Chapter 335: Breaking the Stalemate

Random Recommendation:"This little rascal! When you return, I'll string you up and beat your backside until it's swollen." Ning Jiufan gnashed his teeth in anger.

A flying letter, like a swift bird, repeatedly struck the window lattice.

Ning Jiufan's divine sense stirred. He pushed open the window and allowed the flying letter to enter.

It was a letter from Ning Zhuo.

"Ancestor, by the time you see this letter, I presume I will have already run away from home..."

The content of the letter primarily consisted of Ning Zhuo's views on the current state of the Ning family, the Fire Persimmon Immortal City, and the power struggle between the Zhu and Meng families.

Ning Zhuo predicted: In the future, centered around the positions within the Molten Lava Immortal Palace, the Ning family and the Zhou family are bound to face significant conflict and competition with the Meng family. On this point, do not forget the Taiqing Palace!

The Taiqing Palace had taken away a group of Zheng family cultivators, some of whom held positions in the Immortal Palace. Ning Zhuo believed that this super-sect's action of taking the Zheng family likely indicated they had not given up on the Molten Lava Immortal Palace.

This might be a point they could exploit.

Ning Zhuo had deliberately left behind a batch of resources, which his subordinates would deliver to Ning Jiufan in a few days. Ning Zhuo's intention was to specifically compensate and repay the main family lineage, thus repaying the grace of their past nurturing.

Finally, Ning Zhuo reminded Ning Jiufan: Since he had left without leaving behind any mechanical constructs, Ning Jiufan needed to take good care of the branch family. Although the Nascent Soul stage Ape King could be forcibly subdued with official techniques and magic treasures, Ning Zhuo strongly advised against doing so.

In his words, winning over with affection was the true path!

After reading, Ning Jiufan's anger subsided by more than half. He snorted, "This brat, he still remembers the family after all."

"He just worries too much and even presumes to lecture me, his ancestor. Hmph!"

"Wait, could this letter also be part of his scheme? Did he factor my anger into his calculations?"

Ning Jiufan's face was uncertain.

It must be said that Ning Zhuo's patience, strategy, and other qualities displayed during the struggle for the Molten Lava Immortal Palace had left too deep an impression on Ning Jiufan.

So much so that he, a venerable Core Formation cultivator with extraordinary combat power, now became suspicious and paranoid, secretly wondering if he had been deceived and manipulated by Ning Zhuo again.

After pondering for a while, Ning Jiufan exhaled a murky breath and stopped agonizing.

"Overthinking is useless."

"Ning Zhuo's nature is not bad, his heart is with the family. Although he is cunning and scheming, he has his bottom line. Such a talent must be won over."

Ning Jiufan had already begun to consider how to elevate Ning Zhong's status. Perhaps, by posthumously conferring a title, he could raise Ning Zhong's status and strengthen Ning Zhuo's sense of belonging to the family.

"Furthermore, during the Ghost Festival, the family grand祭 can communicate with the netherworld. I should personally appear to obtain higher-level blessings and enhancements for Ning Zhuo."

City Lord's Mansion.

"Ning Zhuo left?"

"A mechanism of the Nascent Soul level can escape through space... He truly knows the Molten Lava Immortal Palace very well."

Fei Si felt relieved after seeing this intelligence.

How could others sleep soundly next to his couch?

Although Ning Zhuo's cultivation was low, his displayed combat power and strategy instilled deep fear in those who knew.

Fei Si was no exception.

Zhu Xuanji departed the Fire Persimmon Immortal City on the morning of the following day.

As he flew into the air, he couldn't help but look back.

Mount Fire Persimmon sprawled across the land, its towering peaks like a recently awakened giant.

After the intense eruption, the cooled lava on the upper part of the volcano had transformed into a large swathe of reddish-black carpet, covering the slopes.

The traces of molten lava flow were like vast veins, winding and twisting, recording the silent roar of nature.

In the middle section of the volcano, the colossal building complex formed the shape of the Fire Persimmon Immortal City. Although slightly damaged, it was generally unharmed. The city's survival from the threat of being overwhelmed by the beast horde was entirely due to the citizens' unity and collective effort, which ultimately turned danger into safety.

At the lower section of the volcano, at its foot, were vast stretches of persimmon orchards.

Although the last Fire Persimmon Festival was only a few months ago, due to the volcanic eruption and the surging subterranean heat, the city protection array absorbed it fully, which in turn translated into increased fire persimmon production.

Among the once bare branches, many small fire persimmons had already formed, newly borne. Their bright red and round appearance was like the future hope of the Fire Persimmon Immortal City.

However, the future of the Fire Persimmon Immortal City remained shrouded in the persistent clouds and mist that lingered around the mountaintop, elusive and unclear.

A golden glint flashed in Zhu Xuanji's eyes, immediately piercing the clouds and mist to see the Molten Lava Immortal Palace floating on the lava within the volcanic crater.

The Molten Lava Immortal Palace was being rebuilt. Meng Kui personally intervened, using his magic power hands to retrieve parts that had fallen into the lava. Many other cultivators were cooperating with him, exerting their full effort to reassemble the shattered parts of the Immortal Palace.

"Sovereign San Zong..." Zhu Xuanji's expression showed apprehension.

These past few days, whenever he quieted his mind, he would involuntarily recall the scene of him turning his spearhead at the final moment to help Ning Zhuo against Meng Kui.

At that instant, he had inexplicably turned his mirror and shone it on Meng Kui's magic power hand.

This action had placed the Southern Bean Royal Family before Meng Kui, directly preventing the latter from harming Ning Zhuo.

