103: The fourth floor of the pit

The clue from the first Jade Slip cooled Zhou Luo's originally excited heart by more than half.

He composed himself, threw aside the Jade Slip containing the Golden Light Bell clue, and took another one.

Taking a deep breath, he looked through the Jade Slip.

White light surged out, illuminating the surroundings.

Zhou Luo returned once again to that vast white Space.

The old man with hair like a crane and face like a child still maintained a smile, looking at him kindly and benevolently.

"Please state the order of placing the medicinal ingredients when refining the Golden Origin Pill."

"You have twenty breaths of Time to answer."

Another Pill Refining question.

It's still about First-Order High Grade Pills.

If this were Wang Yuwei and the others, they definitely wouldn't be able to answer.

It seems this question is also random and doesn't consider the Jade Slip user's true level.

"Golden Origin Grass, Sandwood Root, Stone Nan Grass..."

Zhou Luo listed off the names of eight types of medicinal ingredients.

"Correct answer, this is your clue."

The old man nodded and extended his hand; from his palm floated out a slip of paper, floating in mid-air and slowly unfolding.

"At a small stall on the east side of the South Street market in Maple Leaf City, with the words 'Shuofeng' hanging on it, there is a stone with an ordinary appearance. Inside the stone is hidden a Fire Flame Crystal."

The clue is in Maple Leaf City?

Zhou Luo's pupils slightly contracted.

Isn't that perfect.

Moreover, this Fire Flame Crystal is an important material for refining First-Order High Grade Fire Flame Pills, and its price in the market is not low.

If I could pick up a High Grade material for free, that would definitely be a profit.

"Do you want to verify its authenticity!"

The old man's voice interrupted Zhou Luo's thoughts.

Right.

This clue is real or fake.

If you want to verify its authenticity, you can either follow the clues and personally go to South Street after returning to Maple Leaf City, or you can perform Pill Refining.

The former doesn't require much effort, but if it's a fake clue, then the anticipation would be in vain.

Relatively speaking, the latter is the best choice.

Anyway, when it comes to Pill Refining, I've never been afraid.

It couldn't be that what I'm refining is Second Order Pills, right.

"Yes," Zhou Luo said with a firm tone.

The old man said with a smile, "After successfully refining a furnace of Golden Origin Pills, you will know the authenticity of the clue."

After speaking, between the two of them, golden light shone brightly, and a Pill Furnace suddenly appeared. Beside it also appeared a small wooden table, on which were placed the Materials for refining Golden Origin Pills.

Zhou Luo was thoughtful.

It seems the subsequent Pill Refining and the previous question are related.

Staring at the purple-gold Pill Furnace, he didn't hesitate, walked forward, picked up the Materials, and began Pill Refining.

The old man, meanwhile, stood there smilingly, quietly watching.

Approximately two quarters of an hour later.

The pill fragrance overflowed, and the Golden Origin Pills were successfully refined.

Then the old man waved his hand, and the Pill Furnace and Materials all disappeared.

"This clue is fake!"

He calmly stated.

Zhou Luo's face darkened, and in his heart, ten thousand grass-mud horses galloped past.

I worked so hard to finish refining...

Alright.

Actually, it wasn't that hard.

But at least I put in effort.

In the end, the clue was still fake.

He immediately had an urge to curse someone.

Unfortunately, the old man didn't give him a chance.

The white light receded, and he returned once again to the wooden table.

Upon returning to reality, Zhou Luo only felt a dizzy spell in his head, and a wave of fatigue surged into his heart.

The next second, the Lingxi Jade on his chest glowed faintly, and a cool sensation flowed into his Sea of Consciousness, making him relax quite a bit.

It seems this Pill Refining also requires the consumption of mental energy.

Zhou Luo, looking at the closed Jade Slip, thought to himself.

Currently, he was already a First-Order Top-Grade Alchemist, but after finishing the refining of a furnace of Golden Origin Pills, he actually experienced the phenomenon of mental fatigue.

If this were changed to a First-Order High-Grade Alchemist, the effect would likely be greater.

But in the illusion, he didn't feel anything at all.

No wonder the fourth floor stipulated that they could only look at five Jade Slips each day.

If there were no restrictions, I'm afraid some people would truly become addicted to verifying the authenticity of the clues, and then in the illusion, their mental energy would scatter and completely collapse.

