Chapter 112: A Frightening Experience but No Harm Done

"Brother Ning!" At the entrance of the Zheng Family residence, Zheng Jian personally greeted Ning Zhuo.

This was Ning Zhuo's first official visit to the Zheng Family.

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.

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!"