Chapter 98: The Pure Body and Midnight Visit (Request Subscription)

Instantly defeated!

Lu Xianbing, instantly knocked out in one strike, looked utterly stunned.

Completely unbelievable.

Earlier, when Lu Xianbing and Xu Jin sparred in the Zhaixing Tower’s Combat Mirage, Lu Xianbing, as the one who proposed the challenge, had voluntarily requested to defend first while Xu Jin attacked.

Xu Jin primarily cultivates offensive star arts, such as Star Ray, Star Ring, Star Arrow.

He, on the other hand, specializes in defensive star arts like Star Shield, Starlight Veil, Flying Star Step.

In Lu Xianbing’s mind, their star art power should be roughly equal.

Xu Jin’s offensive star art could at most break through his defensive star art.

So, to maximize and accelerate his star art cultivation as quickly as possible, he insisted they go head-to-head directly.

You hit me, I block it head-on.

This way, both their star art mastery would improve rapidly.

Xu Jin originally wanted to refuse this proposal.

But after thinking it over, he agreed.

Facts speak louder than words.

If Xu Jin claimed his star art was too strong for Lu Xianbing to withstand, Lu Xianbing would never believe it.

How could that be possible?

In terms of cultivation base, Lu Xianbing had broken through to Meal-Cloud Sixth Layer over ten days earlier than Xu Jin; he had already completed two rounds of marrow-washing and skin-renewing, increasing his star force by twenty percent, and was nearing the peak of Meal-Cloud Seventh Layer.

Xu Jin, meanwhile, had only just broken through to Meal-Cloud Sixth Layer.

So Xu Jin could only convince Lu Xianbing through facts.

One single Star Ring sweep was enough to shatter Lu Xianbing’s Star Shield outright—and then kill him.

Know that Lu Xianbing’s Star Ring’s range is less than three feet.

And Xu Jin’s already exceeded six feet.

Of course, when Xu Jin unleashed it, he was extremely close to Lu Xianbing, so Lu Xianbing never saw the maximum range of Xu Jin’s star art.

But surprisingly, even this fact failed to convince Lu Xianbing.

“Instantly defeated? Did I zone out?” After a few breaths of stunned silence, Lu Xianbing decisively re-challenged Xu Jin.

When the two reappeared on the Combat Mirage battlefield, Xu Jin volunteered, “Brother Lu, how about this time you attack and I defend?”

Xu Jin meant it kindly.

Otherwise, he’d just waste Lu Xianbing’s limited combat attempts within the Combat Mirage.

“Let me try again—I was careless last time,” Lu Xianbing said.

It wasn’t that he was careless; he simply couldn’t accept being instantly defeated by Xu Jin.

On paper, in strength, cultivation base, resources, talent—everything—he far surpassed Xu Jin. So why was it him who got wiped out?

“Fine, let’s try again.”

“Alright, this time, keep using Star Ring.”

“Got it!”

The two instantly closed the distance to one meter apart; Lu Xianbing went all-out in defense, Xu Jin attacked.

Of course, Lu Xianbing wasn’t just seeking punishment.

This time, Lu Xianbing had a plan.

When Xu Jin’s Star Ring swept toward him, Lu Xianbing not only pre-emptively unleashed Five Stars Kill Fist to form a Starlight Veil, but also activated his Star Shield.

“Come on!”

Boom!

The Star Ring swept through, shattering Lu Xianbing’s Star Shield and Starlight Veil in succession, and sent Lu Xianbing staggering back five steps.

Lu Xianbing’s eyes widened in shock. “Wait, Jin-ge, how strong is your star art? I feel even a Star-Casting Senior Brother’s star art isn’t stronger than yours.”

“I’ve trained my star art a lot.”

“Huh?”

Lu Xianbing gave Xu Jin a skeptical glance and said, “Again—don’t stop!”

“Alright.”

The consequence of “don’t stop” was Lu Xianbing getting instantly defeated again.

Lu Xianbing’s star arts hadn’t reached the level of instant release; whether Starlight Veil or Star Shield, they were only at Great Completion stage, requiring a deliberate motion to activate.

Even with preparation, he blocked Xu Jin’s first Star Ring—but was instantly defeated by the second.

This time, reality had taught Lu Xianbing a lesson.

“Jin-ge, how about I attack and you defend this time?”

“Alright.”

This time, Lu Xianbing fought with utter freedom.

Star Arrow, Star Ray, Star Ring, Flying Star Step—each one unleashed violently, as brutal as possible.

In contrast, Xu Jin received them effortlessly.

One Star Shield held firm against two of Lu Xianbing’s attacks without breaking.

Later, Xu Jin simply began practicing combat footwork.

He trained Flying Star Step’s directional shifts at ultra-close range.

How to use star force bursts to achieve impossible directional changes.

He studied the application of the Expel Gold Chapter—the Flying Star Step—in other body parts.

Now that star force could be unleashed from his entire body, theoretically, the Expel Gold Chapter could be activated anywhere.

When activated under the feet, it primarily enhances speed; when activated elsewhere, it enhances agility.

This wasn’t a waste of time.

