The Dao Sovereign of Shennong

Endless thick clouds surrounded Zhao Xing on all sides, leaving only the path ahead visible. In front of him stood a towering gate, dozens of meters high, with four ancient characters carved above it: Grand Dream Academy.

"This time, it feels different."

"It seems I can see further, and my senses are clearer."

"Hopefully, this time there's something within my reach, maybe even a treasure. No more facing that Hearth-Testing Platform…"

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Zhao Xing leisurely walked through the clouds and crossed the gate of the academy.

Just like the first time, various sacred places appeared before him.

Reincarnation Hall, Hearth-Testing Platform, Martial God Tower, Secret Spell Vault, Heavenly Mysteries Pavilion, Sacred Beast Palace, Destiny Palace... pavilions, palaces, bridges, and clouds intertwined, as if Zhao Xing had entered an otherworldly paradise.

However, as he approached, each of these places faded back into the clouds one by one.

Waiting, quietly waiting.

Amidst his anticipation, one of the palaces grew larger in his sight, radiating golden light until it stabilized completely.

"Huh? It's not the Hearth-Testing Platform, this is... the Heavenly Craft Hall?"

Zhao Xing studied the palace, surprised that after reaching the ranked realm, he was now facing the Heavenly Craft Hall instead of the Hearth-Testing Platform.

"The Heavenly Craft Hall holds many treasures, but they are spread across various sections. Let's see which part I end up in."

With that thought, Zhao Xing stepped into the hall.

As soon as he entered, clouds billowed around him, but they soon dispersed, revealing the real scene.

"Student Zhao Xing, welcome to the Hall of Mysteries."

A deep voice came from the mist ahead, and soon, a strange beast slowly emerged.

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

Zhao Xing recognized the creature and was momentarily stunned.

An automaton Xiezhi? He had entered the Hall of Mysteries?

"Greetings, Guardian," Zhao Xing quickly bowed in respect.

He was familiar with the Hall of Mysteries, and the Xiezhi beast that guarded it. The Xiezhi was also known as the Beast of Law.

The Xiezhi had high intelligence and could discern right from wrong. Throughout history, many dynasties had revered it as their national symbol—whether it be a qilin, a phoenix, or a dragon. Yet, the Xiezhi's status had never changed; it was always the guardian of the realm.

Although the creature before him wasn't a true Xiezhi but an automaton, it contained the essence of the real Law Beast. Its body was crafted from ninth-level materials, making it indistinguishable from the real thing.

The Xiezhi looked Zhao Xing over and said, "You've just reached the mid-stage of Essence Gathering. The only place suitable for you is the Hall of Mysteries."

Zhao Xing listened intently.

"The path of Heavenly Craft involves deduction and exploration, seeking the origins of creation. The mechanisms and formations inside will test your wisdom and ability to calculate. They are intertwined with the Five Elements and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches."

"With each level you pass, the difficulty will double, but so will the rewards."

"If you reach the end of the Hall of Mysteries, you will receive a Rare Treasure."

The Xiezhi's explanation made Zhao Xing's heart race.

A Rare Treasure!

Treasure grades ranged from the first to ninth level, but above that were the Rare Treasures and Legendary Treasures.

Rare Treasures were so scarce that only a handful might appear in a dynasty over a thousand years.

As for Legendary Treasures, those were relics from ancient times, no longer found in the current world.

Why was Zhao Xing so excited?

Because in this era, the Grand Dream Academy had yet to be plundered by the Emperor Wu, and the challenges hadn't changed much!

These were the same challenges he had faced in his past life!

"Up ahead is the first challenge, the Gate of Mysteries."

The Xiezhi exhaled softly, and the mist in front cleared, revealing a strangely designed wooden door.

"The Gate of Mysteries has three mechanism locks. Unlock them to pass the first challenge."

Suppressing his excitement, Zhao Xing bowed again and walked over to the gate.

The wooden door was five meters high and eight meters wide. Its strange design came from how it was embedded perfectly into the wall, with no visible gaps.

Apart from three protruding components a meter from the ground, the rest of the door was smooth.

Two of the components jutted out.

One was shaped like a bull's head, and the other resembled a snake.

