[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-star-martial-era":3,"chapter-the-star-martial-era-the-star-martial-era-chapter-25":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Star Martial Era",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2274883,4448,"Chapter 25: Dark Arts","the-star-martial-era-chapter-25",25,"\u003Cp>“Dad, close the door first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After confirming Deng Hu was dead, Xu Jin gasped and shouted to his father, Xu Dajiang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This gasping wasn’t from adrenaline—it was the result of inexperience, overexertion, every step and attack driven to full strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After speaking, Xu Jin, under the starlight, saw his father slumped on the ground, motionless; the thug lay sprawled, also utterly still.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin was terrified.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Please don’t let his father have suffered a fatal wound in the chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many died needlessly on battlefields from stray bullets and arrows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He rushed over in three bounding strides.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dad, what’s wrong? Where are you hurt?” Xu Jin panicked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Dajiang gasped heavily, glared at Xu Jin, “What could possibly happen to your old man? Look at you, you little brat—you’ve done a fine job!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tried to strike Xu Jin, but his hand wouldn’t obey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin tried to lift him up, but his father was like a pile of soft mud, impossible to raise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let me catch my breath.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin first ran to shut the courtyard gate; before closing it, he peered out to confirm no one was inside or outside, then returned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dad, are you exhausted or what? Should I get you something to drink?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Exhausted? Pfft. My legs and arms are weak—just let me catch my breath.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve fought plenty of brawls in the fields with a hoe in hand, but this is my first time actually killing someone.” After speaking a few sentences, Xu Dajiang improved greatly and slowly rose to his feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin looked over—the fleeing thug was already dead, his skull crushed outright by Xu Dajiang’s wild clubbing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You little brat, look what you’ve done—think fast about how to cover this up,” Xu Dajiang panted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Got it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin thought for a moment, then together with his father moved the five corpses into the house one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then they searched each corpse thoroughly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their silver—why not take it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The haul was modest: each of the four thugs carried four or five taels; Scar had slightly more, under ten taels; total from the four was just over twenty taels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Hu’s silver wasn’t much either—besides the forty-eight taels Xu Dajiang had repaid him, there were another dozen or so, totaling over sixty taels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin had considered leaving it, but Deng Hu had screamed he wanted two hundred taels for his life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where had this bastard hidden his silver?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin searched the house at top speed—found only a stack of IOUs, nothing else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could it be hidden in a secret compartment?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin immediately dismissed the idea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The inner room had two bedrooms: one held only one quilt, the other had five or six tossed about—clearly, these men had slept together indiscriminately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the silver were hidden inside, Deng Hu would never feel safe with such free access.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced at Deng Hu’s corpse and began searching again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Less than a minute later—he found it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sewn into Deng Hu’s inner robe was an inconspicuous pocket; inside, a small oil-paper packet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the next instant, Xu Jin’s eyes lit up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two silver notes from Tianyang Bank, each worth one hundred taels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the oil-paper packet was another sheet of paper, covered in dense, tiny script—but the light was too dim to make out the words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin didn’t care—he stuffed the oil-paper packet back into his robe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You little brat, are you so greedy you’d risk your life? We need to leave now!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His father, Xu Dajiang, was already frantic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This place was certainly no place to linger—but how to cover their tracks?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin had noticed lamp oil and wine inside the room earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He quickly dismissed the idea of setting fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fire could destroy the bodies, but it would immediately expose the thugs’ deaths.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the authorities—or even the Tianhe Gang behind them—would intervene immediately and launch a full investigation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if the authorities did track them down later…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While pondering, Xu Jin suddenly let out a bitter laugh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this world, the government’s clearance rate for murder cases didn’t even reach a fraction of what he’d known in his past life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why should he worry?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But major clues still had to be erased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fingerprints? No need to worry about those.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, there might be supernatural methods—after all, Xu Jin himself had cultivated Star Art.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If such methods existed, he couldn’t stop them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Dao Academy’s Star Martial Arts curriculum on tracking focused entirely on qi trails and interpreting subtle clues—it never mentioned Star Art.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking it over, Xu Jin drew several buckets of water from the courtyard well, washed the blood off himself, then fetched half a bucket of human waste from the latrine, mixed it with water, and poured it over the thugs’ corpses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stench immediately rose!