He's Just a Young Man After All

Facing Ning Zhanji's sudden test, the others exchanged glances.

Ning Zhuo speculated aloud, "These spirit plants are all very young and of low value, so picking them is naturally not for the spirit plants themselves. I think it's for maintaining this passage, a deliberate clearing. With spirit plants, spirit beasts and demon beasts will be attracted. If our clan wants to utilize this passage long-term, it's clearly necessary to nip potential problems in the bud."

"Not bad." Ning Zhanji nodded. "The family academy's training has been effective for you."

"Pick one of these spirit plants as a reward for answering correctly."

"As for which one you can pick, that depends on your discerning eye."

Ning Zhuo didn't hesitate, reaching out directly to take a Fire Crystal Grass, then thanked him, "Thank you, Lord Ning Zhanji! I have some research into the herb market. Among the spirit plants, this Fire Crystal Grass has the best appearance and will definitely fetch the highest price."

Ning Zhanji nodded, then shook his head. "Choosing the one with the high market price is also good."

"But if I were you, I would choose Vigorous Ginseng."

"Because as members of the Ning Family, we cultivate ice-attribute techniques, and spirit plants like Fire Crystal Grass are not suitable for our physique. But Vigorous Ginseng is, it can warm and nourish our physical bodies."

"You are still young now, don't just focus on money. You should know that investing in yourself is the best path to success."

"Once you cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Stage, you will have a different life situation."

Upon hearing this, Ning Zhuo showed a look of being deeply enlightened.

Ning Zhanji took the opportunity to instill, "Excellent cultivators are all daring to strive. You must fully estimate the ratio between risk and reward. If you join the War Hall and are assigned to guard here, you can harvest several spirit plants every day, and there is also the protection of the temporary camp. This is a rare opportunity."

"Many times, refusing risk is refusing opportunity."

Ning Zhuo showed a look of being moved.

This change in expression fell into Ning Zhanji's eyes, and the latter chuckled inwardly, 'He's just a young man after all...'

"Lord, I want to be stationed here." Ning Yong shouted.

Ning Zhanji chuckled, "Newcomer, you can talk about it after you pass the special training."

The Ning Family cultivator team entered an underground hall.

This was clearly a front-line position specially constructed by the Ning Family.

There were two Ning Family cultivators stationed in the hall.

The stationed cultivators quickly received them.

Ning Zhanji ordered a temporary rest, while he himself stood in the center of the underground hall, activating his magic power and forming hand seals.

Immediately, complex array patterns appeared on the cave wall above the hall.

In the center of the array patterns, an array disk the size of a millstone slowly descended, finally landing in front of Ning Zhanji.

Ning Zhanji placed his hands on the array disk, communicating with his divine sense, and quickly reviewed the recorded information in the array disk. Therefore, in just a few breaths, he had a complete understanding of everything that had happened at this front-line camp.

After doing this, he took out Spirit Stones from his money pouch, removed the Spirit Stones in the array disk that had completely turned into gray stone or were mostly dimmed, and replaced them all.

After a brief rest, the Ning Family cultivator team continued to set off.

Along the way, Ning Zhuo passed through a total of three more front-line camps.

Some stopped for rest, while others passed directly through.

As the group ventured deeper into the volcanic underground, the threats gradually increased.

Signs of demonic beasts became significantly more numerous.

There were Fire Velvet Rats the size of a palm, stone heads that could float in mid-air—Crimson Rock Demon Heads, and Flame Treading Lizards.

"Halt!" Ning Zhanji, who had been leading the way, suddenly raised his hand and stopped in place.

The cultivators quickly came to a standstill, transitioning from movement to stillness, demonstrating excellent tactical discipline.

Ning Zhanji lowered his head and carefully examined a small groove in front of him.

He extended a finger and gently touched the concave surface of the groove. The surface was smooth, faintly emitting a lustrous, glazed light.

"It's a Fire Walking Snake. It should be over a hundred years old, a demonic beast at the Foundation Establishment Stage," Ning Zhanji explained before ordering the entire group to be on high alert.

