Chapter 194: Conditions

Inside Xu Jin's lower star palace, the Mingji star pattern flashed wildly in an instant.

Majestic star power and divine soul power poured into Xu Jin's small courtyard like mercury spilling onto the ground; Xu Jin was slightly familiar with this star power.

It was the Grand Master's aura.

It had to be said, the Grand Master's speed was truly fast.

In just one breath's time, he appeared above Xu Jin's small courtyard.

The Grand Master who arrived, looking at the large pit in Xu Jin's courtyard and the residual fluctuations, was also completely bewildered.

Just one second slower, Chief Steward Peng, with white hair and beard, also arrived.

But after arriving, Chief Steward Peng just glanced at it and quickly hid into the void.

He realized something was amiss.

Xu Jin was in no danger.

Now was a sensitive time; it was normal for the Grand Master to appear immediately, but if he arrived immediately, it would show too much concern for Xu Jin.

After all, he rarely showed his face in the Danxia Academy.

Other Academy Heads or Deputy Academy Heads also rarely saw him.

If this fell into the eyes of someone with ulterior motives, it might bring unwanted attention to Xu Jin.

Chief Steward Peng hid away in less than half a breath, and Academy Head Kou Jing, who was on duty at the National Dao Academy, arrived. Seeing the Grand Master here, he felt a slight relief and also looked down.

The next instant, six or seven more beams of starlight arrived; they were the other two Academy Heads and five Deputy Academy Heads of the National Dao Academy, with Xu Jin's teacher, Liu Zhou Qingzhu, among them.

The situation had been dangerous recently, so the high-ranking officials of the National Dao Academy were often stationed there.

Xu Jin was being watched.

"Nothing, just a disciple practicing a newly learned star art," the Grand Master's voice echoed throughout the National Dao Academy, and the starlight rushing from all directions returned to its place and dissipated.

Inside the small courtyard, Xu Jin looked embarrassed.

Jiang'er and Qing Fan, who had been startled and rushed out, looked at the large pit before them, completely bewildered. Especially Qing Fan, who looked at the big shots of the National Dao Academy hovering above the small courtyard, trembling with fear.

"Disciple... just thought of a new way to use Flame Explosion and tried it out..."

Under the gaze of the crowd, Xu Jin explained embarrassedly.

"Why didn't you go to the Star-Plucking Tower to practice?" Academy Head Kou Jing asked.

"Disciple didn't think much; just wanted to try it out..."

Having received the answer, Academy Head Kou Jing looked at Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao, who nodded slightly, and then Kou Jing said, "Diligent study and practice is indeed the right path!

However, the situation is tense recently, and the Academy is on high alert.

If you want to practice star arts in actual combat, either go to the Star-Plucking Tower, or practice during the day."

"Disciple will remember."

Subsequently, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao left without a word, and Kou Jing and the group of Academy Heads also left quickly. It was a false alarm, and only Xu Jin's teacher, Liu Zhou Qingzhu, remained.

Liu Zhou Qingzhu landed, touched the ground with her hand, and star power rippled out. She discovered different star power fluctuations and suddenly frowned.

"You brat, researching combinations of new star arts?"

Xu Jin was stunned and nodded, "Suddenly had a whim, so I wanted to try it."

Hearing this, Liu Zhou Qingzhu nodded, "This is a good thing. Everyone has such an impulse in the process of cultivating star arts. But I want to tell you that you can only try it this way; you must absolutely not engrave it easily, especially after condensing stars."

"A new star art is not just a matter of combination and arrangement as you think; it also involves the possibility of continuous development and improvement in the later stages, including whether other passive star patterns can be continuously improved, and the rank of the star pattern.

After you condense stars, basically one star core is one to two powerful star arts.

If you engrave it poorly, if there is no possibility of continuous improvement, then it's a wasted practice.

And the cost of wasting cultivation and practicing again is much greater than you imagine."

"Disciple will remember." Xu Jin nodded vigorously.

