Chapter 132: Breaking Through (Third Watch, Requesting Moon Tickets)

On the morning of August 12, Huoluo Tribe.

At this moment, the atmosphere inside Huoluo Tribe was tense.

The reason was simple: an hour ago, Huoluo’s chieftain, Chi Luo, received an alert from Wang Ting—that the Da Chen invader was advancing toward Huoluo Tribe and would soon arrive.

At the same time, their king, Chi You, had offered advice: the Da Chen bandit was extremely cunning; he advised Chi Luo to gather the tribe’s elites and annihilate him with full force. Meanwhile, Chi You, Lord of Chi Lin, had also notified them that he had dispatched reinforcements led by Wang Ting’s general, Chi Dian, expected to arrive in two hours.

Upon receiving this news, Chi Luo immediately ordered the entire tribe to go on alert and assembled the tribe’s elites.

Besides himself, a Star Refining seventh-layer cultivator, there were two Star Refining sixth-layer, five Star Refining fifth-layer, eight Star Refining fourth-layer, and twenty-nine Star Refining early-stage cultivators.

Among the five tribes, Huoluo Tribe’s strength was relatively strong.

But even so, Chi Luo had his own concerns.

At this moment, would Wang Ting’s deployment of a large army have ulterior motives?

The reason was simple: the king’s divine soul was under Da Chen’s control—a public fact.

Having betrayed Da Chen, once the Star Gate reopens in three months, Da Chen will certainly not spare the king.

Therefore, before the Star Gate reopens, the king must elevate Prince Chi Meng to the throne.

But before elevating Prince Chi Meng, would the king eliminate obstacles for him?

This was Chi Luo’s fear.

Such events had played out repeatedly for thousands of years within the Huoxuan Star Region.

Just as a new beast king ascending would slaughter all the offspring of the old beast king.

Yet they had no choice but to deal with Da Chen’s enemy.

“Chi Fu, Chi Cang, each of you lead twenty Star Refiners and patrol the tribe continuously. If you spot the enemy, report immediately. Also, if Wang Ting’s army arrives, notify me at once.” Chi Luo ordered.

“Yes!”

Immediately, Chi Luo’s two Star Refining sixth-layer subordinates led their elites to patrol the entire tribe.

Originally, Chi Luo had received orders to assemble forces, but now, there was no need.

He merely sat in the tribe’s main hall; even with four Star Refining early- and mid-stage guards standing at the entrance, an inexplicable unease clung to his heart.

A nameless sense of danger lingered within him.

Yet he could not pinpoint its source.

Anxious, Chi Luo could only link this instinctive dread to the possibility that Chi You was clearing obstacles for Prince Chi Meng.

While Chi Luo paced restlessly inside the tribe’s main hall, Xu Jin sat cross-legged in the shadow beneath the colonnade directly opposite the hall, silently observing the building.

Previously, while at Jinshan Dao Academy, Xu Jin had tested the limits of his invisibility star technique.

By simultaneously activating the three star runes—Cheng Po, Gui Cang, and Ni Xiang—and then triggering the basic star technique Star Mist, he could achieve invisibility, even in daylight.

The strength of the invisibility depended on the power of his divine soul.

Back then, at Jinshan Dao Academy, even Star Refining instructors failed to sense him within ten meters, while Ning Yuchan, whose cultivation was at least Condensing Star ninth-layer, needed to be within twenty meters to detect him.

At that time, Xu Jin’s divine soul star was at Star Refining fourth-layer.

Now, Xu Jin’s divine soul star had reached Star Refining sixth-layer.

Thus, upon arriving at Huoluo Tribe, Xu Jin activated his invisibility technique and walked boldly into the tribe.

He had now remained hidden for two quarters of an hour.

He had overheard Chi Luo’s discussions and deployments, and even located the tribe’s treasury.

Xu Jin was now considering whether he should capture the leader first.

The tribe’s chieftain, Chi Luo, was himself a Star Refining seventh-layer cultivator, yet only four Star Refiners guarded his entrance—only one was Star Refining fourth-layer; the other three were all Star Refining second- and third-layer.

Not a serious threat.

But the two patrol squads posed a threat.

After some thought, Xu Jin did not act immediately; instead, he quietly tracked and observed the two squads patrolling the tribe’s security.

The entire Huoluo Tribe’s encampment was small, five li long and three li wide.

