Chapter 487: Breakthrough and the Difficulty of Identity

The Seven-Star Spirit Ginseng was Xu Jin's greatest unexpected gain during this trip to the Danhai Star Region.

In addition, from the Sumeru space of the Blood Spirit Son Hong Hong Daze, Xu Jin discovered eight four-star spirit ginseng, four five-star spirit ginseng, two six-star spirit ginseng, and one seven-star spirit ginseng.

It seems the Danhai Star Region is a star region rich in producing spirit ginseng.

In this universe, most spirit herbs naturally carry various stellar force attributes.

Such as herbs of the metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder elements.

These kinds of herbs cannot be used directly to enhance cultivation base; they can only be used to strengthen star patterns.

Such attributeless spirit herbs are extremely rare.

This strengthened Xu Jin's resolve to fully control the Danhai Star Region.

Once fully controlled, it would become a stable source of spirit ginseng for the future.

At that time, whether for personal use or bestowing upon others, it would be extremely useful.

Immediately, Xu Jin threw all these herbs into the Ginseng Altar to nurture them.

After one to several days of nurturing, the medicinal potency of these herbs would increase significantly.

The only regret was that, from numerous examples of nurturing herbs in the Ginseng Altar, the maximum effect was doubling the potency.

Often, it only improved potency by three or five tenths.

It seemed to merely push the nurturing effect to its absolute limit.

After selecting a suitable spot, Xu Jin directly swallowed the newly acquired seventh-grade Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pill.

In an instant, a torrent of stellar force surged straight toward his Cloud Tower.

Simultaneously, a formidable negative energy surged directly into Xu Jin's Nascent Soul.

Xu Jin's Nascent Soul was now solid and dense beyond measure.

This formidable negative energy, like a pillar of dark force, slammed into his Upper Star Palace.

Yet Xu Jin's Nascent Soul showed not the slightest disturbance.

Unmoving as a mountain.

The impact was minimal.

But it inevitably stained his Nascent Soul.

It coated his Nascent Soul's Tai Guang with a bloody hue.

Just as Xu Jin was about to activate a special star technique to purify and test its effectiveness, a tiny thread of golden light suddenly shot out from his third eye.

This was likely the residual trace of golden faith energy absorbed earlier, left over after repairing his divine soul's origin.

The golden light flew toward the bloodstained Tai Guang of his Nascent Soul.

The moment it touched, the faint golden light rippled outward.

Where the pale golden ripples passed, the bloodstain on the Nascent Soul's Tai Guang melted away like snow poured with boiling water.

This filled Xu Jin with a flash of delight.

The golden faith energy gained from his followers was incredibly powerful.

If it could restore damage to the divine soul's origin, it must also heal ordinary Nascent Soul injuries—and now, it could even purge negative forces.

Extremely useful.

In the future, he must hoard more of it.

Who knows when it might prove crucial!

And he shouldn't waste it clearing away this bloodstain—it was too wasteful.

It was like using an anti-aircraft cannon to shoot mosquitoes.

This single residual thread of golden faith energy, merely passing through, had already cleared half the negative energy from the seventh-grade Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pill.

In the next instant, Xu Jin activated the special star technique Purification granted by the Eighth-Grade Star Healing.

A ring of green ripples spread from his Cloud Tower, washing over every corner of his body, including his Nascent Soul.

As the green ripples passed, the remaining bloodstain on the Nascent Soul faded slightly.

Xu Jin then activated the Purification star technique five more times in succession; each time, it cleared away some of the negative energy.

But the amount cleared diminished each time.

When he activated it for the sixth time, it had no effect at all.

The bloodstain on the Nascent Soul had become very faint.

But it had not vanished completely.

With a thought, Xu Jin activated the Spirit Platform Star Technique; under its illumination, the remaining bloodstain on his Nascent Soul began to slowly dissolve!

Xu Jin now fully understood the special star technique Purification granted by Star Healing.

It had some effect in clearing negative forces stained on the Nascent Soul, but the effect was limited—it couldn't fully remove them—yet it was fast.

Combined with the Spirit Platform Star Technique, it could completely purge the negative energy from the Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pill.

Compared to using the Spirit Platform Star Technique alone, its effectiveness improved by more than tenfold.

In the future, if Xu Jin obtained high-quality Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pills, he could use them directly to enhance his cultivation base.

In the next instant, Xu Jin began using his vast Nascent Soul power to drive the immense stellar force from the seventh-grade Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pill to forge his third Cloud Tower.

A seventh-grade Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pill, if used by an ordinary sixth-grade cultivator, might forge two Cloud Towers directly.

