Chapter 245: Killing Dreams

"Grand Master, do you have anything to entrust to me?"

After entering the Star Dome Secret Realm, Xu Jin paused, then turned to look at the Grand Master first.

He asked this because he wanted to know if the Grand Master had any special instructions.

For instance, requiring Xu Jin to prioritize the evolution of a certain star pattern.

Or which star pattern could enhance his strength, and so on.

Given Xu Jin's performance today, it was clearly not going to be just one Golden Star.

To Xu Jin's surprise, the Grand Master shook his head. "Nothing to entrust. Follow your own instincts in your evolution. Any breakthrough in any star pattern is a gain and progress for the State Dao Academy."

"During the evolution, don't obsess over gains or losses."

"Some star patterns may yield results with just one Golden Star; others may require two or even three Golden Stars to achieve anything."

"But the process of your insight is the true, immense gain. Do you understand?"

Xu Jin suddenly frowned. He understood the Grand Master's earlier words, but this last part felt partly clear, partly obscure.

Cheng Yuexiao, with his immense experience and as one who had walked this path, naturally understood Xu Jin's confusion.

"Xu Jin, you must know that the process of the Golden Star guiding your Dao evolution—whether or not it yields results—is itself a tremendous gain."

"You may not feel anything after one or two times."

"But after ten or eight times, your improvement will be comprehensive."

"Put simply, it's like gaining experience!"

"Or like accumulating wisdom!"

"As the saying goes: ten thousand changes never stray from the root."

"As another saying goes: understanding one thing illuminates many others."

"And as yet another says: all methods return to one."

"The cumulative process of countless Golden Stars and Brilliant Stars guiding your Dao evolution will ultimately elevate your understanding of the Dao to an unprecedented height."

"With this accumulation, even without Golden Stars or Brilliant Stars in the future, your speed in evolving star patterns will be twice, three times, even ten times faster than others'!"

"At this stage, what matters most to you is the process of Dao evolution, not the outcome."

"Do you understand what I mean?" Cheng Yuexiao said.

"I understand!"

Xu Jin nodded firmly.

This time, he truly understood.

The Grand Master's initial meaning was roughly that quantitative change leads to qualitative change.

But the ultimate meaning was accumulation.

The process of Dao evolution is somewhat like feeding AI.

When the process is sufficient, the AI becomes real AI—not a fool.

It also affirms Xu Jin's current decision to use many Golden Stars.

"Then begin. I'll stay nearby. If you have questions, call out to me directly."

With that, Cheng Yuexiao moved to the other side of the Star Dome Secret Realm, sat cross-legged, and began his own contemplation.

Xu Jin also sat cross-legged.

But he didn't begin evolution immediately; instead, he reviewed the order of star patterns he intended to evolve today.

So far, Xu Jin had received twelve Golden Stars and four Brilliant Stars.

He had already used four Golden Stars previously.

He still had eight Golden Stars and four Brilliant Stars.

As for Silver Stars, he used ten last time and now has eight left—he needs to accumulate two more before he can use them.

With so many Golden Stars, Xu Jin planned to consume most of them today—at least half.

Better to convert them into strength early.

First, naturally, was the Fire Source Star Pattern.

Many techniques are inferior to one powerful one.

If Xu Jin evolved the Fire Source Star Pattern to Gao Jie, even his most basic fire star techniques would unleash tremendous power.

Xu Jin had clearly seen this in his actual combat practice with Xinghuo.

In fire star techniques, Zhou Xinghuo from the Heavenly Yang Star Palace indeed knew more than Xu Jin.

For instance, his Fire Meteor had greater speed and power than Xu Jin's Spiral Flame Burst.

Yet it still lost to Xu Jin's Spiral Flame Burst.

No other reason: Xu Jin's Spiral Flame Burst used a Seventh-Stage Gao Jie Fire Source Star Pattern, which was inherently stronger than his Fire Meteor.

It's like weapons: Zhou Xinghuo's weapon was exquisitely crafted, but made of wood; Xu Jin's weapon was crudely made, but forged from refined iron.

No matter how exquisite your craftsmanship, if the material is poor, a single strike from iron will break it.

Now, Xu Jin planned to upgrade the refined iron into refined steel.

So the first star pattern to contemplate was the current Seventh-Stage Gao Jie Fire Source Star Pattern.

【Would you like to consume one Golden Star to enter Gao Jie evolution?】

【Yes】

After selecting yes, the next instant, Xu Jin's mind was instantly elevated to infinity, as if overlooking countless flames across the universe, yet at the same time able to enter the very core of any flame and experience its birth, manifestation, and extinction.

Combined with the accumulated fragments from his prior use, new fragments of fire star patterns continuously surfaced and passed by—but integrating them into his current Seventh-Stage Gao Jie Fire Source Star Pattern was extremely difficult.

It was like cracking a combination lock with the most primitive method.

You had to test one digit after another.

Yet it was also like solving a puzzle: during your contemplation, you received faint, ambiguous hints.