"If you have ideas about researching new star arts in the future, remember to study the predecessors' notes in the National Dao Academy's library clearly first. Especially those failed or incorrect cases; you must remember them clearly.

Those cases won't have much reference value for you, but they will let you avoid making the same mistakes.

Those were mistakes summarized by predecessors with blood and even a lifetime of failure!" Liu Zhou Qingzhu said seriously again.

"Disciple knows."

A few breaths later, Liu Zhou Qingzhu left, and Xu Jin finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Qing Fan, notify the External Affairs Hall tomorrow to send some handymen to fill this pit."

"Jiang'er, have you finished your evening lessons?"

Qing Fan nodded, but Jiang'er stuck out her tongue and hurriedly went to do her evening lessons.

Xu Jin returned to the quiet room, but his heart was filled with joy.

Startling the high-ranking officials of the National Dao Academy was nothing; it was Liu Zhou Qingzhu's reminder just now that made Xu Jin realize the immense value of the evolution function after the Arena upgraded!

Mistakes others couldn't make, Xu Jin could.

Star art deduction, arrangement and combination of star patterns—Xu Jin could try them to his heart's content and find the optimal solution.

If others got it wrong, they would have to waste their cultivation and practice again, or even have their path stopped.

But Xu Jin just had to wait five days and re-deduce.

Truly an artifact!

And the harvest just now was more than that.

It was also beneficial to the Flame Explosion Xu Jin cast, especially the timing of the activation and the intervention point of the star power.

As for the power of the new star art evolved and combined just now, it gave Xu Jin an unexpected surprise.

In terms of pure power, it was no less than Flame Explosion, and even lower than Flame Explosion.

The key was that it could be stacked.

Flame Explosion only had one shot.

But with one punch, as long as Xu Jin was willing to spend star power, he could form three or four or even five or six flame flower buds.

And then explode them simultaneously.

Even more fatal was that after these flame flowers exploded, there was also a wave of divine soul attacks.

Even if the previous attacks were blocked, they would be hit by this final wave of divine soul impact, creating a better combat opportunity for Xu Jin.

And this divine soul attack was slightly different from the previous 'Break Evil'; this was an explosion.

Similar to a shockwave.

It was easier to hit; as for the power, it still needed to be tested.

The only problem was that the consumption was too large.

One flame flower would consume 10% of Xu Jin's star power and 5% of his divine soul power.

However, the power was large enough.

Especially since it was now solidified onto the fourth star lamp, it was instantaneous!

Absolutely instantaneous!

And if Xu Jin cast it himself, it would be very difficult to make it instantaneous.

Four star patterns, combined one after another, and still mobilizing power from different star cores, always required time.

The gap between this could be imagined.

Xu Jin compared it; it was even faster than his Flame Explosion.

Xu Jin's Flame Explosion was a combination of Star Explosion Art and Explosive Flame star pattern, which could also be instantaneous, but in fact, it also required time, though this time was very short.

However, engraving and solidifying it on the star lamp was truly instantaneous.

Basically, this new star art could be cast three times before Xu Jin's Flame Explosion could be blasted out twice.

Generally, it didn't have much impact, but if it were a duel between experts, this tiny time gap was the gap between life and death.

He had to give it a name.

What name would be good?

After Xu Jin pulled out several hairs, he finally thought of a suitable name—'Soul-Swinging Golden Lotus.'

When Xu Jin had this thought, changes instantly occurred within the star lamp.

【Star Lamp 4: Solidified Star Art 'Soul-Swinging Golden Lotus'】

Xu Jin felt that with the Soul-Swinging Golden Lotus as a foundation, the possibility of him challenging to obtain a Brilliant Star had taken another step forward. Xu Jin continued to study the other changes in the Arena.

By stepping on the stars and worshipping in the Arena, he instantly obtained four strands of fourth-tier star light.

This was as expected.

Drawing a strand of fourth-tier star light into his body instantly replenished the 30% of star power Xu Jin had consumed.