"At that time, when I protected Ning Zhuo, was it really... my intention? Or was I already being controlled?"

Immediately after the event, Zhu Xuanji recalled that crucial moment and felt it was very strange and suspicious, like a puppet being manipulated.

But as he recalled it more times, his feeling gradually blurred, seeming like it was his subconscious action at the time, with his body's movement preceding his mind's thinking.

By now, he had recalled it too many times, making him somewhat paranoid.

As he gradually left the Fire Persimmon Immortal City behind, Zhu Xuanji still couldn't resist reaching up and touching the top of his head.

"Is there a thread of fate tied to the top of my head?" He touched empty air.

The past scene he had witnessed in the capital city surfaced in his mind again. A passage from Sovereign San Zong's words within that scene sent shivers down his spine the more he pondered it.

At that time, the Southern Bean Grand Empress Dowager, in a fit of pique, took the Golden Phoenix Mirror.

Sovereign San Zong had said to her: "The karma is set. Since you have taken this Golden Phoenix Mirror, henceforth you shall protect the Immortal Palace legacy for me."

After Meng Kui was granted the position of Palace Master by Ning Zhuo, every time Zhu Xuanji thought of Sovereign San Zong's words, he felt more and more that those words were not spoken to the Southern Bean Grand Empress Dowager, but... to him!

"Thinking carefully, ever since I set foot on Mount Fire Persimmon, I have been led by the nose."

"I have always been wary of this, remaining vigilant towards the City Lord's Mansion and the Shadow Devil Cultivator. Even when clues were presented, I maintained my own initiative."

"However, in the end, I still returned without success."

"No, my greatest achievement was perhaps representing the royal family and, at the last moment, shining the Golden Phoenix Mirror on Meng Kui, thus saving Ning Zhuo!"

"Could the Molten Lava Immortal Palace be a stage set by Sovereign San Zong, and I am merely one of the puppets arranged long ago?"

"Clearly, the first time I used Trace Origin, I saw Ning Zhuo, the true culprit. But during the subsequent investigation, although I made progress repeatedly, the results, time and time again, instead proved Ning Zhuo's innocence!"

Zhu Xuanji's heart was filled with doubts.

After handling the matters at hand, he couldn't wait to return to the capital city immediately.

His mood was very urgent.

He greatly wanted to see the King again and personally tell her his doubts and conjectures.

Strangely, the further away he was from Mount Fire Persimmon, the more peaceful and calm Zhu Xuanji's mood became.

This feeling was like a wild beast getting far away from a huge trap!

A sense of security naturally arose.

"Fire Persimmon Immortal City, Molten Lava Immortal Palace... there's something strange."

An intuition arose in his heart, telling Zhu Xuanji to stay as far away from these as possible in the future.

"And that Ning Zhuo!"

"I should also minimize contact with him. He is the successor personally chosen by Sovereign San Zong, the child of destiny for the battle between Buddhism and Demons."

As Ning Zhuo, Zhu Xuanji, and others successively departed, the Fire Persimmon Immortal City gradually returned to its former tranquility.

Without the rampant Blazing Flame Demon Beasts, and with the Molten Lava Immortal Palace having a master, the foreign cultivators also left Mount Fire Persimmon one after another.

Fire Persimmon Immortal City, Flying Disc Workshop.

An old man dressed in black robes with a white beard sat on a mechanical chair, breathing in and out, accumulating magic power.

The mechanical chair floated in mid-air, several feet off the ground.

The old man's eye sockets were deeply sunken, and his breathing was long and deep. It was Chen Cha.

Suddenly, Chen Cha's body trembled violently, as if struck by lightning. Then he abruptly opened his eyes.

His pupils had completely vanished, his eye sockets filled with unsettling white sclera.

From the white of his eyes, wisps of white smoke emanated.

Chen Cha seemed to have transformed into a different person. He slowly turned his head, glanced around, and then fixed his gaze on the direction of the Molten Lava Immortal Palace.

His fingers moved in calculation, so quickly that they left behind streaks of finger shadows in the vision.

As he calculated, the white smoke emanating from his eyes grew more severe, floating in the air and making Chen Cha appear like an immortal in the mist, mysterious and unfathomable.

"Zhu Xuanji should have stayed here to guard the Immortal Palace. Why did he leave?"

"And that Sun Lingtong is also gone!"

"This scheme was laid by Sovereign San Zong. According to reason, there shouldn't be any flaws. There is the Human Fate Suspended Thread divine ability in the Molten Lava Immortal Palace, making it foolproof. But how did the situation collapse to this extent? Who ruined it?"

"With this collapse, the layout of this government in the Southern Bean Kingdom is directly ruined by more than half. Headache, headache. How to compensate?"

After completing his calculations, Chen Cha's face was filled with sorrow.

"Could it be that Ning Zhuo ruined this scheme?"

"The most important task at hand is still to find Sun and Ning and see exactly what went wrong."

Having finished his thoughts, Chen Cha slowly closed his eyes.

The white smoke that filled the room rapidly dissipated.

Chen Cha's breathing stabilized again, and he continued to breathe in and out.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he slowly opened his eyes, his pupils returning to normal. His magic power fully accumulated, Chen Cha began to study the mechanical classics.

These mechanical classics were specifically arranged by Ning Zhuo before leaving the city, instructing his subordinates to present them to Chen Cha.

"It is my good fortune to have met Ning Zhuo," Chen Cha absorbed the knowledge from the jade slips, feeling a sense of gratitude towards Ning Zhuo welling up in his heart.

He had no memory or awareness of the strange occurrences that had just happened to him!

(End of Chapter)