Chapter 169: Prisoner (Request Subscription)

Before reuniting with Ji Hongli, Xu Jin took the opportunity to place the two newly acquired fourth-rank star cores into the Can Dou Tai and examined the protective star patterns they provided.

A single glance filled Xu Jin with delight.

One star core was a fourth-rank upper-level Thunder Spirit core; the other was a fourth-rank mid-level Thunder Spirit core.

【Offering Spirit Object Three: Fourth-Rank Upper-Level Thunder Spirit】

【Obtainable Protection: Initial-Stage Thunder Source, Mid-Stage Thunder Wing, Purple Thunder Barrage】

【Offering Spirit Object Two: Fourth-Rank Mid-Level Thunder Spirit】

【Obtainable Protection: Initial-Stage Thunder Source, Mid-Stage Thunder Wing】

What delighted Xu Jin was the Initial-Stage Thunder Source star pattern.

With the Initial-Stage Thunder Source, all of Xu Jin's basic star arts could be converted into thunder-based star arts.

Xu Jin had long studied the characteristics of thunder-based star arts in the Guo Dao Academy's library.

But thunder-based star arts were difficult to cultivate; the Chen Guo Guo Dao Academy possessed only a few captured star patterns and did not focus on thunder-based star patterns.

Yet this did not prevent Xu Jin from using them.

Adding another star art system would make Xu Jin's star arts far more varied and unpredictable in power.

In the Guo Dao Academy's library, fire-based star arts were noted for their great power, wide range, and high damage.

But thunder-based star arts were characterized by great power, high damage, and extreme speed.

That speed alone was enough to justify their use.

Simply put, at his current strength, Xu Jin's basic Star Arrow took nearly half a second to cover a hundred meters; a Fire Arrow took the same time, but a Fire Arrow stacked with Spiral Star Pattern took only 0. seconds—extremely fast.

Yet after obtaining the Initial-Stage Thunder Source, his basic Star Arrow became a Thunder Arrow, striking the target in just 0. seconds—extremely fast.

When stacked with the Spiral Star Pattern, it took less than 0. seconds.

While studying in the library, Xu Jin had already judged that thunder-based star arts, paired with the Spiral Star Pattern, best suited his self-developed Nine Veins Divine Sword technique.

The strike speed was too fast.

Under rapid finger strikes, within a hundred meters, the attacks landed instantly, leaving no chance to dodge.

No matter how skilled your body movement, it still required a moment.

He had analyzed this, but the Thunder Source star pattern was absent from the Guo Dao Academy.

Unexpectedly, he obtained it within the Third-Rank Purple Wind Star Zone.

Thus, on the way back, Xu Jin spent the entire journey familiarizing himself with thunder-based star arts.

He tested Thunder Arrow, Thunder Burst, Thunder Ring, Thunder Shield, Thunder Light Veil, and Thunder Rope one by one, and whenever convenient, he used large trees or hilltops for threat trials.

Xu Jin discovered that among all star arts, Star Mist Art could not be converted into a thunder-based variant.

Transforming Star Mist into Thunder Mist would instantly expose his position.

To remain hidden, he still needed the basic Star Mist Art.

He even offered both Thunder Spirit cores simultaneously, stacking two Initial-Stage Thunder Sources to test their combined power.

By the time he reached Ji Hongli's location, all tests were complete.

But he reached an unfavorable conclusion: at present, thunder-based star arts were unsuitable as Xu Jin's primary combat art.

Thunder-based star arts had speed, but their power fell far short of fire-based star arts.

The main reason was the enhancement from his Mid-Stage Crimson Scale Heart, especially the fire-element star patterns it provided, which greatly increased power.

And the Mid-Stage Fire Source.

After careful consideration, Xu Jin replaced the three star cores offered on the Can Dou Tai with the fourth-rank upper-level Thunder Spirit, fourth-rank mid-level Thunder Spirit, and third-rank upper-level Fire Spirit.

The third-rank upper-level Fire Spirit granted the protection of Initial-Stage Fire Source, providing a power boost to fire-based star arts—minimum one-tenth increase in current power.

From the fourth-rank mid-level Thunder Spirit, Xu Jin obtained the protection of Mid-Stage Thunder Wing.

During the tests, Xu Jin had overlooked this Mid-Stage Thunder Wing—it was an exceptionally practical star pattern.

After activating the Mid-Stage Thunder Wing, Xu Jin gained a pair of wings formed from thunderlight.

