Chapter 286

After seeing off Fairy Zuiyue, Xu Jin came to the residence of Mountain Chief Dong Zhao.

When Xu Jin arrived, Han Qing, Liu Zhou Qingzhu, and Tang Hui were all there.

Each of them was glowing with health and in high spirits.

This was another benefit of Wen Meng.

The participating teams from other star domains had all gone straight back to their residences to sleep as soon as they returned.

Each of them had deep dark circles under their eyes, clearly exhausted to the extreme.

During these seven days and seven nights, most of the members participating in the Battle of Tower Tributes had only managed a nap of an hour or two at most, even when they rested.

Returning now, they had to sleep for a full day and night.

But Han Qing, Tang Hui, Liu Zhou Qingzhu, and Dong Zhao, who were with Xu Jin, had fully recovered with the help of Wen Meng, even though they had only slept for an hour or two.

At this moment, there was no need for extra sleep, and they began to discuss matters directly.

Previously, after breaking through the Fire Bull City in the Fifth Tier Lingwu star domain, because time was urgent, many things had not been distributed. On the way back, they had encountered scattered Fifth and Sixth Tier aliens, and after easily killing them, they had made further gains.

Naturally, they had to distribute the harvest now.

After the distribution, Dong Zhao would hand over all other gains to the National Dao Academy.

"I have a proposal: we should only give half of Shen Wei's share of the spoils. Shen Wei was the strongest expert in the Shen family today. Once Shen Wei is dead, if the Shen family were to obtain such a large sum of wealth, I am afraid it would not be a good thing.

Shen Wei had no descendants, but his younger brother has a son and a daughter, both of whom have cultivation potential; currently, one has not yet forged a star, and the other is at the Second Layer of Refine Star.

We will take out a portion every year to subsidize their cultivation.

We will help their cultivation break through to the Fourth Tier quickly.

In this way, the Shen family will have someone to stand tall," Dong Zhao said.

Naturally, no one had any objections to this proposal.

Shen Wei died in battle, and the National Dao Academy itself would provide a large amount of compensation. Added to the spoils they distributed, this was an astronomical amount of wealth for ordinary people.

With the National Dao Academy taking care of them, there was no fear of outsiders forcibly seizing it, but the internal affairs of this family would likely be messy.

Therefore, Dong Zhao proposed the idea of managing a portion on their behalf.

It passed unanimously.

Dong Zhao would manage it, and others would supervise.

Once Shen Wei's nephew and niece broke through to the Fourth Tier, all the remainder would be given to them.

With this matter settled, the distribution of the spoils went very smoothly.

The effort Xu Jin had put in was obvious to all.

Without Xu Jin, and without the many Sixth Tier emblems in Xu Jin's hands, they would have had absolutely no possibility of conquering Fire Bull City.

Therefore, the biggest gain in Fire Bull City—the two low-tier Fire Bull Horns—belonged to Xu Jin.

Xu Jin had taken the lion's share, and the rest was for the others to choose.

Regardless, Xu Jin also got his wish and directly gave up the right to share the large amount of star jade tablets and the large amount of Fifth Tier Fire Bull hides.

In the end, he obtained eight Sixth Tier star cores.

Among them, two were Sixth Tier supreme Fire Spirit star cores, coming from the Fire Bull King.

As for the other Sixth Tier Fire Bull Horns and the scales of the Sixth Tier Jin She clan, they would need to be handed over by Dong Zhao, and only after the National Dao Academy arranged for master weapon refiners to create finished products could they be distributed.

As Dong Zhao finished distributing the spoils, Xu Jin did not leave but stayed behind alone.

"Hmm, do you still have something?" Dong Zhao asked, somewhat surprised to see Xu Jin hadn't left.

Xu Jin didn't say much, but pushed a star jade tablet toward Dong Zhao—the one he had long ago set aside, which contained the half-percent divine soul power obtained from the Star God statue in the Guards Huo Yun star domain.

"Mountain Chief, this star jade tablet contains divine soul power equivalent to the medicinal power of about 60 Dragon Turtle Soul-Forging Pills.

