Chapter 83

Endless thick clouds shrouded the left, right, and rear, with only the road ahead visible.

A gate archway, tens of zhang high, had four characters carved in ancient script: Great Dream Academy

"Coming in this time, it feels different."

"It seems I can see further, and my perception is clearer."

"This time there should be something I can reach, right? It's best to give treasures directly, don't do any Heart-Questioning Platform..."

Thinking silently in his heart, Zhao Xing strolled in the clouds, crossing the academy gate.

Like the first time, many treasure lands still flashed before his eyes.

[Reincarnation Hall], [Heart-Questioning Platform], [Martial God Tower], [Spell Secret Treasury], [Heavenly Mystery Pavilion], [Holy Beast Palace], [Life Palace]... Pavilions and towers, palace complexes, corridors and bridges, scattered in an orderly manner, layers of mountains, clouds and mist lingering, as if in a fairyland.

However, as they approached, these places sank into the clouds one by one.

Waiting, quietly waiting.

In anticipation, a palace magnified in his eyes, shining with golden light, and finally stabilized completely.

"Hmm? Not the Heart-Questioning Platform, this is... Heavenly Craft Palace?"

Zhao Xing looked at the palace. He didn't expect that after entering the grade, what appeared was not the Heart-Questioning Platform, but the Heavenly Craft Palace.

"There are many treasures in the Heavenly Craft Palace, but they are divided into many places. It depends on which side hall I enter."

Zhao Xing thought to himself, then stepped into the palace.

As soon as he entered, a burst of clouds and mist gushed out, then dispersed, slowly presenting a real scene.

"Student Zhao Xing, welcome to the Profound Mystery Hall."

A low voice came from the clouds and mist in front, and then a strange beast walked out slowly.

It was as big as a bull, similar to a Qilin, with dense dark hair all over its body, bright and spirited eyes, silver horns on its forehead, and it spoke human language.

After Zhao Xing saw the appearance of the strange beast clearly, he was slightly stunned.

Mechanism beast Xie Zhi? I actually came to the Profound Mystery Pavilion?

"Greetings, Guardian." Zhao Xing hurriedly bowed and saluted.

He was no stranger to the Profound Mystery Pavilion. This Xie Zhi was the guardian, and it had another alias: Law Beast.

Xie Zhi has high intelligence, understands human language and human nature. The national treasures of many dynasties have changed back and forth—sometimes Qilin, sometimes Profound Bird, sometimes True Dragon, sometimes Phoenix. But the status of Xie Zhi has always remained unchanged; in any dynasty, it is a national treasure.

It is also the guardian of the country. Although what is in front of him is not the real Law Beast Xie Zhi, but a mechanism beast, its interior contains the spirituality of the Law Beast, and the body created is a ninth-grade material, which is no different from the real one.

The Law Beast Xie Zhi looked at Zhao Xing: "You are only at the middle stage of Qi-gathering; the only thing suitable for you to break through is this Profound Mystery Pavilion."

Zhao Xing listened quietly.

"The Way of Heavenly Craft, multiplication and division, seeks the source of creation. The mechanism arrays inside mainly test the student's wisdom and deduction and calculation ability. The mechanism arrays combine the Five Elements, Heavenly Stems, and Earthly Branches."

"For each level, the difficulty will double, but the reward will also double."

"If you can walk to the end of the Profound Mystery Pavilion, you can get a copy of 'Rare Wonder'."

The Law Beast Xie Zhi introduced.

Zhao Xing couldn't help but have his heart jump.

Rare Wonder!

The grade of treasures, in addition to the first to ninth grades, also includes "Rare Treasure" and "Peerless Wonder" above them.

The so-called Rare Treasure is a treasure that is very rare within a thousand years of a dynasty. The quantity will not be too many, at most single digits.

As for Peerless Wonder, that is something that cannot be found in the world today, and it has been passed down from ancient times.

Why was Zhao Xing excited?

Because during this period, the Great Dream Academy had not yet been looted by the Wu Emperor, and these levels had not changed much!

These levels, he had broken through in his previous life!

"In front is the first level, Profound Mystery Gate."

Xie Zhi breathed lightly, and then the fog in front dispersed, revealing a strangely shaped wooden door.

"Profound Mystery Gate, there are three mechanism locks on it. Open the locks, and you pass the first level."

Zhao Xing suppressed the excitement in his heart, bowed, and walked over.

The wooden door was five meters high and eight meters wide. The reason it was strangely shaped was that it was embedded in the wall, seamless.

Other places were smooth, and the door seams could not be seen at all. At a height of one meter, there were three components.

Two of them were protruding.

One was shaped like a bull's head, and one was shaped like a snake.

