Chapter 374: Conditions for Advancement

In the Fourth-Rank Dragonwood Star Domain, within the Earth Dragon King's City.

The Earth Dragon King, at the peak of Fifth-Rank Ninth Layer, sat uneasily, staring at the dozen Fifth-Rank elites beside him, continuously issuing orders to hurry them.

"Hurry up the reinforcements—faster, faster! Don't spare Star Power; advance at full speed. Whoever arrives early shall be richly rewarded by me."

"Your Majesty, I shall go urge them immediately."

A Fifth-Rank Earth Dragon alien bowed and departed, his eyes filled with alarm.

Half a day ago, their spy embedded in their archenemy, the Ironwood Clan, suddenly sent an urgent report: the Ironwood King, along with nine Fifth-Rank elites and over a hundred Fourth-Rank experts within Ironwood City, had all been slaughtered by an invading human from the present world.

Soon after, the capital of another clan, the Greenwood aliens, was also slaughtered.

This terrified the usually cautious Earth Dragon King, who immediately ordered the other eleven Fifth-Rank royal clan members and nearly a hundred Fourth-Rank elites stationed outside to return and defend the royal city.

Of course, it wasn't because he was cautious.

It was because he had sensed that among the dozen or so invading aura signatures, one was speeding directly toward his royal city.

Half an hour later, the eleven Fifth-Rank Earth Dragon royals arrived one after another; the Fourth-Rank elites were still en route.

This eased the Earth Dragon King's mind somewhat.

Twenty-three Fifth-Rank elites—this force was twice that of the Ironwood King's city. Surely they could hold off the invading humans?

Fifteen minutes later, the Earth Dragon King's expression tightened suddenly. He leapt to his feet, gazing far off: "He's here."

Barely had the words left his lips when a bolt of lightning-like radiance appeared from afar.

"He's here—prepare to kill!"

The arrival was none other than Xu Jin, come to cleanse the Fourth-Rank star domain.

As Xu Jin flew above the Earth Dragon King's city in the Fourth-Rank Dragonwood Star Domain, he slowed his pace.

Seeing over three hundred Fourth-Rank alien elites and twenty-three Fifth-Rank elites arrayed in formation, he smiled.

The Earth Dragon King was indeed cautious—or rather, extremely fearful of death—to have summoned so many Fifth-Rank elites. He must have recalled every single one under his command.

But fear of death is good!

A king who fears death is easiest and most convenient to deal with.

Of course, if there were truly fearless ones, like the previous two—simple: just deliver them death!

"Kill!"

As Xu Jin slowed, the Earth Dragon King gave the order. Over three hundred Fourth-Rank alien elites and twenty-two Fifth-Rank alien elites split into ten squads and advanced toward Xu Jin in unison, preparing to unleash concentrated fire once within range.

Their concentrated fire range typically required closing to within a hundred meters.

But when they were still two hundred meters away from Xu Jin, he moved.

With a mere flick of his fingers, streaks of lightning arrows shot forth.

In the instant they left his fingertips, each split into five.

Originally only ten lightning arrows were fired—but in that instant, they became fifty.

These lightning arrows were swift and deadly.

Each arrow struck a Fourth-Rank alien precisely.

Those hit in vital spots had those areas instantly reduced to charred cinders, dying on the spot; those hit in non-vital areas suffered massive charring, grievously wounded instantly.

Effectively, none survived unscathed!

After Xu Jin landed on the city wall with starlight and took two steps forward, he fired sixty to seventy lightning arrows. Half the three hundred elite aliens lay dead; the rest were all grievously wounded.

In an instant, their formation collapsed utterly.

A few Fifth-Rank elites, slow to react or paralyzed by terror, saw two flashes of crimson lightning—and ten Fifth-Rank royal clan members vanished into ash.

A gentle breeze passed; the ten men disappeared from sight, leaving only smoke and ash.

The Earth Dragon King was utterly terrified, his face filled with dread.

