Chapter 70: Traces of the Evil Dao

The faint flicker of starlight on the Candou Platform indicated that newly acquired items could interact with it.

The only interaction currently available was cultivation.

This meant the herbs gathered could be cultivated.

If these herbs could be cultivated, it meant Xu Jin could artificially enhance their quality within a limited range, thereby gaining higher returns.

What Xu Jin didn’t know yet was how many herbs could be cultivated under a single starlight lamp.

If only one herb could be cultivated per starlight lamp, it wouldn’t be cost-effective.

Even cultivating ordinary Songluo grass to one-star quality only raised the Dao Academy’s purchase price from two taels to ten taels.

If one-star Songluo grass were cultivated to two-star quality, the Academy’s purchase price would rise from ten taels to thirty taels.

A profit of twenty taels was better spent cultivating Stimulating Pills.

A burst of starlight beneath his feet sent Xu Jin leaping back onto the cliff, his mind sinking into the Candou Platform to retrieve the two Stimulating Pills cultivated beneath the first starlight lamp.

Xu Jin had previously tested that after the Candou Platform upgraded to second-rank, a single starlight lamp could cultivate up to two pills simultaneously.

An entire bottle of pills could not be stored at once.

Then, Xu Jin activated the Candou Platform and attempted to place Songluo grass into it.

One, two, five—his smile grew wider with each addition.

Finally, all thirteen newly acquired Songluo grasses were placed beneath the first starlight lamp; starlight flowed and shimmered, and cultivation began.

It worked.

And placing thirteen wasn’t the limit.

This return was still worth pursuing.

Even if all were cultivated from ordinary to one-star, each gained eight taels extra—thirteen herbs meant over a hundred taels.

Moreover, these were merely ordinary Songluo grasses.

If he harvested something rarer, like Ghost Eye Ginseng, the ordinary purchase price was already forty taels, and one-star quality reached five hundred taels.

The higher the value of the harvested item, the greater the cost-effectiveness of cultivation.

But the rarer the harvest, the harder it was to obtain—even a matter of luck.

So Xu Jin wasn’t in a hurry.

With the last of the daylight, he scoured the cliff face and found another thirty-four Songluo grasses, three of which were one-star, none two-star.

In the end, Xu Jin determined the upper limit for cultivating herbs under a single starlight lamp.

Twenty.

A single starlight lamp on a second-rank Candou Platform could cultivate twenty Songluo grasses at once, but the cultivation time would still require one full day and night.

Thus, one lamp yielded at least one hundred sixty taels per day and night, two lamps three hundred twenty taels, and over three days, he could guarantee an extra thousand taels at minimum.

Then, Xu Jin retrieved the cultivated Stimulating Pills and placed all Songluo grasses beneath the two starlight lamps.

The sun set with startling speed; once it vanished, the deep mountains turned pitch black—except for the mountain peaks, everywhere else was utterly dark.

Xu Jin swiftly headed toward a cave he’d spotted on his way in.

At night, the deep forest belonged to venomous insects and ferocious beasts; gathering herbs after dark meant either being bitten to death or falling to your death.

Xu Jin carefully found the cave he’d noticed earlier, gathered dry firewood, lit a fire, and drove out hundreds of various insects, while also removing the odor.

It must have been the den of some ferocious beast.

But Xu Jin wasn’t afraid.

As long as it wasn’t a Star Beast that had condensed a Star Core, Xu Jin feared nothing.

He dragged several large stones to seal the cave entrance—when suddenly, a roar echoed from the cave mouth.

Xu Jin reacted instantly, summoning a Starlight Shield, gripping his Starlight Blade, and slowly pushing open the stone door to exit the cave.

No sooner had he stepped out than a white shadow flashed toward his head.

Almost instinctively—or rather, the combat instincts forged through days of fighting in the Martial Training Realm.

A Star Shield erupted abruptly from his throat, reinforcing his entire head just as his blade slashed upward, starlight exploding.

Hss!

Blood gushed forth.

The ferocious beast lunging at Xu Jin was cut cleanly in two.

Approaching to inspect, he saw it was a white lynx.

Tiny starlight dots were fading from its claws—it wasn’t an ordinary beast, but a ferocious beast that had absorbed starlight into its body, though its rank was low.

With swift slashes of his blade, Xu Jin severed the lynx’s claws and placed them in his backpack.

The Dao Academy purchased many special parts of ferocious beasts, especially those containing starlight, and paid well.

This pair of claws was worth at least fifty taels of silver.

Unfortunately, the Candou Platform showed no reaction upon receipt.

He cut off the lynx’s two hind legs and its thick, fatty chest meat, tossed the rest far away, returned to the cave, lit a fire, and roasted the meat on the spot.

The Academy’s rations were mostly dried meat—too tough to chew.

In his past life, Xu Jin had been a decent grill master.

When he first joined friends on outdoor trips, everyone praised his skill—even when the meat was charred, no one complained, all declaring it delicious.

Xu Jin had truly believed it tasted good.

He later realized those guys just wanted someone to cook for them.

Xu Jin grilled; they ate.

Once they were full and started drinking, Xu Jin could finally snatch a bite for himself—and then clean up.

Later, Xu Jin finally woke up to the truth.

But his grilling skills were genuinely honed.

His backpack held only a pinch of salt.

The freshly cut, still-steaming meat, simply sprinkled with salt, tasted excellent.

