Chapter 191: Ning Yuchan Breaks Through

Inside the side hall of the Feiyan Academy, although Chief Steward Peng had already left and Zheng Xie had been carried away, Liu Zhou Qingzhu's chest was still heaving violently.

Clearly, she had been severely provoked today.

Growing old before marriage!

This had struck the most fatal of her fatal weaknesses!

Liu Zhou Qingzhu even felt a bit of hatred; she had held back too much just now.

She should have been merciless and completely dismantled one of Zheng Xie's legs to vent her anger.

She couldn't kill him, but couldn't she cripple him?

She couldn't beat Chief Steward Peng, but she could take her anger out on Zheng Xie.

She felt like she was going to explode with rage!

It was all Zheng Xie's fault.

Suddenly, Liu Zhou Qingzhu saw Xu Jin.

The disciple she had doted on in every way in the past now looked a bit annoying.

When all was said and done, the root of the anger she suffered today still stemmed from Xu Jin.

Suddenly, Liu Zhou Qingzhu, bearing her violently heaving chest, stared coldly at Xu Jin and asked, "Jin'er, am I really old?"

Liu Zhou Qingzhu had already made up her mind: she would take her anger out on Xu Jin in a moment and personally "guide" Xu Jin's combat ability.

Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to vent this foul air, and she would truly explode with rage!

Hearing this question, Xu Jin felt an instant sense of impending doom, as if blades were pressed against his body.

This damn thing—a death trap question!

In his past life, men were tested by this question frequently, and even more were destroyed by it.

He never expected that he, Xu Jin, would have to be tested by it again.

In an instant, countless potential answers flashed through Xu Jin's mind, but he immediately discarded 99% of them.

Not suitable!

The women of his past life were deeply influenced by an explosion of information; only very niche and brilliant answers could make them happy.

But in this world, it was different.

Compared to the women of his past life, Teacher Liu was, in some respects, not much different from a little girl in kindergarten.

"Teacher's age is indeed a bit older,"

With just one sentence from Xu Jin, Liu Zhou Qingzhu's willow eyebrows stood on end, and starlight flashed around her body.

Liu Zhou Qingzhu was already prepared to take action; she had spoiled this student too much, and he needed to be properly guided.

"I feel like you're at most five years older than Senior Sister Yang Miaozhen?" Xu Jin lowered his head earnestly and began counting on his fingers.

Once these words were spoken, Liu Zhou Qingzhu, who was just about to personally guide Xu Jin, saw her tense, pretty face immediately relax. The killing intent dissipated, replaced by an uncontrollable smile.

The Feiyan Academy's eldest disciple, Yang Miaozhen, was only 20 years old this year.

Then she...

Xu Jin continued to lower his head and count on his fingers, "Compared to that little girl Jiang Yuan, I feel like you're only six or seven years older."

Once these words were spoken, Liu Zhou Qingzhu was already overjoyed, her face full of delight.

She knew that little girl Jiang Yuan; she had successfully condensed stars at 16 and was only 19 this year.

After finishing the count on his fingers, Xu Jin finally looked up, "I feel that, Teacher, your age is just that much."

By this time, Liu Zhou Qingzhu was already smiling from ear to ear; the rage that could have made her explode just moments ago had long since vanished into thin air.

"That's right, Teacher is just that much."

Happily, Liu Zhou Qingzhu took out two fourth-tier emblems and handed them to Xu Jin, "These are emblems I made using my most proficient star art, the fifth-tier star art 'Whip Mountain,' but the emblems produced only have the power of a mid-grade fourth-tier.

You were able to save your life today under successive assassination attempts, and your emblem consumption was not small. Keep these two emblems to replenish your stock. If you encounter a mid-to-late fourth-tier expert, you can repel them. If you encounter a fifth-tier expert..."

Speaking up to this point, Liu Zhou Qingzhu suddenly paused.

If he encountered a fifth-tier expert, the power rank of the Whip Mountain emblem she gave him was only fourth-tier; it wouldn't be enough.