One was embedded in the door, forming a plum blossom pattern.

"Zhaoyang Plum Blossom Lock, Chongguang Bull Head Buckle, Huangluo Snake Walking Lock." Zhao Xing looked at these three mechanism locks and couldn't help but smile.

Although he was not proficient in the way of mechanisms, he knew the answer.

He even knew more than one way to solve it.

He remembered it when he was a player, but he could use it the same way now, because this kind of mechanism lock does not involve the use of his own vital energy.

Xie Zhi also said that it tests the student's wisdom and calculation ability, as well as the understanding of the Five Elements and Heavenly Stems knowledge.

"Zhaoyang Plum Blossom Lock and Chongguang Bull Head Buckle are both Heavenly Stem locks, while Huangluo Snake Walking Lock is an Earthly Branch lock."

"These most basic parts are combined into locks in a unique way. Each part needs to be moved to the corresponding position to be unlocked."

Zhao Xing first solved the Bull Head Buckle.

He pushed with his left hand, adjusting the position of the Bull Head Buckle, making one bull head move downward and the other bull head face himself.

The wall seemed to be soft, and the Bull Head Buckle moved inside without restriction, but it was impossible to pull it open with force.

Zhao Xing kept his left hand still and only operated with his right hand. He pulled the bull head held by his right hand back until the bull head reached the "Shangzhang" position, which is one-third of the Kun position.

Then he made the bull head in his right hand turn slightly upward, and the bull head in the lower position turned accordingly, forming an upper and lower layout.

At this time, the bull head in the lower Kun position had detached, but it still didn't count as unlocked.

He also had to move the bull head in the Shangzhang position to the "Chongguang" position, which is the "Zhen" position.

Then rotate downward to two-thirds of the Zhen position and try to pull outward.

"Click, click, click, click~"

The two bull heads immediately retracted into the door, and a faint blue light lit up, representing that one of the locks had been unlocked.

"Using the Stem-Branch method is still the fastest. Got one!"

Clapping his hands, Zhao Xing walked to the Huangluo Snake Walking Lock on the other side.

The snake lock was horizontal on the door, about three feet long, composed of dense round beads.

"The Huangluo Snake Walking Lock has 146 live beads and 9 fixed beads. The combination method is not many, and half of them are hidden in the door. The difficulty lies here." Zhao Xing began to grope, looking for the position of the fixed beads.

The key to unlocking the snake lock is to find the nine beads and restore them to the Huangluo position.

"Fortunately, I'm the only one here, no one is adding trouble to me." When unlocking, Zhao Xing recalled some interesting things.

Breaking through this level is very interesting. The snake lock will reset at zero o'clock, ensuring that four fixed beads are exposed.

This is the initial difficulty of the first level.

But if the first person of the day deliberately makes trouble, hides the fixed beads, or some idiot is furious at the snake lock and moves the live beads randomly, then the difficulty for the people behind will increase, which is definitely adding trouble to others.

So every time at 0 o'clock, there will be a queue here, striving to be the first to solve it, not letting others add trouble to themselves, and then incidentally adding some trouble to others.

"Done!" After groping for a while, Zhao Xing reset the nine fixed beads.

Hiss, hiss~ The snake lock quickly retracted into the door, and blue light appeared in the original position.

"Not bad, quite talented." Xie Zhi looked at Zhao Xing's movements and couldn't help but nod slightly. "It seems the first level can't stump him."

The first two locks were solved so quickly, obviously the last one was not a problem.

Only the last one remained, the Zhaoyang Plum Blossom Lock.

It was also the more difficult one of the three locks.

"Nine plum blossom petals, all must be restored once. Fortunately, the Heavenly Stems only have the Zhaoyang position, so the difficulty is much smaller. If it were a higher difficulty, the inside would have to correspond to the Heavenly Stems, and the outside would have to correspond to the time, that would be troublesome." Zhao Xing pondered for a moment, then tapped one of the plum blossom petals lightly.

After pressing it down, a sound came from inside, Zhao Xing listened carefully, and then continued to the second one.

The first step is screening.

Among the nine plum blossom petals, one must be in the Zhaoyang position.

Since each petal must be restored, one must find the first petal and move it away, but one cannot move it randomly. One must remember the direction of movement in order, otherwise, it is possible to mess around and only reset one petal.

After finding the position, Zhao Xing began to unlock.

Ten breaths later.

"Hum~"

The plum blossoms lit up with blue light in sequence, then expanded and bloomed.

"Click, click, click, click~"

The gate began to shrink to both sides.

First level, passed!

"Student Zhao Xing, congratulations on passing the first level of the Profound Mystery Hall." The Law Beast Xie Zhi walked over, "You have received the reward of the fourth-grade 'Five Viscera Evil-Removing Pill'."

