Recently, Ning Zhuo had been thinking about designing an entirely new chanical body for Yuan Dasheng.
The Tree Martial Ape he previously designed and refined had been completely destroyed in the battle against Qi Bai.
The Golden-Blooded Battle Ape was well-suited for use within the Lava Immortal Palace, but it wasn't as appropriate for outside use, especially when facing Golden Core cultivators, as the material specifications were significantly lacking.
Of course, the Lava Immortal Palace provided many opportunities. The Golden-Blooded Battle Ape would be upgraded in the future.
After passing through the second Buddhist gate, the following three checkpoints provided higher-grade materials, specifically ant for upgrading the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape.
In the previous joint operation of the three families, the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape, Dasheng, demonstrated extraordinary power due to the material enhancents.
"In terms of potential, it's clear the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape has much more."
Ning Zhuo still hadn't fully figured out the design of the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape. Even the materials used for its body remained a mystery to him.
The Golden-Blooded Battle Ape ca from the Golden Furnace, and even though the Three Sect Lords were powerful enough to reach the Void Refining stage, they only set up eight furnaces in the Lava Immortal Palace.
Of course, Ning Zhuo was unaware of the Golden Furnace.
After analyzing it and attempting to understand it, he confird that the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape made by the Lava Immortal Palace was indeed extraordinary.
"Even if I never fully grasp its structure, I can still enhance its combat power quickly by gradually replacing its materials."
The strength of the Tree Martial Ape, Dasheng, lay in its materials. At the ti, due to Zheng Jian, the material grade was far superior to that of the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape.
However, in terms of design, there wasn't much innovation. The carefully thought-out ideas were also rather unremarkable. Another issue was that the blueprint for the Tree Martial Ape had already been leaked.
Zheng Jian knew this very well.
Naturally, this was because the blueprint itself wasn't of much value, which was why Ning Zhuo had brought it out to strengthen his relationship with Zheng Jian.
Ning Zhuo wanted to replicate the success of the Tree Martial Ape.
He intended to refine a chanical ape with Golden Core-level combat power to ensure his own safety.
Given the current situation, with many unfamiliar cultivators flooding into Huoshi Immortal City and Ning Zhuo now being in control of the black market, he found himself at the center of attention. Thus, he urgently needed Golden Core-level combat strength.
Qi Bai, in fact, had Golden Core-level combat power.
His Golden Core was hidden inside the Netherworld Envoy chanical puppet, providing it with energy and more.
The materials used for the Netherworld Envoy, Qi Bai, also needed to be replaced. Forcing the puppet to exert Golden Core-level power would make it difficult for its current materials to withstand, and it might even collapse on its own. Ṝ
But because Qi Bai’s spirituality hadn’t yet reached its full potential, even if it did, it would still need to pass through the Spiritual Movent stage, so it wasn’t Ning Zhuo’s first choice.
Before his death, Ning Xie possessed the extraordinary talent of the Snow Soul Ice Essence, which had been refined into the Weather Ball, Ice Crystal Snow.
Its materials were good and could be upgraded and replaced.
Although its spirituality was weak, since it was a mber of the Ning family, his belongings from before his death could be collected and used to supplent its spirituality. There was a strong possibility it could reach a full transformation and advance to the Spiritual Movent stage.
However, Ning Xie had only reached the Foundation Establishnt stage before his death. The chanical structure of the Weather Ball, Ice Crystal Snow, was vastly different from how he was in life. Relying on its materials to exhibit Golden Core-level combat power wasn't impossible, but it wasn’t likely.
After much thought, Ning Zhuo concluded that Yuan Dasheng was his best option.
Yuan Dasheng’s spirituality didn’t need to be supplented, and he had already passed the Spiritual Movent stage.
In life, he had Golden Core-level combat power. His combat style, specializing in close-quarters combat, allowed him to make full use of the material advantages.
The most important factor was that his "Righteous Bone Gold Fra" was immortal-grade!
"Yuan Dasheng mastered the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique when he was alive, and his proficiency in it was high."
"Now that he’s a chanical creation, he can still use the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique, just like how Qi Bai can still use the Nine-Turn Soul-Devouring Art."
Using the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique required blood essence.
Therefore, Ning Zhuo planned to properly refine the Blood Transformation Pool and Blood Oil Bottle, these two chanical components.
At this point, an idea suddenly struck Ning Zhuo, leading to a burst of inspiration.
Ning Zhuo secretly contacted Sun Lingtong again.
Ning Zhuo said, "The Blood Transformation Pool consus the bodies of other living beings, transforming them into blood essence, which then becos the source of Yuan Dasheng’s power."
"Yuan Dasheng can use other people's flesh and blood to refine blood essence for his own use. So, why can’t he use mine?"
"Since he mastered the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique, using my flesh and blood would an that the refined blood essence would still be mine, right?"
"At that point, I could have him infuse the blood essence back into , wouldn't that be a shortcut to cultivation?"
Sun Lingtong nodded, "Xiao Zhuo, your idea isn’t wrong, but are you sure you want to do this?"
"You’ll have to constantly cut your flesh and draw your blood."
Ning Zhuo's expression turned resolute, "As long as I can cultivate faster, what’s a little pain and suffering?"
"Big Brother Sun, do you rember when I was a child, you used iron rods, steel whips, and other things to constantly beat to train my endurance to pain?"
"Thanks to your special training, I no longer fear pain!"
"Now, all I’m doing is cutting flesh and drawing blood; I’ll just think of it as reliving my childhood training."
Sun Lingtong’s heart trembled slightly at these words, then he burst into hearty laughter, patting Ning Zhuo on the shoulder, "Good boy, I didn’t waste my efforts in training you back then."
Sun Lingtong felt deeply gratified.
