Chapter 290: Nonstop Surprises

The "Blood God Continuation and Reconnection Art" is one of many secret techniques of the Blood God Sect; upon successful cultivation, it allows one to reattach severed limbs or even regenerate them.

However, regenerating or reattaching limbs is merely one of the important functions of this secret art; its most crucial role is to win battles through deception.

The "Cultivation Insights of the Blood God Continuation and Reconnection Art" records that, once mastered, one may feign death by having one's head severed in combat, wait for the enemy to approach, then launch a surprise attack—achieving an extremely high success rate through unexpectedness.

In combat, one may abandon any limb, even vital organs, to deceive the enemy and seize the decisive advantage.

If the Blood God Continuation and Reconnection Art is cultivated to perfection, one can even feign being beheaded by a single slash.

In most people's minds, once the head is severed, death is certain.

But if you approach the head or the limb, you will inevitably be ambushed.

After slaying the enemy, the Blood God Continuation and Reconnection Art can even reattach the severed head.

This filled Xu Jin with profound horror.

In his past life, the scene from the TV drama where Shen Gongbao shouted "Head, come back!" was the most mystifying image of his childhood.

Could a severed head really grow back?

Was this truly divine?

He never expected to see it here, in the Blood God Sect's secret art.

A severed head really could grow back.

In an instant, Xu Jin warned himself: from now on, whenever fighting members of the Blood God Sect or other experts, after beheading an enemy, he must deliver a finishing blow!

Finish him!

Finish him!

This was his self-reminder.

But what Xu Jin cared about most was the limb-regeneration function of the Blood God Continuation and Reconnection Art.

If he could obtain the Blood God Continuation Art, could Ning Yuchan's legs be healed?

Could Ying Ge, who had lost both legs and one arm and now possessed only his upper body and one remaining arm, be restored to full health?

What Xu Jin most wanted to know now was the cultivation requirements or methods of the Blood God Continuation and Reconnection Art.

He hoped it wouldn't be impossible to achieve.

Unfortunately, this jade tablet contained only the cultivation insights of the Blood God Continuation and Reconnection Art; regarding its actual method, it mentioned only fragments within the insights, with no complete cultivation technique.

He wondered whether the remaining two blood god jade tablets, sealed with restrictions, contained the Blood God Continuation and Reconnection Art.

It seemed Xu Jin would need to pay special attention to the Blood God Sect in the future.

He needed to find a way to capture Blood God Sect disciples, to see if he could unlock the blood god talisman's jade tablet, or obtain the cultivation method from captured disciples.

This filled Xu Jin with great joy.

The greatest reward from killing Blood God Talisman Yings was learning of the Blood God Continuation and Reconnection Art.

From now on, he had a clear direction for his search.

The next instant, Xu Jin's mind stirred, and he appeared within the Plucking Star Secret Realm.

【Challenge】

Bronze Star and Silver Star challenges were now effortless for Xu Jin.

With a mere gesture, he succeeded in both challenges and obtained the Bronze Star and Silver Star.

【Challenge Gold Star-Level Mind Demon】

The next instant, starlight shifted, and a mind demon identical to Xu Jin, with a cultivation base of fifth realm first layer, appeared before him.

Almost instantly, its body manifested a Golden Bell, just like Xu Jin's.

But clearly, it was not the Fish Curtain Golden Bell.

Only an ordinary Rain Curtain Golden Bell.

Far inferior to Xu Jin's Fish Curtain Golden Bell, which relied on eighth-rank-lower Fish Star Patterns as its foundation.

The next instant, Po Sha struck.

A flame explosion grounded in Brilliant Purple Heavenly Fire blasted through the mind demon's Rain Curtain Golden Bell.

But soon, the mind demon awoke from the impact of Po Sha.

One after another, Brilliant Purple Golden Lotuses bloomed, then exploded.

Soul-Shaking Golden Lotus.

In the instant the golden lotuses exploded in succession, the mind demon's form was swallowed by Brilliant Purple Golden Lotus flames.

Challenge succeeded.

Effortless.

Even easier than Xu Jin had imagined.

At the same time, Xu Jin grasped the pattern of the mind demon's strength within the Plucking Star Secret Realm.

The spirit cultivation base and star force cultivation base were fixed.

The mind demon could also replicate the star patterns Xu Jin knew.

But this replication was only superficial.

For example, Xu Jin knew the Fire Source Star Pattern; the mind demon copied it—but only the Fire Source Star Pattern itself, nothing beyond.

Xu Jin's Brilliant Purple Heavenly Fire and Soul-Burning Heavenly Fire could not be copied.

