Chapter 193: Evolution

Dachen Wan Yi, Four Seas Weapon Forging Shop.

Apprentice Qian Duo and apprentice Zhou Si shared a pancake with cold water, then lay together chatting.

"Brother Qian, are we still waiting? It's already been half a month. The last five copper coins on you and me were all spent on pancakes. If the shopkeeper doesn't come, we're going to starve to death." Zhou Si was speaking, and his stomach was also growling.

Both were eighteen or nineteen years old; half a pancake a day was just barely keeping them alive.

"Waiting is fine, but who will settle our three months of wages? The previous proprietor said the next proprietor would settle them. If we leave now, wouldn't it be all for nothing?" Qian Duo worried.

Suddenly, Zhou Si whispered, "The person who sent things over today also said they didn't know when the new proprietor would come. Why don't we take a piece of iron essence to sell; wouldn't we have everything..."

"Do you not want your life? Is that something we can touch?"

"Let's wait a bit longer. Since someone sent goods over today, it means the new proprietor hasn't forgotten this place; they should be coming soon," Qian Duo said.

"Alright, but Brother Qian, I'm so hungry."

Outside the shop, the invisible Xu Jin observed the two for a full two quarters of an hour and also patrolled inside and outside the shop, finding no hidden auras.

Confirmed safe.

After thinking for a moment, he went to buy a roasted chicken not far away, and also bought a large bag of pancakes, before returning to the outside of the shop.

He knocked on the door, and looking at the two astonished apprentices, he directly took out the land deed to state his identity.

The two apprentices hurriedly performed a grand salute to Xu Jin.

Apprentices in this era were not much different from half-servants.

After asking a few questions, Xu Jin understood that Qian Duo was the managing apprentice, in charge of the front counter, while this Zhou Si was a blacksmith apprentice who had been learning for several years but hadn't learned much skill, only able to make kitchen knives or patch pots.

"Starving, aren't you? Eat quickly."

Xu Jin handed over the food he had just bought. Zhou Si was overjoyed and reached out to eat, but was stopped by Qian Duo.

"Many thanks for the proprietor's concern. Proprietor, coming here late at night, is it to take inventory of the shop?"

"Mm, take inventory once."

"Please, Proprietor."

In a quarter of an hour, this Qian Duo introduced the entire weapon forging shop to Xu Jin clearly.

Apart from the land and the shop, there were about 100 taels of silver worth of goods.

Besides that, there was the iron essence and copper essence that had just been received.

This Qian Duo could be considered a talent—smart, knew how to advance and retreat, knew the bottom line—which gave Xu Jin an idea.

This shop could perhaps be operated.

No rent; even if it didn't make money, it wouldn't lose much silver, and at a critical moment, it could have a use.

"Qian Duo, do you want to be the shop manager?"

"Yes!"

Qian Duo agreed in one breath, but then hesitated, "I'm just afraid I won't be able to do it well."

"Whether you can do it well, you'll only know after doing it."

Xu Jin suddenly turned and said, "From this moment on, you are the manager of this shop. Monthly salary: five taels of silver."

Qian Duo hurriedly thanked him, but a trace of disappointment flashed in his eyes. When he had been an apprentice for three years, his monthly salary was already four taels of silver. Now that he had been promoted to manager, this salary really hadn't increased much.

But Xu Jin's next sentence made his heart stir.

"From next month, 10% of the shop's monthly net profit will also be included in your monthly salary," Xu Jin said.

"This... this... Proprietor, are these words true?" Qian Duo was truly excited.

If this weapon forging shop was managed well, in a place like the imperial capital, a net profit of 100 taels of silver a month wouldn't be hard to achieve.

If this were included in his salary, it would be higher than that of an average old manager.

"True!"

"This is 2,000 taels of capital; you handle the rest. Go hire a master; send the account books to the National Dao Academy once a month. Also, all the wages you are owed will be paid in full."

"National Dao Academy." When Qian Duo received the order, he instantly felt a sense of awe.

The proprietor was from the National Dao Academy; that was absolutely not an ordinary person.

For most ordinary people, the Great Chen National Dao Academy was as mysterious and sacred as the Imperial Palace.

On the side, hearing that Qian Duo had directly become the shop manager, Zhou Si looked on with envy and hurriedly crowded over, but it seemed there was nothing for him to do.

After giving a few more instructions, Xu Jin left.

