Chapter 494: The Difficulty of the Ninth-Tier and Losing Left and Right

On December 5th, the diplomatic star boat fleet flew to the northernmost part of Chen Guo's Xihai Zhou, separated by a mountain from Great Hong's Anzhou; there was an Anshan Pass here, which was an important traffic gateway between the two countries.

The diplomatic mission stopped here.

"Zhu, why is there no sign of the opposite team?" Xu Jin summoned the etiquette official.

According to the itinerary, when they arrived at Anshan Pass, the welcoming team from Great Hong would be waiting for them here.

But now, the city gate at Anshan Pass was tightly closed.

Let alone the welcoming team, not even a shadow of a person could be seen.

"My Lord, I have already contacted them; they said they encountered obstacles on the road and would be a bit slow, asking us to wait a while," etiquette official Zhu Xizhou said.

"Encountering obstacles in their own country, this excuse is really good," Xu Jin sneered.

But he was not angry, waving his hand, "Land, rest on the spot, hunt for some game in a small area; remember, get live ones for me to see, and then just wait."

Before coming, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao told Xu Jin that for this diplomatic mission, safety was no problem, but it would definitely not be too smooth.

The reason was very simple.

During the last surprise attack on the Heavenly Yang Star Palace's garrison branch, the elite forces of the Heavenly Yang Star Palace killed by Chen Guo exceeded twenty thousand, and even more were captured.

Especially among the Great Hong elites killed, most of them came from Great Hong.

When the news reached Great Hong, naturally, there was public indignation and resentment.

It was just that Heavenly Yang Star Lord didn't speak in the end, so the matter was suppressed.

But it was only suppressed; the emotions of the mid-to-high levels and the public would not disappear.

The lack of smoothness the Grand Master spoke of probably referred to these things.

At the same time, Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao also gave Xu Jin two bottom lines for acting.

First: Cannot take the initiative to provoke, especially the kind that leaves a handle, because this is a diplomatic affair; once a handle is left, involving the dignity of the Empire, any hat can be put on.

Second: Absolutely not afraid of trouble; when the other party provokes, one must not suffer losses, and similarly, it involves the dignity of the Empire.

These two bottom lines for acting, in Xu Jin's view, were just two points.

Do not have the right to take the initiative to attack.

But possess the right to unlimited counterattack.

Therefore, at this time, the welcoming envoy had not arrived, so Xu Jin waited quietly.

There was still plenty of game in the mountains, and very quickly, the elite Star Patrol Guards brought back one live game after another.

Wild rabbits, pheasants, monkeys, a black bear, and snakes.

All the game was lined up and sent to Xu Jin according to the order.

Xu Jin was currently urging his Nascent Soul, urging the Clear Record Star Pattern, carefully sensing the life rhythm of the game sent to him.

The next instant, with a movement of his mind, an invisible sword intent without any power fluctuation slashed toward the wild rabbit in front of him.

The soldier who sent the wild rabbit only felt that the Chief Envoy just opened his eyes, and the wild rabbit lost its breath.

There were no wounds, but it just died.

In the Upper Star Palace, at some unknown time, a group of sword light had already condensed.

This was a sword intent condensed purely by will sensing the life rhythm, named the Seven-Kill Sword Heart.

It was the result of Xu Jin's period of time.

But it was only the primary Seven-Kill Sword Heart.

As one wild beast after another was sent to Xu Jin, Xu Jin's Seven-Kill Sword Heart constantly urged, and these wild beasts constantly died.

Some only needed an instant, and some species he had never seen before needed four or five breaths.

And in this process, Xu Jin's Seven-Kill Sword Heart was constantly growing stronger.

Especially the life rhythm of those species he had never seen before, which could best strengthen the Seven-Kill Sword Heart.

After several hundred wild beasts, Xu Jin's Seven-Kill Sword Heart had already grown more than double.

Even for species he had never seen before, he could sense their life rhythm within two seconds, and the sword intent would come out, killing them instantly.

"It seems that my primary Seven-Kill Sword Heart is about to be completed."

The next instant, Xu Jin suddenly moved in his heart, took out hundreds of emblems he had previously captured, and said loudly, "Whoever can help me catch a type of wild beast that has not appeared in this pile, regardless of size, as long as it is alive, find one, and I will reward a Fourth-Tier emblem."

