Chapter 403

Qian'an Emperor possessed a star domain marker from the Lingji Star Palace's miniature world; this was not surprising.

Twenty years ago, the closest ties to the Lingji Star Palace were with the Great Chen imperial family.

But it had remained unused all this time, and the reason was hard to say.

It might be that unlocking that miniature world was extremely difficult, or that unlocking it would draw the attention of the Three Star Palaces.

Yet according to subtle clues in Qian'an Emperor's own handwritten "Secret Records," it was also possible he sought the Lingji Star Palace's secret method to break through the ninth rank, dreaming of eternal life.

But Qian'an Emperor himself was unworthy—he hadn't even broken through to the seventh rank, let alone the ninth, so he never acted.

All these reasons were possible.

Thus, after much deliberation, Xu Jin sealed both Qian'an Emperor's Secret Records and the Lingji Star Palace's star domain marker deep within the deepest layer of his own Vast Space.

He stored them in a special box, one reserved only for the most vital items.

Even the star domain marker to the sixth-rank star realm where his master Qi Shanye had gone was kept here.

The possibility of breaking through to the ninth rank, Xu Jin thought.

Eternal life, Xu Jin also desired.

To leave this world and wander the star rivers, Xu Jin desired even more.

But all of this depended on Xu Jin first breaking through to the eighth rank.

Before reaching the eighth rank, possessing them would be useless.

And there was another more critical question: Could it be that what you thought was picking up treasure was actually walking into a boss's nest?

The Lingji Star Palace had once been the strongest among the Four Star Palaces.

And it carried the Chengpo Star Pattern, which passively enhanced spiritual soul cultivation.

So, for now, seal them away—and don't tell the Grand Master!

Everything will wait until Xu Jin breaks through to the eighth rank.

After inventorying Qian'an Emperor's Vast Space, Xu Jin took out the two most important items he had seized.

One was twenty-three fragments of Celestial and Stellar Will; though over half overlapped with wills Xu Jin had already obtained, refining them would still be highly useful.

What Xu Jin was most interested in right now, however, was the Present-World Authority within Qian'an Emperor's Star-Picking Token.

He extracted it, enveloping Qian'an Emperor's Star-Picking Token and the golden-yellow light within his spiritual soul's mental force.

But as before, he could not refine it!

Even activating the seven Law Stars above the Can Dou Altar could only tug at it—he still could not refine it.

Xu Jin frowned.

Was there some restriction to acquiring this thing?

After a long pause, Xu Jin suddenly slapped his thigh—he had overlooked something.

Since Qian'an Emperor's Present-World Authority was bound to his Star-Picking Token, why not try using his own Star-Picking Token?

The instant Xu Jin pulled out and activated his own Star-Picking Token, a streak of starlight appeared before him.

【Detected Silver-Rank Star-Picking Tower Authority. Merge and absorb?】

Silver-Rank Authority holders were bound to their Star-Picking Tokens—what about Present-World Authority?

After hesitation, Xu Jin chose to merge and absorb.

In the next instant, his Star-Picking Token blazed with light, instantly engulfing Qian'an Emperor's Star-Picking Token.

Xu Jin felt his own Star-Picking Token now had a sense of bullying others with borrowed power.

Soon, Qian'an Emperor's Star-Picking Token lost all its starlight, becoming an ordinary, lifeless token that fell to the ground.

But Xu Jin's Star-Picking Token continued absorbing the earth-yellow light.

Xu Jin instinctively poured his spiritual soul's mental force into it, trying to accelerate the absorption—but he sensed something strange.

Within that earth-yellow energy were three distinct forces.

One was golden-yellow light: the Bronze-Rank Star-Picking Tower Authority; another was Present-World Law; the third was Present-World Authority.

Only the combination of the Bronze-Rank Star-Picking Tower Authority and the Present-World Authority had granted Qian'an Emperor the Silver-Rank Star-Picking Tower Authority.

Sensing this, Xu Jin's heart stirred—he poured all his spiritual soul's mental force into it.

After several breaths, Xu Jin's Star-Picking Token fully absorbed Qian'an Emperor's Bronze-Rank Star-Picking Tower Authority, but the enhancement was minor.

