal Palace’s upheaval, it was incredibly intense.

“Is it because the side hall was breached, causing the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit to become resentful?” Meng Kui sighed.

He hadn’t anticipated that being the Lord of the Volcanic Immortal City would be such a grueling task.

But thinking of his grandson Meng Chong, who was constantly improving and had made great progress in the palace exploration, he felt that no matter how hard or tiring it was, it was all worth it.

Meng Kui once again activated the grand formation of the immortal city, suppressing the Lava Immortal Palace.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit, constrained by its limitations, could only roar and shout in its heart, “Hit me! Come on, hit me, Meng Kui. You’re a Nascent Soul cultivator, don’t be a coward! You’re from the great Meng family, charge!”

Meng Kui gave his all, suppressing the Lava Immortal Palace, thinking, "I am a dignified general of the Meng family, a prime minister standing atop the mountain, unmoved! The Lava Immortal Palace is no ordinary thing. It’s the key to suppressing Mount Huoshi, and I must ensure its safety."

He was hoping that Meng Chong would secure the position of palace master.

How could he possibly attack the Lava Immortal Palace?

The Lava Immortal Palace was the residence of the Three Sect Lords and might have hidden trump cards capable of killing Nascent Soul cultivators.

The Three Sect Lords had deep ties to the Southern Dou Country, and Meng Kui was one of the ministers of the Southern Dou Court, making him an ally.

If the Lava Immortal Palace were to fall, Meng Kui would have to step in and protect it with all his might. After all, this was the Meng family’s best stepping stone to gain control of the Volcanic Immortal City and the perfect excuse!

So many times, so many outbursts!

But Meng Kui still refused to attack the Immortal Palace.

He would only suppress.

Every time the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit raged, provoking, reminding: Hit me, Meng Kui, hit me.

And each time, Meng Kui suppressed the outburst, never making a move.

He remained unmoved!

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was furious and filled with anger, wanting to roar in Meng Kui's ear: "If you don't make a move, Ning Zhuo is going to take the position of palace master!"

"He’s confirmed to have grasped the embryonic form of the divine ability Life Hanging by a Thread. If he comes after me in the future, how can I ever regain my freedom?!"

"Danger! Your Meng family is in grave danger!"

"There’s a cunning, despicable, and shameless monster here. He’s hiding deeply, too deeply!!"