Chapter 402: Method to Break Through the Ninth Rank

Seven-Star Fire Rhino Armor.

Xu Jin sank his mind into the Seven-Star Spirit Armor before him, refined it slightly, and immediately understood its nature.

A mid-grade Seven-Star Spirit Treasure.

Slightly inferior to the Seven-Star Yellow Dragon Armor worn by Gan'an Emperor, but more than sufficient.

Even a mid-grade Seven-Star Spirit Treasure is far stronger than a top-grade sixth-rank Fire Ox Armor.

With this armor, ordinary seventh-rank cultivators would find it hard to injure Xu Jin.

Combined with the Fish Curtain Golden Bell, Root of the Earth, and other defenses, he would even have a chance to survive an encounter with an eighth-rank cultivator.

Moreover, with this armor, Xu Jin could advance the timetable for entering the sixth-rank star region to search for his teacher Qi Shanye and his uncle Mo Ji.

Within a sixth-rank star region, there would be no fewer than ten seventh-rank cultivators.

The difficulty would be immense.

At this moment, overcome with joy at the sight of the treasure, Xu Jin immediately began refining the Seven-Star Fire Rhino Armor. The instant his spiritual power and star force surged into it like a torrent, a colossal fire rhino roared—a flame-formed mouth, vast as the sky and earth, lunged toward his star force and spiritual power!

Though this was his first time refining a Seven-Star Spirit Treasure, he had long known this would happen.

The term "Spirit Treasure" in Seven-Star Spirit Treasure refers precisely to this.

Every Spirit Treasure must be infused with a residual spirit to qualify as such.

This is why Seven-Star Spirit Treasures are exceedingly rare.

To forge a Seven-Star Spirit Treasure, the raw materials must be extraordinarily demanding—for instance, the Seven-Star Fire Rhino Armor requires not only the hide of a seventh-rank or higher fire rhino, but also a strand of its primordial spirit.

Among seventh-rank non-human races, those capable of forging a primordial spirit are exceedingly rare; even those who can form only a rudimentary form are scarce.

Such a complete set of materials is nearly impossible to obtain.

After being forged into a Spirit Treasure, the residual spirit retains a trace of its original ferocity; to refine it, one must overpower it with force.

Many who refine Seven-Star Spirit Treasures rely on senior elders from their sect to suppress the residual spirit's ferocity.

Xu Jin, however, needed no such help.

Seeing the fire rhino's residual spirit charge, Xu Jin sneered—a flash of thunder erupted, instantly scattering the incoming spirit into a tiny, chibi-like silhouette of a rhino, its entire body writhing with flames.

It stared at Xu Jin, utterly terrified, pitifully.

Xu Jin's star force and spiritual will surged forth at once, beginning the refinement.

During refinement, Xu Jin noticed the fire rhino's residual spirit absorbed a tiny portion of his spiritual will to strengthen itself.

It was also absorbing his Xuanji Heavenly Fire.

The amount was minuscule, but Xu Jin sensed it clearly.

Xu Jin understood: this was the growth potential of a Seven-Star Spirit Treasure.

By continuously absorbing the power of its owner, it could grow and ascend in rank—even break through its current rank.

The key lay in the quantity and quality of the power provided by its master.

Xu Jin's mind stirred—he began feeding it deliberately.

Spiritual power, for others, recovered slowly; for Xu Jin, it took only half a watch.

Almost the moment he willed it, the fire rhino's residual spirit's absorption rate of spiritual power and fire star essence increased four to fivefold.

The previously weak residual spirit began visibly swelling.

Xu Jin wondered—if he kept feeding it, could he sustain it for a month and elevate the mid-grade Seven-Star Armor to top-grade?

But after only two watches of feeding, the fire rhino's silhouette had grown a full size larger—yet it swayed like a drunkard, refusing to absorb another speck.

It seemed upgrading a Seven-Star Spirit Treasure could not be rushed.