Yet Xu Jin directly refined the earth-yellow Present-World Law, instantly strengthening the Earth Law Star on his Can Dou Altar.

But the greatest gain was the refined Present-World Authority.

It took half an hour before Xu Jin fully refined that one-tenth of Present-World Authority.

The moment refinement completed, the familiar sensation returned.

Xu Jin felt a deeper harmony with the entire cosmos; star energy from all directions grew more responsive to him.

Subtly, many other inexplicable feelings arose.

Mountains, rivers, earth, plants, birds—all seemed like friends to him.

If he had to describe it, before he was merely a passerby in this world; now, he felt a touch of ownership.

This felt similar to the authority he gained after refining Celestial and Stellar Will across many star realms, but far stronger.

Only one-tenth!

By experience, if he could obtain three-tenths of Present-World Authority, a qualitative transformation would occur.

Three-tenths would make him a semi-god of this world.

But where to find the remaining two-tenths? He had no leads yet.

They were most likely held by the major Star Juniors—the most powerful figures of this age.

Xu Jin also discovered that the one-tenth of Present-World Authority he refined could, at will, be merged into his Star-Picking Token to enhance its authority, or separated again.

If merged, his Star-Picking Tower authority would remain Silver-Rank—but now doubled, stacked.

According to Xu Jin's perception, he would need at least two more Silver-Rank authorities to possibly attain Gold-Rank authority!

This matched his earlier discovery: three-tenths of Present-World Authority!

With the inventory and refinement complete, Xu Jin's Can Dou Altar underwent another change.

【Fire Law: Seventh Rank (61)】【Earth Law: Eighth Rank (71)】

【Water Law: Fifth Rank (47)】【Thunder Law: Fifth Rank (46)】

【Wind Law: Fifth Rank (48)】【Wood Law: Fourth Rank (30)】

【Metal Law: Third Rank (29)】

After acquiring one Earth Present-World Law, his Earth Law reached Eighth Rank, drawing ever closer to its limit.

He wondered what changes would occur once the limit was reached.

Could these Earth Law Stars later be directly converted into combat power?

As he pondered, Xu Jin let out a long yawn, a deep weariness washing over him.

He had been working nonstop lately—it was time for a good sleep and a few days of rest.

On May 3rd, Xu Jin ate a hearty meal in the state academy's dining hall, listening to the chatter of his fellow disciples, smiling as he walked toward the main tower of the Great Chen Star-Picking Tower.

Five days had passed since Qian'an Emperor's assassination.

The new sovereign had ascended—the Sixth Prince, Prince Duan—with no surprise.

Though his title was settled, the ceremonial procedures were still underway, leaving the Grand Master exhausted.

And within and outside the Great Chen State Dao Academy, the most discussed topic was this political purge in Wan Yi.

The most heated discussions occurred over meals.

Everyone acted like a politician.

Previously, it was keyboard politics.

Now, it was mealtime politics.

The most explosive news was that Left Sacrificial Officer Meng Yanhui became Left Chancellor, while Dong Zhao, as Grand Academician, became Great Chen's Right Chancellor.

Similar appointments were numerous.

As for the Grand Master, though he had stepped down as Left Chancellor, he remained Grand Master—but everyone knew the true power still lay with him.

Xu Jin understood this even better.

In a world where power stems from personal strength, those with strength can seize authority anytime; those without it, even authority is fleeting.

Complex political struggles, Xu Jin no longer wished to ponder.

If he encountered similar situations in the future, he preferred to crush them with a single punch.

Simple. Easy.

Far less exhausting than the Grand Master's endless scheming.

So Xu Jin entered the Star Dome Secret Realm.

This was rest—but he only slept well; the rest of the time, he still cultivated and deduced.

Combined with his prior accumulation and five days of effort, he successfully reverse-engineered the Fire Image Star Pattern and Lei Yi Star Pattern using the star pattern inheritance blood he had seized from the barbarians: Fire Image Star Pattern, upper fourth rank; Lei Yi Star Pattern, lower fifth rank.

Coincidentally, it was now May—the Star Dome Secret Realm's enlightenment period had returned.

He would use the Golden Star and Can Star to further enhance his strength.

