Chapter 389: One for Two? (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

The Eight Wilderness Continent.

Since arriving from the Nine Heavens, Envoy Ju Zhang had come to observe this Altar Road for the eighth time.

Roughly once a day.

Clearly, he placed great importance on this Altar Road.

"Why is it still so far?" Ju Zhang, gazing at the barely visible Altar Road, could no longer hold back, "Ju Ling, when I came yesterday, wasn't this Altar Road higher than this?"

"Why do I feel it's pulled back again?"

Ju Ling also wore a grim expression—he had never seen such a strange Altar Road.

According to prior experience, nine days should have been enough for this Altar Road to draw near the Ancestral Land.

Previously, the fastest Altar Road to connect with the Ancestral Land's Cave Heaven took twelve days; the slowest took eighteen.

But this star region was utterly bizarre.

Watching it daily had nearly driven Ju Ling mad.

It rises one day, sinks two the next, never climbing up.

Theoretically, this Altar Road should be more than half complete, but realistically, it might not have even reached one-fifth.

"Lord, it has indeed receded slightly," Ju Ling replied.

"How could this be?"

"Have you reestablished contact?"

"Have you confirmed which messenger it is?" Ju Zhang asked.

"My lord, we briefly reconnected yesterday—it was the missing messenger Ju Jiu. The information matches, but his condition seems dire. This Altar Road keeps rising and falling; the exact cause remains unclear," Ju Ling said.

Envoy Ju Zhang stared down at the Altar Road for a moment, then sighed, "Keep watching. If it rises again and contact becomes possible, immediately reach out and find out what's happened to Ju Jiu."

"Why does it keep rising and falling?"

"Rest assured, my lord, I'll keep watch."

After gazing down for another dozen breaths, Envoy Ju Zhang could only leave for now.

He valued and needed this star region's connection deeply.

But right now, his affairs were tangled and numerous—he had many urgent matters to handle.

The Eight Wilderness Continent had now been established.

Therefore, his title as Envoy must change.

Otherwise, how could he command the many elite alien races of the Eight Wilderness Continent?

He couldn't just give himself a title at random—that would make him no better than a mountain bandit.

He needed both imperial decree and formal petition.

They were all stubborn fools; simple tasks required him to arrange them multiple times.

Only the Left and Right Protectors of the Blood God Sect were truly useful; otherwise, he'd be driven to despair.

Within the Lanshan Star Region's Altar Road.

Nine days had passed since the Altar Road first rose.

Actual cultivation time was only six days.

The reason was simple: they still had to mobilize the will of heaven and stars to draw vast stellar power from underground, condensing it into the Altar Road, then release control to gain concentrated stellar power.

Time was needed to grow the Altar Road.

Though they had cultivated for only six days, everyone's cultivation base had made substantial progress.

Ning Yuchan's cultivation had barely reached Fifth Stage, Seventh Layer.

Little Fish, the gold-spender, was even more astonishing—when she arrived, she was already at the peak of Fifth Stage, First Layer; now, she was pushing her cultivation to the absolute limit, specifically focusing on her Middle Star Palace.

Her path differed from Ning Yuchan's, who refined herself relentlessly.

Her grandfather advised her to rapidly ascend to Fifth Stage, Ninth Layer, then enhance her battle power with strengthened star patterns.

The efficiency of enhancing star patterns at Fifth Stage, Ninth Layer was several times higher than at early or mid Fifth Stage.

As for Jin Xing, after breaking through to Fifth Stage, she abandoned further advancement.

Ning Yuchan, however, planned to harvest one more Golden Star.

The reason was simple: within these two months, Ning Yuchan had reverse-engineered the Golden Elephant Star Pattern using Xu Jin's deduction method and the massive amount of Golden Elephant Star Pattern inheritance blood she obtained from the star region.

According to her, she consumed thirty-one units of Golden Elephant Star Pattern inheritance blood.

This left Xu Jin in awe.

Ning Yuchan clearly possessed immense accumulation and extraordinary talent in Gold-element star arts.

With the aid of the Star Dome Secret Realm and the Can Dou Platform, Xu Jin required ten and eleven units of star pattern inheritance blood respectively to comprehend Thunder Elephant and Earth Elephant Star Patterns.

Without those aids, he might have needed over forty units.

Hence, he had originally prepared fifty units of Golden Elephant Star Pattern inheritance blood for Ning Yuchan.

Unexpectedly, she used only thirty-one.

Under identical conditions, Ning Yuchan's speed in reverse-engineering the Golden Elephant Star Pattern would surpass Xu Jin's.

Then, Ning Yuchan used her newly acquired ten Silver Stars and two Golden Stars to directly elevate the Golden Elephant Star Pattern to Seventh Stage, Upper Tier.

According to Ning Yuchan, she had already deduced part of the Eighth Stage Golden Elephant Star Pattern, but Eighth Stage was too difficult.

