Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master-Chapter 297 - 275: Ning Zhuo Makes a Move

Ning Zhuo’s previous worries had indeed materialized—the Zheng Family had set their sights on the medical pavilion!

The medical facilities in the Lava Fairy Palace were top-notch and extremely helpful for repairing mechanisms and treating cultivators themselves.

Whichever power controlled the medical pavilion would hold significant sway in logistical matters.

Such authority could elevate a power’s influence to another level.

If the Lava Fairy Palace were to open in the future, the medical pavilion would also become a business venture, which with its internal facilities alone, was bound to make a fortune daily.

The artifact refining business the Zheng Family had operated for many years couldn’t compare to the medical pavilion.

Setting aside everything else, just the business of repairing mechanical artifacts was immensely profitable.

Cultivators could dismantle various mechanical artifacts within the Lava Fairy Palace, gaining first-hand intelligence and quickly learning and understanding the intricacies of the mechanical skills involved.

These skills, originating from the three great sects and at the level of Refining Void Great Power, were of immense value.

Ning Zhuo currently held three second-rank positions, corresponding to the medical pavilion, the Five Elements Turret, and the Command Platform.

Among these, the medical pavilion was, without a doubt, the most valuable.

After all, the medical pavilion was capable of production, of generating value, and its practical range was much broader than that of the Five Elements Turret and the Command Platform.

Zheng Jian actively sought out Ning Zhuo, asking him to name a price to give up the medical pavilion.

This made Ning Zhuo chuckle lightly.

He had originally wanted to cultivate the renovation team from the Zheng Family, maintaining an open attitude, but now the Zheng Family wanted exclusive control of the entire medical pavilion, treating it as an asset within their grasp, and not allowing any other powers to interfere!

"This is the true stance of a major cultivation clan."

In the past, the Zheng Family’s approach to Ning Zhuo was to woo him, and they appeared very amicable.

But when a real conflict of interest arose, the Zheng Family instantly revealed a tough and indifferent stance.

They were fully committed to the competition, ready to turn against him without hesitation—old friendships meant nothing compared to sufficient interests.

"Zheng Jian’s persuasion right now is only the first step of the competition."

Ning Zhuo was well aware that if he refused, what followed could likely be a series of maneuvers from the Zheng Family.

Ning Zhuo looked at Zheng Jian with a displeased expression, "Brother Zheng Jian, you must be joking, right? How can such an important place as the medical pavilion be so easily relinquished?"

"I still vividly remember the time we cooperated on crafting the mechanical monkey."

"Let us have a fair competition today."

Zheng Jian stood with his hands behind his back, shaking his head and sincerely said, "Ning Zhuo, there are plenty of positions in the Lava Fairy Palace. Why must your side persist on focusing on the positions in the medical pavilion?"

"If this continues, both our sides will suffer severe depletion. It is extremely disadvantageous for both of us."

"Be rational. It is beneficial for both sides to make mutual concessions, and it is also good for the overall situation."

Ning Zhuo smiled slightly, "When it comes to managing the positions in the medical pavilion, my side will not shirk its duty. I would ask the Zheng Family to stand down."

Finally, Zheng Jian scoffed, "How could that be possible? The strength of my Zheng Family clearly surpasses that of your Ning Family. My family is an old and established clan of the Fire Persimmon Immortal City, while your Ning Family is merely a band of wanderers from the North Wind Country."

"If it really comes to a competition, you are bound to lose, Ning Zhuo. Have you considered whether you have failed to understand the situation?"

With those words, the negotiation had effectively broken down.

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Ning Zhuo said expressionlessly, "I don’t believe that. Let’s compete and let our actions show the truth!"

Having said that, Ning Zhuo turned and left, the meeting ending on a sour note.

On this matter, he couldn’t possibly make any concessions—because the medical pavilion contained the Serious Injury Treatment Room!

That was extremely useful for Ning Zhuo, not only for storing some unsightly loot but also for secret meetings with people like Sun Lingtong, making it a very secure location.

Just recently, he had crafted the Floating Ice White Jade Hand Mobile Constraint in the Serious Injury Treatment Room. When the time for Foundation Establishment arrived, he might also choose to do it there.

The Treatment Room was critical for Ning Zhuo.

During the negotiation, he did consider feigning compliance with the Zheng Family.

But after some thought, he realized there was no room to maneuver.

Should Ning Zhuo agree to step back, based on the Zheng Family’s family tradition and temperament, they would most likely not consent to Ning Zhuo freely entering and leaving the medical pavilion in the future.

Even if they agreed, Ning Zhuo would be the only one allowed in and out, with other Ning Family members excluded. Such an occurrence would be even worse for Ning Zhuo.

It could almost be seen as Ning Zhuo being selfish, as a leader failing to lead everyone and instead abandoning them, ignoring the interests of the family.

"This matter is a bit troublesome..." Ning Zhuo left the medical pavilion, contemplating how to deal with the situation.

During his visit to the Ciyou Orphanage, he had solidified his resolve, no longer wavering, ready to fight to the death for the control of the Lava Fairy Palace.

Without a doubt, the competition for the Palace Master position of the Lava Fairy Palace had reached its final stage.

Ning Zhuo was now waiting for the imperial examination.

This was the only method currently in Ning Zhuo’s hands to obtain the position of Palace Master.

"To become the Palace Master, one must come out on top in the imperial examination."

"And participation in the examination depends on merit."

"In this respect, I am at too great a disadvantage."