His legs went weak!

He had no idea how to survive this situation!

"Surrender the Heavenly and Earthly Star Will you control. Unleash your soul core. I shall spare your life."

The sudden voice in the Earth Dragon King's ears sounded like celestial music.

Without hesitation, he collapsed to his knees before Xu Jin, offering two earth-yellow Heavenly and Earthly Star Wills in both hands, then prostrated himself completely, fully opening his soul core.

In that same instant, several more screams rang out—Xu Jin had casually slain a few Fifth-Rank late-stage alien elites.

A clean sweep of obstacles.

Starlight descended, instantly absorbing the two Heavenly and Earthly Star Wills surrendered by the Earth Dragon King. The Star Official's seal appeared and drove the soul core seal into place—Xu Jin performed all this with practiced ease.

"Go, restrain your subordinates, form ranks, and await reorganization. Then bring me all your rare treasures. Let me see if anything is useful. Open your treasury and secret vaults—I will select what I need."

"Do well, and I permit you to remain Earth Dragon King."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Hearing this, the Earth Dragon King rose tremblingly, glanced at his distant subordinates, and carefully followed Xu Jin's orders.

As for resistance?

Flight?

Ridiculous. After witnessing how this man casually obliterated five Fifth-Rank late-stage royals, the Earth Dragon King knew he could never succeed in rebellion.

Flight?

After seeing the speed with which this man had arrived, even doubling his own speed would not let him escape this man's grasp.

Better to be calm.

Being a compliant king is good enough.

Xu Jin, however, glanced at the alien forces tremblingly forming ranks in the distance, then sat cross-legged atop the Earth Dragon King's palace, his mind shifting—directly projecting the Can Dou Lamp Domain into the present world, pouring in Star Power. The ethereal Can Dou Lamp Domain gradually solidified, enveloping him as it swiftly assimilated the six Heavenly and Earthly Star Wills he had acquired in the Fourth-Rank Dragonwood Star Domain.

The solidified Can Dou Lamp Domain was another discovery Xu Jin had made during his recent purges of star domains.

When projected into reality, under the five Law Stars, it aided in comprehending and deducing Star Patterns—but when infused with Star Power, it could solidify into a Star Power barrier, usable for vigilance and defense.

Its defensive effect was excellent, proportional to the amount of Star Power invested.

Xu Jin discovered this during a previous Fourth-Rank star domain purge, when several clever aliens had attempted to ambush him while he was assimilating a Heavenly and Earthly Star Will.

Of course, those clever aliens—including their king—were all eliminated by Xu Jin afterward.

But the insight was valuable.

It revealed a new use for the Can Dou Lamp Domain: the Can Dou Star Shield.

Xu Jin's current assimilation speed was extremely fast.

He completed assimilating the six Heavenly and Earthly Star Wills in just half an hour.

Upon completion, Xu Jin furrowed his brow slightly, terrifying the Earth Dragon King, who stood afar awaiting orders—convinced he had done something wrong, his teeth chattered.

In truth, Xu Jin frowned not because of the Earth Dragon King, but because of the harvest.

Of the six Heavenly and Earthly Star Wills, only four were useful.

As Xu Jin purged more star domains, he found increasing repetition among the Heavenly and Earthly Star Wills.

Initially, some domains yielded only half a duplicate or one duplicate—but now, duplicates were growing common: sometimes two, occasionally even three.

For instance, today's Earth and Wind Heavenly and Earthly Star Wills each contained one duplicate.

This was only his tenth star domain purged.

It seemed duplicates would become even more frequent in future domains.

But he now understood why.

It was like collecting clues or traits from different people—repetition was normal.

Across ten star domains, Xu Jin had gathered fifty-four Heavenly and Earthly Star Wills, eleven of which were duplicates.

Still, the overall harvest was immense.

