Chapter 293: Xu Jin

With the aid of a mid-tier Lei Yi heart, Xu Jin's process of deducing the Lei Yuanxing pattern using ten silver stars was exceptionally smooth.

It felt somewhat like taking an open-book exam.

Anything he didn't understand, couldn't grasp, or failed to penetrate, the mid-tier Lei Yi heart directly gave him the answer—in clear, easy-to-understand terms.

Or it would offer him hints in other areas.

The fourth-tier Lei Yuanxing pattern sprouted like roots and shoots, its lines and main trunks continuously multiplying and perfecting themselves.

Soon, Xu Jin advanced the Lei Yuanxing pattern to upper fourth-tier, then smoothly broke through to lower fifth-tier, then middle fifth-tier—effortlessly.

When Xu Jin's mind withdrew from the storm of thunderclouds, this ordinary deducing session ended, and the final result of the Lei Yuanxing pattern deduction was upper fifth-tier.

Jumping four minor tiers in a single ordinary deduction was exceedingly rare.

But Xu Jin knew well: this was due to the mid-tier Lei Yi heart.

The celestial stellar will contained within the mid-tier Lei Yi heart gave him tremendous assistance.

Otherwise, even advancing three minor tiers would have been difficult, let alone four.

A fifth-tier upper Lei Yuanxing pattern was already a relatively high-level star pattern for most cultivators.

According to Guodao Academy rules, disciples at the third-tier Star Refining realm were typically taught only fourth-tier star patterns.

Disciples who broke through to the fourth-tier Star Condensation realm received, upon breakthrough, the privilege to choose any two fifth-tier star patterns as a reward.

But Xu Jin was not satisfied.

The Grand National Master had paid the price of a second-tier star domain and one celestial stellar will just to acquire this Lei Yuanxing pattern.

Under such a massive cost, Xu Jin had virtually no chance of obtaining a high-tier Lei Yuanxing pattern from the Wood Spirit Palace later.

Even if he did, the price would be beyond his capacity to bear.

Better to deduce it himself.

He still had three gold stars and two Can stars.

In the next instant, Xu Jin unhesitatingly activated one gold star and began deducing again.

He once again summoned the mid-tier Lei Yi heart.

Soon, Xu Jin advanced the Lei Yuanxing pattern to lower sixth-tier.

But after reaching lower sixth-tier, Xu Jin keenly noticed that the Lei Yi heart's assistance had become negligible.

In fact, since the Lei Yuanxing pattern broke through fifth-tier, the Lei Yi heart's aid had been diminishing.

But after breaking through sixth-tier, the drop became a cliff.

Still, there was a slight benefit.

Moreover, the gold star activated high-tier deducing.

As he deduced onward, new star lines and main trunks continuously emerged; the Lei Yuanxing pattern advanced to middle sixth-tier, slowly approaching upper sixth-tier.

But by the time the first gold star's deducing time ended, the Lei Yuanxing pattern's tier had not yet fully reached upper sixth-tier—though it was close.

Just one branch line remained to complete the upper sixth-tier deduction.

Yet the Lei Yuanxing pattern's tier remained at middle sixth-tier, falling short of Xu Jin's expectations.

Without hesitation, Xu Jin activated another gold star and began another high-tier deducing session.

The Lei Yuanxing pattern smoothly reached upper sixth-tier, then broke through to lower seventh-tier.

When the Lei Yuanxing pattern reached lower seventh-tier, the Lei Yi heart's assistance in the deduction process had become virtually useless.

Ultimately, when this second gold star's deducing ended, the tier barely reached middle seventh-tier.

Not bad.

But it fell short of Xu Jin's expectations.

Xu Jin's original plan had been to use ten silver stars and two gold stars to push the Lei Yuanxing pattern straight to upper seventh-tier, then use one Can star to leap it directly to middle eighth-tier.

Based on prior experience, pushing the Lei Yuanxing pattern to middle eighth-tier should grant two powerful thunder-based stellar power traits.

But now, it was far below his expectations.

To achieve this goal, Xu Jin would still need to spend one more gold star and one Can star—and even that might not be enough.

The root causes were threefold: first, the time for insight in the Star Dome Secret Realm had expired, reducing one source of enhancement; second, the Lei Yi heart's low tier rendered its assistance ineffective—sadly, star domains possessing thunder-based celestial stellar will were exceedingly rare; if he found one later, he must seize it.

Third, Xu Jin's own accumulation was insufficient.

The Guodao Academy's research notes contained absolutely no thunder-based star patterns.

Ultimately, Xu Jin decided to stop.

Especially this third point—it could cause a cliff-like drop in deduction progress; if he spent one gold star and one Can star and still failed to reach lower eighth-tier, it would be a massive loss.

Temporarily halt.

Lei Yuanxing pattern tier: middle seventh-tier.

