Chapter 83: Re-entering the Academy, Consecutive Treasures!

Endless thick clouds shrouded the left, right, and rear; only the path ahead was visible.

On a gatehouse towering several dozen zhang high, ancient script was carved with four characters: Great Dream Academy.

"Coming in this time, it feels different."

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

"This time there should be something within my reach, right? Best to just hand over a treasure directly, don't bring out any Heart-Questioning Platform again…"

Thinking this silently in his heart, Zhao Xing strolled through the clouds, passing through the academy's great gate.

Just like the first time, numerous treasure lands still flashed before his eyes.

【Reincarnation Hall】, 【Heart-Questioning Platform】, 【War God Tower】, 【Arts and Techniques Secret Vault】, 【Heavenly Secrets Pavilion】, 【Sacred Beast Palace】, 【Destiny Palace】… pavilions and towers, palace complexes, covered walkways and sky bridges, scattered in picturesque disorder, peaks rising layer upon layer, clouds and mist swirling, as if he stood amidst a fairyland.

But as he approached, these places one by one sank back into the clouds.

He waited, quietly waited.

In his anticipation, a palace enlarged in his eyes, Jin Guang dazzling and radiant, and finally settled completely into place.

"Hmm? Not the Heart-Questioning Platform, this is… the Heavenly Craft Hall?"

Zhao Xing examined the palace; he had not expected that after reaching entry into the ranked realm, what appeared was not the Heart-Questioning Platform, but the Heavenly Craft Hall.

"The Heavenly Craft Hall has many treasures, but they're divided into many places; it depends on which side hall I enter."

Zhao Xing thought secretly, then stepped into the palace.

The moment he entered, clouds and mist surged out from all around, then dispersed, slowly revealing the real scene.

"Scholar Zhao Xing, welcome to the Mysterious Mechanism Hall."

A deep, low voice came from the clouds ahead, then a strange beast slowly walked out.

It was as large as a bull, resembling a qilin, its entire body covered in thick jet-black fur, its eyes bright and spirited, a silver horn on its forehead, and it spoke human language.

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

A mechanical beast Xie Zhi? He had actually come to the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion?

"Greetings, Guardian." Zhao Xing hurriedly cupped his hands in salute.

He was not unfamiliar with the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion; this Xie Zhi was the keeper, and it had another name: Law Beast.

The Xie Zhi was highly intelligent, understood human speech and knew human nature; across many dynasties the national treasure changed again and again—now a qilin, now a dark bird, now a true dragon, now a phoenix. But the Xie Zhi's position never changed; in every dynasty, it was the national treasure.

It was also the nation's guardian; although what stood before him was not a true Law Beast Xie Zhi, only a mechanical beast, its interior contained the Law Beast's spiritual essence, and the body was forged from ninth-tier materials, no different from the real thing.

The Law Beast Xie Zhi glanced at Zhao Xing: "You're only at mid Gathering Yuan, the only place suitable for you to challenge is this Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion."

Zhao Xing listened quietly.

"The Way of Heavenly Craft—multiplication, division, deduction, and elaboration—seeks to exhaust the source of creation; the mechanism formations inside mainly test a scholar's wisdom and ability at deduction and calculation; the mechanism formations combine the Five Elements and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches."

"Each level, the difficulty doubles, but the reward also doubles."

"If you can walk to the end of the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion, you may obtain one 'Rare and Extraordinary Treasure'."

The Law Beast Xie Zhi explained.

Zhao Xing could not help his heart pounding.

A Rare and Extraordinary Treasure!

Beyond the nine tiers of treasure grades, going further up there were 'Rare World Treasures' and 'Peerless Extraordinary Treasures'.

A so-called Rare World Treasure was a treasure rarely seen within a thousand years of a dynasty; there would not be too many, at most single digits.

As for a Peerless Extraordinary Treasure, that was something that could not be found in the present world, having been passed down from the distant ancient era.

Why was Zhao Xing so excited?

Because at this time, the Great Dream Academy had not yet been plundered clean by Wu Di, and these trial levels had not changed much!

These trial levels, he had challenged them all in his previous life!

"Ahead is the first level, the Mysterious Mechanism Gate."

The Xie Zhi breathed lightly, then the fog ahead dispersed, revealing a wooden door of peculiar design.

"The Mysterious Mechanism Gate has three mechanical locks on it; open the locks, and you pass the first level."

Zhao Xing restrained the excitement in his heart, cupped his hands in salute, then walked over.

The wooden door was fully five meters tall and eight meters wide; the reason it was called peculiar in design was that it was entirely embedded within the wall, fitting seamlessly.

