Chapter 87

Until Xu Jin left the black market, he had not yet decided which form of protection to choose.

These three star patterns were all extremely practical, each with its own unique function.

Xu Jin planned to find an empty place to test their power after leaving the black market, and then decide.

After all, Xu Jin's understanding of these three star patterns currently existed only in their literal meanings.

Leaving the black market, Xu Jin casually rubbed the very ugly monkey-face mask into powder.

The black market's admission ticket was one-time use; he would have to pay again next time he came.

Suddenly, Xu Jin thought of the star master title he used inside the Star-Plucking Tower—Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

Later, after picking up Jiang Er, Xu Jin planned to draw a handsome Great Sage mask design himself and have Jiang Er embroider it for him.

The key was that it had to be handsome.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Xu Jin frowned slightly, a cold sneer appearing on his face.

"It really is a cliché."

Someone was following him.

In his past life, while reading novels, Xu Jin often saw protagonists being followed by people wanting to rob them after entering and leaving black markets; having seen it so much, he felt it was a trope, but Xu Jin never expected such a cliché thing to actually happen to him.

However, thinking about it, it was also normal.

Inside the black market, generally, a transaction of a few thousand taels of silver was considered a big deal.

Yet today, in order to save time, Xu Jin had not concealed anything, engaging in a nearly public, massive transaction that would certainly attract the attention of those with ulterior motives.

The transaction amount had already exceeded forty thousand taels of silver.

So-called wealth moves people's hearts.

This was very normal.

Otherwise, why would it be called a black market?

Within the Lower Star Palace, the Bright Era star pattern fluctuated, and the environment behind him was abnormal.

And as the Spirit-Sniffing star pattern began to operate, Xu Jin had already smelled two scents, following just a hundred meters behind him.

"I was originally going to find a place to test my skills; since you delivered yourselves to my door, I'll use you to practice."

The next instant, Xu Jin suddenly accelerated while also changing direction.

Originally, Xu Jin was going to return to the Jin Shan Daoist Academy, but upon discovering he was being followed, he dove into a secluded corner.

Since they wanted to rob him, he would give them the opportunity!

Two minutes later, Xu Jin turned toward the vicinity of the Jinshajiang Viewing Platform; it was the rainy season, and the river water roared past—it was a good place for killing.

As Xu Jin stood still, the two figures following closely in the darkness suddenly stopped, not yet revealing themselves.

Xu Jin couldn't help but secretly laugh; they were two cautious ones.

Seeing him wait for them so directly, they actually started to get suspicious.

Xu Jin still had major matters to attend to and didn't want to waste time, so he said loudly, "You two, you've followed me all the way, come out!"

Two masked men emerged from the darkness, slowly closing in, but still maintaining their vigilance.

One in the Forge Star Realm, one at Refine Star, Second Layer.

No wonder they were so bold; it turned out they thought they had him in the bag.

"You're quite alert, kid. Leave all your belongings behind, and we'll spare your life!"

"Alright!"

Xu Jin smiled and took the initiative to step forward, approaching the two.

Fifty meters, twenty meters, ten meters.

At ten meters, the two suddenly reacted—there was no such thing as a victim being this bold.

"Kid, you're courting death!"

The two erupted simultaneously, charging toward Xu Jin.

Xu Jin just had a thought and waved his hand lightly.

Boom!

In the light rain, a startling thunderclap suddenly exploded.

Startling thunder in the rain!

A pitch-black bolt of lightning flew from Xu Jin's fingertip, instantly crashing onto the head of the Refine Star, Second Layer man who was pouncing over.

Starlight surged from the latter's body, but he still fell to the ground, twitching.

The Forge Star Realm expert was greatly shocked, instantly exclaiming, "Lightning-type star technique! You're not in the Meal of Mist Realm?"

Amidst the exclamation, this Forge Star Realm expert instantly made a turn, turning around to flee.

But how could Xu Jin give him the chance?

It just so happened he was pouncing over himself, right within Xu Jin's attack range; with a wave of his hand, a Lei She struck out, crashing over.

With two consecutive Lightning Snakes, Xu Jin had already discovered the characteristics of this Lei She.

Extremely swift and fast.

As long as it was within attack range, the target was very hard to dodge and could only take it head-on.

Even if taken head-on, if one didn't take it well, they would be baptized by the electric light.

This Forge Star Realm expert was instantly knocked to the ground, and the Refine Star expert who had just been knocked to the ground had already recovered from the Lei She's strike.

It could be seen that, perhaps because Xu Jin's star power wasn't thick enough, although this Lei She attack had injured him, the damage wasn't fatal; it was mainly the electric shock that made his body somewhat uncontrollable.

"Hard to deal with, retreat..."

Before the word 'retreat' could leave his mouth, Xu Jin had already erupted with the Flying Fei Xing Bu, and another Lei She crashed onto his head.

