Chapter 133: Harvest and Pockets (Request Subscription)

"A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, how dare you be so arrogant!"

When he saw Xu Jin slaughtering the clan’s Foundation Establishment elites with Star Arrows, a Fire Li clan Star Refining expert who rushed over upon hearing the alarm was inexplicably enraged.

He leapt instantly into the air, his flame-bladed knife unleashing a thirty-meter-long burst of firelight, slashing toward Xu Jin with the force of a mountain cleaving blow.

This sight left Xu Jin momentarily stunned.

To be honest, among the two clans he had crushed, this Star Refining sixth-layer expert was the wildest, the most confident, and the most direct.

Xu Jin liked such experts.

In the next instant, Xu Jin’s Waist Star Step and Foot Star Step exploded simultaneously; his body blurred like a ghost, circling around to appear behind Chi Guo, then delivering a lightning-fast punch to his back.

In this punch, Xu Jin injected half of his internal star power.

Starlight exploded outward.

One moment, the Star Refining expert Chi Guo was roaring in fury; the next, he shattered into pieces.

The three Star Refining experts who had just arrived—fourth and fifth layer—were instantly dumbfounded!

They were terrified.

Xu Jin even saw a Star Refining second-layer Red Scaled youth, so frightened he wet himself.

Seeing this, Xu Jin smiled.

How hilarious—still at Star Refining second layer, and he peed himself?

With the Speed Star Pattern enhancing his movement, Xu Jin flashed rapidly; within moments, he eliminated the Fire Li clan’s Star Refining fifth- and fourth-layer experts.

If these men had united, formed a battle array, and fought without fear, they could have caused Xu Jin serious trouble—even possibly surrounded and killed him.

After all, there were many of them.

But after Xu Jin’s initial strike struck terror into their hearts, they quickly fell to his blades.

One must admit, the Fire Li clan did have some brave warriors.

The young Foundation Establishment and even Mist-Feasting cultivators charged at Xu Jin as he stepped into the clan’s main hall, roaring fiercely—only to be casually obliterated by his Star Arrows.

None of them could even reach within twenty meters of Xu Jin.

Before the Fire Li clan’s main hall, blood flowed like a river.

“Devil!”

“Demon!”

“This is an invincible devil!”

Someone shouted it—no one knew who—and the remaining Fire Li warriors completely broke, scattering in all directions to flee.

Xu Jin strolled into the Fire Li clan’s main hall, for he wanted to see the Star Refining warrior who had peed himself.

A Star Refining second-layer Red Scaled warrior who could be scared into urinating? Xu Jin was genuinely curious.

Inside the hall, a young man crouched behind the clan chief’s throne, curled into a trembling ball, his lower body soaked in urine, reeking foully.

Xu Jin was about to casually slash him with his blade when he noticed the youth’s attire differed from the other Star Refining experts.

Besides being more finely crafted, he wore meticulously made leather boots and a bone crown on his head.

It resembled the bone crown of the chief Xu Jin had slain in the Fire Oak clan, yet it was not the same.

Xu Jin pulled the throne back slightly, sat upon it—the seat of chieftain authority—and a three-meter-long beam of starlight shot from his star weapon, resting against the youth’s neck.

“Speak. Who are you? If you’re useful, I may spare your life.”

The youth stared at Xu Jin in terror, stammering, “Mercy, Divine Envoy! I—I’m the Fire Li clan’s young chief… Chi Xiang! I’m very useful! Whatever you wish to know, I—I can tell you!”

Xu Jin glanced at the youth in surprise—he was the young chief. His judgment had been correct.

Yet this young chief, so pitifully cowardly, was clearly a spoiled, broken heir.

“When will your Wang Ting’s reinforcements arrive?” Xu Jin asked.

“My father said reinforcements won’t come—he told me to flee, but there wasn’t time.”

“Speak clearly! Stutter again, and I’ll kill you!” Xu Jin was irritated by his stammering.

“I—I won’t stutter anymore!” To save his life, Chi Xiang straightened up, finally crawling away from the puddle of urine—Xu Jin looked at him with clear disgust.

“Then where did the Wang Ting reinforcements go?”

“Divine Envoy, I don’t know. My father didn’t say.”

“How did your father contact you? And how does your Wang Ting communicate with your clan?” Xu Jin asked—this was the information he most needed to know.

So far, it seemed the Red Scaled Wang Ting could rapidly alert all clans, but the alert messages varied.

Whether they were vague warnings, real-time positional markers, or more precise—this directly affected Xu Jin’s next moves, so he had to clarify.

At that moment, two Star Refining third-layer warriors rushed into the main hall, “Young Chief, we’ve come to rescue—”

Before “rescue” was finished, Xu Jin obliterated them with several Star Arrows.

Xu Jin hadn’t even moved his buttocks—he remained seated.

The Fire Li clan’s young chief, Chi Xiang, watched this, his eyes trembling; seeing Xu Jin like a demon god, he discarded even the last delusion of hope.

“Red Scaled Heart.”

