Chapter 35

At night, after finishing his daily evening cultivation, Xu Jin just gets into bed when he helplessly curls his lips.

The door has opened again.

That man in green is here again.

Late at night, he visits without fail every single day.

But today, the man in green, Qi Shanye, has learned his lesson; before placing his hand on Xu Jin's head, he reveals his form first, and at the same time, hands another Spirit-Refreshing Pill to Xu Jin's mouth.

"Do you know about the intensive training in the Academy today?" Xu Jin swallows the Spirit-Refreshing Pill and tries to chat.

"I know."

"Then do you know why this is?"

"I don't know."

Xu Jin: "."

"Calm your heart and guard your spirit."

"Wait, I have a matter."

"What matter?"

Hearing the man in green respond, Xu Jin knows he guessed right, knowing that his observations over the past few days must be correct.

This mysterious man in green is actually not that hard to get along with.

"Can you only train me for half an hour today?"

"Why? One Spirit-Refreshing Pill should be able to support your current spirit for an hour and a half," Qi Shanye says.

"I feel the atmosphere in the Academy is wrong. I want to seize the time these few days to finish the Small Star-Gathering Pattern first; then the upper limit of Star power in my body will increase by double, and my strength will also increase significantly," Xu Jin says.

Qi Shanye's voice stops abruptly; he pauses before asking, "You already have the confidence to engrave the Small Star-Gathering Pattern?"

"It should be about ready in two or three days."

"Fine."

Qi Shanye agrees on the surface without changing his expression, but his heart is churning with stormy waves.

He even has the urge to curse.

Seeing his Star power so vigorous yesterday, he thought he was naturally gifted.

But today he has the confidence to engrave the Small Star-Gathering Pattern.

And he remembers correctly, this kid in front of him only learned the Small Star-Gathering Pattern three days ago, right?

If he succeeds in engraving it in another two or three days, that is actually five to six days to success.

In the twelve years he has been the Branch Master of the Lingji Shang Xinggong, the fastest one to condense the Small Star-Gathering Pattern was his former eldest disciple, Shen Shu, who took eight days.

But behind Shen Shu, it is hard to say how much help the Shen family experts gave.

But this kid in front of him, Qi Shanye knows too well, has zero help.

Of course, if one must count, he counts as one.

But for the Small Star-Gathering Pattern, he did not help at all.

While Qi Shanye exclaims that he has found a treasure, Xu Jin also feels a bit relieved.

This mysterious man in green seems reasonable, so there will be plenty of room for maneuver in the future.

"Focus your intent on the Upper Shang Xinggong." The next moment, Qi Shanye's soft and warm spirit power surges in again.

Qi Shanye is extremely punctual; saying half an hour means half an hour, not taking a single bit more of Xu Jin's time.

After half an hour, he leaves without hesitation, but leaves behind a sentence when he goes.

"If this Clarity Spirit Star Pattern is successfully engraved, it will only benefit you, not harm you. In terms of survival, its effect is more than ten times that of the Small Star-Gathering Pattern; you had better put some effort into it and ponder it more."

After dealing with him for a few days, Qi Shanye has already grasped Xu Jin's temperament, which is why he left this sentence.

This sentence indeed touches Xu Jin.

If it is truly as the man in green says, and he cannot refuse, pondering it seems possible too.

After pondering for a few breaths, Xu Jin first sinks his mind into the Star Lamp of the Arena, perfectly engraves the Small Star-Gathering Pattern inside the Star Lamp, and only then begins the formal engraving.

Before formal engraving, Xu Jin swallows a Spirit-Awakening Pill.

He must restore his spirit power to its best state to have a chance of succeeding in one go.

A quarter of an hour later, thanks to the hundreds or thousands of tracings before, Xu Jin very smoothly uses Star power to outline the Small Star-Gathering Pattern completely on his chest.

Next is the continuous circulation of Star power to achieve solidification, finally succeeding in engraving.

The effect of following Qi Shanye to engrave the Clarity Spirit Star Pattern in the Upper Shang Xinggong every night these past few days also manifests.

