Magma Fairy Palace, Main Hall.
Roar!
When Yuan Dasheng was defeated, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit raised its head angrily, slamming its dragon claw onto the armrest of the throne.
Although the rankings in the Magma Fairy Palace did not clearly display it, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit knew that Yuan Dasheng's demonic powers were at level nine, perfectly complementing its own robust physical body.
The problem was, Yuan Dasheng was trapped in the palace, losing his original body and only possessing a puppet figure. The wooden puppet body lacked blood essence unless it encountered the Demon Sect beyond Room Nine.
At that time, Yuan Dasheng only needed to exert a little of his true power, and he could soar into the sky, unstoppable.
The problem was, Ning Zhuo had obstructed it!
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit pinned its hopes on Ning Zhuo making a mistake during the battle.
From beginning to end, Ning Zhuo never engaged in close combat with Yuan Dasheng. This thoroughly dashed the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's hopes.
What made the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit even angrier was Ning Zhuo's name on the leaderboard.
Such a cunning name!
Yuan Dasheng had been thoroughly deceived.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit wished it could scratch out those few words itself.
But it couldn't.
For any disciple participating in the trial, it was forbidden to disclose any information. This was a strict constraint imposed by the Three Ancestral Masters!
Room Eight.
Ning Zhuo began to clean the battlefield.
Although he had won, he felt no joy.
The outcome of this battle was within his expectations.
At present, he possessed numerous spells, as well as compatible mechanism parts, Spirit Stones, and Spiritual Power far surpassing Yuan Dasheng's, making his overall strength quite formidable.
Moreover, he had previously observed Yuan Dasheng and knew his speed, strength, and other specific performances.
Rather than a narrow escape, it was more accurate to say it was a hunt!
"However, even if I defeat him multiple times, he will keep coming back and will not truly die."
So, this couldn't completely solve the problem.
Ning Zhuo carefully examined Yuan Dasheng's mechanism parts.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Magma Fairy Palace had not yet cleaned up, he quickly checked.
Though Ning Zhuo had been dominating the entire time during the confrontation, he felt a lot of pressure, speculating that Yuan Dasheng might be hiding some talent.
Once talent was involved, it might be evident from the mechanism parts.
Just like Ning Zhuo's innate intelligence could be gleaned from his big head.
However, Ning Zhuo went through the parts two or three times and found no anomalies.
Though the components were large, the proportions among them were natural and reasonable, with nothing overly prominent.
"Is it, like Meng Chong's Frenzied Rushing Thunder, something that needs to be activated to be visible?"
"No, if it could be activated, it should have been used in the previous battle."
"Is it because the puppet body prevents its use? Or is there some other limiting condition?"
Ning Zhuo sighed.
The gains from this search were negligible.
Soon, he left Room Eight and hurried back, seizing the time to repair the mechanism traps.
The Kung Fu Dolls he had frozen were also brought to the workshop, where they were placed on various mechanism stands. Using various mechanism tools, he repaired and strengthened them.
After confirming that all the traps were fixed and reset properly, Ning Zhuo returned to the front checkpoint.
His current highest progress was the first rooms of both the Dao Sect and the Demon Sect; he hadn't entered the Buddhist Sect.
In the Dao Sect's first room, he actively sensed the disciple's mark and voluntarily exited the Immortal Palace.
Yuan Dasheng could clear up to Room Seven in one go, and others might also have that capability.
So, he specifically made his escape deep inside, minimizing his exposure as much as possible.
Ning Zhuo paid great attention to these details, being cautious to avoid further losses due to his negligence.
Returning to his body, Ning Zhuo continued to study the intelligence on the Monkey Head Gang and Yuan Dasheng.
According to the information: Yuan Yi had poor qualifications and came from a humble background, living off begging at one point.
He was forced to join the Beggars' Sect and had to explore the Flame Demon Melting Cave, becoming cannon fodder along with others.
During the exploration, he encountered a wounded Magma Demon Ape cub.
Yuan Yi brought the cub out of the volcano, forming a contract with it.
The cub later became Yuan Dasheng.
Initially, Yuan Yi named it Dasheng. For a long time, the two depended on each other, living a hard life.
When the Magma Demon Ape gradually grew larger and became more powerful, their situation started to improve.
They first left the Beggars' Sect, then made a living by beast fighting. Dasheng fought countless bloody battles and gradually made a name for himself.
However, the black market beast fighting was soon cracked down on, leaving Yuan Yi and Dasheng without a livelihood again.
The Beggars' Sect sought revenge, setting up Yuan Yi.
Yuan Yi and Dasheng were imprisoned but made a comeback, joining forces with fellow prisoners. After several days of brutal street fighting, they finally overthrew the Beggars' Sect.
After the battle, Yuan Yi gained great merit and was elected leader by everyone.
He seized the opportunity to reorganize and established the Monkey Head Gang.
In the early days of the Monkey Head Gang, they were suppressed by other gangs in Persimmon Fire City, enduring constant turmoil. It was Dasheng's fierce fighting that helped them stand firm and gradually grow stronger.
In this bloody and violent process, Dasheng's name gradually faded, and more people began to respect him as Dasheng. Considering the gang's reputation, Yuan Yi gave it a surname, and eventually, Dasheng became Yuan Dasheng.
"This is a man of great talent who built an empire from scratch, tested by blood and fire, ultimately establishing a foundation!"
Ning Zhuo carefully studied Dasheng's win rate during beast fights and several key battles during gang clashes that followed.
"Individually, Yuan Dasheng's battles had wins and losses. But if you calculate the overall win rate, there's a significant issue."
"His win rate is too high, indicating he must have some powerful trump card!"
Generally speaking, someone who rose from humble beginnings and frequently faced danger would find it hard to conceal a trump card.
But Yuan Dasheng managed to do so nonetheless.
This suggested that what he was hiding might be substantial, very substantial!
"He very likely has a talent."
"But I didn't detect it during this confrontation."
Ning Zhuo frowned, racking his brain.
The underground workshop was deathly silent, the atmosphere tense and oppressive.
Yuan Dasheng's strength was already formidable, posing a severe threat to Ning Zhuo's leading position and greatly undermining his plans.
Even more terrifying was the reaction of the other four major forces if Yuan Dasheng's presence was exposed.
The response from these righteous forces would almost certainly be identical: coercion and temptation to make Yuan Dasheng work for them!
With such a powerful weapon, any of them could gain a significant advantage, even eventually securing the Magma Fairy Palace.
As for Yuan Dasheng practicing demonic arts, it was insignificant.
Were there not many Demon Sect cultivators serving as thugs for righteous forces?
Sometimes, righteous cultivators directly played the role of demon cultivators to do things inconvenient for their righteous identities.
And Yuan Dasheng was easily manipulatable.
The Monkey Head Gang and Yuan Er were his weaknesses.
Once a powerful alliance was formed, Ning Zhuo's defeat would be all but certain.
The next developments were easy to predict.
Righteous forces and Yuan Dasheng teaming up, disabling traps, quickly surpassing Ning Zhuo. Ultimately, they would become the master of the Magma Fairy Palace, reviewing records, learning Ning Zhuo's actions, capturing him, and unearthing the Buddha Heart Demon Seal!