Chapter 148: Star Picking (Please subscribe and vote with monthly tickets)

The Killing God Battlefield and Star Picking mentioned by Liu Zhou Qingzhu aroused Xu Jin's interest.

Especially Star Picking.

This made Xu Jin's imagination run wild.

The Star Picking Tower had existed for how many years, so the challenge of this Star Picking secret realm had existed for just as many years.

And listening to Liu Zhou Qingzhu's meaning, although the Star Picking secret realm had existed for thousands of years and there were countless star pickers, there were no "Radiant Star" pickers!

At least not in the known history of the current world.

But let alone picking a Radiant Star, even those who picked a gold star were all influential figures.

And what made Xu Jin most curious was that in the Star Picking secret realm, one could not only challenge with a phantom body, but also challenge with one's true body!

That is to say, whatever you possess, you can bring it in to challenge.

Theoretically speaking, as long as you have it, even if you are a third-tier cultivator, bringing fourth-tier, fifth-tier, or even sixth-tier star artifacts in to challenge is not considered cheating.

Under these circumstances, the fact that few people picked a gold star made Xu Jin quite curious.

So after leaving Liu Zhou Qingzhu's place, Xu Jin came to the Star Picking Square again and stepped directly into the Star Picking Tower.

In the main hall on the first floor of the Star Picking Tower, Xu Jin clicked into the last star gate on the right.

Stepping in, in an instant, a magnificent scene appeared before Xu Jin.

Under the starry dome, a tall building hung with brilliant stars appeared before Xu Jin. If one looked carefully, this tall building was not only hung with all kinds of brilliant stars, but more importantly, it was hung with gold, silver, and copper-colored stars.

It was just that the brightness of these three-colored stars was far lower than those Radiant Stars, and if one didn't look closely, they were not eye-catching at all.

As Xu Jin's gaze moved, a screen of starlight descended from the starry dome, with the three large characters "Star Picking Ranking" shining brilliantly.

Above it, there were only a few sparse lines of text.

【Radiant Star: Total picked zero, this year zero】

【Gold Star: 497 picked, one this year】

【Silver Star: 1,973,750 picked, 392 this year; Great Chen Star Picking Tower, 43 silver stars picked】

【Copper Star: Over 10 billion picked】

Just four lines of text, but they made Xu Jin look curious.

This copper star clearly had no difficulty.

With over 10 billion picked, it was obvious that most cultivators could pick them, at least the cultivators of the Great Chen National Dao Academy could.

By the time it reached the silver star, the difficulty increased a hundredfold, with less than four hundred picked in a year.

This was not the number of stars picked by Great Chen in a year; this Star Picking Ranking was the total ranking of the current world's Star Picking Tower.

No matter which main Star Picking Tower one entered to pick stars, they were all presented here.

And it was for cultivators of all stages.

Whether you were in the Star Refinement Realm, the Condense Star Realm, or a fifth, sixth, or seventh-tier cultivator, as long as you picked a star, it would be counted here.

That is to say, among the tens of millions of cultivators in the entire current world, in a year, only 392 silver stars were picked in the Star Picking challenge secret realm, of which Great Chen picked 43.

Xu Jin averaged it slightly and reached a conclusion: Great Chen was relatively weak.

Currently, there were eight known main Star Picking Towers in the current world, which were the Lingji Star Palace, Tianyang Star Palace, Cangming Star Palace, Zhen'e Star Palace, Great Chen, Great Chu, Great Hong, and the Barbarian Tribe.

Among them, the Star Picking Tower of the Lingji Star Palace was sealed after the Lingji Star Palace was slaughtered and its palace locked.

In reality, there were only seven main towers capable of picking stars.

The average median of silver stars picked by these seven forces should be 56, while Great Chen only had 43.

This was clearly dragging the team down.

The next instant, Xu Jin stepped directly into the Star Picking secret realm.

In an instant, lines of rules appeared before Xu Jin.