Before leaving, he casually mentioned that he had already sent someone to take away the iron essence and copper essence.

In reality, Xu Jin had taken them away.

Because he had been invisible the whole time, it took Xu Jin a full half-hour to return to the National Dao Academy.

Sneaking into the National Dao Academy and returning to his quiet room, Xu Jin finally let out a long sigh of relief.

This iron essence and copper essence weren't too rare, but it had been a tortuous process to get them.

The next instant, Xu Jin's mind sank into the Arena.

Subsequently, he took out the three thousand-year dragon turtle shells, placed the smallest one directly on top, and then observed the jade tablet.

No reaction.

No prompt for upgrading appeared.

Subsequently, Xu Jin swapped in the medium-sized thousand-year dragon turtle shell; on this thousand-year dragon turtle shell, one could faintly see a natural grid pattern.

The next instant, Xu Jin saw the Arena's jade tablet change.

The words "Can Upgrade" changed to "Upgrade."

Xu Jin was overjoyed and also understood the meaning of one thousand-year dragon turtle shell.

【Upgrade】

In an instant, from Xu Jin's perspective, starlight like clear radiance shot up from the Arena.

In the starry sky, the star region where the Big Dipper stars were located flashed simultaneously at the moment the starlight shot up. Almost at the same time, vast starlight gathered from the Big Dipper stars and, with incredible speed, shot straight into Xu Jin's Arena.

The Arena shone with starlight, clear radiance like the moon.

At the same instant, inside the Danxia Academy, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao, who was cultivating in his quiet room, suddenly opened his eyes, took a step out, and shot straight into the nine heavens; the Nine-Sheng Bell instantly grew with the wind, shining brightly.

Chief Steward Peng, with white hair and beard, followed closely behind, overlooking the entire National Dao Academy.

The two's majestic divine soul power swept through the National Dao Academy three times like a sieve, and only then did Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao frown, "Just now, I sensed an extremely powerful yet extremely obscure aura descending from the sky, seemingly trying to force its way into our National Dao Academy, but I couldn't find it.

Elder Peng, did you feel it?"

"I had a faint feeling, but by the time I rushed out, it had already disappeared."

"Strange."

"Palace Master, how strong was that aura?"

Hearing this, Cheng Yuexiao shook his head, "Indescribable; it was stronger than any aura I have ever seen."

Chief Steward Peng's face instantly turned pale, "Could it be stronger than those few?"

"If it is true, then it is stronger than those few, but perhaps it was my illusion; perhaps it is related to the changes in the stars of the heavens, which has happened before."

After Cheng Yuexiao finished speaking, he patrolled above the National Dao Academy for a long time before returning to the Academy.

Inside the Great Chen Imperial Palace, Emperor Qian'an, Gao Ye, was also startled by that abrupt and terrifying aura.

But it was like a flash in the pan; it appeared and then disappeared.

Originally, Emperor Qian'an, Gao Ye, thought it was his illusion, but after discovering the unusual movement of Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao, he knew it wasn't an illusion.

"Such a powerful aura, I'm afraid only those two in the Star Hall have it? Could it be that someone has descended?"

Once this thought arose, Emperor Qian'an, Gao Ye's presence weakened rapidly.

At the same instant, in a much more distant place, inside a hall towering into the clouds, an old man with a long beard suddenly opened his eyes, frowning in thought.

"The Big Dipper stars have moved unusually three times already, but each time it lasted less than half a breath. Why?"

Above the high clouds, there was a hall formed of starlight; in the hall, a figure transformed from starlight also woke up in surprise at the same time.

Inside the quiet room, the shining starlight and the clear radiance filling the sky dispersed simultaneously.

When Xu Jin saw the Arena clearly again, there was an extra star lamp on it, and the Arena also looked to have expanded quite a bit.

After examining it carefully for a few moments, Xu Jin felt that after upgrading to the fourth tier, the Arena seemed to have undergone some overall changes, but he couldn't say what they were.

The next instant, Xu Jin's mind fell onto the newly added star lamp, and suddenly, this star lamp transformed into light and shadow and flew up.

This was the newly added change.

Xu Jin also instantly understood how much the Arena had changed overall.

It was alive!

Not alive in the literal sense, but it had gained a bit of spirituality.

Subsequently, Xu Jin cast his gaze toward the Arena's jade tablet.

