Chapter 223: Walking Moon, Flowing Star

To leave the academy and meet up with Old Qi, Xu Jin had several critical issues to resolve.

The most critical was the first: should he tell the Grand Master, Cheng Yuexiao, about this matter or the fact that he would be away for a few days?

This point was crucial.

Telling her or not telling her would drastically affect subsequent developments.

If he told the Grand Master, Xu Jin's safety would be absolutely guaranteed.

To a certain extent, Xu Jin could even utilize the Grand Master's protective power to carry out his plan to lure and kill Hu Xuechuan.

Xu Jin's own risk would be minimal.

However, there was a highly uncertain factor: the Grand Master's attitude toward the so-called remnants of the Lord Lingji Star Palace.

On this point, Xu Jin was not certain.

Xu Jin dared not use his own thoughts to speculate on the psychology of a figure holding such immense power as Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao.

Those who hold great power have many things to weigh.

The Grand Master's protection and affection for Xu Jin were genuine, but that did not mean she would risk everything for him.

The fact that the Heavenly Yang Star Palace's encirclement and suppression of the Lord Lingji Star Palace remnants had not ceased after so many years confirmed that this was the Heavenly Yang Star Palace's bottom line.

So, if Xu Jin's or Qi Shanye's identities were exposed, which side would Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao stand on?

Xu Jin surmised that the Grand Master would, nine times out of ten, choose to prioritize the interests of Chen Guo.

This was the inevitability of those in high positions.

After pondering and weighing the options for a long time, Xu Jin decided that he could not tell Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao about this.

He could not gamble!

He could not gamble on that one-in-ten-thousand chance regarding her stance!

Furthermore, to take a step back, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao had been very good to him, and Xu Jin did not want to drag the Grand Master or Chen Guo into the water because of his own problems.

Xu Jin had slowly come to understand the political stances of the Chen Guo Dao Academy, the Heavenly Yang Star Palace, the Azure Star Palace, Emperor Da Hong, and Da Chu.

In the past, it was the Lord Lingji Star Palace, the Heavenly Yang Star Palace, and the Azure Star Palace vying with each other, with the three great empires of Chen, Hong, and Chu each belonging to one side and joining the struggle.

But as the Lord Lingji Star Palace was forced into locking its palace by the other two star palaces, the Chen Guo Dao Academy took on the heavy responsibility of opposing the Heavenly Yang and Azure Star Palaces, making their situation exceptionally difficult.

After the Lord Lingji Star Palace locked its doors, the Heavenly Yang and Azure Star Palaces, having removed their great enemy, began to guard against each other. The Chen Guo Dao Academy began to play both sides, seeking survival in the cracks and development while swaying.

Thus, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao's last twenty years had been exceptionally difficult.

But if the Chen Guo Dao Academy were to reconnect with the remnants of the Lord Lingji Star Palace, it would signal a potential resurgence, which should be the bottom line and taboo for the two great star palaces.

If such a situation arose, the two great star palaces would likely join forces again to strike at the Chen Guo Dao Academy.

The Chen Guo Dao Academy struggled to oppose even one, let alone both.

From this perspective, Xu Jin could not drag Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao into the water.

Do not tell!

Act alone!

After weighing it for a long time, this was the decision Xu Jin made.

The first critical issue was resolved.

The second critical issue was time and the method of travel.

Xu Jin planned it out: going to Songzhou City would take half a day; if he went and returned quickly, one day would be enough.

But if he wanted to do other things, three to five days were possible.

Was it possible for Xu Jin to leave the Dao Academy for three to five days?

Yes!

After thinking for a long time, Xu Jin combined this with his current situation and reached an affirmative answer.

Because he was the top scorer in the autumn examinations and a direct disciple, plus his cultivation base was where it was, Xu Jin was currently the freest among all the disciples.

He did not need to attend daily roll calls and training like the core and inner court disciples.

Not appearing in front of people for three to five days should not be a problem.

With these two issues resolved, there was the third.

Safety.

Xu Jin was not too worried about his own safety; he still had many means to save his life.

The Falling Star is a life-saving artifact, and the protection of the Star Dome Secret Realm in the Star-Plucking Tower could also be utilized.

He also had sixth-tier and fifth-tier star cores in his hands to save his life.

That was enough.

The only problem was that the number of fifth-tier emblems was still a bit low.

Xu Jin currently had four fifth-tier emblems in his hands.

Three attack and one defense, all of which had been nourished.

He had seven fourth-tier emblems, also all nourished, five attack and two defense.

Nourished fourth-tier emblems actually had great utility.

They could injure fifth-tier experts.

It was a pity that Xu Jin could not yet craft fourth-tier emblems; if he could, and he made a few dozen for Old Qi, he would be at ease.

After calculating for a long time, Xu Jin listed everything he needed to do.

