When Chen Jingzhai arrived on the fourth floor, he was surprised not to find any beasts there.
Instead, in front of him was an item cauldron with a fire burning underneath it.
“Welcome to the fourth floor. As you have arrived within the time restriction, you are qualified to receive the inheritance. Inside the cauldron contains the inheritance of a Grade 1 item alchemist,” the spirit of the tower said. “You are now required to create a Grade 1 magic item according to the jade slip in 30 minutes.
With a wave of his arm, Chen Jingzhai grabbed a jade slip from inside the cauldron.
After reading through the slip with his divine mind, Chen Jingzhai frowned and asked, “Does everyone get the same one?”
“Yes. You’ll be tasked with an item alchemy mission every three floors. The only way to continue is by completing these missions. Please begin right away. A few of the participants have already reached the fourth floor. The ingredients are inside the cauldron as well.”
Chen Jingzhai found it hard to believe the spirit’s words as he was confident that he was the fastest in killing the monsters.
It was clear that the spirit wasn’t willing to share the progress of others with him, and he had no way of proving the spirit’s words.
However, he wasn’t worried about it as he didn’t really need the inheritance of item alchemy.
The inheritance from the Luo Sheng Sword School was already in its completed form. The Heavenly Artisan lineage of Tianzhu Peak was well known even outside the clan, and there was no need for Chen Jingzhai to inherit the technique of a rogue cultivator.
The only reason Chen Jingzhai still wanted to get the inheritance was solely due to the fact that he didn’t want to return empty-handed.
After a few seconds, the jade slip in the young man’s hand disintegrated, and he quickly activated the Flame Formation with his spiritual power.
The weak fire underneath the cauldron was amplified into a raging flame to heat the cauldron up.
Chen Jingzhai then took all the ingredients out and created the item according to the instructions on the jade slip.
Most of the process wasn’t hard, but the real challenge was in the processing method.
Just like elixir alchemists, every item alchemist had their own unique processing method. The difficulty and compatibility of each method were different too.
Fortunately, the item that he had to make was an inferior Grade 1 magic item with the fang of a Green-Scaled Wolf as the main ingredient.
It only took Chen Jingzhai a quarter of an hour to complete a Wolf Fang Dagger.
The instant he had succeeded, the flame disappeared, and the Restriction in the corner of the floor lit up.
He walked toward it and realized there was only one reward this time.
It was another jade slip. After reading through it, he learned that it was another Grade 1 item creation method.
However, this time, it was a completed version with every level, from inferior to superior, of the Grade 1 method.
Chen Jingzhai finally understood how the tower worked, and after keeping the jade slip, he walked into the teleportation Restriction.
Before Chen Jingzhai could even stabilize himself from being teleported to the fifth floor, he heard an ear-piercing screech.
The screech was so loud that he felt a little dizzy from it.
However, that was the extent of the damage he had received.
In the next second, the young man disappeared from where he was standing a tenth of a second ago as a flying beast crashed into that area.
“Isn’t that the Grade 2 flying beast, the White-Headed Wind Falcon?” Chen Jingzhai exclaimed.
The beast’s head was covered with white feathers, while its beak, claws, and wings were green in color.
He was sure that it was a White-Headed Wind Falcon.
Although it was an intermediate Grade 2 beast, its combat ability had far surpassed its level.
A fully grown White-Headed Wind Falcon had the fastest flying speed among Grade 2 beasts.
However, what made them a terrifying opponent was that they could use the Wind Blade spell once they had grown up.
The falcon was an extremely rare beast that lived in Pulao Kingdom and the Eastern Ocean.
One would need a lot of luck to even spot one in a lifetime.
Yet, there were 12 such rare beasts in the room.
Before Chen Jingzhai could recover from the surprise, the falcons flapped their wings and sent out waves after waves of Wind Blades toward him.
With a single wave of his arm, a wall made out of soil rose in front of him.
The first wave left deep marks on the wall while the second wave broke through the defense.
Chen Jingzhai was surprised once again at how powerful the Wind Blades were. These attacks were already on par with sword vapors.
He couldn’t help but feel disappointed as he couldn’t capture the falcons alive. They would’ve been a great addition to the Primordial Essence World.
“What a waste…” Chen Jingzhai sighed and disappeared once again.
A second later, he reappeared high up in the air, and with another wave of his arm, he summoned a dragon-shaped fire attack.