【Fourth-tier Arena】

【Arena Master: Xu Jin】

【Obtain Star Favor, worship once daily, can obtain four strands of star light】

【Star Light: 398 strands】

【Star Lamp 1: Solidified Star Art 'Star Explosion'】

【Star Lamp 2: Solidified Star Art 'Star Rain'】 【Star Lamp 3: Solidified Star Art 'Invisibility'】

【Star Lamp 4: None】

【Nourishable Items: Divine Spirit Jin Dan, Divine Refining Jin Dan, Dragon Turtle Forging Soul Elixir, One Qi Return Bu Bu Xing Dan, Four-Mystic Restore Elixir, Top-grade Refine Bu Bu Xing Dan, Top-grade Spirit-Refreshing Elixir, Whip Mountain Emblem, Sand Gold Emblem, Dawn Emblem, Spiral Blade Emblem, Third-tier Star Weapon Long Blade, Third-tier Star Weapon Arm Guard...】

【Star Arts: Basic Star Rope, Star Mist Art, Star Rain Art, Star Explosion Art, Basic Star Shield, Basic Star Ray, Basic Star Ring, Basic Star Arrow, Basic Star Light Shield, Flying Star Step】

【Worship: Fourth-tier Upper Thunder Spirit, Fourth-tier Upper Thunder Spirit, Third-tier Upper Fire Spirit】

【Can Worship: Third-tier Snake Spirit, Third-tier Tiger Spirit, Third-tier Violent Bear, Fourth-tier Mid Thunder Spirit, Third-tier Upper Fire Spirit, Third-tier Leopard Spirit, Third-tier Thunder Eel...】

【Evolution: Requires consumption of 80 strands of star light】

Xu Jin read the jade tablet carefully and was slightly disappointed.

Especially among the nourishable items, there was still no sign of the two fourth-tier star weapons.

Nourishing and upgrading the two fourth-tier star weapons was a function Xu Jin had been looking forward to.

Previously, there were only star weapons in the nourishable items, no star artifacts.

Xu Jin had always thought it was because of the Arena's rank, thinking that after the Arena upgraded to the fourth tier, it should be able to nourish them. He hadn't expected it still wouldn't be possible.

Could it be that other conditions were needed?

Besides that, Star Lamp 4 and the increase in star light obtained from worship were both within Xu Jin's expectations.

But unexpectedly, an 【Evolution】 function was added.

Also, the star lamps could move freely under Xu Jin's mental control; Xu Jin didn't know what that meant.

His mind continued to sink into the jade tablet, landing on 【Evolution】.

The next instant, some information appeared on the jade tablet, and the four star lamps also flew up at the same time, floating above the Arena, as if waiting for something.

Xu Jin also understood what 【Evolution】 was.

Evolution—what was being evolved was star arts.

However, it wasn't evolving a certain star art out of thin air, but experimenting with combinations.

As long as it was a star pattern and star art that Xu Jin had successfully engraved in the star lamp, he could separately and temporarily imprint them into the star lamp according to his own will—one star lamp was equivalent to one layer of star halo on the star core.

Then, by performing different combinations and arrangements of star patterns and star arts, he could evolve new star arts or enhance the power of existing star arts.

Of course, this kind of evolution was not unlimited.

It was limited by the star lamp itself.

After the Arena upgraded, the cycle for replacing solidified star patterns on the star lamp had changed from the initial eight days to the current five days.

Temporary imprinting was the same; each time a star pattern was temporarily imprinted, it would dissipate after five days, and only then could it be temporarily imprinted again.

At the same time, each evolution required the consumption of 80 strands of star light.

Xu Jin couldn't wait to try this new function.

To see what exactly it was useful for.

How to evolve and combine them?

For the already engraved star patterns, the thunder-type star arts had to wait in line; it could only be fire-type star patterns and divine soul star patterns.

If he could enhance them, Xu Jin naturally wanted to enhance his strongest 'Flame Explosion.'

With a thought, the star pattern of the first star lamp became 'Star Explosion Art,' and the star pattern of the second star lamp became 'Explosive Flame'—this was the basic Flame Explosion. Then what should he choose for the third and fourth star patterns?

Star Change? Or Flame Flower? Or perhaps the Spiral star pattern?

After thinking, Xu Jin excluded the Spiral star pattern.