【Fire Law: Fifth-Rank (41)】【Earth Law: Sixth-Rank (51)】【Water Law: Fourth-Rank (31)】【Thunder Law: Third-Rank (21)】

【Wind Law: Fourth-Rank (33)】【Wood Law: Second-Rank (12)】

【Metal Law: Second-Rank (11)】

Currently, the Can Dou Platform's Law Stars had increased from five to seven, each Law elevated by one rank.

The least acquired remained Thunder Law—only four obtained—but still acceptable.

Yet, so far, not a single Space-type Heavenly and Earthly Star Will had appeared.

This puzzled Xu Jin.

Among known forces in the present world, whether Time Law existed was unknown—but Space Law was confirmed to exist.

The Xumi Palace even possessed complete transmissions of Space Law.

Yet, despite purging so many star domains, he had never encountered a Space-type Heavenly and Earthly Star Will.

Nor had he encountered any alien capable of Space-type Star Arts.

Had he found one, he would have treasured it, meticulously extracting every last Star Art until nothing remained.

Xu Jin was a man possessing seventy-two Star Cores, most of which remained unetched with Star Patterns beyond the basic Great Star Gathering Pattern or Mingji Star Pattern.

Learning one new Star Art would fill only two or three Star Cores.

Xu Jin now feared not having too many Star Patterns—he feared having none.

Any Star Pattern he could learn, even if useless for now, he would etch onto a Star Core.

Not for combat utility, but for collection.

Who knew when it might prove useful?

Transforming the useless into the miraculous was not uncommon.

Especially when the Can Dou Platform later ascended to Sixth-Rank or even Seventh-Rank—such patterns might become invaluable in Star Art deduction.

Xu Jin did not waste these two duplicated Celestial Stellar Will fragments, but instead stored them together with previously collected duplicates, to be given to those in need.

The Metal-type will must be reserved for Ning Yuchan.

The rest will be left to chance; if the State Tutor or others require them, Xu Jin will not hesitate to give them.

From this perspective, sweeping through star regions to collect Celestial Stellar Will has been utterly worthwhile.

Xu Jin is now a true master of these Celestial Stellar Will fragments, especially after forging his Yuan Spirit—his divine soul's mental power has become immensely strong, allowing him to effortlessly separate the Celestial Authority from the Celestial Stellar Will.

The instant his mind sank into the six-tenths of Celestial Authority in this star region, ten distinct auras clearly entered his perception.

"Southeast of Earth Dragon City, smoke visible in the sky—assemble there immediately," Xu Jin directly transmitted a mental message to the elite disciples of the Great Chen State Academy assisting him.

After their initial shock, these elite disciples who followed Xu Jin into battle had long grown accustomed to such things.

This was also one of the matters previously discussed between Xu Jin and the Grand State Tutor.

As Xu Jin sweeps through star regions, it's perfectly fine for the Great Chen State Academy to pick up some easy spoils.

If a star region can be conquered, attempt it; if not, station troops to hold it—worst case, they can help Xu Jin transport the massive quantities of looted supplies.

Although Xu Jin's Numinous Space has now expanded to twenty-four cubic units and can hold a great deal, it is still insufficient compared to the total resources of an entire star region.

Of course, many of these supplies are useless to Xu Jin himself.

They will be transported back to the Great Chen State Academy by these disciples.

After sending messages to the elite disciples of the Great Chen State Academy who participated in the battle, Xu Jin extinguished the Can Dou Starlight Domain and rose to approach the Earth Dragon King, who was awaiting his selection and had laid out all the rare treasures before him.

Xu Jin's standards have risen considerably now.

He only selected six or seven items that caught his eye.

Mainly because taking them would be of little use.

However, he accepted all the fourth- and fifth-grade Star Jade Tablets offered by the Earth Dragon King; to his surprise, there was even one sixth-grade Star Jade Tablet, which he gladly took as well.

Though scarce, every piece counts.

