Star Martial Era: The Way of Star Light Cultivation

75: Chapter 71 Third Tier Snake Spirit

75 -71 Third Tier Snake Spirit

On the afternoon of July 10th, Xu Jin continued to search the area around Golden Eagle Peak.

Before he realized it, he had crossed the safety margin delineated by the map from the Taoist Institute.

But he had only just crossed it.

However, the harvest was indeed remarkable.

One could say it was everywhere.

If not for the occasional fierce beast that charged out, it would be like picking up silver.

And the fierce beasts that did charge out were also delivering silver to Xu Jin.

After slaying them, many parts of their bodies could be exchanged for silver.

Xu Jin had roughly estimated that, from yesterday to now, his acquisition had already exceeded 1,500 taels; he was almost one-third of the way to meeting his set goal.

The only trouble was that the one-meter-tall large backpack behind him was already half full.

Including other items, the load had already exceeded fifty catties, which somewhat affected his mobility.

Xu Jin estimated that he would need to find the Instructor’s fixed supply point tomorrow.

Suddenly, a swipe of blood-red color flickered in the distant sky.

Xu Jin turned around and saw a red alarm signal soaring into the sky several mountains away.

A disciple was signaling a danger alert.

Instructors should be hurrying over there already.

It was too far away for Xu Jin to be of any help.

Almost simultaneously, Xu Jin saw a green light shooting up from the mountains, rushing toward where the alarm signal had originated.

It was probably an Instructor or Chief Instructor going to the rescue.

It looked nearby, but crossing mountains and ridges, unless one reached the Mountain Master’s level where direct flight was possible, getting there would take at least two to three hundred breaths.

He hoped everything would be fine.

After about two hundred breaths, Chief Instructor Ning Yuchan appeared where the alarm had been raised, her face looking somewhat grim.

It was a dense forest.

Very soon, Ning Yuchan found a corpse in the dense forest.

After a brief observation, Ning Yuchan’s pretty face turned extremely cold, and she gritted out three words through her teeth, “Blood God Sect!”

The deceased was a Sixth Layer disciple of Dining Dawn.

The reason Ning Yuchan deduced it was the Blood God Sect was simple.

The Blood God Sect coveted the cultivators’ blood and internal Star Cores.

Bodies slain by the Blood God Sect resembled dried corpses, almost devoid of any blood.

Had it been a deed of fierce beasts or Star Beasts, there would have been blood scattered all around.

Then, Ning Yuchan took out a Star-picking Order and directly sent a Starlight Transmission to Vice Mountain Master Feng Shu, “Blood God Sect traces discovered, a Sixth Layer disciple of Dining Dawn fell victim.

According to the traces at the scene, at least two Blood God Followers appeared.

Whether to recall disciples early and significantly reduce the range of mountain picking, please advise, Vice Mountain Master.”

She held a high-tier Star-picking Order, which allowed her to send messages from here.

A few breaths later, Ning Yuchan received a reply from Vice Mountain Master Feng Shu, “Every mountain picking session, the Blood God Followers will definitely appear.

How can we give up eating for fear of choking?

I’ve alerted all Instructors and Chief Instructors to raise the alarm, advising all disciples to heighten their vigilance.

Additionally, all Instructors and Chief Instructors should intensify their search efforts; if they encounter Blood God Followers, eradicate them.”

This response was not beyond Ning Yuchan’s expectations.

Because it was indeed true that each time they went mountain picking, not only their Jinshan Taoist Institute but also the Tianyang Branch and Cangming Branch during their Sea Exploration mountain picking, the Blood God Sect frequently took actions.

Sometimes, casualties were inevitable.

But most times, for every Taoist Institute disciple killed, at least two Blood God Followers would be eliminated.

How could these regular troops, who took shortcuts by consuming cultivators’ blood, compare?

A few breaths later, deep blue alarm radiance began to rise all over the mountains, lasting for a full hundred breaths.

Any disciple not hiding in mountain caves could see it.

Xu Jin, who was searching on a mountain ridge, saw this sky-full of deep blue alarms, and his face changed.

According to the manual, it was alerting all participating disciples, indicating extreme danger, with casualties already occurring, and urging them to be vigilant.

Each disciple could decide, based on their situation, whether to move closer to the fixed supply points.

Because fixed supply points would definitely have Instructors on guard, ensuring quicker rescue if danger arose.

Xu Jin glanced around, silently heightened his alertness, and continued exploring.

Suddenly, Xu Jin’s gaze sharpened.

In a low-lying area shaded by the ridges in front of him, a patch of mushrooms with silver and white spots like stars, distributed like starlight, grew.

Shattered Star Mushroom!

Listed as the eleventh rare medicinal herb in Green Mountain, a normal mushroom was worth twenty taels of silver, a one-star Shattered Star Mushroom was worth one hundred taels, and a two-star one was worth three hundred taels; it was very precious and extremely rare.

That depression had twenty to thirty mushrooms.

Given its tricky location, there were likely several one-star ones.

The one in the center of that patch, as big as a fist with intensely dense silver spots, Xu Jin suspected was a two-star Shattered Star Mushroom.

If it was, then this haul could be nearly a thousand taels.

If he could nourish it a bit, then…

During this moment of elation, Xu Jin did not approach immediately.

The manual from the Taoist Institute also indicated that in the deep mountains, the more precious the medicinal herbs and oddities, the likelier it was for powerful fierce beasts or even Star Beasts to appear.

One needed courage, but also a careful heart.

Erecting the Starlight Shield, holding a Star Weapon long knife in hand, and with Star Skill Star Arrow ready in his left hand, Xu Jin cautiously approached the depression, remaining as observant as possible in every direction.

Searching for potential dangers.

But after scanning the surroundings repeatedly, Xu Jin detected no danger.