Only then did he hold the Star-Plucking Token and enter the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm of the Star-Plucking Tower.

He directly chose to challenge.

Xu Jin had fought his way to seventh place yesterday, but unfortunately, the sixth-place person was not online and could not accept the challenge, so Xu Jin had to give up.

Today, entering the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm, he challenged the sixth-place person again.

【Sixth place, Qiushan, has accepted the challenge and is about to enter the Practice Arena Secret Realm battlefield.】

The starlight message arrived, making Xu Jin feel a surge of joy; they were online.

The next instant, the starlight before his eyes shifted, and he entered the secret realm battlefield.

【Terrain: Snow Mountain】

It was a man draped in animal skins.

This made Xu Jin's gaze pause slightly: a Barbarian!

Within the top hundred, this was his first time encountering a Barbarian genius.

The next instant, as the timing starlight shattered, the giant bow in Qiushan's palm opened like a full moon, and ink-green rays bombarded Xu Jin in a chain.

Boom!

Thunder wings exploded, and Xu Jin charged directly at Qiushan.

But the moment he charged, the three arrows that had just missed exploded, forming an ink-green star net that covered Xu Jin from above.

This move was highly sophisticated.

It was nearly unavoidable.

Seeing Xu Jin covered by the ink-green star net, confidence appeared in Qiushan's eyes as he prepared to shoot Xu Jin to death.

The next instant, flame light appeared around Xu Jin, directly burning through the ink-green star net, and he took one of Qiushan's arrows head-on, blasting out flame light!

Flame Explosion!

Qiushan's figure dissipated!

The seventh-tier Fire Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern, combined with the mid-tier Red Scale Heart and two fifth-tier Fire Spirits, allowed the power of Xu Jin's fire-type star arts to reach an extremely high level, directly burning his opponent to death!

【Qi Tian Da Sheng: Victory】

Having defeated his enemy in one battle, Xu Jin chose to continue challenging, but a starlight message floated before his eyes: Qiushan was applying to add Xu Jin as a friend.

After thinking about it, Xu Jin agreed.

Barbarians could be challenged a few more times in the future to gain combat experience.

Moreover, Xu Jin discovered that third-tier experts within the top hundred liked to add him as a friend after being defeated.

But Xu Jin refused most of them.

He only agreed to add those who could provide him with combat experience.

Today's challenges were incredibly smooth.

The fifth and fourth place in the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm were both online, and Xu Jin fought his way up.

There was no difficulty.

Honestly speaking, the combat power of the top ten in the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm was very strong; their tactics and star arts were excellent, and they all possessed powerful combination star arts.

But the power of Xu Jin's fire-type star arts made even Xu Jin himself gasp; Flame Explosion, as long as it hit, was an instant kill!

In the Killing God battlefield, fourth-tier Condense Star fifth-layer elite aliens were now instantly killed by Xu Jin's Flame Explosion.

This was a very normal occurrence.

Many sixth-tier fire-type experts did not have seventh-tier Fire Lei Lei Yuanxing Patterns, but Xu Jin did!

This advantage was massive!

【Do you wish to challenge the third place in the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm, Hanyue?】

【Challenge】

The moment Xu Jin issued the challenge, inside the Zhen'e Star Palace, a woman who was practicing star arts against a fellow disciple in the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm separated from her companion. The ink-green radiance returned to a Barbarian woman dressed in ink-green tight-fitting clothes, revealing a pair of forearms.

With a wave of her hand, the spinning, flying Meteor Chisel returned to her palm.

"Little brother, you have a lot of courage." The Barbarian woman smiled.

"It's been so long, someone finally dares to challenge you, so why don't you hurry up?" The woman opposite her also smiled.

Hanyue was the number one direct disciple of their Zhen'e Star Palace and the most talented disciple the Zhen'e Star Palace had seen in recent years.

Her cultivation had reached the peak of Refine Star ninth layer for nearly a year.

The reason she hadn't broken through was mainly to hone her star arts and divine soul; since taking third place in the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm, she had dominated the rankings for months!

【Hanyue has accepted the challenge.】

The starlight message appeared before Xu Jin, and the next instant, he entered the battlefield.

【Terrain: Mountain Forest】

Amidst layers of mountains, an ink-green female figure appeared opposite Xu Jin.

"Little brother, you have a lot of courage." Hanyue smiled, greeted Xu Jin, and then swung the Meteor Chisel in her hand forcefully.

Perhaps it was Xu Jin's illusion.

When Hanyue swung the Meteor Chisel, Xu Jin's lower body felt a sudden chill; he felt that this person's target seemed to be his lower three paths.

"Please enlighten me!"

The next instant, the starlight dispersed, but as it did, the Barbarian girl Hanyue suddenly vanished.

Invisibility?

This caused a stir in Xu Jin's heart.

The Zhen'e Star Palace also had invisibility.