Ning Yong, however, was carefree and excited. "Have we finally encountered one? With Lord Ning Zhanji here, why fear a small demonic beast?"

Ning Chen analyzed, "Excluding us few newcomers, we have a total of six Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators here, and the rest are high-level Qi Refining Stage cultivators."

"It's just a demonic beast at the Foundation Establishment Stage."

Ning Zhuo, however, was secretly vigilant.

He knew that demonic beasts' physical talents often far surpassed those of human cultivators. Furthermore, this was the Crimson Flame Demon Lava Cave. If a prolonged battle were to occur, it was highly likely to attract other demonic beasts to surround and attack them.

The Ning Family cultivator team continued forward.

But this time, their speed noticeably slowed, and the atmosphere within the group changed.

Before long, they discovered the Fire Walking Snake.

The Fire Walking Snake had a slender body, emitting dazzling firelight all over. The entire snake was like a long strip of intensely burning flame.

In fact, it was a spirit born from fire, without the conventional flesh and blood of a demonic beast.

The Fire Walking Snake was fierce in nature and extremely fast, moving through the rocks and often melting a serpentine path on the stone surface.

Just now, Ning Zhanji had discovered the serpentine path and made his judgment based on its width and the degree to which the concave surface had been scorched.

Now, they had encountered the main entity and found that Ning Zhanji's judgment was completely accurate.

This was indeed a demonic beast at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

The Ning Family cultivators began their battle.

First, a cultivator threw out a formation plate, temporarily setting up a formation to conceal everyone's aura.

Then, a large number of cultivators began to prepare their spells.

Soon after, streams of water arrows shot towards the Fire Walking Snake.

The Fire Walking Snake was first subjected to a concentrated attack, its fiery light significantly dimmed before it finally reacted.

The Fire Walking Snake lunged towards the Ning Family cultivator team with fierce momentum.

Two burly men from the Ning Family cultivators rushed out, covered by various spells, and directly confronted the Fire Walking Snake, pinning it in place.

The remaining cultivators cast spells again, on one hand supporting the close-combat cultivators, and on the other hand actively killing the Fire Walking Snake.

The Fire Walking Snake, outnumbered, was quickly hit by various water and ice spells, causing its body to shrink by a third.

Knowing it was no match, the Fire Walking Snake tried to escape.

Ning Zhanji moved like lightning, intercepting the Fire Walking Snake. He clapped his hands together, sending out two palm prints condensed from ice and frost.

The palm prints flew through the air, radiating cold energy. The Fire Walking Snake was enveloped, and its movements slowed down slightly.

Bang bang.

With two almost simultaneous sounds, the frost palm prints directly killed the Fire Walking Snake.

A beautiful surprise attack!

Ning Yong's eyes lit up, becoming even more excited: "This is Lord Ning Zhanji!"

His words revealed an extremely strong longing and admiration.

Ning Zhuo nodded repeatedly, wearing a similar expression to Ning Yong, but secretly wondering: In this volcano, the fire element spiritual energy is exceptionally rich. Using ice and frost spells is difficult and unrewarding, so why are they all using them?

After the next few battles hunting demon beasts, Ning Zhuo gradually understood.

It turned out that Ning Zhanji was consciously training his troops.

When encountering weaker demon beasts or spirits, they would use spells to fight, training their coordination with each other.

When encountering powerful demon beasts, the Ning Family cultivators would use various magical artifacts, with Ning Zhanji leading the main attack.

To avoid complications, the Ning Family cultivators focused on quick battles, striving to end the fight in the shortest possible time.

"There's a Fire Melt Demon Ape ahead!" Suddenly, the cultivator responsible for scouting in the team shouted a warning.

The entire team paused.

An adult Fire Melt Demon Ape is very troublesome; one ape can be equivalent to ten Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators.

Clearly, the possibility of an ape reaching this place being a juvenile was very small.

Even Ning Zhanji frowned.

"Wait a moment, the ape's state seems off." The scouting cultivator closed his eyes tightly, the headband on his head emitting a faint glow.

"It seems to be dead?!" The scouting cultivator opened his eyes, somewhat in disbelief.