Chapter 278: The Ultimate Emperor Star Lord

"Xu Jin, return!"

Master Dong Zhao's voice suddenly rang out, causing Xu Jin, who had just captured and was slaughtering the present-world human with bloodlust, to freeze—then snap back to awareness.

He had already restored his star power twice using the starlight of the Can Dou Platform, while Master Dong Zhao and several vice-academy heads had been fighting for a long time.

In this last charge, each of them had slain at least a dozen, even over twenty enemies, and were nearly at their limit.

They were still holding on, waiting for Xu Jin.

Xu Jin did not argue.

With a single flap of his back Lei Yi, he shot forward like lightning, and along the way, casually killed another fifth-rank and a fourth-rank enemy.

"Let's go, return!"

Seeing Xu Jin return, Dong Zhao waved his hand, and Han Qing, Tang Hui, Liu Qingzhu, and others instantly retreated, reentering the Guiyuan Spirit Light Great Array.

"You rest first; I'll stand guard," Dong Zhao said.

Liu Qingzhu glanced at Xu Jin once upon returning, said nothing, and took out her clothes to tidy up the corpse of Shen Wei.

Xu Jin stared, stunned, and soon Dong Zhao used telepathy to briefly explain the events to him.

This surprised Xu Jin greatly.

It was a pity.

If he had arrived half an hour earlier, Vice Academy Head Shen might have lived.

But now—

Sensing Xu Jin's worried gaze, Liu Qingzhu paused her work, looked up, and said, "Don't worry—I'm not that fragile. You rest first; I need to clean him up properly."

Hearing this, Xu Jin sighed in relief.

Liu Qingzhu had served on the Star River Battlefield; this blow wouldn't break her.

"Alright, I'll recover first."

As he spoke, Han Qing and Tang Hui immediately swallowed an elixir, sat cross-legged, and rapidly restored their strength.

Xu Jin's mind stirred—Wen Meng slipped out silently, and the two instantly fell into deep sleep.

Master Dong Zhao looked at Xu Jin in surprise.

"Master, I used Wen Meng. Wen Meng draws them into sleep, which should rapidly restore their weary spirit power and partially replenish their star power," Xu Jin said.

Dong Zhao stared at Xu Jin; what surprised him wasn't Wen Meng.

He knew Xu Jin could use Wen Meng.

What surprised him was that Xu Jin had silently pulled Han Qing and Tang Hui into Wen Meng without their awareness—Han Qing was at the peak of Star Refining Ninth Layer, and Tang Hui was at Star Refining Eighth Layer.

For Xu Jin to slip them into Wen Meng without their knowledge, how much stronger must his spirit power be than theirs?

"Master, I'll interrogate first," Xu Jin said, looking at the captive in his hand.

Before coming, Xu Jin had already stopped the bleeding of the captive, whose limbs had been severed—otherwise, he'd bleed to death, and that would be a waste.

In the next instant, Wen Meng invaded; the agonized Liu Meng instantly fell into sleep.

"What's your name?"

Xu Jin asked directly within the dream.

"Liu Meng."

"Where are you from?"

"The present world."

"Who sent you?"

"It's—"

Boom!

Without warning, Liu Meng's head exploded like a watermelon, red and white splattering all over Xu Jin.

Xu Jin's face instantly darkened.

Liu Meng had implanted an extremely sophisticated spirit prohibition within his spirit core.

Upon touching the prohibition, it triggered instantly, causing his head to explode.

Xu Jin had read about this in the handbooks from the Star-Picking Tower of the Lingji Star Palace branch, but there was no corresponding secret technique.

Because performing this secret technique required one condition: the spirit core must break through to fifth rank and form a Spirit Soul to cast spirit prohibitions.

Usually, only mid-rank or higher Spirit Souls could cast it successfully.

"Spirit Prohibition! This man's origins must be extraordinary—those who master and successfully cast spirit prohibitions are few even in the present world," Master Dong Zhao said.

"Now we have no evidence at all—not even which Star Palace sent him," Xu Jin growled.

"We can probably deduce something about his origins."

Master Dong Zhao casually searched the corpse, "His clothing and hairstyle resemble those from the Great Hong Empire."