It required gradual, cumulative effort.

Satiated, the fire rhino's residual spirit was fully refined, and Xu Jin had completely mastered the Seven-Star Fire Rhino Armor.

With a thought, his sixth-rank top-grade Fire Spirit Armor flew out from within his body, then vanished into his Numinous Space; the Seven-Star Fire Rhino Armor instantly covered his entire form.

A flash of flame—the armor settled over Xu Jin's body; behind him, a phantom fire rhino emerged, glaring fiercely in all directions.

At that moment, Xu Jin fully understood all the functions of the Seven-Star Fire Rhino Armor.

Its first major function was active defense.

If ambushed, even if Xu Jin did not activate it, the Seven-Star Fire Rhino Armor would trigger automatically—that was the crucial role of the fire rhino's residual spirit.

Its second function: the fire rhino's residual spirit could automatically absorb fire star force from all directions, replenishing both star force and its own energy, especially enhancing recovery during combat.

Its third function: the fire rhino's residual spirit could activate star arts.

After being forged by a master armorer, this residual spirit retained two star arts—one defensive, one offensive.

They were: Fire Rhino Shield Armor and Fire Rhino Ram.

Xu Jin could activate them with a mere thought.

Instantly.

It was like adding another layer of defense atop the Seven-Star Spirit Armor.

Had he possessed this armor during his encounter with the Tianyang Star Lord, he would not have spat blood or been injured.

After refining the Seven-Star Fire Rhino Armor, Xu Jin turned to the other two Seven-Star Spirit Treasures.

The first was the Yellow Dragon Sword.

Still a top-grade Seven-Star Spirit Treasure, radiating formidable power.

Its internal yellow dragon residual spirit knew three star arts, one of which was called Move Mountain.

It could, in an instant, make the Yellow Dragon Sword weigh hundreds of millions of juns—as if a mountain had been lifted and dropped upon it.

This innate star art delighted Xu Jin immensely.

Because it paired perfectly with his unique star art, Flowing Flash.

The combination of extreme speed and extreme weight would produce unimaginable lethality.

Notably, the so-called "yellow dragon" residual spirit was not a true dragon, but a serpent-like non-human race with horns on its head.

With this Yellow Dragon Sword, Xu Jin's combat power would naturally surge.

Yet, for now, Xu Jin could not use it freely.

Because many powerful cultivators knew this was Gan'an Emperor's treasure—if Xu Jin openly displayed it, he would be openly declaring himself the regicide.

That would be a blatant proclamation, inviting endless trouble.

Thus, though he had refined the Yellow Dragon Sword, Xu Jin would rarely use it before others.

Use it, and kill!

The third Seven-Star Spirit Treasure was a fan—wind-element, named the Wind Luo Fan, a mid-grade Seven-Star Spirit Treasure.

Xu Jin had cultivated few wind-element star arts.

So he did not refine it, but kept it instead.

Having taken so many treasures from Gan'an Emperor, he owed the State Tutor a share—this Seven-Star Spirit Treasure, the Wind Luo Fan, he planned to gift to the State Tutor.

He continued inventorying the treasures within Gan'an Emperor's Numinous Space.

The first major haul: six-rank Star Jade Tablets—over four hundred pieces!

Good heavens, no wonder he was emperor.

When Xu Jin plundered a fifth-rank star region, he obtained anywhere from a few to dozens of six-rank Star Jade Tablets; here, Gan'an Emperor had over four hundred and fifty.

Instantly, Xu Jin transferred over one hundred and forty of them into the Can Dou Platform, letting it absorb them.

The condition for upgrading the Can Dou Platform from fifth-rank to sixth-rank—three hundred and sixty six-rank Star Jade Tablets—was fulfilled!

He continued inventorying.

More than twenty fifth-rank earth-element heavenly treasures—all now belonged to Xu Jin.

The next instant, his eyes lit up—a massive piece of thousand-year turtle shell!