Under the operation of the Lower Star Palace's Mingji Star Pattern, Xu Jin instantly discovered the Barbarian girl Hanyue. She had turned into a mass of ink-green aura, rapidly approaching Xu Jin.

It wasn't invisibility.

It seemed she had merged her aura into the mountain forest, into the grass and vines beneath her feet.

The next instant, Hanyue appeared within five meters of Xu Jin.

In the sensing of the Mingji Star Pattern, Hanyue's star power fluctuated instantly.

She was about to attack!

Well, the thing Xu Jin feared least was this kind of assassin-style attack.

The next instant, Xu Jin waved his hand casually.

A Flame Explosion blasted out.

Hanyue, who had just exploded from the ground, was directly swallowed by the flame light!

【Qi Tian Da Sheng: Victory】

The information appeared before his eyes, and Xu Jin was stunned.

Third place, just like that?

Inside the Zhen'e Star Palace, Hanyue, who had been blasted to death, was also stunned!

She hadn't even made a move, and she was blasted to death?

It absolutely couldn't be luck!

It was that this man could see through her tracks.

This was truly...

The next instant, Hanyue's starlight message applying to add Xu Jin as a friend flew over, followed by another application to challenge Xu Jin.

But she received a rejection message.

In an instant, Hanyue was infuriated.

How could he do this?

Actually, it wasn't that Xu Jin deliberately refused; it was that Xu Jin was currently in a great battle with the second place of the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm, Ren Woxing!

His luck was good today; the second-place Ren Woxing was also online.

Xu Jin challenged, and it was accepted immediately!

However, this second-place Ren Woxing's speed and movement techniques were also top-tier.

His movement technique was very bizarre.

Ten seconds into the battle, relying on his bizarre movement, he had dodged Xu Jin's two Flame Explosion finishing moves!

He specialized in wind-type star arts.

Xu Jin was also amused.

In the past, he was the one flying the kite; now, he had become the one being flown!

The next instant, thunder wings flashed behind Xu Jin, and he exploded forward. The moment he approached Ren Woxing, a thunder net covered him.

Ren Woxing's movement technique was also remarkable; the starlight shifted, and he actually escaped from Xu Jin's thunder net, which had a coverage range of ten meters. But the moment he escaped, he saw five thunder ropes coiling toward him like poisonous dragons.

He used all his strength, but only dodged the entanglement of three thunder ropes, and in an instant, he was trapped by the other two.

The moment he was trapped, the flame light had already annihilated him!

The second place of the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm still hadn't escaped the annihilation of Xu Jin's Flame Explosion.

It seemed he hadn't encountered the pressure he had imagined.

In Xu Jin's imagination, the top three of the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm should have been able to bring him pressure.

They did bring him pressure, but this pressure was only a little bit.

A bit disappointed.

Casually, Xu Jin began to challenge the first place of the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm, Xinghuo.

【Xinghuo is not in the Star-Plucking Secret Realm and cannot accept the challenge.】

The information appearing before his eyes made Xu Jin feel a bit helpless.

First place was not there.

He could only wait!

Afterward, Xu Jin looked at the starlight messages one after another; the accumulated unread starlight messages were already several.

【Hanyue applies to add you as a friend, do you agree?】

【Ren Woxing applies to add you as a friend, do you agree?】

These two could still serve as experience packs, so Xu Jin naturally agreed.

【Qi Tian Da Sheng, congratulations on obtaining second place in the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm. Please maintain it for seven days; for every seven days maintained, you will receive a reward of 12 wisps of starlight.】

【Qi Tian Da Sheng, congratulations on obtaining second place in the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm. Please maintain it for seven days; after maintaining it for seven days, you will obtain the special title of Walking Moon, Flowing Star.】

Sure enough, the title for the third-tier Practice Arena Secret Realm was different.

The reward for maintaining the ranking was also different.

If he could maintain this ranking for a sufficiently long time, this reward would count as a decent income.

Just as he was pondering, the starlight before his eyes flashed repeatedly; it was Hanyue and Ren Woxing sending battle and challenge requests respectively.

Xu Jin was not in a hurry; he accepted the challenges one by one, fought three battles with each of these two, and after defeating them three times in a row, he left the third-tier Star-Plucking Practice Arena Secret Realm.

On October 13th, after finishing the lecture by Senior Dean Kou, Xu Jin came to submit his assignment to Senior Dean Kou.

What he submitted were three third-tier superior emblems: a third-tier superior Starfire Explosion, a third-tier superior Flame Explosion, and a third-tier superior Rain Curtain Fire Shield.

At first, after seeing the third-tier superior Starfire Explosion emblem, Senior Dean Kou Jing didn't pay much attention, patiently pointing out a few imperfections.

In his view, Xu Jin engraving a third-tier superior emblem so quickly, while faster than he had anticipated, was still within an acceptable range.