This Mid-Stage Thunder Wing increased Xu Jin's speed by twenty percent.

It was an additional boost.

That meant, even when using Flying Star Step, the Thunder Wing provided extra enhancement.

It directly increased Xu Jin's speed significantly.

Even more surprising, this Mid-Stage Thunder Wing not only increased speed but also added a layer of defense.

Just as Zi Yang and Zi Shuo had instinctively wrapped themselves in their Purple Wings when severely wounded by the Fourth-Rank Emblem Dawn, protecting themselves.

Purple Wings combined with thunderlight formed their natural, powerful defense.

Similarly, this Mid-Stage Thunder Wing could protect Xu Jin in critical moments, becoming his powerful defense—and crucially, it could be stacked atop the Rain Curtain Star Veil.

A defense upon defense.

It further enhanced Xu Jin's survivability and offensive capability.

This Mid-Stage Thunder Wing must be used.

The protections granted by the fourth-rank upper-level Thunder Spirit—Initial-Stage Thunder Source and Purple Thunder Barrage—were both highly practical.

Initial-Stage Thunder Source allowed Xu Jin to cast thunder-based star arts, especially transforming Flying Star Step directly into Thunder Burst Step.

Thunder Burst Step increased speed by twenty percent.

It perfectly matched the Guo Dao Academy's evaluation of thunder-based star arts as "extremely swift."

Thus, with both Initial-Stage Thunder Source and Mid-Stage Thunder Wing active, Xu Jin's speed increased by forty percent when using Thunder Burst Step.

No wonder the early-stage Purple Wing nobles had matched Xu Jin's speed before.

Zi Yang had even caught up to Xu Jin in an instant as he was about to enter the lake.

But now, having obtained both Initial-Stage Thunder Source and Mid-Stage Thunder Wing, Xu Jin was confident he could outpace Zi Yang in speed.

His safety increased again.

Speed meant safety.

Thus, Xu Jin chose three protective star patterns: Mid-Stage Thunder Wing, Initial-Stage Thunder Source, and Initial-Stage Fire Source.

Purple Thunder Barrage was a star art Xu Jin had never seen—its power was immense, approaching his Flame Explosion Art.

But it was less practical than Initial-Stage Thunder Source.

Especially with Thunder Burst Step, safety came first.

At this point, Xu Jin was desperate to upgrade the Can Dou Tai.

If he could upgrade the Can Dou Tai to fourth-rank, regardless of any new functions, it would mean four star cores were guaranteed.

Then, the Initial-Stage Fire Source could be added again.

Not to mention, it would add another one-tenth power boost to fire-based star arts.

If conditions allowed, Xu Jin even wanted to upgrade to fifth-rank.

Because if he could obtain one or two more Thunder Spirit cores at fifth-rank, he could offer them to enhance thunder-based star art power.

When Xu Jin met Ji Hongli again, she had recovered from fatigue and fully escaped the desperate state of yesterday—she was noticeably more reserved.

She did not cling to him like an octopus as before.

Suddenly, Xu Jin realized he had misremembered.

The times Ji Hongli had clung to him like an octopus were mostly in his dreams.

Repeating the same dream too often truly affected reality!

Suddenly, Xu Jin felt a chill.

But then again, he still very much enjoyed that feeling.

"Big Brother, I'm so glad you're safe. If you hadn't come, I was going to look for you." Ji Hongli stepped forward, hugging one of Xu Jin's arms affectionately, her smile sweet.

Ji Hongli had very fair skin and a naturally sweet face; her sweet smile made Xu Jin involuntarily smile too, his expression softening.

A few minutes later, Xu Jin and Ji Hongli departed, heading swiftly southwest.

Goal—to rendezvous with Ying Ge and his group of five.

During this half-day, Ying Ge and the others had continuously advanced toward Xu Jin and Ji Hongli's location, as instructed.

Previously, the others had been indifferent to Xu Jin.

But the Crimson Scale Heart armor had indeed brought them together; after Wang Jiugao repeatedly described how Xu Jin had punched Guan Ji to death, the fellow disciples followed Xu Jin's orders more diligently.

Currently, observing the Crimson Scale Heart, Ying Ge's group was about two thousand li away from Xu Jin and Ji Hongli.

Moving toward each other, they would rendezvous in less than an hour.

But Xu Jin had deliberately instructed them to detour, because they were passing through the central region of the Purple Wind Star Zone.

At the center of this region lay the Purple Wing barbarians' capital city.

