Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master

Chapter 1608: Chapter 675: Yang Dao Grandmaster

Dong.

Dong.

Dong.

What woke Ning Zhuo was the incessant hammering sound in the strange realm.

He slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was the peculiar sky, like a massive upturned cauldron lid, its inner wall filled with layers of forging patterns.

Some forging patterns resembled hammer prints, others like tongues of flame, and some like mountain textures. Whenever a dull hammering sound came from afar, those patterns would faintly light up, as if an unseen blacksmith outside the realm was swinging a great hammer, repeatedly striking and tempering this domain.

Beneath him was the heavy Yellow Earth, the aura of the Earth Guardian True Monarch’s Divine Domain permeating everywhere.

Ning Zhuo lay right at the center of this peculiar domain.

The hammering sound caused the air to gently ripple. Ning Zhuo’s back was pressed against the warm Yellow Earth, and under his robes, his bones, meridians, and Divine Sea retained a lingering numbness.

His flesh was heating up, his soul resonating.

"Did I faint after casting the Myriad Phenomena Cradle and absorbing the True Intent of the Pure Yang Ancestor Master Pill?"

Ning Zhuo didn’t get up immediately.

He first closed his eyes, slowly exhaling a breath of turbid air.

That exhaled breath transformed into a thread of pale golden light in midair. As the golden light rose half a foot high, it dispersed like morning rays shining through a window lattice, quietly diffusing into the air.

Opening his eyes again, Ning Zhuo’s gaze was clear.

He could already feel his progress.

Yang Dao Grandmaster!

He had truly reached this level.

Now everything was different.

In the Grandmaster Level Yang Dao Realm, one sees all things emerging from darkness, sleepers awakening, truths being proclaimed, answers being brought to light by heaven and earth.

It was as if in the long night, there were those hidden, things obscured, truths veiled by layers of concealment.

Then, a line of heavenly light descends.

Stones reveal their textures, grass irons its veins, spirits reveal their true forms, lies reveal their flaws, sleepers open their eyes, and the answers one avoids in their heart are laid bare, leaving no room for escape.

Yang for revelation.

Yang for awakening.

Yang for proclamation.

Yang also for giving!

It burns itself, illuminating all things. It transforms itself into light and heat, allowing vegetation to grow, warming cold earth, repelling evil, and awakening human hearts from chaos.

Ning Zhuo gently flexed his fingers, a hint of sunlight circled his fingertip and fell into his palm. It was warm, bright, quiet, yet carried an unmistakable majestic meaning.

If used in Artifact Refining, mechanical artifacts would gain an extra thread of spirit light to discern darkness.

If used in Alchemy, the medicinal properties of life-saving, rejuvenating, and dispelling evil in Elixir Pills would become more harmonious.

If used in casting, Yin Souls, evil thoughts, Ghost Energy, and poisons would all be illuminated.

Ning Zhuo felt slightly excited, sensing the enormous advantages brought by being a Yang Dao Grandmaster.

In the future, when looking at Yang-attribute Cultivation Techniques, he wouldn’t just learn them by rote nor merely improve existing magic techniques. He would be able to deduce new Yang-attribute little arts, linking and utilizing principles such as light, heat, vitality, manifestation, and judgment.

This is what it means to be a Grandmaster.

To grasp its pivot, to understand its essence.

Once a principle reaches this stage, it can open branches on its own.

Besides the Yang Dao, there’s also the Alchemy Dao.

"My Alchemy Dao realm has reached Master Level!" Ning Zhuo felt a surge of joy.

He carefully sensed, feeling: Though there is no Pill Furnace around, everywhere seemed like a Pill Furnace.

The air was the furnace wall, Spiritual Energy the charcoal fire, thoughts were the medicine pestle, and the Five Elements were the medicinal ingredients. Vitality, Death Qi, flesh, Divine Soul, Life Span, toxicity, and aroma—all ascended, converged, separated, and precipitated within this Invisible Pill Room.

"The Nine Fire Dragon Lord once used heaven and earth as a furnace, I understand now, with practice I can achieve the same!"

Ning Zhuo made this judgment in his heart.

His previous realm in the Alchemy Dao was just at craftsman level. Now, he had surpassed Master and stepped into the Master Level.

A craftsman in Alchemy can skillfully handle materials, control fire, complete standard procedures, and steadily refine qualified Elixir Pills.

A Master in Alchemy can optimize elixir recipes, improve procedures, handle complex medicinal properties, giving refined pills a distinct personal touch in fire control. Expertise breeds intricacy; when a batch of Elixir Pills is refined, those well-versed can see the alchemist’s methods through the Pill Patterns, aroma, and medicinal properties.

At Master Level in Alchemy, intuition arises.

Ning Zhuo experienced such intuition at this moment.

He took out the Life-Saving Pill.

The pill was jade-white and translucent, with a thread of golden threads inside like a wandering dragon, nine Pill Patterns alternating between bright and dark.

When Ning Zhuo looked at it before, he felt that Nascent Soul Level Elixir Pills were mysterious and profound, their aroma entering his nose, making even his soul seem to be cradled by a warm hand.

Looking again now, the internal structure of the Elixir Pill faintly unfolded in his mind.

Life-Saving, the key lies in "suspending."

It doesn’t revive the dead on the spot nor forcibly reverse life and death. It captures the last breath when the flesh turns into mud and the soul is about to scatter. That thread of golden threads is the line that suspends life, the deepest principle within the pill.

Ning Zhuo could even deduce several low-level substitute methods.

For example, using Rejuvenating True Water as a primer, incorporating Life-sustaining Grass as the primary ingredient, supplemented by a small amount of Soul-locking Wood Shavings, might produce a Foundation Establishment Level "Little Life-Suspending Pill". The medicinal power couldn’t compare to the Life-Saving Pill, but it would be enough to linger for three to five breaths in a critical moment.

Three to five breaths could mean a life saved on the battlefield.

Such deduction doesn’t require an elixir recipe at hand.

An Alchemist Master has a profound and systematic understanding of medicinal properties, fire control, and pill principles, allowing innovation within the existing framework. The finished product may not be perfect, but it will carry a personal touch that others find hard to imitate.

Ning Zhuo’s eyes revealed a hint of delight.

Being an Alchemist Master would also greatly aid him in repairing the Nanming Fire Furnace.

"But I haven’t reached the Alchemy Grandmaster Realm. Though the Yang Dao has broken through to Grandmaster, why hasn’t the Alchemy Dao?"