Chapter 219: Flying Sword Star Artifact

In the quiet chamber of the small courtyard, Xu Jin was furiously engraving talismans.

Xu Jin had a very bold idea—he wanted to try solidifying the star patterns to be engraved inside the Star Lamp, then directly replicate them into the talisman using his spiritual soul's power.

If it worked, Xu Jin could become a money-printing machine.

No, it should be called a stamping machine.

Though this idea was extremely bold, he still had to try it.

But Xu Jin did not rush to solidify the third-rank star pattern, Star Burst Technique, into the Star Lamp.

First, he began studying the "Parallel Advancement" minor technique and the insights on third- and fourth-rank talismans given by Master Kou.

The "Parallel Advancement" minor technique was actually very simple.

Previously, when crafting the base talisman using Star Pivot star patterns, one started from a single point and traced outward until closing the loop.

But the "Parallel Advancement" technique began tracing the Star Pivot star pattern simultaneously from both ends.

It took less time, and theoretically absorbed more star power.

The resulting base talisman would also be of higher quality.

But the difficulty of operation was more than two or three times greater than the previous method.

Kou Jing provided a solution at the end of the secret technique—practice relentlessly!

This little trick had little room for shortcuts; only relentless practice would do.

The more times you practiced, the higher your proficiency, and the greater the coverage you achieved.

Like the oil-seller, it was all about hand familiarity.

If Xu Jin wanted to produce more high-grade talismans, he must master this secret technique.

Master Kou's suggestion was that Xu Jin first practice with cheaper second-rank talismans; under normal circumstances, after a thousand repetitions, he could master it and produce base talismans nearly equal to those made by conventional methods.

If he could practice ten thousand times, he would surely produce base talismans with star power coverage exceeding 95%, even more.

Let's be honest, this is truly an expensive craft.

Ten thousand times—even if practicing with second-rank Star Jade Tablets at twenty Dao Merits each, it would cost two hundred thousand Dao Merits.

Of course, there was also income.

Master Kou said that after a thousand repetitions, one could generally break even.

But that was for others; for Xu Jin, this purely proficiency-based skill, practiced inside the Star Lamp, offered extraordinary cost-efficiency and cost virtually nothing.

Since this was foundational, Xu Jin naturally began relentless practice inside the Star Lamp.

By evening practice, Xu Jin had trained over ten thousand times inside the Star Lamp.

Xu Jin was not in a hurry to attempt actual engraving.

Making money couldn't be rushed.

Evening practice was unshakable; he took another Three-Storage Dragon Turtle Soul-Forging Pill, and after fully refining it, his spiritual soul cultivation base successfully advanced to late Stage One of Fourth-Rank Star Condensation.

Then he continued entering the Third-Rank Combat Arena to climb the rankings.

To enter the top one hundred in the Third-Rank Combat Arena, one had to fight one by one.

To quickly break into the top ten for Starlight rewards, Xu Jin fought fifteen times daily.

But today, he did not fight fifteen times.

He fought only twelve times.

The reason was that Immortal Zuiyue and Treading the Star River had challenged him.

Today, Immortal Zuiyue was unusually enthusiastic during her challenge.

She clearly knew Xu Jin challenged her mainly to experience different combat styles and improve practical experience.

So today's match was exceptionally cooperative; while fighting Xu Jin, she even used a new star technique.

And she smiled throughout.

This even lifted Xu Jin's spirits considerably.

Even an ordinary-looking girl's smile could lift one's mood, let alone a beautiful girl like Immortal Zuiyue.

"I have other plans today, so I can only fight two matches." After the first match, Xu Jin told Immortal Zuiyue directly. Normally, when Xu Jin reduced the number of challenges, Immortal Zuiyue's face would instantly darken.

She'd be unhappy!

But today, Immortal Zuiyue kept smiling.

"You've been performing well lately. Let's fight again tomorrow."

This left Xu Jin utterly baffled.