The mind demon replicated only the Fire Source Star Pattern, and its rank was determined by the Plucking Tower when generating the realm, based on the mind demon's level.

Judging by the mind demon's performance, the Fire Source Star Pattern it used did not exceed sixth-rank-upper, likely sixth-rank-lower.

Similarly, Po Sha was copied—but only Po Sha itself; its specific rank could not be replicated.

Beyond this, Xu Jin's own invented unique star arts, such as Soul-Shaking Golden Lotus and Shocking Dream, had not yet been learned by the mind demon.

It seemed the mind demon's replication had its limits.

One Gold Star acquired.

Then, Xu Jin began challenging the Gold Star-Level Guardians.

When challenging the Gold Star-Level Guardians, Xu Jin fought more casually.

His main goal was no longer to win and obtain the Gold Star, but to hone his combat skills.

Strong sparring partners like Gold Star-Level Guardians were rare.

Within the next fifteen minutes, Xu Jin used the Gold Star-Level Guardians as sparring partners to fully master his newly acquired Earth Magnetic Force.

Most surprisingly to Xu Jin, Earth Magnetic Force could affect an enemy's speed.

Within a hundred-meter radius centered on Xu Jin, Earth Magnetic Force exerted its influence.

If Earth Magnetic Force was channeled through star arts—such as Earth Magnetic Arrow or Earth Magnetic Chain—it could also slow enemies, though to a lesser degree.

This newly acquired Earth Magnetic Force instantly multiplied the diversity of Xu Jin's combat style, making his movements far more unpredictable.

No longer as simplistic as before.

It greatly enhanced his combat effectiveness.

Xu Jin also wanted to test Earth Root—but here, he could not.

Because his feet could not touch the ground, he naturally could not activate the effect of Earth Root.

Yet the Fish Curtain Golden Bell, grounded in eighth-rank-middle Earth Source Star Pattern, rendered the Gold Star-Level Guardians utterly incapable of breaking his defense.

Bombardment failed to penetrate!

This outcome was not surprising at all.

The Fish Curtain Golden Bell consists of four star patterns: Earth Source Star Pattern, Fish Star Pattern, Rain Curtain Star Pattern, and Golden Bell Star Pattern.

Among them, the Golden Bell Star Pattern is rankless; the other three—aside from the Rain Curtain Star Pattern, which is fourth-rank-upper—Earth Source Star Pattern is eighth-rank-middle, and Fish Star Pattern is eighth-rank-lower.

A single star art containing two eighth-rank star patterns was not merely high-end—it was a dream configuration.

Such a dream configuration was rare even among seventh-rank experts, let alone sixth-rank ones.

Thus, possessing such astonishing defense was entirely normal.

Moreover, even when using only sixth-rank-upper Earth Source Star Pattern, the Fish Curtain Golden Bell could withstand a single strike from a fifth-rank-ninth-layer expert.

Of course, this advantage would diminish as Xu Jin's cultivation advanced.

But now, it was a lifesaving artifact.

After fifteen minutes, just before his internal star force was depleted, Xu Jin shattered the Gold Star-Level Guardian with a single blow.

Second Gold Star obtained.

Xu Jin's total Gold Star count rose from one to three.

Next, naturally, he continued challenging.

Directly challenge the Brilliant Star!

As starlight shifted, a Gold Star-Level Guardian and a Gold Star-Level Mind Demon appeared simultaneously behind Xu Jin.

Compared to his first challenge of the Brilliant Star, when he had been tense and exploited every possible factor to the extreme,

Now, Xu Jin faced the Brilliant Star with utter calmness.

Especially with the Fish Curtain Golden Bell supported by eighth-rank-middle Earth Source Star Pattern, even the combined assault of the Gold Star-Level Guardian and Mind Demon could not break his defense.

Within a hundred-meter radius around him, Earth Magnetic Force was bizarrely potent.

The closer an enemy approached, the greater the effect on their speed.

This battle lasted nearly fifteen minutes.

Had he not been unable to win once his star force was exhausted, Xu Jin could have fought for an entire hour.

He continuously tested new tactics combining Earth Magnetic Force, experimenting with novel combinations; before his star force ran out, he used Earth Magnetic Force to first slow the Gold Star-Level Guardian, then obliterated it with Soul-Shaking Golden Lotus, followed by the Mind Demon.

【Congratulations, you have successfully challenged and obtained one Brilliant Star.】

The starlight before his eyes filled Xu Jin with immense joy.

The number of Canxing stars had increased by one.

Currently, three Jinxing stars and two Canxing stars remain!

Xu Jin was hesitating whether to expend one Canxing star to directly advance the eighth-rank Fire Source Star Pattern to ninth rank.

