Chapter 73: Just Said I

Xu Jin knew Wang Weisheng’s name.

He was the universally recognized senior brother among all disciples of Jinshan Dao Academy, the top talent in last August’s Star-Pointing Season, achieving star-pointing in two and a half days.

Less than three months after last August’s Star-Pointing Season ended, his cultivation base reached the peak of Meal-Mist Seventh Layer, but for reasons unknown, he had never forged a star.

Now he was universally acknowledged as the academy’s top in cultivation base, combat power, and star-art.

Since last December, he had held the number-one spot on the academy’s monthly Mountain-Foraging Rankings without interruption.

He had dominated the top spot for seven consecutive months and was about to enter his eighth month at the top.

Similarly, the academy’s universally recognized second senior brother, Zhang Han, was also the second-highest talent in last August’s Star-Pointing Season, achieving star-pointing in seven days; his cultivation had reached the peak of Meal-Mist Seventh Layer for over half a year, yet for reasons unknown, he too had never forged a star.

He also consistently dominated the rankings, but held second place.

Yu Xianghua and Zhang Ming were the same—both at the peak of Meal-Mist Seventh Layer, yet neither had forged a star; they also dominated the rankings, holding third and fourth places, constantly swapping between those two positions.

At first, Xu Jin had no expectations for Jinshan Dao Academy’s foraging ranking.

He had no foraging experience, his strength was inferior to last year’s Star-Pointing Season senior brothers, and his foundation was even worse—what could he possibly use to compete with them?

Even though the rewards for the top twenty were excellent, Xu Jin only hoped to earn a bit more silver for cultivation and accumulate some experience, aiming to compete for the ranking next month.

Xu Jin had some self-awareness.

But today’s reminder from Zheng Jiaoxi stirred in Xu Jin the desire to compete for the ranking.

He was already close to the top twenty, perhaps even within it.

According to Jinshan Dao Academy rules, the first-place finisher each month could choose one first-rank star-weapon, plus an extra fifty strands of starlight from the Star-Picking Tower; second and third place received the same first-rank star-weapon, but the starlight reward dropped to forty and thirty strands respectively.

Fourth through tenth place received twenty strands of starlight and one Star-Picking Token, which could be exchanged for starlight if possessed.

Eleventh through twentieth place received ten strands of starlight, eligibility to purchase a Star-Picking Token, and one bottle of Stimulating Pill.

Twenty-first through fiftieth place received only eligibility to purchase a Star-Picking Token and one bottle of Awakening Pill.

Beyond fiftieth place, there were no rewards.

Xu Jin didn’t care for the rewards beyond twentieth place—just fifty taels of silver.

But the rewards before twentieth place, especially those in the top ten, were extremely tempting.

As for the top three rewards, they were extraordinarily alluring: one star-weapon, worth at least two thousand taels; thirty strands of starlight, worth another three thousand taels.

“Push hard—stay within the top twenty, aim to break into the top ten.”

“As for the top three—it’s extremely difficult.”

Along the way, Xu Jin merely explored casually and gathered little, quickly heading beyond Jin Ying Peak.

Xu Jin had realized that the safety zones marked on the academy’s map were indeed safe, but the foraging yields were low.

The disciples searching within this zone were the most numerous; though over three hundred disciples were sent in each month, it wasn’t many—but the activity repeated every month.

To achieve substantial gains, one had to break beyond the safety boundaries set by the academy.

The shattered-star mushrooms Xu Jin was nurturing under the star-lamp were one of his reasons for believing he could enter the top twenty; by tomorrow afternoon, the mushrooms would be fully nurtured, yielding at least a thousand taels; if he could find another batch of valuable herbs, breaking into the top ten was still possible.

That afternoon, Xu Jin killed several ferocious beasts and gathered just over four hundred taels.

He continued rigorous cultivation at night.

These past few days, unable to enter the Star-Picking Tower’s training ground, he could only stay in one place after dark—besides full dedication to cultivation, there was nothing else to do.

Xu Jin’s progress in engraving the Great Gathering Star Pattern kept rising.

That morning, his success rate for engraving the Great Gathering Star Pattern inside the star-lamp had exceeded eighty percent.

After another two hours of intense cultivation inside the star-lamp that evening, his success rate neared one hundred percent.

Xu Jin knew the time had come for the official engraving of the Great Gathering Star Pattern.

But engraving a star pattern required the most perfect state to achieve the highest success rate.

On the morning of July 12, after a full night’s sleep, Xu Jin ate some dried rations with clean water, blocked the cave entrance with a massive boulder, sat cross-legged, and began the official engraving.

Just as when he engraved the Small Gathering Star Pattern, everything flowed naturally, as if destined.

After all, he had practiced thousands upon thousands of times inside the star-lamp.

The only difference was that after successfully outlining the pattern with star-force, he had to continuously wash and solidify it with star-force until forming a perfect circuit, without any pause in between.

All possible failure factors had already been discovered and eliminated during those thousands of practice runs.

Half an hour later, a perfect lotus sphere appeared on Xu Jin’s chest.

Initial engraving successful.

Continue solidifying.

Others, during this process, might still fail if their star-force ran low or preparations were inadequate—but Xu Jin did not.

When his star-force ran low, Xu Jin merely slightly activated the Can-Dou Altar, and his star-force was instantly replenished.

