Chapter 34: The Art of Collection and Refinement

As he had first impressioned, Chi JiuYu was a restless soul.

Soon after entering the villa, she picked her room and began cleaning and organizing, for she had often been cast by her master into the Starfield Battlefield for training, so her storage ring was stocked with many daily necessities.

She laid out the sheets, took out the quilt and pillow, then flung herself onto the bed, rolled over, and lay sprawled out on her back.

She pulled out her phone and logged onto the Spirit Net to search.

‘How to recover accidentally deleted chat records’

Quickly, many answers popped up; Chi JiuYu grinned.

Though her uncle’s realm was high, he had only just emerged from seclusion—how well could he possibly know the Spirit Net?

The chat records her master specifically ordered deleted—how could she not be curious? Not looking was impossible; even if she’d be punished later, that would be the future her, not the present one.

Xu Xing knew nothing of this; though his senior sister’s disciple was interesting, he couldn’t possibly monitor her every moment.

At this moment, he sat in his study, a laptop before him, inserting the crystal card storing the ‘Basic Collection and Refinement Method’ into the side slot.

【Reading, please wait…】

The crystal card emitted a faint spiritual energy fluctuation, rapidly spreading outward.

‘An anti-theft system.’

Xu Xing slightly raised his hand and suppressed the faint spiritual energy fluctuation.

This was within his expectations—Collection and Refinement Method was not suited for widespread dissemination.

The vast majority of Qi Refining cultivators lack the foundation to meet the threshold of the Heaven-Crafted Dao Base; they can’t even pass the first stage. If they forcibly draw starlight into their bodies, they risk injury, complete loss of cultivation, or even death from unbearable pain if their physique is too weak.

After suppressing the spiritual energy fluctuation, text began appearing on the computer screen.

‘Basic Collection and Refinement Method’

Hundreds of characters flowed freely—the opening matched Xu Xing’s memory: sit facing the moon at midnight, then channel three-tenths of spiritual power to form the ‘Star-Fishing’ Seal.

The ‘Star-Fishing’ Seal is not complex; most cultivators succeed after two or three attempts. The only caution is to output spiritual power calmly.

After drawing in starlight, the key is how to ‘collect’ it into the body.

Starlight has no form or substance—only spiritual soul force can capture it, yet this is like a mortal trying to grasp thorns bare-handed.

Even skin and flesh tearing hurts; how much worse for the fragile spiritual soul of a Qi Refining cultivator?

Thus, many cannot endure this step.

After ‘collecting’ starlight into the body, one must ‘refine’ it, integrating it into spiritual power to imbue spiritual power with a trace of true origin, preparing for later absorption of lunar essence and solar essence.

But starlight is extremely sharp; its passage through the meridians causes pain comparable to being sliced by a thousand knives.

Those with insufficient foundation may force starlight into the dantian, yet still fail due to weak spiritual power roots, over-refining it.

When this happens, spiritual power acquires a trace of starlight’s nature—razor-sharp, surpassing even true origin from external Foundation Establishment.

But every time one activates spiritual power, one relives the ‘refinement’ process—no one can bear that agony.

The ‘Basic Collection and Refinement Method’ created by Holy Emperor Yuan added one extra step to the ‘refinement’ phase.

The cultivator must first condense a spiritual seal within the dantian; after drawing starlight into the dantian, they do not immediately refine it, but store it within the seal, releasing it slowly, bit by bit, to gradually wear it down. Though slower, the pain is far milder than other Collection and Refinement Methods.

It’s a clever trick—but can this method truly forge the Heaven-Crafted Dao Base?

The probability is low.

Solar essence and lunar essence cannot use this method.

Thus, there was one final note from him.

【This method reduces pain during starlight refinement, but must not be used in later stages. If you cannot endure the first stage, abandon it immediately and expel the spiritual seal along with the starlight within it from your body.】

Expelling the spiritual seal will cost some cultivation, but it’s better than over-refining or failing in later stages.

A spiritual seal formed from spiritual power cannot carry the power of the next two stages; higher-level forces interfering will instead pollute the cultivator’s foundation.

This is why the Heaven-Crafted Dao Base is so hard to forge—it ultimately depends on the cultivator themselves.

‘It does give more people a chance to try.’

Xu Xing withdrew the crystal card and crushed it into ash with a thread of magic power.

………… Xuanjian City Central Hospital.

Xiao Fan exchanged his second-place prize from today’s Duel Test for spirit coins to pay the surgery fee.

Watching his parents embrace, weeping with joy, and his elder brother being taken away by a Nascent Soul physician, his heart felt hollow.

Dazed, he rose and walked outside.

His mother, seeing this, opened her mouth to say something, but his father pulled her back and shook his head.

Xiao Fan walked out of the hospital.

At a flowerbed, bright yellow flowers bloomed perfectly; suddenly, he felt utterly drained and slowly sat down beside it.

Staring at the ground, his eyes were lost.

Yes, his elder brother had exceptional talent—he joined the Dragon-Elephant Pillar Heaven Sect before the college entrance exam three years ago.

He was also always kind to him, occasionally sending back precious cultivation resources, which is why Xiao Fan reached Qi Refining Ninth Layer in his final year of high school.

‘Xiao Fan, study hard at school. I’ve checked—the Combat Merit List has Dragon-Elephant Pills. I’ll get you one!’

He truly was wonderful.

Xiao Fan had always idolized his elder brother, dreaming of one day joining the Dragon-Elephant Pillar Heaven Sect too.

But the Starfield Battlefield was no amusement park—it was an extremely dangerous battlefield where anyone could die.

When he saw his elder brother lying unconscious on the hospital bed, his mind went blank.

The Dragon-Elephant Pillar Heaven Sect offered some aid; his parents borrowed everything they could—but still fell short.

So Xiao Fan thought of the upcoming Duel Test.

He secretly took money from home without telling his parents and bought a Barrier-Breaking Spirit Elixir.

The events replayed in his mind—all of it was his own choice, yet… why did it still hurt so much?

Tears flowed uncontrollably.

He understood—his life… was over.

‘Young man, you look deeply saddened.’

A pair of polished leather shoes appeared in his line of sight. Xiao Fan wiped his tears and looked up.

The man before him wore casual clothes that clashed utterly with his shoes—ordinary face, gentle aura.

And he had that strange first impression: ‘This guy’s a nice guy—I should tease him.’

‘Wipe your face.’ He offered a tissue.

‘…Thank you.’ Xiao Fan took the tissue. ‘Did you come because of my brother?’

He was already a waste.

‘Your brother?’ The man shook his head slightly. ‘No, I’m not interested in him.’

Like a magician, he produced a jade box in his hand.

‘An ancient divine treasure. Ingest it, and you can alter fate, gain great fortune. Interested?’

‘…’

So he was a salesman. I’m this broken—can’t you see? But Xiao Fan lacked the strength to shoo him away.

‘I have no money. I can’t afford it.’

‘During this promotion, free trial. Don’t miss your chance—it won’t come again.’

The man shoved the jade box into Xiao Fan’s hand, then turned and walked away.

Huh? He just left? Xiao Fan stared blankly at the jade box in his hand, hesitated long, but ultimately chose not to discard it.

On the hospital rooftop, the man watched Xiao Fan put away the jade box and nodded, then looked upward, as if speaking to someone.

‘Brother Dao, how much progress have you made since your latest emergence from seclusion?’

Please collect, please follow!! (End of Chapter)