But Xu Jin was forging an eight-cornered Cloud Tower.

In the end, one seventh-grade Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pill only allowed Xu Jin to forge one seven-cornered Cloud Tower.

His cultivation base had risen to the late stage of sixth-grade third layer.

Because the side effects of the seventh-grade Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pill had been largely purged, Xu Jin immediately consumed five more sixth-grade Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pills.

He intermittently activated the Purification star technique to mitigate the pills' side effects.

Half a day later, Xu Jin's third eight-cornered Cloud Tower was fully forged, marking his cultivation base at the peak of sixth-grade third layer.

He had long since harvested the sixth-grade golden star; he continued taking Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pills to cultivate.

On the second day of entering the Danhai Star Region, Xu Jin's cultivation broke through to sixth-grade fourth layer.

But one seventh-grade and five sixth-grade Ten-Thousand-Spirit Blood Pills had only pushed his cultivation to the early stage of sixth-grade fourth layer.

Only two corners of the fourth eight-cornered Cloud Tower had formed.

Xu Jin wasted no time; he immediately took out a fifth-grade Star Gathering Array and placed five seventh-grade Star Jade Tablets within it, beginning to cultivate.

Due to the seventh-grade Star Jade Tablets, Xu Jin's cultivation efficiency was still excellent.

He could forge one corner of a Cloud Tower per day.

But unlike others, Xu Jin had to first strengthen a certain star pattern to the eighth layer before using it to forge a Cloud Tower.

Thus, during cultivation, he simultaneously raised his cultivation base and strengthened star patterns, preparing for future advancement.

Yet because Xu Jin's Nascent Soul cultivation was extraordinarily powerful and his stellar force immensely abundant, his speed of strengthening star patterns was extremely fast.

Including those already strengthened to the eighth layer during his training in the Star-Picking Tower, he now had over a dozen.

More than enough for future needs.

But Xu Jin continued strengthening star patterns even as he advanced his cultivation.

Strengthening star patterns was also a way to increase power.

Notably, some of the spirit ginseng he had obtained—particularly the fourth-grade four-star and fifth-grade five-star spirit ginseng—had been partially nurtured and were now usable for cultivation.

Four days later, on November 20, after consuming most of his six-star and five-star spirit ginseng, Xu Jin's cultivation reached the peak of sixth-grade fourth layer.

As for the four-star spirit ginseng, Xu Jin used only one portion and then stopped entirely. Even nurtured four-star spirit ginseng offered negligible gains; refining it was less efficient than using the Star Gathering Array.

So Xu Jin simply ceased using it, saving it for others to use for their breakthroughs.

After all, others couldn't possibly use seventh-grade Star Jade Tablets to cultivate.

And time was running out.

In the next instant, Xu Jin activated his Authority over Heaven and Earth; his mind instantly landed within the Blood Spirit Holy City of the Danhai Star Region.

【Have you completed the task?】

In the Blood Spirit Holy City, the mind of Blood Spirit Son Hong Hong Daze, who was recovering his cultivation, suddenly heard Xu Jin's voice.

Having once wielded the Authority over Heaven and Earth, Hong Hong Daze was very familiar with this; he spoke directly inside the empty Blood Spirit Holy Hall, "My Lord, I am ready. You may arrive at any time."

Fifteen minutes later, Xu Jin stepped through the stars and landed inside the Blood Spirit Holy Hall.

All seventh-grade and sixth-grade experts had been dispatched by Hong Hong Daze long ago.

Staying here would only invite disaster.

Worse, they might be casually wiped out by Xu Jin.

In that case, the loss would still be his own strength.

"How are Qi Qi Shanye and Mo Ji currently faring in the Blood Cloud City and Blood Moon City?" Xu Jin asked.

"My Lord, through several senior officials I know at headquarters, during exchanges using the Mandate Seal, I casually mentioned them and gathered their general status.

Both are still alive and highly favored by senior officials.

Currently, both hold military posts within the two cities' armies, commanding elite alien troops.

However, one is in the Blood Moon City, the other in the Blood Cloud City.

Their cultivation has also advanced rapidly—they are both at sixth-grade late stage, likely due to being key proteges of the headquarters' senior officials," said Hong Hong Daze.

"Has there been any clue as to who controls their divine souls?" Xu Jin asked.

Hearing this, Hong Hong Daze showed a troubled expression. "My Lord, I wanted to ask, but no one knows this. The headquarters' Elders never let those controlled know who controls their divine souls.

Even insiders rarely leak such information.