The terrifying ninth-stage Star Condensation being resided within the city.

They must keep their distance; Xu Jin himself must also keep his distance.

While traveling, Xu Jin once again took out the jade bead seized from the Star Temple disciple and studied it for a long time.

The jade bead seized from the Star Temple disciple was strange—it only displayed a relative direction.

When focusing his mind on another light point, one could faintly sense its direction relative to oneself, but nothing more precise. Thus, Xu Jin could not directly lock onto the Star Temple disciple's location, only get a rough reference.

But Xu Jin was not in a hurry.

Because every hour, the Guo Dao Academy disciples' positions were transmitted to the Star Temple disciples; barring accidents, the Star Temple disciples would come to kill them.

Logically, Tian Lie, the strongest prodigy of the Tian Yang Star Temple, was targeting Ji Hongli; thus, the one targeting Xu Jin should be Zhang Shuo, the Star Temple's exceptional star-casting prodigy.

Over the past day and a half, Xu Jin had maintained high-speed movement, traveling from the far west of the Purple Wind Star Zone to the far east, and now was racing toward the center.

It was normal that Zhang Shuo could not catch up—after all, positions were only transmitted once per hour.

But if Xu Jin slows down, Zhang Shuo will surely come to him on his own.

An hour later, Xu Jin and Ji Hongli found Ying Ge and the others.

Ying Ge's group was locked in fierce combat with a band of native barbarians, surrounded by over forty Star Refining experts and a thousand Cast Star warriors.

The danger wasn't great, but the presence of two Star Refining ninth-layer and four Star Refining eighth-layer barbarians prevented them from breaking through quickly.

They were struggling to hold out!

They could break the enemy, but they needed time.

Xu Jin and Ji Hongli surged forward at full speed!

In a single glance, Xu Jin launched a surprise attack and killed one of the Star Refining ninth-layer barbarians.

Under Ji Hongli's surprise assault, she and Wang Jiugao together eliminated another Star Refining eighth-layer barbarian!

In an instant, Ying Ge and the others felt their pressure ease dramatically, their spirits lifting sharply.

With Xu Jin and Ji Hongli's aid, within barely twenty breaths, all forty-plus Star Refining warriors were slaughtered—yet the barbarian army's ferocity became fully evident.

The Cast Star warriors did not break and flee; instead, each one charged forward like madmen.

This was the effect of brutal military discipline.

Only after another third of the Cast Star and Meal-Cloud warriors had been slain did a few barbarian soldiers break ranks, triggering a general rout.

As soon as the battle ended, Ying Ge, Wang Jiugao, Niu Ju, and four others thanked Xu Jin, then immediately sat cross-legged to restore their Star Force—they had expended immense energy and had already swallowed pills mid-battle.

Looking at the corpses scattered across the ground, Xu Jin frowned slightly.

"Fifteen minutes! Fifteen minutes from now, we move out immediately. This place is too close to Wang Cheng, and we've already encountered a large force—we can't stay."

As everyone nodded, Xu Jin asked, "How did you get so careless? How did you get surrounded by a large army?"

Normally, unless they'd blundered straight into it, Ying Ge's five should never have been surrounded by a large force.

Even if they encountered a large army, they could have retreated first, lured the Star Refining barbarians away from the main force, then combined their strength to eliminate the elite—easy to break free.

The brutal fight they'd just endured looked more like an ambush.

Hearing this, Ying Ge grimaced. "Senior Brother, half an hour ago, we spotted three Star Temple disciples—only three of them, while we had five. We dared to chase after them, thinking we could turn the tables."

They fled immediately.

They ran toward Wang Cheng. We didn't dare pursue, so we turned back—and on the way back, we ran into the barbarian army and got trapped in a brutal fight."

"Have you encountered any other Star Temple disciples since?" Xu Jin asked, his mind stirring.

"Yes. This morning, we ran into Zhang Shuo from the Cangming Star Temple—there were two of them."

When they saw us, Zhang Shuo and his companion didn't hesitate—they turned and fled straight toward Wang Cheng. We didn't dare chase either," Ying Ge said.

At these words, Xu Jin's expression changed. "No—your encounter with the barbarian army wasn't bad luck. It was planned."

"Prepare for battle!"

In the next instant, Xu Jin leapt into the air and instantly reached the tallest tree, scanning all directions.

In a southern forest, Xu Jin spotted a group of fleeing barbarians—suddenly stopped!

It was glaringly obvious from above.