The Spiral star pattern was a passive star pattern; it didn't need to participate in evolution at all; Xu Jin could try it himself.

Star Change could be fused, but after thinking, he gave up on the Star Change star pattern.

The Star Change star pattern mainly changed the external manifestation form of star power; it seemed it wouldn't be of much use.

Of course, perhaps there would be changes that turned decay into magic.

But for now, try others first; take it slow.

There would be plenty of opportunities in the future.

Once every five days—he could evolve more than seventy times a year.

If the Arena upgraded again, the solidification time for star patterns on the Arena should shrink to four days, and then the number of evolutions per year would be even more.

For the star pattern on the third star lamp, Xu Jin changed it to the Flame Flower star pattern. Then what to choose for the fourth star lamp?

There weren't many options.

Because Xu Jin had learned quite a few star patterns and star arts, but there weren't too many related to the fire type.

For a time, Xu Jin's mind was wide open.

Could Star Explosion Art and Star Rain Art be combined?

And Star Mist?

And Star Ring?

Star Fire Rope.

For a time, all kinds of ideas surged into Xu Jin's mind.

Suddenly, Xu Jin felt that one evolution every five days wasn't enough; if he could evolve five times a day, that would be beautiful.

As far as the current situation was concerned, every evolution opportunity was very precious and couldn't be wasted casually.

After thinking, Xu Jin felt: should he try evolving with the Star Ring?

What changes would occur if the point-like Flame Explosion and the ring-like explosive Star Ring were combined together?

But after three breaths, Xu Jin rejected this idea.

He couldn't waste this precious evolution opportunity that came once every five days.

It was very clear that point-like explosion and ring-like group attack, even if not mutually exclusive, couldn't complement each other.

What Xu Jin needed now was a star art with a stronger explosive single-target attack.

Therefore, using Star Ring for the fourth star pattern evolution was clearly inappropriate.

There would be more opportunities in the future; perhaps he could try these whimsical ideas.

For now, it was better to honestly use conventional thinking to evolve.

That was Star Arrow?

Or Star Rope?

Suddenly, a thought exploded in Xu Jin's mind: why not try combining divine soul star patterns?

The Lingji Star Hall's Invisibility star pattern was also a combination of star art and divine soul star pattern.

Then could divine soul star patterns and these star patterns also be combined together?

As for which divine soul star pattern to choose, the choice was very limited; it must be offensive.

The divine soul star patterns Xu Jin had learned so far that had offensive properties were only 'Break Evil' and 'Warm Dream.'

First choice: Break Evil.

The next instant, Xu Jin temporarily imprinted the sixth-tier lower Break Evil star pattern on the fourth star lamp.

【Evolve?】

【Evolve】

The moment Xu Jin confirmed it, a quarter of the nearly four hundred strands of star light on Xu Jin's Arena immediately vanished.

In an instant, the four star lamps flew up simultaneously, and the light began to flow and fuse.

If one only looked at the performance, one naturally wouldn't understand.

But as the master of the Arena, he directly observed the whole process.

This so-called evolution was not a simple combination.

It involved arrangement, timing, the depth of embedding, the amount of divine soul power and star power consumed, as well as the fusion and integration of multiple star patterns.

It looked simple, but it was actually very complex.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, Xu Jin saw these four star lamps undergo more than a hundred different evolutions from a god's-eye view.

Finally, each of the four star lamps cast a beam of light, which fused together to become a new ball of light.

Xu Jin's mind sank in.

The moment it sank in, Xu Jin already knew the final evolution result.

It was the state Xu Jin had imagined, but the power was unclear.

【Solidify?】

A prompt popped up before Xu Jin's eyes.

Xu Jin naturally chose to solidify.

Solidified onto the newly added fourth star lamp.

The next instant, Xu Jin couldn't wait to test its power.

He directly left the quiet room, arrived in the small courtyard, and punched out instantly.

Flame flowers spread out instantly, but immediately after, under the control of star power, the spreading flame flowers quickly bloomed into one layer-upon-layer flower bud after another.

Xu Jin's mind stirred.

The flower buds exploded.

Several small flame mushrooms rose up, simultaneously accompanied by an incomparably powerful divine soul fluctuation.

Boom!

Xu Jin was stunned.

But the next instant, more than ten beams of light flashed in from all directions!

Xu Jin was even more stunned!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 194 =====

(End of chapter)