Approaching, he plucked one Shattered Star Mushroom after another.

Quickly, Xu Jin harvested the largest mushroom and placed it in a specially made small bag, the contained Star Power aroma was very thick, indicating a high probability it was a two-star medicinal herb.

Just at this moment, ten meters away from Xu Jin, in a patch of grass, a streak of green lightning suddenly sprang out, darting towards Xu Jin.

Always highly vigilant, Xu Jin felt the movement but did not look back.

Instead, he immediately burst into a Flying Star Step, lunging forward while instinctively erecting a Star Shield behind him.

Bang bang!

Xu Jin’s Star Shield and Starlight Shield shattered simultaneously, and his whole body was powerfully struck, instantly crashing into the mountain wall below and falling.

If this had been the Xu Jin of the past, he might have been confounded, but the Xu Jin who had experienced nearly dozens of life-and-death battles in the Martial Arts Secret Realm understood that the more critical the moment, the less one should panic.

One must remain calm.

In the instant his body lost control, Xu Jin swiftly activated his Star Skill, the Star Ring.

The Star Ring spread out, momentarily obstructing a blue snake head.

The fierce creature attacking Xu Jin actually pursued him relentlessly.

Shocked, Xu Jin, regardless of his tumbling body, continuously unleashed the Star Ring.

Feeling the Star Ring successively hit the fierce creature and block the blue giant snake, Xu Jin’s body stabilized momentarily, and he burst out with Flying Star Step, directly leaping onto a large tree and stabilizing himself.

It was when the Starlight Shield covered his body that he finally saw the attacking blue giant snake clearly.

It was a deep blue giant snake, over ten meters long, covered in scale armor that all flickered with starlight.

At this moment, as it fixed its intent deadly stare at Xu Jin, a phantom of a star appeared flickering in its head.

A Star Beast!

A Star Beast that had condensed a Star Core.

At least equivalent to a human cultivator, a Star Forger.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Xu Jin firmly gripped a Vortex Blade Emblem in his hand, ready to strike at any time.

From its performance just now, the Star Beast snake was extraordinarily fast.

He must find the precise moment; otherwise, the Vortex Blade Emblem would be wasted.

After a standoff of just three seconds, the Star Beast snake once again charged like lightning, launching a frontal attack with its gaping mouth targeted directly at Xu Jin.

It all happened in a flash.

As Xu Jin watched the giant maw of the green snake come at him, his hands instantaneously fired a series of Star Arrows in rapid succession.

In the brief span of a breath, Xu Jin fired at least eight Star Arrows.

All eight Star Arrows struck accurately into the gaping maw of the green snake.

Each one exploded into a large burst of bloodlight.

At the moment the seventh Star Arrow exploded, the snake’s head, larger than that of a bull, fell powerlessly in front of Xu Jin.

Xu Jin gasped heavily, his back soaked with cold sweat.

Having a life-saving trump card is one thing, but facing these fierce creatures is another.

It’s like theoretically, ten strong men can gang up and beat a tiger to death, but in reality, when faced with one, they are merely food.

After catching his breath, Xu Jin first swallowed a Star Refilling Pill to recover a substantial amount of his depleted Star Power, then he carefully surveyed his surroundings.

The Star Beast green snake had burst out from a dense thicket of grass, which he had failed to notice earlier.

This time, Xu Jin grew wise, picking up some stones and throwing them over.

Rustling the grass to scare the snake.

Nothing was found.

Xu Jin then processed the massive body of the Star Beast green snake.

Theoretically, every part of a Star Beast is valuable.

Even the beast meat is highly nourishing, especially for those below the Sixth Layer of Dining Dawn.

But this Star Beast green snake probably weighed over six or seven hundred catties, too much to carry.

However, the skin of this Star Beast snake was extremely valuable, excellent material for making Inner Armor, worth more than a thousand taels of Silver.

During processing, even though Xu Jin’s Star Weapon long knife was full of Star Power, it was still extremely difficult to cut open and peel off.

If refined, its defensive power would be very strong.

After a full two hours, Xu Jin finally peeled off the snake skin completely, followed by a pair of fangs, a pair of snake beads, the snake gallbladder, and finally, at the spot where the Star Core of the green snake had risen, Xu Jin dug out a deep green Star Core, the size of a fingernail.

Human cultivators who forged a Star after cultivation would also condense a similar Star Core.

This Star Core was also very valuable.

Different kinds had different values, but even the least valuable Star Core was worth over a thousand taels.

Xu Jin had not expected that his greatest gain, he had thought, would be the Shattered Star Mushroom, but it turned out to be this Star Beast green snake.

He conservatively estimated it at 2,500 taels or more.

At this point, the minimum goal for this mountain harvesting trip had been 80% achieved.

Picking out the Green Snake Star Core from the flesh, the moment the Green Snake Star Core was in Xu Jin’s hands, the Starlight on the Candou Platform moved again.

Xu Jin was astonished.

Could this thing also nourish the Candou Platform?

Or?

With a thought, his mind sank into the Candou Platform, and he saw an additional line of information on the Jade of the Candou Platform.

[Second-tier Candou Platform]

[Fighting Master: Xu Jin]

[Received Star Favor, bow once daily, obtain two strands of Starlight]

[Star Lamp one: solidify the basic Star Skill Star Arrow]

[Star Lamp two: solidify the basic Star Skill Starlight Shield]

[Nourishable Items: Star Refilling Pill, Rejuvenation Pill, Dawn Emblem, Concealing Emblem, Vortex Blade Emblem, Shattered Star Mushroom…]

[Star Skills: Basic Star Shield, Basic Star Radiance, Basic Star Ring, Basic Star Arrow, Basic Starlight Shield, Flying Star Step]

[Ritual Offerings: Third Tier Snake Spirit]