Chapter 446: The Gate of Return

Within the Star River, inside a dazzling star, stood a towering, majestic building. It was as if this building connected to countless stars, with endless starlight projecting from the Star River into it from afar.

Finally, this starlight converged upon a majestic figure lying on their side at the peak of the building.

Countless rays of starlight surged into their body with every breath.

Their body, like a bottomless black hole, continuously absorbed this massive amount of extraterrestrial starlight.

Suddenly, this majestic figure moved slightly; as the Daoist bun atop their head swayed, their eyes opened slightly, and their brows furrowed.

"Disappeared?"

"Could someone have truly become a personal disciple?"

The next instant, a point of starlight rose from the top of the Extreme Dao Emperor's head, shooting straight into the Star River.

The starlight surged into the Star River, flowing against the current, until suddenly, it was blocked by what seemed like an invisible barrier. It could only gaze down from afar at a rather unique star within the Star River.

At first glance, this star looked exactly like all the others.

But if one observed closely, one would discover that this star faintly projected hundreds upon thousands of rays of starlight. It was clearly just a medium-world star, yet it had intricate, thousand-fold connections with many great-world stars.

This star was precisely the place where the Extreme Dao Emperor attained the Dao; the Extreme Dao Emperor named it the Kunling Realm.

The starlight manifested by the Extreme Dao Emperor gazed down from afar, sensing the Kunling Realm.

After a long while, the starlight trembled slightly.

It could no longer be sensed.

Within the Seven Kill Secret Realm of the Kunling Realm, all traces of the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun could no longer be sensed.

This was completely beyond their expectations.

Normally speaking, it was possible for the geniuses of the Kunling Realm to pass the sixth trial.

But the seventh trial was absolutely impossible.

The Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun, even if it were only a phantom body at the age of forty, was the greatest individual in the history of the Kunling Realm.

The kind that had no predecessor and would have no successor.

It was impossible for anyone.

Although the phantom body of the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun at age forty only had the cultivation of the mid-Eighth Tier, when it erupted, even the Ninth Tier could not withstand it.

Who could pass the trial?

It was fundamentally impossible to pass.

Even that person could not.

But now, the aura was indeed gone.

They themselves had only obtained the inner-chamber inheritance back then, but now, the personal inheritance might have been taken away by someone else.

After pondering for a few breaths, the starlight instantly dissipated and returned.

Inside the towering building, the Extreme Dao Emperor, who had been in a trance, slowly opened their eyes. As their thoughts stirred, they drove the starlight to contact the Star Spirit they had left within the Kunling Realm domain.

It was just that, separated not only by the vast Star River but also by the world barrier, even for the Extreme Dao Emperor, making contact was extremely arduous.

Their cultivation was powerful, allowing them to project the meaning they wished to convey across the distant Star River.

However, for the Star Spirit to reply was extremely difficult!

After a long time, the Extreme Dao Emperor finally received a vague answer.

【The strongest person to pass the sixth trial is a mid-Eighth Tier Golden Pillar alien Sacred Blood descendant.】

Upon receiving this answer, the Extreme Dao Emperor looked toward the direction of the Kunling Realm from afar, their brows gradually furrowing.

Their plan had encountered a variable!

And this variable appeared to be quite significant.

It seemed they would have to find a way to continue interfering!

Xu Jin's thoughts sank into the wooden sword before him. After making a discovery, he drove his Primordial Spirit divine sense to surge into the wooden sword and began to refine it.

The process of refining was also a process of understanding this wooden sword.

At the same time, during the refining process, countless pieces of information surged into Xu Jin's mind.

This information could only be known after defeating the strongest phantom body left by the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun within the Seven Kill Secret Realm.

First, the material of this wooden sword was just ordinary ironwood; it was used by the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun to practice swordsmanship when he was young.

It accompanied the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun for a full dozen years or more.

It was originally a mortal object.

But because the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun attained the Dao as a Tianyang Xingjun, it also became extraordinary.

After the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun attained the Dao as a Tianyang Xingjun and left this domain, he used this ironwood sword as a carrier, leaving behind his own will-phantom body to serve as an inheritance.

Usually, this ironwood sword would walk through the Seven Kill Star Domain in the guise of the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's phantom body.

It used the star origin and star power of the Seven Kill Star Domain as the foundation of its power.

Only when the strongest phantom body—that is, the phantom body at the age of forty—was shattered would this Seven Kill Ironwood Sword reveal its true form.

But it was not broken.

It was just that the accumulated power had been exhausted, especially the power of the Primordial Spirit and Divine Soul.

The Seven Kill Star Domain was considered a dead domain, so although the star origin was strong, the power of the Primordial Spirit and Divine Soul available for the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword to recover was extremely scarce.

The Seven Kill Ironwood Sword needed to lie quietly for at least one year before it could once again transform into the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's phantom body to roam the Seven Kill Star Domain.

And this year was also the only opportunity for a personal disciple to refine and control the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword.