To push it to Eighth Stage, Lower Tier, she needed at least one more Golden Star—and Xu Jin's assistance.

Xu Jin marveled, yet knew this was something he could never match.

Xu Jin himself favored multiple elements—he trained Fire, Earth, Thunder, and even dabbled in Wood, Wind, and Gold.

But Ning Yuchan devoted herself entirely to Gold.

She followed the path of "extremity."

As for Xu Jin himself, his Lower Star Palace breakthrough was inevitable.

Both his Middle and Lower Star Palaces had reached Fifth Stage, successfully consolidated—his battle power naturally surged exponentially.

These past days, Xu Jin had also trained intensely.

Even within the Altar Road, his Middle Star Palace cultivation took three and a half days to reach the peak of Fifth Stage, First Layer.

This cultivation speed matched that of Hou Yunzhang and others previously.

Hou Yunzhang, when at Fifth Stage, took roughly three and a half days to advance one layer within the Altar Road.

Theoretically, Xu Jin's cultivation speed should have been four or five times Hou Yunzhang's.

But in reality, it was nearly identical.

Even slower than Little Fish's.

Little Fish advanced one layer every three days; she was now at Fifth Stage, Third Layer, on the verge of Fourth.

Xu Jin knew the reason firsthand.

Star Cores!

Others had ten star cores; he had thirty-six—his cultivation difficulty was four times greater; slowness was normal.

Slow, yet immensely powerful.

Earlier, when bored waiting for the Altar Road to grow, Xu Jin and others had played a game comparing stellar power reserves.

After Fifth Stage consolidation, the star power within the Star Palace fused into one under the connection of base star patterns; with sufficient preparation, one could unleash all star power at once.

Hou Yunzhang's stellar power, at Fifth Stage, Ninth Layer peak, was naturally denser than Xu Jin's.

During their contest, Hou Yunzhang pushed Xu Jin's stellar power back three feet.

This shocked Hou Yunzhang immensely.

He estimated that at Fifth Stage, First Layer, Xu Jin's stellar power density was already comparable to his own at Fifth Stage, Seventh Layer.

At Fifth Stage, Second Layer, it would match his own.

At Fifth Stage, Third Layer, it would far surpass his Fifth Stage, Ninth Layer peak.

When matching stellar power against Ning Yuchan at Fifth Stage, Seventh Layer, Xu Jin was only slightly weaker.

Meaning: though Xu Jin's cultivation was only Fifth Stage, First Layer, his stellar power density equaled that of Fifth Stage, Seventh Layer—and doubled with each layer gained!

When Xu Jin reached Fifth Stage, Second Layer, his stellar power density would exceed that of ordinary Fifth Stage, Ninth Layer cultivators.

Moreover, Xu Jin discovered another fact.

Including Ning Yuchan, all others needed preparation time to unleash all their star power at once.

Hou Yunzhang required three breaths; Ning Yuchan needed nearly two.

Xu Jin needed none.

In actual combat, the difference became clear.

Xu Jin could instantly unleash a fully saturated stellar assault; Hou Yunzhang could mobilize only twenty percent at once; Ning Yuchan, only thirty percent.

This would be Xu Jin's great future advantage in battle.

The root of this advantage lay in his Divine Soul cultivation.

After breaking through Fifth Stage, the role of Divine Soul cultivation grew increasingly vital.

The stronger the Divine Soul cultivation, the more star power one could unleash at once.

But now, Ning Yuchan had already inscribed multiple Clear Soul Star Patterns; her Divine Soul cultivation would grow ever stronger.

In addition, Senior Sister Yang Miao's cultivation had also successfully broken through to Fifth Stage, and was surging rapidly.

Ying Ge's cultivation was likewise advancing continuously.

Most intriguing to Xu Jin was that the Saint Clan's envoy Ju Zhang's subordinates kept querying his current status via the Saint Clan's Golden Token, asking which messenger he was, and so on.

Xu Jin's initial impulse was to curse them right back.

But after thinking it over, why bother?

Pretending to be him might get me some useful information.

Fortunately, while he was in the Spring Thunder Star Region, he had thoroughly interrogated the messenger Ju Jiu and knew all the details.

Naturally, Xu Jin impersonated Messenger Ju Jiu.

The subordinate Ju Ling wanted to conduct further identity verification, but there was no way to do so inside the Altar Heavenly Path.

When he could reconnect in the next few days, Xu Jin planned to try and extract some useful information.

Doesn't matter if it's real or not—grab it first!

April 13 was the tenth day since Xu Jin activated the Altar Heavenly Path; on this day, as usual, he returned the Six Heavenly Celestial Willings to their places, gathered everyone's strength, and rapidly expanded the Altar Heavenly Path to gain a cultivation space.

Half a day later, as the Altar Heavenly Path reached a certain scale, Ju Ling, who had been monitoring it, suddenly demanded answers.

"Ju Jiu, what's going on with your Altar Heavenly Path rising and falling so erratically?"

