Star Martial Era: The Way of Star Light Cultivation

63: Chapter 59 Star-picking Order

63 -59 Star-picking Order

Hu Xuechuan, whose body radiated with Starlight after being expelled from the boundary of Jinshan Taoist Institute, stared intensely at Dong Zhao and Tian Zhang, who had forcefully acted against him, his expression extremely complex.

“Dong Zhao, by doing this, aren’t you afraid of cutting off your own retreat?”

Dong Zhao still wore a slight smile, “Hall Master Hu, it is you who forced your way into our Jinshan Taoist Institute, that truly cuts off your own retreat.

Forced entry is not the act of a guest.

If there is matter, please submit a request through the front gate.”

Tian Zhang could not remain floating in the air for long; after he landed, his Blood Slaughter blade’s Starlight continued to flicker ceaselessly, his face full of a desire for battle.

Hu Xuechuan glanced at Tian Zhang, then turned to look at the still silent Tianyang Branch in the distance, his gaze sweeping past the location of the Cangming Branch as well, eventually he could only say resentfully, “Mountain Master Dong, you’ve really done something huge without making a sound.

Aren’t you afraid that the Duke and other lords of your Dachen court will sell you out?”

“The justice of heaven is clear, and the hearts of the people are discernible!

All I, Dong Zhao, seek is to have a clear conscience!” Dong Zhao declared loudly.

“Very well, very good!”

Hu Xuechuan repeated in agreement, yet his tone unmistakably conveyed anger, “Having a clear conscience, I hope you won’t regret it in the future!”

With those words, Hu Xuechuan suddenly stepped down with Starlight and landed outside the gates of Jinshan Taoist Institute.

He ended up surrendering just like that.

The disciples of Jinshan Taoist Institute had witnessed a clash between experts and watched a great drama, eagerly anticipating what would come next when suddenly, Dean Cao Chun’s voice rang out, “Have you all forgotten the seventh rule of our institute?

No clamor or assembly!

Where is the Inspection Officer?”

The next instant, before the black-clad Inspection Officer appeared, the disciples of the Taoist Institute had already scattered in all directions, leaving the place completely empty.

Outside the gates of Jinshan Taoist Institute, the Sub-hall Master of Tianyang, Hu Xuechuan, ultimately had no choice but to reluctantly offer his calling card.

He came to resolve an issue, not to create a bigger one.

His earlier threatening intrusion was merely a probe.

He wanted to test the disposition of Jinshan Taoist Institute.

Unexpectedly, the stance of Jinshan Taoist Institute was even firmer than he had imagined.

It seems Dong Zhao really held irrefutable evidence; this matter would become quite tricky, likely with no peaceful end.

But hard as it may be, it had to be dealt with.

After all, who else was in charge of the Tianyang Branch?

Who knew that in conspiring with Zhou Qingzhu to culminate in their ultimate gain, it would fail at the last moment?

Fifteen minutes later, Mountain Master Dong Zhao, along with Governor Tian Zhang, Vice Mountain Master Feng Shu, and Dean Cao Chun, personally went to the gate to welcome the Sub-hall Master of Tianyang, Hu Xuechuan, showing an altogether different demeanor—no longer confrontational but all smiles, warm and welcoming.

Even Tian Zhang with his Blood Slaughter, had put away his murderous aura.

Inside the Scripture Hall of the Taoist Institute, after a series of formalities and probing by the higher-ups of Jinshan Taoist Institute and Hu Xuechuan, the conversation finally got to the point.

“Mountain Master Dong, I can agree to several conditions you’ve proposed.

But I have only one request—from among the other people at the Tianyang Branch, you can kill anyone you please, but not Zhou Qingzhu.

Zhou Qingzhu, he is the Mountain Master of our Tianyang Branch, he is the face of our Tianyang Star Hall,” Hu Xuechuan spoke bluntly.

A cultivator is not a lord of the court, there are not so many detours, directly starting the terms negotiation.

