Chapter 61: Pillar Sect

A star, like a falling meteor, shot toward Xu Jin at high speed.

Xu Jin instinctively closed his eyes.

The instant he opened them again, the world before him had become an entirely new one.

A dark forest, faint light filtering through the canopy, leaves swaying, wind whispering—Xu Jin even heard the sound of flowing water.

He reached out unconsciously to touch a leaf, to see if it was real.

“Newcomer?”

A voice sounded; Xu Jin saw a broad-faced, wide-eared man step out from behind a tree ten meters away, holding a long sword, watching Xu Jin’s touch with slight surprise.

As Xu Jin nodded, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

【Forest terrain, challenge begins in five breaths】

【Opposing Star Lord: Green Robe Divine Sword】

The leaf was real; the Star Lord’s name was just a bit crude—back in his past life, he’d seen too many “Divine Sword” titles in games.

“Looks like I’ve got good luck,” Green Robe Divine Sword chuckled, watching Xu Jin touch the leaf as if he’d found treasure.

“Should be!”

Xu Jin stared at the torn leaf in his hand, utterly astonished—or rather, stunned.

This Combat Mirage is absurdly real.

Far superior by hundreds of times to any 5D or 6D immersive experience from his past life.

He punched the tree trunk—just one word.

Pain!

In that same instant, the starlight between Xu Jin and Green Robe Divine Sword vanished—the battle began.

In an instant, Green Robe Divine Sword circled the tree and lunged out; as starlight flared beneath his feet, his entire body accelerated like a fish darting through the dense forest.

In the blink of an eye, his long sword spat a two-foot-long beam of starlight, slashing toward Xu Jin.

Xu Jin had already planned his approach to this fight.

He wanted to test how his basic Star Art performed in actual combat.

So he didn’t dodge or evade—before the sword’s starlight touched him, a basic Star Shield instantly materialized.

It blocked the starlight spewing from the sword.

The sword’s starlight and Xu Jin’s Star Shield shattered simultaneously.

“Instant cast? Perfect mastery?” Green Robe Divine Sword’s face showed shock, but his sword didn’t pause—he pressed forward, starlight surging again.

Yet in that same instant, Xu Jin flicked his finger lightly.

A Star Arrow shot out like lightning.

It slammed directly into Green Robe Divine Sword’s forehead, barely three feet away.

Green Robe Divine Sword didn’t even have time to mobilize his star energy.

The Star Arrow was already inside his brain.

All that remained before Xu Jin was an expression of utter shock—then the man dissolved into scattered starlight.

A string of voices surfaced in Xu Jin’s mind.

【Star Lord Qi Tian Da Sheng defeated. Gained 3 Combat Points. Current rank: 1,665,345.】

【Continue challenge or exit?】

This rank shocked Xu Jin.

One million six hundred sixty-five thousand?

Are there really that many Meal-Cloud cultivators?

No—there must be that many Meal-Cloud sixth-layer cultivators.

According to the Star Picking Order’s activation requirement, normally only Meal-Cloud sixth-layer cultivators can activate and enter the Star Picking Tower; someone like Xu Jin is an exception, but certainly not the only one.

Currently, activating the Star Picking Order is tied to the Divine Soul.

Such exceptions are definitely rare.

So the number of Meal-Cloud sixth-layer and above cultivators—over a million—is terrifying.

But then Xu Jin realized the truth.

This is almost certainly a major region.

Earlier, when Xu Jin opened the Star Gate, places like the Sunlight Star Hall and the Great Chu State Dao Academy were inaccessible—but this Combat Mirage was open.

Meaning, this Combat Mirage has no restrictions—anyone who obtains a Star Picking Order can enter.

If so, this must represent all Meal-Cloud sixth-layer and above cultivators in this world.

One point six million is normal.

Perhaps, after Xu Jin’s three points, tens of thousands more are still ranked above him.

Maybe many haven’t even obtained a Star Picking Order yet.

Xu Jin still doesn’t know other ways to obtain a Star Picking Order.

Next, Xu Jin didn’t rush into another challenge—he began to explore and think.

First, he figured out the Combat Mirage’s mechanics.

There are points, and there’s a leaderboard.

The Combat Mirage only displays the top one thousand; according to its hint, maintaining a top-one-thousand rank for seven consecutive days grants one strand of Star Picking Tower starlight.

The same reward applies from rank one thousand to one hundred.

From rank one hundred to ten, maintaining rank for seven days grants two strands of Star Picking Tower starlight.

From rank ten to six, maintaining rank for seven days grants three strands.

For ranks five and four, maintaining rank for seven days grants four strands.

For rank three, maintaining rank for seven days grants five strands.

For rank two, the reward is six strands.

For rank one, the reward is seven strands.

Additionally, different ranks grant different Combat Mirage titles; acquiring a title brings unique benefits in the Star Picking Tower.

This thrilled Xu Jin.

He must climb the ranks—top one thousand is the baseline goal; if he can stay within the top one hundred, the rewards will be excellent.

As for the top ten—he didn’t dare dream of it yet.

Anyone who makes the top ten must be among the absolute elite geniuses of this world.

After understanding the Combat Mirage’s basic rules, Xu Jin continued to ponder. During his battle with Green Robe Divine Sword, he hadn’t dodged or retreated—he’d met the attack head-on with Star Art to test a direction.

