Opening Things

Ning Zhuo walked over to the Pill Furnace in the corner.

A raging inferno burned within the Pill Furnace, and standing in the flames was a half-human-sized Mechanical Monkey, constantly enduring the heat.

The Mechanical Monkey's skeleton stood ramrod straight, its entire body covered in lifelike crimson fur, only its muscles were slowly degrading in the flames, flowing out from various gaps.

The Magma Immortal Palace was hidden within the volcanic magma. Ning Zhuo needed to control the Fire Ape, carrying a Thousand Jin Fire Essence, to travel through the dense magma and self-detonate against the surface of the Immortal Palace.

But now, its muscles couldn't hold up.

"If Cloud Pattern Soft Silver doesn't work, I'll switch to the next kind."

Ning Zhuo walked to the table and sat down. According to his plan, tonight he would try using Soot Mud.

The reddish-brown Soot Mud emitted a pungent odor.

Ning Zhuo picked up the Small Wooden Hammer and began to pound the mud.

Each time the Small Wooden Hammer struck the mud, it made a dull thudding sound, breaking up the clumps in the mud. Whenever sparks appeared in the reddish-brown mud, the wooden hammer would emit cold air, extinguishing the sparks in time.

Ning Zhuo had specially designed and developed the Small Wooden Hammer to process Soot Mud.

If the examiners of the grand examination saw this, they would immediately grade Ning Zhuo's Talismans Department score as Superior Grade.

Lower Grade, Middle Grade, and Upper Grade were the most commonly used evaluations.

Superior Grade was extremely rare, and there might not even be one in a single session. This meant that the normal evaluation standards were insufficient to describe the excellence of the young cultivator!

By the time all the clumps in the Soot Mud were completely dissolved, a layer of fire oil had accumulated on the surface of the red mud.

Ning Zhuo then took a Square Scarf made of cotton cloth and placed it over the Soot Mud.

As he infused his magic power, the array on the Square Scarf activated, quickly absorbing the fire oil.

This Square Scarf was also designed by Ning Zhuo, but this time, it didn't use talismans, but rather a miniature array.

The array arrangement skill on this Square Scarf was also Superior Grade.

Ning Zhuo carefully checked, confirming that the Soot Mud was properly processed, and then began to knead it.

The processed fire oil mud had excellent viscosity and was kneaded by Ning Zhuo until it was pliable and delicate. Other impurities within the mud were all washed out under the infusion of Ning Zhuo's magic power.

Ning Zhuo disassembled one arm of the Mechanical Monkey, took the processed Soot Mud, and attached it to the arm's skeleton.

Ning Zhuo's fingers were fair and white. Under the light of the spirit lamp, his finger movements were agile and neat. He was completely focused and absorbed, having completely forgotten the passage of time. At this moment, the young man was full of serious charm.

The Soot Mud was quickly molded into shape by him, and the bare arm skeleton now had full, blood-red muscles.

Of course, Ning Zhuo didn't just use his hands to mold the outer appearance. During this process, he also continuously mobilized his magic power, infusing it into the mud to perform internal sorting.

Just by gently cutting open the muscle tissue with a knife, one could see that the inside of the red mud also had the form of muscles.

This astonishing skill in material molding was enough to make the School Elder exclaim in surprise.

If Ning Zhuo revealed this point, he would definitely be treated as a key publicity target for this year's session by the School Elder. The emergence of such an excellent artifact refining talent was enough to prove the talent and effort of the School Elder.

After the molding was completed, Ning Zhuo began to perform various tests on the arm.

It wouldn't work.

Soot Mud has excellent fire resistance, but its mana adaptability is quite poor.

"It needs to be improved."

Ning Zhuo began to recall.

"Soot Mud mixed with Thunder Sand can create explosives. It's often used for blasting mountains or fighting demonic beasts."

"Soot Mud combined with poisons can be refined into Poison Pills. When a Poison Pill disintegrates, it can release a Fire Poison Smoke Barrier, used to block enemies and for defense."