This disciple of hers was so excellent and so obedient; he couldn't afford any accidents.

After thinking for a moment, she gritted her teeth and took an emblem that still carried her body heat from her bosom, "This is a mid-fifth-tier emblem, 'Sand Gold.' Its power is immense; keep it to save your life!

Even if you encounter a mid-to-late fifth-tier Gather Battle expert, it can block them, and there is even a possibility of severely injuring them, which can buy you a chance to escape and save your life.

Keep it safe, seize the right moment to use it yourself; don't be stingy, but don't waste it either."

Xu Jin was secretly overjoyed and thanked Liu Zhou Qingzhu once again.

A mid-fifth-tier emblem, if nourished, could definitely slay a fifth-tier expert.

He had just used up one fifth-tier 'Green Mist,' and now he had replenished it.

Xu Jin felt that this fifth-tier Sand Gold was definitely an extra bonus, likely an additional benefit for answering the death trap question well.

Watching Xu Jin leave, Liu Zhou Qingzhu still felt a bit of heartache.

The mid-fifth-tier emblem Sand Gold was a life-saving emblem her family had prepared for her before her cultivation had broken through to the fifth tier.

Now, although she had reached the peak of the fifth-tier Gather Battle, in actual combat, a mid-fifth-tier emblem, if used well, still had immense effects and could potentially save one's life.

As for a sixth-tier emblem?

She had heard of them, but she had truly never seen one.

Xu Jin returned to his small courtyard and received many relevant messages one after another, but they were all quite chaotic.

Although he kept reviewing the situation, he couldn't find a lead in the whole affair.

Suddenly, Xu Jin's Star-Plucking Token vibrated slightly; someone was requesting to be friends.

Xu Jin took a look.

Guan Yiqing?

The Guan Yiqing from the Spring Rain Division who sold him information in Jin Shan Prefecture City, the same Guan Yiqing who had just accompanied Zheng Xie?

After thinking for a moment, Xu Jin accepted.

It was just adding a friend.

【Lord Xu, my apologies. I was only acting under orders today; I had absolutely no idea Commander Zheng would ask that.】

Here to apologize?

That shouldn't be right; it shouldn't be necessary.

But Xu Jin still exchanged a few polite words.

【I've discovered that Lord Xu is truly my noble benefactor. After the Baidou Divine Sect incident in Jin Shan City last time, I was promoted to Deputy Guard General due to my merits. I didn't expect to run into Lord Xu again so soon after arriving, and the case is even related to the Baidou Divine Sect.

Does Lord Xu want to know the details of this case and the progress of the investigation?】 Guan Yiqing sent another message.

【Yes.】

【Lord Xu, a package deal, a friendly price for an old friend: 3,000 taels, or 300 Dao Merit points.】

Xu Jin was dumbfounded.

This was bringing the information business all the way to Dachen Wan Yi.

【Forget it.】

Xu Jin refused without hesitation.

This assassination incident—investigating it was a must.

But the main force for the investigation certainly wouldn't be Xu Jin, but the power of the National Dao Academy; the one assassinated was a disciple of the National Dao Academy.

Why would Xu Jin be in a hurry?

Xu Jin understood his current value within the National Dao Academy very well; the progress and final results of this matter would certainly be notified to Xu Jin by the National Dao Academy.

If Xu Jin wanted to know the details, he only needed to say the word, and he would certainly know.

It would just be a few days late.

Why spend this wasted money?

For now, it was better for Xu Jin to focus on cultivation and rapidly improve his various strengths.

【Hahahaha, Lord Xu, I was just joking with you! You and I are both from Jin Shan Prefecture; we can be considered fellow countrymen. We should support each other even more in the future. No, in the future, I ask for Lord Xu's continued care. A little information is naturally free of charge, including the latest progress; I will also send it to Lord Xu privately.】

Looking at this message, Xu Jin couldn't help but curl his lips. This Guan Yiqing, his personality was just like his appearance—sufficiently plump and smooth.

