Chapter 742: Seven Kill, Old Acquaintance

Far away, in the Skywind Star Realm, within a grand hall, a man with long hair tightly bound and a vertical eye opened at his brow, his pupils flickering with lightning, was meditating amid countless brilliant stars—suddenly, his message token glowed, and he frowned.

【Someone triggered your alert? When did this happen?】

【My lord, the moment I detected it, I came straight to report to you.】

【If this intruder reached the very limit you once breached, his strength is no small matter—this treasure might well be taken by him.】

【My lord, we've been guarding this treasure for thirty years, preparing for thirty years—and now, just as it's ripe, someone's about to pluck it. Shall I go myself?】

【Hmm, go yourself. If the treasure's already taken, track its trail—if you can't, return; don't linger there long. If it's still there, kill the intruder—consider it extra pay.】 The man with the vertical eye sent his command.

【Yes, my lord. I'm on my way immediately.】

After giving his orders, the man closed his vertical eye slightly, and all the brilliant stars surrounding him were instantly drawn into it; his forehead returned to normal, yet his gaze turned toward the outer starry heavens.

"This treasure cannot be taken! I've searched for so many years—finally found one primordial lightning material, possibly even a Chaos Origin Material."

"Whichever it is, once I obtain it, my Divine Punishment Eye will reach full mastery."

"My luck shouldn't be this bad, right?"

Lei Gang Star Region.

After exiting the Thunder Valley, Xu Jin immediately teleported thousands of li away, and the chaotic thunderstorms above him began to subside.

Within his Dao Embryo, the Star Art of the Spirit Platform activated spontaneously; the Star Healing Star Patterns on his body glowed brightly, silently healing him as he initiated Plan B.

Before arriving, Xu Jin had prepared two plans.

Plan A was direct extraction.

If direct extraction worked, it would be simplest; if not, attempting it would still reveal the true difficulty of harvesting the thousand-year Lei Tong.

After all, Plan B wasn't foolproof.

Only by confirming the difficulty could he determine whether Plan B was viable.

Now it seemed the difficulty of harvesting the thousand-year Lei Tong was high—but in Plan A, Xu Jin had been very close to success.

Yet if Plan B succeeded, the likelihood of obtaining the thousand-year Lei Tong would be very high.

As for Plan B, there had never been a recorded failure.

While allowing the Spirit Platform Star Art and Star Healing Star Patterns to operate, Xu Jin activated his High-Grade Seven Kill Sword Heart, beginning to sense the life fluctuations within the Lei Gang micro-realm.

Kill Star!

Seize the Heavenly Authority!

This was Xu Jin's Plan B.

The instant he activated the High-Grade Seven Kill Sword Heart, Xu Jin frowned.

Indeed, this peculiar yet flawed little world still had obstacles, making it far from smooth.

Of course, it was only slightly less smooth.

What should have taken just a few breaths to sense—the life fluctuations of the Lei Gang Star Region—took Xu Jin a full quarter-hour.

This is related to the current chaotic environment of thunderstorms in the Lei Gang Star Region.

Thunderbolts rained from the sky, plunging all energies within the Lei Gang Star Region into utter chaos and severely hindering perception-based secret arts.

Only the High-Level Seven Killings Sword Heart could manage it.

Xu Jin's Mingji Star Pattern simply couldn't deploy or sustain itself.

Otherwise, the descending thunderbolts would have instantly shattered it, causing Xu Jin's Dao Embryo to be violently backlashed and injured.

Even Xu Jin's Seven Killings Dragon Stake couldn't be used.

Julileiguyuandedifang ， Mianqiangnengyong 。

Closer to the Thunder Valley, once set up, it would be shattered by thunderstorms within moments.

The moment the high-grade Seven Kill Sword Heart sensed the life fluctuations of the Lei Gang Pocket World, a vast torrent of spiritual sense surged forth, coalescing into an invisible blade of light that slashed toward the fluctuations!

The Star of Killing begins!

With one strike, the life fluctuations of the Lei Gang Pocket World barely stirred, as if merely bitten by a mosquito.

Xu Jin was intimately familiar with this.

The Seven Killings Tianyang Zhenjun's Star of Killing technique demanded patience above all.

It felt like continuously attacking a boss unconscious—though it inflicted no real damage, each strike forced a tiny loss of health until it was worn down to death.

Slowly, relentlessly worn down to death.

This was the process of the Star of Killing.

Xu Jin had experienced this many times before.

All it required was patience.

What Xu Jin didn't know was that a Dao Embryo, completely shrouded within a thunder flag, bore an aura nearly identical to the thunderstorms of the Lei Gang Star Region—the Star Commander.

He was now gazing down from afar at Xu Jin.

His eyes were filled with peculiar curiosity.

As Yu Xing Jun, Ba Ba Chengfeng could sense the continuous rise of divine soul fluctuations around Xu Jin—strong, yet he couldn't discern what Xu Jin was doing.

He kept gathering and activating his divine soul energy.

To Ba Ba Chengfeng's initial impression, this young man looked like an idiot.

But he understood that anyone daring to enter the Lei Gang Pocket World would certainly not be a fool.

Something was off!

Something deeply strange!

Especially with his peak eighth-stage cultivation—was he here to commit suicide?

But could someone really come here just to die?

Unlikely!

"Could he be an accomplice of the one who triggered my alert? Did his accomplice die after triggering my alert? I'll go investigate further!"