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, even the most skilled qi-tracking techniques would be severely weakened—or useless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He then sprinkled the thugs’ leftover wine over himself to mask the smell of blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, Xu Jin told his father to leave first; he himself barred the courtyard gate with the bolt, then climbed over the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he climbed, Xu Jin glanced at the courtyard across several storage sheds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No light. No movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But earlier, when he’d passed by, the gate had been open. With Deng Hu’s desperate cries so loud, they must have heard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After thinking, Xu Jin sighed and jumped down from the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe he was being overly merciful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to wipe out the neighbors too, just to erase every trace—he simply couldn’t bring himself to do it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wasn’t that heartless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The green-robed figure on the rooftop had watched every pause Xu Jin made on the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He still has some moral limits. Truly a treasure. Let’s watch further.” The figure moved, trailing slowly behind, vanishing completely into the darkness—unseen by anyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The father and son hurried home through the night; perhaps the night’s intensity had been too much—Xu Dajiang stumbled constantly along the way, needing Xu Jin to support him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, the journey went smoothly—aside from a few stray dogs, they reached home without incident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After bolting the door, Xu Dajiang and Xu Jin both slumped against it, gasping heavily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It took a long while before they finally calmed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin boiled water, then threw all his and his father’s inner and outer clothes, including socks and shoes, into the stove to burn, took a hot bath, changed into clean old clothes—and finally exhaled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The green-robed figure on the roof of Xu Jin’s childhood home nodded as he watched Xu Jin’s actions: “Cautious enough. Many oversights remain, but for a first time, this is decent.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All possible tracking traces had been erased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, it was just a matter of when the thugs’ deaths would be discovered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time was the best eraser.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The later the discovery, the less likely they’d be traced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all that exertion, the two were starving—Xu Jin brought out the two catties of old wine, peanuts, and the family’s hard wheat cakes from earlier; they ate, one bite of cake, one bite of peanuts, then a sip of wine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they ate, Xu Jin explained to his father the reason he’d acted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Dajiang broke into a cold sweat, his eyes bloodshot, ready to devour someone alive!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luckily, Xu Jin had overheard—otherwise, tonight, father and son would have been slaughtered by these thugs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Jiang Er might have suffered unspeakable torment afterward!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now enraged, Xu Dajiang muttered they’d stabbed too few times!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Letting those thugs die too quickly!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This old man, though seeming timid, had the courage to act after killing tonight—even if his legs trembled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And once he learned someone threatened his children, he became a furious lion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the wheat cakes and a few sips of wine, Xu Dajiang seemed to have made a decision, firm: “Jin’er, get up at the fourth watch tomorrow and return to the Dao Academy early.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You didn’t spend the night at home.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Remember—if anything comes out, this was my doing, nothing to do with you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You knew nothing about this!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Understand?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dad!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he could finish, Xu Jin raised his wine bowl and clinked it with his father’s—he’d rarely drunk before, but after killing, this old wine tasted uniquely sharp and satisfying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dad, if they trace us, neither of us will escape.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Don’t worry—no one will ever know it was us.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They won’t find anything!” Xu Jin said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But before we entered Deng Hu’s house last evening, we passed a man in the alley—he looked us over twice.” Xu Dajiang said anxiously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He doesn’t know us.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, several families live in Cangfang Alley—not just Deng Hu’s.” Xu Jin reassured him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was unavoidable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin and Xu Dajiang had intended today to repay their debt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the debt was settled, they’d be free of burdens—one to focus on cultivation, the other to earn money and save for their son’s wedding fund.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who would have thought that after repaying the debt, these ruffians still meant to slaughter his entire family and seize Jiang Er?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, Xu Jin told Xu Dajiang to avoid appearing in Juncheng for now, and whenever he went out, wear a straw hat and trim his beard—likely, even if the man stood face to face with him, he wouldn’t recognize Xu Dajiang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin himself must also stay out of sight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two had agreed on this; after drinking nearly half a catty of old liquor, Xu Dajiang had fallen into a deep sleep. After tucking him in, Xu Jin tried to sleep but couldn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He went out to the courtyard to make up for his evening practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Yin Hui Form, alternating with the Five-Dou Killing Fist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether it was an illusion or not, after killing someone yesterday, Xu Jin’s Five-Dou Killing Fist felt unusually fluid, with a faint aura of killing intent seeping through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was too late—he didn’t use the remaining sliver of starlight on the Can Dou Platform, storing it for now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After three and a half rounds of Yin Hui Form, he felt mentally drained and weary—his soul-force had been exhausted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did he go to sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Add diligence and hard work—and why do I like this boy more and more?” The green-clad man who had spent the night exposed to the wind on the roof watched Xu Jin sleep, silently glanced at his badge, then slipped away, heading straight for Juncheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since someone likes impersonating demons, today they’ll meet the real thing!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before dawn, his biological clock—formed over these three months—woke him on time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He drank some water, tidied himself, and waited quietly for the dawn glow to appear, ready to begin his morning practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While waiting, he suddenly remembered the paper beneath the silver note he’d received last night, and pulled it out to examine it closely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After only a few glances, cold sweat broke out on Xu Jin’s forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blood-Induced Star Casting Technique!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A demonic art!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A demon’s technique!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1828,"2026-06-19T23:56:29.689Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","1698207a226548035f2a72432148a69feaca48c72345e61aa68ae7a6502a5865","the-star-martial-era-chapter-26","the-star-martial-era-chapter-24",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-star-martial-era-cover.jpg"]