This kind of gambling nature clue exploration is addictive.

Unfortunately, even after opening two Jade Slips, although he got one real clue, it had still been found by someone before.

He didn't expect this clue searching was even more difficult compared to what he imagined.

After his mental energy had mostly recovered, Zhou Luo continued to pick up the third Jade Slip and entered the illusion.

Then.

He got a fake clue.

And because of Pill Refining, his mental energy was depleted again.

Thankfully, with the help of the Lingxi Jade, he was able to recover quickly.

After resting for a quarter of an hour.

Zhou Luo was unwilling to give up and picked up the fourth Jade Slip again.

The result was.

He once again got a fake clue.

What a rip-off!

Zhou Luo, with a pale face, looked at the Jade Slip and cried out that he had been fooled.

Does this Immortal Sect have to be so shady? Can't they just give a real clue?

After undergoing three times of Pill Refining, Zhou Luo's mental energy was greatly depleted, and the feeling of fatigue surged like a tide.

He had to stop.

It just so happened that the chairs here were suitable for meditation.

Zhou Luo simply sat cross-legged on it and began Cultivation to replenish his energy.

The Gathering Spirit Art quietly circulated, and that Fire Spirit Ring emitted red light.

The surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy began to converge towards it, passing through his skin and surging into his Meridians.

Zhou Luo felt the majestic spiritual energy surging through, which was more than twice as much as outside.

If I could cultivate here every day, how great that would be!

An hour later, Zhou Luo opened his eyes, and in his Qi Sea Dantian, there was once again a bit more spiritual energy.

His mental energy recovered quite a bit, so he took a deep breath and took the last Jade Slip over.

It must be a real clue!

He inwardly shouted.

Unfortunately, his luck was truly too bad.

It was another fake message.

The depressed Zhou Luo returned to reality and glanced at the Time.

A morning passed just like that.

And he himself, besides those few wisps of weak spiritual energy, gained nothing.

He left his seat and put the five Jade Slips back.

However, after returning to their original place, those five Jade Slips, with a flash of white light, disappeared from sight.

Zhou Luo's expression changed.

They can still change positions?

Doesn't that mean that I might still draw them in the future?

No way!

Zhou Luo, who had previously thought the Immortal Sect was wealthy and extravagant, now suddenly had other feelings.

It's simply too shady!

Leaving the fourth floor, Zhou Luo walked out of the Scripture Pavilion, looking at the scorching sun hanging high, and suddenly felt that the fourth floor wasn't as good as he imagined.

Shaking his head and sweeping away these unrealistic thoughts.

He walked towards the Pill Refining Room, intending to first complete today's assignment.

Compared to Pill Refining in the illusion, it was significantly easier in reality.

At the same time, while Pill Refining, Zhou Luo suddenly discovered that his Divine Sense seemed to have strengthened a bit.

The strength of one's Divine Sense directly affects an Alchemist's strength.

Alchemists with strong Divine Sense can use more medicinal ingredients at once and refine more Pills.

Conversely, Alchemists with weaker Divine Sense are the opposite.

Often, Divine Sense is also an important criterion for judging an Alchemist's Realm.

No wonder Wang Yuwei previously mentioned that there was an Alchemist who stayed on the fourth floor for nearly a year and then broke through after coming out.

It's probably because they were daily "opening blind boxes."

Although the first day didn't yield much.

But thankfully, for the next month, Zhou Luo could stay on the fourth floor.

Therefore, in the following days.

He would in the morning, after completing his assignment, in the afternoon, he would go to the fourth floor to "open blind boxes" and also cultivate.

Unfortunately, his luck didn't seem to be very good.

Although he found real clues, those clues were either relatively difficult to obtain or easy but not of high value.

It was completely not worth searching for.

A month quickly passed, and a new assessment arrived once again.

Zhou Luo would also lose the qualification to enter the fourth floor.

But he was truly unwilling to give up.

Therefore, without surprise, he once again secured first place for the second month.

Causing Lu An, who originally wanted to avenge his previous shame, to once again suffer a defeat.

"I still don't believe it."

In the second month, Zhou Luo came once again to the fourth floor, looked at the huge bookshelf, and walked over with unwavering determination.