A complete one.

A single, intact slab, one meter square, covered in dense, fine grid patterns.

A quick count revealed: if split apart, this single slab could yield hundreds of pieces. With a thought, he transferred it onto the Can Dou Platform.

Instantly, nearly half of the thousand-year turtle shell vanished.

Another condition for upgrading the Can Dou Platform from fifth-rank to sixth-rank was fulfilled.

The next instant, Xu Jin stared at the bundled Red Sparrow Feathers and drew a sharp breath.

In the Star River Auction, Red Sparrow Feathers were traded by the root; here, in Gan'an Emperor's possession, they were bundled.

Seven bundles—ten feathers per bundle!

Xu Jin now roughly understood why Gan'an Emperor had so many Red Sparrow Feathers.

Because Gan'an Emperor primarily cultivated earth-element, relying mostly on fifth-rank earth-element heavenly treasures to strengthen his star patterns; he used few from other elements.

Thus, in Gan'an Emperor's Numinous Space, among fifth-rank heavenly treasures, earth-element was the least, metal-element second, while water, wood, and fire-element were abundant.

The Red Sparrow Feathers, however, had fallen into Xu Jin's lap.

With a thought, he immediately transferred thirty Red Sparrow Feathers into the Can Dou Platform—the condition for upgrading the Can Dou Platform from fifth-rank to sixth-rank was fulfilled once more.

This filled Xu Jin with boundless joy.

【Upgradeable: Requires 100,000 strands of starlight, 360 sixth-rank Star Jade Tablets, 10,000 jin of copper essence, 10,000 taels of gold, 100 jin of starfall iron, 100 pieces of thousand-year turtle shell, 30 Red Sparrow Feathers, 1 piece of heartfire marrow, 1 fire spirit】

Of the conditions for upgrading the Can Dou Platform from fifth-rank to sixth-rank, more than half were now met.

Copper essence, gold, and starfall iron had already been acquired during his plundering of star regions.

Three more conditions were now fulfilled.

Only three remained: 100,000 strands of starlight, heartfire marrow, and one fire spirit.

The 100,000 strands of starlight were not far off.

Xu Jin had a chance to sweep two or three more fifth-rank star regions, and that would be enough.

The real difficulties were the Core of Earthfire and the Fire Spirit.

Xu Jin knew the Core of Earthfire was a sixth-rank fire elemental treasure, found only in sixth-rank or higher star regions.

But as for the Fire Spirit, Xu Jin currently had no idea.

Was it not a member of the Fire Spirit clan?

Could it be some kind of residual spirit, like the Seven-Star Spirit Armor?

In addition, Xu Jin had found two other fifth-rank soul-essence herbs: Century Yin Spirit Crystal.

One of these treasures might not enable a Nascent Soul fourth-rank ninth-layer cultivator to break through, but two of them certainly could.

Add to that the Century Infant-Face Spirit Ginseng the tyrant had previously used to trade for the Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Pills, and there were six in total.

There was also the sixth-rank soul-essence herb, Water Cloud Soul Marrow.

Such treasures, he hoarded at the bottom of his chest rather than bestowing them to elevate the strength of Chen Guo's top experts.

He deserved it!

If he had only given half of these herbs to the State Master, he would never have ended up like this.

In addition, there were some rare and peculiar items.

Finally, there were a dozen jade tablets.

Xu Jin sank his mind into each one, his face showing shock.

These dozen jade tablets all recorded text.

Two of them recorded details of the Blood God Sect's Blood Refinement Art.

Five others contained intelligence on high-ranking officials of Chen Guo, including their weaknesses, private matters, and preferences.

Four more recorded the life histories, habits, and methods of operation of the world's top figures.

Including the Heavenly Sun Star Lord, the Azure Star Lord, the Pacifying Calamity Star Lord, the Grand Marshal Wei Xu of the Star River Battlefield, and former Grand Marshal Cai Shu.