"Ju Jiu, why does your Altar Heavenly Path keep surging up and then collapsing? Are you under siege by enemies?"

"Ju Jiu, if you hear this, reply immediately—perhaps I can offer some help?"

"Ju Jiu?"

"Lord Ju Ling, I am not under enemy siege, but I've encountered a problem—I'm working to resolve it."

"What problem? Let me help you?"

"Lord Ju Ling, I—"

Just as he was about to speak, Xu Jin's heart stirred—he suddenly withdrew two Heavenly Celestial Willings, and the newly risen Altar Heavenly Path collapsed like a bursting dam.

As everyone resumed cultivation, their connection with Ju Ling was severed.

On the Bahuang Continent, Ju Ling helplessly reported the situation to Ju Zhang.

"It seems Ju Jiu is loyal in his duties, but I don't know what hardship he's facing. It looks dire—next time we reconnect, ask him what trouble he's in and see if we can assist." Ju Zhang ordered.

"Your servant obeys."

April 15, the Altar Heavenly Path rose again for half a day; Ju Ling reestablished contact with Ju Jiu, and this time, the cause became clear.

"Ju Jiu, while we're connected, speak quickly—why is your Altar Heavenly Path rising and falling so erratically?"

"Lord Ju Ling, the ruler of this star region is extremely stubborn. When he heard I was an envoy of the Sacred Clan, he tried to kill me—only the precious artifact granted by the Special Envoy saved me."

Later, after nine deaths and one life, enduring immense hardship, I finally subdued one alien ruler, then gradually gathered the Heavenly Celestial Willings of this star region."

But after scouring the entire region, I only collected four strands of Heavenly Celestial Willings."

After barely raising the Altar Heavenly Path—"

"This is what it looks like."

"Rising and falling erratically!"

"Sigh—I don't even know if I can fulfill the Special Envoy's orders."

"Four? Only four? A fifth-rank star region should have at least five."

"Ju Jiu?"

On the Bahuang Continent, Ju Ling stared in disbelief.

They'd lost contact again—he'd clearly seen the Altar Heavenly Path plummet once more.

Half a day later, when Special Envoy Ju Zhang personally came to inquire, Ju Ling reported truthfully.

"He only gathered four Heavenly Celestial Willings and forcibly raised the Altar Heavenly Path—of course it can't sustain the formation. But if that's the case, we can hardly help him!" Ju Zhang said.

"Then… Master, should I tell him to first dissolve the Altar Heavenly Path and try gathering more Heavenly Celestial Willings?"

"No. The ancestral star-pivot formation plate can only be used once."

"And once activated, the world's primordial essence within the Golden Token will be injected!"

"He lacks the ability to reclaim that portion of primordial essence."

"If he dissolves the Heavenly Path, we'll lose both portions of primordial essence!"

"Not only that—those two portions might merge into the star region, directly shattering its celestial restraints and giving it a chance to ascend to a sixth-rank star region."

"Then, if even a few aliens break through to seventh rank, whether Ju Jiu survives will be uncertain." Ju Zhang said.

This left Ju Ling speechless.

"Master, what should we do? Please instruct me—should we order Ju Jiu to hold on at all costs, keep pushing for that slim chance, or—?" Ju Ling asked.

Hearing this, Ju Zhang shook his head. "Holding on won't help. If this continues, the Altar Heavenly Path will inevitably collapse."

"As for helping him…" Ju Zhang hesitated.

Helping Ju Jiu was simple.

One portion of world primordial essence could replace ten strands of Heavenly Celestial Willings.

If he remotely sent one portion to compensate for the shortfall—

The Altar Heavenly Path would surely succeed!

But he feared—

He feared losing even that one portion of primordial essence.

Ju Zhang had been hesitating, but Ju Ling's unintentional remark froze him.

"Master, if Ju Jiu can't hold on and his Altar Heavenly Path dissolves, won't you lose two portions of primordial essence?"

Ju Zhang froze.

Yes.

If this Altar Heavenly Path collapses, he will inevitably lose two portions of primordial essence.

But if he invests one portion, he can recover two.

But—

After a few breaths of thought, Ju Zhang asked, "Have you confirmed his identity?"

"Confirmed. He is Ju Jiu—many details match. Unfortunately, the Sacred Ancestor's Golden Token only allows remote communication, no projection, and the Altar Heavenly Path is too distant—otherwise, verification would be simple." Ju Ling replied.

Hearing this, Ju Zhang shook his head. "This involves world primordial essence—we must be cautious. Next time you reconnect, verify him thoroughly—ask him questions from before."

"If you can be one hundred percent certain of his identity, I'll help him complete the Altar Heavenly Path."

"Your servant obeys!"

A few breaths later, Ju Zhang left hesitantly.

He knew well—helping Ju Jiu was helping himself.

Invest one, recover two.

Huge profit!

But past losses had made him wary.

Caution was still best.

(End of Chapter)