Chapter 84: Sixth-Rank Soul Armor and the Great Dream of Spring and Autumn

The moment Zhao Xing entered the mechanism maze, the two walls behind him closed shut, cutting off his retreat.

He pointed a fingertip toward the sky; Jin Guang vanished into the air above, disappearing once it passed over the four-metre-tall surrounding wall.

"As expected, Walking Cloud simply can't hold at that kind of height."

Zhao Xing tried jumping a few more times experimentally and found that no matter how high he leapt, he could never clear the surrounding wall.

Of course, this didn't mean he couldn't cast spells.

It just meant he could only cast them inside the maze; trying to cheat by using Walking Cloud to survey the whole layout from the sky was impossible.

"Let's see if there's anything I can use."

Zhao Xing picked a random fork in the path and headed downward.

The mechanism maze tested strength, intelligence, willpower, and even social connections—one could say it was remarkably well-rounded.

The trial Dali used to cultivate elites demanded thoroughness in every aspect.

So in this mechanism maze, raw strength alone was far from enough to clear it.

Unless one was still at fourth rank and hadn't come to challenge it before—in that case, one could simply brute-force through every obstacle, smash straight through the maze, and claim the reward.

"Buzz~"

Zhao Xing turned a corner and found a dead end ahead.

At the base of the wall, a mechanism beast with red fur, shaped like a goat, stared at him.

The goat's eyes were red as well; the instant their gazes met, Zhao Xing's whole body trembled, and he then sank into a strange state.

"Baa~" The goat gave a light hop and vanished at the end of the passage.

"Luck this bad—running into an 'Inversion Goat' right off the bat?" Zhao Xing couldn't help but smile bitterly.

The Inversion Goat was a type of illusion-type mechanism beast.

Once struck by its illusion, a person would enter a state of 'acting in reverse.'

The mind clearly wanted to step forward, but the hands and feet would move backward.

Trying to cast a wind spell would actually produce thunder.

Trying to attack to the right would end up striking to the left.

"Thud!" Zhao Xing tried to turn back, but accidentally reversed his direction and slammed into the wall.

The force was just right—stunning, but not brain-damaging.

"That hurts." Zhao Xing clearly wanted to clutch his forehead, but his hands went to his lower body instead.

This reversed-everything feeling was unbearably uncomfortable.

Still, there was one thing worth taking comfort in—that familiar flavor was back! He felt as though he'd rediscovered the sensation of running dungeons in his past life.

"An Inversion Goat—excellent! That sixth-rank treasure is as good as mine!"

Zhao Xing began adjusting his state, quickly grew accustomed to the condition after being hit by the illusion, and continued onward.

"Click-click-click-click~"

After turning only a few corners, a sudden sound of mechanism gears turning came. Zhao Xing looked down and found he'd stepped on a trap.

The stone slab beneath his foot had sunk in, and on the wall ahead, a thunder needle inlaid with a blue gem had already locked onto him, fully charged and ready to fire.

"Hmph, a petty trick."

Zhao Xing crouched down and tapped a few of the surrounding floor tiles; from one loose tile, he pried up a uniquely shaped component.

He then wedged it beneath his foot.

He lifted his foot—the thunder needle still didn't react.

Zhao Xing strolled past unhurriedly.

Over the next quarter-hour, Zhao Xing encountered all manner of mechanisms—ones that sprayed fire, dropped stones, fired hidden bolts, and even illusionary realm mechanism beasts.

The maze was composed entirely of mechanisms, one after another.

Every mechanism followed a single principle: to interfere with, obstruct, and mislead challengers—to stall them.

"They say the mechanism maze was built by the geniuses of Dali's Heavenly Craft Academy, who keep adding bricks and tiles, contributing fresh ideas to the maze."

"Anyone whose design gets adopted by the academy gets a reward."

"That's why countless geniuses rack their brains to cram mechanisms in here—they'd love to pack a hundred rolling mines into a single brick if they could."

"They go out of their way to make things hard for people… what a sin."

Zhao Xing wiped his palm and found it red and swollen; he couldn't help but sigh.

Although he could be considered 'experienced,' he'd still fallen for plenty of tricks along the way.

His vision had gone blurry, and the surroundings had grown dim.

Just now, while dodging a chain of six linked mechanisms, his hand had accidentally pressed against the wall.

And damn it, there was a seventh link—a layer of blinding powder.

"But the more mechanisms there are, the closer I am to what I want. Once I find this level's prop, things will be much easier from here on."

Zhao Xing went down a flight of stairs; the surrounding walls grew shorter as well.

Although he was now blind, it didn't hinder his movement.

He cast a wind-rising spell; through the feedback of the wind brushing past, everything around him was clearly mapped out in his mind.

"Found it!"