The star power capacity of fourth-tier star light was doubled compared to third-tier star light.

A few breaths later, Xu Jin also put elixirs and emblems into Star Lamp 4 for nourishment.

After upgrading to the fourth-tier Arena, one star lamp could now nourish four elixirs or four emblems simultaneously, and the efficiency of nourishment was greatly improved.

After thinking, Xu Jin placed another star core on the Arena's offering table.

Another fourth-tier mid Thunder Spirit star core.

For the protection star pattern, Xu Jin chose 'Purple Lei Hong.'

Purple Lei Hong was the signature star art of the Purple Wing clan of the third-tier Purple Wind star region, powerful, fast, and fierce.

Xu Jin was worshipping to obtain it now, also in preparation for future Gold Star or even Brilliant Star plucking.

Of course, during the process of plucking a Gold Star, Xu Jin wouldn't use it if he didn't have to.

He had to reserve it.

At the same time, another thought surfaced in Xu Jin's mind—after using the new star art he evolved, Soul-Swinging Golden Lotus, in the Star-Plucking Tower, could the inner demon in the Star-Plucking Secret Realm learn it?

This was a question!

During the next challenge, Xu Jin had to pay close attention to this point.

This Arena upgrade could be said to be a huge harvest.

Except for not obtaining the ability to nourish star artifacts that Xu Jin had imagined, everything else exceeded Xu Jin's expectations.

Then, what changes would occur when the Arena upgraded from the fourth tier to the fifth tier?

Once this thought arose, Xu Jin sank his mind into the Arena's jade tablet to see what the requirements were for upgrading the Arena from the fourth tier to the fifth tier.

Just after one glance, Xu Jin felt like he couldn't bear to look.

This upgrade cost was higher with each tier.

The cost of upgrading the Arena to the fifth tier felt a bit like an astronomical price compared to the cost of upgrading to the fourth tier.

Xu Jin felt that his bit of wealth was not enough again.

He still had to work hard.

【Can Upgrade: Requires 10,000 strands of star light, 81 fifth-tier star jade tablets, 10,000 catties of iron essence, 1,000 catties of copper essence, 10,000 catties of silver, 1,000 taels of gold, 10 catties of star meteor iron, 10 thousand-year turtle shells, 3 red sparrow feathers】

Basically, it was more than ten times the cost of the third-to-fourth-tier upgrade.

It also added red sparrow feathers.

And what shocked Xu Jin the most was the 10,000 strands of star light.

This should require fourth-tier star light.

Under normal circumstances, worshipping the stars once a day would yield four strands; he would have to worship for seven or eight years without consuming a single strand to save up 10,000 strands of star light.

It seemed he still had to use star jade tablets to supplement, and they had to be fourth-tier star jade tablets.

Nearly 10,000 fourth-tier star jade tablets—this was absolutely an astronomical amount of wealth.

In the short term, Xu Jin shouldn't even think about upgrading the Arena to the fifth tier.

But Xu Jin was still looking forward to it; he had to work hard to upgrade the Arena.

Up to now, every time the Arena upgraded, it brought Xu Jin huge harvests.

A quarter of an hour later, Xu Jin calmed his mood and began to cultivate, continuing his intensive cultivation of the middle star palace.

After finishing cultivation, Xu Jin killed his way into the third-tier Martial Practice Secret Realm of the Star-Plucking Tower, continuing to challenge the ranking of the third-tier Martial Practice Secret Realm.

The competition in the third-tier Martial Practice Secret Realm was extremely fierce; if you didn't come for a day, your ranking would drop by several tens of thousands, or even more than a hundred thousand.

Xu Jin estimated that in another three or four days, he would be able to kill his way into the top 3,000 of the third-tier Martial Practice Secret Realm of the Star-Plucking Tower.

By then, the real battle would begin!

