Chapter 311: Sixth-Tier Star Art

【Qitian Sheng: Detected that you have a Divine Soul Mark in the Combat Simulation Realm. You have the following options: One: Treat your previous Star-Picking Token as destroyed. Your current Star-Picking Token will inherit all information from the previous one, including Dao Merit, Starlight, challenge records, and the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Brilliant Stars earned by completing the Star-Picking Simulation Realm, along with the holder's authority.

However, after inheritance, Dao Merit, Starlight, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Brilliant Stars will be reduced by half; everything else is inherited.

Two: Treat your previous Star-Picking Token as completely destroyed. Start fresh with this new Star-Picking Token.】

When Xu Jin attempted to re-enter the Combat Simulation Realm of the Star-Picking Token, these two prompts appeared, making his heart tremble.

The two options offered were brutally harsh.

The second option meant starting from zero.

The first option deducted half—on the surface, it seemed acceptable.

But reducing Dao Merit and Starlight by half was tolerable; after all, those could be regained.

Yet halving Gold Stars and Brilliant Stars was inhuman.

These were finite in number.

A single Gold Star was worth a fortune; a Brilliant Star was priceless.

If no other choice existed, Xu Jin would rather keep the old token hidden and risk using it later to challenge for Gold and Brilliant Stars.

The loss was too great for him to accept.

But if he thought carefully, the risk wasn't actually high.

After a month or two, everyone would already believe Xu Jin was dead—who would waste time sending him Starlight messages?

Still, Xu Jin wasn't foolish. He needed to ask the Star Spirit.

Asking a few more questions wouldn't kill him.

Besides, he planned to visit the Star-Picking Tower branch in Xingyang War City anyway, to see if it differed from the one in the mortal world.

Now, Xu Jin understood the Star Spirit's limitations.

Except under special permission, he could only contact the Star Spirit inside a Star-Picking Tower—and only by initiating contact; the Star Spirit could never reach out on its own.

In the Star River Battlefield, most war cities, except a few newly built ones, had Star-Picking Tower branches.

These were typically county-level branches.

County-level Star-Picking Tower branches had at most seven floors and offered only basic functions.

The Star-Picking Tower branch in Xingyang War City had only six floors, likely due to construction costs.

Xu Jin was now familiar with the Star-Picking Tower's structure.

For example, the first floor was the entrance, functioning as a reception hall; the second floor was for teleportation; floors above the third were functional zones, but the top floor was always the Star Dome Simulation Realm.

Since the Xingyang War City branch had only six floors, only the third, fourth, and fifth floors were functional zones.

"Training? Third-tier Starlight Simulation Realm: ten Starlight threads per hour, or ten Battle Merits. Fourth-tier Starlight Simulation Realm: one hundred Starlight threads per hour, or one hundred Battle Merits."

When Xu Jin arrived at the Star-Picking Tower branch, a guard immediately asked him.

The price made him slightly startled.

It was high.

Inside the National Dao Academy, a third-tier Starlight Simulation Realm cost only three Starlight threads per hour, and a fourth-tier only forty—plus monthly free time.

He'd once thought those prices were steep, but compared to the Star River Battlefield, they were pure welfare rates.

No—they were subsidized prices, even below cost.

Of course, Battle Merits could also be used for training—an excellent policy.

Fighting hard to earn Battle Merits was effectively acquiring cultivation resources.

Xu Jin thanked the guard and stepped into the Star-Picking Tower lobby, then subtly activated his mind to contact the Star Spirit.

"Huh? How did you get here?" The Star Spirit's tone was surprised, jolting Xu Jin instantly.

He'd entered using his Qitian Sheng identity's Star-Picking Token, with altered appearance—and yet the Star Spirit recognized him immediately.

"How many times have you seen it?" Xu Jin asked abruptly.

"Seventeen times. Looks like you've got new chapters. Hurry, give them to me."

Hearing the reply, Xu Jin exhaled in relief.

There must be only one Star Spirit—otherwise, it couldn't have answered that question.

"I'll give it to you soon. First, answer a few questions: how did you know my identity? I've switched to a new Star-Picking Token."

"Switching Star-Picking Tokens doesn't change your Divine Soul Mark! Everyone has only one Divine Soul Mark in the Star-Picking Tower—it recognizes the mark, not the person!" the Star Spirit said.

"Do other authority holders, like Silver-rank holders, have this ability?" Xu Jin asked.

This was his greatest concern.

If so, he'd need to be extra cautious in the future.

"This is my exclusive ability. No one else has it," the Star Spirit replied, easing Xu Jin's tension.

Xu Jin then recounted his current dilemma to the Star Spirit: "This is the problem—I've taken on a new identity for training, and I must keep it secret. Do you have a solution? Losing some Dao Merit and Starlight is acceptable.