【Except for specially noted winning conditions, other challenges all take the total annihilation of the enemy as the winning condition】

【If a Star Picking challenge is won, one can challenge continuously; if defeated twice in a row, one can only challenge after three days; if defeated three times in a row, one can only challenge after seven days; if defeated more than three times in a row, one can only challenge again after thirty days】

【Copper stars can be directly exchanged for two wisps of Star Picking Tower starlight, silver stars can be directly exchanged for one hundred wisps of Star Picking Tower starlight, and gold stars can be directly exchanged for ten thousand wisps of Star Picking Tower starlight】

【Ten silver stars can be used for one Dao Derivation】

【One gold star can be used for one high-tier Dao Derivation】

【Radiant Star: Known only to those who clear the level】

A few simple rules made Xu Jin's heart beat wildly.

Even a copper star could obtain two wisps of starlight, worth two hundred taels of silver.

Silver stars were even more valuable, and if one picked a gold star, one would instantly become a wealthy person.

However, what made Xu Jin even more curious was the number of Dao Derivations?

Did it refer to deduction or something else?

The next instant, these lines of rules disappeared, and a star gate appeared before Xu Jin.

【Star Picking Challenge: Can challenge the level guardian, or can challenge the inner demon】

【Successfully challenging a level guardian or inner demon of the same cultivation level obtains one copper star】

【Successfully challenging a level guardian or inner demon three layers higher than one's own cultivation level obtains one silver star】

【Successfully challenging a level guardian or inner demon a whole major realm higher than one's own obtains one gold star】

【Successfully challenging a level guardian and inner demon a whole major realm higher than one's own simultaneously obtains one Radiant Star】

【All challengers can only pick stars level by level; after picking the copper star of the corresponding realm, one can then challenge to pick silver, gold, and Radiant stars】

【One can re-challenge to pick stars every time one breaks through a small realm】

The details of the challenge were very simple and understood at a glance, but what was an inner demon?

After thinking about it, Xu Jin chose the inner demon challenge first.

The next instant, Xu Jin, who stepped into the star gate, saw the starlight change, and a boundless space filled with brilliant starlight appeared directly. A countdown light screen flickered in front of him, and opposite him, a figure was faintly visible.

When the countdown ended, a man over 1.8 meters tall, with a straight posture and a heroic face, appeared opposite him.

When this man charged over, Xu Jin finally reacted.

Isn't this him?

The inner demon is himself?

The next instant, Xu Jin's inner demon rushed to Xu Jin's side, and star fire ropes, thunder light, and fire light poured toward Xu Jin in an instant.

The star light shield Xu Jin injected with up to thirty percent of his star power shattered in an instant.

The two star shields that were instantly condensed were shattered as soon as they appeared.

Just as he wanted to unleash the Flying Star Step to escape, his spirit suddenly shook, and the Spirit Suppressing Bell condensed by the Suppressing Intent star pattern on the Spirit Star cracked inch by inch. The moment his head felt intense pain, the starlight before his eyes had already collapsed!

Spirit Secret Art: Breaking Evil.

The next instant, Xu Jin's figure reappeared before the star gate of the Star Picking secret realm.

His face was pale!

His face was silent!

Instantly killed!

Instantly killed by his own inner demon!

Xu Jin originally thought that copper stars should be very easy to get.

But he never expected to be instantly killed!

Xu Jin's first reaction was, am I that strong?

Because according to the Star Picking secret realm, the inner demon is a complete projection of one's personal strength; whatever one knows, the inner demon knows, the only difference being the cultivation level when challenging different star grades.

The second reaction was, why does the inner demon know fire-element star arts and thunder-element star arts that I don't know?

This point was the most terrifying and horrifying!

A few breaths later, Xu Jin left the Star Picking Tower, and on the way back to the small courtyard, he felt a bit dejected.

Not because he was instantly killed.

But because Xu Jin was thinking about a very terrifying question.

How did the Star Picking Tower, or the Star Picking secret realm, know that he knew fire-element and thunder-element star arts?

After thinking hard for the whole way, Xu Jin thought of three possibilities.