Very quickly, Guan Yiqing sent Xu Jin a long string of information.

Xu Jin read it through carefully and frowned.

First was the third wave of assassination; there was already a rough conclusion. The experts of the Star Hall, based on the remaining head fragments, pieced together the facial features, and combined with the residual star power aura and divine soul aura, they had basically locked onto the identity.

It was Chang Yikun, a fifth-tier Gather Battle sixth-layer expert from the Cangming Star Hall.

Upon investigation, this Chang Yikun had already disappeared for more than half a day; the Cangming Star Hall's answer was that he had gone out on official business.

The corpses were too fragmented; locking onto the identity was inferred through layers of clues and could not serve as evidence.

However, Guan Yiqing analyzed that even if there were evidence proving the assassin was Chang Yikun of the Cangming Star Hall, it wouldn't be of much use.

Similar things had happened before; the Cangming Star Hall simply issued a dismissal document, and there was no follow-up.

They had dismissed him a month ago; what could you do to him?

Everyone knew what was going on, but there was no way around it.

This was still because of the Grand Master's management over these years, which had caused the Great Chen's national power to flourish, making them willing to provide explanations.

When similar things happened fifteen years ago, the Great Chen's documents couldn't even enter the gates of the Tianyang Star Hall and the Cangming Star Hall.

Next was the second wave of assassination.

For the second wave, the tracking experts of the Spring Rain Division had confirmed its occurrence, and they had discovered the aura of another fourth-tier expert at the scene. The several corpses from the second wave of assassination that Xu Jin had mentioned to Ying Ge were very likely taken away by this expert hiding in the shadows.

Moreover, because they didn't take action and were just passing by, the aura was extremely obscure; after tracking for only a few steps, the trail went cold.

The only clue was that the last appearance of this fourth-tier expert's aura was at the city gate.

It was highly probable they had entered the city.

And the most bizarre one was the first wave of assassination.

The first wave had the greatest momentum, the largest number of people, and the clearest target—the Baidou Divine Sect!

Originally, in other prefectures, the Baidou Divine Sect was like a rat crossing the street, and because of their large numbers, as long as a little bit was discovered, a whole string could be pulled out.

But in Dachen Wan Yi, it was the opposite.

According to the clues traced from the identity auras of these assassins, by the time the Spring Rain Division and the Danxia Guard chased after them, all trails were broken.

They had either disappeared or been silenced.

This action was simply faster and more professional than the Spring Rain Division.

Currently, all direct clues related to the first wave of assassins had disappeared.

There were still a few indirect clues being investigated, but there were no results yet.

This briefing left Xu Jin feeling incomparably depressed. Not to mention the assassination by the Cangming Star Hall.

But for the first two waves of assassination, in the imperial capital Dachen Wan Yi, under the feet of the Son of Heaven, the Baidou Divine Sect not only dared to carry out such a large-scale assassination, but all tracking clues after the assassination were also broken.

This gave Xu Jin an indescribable sense of absurdity.

Was the Baidou Divine Sect that powerful?

After thanking Guan Yiqing, Xu Jin began to ponder another question.

The assassination by the Cangming Star Hall was very clear—either it was for revenge or because of the four gold stars.

Then, what was the reason for the Baidou Divine Sect's assassination?

Could it be that the Dachen Wan Yi branch of the Baidou Divine Sect was taking revenge for the Jin Shan Prefecture branch?

And even if they were taking revenge, shouldn't they be looking for the Academy Head, Dong Zhao?

Why look for him, Xu Jin?

Xu Jin pondered for half an hour, but couldn't find the reason for his assassination.

Or perhaps, was it to kill Ying Ge?

This kind of assassination without a known reason was actually the most terrifying!

After reviewing the situation for a long while, he couldn't reach a conclusion, which gave him a headache.

Xu Jin simply stopped reviewing.

Cultivate!

He still had to cultivate.

Forget about whatever schemes and plots; iron fists were terrifying!