"My Lord, are these words true? Are small flying animals and insects okay?" A Fourth-Tier team leader of the Star Patrol Guards stepped forward and asked.

"As long as it is not a duplicate, you can take one piece," Xu Jin directly took out over a hundred Fourth-Tier emblems and placed them in front of him.

"Good, we will go right now."

"Remember, you cannot enter the Great Hong territory," Xu Jin instructed.

The Star Patrol Guards who could accompany the diplomatic mission were at least at the Fourth-Tier early stage, but for most Fourth-Tier cultivators, Fourth-Tier emblems were still treasures.

Even for Fifth-Tier cultivators, the value of Fourth-Tier emblems was not bad.

At worst, it was a small fortune.

The military marquis of the Star Patrol Guards, Lei Qi, knew Xu Jin's prestige; when he came, the Star Patrol Guard Grand Commander Pei Ze had specifically instructed him to follow Xu Jin's wishes and not be stupid.

So at this time, the Chief Envoy Xu Jin had an order, and Lei Qi didn't care, just instructed them not to cross the border.

Half a quarter of an hour later, Star Patrol Guard soldiers came to report one after another.

It had to be said that the power of the masses was infinite.

Xu Jin originally thought that at most he would find twenty or thirty different types of animals.

But he didn't expect that the different animals brought by these Star Patrol Guard soldiers were over three hundred types.

There were dozens of types of different ants.

Fire ants, black ants, blood ants, flying ants, and so on.

Xu Jin also accepted them all; as long as it was a new species and not a duplicate, he gave out rewards for all of them.

Anyway, those Fourth-Tier emblems of his were just sitting there, most of them captured, so it was better to take this opportunity to give them away.

Xu Jin's primary Seven-Kill Sword Heart was also rapidly perfecting under these circumstances.

More than half an hour later, whenever a new wild animal was sent, it would die in an instant.

According to the Seven-Kill inheritance, the primary Seven-Kill Sword Heart could be considered a great success.

In the future, if he discovered animals whose life rhythm he had not sensed, he would just sense them slowly to strengthen it.

Now, he could proceed to the next stage of the Seven-Kill Sword Heart.

Sensing the life rhythm of species that have life but no flesh and blood.

Xu Jin found a patch of wild azaleas on the hillside and casually tried to urge the Seven-Kill Sword Heart.

As a result, the azaleas had no reaction.

"Let's start with it."

The next instant, star power surged, and Xu Jin dug up the hundred or so azaleas within a ten-meter range, mud and all, and moved them directly onto the star boat.

Subsequently, Xu Jin held a bright red azalea in his arms and, according to the method in the Seven-Kill inheritance, started to sense the life rhythm.

At first, it felt incomparably obscure.

Sure enough, the life rhythm of this kind of plant was several times harder than the life rhythm of animals.

Xu Jin had already condensed the primary Seven-Kill Sword Heart, but the feeling was still much harder than when he first started sensing the life rhythm of animals.

Initially, it took Xu Jin eight days to enter the door of the primary Seven-Kill Sword Heart.

But for this intermediate one, just the obscurity at the beginning, he estimated it would take more than eighty days.

However, Xu Jin was not in a hurry at all.

Now, his patience was very great.

According to the Seven-Kill True Person inheritance, the Seven-Kill True Person back then took one month to enter the door of the Seven-Kill Sword Heart, one year for the primary Seven-Kill Sword Heart to tend toward perfection, and the intermediate Seven-Kill Sword Heart took a full three years.

Now, Xu Jin's primary Seven-Kill Sword Heart was perfected in less than a month.

Even if the intermediate one took a year or two, what did it matter?

And Xu Jin felt it wouldn't take that long.

Because Xu Jin discovered that the reason he was faster than the Seven-Kill True Person in terms of the Seven-Kill Sword Heart, Xu Jin felt it wasn't talent, but the Clear Record Star Pattern.

The Clear Record Star Pattern amplified Xu Jin's perception and sensing ability several times over.

This was the fundamental reason why he condensed the Seven-Kill Sword Heart quickly. Suddenly, Xu Jin's heart moved.

