On his way back to the dormitory, Xu Jin had already figured out how to use the one-hundred taels of silver.
His goal was very clear—he must achieve the First Layer of the Dining Dawn Realm in six days when the current Star-pointing Season ended.
From the brief words of Instructor Ning, Xu Jin had understood that the better the talent displayed during cultivation, the more reward-oriented resources one could obtain.
The primary factor in judging a person's cultivation talent from the outside was the number of days spent on Star-pointing.
This was something that Xu Jin could no longer change, so he focused his efforts on the second element in judging cultivation talent: the time taken to break through to the First Layer of Dining Dawn.
Getting the right to join the Middle Court of the Taoist Institute should have been just one of them.
His goal set, but the silver needed to be spent cautiously, without waste.
Apart from reaching his goal, he still needed to save some silver to change his family's plight.
After all, Xu Jin wouldn't be able to earn much silver anytime soon, at least not for a few months.
By the time he lay down after tidying up the dormitory, Xu Jin had made up his mind.
To ensure a breakthrough, he needed to add one Mental Awakening Pill each during morning and evening classes, ten taels per day, amounting to sixty taels in six days.
For the remaining six days, he needed at least twelve Blood Replenishing Pills and three Solid Foundation Pills. Xu Jin currently had seven Blood Replenishing Pills and one Solid Foundation Pill. He planned to buy three more Solid Foundation Pills and seven more Blood Replenishing Pills, just to have some extra.
He must ensure a breakthrough to the First Layer of Dining Dawn by the end of the Star-pointing Season so he could have the capability to change his and his family's living conditions.
Inside the dormitory, the other young men were already asleep, their snoring was a mixture of grinding teeth and passing gas, and the smell was even more pleasant.
"Brother Jin, there's some foot-bathing water I prepared for you in the barrel outside," Qian Xiaohu, who had not yet slept, whispered as he saw Xu Jin return.
"Alright, thanks."
Xu Jin didn't stand on ceremony, quickly rinsed himself, and went to bed. Seeing that Qian Xiaohu was still wide-eyed, he couldn't help but remind him,
"You'll definitely affect the effectiveness of tomorrow's Star-pointing if you keep having these wild thoughts.
Sleep well, and strive for a successful Star-pointing tomorrow." Xu Jin said.
"Brother Jin, do you think I can succeed in Star-pointing tomorrow?"
"With all your hard work and dedication, not slacking off a single day in your cultivation, and with the Mental Awakening Pill to aid you, who else but you could succeed at Star-pointing?" Xu Jin responded.
"Really?" Qian Xiaohu's eyes shone.
"Really!" Xu Jin's tone was very certain.
"I'm relieved then."
Xu Jin's words seemed to greatly affirm Qian Xiaohu's confidence; he relaxed considerably in an instant and fell deep asleep within a few breaths.
However, Xu Jin himself didn't immediately sleep but reviewed his cultivation process again.
The most important cultivation experience summarized today: the more continuous strikes of the Five Battles Killing Fist, the better the Body Refining effect.
Exhausting this wisp of Starlight in one breath.
Theoretically, Xu Jin could perform the Five Battles Killing Fist more than ten times consecutively.
That would be for the evening class.
After some thought, Xu Jin decided to time his use of the Starlight at the Candou Platform during evening class.
Performing the Five Battles Killing Fist more than ten times consecutively might draw surprise if noticed by others.
After all, currently, even the first-ranked Yue Daqi could not perform the Five Battles Killing Fist ten times in a row without stopping.
And during the evening class, the sky was dark, illuminated only by moonlight and torches around the square, making visibility poor.
From a few meters away, it was hard to see clearly.
Even if someone noticed, he could brush it off by saying they saw wrong.
This way, Xu Jin could make the most out of the wisp of Starlight on the Candou Platform.
Before sleeping, Xu Jin's thoughts stirred, and his spirit once again entered the Candou Platform.
On the Candou Platform, there was only a small wisp of Starlight.
Xu Jin's thoughts sank into the little figure at the center of the platform, trying once again to bow, but no Starlight fell.
It seemed that he would have to wait until tomorrow.
One could only receive one wisp of Starlight a day from the Candou Platform.
Currently, one wisp of Starlight seemed quite a lot, sufficient; but in the future, as Xu Jin's cultivation level broke through, it would not be enough.
His thoughts stirred, and Xu Jin's gaze once again fell on the Jade at the very center of the Candou Platform.
[First Tier Candou Platform]
[Fighting Master: Xu Jin]
[Obtain Star Favor, one bow per day, can receive one wisp of Starlight]
[Star Lamp: one]
[Nourishable Items: zero]
[Upgradeable]
Xu Jin was somewhat puzzled, what use was this Star Lamp?
And what were Nourishable Items?
Upgradeable?
How to upgrade?
Just as such questions emerged, another line of small characters appeared on the Jade.
[Upgradeable: requires ten wisps of Starlight, nine pieces of Jade, a hundred catties of Refined Iron, ten catties of Purple Copper, one catty of silver, one tael of gold.]
With a slight movement of thought, the conditions for upgrading appeared, which was indeed miraculous, yet it dealt a huge blow to Xu Jin.
A blow of poverty.
Gathering ten wisps of Starlight was feasible just by saving for ten days, but nine blocks of Jade would probably cost forty to fifty taels, and Xu Jin was still unclear about the specific price of Refined Iron, but it was probably also in the tens of taels, not to mention the estimated total cost of over a hundred taels for the rest.