Just like Commander Zheng Xie of the Spring Rain Division today, no matter how fiercely you jump around, you still have to be slapped into pieces by Chief Steward Peng!

Xu Jin was cultivating, while the assassinations in the real world continued.

In the real world, bloody incidents were still escalating, and the situation had already risen to the level of a mass melee.

Even more terrifying was that in the evening, news came of several incidents where the Blood God Sect and the Baidou Divine Sect took advantage of the chaos.

In various places across Great Hong, Great Chu, and Great Chen, there were actions where the Blood God Sect took the opportunity to slaughter disciples of the prefecture academies and Star Halls, fishing in troubled waters.

The Baidou Divine Sect also took the opportunity to launch large-scale retaliatory actions.

For a time, there was actually a sense of war breaking out everywhere.

"Bang, bang, bang."

Outside the quiet room, there was a knock on the door. Xu Jin hurriedly got up to welcome the visitor; it was Ning Yuchan who had come over.

"Sister Yuchan, why aren't you asleep yet? Are you worried about me? Don't worry, I'm already fine." Seeing Ning Yuchan come over, Xu Jin hurriedly smiled.

"You have grown very quickly; you are now able to save your life under the hands of a fifth-tier Gather Battle expert. Although it was relying on the power of the emblem, I don't have much to worry about anymore," Ning Yuchan said.

"Then that is?"

Suddenly, Ning Yuchan smiled brightly at Xu Jin, her majestic star power rose, and a vortex star bucket faintly appeared behind her.

Xu Jin was first stunned, then overjoyed.

She had broken through.

Ning Yuchan, whose cultivation had been trapped at the peak of the fourth-tier Condense Star ninth layer, had actually broken through!

Fifth-tier Gather Battle first layer.

"Sister Yuchan, when did you break through?"

"This morning. It was also thanks to your help; if you hadn't let me forge stars with my divine soul, and even let my divine soul power break through to the fourth layer of Refine Star in one go, I'm afraid breaking through to the fifth-tier Gather Battle would still be a distant dream!"

After finishing, Ning Yuchan sighed again, "I only truly understood today when I broke through why, without forging stars, one cannot become a fighter! The higher one goes in the fifth tier, the more important divine soul power becomes."

Hearing this, Xu Jin patted his head. In this case, Ning Yuchan had already broken through when they met in the afternoon.

But Xu Jin had been repeatedly assassinated and was also with the person closest to him, so he hadn't paid attention.

It wasn't until now that Ning Yuchan had specifically come over to inform him that he knew.

But suddenly, Xu Jin's heart stirred.

With Ning Yuchan's personality, even if she had broken through and Xu Jin hadn't discovered it, she wouldn't have specifically come to inform him.

"Xu Jin, I've come here this time actually to bid you farewell."

"Farewell?"

Xu Jin instantly thought of how Ning Yuchan was being transferred to the Star River Battlefield. However, before being transferred, she was supposed to come to the Great Chen National Dao Academy for a month of intensive cultivation, and now, that month had passed.

"Yes, according to military orders, I must arrive at the Great Chen Military Department of the Star River Battlefield to report before September 25th.

I've calculated the distance; if I leave tomorrow morning and everything goes smoothly, I should be able to arrive on September 24th, leaving a day of leeway.

So I have to leave tomorrow morning. When Jiang'er's star-condensing results come out, remember to tell me early."

"Also, Jiang'er is a young girl; you should care for her more."

"In the future, it's best if you go out less, or disguise yourself, or inform Teacher or even the Academy Head. You must pay attention to safety! Once your cultivation breaks through to the Condense Star Realm, you will be much safer."

"Besides that..."

Ning Yuchan exhorted Xu Jin one thing after another; in his past life, if he had received similar exhortations, Xu Jin would have found them very annoying.

But now, he felt like he couldn't hear enough of them.

"Then when you go to the Star River Battlefield, you must also contact me. Report your situation to me once every three days," Xu Jin said.