Mountain Chief can use it to enhance divine soul power or to break through bottlenecks, but it cannot be kept for too long," Xu Jin said.

Upon hearing this, Dong Zhao was stunned.

"Medicinal power of 60 Dragon Turtle Soul-Forging Pills?

So much?

Isn't this too precious?"

"The kindness of the Mountain Chief's support and the grace of the Mountain Chief saving my younger sister Jiang Er have not yet been repaid.

This time, I was lucky enough to gain something, and I hope it can help the Mountain Chief. Please accept it with a smile," Xu Jin said with a laugh.

Dong Zhao pondered for a few breaths and did not decline, accepting it on the spot.

"Since this thing can quickly enhance combat power, I will accept it!

You and I are comrades-in-arms today, and we will be in the future.

When there is an opportunity, we should achieve things together.

If you have anything, just call me; I, your Mountain Chief, am still the same Mountain Chief as before," Dong Zhao said.

"I know."

Bowing, Xu Jin left and headed straight for Liu Zhou Qingzhu's courtyard.

"Eh, Jin'er, what are you here for?" Liu Zhou Qingzhu was very surprised.

"Teacher, can the few Ten Thousand Blood Spirit Pills obtained previously allow you to break through smoothly?" Xu Jin asked.

"Wait two or three years; once my divine soul cultivation reaches the level, the Ten Thousand Blood Spirit Pills should be able to allow me to break through to the Sixth Tier smoothly," Liu Zhou Qingzhu said.

"This should be able to help Teacher's divine soul cultivation reach the level in one step, or even break through on the spot."

As he spoke, Xu Jin handed over another star jade tablet containing half a percent of divine soul power and explained it.

"Medicinal power of 60 Dragon Turtle Soul-Forging Pills!"

Liu Zhou Qingzhu was very surprised. "How much divine soul cultivation would this enhance! You should keep it for yourself; I am trapped here, and I don't mind waiting two or three years. Moreover, you are at your most dangerous stage right now and need to enhance your strength quickly."

As she spoke, Liu Zhou Qingzhu pushed the star jade tablet back toward Xu Jin.

Xu Jin was stunned, then laughed, "Teacher, I have it! I have more than what I'm giving you. This portion is a bit of my filial piety; please accept it.

Besides, if Teacher is strong, I, your disciple, will also have more confidence, right?"

"You really have more?" Liu Zhou Qingzhu was somewhat skeptical; such a treasure, even if there were only one, would be enough to cause a bloodbath in the martial world if the news leaked.

How could Xu Jin have more?

"I really do!"

If Liu Zhou Qingzhu still didn't believe him, Xu Jin would have wanted to demonstrate his divine soul cultivation to properly strike a blow to Liu Zhou Qingzhu's confidence.

"Since you have it, then Teacher will accept it first. In that case, I might be able to break through in a day or two," Liu Zhou Qingzhu laughed.

"Then this disciple wishes Teacher a smooth breakthrough to the Sixth Tier and the completion of your divine art!"

"Stop with the flattery!"

After leaving Liu Zhou Qingzhu's place, Xu Jin thought for a moment, then turned straight back to the Star-Plucking Tower. With a thought, he contacted the Star Spirit to enter the Star Dome Secret Realm of the Star-Plucking Tower.

He hadn't used his November meditation time in the Star Dome Secret Realm yet.

In this Battle of Tower Tributes, he had fought continuously for seven days and had seen too many star techniques and used too many star techniques.

Many things he hadn't understood well during previous meditation suddenly became clear.

Especially the Earth and Fire star techniques he used the most; Xu Jin had gained a lot and had many insights, which he could now convert.

However, Xu Jin did not immediately start the meditation time in the Star Dome Secret Realm but began to meditate on his own first.

Xu Jin first prepared to meditate on the Seventh Tier low-grade Earth Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern he had obtained from the Grand Master.

In actual combat, Earth star techniques were extremely practical.

Especially in terms of defense.

Moreover, in several battles, Xu Jin had discovered that his star technique methods were still relatively singular.