Poor!
It was a huge investment, but it was uncertain what changes the upgrade of the Candou Platform would bring.
In contemplation, Xu Jin's thoughts drifted over to the "Nourishable Items," wanting to see if there would be any notifications of change.
But after a while, there was no change.
Xu Jin then set his thoughts on the "Star Lamp," wondering if there would be any discoveries.
The moment his thoughts touched the Star Lamp, Xu Jin's spirit was suddenly pulled into a bundle of flame light.
Inside the flame light, Xu Jin saw another self, sparkling with starlight.
Or perhaps it could be said that the entire flame light was sparkling with starlight.
What's the use of this?
Out of curiosity, Xu Jin casually moved, flexing his limbs flexibly, just like a real person.
But it seemed there was still no practical use?
"I wonder if practicing the Five Battles Killing Fist here has a Body Refining effect?"
A bold idea suddenly surfaced in Xu Jin's mind, and he immediately began practicing.
His execution of the Five Battles Killing Fist was incredibly smooth.
After practicing several times in a row, Xu Jin retreated his thoughts and felt his body's condition, only to be disappointed to discover, it had no effect.
Practicing the Five Battles Killing Fist inside the Star Lamp had no Body Refining effect.
What's the point of this Star Lamp, then?
Xu Jin felt a bit disappointed. So far, the only useful thing on the Candou Platform seemed to be that strand of starlight obtained from Star Worship.
This "Nourishable Items" and "Star Lamp" seemed quite useless.
Might as well sleep.
Only by getting a good night's sleep could he fully recover his Divine Soul Power and attract more starlight for Body Refining tomorrow...
Thinking thus, Xu Jin suddenly paused.
Starlight?
Suddenly, he realized the importance of the Star Lamp.
Costless Martial Learning.
For example, they had learned the Five Battles Killing Fist two months ago, and everyone had become proficient, but it had no Body Refining effect.
The reason was simple, without Star Power participating, the Five Battles Killing Fist was like the radio calisthenics in his previous life, only good for warming up.
Now that Xu Jin had just succeeded in Star Pointing and had Star Power within his body, practicing the Five Battles Killing Fist involved the Star Power, and the Body Refining effect was significantly noticeable.
However, the amount was limited.
Because each iteration of the Five Battles Killing Fist consumed Star Power.
For the youths in the Dining Dawn Realm, the Star Power they gained from morning and evening classes was highly limited.
Hence, the number of times each youth could practice the Five Battles Killing Fist daily was limited.
The amount of Star Power gained determined the number of times the Five Battles Killing Fist could be practiced.
Usually, it's only about fifteen times per day.
After becoming proficient, a sequence of Five Battles Killing Fist took only about two or three minutes, so they'd finish in half an hour.
Wanting to practice more without the support of Star Power was pointless.
But just now in the Star Lamp, Xu Jin discovered that practicing the Five Battles Killing Fist felt the same as practicing with Star Power, except for the lack of a Body Refining effect.
Is this a way to increase proficiency?
This seemed to be the only functionality he could discern.
Is there a proficiency or realm in practicing the Five Battles Killing Fist?
Yes, definitely.
The instructor teaching them, Cui Tianqi, had mentioned when teaching the Fist that it was heavily focused on lethal force and had high practicality!
Although it was just a low-grade Human Tier Body Refining Star Martial technique, practicing it to Great Success would surpass the practicality of a Middle Grade Human Tier Star Martial.
However, back then, besides Yue Daqi, other youths had not succeeded in Star Pointing.
So when someone asked Instructor Cui about the realms of the Five Battles Killing Fist, Cui Tianqi did not explain, simply saying that knowing too much before succeeding in Star Pointing wouldn't be beneficial.
After successful Star Pointing, long-term practice with the involvement of Star Power would naturally lead to discoveries.
Since he could practice the Five Battles Killing Fist without consuming his own Star Power, Xu Jin immersed his thoughts into the Star Lamp and specifically practiced the Five Battles Killing Fist.
You know, soon Xu Jin felt differently.
During the day, the main focus of practicing the Five Battles Killing Fist was on Body Refining, with less attention on the techniques themselves.
But now, practicing in the Star Lamp, Xu Jin's focus shifted back to the essence of the Five Battles Killing Fist.
While practicing, he even recalled some key points shared by Instructor Cui.
The Five Battles Killing Fist wasn't merely slow or fast; each movement varied in pace.
For example, Instructor Cui had said that in the Yin-Yang Combining movement, the initial movement should be fast, but the ending should be slow, slow to endure.
He hadn't thought about it before and hadn't seriously practiced it.
Now he had a feeling about it.
When performing the Yin-Yang Combining move, the Star Power within his body surged fast like thunder at the beginning, but then abruptly slowed and stopped at the end, with waves of Star Power crashing like waves, even forming a half-visible Starlight Shield on the surface of his little person in the Star Lamp.
However, this Starlight Shield was fleeting.
It could only sometimes be produced.
Having discovered this marvel, Xu Jin kept repeating the Five Battles Killing Fist inside the Star Lamp, trying to produce the Starlight Shield again.
Xu Jin thought this might be the key point of the Five Battles Killing Fist!
Until the midnight watchman's gong sound woke him, bringing him reluctantly out of the Star Lamp.
He had to sleep to fully recover the Divine Soul Power, or it would definitely affect tomorrow's morning class's cultivation effectiveness.