Star Martial Era: The Way of Star Light Cultivation

74: Chapter 70 Traces of the Evil Path

74 -70 Traces of the Evil Path

On the Candou Platform, a faint flash of Starlight denotes new items that can be interacted with.

At current, the only interaction available is nourishment.

This meant that the herbs harvested could be nourished.

If herbs were able to undergo nourishment, it meant that Xu Jin could locally enhance the quality of the harvest, thereby gaining higher returns.

What Xu Jin did not know now was how many herbs could be nourished under the Star Lamp.

If one Star Lamp could only nourish one herb, it wouldn’t be cost-effective.

Even if ordinary Songluo Grass was nourished to one-star, the Taoist Institute’s purchase price would only increase from two taels to ten taels.

If one-star Songluo Grass was nourished to two-star, the purchasing price from the Taoist Institute would go from ten to thirty taels.

With a profit of twenty taels, Xu Jin might as well use it to nourish Rejuvenation Pills.

A burst of Starlight erupted underfoot, and Xu Jin leapt back onto the cliff, his mind sinking into the Candou Platform, retrieving the two Rejuvenation Pills that had been nourished under the first Star Lamp.

Xu Jin had tried before.

After upgrading the Candou Platform to the Second-tier, one Star Lamp could nourish up to two pills at the same time.

A whole bottle couldn’t be taken in directly.

Afterward, Xu Jin directed the Candou Platform, attempting to place the Songluo Grass into it.

One, two, five—Xu Jin’s smile grew wider with each addition.

In the end, all thirteen freshly picked Songluo Grasses were placed under the first Star Lamp, and as Starlight circulated and flashed, nourishment began.

It was possible.

And putting thirteen was not even the limit.

The return on this investment was worthwhile.

Even if all were nourished from ordinary to one-star, earning an extra eight taels per piece, the thirteen pieces would total just over a hundred taels.

Besides, this was the relatively common Songluo Grass.

If the more precious Ghost Eye Ginseng were harvested, its ordinary purchase price was already forty taels, whereas the price for a one-star one skyrocketed to five hundred taels.

The higher the value of the item harvested, the higher the cost-effectiveness of nourishment.

However, the more precious the harvest, the harder it was to obtain, sometimes impossible to find by searching.

Therefore, Xu Jin was not in a hurry at all.

Taking advantage of the last of the daylight, he searched the cliffside again and found thirty-four more Songluo Grasses, including three that were one-star but none that were two-star.

Eventually, Xu Jin tested and found out the limit of the amount of herbs that the Star Lamp could nourish.

Twenty pieces.

A single Star Lamp of a Second-tier Candou Platform could nourish twenty Songluo Grasses at one time, but the nourishment time still seemed to require a day and a night.

By this calculation, a single Star Lamp’s yield for a day and night was at least one hundred and sixty taels, and two lamps were three hundred and twenty taels.

Within three days, he could gain an extra thousand taels at the bare minimum.

Subsequently, Xu Jin took out the nourished Rejuvenation Pills and filled both Star Lamps entirely with Songluo Grass.

The sun set rapidly.

Once the sun went down, the deep mountains were pitch-black save for the mountaintops; one genuinely could not see their outstretched fingers elsewhere.

Xu Jin swiftly returned to a cave he had found on his way earlier.

The deep forests at night belonged to all kinds of poisonous insects and fierce beasts.

Collecting herbs at night, one might not be bitten to death but could still fall to their demise.

Xu Jin honestly found the cave he had previously discovered, gathered some dry wood, lit a fire, smoked out hundreds of various insects, and also removed the stench.

It must have been the nest of some fierce beast.

But Xu Jin was not afraid.

As long as it wasn’t a Star Beast with a condensed Star Core, Xu Jin feared none.

He moved a few large stones to barely seal the cave entrance when suddenly, a roar came from outside the cave door.

