Chapter 29: Star Forging Deadline

"Regardless of whether they are disciples of the Inner, Middle, or Outer Academy, the first person to imprint the Small Gather Star pattern completely can obtain one bottle of Spirit-Awakening Pills and three low-grade Star-Replenishing Pills. The second and third places will obtain six and three Spirit-Awakening Pills, and two and one Star-Replenishing Pill, respectively."

"Regardless of whether they are disciples of the Inner, Middle, or Outer Academy, the first person to imprint the Great Gather Star pattern completely can obtain two bottles of Spirit-Awakening Pills, one bottle of low-grade Star-Replenishing Pills, and one Settling Spirit Golden Pill. The second and third places will obtain one and half a bottle of Spirit-Awakening Pills, and six and three low-grade Star-Replenishing Pills, respectively." Ning Yuchan said slowly.

The other young boys were still listening to the excitement when they heard this reward, but several young boys with good backgrounds, such as Yue Daqi, Lu Xianbing, Zhou Du, Qiao Ruonan, Luo Geng, and others, had their eyes become extremely bright in an instant.

The reward for the Small Gather Star pattern was easy to talk about; Spirit-Awakening Pills were at most elixirs refined from conventional medicinal materials, while Star-Replenishing Pills were true Star elixirs, elixirs containing Star Power.

But one pill for twenty taels of silver, one could also buy it.

The key was the Settling Spirit Golden Pill.

The Settling Spirit Golden Pill belongs to the kind that has a price but no market; the official price is one thousand taels of gold per pill, but you just can't buy it.

The reason is related to the function of the Settling Spirit Golden Pill.

The Settling Spirit Golden Pill is an extremely rare elixir that can strengthen and enlarge the power of the spirit and soul. Not only that, it is said that the probability of successfully forging a star for those who have taken the Settling Spirit Golden Pill is ten percent higher than others.

When Ning Yuchan introduced the Star-Replenishing Pill and the Settling Spirit Golden Pill to the many young boys, the group of young boys immediately boiled over.

Even the three people who were observing the content of the jade tablet stopped.

"Instructor, I feel that although the Dao Academy has set this reward very high, it has nothing to do with us. I estimate that this reward will eventually be taken away by the three senior brothers of the Inner Academy." Sha Youtian said boldly.

As soon as these words came out, the young boys who were just excited were immediately splashed with a basin of cold water.

Yes, no matter how good the reward is, it has nothing to do with them.

Ning Yuchan, however, shook her head, "Then what do you think the purpose of the Dao Academy setting this reward is? If it were really like that, wouldn't it be simple to just reward Yue Daqi and the other two directly?"

After saying this, Ning Yuchan added, "Have you forgotten what Xu Jin said to Lu Xianbing the day before yesterday?"

"If the number of days of Star Pointing could really represent everything, then why cultivate at all?"

Hearing Ning Yuchan bring this up again, Xu Jin and Lu Xianbing felt a bit embarrassed.

"The number of days of Star Pointing is just the most fair means of testing cultivation talent passed down for thousands of years. But who can imprint the Small and Great Gather Star patterns successfully in the shortest time depends on personal comprehension, the strength of the spirit and soul, and the reasonable allocation of cultivation time."

"Imprinting Star patterns will simultaneously consume the power of the spirit and soul and Star Power, but during the process of imprinting Star patterns, it can strengthen and fortify the power of the spirit and soul to a certain extent. Once the Star pattern is successfully imprinted, the upper limit of Star Power in your body and the speed of guiding Star Power will rise multiple times, which will in turn improve the progress of body tempering."

"How to trade off, how to arrange cultivation time, depends on your personal arrangements." Ning Yuchan said.

Next, the young boys present asked many questions one after another, and Ning Yuchan answered them one by one, and Xu Jin listened carefully one by one.

Many questions were also what Xu Jin himself wanted to ask.

At the same time, Ning Yuchan also gave a relatively reasonable suggestion.

That is, body tempering and imprinting Star patterns can go hand in hand.

Focusing solely on one item is not conducive to cultivation.