At normal walking pace, a full patrol took half a quarter-hour.

After fifteen minutes, Xu Jin calculated the timing and distance; when the two patrol squads had moved two hundred breaths away from the main hall, at their farthest point, Xu Jin moved instantly.

He activated the Lightning Star Rune and exploded into Flying Star Step—the sound of a sonic boom erupted abruptly.

Before the four Star Refining guards at the entrance realized what had happened, a blur flashed past.

In an instant, Xu Jin appeared before Chi Luo, chieftain of Huoluo Tribe.

He unleashed a punch instantly.

Chi Luo, worthy of his title as chieftain, activated his protective starlight the moment he heard the sonic boom—almost instinctively, he punched the blur before him.

Flames curled around his fist!

Fire fist against iron fist!

Starlight exploded violently!

Chi Luo’s eyes widened in shock.

He saw that under the attacker’s punch, his fire fist, along with his fist and arm, had been utterly pulverized into bloody pulp.

In the next instant, he grunted and retreated like lightning.

But Xu Jin followed like a shadow, striking again with another punch.

Another punch, infused with thirty percent star power!

One punch pierced Chi Luo’s chest, shattering his heart outright.

As blood sprayed everywhere, the four Star Refining guards roared and charged forward.

Xu Jin turned, his ten fingers striking in rapid succession.

In an instant, twenty star arrows shot forth.

As for the Star Refining fourth-layer elite, Xu Jin added one Earth Burst technique.

Then, struck simultaneously by seven ordinary star arrows, he was breached and slain!

Five kills!

Xu Jin easily extracted five star cores, found over twenty third-grade star jade tablets in Chi Luo’s robes, casually tossed them onto the Can Dou Platform, then located a water vat, rinsed the blood from his body, and vanished instantly.

Five breaths later, the two patrol squads arrived one after another.

Fear was etched on every Chi Lin warrior’s face.

Within their own tribe, their chieftain—a Star Refining seventh-layer expert—and four elite Star Refiners had been slaughtered, their star cores stolen; how could they not be terrified?

As they debated their next move, the alarm bell suddenly rang long and loud.

It came from the direction of the tribe’s treasury.

“Beggars!”

Inside the treasury, after effortlessly killing one Star Refining third-layer and four Casting Star late-stage Chi Lin warriors, Xu Jin rushed in.

But what frustrated him was that, besides a few star weapons and vast quantities of grain, there was not a single star jade tablet.

So damn poor!

He had hoped for a big haul.

Xu Jin quickly left and concealed himself in the shadow of a tower a hundred meters from the treasury, watching as two squads of forty Star Refining experts rushed over and poured into the tribe’s treasury.

Seeing this, Xu Jin smirked.

He had hidden here for a reason.

The treasury’s main gate was extremely thick, built with an outer gate and inner gate.

The inner gate was narrow, allowing only two people to pass side by side—and at this moment, only the inner gate was open.

The instant Xu Jin saw the majority of the forty Star Refiners enter the treasury, he exploded into Flying Star Step, darting to ten meters from the treasury gate, and unleashed ten fingers in rapid succession.

In just two breaths, Xu Jin fired at least a hundred star arrows.

The eighteen Star Refining early-stage Chi Lin warriors outside never even saw their enemy—they were all slain.

The Chi Lin warriors inside the treasury tried to rush out, but Xu Jin rained star arrows upon the inner gate.

They were nothing but sitting ducks.

One came, one died.

Two came, both died with dual strikes.

Gate blockade annihilation!

Finally, after five elites were killed at the gate, the experts inside reacted—they shattered the treasury’s main gate and charged out together.

But when they burst through the dust, the enemy had vanished.

Fear was written on every Star Refiner’s face.

In just a few breaths, twenty-three of the forty elite Star Refiners had died; seventeen remained.

“What do we do?” “Send for help—immediately request aid from Wang Ting!”

“No, we should find a place to hold out first!” Two Star Refining sixth-layer experts disagreed.

Meanwhile, Xu Jin waited quietly in the shadow of a building two hundred meters away, awaiting his next opportunity.

His next strike would eliminate this entire group!

Twenty breaths later, the two Star Refining sixth-layer experts reached an agreement: retreat to the tribe’s fortress and send for help from Wang Ting.

But mere moments after they turned to leave, Xu Jin suddenly appeared behind them and unleashed a dense barrage of star arrows.

