Chapter 45

Seized property was mostly silver notes and loose silver, as well as a large amount of elixirs.

The Star-Replenishing Elixirs searched from Hong Li were the most, with two and a half bottles; the other four mission targets only had Star-Replenishing Elixirs in the hands of the leaders, from one bottle to a few pills. After counting, there were forty-six Star-Replenishing Elixirs in total; just this item alone, if converted into silver, would be nearly a thousand taels.

There were fifteen hundred taels of silver notes, a little over one hundred and twenty taels of loose silver, and several pieces of gold jewelry.

Among the stolen goods, there were more than thirty pieces of jade, ninety-seven taels of gold, twenty-six silver notes of one hundred taels each, more than three hundred and thirty silver ingots of ten taels each, and a box of other gold, silver, and jewelry, the value of which was hard to say, mostly gold and silver jewelry, jade ornaments, and pearls.

Not counting gold and silver jewelry and jade wares, the total gold and silver was 6900 taels.

Xu Jin didn't try to be polite; according to what Niu Gui said, in this case, the victims were almost all gone, so even if they were handed over, they would be confiscated, so taking them according to military custom was fine.

However, Xu Jin first took six hundred taels of silver from the stolen goods, preparing to give two hundred taels to the nursing home, and also giving a few taels of silver to the children who were maimed and dismembered to settle down, and preparing to give twenty taels to each of the more than ten victimized women who were rescued, and also including the precedents for the clerks, prison officials, and the Beast Taming Hall.

Afterward, Xu Jin took an additional 35% or so from the stolen goods, about 2400 taels, and moved it to the seized property, and threw the loose silver and gold jewelry from the seized property into the stolen goods.

In this way, there was a total of 3900 taels of silver that could be divided.

In terms of silver division, Xu Jin was even less polite; he and Niu Gui each took 20%, and the rest were divided equally among the others.

On this point, Xu Jin's division was also full of confidence; according to the contribution, he and Niu Gui should take the big share, more work, more gain.

Whoever wasn't convinced could compare the number of heads killed.

In the end, Xu Jin received 780 taels of silver and 9 Star-Replenishing Elixirs; as for the others, each received about 210 taels of silver and two to three Star-Replenishing Elixirs.

It couldn't be divided equally; those who wanted more Star-Replenishing Elixirs would compensate others with silver.

This large sum of wealth was divided, and everyone was happy.

Before, during training, many people were struggling, and when going on missions, they were even more terrified, but at this moment, receiving this large sum of silver, everything was worth it.

Especially for disciples like Qian Qian Xiaohu and Sha Sha Youtian, whose family backgrounds were very ordinary, this sum of wealth was enough to let their families cross a small social class.

Xu Jin didn't need to mention it.

Xu Jin first thought of his sister, little Jiang Er.

With this money, after returning to the county city, he would go find that Zhao Zhuangzhu, and even if it meant breaking the contract, he would let his sister gain her freedom.

Next year, he could let his sister sign up for the Star-Condensing Season to condense stars.

Xu Jin already had the financial power.

Xu Jin had already set aside Niu Gui's share.

When dividing the silver for everyone, silver notes were the main thing, and silver ingots were a small amount.

According to the guide from the Spring Rain Division, the real danger was on the return journey, and if the package was too heavy, it wouldn't be good.

When dividing the silver, Xu Jin gave himself a little more gold to replace silver, about five taels of gold.

And when concentrating the remaining three boxes of stolen goods together, Xu Jin organized them himself, taking the opportunity to channel the Practice Arena and ingest nine star jade tablets.

In this way, Xu Jin was only missing ten wisps of starlight for the Practice Arena to ascend tiers, and everything else was ready.

Very quickly, Xu Jin made arrangements, dividing the twelve people into four groups, three people in a group to guard at night.

"Those who are not guarding at night for the time being can also cultivate for a while; keep one or two Star-Replenishing Elixirs in your hands for emergencies, and it's best to use the others as quickly as possible to convert them into strength; on the return journey, there might be danger."

Xu Jin gave the others instructions; he could only say this much; whether they could listen or not depended on them as individuals.

He chewed a few mouthfuls of dry rations at will, and Xu Jin operated the Drinking Radiance Style to replenish his Qi first.

After five battles today, Xu Jin's Qi had long since hit the bottom; he had taken a normal Star-Replenishing Elixir on the way, and at this moment, he only had a small half left.

However, there were still two wisps of starlight left on the Practice Arena, which had been kept for emergencies.

At this thought, Xu Jin calculated that the Practice Arena needed ten wisps of starlight to ascend tiers; there were two wisps now, and after midnight, another wisp could be replenished; seven days, at least seven more days were needed to save enough starlight for the Practice Arena to ascend tiers.

It was a bit of a pity.

If the Practice Arena could ascend tiers today, Xu Jin's combat power would definitely have a certain degree of improvement.

For example, the star lamp; currently, it was one star lamp, and Xu Jin felt that after ascending tiers, the greatest possibility was to add another star lamp.

Adding another star lamp meant he could solidify another basic Star Art.

From today's actual combat, these three basic Star Arts—basic Star Shield, basic Star Ring, and basic Star Arrow—were the most practical in actual combat.

If they could be realized instantaneously, Xu Jin's combat power would not just be improved by a little bit.

