Magma Immortal Palace.
Inside the Preparation Room.
Ning Zhuo jogged all the way to the Five-Sided Stone Pillar.
He discovered that each of the pillar's five faces bore a ranking board: the Qi Refining Board, Essence Refining Board, Spirit Refining Board, Assessment Progress Board, and Level Speedrun Board.
Good heavens—the Level Speedrun Board also had his name on it, and he was the only one listed.
Ning Zhuo had no time to ponder the hidden implications of these boards, nor did he care why he was the only person ranked. Right now, he only wanted to know one thing: how could he get his name removed?
"Even the Four Great Powers can't protect a genius at the Qi Refining Stage. If I'm exposed, the consequences will be unimaginable."
"The Three Sects Forefathers set up rankings like these, probably to intensify competition and spur people onward. But this little body of mine can't bear it."
Ning Zhuo circled the Five-Sided Stone Pillar. As the pillar turned, he turned with it.
The two characters for "Ning Zhuo" on the pillar were carved in relief, protruding outward.
"Can I grind them away?"
Ning Zhuo jumped, but he could not reach his name. He was the only one on the entire ranking board, and as first place, his position was the highest.
Hanging Ring!
Ding.
A blue-purple diamond-shaped gem shot toward the ceiling and fused with the roof, firmly secured in place.
His oversized head was caught in the wooden ring. The ring spun within itself, reeling in a long stretch of thin thread and pulling Ning Zhuo swiftly upward.
Ning Zhuo's head tilted sideways as he rose, until he was level with his own name.
He reached out and tried to grind away his name, only to find that he could not even scrape off a speck of stone dust.
The stone pillar was incredibly sturdy!
Ning Zhuo reviewed the methods at his disposal. His only Embrace Ice Technique definitely would not work either, so there was no need to waste time and spirit energy.
"I must, must solve this problem!"
Knowing he could not manage it by himself, Ning Zhuo hung there while tilting his head and looking around.
Only then did he begin to properly inspect this unusual room.
According to the information he had received, this was the Preparation Room, distinct from Rooms One, Two, and Three.
Ning Zhuo took a look and found that it was indeed so.
The entire Preparation Room was square, built in a perfectly square layout.
The walls and ceiling were still made of copper, but it was blue copper.
He did not know where the light came from, but faint sea-blue ripples shimmered through the room.
The Five-Sided Stone Pillar stood at the center of the Preparation Room. Five or six Mechanical Platforms were piled near the walls, while countless Mechanical Components hung across the walls in a dazzling array. There were also several workbenches, their surfaces stocked with complete sets of Mechanical Tools.
At the sight of these facilities and tools, hope rekindled in Ning Zhuo's heart.
"Perhaps I can use these tools to grind away my name."
Ning Zhuo controlled the Hanging Ring, lengthening the thin thread and lowering himself back to the ground.
Dragging the slender thread behind him, he jogged to a wall and reached out to take hold of a torch hanging there.
The moment he touched the torch, a piece of information was transmitted into his heart.
Using the torch required payment!
The specific fee was calculated according to duration.
Ning Zhuo froze for a moment, then suddenly understood. "No wonder the spirit stone rewards for clearing rooms keep increasing!"
"During the assessment, these spirit stones are not only a source of spirit energy—they're money too."
Ning Zhuo agreed to pay in his heart, and only then did he successfully take down the torch.
The torch was called a Welding Torch, one of the common tools used in mechanical crafting.
Gripping the Welding Torch, Ning Zhuo ran back toward the center of the Preparation Room.
After taking several steps, he suddenly stomped off the ground. Coordinating with the spinning wooden ring around his neck, the thin thread rapidly reeled in.
Ning Zhuo's neck tilted again, and his entire body was hoisted into the air once more.
He swung with the momentum in midair, using the inertia from his leap to return to the level of his name.
Then he extended the torch before him, activated his spirit energy, and poured it into the Welding Torch.
The torch immediately ignited on its own, a duck-egg-red flame burning at its tip.
Ning Zhuo increased his infusion of spirit energy, and the flame burst forth at once, like wrathful hair piercing the crown. At the very tip of the fire, the flames swiftly turned a brilliant blue-purple.
Ning Zhuo aimed the tip of the flame at his own name and burned it with all his strength.
After scorching it for quite a while, however, there was not even the slightest burn mark on the name. It remained just as conspicuous, just as outstanding.
Ning Zhuo gritted his teeth and could only give up.
The Hanging Ring caught beneath his chin and spun with a whooshing sound, releasing more thin thread. Ning Zhuo descended again.
When he hoisted himself back up, the Welding Torch in his hand had vanished, replaced by a file.
This was the Teeth Grinding Demonic Sound File.
Made primarily from the fangs of fierce beasts, it could emit piercing noise once spirit energy was poured into it. The volume and range of the noise could be adjusted, allowing it to be used for grinding in many situations.
It could grind not only the exterior of objects. Since the noise could penetrate through them, even the insides of objects could be polished until they were smooth and even.
Ning Zhuo tried using the Teeth Grinding Demonic Sound File on his own name.
At the same time.
Magma Immortal Palace Main Hall.
Upon the throne, the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit yawned boredly.
During the previous exploration, Ning Zhuo had brought it much amusement. So when the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit noticed that Ning Zhuo's soul had recovered more or less, it could not wait to pull Ning Zhuo's soul back in.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit wanted to have more fun at Ning Zhuo's expense.
Ning Zhuo's bizarre appearance while hanging in Room Two during his second exploration of the Immortal Palace, as well as the sorry sight of him being brutally beaten by the Kung Fu Puppet, had both amused the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit greatly.
But now, Ning Zhuo refused to move on, single-mindedly determined to grind away his name. This made the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit feel exceedingly bored.
It directly sent him a message—ranking stone pillars could not be damaged!
Ning Zhuo paused slightly upon receiving the message.
Before, he might have stopped there.
But the matter of his name was far too important. Ning Zhuo would never give up just like that.
He secretly gritted his teeth and continued filing at his name with the Demonic Sound File.
The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit gave a cold huff and spat out a spark in irritation.
The next moment, it directly controlled the Divine Power: Life Hanging by a Thread.
In an instant, Ning Zhuo was unable to move.
Only after the span of a breath did he regain control of himself, forced to stop.
Looking again at his name, the two large characters "Ning Zhuo" remained just as conspicuous, just as outstanding.
"What should I do?" A feeling of despair gradually spread through Ning Zhuo's heart.
"No, I can't give up like this."
This time, after landing, Ning Zhuo no longer took any small tools.
He set his sights on those platforms.
The platforms came in all shapes and sizes.
Ning Zhuo walked past the Motion Balance Bed and the Array Pattern Carving Platform, leaped over the Spirit Energy Compression Bed and White Tiger Sharpening Wheel, and finally arrived before the Thousand Jun Heavy Hammer Platform.
"The Magma Immortal Palace's control over me takes effect in an instant."
"If I set up a simple mechanism, I'll only need to press the very first trigger, and the heavy hammer can smash into the stone pillar!"
Ning Zhuo's big head immediately came up with a way to exploit a loophole.
He began bustling about everywhere, first selecting Mechanical Components, then dragging out the Thousand Jun Heavy Hammer Platform and gradually building a catapult.
Before you continue