Under hundreds of star arrows, all but two Star Refining sixth-layer and one Star Refining fifth-layer expert were slain—one of the sixth-layer Chi Lin warriors was critically wounded.

The cost: Xu Jin had blocked one attack with his arm shield.

Then, it was over for them.

Ten breaths later, Xu Jin swallowed a Soul-Returning Pill of the First Nourishment, ignited their granary, and swiftly departed from the Fire Oak Tribe.

After using the Flying Star Step to sprint a hundred li, Xu Jin found a secluded spot and fully restored the eight-tenths of star power he had consumed in his Middle and Lower Star Palaces.

He then continued using the Flying Star Step, heading straight for his next target tribe—Fire Li Tribe.

Xu Jin’s selection of targets was also highly strategic.

From Fire Gui Mountain to Fire Oak Tribe, then to Fire Li Tribe—if you drew lines on a map, they formed a straight path.

That is, if reinforcements first rushed toward Fire Gui Mountain, they would inevitably be directly behind Fire Li Tribe.

And as Fire Oak Tribe sent its plea for aid, the reinforcements rushing toward Fire Oak Tribe would inevitably be behind Xu Jin’s current target: Fire Li Tribe.

At least for now, Fire Lin Tribe’s reinforcements still lagged behind him.

In the next fifteen minutes, Xu Jin unleashed the Flying Star Step without restraint, sprinting two hundred li to reach Fire Li Tribe.

This was also one of Xu Jin’s greatest advantages.

Other cultivators—even Fire Lin warriors at the early or mid-Star Forge realm—dared not use the Flying Star Step continuously for fifteen minutes.

The cost was unbearable.

The cost was indeed heavy for Xu Jin too.

But the problem was, Xu Jin possessed the Unbroken Primordial Star Body, which restored star power rapidly enough.

In those fifteen minutes, Xu Jin activated the Flying Star Step over a thousand times, consuming half the star power in his Middle Star Palace—but within that hour, his Middle Star Palace automatically restored one-tenth of its star power.

His consumption was partially replenished.

Moreover, the effect of the Flying Star Step differed.

Xu Jin’s current Flying Star Step, combined with the Swift Lightning Star Pattern, allowed him to flash a hundred meters in a single step, enabling him to sprint two hundred li in fifteen minutes.

But other Fire Lin warriors—even those at late mid-Star Forge realm—could only flash sixty to seventy meters at most.

To be honest, Xu Jin genuinely hoped they would abandon their main force and chase him alone—that would make things delightful for him.

Undoubtedly, Xu Jin had created a temporal gap.

Even if reinforcements arrived shortly after Xu Jin left Fire Oak Tribe, the temporal gap he created was still at least one hour.

Two hundred li was a distance that a Star Forge realm main force would take at least one hour to cover.

In fact, when Xu Jin reached the outskirts of Fire Li Tribe, found a deserted spot, and began restoring his star power, Chi Dian had just arrived at the slaughtered Fire Oak Tribe with the elite warriors from the other four tribes.

Of course, the ones Xu Jin had slain were all Star Forge elite warriors.

The Star Cast warriors? Xu Jin had neither the time nor the energy.

Slaughtering them would be a pure waste of star power for Xu Jin, who was pressed for time.

Even the peak Star Cast warriors of Fire Lin Tribe could be instantly killed by a single Star Arrow.

For Star Forge first or second tier, with Xu Jin’s current late Star Cast cultivation base, two Star Arrows sufficed; for third tier, two Star Arrows weren’t enough, and three would be wasteful.

For Star Forge fourth tier and above, a bit more effort was needed.

Of course, Xu Jin’s immense strength had its roots.

Having undergone nine rounds of Bone Cleansing and Marrow Washing, Xu Jin possessed, even before Star Casting, star power comparable to that of ordinary cultivators at late Star Cast.

During Star Casting, both his Middle and Lower Star Palaces achieved Superb Star Casting, each exceeding three inches.

A Low-grade Star Core yielded twice the star power of a Meal of Mist seventh tier; Medium-grade, three times; High-grade, four times; Supreme-grade, five times—so what of Superb-grade? It should be six times!

Most Fire Lin warriors had Low-grade or Medium-grade Star Cores; even ignoring the difference in Meal of Mist seventh tier star power, the gap at Star Casting alone meant Xu Jin’s star power was already double or triple theirs.

Moreover, the foundational star power from Meal of Mist seventh tier was fundamentally different.

