Chapter 220: New Combined Star Art

"Young Master Xu, I have obtained accurate news that sword-type Star Artifacts will appear at tonight's auction. But because it is an auction, the information about the auction items is only general, not specific. My suggestion is that you had better make a trip yourself," said Deputy Hall Master Ling Mao of the External Affairs Hall.

"Is it inside or outside the city?" Xu Jin asked.

"Young Master Xu is worried about safety, right? It is inside Dachen Wan Yi City. Inside the auction, it should be absolutely safe; this is their signboard. But on the way..."

Ling Mao didn't dare to guarantee the safety on the way.

After the assassination incident by the Cangming Shang Xinggong some time ago, although the martial law was lifted, no one dared to guarantee this matter.

"If Young Master Xu is worried about safety, I can act on your behalf," Ling Mao said.

"I'd better make a trip myself. Besides, I'll open my eyes; I haven't participated in an auction in Dachen Wan Yi yet," Xu Jin said.

After luring and killing Zhang Zhen last time, the National Dao Academy was under martial law for another three days, and after three days, the martial law was lifted, and everything returned to normal.

Cheng Cheng Yuexiao also specifically told Xu Jin that Xu Jin could enter and leave the National Dao Academy normally, but he should still pay attention to what he should pay attention to.

She said that all parties had been mediated and there would be no more assassination incidents similar to this, but it couldn't be fully guaranteed.

She said that if Xu Jin wanted to leave the National Dao Academy, he should send a star light transmission to Peng Lao, and Peng Lao would arrange for the Danxia Guards to protect him in secret. If he wanted to leave Dachen Wan Yi, he must discuss it with her.

"That's fine, the auction in Dachen Wan Yi still has many good things. Most of them are spoils of war flowing out from the Star River Battlefield, and there are many bidders. If you want to go, Young Master Xu had better prepare the Star Light in your hands more generously.

At auctions, generally only Star Light transactions are accepted," Ling Mao said.

Xu Jin was just about to talk about this matter. As he spoke, Xu Jin took out all the Flame Explosion Patterns he had made in these four days.

Originally, he only planned to take out eighty, but in order to bid, Xu Jin directly took out all the Flame Explosion Patterns he had made in these four days.

A total of ninety-five.

Fifteen third-tier mid-grade, and eighty third-tier high-grade Flame Explosion Patterns.

Ling Mao was no longer surprised by Xu Jin's big hand; there were actually quite a few young people who were focused on making money.

But after thinking about it, Ling Mao gave Xu Jin a suggestion.

"Young Master Xu, the acquisition price of third-tier mid-grade Flame Explosion Patterns is 300 Dao Merits, and I will buy them directly. However, these third-tier high-grade Flame Explosion Patterns are quite popular. My suggestion is that you temporarily auction them when you arrive at the auction site.

The auction price is always a bit higher than the National Dao Academy's acquisition price, at least it can be auctioned for thirty-five strands of Star Light per set, and the auction proceeds can be directly used for transactions at the auction, and you can also pay less tax."

Xu Jin naturally followed this good suggestion.

But Xu Jin calculated that even if they were all auctioned, eighty third-tier high-grade Flame Explosion Patterns would only be about 2,800 strands of Star Light, and adding his own inventory, it barely exceeded 3,000 strands.

But he was still far from being generous.

"Then Hall Master Ling, I want to exchange some Dao Merits for Star Light, so that I can be more generous in preparation," Xu Jin said.

"Not worth it."

Ling Mao shook his head. "Exchanging Dao Merits for Star Light, although it is 10 to 1, the Star-Plucking Tower will directly deduct a ten percent transaction tax, which is not a small amount.

If I lend it to you, I will also directly deduct a twenty percent personal transaction tax.

How about this, I will accompany you, and then I will make up for the difference, so you don't have to pay tax."

"This... then I will trouble Hall Master Ling." Xu Jin hesitated for a moment and agreed.

Anyway, he already owed Ling Mao quite a few favors, so one more didn't matter. He would repay it in the future.

This was also Ling Mao's purpose.

Otherwise, why would he be so good to Xu Jin?

Xu Jin was very clear about this point.