He had not done so because he realized one thing: the Canxing stars he could obtain within the Star-Picking Seclusion were limited.

Even under the most optimistic and bold estimate, even after his cultivation base broke through to sixth or seventh rank, he might still acquire only about thirty Canxing stars.

According to the Grand Preceptor's words, after fifth rank, obtaining Jinxing stars became extremely difficult.

Xu Jin extended this logic: after fifth rank, obtaining Canxing stars would also become extremely difficult.

If so, the Canxing stars he could obtain in the future would amount to only about ten.

Therefore, he must conserve his Canxing stars.

Advancing Star Patterns beyond eighth rank takes years, yet a single Canxing star can instantly elevate a minor tier—its value needs no elaboration.

After careful consideration, Xu Jin decided to temporarily refrain from using a Canxing star to enhance the eighth-rank Fire Source Star Pattern.

Of course, there was another crucial reason.

The eighth-rank Fire Source Star Pattern was already extremely high, placing a tremendous burden on Xu Jin's Star Force consumption.

Xu Jin's current situation was like a small horse pulling a large cart.

Only with the starlight support from the Can Dou Platform could he sustain combat at all.

The immediate priority was to urgently raise his cultivation base while engraving Star Patterns.

After breaking through to fourth rank, Xu Jin had many tasks ahead.

After breaking through to Fourth Rank, Star Condensation First Layer, the two newly condensed Star Cores in the Middle Star Palace and Lower Star Palace bore no Star Patterns beyond the basic Da Ju Star Pattern—they were still blank.

Xu Jin already had a plan.

The second star in the Middle Star Palace would be engraved with the Earth Source Star Pattern and related Earth Star Patterns.

For the second star in the Lower Star Palace, Xu Jin had already reserved it for the sixth-rank Star Art Breakthrough, obtained from his Master's junior, Mo Ji.

During this time, whenever he had free moments, Xu Jin studied the Star Patterns of Breakthrough.

But the Star Patterns of Breakthrough were almost entirely new.

More critically, although Breakthrough consisted of only six Star Patterns, according to Master Mo Ji's cultivation notes, fully activating this Star Art required at least eight Star Pattern positions.

The sixth-rank Breakthrough Star Art comprised six Star Patterns: Control Object, Sharp Metal, Ten Thousand Tons, Swift Wind, Flash, and Attach Star.

Of these six, only Control Object was already known to Xu Jin.

The other five—Sharp Metal, Ten Thousand Tons, Swift Wind, Flash, and Attach Star—were entirely unfamiliar, and belonged to Star Force categories Xu Jin had never studied before.

Sharp Metal and Ten Thousand Tons were Metal Star Patterns, for they required the Metal Source Star Pattern to function.

Swift Wind was a Wind Star Art, requiring the Wind Source Star Pattern to unleash its power.

That made eight Star Patterns.

Flash Star Pattern was a Space Star Pattern.

Space Star Patterns were peculiar; many did not require Space Star Force to function and could operate independently.

Otherwise, even if Xu Jin learned Breakthrough, he could not cast it.

As for Attach Star, it was a Star Pattern that enhanced Breakthrough's power, allowing a powerful Star Force to be amplified at the final burst—essentially Breakthrough's killing technique.

In other words, to fully cast Breakthrough, Xu Jin needed eight Star Patterns: Control Object, Sharp Metal, Ten Thousand Tons, Swift Wind, Flash, Attach Star, Wind Source Star Pattern, and Metal Source Star Pattern.

Each Star Core had at most ten Star Pattern positions; after removing the basic pattern, nine remained.

The cultivation level of the second Star Core in the Lower Star Palace had not yet reached its peak, but it was just sufficient to engrave Breakthrough.

In the short term, Xu Jin's goal was to complete the engraving of the sixth-rank Breakthrough Star Art from the Object Control Sect.

Xu Jin estimated that this Breakthrough Star Art would become his ultimate finishing move!

But now, he first needed to learn the Wind Source Star Pattern and the Metal Source Star Pattern.

Fortunately, both Star Patterns were available at the State Dao Academy.

The next instant, Xu Jin left the Star-Picking Tower and headed straight for Danxia Palace.

One reason was to learn the Star Patterns; the other was to hand over the eighth-rank Earth Source Star Pattern to the Grand Preceptor.

As for whether it was a loss, Xu Jin felt no regret whatsoever.

Not only did ordinary disciples struggle to learn Earth Source Star Patterns below seventh rank, even elite students of the Chen Guo State Dao Academy like Dong Zhao or Liu Qingzhu needed to accomplish major feats multiple times or wait until they broke through to sixth rank to choose one seventh-rank Star Pattern to study.