“All clan chiefs break off two pieces of our Red Scaled Clan’s unique Red Scaled Heart Armor, then bring them to the Wang Ting for the Great King to refine them with the Red Scaled Heart—after that, information can be transmitted quickly,” Chi Xiang said.

“Oh? To what extent can information be transmitted?”

Chi Xiang looked at Xu Jin blankly—he didn’t quite understand.

“Show me the message your father and the Wang Ting sent you.”

“Yes yes yes.”

Chi Xiang then pulled a palm-sized piece of Red Scaled Heart Armor from his chest and demonstrated for Xu Jin.

Unlike what Xu Jin imagined, it wasn’t written text.

Information was conveyed through the armor’s color, frequency, and pattern of pulsations—like a primitive codebook, extremely limited in what it could transmit.

For example, the alert the Wang Ting sent to the Fire Li clan was crude.

It simply meant: “An enemy has arrived at your clan—prepare for battle.”

“Have you ever sent any reports to the Wang Ting?” Xu Jin’s eyes narrowed; a plan began forming.

“No! Divine Envoy, I didn’t dare—I had no time!” Chi Xiang seemed to sense something, frantically assuring him.

“Wait here.”

Xu Jin gave a brief instruction, turned, and left the hall. He crushed a mind-clearing pill, a blood-replenishing pill, and a vial of wound powder, mixed them with dirt and blood, then reshaped them into a black, foul-smelling pill.

“Open your mouth!”

Chi Xiang obediently opened his mouth, trembling all over—then Xu Jin flicked the pill into it, reeking of a pungent stench.

“Swallow it!”

Realizing this might be poison, Chi Xiang burst into tears—but still swallowed it obediently.

Xu Jin clicked his tongue—this wasn’t a young chief; he was just an ungrown child.

“That pill I just gave you is my own concoction: the Intestine-Rotting, Brain-Melting Pill! Feel anything?”

Xu Jin grinned—next instant, Chi Xiang sobbed and clung to Xu Jin’s leg, “Divine Envoy, spare me! I’ll do anything you say! Please spare my life!”

Thud!

Xu Jin kicked him away with disgust.

He was covered in shit, urine, and snot—filthy!

Disgusting!

“I ask you—do you feel anything?”

“Yes yes yes! My belly burns, and a cold wind is drilling straight into my head! Divine Envoy, I’ll obey you—I swear! Please spare me!” Chi Xiang panicked—the sensation of poisoning was terrifying.

Xu Jin nodded, satisfied.

The burning in his belly was the faint star power from the mind-clearing pill dispersing; the cold wind in his head was the effect of the mind-clearing pill.

If he felt it, good.

“Listen—this Intestine-Rotting, Brain-Melting Pill won’t activate for three months. If you obey me, do as I say, I’ll give you the antidote later. Understood?” Instantly, Chi Xiang began banging his head on the ground like a pounding pestle.

“If you give me the antidote, I’ll obey—I’ll obey completely!”

“Good. Change your clothes, pack food, and get here as fast as possible!” Xu Jin marked a point on the map—a central location, not far from Fire Li Clan, two or three hundred li from Fire Yuan Clan, six or seven hundred li from the Red Scaled Wang Ting, and not far from another clan, Fire Armor Clan.

Xu Jin intended to use this captured young chief, Chi Xiang, but he couldn’t fully trust him.

“Understood understood—I’m going now.”

“By the way, tell me where your clan’s treasury is—and your father, the clan chief, must have a private stash, right?” Xu Jin asked.

“Our clan treasury is here. My father does have a small vault, but I can’t open it—it’s back there.” Chi Xiang was now utterly cooperative.

Moments later, Chi Xiang led Xu Jin to a bedroom with a hidden underground entrance. After passing through a five-meter tunnel, they reached a heavy stone door, locked.

Chi Xiang truly couldn’t open it.

But Xu Jin smashed it open with one punch.

A minor waste of star power.

Inside was a treasure chamber—dozens of star weapons, better quality than any Xu Jin had seen before, yet still useless.

Then, in the next instant, Xu Jin’s pupils shrank sharply.

Star Jade Tablets.

At least a hundred of them.

Among them, sixteen were pale green Star Jade Tablets; even from several meters away, Xu Jin’s Mingji Star Pattern sensed the dense star power radiating from them.

Pale green Star Jade Tablets were Earth-grade, specifically fourth-grade Qing Jade Tablets.

In Chen Guo, they were the primary material for crafting fourth-grade Star Emblems, each worth a thousand taels of gold.

“Do you produce this here?” Xu Jin asked, looking at the Star Jade Tablet.

“We do, but this pale green kind is extremely rare! The Wang Ting demands all of it be surrendered—supposedly to send it to the Upper Country. These are what my father secretly hoarded.” Chi Xiang replied.

Xu Jin began to understand the value of this second-rank star region.

Just the production of these Star Jade Tablets alone was a tremendous harvest.

In the private treasure chamber of the Fire Li tribe chief, the most valuable item was these sixteen pale green fourth-rank Star Jade Tablets.

The other hundred or so Star Jade Tablets were mostly low-rank, mostly second-rank, with only a few third-rank ones.