What had he done?

Was ignoring her considered good performance?

Should he ignore her more often in the future?

This was the conclusion Xu Jin reached after deep thought.

Then, Xu Jin went to fight Treading the Star River.

In the palace atop Snow Mountain, Immortal Zuiyue, having left the Star-Picking Tower, wore a bright smile. Upon returning, Zhong Yueying hurried over, nervously asking, "How was it, Xiao Yueyue? Did you challenge him? Did you add him as a friend?"

Immortal Zuiyue nodded. "I've added him as a friend! And challenged him!"

"How did it go?" Zhong Yueying asked anxiously.

Hearing this, Immortal Zuiyue shook her head. "I lost—he's quite strong!"

Instantly, Zhong Yueying found her target of resentment. "Exactly! That Qi Tian Da Sheng is terrible! So low-class, so stingy—he's not even a real man! By the way, after the fight, did you curse him like I told you to?"

Immortal Zuiyue paused slightly, then shook her head. "Ying'er, I'm sorry—I forgot."

"You—you forgot?!" Zhong Yueying panicked.

"He—he immediately accepted my friend request and agreed to the challenge. Even though I lost, I have no reason to scold him!" Immortal Zuiyue said innocently.

"You—you—"

Zhong Yueying was so furious her hands trembled, but she couldn't scold Immortal Zuiyue—could Qi Tian Da Sheng have changed?

So Zhong Yueying quietly sent another friend request to Qi Tian Da Sheng.

Just after finishing his fierce battle with Treading the Star River, Xu Jin saw a flash of starlight and received a Starlight message.

【Qi Tian Da Sheng, Zhong Yueying requests to add you as a friend. Accept?】

【Reject】

At just the sight of the name, Xu Jin chose to reject!

Come on—he mustn't get too close.

Inside the palace, Zhong Yueying, instantly rejected, flew into a rage. "Traitor!"

She cursed at Immortal Zuiyue and stormed off in fury.

Immortal Zuiyue blinked, as if realizing something, then smiled sweetly again.

Soon after, Xu Jin received another Starlight message.

【You've performed well. Tomorrow, you may make one request of me—I'll consider fulfilling it.】

When Xu Jin saw this message, he was speechless.

Even though you, Immortal Zuiyue, have long legs, I doubt you'd wear black stockings and show them off!

He simply read it and ignored it.

On the afternoon of October 10, after two days of relentless practice engraving talismans inside the Star Lamp, and combining Master Kou's recorded insights from the Jade Tablets, Xu Jin, having practiced each step at least twenty thousand times, began actual engraving.

First, he crafted the base talismans.

In actual crafting, Xu Jin remained extremely cautious.

After all, practice inside the Star Lamp differed from real-world operation.

But the effects of tens of thousands of hours of practice were not in vain.

The first base talisman achieved a 95% star power coverage—high-grade quality.

The foundation for a high-grade talisman was established.

By the time he finished a hundred base talismans, the final third-rank Star Jade Tablet's star power coverage had reached 98%!

The foundation for a supreme talisman was preliminarily laid.

Next came the actual engraving.

In fifteen minutes, Xu Jin engraved ten third-rank Star Burst talismans.

Now, Xu Jin could judge quality.

Of the ten third-rank Star Burst talismans, three were third-rank mid-grade, and the other seven were already high-grade.

Let's be honest, this speed is astonishing.

But Xu Jin still thought it wasn't fast enough.

Only direct replication would be truly fast.

Then, Xu Jin solidified the Star Pivot star pattern, Connecting Star pattern, Star Burst Technique, and fourth-rank Fire Source star pattern—all in talisman form—into the Star Lamp.

He wanted to see if he could directly replicate them using spiritual soul power. What Xu Jin meant by "replication" was simply copying the fixed pattern exactly.

If successful, Xu Jin estimated he could produce one third-rank Star Burst talisman in about ten breaths.

