Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master

At the peak of Mount Huoshi, deep within the clouds and mist, Meng Kui, the current city lord of Lava Immortal Palace, sat cross-legged in midair. Dense twilight shrouded the surroundings as clouds surged around him.

His fingers formed hand seals, and he silently chanted incantations. His mana surged like tides, merging with the heavens and earth, resonating with the surrounding environment.

Meng Kui's entire body emitted a faint green glow.

He had been cultivating like this for eight or nine days already.

Slowly, Meng Kui opened his eyes. With a thought, he retrieved a scroll from his storage belt.

The scroll floated in the air, unfurling in the wind to reveal its entirety.

It was a frontal portrait of a figure with a square face, clad in armor, and carrying a battle flag on his back. He looked majestic and imposing, exuding an overwhelming aura of ferocity. Behind him, a robust and striped yellow tiger stood on a mountain peak, roaring towards the sky.

This man was Meng Kui's clansman, Meng Hu, a body cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage and one of the four renowned generals of the Meng family.

The artist who created this painting was no ordinary person. He was Han Xiongfeng, an expert in the myriad arts of cultivation, particularly skilled in depicting fierce generals on the battlefield.

The painting of Meng Hu, created by Han Xiongfeng, was naturally extraordinary. It contained a portion of Meng Hu's spirituality, representing a part of his innate talent and fortune.

Meng Kui specifically sought this painting because it was the key item needed for his spellcasting.

Divine Ability—Sitting on the Mountain to Observe!

In an instant, Meng Kui unleashed the divine ability he had been preparing for days onto the painting.

The scroll suddenly disintegrated. Meng Hu and the tiger overlapped and intertwined, both figures emerging from the painting. The man and tiger clashed with each other, fiercely battling back and forth.

The clouds churned, and the man and tiger merged, sometimes the man becoming the tiger, sometimes the tiger becoming the man, making it impossible to distinguish between them.

The two phantom figures of the man and tiger clashed and roared within the clouds.

Sitting on the Mountain to Observe—Tiger Fight!

The spell was completed.

In an instant, an invisible whirlwind swept across the mountain peak, clearing away the dense clouds and twilight completely.

The phantom figures of the man and tiger dispersed with the clouds, spreading across the Lava Immortal Palace, Huoshi Immortal City, and even the entirety of Mount Huoshi!

Meng Kui's face turned pale, his throat bobbed, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

A strand of hair at his forehead visibly turned snow-white.

Meng Kui possessed the innate talent of far-sightedness, allowing him to suppress his own fortune and observe the surrounding situation with clarity. With this talent, he had cultivated the divine ability of Sitting on the Mountain to Observe.

Sitting on the Mountain allowed one to observe the wind and clouds, the world, the lives of all beings, as well as the struggles between dragons and tigers, and the battle for supremacy!

Meng Kui, using the man-tiger painting, successfully cast the spell, creating a fortune field of "Sitting on the Mountain to Watch the Tigers Fight."

This fortune field covered the entire Mount Huoshi, affecting every living being within it. In the upcoming period, they would engage in conflicts with each other for various reasons.

This so-called "Tiger Fight" was no minor scuffle but a battle to the death!

As a result, those caught within this field would experience a significant decline in fortune due to their mutual conflicts. Meng Kui's fortune, however, would remain unmoved, giving him a significant advantage in terms of momentum.

He didn't cast this spell for himself but for his grandson, Meng Chong.

Meng Chong, under the protection of this spell, would not be affected by the fortune field.

"Chong'er has been diligently practicing multiple spells these days."

"Moreover, after recuperating, his fortune has truly recovered."

"With my spell this time, even the Lava Immortal Palace will be affected. In this way, Chong'er will surely ride on the advantage of fortune, proceeding smoothly and effortlessly!"

City Lord Meng Kui, overseeing the entire situation, was deeply aware of the changes in fortune.

As the situation had developed to this point, it had become increasingly unfavorable for the City Lord's Mansion.

On one hand, the combined forces of the Zhou, Zheng, and Ning families were pressing step by step; on the other hand, the repeated uprisings within the Lava Immortal Palace left Meng Kui puzzled. The third issue was the premature arrival of Zhu Xuanji and the mysterious disappearance of the shadow demon cultivator.

These factors made Meng Kui realize that measures had to be taken to change the situation.

The "Sitting on the Mountain to Watch the Tigers Fight" spell was cast using his divine ability, combined with a key painting. The drawbacks were significant—it would shorten his lifespan and was not something that could be used frequently. But for the sake of the battle for the Lava Immortal Palace, for the sake of his beloved grandson, and for the overall situation of the Meng family, Meng Kui was willing to go all out.

Meng Chong was unaware of his grandfather's hidden sacrifice. Ever since he was defeated by the Golden-Blooded Battle Ape, Dasheng, and awakened, he had been rigorously practicing spells.

Super Talent—Wild Sprint Thunderclap.

Spell—One Breath.

The breath was accelerated, and the shooting speed skyrocketed, instantly becoming a sharp offensive spell.

Super Talent—Wild Sprint Thunderclap.

Spell—Ice-Embracing Technique!

Cold air sprayed everywhere from Meng Chong's embrace, covering his face in frost flowers.

He shivered from the cold.