Although Fire techniques were strong, when encountering something that countered Fire or where Fire techniques couldn't exert their power, it was somewhat uncomfortable.

Because Xu Jin did not have other star techniques with power comparable to his Fire star techniques.

Among the star techniques he was currently cultivating, the Thunder series didn't even have a Thunder Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern, so there was no way to strengthen it.

There was only the Earth series.

If he could meditate on the Seventh Tier low-grade Earth Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern himself and then use a few gold stars, he might be able to deduce the Earth Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern to the Seventh Tier high-grade or even Eighth Tier low-grade.

He would be able to fill this gap.

At that time, not only would his defensive ability increase greatly, but his star technique changes would also be more diverse.

Now that his cultivation had broken through to the Fourth Tier, he had plenty of room to engrave Earth star patterns, and it was just the right time to learn some new Earth star patterns.

However, before meditating on the Seventh Tier low-grade Earth Lei Lei Yuanxing Pattern, Xu Jin took out the Star Official Seal he had captured in the Guards Huo Yun star domain from his Xumi space.

According to Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao, the Star Official Seal absolutely could not be refined in the present world.

If taken out into the present world, the Star Official Seal would return to its main body immediately.

Apart from the star domain, the Star Dome Secret Realm was the best place to refine it.

The moment Xu Jin took out the Star Official Seal, it instantly shone brightly, spinning rapidly with a buzzing sound, wanting to leave the Star Dome Secret Realm immediately, but it couldn't find a portal.

The next moment, Xu Jin's Thunder star power and divine soul power rushed into the Star Official Seal together.

First, he used his Thunder star power to destroy the previous refining imprint.

Then he began to refine it!

As the Battle of Tower Tributes was just about to end, one after another, starlight descended once again onto the Star River Marshal's Mansion Secret Realm.

This time, the Grand Marshal of the Star River Battlefield, Wei Xu, was the first to arrive, and the Left and Right Sima arrived at the same time. Before long, the Cangming Tianyang Xingjun and the Great Da Chu Di Jun arrived simultaneously.

But the expressions of these two were quite ugly.

Just a moment ago, the nine temporary star gates opened in the main tower of the Cangming Star Palace's Star-Plucking Tower had all closed one by one because the time was up.

However, the disciples from other star domains had all returned one after another; even if they were injured, there were still people who returned.

Only the disciples of the Third Tier Purple Wind star domain had not returned at all.

This meant that the disciples of the Third Tier Purple Wind star domain had been wiped out.

The losses were heavy.

The Cangming Star Palace had previously lost a wave of direct disciples, and the direct disciples Wang Zheng and Tan Jueming, who were sent into the Third Tier Purple Wind star domain this time, were the best among this year's direct disciples; the original intention was to send them in to perform meritorious service.

The Third Tier Purple Wind star domain had been attacked several times before and should have been the easiest star domain to conquer, but unexpectedly, they had been wiped out.

Their score was already in third place, and this directly resulted in the death of a small team of five direct disciples.

With this, most of the direct disciples of their Cangming Star Palace this year had already fallen.

This loss was too great.

Subsequently, the Zhen'e Tianyang Xingjun, the Chen Guo Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao, and the Great Hong Emperor all arrived.

Only the Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun had not arrived.

"Everyone, the Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun has not arrived yet; let's wait a moment longer," the Star River Grand Marshal Wei Xu laughed, while glancing at the Great Hong Emperor, but he couldn't see anything.

Inside the main hall of the Tianyang Star Palace, Great Elder Wang Kan handed a piece of intelligence to the Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun with a solemn expression, and in an instant, the Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun's expression froze!

"Is it true?"

"Have you verified it?"

"My Lord, after I received the intelligence from Zong Yan of the Xumi Palace, I immediately mobilized relevant intelligence personnel and connections to investigate the relevant personnel of Chen Guo.

Currently, we have obtained confirmed intelligence that Xu Jin, the champion of the autumn examination at the Chen Guo National Dao Academy, is alive and has returned, and has even appeared in public.