Theoretically, Xu Jin’s star power was roughly ten times that of an ordinary cultivator.

In addition, the powerful boost from the Divine Soul Star at Star Forge sixth tier—without even considering other factors—made it impossible for Xu Jin not to be strong!

Inside Fire Oak Tribe, Chi Dian’s face turned ashen.

After circling the entire Fire Oak Tribe, he found every Star Forge warrior, from the chieftain Chi Luo downward, dead.

Forty-five Star Forge warriors—all perished, not one survived.

This enemy was stronger and more terrifying than he had imagined.

Chi Dian involuntarily glanced behind him; behind him stood the elites from the other four tribes, including four tribal chieftains.

They included one Star Forge eighth tier, four Star Forge seventh tier, six Star Forge sixth tier, twelve Star Forge fifth tier, and twenty Star Forge fourth tier.

These were the elite forces of the other four tribes.

Of course, Chi Dian believed these four tribes had more elite warriors left behind in their own villages.

But this force should be sufficient to deal with this Chen genius.

“My lord, hurry! We can’t delay any longer!”

Among them all, Chi Li, chieftain of Fire Li Tribe, was the most anxious.

Fire Li Tribe, being far from the rendezvous point, had assembled quickly; upon learning the target was advancing toward Fire Oak Tribe, Chi Li had been cautious and prioritized reaching the rendezvous point instead of rushing to aid Fire Oak.

Chi Dian could not fault him, for Chi Li had perfectly executed the King’s orders.

But now, it was another matter.

Whether Chi Li’s earlier move was fortune or misfortune was hard to say.

Had Chi Li directly reinforced Fire Oak Tribe, he might have slain the enemy—or died himself.

But now, Chi Li was truly desperate.

Because the royal court had urgently reported: the Fire Lin Heart showed the target was advancing toward Fire Li Tribe.

But Chi Dian had his own thoughts.

He had realized that if he now led the main force toward Fire Li Tribe, they would merely be chasing dust.

They would forever be trailing behind the target, chasing dust.

The tactic must change.

Otherwise, Chi Dian might truly have to watch tribe after tribe get slaughtered—and then he would become a traitor to the Fire Lin Clan.

So where would this Chen genius strike next?

After studying the map for a while, Chi Dian pinpointed the target—Fire Yuan Tribe.

The Chen genius’s next target was almost certainly Fire Yuan Tribe, the closest to Fire Li Tribe.

Then, he only needed to go to Fire Yuan Tribe, lie in wait, find the enemy, and surround and annihilate him.

Upon hearing they were going directly to Fire Yuan Tribe instead of rescuing Fire Li Tribe, Chi Li immediately refused, threatening to take his tribe’s elites and leave alone to rescue his village.

Chi Dian pointed at the corpse of Chi Luo, chieftain of Fire Oak Tribe, and said, “If you take these men back now, you’ll just be delivering your head! If you want to die like Chi Luo, go ahead!”

One sentence silenced Chi Li.

Chi Li was no fool—he was a tribal chieftain.

“But my lord, my only son is still in the tribe! Can’t we at least go to Fire Li Tribe first?” Chi Li pleaded.

“Do you think I don’t want to? But look at Fire Oak Tribe—if we go there now, your Fire Li Tribe will already be slaughtered, and then we’ll keep running, watching all five tribes get wiped out one by one?

You must trust my strategy!”

At these words, Chi Li fell silent—but the other three tribal chieftains panicked.

This possibility was very real.

After a few breaths, Chi Li, chieftain of Fire Li Tribe, gazed helplessly at the distant Fire Li Tribe, then turned and followed Chi Dian toward Fire Yuan Tribe, glancing back every few steps.

He had only one son—but his own life mattered more.

He was still in his prime; he could have another son later.

And just as Chi Dian led his Star Forge elites toward Fire Yuan Tribe, Xu Jin, his star power fully restored, strode boldly into Fire Li Tribe.

Xu Jin dared to be so brazen for a reason.

He had just scouted and confirmed: Fire Li Tribe was extremely empty.

There were still twenty-nine Star Forge warriors, but most were early Star Forge.

Additionally, there was one Star Forge sixth tier, one Star Forge fifth tier, and seven Star Forge fourth tier.

Along the way, Xu Jin strode openly, firing Star Arrows straight toward the tribe’s main hall.

(End of Chapter)