Moreover, this kind of ultra-close-range footwork training couldn’t be practiced inside the Star Lamp.

But it could be done in the Combat Mirage.

Soon, the single combat session’s fifteen-minute limit expired; both ended the battle and exited the Combat Mirage simultaneously.

The intense depletion inside the Combat Mirage left Lu Xianbing slightly breathless.

“Jin-ge, these fifteen minutes of star art training—both in volume and speed—equal three or four days of normal cultivation.”

Then Lu Xianbing added, “But the consumption is huge; most people can’t handle it.”

“How much starlight did you just consume?” Xu Jin asked with a smile.

“In just fifteen minutes, I activated star arts over a thousand times, consuming three strands of starlight.”

Hearing this, Xu Jin nodded. That number truly wasn’t something an ordinary cultivator could sustain.

One challenge consumed three strands; Lu Xianbing said that in full Spirit Soul state, he could fight five rounds consecutively, and with two Spirit-Reviving Pills daily, he could manage up to fifteen rounds.

If all fifteen rounds were fully fought, that meant forty-five strands of starlight per day.

If bought with silver, that’s nine thousand taels; even through other channels, the minimum rate was one hundred taels per strand—that’s still four thousand five hundred taels.

A daily expenditure of five thousand taels—even the Commandant’s Office couldn’t sustain that long, could it?

And this doesn’t even count the over a hundred strands Lu Xianbing had previously saved up.

Xu Jin, who had just trained the Expel Gold Chapter’s application in other body parts, consumed far less—only half a strand of starlight.

But his footwork improvement was substantial.

“Jin-ge, shall we keep going?” Lu Xianbing asked hesitantly.

After several rounds, Lu Xianbing realized this wasn’t mutual training—it was pure practice for Xu Jin, with him as the sparring dummy.

So he felt uneasy.

“Alright, let’s keep going—I need to train my footwork too.”

An hour later, Lu Xianbing voluntarily ended the session. The training results were astonishing: Lu Xianbing’s Star Ring had achieved instant release—the Great Perfection state.

As he left, Lu Xianbing asked hesitantly, “Jin-ge, can I keep coming to you tomorrow?”

Lu Xianbing now understood: Xu Jin’s star art mastery had surpassed his own entirely. Training like this was purely making him Xu Jin’s sparring partner—he was cultivating, but wasting Xu Jin’s time.

“Keep coming, but I can only spare half an hour daily—four rounds max.”

“Thank you, Jin-ge! Thank you so much, Jin-ge!”

Lu Xianbing burst into joy, thanked again, and left.

In truth, his father had arranged several Meal-Cloud Seventh Layer cultivators at the Zhaixing Tower as sparring partners, but these older cultivators stuck at Meal-Cloud Seventh Layer were mediocre in every aspect; when Lu Xianbing trained with them, he had to be extremely cautious.

Afraid that if he hit too hard, he’d kill them—and that would be a waste.

Only with Xu Jin could he fight with complete abandon, at total ease—attack however he wanted, strike as fiercely as he pleased.

Because no matter how fierce or cunning his attacks, Xu Jin always blocked them.

Training with Xu Jin gave him the fastest improvement.

So now, after a few more rounds with his father’s Meal-Cloud Seventh Layer partners, consuming about twenty strands daily would be sufficient.

More than that, even the Commandant’s Office couldn’t afford it.

This level of supply was only guaranteed before the Autumn Exams.

In truth, training with Lu Xianbing also brought Xu Jin great gains.

Training star arts inside the Star Lamp only improves proficiency, up to Great Perfection.

But practical applications of star arts under varied combat conditions cannot be simulated inside the Star Lamp.

This was also why Xu Jin had been eager to challenge the Training Mirage—it allowed him to practice real combat.

But during challenges, many of Xu Jin’s ideas couldn’t be realized; his opponents didn’t cooperate and gave him no time.

Yet when sparring with Lu Xianbing, many of these ideas could be tested one by one.

For instance, his mastery of the Golden Seal Technique had improved dramatically.

In just one hour, Xu Jin’s body could twist into positions no one would have thought possible.

In the coming days, Xu Jin planned to practice these techniques during sparring with Lu Xianbing.

He also intended to train his newly learned Star Art: Star Rope and Star Mist.

He could not demonstrate Star Mist in front of Lu Xianbing.

Star Rope required cultivation to perfect within the Star Lamp before he could explore its practical combat applications.

At night, after mastering the Golden Seal Technique, Xu Jin swallowed a Tui Fan Elixir that had been nurtured for only half a day.

Xu Jin had already discovered this fact.

Any elixir placed inside the Star Lamp and nurtured would gain benefits proportional to the duration: one hour of nurturing yielded one hour’s worth of enhancement; half a day’s nurturing yielded half a day’s enhancement.

Only after a full day of nurturing would faint signs appear—a faint star-like aura.

Yet the elixir’s enhancement effect was strongest on the first day; after that, the gains became noticeably weaker.

Now, Xu Jin’s Divine Soul power had reached Star Refinement Third Layer; he rarely needed elixirs to restore it—even if he depleted two or three tenths of it, two hours of sleep fully replenished it.