The first possibility is that the Arena has nowhere to hide in front of the Star Picking Tower; when the Star Picking Tower generated his inner demon, it simultaneously generated an Arena for the inner demon, so whatever Xu Jin knows, the inner demon knows, and whatever Xu Jin hides and doesn't display, the inner demon also knows.

If this is the case, then the Star Picking Tower is too terrifying!

The second possibility is that as long as it is a capability Xu Jin has displayed, the Star Picking Tower can replicate it one-to-one for the inner demon.

The third possibility is that as long as it is a capability Xu Jin has displayed in an environment related to the Star Picking Tower, the Star Picking Tower can replicate it one-to-one for the inner demon.

Regarding the current situation, Xu Jin recalled carefully, and all three are possible.

Thunder-element star arts had been displayed in both the current world and environments related to the Star Picking Tower, with the most frequent displays in the Fire-Splendid Star Domain.

Fire-element star arts: just after obtaining the Fire Spirit Star Core, Xu Jin had simply tried it out in the Fire-Splendid Star Domain.

The Spirit Star Pattern "Breaking Evil" was successfully engraved by Xu Jin on the Spirit Star two days ago.

After the successful engraving, Xu Jin had tested its power on an opponent in the third-tier practice secret realm of the Star Picking Tower.

It was very fierce.

So regarding the strength currently displayed by the inner demon, all three possibilities exist.

If it is the third, it is actually the simplest, and the second is also acceptable.

But if it is the first, Xu Jin will have to be a bit careful in the future.

If even the Arena can be discovered and simulated, how terrifying must this Star Picking Tower be?

After a while, when Xu Jin learns new star patterns, he will be able to test it out.

By the time Xu Jin stepped into the small courtyard, the clouds of gloom on his face had completely dissipated.

It wasn't because he was afraid that his sister Jiang Er would see his expression and worry.

But because Xu Jin had already figured it out.

Why worry?

No matter which possibility it is, since it has appeared, it is a settled fact. Even if Xu Jin worries and suffers from insomnia for thirty-three days, he cannot change anything.

Since that is the case, then practice well, improve yourself, and focus on the present.

If that terrifying result truly appears, just face it with a smile.

Worrying is useless!

"Brother, you're back!"

As Xu Jin returned, little Jiang Er greeted him with a smile, which suddenly made Xu Jin feel completely relaxed.

The feeling of being greeted when returning home is really quite good.

"Brother, brother Lu came to visit this morning. Seeing you weren't here, he left a gift and an address and left first," little Jiang Er said.

"Hmm, good, let's find a time in a few days to go and visit him."

Lu Xianbing had previously asked for Xu Jin's address through star light transmission and had also talked about his recent situation, which was not bad.

As a core disciple of the National Dao Academy, Lu Xianbing should have had strong family support during his last star forging, achieving double top-grade star forging. In the end, he actually became a disciple under Kou Jing, one of the four University Rectifiers. His cultivation base had been breaking through all the way recently, and a few days ago, he was already at the peak of the second layer of Star Refinement.

Wang Weisheng, Zhang Han, and others had also been in contact, but they didn't have as good luck as Lu Xianbing and became disciples under two Vice University Rectifiers.

Of course, becoming a disciple under a Vice University Rectifier doesn't necessarily mean it's worse.

For example, Xu Jin, this champion of direct disciples, also serves under a Vice University Rectifier.

Inside the quiet room, Xu Jin honestly practiced star patterns in the star lamp for an hour, mainly focusing on the fourth-tier upper-grade mid-tier fire source star pattern.

If the inner demon knows it and I don't, it's simply a disgrace.

Of course, what the inner demon knows should be derived from the primary fire source obtained from the Fire Spirit Star Core.

After an hour, Xu Jin stopped practicing; he hadn't used the two hours of practice time for the Feiyan Academy Hall's Star Gathering Array yet.

As for the practice time in the third-tier star power secret realm, half had already been used, and it would be used up in a few days, so there was no rush.

