[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-star-martial-era":3,"chapter-the-star-martial-era-the-star-martial-era-chapter-997":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Star Martial Era",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2275855,4448,"Chapter 997: First Step of Expansion (Seeking Moon Tickets)","the-star-martial-era-chapter-997",997,"\u003Cp>Let's be honest, Master Niang’s place here still has quite a few valuable items.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, these so-called valuable items are poisonous to 99% of people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For instance, the “Soul-Splitting and Spirit-Refining Magical Array” that Xu Jin just obtained is indeed useful, but it’s also genuinely poisonous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The conditions for cultivating this magical array are numerous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, you need a soul-splitting avatar—you must at least cultivate one soul-splitting avatar, which is nearly impossible for those with ordinary soul cultivation or soul origins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, you need at least two magical sword essences, preferably three; just this single requirement drives away 99% of cultivators.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Magical sword essences are incredibly precious—the stronger the cultivator, the more valuable they become. To expend three of them just for convenient teleportation? That’s insane.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Using two would be even more wasteful—they simply wouldn’t deliver enough benefit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Third, you need extremely high mastery of spatial laws; at the very least, you must be a high-rank Spatial True Lord to generate sufficient stellar energy to activate this magical array.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fourth, you need a special primordial spatial material.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fifth, you need the primary material for a spatial teleportation array: the World-Trace Mystic Stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sixth, you need the celestial authority of an entire realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Six conditions total: three are external materials, three are internal requirements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was precisely these three internal requirements that drove the Emperor-level cultivators who developed this technique in the Thousand Stars Alliance to despair—they couldn’t commercialize it, suffered massive losses, including even Master Niang herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, there were smarter individuals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A minor Emperor named Cang Jing, skilled in arrays, unwilling to accept such heavy losses, sought an alternative path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He personally captured an eighth-realm Spatial True Lord, used secret methods to control his soul, and forced him to cultivate the Soul-Splitting and Spirit-Refining Magical Array.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They themselves were unwilling to sacrifice their own soul origins or weaken their soul-infant cultivation, nor could they bear to waste even two precious sword essences—but captives? No problem!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crucially, the captive’s life and death were entirely in the hands of the controlling Emperor—he didn’t need to want to do it; he just needed to fear death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, this minor Emperor named Cang Jing succeeded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under his direction, the captured eighth-realm Spatial True Lord successfully cultivated the Soul-Splitting and Spirit-Refining Magical Array—with three sword essences, capable of teleporting to any three marked locations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He even demonstrated it to Master Niang and others, planning to cultivate a fourth one in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He immediately began commercializing it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This instantly tempted the other two Emperor-level researchers involved in the project, who began planning to copy his method.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then, something happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The True Lord, who had been forced like a beast to constantly activate the Soul-Splitting and Spirit-Refining Magical Array, did something sneaky during one of Cang Jing’s teleportations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spatial fluctuations required for teleportation relied on his magical sword essence and soul-splitting avatar to form an ultra-powerful spatial teleportation array.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the very instant teleportation began, the captured True Lord abruptly ceased activating his soul-splitting avatar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a result, the spatial fluctuation link of the teleportation array vanished instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The consequence? The target was instantly stranded in endless dimensional space, eventually dissolving into nothingness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emperor Cang Jing perished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The captured True Lord, however, gained his freedom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t until over half a year later that Cang Jing’s death was discovered; upon investigation, the cause was uncovered, and the now-free eighth-realm True Lord was executed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, the “Soul-Splitting and Spirit-Refining Magical Array” became useless garbage, ignored by everyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cultivating it yourself? The cost is too high—you can’t afford it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Forcing captives to cultivate it? You’re handing your own life directly over to the captive during teleportation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One misstep, and you vanish like Emperor Cang Jing did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who dares?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one dares.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, when Master Niang handed this secret technique to Xu Jin, Xu Jin understood exactly what she meant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soul-splitting avatar?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin naturally transformed his soul-infant after refining nearly a hundred Purple Yuan Bone Veins—his soul-infant is immensely powerful, infused with the immortal divine light of the Divine Path; severing a thread of soul origin to create a soul-splitting avatar imposes no burden whatsoever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Magical sword essences?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jin possesses twenty-four magical sword essences—the kind even peerless geniuses can’t match.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sacrificing two or three for his Emperor foundation? Not out of the question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mastery and cultivation of spatial laws are already sufficient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three hardest requirements for others? Xu Jin fulfills them all effortlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three external material requirements?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These aren’t even challenges.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master Niang, I’d like to give this a try,” Xu Jin said after studying it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Master Niang glanced at the void and whispered, “Don’t tell your master I introduced it to you—Fenghua seeks perfection in every aspect and wouldn’t want you wasting magical sword essences.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I think this might suit your ambitions perfectly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the cultivation resources you need are right here; if you have any questions, ask me anytime.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Rest assured, Master Niang.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Xu Jin left Master Niang’s presence, he had already made his decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Train!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Soul-Splitting and Spirit-Refining Magical Array must be cultivated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If successful, during this once-in-a-millennium stellar calamity, I might truly accomplish something monumental.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The most critical conditions are already met; I’ll solve each cultivation challenge one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The soul-splitting avatar technique? Xu Jin is a man of exceptional action.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, cultivate the soul-splitting avatar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To cultivate a soul-splitting avatar, you need two things: sever a thread of soul origin, and find a celestial material to serve as its vessel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the former, Xu Jin has the secret method; for the latter, he already possesses it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Take two inches of Purple Yuan Bodhi Root, then use chaotic stellar energy under temporal influence to nurture and refine it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, a vessel refined with chaotic stellar energy possesses even greater defensive power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The magical sword essences? Already ready—Xu Jin has everything else prepared and available at a moment’s notice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mastery and cultivation of spatial laws are already complete.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only thing missing, then, are the external materials.\u003C\u002Fp>",1010,"2026-06-19T23:56:35.933Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","c0363af724ad17054062f61a60c5637961ea3ce0de6a11c30ef66c4472f24bfc","the-star-martial-era-chapter-998","the-star-martial-era-chapter-996",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-star-martial-era-cover.jpg"]