Hanging Ring

With the valuable experience of the first time, Ning Zhuo was no longer a stranger to the darkness.

He didn't hesitate, fully mobilizing the spiritual energy from the Spirit Stones and operating the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art.

Click.

He drew the first Mechanical Component over and assembled it.

It was an arm.

He drew another component and successfully assembled it.

It was a wooden head.

Ning Zhuo regained his vision.

He lay on the mountain of Mechanical Components, reached up and touched his head, finding it was still a large, square head.

"Why is it this kind again?"

"It catches the wind when running and jumping, which has a negative impact on getting through Room Two."

Ning Zhuo turned his large head, dragging his body with his only hand, climbing around.

He patiently selected a pair of legs, not stopping until he had chosen two of the same length.

Previous experience told him that spending time on this was completely worthwhile.

Not only that, when choosing arms, he also decided to try to choose longer ones.

"I want long arms and long legs."

"And I need to change to a smaller head."

Ning Zhuo failed.

As he rummaged through the parts, picked out a small head, and was about to replace it, he received new information—the initial puppet body, based on innate talent, cannot be freely replaced in Room One.

"There's this restriction too?"

Ning Zhuo was stunned, then fell into thought.

"If the puppet is assembled based on innate talent, this means that when Meng Chong and others start from this room, they will have puppets much stronger than mine."

"It also means that the mountain of Mechanical Components piled up here, although they look similar in texture, actually have significant differences in performance."

Ning Zhuo immediately thought of himself.

"In my mother's womb, I used the Early Wisdom Pill, so I have the talent of Early Wisdom."

"Is it this talent that gave me this big head? So, I can't replace it with a small head."

"I can only have this big head because of my Early Wisdom talent. This indicates that having a big head has its advantages, they just haven't been demonstrated."

"Furthermore..."

Ning Zhuo thought of a suspicious point.

The first Mechanical Component he attracted was an arm, not the big head!

"It was like this the first time, and it's like this the second time. Arm components take priority over head components."

"Does this mean I actually have a hidden talent, and this talent is related to my arms, and it's even better than my Early Wisdom talent?"

Ning Zhuo's mind was quick, and his observations were keen, allowing him to spot issues in the details.

This was also possible.

Because cultivation talents were diverse, strange, and numerous. Although the Ning Family had been working on detecting immortal potential, they could only cover the basic populace and common, typical talents. Many special talents could not be detected through conventional means.

Perhaps Ning Zhuo's arms held such a talent that had never been detected by the family.

Ning Zhuo continued to ponder the information he had just received.

"The message said this was the 'initial puppet body,' and also said it couldn't be 'freely' replaced in 'Room One.'"

"Does this mean that the body can actually be updated? In a certain room, can it be freely replaced?"

In just a few breaths, Ning Zhuo had thoroughly analyzed this seemingly ordinary message, grasping many hidden key points.

Despite the information's warning, Ning Zhuo still held a glimmer of hope and attempted to assemble the wing components.

If he could attach wings, then passing through Room Two would be much easier.

As expected... it didn't work.

"So, these components like wings, short horns, claws, etc., are all prepared for non-human existences."

"In the future, will there be non-human competitors in the Magma Immortal Palace?"

Ning Zhuo climbed down from the mountain-like pile of Mechanical Components.

During this process, he also made a rather important observation.

Soon, he discovered the various traces he had left during his first exploration.

"This means that this room is the same Room One from my first exploration."

This observation was quite important!

"This isn't a room exclusive to me."

"In fact, the sheer number of these Mechanical Components also reminds me of this point."

"The changes I left behind during my exploration seem to have been preserved to some extent?"

"There's another crucial question – when I'm exploring the Immortal Palace, will I encounter other people in the same room?"

Ning Zhuo walked to the first doorway, only then pausing his thoughts and reaching out to touch the door.

Information was transmitted, and just like before, there were still three options.

One, one Spirit Stone.

Two, a Hanging Ring for Mechanical Components.

Three, A Breath of Qi for a spell.

Ning Zhuo already had a plan and didn't hesitate, directly choosing the Hanging Ring.

He still had seventy percent of his spiritual power left, much more than during his first exploration. Furthermore, the reward for clearing Room Two would still include Spirit Stones.

In the long run, choosing a spell was the most beneficial. But currently, Ning Zhuo most needed immediate combat power. Choosing the Hanging Ring would allow him to go further in this exploration.

"In the early stages, information is the most important."

"Therefore, I need to explore as far as possible. Only by doing so can I gather enough information, and with that foundation, make correct decisions."

"Sigh, I wonder which stage Meng Chong and the others have reached."

"I hope to see their trail soon."

The teleportation halo appeared again, spitting out a wooden circle before slowly disappearing.

Ning Zhuo held the wooden circle and observed it up close.

The entire wooden circle had a diameter of about half a foot, with a thick body. Eighteen rhombic crystals were embedded on it.

These crystals emitted a faint blue-violet glow. Whenever Ning Zhuo slightly changed his viewing angle, the blue-violet glow would also shift, making it quite dazzling.

"Is this the Hanging Ring? How do I use it?"

"Are there no instructions?"

Ning Zhuo didn't receive any information about the Hanging Ring.

He understood: the reward of Mechanical Components was actually also testing a cultivator's skill in mechanism arts.

He needed to figure out the correct usage himself.

Thinking of this, Ning Zhuo subconsciously placed the Hanging Ring against his brow.

There was no reaction.

Ning Zhuo chuckled awkwardly in his heart: "I forgot, I don't have Divine Sense anymore."

Divine Sense originated from the Divine Sea, and the Divine Sea was a cultivator's Upper Dantian.

In this world, cultivators had three Dantians: the Upper Dantian Divine Sea, the Middle Dantian Qi Sea, and the Lower Dantian Essence Sea.

The Upper Dantian, the Divine Sea at the brow, was the spiritual aperture and mystic pass, the source of the Sea of Consciousness, where thoughts condensed into the void.

The Middle Dantian, the Qi Sea in the chest, was the mansion of magical power, where Qi gathered like clouds, concealing sharpness and accumulating momentum.

The Lower Dantian, the Essence Palace in the abdomen, was the convergence of bloodlines, where essence merged, the root of life.

Ning Zhuo's current puppet body was entirely made of wood and did not have three Dantians. Even the "magical power" he used was just "spiritual power" drawn from Spirit Stones to serve the purpose.

Ning Zhuo held the Hanging Ring in his hand and tried to infuse it with spiritual power.

Soon, the rhombic blue-violet crystals embedded on the surface of the Hanging Ring were all lit up one by one.