Chapter 147: The Ninth Star (1/2)

I wonder if one of the academy mentors can extrapolate the next level of this Cosmic Art, Lu Yin thought to himself. But in the end, he decided that it wasn’t possible. This Cosmic Art was far more powerful than he had initially imagined. A mere eight stars was already this powerful. It was beyond any battle technique that he had seen, and it was also an ancient battle technique that not just anyone in the present could deduce.

He told himself to forget about it, but he just couldn’t quash his yearning desire to learn the next level of the skill! Even as Lu Yin became resigned to his fate, he stretched out his hand, causing eight stars to revolve around his palm. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

“One is missing.” All of a sudden, a wavering voice spoke into Lu Yin’s ear, startling him so badly that he leaped up. He reflexively used his Flash technique to run away, but the voice continued to pursue him relentlessly. “The fact that one is missing is such a shame. It makes everything imperfect.”

Lu Yin stopped moving and slowly turned around, his face as white as a sheet. He had a feeling that his biggest secret had just been exposed—after all, he had just come out of the Time Stop Space a moment ago! Also, could the owner of this voice actually see when Lu Yin had activated his Cosmic Art? This was something beyond most people.

What greeted him was an old, wrinkly face that Lu Yin recognized. It had left a deep impression on him, as this was the crazy director’s face, the same one who had nearly killed him!

At this time, the crazy director’s eyes were murky, and he only seemed to be able to focus on Lu Yin’s palm. More precisely, he was focused on the eight stars rotating around it.

Lu Yin cleared his throat and said, “I am Student Lu Yin. I have met you before, Director.”

The crazy director did not care about Lu Yin’s introduction and continued to stare at his Cosmic Palm intensely. His eyes slowly lit up and he let out a maniacal cackle. “Haha, I remember now! One star is indeed missing. Eight stars are imperfect, but the addition of one more star to take it to nine would make it complete. Yes, that is it! Haha.”

Lu Yin’s heart was shaken, and he had to forcibly stop himself from letting the stars dissipate. He had a suspicion that he might have just received an unbelievably good stroke of luck from this crazy director. “Cra- I mean, Director, have you seen this technique before?”

The crazy director continued to laugh rabidly and mutter to himself under his breath, as though he had remembered something. Lu Yin waved his Cosmic Palm in front of the crazy director, and with feigned sigh, he said, “How can I make the ninth star appear? I don’t know.”

The crazy director’s mouth fell wide open, and he stared at Lu Yin in disbelief. “You really don’t know?”

Lu Yin nodded. “That is correct.”

Lu Yin eagerly anticipated this unexpected boon. “You know how to do it? I don’t believe you.”

The crazy director stared hard at Lu Yin. “I said that I know how to do it. I really do.”

“I still don’t believe you.”

“You must believe me.”

“I won’t believe you until I see the ninth star.”

The crazy director let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his frazzled hair before saying, “You will be the death of me! Alright then, let me show you the ninth star. I have to make you believe me.”

After saying that, he grabbed Lu Yin’s hands and pressed his own palm against Lu Yin’s. An indescribably peculiar ripple spread out when the two palms met, filling Astral-10 before shooting into the sky. This abnormally powerful ripple went unnoticed by everyone else, including Old Cai, the Trialmaster, and the other mentors. At this moment, only Lu Yin could feel the rippling sensation.

He was now firsthand experiencing a transformation that was even more mysterious than his rudimentary Cosmic Art. Although he did not know if this was truly the next stage of the Cosmic Art, he was certain that it was more powerful than the eight stars version because he could see the faint image of the ninth shining from within his body.

But the way this ninth star was forming was completely different from the previous stars. If the stars had previously been forcibly coalesced, then the ninth star was like the final piece of a puzzle falling neatly into place.

Lu Yin’s mind slowed down as he stared at the stars surrounding him. They weren’t real, but their appearance was impossibly authentic, making him feel as if he had been thrust into an unimaginably terrifying realm consisting of nine stars. This ninth star had changed the intrinsic nature of the technique, whereas before this point, each additional star had slightly increased the power of the technique. Now, not even Lu Yin had any idea of how powerful it was. The explosion of a single star could distort the void, so what would happen if an entire star field exploded?

Suddenly, the stars surrounding his body disappeared, and Lu Yin closed his eyes. The insane director turned his head up to gaze at the skies above them as he cried out, “You! Yes, you! Don’t run! You started the war, and now you have to bear the consequences! Do not flee.” With that outburst, the crazy director took to the skies and quickly vanished.

Lu Yin was disappointed that the crazy director hadn’t completely simulated the ninth star of the technique. Lu Yin could feel how much more powerful his physical body had become, although he still didn’t truly know his body’s limits. Still, the Cosmic Palm that he had just witnessed left him shaking in the wake of its power. Just from that brief moment of contemplation, Lu Yin had gained incredible insights into the movements of astral bodies, and his face grew heated as he considered all the new possibilities that had opened up to him. If the Cosmic Palm was remodeled around a star system, then could more stars be added to it, like how the original eight had functioned?

This was a radical idea, but it didn’t seem to be completely impossible. Lu Yin’s breath turned ragged, and he urgently wanted to relive the sensation that he had felt with the director’s simulation earlier. That brief expression had triggered a fundamental change in his abilities.

Lu Yin decided to act on his impulses, and he sat down crossed-legged to start meditating. He soon cleared his mind and focused his concentration.

After an hour passed, he opened his eyes. He could still recall the sensation of the ninth star, but he couldn’t cause it to appear; it was definitely harder to cultivate than the eighth star. And since it had taken Lu Yin nearly two months to cultivate the eighth star, the creation of the ninth would undoubtedly take even more time. This was not something that could be rushed, so he decided that he would focus on this the next time he rolled Time Stop. He could stay inside that frozen space for three months, and Lu Yin was confident that he would be able to manifest the ninth star after cultivating the skill for that long.

Lu Yin stood up and stretched, feeling the numbness leave his body. What should he do next? He couldn’t just keep cultivating, and the Nine Trial Zones wasn’t a good choice right now as, without any backing, returning would just be asking for trouble. He only had one real option left: make money. Since he had some free time, he should go and earn some money, especially since his innate gift required so much star energy.

Soon after, Lu Yin arrived at the Treasury. By then, Xia Luo had already left with Liu Ji.

When Old Cai saw Lu Yin, his eyes lit up and the curiosity in his voice was palpable as he asked, “Hey kid, you’re really quite rich. Your star energy has increased a lot in just a few days, huh? You must have already used up thousands of star crystals to do that.”

Lu Yin smiled. “I was just lucky to get a large sum recently, nothing more.”