"The Five Viscera Evil-Removing Pill can enhance your internal practice, strengthen your internal organs, make Qi-gathering recovery faster, and make spellcasting smoother."

"If you practice a technique that absorbs evil energy, it can also enhance the resistance of the five viscera to evil fire."

Having said that, Xie Zhi opened its mouth, and a five-colored pill flew out from its belly.

Zhao Xing took it with both hands: "Many thanks."

Looking at this Five Viscera Pill, he couldn't help but exclaim. The Great Dream Academy's style is high; the small first level actually gives a fourth-grade pill directly.

If it became the "Cloud Dream Academy" during the Wu Emperor period, then this first level would at most put first or second-grade treasures as rewards.

One is elite-oriented, the other is civilian-oriented, so the rewards naturally cannot be compared.

"Do you want to continue to break through?" Xie Zhi asked.

"Yes, student wants to continue." Zhao Xing nodded.

"Whoosh~" Xie Zhi blew at the front, and the surroundings seemed to have a strong wind, and the clouds and mist rolled.

Zhao Xing was also blown to move quickly with this wind, and after settling down, the scene had changed greatly.

"Second level, Heavenly Mystery Box."

"There are four Heavenly Mystery Boxes in front of you, divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D. They contain treasures of different qualities."

"The Heavenly Mystery Box has no locks or buckles, and is sealed with array patterns. If you are a mechanism master, you can try to unlock it with array patterns."

"If you want to break it violently, the four Heavenly Mystery Boxes of A, B, C, and D require your spell and martial technique power to reach the primary stage of Spirit Bridge, middle stage of Spirit Bridge, late stage of Spirit Bridge, and perfection of Spirit Bridge, respectively."

What the Law Beast Xie Zhi said was the cultivation realm of the Great Li Dynasty, which is also the ancient cultivation realm.

Qi-gathering realm corresponds to the ninth rank, Spirit Bridge realm corresponds to the eighth rank.

Qi-gathering is easy to understand: absorbing heaven and earth vital energy, condensing vital energy to cultivate oneself.

Spirit Bridge realm is to build a heaven and earth spirit bridge in the dantian, communicate with heaven and earth, have a clearer perception of the Five Elements power between heaven and earth, and also speed up the absorption of vital energy, making the vital energy cycle endless.

The realm characteristics are the same, just different dynasties, different names.

"Violent cracking, the A-grade box requires the attack standard of the perfection of Spirit Bridge realm." Zhao Xing thought, "The difficulty is a bit higher."

In his previous life, he broke through this level, and the A-grade box only needed the standard of the middle stage of Spirit Bridge realm.

However, regardless of the Great Dream Academy or the Cloud Dream Academy, what is required is not combat power, as long as the single-item numerical value of "attack power" meets the standard.

That is to say, the lethality of a single spell can disintegrate the box's defense, and it does not need to be comprehensively comparable to the "Spirit Bridge realm."

According to the standard of the Great Zhou cultivation system, a single-item middle-grade spell or martial technique reaching the ninth revolution is the sign of the eighth-rank realm.

The eighth rank's high, middle, and low levels are just expanding in the field of middle-grade spells.

The eighth rank's high level (Spirit Bridge perfection) generally has multiple middle-grade perfect spells or secret techniques, or even self-created spells, breaking through the limit of the ninth revolution, and they are matched with each other, more comprehensive, and naturally have higher combat power.

The eighth rank's low level (Spirit Bridge late stage) will have multiple middle-grade ninth-revolution spells or secret techniques.

From the ninth rank to the eighth rank, the vital energy has not undergone a qualitative change, but the body will be stronger. Of course, the difference between the eighth and ninth rank of martial artists is very large, but the difference for spell professions is smaller.

As for whether a single-item spell reaching the ninth revolution can count as eighth-rank combat power, that depends on the specific situation.

For example, now, the four boxes of A, B, C, and D are all made of special wood. If you only know "Earth Spell," you can only stare.

Because the Five Elements wood overcomes earth, even if you know seven or eight types of earth spells and they all reach the level of middle-grade perfection, you cannot break it violently.

"My thunder spell is only at the ninth revolution, not yet perfect. I don't know if it can break it." Zhao Xing thought, in terms of attack power, thunder spell is naturally the fiercest. Although ice rain is full level, in this situation, explosive attack is needed, and ice rain is estimated to not reach the critical value.

And the systems of Great Li and Great Zhou are different, and he didn't know if it would work.

The so-called array pattern is the password to unlock the box.

Array pattern is a more advanced application technique in the way of mechanisms.