Since that was the case, why not strengthen it in one breath?

The next instant, Xu Jin summoned etiquette official Zhu Xizhou, military marquis Lei Qi, and Deputy Envoy Ning Yuchan and instructed them.

"If the welcoming team comes, just notify me; I'm going to handle some business in Dalin County of Xihai Zhou, which is quite close."

Zhu Xizhou and Lei Qi knew the authority of Xu Jin, the Chief Envoy, so naturally, they didn't dare to oppose.

The next instant, Xu Jin turned into lightning and flew away.

A hundred breaths later, he appeared in Dalin Juncheng, five hundred miles away.

Starlight fell, and Xu Jin stepped into the Star Dome Secret Realm of the Star-Plucking Tower branch in Dalin Juncheng.

He instantly opened the December Star Dome Secret Realm enlightenment time, and while the arena lamp domain was opened, he directly urged the Eighth-Tier Lower Clear Record Star Pattern and started to comprehend and deduce.

Xu Jin didn't rush to urge the gold stars and brilliant stars, but wanted to try deducing it himself.

Three hours later, Xu Jin slowly opened his eyes.

In three hours, Xu Jin deduced a branch of the Eighth-Tier Lower Clear Record Star Pattern to the Eighth-Tier Middle.

According to this progress, if he didn't use gold stars or brilliant stars and only relied on the Star-Plucking Tower's Star Dome Secret Realm enlightenment time, it would take about fifty hours or more to deduce it to the Eighth-Tier Middle.

Conservatively estimated, four hours a month would take more than a year.

If he calmed down, did nothing, and just livered the Clear Record Star Pattern all day, Xu Jin estimated that with his current level, he could push the Clear Record Star Pattern from Eighth-Tier Lower to Eighth-Tier Middle in at most three months.

This speed was enough to be proud of.

One must know that not counting ordinary Eighth-Tier experts, even top-tier Eighth-Tier experts like Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao, who had extremely high talent and sufficient accumulation, would take at least ten years to improve a star pattern by a small grade.

That was under the condition of closed-door cultivation just to deduce star patterns and doing nothing else.

Xu Jin's speed could be called abnormal.

Among this, besides the bonus of the Star Dome Secret Realm, the blessing of the arena lamp domain's law stars was also very important.

But the most important thing was the massive amount of star pattern deduction experience Xu Jin had accumulated over the past year or so.

Xu Jin could be sure that the sum of the experience of the five known Eighth-Tier peak experts in the present world deducing Eighth-Tier star patterns was not as much as his.

The next instant, Xu Jin directly urged a brilliant star and started to deduce the Eighth-Tier Middle Clear Record Star Pattern under the blessing of the Star Dome Secret Realm enlightenment time and the arena lamp domain.

But this time, when Xu Jin urged the brilliant star, he first used the characteristic of the brilliant star to improve a small grade, directly improving the Eighth-Tier Lower Clear Record Star Pattern to the Eighth-Tier Middle.

Then he started to enable High-Tier Dao Derivation to deduce the Eighth-Tier Upper Clear Record Star Pattern.

With High-Tier Dao Derivation leading the way, plus many blessings, Xu Jin's deduction progress was astonishing.

A little over two quarter-hours, before the time of High-Tier Dao Derivation ended, he had already deduced the Eighth-Tier Middle Clear Record Star Pattern to the Eighth-Tier Upper.

But the deduction did not stop.

Xu Jin wanted to try seeing if he could deduce the star pattern from Eighth-Tier Upper to Ninth-Tier Lower under the condition of High-Tier Dao Derivation.

This was also Xu Jin's first attempt to deduce a star pattern toward the Ninth-Tier.

It's just that the result was beyond Xu Jin's expectations.

At the beginning of the deduction, the time of High-Tier Dao Derivation did not end, nor did he fall out of High-Tier Dao Derivation, but the feeling it brought to Xu Jin was only two words: chaotic!

The many insights brought to Xu Jin by High-Tier Dao Derivation suddenly became chaotic when deducing toward the Ninth-Tier.

After a while, Xu Jin reacted.

He also understood a little bit.

The laws of star patterns below the Ninth-Tier could all be expressed, displayed, and even summarized in language.

