Chapter 388: Gathering Battle, Breakthrough

In the ancestral cave-dimension of the Eight Wilderness barbarian tribes, Envoy Ju Zhang was overwhelmed with work.

The liberated ancestral cave-dimension had merged with eight star-regions in total; now, two months later, it had become fully integrated with these eight star-regions.

It had since been renamed the Eight Wilderness Continent.

It had now firmly taken root; normally, unless an extremely powerful ninth-rank force swept through, the ancestral cave-dimension faced no further risk of shattering.

The eight star-regions had linked together, their population exceeding one billion, and their territory vastly expansive.

At Envoy Ju Zhang's speed, flying from the easternmost edge of the Eight Wilderness Continent to the westernmost edge now took a full day.

Due to the fusion of the ancestral cave-dimension, the celestial constraints of these assimilated star-regions had been completely resolved; daily, people among his subjects were breaking through, their strength constantly surging.

But the problems brought by this fusion left Envoy Ju Zhang feeling like he might explode.

Eight star-regions, each with at least three or four tribes, up to five or six, now mixed together, totaling forty to fifty tribes.

Even in small star-regions, dogs could fight to the death.

Now that they had just formed a single land, major and minor battles erupted constantly—even some city lords had joined the conflicts.

It exhausted Envoy Ju Zhang daily, forcing him to mediate.

To this day, he still hadn't even calculated an approximate total population.

This was the fundamental reason Envoy Ju Zhang could not launch an offensive at this stage.

He needed time.

Time for the tribes to merge, time for complete integration.

Most importantly, he still needed to merge two to five more star-regions.

If he merged two to five more star-regions, combined with the ancestral cave-dimension and his unique connection to it, his cultivation base could climb all the way to the peak of eighth-rank ninth layer—and even have a chance to break into ninth rank.

But beyond quantity, quality was also required.

Among the two to five star-regions, at least three or four sixth-rank star-regions—or multiple fifth-rank star-regions plus one sixth-rank star-region—were needed to fully complete his strategic deployment.

But the difficulty of merging a sixth-rank star-region was more than several times that of a fifth-rank one.

The main difficulty lay with the actual rulers of the sixth-rank star-regions.

The strongest rulers of fifth-rank star-regions reached eighth-rank ninth-layer peak; he could send emissaries of fifth-rank ninth-layer peak into them.

With such a cultivation gap, some of the secret treasures he carried—like seventh-rank star-cores—could allow emissaries to suppress these barbarian kings and complete the final linkage and fusion.

But sixth-rank star-regions were different.

Within sixth-rank star-regions, the strongest were seventh-rank ninth-layer peak barbarians; he could send emissaries of sixth-rank ninth-layer peak at most.

But artifacts capable of suppressing seventh-rank ninth-layer peak elites were exceedingly rare—even coming from the Sacred Clan, aside from the life-saving treasures he carried, he had none.

Previously, he had tentatively sent a team of emissaries to one sixth-rank star-region; within two days, they were all annihilated.

Not even a single message returned.

Recently, he had been fully preparing for this.

Two directions: one was to increase the certainty of emissaries sent to sixth-rank star-regions.

Select elites whose cultivation was about to reach sixth-rank ninth-layer peak—or already had—and have them break through immediately upon entering the sixth-rank star-region.

The other direction was to continue searching for high-certainty fifth-rank star-regions to link and fuse.

Spreading the net too wide could no longer be done.

Spreading the net too wide also came at a cost.

Each emissary he dispatched required him to inject two percent of the ancestral cave-dimension's world essence into the Sacred Clan's Golden Token.

Only then could the Altar Heavenly Road be activated, linking toward the ancestral cave-dimension.

Previously, thirty emissaries had taken away fully sixty percent of the ancestral cave-dimension's world will; in the end, only slightly more than thirty percent returned.

Recently, he had secretly dispatched elites to search for lost star-regions and recover the Sacred Clan's Golden Tokens—but had only retrieved four.

The ancestral cave-dimension's world will had ultimately lost two percent.

And the unfortunate first fifth-rank star-region—he, in his haste, remotely injected one percent of the ancestral cave-dimension's world essence, and lost it.

Another one percent lost.

He had originally possessed only seventy-five percent of the ancestral cave-dimension's world will.

Now, he had already lost thirty percent.

He could not afford to lose any more.

He must ensure absolute certainty in every future linkage and fusion of star-regions.

Losing the ancestral cave-dimension's world will was not terrifying; what was terrifying was if the lost world will fell into someone's hands.

