Testing I

Gray clouds blanketed the sky year-round.

At the center of Perpetual Palace stood the leaning Perpetual Tower.

With the tower as its center, the vast circular region stretching a thousand meters in every direction was the headquarters of the entire Perpetual Palace.

A ring of silver metal line, serving as a marker, was buried around the circular area.

Viewed from above, Perpetual Palace resembled a gigantic hollow silver circle.

Strands of blue lightning continuously spread outward from its center.

Zhang Rongfang slowly approached from the edge. He did not use any movement technique or lightness skill, merely lowering his head and silently walking closer like the others around him before stopping at the outer edge of the silver line.

"Stop."

Within the silver line, the ground slowly bulged upward. A bald head made entirely of silver metal arched out from the black soil.

A retractable metal probe-eye grew from the center of its brow.

"What are you here for?" the bald head asked. Its voice seemed electronically transmitted, devoid of emotion.

Zhang Rongfang swept his gaze over the others nearby from the corner of his eye.

Everyone entering the silver line appeared to undergo questioning from this metal bald head.

"I'm here to upgrade my furnace." Zhang Rongfang patted the burning glow at his chest.

"Register your name."

"Heart Fusion. Fusion as in melting, heart as in mood. I previously purchased a Martial Arts Diagram here," Zhang Rongfang answered smoothly.

"Heart Fusion. All right, you may enter." The silver bald head seemed to have confirmed something. It retracted into the soil and vanished.

Zhang Rongfang glanced at the other Spirit Thread parasites entering and leaving nearby. They all seemed accustomed to such inspections.

He drew a breath, lifted his foot, and stepped forward.

But his foot suddenly froze in midair,