It was very rare for someone like Ning Ning Yuchan to help Xu Jin without asking for anything in return, so Xu Jin cherished it very much.

But Xu Jin didn't have any excessive demands.

In this world, others helping you is a favor, not helping you is their duty.

Even if there is a request, this favor must be remembered.

"No trouble. How about this, for tonight's auction, I will pay directly, and Young Master Xu, you can pay me back with patterns when you are done, which will also save a transaction tax and be convenient!" Ling Mao said.

"Good."

Immediately, Xu Jin handed the fifteen third-tier mid-grade Flame Explosion Patterns to Ling Mao and bought another one hundred third-tier Star Jade Tablets.

【Dao Merits: 17,981 points.】

Xu Jin's Dao Merits were now earning less and less.

What surprised Xu Jin was that after finishing the transaction, Ling Mao asked Xu Jin to wait for a while, saying he was going to apply for permission.

Not long after, Ling Mao returned and handed a token to Xu Jin.

The token was cyan, with complex patterns, and a large seal character on it: Fourth Tier!

"This is?"

"I wanted to tell you last time. According to the unified regulations of the current world and the Star River Battlefield, those who successfully make ten third-tier patterns can obtain the status of a third-tier pattern master. However, a third-tier pattern master is a low-tier pattern master and not very useful.

According to the unified regulations of the current world and the Star River Battlefield: those who produce and sell more than one hundred third-tier mid-grade and third-tier high-grade patterns, of which more than fifty are high-grade patterns, can obtain the status token of a fourth-tier pattern master in advance," Ling Mao said.

Looking at the status token in his hand, Xu Jin put it into his bosom casually and didn't pay much attention to it.

He felt that the status token obtained so easily didn't seem to be of much use.

Ling Mao, however, saw Xu Jin's thoughts and smiled. "Young Master Xu, don't underestimate this status of a fourth-tier pattern master; many people want it but can't get it!"

Speaking of this, Ling Mao sighed. "Young Master Xu's talent is truly enviable! Many people can only occupy one item, but Young Master Xu occupies two, cultivation and pattern production!

Most disciples of the National Dao Academy, if they want to become a fourth-tier pattern master, it will take at least a year or two of hard work!

Mid-grade patterns are easy, but high-grade patterns are very difficult!

Like that Wen Lie who followed Academic Master Kou to learn patterns for almost two years, he hasn't obtained the fourth-tier pattern master token yet."

"Then its function?" Xu Jin reminded.

"The function is not big, but not small! In the current world, it is a symbol of status. The first is that when Young Master Xu's cultivation base reaches the sixth layer of the fourth-tier Condense Star, when choosing a career, you can rely on it and not go to the Star River Battlefield!

The second is, if Young Master Xu goes to the Star River Battlefield, relying on this status token, you can do logistics, that is, make patterns every month, and complete tasks according to the requirements, and you can also easily obtain war merits," Ling Mao said.

After chatting for a few sentences, Xu Jin left.

The auction was held in the evening, and the two agreed on a time, so Xu Jin returned to the small courtyard.

After returning to the small courtyard, Xu Jin first sent a star light transmission to Head Steward Peng Lao to explain his itinerary for the evening.

He soon received Peng Lao's transmission.

"Go with peace of mind, there should be no more assassinations now, and even if there are, I will protect your safety."

This was Head Steward Peng Lao's reply.

Domineering and reassuring.

Taking advantage of the time in the afternoon, Xu Jin made ten more Flame Explosion Patterns.

All were third-tier high-grade.

It would be no problem to make a dozen more. 【2

Originally, making a dozen more wouldn't have been a problem.

But with Ling Mao nearby in the evening, Xu Jin didn't want to be too conspicuous.

He would make more slowly later.

This was also the reason Xu Jin insisted on attending the auction in person.

It was also to open up a sales channel.

Perhaps he could handle the extra emblems he made in the future through auctions.

Now that Xu Jin had learned the Hundred-Change Star Pattern, it would be perfect if he changed his identity again.

Taking advantage of the remaining time, he began to tinker with the Mustard Space of the Mustard-Hidden Mountain.