An hour later, a perfect lotus sphere appeared simultaneously on Xu Jin’s chest and back, as if grown there, exquisitely beautiful, shimmering with starlight.

Great Gathering Star Pattern engraved successfully.

Almost the instant the Great Gathering Star Pattern was completed, Xu Jin felt the lotus pattern inside him was empty; he opened the Meal-Mist posture, and star-force surged in en masse.

In just fifteen minutes, the Great Gathering Star Pattern swelled with fullness—his star-force was saturated.

Indeed!

After the Great Gathering Star Pattern formed, his total star-force increased by fifty percent, and his star-force recovery speed doubled.

Precisely because of this, even though his star-force had surged by fifty percent, the time needed to recover it via the Meal-Mist posture had shortened. Boom!

Xu Jin unleashed a star-burst onto the ground.

Instantly, it blasted a two-foot-deep crater; as his star-force grew stronger, the power of basic star-techniques also improved slightly—his star-shield and star-veil became marginally thicker.

But the most noticeable improvements were in Star Arrow and Star Ring.

Before the breakthrough, when Xu Jin was at Meal-Mist Fifth Layer, his Star Arrow vanished after flying five chi, and his Star Ring extended no more than two chi.

Now, after successfully engraving the Great Gathering Star Pattern, his Star Arrow flew over six chi after leaving his body, its speed slightly increased, and his Star Ring now extended three chi from his body, its power further enhanced.

This power level was equivalent to that of a Meal-Mist Sixth Layer cultivator.

But he still lagged behind cultivators who had both successfully engraved the Great Gathering Star Pattern and broken through to Meal-Mist Sixth Layer.

Afterwards, Xu Jin switched to practicing the Man-Jin Chapter.

The progress astonished him.

Previously, two hours of intense cultivation could only extend starlight half a centimeter toward his head; now, after just one hour, the starlight had covered more than half a centimeter.

His Meal-Mist Sixth Layer cultivation speed had doubled.

Calculating it, Xu Jin had reached Meal-Mist Fifth Layer seven days ago, yet the starlight had barely reached his chin—he hadn’t even climbed past it; at his previous pace, he’d need at least twenty more days to break through.

But after successfully engraving the Great Gathering Star Pattern, the Man-Jin Chapter’s cultivation speed doubled—only ten days.

In at most ten days, Xu Jin could break through to Meal-Mist Sixth Layer.

After cultivation, Xu Jin calculated the time again.

Previously, Lu Xianbing, Yue Daqi, and others had taken about ten days to engrave the Small Gathering Star Pattern; according to Ning Yuchan’s judgment, they’d need at least a month to successfully form the Great Gathering Star Pattern.

Xu Jin had already decided—he wouldn’t report his success too early.

Since these top talents like Lu Xianbing needed around thirty days to engrave the Great Gathering Star Pattern, Xu Jin would report his success around twenty-five days.

That should secure the first-place reward—the Calming Gold Pill.

It had been half a month since he successfully engraved the Small Gathering Star Pattern; he’d wait ten more days before reporting.

He needed to appear talented enough to surpass top talents like Lu Xianbing, but not so absurdly gifted as to draw suspicion.

Exit the cave—continue foraging!

Not long after, Xu Jin realized that the massive increase in his total star-force had slightly enhanced the power of his Flying Star Step.

Perhaps it was the old saying: skill emboldens the brave; his increased strength gave him the ability to explore further beyond the safety zone.

But the main reason was still the “Spirit-Scent Star Pattern.”

The Spirit-Scent Star Pattern had increased his danger warning ability by more than tenfold.

In just half a day, the Spirit-Scent Star Pattern had helped him avoid two star-beasts.

Although Xu Jin had defeated the star-snake, he considered that victory partly due to luck—not replicable.

He would not risk challenging star-beasts unless absolutely necessary.

After all, they were one and a half major levels above him.

No showing off.

In that half-day, Xu Jin gained another five hundred taels in foraging.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Xu Jin’s nose twitched slightly—a complex scent emerged.

It was the smell of blood—human blood.

And not just one kind.

Someone was there?

Pretending to search for herbs, Xu Jin quickly identified the general direction of the scent.

In a mountain hollow, invisible from sight, the odor clearly came from within.

Not only multiple blood scents, but also the scent of living people—at least two.

“Definitely not academy disciples!”

Xu Jin immediately concluded—if they were academy disciples, they’d have come out to greet him by now, not hidden in the hollow.

“Are they watching me?”

His gaze casually swept over the hollow; he pretended to search, then turned toward another direction.

Inside the hollow, two men draped in grass cloaks lay hidden in the undergrowth, watching Xu Jin from afar, whispering to each other.

“Brother Yang, when do we strike? This spot looks perfect—even if the Dao Academy’s experts rush over, it’ll take them at least half a minute, right?” said Jiang Long, a short man, in a low voice.

“What’s the rush? No one’s competing with us. Let’s lure one or two ferocious beasts over first, wear down this kid’s strength before we act.”

“Stay steady,” said Yang Ba.

“Right, stay steady—that’s how you live.”

Shhh!

A shrill whistle pierced the air without warning. Yang Ba, experienced and alert, rolled sideways in a lazy donkey’s roll. Jiang Long, mid-sentence, instinctively turned his head—just as a star-tipped arrow struck.

Boom!

Jiang Long’s head exploded like a watermelon!

(End of Chapter)