In fifteen minutes, he could produce hundreds.

The speed of profit would be incredible.

Of course, Xu Jin wasn't aiming for mass sales—he wanted to save time for cultivation and other tasks.

After merely testing for fifteen minutes, Xu Jin abandoned the idea.

Within fifteen minutes, he exploded three talismans.

The loss is substantial.

Xu Jin also noticed the issue—it was still related to the soul-force.

Replication should be possible too; under conditions of extremely powerful soul-force, it's like imprinting—just press the imprint down, and it's done.

But currently, the demand on soul-force is extremely high. Once my soul-force cultivation advances further, I can try mass-producing low-grade emblems.

For now, I still have to earn money the old-fashioned way!

Though it's manual labor, Xu Jin's speed is still far faster than others'.

Even Wen Lie, a fourth-rank Condensing Star cultivator, needs half a quarter-hour to craft a single third-rank Star Fireburst Emblem.

But here, Xu Jin can now produce five third-rank Star Fireburst Emblems in half a quarter-hour.

And every single one is top-grade.

In just one and a half hours, Xu Jin finished all one hundred third-rank Star Jade Tablets he'd acquired.

He produced ninety top-grade third-rank Star Fireburst Emblems and seven mid-grade third-rank Star Fireburst Emblems.

But during the engraving process, Xu Jin discovered another critical limitation to emblem production.

Soul-force consumption.

Xu Jin, with his abundant soul-force, hadn't noticed at first.

But after crafting fifty emblems, he realized that those fifty had already drained half his soul-force—despite being at the late stage of fourth-rank Condensing Star First Layer.

For a disciple who had just recently forged their soul-star, six or seven emblems would completely deplete their soul-force!

Either sleep to recover, or use top-grade Revitalizing Pills.

The investment in soul-force is the greatest cost.

And the Clear Soul Star Pattern and Warm Dream Star Pattern that Xu Jin had learned now became the perfect pair for emblem engraving!

Using Warm Dream to plunge himself into sleep, after a quarter-hour, Xu Jin's soul-force recovers two-tenths.

Incredibly fast!

On October 11, Xu Jin's cultivation in the Middle Star Palace smoothly advanced to the peak of Refining Star Eighth Layer.

After taking three more Three-Variant Dragon Turtle Soul-Forging Pills these past two days, his soul-force cultivation smoothly broke through to the early stage of fourth-rank Condensing Star Second Layer.

In the afternoon, Xu Jin went to the External Affairs Hall to prepare for delivery.

He waited a day before delivering because he feared selling too much at once would draw attention.

When Xu Jin laid out all ninety-seven third-rank Star Fireburst Emblems in a straight line before Deputy Hall Master Ling Mao, the latter was clearly stunned.

"Lord Xu, are all these emblems engraved by you in just the past couple days?" Ling Mao asked, astonished.

"All engraved by me, but it took four days—I spent most of my time engraving emblems." This was the explanation Xu Jin had prepared in advance.

"Lord Xu is truly relentless! Even professional third-rank emblem artisans producing ten or so emblems a day are considered highly productive.

To produce this many in four days—didn't you use many Three-Yin Clear Soul Pills?" Ling Mao asked.

Three-Yin Clear Soul Pills are a rare elixir for restoring soul-force, roughly twice as potent as top-grade Revitalizing Pills, but priced fifteen times higher.

Ordinary disciples don't even have the qualification to buy them.

Due to scarcity, they're typically reserved for fifth-rank or higher experts, or emblem artisans and alchemists needing rapid soul-force recovery.

One pill costs 150 Dao Merit.

Since Ling Mao asked, Xu Jin nodded.

The answer was: he had to use them.

Ling Mao sighed lightly. "That means your costs are even higher, Lord Xu."

"Lord Xu, third-rank Star Fireburst Emblems, though third-rank, are the most basic and lowest-tier among third-rank emblems, so the Dao Academy's selling price and acquisition price are both low—this is transparent, and I can't change it.