The fire dragon opened its mouth as if it was alive and charged toward the 12 White-Headed Wind Flacons.
No matter how fast the beasts were, they were still limited by the confined space.
And Chen Jingzhai was powerful enough to catch them alive if he wanted to.
The falcons were grilled by the fire one after another and dropped down to the floor.
The young man then approached the Restriction of the floor for his reward.
There were three different rewards this time.
Other than a Grade 2 elixir, there was a green robe and a fist-sized egg.
Chen Jingzhai picked up the egg without hesitation.
That was the egg of a White-Headed Wind Falcon, and it was something that Chen Jingzhai would not let slip.
With a hint of surprise in his eyes, he put the egg away and headed to the sixth floor.
The space was even bigger than before, and this time, he had to face a group of Herculean Black Gorillas.
There were 15 of them, and all of them were armed with a club and rocks.
They made a weird cry when they spotted Chen Jingzhai and started to throw rocks at him before swinging their clubs down toward him.
Although their actions may seem hilarious, they were strong enough to break the mud wall that Chen Jingzhai had created with a single hit.
Chen Jingzhai couldn’t help but make fun of the person who had named the gorillas Herculean Black Gorillas.
The actual name of the gorilla was Herculean Mad Ape.
The word “mad” was a great representation of their kind, as they were known to be very aggressive, to the point where the other apes wouldn’t befriend them.
Not only that, but they were extremely strong as well. Even a child had the strength to break a large stone with its fist.
Their hide was extremely thick, too, to the point where normal magic items would not be able to harm them.
Herculean Mad Apes usually only appeared in the deeper part of the Southern Woods Ocean.
Some would occasionally roam out of the forest, but they would get chased back into the forest when that happened.
No Foundation Establishment Plane cultivators had the guts to kill a Herculean Mad Ape as the apes could sense it and would target those who had killed their kind when they entered the forest.
This was Chen Jingzhai’s first encounter with Herculean Mad Apes.
These beasts had red eyes, and they charged toward him all at once, swinging their attacks at him.
Chen Jingzhai used the Water Illusion Shadow to quickly change his location and send a wave of green light toward the apes.
The light surrounded the beasts and put them into a deep sleep.
It was a Grade 2 poison spell that he had obtained from Ma Qing, the Drunken Light.
“Did I not pass the test?” Chen Jingzhai asked when he noticed the Restriction was not lit up.
The spirit did not answer him. Instead, the Restriction was activated.
Chen Jingzhai ignored the sleeping apes and approached the Restriction to find two rewards.
One was a Red Lips Fruit, and the other was a superior Grade 2 spiritual item, the Wolf Fang Mace.
Chen Jingzhai chose the fruit and took his calabash out.
The Red Lips Fruit was a drunken fruit with a hint of poison in it. A normal person would fall into a deep sleep if they accidentally consumed one and might not wake up from it.
However, the poison had no effect on cultivators but was a great wine-making ingredient instead.
Wine Celestial Peak even had a farm dedicated to planting the Red Lips Fruit, but the fruits there weren’t as high quality as the ones that were in Chen Jingzhai’s hand.
Chen Jingzhai tossed the fruit into the calabash.
With the Wine Talisman Elixir and the Red Lips Fruit in the calabash, he was confident that the wine would get even better.
The liquid inside the calabash was now so tasty that even a thousand gold pieces would not be enough to exchange for a cup.
Chen Jingzhai took a sip of the wine before heading toward the next floor.
A tall tree stood in the middle of the seventh floor. It was an old tree with moss, vines, and mushrooms covering its trunk.
Even though everything seemed normal, Chen Jingzhai could sense dense demonic energy in the room.
“A spirit monster?” Chen Jingzhai was slightly surprised.
That was the first time he had met a plant spirit, and he did not expect to meet one inside the Demon Subduing Tower.
“How dare you!” An old voice could be heard coming from the tree.
The entire tree moved, and its branches began to dance around.
Two roots emerged from the ground and formed into legs.
An old face then appeared on the trunk.
“Are you not a spirit monster?” Chen Jingzhai grinned. “And a banyan tree spirit at that.”
“You can call me Grandpa Banyan,” the tree said. “I’ll let you pass this test if you promise me one thing.”
“There’s a test like this as well?” Chen Jingzhai expressed his surprise.
“Of course,” the tree spirit replied and snapped one of its twigs. “I’ll let you kill me as long as you promise me to plant this kid in the outside world.”