Much of this intelligence had been personally annotated by Emperor Gan'an after being collected.

All of it was extremely valuable!

It would greatly aid Xu Jin, but likely aid the State Master even more.

Xu Jin planned to make complete copies and hand them over to the State Master.

In addition, there were two jade tablets named "Secrets Manual," recording hidden events that had occurred in the world—or rather, Emperor Gan'an's own opinions.

In particular, a passage about the Lingji Star Palace caught Xu Jin's interest.

【The Lingji Star Palace is suspected of possessing a secret method to break through the ninth rank.】

Xu Jin initially overlooked this line.

Break through the ninth rank.

All four Star Palaces in the current world should have them.

Yet so far, none of the top figures of the four Star Palaces have broken through to the ninth rank.

Just as he was about to skip past it, Xu Jin suddenly realized.

Break through the ninth rank!

Not break through to the ninth rank!

Meaning, beyond the ninth rank, further breakthroughs are possible!

And the Lingji Star Palace possesses a secret method to break through the ninth rank.

Later entries in the records confirmed Xu Jin's suspicion.

【The Lingji Star Palace's Grand Elder stated: after breaking through the ninth rank, one may leave this world, and there may be a method for eternal life—the former Master of the Plucking Stars Tower, the Ultimate Emperor, walked this path.】

【The fifth Lingji Star Lord of the Lingji Star Palace is suspected of having left this world; how he did so remains unknown.】

Xu Jin stared at the many entries in the "Secrets Manual," utterly stunned.

The contents recorded here opened a whole new world to Xu Jin.

Countless possibilities flashed through his mind!

There is a method to break through the ninth rank!

The method to break through the ninth rank can allow one to leave this world!

Does that mean, after breaking through the ninth rank, one gains the ability to roam the stars?

Does that mean, if Xu Jin one day breaks through the ninth rank, he could roam the stars—and even return to Blue Star?

At this thought, his mind swirled with countless ideas.

You might say Xu Jin's earlier desire to return had long faded, even vanished entirely!

Put bluntly, if he were to reincarnate back now, his original body would have long rotted away.

What would he even go back for? Become a wandering ghost?

Now, Xu Jin had firmly established himself in this world and cultivated extraordinary power—he truly had no desire to return.

But what if, after breaking through the ninth rank, he could take this extraordinary power back with him?

Then Xu Jin would be eager!

But would Blue Star still be the Blue Star he remembered by then?

Who knew how many years would have passed in the meantime?

But at least he now had a hope.

If the chance ever arose, he could try.

Perhaps he could actually accomplish something!

Moreover, through Emperor Gan'an's "Secrets Manual," Xu Jin confirmed one thing.

The Lingji Star Palace had merely been sealed, not destroyed.

It had not perished!

This was somewhat similar to the Wood Spirit Palace and the Sumeru Palace.

Whether the Wood Spirit Palace, the Sumeru Palace, or any of the major Star Palaces, each possessed a stronghold like a miniature world.

The truth behind the Lingji Star Palace being sealed was that, when besieged to the brink of annihilation by three other Star Palaces, it voluntarily severed its miniature world from the current world.

A complete physical separation.

While it suffocated some of its own top experts, it also completely cut off all contact with the current world.

The Wood Spirit Palace and the Sumeru Palace still maintained channels connecting them to the current world.

But the Lingji Star Palace had nothing left.

At least, the miniature world of the Lingji Star Palace could no longer establish any communication channel with the current world.

Yet Emperor Gan'an's "Secrets Manual" recorded that the current world could actively establish a channel to the Lingji Star Palace's miniature world.

One essential prerequisite was possessing the star-region beacon of the Lingji Star Palace's miniature world.

And within the final star jade tablet in Emperor Gan'an's Sumeru space, the star-region beacon of the Lingji Star Palace's miniature world had been refined!

(End of Chapter)