Suddenly, Xu Jin’s gaze fell on several large chunks of metal at the very edge of the treasure vault.

“What’s this?” The aura of this metal was familiar to Xu Jin.

“It’s raw Star Meteor Iron ore, also secretly hoarded by my father, but we can’t refine it, so it’s just been left here.”

Xu Jin frowned.

This Star Meteor Iron ore was extremely heavy—several pieces weighed over a hundred jin.

He tried once, but due to its mineral nature, it couldn’t be absorbed into the Can Dou Platform.

But if this Huoxuan Star Region had raw Star Meteor Iron ore, might it also have refined Star Meteor Iron?

For Xu Jin, this was something urgently needed.

Because one of the materials required to upgrade his Can Dou Platform from third to fourth rank was a substantial amount of Star Meteor Iron.

In the next instant, Xu Jin’s mind shifted, sinking into the Can Dou Platform’s Jade Tablet—instantly, the upgrade information appeared.

【Upgrade Available: Requires one thousand strands of starlight, thirty-six fourth-rank Star Jade Tablets, one thousand jin of Iron Essence, one hundred jin of Copper Essence, one thousand jin of Silver, one hundred liang of Gold, one jin of Star Meteor Iron, one piece of thousand-year Turtle Shell】

Xu Jin had long known the celestial treasures needed to upgrade to fourth rank, but he had never actively prepared for them.

Mainly because the requirements were too numerous—he simply couldn’t gather them at his current stage.

Compared to the materials needed for the third-rank upgrade, the demand had multiplied by more than tenfold.

Previously, he needed refined iron; now he needed Iron Essence.

Though “refined iron” and “Iron Essence” differ only in word order, their value differs by more than tenfold—and both are military-controlled materials.

But this was an unexpected windfall.

Fourth-rank Star Jade Tablets, worth a thousand liang of gold each, had been found here—sixteen of them.

If fortune favored him, perhaps he could gather all the fourth-rank Star Jade Tablets within the Huoxuan Star Region.

Gather one piece, count one piece.

Then Xu Jin waved his hand, collecting the sixteen fourth-rank pale jade tablets into the Can Dou Platform, along with the other hundred or so second- and third-rank Star Jade Tablets.

But as the second- and third-rank Star Jade Tablets entered the Can Dou Platform, they turned to powder.

Above the Can Dou Platform, however, dozens of new strands of starlight appeared.

Every ten second-rank Star Jade Tablets directly added one strand of third-rank starlight; one third-rank Star Jade Tablet added one strand of starlight.

Convenient indeed.

This was one of the new functions Xu Jin had recently discovered in the Can Dou Platform.

“Alright, hurry off. I’ll come find you later.”

“You won’t tell the Wang Ting or my father about your capture, will you?” Xu Jin said.

“No way, absolutely not—I’m not stupid!”

Hearing this, Xu Jin nodded.

This prisoner was good. He wasn’t afraid of a clever prisoner—only of a foolish one!

After ransacking the Fire Li tribe chief’s treasure vault, Xu Jin let the captive young chief, Chi Xiang, go.

As for the Fire Li tribe’s official treasury, there was, unsurprisingly, nothing of value.

And the reason, Xu Jin now knew.

The Wang Ting had previously ordered all tribal chiefs to distribute all jade tablets from their treasuries to elite warriors to boost their cultivation, in preparation for the Chen Guo soldiers’ attack three months hence.

Leaving the Fire Li tribe, Xu Jin headed toward the Fire Yuan tribe, which lay quite near.

“Everyone, stay alert! My Lord has sent word: that Great Chen invader is rapidly approaching our Fire Yuan tribe! Follow my orders—lie in ambush. If that bastard shows himself, kill him.”

Within the Fire Yuan tribe, Chi Dian, a general of the Wang Ting who had arrived early, was making final battle preparations.

This battle must eliminate that Great Chen prodigy!

Two tribes’ elites had been slaughtered; the Chi Lin clan’s losses were already devastating.

Twenty minutes later, Chi Dian led his elite troops in a thorough search of the entire Fire Yuan tribe, occasionally leaping onto watchtowers to scan for the enemy’s trail, his brow tightly furrowed.

The Wang Ting had sent two alerts already.

The alerts said the Great Chen enemy had approached—or even entered—the Fire Yuan tribe, and to be cautious.

But despite Chi Dian’s exhaustive search inside and outside the tribe, he found not a trace of the enemy—not even a shadow.

Chi Dian did not know that Xu Jin was now quietly restoring his depleted star energy in a forest within the Fire Yuan tribe.

As for the enemy forces gathered here, he had already detected them.

Truly, a gathering of masters.

One eighth-rank Star Cultivator, four seventh-rank Star Cultivators, not to mention dozens of mid-rank Chi Lin elites.

This lineup was truly lavish.

If Xu Jin charged in recklessly,

he might never return.

If there’s a trap, don’t walk into it.

Half a quarter-hour later, Xu Jin, his star energy fully restored, sped toward the next Chi Lin tribe—Fire Jia!

(End of Chapter)