October 27th evening, Third Tier Martial Arts Secret Realm.
Xu Jin had just finished two practical combat matches with Drunk Moon Immortal when he suddenly received a challenge application from Star Fire.
These past few days, Xu Jin had found out who Star Fire was.
This year’s true inheritor of Tianyang Star Hall and the top genius universally acknowledged in the Star Refining Realm.
It wasn’t a secret; anyone could find out with a little inquiry.
After thinking it over, Xu Jin accepted Star Fire’s challenge.
This guy was still quite valuable for practical combat.
Xu Jin felt that with each battle, his practical combat ability was rapidly improving. If he kept his strength at the same level without changing tactics, he might be defeated.
Indeed, a whetstone to sharpen his skills.
Inside Tianyang Star Hall, when Zhou Xinghuo received the approval from the Great Sage Equalling Heaven for practical combat, he was somewhat excited.
These days, every day different Fifth Tier experts had been sparring with him, feeding him moves and pointing out the flaws in his practical combat.
Every day, he was being thrashed.
This year, he hadn’t been thrashed as many times as he had these past few days.
But he felt that his practical combat ability was soaring.
He felt that he had a chance to defeat the Great Sage Equalling Heaven.
Initially, his plan was to challenge the Great Sage Equalling Heaven in another three or four days, by which time his chances of winning would be over seventy percent.
Now, it was only forty to fifty percent.
But the Sixth Elder Xia Zhong, who managed the Doom-suppressing, was pressing him hard, saying it was an order from his teacher Wang Kan. He had no choice but to challenge the Great Sage Equalling Heaven.
And he was on a mission.
In the Secret Realm of Practical Combat, as before, after the light screen dissipated, Zhou Xinghuo didn’t hurry to end it; instead, he started chatting with the Great Sage Equalling Heaven.
"Great Saint, shall we try a different fighting style today?" said Star Fire suddenly.
"A different fighting style, what do you mean?"
"Your Fire Series Star Skill is too fierce. How about we both refrain from using Fire Series Star Skills and switch to other Star Skills to battle? How about that?" Zhou Xinghuo looked at Xu Jin excitedly.
If it had been before, Xu Jin might have really agreed.
But after having been through an assassination attempt, and then following tips from State Preceptor Academician Kou after his breakthrough, Xu Jin had become extremely cautious.
It seemed harmless on the surface.
But upon careful thought, it appeared to be gathering specific elements.
There were many geniuses skilled in the Fire Series Star Skill; it was hard to rule out.
But once another series was added, the difficulty of exclusion plummeted drastically.
Besides, using a Star Skill he wasn’t proficient in made no sense.
"I am only skilled in the Fire Series." After thinking, Xu Jin refused and flames erupted around him instantly. "Come on."
Xu Jin was ready to battle, yet Zhou Xinghuo showed no rush to fight.
In order not to rush into the fight, not even Starlight flared around him; he remained completely unhurried.
"Great Saint, only being skilled in the Fire Series isn’t good; it’s too easy to be targeted. And by the way, you’re probably not from our Tianyang Star Hall, are you? In terms of Fire Series Star Skills, our Tianyang Star Hall is ranked first, Cangming second, Doom-suppressing third, and Dachen last.
You’re not from Dachen, are you? Are you from Doom-suppressing Star Palace?
But the Doom-suppressing Star Palace doesn’t have your accent..."
In an instant, Xu Jin’s body burst into flames, appearing right in front of the chattering Star Fire, and a Flame Burst directly dispersed the unguarded, incessantly talking Zhou Xinghuo into Starlight.
Inside Tianyang Star Hall, Zhou Xinghuo who realized he had been blasted by Heavenly Saint Qi couldn’t help but curse, grinding his teeth!
The Great Sage Equalling Heaven was being so unreasonably mean.
Didn’t give him any face, did he?
He hadn’t even finished speaking, and the Sage attacked.
The worst part was, he hadn’t achieved any of his objectives.
The mission Sixth Elder Xia Zhong entrusted him with wasn’t completed, and he hadn’t even gotten a chance to fight the Great Sage Equalling Heaven.
Exceedingly frustrating.
The next instant, Zhou Xinghuo once again applied to challenge the Great Sage Equalling Heaven.
[The Great Sage Equalling Heaven has denied your challenge.]
Starlight flew forth, making Zhou Xinghuo raise an eyebrow. What did this mean?
He applied for a challenge again and was immediately denied again.
Unable to help himself, Zhou Xinghuo sent a message to the Great Sage Equalling Heaven.
[Great Saint, what’s your intention? Is ambushing me fun? If you’re brave enough, accept the battle?]
Seeing this message, Xu Jin wore a puzzled expression.
This guy, with his long-winded and purposeful chit-chat, was questioning him.
What was the purpose of keeping such a person as a friend, waiting for the New Year?
Without responding, Xu Jin deleted Star Fire from Star-picking Tower’s contacts.
Having waited a long while, Zhou Xinghuo hadn’t received any reply from the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, and couldn’t help himself, so he sent another Starlight Transmission, but the notification he received left him both shocked and annoyed.
[You are not a friend of the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, unable to send a transmission.]
"Fuck, this is too petty, right? Just deleting me?"
Zhou Xinghuo was so frustrated he nearly spat blood and became even more enraged.
Unable to send a Starlight Transmission, he only had one option left—to directly challenge the Great Sage Equalling Heaven in the Third Tier Martial Arts Secret Realm.
But the result made him even madder.
He challenged seven times.
Xu Jin instantly denied him seven times.
After trying again, it indicated that the other party was no longer in the Third Tier Martial Arts Secret Realm.
In an instant, Zhou Xinghuo completely lost his patience.
So frustrated he wanted to spit blood!
How could there be such a person!
October 28th, Foreign Affairs Hall.
Having received the transmission early, Vice Hall Master Ling Mao came out and took Xu Jin directly into the inner hall.
Upon meeting, Xu Jin immediately pulled out a whole bunch of emblems from his bag.
In recent times, Xu Jin hadn’t given up on expanding the Sumeru mustard seed space.
Accumulating over time, Xu Jin’s Sumeru mustard seed space had already expanded to about six cubic meters.
Roughly the size of a space two meters high, three meters long, and one meter wide.