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

"The Zhaoyang Plum Blossom Lock, the Chongguang Bullhead Clasp, and the Huangluo Snake Lock," Zhao Xing muttered as he examined the three locks, smiling to himself.

Though he wasn't a master of mechanical traps, he knew the answers.

In fact, he even knew more than one way to solve them.

As a player in his past life, he had memorized the solutions, and they still worked now because these mechanism locks didn't involve the use of elemental energy.

The Xiezhi had mentioned that the challenge tested the student's wisdom, calculation skills, and understanding of the Five Elements and Heavenly Stems.

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

"These basic components, when combined in unique ways, form the locks. Each component must be moved to the corresponding position to unlock it."

Zhao Xing started with the Bullhead Clasp.

He pushed it with his left hand, adjusting the position of the bullhead so that one faced downward while the other faced him.

The wall felt soft, allowing the bullhead to move freely, though pulling it apart with brute force was impossible.

Zhao Xing kept his left hand steady and used his right hand to operate the lock. He pulled the right bullhead backward until it reached the Upper Zhang position, which corresponded to one-third of the Kun position.

He then gently twisted the right bullhead upward, causing the lower bullhead to turn as well, forming an up-and-down layout.

At this point, the lower Kun bullhead had disengaged, but the lock wasn't fully undone.

He moved the Upper Zhang bullhead to the Chongguang position, also known as the Zhen position.

Then, rotating downward to two-thirds of the Zhen position, he gently pulled outward.

"Click, click, click…"

Both bullheads retracted into the door, emitting a faint blue glow, signaling that the first lock was undone.

"The Heavenly Stem method is still the fastest. One down!"

Zhao Xing dusted off his hands and moved on to the Huangluo Snake Lock.

The snake lock was horizontal on the door, about three feet long, composed of many small, intricate beads.

"The Huangluo Snake Lock has 146 movable beads and nine fixed beads. The combinations aren't too many, but half of them are hidden within the door, making it tricky."

Zhao Xing began to feel around for the fixed beads.

The key to unlocking the snake lock was finding the nine fixed beads and returning them to the Huangluo position.

"Good thing I'm the only one here—no one to mess things up," Zhao Xing thought as he recalled some amusing past experiences.

This challenge was fun because the snake lock would reset at midnight, leaving four of the fixed beads exposed.

That was the initial difficulty.

But if the first person to attempt the lock intentionally messed it up, or if some frustrated fool randomly moved the beads around, it would make the challenge much harder for everyone else.

That's why people used to line up before midnight, hoping to be the first to solve it and avoid others sabotaging the lock. Of course, they'd also leave behind a mess for the next person.

"Got it!" After a few moments of searching, Zhao Xing located the nine fixed beads.

"Hissss~" The snake lock quickly retracted into the door, and blue light glowed from where it had been.

"Not bad, you've got talent," the Xiezhi remarked, nodding slightly at Zhao Xing's quick progress. "It seems the first challenge won't stump him."

With two locks solved so quickly, the third wouldn't pose much of a problem either.

Only the final lock remained, the Zhaoyang Plum Blossom Lock.

It was the hardest of the three.

"Nine petals on the plum blossom, each needing to be restored. Thankfully, only the Zhaoyang position needs to be aligned. If it required alignment with both the Heavenly Stems and the hours of the day, this would be much more troublesome."

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Xing gently pressed one of the plum blossom petals.

Hearing a sound from within, Zhao Xing listened carefully before pressing the second petal.

The first step was filtering.

Out of the nine plum petals, one would be aligned with the Zhaoyang position.

Since all the petals needed to be restored, Zhao Xing had to find the first one and move it, but not randomly—he had to remember the sequence of movements to avoid resetting the petals by accident.

Once he found the right position, Zhao Xing began unlocking the lock.

Ten breaths later.

"Buzz~"

The plum blossom lit up one petal at a time before fully blooming with blue light.

"Click, click, click…"

The massive door began to retract to both sides.

First challenge, passed!

"Student Zhao Xing, congratulations on passing the first challenge of the Hall of Mysteries," the Law Beast Xiezhi approached and said, "You are awarded a fourth-level Five Viscera Calamity Expulsion Pill."

"Five Viscera Calamity Expulsion Pill enhances your internal cultivation, strengthening your organs and accelerating Essence Gathering recovery, while also making spellcasting smoother."