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Zhao Xing's mouth. He then stepped back two paces and ducked into the blind spot by the steps.

Whoosh~

The wind-rising spell swept toward a table ahead; the wind rustled a sheet of yellow paper on top of it.

"Ooh-hoh-hoh-hoh!"

The table seemed to come alive, letting out strange cries nonstop, its four legs hopping about wildly as if the ground were scorching hot.

"You weird table, don't run!"

Zhao Xing shouted, but the mechanism beast that looked just like a table suddenly charged straight at him.

While charging, it even changed shape, with plenty of spikes growing out of the tabletop and legs.

"Boom!"

The extremely fast table mechanism beast slammed into the wall.

Because Zhao Xing was hiding in the corner between the steps and the wall, the table mechanism beast got stuck.

The spikes on top were only half a finger's distance from Zhao Xing.

"Hmph, a petty little mechanism, laughable, utterly laughable."

Zhao Xing reached out and tore off a yellow paper stuck to the table.

"Crash~"

The table immediately fell apart on its own into a pile of parts.

"A hybrid talisman mechanism beast — whoever could make something like this is one hell of a talent." Zhao Xing grumbled in his heart, rummaging through the pile of fragments.

Soon, from among the parts, Zhao Xing found a silver-white bead.

【Illusion Bead: Special Item】

【Can conjure one of the ten people most recently encountered.】

【Illusion cap: Spirit Bridge Perfection】

"You're the one."

Zhao Xing smiled slightly.

He then crushed the bead.

When the bead was crushed, streams of light and shadow immediately appeared before Zhao Xing's eyes.

Xue Wenzhong, Chen Shijie, Zhao Ruide, Zhao Zheng, Madam Cai… wait, no, don't pick Madam Cai!

Zhao Xing was startled when he saw the light pause on Madam Cai.

He immediately forced himself to picture Chen Shijie's appearance in his mind.

Fortunately, the light jumped again and locked onto Chen Shijie.

"Hum~"

The light condensed into shape, and Chen Shijie appeared before him.

"Phew~" Zhao Xing let out a breath of relief.

The figure formed by the special item Illusion Bead is entirely determined by the user's mental image of the person's relationship to them.

In other words, whatever strength and personality the user pictures that person as having, and whatever relationship they have with the user, will all be reproduced.

What if all ten of the most recently encountered people are enemies?

Then the conjured figure won't be a helper but an obstacle, and will even attack the user.

Among the ten people Zhao Xing had most recently encountered, only Old Chen fit his choice.

Next, he needed a certain amount of combat ability to get out of the trap-filled labyrinth.

If it really gave him a Madam Cai, he could just declare the trial a failure right there.

"What's going on with you, kid? Why are you hanging around in such a strange place? Hm? Why are your eyes blind?" Chen Shijie asked curiously the moment he appeared.

"Don't ask, Old Chen, hurry up and help out."

Of course this wasn't the real Chen Shijie, but an illusion conjured from Zhao Xing's impression of Chen Shijie in his heart.

"What did you call me?" Chen Shijie frowned.

"Lord Chen." Zhao Xing quickly corrected himself, "Please lend me a hand, Lord Chen."

"Hmph, that's more like it." Chen Shijie turned around and cleared the way ahead for Zhao Xing.

Chen Shijie displayed the strength of a peak official Eighth Rank; with his help, the pace of clearing the trial immediately picked up, and he also knew a variety of mid-grade Perfection-level spells.

Whether in reaction, intelligence, or adaptability, he could be called excellent.

As for whether the real Chen Shijie was really this impressive?

Zhao Xing didn't know, but he guessed Old Chen really was this strong, perhaps even stronger than he imagined.

Deep down, he truly believed Chen Shijie was at least at the strength of a peak official Eighth Rank.

Just from chatting with him, the breadth of knowledge alone wasn't something an official Ninth Rank should have.

Although Chen Shijie claimed to be a Dili Sect Agronomist, he also had deep insight into other spells; a Military Agronomist is meant to be well-rounded, and Old Chen was an outstanding one among them.

"Suppose the real Old Chen really is this strong — then why did he come to Nanyang Commandery to be such a minor official?"

Zhao Xing watched Old Chen's back, then swiftly crouched down.

Chen Shijie ahead was bombarded in turn by seven triggered mechanisms.

"Cough, cough, cough… what kind of lousy place is this, how are there so many mechanisms?" Chen Shijie emerged from the smoke, hair disheveled, coughing nonstop.

Zhao Xing looked up ahead, and as he passed him, patted Chen Shijie on the shoulder: "Thanks, Old Chen."

"Are you itching for a beating, kid? You actually called me that again…"

Chen Shijie bristled, but before he could finish speaking, he dissolved into a streak of light and vanished.