The Object-Control Star Pattern had already been inscribed, and the Sumeru Star Pattern had also been inscribed.

But inscribing them wasn't the end; it was just the beginning.

After the Sumeru Star Pattern was inscribed, it magically connected Xu Jin to a mysterious alien space.

This should be a Sumeru Mustard Space belonging exclusively to Xu Jin.

But at the beginning, this Sumeru Mustard Space was only the size of a needle tip.

Xu Jin needed to continuously use his star power and soul power to expand it before it could become large enough to use.

According to the Grand Master, the stronger the soul cultivation, the larger the upper limit of the Sumeru space.

And the strength of the Object-Control Star Pattern and star power determined the speed of expansion.

Anyway, Xu Jin had already been expanding it for two days, half an hour each day, and so far he had only managed to expand a space one meter in length, width, and height. One cubic meter of space.

Moreover, the expansion speed had obviously slowed down.

The next instant, Xu Jin condensed his star power into a spinning blade shape and began to frantically cut into this highly resilient Sumeru Mustard Space.

It lasted for a full half-hour, consuming more than half of Xu Jin's star power and one-third of his soul power, before the space expanded by about one and a half cubic meters.

Xu Jin planned to wait until he had expanded it to three or four cubic meters, then leave it alone; that would be enough to use.

As for some more valuable items, Xu Jin had already thrown them into the Sumeru Mustard Space.

When Xu Jin entered the Star Domain again in the future, with this Sumeru Mustard Space, his harvest would be huge.

It was even possible he would make a fortune.

Calculating the time, five days had passed since the last Star Lamp evolution.

Sinking his thoughts into the Star Lamp, it had indeed changed to "evolvable."

In fact, more than half a month had passed since the first evolution when the Arena ascended to the fourth tier; in the meantime, Xu Jin had already evolved it twice.

These two times were both whimsical evolutions, intended to verify some of Xu Jin's ideas.

But they all failed.

In these two failed evolutions, Xu Jin had been evolving soul-attack secret techniques.

Previously, after unlocking part of the seal on the soul star pattern inheritance left to Xu Jin by Old Qi at the Lord Lingji Shang Xinggong, Xu Jin had obtained a total of three soul star patterns.

They were the fourth-tier superior Illusion Intent Star Pattern, the fifth-tier superior Object-Control Star Pattern, and the fifth-tier inferior Terror Star Pattern.

Xu Jin had now inscribed all three of these star patterns onto his Soul Stars.

Illusion Intent's main function was to create mental illusions; the greater the gap in soul cultivation, the easier it was to succeed. Combined with Star Mist, it could create a primary illusion.

The Terror Star Pattern's main function was to imbue soul attacks with a terror effect, which could trigger the deepest fear in the target's heart, thereby affecting their state.

According to Old Qi, it was a very practical star pattern.

It could win opportunities in actual combat.

Xu Jin thought for a long time and felt that the combination of Terror and Break-Evil worked best.

During the first evolution, Xu Jin used Clear Soul plus one Break-Evil plus one Terror plus one Illusion Intent, but the result of the evolution was a failure.

During the second evolution, Xu Jin used Clear Soul plus one Break-Evil plus one Terror plus one Warm Dream to evolve, and it also failed.

Xu Jin evolved this way mainly because his soul cultivation had already broken through to the fourth-tier Condense Star, third layer.

Looking inward at the Upper Shang Xinggong, he would see four Soul Stars slowly rotating inside at this moment.

The fourth Soul Star had just formed.

The ten star pattern positions on the first Soul Star were still missing one, but the second and third Soul Stars were completely blank.

Xu Jin was evolving soul secret techniques at this time precisely to evolve a powerful soul-attack secret technique to transform these blank Soul Stars into combat power.

Carefully thinking about the reasons for the previous evolution failures, Xu Jin felt that it might be because Warm Dream and Terror conflicted.

Warm Dream pulled people into a dream, while Terror triggered the deepest fear in the target's heart.

It seemed like their attributes clashed a bit.

Xu Jin had previously been obsessed with using Warm Dream mainly because Warm Dream and Break-Evil cooperated extremely well in actual combat.