Especially the fatty parts, sizzling and dripping oil, filling the air with aroma. After devouring a large chunk of rich chest meat and one leg, Xu Jin lay back contentedly to rest.

He’d miscalculated.

Next time he entered the mountains, he should bring a packet of seasonings and some handy tools.

No matter how hard life got, never let your stomach suffer.

With his current physique, adding extra weight had no impact whatsoever.

Even in the wild, cultivation couldn’t stop.

The Sixfold Radiance Chapter required nightly practice—never skip a night.

Continued solidification of the Star Pattern on his head was essential, as was practicing the Flying Star Step within the starlight lamp and engraving the Great Gathering Star Pattern.

Finally, Xu Jin took another Stimulating Pill, then pulled out the Star-Picking Token, preparing to enter the Star-Picking Tower’s Martial Training Realm for real combat.

But to Xu Jin’s surprise, he entered the Star-Picking Tower—but couldn’t enter the Martial Training Realm.

Fortunately, a prompt appeared; otherwise, he’d have thought the Star-Picking Token was broken.

【Star Master too far from Star-Picking Tower. Adjust distance or upgrade your Star-Picking Token’s rank.】

“Damn, so it’s offline? No network?”

Xu Jin was greatly surprised—he’d never noticed this before.

He casually checked the details.

Only then did he find the information regarding the Star-Picking Token’s rank.

A one-star Star-Picking Token could be used within four hundred li of the main tower or two hundred li of a branch tower; beyond that, starlight communication and other functions were disabled.

A two-star Star-Picking Token could be used within eight hundred li of the main tower or four hundred li of a branch tower; beyond that, starlight communication and other functions were disabled.

A three-star Star-Picking Token’s range was twelve hundred li from the main tower or six hundred li from a branch tower.

A four-star Star-Picking Token’s range was twenty-four hundred li from the main tower or twelve hundred li from a branch tower.

A five-star Star-Picking Token’s range was four thousand li from the main tower or two thousand li from a branch tower.

Information on ranks above six was unclear.

Damn, so the Star-Picking Tower had service area restrictions.

If the branch tower of Jinshan County was located in Jinshan County City, then the service radius was only fifty kilometers around the city.

Xu Jin was now definitely more than fifty kilometers from Jinshan County City.

Suddenly, Xu Jin recalled his previous trip to Heshui County—if someone had a two-star or higher Star-Picking Token, communication would’ve been effortless.

The method to upgrade the rank was currently unknown.

He’d need to enter the main tower to find out.

He couldn’t enter the Martial Training Realm, but the cultivated Stimulating Pill he’d just swallowed couldn’t go to waste.

He continued rigorous practice of the Radiance Chapter until after midnight, then rested.

Throughout the night, beast roars rose and fell across the forest, yet Xu Jin slept soundly.

Perhaps this was what it meant to be skilled and fearless.

On the morning of July 10, after completing his morning rituals, Xu Jin began his search—calmly, without haste.

Only three hundred disciples had entered the mountains; scattered across this vast wilderness, they were like three hundred pebbles tossed into the ocean.

Anyone bold enough to reach the fringes would reap substantial rewards.

All morning, Xu Jin traversed the Golden Eagle Peak; the more treacherous the terrain, the better the harvest—but it drained starpower significantly.

Honestly, without the Flying Star Step, even if he spotted herbs in some places, he couldn’t reach them.

But then again, gathering herbs on these cliffs is still quite effective for training Flying Star Step.

In the morning, he gathered about two hundred taels worth of materials.

In the afternoon, Xu Jin descended from Golden Eagle Peak and ventured into the valley below.

The valley yielded slightly more.

He collected over three jin of Stone Spike Grass.

The Dao Academy buys Stone Spike Grass at ten taels of silver per liang.

A one-star grade is worth fifty taels of silver.

It can also be cultivated, but the Pine Lichen will be ready in a few more hours—then we can swap it out.

The valley had one drawback: there were too many ferocious beasts.

In just over an hour, Xu Jin slew more than seven ferocious beasts.

One of them appeared to be a Meal-Cloud Sixth Layer ferocious beast; Xu Jin found it difficult to kill.

But the harvest was good—these beasts contributed several hundred taels to him.

After processing one ferocious beast, Xu Jin swallowed a Star-Replenishing Pill at top speed to restore his Star Power.

In the valley, Xu Jin constantly felt as if something were watching him—perhaps due to the abundance of ferocious beasts, he remained alert but didn’t dwell on it.

On a peak Xu Jin couldn’t see, two men clad in animal hides were huddled together.

“This target was poorly chosen—his cultivation is low, but his combat power is terrifying. He effortlessly slew a Meal-Cloud Sixth Layer beast. Let’s go, find another target.” Long Yu tugged gently on the emaciated Zhou Baihan.

“You’re a Foundation Establishment cultivator—why are you afraid of a Meal-Cloud Fifth Layer?” Zhou Baihan grumbled.

“You know nothing! This kind of person is a genius. Geniuses get heavy protection from Jinshan Dao Academy—there might even be powerful talismans guarding him. If you don’t want to die, follow me.” Long Yu turned and left without another word; Zhou Baihan had no choice but to follow.

“Should we notify the other sect members, Boss?” Zhou Baihan asked.

“Notify them? Pfft! If no one gets exposed, how do we survive?”

“Fair point!”

With that, the two figures clad in animal hides vanished swiftly into the area around Golden Eagle Peak.

(End of Chapter)