As a man of the demonic path, he admired daring risk-takers and revered strength.
Ning Zhuo’s display of strong will earned his great appreciation.
"A real man should be like this: daring and decisive, ruthless to others, and even more ruthless to himself!"
"Whatever you need help with, just tell ."
Ning Zhuo said, "Big Brother, I’ll give you the chanical blueprint, and you help refine a chanical ape equipped with the Blood Transformation Pool and Blood Oil Bottle."
"I’m short on ti and too much under scrutiny to do it myself!"
"No problem!" Sun Lingtong thumped his chest and guaranteed.
Thanks to Ning Zhuo having shared his mother’s chanical classics with Sun Lingtong long ago, Sun Lingtong, though lacking much talent in chanisms, had still built up significant expertise over the past decade through diligent practice and research.
In just two days, Sun Lingtong finished refining the chanical ape.
Ning Zhuo secretly retrieved it for his own use.
In the depths of the floating clouds, he extracted Yuan Dasheng's spirituality and applied it to the chanical ape.
Then, Ning Zhuo took out a sharp dagger, first drawing his own blood, then cutting flesh from his arm, thigh, and stomach.
Wave after wave of intense pain assaulted his body and mind, but Ning Zhuo made no sound, only furrowing his brow as his face grew pale.
Yuan Dasheng did not disappoint, using the ninth level of the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique to refine the flesh and blood into blood essence.
Ning Zhuo received the blood essence infusion, and his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds!
Three days later…
Ning Zhuo arrived at the underground base and t Sun Lingtong to share the good news.
Sun Lingtong was surprised, "Xiao Zhuo, I know your previous cultivation level. How did you progress so quickly to the peak of the sixth layer?"
"Although you’ve been cutting your flesh and supplying blood to Yuan Dasheng, you still need ti to heal your injuries, right?"
Ning Zhuo smiled and said, "Big Brother, after cutting myself a few tis, I suddenly realized and ca up with a better solution."
"I found that by only cutting my own flesh, my body also needed ti to heal, which significantly slowed down my cultivation speed."
"Why not ask my clansn to help?"
Sun Lingtong: "?!"
Ning Zhuo then explained how he did it.
Many of the Ning family mbers had cultivation, but the majority were at the Qi Refining stage.
It was hard for these people to make a living in the Immortal City, so they had to engage in low-level labor with minimal pay, such as weeding, blacksmithing, fire tending, or basic dicinal processing.
Thus, most of the Ning family mbers preferred to rely on the family and work within family-owned industries.
However, the scale of family industries was limited, and so were the jobs.
The majority of the Ning family mbers, with their limited cultivation, could only engage in low-level labor.
Knowing this, Ning Zhuo ordered his Foundation Establishnt cultivators to select so of the poorer clansn and arrange for them to offer their blood essence.
In return, after every blood extraction and flesh-cutting session, Ning Zhuo would reward each person with a sum of spirit stones.
Ning Zhuo said, "I’ve calculated the costs."
"Although they get injured, they also receive a sum of spirit stones. They can use the spirit stones to buy the cheapest healing dicine, and they will still have more than half left."
"They profit from this!"
"So, once this plan was implented, it beca very popular. Many clansn who weren’t chosen even volunteered."
With so much flesh and blood, Yuan Dasheng cultivated the ninth layer of the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique’s blood energy.
During the process of infusing this blood energy back into Ning Zhuo, it was purified, leaving behind what suited Ning Zhuo's constitution. The remainder was returned to Yuan Dasheng as a backup energy source.
"With this thod, my cultivation problem in the Sea of Essence has been solved. Hahaha," Ning Zhuo said happily.
Sun Lingtong was the person he trusted the most.
Whenever he made a breakthrough or progress, Ning Zhuo imdiately shared it with Sun Lingtong.
But Sun Lingtong’s next words showed a bit of insensitivity.
After frowning and thinking for a mont, he suddenly realized, "Isn’t this thod still exploiting your kin? You’re treating them as cultivation materials. In essence, it's no different from the thods of the demonic path."
Ning Zhuo: "…"
*Cough, cough, cough!* He coughed violently a few tis, "Big Brother, you can't say that."
"I’m helping my clansn by giving them work. Their inco has increased because of ."
"You didn’t see the genuine smiles on their faces whenever they received the spirit stones."
"When I see their smiles, it warms my heart too."
Ning Zhuo emphasized, "I’m helping them solve their livelihood problems and improving their standard of living."
"And with their help, my cultivation speeds up, and I achieve better results. This is a mutually beneficial arrangent, a win-win, a successful model of righteous collaboration!"
After a pause, he added, "I’m fundantally different from those of the demonic path!"
"They are cruel and cold-blooded, harming their own kin for selfish reasons. Such people are terrifying!"
"But my clansn are all willing participants."
"Our cooperation doesn’t harm their lives in any way!"
"Though they get injured, these wounds can be healed with a bit of dicine and so ti."
"After they recover, they can continue cooperating with …"
Sun Lingtong clapped his hands, "I get it."
"Those in the demonic path slaughter their kin in a one-ti deal. But you, my little brother, you plan to keep the supply flowing steadily, continuously harvesting flesh and blood."
*Cough, cough, cough!* Ning Zhuo coughed violently again.
"Big Brother, I can’t keep talking to you."
"I am righteous!"
"I’m righteous!!"
Sun Lingtong shrugged, "Fine, whatever you say."
Ning Zhuo sighed and sincerely said, "Big Brother, you can’t think like this. Even though you co from a large demonic sect, you should open your mind and broaden your perspective. You can't always see things so darkly."
"You’ve known for over a decade. Tell , am I that kind of person?!"
Sun Lingtong: "…"
User Comments
0 comments from readers