He knew of one: the human youth who already possessed fourteen percent of the ancestral cave-dimension's world will.

Through the Blood God Sect's intelligence network, he had uncovered some basic information: his name was Qi Tian Sheng, a cultivator from the present-day Chen Guo.

He had been placed on his kill list.

Any opportunity to kill this man must be seized.

He must reclaim the lost ancestral cave-dimension world will!

Otherwise, he might successfully cultivate the ancestral cave-dimension—only to make it someone else's wedding gift!

"My lord, we just received word: four teams sent to explore sixth-rank star-regions—three were wiped out, one captured!" Envoy Ju Zhang's capable subordinate Ju Ling's report caused his brow to furrow slightly.

As he frowned, a small tripod inside Envoy Ju Zhang's Upper Star Palace suddenly trembled.

It was the protective treasure he brought to this world—and the ultimate artifact linking him to the ancestral cave-dimension: the Eight Wilderness Tripod.

As the Eight Wilderness Tripod trembled, a distant streak of starlight emerged from the void, straining to draw closer to the tripod.

Envoy Ju Zhang's eyes widened sharply!

"A star-region has activated the Altar Heavenly Road, linking toward the ancestral cave-dimension? Do we still have emissaries lost out there?" Envoy Ju Zhang exclaimed.

"My lord, four of our previous emissaries were in a lost-contact state."

"Because they remained unresponsive for so long and their Sacred Clan Golden Tokens gave no reply, we assumed them dead," said Ju Ling.

"Come, let's go see!"

In the next instant, Envoy Ju Zhang shot skyward; Ju Ling swiftly followed. Half an hour later, they reached the extreme edge of the Eight Wilderness Continent.

Stretching as far as the eye could see, endless chaotic starlight.

Yet within that chaotic starlight, a faint, brilliant ribbon of starlight could be discerned, slowly spreading toward them.

"It really is!"

Seeing this, Envoy Ju Zhang suddenly smiled.

"Watch it—if this succeeds, we'll have some breathing room."

"When contact is possible, reach out, confirm their identity, encourage them, urge them to push harder and complete the linkage as soon as possible," Envoy Ju Zhang ordered.

"Your servant obeys."

After replying, Ju Ling hesitated, "My lord, what if they ask for aid?"

"How can we aid them? Once the Altar Heavenly Road is activated, we can only send world essence—nothing else!"

"No aid!"

"Tell them to figure it out themselves."

Recalling how he had been tricked into losing one percent of world essence in the first star-region out of haste, Ju Zhang firmly rejected any aid.

World essence could not be lost again.

"My lord, I understand."

In the fifth-rank Lanshan Star-Region, Xu Jin and the others had activated the Altar Heavenly Road for a full day.

But they had not yet begun cultivation, because the Altar Heavenly Road needed to reach a certain height before it could extract the Celestial and Stellar Will, allowing star-force to flow downward for cultivation.

Xu Jin had extracted only two of the six Celestial and Stellar Wills—yet already, star-force flowed down in abundance, instantly filling the Altar Heavenly Road.

"Begin."

At Xu Jin's command, the group began cultivation.

Ning Yuchan, Ji Hongli, Hou Yunzhang, and others who had experienced this before needed no instruction—they immediately pulled out their Star Gathering Array plates and began. The newcomers—Ying Ge, Yang Miao, the four sword-mercenaries, and even Yuan Jing, Ning Yuchan's personal guard captain—imitated them, puzzled but following suit.

But after only a few minutes of cultivation, each of their eyes widened sharply.

Could the star-force concentration be any more absurd?

As the others began cultivation, Xu Jin sank his mind into his Middle Star Palace. Within the Upper Star Palace, the Yuan Ling Tai Guang radiated brilliant light, and all of Xu Jin's spiritual power poured into the Middle Star Palace.

A thread of spiritual power clung to each star-core.

This was why breaking into fifth rank required a certain level of spiritual cultivation.

Ordinary people struggled to attach spiritual power to even ten star-cores.

How much more so thirty-six?

If an ordinary person condensed too many star-cores without sufficient spiritual cultivation, there was only one possibility: their breakthrough to fifth rank would be indefinitely delayed.

Possibly forever.

But for Xu Jin, his vast spiritual power enveloped every single star-core—and still had surplus.

For a moment, Xu Jin considered forging a few more star-cores.

Based on his spiritual power, adding another ten or so was still possible.

But after thinking it over, he decided against it.

Don't be greedy.