But star patterns above the Ninth-Tier were already at a level that could only be understood but not expressed.

This was probably the difficulty of breaking through to the Ninth-Tier.

There was half an hour left in the Star Dome Secret Realm enlightenment time, so Xu Jin continued to comprehend the Clear Record Star Pattern.

Half an hour of deduction, the harvest was so small it could be said to be zero.

He had barely completed one-thousandth of a branch of the Ninth-Tier Lower Clear Record Star Pattern.

And it wasn't the kind that was thoroughly completed.

This was Xu Jin's first time facing the terrifying difficulty of Ninth-Tier star patterns.

At the same time, he also had a more definite idea about the four Divine Dao True Meanings he possessed.

Half a quarter of an hour later, Xu Jin returned to the diplomatic camp with several thousand catties of wine and meat ordered from Dalin Juncheng.

The etiquette official Zhu Xizhou, who was welcoming Xu Jin, had an ugly face.

"My Lord, they still haven't come."

"Did they say where they were?"

"No, they just said they were fast," Zhu Xizhou said.

Obviously, this was a show of force.

"It's fine, just wait." Xu Jin laughed, took out the several thousand catties of wine and meat he had purchased, and placed them in the camp.

Instantly, cheers from the Star Patrol Guards rang out.

The fragrance of wine, the fragrance of meat, firelight, and laughter rose in the camp, forming a piece.

The happiness of ordinary people is mostly like this.

A happy gathering, a meal of wine and meat, can make them happy for a whole night.

And Xu Jin quietly held an azalea, urged the Eighth-Tier Upper Clear Record Star Pattern again, and started to sense the life rhythm, continuing to condense the Seven-Kill Sword Heart.

It was still incomparably obscure, but it was much clearer than before.

"Sure enough, my judgment is correct! The Clear Record Star Pattern is the perfect match for practicing the Seven-Kill Sword Heart."

Before, Xu Jin vaguely sensed that his intermediate Seven-Kill Sword Heart would take eighty days to enter the heart.

But now, Xu Jin felt that under normal circumstances, it would only take twenty days.

It might not even take twenty days.

This Clear Record Star Pattern was worth deducing.

Just as the diplomatic camp opened the banquet mode, and the laughter and the fragrance of wine and meat intertwined, the Anshan Pass suddenly became brightly lit, and the tightly locked gate suddenly opened wide.

A team of over two thousand people marched out from Anshan Pass and walked toward the diplomatic team.

Not a few breaths later, etiquette official Zhu Xizhou and military marquis Lei Qi came to report.

Etiquette official Zhu Xizhou had a bitter smile, "My Lord, the welcoming team from Great Hong has arrived! They said please ask the diplomatic mission to organize their luggage immediately, and then under their protection, pass through the pass before setting up camp."

"These grandsons, they were just shrinking in Anshan Pass the whole time, consuming us."

"At this moment, seeing that we have just started the reward banquet and the soldiers are incomparably happy, they came to stir up trouble with a welcome, clearly not letting the brothers eat and drink happily," military marquis Lei Qi said.

"It's fine."

Xu Jin waved his hand and said to etiquette official Zhu Xizhou, "Go, tell them we will pack up and organize immediately, it will take about half an hour, let them wait a while."

Zhu Xizhou went to execute the order.

But military marquis Lei Qi was a bit indignant and said urgently, "My Lord, half an hour is too tight, right? Even if we start organizing and pulling camp right now, half an hour is a bit tight."

"And the brothers have just started eating and drinking."

"What's the rush."

Xu Jin glanced at Lei Qi, "Did I tell the brothers to pull camp?"

Military marquis Lei Qi was stunned, "But didn't the Lord just ask Zhu to reply that it would take half an hour?"

"Look, you lost the left and right I said."

Lei Qi was stunned, not quite understanding.

On the side, Deputy Envoy Ning Yuchan laughed, "Lord Lei, you continue to take the brothers to eat and drink, just do as you should, and you can even deliberately slow down, but you need to control the alcohol intake."

"This..."

Lei Qi, who had reacted, took the order and left.

Xu Jin looked at the welcoming team waiting outside the camp in the distance and laughed.

This was just the beginning.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 495 =====