For mid-grade third-rank Star Fireburst Emblems, the external selling price is 200 Dao Merit per piece, acquisition price 160 Dao Merit; for top-grade, selling price is 250 Dao Merit per piece, acquisition price 200 Dao Merit.

If you have spare time, consider crafting emblems with greater power among third-rank ones. The difficulty is higher, but so is the profit—some are in high demand and even sell at a premium."

A quarter-hour later, Xu Jin left the External Affairs Hall.

For the ninety-seven third-rank Star Fireburst Emblems, Xu Jin earned a total of 19, 20 Dao Merit; the Star-Picking Tower deducted a 3% transaction tax, leaving him with 18, 46 Dao Merit.

The cost of the one hundred third-rank Star Jade Tablets had been 9, 00 Dao Merit.

Net profit: 8, 00 Dao Merit.

All things considered, this income isn't bad at all.

But this was only under Xu Jin's initial entry into the field.

In the future, his earnings should grow even more.

As he left, Xu Jin purchased another one hundred third-rank Star Jade Tablets.

【Dao Merit: 23, 82】

As he left, Xu Jin also took the External Affairs Hall's small emblem manual from Ling Mao.

It listed which emblems were in high demand, along with their selling prices.

Among third-rank emblems, the most sought-after were attack, defense, and speed-type emblems—especially those with great power.

For example, the Fireburst Emblem was quite popular.

One Fireburst Emblem had an acquisition price as high as 350 Dao Merit, and a selling price exceeding 400 Dao Merit.

Defense-type emblems were mostly Earth- and Water-element star arts; Xu Jin wasn't skilled in them, so he skipped over them.

Speed-type emblems were even more in demand, due to their greater crafting difficulty.

After reviewing it, Xu Jin knew that for the foreseeable future, he would focus primarily on Fireburst Emblems.

He was most familiar with Fireburst Emblems.

But compared to Star Fireburst, Fireburst Emblems were vastly more difficult.

A standard Fireburst Emblem requires at least one Star Burst Art, one mid-grade Fire Source Star Pattern, and one Blazing Flame Star Pattern.

But difficulty meant nothing to Xu Jin.

He could practice inside the Star Lamp.

What Xu Jin needed to do was control his output speed.

Too much attention wasn't good.

Twenty!

Xu Jin set himself a target: no more than twenty third-rank emblems sold per day.

That way, after deducting costs, he could still earn several thousand Dao Merit daily.

And Xu Jin's costs were the lowest.

After practicing tens of thousands of times inside the Star Lamp, he rarely failed an emblem, and his soul-force required no elixir replenishment.

Pure profit—except for the cost of third-rank Star Jade Tablets and time.

Before long, it was October 15.

On the morning of October 15, after smoothly advancing his Lower Star Palace cultivation to the peak of Refining Star Eighth Layer, Xu Jin took another Dragon Turtle Soul-Forging Pill, and his soul-force cultivation smoothly broke through to fourth-rank Condensing Star Third Layer.

Raising his fourth-rank soul-force by one level consumed more Three-Variant Dragon Turtle Soul-Forging Pills than Xu Jin had expected.

A full eight pills.

Thus, aside from the five pills he kept for Ning Yuchan, he had seven left for himself.

If fortune favored him, he might break through to fourth-rank Condensing Star Fourth Layer; if not, he'd remain at the peak of fourth-rank Condensing Star Third Layer.

Just as Xu Jin was about to engrave the Hundred Transformations Star Pattern onto the ninth star position of his Lower Star Palace and prepare to challenge Golden Star Can, he suddenly received a star-communication from Deputy Hall Master Ling Mao.

"Lord Xu, there's news about a flying-sword-type star-weapon—would you like to come?"

Xu Jin immediately gave a positive reply!

Of course he would.

This was exactly what he had long desired.

(End of Chapter)