Every other part was perfectly smooth, with no visible door seam; at a height of one meter, there were three components.

Two of them protruded outward.

One was shaped like an ox head, the other shaped like a snake.

The third was embedded within the door, forming a plum blossom pattern.

"Zhaoyang Plum Blossom Lock, Chongguang Ox Head Clasp, Huangluo Snake-Walk Lock." Zhao Xing looked at these three mechanical locks and could not help but smile.

Although he was not skilled in the Way of Mechanisms, he knew the answers.

He even knew more than one solution.

He had memorized them when he was a player, but they worked just the same now, because this type of mechanical lock did not involve the use of one's own Yuan Qi.

The Xie Zhi had also said: what was tested was the scholar's wisdom and calculation ability, as well as understanding of the Five Elements and Heavenly Stems knowledge.

"The Zhaoyang Plum Blossom Lock and the Chongguang Ox Head Clasp are both Heavenly Stem locks, while the Huangluo Snake-Walk Lock is an Earthly Branch lock."

"These most basic components are combined into a lock through a unique method; each component must be moved to its corresponding position to unlock it."

Zhao Xing solved the Ox Head Clasp first.

He pushed with his left hand, adjusting the Ox Head Clasp's position, making one ox head move downward and the other ox head face himself.

The wall seemed to be soft; the Ox Head Clasp moved freely within it, completely unrestricted, but trying to pull it open with force was absolutely impossible.

Zhao Xing kept his left hand still, operating only with his right. He pulled the ox head held in his right hand back, until the ox head reached the 'Shangzhang' position, one-third of the Kun position.

Then he made the ox head in his right hand gently turn upward; the lower ox head rotated accordingly, forming an upper-and-lower arrangement.

At this moment, the ox-head on the lower Kun position has already detached, but it still doesn't count as solved.

He still needs to move the ox-head on the upper Zhang position to the 'Chongguang' position, which is the 'Zhen position.'

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

"Click click click click~"

The two ox-heads immediately retracted into the door, and a faint blue light lit up, indicating that one of the locks had been opened.

"The Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches method is still the fastest way to solve it. One down!"

Zhao Xing clapped his hands and walked to the Wild Camel Snake-Walk Lock on the other side.

The snake-shaped lock lay horizontally across the door, about three chi in length, made up of densely packed round beads.

"The Wild Camel Snake-Walk Lock has 146 movable beads and 9 fixed beads. The combinations aren't that many, but half of them are hidden inside the door—that's where the difficulty lies." Zhao Xing began to feel around, searching for the positions of the fixed beads.

The key to solving the snake-shaped lock is to find those nine beads and restore them to the Wild Camel position.

"Good thing I'm the only one here, no one to cause me trouble." While working on the lock, Zhao Xing recalled some amusing incidents.

This level is quite interesting—the snake-shaped lock resets at midnight, guaranteeing that four fixed beads are exposed outside.

This is the initial difficulty of the first level.

But if the first person of the day deliberately causes trouble by hiding the fixed beads, or some fool furiously batters the snake-shaped lock and randomly moves the movable beads, then the difficulty for those who come after increases—it's a perfect way to cause trouble for others.

So every time it hits midnight, people queue up here, fighting to be first to solve it, not letting others cause trouble for them, and incidentally making things a bit harder for others.

"Done!" After fumbling around for a moment, Zhao Xing restored the nine fixed beads.

Hiss hiss~ The snake-shaped lock quickly retracted into the door, and a blue light appeared at its original position.

"Not bad, quite talented." The Xie Zhi watched Zhao Xing's movements and couldn't help but nod slightly. "It seems the first level won't trouble him."

Having solved the first two locks so quickly, the last one clearly wouldn't be a problem either.

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

It was also the most difficult of the three locks.

"All nine plum petals need to be restored once. Fortunately, the Heavenly Stem only has the Zhaoyang position, so the difficulty is much lower. If it were a higher difficulty, with the inside corresponding to the Heavenly Stems and the outside to the hours, that would be troublesome." Zhao Xing thought for a moment, then gently tapped one of the plum petals.

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

The first step is screening.

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

Since every petal must be restored, he needed to find the first petal and move it away, but he couldn't move them randomly—he had to remember the sequence of positions he shifted, otherwise he might end up only restoring one petal after all that work.

After finding the position, Zhao Xing began to unlock it.

Ten breaths later.

"Hum~"

The plum blossoms lit up with blue light one after another, then expanded and bloomed.

"Click click click click~"

The great door began to retract toward both sides.

First level, passed!

"Student Zhao Xing, congratulations on passing the first level of the Xuanji Hall." The Dharma Beast Xie Zhi walked over. "You have obtained the reward: a fourth-grade 'Five Viscera Evil-Dispelling Pill.'"