Yet Xu Jin had learned it long ago.

Of course, Xu Jin had also earned countless merits.

But such accounting was impossible.

It could only be said that they had mutually elevated each other.

A few dozen breaths later, Xu Jin stepped into Danxia Palace—and to his surprise, the Grand Preceptor was not there; instead, Peng Lao greeted him.

"Xu Jin, do you have something to say? Just speak directly! With the Nine Stars Tide approaching, the Grand Preceptor has personally traveled to inspect defenses; he won't return for at least two days." Peng Lao said.

Xu Jin was not surprised by this.

It was normal for the Grand Preceptor to patrol during the critical Nine Stars Tide.

But the Wind Source and Metal Source Star Patterns he wished to learn—those were uncertain.

Moreover, with the Nine Stars Tide approaching, Xu Jin hoped to use these next few days to successfully engrave the sixth-rank Breakthrough Star Art and significantly boost his combat power.

"Peng Lao, I've now broken through to fourth rank. I wish to learn the Wind Source and Metal Source Star Patterns as soon as possible, so I can begin studying them early." Xu Jin said directly.

But Xu Jin did not know Peng Lao's stance and dared not speak bluntly.

"Learning the Metal Source and Wind Source Star Patterns is not difficult, but I must consult the Palace Master regarding which tier to grant you." As he spoke, Peng Lao pulled out the Star-Picking Token.

One breath later, Peng Lao received a reply from the Grand Preceptor, Cheng Yuexiao.

Turning back, he retrieved two exceptionally high-tier Star Jade Tablets, then took three more from his robe, handing all five to Xu Jin at once.

This left Xu Jin utterly stunned.

"The Palace Master said: since you wish to learn the Metal Source and Wind Source Star Patterns, I will directly grant you the latest versions held by the State Dao Academy—this is the eighth-rank Wind Source Star Pattern, and this is the seventh-rank Metal Source Star Pattern.

Keep them safe; never disclose them to others.

The Palace Master said that upon his return, he will impose a seal upon you using the Nine Sheng Bell." Peng Lao said.

Though Xu Jin had anticipated the possibility, actually receiving the seventh-rank Metal Source Star Pattern and eighth-rank Wind Source Star Pattern was still shocking.

They were simply given to him!

The Grand Preceptor had simply handed them to him!

This—

Even the newly released eighth-rank Fire Source Star Pattern, which the Grand Preceptor granted to Kou Jing, the Senior Academician, was only eighth-rank lower.

Holding back slightly was standard practice for the State Dao Academy.

But Xu Jin never expected the Grand Preceptor to give him the latest versions of both Star Patterns without reservation!

In an instant, Xu Jin felt only one sensation—weight.

The two Star Jade Tablets in his hand—the seventh-rank Metal Source and eighth-rank Wind Source—were unbearably heavy.

After his awe, Xu Jin's gaze turned to the other three Star Jade Tablets in his hand, then to Peng Lao.

"Peng Lao, what are these three?"

"Ah, these three—I'll explain slowly."

Peng Lao smiled and pointed to the first one. "The Palace Master knew you've long desired the Thunder Source Star Pattern, so he ordered me to search for it. But Thunder Source Star Patterns are extremely rare, and those willing to sell them are even rarer.

Eventually, the Wood Spirit Palace agreed to sell a third-rank upper Thunder Source Star Pattern.

The Palace Master sent me there, and I successfully acquired it.

After bringing it back, the Palace Master entered the Star Dome Seclusion and spent four hours refining it through time deduction. Currently, he has only advanced it to fourth-rank middle—though not high, it's usable.

If you have time later, you can refine it further—it will become very powerful." Peng Lao said.

Xu Jin's joy was beyond description.

Thunder Source Star Pattern.

The Thunder Source Star Pattern he had always wanted—the Grand Preceptor had actually obtained it for him!

And even advanced it to fourth-rank middle!

With the Thunder Source Star Pattern, Xu Jin's combat system could become far more complex and versatile.

"And these two?"

"Oh, one of these Star Jade Tablets contains the Wood Spirit Palace's Linked Star Patterns; the other holds the Wood Spirit Palace's authorized beginner-level Star Healing Star Art.

From this moment on, you may openly cast the Star Healing Star Art and create or engrave beginner-level Star Healing Seals." Peng Lao said.

Xu Jin froze.

The surprises kept coming one after another.

"But all of these are bonuses for the Thunder Source Star Pattern," Peng Lao said.

"Bonuses? Peng Lao, what price was paid to acquire the Thunder Source Star Pattern?" Xu Jin asked.

The next instant, when Peng Lao gave the answer, Xu Jin was speechless!

(End of Chapter)