"If you practice a technique involving the absorption of malevolent energy, this pill will also increase your organs' resistance to fiendish fire."

With that, the Xiezhi opened its mouth, and a five-colored pill flew out from its belly.

Zhao Xing accepted it with both hands. "Thank you."

Looking at the Five Viscera Calamity Expulsion Pill, Zhao Xing couldn't help but marvel. The Grand Dream Academy truly lived up to its prestige. Passing a simple first challenge had earned him a fourth-level pill.

If this had been during the reign of the Emperor Wu, when the academy became Cloud Dream Academy, the first challenge would have only awarded a first or second-level treasure.

One approach was elitist, the other more egalitarian. Naturally, the rewards reflected that difference.

"Would you like to continue with the next challenge?" the Xiezhi asked.

"Yes, I wish to proceed," Zhao Xing nodded.

The Xiezhi exhaled again, and a whirlwind seemed to lift Zhao Xing off his feet, propelling him forward. When he came to a stop, the scenery had completely changed.

"This is the second challenge, the Mystery Box."

"Before you are four Mystery Boxes, categorized as A, B, C, and D. Each contains treasures of varying quality."

"The Mystery Boxes have no locks or clasps, but they are sealed by arrays. If you are a mechanist, you can attempt to unlock them by deciphering the array inscriptions."

"If you wish to force them open, the A, B, C, and D boxes require spells or martial techniques with power equivalent to Initial Spirit Bridge, Mid Spirit Bridge, Late Spirit Bridge, and Spirit Bridge Perfection."

The Law Beast Xiezhi was referring to the cultivation stages of the Great Li Dynasty, also known as the ancient system.

Essence Gathering corresponded to the Ninth Rank, while Spirit Bridge corresponded to the Eighth Rank.

Essence Gathering was easy to understand—it involved absorbing the elemental energy of the world to strengthen oneself.

Spirit Bridge, on the other hand, required constructing a spiritual bridge within the dantian, connecting with the heavens and earth. This bridge greatly enhanced one's ability to perceive the Five Elements and hastened the absorption of elemental energy, allowing for continuous circulation.

The characteristics of these realms were the same; only the names differed across dynasties.

"To force open the A-level box, I need power equivalent to Spirit Bridge Perfection," Zhao Xing thought. "That's quite a high requirement."

In his past life, when he had passed this challenge, the A-level box had only required power equivalent to the Mid Spirit Bridge level.

However, whether it was the Grand Dream Academy or Cloud Dream Academy, the requirement wasn't for overall combat strength, only raw attack power.

In other words, a single spell or martial technique's destructive force had to be enough to shatter the box's defenses, without needing the full strength of a Spirit Bridge cultivator.

According to the Zhou Dynasty's cultivation system, achieving the ninth transformation in a mid-level spell or technique was the hallmark of reaching the Eighth Rank.

The higher tiers of the Eighth Rank were determined by how many mid-level spells or techniques one had mastered to the point of reaching the ninth transformation, or even surpassing that limit with self-created spells. The more versatile and integrated a cultivator's abilities, the stronger their combat prowess.

However, even a single mid-level spell at the ninth transformation could count as Eighth Rank combat power in certain situations.

For example, the four Mystery Boxes were made from special wood. If someone specialized only in Earth Element Techniques, they'd be out of luck since wood countered earth. Even if they had mastered multiple ninth transformation earth spells, they wouldn't be able to force the box open.

"My Lightning Summoning spell has reached the ninth transformation, but it's not perfected yet. I wonder if it's enough to break the seal."

In terms of raw destructive force, lightning was undoubtedly the most powerful of Zhao Xing's abilities. His Ice Rain spell was fully mastered, but in this case, what was needed was a high burst of power, which Ice Rain might not be able to provide.

Plus, the systems of Great Li and Zhou Dynasty differed, so Zhao Xing wasn't sure if his approach would work here.

Array inscriptions functioned like the passwords that sealed the boxes.

In the world of mechanisms, arrays were a higher-level application of these techniques.

These Mystery Boxes weren't the same as the ones he had encountered during the reign of the Emperor Wu, so the passwords wouldn't be the same either.

"Cloud Summoning!" Zhao Xing pointed upward, and a cloud quickly formed above his head.