"The Five Viscera Evil-Dispelling Pill can enhance your internal cultivation techniques, strengthening the viscera, making Qi Gathering recovery faster, and allowing spells to be cast more smoothly."

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

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

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

Looking at this Five Viscera Pill, he couldn't help but sigh—the Great Dream Academy's standards were truly high. For just the first level, they actually gave a fourth-grade pill as a reward.

If this were during the Wu Di period when it was called 'Cloud Dream Academy,' the first level would at most offer first or second-grade treasures as rewards.

One was elite-oriented, the other was for the common people—the rewards naturally couldn't be compared.

"Do you wish to continue the challenge?" the Xie Zhi asked.

"Yes, I wish to continue, teacher." Zhao Xing nodded.

"Whoosh~" The Xie Zhi blew a breath toward the front, and it was as if a gale rose around them, with clouds and mist churning.

Zhao Xing was also blown along by this wind, moving rapidly. When he steadied himself and looked, the scene had already changed dramatically.

"Second level, the Heavenly Mechanism Box."

"Before you are four Heavenly Mechanism Boxes, graded Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding. They contain treasures of different qualities."

"The Heavenly Mechanism Boxes have no locks or clasps—they are sealed with formation script. If you are a mechanism master, you may try using formation script to open them."

"If you wish to break them open by force, the Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding Heavenly Mechanism Boxes respectively require your spells or Wu Ji to reach the initial stage of the Spirit Bridge, the middle stage of the Spirit Bridge, the late stage of the Spirit Bridge, and the perfection of the Spirit Bridge."

What the Dharma Beast Xie Zhi spoke of were the cultivation realms of the Great Li Dynasty, that is, the ancient method realms.

The Qi Gathering Realm corresponds to the Ninth Rank, and the Spirit Bridge Realm corresponds to the Eighth Rank.

Qi Gathering is easy to understand—absorb the primordial qi of heaven and earth, gather it to cultivate oneself.

The Spirit Bridge Realm involves building a Heaven-Earth Spirit Bridge within the Origin Dantian, connecting heaven and earth, allowing one to more clearly perceive the five elemental forces between heaven and earth, while also accelerating the speed of absorbing primordial qi, making the circulation of primordial qi endless.

The realm characteristics are all the same; it's just that different dynasties have different names for them.

"Brute force—the Jia-grade box requires the attack standard of the perfection of the Spirit Bridge Realm." Zhao Xing thought to himself, "The difficulty is a bit higher."

In his previous life when he challenged this level, the Jia-grade box only required the standard of the middle stage of the Spirit Bridge Realm.

However, whether it was the Great Dream Academy or the Cloud Dream Academy, what was required was not combat power—only the single stat of 'attack power' needed to meet the standard.

In other words, the destructive power of a single spell needed to be enough to break down the box's defense; it didn't need to fully match the 'Spirit Bridge Realm.'

According to the Great Zhou cultivation system's standards, a single mid-grade spell or Wu Ji reaching nine revolutions is the mark of the Eighth Rank Realm.

The upper and lower grades of the Eighth Rank merely broaden the scope within the domain of mid-grade spells.

Upper Eighth Rank (Spirit Bridge Perfection) generally has multiple mid-tier perfected spells or secret techniques, even self-created spells, breaking through the nine-revolution limit, and they coordinate with each other for greater comprehensiveness, so combat power is naturally higher.

Lower Eighth Rank (Spirit Bridge Late Stage) has multiple mid-tier nine-revolution spells or secret techniques.

From Ninth Rank to Eighth Rank, the vital essence does not undergo a qualitative change, only the physical body becomes somewhat stronger. Of course, the difference between Eighth and Ninth Rank is huge for martial artists, but for spellcasting professions the difference is smaller.

As for whether a single spell at nine-revolution can count as Eighth Rank combat power, that has to be considered case by case.

For example, right now, the four boxes A, B, C, and D are all made of specially treated wood. If one only knows 'Earth Element Spells,' then one can only stare helplessly.

Because among the five elements, Wood overcomes Earth. Even if one masters seven or eight earth spells, all reaching mid-tier perfection, one still cannot brute-force it open.

"My thunder spell is only at nine-revolution, not yet perfected. I wonder if it can break it open." Zhao Xing thought to himself. In terms of attack power, thunder spells are certainly the fiercest. Although Ice Rain is maxed out, in this situation what's needed is an explosive burst of attack, and Ice Rain probably cannot reach the critical threshold.

Moreover, the systems of the Great Li and Great Zhou are different, so he doesn't know if it will work.

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

Array scripts are a more advanced application technique within the path of mechanisms.