He was a genius, after all.

But when he saw the third-tier superior Flame Explosion emblem, Kou Jing froze directly.

If he hadn't discovered that the divine soul aura on these two emblems was consistent, he would have suspected that someone else had crafted them for Xu Jin.

Although they were both third-tier superior emblems.

But the third-tier superior Starfire Explosion emblem's main body was just one star art plus one star pattern, while the third-tier superior Flame Explosion emblem's main body was one star art plus two star patterns, directly doubling the difficulty.

Many fourth-tier emblem masters were only at this level.

Because many ordinary fourth-tier low-grade emblems were just one star art plus two star patterns.

Very quickly, Kou Jing hurriedly looked at the other one.

Third-tier superior Rain Curtain Fire Shield!

Another one star art plus two star patterns.

This level!

This talent!

Amazing!

"Did you figure this out yourself over the last few days?" Kou Jing's eyes held undisguised astonishment.

"Yes, I tried many times before succeeding; there were many exploded emblems," Xu Jin said.

Finally, Kou Jing suppressed the shock in his heart and earnestly began to give Xu Jin special instruction, talking about the problems with these emblems and the direction for improvement.

If he could do it all, and match it with a good base emblem, a third-tier supreme emblem was also possible.

"Teacher, I want to know, how exactly does one engrave a fourth-tier emblem? Is it absolutely necessary to have a fourth-tier cultivation base to engrave one?" This was the first purpose of Xu Jin coming to find Senior Dean Kou today and deliberately showing his talent.

Fourth-tier emblems, if bought, were too expensive.

One piece cost several thousand Dao merits.

"You want to engrave fourth-tier emblems?" Kou Jing looked at Xu Jin and asked.

"Yes, if possible, the disciple wants to try; it could also earn some more Dao merits and starlight for cultivation," Xu Jin said honestly.

Hearing this, Senior Dean Kou sighed inwardly.

Disciples from poor backgrounds, without family support, indeed had to find their own ways.

Back then, although he came from a small family, family support was limited, and he had suffered a lot in this regard.

It wasn't until later, when his emblem crafting had achieved some success, that things improved.

"Engraving fourth-tier emblems does not require a fourth-tier cultivation base, but there are several elements."

Seeing Senior Dean Kou begin to speak, Xu Jin pricked up his ears.

"The first thing needed is a fourth-tier Star Jade Tablet; this is the power source for fourth-tier emblems.

The second is that the requirement for divine soul power is higher; usually, one needs third-tier mid-to-late stage, that is, Refine Star sixth layer or above divine soul power, to craft fourth-tier emblems.

On this point, you are about there."

"Third is the main star pattern; for example, your third-tier superior Flame Explosion star pattern must use at least a fourth-tier Fire Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern to be engraved. And the minimum requirement for a fourth-tier fire-type emblem for the Fire Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern is a fifth-tier Fire Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern.

Otherwise, the rank cannot reach the fourth tier.

That is to say, you must learn the fifth-tier Fire Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern, understand?" Kou Jing said.

"Teacher, on this point, I have already learned it; previously, the Dao Academy rewarded a fifth-tier star pattern, and the disciple happened to have long been proficient in the fifth-tier superior Fire Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern."

"Eh, this point is the most difficult; I didn't expect you to have solved it, then the rest is easy to handle."

"Matching these with a fourth-tier or above star pattern, you will be able to engrave fourth-tier mid-to-low grade emblems. But usually, fourth-tier superior emblems are the mainstream.

If you want to engrave fourth-tier superior emblems, you need one star art matched with three star patterns, and the difficulty increases exponentially.

Like this, I will take fire-type star arts as an example and demonstrate and explain the points and keys of fourth-tier emblems one by one."

On this point, Xu Jin was eager.

This was top-tier special instruction!

This lecture lasted for a full two hours.

It was mainly because the student had high natural talent, so the teacher's lecture was also easy.

Because after Xu Jin finished listening, he understood most of it, then asked questions about what he didn't understand, and every time he could ask to the point, then Senior Dean Kou would explain in depth, or even demonstrate it hand-in-hand.

Xu Jin understood.

Over the two hours, Senior Dean Kou had personally demonstrated the crafting of four fourth-tier emblems for Xu Jin!

Exceptionally attentive.

During the process, Kou Jing drank water twice in a row, also speaking until his mouth was dry.

"Let's stop here for today; try it yourself after going back, and if you have questions, feel free to ask me at any time."

"I will, thank you, Teacher." Xu Jin bowed respectfully.

But a few seconds later, Xu Jin hadn't left, which made Kou Jing a bit puzzled, "Why, is there something?"

Hearing this, Xu Jin hesitated before speaking about another matter!

This was the second purpose of Xu Jin coming to Senior Dean Kou here today to deliberately show his talent!

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 224 =====