This time, this Refine Star, Second Layer robber was prepared; he raised his starlight shield and took the blow head-on, only to be knocked back to the ground.

Xu Jin also landed three meters away from him.

The moment he landed, Earth Explosion!

Between the feet of the Refine Star, Second Layer cultivator, a starlight earth spike instantly pierced out like lightning.

The starlight earth spike directly exploded his crumbling starlight shield, then burst in between his legs, emitting a miserable scream; his body arched like a shrimp on the spot.

The other Forge Star Realm robber, however, took this opportunity to turn and flee.

Xu Jin was just like before; with one eruption of the Flying Fei Xing Bu, the moment he appeared above the Forge Star Realm expert's head, a Lei She crashed down.

Landing, Xu Jin also followed closely behind.

But this time, this Forge Star Realm expert had learned his lesson.

The scene of his friend just now being exploded from between the legs by that starlight earth spike made his legs tremble.

This attack, one might ask, which man wouldn't tremble at it!

So, the first moment he landed, he strengthened his starlight shield while simultaneously defending his feet with all his might.

Earth Explosion!

This time, what Xu Jin cast was still Earth Explosion.

But Earth Explosion was no longer a starlight earth spike.

Instead, the starlight on the ground surged, instantly locking his feet like an earth chain.

The second variation of Earth Explosion, Earth Prison!

Flying Fei Xing Bu erupted again; Xu Jin rushed past like lightning, and a massive head soared into the sky.

One kill!

At this very moment, that Refine Star, Second Layer robber's body was still arched like a shrimp.

Suffering heavy damage between his legs made him feel pain he couldn't endure.

Xu Jin wasn't in a hurry either.

His thoughts sank slightly into the Arena Platform, taking down the third-tier Violent Bear star core, directly putting in the third-tier Swift Leopard star core, and choosing the Swift Lightning star pattern for protection.

In an instant, a slight shuddering sensation flowed through his whole body; Xu Jin felt that the moment the Swift Lightning star pattern protection began, his entire body was filled with explosive power.

It was also at this time that the Refine Star, Second Layer cultivator finally recovered from the state of extreme pain.

Seeing his companion was already dead and Xu Jin wasn't moving, he scrambled up, starlight erupted under his feet, and he turned to run.

The next instant, Xu Jin moved.

Starlight erupted under his feet.

In an instant, Xu Jin shot out like a meteor, actually bringing out a sharp, piercing sound of breaking air.

The strong wind hit his face like a knife.

Xu Jin, however, used the momentum to leap over from behind this Refine Star, Second Layer cultivator; the moment he leaped over, his long saber slashed swiftly.

One slash directly broke through the protective starlight and severed bone and flesh.

A massive head soared into the sky, but the body of this Refine Star, Second Layer cultivator rushed forward for more than ten meters before slowly falling to the ground.

Looking at the headless corpse spraying blood wildly, Xu Jin felt nothing.

He went over to loot the corpses very calmly.

Compared to the stumbling and fumbling when killing Deng Hu a month ago—he still remembered that sweat poured like rain back then, and when he killed his first person, his hands shook for a long time.

But this time, after killing people, he could loot the corpses with extreme calmness.

After looting the corpses, Xu Jin gave a flying kick, kicking both corpses along with their heads into the Jinshajiang dozens of meters away, subsequently disappearing into the river.

Actually, even if Xu Jin reported it to the authorities, it would be fine; he himself was a Star Patrol Guard squad leader, and at most, he would just go through the registration process; it was hard to say if he might even get merit.

Usually, these people who love to rob others have murder cases on their hands.

But more trouble is worse than less trouble.

Nowadays, Xu Jin's time was precious, and he didn't want to waste it.

It had to be said, Xu Jin still had to thank these two gift-giving boys.

From the two, he stripped three pieces of star equipment, all first-tier star equipment—a sword, a saber, and a pair of arm guards. They were worth at least six thousand taels; if taken to the black market to sell, they could sell for at least nine thousand taels. The pair of arm guards, the price at Jin Shan Daoist Academy was three thousand taels, and the black market could probably sell them for over three thousand five hundred taels.

The two didn't have much cash on them; silver notes plus cash were barely over two thousand taels, but each had a bottle of Star-Replenishing Pills and Spirit-Refreshing Pills.

Xu Jin wasn't lacking Star-Replenishing Pills now, but Spirit-Refreshing Pills were a major consumable.

He needed at least two a day, or even three.

With these two bottles in hand, he could support another ten days or so of consumption.

The two gift-giving boys also successfully brought Xu Jin's net worth back to over ten thousand taels.

Reaching 12,600 taels.

"Sigh, is this you robbing me, or me robbing you?"

Shaking his head, Xu Jin left quickly.

This battle had a huge harvest.

Xu Jin's so-called huge harvest didn't refer to the silver, but the test just now.