Thus, Xu Jin planned to replace all elixirs nurtured in the Star Lamp with Tui Fan Elixirs, while selecting a few for experimentation.

He wanted to see what effects Tui Fan Elixirs nurtured for three, five, seven, nine, or even more than nine days produced—or how the nurturing duration affected their results.

As soon as the Tui Fan Elixir entered his belly, Xu Jin stirred his Star Force, like a flood raging through his body, surging and churning in endless cycles, like a tidal wave sweeping back and forth—each pass, aided by the increasingly powerful perception of the Mingji Star Pattern, made him feel his Star Force flow slightly faster.

His body must have become more transparent under the Star Force’s refining.

After one round of cultivation, Xu Jin felt a tingling itch all over his skin, as if something was about to emerge.

“Hmm? Your first cultivation of the Golden Seal Technique produced an exceptionally strong effect. Take one or two more Tui Fan Elixirs and cultivate again—you should see a stage breakthrough.” Qi Shanye’s voice suddenly sounded.

Old Qi had already arrived but had remained hidden, observing Xu Jin’s cultivation in secret.

“Stage breakthrough?”

Xu Jin swallowed another Tui Fan Elixir nurtured for half a day and resumed cultivating the Golden Seal Technique.

Half an hour later, just before this session ended, Xu Jin suddenly felt an intense itching all over his body, followed by a sensation of something rising to his skin—then, a pungent, foul stench instantly filled the entire room.

Xu Jin opened his eyes in shock.

His entire body, including the backs of his hands, was coated in black, sweat-like gunk.

Especially on his chest and back, a thick layer of oily black substance had surfaced, so foul it nearly made him suffocate.

“Your first hair-and-bone purification happened quickly—you’re fast. Others need three days; you did it in half a day.” Qi Shanye said, covering his nose as he stepped back. “Boy, if you don’t want this room off-limits for three days, go wash yourself!”

Hearing this, Xu Jin shot out of the room like a rabbit, rushing to the courtyard well, drawing water, and pouring it over his head.

But he could only wash away most of it—the greasy, black layer on his chest refused to come off.

In the end, Xu Jin hurried to the Dao Academy’s bathhouse, used up a good deal of soapberry, and scrubbed himself five times before he was clean.

“How could it smell this bad?”

On his way back, Xu Jin threw away the clothes soaked in filth.

Better not burden Jiang Er’s small hands.

“Heaven and earth produce all things to nourish humanity; when humans consume them, some useless—even harmful—substances cannot be expelled and permanently accumulate within the body. This is one reason people fall ill after youth.”

It is also why many Cultivation Stage Seven practitioners can live to eighty without illness or affliction.

Regularly refining the body with Star Force can expel accumulated impurities and toxins.

Typically, after three hair-and-bone purifications, one achieves a Pure Body, cultivating with double the efficiency and greatly increasing one’s Star Force limit,” Qi Shanye said.

“Pure Body?”

Xu Jin had already noticed something himself.

After his first hair-and-bone purification, he felt as light as a swallow—a deep, inner ease far greater than any massage he’d had in his past life.

“Yes. Three hair-and-bone purifications can forge a Pure Body—that’s the basic requirement for Star Forging.”

Unfortunately, the Lingji Star Hall is sealed; otherwise, I could get you several top-grade Tui Fan Elixirs to achieve five purifications, forming a Spotless Body, then use my Star Force to infuse star energy into your body—achieving at least six purifications.

Here, Qi Shanye paused. “But it doesn’t matter. After your third hair-and-bone purification, I’ll use my Star Force to infuse star energy into your body—you’ll still reach five purifications and achieve a Spotless Body.”

Generally, top geniuses in major Star Halls achieve six hair-and-bone purifications. You’re only one short—the gap isn’t large.”

“I’ll look around these next few days—see if I can find you a top-grade Tui Fan Elixir.”

Only then did Xu Jin understand.

So the three hair-and-bone purifications at Cultivation Stage Seven were meant only for ordinary people.

“Master, what’s the difference between a Pure Body and a Spotless Body?”

“Let me put it this way: Cultivation Stage Seven is the foundation of Star Forging, the foundation of all cultivation.”

Every future increase in your cultivation base, every quality of your Star Forging, is built upon this Stage Seven foundation.”

A Pure Body can forge at most a Mid-grade Star Core—that’s its upper limit.”

A Spotless Body can forge a High-grade Star Core.”

If you achieve six hair-and-bone purifications, your Star Core has a slim chance of becoming a Supreme-grade Star Core.”

And the difference in total Star Force contained within these three core grades is—”

Suddenly, Qi Shanye’s expression changed. “Trouble—someone’s coming, and their cultivation base isn’t low. I must retreat further.”

In an instant, Qi Shanye vanished—his voice and figure gone completely—but a faint trace of his scent remained, detectable by Xu Jin’s Spirit-Scent Star Pattern.

About ten seconds after Qi Shanye disappeared—

A knock sounded at the gate of Xu Jin’s courtyard.

When Xu Jin opened the door, he was stunned—it was Ning Yuchan.

At this hour of night, why was Ning Yuchan coming to see him?

(End of Chapter)