Whether you could achieve insight depended entirely on your innate aptitude.

Xu Jin, like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, pieced it together bit by bit.

Suddenly, Xu Jin's perspective from the God's-eye view plummeted, directly dragging him out of that profound, elusive state.

Xu Jin smiled bitterly.

The Gao Jie evolution with one Golden Star had ended.

But his gains from contemplation were minimal.

The Seventh-Stage Gao Jie Fire Source Star Pattern had gained only two new branches so far.

He could barely say he had broken through to the lower Eighth Stage—but the breakthrough was extremely limited.

To fully evolve the Gao Jie Fire Source Star Pattern to the lower Eighth Stage, he needed to add one main branch and three subsidiary branches.

Currently, the completion rate after one Golden Star was only one-third.

The difficulty of evolving Eighth-Stage star patterns was indeed extraordinary.

After thinking, Xu Jin's mind sank to the Brilliant Stars.

Activated a Brilliant Star.

The instant he triggered the Brilliant Star, a beam of starlight message appeared before him.

【Each Brilliant Star can directly complete one minor realm of any star pattern below Ninth Stage, then immediately enter Gao Jie evolution time. Proceed now?】

【Enter Gao Jie evolution time】

Xu Jin made his choice.

First, maximize benefit: convert prior gains and see if he could push further.

Just as with the previous Golden Star's Gao Jie evolution, his perspective was instantly lifted, as if a celestial deity, observing flames among the stars.

With the foundation from the first Golden Star, this second Gao Jie evolution was much smoother—especially since Xu Jin had already found certain directions during the first.

After two quarters, Xu Jin directly completed the main trunk of the lower Eighth-Stage Gao Jie Fire Source Star Pattern.

The previous Starfire had, through refinement and condensation, transformed into a brilliant purple flame.

This brilliant purple flame burned all things, swift and fierce.

Wherever it touched stone, the stone instantly turned to molten slag.

Xu Jin continued evolving, following the main trunk and adding his prior accumulations, slowly evolving the second and third branches.

The lower Eighth-Stage Gao Jie Fire Source Star Pattern was achieved.

This purple flame was swift and fierce, supremely yang, burning all things—immensely powerful. Brilliant Purple Heavenly Flame.

Xu Jin named the flame brought forth by the lower Eighth-Stage Gao Jie Fire Source Star Pattern.

The flame from the entire Seventh-Stage Gao Jie Fire Source Star Pattern had only one form: Starfire.

But the Eighth-Stage flame now directly added a new form: Brilliant Purple Heavenly Flame.

After a quarter, Xu Jin's consciousness descended again from the heavens—he understood this Gao Jie evolution had ended.

【Will now use current star pattern as base to complete one minor realm of the current star pattern.】

After the starlight message flashed, Xu Jin's consciousness was lifted again and merged into a flame—from its gestation, birth, vigorous growth, to its illusionary extinction, including its power, Xu Jin experienced it all.

This tangible experience made Xu Jin distinctly understand the difference between the two.

Compared to Brilliant Purple Heavenly Flame, this newly emerged flame had nearly identical destructive power—or perhaps just slightly stronger.

But within this new brilliant purple flame, the flickering fire carried a thick strand of dark black, making the entire brilliant purple flame appear darker and more ominous.

Xu Jin also felt its power.

This flame could directly burn the spirit soul and annihilate the nascent soul.

Unlike thunder star techniques, which were supremely yang, this flame, once touching the body, burned the spirit soul, directly incinerating the target's spirit cultivation—extremely sinister!

But Xu Jin likes this power.

In the same instant, the high-grade fire-source star pattern below eighth rank before Xu Jin's eyes grew like a living thing, sprouting a main trunk and three branches.

High-grade fire-source star pattern of eighth rank—achieved!

At the same time, Xu Jin gave this flame another name: Burn-Soul Heavenly Fire.

One golden star gave Xu Jin meager gains, but adding a brilliant star caused the high-grade fire-source star pattern he had comprehended at seventh rank to leap one and a half ranks.

Awesome!

Now, Xu Jin truly felt a sense of security.

After all, the strongest wind-source star pattern in the Grand Chen Dao Academy was only eighth rank middle.

That is, the strongest star pattern engraved by Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao was merely the high-grade wind-source star pattern of eighth rank middle.

Now, Xu Jin's fire-source star pattern has also reached eighth rank middle.

Xu Jin doesn't know how much his power has increased, but it's certainly enormous.

With the first goal achieved, Xu Jin must continue his Dao derivation.

So, what star pattern should he derive next?

For the second star pattern, Xu Jin has decided to focus on the Soul-Penetration Star Pattern.

During these ten days, especially the last few, Xu Jin's cultivation base reached its peak, so he spent nearly half his time studying and deriving the star pattern research manuscripts obtained from the Spirit Era Star Palace, sleeping only two hours a day.

As of today, he has completely exhausted them.

This is also why Xu Jin came here to use the golden star for Dao derivation.