Compared to his previous reliance on the protection star pattern's thunder source, this was vastly stronger—its power had more than doubled.

Currently, Xu Jin's gold star count had returned to one.

Qiahao he arrived again at the Star-Picking Tower; Xu Jin re-entered the Star-Picking Secret Realm.

When Xu Jin was still at fourth-tier Star Condensation first layer, he had easily obtained two gold stars and one Can star; back then, he estimated that before reaching middle-to-late fifth-tier, acquiring gold and Can stars would pose little difficulty.

Casually, he secured two copper stars and two silver stars.

When challenging gold-star-level heart demons and gatekeepers—goals other disciples dreamed of defeating—they became mere tools for Xu Jin to test his stellar power's potency.

They still could not shatter the Fish Curtain Golden Bell supported by his middle seventh-tier Earth Source star pattern.

But Xu Jin primarily tested his thunder-based star techniques.

His current thunder-based star techniques were still derived from basic star techniques.

For example, Thunder Arrow, Thunder Burst, Thunder Net, Thunder Curtain—when combined with linked star patterns, they could unleash chained Thunder Arrows, but overall, the power of these thunder techniques derived from basic star techniques was merely average.

The strongest was the Purple Thunder Strike granted by the Lei Yuanxing pattern enshrined on the Can Dou Platform.

This should be a fourth-tier thunder star technique; with middle seventh-tier Lei Yuanxing pattern, linked star patterns, and mid-tier Lei Yi heart's enhancement, a single strike could severely wound a fifth-tier second-layer gold-star gatekeeper—its power was quite impressive.

Unfortunately, he could not yet reverse-engineer this Purple Thunder Strike; if he could, and then studied the star pattern further, it would be extremely powerful.

In the future, Xu Jin must find ways to collect more thunder-based stellar power star patterns or thunder star techniques.

Earth-based patterns primarily defend and control.

Thunder-based patterns focus on speed and explosion; fire-based patterns deliver high damage; spirit-based patterns offer control; combined with the sixth-tier Star-Breaking technique for finishing blows, Xu Jin's combat system now had a Chuxing.

But it still needed refinement.

For instance, he lacked fifth- or even sixth-tier fire-based star techniques.

But this could be resolved—he could seek guidance from the Grand National Master or Grand Academician Kou Jing!

Half an hour later, Xu Jin completed another Star-Picking Secret Realm challenge.

He gained two copper stars, two silver stars, two gold stars, and one Can star.

The gold star he had just consumed was replenished.

Currently, he had two silver stars, three gold stars, and three Can stars remaining.

After returning from the Star-Picking Tower, for the next day and more, Xu Jin devoted himself to grinding.

He ground Wind Source and Metal Source star patterns.

As for the six Star-Breaking star patterns—he had long since mastered them; he had merely lacked positions to inscribe them.

On the evening of November 12, Xu Jin began inscribing star patterns onto the second star core of the Lower Star Palace.

Following the cultivation insights in Master Mo Ji's manual, Xu Jin inscribed them in sequence.

The second star core of the Lower Star Palace had ten star pattern positions.

The first position was the Great Gathering Star Pattern; after inscribing the Star-Breaking pattern and two source-force patterns, only one position remained—this core could later be named the Star-Breaking Core.

But the empty position must not be wasted.

Based on Xu Jin's current study and research into star patterns, when inscribing high-tier star techniques, the related star patterns must be inscribed continuously—the more continuous, the stronger the instant-cast effect.

The faster the activation.

Xu Jin had already chosen the star pattern to inscribe: Mingji Star Pattern.

Inscribing the Mingji Star Pattern had no effect on star techniques.

Moreover, Old Qi had specifically advised Xu Jin: inscribe as many Mingji Star Patterns as possible, for they provided subtle, indescribable enhancements to many star techniques.

This had been verified.

But should the Mingji Star Pattern be inscribed in the second position or the final position?

After careful consideration, Xu Jin arranged it according to the Mingji Star Pattern's nature.

The Mingji Star Pattern primarily enhanced perception and sensing.

Anticipating the enemy before they act.

If the Mingji Star Pattern enhanced the sixth-tier Star-Breaking technique, placing it at the front would yield the best effect.

Then Xu Jin began inscribing; within fifteen minutes, the Mingji Star Pattern was completed.

The instant the inscription finished, the Mingji Star Pattern began spontaneously activating.

Almost the moment it activated, Xu Jin's expression changed.

Undercurrents!

Tides surging!

Chaos!

Fury!

With two Mingji Star Patterns operating simultaneously, Xu Jin faintly sensed violent, chaotic stellar currents surging through the heavens—oppressively close and overwhelming.

"The Nine-Star Tide!"

Suddenly, Xu Jin understood.

This is why many strong cultivators can detect the Nine Stars Tide—their cultivation base is high enough, their perception sharp enough.