As soon as Ba Ba Chengfeng received his order and arrived at the Lei Gang Pocket World, he immediately checked on the thousand-year thunder copper—still intact!

He breathed a sigh of relief.

After reporting this good news to his lord, he began searching and soon located Xu Jin.

Normally, Xu Jin could have detected him even from great distances.

But due to the constant thunderstorms, his Mingji Star Pattern couldn't deploy, so he failed to notice this anomaly.

A hundred breaths later, under the protection of his thunder flag, Yu Xing Jun Ba Ba Chengfeng cautiously arrived at his previous limit—three li from the thousand-year thunder copper.

He searched the area thoroughly but found no fresh corpses.

He had arrived just in time; even the most furious thunderstorms couldn't reduce an intruder's corpse to ash in such a short time.

"This is strange indeed!"

Ba Ba Chengfeng, puzzled, stared at the thousand-year thunder copper three li away—his gaze burning with desire yet laced with caution.

Zhehundunleigangdaoshiqici ， Tarujinshenpidezheleiqi ， Naishitaxiaozhongdenaweidarenqinzichushoulianzhide ， Yijingnenggouduikangdabufenhundunxinggang 。

The key issue was that this artifact had gained sentience.

It was a primordial treasure material—the finest kind.

Anyone who entered within two li of it would trigger its automatic summoning of chaotic heavenly thunder, reducing them to ashes.

His thunder flag could withstand three or five strikes of chaotic thunder, but not dozens, especially in waves.

This conclusion had been reached at tremendous cost.

The cost included three minor Star Juniors and one Dao Embryo-level Yu Xing Jun who arrived wielding a divine artifact.

Yet, this immense sacrifice yielded valuable insights.

For instance, they now had preliminary methods to suppress the sentience of the thousand-year thunder copper and had been preparing for a long time.

According to the Tianyang Zhenjun's words, it would take another half-year to a year to complete the process.

Then, upon arrival, he would activate a secret artifact to conceal the artifact's sentience, preventing it from summoning chaotic thunderstorms against intruders, allowing him to retrieve it.

That would be a great achievement.

If the Tianyang Zhenjun advances further, he too could ascend another step.

A dozen breaths later, Yu Xing Jun Ba Ba Chengfeng silently withdrew from the core of the Thunder Valley, returning to the shimmering void, intermittently sensing Xu Jin's movements between thunder strikes.

After a quarter-hour, Ba Ba Chengfeng reported his observations to the Zhenjun Tianfa Tianyang Zhenjun.

In the grand hall, the Zhenjun Tianfa Tianyang Zhenjun furrowed his brow, pondered for a few breaths, then gave his instruction: "This boy is highly unusual—do not underestimate him. As you said, he continuously activates his divine soul energy, repeating the same action—not a madman, but deliberately doing something.

This matter is of great importance.

Keep watch carefully, do not reveal your presence, and find out what he's truly up to!"

"Your Excellency, I understand."

Within the Lei Gang Pocket World, Xu Jin persistently slashed again and again at the life fluctuations of the pocket world.

Utterly patient!

A hundred strikes, a thousand strikes, ten thousand strikes.

When his divine soul energy neared depletion, he consumed pills or divine soul-enhancing herbs to recover, never ceasing the Star of Killing.

After half a day, suddenly, the life fluctuations of the Lei Gang Pocket World, as sensed by Xu Jin's high-grade Seven Kill Sword Heart, surged violently—angry, finally pushed beyond its limit.

The thunder across the entire realm grew even more furious in that instant.

Yet, under the relentless blade strikes, the instinct-driven life fluctuation of the little world surrendered, offering a fragment of heavenly authority.

It was an instinctive capitulation!

The Star of Killing has begun!

Gazing at the fragment of heavenly authority floating before him, Xu Jin sneered and unhesitatingly absorbed it into his body to begin refining it.

In the void, Yu Tianyang Xingjun Ba Ba Chengfeng stared in stunned disbelief at this scene.

He could discern nothing else about it.

But the sudden emergence of the Heavenly Authority, he recognized at once.

What principle is this?

Simply sitting there, continuously activating his Divine Soul power, and the Heavenly Authority would spontaneously appear?

If it were truly that simple, he would have long since seized the Heavenly Authority of this Lei Gang miniature world and obtained the primordial treasure, the thousand-year Lei Tong.

Completely incomprehensible.

At once, Ba Ba Chengfeng reported this strange discovery to the Zhenjun Tianfa True Person he served and pledged loyalty to!

Inside the grand hall, the Zhenjun Tianfa True Person, after reading the report from his Yu Tianyang Xingjun Ba Ba Chengfeng, suddenly opened his eyes wide, and even the vertical eye sealed between his brows snapped open a sliver—lightning flashed within the gap, radiating terrifying power!

At the same moment, the Zhenjun Tianfa True Person's eyes blazed with shocking radiance.

"Killing Star Art!"

"Seven Killings Tianyang Zhenjun!"

"No—it must be the successor of the Seven Killings!"

In the next instant, the Zhenjun Tianfa True Person rose abruptly to his feet. "The successor of the Seven Killings' old acquaintance has appeared—this is truly a tremendous surprise!

Even if the journey is distant, I must go in person!"

A few breaths later, the Zhenjun Tianfa True Person instantly transformed into a streak of lightning, piercing straight through the heavens!

(End of Chapter)