Among the Soul-Penetration Star Patterns, the one that instantly boosts soul attack power is naturally the Break-Soul Star Pattern.

But right now, Xu Jin is hesitating between Break-Soul and Dream-Warmth.

Dream-Warmth is a supportive pattern.

But after studying the research manuscripts given by Grand Master, and recalling his previous derivation that pushed Dream-Warmth to seventh rank upper, Xu Jin gained tremendous insights.

During the derivation, Xu Jin also felt something similar to what Grand Master felt.

He sensed that this supportive Dream-Warmth Star Pattern would undergo a fundamental transformation after breaking through.

So, should it be Dream-Warmth or Break-Soul?

After thinking it over, Xu Jin smiled.

Why choose? If you want both, then derive them both.

As for the golden star, Xu Jin is certain that when he breaks through to fourth-rank Condensing Star First Layer, he will definitely obtain it.

This is determined by his strength.

Previously, when challenging the golden and brilliant stars, Xu Jin found it effortless; the next golden star challenge will be no difficulty.

And now, Xu Jin's high-grade fire-source star pattern has broken through again, greatly increasing his power.

Xu Jin estimates that the golden star he receives upon reaching fourth-rank Condensing Star Second Layer should also be within reach.

In the future, he can obtain at least four more golden stars.

More than enough for his needs.

In the next instant, Xu Jin sank his mind into the golden star and activated another golden star to begin high-grade Dao derivation.

This time, however, when comprehending Dream-Warmth, his mind sank like into an endless abyss, and one dream after another opened, entered, then burst forth.

In countless dreams, Xu Jin was like a godlike presence.

All his prior accumulation, plus the intense effort he'd put into studying and deriving Soul-Penetration Star Patterns during this period, erupted in this high-grade derivation.

A main trunk slowly formed, and branch after branch was completed.

Seventh rank lower, seventh rank middle.

This high-grade derivation pushed Dream-Warmth all the way to seventh rank middle.

And the transformation Dream-Warmth underwent after breaking through seventh rank left Xu Jin utterly stunned.

It truly was a world-upside-down transformation.

A complete change in nature.

It used to be called Dream-Warmth; now, it should be called Kill-Dream!

Previously, to pull a target into a dream, they needed to be unguarded, asleep, or have a vast gap in soul cultivation.

Now, it ignores all conditions—when Shizhan Dream-Warmth, the target is pulled into a dream, one so real it becomes indistinguishable from reality.

If the target is killed within the dream, their soul collapses and dies!

However, to kill the target within the dream, one still needs sufficiently strong soul attack, or must weave an appropriate illusory dream scenario.

In addition, it grants home-field advantage.

Sixth-rank Dream-Warmth pulls the target into their own dream; seventh-rank Dream-Warmth pulls the target into a dream whose nature is determined by the caster.

Massive improvement!

Seventh-rank middle star pattern: Kill-Dream!

Instantly, Xu Jin thought of countless possibilities.

Combined with Startle-Dream, it becomes a killing trap within a dream within a dream.

If Break-Soul improves just one or two more levels, defeating stronger opponents won't be hard!

Thinking it, he acted. Soon after, Xu Jin used another golden star and initiated high-grade derivation.

This time, he derived Break-Soul.

Break-Soul Star Pattern has always been the main offensive focus of the Spirit Era Star Palace, so its research manuscripts are the most numerous.

Previously, Xu Jin had considered that perhaps the Spirit Era Star Palace's central hall might contain Break-Soul Star Patterns above seventh rank.

So, was his current derivation a waste?

But in the end, Xu Jin decided to derive Break-Soul.

Not a waste at all!

The Spirit Era Star Palace's central hall has been locked down by assassins; Xu Jin won't even know when he'll get in.

And even if he did get in, why would they teach him Break-Soul Star Patterns above seventh rank?

Difficult!

Extremely difficult!

Better to rely on himself.

Use the golden star to derive directly—worst case, he wastes one star.

Besides, according to Grand Master, this derivation process won't be wasted!

In fact, Xu Jin strongly suspects that the exceptional effectiveness of his current golden star derivation is deeply tied to the accumulation from his prior use of golden and brilliant stars.

So far, Xu Jin has used ten silver stars, six golden stars, and one brilliant star.

The height of derivation that many people could never reach in lifetimes, Xu Jin has achieved in one go.

Half an hour later, this golden star's high-grade derivation ended successfully, with still pleasing results.

The sixth-rank upper Break-Soul Star Pattern was pushed by Xu Jin to seventh rank middle—still two minor realms.

During the derivation, Xu Jin felt he had faintly touched the threshold of seventh rank upper, but just barely missed it.

He had to stop.

Thus, Xu Jin has used three golden stars and one brilliant star today.

The gains are pleasing, but Grand Master's granted Star-Celestial Enlightenment time has only been used for a bit over one and a half hours—half remains.

So, which star pattern should Xu Jin derive next?

(End of Chapter)