In his past life, Xu Jin had consumed countless TV dramas and novels, each offering many cultivation paths.

But nearly all cultivation followed the path of technique approaching the Dao.

Constantly training, contemplating, comprehending—refining techniques, grasping the true essence of martial arts, and so on.

But in this world, Xu Jin’s several battles since arriving felt completely different.

It felt as if Star Art and martial arts were like firearms versus cold weapons.

His battle with Green Robe Divine Sword proved it: no matter how fast or flashy your movements, a single Star Arrow—like a pistol shot—ends you.

So in this world, Star Art is paramount; refining pure sword or knife techniques has little meaning.

Earlier, when he fought Yue Chong, Yue Chong wielded a first-rank Star Weapon—his long knife spat starlight two or three meters long. What use was refined knife technique then?

His blade was three meters long; yours was less than one.

Even earlier, when Blood Butcher Tian Zhang struck, his blade light sliced over a hundred meters.

Someone swings a hundred-meter-long blade at you—no matter how refined your technique, it’s useless.

Of course, under equal cultivation levels, martial technique still matters.

At this moment, Xu Jin solidified his direction: prioritize Star Art and Star Runes, treat technique as secondary.

【Challenge】

With his direction clear, Xu Jin chose another challenge.

Not just for points, but to verify whether his chosen path was correct.

According to Ning Yuchan and Cui Tianqi, even those with high talent normally take two to three years to perfect basic Star Art to the point of instant cast.

Most cultivators take longer than that.

Theoretically, among the hundreds of thousands of Meal-Cloud cultivators in the Combat Mirage, those who can instantly cast basic Star Art should be few.

Because geniuses advance quickly and have already broken through Meal-Cloud to forge their Star Core; ordinary cultivators advance slowly and haven’t broken through Meal-Cloud yet—but their Star Art hasn’t reached perfect instant-cast either.

Xu Jin’s only remaining question: what do the advanced Star Arts look like?

If he knew, his future cultivation focus would be clear.

His second battle was even easier than the first.

A man wielding gauntlets never got close—he was instantly slain by three Star Arrows.

Xu Jin won five straight.

In his sixth battle, a woman wielding a long spear gave him trouble.

Her spear’s starlight, combined with its length, exceeded three meters; Xu Jin’s Star Arrows had a range of only four feet.

This battle was extremely difficult—he nearly lost.

In the end, Xu Jin endured her close-range assault with a Star Shield, then unleashed a Star Ring that knocked her down, followed by a barrage of Star Arrows to obliterate her.

Six consecutive victories.

After six consecutive victories, Xu Jin wanted to continue, but suddenly felt a strange fatigue.

He was somewhat drowsy.

He instantly realized the cause.

This was due to excessive depletion of Divine Soul energy.

It seemed the Star-Picking Tower’s combat arena wasn’t without cost.

Though it didn’t consume starlight, it drained Divine Soul energy.

In comparison, the starlamp combat arena of Xu Jin’s own Can Dou Platform consumed very little.

He had trained inside the starlamp for hours on end with minimal depletion.

This was Xu Jin’s advantage.

With a thought, information about the combat realm appeared before Xu Jin.

【Star Lord: Great Sage Equaling Heaven】

【Combat Points: 18】

【Combat Ranking: 1,325,826】

After six straight wins, his ranking rose over three hundred thousand places—this rate of ascent was quite fast.

But it was normal, since winning one match added three points, while losing one deducted three points.

Under such a system, many who lost more than they won, or had equal wins and losses, still had zero points.

Such a ranking was perfectly normal.

Leaving the combat realm, Xu Jin returned to the Star Gate hall of the Star-Picking Tower, but made no further exploration.

Yet before exiting the Starlight Hall, Xu Jin noticed a glowing orb labeled “Starlight Message.”

It allowed sending and receiving messages via the Star-Picking Token.

Receiving messages was free, but sending one consumed a strand of starlight.

In silver, one message cost a hundred taels; at the Star-Picking Tower’s buyback rate, it cost two hundred taels.

Even China Mobile’s old “brick phone” era hadn’t been this expensive.

Moreover, there was a range restriction.

A First-Star Star-Picking Token could only send or receive messages within a hundred li of the Star-Picking Tower.

Xu Jin had no interest in studying such an exorbitantly priced feature—he left immediately.

Before him, the starlight faded; Xu Jin still stood in his small courtyard, the Star-Picking Token in hand.

Yet the Star-Picking Token now felt inseparably fused with his flesh and blood.

“Divine Soul energy!”

Xu Jin focused inward, carefully examining the faintly visible Cheng Po Star Pattern within his Upper Star Palace.

Entering the Star-Picking Tower’s combat realm today, beyond determining his future cultivation focus, Xu Jin’s greatest discovery was the importance of Divine Soul energy.

Divine Soul energy was even more vital than he had imagined.

He had already been overestimating its importance as much as possible.

Yet in the combat realm battles, Xu Jin realized Divine Soul energy’s influence was everywhere.

It might be more than ten times more important than he’d thought.

Then how valuable must the Cheng Po Star Pattern be—the one that enhances Divine Soul energy and accelerates its recovery?

Wouldn’t it be considered a sect-defining ultimate technique anywhere?

Why had the Green-Robed Man taught it to him?

Would the Green-Robed Man come tonight?

(End of Chapter)