Yet judging by the level of attention these two receive—"

Who their direct superior is—or even who their superior's superior is—could very well be the one controlling their lives and deaths!

After all, those entrusted to command armies are held in the highest regard!

The sect's Guardian Elders aren't fools.

Key generals commanding armies are never handed over to just anyone's control!

But I don't know exactly who it is!

They're too far away, communication is difficult, and we can't investigate too closely," said Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze.

Hearing this, Xu Jin nodded; Hong Hong Daze's analysis was reasonable enough.

Now, there was only one question left—how to rescue Master Qi Qi Shanye and Senior Uncle Mo Ji.

Or rather, retrieving Master Qi Qi Shanye and Senior Uncle Mo Ji had already been put on the agenda.

In his spare moments between cultivation these past days, Xu Jin had been pondering this very issue.

With their soul cores controlled, neither teacher could escape on their own.

That meant Xu Jin would have to go himself.

This would be deep infiltration behind enemy lines.

And not just behind enemy lines—into the Eight Wilderness Continent.

Sneaking in invisibly the whole way was utterly unrealistic.

One discovery would mean endless pursuit and assassination.

Worse, he might never even see his teachers or understand the situation before being spotted.

The Eight Wilderness Continent was nothing like the Star Regions.

It was formed from the convergence of at least a dozen Star Regions.

The number of eighth-rank experts there was likely over ten.

The difficulty of forcibly rescuing them couldn't be described by the word "hell."

It might as well be called suicide!

So a cleverer method was needed.

He had to infiltrate the Eight Wilderness Continent first.

Normally, a current-era human couldn't infiltrate the Eight Wilderness Continent.

Just as a foreign race entering the current era would be universally hated.

But now, within the Eight Wilderness Continent, the Blood God Sect had Blood Cloud City and Blood Moon City; according to Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze, their sect already had tens of thousands of current-era humans there.

That created a possibility of infiltration.

But how to infiltrate remained a massive challenge.

"Do you have any way to send me into Blood Moon City or Blood Cloud City?" Xu Jin suddenly asked Hong Hong Daze.

Hong Hong Daze frowned, not answering immediately, but instead sinking into deep thought.

"My lord, sending you into Blood Moon City or Blood Cloud City isn't difficult at all!

My Star Region used to regularly send elite cultivators to headquarters; since Blood Moon City and Blood Cloud City were established, whenever I have a sixth-rank elite, I can dispatch them at any time.

But there's one problem: the entire process is extremely tight.

I can falsely claim I've already imprinted your soul core.

But once you arrive at Blood Cloud City or Blood Moon City, by custom, a powerful elder will re-imprint your soul core.

I've witnessed this process several times—they're extremely cautious.

From reception to escort to soul-core imprinting, an eighth-rank Elder oversees every step.

Of course, if you're confident you can escape from an eighth-rank Elder, it's still possible!

All I'd risk is a bit of blame," said Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze.

Xu Jin frowned.

Escaping upon arrival at Blood Moon City would be no different from not infiltrating at all.

He might never even see his teachers before being hunted across the entire continent.

Xu Jin wanted a legitimate identity within Blood Cloud City or Blood Moon City—one that would let him move freely, buy him enough time to find his teachers, make contact, locate the high-ranking officials controlling their soul cores, kill them, and only then succeed in rescue.

Otherwise, he'd only hasten his teachers' deaths.

In that case, it would be better not to rescue them at all!

This thought filled Xu Jin with inexplicable frustration!

If he couldn't obtain an identity through Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze to infiltrate the Eight Wilderness Continent, how else could he do it?

Or rather, the core issue was obtaining an identity that wouldn't require his soul core to be re-controlled by the Blood God Sect's headquarters?

"Does your Blood God Sect have any position that, once reaching Blood Cloud City, wouldn't require a soul-core re-imprint?" Xu Jin asked again.

"This… I don't have any!"

Here, Hong Hong Daze gave a bitter smile. "Even I, as Blood God Son, have my soul core controlled by the Guardian Elders—let alone my subordinates."

"No solution at all?" Xu Jin frowned.

"My lord, I don't have one. But as far as I know, our Blood God Sect has a Deputy Sect Master in the current era—he holds an extremely high status and immense authority, even surpassing the two Guardian Elders slightly.

If his people go to Blood Cloud City,

they likely won't need to be re-imprinted with a soul core!" said Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze.

"A Deputy Sect Master in the current era?"

Suddenly, Xu Jin's mind stirred—he thought of something.

(End of Chapter)