As for deliberately focusing all efforts on imprinting Star patterns for the sake of the reward, it is even more inadvisable.

Haste makes waste.

Imprinting Star patterns, on the surface, is just imprinting Star patterns, but in reality, it tests the cultivator's fine control over Star Power, including continuous linear output of Star Power, etc.

Xu Jin is a Middle Academy disciple; although he is at the tail end, it took less than a quarter of an hour before it was Xu Jin's turn to read the content of the Great Gather Star pattern in the jade tablet.

Only parts tempered by Star Power can output Star Power.

Xu Jin placed the jade tablet below his throat, and Star Power leaked out slightly. In an instant, a simple Star pattern appeared in Xu Jin's mind.

It was exactly the same as the Star pattern on Xu Jin's chest.

It was precisely the simplified Gather Star pattern.

The next instant, this simplified Gather Star pattern seemed to have encountered spring, and it started to sprout and grow.

Twelve branches sprouted from the original simple lines, and at the same time, the ends were constantly growing.

Finally, it formed a semi-circular lotus-shaped Star pattern and stopped.

Xu Jin understood that this should be the Small Gather Star pattern.

After stopping for five breaths, this Small Gather Star pattern started to grow and change again; the branches and ends grew and multiplied again, and finally, it grew into a completely closed lotus-like hollow sphere, slowly rotating.

Beautiful and magnificent!

This is the Great Gather Star pattern.

After this complete demonstration, Xu Jin suddenly understood that the simplified Gather Star pattern, Small Gather Star pattern, and Great Gather Star pattern are actually three different stages of the Gather Star pattern.

Immediately, Xu Jin had his own strategy.

At the current stage, focusing on the Great Gather Star pattern is useless.

According to Ning Yuchan, reading the jade tablet is limited to one hundred breaths per day, and too much will easily consume the spirit and soul.

Reading time is limited, so one must maximize efficiency.

Only memorize and look at the changes and growth from the simplified Gather Star pattern to the Small Gather Star pattern; theoretically, this can improve efficiency by double.

Subsequently, when the content of the jade tablet evolved from the Small Gather Star pattern to the Great Gather Star pattern, Xu Jin took the jade tablet away from his skin, the Star Power was interrupted, and then he brought it close again, inputting Star Power, and a new round of Star pattern evolution started again.

It was still evolving from the simplified Gather Star pattern toward the Small Gather Star pattern.

"Eh, look at Xu Jin, why is he frequently interrupting the reading? Is this reading also encountering obstacles?" Liu Ji, who had been paying attention to Xu Jin, suddenly elbowed the young boy next to him.

Immediately, many young boys, including Luo Geng, also noticed Xu Jin's abnormal behavior.

But none of them reminded him; they just watched quietly.

On the day of the Star Pointing season assessment, Xu Jin stole the show and leaped into the Middle Academy. Many young boys still had some thoughts. Zhou Du of the Middle Academy also noticed it, especially the performance of the group of young boys from the Outer Academy, which attracted his attention even more.

Zhou Du also felt that it was best if Xu Jin encountered obstacles in reading.

If you ask who hates Xu Jin the most, besides Luo Geng, I'm afraid it's Zhou Du.

A perfectly good Inner Academy disciple was forced into the Middle Academy because of Xu Jin's commotion.

Although he didn't say it, he definitely had thoughts in his heart.

But the next instant, Zhou Du's expression suddenly froze, and he couldn't help but fiercely slap his own thigh.

"Damn, why didn't I think of that!"

While attracting everyone's attention, Zhou Du suddenly reacted and understood Xu Jin's intention.

A look of remorse appeared on his face.

The group of young boys from the Outer Academy, including Luo Geng, looked on, somewhat unclear.

Zhou Du was reading the entire process when looking at the jade tablet, but in the one hundred breaths of time, he only watched it four times; he only remembered a rough idea of the Small Gather Star pattern, and didn't remember the details at all; he would have to continue memorizing tomorrow.