Although the Ice-Embracing Technique was successfully cast, it didn't synergize well with his spiritual aptitude. If it were used in actual combat, it might harm himself rather than the enemy, which would be quite laughable.

A servant advised from the side, "Young Master Meng Chong, it's time for a break."

Meng Chong nodded. "Alright, I understand."

He temporarily set aside his special training and moved to the edge of the field to rest.

In the past, he would never have done this, always pushing forward with a single-minded determination, eager to see immediate results.

But now, he understood the principle of balancing work and rest; today's rest was for a better push forward later!

The various hardships and setbacks he had endured not only honed his abilities but also tempered his character, making him more mature and resilient.

As the servant treated Meng Chong, he comforted him, "Young Master, you have already been very successful."

"Bear in mind, you need to extract the water element from the Five Elements Mana to perform the Ice-Embracing Technique. That alone is quite troublesome."

"Moreover, you need to add spiritual aptitude, which greatly shortens the spellcasting time. It requires extremely high proficiency to separate the water element and then perform the Ice-Embracing Technique."

"This difficulty is at least a hundred times harder than simply casting the Ice-Embracing Technique!"

Meng Chong grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. "Even if it's a thousand times harder, I can overcome it and break through it."

"In this world, there's no challenge I can't overcome!"

Meng Chong's fighting spirit was high, and he was full of confidence!

At the Ning Residence.

Ning Zhuo put down the jade slip, falling into deep thought.

Ning Xiaoren had sent several jade slips, all related to spirituality.

But most of them were common knowledge, not grand treatises like the *Theory of Spirituality,* and certainly not any secret manuals or rare books.

Ning Xiaoren hadn't broken his word.

Since Ning Xiaoren had personally visited and comforted Ning Zhuo once, he hadn't come again, as if afraid that Ning Zhuo would make more requests.

Two examples in the jade slips left the deepest impression on Ning Zhuo.

One was the Four Seasons Natural Zither.

This was the sect treasure of the Heavenly Sound Sect.

The Heavenly Sound Sect was a super sect, its influence extending across several cultivation countries.

The selection of the zither master for the Four Seasons Natural Zither was the most important event in the Heavenly Sound Sect. Because such a high-level spiritual treasure often formed the core of a cultivation power's foundation and strength.

A single mistake in the selection could lead to a decline in the sect's strength and cause widespread turmoil.

To become the new master of the Natural Zither, competitors were required to compose and perform four different pieces using the zither.

These four pieces had to correspond to the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Competitors needed immense cultivation to even pluck the zither strings. The played zither music had to be infused with genuine emotion and align with the essence of the seasons to gain the zither's recognition and ultimately become its new master.

And because the spiritual treasure's power was immense, the sect cultivator who became the zither master often experienced a meteoric rise.

The second story was from a long time ago.

It was one of the anecdotes about the grandmaster of artifact refining, Lü Duan.

It was said that Lü Duan, while traveling the world, discovered a small country struggling to resist the ravages of an evil god.

The small country of cultivators was tiny, and the evil god was incredibly powerful. However, the king was kind and brave, earning the support of the people. With their unity, they barely maintained a balance.

Lü Duan pitied the innocent lives and intervened, designing a plan and working with the king and others to finally trap the evil god.

Using

this, Lü Duan created the Wind Shepherd Whip, which temporarily sealed the god.

Lü Duan gave the Wind Shepherd Whip to the king and told him, "The Wind Shepherd Whip is not yet fully refined! Only when it's fully refined can it completely seal the god. Over the long process of use, it will gradually transform the god into the spirituality of the whip!"

The king then asked Lü Duan how to fully refine the Wind Shepherd Whip.

Lü Duan replied, "Now is a critical period. You need to do things that align with the spirituality, gradually allowing the magic treasure to control this spirituality. For example, creating hurricanes and tornadoes."

The king tried using the Wind Shepherd Whip to create various strong winds and storms.

Initially, the effects were great, but later, the effectiveness sharply declined. The whip couldn't be refined in time, and the god was about to break free from the seal.

Lü Duan had already left, and the king privately discovered that causing wind disasters, destroying the people's homes, maximized alignment with the spirituality.

The king was deeply hesitant, but time was running out.

He made an excruciating decision: to sacrifice his current people in exchange for the future happiness and prosperity of his country.

So he secretly wielded the whip, creating wind disasters that killed many of his people, causing countless to become displaced.

In the end, the king successfully refined the Wind Shepherd Whip, but his actions were discovered. He was imprisoned by his enraged people, and the Wind Shepherd Whip's whereabouts became unknown.

In the end, the small country was also destroyed.

"Although these jade slips don't explicitly say so, the principles should be the same."

"Summing it up, it means that acting in accordance with spirituality allows the spirituality to recognize its master or be refined."

"Reflecting this on mechanical creations, if I want to deepen my control over Dasheng, I need to do things that it desires."

"So, what could such things be?"

A slight anxiety arose in Ning Zhuo's heart.

According to the *Theory of Spirituality,* spirituality grows, with stages of Spirituality Long-term, Spirituality Dynamic, and Spirituality Sensitive.

"If I miss this Spirituality Dynamic period, will I lose my only opportunity to completely control Dasheng?"

Ning Zhuo primarily referenced the Wind Shepherd Whip.

The refinement of the Wind Shepherd Whip had to align with the spirituality of the evil god.

This process had a time limit.

Dasheng was likely the same!