But halving Silver, Gold, and Brilliant Stars? That loss is too heavy."

The Star Spirit sighed. "Do you misunderstand the authority of authority holders?"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you previously use the privacy function to hide your ranking in the Dachen Killing God Battlefield? You can do the same with your friends now.

This is basic permission for a Bronze-rank authority holder," the Star Spirit said.

Xu Jin was stunned, then delighted—such a difficult problem had been solved so casually by the Star Spirit. "If I hide my friends, what happens when they send me Starlight messages?"

"They'll fail to send. Why? Let them guess. Many reasons cause Starlight message failures: outside the Tower's coverage, entering a foreign star domain, storing the Star-Picking Token in a Nether Space, or death," the Star Spirit replied casually.

Xu Jin was overjoyed.

That meant he could use his old Star-Picking Token again.

He just needed to hide the people he wanted to block.

For extra safety, he'd hide his friends, then stash the token in Nether Space, retrieving it only when using Gold Stars.

"What about the Combat Simulation Realm issue? My new Star-Picking Token can't enter yet?" Xu Jin asked.

"Two solutions: First, hide your friends, then change your Star Name, and continue challenging with your old token. Or, accept the loss and inherit the old token's data onto this one.

But you just said the loss is too great," the Star Spirit said.

This solution worked—but changing his Star Name reminded Xu Jin of the terrifying cost he'd discovered when first obtaining the Star-Picking Token.

Ten thousand Starlight threads.

"Star Spirit, as a Bronze-rank authority holder, do I get one free chance to change my Star Name?" Xu Jin asked.

Ten thousand Starlight threads was a fortune—he'd rather save it if possible.

"No."

The Star Spirit's answer was definitive.

"What about higher-rank holders? Silver-rank? Gold-rank? Brilliant-rank?"

This was Xu Jin's question—and also a subtle probe.

In the Star-Picking Simulation Realm, the stars earned were Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Brilliant.

Now Xu Jin had become a Bronze-rank authority holder; the State Tutor was Silver-rank—so were there higher ranks: Gold and Brilliant?

"Brilliant-rank authority holders, with countless incarnations, can change their Star Names freely," the Star Spirit said.

Xu Jin's spirits lifted.

Indeed, some information couldn't be obtained through direct questions—but indirect ones yielded clues. The Star-Picking Tower's creator had imposed rules on the Star Spirit; and where there were rules, there were loopholes—if someone could find them.

This was one small loophole Xu Jin had discovered!

Earlier, he'd been pondering another loophole.

If switching Star-Picking Tokens meant a complete identity change, couldn't he endlessly farm Gold and Brilliant Stars?

Now it was clear: impossible.

"Does a Brilliant-rank authority holder exist in this world?" Xu Jin asked again.

"No comment."

This time, the Star Spirit revealed nothing useful.

"Five chapters. Take your time."

Xu Jin tossed down a jade tablet containing five chapters of the modified Journey to the West he'd recorded earlier.

Or rather, a heavily altered version.

He'd only read it—he hadn't memorized it—so he could only recall the gist and had to improvise much of the middle.

Back at his rented courtyard, Xu Jin made a simple plan.

First, daily morning and evening cultivation, plus one Three-Infusion Dragon-Turtle Soul-Forging Pill each morning and evening.

Second, Star Art cultivation: Kou Jing had given him the fifth-tier Star Art "Blazing Light" and the sixth-tier Fire Star Art "Great Sun." He'd never learned them—now he must master them.

Mastering these two Star Arts would greatly enhance his Fire Star Art's power and drastically boost his combat strength.

After all, he'd only been using fourth-tier Star Arts.

He'd also be able to craft fifth-tier mid- to high-grade runes himself.

Third, change the Star Name on his Star-Picking Token. Once changed, he could enter the fourth-tier Combat Simulation Realm for practical training.

In Xu Jin's growth, the Combat Simulation Realm had been indispensable.

He'd experienced countless combat styles and rare events within it.

Having experienced them there, he wouldn't suffer fatal consequences when encountering them in real combat.

Fourth, he planned to inscribe a fixed portion of fourth-tier runes and a few fifth-tier runes daily.

Changing the Star Name requires ten thousand Starlight threads. To survive in the Star River Battlefield—and to acquire the Thousand-Year Dragon-Turtle Shell and Crimson Phoenix Feather in the future—he'll need vast amounts of Starlight, for upgrading the Can-Dou Platform.

The greatest regret would be seeing the item but having no money to bid for it.

In the Star River Battlefield, badges are also hard currency.

Especially the highly sought-after kind.

Especially the Star Healing Badge.