The Upper Shang Xinggong requires Star power to be slow and steady but not broken; under Qi Shanye's hands-on guidance, Xu Jin's guidance and control of Star power have improved significantly these past few days.

Of course, the solid foundation brought by Xu Jin's thousands of practice engravings in the Star Lamp is also indispensable.

There is no flash of inspiration.

Only the natural result of hard work.

More than half an hour later, Xu Jin looks at the Star Pattern on his chest that has completely solidified and lit up, filled with joy.

The simplified Star-Gathering Pattern is flat, like a plane, while the Small Star-Gathering Pattern is a three-dimensional half-lotus shape.

At first glance, the Small Star-Gathering Pattern looks as if it is growing from inside the chest.

With Star power circulating, this half-lotus seems to come alive.

The next moment, Xu Jin's heart moves; without assuming the Brilliance-Drinking posture, he directly visualizes the Small Star-Gathering Pattern on his chest and starts to draw in Star power.

According to the instructor, the Meal of Mist posture and Brilliance-Drinking posture are mainly aimed at youths who need to dot stars.

In fact, Star power is everywhere.

With a Star Pattern, as long as one visualizes, one can use the Brilliance-Drinking posture anywhere.

Of course, assuming the Brilliance-Drinking posture or Meal of Mist posture under outdoor starlight will make the speed of drawing in Star power a little faster.

But only a little.

Under visualization and drawing in, a large amount of Star power surges into Xu Jin's chest, and Xu Jin soon has an experience.

After the Small Star-Gathering Pattern is engraved, the speed of drawing in Star power indeed becomes much faster; the key is that the upper limit has also increased a lot.

Twenty minutes later, a feeling of fullness comes from his chest; the Star power is full.

The somewhat excited Xu Jin simply goes out and gets out of bed, going to a quiet place behind the house to directly start practicing the Five-Dou Killing Fist.

Ten minutes later, Xu Jin stops his fists and stands, his face full of joy.

Sure enough, the Star power has doubled, or even more than doubled. Tonight, before engraving the Small Star-Gathering Pattern, in a full Star power state, without drawing in starlight from the Arena, Xu Jin could perform the Five-Dou Killing Fist four times in one breath.

Now, he has performed it eight times in one breath!

One must know that even Yue Daqi, the first in Star-Dotting and already at the fifth layer of Meal of Mist, can currently only perform the Five-Dou Killing Fist seven times in one breath.

Star power has increased manifold.

More importantly, the speed of drawing in Star power has also become faster.

This means that while Xu Jin's spirit power remains unchanged, his cultivation frequency has already doubled compared to other fellow disciples.

This also means that the cost-effectiveness of elixirs like the Spirit-Awakening Pill and Spirit-Refreshing Pill that restore spirit power has doubled.

And there are rewards!

Thinking of rewards, Xu Jin's eyes suddenly light up.

Tomorrow morning, he will go find Ning Jiaotou Ning and will be able to get the reward for condensing the Small Star-Gathering Pattern.

Over a hundred taels of silver.

The effect of engraving the Small Star-Gathering Pattern was completely manifested during cultivation the next morning.

Recently, Xu Jin only did three rounds of the Meal of Mist posture or Brilliance-Drinking posture every morning and evening.

Yesterday morning, after three rounds of the Meal of Mist posture, Xu Jin could perform the Five-Dou Killing Fist four times for body tempering after each round, totaling twelve times for three rounds.

But today, after one round of the Meal of Mist posture, he can perform the Five-Dou Killing Fist eight times for body tempering, totaling twenty-four times for three rounds.

The speed of body tempering has increased manifold.

Previously, Xu Jin took the Spirit-Awakening Pill twice every morning and evening, and by drawing in that trace of starlight from the Arena, he could perform the Five-Dou Killing Fist for body tempering at most forty-two times a day.

But now, just with six rounds of cultivation morning and evening, he can perform the Five-Dou Killing Fist forty-eight times.

And because he performs it eight times in a row each round, the tempering effect is even better.