After a few more deductions, if his cultivation improved further, he could head to the sixth-rank star realm to find his master Qi Shanye.

In fact, before assassinating Qian'an Emperor, Xu Jin had already deduced one round within the Star-Picking Tower during his two-day preparation, anticipating Qian'an Emperor's possible moves.

For example, the Proton Fire Divine Thunder used to kill Qian'an Emperor had been deduced beforehand.

To slay Qian'an Emperor, he needed a bottom-tier star technique.

To kill Emperor Gan'an, one must use a secret star art.

Xu Jin's Fire Source Star Pattern and Thunder Source Star Pattern were both at Eighth Tier Mid; at the time, he had intended to elevate one of them to Eighth Tier High.

In the end, he chose the Thunder Source Star Pattern.

Because the Thunder Image Star Pattern had been elevated to Eighth Tier High, he had accumulated over one hundred and fifty Nine Heaven Thunder Rhythms—those were his true killing secret.

During the assassination of Emperor Gan'an, nearly a hundred were consumed.

But in the end, it proved correct that Xu Jin had spent one Brilliant Star to elevate his Eighth Tier Mid Thunder Source Star Pattern to Eighth Tier High.

The Eighth Tier High Thunder Source Star Pattern granted him a Thunder Star Art called Five Elements Divine Thunder, an extremely powerful Thunder Star Art.

Yet within this Five Elements Divine Thunder lay five distinct Thunder Star Arts: Bing Fire Divine Thunder, Yi Wood Divine Thunder, Gui Water Divine Thunder, Geng Metal Divine Thunder, and Wu Earth Divine Thunder.

Only when these five Thunder Star Arts merged into one did they become the Five Elements Divine Thunder.

The true Five Elements Divine Thunder possessed astonishing power—several times stronger than any single-element Divine Thunder.

Even the Bing Fire Divine Thunder alone had been formidable enough.

If he mastered the true Five Elements Divine Thunder, Xu Jin estimated he might not be able to kill a Seventh Tier, but he could easily cripple one.

But to wield Five Elements Divine Thunder, Xu Jin first had to master all five of these Thunder Star Arts.

It wasn't difficult, really.

Because these Five Elements Thunder Star Arts required only Seventh Tier or higher Five Elements Source Star Patterns, combined with the Eighth Tier High Thunder Source Star Pattern, to form Five Elements Divine Thunder.

Currently, among the Five Elements Source Star Patterns, Xu Jin's Fire was Eighth Tier Mid, Earth was Eighth Tier Mid, Metal was Seventh Tier High, Water he had not yet learned, and Wood's Wood Source Star Pattern was only Seventh Tier High.

The Metal one was no problem—Ning Yuchan had already elevated hers to Eighth Tier Mid and given it to Xu Jin.

He simply hadn't had time to study it yet.

Xu Jin also possessed a Seventh Tier Low Water Source Star Pattern, which he had not yet studied.

Ji Hongli had only a Seventh Tier High Wood Source Star Pattern, which she had already given him, but the Ji family possessed an Eighth Tier Mid Wood Source—Xu Jin should be able to obtain it.

Thus, mastering Five Elements Divine Thunder was merely a matter of time for Xu Jin.

During his last evolution, besides the Thunder Source Star Pattern, Xu Jin spent two Golden Stars to elevate the Thunder Dash Star Pattern to Seventh Tier Mid.

He had consumed two Golden Stars and one Brilliant Star in total.

But before breaking through to Fifth Tier Second Layer, Xu Jin challenged the Star Picking Profound Realm and gained two more Golden Stars and one Brilliant Star.

To date, he still had five Golden Stars and one Brilliant Star.

The next instant, Xu Jin challenged the Star Picking Profound Realm for Fifth Tier Second Layer again.

Xu Jin's current strength was explosive.

Without any doubt, he gained two more Golden Stars and one Brilliant Star.

His Golden Star count rose to seven, and his Brilliant Star count reached two.

Then, Xu Jin began his evolutions.

The first thing was naturally to evolve the Fire Image Star Pattern.

The Fire Image Star Pattern he obtained was only Fourth Tier High.