Over a hundred fifth-grade Star Jade Tablets were converted into over a hundred strands of fifth-grade starlight on the Can Dou Platform; from the Earth Dragon King's treasury and secret vaults, approximately 110, 00 third-grade and over 5, 00 fourth-grade Star Jade Tablets were swept up by Xu Jin and absorbed entirely into the Can Dou Platform.

The Can Dou Platform's starlight flickered rapidly—these over one hundred thousand Star Jade Tablets yielded only five hundred or so strands of fifth-grade starlight.

Combined with what he had before, it still fell short of six hundred strands.

Yet, across the entire fourth-grade Dragonwood Star Region, Xu Jin had gathered a total of sixteen hundred strands of fifth-grade starlight.

This gave Xu Jin a headache.

Among the Can Dou Platform's upgrade requirements, gathering starlight for ascending to second, third, fourth, or even fifth grade was actually the easiest part.

But after reviewing the latest sixth-grade upgrade condition, Xu Jin suddenly realized that the starlight requirement in the future might become the most difficult hurdle.

With a thought, the upgrade information on the Can Dou Platform's Jade Tablet appeared clearly in his mind.

【Upgrade Available: Requires 100, 00 strands of starlight, 360 sixth-grade Star Jade Tablets, 10, 00 jin of copper essence, 10, 00 taels of gold, 100 jin of starfall iron, 100 pieces of thousand-year turtle shell, 30 red phoenix feathers, one piece of earthheart fire core, and one fire spirit.】

Compared to the fifth-grade upgrade condition, the requirements for ascending the Can Dou Platform from fifth to sixth grade changed significantly, with material demands still increasing tenfold.

Previously, it required ten thousand strands of starlight; now it requires one hundred thousand.

Previously, upgrading required fourth-grade starlight—one fourth-grade Star Jade Tablet could convert into one strand of fourth-grade starlight; now it requires fifth-grade starlight—one fifth-grade Star Jade Tablet can only convert into one strand of fifth-grade starlight.

After the Can Dou Platform upgraded from fourth to fifth grade, due to the higher starlight grade, the total quantity drastically reduced to just over thirty thousand strands.

It's still far from the hundred thousand needed.

Even after sweeping through ten star regions, the total fifth-grade starlight Xu Jin has gathered is still under twenty thousand strands.

However, once the sweeping is complete, if he has time, capturing a few more fifth-grade star regions should make it easy to gather enough.

What Xu Jin is now worried about is the upgrade condition for the seventh-grade Can Dou Platform.

If this multiplication trend continues, won't ascending to seventh grade require a million strands of sixth-grade starlight?

According to the current pattern, one sixth-grade Star Jade Tablet can only convert into one strand of sixth-grade starlight.

Twenty fifth-grade Star Jade Tablets are needed to convert into one strand of sixth-grade starlight.

The difficulty is extraordinary.

Moreover, requiring 360 sixth-grade Star Jade Tablets is already absurd.

Throughout his campaigns across numerous star regions, Xu Jin has collected only slightly over two hundred sixth-grade Star Jade Tablets.

Even if he poured in all his current stock,

the number of sixth-grade Star Jade Tablets required for the Can Dou Platform's upgrade would still fall short.

And what about the thirty red phoenix feathers and one piece of earthheart fire core? What are these?

One fire spirit?

Xu Jin has never heard of such a thing as a "fire spirit"!

The celestial treasures required for the Can Dou Platform's sixth-grade upgrade are utterly outrageous.

Logically, the more the Can Dou Platform demands, the greater the benefits it will return to Xu Jin.

Xu Jin feels the Can Dou Platform is holding back a massive surprise for its sixth-grade upgrade.

This makes Xu Jin somewhat eager.

But gathering these upgrade conditions is truly daunting!

As he pondered, a swordlight shot rapidly from afar.

A one-armed, legless young man, radiant and vigorous, was swiftly riding his sword toward him!

Seeing this, Xu Jin smiled.

(End of Chapter)