Chapter 669: Daoist and the Little Cotton-padded Jacket (Seeking monthly votes)

Within the Star River, the Extreme Dao Emperor transformed into a stream of light, constantly shuttling back and forth to review the situation, occasionally closing his eyes to ponder for a moment, yet his expression grew increasingly gloomy.

The range was too vast.

In his previous sensing, the location where the Star-Plucking Tower's main headquarters had met with trouble was only a small star domain.

But when he stepped into the Star River, within that range of star domains, there were hundreds of Great Worlds alone, thousands upon thousands of Middle Worlds, and millions of Small Worlds.

The main issue was that the direction of the trouble in the Star River he had sensed was too vague.

He had chased out, originally intending to follow the aura of his Star-Plucking Tower's main headquarters to search.

But the moment he stepped into the Star River, the aura of the Star-Plucking Tower's main headquarters vanished completely.

In the Star River, the Extreme Dao Emperor gazed into the distance at the residences of the Profound Completion Emperor and the Splendid Azure Emperor, who also had deployments in the Kunling Domain, his gaze profound and far-reaching.

"Could it be one of these two old foxes who intercepted the Xia Key I was seeking?"

"I hope it is not!"

A cold, sharp gaze swept across the Star River. The Extreme Dao Emperor turned and returned to his Imperial Palace in the Great Luo Origin Domain. Subconsciously, he wanted to contact the artifact spirit, but he suddenly realized that the artifact spirit had already perished because of him.

This made things even more inconvenient.

By nature, it was extremely difficult for him to communicate with his disciples in the Kunling Domain; even the artifact spirit could only passively feed back some information.

The main reason was that the star domain where the Kunling Domain was located was not within the sphere of influence of the Great Luo Ancestral Court, and furthermore, the heavens and earth were incomplete, imposing many restrictions.

But now, the only path left was to issue an Ancestral Master's decree.

At the mere thought of issuing an Ancestral Master's decree, the Extreme Dao Emperor felt a belly full of anger.

That rebellious disciple had clearly cultivated the inheritance of the Star Battle True God that he had provided, but refused to perform the final step.

He had issued the Ancestral Master's decree more than ten times, and not once had it been executed.

If he could descend, he would definitely purge the sect at the first opportunity.

If that rebellious disciple had refined the Star God Blood Crystal according to his decree, the Kunling Domain would have been different long ago.

After a long while, a golden bell within the Extreme Dao Imperial Palace suddenly rippled.

The ripples spread, and the golden bell remained silent, but within the next hour, the golden bell lit up time and time again.

Each time it lit up, a projection of a clone was summoned over.

Each one possessed a majestic and grand aura; if not a True Person, then an Emperor.

The moment each clone projection was summoned, they immediately bowed deeply to the Extreme Dao Emperor.

"Greetings, Master!"

"Greetings, Master!"

Three thousand years of deep scheming and three thousand years of development had allowed the Extreme Dao Emperor to cultivate a large group of elite disciples.

Among the thirteen figures, there were three at the Emperor level, though they were only newly ascended Emperors.

The others were all True Persons.

These disciples were currently developing in various star domains under the Great Luo Ancestral Court.

Some were in deep cultivation, some were in charge of a certain world slowly accumulating strength to improve their cultivation, and some were expanding territory.

But without exception, it was only under his guidance that they had reached their current realms.

With a wave of his finger, starlight flickered, and a star map appeared before the Extreme Dao Emperor's disciples—it was the very star domain he had searched earlier.

"Search the Middle Worlds and Great Worlds within this star domain that have living beings. Divide the range among yourselves and help your master find a person."

"Please instruct us, Master."

"This person is simultaneously proficient in the eight types of star arts: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Thunder, and Space, and is especially skilled in Thunder and Space star arts. Male, not very old. Whoever finds him, I will personally take you to the Ancestral Court to seek enlightenment once," the Extreme Dao Emperor said.

"Master, are there any other characteristics?"

"Not for now, but you must pay attention to the identity of an outsider..."

Until Xu Jin stepped before the Star-Plucking Tower's main headquarters, the Extreme Dao Emperor did not know that it was Xu Jin who had obtained the Xia Key.

However, the Extreme Dao Emperor was very confident about this point: whoever obtained the Xia Key would definitely step into the Star-Plucking Tower; this was inevitable.

After all, once one controlled a portion of the Kunling Domain's heavenly authority, one would absolutely not ignore his Star-Plucking Tower.

The rest was just a matter of time.