This was Ning Zhuo’s biggest current concern.

Previously, his merit had been deducted into negative numbers due to his blowing up of the Immortal Palace. Since then, he had taken on multiple tasks and earned a large amount of merit. But up until now, his merit was still embarrassingly in the negative.

And that was just the account for blowing up the Immortal Palace.

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Not long ago, in his role as the chief of the Five Elements Turret, he directly bombarded the base of Fire Persimmon Mountain, triggering a tide of Flame Demon Beasts.

Now, the Demon Beast Tide had been constantly attacking the Lava Fairy Palace, and a portion of the various damages they caused to the Palace would be attributed to Ning Zhuo’s responsibility.

After that, Ning Zhuo had cooperated with the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit by actively releasing Flame Demon Beasts to meet the minimum conditions for bombarding the Lava Fairy Palace.

Eventually, the Historical Records Pavilion was destroyed, and a considerable part of this loss would also be attributed to Ning Zhuo’s responsibility.

"However, these haven’t been settled yet."

Ning Zhuo could fully estimate that once the results of the settlements were out, his merits would certainly be a vast pit.

"I must fill this pit before the palace examination."

"Not just fill it, but I also need to ensure that I have more merits to enter the forefront; only then can I qualify for the palace examination."

Under such circumstances, relying solely on Ning Zhuo’s own efforts to earn merits was definitely not enough.

The only path in front of him was to leverage the strength of others!

The Ning Family, the Zheng Family, the Zhou Family’s renovation teams, and even the City Lord’s Mansion side could all lend strength to maximize Ning Zhuo’s possibility of participating in the palace examination.

Therefore, dealing with the Zheng Family and Zheng Jian was quite troublesome for Ning Zhuo at the moment.

He could not just blindly suppress them, nor could he blindly concede.

The means and methods of struggle needed to be handled with care, and the degree had to be firmly controlled.

Only then could he achieve a result that was favorable to him.

After deep consideration, Ning Zhuo took action that very afternoon.

He led a group of the Ning Family and stood waiting by the street.

A battle had just ended; Mechanical Artifacts converged into a stream and slowly retreated.

Ning Zhuo stood at the forefront of the crowd and suddenly pointed out, "See that Mechanical Column? Ning Yong, go and bring it here."

Ning Yong leaped forward with a push of his legs and used all his Mana to grab and lift the target, pulling it out of the Mechanical troops.

Ning Yong carried the Mechanical Column straight back to Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo asked him to lay the column on the ground and then joined Ning Yong in accepting the corresponding repair task.

It was a repair task that required multiple people to participate in.

Ning Zhuo knelt down to start working, while Ning Yong stood by to watch.

In no time, Ning Zhuo opened up the outermost layer of the column and then lifted the inner inlaid armor to reveal the structure inside the column.

The pillar was hollow, its inner walls lined with an abundance of Array Patterns; central columns and beams were present with a multitude of Brass Gears and Golden Threads as fine as hair inside.

These Golden Threads and Copper Wheels were intricately intertwined, with some obviously knotted together.

The complexity of the situation made even Ning Yong feel somewhat dizzy.

Ning Zhuo’s eyes sparkled as he quickly determined, "The problem isn’t big. We just need to replace some Brass Gears and rearrange the routes of the Golden Threads."

Ning Zhuo completed the most difficult and tedious parts of the job successfully, while Ning Yong watched closely from the side.

When it came to the final stage, Ning Zhuo took out a delicate bronze wrench from his Storage Waist Belt, which bore the semblance of some Talisman patterns.

Ning Zhuo guided Ning Yong to use the small wrench to adjust the angles of the gears.

Every time Ning Yong adjusted a gear, he had to silently chant a spell, installing them one by one.

He followed Ning Zhuo’s commands to the letter.

Whatever Ning Zhuo told him to do, he did it without thinking.

His main characteristic was obedience!

Ning Yong finished successfully, and the repaired Mechanical Column once again erected itself, opening its four supporting legs, and rushed back to the retreating Mechanical troops.

Ning Zhuo then began to allocate merits.

The merits were distributed between two cooperative repairers, depending on their contributions.

However, contribution is something hard to evaluate.

Besides factual evidence, it mainly relied on the judgment of the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit as well as Ning Zhuo himself.

Ever since the Historical Records Pavilion was destroyed, Ning Zhuo could no longer contact the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit.

If the Fire Spirit did not participate, then it became a one-man show for Ning Zhuo, chief of the Ciyou Orphanage.

As the chief, he demonstrated the demeanor of the Righteous Path at this moment, noble and virtuous, as he kept his own merits to the minimum and gave most of them to Ning Yong.

Thus, Ning Yong saw his merits increase by a large margin, reaching the standard for a physician’s duties all at once.

Ning Yong also had a considerable accumulation of merits.

Ning Zhuo then arranged for him to immediately go to the Ciyou Orphanage and continue earning merits as a physician.

Ning Zhuo looked back at the crowd, "Who’s next?"

Ning Chen stepped forward.

"Young Master, it’s me."

"Right, there’s a Zheng Family Cultivator nearby who’s been watching us. He must be a surveillance cultivator from Zheng Jian’s side."

Ning Zhuo laughed, "It doesn’t matter."

"Our actions are for the greater good."

"Zheng Jian alone... cannot stop our momentum!"

"Let’s continue."

"Yes!!!" Everyone responded in unison, their morale high as a rainbow.