Since his spell comprehension was deeply rooted in his soul, Zhao Xing could still use his abilities within the Grand Dream Academy.

If his elemental energy underwent a qualitative transformation in the future, he could use more advanced Guiding Talismans and Soothing Soul Talismans to bring his enhanced power into the academy for future challenges.

"Lightning Summoning!"

A bolt of lightning shot down from the cloud.

Knowing that his lightning spell hadn't yet reached perfection, Zhao Xing focused on refining his technique.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

A series of nine thunderbolts struck the same spot on the Mystery Box, attempting to break the seal.

"Did it open?"

Zhao Xing examined the box, only to find that it had merely singed the surface. It was far from being opened.

"Forget it. No point wasting time here."

Zhao Xing quickly gave up on trying to force open the A-level box.

Even if he didn't get the top reward in this second challenge, he could always come back and attempt it again later.

"Boom!"

Two more lightning bolts easily broke open the C and D-level boxes.

The B-level box took a bit more effort.

"What's inside?"

The Mystery Boxes weren't large—about half a meter long and as thick as a wrist—so they couldn't contain anything big. But treasures weren't judged by size; their value lay in their grade.

Once Zhao Xing cracked open the boxes, three glowing orbs floated toward him.

"A Wind Crystal Earring, third-level high grade, crafted from Wind Crystal Jade found in the Wind River Cave. Wearing it will enhance your hearing."

"A Earth Fiend Pill, third-level high grade, containing a trace of earth fiend energy that can purify the internal organs."

"A Giant Whale Pill, fourth-level mid-grade, made from the blood and flesh of a deep-sea giant whale, mixed with third-level herbs. After consumption, it enhances the body's strength and grants immense power. In particular, the lungs become stronger, allowing Essence Gathering cultivators to dive up to a thousand meters underwater."

The Xiezhi's voice narrated, introducing the three treasures.

Perhaps because Zhao Xing had used brute force to break the seals, the treasures were all items typically used by martial cultivators.

Hearing this, Zhao Xing couldn't help but wonder: Am I, a Shennong officer, destined to take the path of brute force?

Still, the treasures were undeniably good. For a second challenge, these were exceptional rewards.

Zhao Xing marveled at how well the elites of the Great Li Dynasty had it.

Each of these items was rare and valuable within their respective levels, not your everyday treasures.

The Earth Fiend Pill was for body refinement, the Giant Whale Pill increased strength and added underwater capabilities, and the Wind Crystal Earring improved hearing—each of them extremely practical.

"Student Zhao Xing, would you like to continue with the third challenge?"

"Yes, I'd like to continue," Zhao Xing replied. Since he had opened the B-level box, he qualified to move on to the third challenge.

If he had only opened the C and D boxes, he wouldn't have been eligible to proceed.

"Buzz~"

The mist swirled again, and Zhao Xing felt himself swept away by a gust of wind. In the next moment, he found himself between two walls.

"The third challenge is called the Mechanism Maze."

"The maze contains numerous mechanisms, both overt and hidden, and they are mobile. You'll need to figure out the patterns to navigate through the maze and deal with the traps."

The Xiezhi explained, "If you can exit the maze within four hours, you'll be awarded a fourth-level treasure."

"If you exit within two hours, you'll receive a fifth-level treasure."

"If you exit within one hour, you'll receive a sixth-level treasure."

"If you fail to exit within four hours, the challenge will be deemed a failure."

Zhao Xing's eyes widened. The Mechanism Maze could reward him with a sixth-level treasure?!

This was far better than during the Emperor Wu's reign when the top reward had only been a fourth-level treasure!

He only hoped the maze hadn't been simplified. If it was still the same difficulty, this could be a huge payday for him…

Zhao Xing felt a rush of excitement.

The Xiezhi, noticing his excitement, was puzzled. Was Zhao Xing nervous?

To clarify, the Xiezhi added, "The Mechanism Maze poses no danger. You can safely attempt it. At worst, failure will only result in you falling asleep for three days. There's no need to worry about your safety."

Zhao Xing bowed, "Thank you, Guardian, for the reminder."

"Enter."

"Yes." Zhao Xing stepped into the maze.

The Xiezhi exhaled once more, and the Mechanism Maze began to shift and come to life.