Because of this, the Extreme Dao Emperor did not know much about Xu Jin.

Especially with the Star Spirit having been disintegrated by his own hands.

But even so, the target's characteristics were very obvious.

Cultivating eight systems simultaneously, proficient in Thunder and Space star arts—rare.

Too rare.

Even among the many geniuses of the Great Luo Ancestral Court, they could be counted on one's fingers.

Eastern Profound Star Realm, Gu-Raising Domain.

More than ten winged flying Gu, emitting terrifying auras, pounced toward Xu Jin like lightning. The moment they pounced, light clusters carrying terrifying toxicity bombarded Xu Jin like a string of firecrackers.

In an instant, they formed an all-encompassing momentum.

Even as strong as Xu Jin was, having beheaded the one emitting a Ninth-Tier aura among this group of flying Gu with a single sword strike, he was still continuously hit by the light clusters sprayed by the other flying Gu.

A single light cluster was nothing.

It was directly annihilated by Xu Jin's Cold Ice Wood Lei Jia.

But within these ink-green light clusters, besides toxicity, there was terrifying stickiness. As the ink-green light clusters stuck on, Xu Jin felt as if he were carrying a great mountain; while his star power was being rapidly consumed, he was also trapped in place.

The moment he was stuck, the terrifying toxicity began to erode Xu Jin's Cold Ice Wood Lei Jia.

In the blink of an eye, the Cold Ice Wood Lei Jia was eroded through.

As the top-grade Eight-Star Spirit Armor's brilliance flickered, spatial fluctuations arose, and Xu Jin disappeared from where he stood.

Spatial Shift.

The moment he broke free, the Heaven and Earth Cloud Tower instantly magnified and crashed down.

More than a dozen poisonous flying Gu, including a Ninth-Tier poisonous flying Gu, were suppressed and killed on the spot.

But the next instant, Xu Jin's Heaven and Earth Cloud Tower instantly rose, and as starlight sprayed, it continuously washed away the poison on the Heaven and Earth Cloud Tower.

This thing was not only disgusting, but its toxicity was also extremely strong.

In just a short moment, it had eroded through the starlight of Xu Jin's Heaven and Earth Cloud Tower, nearly damaging the tower itself.

It was more difficult to deal with than Xu Jin had imagined.

Subsequently, Xu Jin condensed star power into a blade, carefully pried open the heads of the flying Gu, and found the Gu crystals within the two Ninth-Tier poisonous flying Gu.

This was one of the tokens for this selection. Xu Jin already had three in his hands. At this time, it had been more than four hours since Xu Jin descended into this star domain.

Within four hours, Xu Jin had successively captured three prisoners, not only thoroughly understanding the situation but also learning the language of this world almost entirely.

As long as the speaking speed was a bit slow, he could communicate normally.

The clothes on his body had also been changed to those he had snatched, greatly reducing the possibility of being exposed.

The matter of the Eastern Profound Star Realm's selection had also been thoroughly clarified.

Gu-Raising Domain—Xu Jin had initially thought it was the legendary type of Gu-raising bureau, the kind that cultivates the strongest.

But he hadn't expected it to actually be a Gu-Raising Domain, which simultaneously served the function of a Gu-raising bureau.

What Xu Jin had stumbled into was the Eastern Profound Star Realm's decennial selection battle.

The purpose was to select combat elites for the Eastern Profound Star Realm, and at the same time, it was a decennial sweeping battle to weaken the power of the Gu-Raising Domain.

The rules of the selection were very simple.

Obtaining ten Eighth-Tier Gu crystals allowed one to enter the Eastern Profound Star Realm's Iron Guards; one hundred Eighth-Tier Gu crystals allowed one to enter the Silver Guards; obtaining ten Ninth-Tier Gu crystals allowed one to enter the Gold Guards.

But if one could capture one hundred Ninth-Tier Gu crystals, one could be selected into the Eastern Profound Dao Mansion, becoming a Candidate Daoist, with the opportunity to receive the Emperor's orthodoxy in the future.

The participants were genius cultivators from the five Middle Worlds and ten thousand Small Worlds subordinate to the Eastern Profound Star Realm, with the minimum requirement being elites capable of killing enemies across tiers.

The cultivation lower limit was Eighth-Tier, and the upper limit was Ninth-Tier.

But among these, there were two supplementary rules.

Supplementary Rule One: The rules were formulated based on Ninth-Tier selection participants; once Eighth-Tier participants achieved the goal, the reward would automatically be upgraded by one grade.

