I Have a Head Now

Darkness.

A vast darkness.

In the endless darkness, Ning Zhuo gradually regained consciousness.

"What exactly happened?"

"Where is this?!"

Just then, a piece of information, following the thread of life, was directly transmitted to the depths of his heart: "Magma Immortal Palace, mechanism inheritance, thread-guided soul, Qi Refining test... Leave Room One, enter Room Two."

Ning Zhuo's spirit suddenly lifted, and he understood the situation.

"It seems that reaching the peak of the third layer of Qi Refining is the first standard for selection."

"I met it, so my soul was guided into the Magma Immortal Palace, starting the second step of the test."

"This is very different from the information Mother left behind!"

"Indeed, the appearance of the Dharma Transmission Bell already indicated that the method for Qi Refining cultivators to compete for the Magma Immortal Palace is completely different from before, for the Foundation Establishment Stage, Golden Core, Core Formation Stage, and so on!"

"Thinking about it carefully, it's also reasonable."

"Once a cultivator reaches the Foundation Establishment Stage, their dantian is completely transformed and stabilized. It's extremely difficult, almost impossible, to change cultivation techniques."

"But I, while in the Qi Refining Stage, took advantage of my dantian not being finalized to directly switch cultivation, and I'm cultivating the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art. For the Magma Immortal Palace, this makes me one of their own disciples."

"Compared to outsiders cultivating other techniques, the distinction between closeness and distance is clear at a glance."

"It's just..."

"Leave Room One, enter Room Two? How should I do that?"

Ning Zhuo calmed his mind and carefully sensed in the endless darkness.

He gradually felt that his soul was not existing independently, but was residing within a certain object, and within this object, a ball of spiritual energy was hidden.

Ning Zhuo tried to mobilize this spiritual energy, but it had no effect.

He racked his brain and used the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art to mobilize it, and immediately there was a reaction.

The spiritual energy was mobilized, and following the circulation path of the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art, it began to flow slowly within the object where his soul resided.

From this, Ning Zhuo gradually perceived that the dwelling place of his soul seemed like a long rectangular box.

"A coffin?" Ning Zhuo guessed.

"Also, this feeling of mobilizing spiritual energy is very familiar to me."

"It should be a Spirit Stone. I am drawing spiritual energy from within it."

"The spiritual energy in the Spirit Stone has a limit. Cultivating the technique like this is continuously consuming spiritual energy."

Ning Zhuo stopped the technique and fell into hesitation.

He pondered in the darkness, unable to find any more clues.

"It seems there's only this one option..."

Ning Zhuo gritted his teeth, deciding to take a gamble.

He never lacked the courage for adventure.

This time, he fully activated the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art, causing a drastic consumption of spiritual energy, but he didn't stop.

Spiritual energy began to dissipate outwards from the "long rectangular box."

The dissipating spiritual energy was like his tentacles, allowing Ning Zhuo to gradually gain a faint sensation.

"It seems like something exists in that direction." Ning Zhuo sensed a presence in the darkness.

Moreover, this presence seemed to be faintly responding to him.

Ning Zhuo hardened his heart and pushed his spiritual energy to its strongest.

The feeling of response immediately intensified, and within the next few breaths, the degree of response surged dozens of times!

Until, a mysterious hard object suddenly collided with the long rectangular box where Ning Zhuo's soul resided.

The spiritual energy dissipating everywhere quickly drew the long rectangular box and the mysterious hard object together, directly combining them.

The spiritual energy Ning Zhuo had released outwards suddenly had a new destination.

As spiritual energy was infused into the mysterious hard object, Ning Zhuo gradually felt the shape of this mysterious hard object.

"It's like, it's like… an arm?"

A flash of lightning seemed to strike Ning Zhuo's heart, and he immediately had a guess.

He continued to circulate his cultivation technique, confirming his previous guess.

This was indeed an arm. At the end of the arm was a hand, and the hand had a total of four fingers.

In the darkness, Ning Zhuo carefully experienced it.

He tried to wave the arm, then extended the hand, moved the fingers, and fumbled around.

He didn't have any sense of touch, but the spiritual energy spreading outwards began to respond to other mysterious objects.

A moment later, a cubic hard object was also drawn onto Ning Zhuo and combined.

The darkness that had been bothering him suddenly dissipated, and Ning Zhuo's vision instantly lit up.

He finally saw everything around him!

This was a room with a vast space, filled with countless mechanical parts. Trunks, heads, hands and feet, tails, horns, wings, and so on.

These mechanical parts were varied and colorful, all made of wood, brownish-yellow.

And he, Ning Zhuo, was on a small mountain piled up with these mechanical parts.

Ning Zhuo observed himself.

"My guess was correct!"

The long rectangular box where his soul had previously resided was a rectangular mechanical trunk part.

The first thing he had drawn over with spiritual energy was the left arm.

The second pieced-together cube was a square mechanical head component.

"It really is a head!"

"I have a head!"

"This head is quite big."

Ning Zhuo was delighted.

The head component had accessories similar to eyes, which allowed him to see.

With the ability to observe, things became much more convenient for Ning Zhuo.

He followed the same method, finding other components in the small mountain of mechanical parts and attaching them to himself.

By the time he climbed out of the mountain of mechanical parts onto the ground, he had both hands and feet.

"A mechanical puppet body, huh..."

At this point, Ning Zhuo's main body was a long rectangular box. He had two legs, one slightly thinner, one slightly thicker, and their heights were not exactly the same.

His two arms were the same length, but his two hands only had three and four fingers respectively.

And his large head was square, disproportionate to his torso, making him look a bit dull.

"With a body, although I can move freely like a person, the consumption of spiritual energy has also increased significantly."

Ning Zhuo constantly monitored the Spirit Stones within his torso. So far, he had consumed nearly half of the spiritual energy within them.

"Other torso components should have Spirit Stones stored. I can take them out for backup."

However, just as Ning Zhuo located a torso component and was about to start, new information arrived, telling him - it was not allowed to damage other components.

"Then I'll just piece together another body," Ning Zhuo had just started when more information arrived - the number of spiritual energy components currently allowed was one.

Ning Zhuo had no choice but to stand up.

He thought of the first piece of information - requiring him to enter the second room from the first room.

This was the assessment standard.

"The second assessment, on the surface, has no time limit, but that's not true."

"Because there is only one spiritual energy component, and the spiritual energy in the Spirit Stones will continuously deplete."

"I must complete the first assessment before the spiritual energy is completely exhausted."

"I should leave here as soon as possible."

Room One was very large, with red copper walls, a golden ceiling, and bright light.

Ning Zhuo had already seen the only door in the room.

He limped towards the door.

He reached the door, and as soon as his finger touched the door panel, more information was transmitted.

One Spirit Stone, a hanging ring from a mechanical component, and a spell, A Breath of Qi.

"Can I only choose one of these?"