These current Tianji Boxes are not the Tianji Boxes from the Wu Di era he is familiar with, so naturally the 'password' is not the same either.

"Moving Clouds!" Zhao Xing pointed with his hand, and clouds immediately appeared above his head.

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

In the future, if the vital essence undergoes a qualitative change, one can also use higher-grade Guidance Talismans and Soul-Calming Talismans to bring one's own combat power in to challenge the trial.

"Summon Lightning!"

A bolt of lightning fell from the clouds.

Knowing that his thunder spell had not reached perfection, Zhao Xing could only put effort into his control technique.

"Boom Boom Boom!"

Nine consecutive bolts of lightning all struck the same spot on the Xuanji Box, attempting to break it open.

"Did it break open?"

Zhao Xing looked closely, only to find that the Tianji Box had merely developed a single scorched-black spot, still far from being broken open.

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

Zhao Xing quickly gave up on cracking the Grade A box.

Even if he doesn't get the highest reward on the second level now, he can always come back and challenge it again later.

"Boom boom!"

Two bolts of lightning very easily broke open the Grade C and Grade D boxes.

As for the Grade B Xuanji Box, it took a bit more time.

"What's inside the box?"

The Xuanji Box wasn't large, only half a meter long and as thick as an ankle, so naturally it couldn't hold anything big. What came out were also three small-sized items.

But treasures aren't judged by size, but by grade.

As soon as Zhao Xing broke it open, three light clusters immediately floated before him.

"Wind Crystal Earrings, Third-Grade Superior, crafted from wind crystal jade stone native to the Wind River Grotto-Heaven. Wearing them enhances hearing."

"Earth Sha Pill, Third-Grade Superior, contains a wisp of Earth Sha, can be used to cleanse 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 consumption, it strengthens the physique and grants immense strength. The lungs in particular are enhanced — after a Qi Gathering Realm cultivator takes the Giant Whale Pill, they can dive a thousand meters underwater relying on their physical body alone."

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

Perhaps because of the brute-force cracking, these three items were basically all things used by martial artists.

Hearing this, Zhao Xing also felt a twinge of doubt in his heart: They're all body-tempering items. Am I, a perfectly fine Si Nong, about to go down the path of physical body brute-force cultivation?

But the things given were genuinely good — this was only the second level, yet they already gave such fine items.

Zhao Xing couldn't help but sigh with emotion. The elites of the Great Li really eat well.

One must know that these three items all have rather unique effects within the Third and Fourth Grades, and are by no means common goods.

Earth Sha tempers the body, Giant Whale increases strength and comes with an underwater effect, and as for the Wind Crystal Earrings, they can enhance hearing — one could say they are extremely practical.

"Student Zhao Xing, do you wish to continue to the third level?"

"Yes, this student wishes to continue." Zhao Xing had broken open the Grade B box and thus earned the qualification to continue challenging further.

If one had only broken the Grade C and Grade D boxes, there would be no way to continue to the third level.

"Hum~"

The clouds and mist churned once more. Zhao Xing felt himself blown away by a gust of wind again, and the next moment, he arrived between two walls.

"The third level is called the Mechanism Maze."

"The maze contains many mechanisms, some visible and some hidden, and they are movable. You must find the patterns yourself to deal with those mechanisms and move through the maze."

Xie Zhi introduced: "Enter from the maze's entrance and exit within four hours, and you will receive a Fourth-Grade treasure reward."

"Exit within two hours, and you will receive a Fifth-Grade treasure reward."

"Exit within one hour, and you will receive a Sixth-Grade treasure reward."

"If you have not exited within four hours, it is considered a failed challenge."

Zhao Xing blinked his eyes. The Mechanism Maze actually gives up to a Sixth-Grade treasure reward?!

This is far better than the Yunmeng Academy of the later Wu Di era!

The highest reward in the Wu Di era was only Fourth-Grade treasures!

He just didn't know whether the Mechanism Maze had been simplified. If it hadn't been simplified, that would mean the difficulty was the same, and then this time would really be striking it rich... Zhao Xing felt a surge of excitement in his heart.

Xie Zhi looked at Zhao Xing with some confusion, not knowing what he was so excited about. Could it be that he was afraid?

Because of this, Xie Zhi specifically explained: "The Mechanism Maze holds no danger. You may challenge it with peace of mind. At worst, failure only means sleeping for three days. There is no need to worry about your personal safety."

Zhao Xing cupped his hands and said: "Many thanks for the reminder, Guardian."

"Go on in."

"Yes." Zhao Xing stepped into the labyrinth.

The Xie Zhi blew out a breath, and the mechanism labyrinth immediately sprang to life.