However, before going out, Xu Jin, whose mindset had been completely adjusted, held the Star Picking Token again and entered the Star Picking Tower of the Great Chen National Dao Academy, then pushed open the star gate on the far right.

【Killing God Battlefield】

This was another place recommended by his teacher Liu Zhou Qingzhu that could improve actual combat capabilities and also obtain cultivation resources.

The moment he stepped in, lines of information and rules appeared, and there was an opening statement.

The establishment of the Killing God Battlefield secret realm is to improve the survival rate of Great Chen soldiers on the Star River Battlefield, and also to allow disciples of various cultivation levels to adapt to various different alien races of the Star River Battlefield in advance, and to understand their star arts and combat characteristics.

From the third layer of Star Refinement, one can start challenging the Killing God Battlefield.

From the first level of the Killing God Battlefield, the difficulty of the level faced by each disciple is consistent; only by defeating the current level can one challenge the next level. However, the rewards for each level are not fixed.

The main factor affecting the level reward is the challenger's cultivation level when challenging the current level and the number of times they have challenged the level.

In general, the lower the challenger's cultivation level, the higher the level of the challenge successfully cleared, the more rewards obtained; the rewards for each person challenging a level change in real-time.

For the same level, when challenging at the third layer of Star Refinement, there might be a reward of ten Dao merits, but when challenging at the fourth layer of Star Refinement, there are only five Dao merit rewards.

This should be the origin of the cultivation resources mentioned by Liu Zhou Qingzhu.

Above the Killing God Battlefield, there was also a star screen hanging down, with three rankings hanging high in the sky.

The first ranking was called the Killing God Battlefield General Ranking. The moment he looked at it, Xu Jin's gaze moved slightly.

The high-ranking officials of the National Dao Academy were all on it.

【First place: Cheng Yuexiao, 647 levels】

【Second place: Meng Yanhui, 584 levels】

【Third place: Ji Ye, 582 levels】

【Fourth place: Song Bing, 579 levels】

Looking down, Xu Jin found the names of University Rectifier Fang Shinan and Liu Zhou Qingzhu.

【Eighth place: Fang Shinan, 563 levels】

【Thirty-fifth place: Liu Zhou Qingzhu, 526 levels】

【Fifty-first place: Dong Zhao, 501 levels】

Soon, Xu Jin found Lu Chenfeng's ranking on the list again.

【Fifty-seventh place: Lu Chenfeng, 498 levels】

The general ranking only showed the top hundred, and Xu Jin did not find Ning Yuchan's name.

It seemed quite normal; Ning Yuchan was only a fourth-tier Condense Star Realm ninth-layer peak expert. If her strength could rank in the top hundred of the Great Chen National Dao Academy, wouldn't the Great Chen National Dao Academy be too weak?

Those who could make the list had to be at least fifth-tier Gather Battle late-stage powerhouses.

But then again, could this ranking represent the strength of the major giants of the Dao Academy?

Young students might break their heads for this list, but the older generation might not necessarily do so.

A large portion of people would conserve their strength.

And the powerhouses who had been fighting on the Star River Battlefield for years were definitely not on the list.

However, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao was truly strong and was the only powerhouse seen so far who had broken into the six-hundred-level mark, and he was far ahead of the second place by sixty levels.

The other two star screens were also rankings.

They were the New Disciple Ranking and the Star Refinement Disciple Ranking, respectively.

The New Disciple Ranking immediately attracted Xu Jin's gaze.

This should be the most fiercely contested and fastest-changing ranking at the moment.

In the few dozen breaths Xu Jin watched, several rankings had changed.

【First place: Meng Qingqiu, 67 levels】

【Second place: Yan Chen, 65 levels】

【Third place: Ji Hongli, 65 levels】

【Fourth place: Yuan Feiqing, 64 levels】

Suddenly, Xu Jin's pupils shrank, because he saw Lu Kun's ranking.

Xu Jin didn't like this person Lu Kun before, didn't like him now, and would like him even less in the future.

Especially after University Rectifier Fang Shinan and Lu Kun staged that bitter drama of taking a disciple, Xu Jin liked him even less.