Hearing the sound, Xu Jin moved, propping up the Starlight Shield, holding the Star Weapon long knife, and slowly pushed the stone door to step outside.

No sooner had he poked his head out of the entrance than a white figure flashed like lightning towards Xu Jin’s head.

Almost instinctively, or rather due to the combat instincts honed in the Martial Arts Secret Realm these past days, a Star Shield unexpectedly surged from his throat, reinforcing protection of his entire head in a flash.

The long knife swung fiercely, Starlight exploding.

Hiss!

Blood gushed out.

The fierce beast that lunged at Xu Jin was cloven in two by a single strike.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a white lynx.

Its claws, which still scattered fading Starlight, revealed it wasn’t just an ordinary demon beast but a Fierce Beast that had absorbed Starlight into its body, albeit of a low Rank.

The long knife swung again, severing the lynx’s claws and tucking them into his backpack.

Many unique parts of Fierce Beasts, especially those containing Starlight, were also purchased by the Taoist Institute at a good price.

These claws alone were worth at least fifty taels of Silver.

The only pity was that when he collected them, the Candou Platform showed no reaction.

Cutting off the lynx’s two hind legs and the considerably fat breast meat, Xu Jin tossed the rest far away and returned to the cave to make a fire and roast meat on the spot.

The dry food provided by the Taoist Institute was mainly jerky, which was too tough to eat.

Xu Jin, in his former life, was quite the barbecue connoisseur.

At the beginning, when he would join his friends for outdoor activities, they all complimented his skill; even when he burnt it, no one complained, saying it was delicious.

Xu Jin thought it was genuinely tasty.

But he later realized, those guys just wanted someone to barbecue for them.

Xu Jin barbecued, they ate.

After they had eaten their fill and started drinking, Xu Jin would find time to eat a little himself and then had to clean up.

Later on, Xu Jin came to his senses.

However, his barbecuing skills genuinely improved.

The backpack contained only a little bit of salt.

The freshly cut meat, still steaming hot, was delicious even just sprinkled with that bit of salt.

Especially the fatty parts, sizzling with oil as they roasted, exuded a mouthwatering aroma.

After devouring a large chunk of succulent breast meat and a leg, Xu Jin finally lay back contentedly to rest.

He had miscalculated.

Next time he ventured into the mountains, he should bring a pack of seasoning and some handy tools.

No matter how tough it got, he couldn’t skimp on satisfying his stomach.

After all, with Xu Jin’s current physique, a little extra weight would have no effect on him.

Though in the wilderness, his cultivation must not halt.

The Golden Spreading Chapter of the Dining Dawn at the Sixth Layer, not a single night could be spared.

The continuous solidifying of the Clear Soul Star Pattern on the head was essential, followed by practicing the Flying Star Step with the Star Lamp and engraving the Great Gathering Star Pattern.

Finally, Xu Jin took another Rejuvenation Pill and then took out his Star-picking Order, preparing to enter the Martial Learning Secret Realm of the Star-picking Tower for actual combat.

But to Xu Jin’s surprise, he was able to enter the Star-picking Tower but couldn’t access the Martial Learning Secret Realm.

Lucky for him there was an information prompt, otherwise, Xu Jin would have thought his Star-picking Order was broken.

[Star Master, you are too far from the Star-picking Tower.

Please adjust the distance or upgrade your Star-picking Order’s Star Level.]

“Damn, is this like being offline, no network?” Xu Jin was taken aback, as he had never taken notice of this before.

He casually researched it a bit.

And discovered the notice about the Star Level of the Star-picking Order.

A one-star Star-picking Order could be used within four hundred li of the main tower or two hundred li of the branch tower; beyond that distance, it couldn’t send or receive Starlight Transmission, nor use other functions.

A two-star Star-picking Order could be used within eight hundred li of the main tower or four hundred li of the branch tower.

A three-star Star-picking Order had a limit of twelve hundred li from the main tower and six hundred from the branch tower.