Of the five-man team from the Chen Guo National Dao Academy that entered the Fifth Tier Lingwu star domain to participate in the battle, four have returned; only the Vice Academician Shen Wei who participated in the battle did not return, and it is highly probable that this Vice Academician Shen Wei died in battle," Great Elder Wang Kan reported.

The Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun's expression suddenly turned cold. "Great Elder, do you mean that we sent six Fifth Tier, Ninth Layer peak experts inside, brought eight Sixth Tier emblems, and even invited the Blood God Child of the Lingwu star domain to help.

In the end, we only killed one Vice Academician of the Chen Guo National Dao Academy, and everyone else, including the main target Xu Jin, returned unscathed?

With this lineup, let alone Fifth Tier, even?"

Great Elder Wang Kan's forehead was already sweating. "My Lord, the intelligence is currently limited; there are no other gains! Moreover, I have urgently contacted the Blood God Child several times, but the Blood God Child has no reaction, and currently, I don't know how he is doing."

"No reaction from the Blood God Child?"

The Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun frowned again. "The Blood God Child himself is at the peak of the Sixth Tier, Ninth Layer, and cultivates... the Blood God Secret Art, which is extremely difficult to kill. Plus, he controlled the power of the Fire Bull and Jin She clans; even if we sent a Seventh Tier inside, it wouldn't necessarily be able to kill him!

The Blood God Child has lost contact; how is this possible?"

"It is also possible that he is too busy to reply."

"How is that possible! Whether it is the Blood God Child or you or me, it is impossible to make such a mistake. Even in a great battle, replying casually is just a matter of a thought.

Could it be that the Blood God Child really had an accident!" The Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun's brows were locked tight.

"Investigate!"

"Use intelligence forces and find a way to find out the truth for me! I want to know what happened in the Lingwu star domain!

If I don't find out clearly, my heart will not be at peace," the Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun shouted.

"My Lord, rest assured, I will go and investigate now."

In the Star River Marshal's Mansion Secret Realm, the Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun descended as a ray of starlight, his face as cold as water, causing everyone present to feel a slight stir in their hearts.

To be able to make the Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun show such an expression, the losses of the Tianyang Star Palace were probably not small.

"Everyone is here, so let's display the final scores and rankings for this Battle of Tower Tributes! In addition, if there are any objections, you can ask the Star Spirit on the spot. If there are no other circumstances, the rankings of this Battle of Tower Tributes will be the basis for the payment of tribute for the next three years," Star River Grand Marshal Wei Xu said.

On this point, no one had any objections. Seeing this, Wei Xu gave a light shout, "Star Spirit, display the final rankings and scores."

The next moment, starlight began to flicker and appear rapidly.

【First Place, Chen Guo Empire, 59,560 points】

【Second Place, Great Hong Empire, 27,335 points】

【Third Place, Great Chu Empire, 25,786 points】

【Fourth Place, Zhen'e Star Palace, 25,196 points】

The scores and rankings appeared.

Even though the giants of the present world already knew this result, when it was finally presented, everyone's heart still trembled.

Chen Guo was first!

Chen Guo had turned the tables this year!

Not only had they turned the tables, they had also firmly ridden on top of the Tianyang Star Palace.

Especially that score, which was directly double that of the Great Hong Empire.

Fortunately, it did not reach three times the score of the third and fourth places; otherwise, Great Chu and the Zhen'e Star Palace would have cried.

The ones with the ugliest expressions were the Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun and the Great Hong Emperor.

They had previously insisted on a score penalty for the last place, which had been modified under Cheng Yuexiao's insistence, and they had even thought about pitting Chen Guo.

Unexpectedly, they had ended up pitting themselves.

Star River Grand Marshal Wei Xu was also very surprised.

With this score, Chen Guo was too fierce.

What everyone didn't know was that only Cheng Yuexiao was secretly calling himself lucky.

Fortunately, he had issued the order to control the score early.

Otherwise, if the scores for Xu Jin and the others killing the Fire Bull King, the Jin She King, obtaining the will of heaven and earth of the Fifth Tier star domain, and killing the Sixth and Fifth Tier aliens were all counted, this score could have increased by another 20,000 or 30,000 points.