Now these Heavenly Mystery Boxes are not the Heavenly Mystery Boxes of the Wu Emperor period he was familiar with, and the "password" is naturally not the same.

"Cloud Walking!" Zhao Xing pointed, and clouds appeared from the top of his head.

Because spell comprehension is rooted in the soul, spells can also be cast in the Great Dream Academy.

In the future, if the vital energy undergoes a qualitative change, he can also bring his own combat power into the level through more advanced guidance talismans and soul-calming talismans.

"Summon Thunder!"

A thunderbolt fell from the clouds.

Because he knew his thunder spell had not reached perfection, Zhao Xing could only work hard on his manipulation technique.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!"

Nine thunderbolts in a row all bombarded the same spot of the Heavenly Mystery Box, trying to break the box.

"Did it break?"

Zhao Xing looked closely and found that the Heavenly Mystery Box only had a scorched spot, and it was still far from breaking.

"Forget it, no need to waste time on this level."

Zhao Xing quickly gave up cracking the A-grade box.

Even if he didn't get the highest reward in the second level now, he could break through it again in the future.

"Boom, boom!"

Two thunderbolts easily broke the C and D boxes.

As for the B-grade Heavenly Mystery Box, it took some more time.

"What's in the box?"

The Heavenly Mystery Box is not big, only half a meter long and as thick as an ankle, so it is naturally impossible to put anything big in it. The things that came out are also three small ones.

However, treasures are not judged by size, but by grade.

When Zhao Xing broke it, three light clusters immediately floated in front of him.

"Wind Crystal Earrings, third-grade high-grade, polished from Wind Crystal Jade from the Wind River Cave Heaven, can enhance hearing after wearing."

"Earth Evil Pill, third-grade high-grade, contains a wisp of earth evil, can be used to wash the internal organs."

"Giant Whale Pill, fourth-grade mid-grade, made from the flesh and blood of deep-sea giant whales combined with third-grade herbs. After taking it, it can enhance the physique and have infinite strength. Especially the lungs, after taking the Giant Whale Pill in the Qi-gathering realm, one can dive a thousand meters underwater with the body alone."

Xie Zhi's voice rang out, introducing the three treasures one by one.

I don't know if it's because of violent cracking, but these are basically things for martial artists.

Hearing this, Zhao Xing also muttered in his heart: they are all for body training, is my Agricultural Official going to take the route of physical pushing?

However, it is true that the things given are very good. In the mere second level, they gave such good things.

Zhao Xing couldn't help but exclaim that the elites of Great Li eat really well.

You must know that among the third and fourth grades, the effects of these three things are relatively unique, and they are not common goods.

Earth evil body training, giant whale strength enhancement, and even an underwater effect. As for the Wind Crystal Earrings, they can enhance hearing, which can be said to be quite practical.

"Student Zhao Xing, do you want to continue to break through the third level?"

"Yes, student wants to continue." Zhao Xing broke the B-grade box and also gained the qualification to continue breaking through to the third level.

If he only broke the C and D grades, he wouldn't be able to continue to break through the third level.

"Hum~"

The clouds and mist rolled again, and Zhao Xing felt himself blown away by a wind again, and the next moment, he came between two walls.

"Third level, named Mechanism Maze."

"There are many mechanisms in the maze, either bright or dark, and they are movable. You need to find the rules from them yourself to deal with those mechanisms, and then move in the maze."

Xie Zhi introduced: "Walk in from the entrance of the maze, and if you can come out within four hours, you can get a fourth-grade treasure reward."

"Come out within two hours, you can get a fifth-grade treasure reward."

"Come out within one hour, you can get a sixth-grade treasure reward."

"If you haven't come out after four hours, it will be considered a failure."

Zhao Xing blinked, Mechanism Maze, actually gives a sixth-grade treasure reward at the highest?!

This is much stronger than the Cloud Dream Academy of the later Wu Emperor period!

The highest reward in the Wu Emperor period was only a fourth-grade treasure!

I just don't know if the Mechanism Maze has been simplified. If it hasn't been simplified, it means the difficulty is the same, then this time it's really making a fortune... Zhao Xing was somewhat excited in his heart.

Xie Zhi looked at Zhao Xing, somewhat confused in its eyes, not knowing what he was excited about. Could it be that he was afraid?

For this reason, Xie Zhi specifically explained: "The Mechanism Maze has no danger, you can rest assured to break through, failure will at most lead to a three-day coma, no need to worry about your own safety."

Zhao Xing bowed: "Many thanks for the guardian's reminder."

"Go in."

"Yes." Zhao Xing stepped into the maze.

Xie Zhi blew a breath, and the Mechanism Maze immediately became active.