If he met him on other occasions in the future, it wouldn't be a matter of pestering him, but he would definitely target him a bit.

【Fifth place: Lu Kun, 63 levels】

It still only showed the top hundred.

At the very end of the New Disciple Ranking, Xu Jin found Lu Xianbing's name.

【Ninety-eighth place: Lu Xianbing, 47 levels】

Among all the direct disciples, except for Xu Jin, all were on the list, and most were ranked within the top twenty.

"It seems I've embarrassed my teacher. No, I have to give it a try."

Xu Jin's heart moved, and he chose to challenge. In an instant, star light information appeared with rules.

【Killing God Battlefield, every disciple with a cultivation level of Star Refinement and above can challenge. If won, one can challenge continuously; if one accumulates three failures within a day, one needs to rest for seven days before challenging again】

【Xu Jin, can challenge the first level of the Killing God Battlefield, reward one Dao merit】

【Challenge】

The next instant, light and shadow changed, and Xu Jin appeared in a canyon in an instant. A countdown light screen fell, and an Eight Desolations alien with wings charged toward Xu Jin.

The Mingji Star Core in the Lower Star Palace turned slightly, and the aura of this Eight Desolations alien was already clear in his heart.

An alien at the peak of the first layer of Star Refinement, and according to the star power fluctuations sensed, it was just an Eight Desolations alien with mid-grade star forging.

Xu Jin had killed simply too many such Eight Desolations aliens in the Fire-Splendid Star Domain.

And that was when he killed them with a cultivation base of mid-to-late stage star forging.

Now, Xu Jin's cultivation base was already at the peak of the first layer of Star Refinement.

His star power had increased by another fold compared to when he was at the peak of star forging.

Without any suspense, instant kill.

【Xu Jin, congratulations, you have successfully challenged the first level of the Killing God Battlefield, the reward has been issued, do you want to continue challenging?】

【Xu Jin, can challenge the second level of the Killing God Battlefield, reward two Dao merits】

This reward was truly a bit small.

He just didn't know if it doubled or increased by one point each time?

If it doubled, the reward would be quite good.

【Challenge】

The number of enemies in the second level doubled; they were two enemies at the peak of the first layer of Star Refinement. Without any suspense, instant kill.

The reward for the third level increased from two Dao merits to three, and the enemies also became three enemies at the first layer of Star Refinement. No suspense, instant kill.

Three Dao merits were credited.

In the fourth level, Xu Jin obtained four Dao merits, in the fifth level he obtained five Dao merit rewards, and in the sixth level, the rewarded Dao merits were still six, but the enemies had changed.

There were five Eight Desolations aliens at the first layer of Star Refinement plus one Green Demon of the Five Spirits race.

And this Green Demon of the Five Spirits race had relatively strong strength, clearly being of upper-grade star forging.

The most critical point was that this Green Demon of the Five Spirits race actually knew a rare healing star art, equivalent to the enemy bringing a "milk bomb," but it only made Xu Jin spend two more seconds of combat time.

After instantly killing those five Eight Desolations aliens, no matter how good this Green Demon was at healing, without a target, it was useless.

However, compared to the first five levels, for ordinary disciples, the difficulty of this sixth level had already increased exponentially.

In the seventh, eighth, and ninth levels, one more enemy was added to each level. Relying on the Mingji Star Pattern, Xu Jin had also figured out the pattern.

Every two levels, an elite monster with upper-grade star forging would be added.

The tenth level was an accident; the Dao merits rewarded for the tenth level were ten, but eleven enemies at the peak of the first layer of Star Refinement appeared.

Especially the leader, whose star power aura was extremely strong, three times that of those ordinary Eight Desolations aliens, clearly being of supreme-grade star forging.

Xu Jin understood this as a level mini-boss.

Displaying his movement technique, Xu Jin spent ten seconds to end the battle.

For the first ten levels, Xu Jin obtained a total of 55 Dao merits. If he went to the External Affairs Hall and gathered a bit more, he could buy three Star Refinement Elixirs.