Image Star Patterns had always been the hardest to evolve—even with the Star Dome's Dao-comprehension time and the Can Dou Platform's Law Stars' blessings, Xu Jin still spent three Golden Stars and one Brilliant Star to elevate the Fire Image Star Pattern to Eighth Tier Low.

His Golden Star count dropped sharply to four, and he still had one Brilliant Star left.

The Thunder Wing Star Pattern had to be evolved.

It enhanced auxiliary speed.

Both the speed of Flowing Flash and Thunder Dash could be boosted.

Yet when evolving the Thunder Wing Star Pattern, Xu Jin's accumulated evolution experience, along with the effects of the Star Dome and the Can Dou Platform's Law Stars, finally showed their full power.

For a Fifth Tier Low Thunder Wing Star Pattern, Xu Jin needed only two Golden Stars to reach Seventh Tier High.

On average, each Golden Star raised the pattern by four sub-ranks.

Before this, when evolving Star Patterns, Xu Jin was lucky to gain three sub-ranks per Golden Star, and unlucky to gain only two.

Now, he could achieve four.

It was the taste of accumulated strength finally bursting forth!

Seventh Tier High Thunder Wing directly increased Xu Jin's speed—both Flowing Flash and Thunder Dash—by over seventy percent.

A thirty percent increase over the previous Thunder Wing's effect.

With this boost, Xu Jin was confident his speed could now surpass most Seventh Tier experts.

Meanwhile, Thunder Wing was also a layer of defense!

With the enhancements from the Thunder Source Star Pattern and Thunder Image Star Pattern, Thunder Wing's defense became extraordinary.

Another layer of armor added.

From now on, when encountering enemies, Xu Jin would first deploy Fish Curtain Golden Bell, then Thunder Wing, then the special Star Art Transfer Flower, and finally the Seven Stars Spirit Armor.

With these four layers of armor stacked, combined with Earth Root, Xu Jin estimated he might even survive against ordinary Eighth Tier experts.

Speaking of defense,

Xu Jin's mind sank into the Rain Curtain Star Pattern and began evolving it.

Fish Curtain Golden Bell was Xu Jin's strongest defense.

But its core component, the Rain Curtain Star Pattern, was only Fourth Tier High.

Last time, Xu Jin had wanted to evolve it—but the Star Dome's Dao-comprehension time had ended.

Today was the perfect chance.

Half an hour later, after consuming two Golden Stars, the Rain Curtain Star Pattern was directly elevated to Seventh Tier Mid.

An increase of eight sub-ranks.

According to the Grand Master, even the Song family, whose clan foundation was the Rain Curtain Star Pattern, had barely elevated it to Fifth Tier High, hiding it carefully.

Now, Xu Jin had achieved Seventh Tier Mid with only two Golden Stars.

Previously, he could only stack four layers of Rain Curtain; now, he could stack seven.

Just testing it, Xu Jin found that with the Rain Curtain Star Pattern's upgrade, his Fish Curtain Golden Bell's defense had increased by eighty percent—nearly doubled.

Defense doubled!

He felt regret.

He should have evolved the Rain Curtain Star Pattern sooner.

If he had reached this level earlier, he could have withstood Emperor Gan'an's Yellow Dragon Sword strike head-on!

Another layer of armor added.

The next instant, Xu Jin's mind sank into the Mingji Star Pattern.

The Mingji Star Pattern was one of the Star Patterns Xu Jin planned to evolve.

Its importance kept growing.

Especially since his Lower Star Palace held thirty-six Star Patterns—if he slightly enhanced the Mingji Star Pattern, its perception effect would multiply.

But when Xu Jin's mind sank into his Lower Star Palace, he suddenly froze.

He had no Golden Stars left.

After all that evolution, he had used up all his Golden Stars; only one Brilliant Star remained.

"This—"

The number of Golden Stars and Brilliant Stars was still insufficient!

Did that mean evolving the Mingji Star Pattern would have to be delayed again?

But Xu Jin didn't care anymore.

The next instant, he pulled out two Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Pills and a white fragment of bone!

With these two treasures as aids, his cultivation base should break through to Fifth Tier Third Layer in a short time.

(End of Chapter)