For commanders, soldiers, or lone cultivators here, having a badge is like gaining an extra life.

Holding a badge is equivalent to holding a large sum of cash.

Fifth, seize the opportunity to find a way to mitigate the side effects of the Ten Thousand Blood Elixir; you have over thirty pills, and the State Advisor suggested one per month, reducing side effects to negligible levels.

But if possible, Xu Jin wants to go faster.

So he intends to seek an opportunity.

After making his plan, Xu Jin began his first cultivation session.

The fifth-rank Star Gathering Array consists of six array plates; each plate must be inlaid with a fifth-rank Star Jade Tablet to activate it, after which the star force of the fifth-rank Star Jade Tablets will continuously convert into high-concentration star force for the cultivator's use.

One such array can sustain for five hours.

Every five hours, six fifth-rank Star Jade Tablets are consumed.

Feeling the dense star force around him, Xu Jin sat cross-legged within the fifth-rank Star Gathering Array; his Middle Star Palace's three stars rotated simultaneously, instantly forming three small vortices of star force, which surged into his third star, beginning to expand the Star Palace and strengthen the Star Core!

An hour later, Xu Jin slowly opened his eyes.

After one hour of cultivation, his spiritual soul power had diminished slightly, but for his current spiritual soul cultivation base, this loss was negligible.

The cultivation effect of the fifth-rank Star Gathering Array was immediate.

One hour of cultivation within the fifth-rank Star Gathering Array equaled consuming two top-grade One-Veil Star Refining Pills at the third rank.

If he continued this way—two hours each morning and evening—he could advance his Middle Star Palace's cultivation to fourth-rank Star Condensation Third Layer within a month.

It would be fast, but Xu Jin still thought it too slow.

Soon, Xu Jin extended his daily cultivation time to six hours.

He would cultivate at least six hours per day.

After a few days, once the first batch of top-grade Three-Veil Star Refining Pills was ready, taking one per day would be equivalent to gaining two or three additional hours of cultivation.

The rest of his time would be spent practicing Star Lantern Star Arts and deducing Star Patterns.

As for sleep, Xu Jin compressed it to no more than one and a half hours.

One and a half hours of high-efficiency sleep guided by Dream Warmth not only allowed Xu Jin to rapidly restore his spiritual soul power but also slowly relieved fatigue, leaving him mentally invigorated.

For several days straight, Xu Jin devoted himself to mastering the latest Star Arts.

Especially the main Star Pattern of the fifth-rank Star Art, Fiery Light, and the main Star Pattern of the sixth-rank Star Art, Great Sun.

These fifth- and sixth-rank Star Art patterns were extremely complex; even Xu Jin spent tens of thousands of repetitions—four or five ten thousand—in the Star Lantern before fully mastering them.

This number was terrifying.

For example, with the Great Sun Star Art, Xu Jin's current total star force could only unleash it four to five times before being depleted.

Ordinary cultivators wishing to master Great Sun could only rely on relentless practice; even if they restored star force nonstop, they could manage only ten to fifteen attempts per day at most.

To fully master it, they needed at least ten thousand repetitions.

Theoretically, an ordinary cultivator would need two to three years to learn just one sixth-rank Star Art.

Of course, this was based on Xu Jin's current star force level; if a fifth- or sixth-rank powerhouse, with far greater star force, would require far less time.

Still, even after mastering them, Xu Jin did not rush to engrave them.

Xu Jin wondered: since he had mastered both, one fifth-rank and one sixth-rank, could he skip the fifth-rank and directly engrave the sixth-rank Star Art?

He even considered deducing it—but the Star Lantern had only four slots, and even a fifth-rank Star Art required at least five Star Lantern slots for deduction.

He could not deduce it yet.

This was one reason Xu Jin urgently wanted to upgrade the Can Dou Platform to fifth rank.

After thinking it over, Xu Jin engraved the sixth-rank Star Art, Great Sun, onto the third star of his Middle Star Palace, making it his current powerful attack technique!

The fifth-rank Star Art, Fiery Light, had no slot yet.

On November 29, after continuously consuming nine top-grade Three-Veil Dragon Turtle Soul Forging Pills and accumulating the effects of twenty Cheng Po Star Patterns, the tenth spiritual soul star appeared in Xu Jin's Upper Star Palace.

His spiritual soul cultivation reached fourth-rank Star Condensation Ninth Layer.

His spiritual soul cultivation became even more robust!

His spiritual soul cultivation was on the verge of breaking through to the peak of fourth-rank Ninth Layer!

On December 3, while cultivating within the fifth-rank Star Gathering Array, Xu Jin suddenly received a star message from Zhong Wei.

Ning Yuchan had returned from battle!

Severely wounded!

She was carried back!

(End of Chapter)