However, Hu Xuechuan also used formal language, not revealing the real reason why Zhou Qingzhu couldn’t be killed.

He had to protect Zhou Qingzhu at all costs, otherwise, if Zhou Qingzhu knew he was bound to die, he would surely expose him.

That would cause significant trouble for him.

The trouble for Hu Xuechuan wasn’t referring to the misdeed of Zhou Qingzhu masquerading as an evil demon, but rather, the issue of searching demons.

In dealing with the searching demons’ affair, Hu Xuechuan used the name and influence of the Tianyang Star Hall to mobilize some forces of Chen Country, manipulating official resources to corner Qi Shanye.

But ultimately, the goal was to obtain the Divine Soul Inheritance of Lingji Star Hall from Qi Shanye.

Named as public, but aimed for personal gain.

That was the truly significant affair.

To know that even if Tianyang Star Hall and Cangming Star Hall joined forces to force Lingji Star Hall to lock down after giving up all its sub-halls, they had not obtained the Divine Soul Inheritance of the Lingji Star Hall.

The reason was simple: the Divine Soul Inheritance of the Lingji Star Hall, unlike most other Star Skills, could not be branded onto the Star Jade but had to be manually imprinted.

Thus, capturing a live subject was extremely important.

But capturing a live subject was only the first step towards gaining the inheritance.

However, Hu Xuechuan was in possession of some special things, confident of capturing Qi Shanye alive and acquiring the inheritance from him.

Yet, such secretive scheming, if the true nature were discovered by Tianyang Star Hall, his fate wouldn’t be good.

Thus, Hu Xuechuan had to protect Zhou Qingzhu.

“Impossible, Zhou Qingzhu’s deeds have outraged both humans and gods; he must die!” Dong Zhao declared with great insistence.

Hearing this, Hu Xuechuan sighed once more and relented again, “Mountain Master Dong, I reckon it’d be best if this matter were just left between you and me; causing a commotion in your Dachen court or your National Taoist Institute wouldn’t be good for either of you.

Does your National Taoist Institute dare to kill Zhou Qingzhu?”

“Merely an early stage of Gathering Battle, what does our National Taoist Institute have to fear in killing him!” Dong Zhao still smiled, but that smile made Hu Xuechuan feel a surge of murderous intent.

Truly impervious!

“Mountain Master Dong, I suspect that even your State Preceptor of the National Taoist Institute doesn’t have as much confidence as you.

You must realize, the Star-picking Assembly is not far off,” Hu Xuechuan continued with a threat.

“Why not try?

How else would you know?”

“You!”

Hu Xuechuan was extremely angry, and after a while, he left with a flick of his sleeve.

“Mountain Master Dong, please consider my proposal carefully.

It’s a mutually beneficial matter, I will come back in three days!”

After Hu Xuechuan left, Dean Cao Chun remained silent.

Blood Slaughter Tian Zhang was also silent, only Vice Mountain Master Feng Shu was somewhat anxious, “Mountain Master, are we really going to execute Zhou Qingzhu?”

“The evidence is irrefutable, why shouldn’t we execute him!”

Mountain Master Dong Zhao said, then added, “I can execute him, but I fear that the court officials and the Lord dare not do so!”

“What about you, Mountain Master?” Feng Shu asked, puzzled.

“We have to try, what if it succeeds?”

“Besides, the initiative is in our hands, let’s just wait and see.”

After speaking, Mountain Master Dong Zhao’s expression became stern, “From this moment on, the four of us will be divided into two shifts, along with the Taoist Institute instructor and the flag master, all divided into two shifts, taking turns guarding the Taoist Institute’s prison to prevent Hu Xuechuan from making a desperate move.”

“Yes!”

******

The benefits of being promoted to Star Patrol Commander were bigger than Xu Jin had imagined.

In addition to his monthly salary soaring to fifty taels of silver, the Taoist Institute directly allocated him a lone courtyard for residence, significantly elevating his standard of living.