Dong Zhao pulled out dried meat from Liu Meng's pouch, bit into it, then continued slowly, "Beef jerky, mostly salty—likely from the Great Hong Empire. Great Hong favors saltiness; Great Chu prefers spiciness."

"A ninth-layer peak fifth-rank expert? Eight out of ten likely came from the Tianyang Star Palace. Huh?"

Suddenly, Dong Zhao pulled five badges from Liu Meng's pouch, his gaze sharpening instantly.

"This kid died a fool's death! And lucky it was you who captured him—if I had, I might've taken one or two heavy hits, been seriously wounded, maybe even died." Dong Zhao pointed to two sixth-rank badges found on Liu Meng—one water, one fire.

Xu Jin instantly grew alert.

Earlier, Liu Meng had only thrown one fifth-rank badge at him, causing minor trouble—but Xu Jin hadn't known he still had sixth-rank badges.

Probably because sixth-rank badges were too precious, and seeing Xu Jin was only fourth-rank, he hadn't dared use them.

Now he never got the chance.

No wonder both Vice Academy Head Kou Jing and the Grand Master had repeatedly stressed: use your badges when needed, never hoard them.

Liu Meng was a clear cautionary tale.

He hoarded his badges.

And saved his life right out of existence.

If he'd thrown even one sixth-rank badge then, Xu Jin would've been killed or gravely wounded—and Liu Meng would've escaped.

"Both sixth-rank water and fire badges are offensive types—likely from Tianyang Star Palace. Cangming Star Palace also specializes in water and fire, but it has no Grand Badge Artisan capable of crafting sixth-rank water badges."

As Dong Zhao made his judgment, he tossed all five badges to Xu Jin: "Keep them—they'll replenish your losses."

These were his spoils; Xu Jin made no protest.

He accepted them outright, without offering any to Master Dong Zhao.

The reason was simple: only after being nurtured in Xu Jin's hands could these sixth-rank badges reach maximum potency.

Next, Xu Jin and Master Dong Zhao began discussing and strategizing.

After nearly six days of penetrating the fifth-rank Spirit Martial Star Domain, Dong Zhao's group had gathered considerable intelligence.

Including Liu Meng's origins and purpose, and the two blood-clad humans.

Dong Zhao's group had spotted the two blood-clad humans two days ago.

Twenty minutes later, Dong Zhao rubbed his temples and said, "Give me one too—I can't hold out much longer."

In the next instant, Xu Jin's Wen Meng flowed in—but unexpectedly, Dong Zhao's spirit core resisted, though only for an instant; then he relaxed his spirit, and after one breath, he fell into sleep.

This left Xu Jin thoughtful.

Master Dong Zhao's spirit power must be stronger than I thought.

He doesn't seem like someone who just broke through to fourth rank.

But that's not surprising—he's the direct disciple of the former Grand Master of the Great Chen State Academy.

Then Xu Jin casually cast Wen Meng on Liu Qingzhu, who had just finished arranging Shen Wei's corpse, sending her into sleep as well.

The Mingji Star Badge could sense it.

All four were in terrible condition, especially their spirit power, which was severely depleted.

Xu Jin himself, meanwhile, continued analyzing the intelligence he had gathered.

Blood God Sect!

There were traces of the Blood God Sect in this fifth-rank Spirit Martial Star Domain.

Clearly, the Blood God Sect had grown strong here.

According to Dong Zhao, the Blood God Sect controlled at least the Fire Ox Clan and the Golden Snake Clan, enabling them to mobilize both clans' forces to surround and trap them.

But to some extent, the Blood God Sect only held considerable influence—not complete control over the two clans' kings.

Otherwise, the simplest move would've been to consolidate the Heavenly Authority of both kings into one person's hands—surely exceeding thirty percent.

The acquired Heavenly Authority would greatly accelerate their unification of the Spirit Martial Star Domain.

But it hadn't happened.

Meaning: the Blood God Sect had strong influence over the Fire Ox and Golden Snake Clans—but that influence had limits.

Also, according to Master Dong Zhao, their first four days inside had been relatively smooth.

They had slain several alien elites.

The alien squads they encountered were scattered and random.

They had never faced two alien squads attacking simultaneously.

But two days ago, the Fire Ox and Golden Snake Clans united—and their strategy became highly coordinated.