Testing the power of star techniques on dead objects versus testing them on cultivators were two completely different concepts.

The former was more accurate, and the latter had greater use in actual combat.

Basically, in this battle, Xu Jin had clearly tested the three protective star patterns he had chosen.

In terms of power, the Lei She star pattern provided by the fourth-tier Lightning Ray offered the greatest protection, the fastest attack, and also possessed special attributes; the only problem was that the consumption was relatively large.

The star power consumption for casting one Lei She was fifteen times that of a basic star technique.

With the massive star power Xu Jin had after inscribing the Great Gathering Star pattern, one Lei She could drain one-tenth of Xu Jin's star power.

And the Earth Explosion star pattern provided by the third-tier Violent Bear star core was also very practical, with considerable power, but the consumption was also not small—ten times that of a basic star technique.

Xu Jin could currently fire it fifteen times in a row in a full star power state.

The Swift Lightning star pattern protection provided by the third-tier Swift Leopard star core had the least consumption—using it once was equivalent to five times the basic star power consumption.

But it could double Xu Jin's Flying Fei Xing Bu speed in an instant.

And during the testing process just now, Xu Jin discovered another thing.

Changing different protections of the same star spirit, after being selected, required consuming starlight.

For example, with the previous third-tier Green Snake star spirit, after Xu Jin selected the Spirit-Sniffing star pattern, changing to the Concealment star pattern required injecting starlight to change.

But if one directly changed a star core, it didn't require consuming starlight.

Just like just now, Xu Jin took the Green Snake star spirit out from under the Arena Platform and replaced it with the Swift Leopard star core, and there was no consumption.

Changing it in and out was very convenient.

But if it were two protective star patterns within one star spirit, no matter how they were changed, it would require consuming starlight.

"It's a pity that the Arena Platform can only hold two star cores now; if I could put in one more, the tactics would be even more flexible..."

Xu Jin sighed.

Suddenly, Xu Jin's footsteps paused.

Now it was a second-tier Arena Platform; why not upgrade to a third-tier Arena Platform?

The upgrade conditions for the third-tier Arena Platform, the most difficult ones, such as the human-tier Star Jade Tablet, Star Meteor Iron, Xu Jin had already prepared, and gold and silver had also been ingested long ago.

Now it was only missing three things: second-tier starlight, one thousand catties of refined iron, and one hundred catties of purple copper.

Xu Jin had been storing second-tier starlight ever since he broke through to the Meal of Mist, Fifth Layer.

And after the Meal of Mist, Fifth Layer, practicing the Wandering Jin Zhang basically didn't consume star power; the two wisps of starlight obtained from bowing to the stars every day, Xu Jin rarely consumed, and all were saved.

Saving for eight days meant sixteen wisps.

It was also because practicing the Wandering Jin Zhang basically didn't consume star power, so Xu Jin had been continuously pouring star power into the Arena Platform during his morning and evening lessons these days.

Just when he was at the Meal of Mist, Fifth Layer, one wisp of second-tier starlight could fill Xu Jin's star power, and then to the perfection of the Meal of Mist, Fifth Layer, and after the Great Gathering Star pattern was successfully inscribed, the total amount of star power in Xu Jin's body skyrocketed.

Nowadays, filling Xu Jin's body with star power required one and two-thirds wisps of second-tier starlight.

In other words, every two rounds of the Meal of Mist style, Xu Jin could pour three wisps of second-tier starlight into the Arena Platform.

If he practiced with all his might in the morning, at least four rounds of the Meal of Mist style; three days ago, as the Clear Soul star pattern completely solidified, Xu Jin's soul power was already able to support Xu Jin in performing five rounds of the Meal of Mist style every morning and five rounds of the Drinking Brilliance style every night.

If all were used for infusion, he could pour fifteen wisps of starlight into the Arena Platform in one day.

Of course, Xu Jin hadn't used all the starlight from his morning and evening lessons to pour into the Arena Platform to accumulate starlight over these eight days.

But it wasn't a small amount either.

Over the eight days, Xu Jin had also poured eighty-two wisps of starlight into the Arena Platform; counting those saved over these days, the number of wisps of starlight on Xu Jin's Arena Platform had already reached as high as ninety-eight.

However, two wisps were used at the Zhao residence tonight; at this moment, there were still ninety-six wisps of starlight on the Arena Platform, four wisps away from upgrading the third-tier Arena Platform.

Practicing for a while tonight and pouring a little bit would be enough.

Now what was missing was one thousand catties of refined iron and one hundred catties of purple copper.

In this world, although these two materials weren't absolutely controlled military materials, they weren't things anyone could easily get in large quantities.

Xu Jin had previously inquired from the side at the Daoist Academy's Forging Hall; they didn't sell these raw materials—they didn't even have enough themselves.

He had to find a way to get them.