And Zhou Du already understood that Xu Jin's interrupted way of reading the jade tablet should be using the interruption to only look at the process from the simplified Gather Star pattern to the Small Gather Star pattern.

He could watch it at least eight times, and the memorization effect should be better.

In fact, within the one hundred breaths of time, Xu Jin watched it a total of nine times.

When watching the fifth time, Xu Jin had already found a faster memorization method.

First memorize the changes in the main trunk of the Star pattern, then memorize the changes in the branch details.

After watching nine times, he had roughly memorized it, especially the changes in the main trunk, which were very clear.

But when the one hundred breaths ended, Xu Jin also had a slight headache; it should be that the power of the spirit and soul had been consumed a bit too much.

The first lesson of entering the Middle Academy consumed a full morning.

Most of the time was spent queuing to read the Great Gather Star pattern.

But during the waiting intervals, Ning Yuchan also told the young boys many things, especially matters related to future cultivation.

The first goal for all disciples is the Meal of Mist Fifth Layer; after the Meal of Mist Fifth Layer, breaking through to the Meal of Mist Sixth Layer is the first hurdle.

Because the Meal of Mist Sixth Layer tempers the head.

Too light is ineffective, too heavy injures the brain.

Some people will be stuck at the Meal of Mist Sixth Layer for a long time.

If one breaks through to the Meal of Mist Seventh Layer, all disciples will face the first major hurdle on the path of cultivation.

Star Forging.

Only after Star Forging does one have the qualification to learn more powerful Star patterns and deeper Star arts.

Perhaps afraid of increasing the pressure on these disciples, Ning Yuchan didn't elaborate.

She only gave a deadline.

Regardless of whether they are Inner, Middle, or Outer Academy disciples, if they cannot forge a star within two years, they will all be sent away.

After class, it was time to eat.

When eating, Xu Jin felt that entering the Middle Academy was truly worth it.

Inner, Middle, and Outer Academy disciples eat in the same dining hall; staple food is unlimited, Inner Academy disciples get three meat dishes and one vegetable dish with their waist tokens, Middle Academy disciples get two meat dishes and one vegetable dish, and Outer Academy disciples get one meat dish and one vegetable dish.

Of course, one meat dish and one vegetable dish can also make one full, and there is meat, but being able to eat three dishes after entering the Middle Academy, Xu Jin was still very satisfied.

After the meal, Xu Jin couldn't wait to return to his small single room, swallowed a Spirit-Awakening Pill, and started trying to imprint the Small Gather Star pattern on the basis of the simplified Gather Star pattern on his chest.

He didn't know until he tried; once he started imprinting, he found it was truly difficult.

It was more than ten times harder than embroidery.

Controlling the stable output of Star Power was secondary.

The important thing is that one must use Star Power to draw out a loop of a pattern within the Star pattern in one go.

Only when one of the patterns is drawn out with Star Power to form a correct loop can one control the Star Power to constantly circulate within this loop, gradually increasing the force, and complete the imprinting.

Xu Jin remembered very clearly in the morning class that from the simplified Gather Star pattern to the Small Gather Star pattern, the main trunk patterns increased from three to six, and the branch patterns increased from six to twelve.

But just for the first pattern, Xu Jin tried for half an hour before successfully constructing a correct Star pattern loop.

Not long after he started imprinting, the Star Power control became unstable, and the Star pattern loop that had just been constructed was destroyed, so he had to start over.

But he hadn't even started over for ten minutes when his head started to ache.

The power of the spirit and soul had been consumed excessively, including the medicinal power of the Spirit-Awakening Pill he had just taken, which had also been consumed.

"This is really quite exhausting."

"Under these circumstances, even if one focuses specifically on imprinting Star patterns, it would be difficult to succeed in ten days or half a month. If one cultivates while imprinting, it might take a month, let alone the Great Gather Star pattern."

While pondering, Xu Jin suddenly thought of the Star Lamp.

One can perform martial arts in the Star Lamp; can one try to imprint Star patterns in the Star Lamp?

With this thought, Xu Jin's mind moved, and he immediately sank into the Arena Platform.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 30 =====