Using human-wave tactics, they gradually sealed them off, with numerous sixth-rank experts involved. Previously, Dong Zhao had slain one sixth-rank and severely wounded another.

And two days ago, when Dong Zhao's group spotted the two blood-clad humans, Liu Meng was with them.

It's now basically confirmed Liu Meng came from Tianyang Star Palace.

It's confirmed: Tianyang Star Palace cheated.

But we didn't get any evidence.

Even if Xu Jin now takes Liu Meng's corpse back, it won't help.

The Sun Star Palace can simply deny it—those are just warriors who got stranded in the Spirit Martial Star Region.

That's normal.

Every country has this kind of situation.

Besides this, Xu Jin also confirmed one thing: the Sun Star Palace has ties or collusion with the Blood God Sect.

How deep those ties are, though, is hard to say.

In the mortal world, the Blood God Sect is more evil than the Worship of the Dipper Sect.

But most of the Blood God Sect's infamy in the mortal world comes from using the blood of cultivators to enable non-cultivators to enter the path of cultivation—yet its own strong cultivators are relatively few.

What Xu Jin didn't expect was that in the star region, the Blood God Sect's influence was so immense.

It has already indirectly controlled two alien races' forces.

This is a fifth-rank star region.

So what should we do next?

Xu Jin ran through a few scenarios himself and identified three possible courses of action.

The first option is the safest: leave.

Once Dong Zhao, Liu Qingzhu, and the others wake up, we can all withdraw together from the fifth-rank Spirit Martial Star Region—five of us can escape unscathed.

Although there's still one day left before the end of the Lou Gong battle, it's nearly over.

This is the safest approach.

The second option is hunting.

In groups of five, conduct small-scale hunts of fifth- and fourth-rank cultivators in the Spirit Martial Star Region.

With five working together, efficiency should be extremely high.

With five of us cooperating, killing fourth-rank aliens is like slaughtering dogs; even those below mid-fifth-rank can be swiftly eliminated, and late- or peak-fifth-rank ones aren't hard either.

Even if we encounter sixth-rank ones, we can kill them.

This way, we can gain massive points.

After all, killing a single fourth-rank alien earns five points.

With five of us working together, killing a few hundred is definitely possible.

The risk here isn't great either.

The third option is a bit risky: try to infiltrate one of the alien races' royal cities, kill their king, and uncover the truth about the Blood God Sect.

That would be much harder.

Yet from the bottom of his heart, Xu Jin still leans toward the third option.

If Master Dong Zhao cooperates, the risk would drop dramatically.

But asking all the vice-academy heads to risk their lives with me—

Dong Zhao, Liu Qingzhu, and the others slept for a full two hours.

Two hours in Wen Meng's state left the four of them refreshed, their condition nearly restored to peak.

After waking one after another, they exchanged words with Xu Jin.

Naturally, they were immensely grateful for Xu Jin's rescue.

Whether Tang Hui or Han Qing, both knew that under those circumstances, with Dong Zhao's sixth-rank rune seal exhausted, they'd have had no chance to break out.

If Xu Jin hadn't come to save them, they'd all have perished here.

They all praised Liu Qingzhu for taking such a good disciple.

In the past, Liu Qingzhu would've jumped for joy and boasted about it.

But Shen Wei's death left a deep, unyielding sorrow in the depths of Liu Qingzhu's eyes.

Dong Zhao had mentioned earlier something about Shen Wei and Master Liu Qingzhu, which left Xu Jin with a sense of melancholy.

Fate is cruel!

Sometimes, people really must be brave.

I'm not saying Shen Wei was a coward!

He thought too much about Liu Qingzhu's feelings, so he never dared to speak up or ask directly.

Otherwise, the outcome would've been different.

Master Dong Zhao was the last to wake, but his condition remained poor.

He had expended too much of his heart's blood to activate the star artifact, and couldn't recover quickly.

Then Xu Jin laid out his three proposed plans before everyone and asked for their opinions.

The first to speak was Dong Zhao: "Options two and three must be chosen with caution. I've received an urgent message from the State Advisor via the mother-child heart demon rune seal: we must control our points. Before the end, our total points should stay under eight thousand, and never exceed ten thousand."

"But they must also remain above three thousand."

"So option one is out, and option three is out too," Xu Jin frowned.

"If we kill any star region king, our points will exceed ten thousand—we'll go over the limit."