It was indeed a supplement to cultivation resources.

If he could challenge every day, Xu Jin would definitely come to brush it once a day.

But it was clearly a one-time level.

【Xu Jin: Can challenge the eleventh level of the Killing God Battlefield, reward two Dao merits】

Suddenly, the information that jumped out before his eyes made Xu Jin's gaze move.

For the eleventh level, the Dao merit reward did not increase but decreased, dropping directly from the ten points of the tenth level to two.

Xu Jin chose to challenge in confusion.

The target was an Eight Desolations alien at the peak of the second layer of Star Refinement.

Instant kill!

【Xu Jin: Can challenge the twelfth level of the Killing God Battlefield, reward four Dao merits】

Seeing this prompt, Xu Jin understood instantly; the challenge pattern of the Killing God Battlefield was basically figured out.

It should be that if one challenges a Killing God Battlefield level with a cultivation level higher than one's own, the reward will increase.

If it increases like this, then the reward is not small.

There was not much difference between enemies at the second layer of Star Refinement and enemies at the first layer of Star Refinement, especially in the first nine levels.

In the tenth level, being besieged by eleven enemies at the peak of the second layer of Star Refinement simultaneously caused Xu Jin a little bit of trouble.

It took more than twenty seconds to kill the enemies.

After the twentieth level challenge was completed, Xu Jin obtained a total of 110 Dao merit rewards; for the first twenty levels, the Dao merit rewards obtained reached 165 points, which could already buy eight Star Refinement Elixirs, which was considered a good harvest.

Soon, Xu Jin began to challenge the twenty-first level.

As Xu Jin expected, for the twenty-first level, the Dao merit reward was the same as before, not increasing but decreasing, but the base Dao merit reward became three points.

Clearing levels all the way, Xu Jin killed through the first thirty levels.

When killing the thirtieth level, Xu Jin felt a bit of difficulty.

Xu Jin also discovered the problem.

Star arts.

The star arts he used were all basic star arts.

When facing the elite boss of the last level, the power of the basic star arts was a bit weak.

However, Xu Jin still ended the battle within fifty seconds.

He obtained 165 Dao merits again, obtaining a total of 330 Dao merits, a good harvest.

A quarter of an hour later, Xu Jin killed through the fortieth level, obtaining 220 Dao merits again.

When killing the fortieth level, it was slightly dangerous; Xu Jin had no choice but to use the Spirit Secret Art—Breaking Evil—to resolve the fourth-layer Star Refinement alien with supreme-grade star forging.

Continuing to challenge, when Xu Jin challenged to the forty-ninth level, he stopped.

It was strenuous.

When facing enemies at the fifth layer of Star Refinement, especially when facing enemies at the fifth layer of Star Refinement with upper-grade star forging, under the siege of many people, Xu Jin's basic star arts appeared relatively strenuous, and he had to use the Spirit Secret Art to pass the level smoothly.

For the forty-ninth level, Xu Jin spent more than two minutes to end the battle.

Of course, he was still far from Xu Jin's limit.

After thinking about it, Xu Jin decisively ended the challenge of the Killing God Battlefield.

First, engrave the mid-tier fire source star pattern. After successful engraving, it should be able to greatly improve Xu Jin's combat power, and at that time, he would be able to obtain Dao merits quickly.

However, today's challenge was also good. Xu Jin challenged all the way to the forty-ninth level, obtaining a total of 775 Dao merit rewards, which was almost enough to buy four bottles of Star Refinement Elixirs; the harvest was very good.

【Ninety-first place: Xu Jin, forty-ninth level】

When leaving the Killing God Battlefield, Xu Jin saw his ranking, having successfully broken into the top hundred of the Killing God Battlefield, ranked ninety-first, slightly stronger than Lu Xianbing.

"Liver the star patterns first!"

The moment he left the Killing God Battlefield, Xu Jin sank his mind into the star lamp and began to constantly try to engrave the mid-tier fire source star pattern.

At this moment, Xu Jin's heart for engraving star patterns was extremely urgent!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 149 =====