A four-star Star-picking Order had a limit of twenty-four hundred li from the main tower and twelve hundred from the branch tower.

A five-star Star-picking Order had a limit of four thousand li from the main tower, two thousand from the branch tower.

Above six stars, the information is unclear.

Good lord, this Star-picking Tower had a service area restriction.

If the branch tower of Star-picking Tower in Jinshan County was indeed in the county city itself, that’s around fifty li in the vicinity of Jinshan County City.

Xu Jin was definitely more than fifty li away from Jinshan County City now.

Suddenly, Xu Jin thought about his last trip to Heshui County; if someone had a two-star or higher Star-picking Order, then contact would be much more convenient.

How to upgrade the star level, currently unclear.

Need to enter the corresponding main tower to know.

He couldn’t enter the Martial Learning Secret Realm, but he couldn’t waste the nourished Rejuvenation Pill he had just swallowed.

He continued the arduous practice of the Golden Spreading Chapter until midnight before Xu Jin rested.

At night, amidst various animal roars echoing through the mountains, Xu Jin slept incredibly soundly.

Perhaps this is what’s meant by sheer skill giving rise to audacity.

On the morning of July 10th, after completing his morning exercises, Xu Jin started to search without hurry.

More than three hundred disciples ventured into the vast mountains, which was like throwing three hundred rocks into the sea – no difference at all.

As long as one dared venture to the edges, the gains could be significant.

That morning, Xu Jin roamed around Golden Eagle Peak, the more dangerous the spots, the better the finds, but they also consumed a lot of Star Power.

To be honest, in some places without the Flying Star Step, even if he saw something, he couldn’t harvest it.

But then again, gathering herbs on these sheer cliffs provided a great practice for the Flying Star Step.

In one morning, Xu Jin gathered around two hundred taels worth of supplies.

In the afternoon, Xu Jin descended from Golden Eagle Peak and delved into the valley below to explore.

The valley’s yield was slightly higher.

He collected over three catties of Stone Shimmer.

The Taoist Institute’s purchase price for one tael of Stone Shimmer was ten Silver.

A one-star Stone Shimmer was fifty Silver.

The herbs could be nourished, but after a few more two-hour periods, the Songluo Grass would be ready to switch out.

A downside of the valley was that it had more Fierce Beasts.

In just over a two-hour period, Xu Jin had slain more than seven Fierce Beasts.

One of them, appearing to be at the sixth layer of Dining Dawn, was somewhat challenging for Xu Jin to kill.

But the gains were worth it as these Fierce Beasts contributed several hundreds of taels to Xu Jin.

After processing one of the beasts, Xu Jin quickly took a Star Refilling Pill to recover his Star Power.

Inside the valley, Xu Jin had this nagging feeling that something was watching him; it was probably due to the abundance of Fierce Beasts, so while he remained alert, he didn’t think much of it.

However, on the other side of the mountain ridge where Xu Jin couldn’t see, two men clad in beast skins were huddled together.

“We’ve chosen a poor target.

His Cultivation Level isn’t high, but his Combat Power is frightening.

He even easily slew a beast at the sixth layer of Dining Dawn.

Let’s go, find another target,” Long Yu advised Zhou Baihan, who was lean and wiry.

“You, a Star Casting master, are afraid of someone at the fifth layer of Dining Dawn?” Zhou Baihan was somewhat dissatisfied.

“You don’t understand!

People like him, they’re geniuses, and geniuses get extra protection from Jinshan Taoist Institute.

Who knows if he has some powerful Emblem protecting him.

If you don’t want to die, follow me,” said Long Yu before turning to leave without further discussion, with Zhou Baihan having no choice but to follow.

“That Altar Master, should we notify others?” Zhou Baihan inquired.

“Notify my ass.

If we don’t get exposed, how can we survive!”

“True!” After speaking, the two figures donned in beast skins rapidly disappeared in the area of Golden Eagle Peak.