At this very moment, Xu Jin extremely easily refined his own Primordial Spirit imprint into the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword.

At the same time, he also learned what the so-called hidden reward actually was.

There were two known ones.

First: As long as sufficient Primordial Spirit thought-power and star power were provided to the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword, the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword could once again transform into the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's phantom body to serve as a guardian for the personal disciple who refined it.

Its strongest state was the peak of the Eighth Tier.

Moreover, the stronger the Divine Soul power, the stronger the combat power.

Second: The Seven Kill Ironwood Sword was the key and token to obtaining the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's subsequent inheritance in the future.

If the personal disciple could leave the Kunling Realm in the future and step into the Star River, they would have the opportunity to obtain the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's subsequent inheritance.

Besides this, in the process of refining the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword, Xu Jin also obtained a lot of information regarding the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's growth and cultivation process.

Especially before the age of forty.

It was quite tortuous as well.

At the same time, Xu Jin also learned for the first time the name of the world he was in: the Kunling Realm.

In terms of rank, it was a medium-world star.

But according to the information left by the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun, this medium-world star had quite a few special aspects.

But as for exactly how special it was, it only hinted at one or two points, and there were no other explanations.

Looking at the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword dancing and rotating before him, Xu Jin was quite delighted.

This harvest was truly significant enough.

This was equivalent to him obtaining a hired thug—no, it should be that he had obtained a guardian!

An Eighth-Tier guardian possessing super combat power.

It couldn't be called a hired thug; calling it a hired thug would be disrespectful to the Master!

Only at this very moment did Xu Jin have a sense of identification with his identity as the personal disciple of the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun.

The next instant, Xu Jin's thoughts stirred, and he attempted to inject Divine Soul thought-power and star power into this Seven Kill Ironwood Sword.

Just as his thoughts moved, Xu Jin's star power and Divine Soul thought-power surged into the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword like a river bursting its banks.

After only a quarter of an hour, Xu Jin was drained dry.

From the inside out, the upper, middle, and lower three Star Palaces were all drained dry!

While Xu Jin gave a bitter smile, he immediately cast "Warm Dream" on himself, allowing himself to quickly recover his star power and Divine Soul thought-power.

In a situation where his Divine Soul power was exhausted, even with the help of "Warm Dream" and the Spirit Platform Star Art, Xu Jin now needed a full six hours of deep sleep to fully recover. Fortunately, within the current Seven Kill Star Domain, it was extremely safe, and no one would disturb him.

Xu Jin simply let go and acted.

Xu Jin wanted to test how much power needed to be provided for the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword to recover into the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's phantom body.

Of course, it was not just a test, but a necessity.

Xu Jin currently did not know what kind of situation he would encounter upon leaving the Seven Kill Secret Realm.

Therefore, before leaving the Seven Kill Secret Realm, it was necessary to restore the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword.

With Xu Jin's current Primordial Spirit cultivation, he only needed to pour in his full effort three and a half times to fill the Divine Soul power required by the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword.

Xu Jin's current Primordial Spirit linear radiation distance was twenty-nine meters.

Three and a half times; theoretically, the Divine Soul power within this Seven Kill Ironwood Sword, or rather, the linear radiation distance of the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun phantom body's Primordial Spirit Fetal Light, exceeded one hundred meters.

Terrifying!

However, this was just a guess.

What truly made Xu Jin suffer was the recovery of the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword's star power.

After pouring in Primordial Spirit Divine Soul power four times, Xu Jin poured star power into the ironwood sword four times.

Each time, it was the entire star power of the middle and lower Star Palaces.

However, the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword was still like a bottomless pit, far from being filled.

And this had already taken nearly three days.

Xu Jin simply stopped waiting and directly drew over seventy rays of starlight from the Arena Platform, restoring his middle and lower Star Palaces to their peak, and then injected it into the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword.

After injecting it five times in a row, the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword suddenly began to shimmer with starlight. As Xu Jin's thoughts moved, the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword transformed into the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun, standing with a sword in a green shirt.

But the cultivation aura it emitted was only at the early Eighth Tier!

Xu Jin's face instantly turned bitter.

His seventy-two star cores were super-grade star forging, at the very least equivalent to the star power level of a peak Sixth Tier Ninth Layer cultivator, or even stronger.

But after pouring in star power eight times, it only restored the star power aura of the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's phantom body within the ironwood sword to the level of the early Eighth Tier.

If this were to be restored to the peak of the Eighth Tier?

How many more times would it need?

He was a bit scared!

He hoped he wouldn't exhaust all the starlight he had accumulated on the Arena Platform.

Before the Arena Platform ascended to the Fifth Tier, the starlight on Xu Jin's Arena Platform was almost inexhaustible.

But after the Arena Platform ascended to the Fifth Tier, along with Xu Jin forging thirty-six stars in his middle and lower Star Palaces.

When using the Arena Platform's starlight to restore Xu Jin's cultivation, the consumed starlight count rose exponentially.