If he draws in starlight from the Arena, the number of times Xu Jin can perform the Five-Dou Killing Fist in a row is as high as eighteen times.

Previously, it took Xu Jin five and a half days to break through from the first layer of Meal of Mist to the second layer of Meal of Mist.

But now, Xu Jin feels it will only take three days.

In another two days, he should be able to break through to the third layer of Meal of Mist.

Suddenly, Xu Jin feels that reaching the fifth layer of Meal of Mist within two months does not seem too difficult.

After finishing his self-cultivation during morning lessons, Xu Jin originally wanted to find Ning Yuchan to report the successful condensation of the Small Star-Gathering Pattern, so as to lock in the reward for being first in engraving the Small Star-Gathering Pattern as soon as possible.

But unexpectedly, after finishing breakfast, the sound of the emergency assembly clapper rang out.

Gathering at the Martial Arts Hall again.

Some youths started wailing on the spot.

Their legs and feet were not their own from yesterday's training; they thought they could rest in the morning, but did not expect to continue this morning.

But military law is not something to joke about.

Yesterday, someone was already punished with military sticks.

"Brother Jin, do you think this could be to make us go to the battlefield?" Qian Xiaohu, who was eating with Xu Jin, was somewhat worried.

"Train with heart, learn with heart, study hard, train hard.

Haven't you noticed? The personal guards are teaching survival skills; survive first, then kill the enemy."

After speaking, Xu Jin returned to the dormitory, put on that set of leather armor, took the iron-wood saber, and headed straight for the Martial Arts Hall.

Today, Xu Jin's opponent was changed to Yu Guan, the second in the Middle Academy.

Yu Guan has the cultivation of the fourth layer of Meal of Mist.

Both legs and one right arm have been tempered, so whether it is speed, strength, or overall flexibility, he is a large cut above Xu Jin, with extremely obvious advantages.

This kind of advantage was crushing to Xu Jin at the beginning.

Every now and then, a slash would send Xu Jin's iron-wood saber flying, and the iron-wood saber striking his body was extremely painful.

But yesterday's hard training had already had an effect.

Xu Jin had already learned to mobilize Star power to enhance defense, and at the same time learned to mobilize Star power to enhance explosive power; between every saber move, the killing intent was extremely heavy.

It was crushing at the beginning, but later, after adapting to Yu Guan's offensive rhythm, by the time of the noon break, it was already half-win, half-loss.

Training would continue in the afternoon.

Although the youths were wailing and injuries were everywhere.

But with Star power circulating in their bodies, their recovery ability was significantly enhanced, so afternoon training could not stop.

To lock in the reward for being first in engraving the Small Star-Gathering Pattern as soon as possible, Xu Jin came to find Ning Yuchan after finishing his meal at noon.

"Xu Jin?"

Looking at Xu Jin, who was bruised and swollen outside the small courtyard door, Ning Yuchan was somewhat surprised.

She was even secretly a bit worried.

This kid, he wouldn't be coming to borrow silver from me again, would he?

"What's the matter?" After entering the courtyard, Ning Yuchan asked.

"Ning Jiaotou, I have come specifically to report to you that I have successfully engraved the Small Star-Gathering Pattern," Xu Jin said directly.

"Hmm?" Ning Yuchan froze for a moment, seemingly not hearing clearly, "Say that again?"

"Ning Jiaotou, I have successfully engraved the Small Star-Gathering Pattern."

"What!"

Ning Yuchan stood up on the spot; this time, she jumped directly in front of Xu Jin without even leaning on her iron crutch.

Only when her hand touched Xu Jin's shoulder did she realize it was inappropriate.

Xu Jin was also stunned.

He had a feeling just now that Ning Yuchan was going to strip his clothes directly.

It felt a bit exciting.

"Show me," Ning Yuchan said, stepping back.

The next moment, Xu Jin opened his clothes, his heart moved, and the half-lotus-shaped Small Star-Gathering Pattern on his chest flowed with starlight, vivid and lifelike.

Ning Yuchan's almond eyes widened, and she started murmuring as if in a trance, "This should only be four days"

(End of chapter)