This path was uncharted; if he pushed too far and caused future breakthroughs to become impossible, it would be disastrous.

"Rise!"

In the next instant, the thirty-six star-cores of the Middle Star Palace spun simultaneously in one direction, with Lei Yuanxing as the core within the core, all thirty-six rotating in perfect unison.

In the next instant, the thirty-six star cores condensed into a single whole; as vast stellar power surged in, Xu Jin activated the Great Star Gathering Pattern once more, using the thirty-six base star patterns as foundation.

This is why the base star patterns must be unified.

In the instant the thirty-six Great Star Gathering Patterns were activated, they resonated in perfect unison; under the impetus of Xu Jin's spiritual essence, each pattern sprouted a network of star-pattern veins, extending like filaments.

Vast stellar power continued pouring in, steadily merging between the thirty-six star cores.

The thirty-six Great Star Gathering Patterns wove like a spider's web—those newly sprouted star-pattern veins rapidly entwined and interlaced, and within fifteen minutes, they formed an exquisitely dense net.

In places invisible to Xu Jin's eyes, the thirty-six Great Star Gathering Patterns continued interweaving and merging.

Under the fusion of the base star patterns, the thirty-six star cores became one unified whole; stellar power now flowed seamlessly, whereas before they had been thirty-six separate entities.

Now, they rapidly fused into a single entity.

Xu Jin continued to drive the Great Star Gathering Patterns with his spiritual essence, completing the fusion.

Though externally they appeared fused, in Xu Jin's perception, many subtle regions remained incompletely merged and required more time to fully integrate.

If he stopped here, he would plant hidden dangers for the future.

This process continued for a full hour and a half.

After an hour and a half, as Xu Jin breathed, within the Central Star Palace, with the thirty-six star cores as channels, a mere thought sent stellar power surging like a torrent, swiftly reaching the intended star pattern.

No obstruction. Utterly smooth.

"It's done!"

Fifth realm achieved!

Within the Central Star Palace, a tiny stellar river shaped like a constellation now spanned the space; the thirty-six star cores rotated slowly, each trailing fiery tails like stars.

With a single thought, stellar power surged like a mighty river in rapid motion.

Previously, Xu Jin could summon the power of only one star core at a time.

Now, with a single thought, he could summon the power of all thirty-six star cores!

The stellar power was immensely potent.

Theoretically, after breaking into the fifth realm, the total stellar power infused into a single star technique could increase up to thirty-sixfold.

Of course, this was merely theoretical.

The maximum stellar power one could activate still depended on spiritual essence strength and the rank of the star technique.

But the difference was undeniable.

A typical fifth-rank cultivator, even at peak, could summon only ten star cores' worth of power; Xu Jin, if pushed to his limit, could summon all thirty-six at once.

The upper limit was entirely different.

And now, it was different already.

In Xu Jin's current perception, if he unleashed a star technique at full power, he could summon the strength of twelve star cores.

Purely by stellar power volume, a single fully-charged star technique now delivered twelve times the output of before.

Yet a star technique's potency isn't determined solely by stellar power—if it were, the star patterns would be useless; one could simply pile up power.

Still, with such a massive increase in summoned stellar power, a two- to threefold boost in a star technique's potency was certainly achievable.

That is, after breaking into the fifth realm, Xu Jin's star techniques' potency had at least doubled.

Tripling was even possible.

Once this cultivation session ended, he could properly test it.

Previously, two star techniques could slay a sixth-rank ninth-layer expert.

Now, one would suffice!

Even stronger!

The improvement was unmistakable!

But for Xu Jin, this improvement had only just begun!

In the next instant, the entire constellation accelerated its rotation; instantly, vast stellar power flooded into the Altar's Celestial Path.

The stellar aura of the entire constellation rapidly grew stronger.

Yet after only half an hour of cultivation, Xu Jin knew he had been right not to forge additional star cores.

His star core count had risen to thirty-six, reaching the fifth realm; his star core number was nearly four times that of others, and his star technique potency far surpassed theirs.

But the cost was that the difficulty of advancing during fifth-rank breakthrough was nearly four times greater than others'.

Xu Jin fully understood and accepted this.

The Dao of Heaven and Earth operated thus!

How much strength you have, so much work you do.

But likewise, the more work you do, the more you must consume!

Effort and reward are not always proportional.

Yet to gain, you must first give.

An hour later, Xu Jin's mind sank into the Lower Star Palace!

Since the Central Star Palace had broken through, why not push straight through the Lower Star Palace to the fifth realm as well!

(End of Chapter)