Now, the Arena Platform's starlight count had never exceeded one thousand.

And to fully restore Xu Jin's middle and lower Shang Xinggong cultivation once, it required at least over seventy rays of starlight.

It was becoming a bit expensive to spend.

It was fortunate that after the Arena Platform's daily battle, he could obtain five rays of starlight.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to afford it.

"For now, let's leave it at this and let it recover slowly on its own."

Subsequently, Xu Jin stored the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword into his upper Shang Xinggong.

The Seven Kill Ironwood Sword itself could absorb the celestial star radiance from all directions to recover itself.

Even on a dead star like the Seven Kill Star Domain, in about a year, it would be basically recovered.

If it went to other living stars, it would be even faster.

A dead star refers to a star without living beings.

On a star without living beings, various powers, including star power and the speed of nurturing heavenly treasures, would decrease exponentially.

This was also the true reason why, although the Seven Kill Star Domain was an Eighth-Tier star domain, it didn't even have a single true Eighth-Tier heavenly treasure.

Only stars where living beings reside are living stars, which will grow and change rapidly.

And these living beings are not limited to any specific race.

Whether it is an alien race, animals, plants, or the human race, all are acceptable!

Among all stars, living stars have the greatest value, but living stars cannot be used to become one's natal star.

At the same time, only against dead stars can one cast the Killing Star Art!

Casting the Killing Star Art on a living star is absolutely impossible to succeed!

This was something specifically mentioned in the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's inheritance.

As the Seven Kill Ironwood Sword was stored into the upper Shang Xinggong, the Seven Kill Palace was also refined and stored into Xu Jin's upper Shang Xinggong.

This Seven Kill Palace was a treasure, and at the same time, it was a portal.

After mastering and refining it, it became the portal to the Seven Kill Star Domain.

Whoever refines and controls the Seven Kill Palace, as long as they move their thoughts, can use the Seven Kill Palace to open a portal and then return to the Seven Kill Star Domain.

At the same time, since the Seven Kill Palace exists, Xu Jin can open a star gate in most places in the current world.

As long as there is no space blockade or array restriction, a portal can be opened.

This discovery made Xu Jin overjoyed.

This meant that he could return to the current world silently and without anyone knowing.

Not only that, but even the matter of obtaining the Divine Dao True Meaning could be hidden.

According to the exchanges Xu Jin had with the Grand Master over these past few days, as time passed, the various forces in the current world had reached an unprecedented level of surveillance over the various star gates of the Seven Kill Palace in the current world.

A month ago, at the Seven Kill star gates that were opened and existed, besides a large number of Sixth-Tier watchers, occasionally the aura of Seventh-Tier powerhouses would appear.

However, now, around every star gate, there were already Eighth-Tier experts lying in ambush.

Not just Eighth-Tier, but various kinds of arrangements had been made.

Such as directional teleportation arrays, and so on.

Especially the Seven Kill star gate deep within the Great Da Da Qing Shan; Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao sent people to investigate once and discovered that there were at least four non-top-tier Eighth-Tier powerhouse auras.

And there were extremely many kinds of arrangements.

If there were any discovery, top-tier powerhouses would likely arrive in an instant.

At that time, if someone truly came out from the Seven Kill Secret Realm star gate, it would likely immediately trigger a world war!

Recently, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao had also been worried about this.

Although he had obtained that Fire-type Divine Dao True Meaning and had hope for a breakthrough in the future, it could not help him break through immediately.

With his current strength, against top-tier Eighth-Tier experts, he could take on two, or even barely take on three!

But what about the other Eighth-Tier experts?

If Xu Jin truly came out from the Seven Kill star gate deep in the Great Da Da Qing Shan, then the various forces in the current world would not only believe that Xu Jin had obtained the Seven Kill Tianyang Zhenjun's personal inheritance, but even the remaining missing Divine Dao True Meanings might have been obtained by Xu Jin.

These top-tier Eighth-Tier experts would absolutely not let go of any tiny opportunity for a breakthrough.

They would inevitably besiege Xu Jin and hunt him down!

While Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao lamented that Xu Jin might be hunted down again, he was also worried about how to safely bring Xu Jin back to Dachen Dachen Wan Yi.

As long as Xu Jin returned to Dachen Dachen Wan Yi, he had the confidence to protect Xu Jin!

Those top-tier Eighth-Tier experts, such as Tianyang Xingjun Tianyang and others, were crazy about the Divine Dao True Meaning.

But each one of them was also extremely shrewd; their own lives were more important than the Divine Dao True Meaning!

Within Dachen Dachen Wan Yi, if Cheng Yuexiao went crazy, beheading one or two top-tier Eighth-Tier experts would be no problem at all!

Suddenly, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao received a message sent by Xu Jin using the Mandarin Duck Seal.

He was immediately overjoyed.

【Is it true?】

【It is true.】

【Then don't be in a hurry; let me carefully deliberate on this matter.】

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 447 =====