Thinking for a while, Xu Jin turned again, flying toward a fairly large blacksmith shop in the prefecture city that he remembered.

Previously, a blacksmith shop in Heshui County had stored hundreds of catties of refined iron; the prefecture city's should have a thousand catties, right?

On a rainy night, inside the Lianfeng Iron Forging Shop that had already closed its doors, the shopkeeper guarding the store was awakened by the urgent knocking on the door.

"Who is it?"

While putting on his clothes and getting up, the shopkeeper guarding the store woke up the guard, a cultivator at the Meal of Mist, Seventh Layer.

"Star Patrol Guard on official business, open the door quickly."

Hearing this, the shopkeeper guarding the store breathed a sigh of relief; the Star Patrol Guard had a fairly good reputation and generally wouldn't act recklessly, but he still signaled the guard to be careful and vigilant.

The door opened, and a Star Patrol Guard squad leader's token rushed in along with the rain.

Taking the token, the shopkeeper's expression became stern, and he bowed, saying, "I don't know what the matter is, please give your orders, official!"

"By order, temporarily and urgently requisition one thousand catties of refined iron and one hundred catties of purple copper. Do you have them?"

The shopkeeper's face twitched; he really feared what he feared.

Although the Star Patrol Guard had a fairly good reputation, it was relatively difficult to get the silver back after such a requisition.

Who would dare to go to the Star Patrol Guard's door to demand debt?

If this were requisitioned away, how would he explain it to the proprietor?

It was several hundred taels of silver.

Just as the shopkeeper was nervous and hesitant, Xu Jin directly slapped over three hundred-tael silver notes, "Is it enough? If not enough, just say so. The Star Patrol Guard is on official business; it's a requisition, not robbing you!"

"Enough, enough!"

The shopkeeper guarding the store received the silver notes and was overjoyed; he didn't expect that the current Star Patrol Guard would be so good—even giving silver for an emergency requisition.

If one really calculated the price, it wasn't just breaking even; there was even a little profit.

In this way, he could explain it to the proprietor.

A few minutes later, the apprentice guarding the store and that guard quickly moved one copper ingot and ten refined iron ingots outside the shop; Xu Jin waved his hand and let them go back.

The next instant, Xu Jin waved his hand, and the thousand catties of refined iron and hundred catties of purple copper instantly disappeared on the spot, appearing on the Arena Platform.

Subsequently, Xu Jin disappeared into the curtain of rain.

A few minutes later, the apprentice guarding the store quietly opened the door, looking at the emptied iron ingots and copper ingots, and couldn't help but feel envious.

Over a thousand catties of things, moved away just like that; cultivators, really good!

Really powerful!

He also wanted to a little!

On the way back to the Jin Shan Daoist Academy, Xu Jin was thinking about needing to call for help.

The people he was sure he could call were only Qi Shanye and Ning Yuchan.

Should he call both, or just one?

Xu Jin was considering.

However, the first moment he returned to his residence at the Daoist Academy, Xu Jin didn't rush to call for help, but started to set up the Drinking Brilliance style.

On the way back, perhaps because he had already taken three Star-Replenishing Pills in a row, he had recovered a portion of star power and poured one wisp of starlight into the Arena Platform.

Three more wisps of starlight were missing.

Upgrade the Arena Platform to the third tier, then call for help and set off.

For one, it wasn't convenient on the road, and for another, it wouldn't take much time.

Half an hour later, two rounds of the Drinking Brilliance style ended, and Xu Jin successfully poured three wisps of starlight into the Arena Platform; the starlight on the Arena Platform reached one hundred wisps.

The next instant, when Xu Jin's thoughts sank into the Arena Platform, the information on the Arena Platform had already changed.

The message 【Can upgrade】 on the jade tablet had already changed to 【Upgrade】, starlight flashing; as his thoughts landed on it, the entire Arena Platform became flashing with starlight.

The next instant, Xu Jin's thoughts landed on it.

【Upgrade】

Almost the moment Xu Jin's intention moved, an invisible starlight rose from the Arena Platform, rushing straight into the sky.

In the void, in the star field where the Big Dipper stars were located, nine stars suddenly flashed simultaneously, shining for that instant before returning to normal.

The duration was very short.

Inside the Star-Plucking Tower that soared into the clouds in Dachen Wan Yi, the capital of the Da Chen Guo.

The Da Chen Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao suddenly had a feeling and raised his head to observe the stars, but by the time he raised his head to observe the stars, the Big Dipper stars had already returned to normal.

Cheng Yuexiao frowned!

This scene played out in several places simultaneously, only the people who felt it were different.

But the brilliant starlight had already fallen from the sky, falling into Xu Jin's Arena Platform.

On the Arena Platform, a brand-new star lamp was slowly condensing and appearing.

【Arena Platform: Third Tier】

(End of chapter)