All other fleeing troops surged forward like a raging flood, terrified of having too few legs—but those ones had halted.

"Rest for a while, then come this way. I'll scout ahead," Xu Jin said as he descended.

"Understood."

"Senior Brother, I'll go with you," Ji Hongli said.

"They're drained. Stay and guard them. If anything's wrong, I'll signal you," Xu Jin replied.

Then Xu Jin raced forward, hugging the ground.

He dared not leap—too noisy.

After charging about two thousand meters, he began suppressing his aura, entering a half-stealth state.

High-speed movement made full stealth impossible.

Sixty breaths later, when still three to four thousand meters from the southern forest, Xu Jin slowed, fully concealed himself, then moved swiftly closer.

In the forest, the fleeing troops Xu Jin had spotted earlier had been released one by one—he also heard the voices of several Star Temple disciples.

"Pity—we could've annihilated them completely."

"Yes. Their strength has been worn down by these barbarians. Even with five of them, three of us at full strength could easily kill them all!"

But reinforcements arrived!"

It must've been Xu Jin—the strongest one."

"What if we try?"

Even if Xu Jin is strong, he just slaughtered countless barbarians—he must be drained."

There might be a chance to kill him!"

If we kill Xu Jin, we'll earn great merit!" said Zhou Yuanguang of the Tianyang Star Temple.

This idea stirred Wang Anye, also of the Tianyang Star Temple.

If they succeeded where Tian Lie had failed, they'd not only bring honor to their Master but also gain massive rewards!

But Zhou Yuanguang's idea was immediately rejected by Tao Tiancheng of the Cangming Star Temple. "No!"

"Three against five, with them drained—we hold all the advantage!"

But three against seven?"

The risk is too great!"

One slip, and we're wiped out!"

We can't take that risk!"

Then Tao Tiancheng added, "The barbarian just said two others like us entered Wang Cheng—likely Master Zhang or Master Tian!"

Let's return to Wang Cheng too."

Whoever it is, once we join up, dealing with them will be easy."

Besides, all the Guodao Academy disciples are gathered now—we can finish them all off at once!"

"Agreed. That's best," Zhou Yuanguang said.

Hidden, Xu Jin sneered inwardly—what a perfect plan.

In the next instant, a terrifying surge of Star Force erupted.

"Watch out!"

"Watch out!"

In the midst of their cries, Tao Tiancheng suddenly screamed, clutching his head in agony—he'd been struck by Xu Jin's Po Sha.

Xu Jin's Star Refining eighth-layer Soul Force unleashed a Po Sha strike that instantly crippled Tao Tiancheng with a shriek.

Simultaneously, flames erupted!

Flame Explosion!

Before Zhou Yuanguang of the Tianyang Star Temple could even see his attacker, Xu Jin's overwhelming Flame Explosion reduced him to ash.

Wang Anye's reaction was not slow.

The instant he saw Zhou Yuanguang obliterated, fear flashed in his eyes—he spun and fled without hesitation, crushing a Moon-Chasing Talisman.

His speed instantly surged!

To be honest, Wang Anye had great confidence in his speed.

Especially after crushing the Moon-Chasing Talisman—he believed he'd escape with absolute certainty.

He'd always excelled in mobility.

BOOM!

A thunderous crack echoed—lightning flashed—and Xu Jin appeared abruptly before Wang Anye.

At full speed, Wang Anye crashed straight into Xu Jin's arms.

A punch launched!

Flame Explosion!

And a pinpoint Flame Explosion!

Directly detonating against Wang Anye's face.

CRASH!

His protective Starlight shattered instantly—his head exploded—then turned to ash.

The upper half of his corpse tumbled from the sky.

Behind him, after three or four breaths of agony, Tao Tiancheng finally recovered from the soul-piercing pain.

Blood trickled from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

That blow had been terrifying!

Tao Tiancheng felt that if it had been just a little stronger, his Soul would've been shattered outright.

Not knowing where the enemy had gone, Tao Tiancheng drew a deep breath, summoned his Star Force, and prepared to flee.

To the barbarian Wang Cheng—to meet up with the two Masters there.

Whoever they were!

CRASH!

In the next instant, a headless corpse was thrown at Tao Tiancheng's feet.

Xu Jin landed and delivered a rapid succession of kicks—striking Tao Tiancheng's chest and abdomen, shattering his Starlight there.

Causing Tao Tiancheng's Star Palace to tremble violently, his Starlight scattering.

Captured one Star Palace disciple!

(End of chapter)