"Soot Mud can also be combined with Coal Stone and placed in the furnace of a refining room to burn for a long time, maintaining high temperatures."

Over the years, Ning Zhuo had done his best to memorize everything, all the knowledge he could access.

During his ten-day breaks, he often spent the entire day in the family's Library Pavilion. From morning till night, he forgot about eating and sleeping.

No one knew that the seemingly ordinary Ning Zhuo was actually a human-shaped Library Pavilion!

Ning Zhuo recalled all the knowledge related to Soot Mud, but he couldn't find a way to improve it.

"No matter, I'll design the pill formula myself!"

The young man had his own ambition, and a confident light flickered in his eyes.

"Soot Mud is warm in nature, entering the heart and liver meridians. Its oily fire energy can dispel dampness and cold evil from the bones. A small amount can treat cold-induced abdominal pain."

"If mixed with Moonlight Water in Well, the fire and water properties will harmonize, possibly reducing the weight."

"If the tail wind feathers of the First Flying Bird are used as a guiding medicine and refined together... perhaps the lightness of the wind property and the diffuseness of the dynamic property can help the main ingredient, Soot Mud, perform at its best."

"The Willow Catkins of the Hidden Spirit Willow might also work. Take Willow Catkins and Soot Mud and refine them together. The ratio could perhaps refer to formulas like Light Spirit Pill and Clear Turbidity Powder. The resulting substance should be significantly lighter in weight."

Ning Zhuo's thoughts were quick and agile. Based on pharmacology and with logical reasoning, he quickly conceived multiple pill formulas.

Based on this performance alone, let alone achieving Superior Grade in the Pill Medicine subject, the Ning family would definitely take action and firmly keep Ning Zhuo within the family.

Ning Zhuo began to attempt refining new materials.

He went through his material library and found that he could try at least seven different approaches.

Moonlight Water in Well?

Failure.

The finished mud was slightly less viscous, slightly lighter, and its fire resistance was greatly weakened.

First Flying Bird feathers?

Major failure.

What he got was no longer mud, but a pile of dust.

But Ning Zhuo was happy: "The wind property of the bird feathers is too strong. My understanding of this material has deepened by another layer."

The third attempt was with Hidden Spirit Willow Willow Catkins.

The clay obtained showed willow catkin patterns, its stickiness remained unchanged, its fire resistance decreased slightly, and its weight sharply reduced. The rest of the tests were passed one by one.

"Lucky, I didn't expect to get the ideal... uh."

Ning Zhuo hadn't been happy for long when he saw the willow catkin patterns on the clay float up on their own. A change of clear rising and turbid sinking caused the clay's quality to deteriorate.

This new clay's form was unstable!

Ning Zhuo tried a fourth time, a complete failure.

He thought for a while, but didn't rush to continue with the next plan. Instead, he buried himself in studying the Hidden Spirit Willow plan.

"This plan is close to success and is adaptable to various types of magic power. All I need to do is stabilize its form."

"What should I do?"

The old problem was solved, but a new one arose.

Ning Zhuo wasn't discouraged in the slightest. Instead, he was eager to try and became more focused in his thinking. He was immersed in this design process. Thinking didn't make him feel dry or boring; instead, it gave him a heartfelt joy.

In this state of thought, he felt his existence and his value.

He knew he was creating something that didn't originally exist in nature!

This anticipation, this sense of accomplishment, was something that nothing else could bring him.

For others, it was torture; for him, it was a beautiful enjoyment, a spiritual pleasure.

Time flowed silently, and Ning Zhuo, immersed in thought, didn't feel it at all.

After an unknown amount of time, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"To solve this technical problem, I need to use a Dynamic Array."

However, this level of knowledge was far beyond the curriculum, and the Ning family school did not teach it.

Ning Zhuo stood up and paced back and forth in the underground workshop.

After thinking for a moment, he stopped, tilted his head slightly, and made up his mind: "Chen Cha... is known as a Living Array Master, and what he's best at is Dynamic Arrays. The key is that he's also a mechanic."

"It's time to get in touch with him."