The courtyard was not large, even smaller than Ning Yuchan’s, with just a small main hall and a resting side room.

But the yard was quite spacious.

The yard, four meters wide and six meters long, was what Xu Jin truly needed.

This way, his daily cultivation could be completed entirely in the yard.

He could even place a lounge chair in the yard, where he could lie down during his leisure time, bask in the starlight, and then practice martial arts inside the Star Lamp—quite a pleasure indeed.

As for the more powerful armor and the specially issued Soft Silk Inner Armor, including the regular clothing for all seasons, they were hardly worth mentioning.

If only he could be rewarded a full set of Star Weapons, that would be a real jackpot.

With the help of Qian Xiaohu and others, Xu Jin, who had just moved, was currently studying the Star-picking Order.

According to all disciples’ feedback, the Starlight from the Star-picking Tower awarded as a reward was the real jackpot.

He had exchanged opinions with several elder apprentices when receiving the reward previously.

The Starlight from the Star-picking Tower was the universally accepted hard currency of the current age, harder than gold and silver.

Inside the Star-picking Tower, Starlight could be exchanged for various Star Skills, Star Patterns, Pills, Star Weapons, and even Star Artifacts, as well as other various uses.

If brought closer to common understanding, the Starlight from the Star-picking Tower could also be exchanged for gold and silver.

At the Foreign Affairs Hall, a strand of Starlight could be exchanged for a hundred taels of silver.

This was why many Taoist Institute disciples were thrilled.

Even the reward of ten points of Starlight from the great searching demons represented a thousand taels of Patterned Silver.

And that was just the starting point.

That was the official exchange rate from the Taoist Institute.

With one hundred taels of silver, one could exchange for a hundred taels of silver at the Taoist Institute, but one could definitely not get a strand of Starlight with a hundred taels of silver.

It was said that the private trade of Starlight was double the price.

However, private Starlight trading was quite complex and not accessible to everyone.

By that calculation, the hundred strands of Starlight Xu Jin received were extremely valuable.

By market price, that was ten thousand taels of silver.

Truly a huge fortune.

If Xu Jin was shortsighted enough to directly exchange these hundred strands of Starlight into silver at the Foreign Affairs Hall, he could also be considered a wealthy man in Jinshan County city.

By then, getting a few more wives for his father and ten or eight for himself would pose no problem at all.

Of course, that was just a thought.

In any part of the world, having immense wealth without corresponding strength to protect it only made one a lamb waiting for slaughter.

However, according to the Master of the Foreign Affairs Hall, these hundred strands of Starlight were only a paper fortune for the current Xu Jin.

Because the Starlight from the Star-picking Tower was allocated inside the Star-picking Order.

The Star-picking Order had already been issued to Xu Jin, and at this moment, it was in his hands.

Very small, it was a palm-sized token.

The front was engraved with numerous intricate patterns, while the back featured a convex star, known as a one-star Star-picking Order.

But this Star-picking Order was a Star Artifact, and one must reach the Sixth Layer of Dining Dawn, also known as completing the Six Yang Leader, to imprint one’s aura and fully activate the Star-picking Order.

Below the Sixth Layer of Dining Dawn, the Star-picking Order could not be activated.

“Wait until the Sixth Layer of Dining Dawn?”

Looking at the Star-picking Order, Xu Jin was somewhat anticipative and didn’t give it much thought, simply trying to inject Star Power into the Star-picking Order.

Just trying.

As soon as he tried, Xu Jin felt resistance; the Star Power could not be injected.

But just when he felt the resistance from the Star-picking Order, the Clearing Soul Star Pattern of the Upper Star Palace in Xu Jin flickered slightly, and in an instant, the resistance of the Star-picking Order disappeared, and Xu Jin’s Star Power entered the Star-picking Order without any hindrance.

In an instant, the Star-picking Order in Xu Jin’s palm began to flash!