Supplementary Rule Two: Those who consumed the substitute command token would have their rewards downgraded by one grade according to the achieved goal.

Currently, it seemed that Xu Jin must meet the standard.

Because according to the rules, those who did not meet the standard would be sent back to their original star domain.

Meeting the standard, Xu Jin could still maintain an identity here; if he were sent back, it would basically mean he had been exposed.

Originally, according to these rules, Xu Jin was at the eighth tier; as long as he obtained ten ninth-tier Gu crystals, he could achieve the highest reward, be selected for the Dongxuan Dao Academy, and become a candidate Daoist.

But supplementary rule number two mentioned the substitute-death token.

All those participating in the selection were issued a substitute-death token to refine.

This was to save their lives during the selection.

After all, those who could participate in the selection were the elites and foundation of the Dongxuan Star Realm; it was impossible to let them waste their lives in vain.

Therefore, they were given a substitute-death token, which could substitute for death once.

After substituting for death once, if one still insisted on participating, then life and death would be up to fate, and wealth would be up to heaven.

According to the results of Xu Jin's interrogation, other cultivators, including the three cultivators he had finished off, were all teleported away by their substitute-death tokens at the same time.

This thing really existed.

But the problem was, Xu Jin didn't have one.

This was equivalent to having already consumed his substitute-death token.

In this case, the difficulty for Xu Jin to obtain the highest reward had increased significantly.

Just before this, Xu Jin had already learned that the Gu beasts here were a kind of strange, ferocious beast that Xu Jin had never seen before; their cultivation was formidable and their combat power was formidable, and although they were ninth-tier, they were completely different from the ninth-tier alien races Xu Jin had seen.

They had no star cores, only a single Gu crystal.

It was also the proof of promotion.

The key was that they moved in groups, making the difficulty very high.

However, what Xu Jin was worried about now was not the difficulty, but how he should choose.

Should he go and compete for that candidate Daoist position?

Or should he just compete for a Dongxuan Silver Guard or Jin Wei or something?

In particular, Xu Jin was worried that the identity of a candidate Daoist was too eye-catching.

Would it expose his identity?

At this moment, he was a bit hesitant.

How should he choose?

Xu Jin had originally wanted to compete for a Silver Guard or Jin Wei, so he could just muddle through without standing out.

But after thinking about it, he knew nothing about this Dongxuan Star Realm, so for such a major decision, it would be better to consult his Master.

"This should be a major event; I estimate it will just consume a bit of Master's star power, so the impact on Master shouldn't be large, right?"

While pondering, Xu Jin activated the Youyu Sword of True Person Youyu.

True Person Youyu, who had just returned to the lonely island in the Black Tower Star River, was in the middle of recovering and healing when he suddenly sensed something.

Having previously received instructions from Emperor Fenghua, he immediately relayed this situation to Emperor Fenghua.

Inside the Imperial Palace, Emperor Fenghua, having received the message from True Person Youyu, was stunned and couldn't help but glance out the palace window.

On his side, it wasn't even dark yet.

How many hours had passed?

It had only been three or five hours, not even half a day, right?

Why was there another emergency?

But he still sent a starlight message to Emperor Emperor Du Yue at the first opportunity: 【Emperor Du Yue, my disciple has run into some trouble again; please project your power again and make an emergency contact.】

On the lonely island in the Star River, Emperor Emperor Du Yue had not left but was healing; at this moment, seeing Emperor Fenghua's starlight message, she suddenly laughed.

She laughed so hard that the silver moon above her head trembled slightly: 【Fenghua, why do I feel like this disciple of yours is my little padded jacket?】

Inside the Imperial Palace, Emperor Fenghua's expression was helpless, his face looking embarrassed.

【Something must have happened, Emperor Du Yue, please hurry up.】

【Adding another month, it's been five months, right?】

Inside the Imperial Palace, Emperor Fenghua's face wrinkled helplessly, but even when wrinkled, his demeanor was extremely charming.

【I know, please hurry up.】

【Alright!】

On the lonely island in the Star River, Emperor Emperor Du Yue let out a laugh like silver bells; she could imagine Fenghua's embarrassed look, but the dim silver moon above her head shone brightly again, carrying the aura of her Thousand Star Token and projecting it into the distance.

A few breaths later, Emperor Fenghua, who had received Xu Jin's message asking for advice, only glanced at it once before his expression changed.

【Jin'er, absolutely not! You must absolutely not go and be an Iron Guard or Silver Guard, and Jin Wei won't do either; it must be a Daoist! It must be a candidate Daoist!】

(End of chapter)