Chapter 76 - Chapter 76: Chapter 75: Cause and Effect
Chapter 76: Chapter 75: Cause and Effect
“You go ahead; I need to go back,” Zhu Xuanji said, turning halfway.
Fei Si hurriedly said, “Together, together!”
The Zhou Family’s elder naturally didn’t want to be left behind and followed closely, “Zhu Divine Hunter, what have you discovered?”
Zhu Xuanji just shook his head.
Before long, the three returned to the flying disk workshop.
Several cultivators from the workshop were repairing the roof.
Zhu Xuanji waved his hand, and the roof opened up again.
The three Golden Core cultivators descended slowly.
“Ah, my lords!” Ning Zhuo and Chen Cha bowed once more.
Zhu Xuanji ignored them and walked straight to Yuan Dasheng’s corpse, taking a bottle of potion from his coat.
As he uncorked the bottle, the fragrance of the elixir spread, causing everyone to feel a shock in their hearts.
Fei Si exclaimed, “A top-grade elixir?”
Top-grade elixirs were extremely rare. Every pill required the right time, place, and people to be successfully crafted, a feat not easily replicated by even the most skilled alchemists.
Zhu Xuanji had a solemn expression. He didn’t hesitate to use this treasured item to verify his suspicions.
All eyes were on him as he carefully dropped a single drop of the potion.
The potion seeped into Yuan Dasheng’s corpse instantly.
Zhu Xuanji and the others waited for a while, but nothing changed.
Zhu Xuanji sighed, “This old ape hadn’t been influenced by any external force recently. The explosion in the Fire Persimmon Forest was truly its own mistake.”
Fei Si’s face fell, as if to say, “Is that it?”
The Zhou Family’s elder nodded lightly.
Zhu Xuanji didn’t look at anyone and turned to leave, leaping into the air.
Fei Si and the Zhou Family’s elder followed suit.
The three Golden Core cultivators left again.
Ning Zhuo and Chen Cha continued to handle Yuan Dasheng’s corpse.
Chen Cha noticed that Ning Zhuo was moving slowly, his face pale, and his breath weak. Concerned, he said, “Little Zhuo, you’ve been making mechanical monkeys these past few days, participating in the Fire Persimmon Festival, and, under Fei Si’s command, you pressured Yuan Er into handing over Yuan Dasheng. Finally, you faced the pressure of three Golden Core cultivators twice.”
“You’ve worked too hard. Go home and rest well. I’ll take care of this.”
Ning Zhuo forced a smile and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.
“Let me catch my breath first.” He stopped his work and found a stool to sit down and rest.
A strong sense of fear washed over him, making fine cold sweat bead on his forehead again.
Moments ago, the situation was extremely dangerous!
“Just a little more, just a little more…”
He had just extracted all the blood from Yuan Dasheng’s body when the three Golden Core cultivators arrived to investigate the corpse.
Afterward, the three Golden Core cultivators left and returned. If Ning Zhuo had truly used the Buddha Heart Demon Seal to influence Yuan Dasheng, it would have been catastrophic.
Time rewound to a few days earlier.
To deal with the life-or-death crisis, Ning Zhuo racked his brains, exhausting all his thoughts and energy.
Yuan Dasheng was powerful!
He was guarded by the Monkey Head Gang.
A head-on clash would be a strategy of last resort.
“Borrowing someone else’s power to kill would require exposing Yuan Dasheng to other forces…”
Not to mention how difficult it would be to manipulate other forces against the Monkey Head Gang, if someone discovered Yuan Dasheng’s true value, Ning Zhuo would ultimately be harming himself.
The biggest obstacle was Zhu Xuanji.
Zhu Xuanji mastered the Trace Origin Technique!
If Ning Zhuo used the Buddha Heart Demon Seal to directly influence Yuan Dasheng, Zhu Xuanji could trace the cause back to Ning Zhuo just by investigating Yuan Dasheng’s corpse.
This would be akin to exposing himself.
“How can I save myself?”
Ning Zhuo pondered deeply, racking his brain!
He fell into the abyss of thought.
A strong sense of loneliness enveloped him, making him feel abandoned by the whole world.
No one knew his true plight. He couldn’t confide in anyone or rely on anyone.
Fate was cold and cruel, placing a formidable enemy like Yuan Dasheng before him for a life-and-death confrontation.
Looking at the bigger picture, he could only fight alone!
While considering strategies, strong emotions always welled up within him.
Helplessness, powerlessness, disappointment, despair, the urge to survive, anger, hatred, a sense of duty to his mother’s last wishes, a rebellious challenge…
Ning Zhuo had to constantly guard against these emotions, trying to eliminate their interference and think calmly and objectively.
He had to find possibilities in the midst of impossibility!
And he had to succeed in one go, leaving no flaws. Any flaw in the design would surely backfire, leading to his demise.
“I still have a lot of key information to investigate.”
“For instance, how exactly did it acquire the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique? How many layers does it have?”
“Wait…the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique!”
Lost in thought, Ning Zhuo was suddenly enlightened, his eyes gleaming.
Yes, the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique.
This demonic technique, once activated, could draw out blood qi, condensing it into blood qi fascia.
When used on oneself, it enhanced mobility and provided some defense.
When used on others, it could erode and pollute their blood qi with one’s own. By creating a significant amount of blood qi fascia inside and out, one could imprison and even control them.
At that moment, Ning Zhuo seemed to see a glimmer of hope in endless darkness.
“I can use blood qi to infiltrate and influence it.”
“Of course, not my blood qi. Yuan Dasheng would definitely detect the clash of foreign blood qi.”
“I can use its own blood qi!”
Naturally, Ning Zhuo couldn’t draw blood from Yuan Dasheng. But the latter had many monkey minions!
“Even though these monkeys carry the blood of their mothers, if I collect enough, I can use alchemical means to purify and refine the blood qi closest to Yuan Dasheng’s own.”
As Ning Zhuo thought of this, he faced another problem: Could Yuan Dasheng detect this same-source blood qi?
“Could it sense such subtle details?”
Delving deeper, Ning Zhuo felt the possibility was low.
“Yuan Dasheng practiced two cultivation techniques.”
“One was the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique, with origins unknown, at least at the third level of essence refining.”
“The other was the Five Elements Qi Regulation Art, gained from the Dharma Transmission Bell, cultivated to the peak of the third level of Qi Refinement, enabling soul entry into the Immortal Palace.”
“Besides these, it was impossible for it to practice other techniques!”
To enter the Immortal Palace during the Qi Refinement Realm, one had to scatter any other techniques, unless it was the Mirror Stand Spirit Communication Technique, the Five Elements Qi Regulation Art, or the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique.
The Five Elements Qi Regulation Art, reaching the peak of the third level of Qi Refinement, triggered the soul entry mechanism into the Immortal Palace.
If Yuan Dasheng had other techniques, it could only be the Mirror Stand Spirit Communication Technique. If it had such a Spirit Refining cultivation, it would surely show up in the rankings.
But on the Spirit Refining leaderboard, only Ning Zhuo’s alias was listed.
“Without a Spirit Refining technique, relying solely on Five Elements Mana and the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique, it couldn’t perceive such subtleties.”
“According to the information, Yuan Dasheng wasn’t proficient in using magic artifacts and preferred close combat to maximize physical prowess.”
“Given the circumstances, this gamble has fair odds.”
Ning Zhuo had no other choice and could only bet that Yuan Dasheng had no additional means to sense intricacies.