It was a pity that when he killed Deng Hu earlier, Xu Jin's choices were too few, and he could only choose basic Star Glow.

And the basic Star Glow solidified on this star lamp now still needed two days to be replaced.

This made Xu Jin even more regretful.

Two days, which meant it could only be replaced after midnight the day after tomorrow; if it could be replaced tomorrow, Xu Jin's power to protect himself on the return journey would be even stronger.

And as for personal strength, Xu Jin had only broken through to the third layer of the Meal of Mist Realm last night, so it was impossible to break through to the fourth layer of the Meal of Mist Realm in a short time.

Then the direction in which he could improve his strength at the moment was only practicing in the star lamp. Xu Jin's Five-Battle Killing Fist was currently mastered, and among all the basic Star Arts, the progress of the basic Star Shield was the fastest; when practicing in the star lamp, it already had a feeling of being instantaneous; if he worked harder, the basic Star Shield might be able to be instantaneous.

His life-saving ability would be even stronger.

However, there should be nothing tonight, so tonight's body-tempering cultivation still had to be carried out.

Just as Xu Jin's mind left the Practice Arena, Xu Jin suddenly thought of a problem.

The gold and silver ingested into the Practice Arena could be spat out again.

Then what about starlight?

The essence of starlight is Qi.

It could be injected into Xu Jin's body, so could Xu Jin inject Qi into the Practice Arena?

Xu Jin thought about it and felt that there was a complete possibility of this, so he immediately started trying.

Simultaneously visualizing the Star Pattern and the Practice Arena, his mind guided the starlight in the Star Pattern to flow toward the Practice Arena.

The next moment, Xu Jin's Star Pattern suddenly emptied, becoming empty, while the starlight on the Practice Arena already had one more wisp.

It became three wisps!

It could!

Currently, Xu Jin had successfully engraved the Small Star-Gathering Pattern, and under the condition of the third layer of the Meal of Mist Realm, all his Qi could just happen to condense one wisp of starlight.

Since he could use Qi to pour out starlight, then continue.

After three consecutive rounds of the Drinking Radiance Style, the starlight on Xu Jin's Practice Arena changed from three wisps to six wisps.

Still missing four wisps.

Xu Jin decisively took a Mind-Awakening Elixir.

Under the current situation, after taking one Mind-Awakening Elixir, it could restore half of Xu Jin's soul power, which could at least let Xu Jin do two more rounds of the Drinking Radiance Style.

After half an hour, the starlight on Xu Jin's Practice Arena changed from nine wisps to ten wisps.

Still missing one wisp of starlight.

Where could he get it?

Currently, the remaining channels were Star-Replenishing Elixirs, or doing the Meal of Mist Style again after sleeping.

But tomorrow's Qi definitely couldn't be exhausted; it had to be kept for use on the road.

As for Star-Replenishing Elixirs, according to Xu Jin's previous tests, two could obtain the Qi contained in one wisp of starlight, which meant that theoretically, taking four more would be enough to gather two wisps of starlight.

Although the effect of this kind of direct replenishment elixir didn't drop as much when taken continuously, four definitely wasn't enough; it was estimated that five to six would be needed.

Thinking about it, Xu Jin directly took out the Star-Replenishing Elixir that had been nurtured for a day and a half under the star lamp of the Practice Arena.

It was a test, anyway; he would do it later.

Improving strength was the priority now.

One Star-Replenishing Elixir that had been nurtured for a day and a half entered his abdomen and immediately turned into rolling Qi that surged into Xu Jin's Star Pattern; the moment the Star Pattern was full, it was guided by Xu Jin to the Practice Arena.

On the Practice Arena, there was one more star pattern.

The remaining medicinal power of this one-halo Star-Replenishing Elixir provided Xu Jin with another 20% of Qi, and then it disappeared completely.

Before, nurturing for one day, the elixir effect directly doubled; this one was nurtured for a day and a half, but the medicinal effect only increased by 20%.

Currently, it seemed that nurturing for one day had the best elixir effect, and the improvement afterward was relatively slow.

Of course, this still needed testing.

Still missing one wisp of starlight.

Xu Jin swallowed a Mind-Awakening Elixir and set up the Drinking Radiance Style again.

Fifteen minutes later, the starlight on the Practice Arena changed from nine wisps to ten wisps.

The next moment, Xu Jin's mind sank into the jade tablet of the Practice Arena.

On the jade tablet, the line of information 【Can ascend tier】 had changed to 【Ascend tier】, and both inside and outside were flashing with starlight, as if countless starlight were flowing.

Thinking about it, Xu Jin used the excuse of going to the bathroom to find a side room without anyone in the backyard, so as not to cause any strange phenomena during the tier ascent that would attract attention.

The next moment, Xu Jin's mind sank into the 【Ascend tier】 characters on the jade tablet.

Ascend tier!

Almost at the same instant, a wisp of starlight that others couldn't see rose from Xu Jin's Practice Arena and shot straight into the sky.

In the void, the nine stars where the Big Dipper was located suddenly shone slightly for a moment, and the time was very short.

So short that the top experts of this world sensed the anomaly, and when they raised their heads to look at the sky, the Big Dipper had returned to normal, as if it had never changed.

But the brilliant starlight had already fallen from the sky and into Xu Jin's Practice Arena.

On the Practice Arena, a brand-new star lamp was slowly appearing.

(End of chapter)