Zhao Xing, meanwhile, walked into a circular room ahead.

The surrounding light dimmed, and doors flashed past before him.

"Five Phases positions: enter through Qian, exit through Kan."

Zhao Xing observed for a moment, entered through the Qian door, and indeed came out from the Kun position, returning to the room.

One of the surrounding doors disappeared, but soon a new one appeared.

And a different change occurred.

A door flickered with thunder, lightning spreading into the room like grasping claws.

A golden sword slowly thrust out from within the door, pressing toward Zhao Xing's position.

Zhao Xing glanced at the door that was spewing fire.

"Pulling chestnuts from the fire — it may win a slim chance of survival."

Then he charged violently into the fire door.

The next moment, he was back in the room again.

At this time the surrounding light doors began rotating once more, and the roar of a beast came from behind one of them.

Zhao Xing listened carefully for a moment to identify it.

He smiled and looked toward one of them: "A qilin roars — an auspicious beast at the door."

Then he stepped into the light door.

The next moment, Zhao Xing appeared in the room once again.

At this point only four light doors remained.

They were still rotating, but the aura coming from them had grown much gentler.

"Spring, summer, autumn, winter — the doors of the four seasons."

"This is the final trial."

"Enter through the spring door, exit through the autumn door."

"A thought spans spring and autumn — like a dream, like an illusion."

Zhao Xing stepped into a green light, then emerged from a golden-yellow light door.

"Hum~"

The surrounding strange景象 vanished, thick fog rolled, and when Zhao Xing looked up again, he was already standing before the Xie Zhi.

"Scholar Zhao Xing, you passed the mechanism labyrinth in less than two hours — reward: a sixth-rank divine weapon, 'Soul Armor.'"

Then the spirit-beast Xie Zhi spat a piece of jet-black armor from its mouth.

The armor gleamed with a sheen; after it flew over, Zhao Xing reached out and caught it, and the armor immediately flowed along his skin like water, covering his entire body.

"The sixth-rank Soul Armor is a sub-body of the peerless divine weapon 'Sunshine Across the Vast Sky.' Although it is only sixth-rank, its soul-defense effect is no weaker than seventh-rank, and it absolutely cannot be damaged. The offensive might of fourth-rank attacks will also be weakened by ninety percent."

"Below fourth-rank, it also has a rebound effect against soul-type spells and offensive secret techniques."

The Xie Zhi explained.

"Many thanks for your protection." Zhao Xing also sensed the special nature of the Soul Armor — at this moment he felt his whole body warm and cozy. It was a comfort and sense of security coming from the soul itself.

"The sixth-rank Soul Armor comes with the first chapter of the National Religion's secret art — you must not leak it."

"If anyone detects the Soul Armor's existence and it is thereby leaked—"

"Rest assured, unless you die, no one will know of the Soul Armor." The Xie Zhi said calmly, "If you die, the imperial court will naturally avenge you, reclaim the Soul Armor, and kill every last person who knew of it."

Zhao Xing silently nodded. Although this Xie Zhi mechanism beast had spiritual intelligence and could communicate, it was limited to within the Heavenly Craft Hall — it did not know that the Great Li had already perished.

"Dawn is nearly here; your soul is too weak. Go out."

Then the Xie Zhi gave a gentle puff, and Zhao Xing was instantly ejected from the Heavenly Craft Hall, and in one breath all the way back outside the gates of the Great Dream Academy.

He opened his eyes, and the familiar mosquito net came into view.

Zhao Xing felt at his chest — there was a pair of pendants, and three pills.

Among them, two were fourth-rank pills: respectively the Five Viscera Sha-Dispelling Pill and the Giant Whale Pill; the third-rank pill was the Earth Sha Pill.

As for the sixth-rank treasure, the Soul Armor, it had merged into his body, guarding directly within the Sea of Consciousness.

A sixth-rank treasure is still a mundane-world treasure; although peculiar, it cannot yet be called a divine weapon, and does not possess this miraculous effect of merging into the body.

But because it is a sub-body of the peerless treasure 'Sunshine Across the Vast Sky,' it shares the effect of a seventh-rank 'divine weapon,' and can be stored directly within the body.

"'Sunshine Across the Vast Sky'… I wonder whether this divine weapon is actually within the Great Dream Academy." Zhao Xing thought silently. In the era of the Qi-Dynasty kingdoms, there were several peerless treasures that transcended their age.

They had been passed down from antiquity; because spiritual energy had lain dormant, they had lost the great majority of their power, and only in the Revival Era did they shine again.

If he had the chance, Zhao Xing certainly wanted to get his hands on the Soul Armor's parent body.

"The Xie Zhi said the end of the Heavenly Craft Hall's trial holds a rare treasure — it shouldn't be the Soul Armor's parent body. I don't know where it is either."