At that time, the score would have been directly more than three times that of the Cangming Star Palace and the Zhen'e Star Palace.

The score penalty would have fallen on these two families as well.

At that time, Chen Guo would have been happy, but they would have immediately faced the predicament of being enemies with the whole world.

But now, letting only the Tianyang Star Palace suffer, everything was still within a controllable range.

"Everyone, if there are no objections, according to the final rankings of this Battle of Tower Tributes, Chen Guo will bear 15% of the tribute, Great Hong will bear 20%, Great Chu will bear 25%, the Zhen'e Star Palace will bear 30%, and my Star River Battlefield Marshal's Mansion will bear 10%.

In addition, according to the agreement made by everyone before the battle, if the score of the first place exceeds the next place by one time, the next place will bear an additional 5% of the tribute for the first place.

Chen Guo's score is now more than double that of Great Hong.

It has already met the standard.

Then the final result is: Chen Guo will bear 10% of the tribute, Great Hong will bear 25%, Great Chu will bear 25%, the Zhen'e Star Palace will bear 30%, and my Star River Battlefield Marshal's Mansion will bear a fixed 10%," Star River Grand Marshal Wei Xu announced.

A few breaths later, all the giants of the present world expressed their positions simultaneously; there were no objections.

In such matters, the giants of the present world still had their dignity; no one would go back on their word.

Regardless of whether someone might have used underhanded means or cheated during the process, the final ranking was the final ranking; this could not be changed unless you had ironclad proof of the other party's cheating.

Otherwise, you would only lose face!

"Good, since that is the case, it means all parties agree.

Star Spirit, record it; the tribute shares of all parties for the next three years will be executed according to this.

Before New Year's Day each year, you will send the amount of tribute each family needs to pay!

Those who complete the payment, it goes without saying; if there are those who have not completed the payment, naturally, we will handle it according to the rules of the Star-Plucking Tower," Wei Xu said.

The Star Spirit accepted the order.

"Star Spirit, I have one thing I don't understand; please provide an answer," the Great Da Chu Di Jun suddenly spoke.

"My Great Chu's five direct disciples, Wang Zheng, Tan Jueming, and others, who broke into the Third Tier Purple Wind star domain, did not return at all until the temporary star gate of the Third Tier Purple Wind star domain closed. Currently, their life or death is unknown, which is very strange.

On the Star Tokens of these five people, there is a wisp of imprint that you, Star Spirit, injected. Whether these five are dead or alive, and what the situation is, please indicate, Star Spirit," the Great Da Chu Di Jun said.

"According to my sensing, all five have fallen in battle." When these holders of authority asked questions, the Star Spirit had to answer.

"Fallen? May I ask at whose hands they died?" the Great Da Chu Di Jun asked.

"I don't know this, but I have sensed and recorded several images."

As he spoke, starlight appeared above everyone's heads, and scene after scene emerged.

It was exactly the scene of Xu Jin, disguised as the Prince Prince Zi Yi Royal Clan, killing Wang Zheng and Tan Jueming.

"Prince Prince Zi Yi Royal Clan?"

This answer was extremely surprising to the Great Da Chu Di Jun.

It turned out to be an indigenous person from a Third Tier star domain.

But it wasn't impossible!

After all, the Prince Prince Zi Yi Royal Clan was Fourth Tier!

To the side, the Tianyang Tianyang Xingjun also wanted to ask the Star Spirit about the whereabouts of Liu Meng and the others, but unfortunately, he couldn't ask.

Moreover, asking was useless, because there was no imprint aura left by the Star Spirit on the Star Tokens of Liu Meng and the others, so naturally, it couldn't be recorded.

"Everyone, are there any other objections or opinions?" Star River Grand Marshal Wei Xu asked.

Everyone shook their heads one after another.

Other parties, although they had their own losses, were all within the normal range.

"Everyone, then this Battle of Tower Tributes ends here! Three days later, the Nine-Star Tide will arrive; please be prepared to meet the battle!"

"Meeting adjourned."

(End of chapter)