Hanging Ring

With the valuable experience from the first time, Ning Zhuo was no longer unfamiliar with the darkness.

He did not hesitate, drawing with all his strength upon the spiritual power within the spirit stones and circulating the Five Elements Qi Rhythm Art.

Click.

He drew over the first Mechanical Component and assembled it.

It was an arm.

He drew over another component and successfully assembled it.

It was a wooden head.

Ning Zhuo regained his vision.

He lay sprawled atop the mountain-like pile of Mechanical Components, reached up to feel his head, and discovered that it was still a large, square one.

"Why is it this kind again?"

"It catches the wind when running and jumping. That will negatively affect getting through Room Two."

Ning Zhuo turned his large head, dragging his body around with his sole arm as he climbed everywhere.

He patiently selected his legs, only stopping after finding two of equal length.

His previous experience told him that spending time on this was absolutely worthwhile.

Not only that, when choosing arms, he also decided to pick longer ones whenever possible.

"I want long arms and long legs."

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

Ning Zhuo failed.

After rummaging through the pile and selecting a small head, just as he was about to replace his current one, he received new information—based on aptitude, the initial puppet body could not be freely replaced in Room One.

"There's a restriction like this?"

Ning Zhuo froze, then immediately sank into thought.

"If puppets are assembled according to aptitude, that means Meng Chong and the others will start this room with puppets far stronger than mine."

"It also means that although these mountain-like piles of Mechanical Components seem to be made of similar materials, there are actually considerable differences in performance."

Ning Zhuo immediately thought of himself again.

"While I was still in my mother's womb, I took an Early Wisdom Pill, so I possess the aptitude of early wisdom."

"Was it precisely this aptitude that gave me this large head? Is that why I cannot replace it with a smaller one?"

"I can only have this large head because of my early wisdom aptitude. That means a large head must have its benefits; they simply have not shown themselves yet."

"Besides..."

Ning Zhuo thought of a suspicious point.

The first Mechanical Component he had drawn over had been an arm, not the large head!

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

"Does this mean I actually have a hidden aptitude, one related to arms, and one even more outstanding than my early wisdom aptitude?"

Ning Zhuo's mind was quick, and his observations meticulous. He could spot problems in the smallest details.

This was also possible.

Cultivation aptitudes came in every shape and form, strange and wondrous beyond measure—there were simply far too many. Although the Ning Lineage had always tested for immortal aptitudes, it could only cover basic, widespread, and common, typical aptitudes. Many special aptitudes could not be detected through conventional methods.

Perhaps Ning Zhuo's arms concealed such an aptitude, one his Lineage had never detected.

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

"The message calls this an 'initial puppet body,' and says it cannot be 'freely' replaced in 'Room One.'"

"Does that mean the body can actually be replaced? That in a certain room, it can be freely changed?"

In just a few breaths, Ning Zhuo had thoroughly examined this seemingly ordinary message and grasped many hidden keys within it.

Despite the warning in the information, Ning Zhuo still clung to a sliver of hope and tried to assemble wing components.

If he could attach wings, getting through Room Two would become far easier.

Sure enough... it would not work.

"So these wings, short horns, claws, and other components are all prepared for nonhuman beings."

"Will nonhuman competitors appear in the Magma Immortal Palace in the future?"

Ning Zhuo climbed down from the small mountain of Mechanical Components.

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

Very quickly, he found all sorts of traces he had left behind during his first exploration.

"In other words, this room is precisely Room One from my first exploration."

This observation was extremely important!

"This is not a room that belongs exclusively to me."

"In fact, the sheer number of these Mechanical Components is also reminding me of that from the side."

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

"There is another very important question—while exploring the Immortal Palace, might I encounter other people in the same room?"

Only when Ning Zhuo arrived before the First Door did he stop thinking and reach out to touch it.

Information came to him. Just as before, there were still three choices.

First, one spirit stone.

Second, the Mechanical Component Hanging Ring.

Third, the spell A Breath of Qi.

Ning Zhuo had already made his plans. Without hesitation, he directly chose the Hanging Ring.

He still had seventy percent of his spiritual power remaining, far more than during his first exploration. Furthermore, Room Two's completion reward would still include spirit stones.

In the long run, choosing a spell would be most beneficial. But right now, Ning Zhuo most needed immediate combat strength. Choosing the Hanging Ring would allow him to go farther in this exploration.

"During the initial stages, intelligence is what matters most."

"So I need to explore as far as possible. Only then can I gather enough intelligence. With that foundation, I can make the right decisions."

"Ah, I wonder what stage Meng Chong and the others have reached."

"I hope I can see their trail soon."

The teleportation halo appeared once more. After spitting out a wooden ring, it slowly vanished.

Holding the wooden ring, Ning Zhuo examined it closely.

The entire wooden ring was roughly half a foot in diameter, its body rather thick, with eighteen diamond-shaped crystals embedded in it.

All of those crystals glimmered with a blue-violet light. Whenever Ning Zhuo shifted his viewing angle even slightly, the blue-violet glow changed as well, making for a striking sight.

"So this is the Hanging Ring? How do I use it?"

"There's no explanation?"

Ning Zhuo received no information whatsoever about the Hanging Ring.

He understood: rewards in the form of Mechanical Components were also testing a cultivator's mastery of Mechanism Art.

He needed to personally figure out the correct way to use it.

Thinking this, Ning Zhuo subconsciously pressed the Hanging Ring against his glabella.

Nothing happened.

Ning Zhuo laughed awkwardly to himself. "I forgot. I no longer have Divine Sense."

Divine Sense originated from the divine sea, and the divine sea was a cultivator's upper dantian.

In this world, cultivators possessed 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 glabella, the mysterious pass of the spiritual aperture, the source of the sea of consciousness; thought condensed into the void.

The Middle Dantian—the qi sea within the chest, the abode of dharma power; qi gathered like clouds, concealing its edge and accumulating momentum.

The lower dantian—the essence palace within the abdomen, where bloodlines converged; essences mingled, the root of life.

Ning Zhuo's current puppet body was entirely wooden and had none of the Three Dantians. Even the "dharma power" he used was merely "spiritual power" drawn from spirit stones to serve in its place.

Ning Zhuo held the Hanging Ring in his palm and tried channeling spiritual power into it.

Very quickly, the diamond-shaped blue-violet crystals embedded across the Hanging Ring's surface lit up one after another.