In this trial, the greatest gain was undoubtedly the sixth-rank Soul Armor.

As well as the Dream Nightmare Sect's supreme art attached to the Soul Armor — 'Great Dream Spring and Autumn.'

Of course the Giant Whale Pill, Earth Sha Pill, and Five Viscera Sha-Dispelling Pill were also quite good — taking them now would yield immediate visible effects.

Every time he entered the Academy, there were enormous gains; Zhao Xing could not help feeling somewhat感慨:

"Truly a mountain of treasure. If I make good use of this wealth, lasting until the Revival Era won't necessarily be difficult."

After the Autumn Equinox mountain-opening, the clerks had two days of leave.

Zhao Xing didn't need to go to work either, so he simply stayed home to digest the benefits.

The Earth Sha Pill he had no use for at the moment, because it needed to be used together with a method of refining sha to maximize its effect; the Five Viscera Sha-Dispelling Pill was the same.

As for the Giant Whale Pill, he spent a full entire day digesting it completely.

"After eating this pill, I feel as if I'd eaten a whole whale, I'm so stuffed." Zhao Xing paced back and forth in the courtyard, his complexion ruddy.

Zhao Zheng watched his big brother and thought it was amazing — running and jumping around all day long, yet still not needing to eat. Big brother was simply too incredible!

Zhao Ruide, on the other hand, was somewhat astonished, because he felt Zhao Xing had changed quite a bit over this one day.

He mainly judged it from his aura.

In the morning, Zhao Xing's breathing, exhaling and drawing in primal energy, was still quite normal.

But by evening, his breathing had become extremely long and drawn-out, and the speed at which he gathered primal energy into his body had also noticeably increased by a notch.

"Martial artists who have entered the ranks — I've seen plenty with physiques like this. But a司农 who has entered the ranks having this kind of physique is a first for me. I wonder what he actually went through up on the mountain." Zhao Ruide still assumed his son had had some extraordinary encounter on the mountain to become like this.

Now saying Zhao Xing was as strong as an ox wasn't accurate — he was strong as an elephant.

"If he practiced martial arts, he'd probably be capable of entering the ranked realm too." Zhao Ruide couldn't help but sigh. By comparison, Zhao Zheng was almost eight years old and hadn't shown the slightest talent for martial arts — on top of that, he was utterly lazy. Truly a headache.

That evening, Zhao Xing lay on his bed and began cultivating the *Great Dream of Spring and Autumn*.

"The Nightmare Sect is the state religion of the Great Li Kingdom, and the *Great Dream of Spring and Autumn* is its classic supreme art." Zhao Xing's memory of this supreme art was vivid, because its use of 'dreams' was extraordinarily Gao Chao.

Although the supreme arts of the Sect Era no longer possessed their full glory in the present age, the *Great Dream of Spring and Autumn* was an exception.

Techniques like 'Killing Within a Dream' and 'One Dream, Heaven and Earth' — even in this era, their power was nothing to scoff at. It was a bona fide god-tier art that had carried over across versions.

"A person has three souls: the Heaven Soul, the Earth Soul, and the Life Soul."

"The Heaven and Earth Souls are usually abroad; only the Life Soul dwells within the body."

"After the Life Soul inhabits the womb, its latent potential spreads through the flesh, forming a person's seven corporeal souls."

"The Heaven Soul is the soul of past lives; the Earth Soul is the soul of karmic ties."

"When the Heaven and Earth Souls wander abroad and intersect with the Life Soul in some manner, that is a 'dream.'"

"This is why a person dreams of places they have never personally visited, feels that some place seems strangely familiar, and dreams of people bound to them by heavy karmic ties — even producing miraculous premonitions."

"For instance, a relative far off on the frontier passes away, and one dreams of it before the news has even been brought back."

"Or one dreams of the exact conversation once had with a childhood playmate."

While studying the Dream-Entry chapter of the *Great Dream of Spring and Autumn*, Zhao Xing came across several intriguing statements.

"The introductory chapter of the *Great Dream of Spring and Autumn* has two stages: the first is Dream-Interpretation, the second is Dream-Entry."

"Only when one can enter a dream at any time and any place, and cause others to enter dreams as well, does one count as having truly crossed the threshold."

"After crossing the threshold comes the second chapter, *Dream-Walking*."

"At that stage, one can walk within others' dreams, and by seizing the moment when the three souls intersect, sever a person's three souls."

"Once the three souls are destroyed, the body's seven corporeal souls lose their master and become a walking corpse — not far from death."

Zhao Xing browsed through the Dream-Entry chapter of the *Great Dream of Spring and Autumn*.

Suddenly, several techniques within the Dream-Entry chapter caught his attention.