Xu Jin had now engraved two Mingji Star Patterns, and he could faintly sense the fluctuations of the Nine Stars Tide.

In Xu Jin's perception, this tidal surge of stellar energy was drawing ever closer.

It was about to erupt!

It was nearly here.

But this discovery made Xu Jin reevaluate the role of the Mingji Star Patterns.

When he had only one Mingji Star Pattern, he could not sense the Nine Stars Tide at all.

Now that he had engraved two, he could faintly sense it.

It seemed Xu Jin had not valued the Mingji Star Patterns enough.

The Mingji Star Patterns require not only rank, but also quantity to stack, thereby enhancing and strengthening perception.

Henceforth, whenever there was an open slot for a star pattern, he should stack more Mingji Star Patterns.

He noted this down, then began engraving other star patterns; an hour later, he completed them all.

Great Gathering Star Pattern, Mingji Star Pattern, Object Control, Golden Source, Sharp Gold, Ten Thousand Jun, Wind Source, Swift Wind, Flash, Star Attachment.

Ten star patterns in total, completely filling the second star core of the Lower Star Palace.

This second star core was Break Void.

With a slight thought, all the star patterns within the Break Void star core instantly merged into a single whole.

In an instant, Xu Jin felt that every point within his perception—above, below, east, west, north, south—could become a target for Break Void!

He even felt he could strike without ever missing.

Could this also be due to the Mingji Star Patterns?

If so, then Xu Jin would have to reconsider the importance of the Mingji Star Patterns.

He might even need to use one or two Golden Stars to perform an inference at the right opportunity.

Break Void was now complete.

Notably, the Wind Source and Golden Source star patterns Xu Jin engraved on the Break Void star core were both sixth-rank upper.

Although he had obtained seventh-rank middle and eighth-rank middle patterns, star patterns above seventh-rank required deep comprehension.

Below seventh-rank, one only needed to copy and engrave—fast and straightforward.

Above seventh-rank, one must slowly comprehend, just as he had previously comprehended seventh-rank lower Earth Source.

It requires time, but the difficulty should not be too great.

Moreover, Xu Jin had the aid of the Heavenly and Celestial Will of Wind and Metal.

Afterwards, Xu Jin entered the fourth-rank stellar energy realm to begin his evening practice.

Within the Middle and Lower Star Palaces, six star cores rotated simultaneously, like six vortices or six engines, instantly drawing vast amounts of stellar energy into his body to strengthen his cultivation base.

Xu Jin carefully experienced this for a while.

This cultivation speed was indeed faster than using top-grade Star Refining Pills in the Star Refining Realm.

And significantly faster.

At Xu Jin's rate, one hour equaled absorbing the stellar energy of six top-grade Star Refining Pills.

It surpassed his single-vein top-grade Star Refining Pill, but was slightly inferior to the three-vein top-grade Star Refining Pill.

Yet this was within a fourth-rank stellar energy realm; in common second- or third-rank Star Gathering Arrays—or outside the realm entirely—one hour yielded only the potency of one and a half top-grade Star Refining Pills.

Still, it was fast.

Because previously, when using pills, the dosage was limited.

Now, directly absorbing stellar energy for cultivation meant that as long as his soul force was sufficient and time allowed, he could train twelve hours a day.

Xu Jin estimated that, based on his normal morning and evening practice schedule, without accounting for breakthroughs or bottlenecks, it would take about one and a half months to raise his Middle Star Palace's cultivation by one level.

If cultivating both Middle and Lower Star Palaces simultaneously, it would take three months to raise one level.

With pills and the stellar energy realm combined, two months should suffice for one level.

Theoretically, in less than a year, Xu Jin's cultivation could reach the peak of fourth-rank ninth layer; within two years, both his Middle and Lower Star Palaces could simultaneously reach the peak of fourth-rank ninth layer.

That was quite fast.

Still, Xu Jin had his own plans.

Suddenly, Xu Jin's Star Picking Token vibrated three times—a desperate Star Picking Token message.

He looked and saw it was from Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao.

【Xu Jin, I've returned to the palace. Come quickly. I have matters.】

In the next instant, Xu Jin rose and left the small courtyard, instantly flashing toward Danxia Palace.

When Xu Jin arrived at Danxia Palace, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao, his face streaked with dust, was eating.

Presumably, he had been traveling nonstop for days.

Seeing Xu Jin enter, Master Cheng gestured for him to sit across from him, then poured him a cup of wine himself; after both drank it in one gulp, Cheng suddenly asked, "Xu Jin, have you decided yet?

The three plans I proposed—Cicada's Molting, Focused Cultivation, and Soul Forging in a Foreign Land—which one will you choose?

The Nine Stars Tide is coming. You must choose now."

Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao looked at Xu Jin.

(End of Chapter)