September 23rd, Xu Jin continued his intensive cultivation, spending even longer in the National Dao Academy's library, striving to complete the Grand Master's task in the shortest possible time and begin ordinary Dao derivation.

In the afternoon, Xu Jin used up all five opportunities he had obtained to temper his divine soul on the Heavenly Stairs.

Xu Jin's divine soul cultivation reached the late stage of the eighth layer of Refine Star.

Judging by the current progress, with two more opportunities on the Heavenly Stairs, his divine soul cultivation would be able to break through to the ninth layer of Refine Star.

However, purchasing one opportunity on the Heavenly Stairs separately cost 10,000 Dao Merit points.

Too expensive; Xu Jin couldn't afford it.

Xu Jin directly chose to take elixirs.

The other Divine Spirit Jin Dan Xu Jin had obtained had already been nourished three times.

It was time to take it.

Having already taken one Divine Spirit Jin Dan, judging by the test results on Ning Yuchan, the medicinal effect of the second Divine Spirit Jin Dan, even if it was nourished three times, would decay by at least 40%.

However, even if it decayed by 40%, it was enough for Xu Jin to break through his divine soul cultivation to the ninth layer of Refine Star.

As long as his divine soul cultivation broke through to the ninth layer of Refine Star, he could take the Divine Refining Jin Dan he had obtained more than a month ago.

The next instant, the round, pale-gold Divine Spirit Jin Dan was swallowed into Xu Jin's abdomen, and instantly, a cool aura shot straight to his forehead. Xu Jin's divine soul star in the upper star palace also spun rapidly, quickly absorbing the medicinal power of the Divine Spirit Jin Dan.

The cultivation of Xu Jin's divine soul star was also increasing rapidly, strand by strand.

Very quickly, it reached the peak of the eighth layer of Refine Star, and a few breaths later, the first star ring radiance of the ninth layer star halo appeared, representing that Xu Jin's divine soul cultivation had officially broken through to the ninth layer of Refine Star.

However, the medicinal power of this Divine Spirit Jin Dan was still continuing.

Xu Jin activated his divine soul star, constantly absorbing the medicinal power.

Half a quarter of an hour later, the cool aura rising in his abdomen completely disappeared, representing that the medicinal power of this Divine Spirit Jin Dan had also been completely used up.

Looking inward, the ninth layer star halo of Xu Jin's upper star palace's divine soul star was already more than half complete.

A bit past the mid-stage of the ninth layer of Refine Star.

Sure enough, the test done on Ning Yuchan was correct.

For elixirs nourished three times, when taking the second one, the medicinal power would decay by 40%, leaving 60% of the medicinal power.

But even if there was only 60% of the medicinal power, it was enough.

The medicinal power of a Divine Spirit Jin Dan nourished three times was six times that of an ordinary Divine Spirit Jin Dan.

Exerting 60% was equivalent to taking three and a half pills.

The improvement was huge.

Xu Jin had already decided that he would also let Jiang'er take two Divine Spirit Golden Elixirs and two Divine Refining Golden Elixirs.

Of course, he wouldn't let Jiang'er take them continuously.

He would slowly let Jiang'er take them later.

Not to improve too quickly.

"Should I condense stars with my divine soul in one go?"

Xu Jin, whose divine soul cultivation had improved, pondered.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Jin made a decision.

His divine soul cultivation was already at the mid-stage of the ninth layer of Refine Star; with the medicinal power of a three-times-nourished Divine Refining Jin Dan, the probability of him condensing stars with his divine soul in one go was extremely high.

Even if he couldn't, he had a second three-times-nourished Divine Refining Jin Dan as a backup.

Since it was suitable, he should condense stars with his divine soul early.

After condensing stars with his divine soul, Xu Jin's cultivation speed and combat power would improve by another notch!

Xu Jin took out the three-times-nourished Divine Refining Jin Dan that had been nourishing for more than half a month.

Starlight and gold light intertwined, exceptionally magnificent!

The next instant, Xu Jin swallowed it directly into his abdomen.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 195 =====