"Report? And every three days? You're dreaming. Why should I report to you?" Ning Yuchan glared at Xu Jin.

"If you don't report, I'll go out every day," Xu Jin said, acting shamelessly.

Hearing this, Ning Yuchan lowered her head, looking at her toes, and after a long while, said, "Alright, I'll report. You also pay attention to safety, but reporting once every three days won't work."

"Why won't it work?"

"Star light communication on the Star River Battlefield cannot use Dao Merit; it can only use the star light of the Star-Plucking Tower."

"Ah, it can only use the star light of the Star-Plucking Tower? A single transmission is expensive enough."

Seeing Xu Jin's surprised look, Ning Yuchan smiled, "Exactly. Once every three days—I don't feel the heartache, but I reckon you'd feel the heartache to death.

How about this, let's not do every three days; I'll report to you once every ten days."

"I don't feel the heartache. Contacting you, I don't feel any heartache at all!

Five days!

Reporting to me once every five days is my bottom line!" Xu Jin said.

"Alright!" Ning Yuchan agreed in one breath.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Jin suddenly began to lay things out, bottle after bottle of elixir, emblem after emblem, laying them all out.

Seeing this, Ning Yuchan hurriedly said, "No need, I've already prepared the elixirs, and I've also prepared a few life-saving emblems; they're enough!"

"What I've prepared and what you've prepared—can they be the same?" Xu Jin asked back.

"They're all elixirs; what's different about them?"

"Have you forgotten that?"

Once these words were spoken, Ning Yuchan instantly revealed an incomparably surprised expression, "No way?"

"You mean so many of these are...?"

"Of course!"

"With so many, how much energy did you have to spend on blood refining?" Ning Yuchan suddenly lowered her voice.

"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I've poured my heart and blood into them!"

Xu Jin also hadn't expected that he had just made a joke, but it had directly left Ning Yuchan unable to process it; she stood there stunned, not knowing what to say!

Ning Yuchan, who had taken the Divine Spirit Golden Elixir specially refined by Xu Jin, understood all too well the value of the bottles of elixirs and emblems Xu Jin had laid out before her.

In terms of value, it was more than ten times their original value!

Some were even priceless treasures on the battlefield.

Especially those eight primary-tier Star Healing emblems.

According to Xu Jin, he had blood-refined them, so their effects would be doubled.

That was equivalent to mid-tier Star Healing emblems.

Mid-tier Star Healing emblems were priceless and unavailable.

On the Star River Battlefield, that was equivalent to a life.

Yet Xu Jin had given her eight of them directly!

"These things, I..."

After a long while, Ning Yuchan finally spoke with difficulty.

"Don't tell me you can't accept them?" Xu Jin stared at Ning Yuchan with wide eyes, looking as if he would fight to the death if she dared to refuse, "I've been preparing these for you for so long."

Ning Yuchan's eyes suddenly became a bit misty. More than ten days ago, Xu Jin had taken all her emblems from her; she had thought Xu Jin was using them to save his own life.

She hadn't expected...

"These things are all life-saving items I'm giving to you! Sister Yuchan, I have one request; you must do it!" Xu Jin said.

"Tell me."

"These things have all been blood-refined by me; whether it's the elixirs or the emblems, their power has been doubled. Therefore, they are for you to use; you must use them all on yourself. Unless it is to save your own life, these things must absolutely not be used on anyone else!" Xu Jin said.

"Mm, I'll remember!"

Ning Yuchan nodded heavily, looking at Xu Jin, wanting to say something but stopping.

"What is it?"

After a long silence, Ning Yuchan suddenly stepped forward and took the initiative to hug Xu Jin. It was just a light hug; Xu Jin had just smelled a hint of fragrance and hadn't yet experienced the warmth and softness that had been offered to him when Ning Yuchan pulled away like a startled rabbit, her pretty face like a rosy cloud.

"Wait for me to return from the Star River Battlefield."

Leaving these words behind, Ning Yuchan fled as if escaping.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 192 =====