Now, judging from the results of the previous two evolutions, Warm Dream seemed to clash with Terror; if he wanted to use Warm Dream, he couldn't use Terror.

If he used Terror, he couldn't use Warm Dream.

Xu Jin estimated that if he reduced the number of star patterns used for evolution, the power might weaken again.

The rank of a three-star-pattern star technique wasn't too high.

Many third-tier and fourth-tier star techniques were three-star-pattern ones.

But currently, the evolution function of the fourth-tier Arena could only hold a maximum of four star patterns.

After thinking about it, Xu Jin removed the Clear Soul star pattern.

According to Old Qi's experience and the research of the Lord Lingji Shang Xinggong, the Clear Soul star pattern did not conflict with any known soul secret technique.

It was just a very rare basic star pattern.

Since that was the case, the Clear Soul star pattern could be inscribed directly.

With four star patterns, which ones should he use to evolve?

Xu Jin looked around; his Upper Shang Xinggong currently had nine star patterns inscribed: Clear Soul, Hidden Storage, Conceal Image, Warm Dream, Break-Evil, Suppress Intent, Illusion Intent, Object-Control, and Terror.

Among them, Clear Soul had already been excluded, and Suppress Intent was a soul-defense star pattern, which could also be excluded.

Hidden Storage and Conceal Image were combination star patterns for invisibility; in Xu Jin's understanding, they could not participate in attacks.

So only Illusion Intent could be used for evolution.

But the reason Xu Jin hadn't used Illusion Intent before was mainly because he thought Illusion Intent was for creating mental illusions, while Terror was for inducing fear; wasn't that a clash?

One was for confusion, the other for fright.

They clashed and conflicted.

He had never used them.

But at this moment, Xu Jin didn't have many choices left.

He would treat a dead horse as a living one and try it; if the evolution didn't work.

Then five days later, Xu Jin would only be able to use Break-Evil and Warm Dream or Terror in a separate combination, or look for other new soul star patterns.

The next instant, Xu Jin's mind moved, and he sequentially selected the four star patterns of Break-Evil, Warm Dream, Illusion Intent, and Terror in the four star lamps.

【Evolution】

The moment the eighty wisps of starlight disappeared, the four star lamps instantly emitted brilliant starlight, dancing and swirling together.

This situation lasted for only a hundred breaths before a mass of clear starlight suddenly appeared.

An arrow of Break-Evil emitting a hazy brilliance slammed out, and a strange soul fluctuation dispersed from there.

At the same time, the result of the evolution was like a mental flow, including the order in which the star patterns of this star technique were unleashed and the strength of the soul power infusion, which were directly injected into Xu Jin's mind.

The next instant, Xu Jin was stunned!

It succeeded!

The soul star pattern combination he was least optimistic about had actually succeeded!

He just didn't know how the power was.

The next instant, Xu Jin held the Star-Picking Token and charged directly into the Killing God Battlefield!

Xu Jin hadn't fought much in the Killing God Battlefield recently, but his ranking still couldn't be surpassed by anyone; he was still first.

Xu Jin chose to directly challenge the 127th level.

With Xu Jin's currently skyrocketing strength, fighting the 127th level of the Killing God Battlefield was simply too easy.

However, Xu Jin fought with great focus.

Dodging and shifting, he defeated them one by one.

A dozen breaths later, of the seven fourth-tier third-layer alien races at level 127, the six ordinary ones had all been finished off by Xu Jin.

He only left the fourth-tier third-layer elite alien.

The next instant, Xu Jin spent a little bit of time, and the newly evolved soul combination secret technique slammed out.

It hit accurately.

The moment it hit, this fourth-tier third-layer alien elite suddenly stood still, as if trapped in a dream; in the blink of an eye, an expression of extreme terror and ferocity appeared, and the expression became more and more terrified.

This expression of terror lasted for a full three breaths.

Three breaths later, this fourth-tier third-layer alien elite suddenly woke up, and just as Xu Jin was about to deliver the killing blow, this fourth-tier third-layer alien elite suddenly screamed and turned to flee.

It had collapsed!

Xu Jin was stunned.

The power of this newly evolved combination star technique seemed a bit fierce!

(End of chapter)