Xu Jin's words made Liu Qingzhu, Tang Hui, and the others smile bitterly.

The idea of killing a star region king in a fifth-rank region—Xu Jin's ambition was truly bold!

A ninth-circuit sixth-rank king? Even if a seventh-rank beginner came, they might wound him—but kill him?

But Dong Zhao caught the implication: "Xu Jin, you're awfully confident? Seems you've got quite a few sixth-rank rune seals."

"I have several. Just now, working with you, Master, was truly exhilarating," Xu Jin said.

"Indeed."

Dong Zhao nodded. "Controlling points isn't a problem. The Star-Picking Edict only carries a trace of star essence—it can record information in real time, but if you put it into a Nectar Space, it can't record anything, and points won't increase."

"Still, directly killing a star region king? I think that's too reckless."

"But there's one thing we absolutely must investigate," Dong Zhao said.

"You may have underestimated the implications of the Sun Star Palace's collusion with the Blood God Sect."

"What do you mean?" Xu Jin and the others looked at Dong Zhao.

"My master was the former Grand State Advisor, so he knew slightly more than you."

Here, Dong Zhao's gaze turned stern as he looked at them all: "According to my master, the Blood God Sect may have something that aids breakthrough to the ninth rank—just like the Worship of the Dipper Sect."

"Aid to breakthrough to the ninth rank?"

Xu Jin asked in confusion: "Master, is breakthrough to the ninth rank that hard?"

"Hard? It's more than hard!

In the past three thousand years, no one in the mortal world has reached the ninth rank.

Before that, the one who created the Star-Picking Tower and the true Star Lord were both beings who broke through to the ninth rank.

Since then, there have been no other legends of ninth-rank cultivators."

"True Star Lord?" Xu Jin asked, puzzled.

"Legend says the four existing star palaces were originally one, ruled by a supreme Supreme Emperor Star Lord who governed the entire mortal world. But three thousand years ago, that Star Lord vanished for good.

Because of his prolonged absence, his subordinates began acting independently, splitting into the four star palaces we have today.

Since then, no ninth-rank cultivator has appeared again.

These are fragments my master—the former Grand State Advisor—found in vast historical records, things that seem like history but also like legend. Whether they're true, I can't say.

But in the past three thousand years of records, whether among the ever-changing great empires or the enduring star palaces, no ninth-rank cultivator has ever appeared.

And the Star Lords of each star palace have all been striving to break through to the ninth rank.

It's said the fall of the Spirit Record Star Palace was also tied to the attempt to break through to the ninth rank," Dong Zhao said.

"So you mean the Sun Star Palace's collusion with the Blood God Sect isn't just to destroy us—but might be preparing for the Sun Star Lord's breakthrough to the ninth rank?" Xu Jin asked.

"There's a real possibility!

A significant one!

In fact, every star palace's Star Lord—including the former Spirit Record Star Lord—has been striving to break through to the ninth rank. No one has succeeded yet!

So I think we must investigate the Blood God Sect here.

See how deeply the Blood God Sect in the Spirit Martial Star Region is entangled with the Sun Star Palace.

If the Sun Star Lord truly is using the Blood God Sect to prepare for his ninth-rank breakthrough, we must be extremely careful.

A being with no moral limits, once he breaks through to the ninth rank, will surely unify the mortal world—and that won't be a blessing for the mortal world!" Dong Zhao said.

"Then what do you suggest?" Xu Jin asked.

"We continue exploring. Under safe conditions, head toward the royal cities of the Golden Snake Clan or the Fire Ox Clan. With Xu Jin here, gathering intelligence will be easier—we might even capture a Blood God Sect disciple who entered here, then make our judgment."

After speaking, Dong Zhao turned to Liu Qingzhu, Tang Hui, and Han Qing. "What about you three? If you want to withdraw, you can leave now."

"Dong Brother, if not for the Blood God Sect's organized attacks, Shen Wei wouldn't have died at the hands of the aliens. I want revenge for Shen Wei," Liu Qingzhu spoke first.

"We came together—we'll go back together!" Tang Hui declared.

Instantly, all eyes turned to Vice-Academy Head Han Qing, leaving him embarrassed. "What are you looking at? Of course I'm going with you!"

(End of Chapter)