Star God

Changfeng Martial Hall could afford to lease nearly three thousand square meters of office space in the city center, a clear sign of considerable financial strength.

They had also rented rooms in Yunsheng Apartment across from the office building.

Li Pin moved in that very day.

A fifty-six-square-meter single room.

Taibai had no public area deductions.

Even with the twenty-square-meter meditation chamber specially partitioned for martial artists, this apartment was more than spacious enough for one person.

After a busy afternoon of moving, Li Pin treated Fang Yubai and Shanhu—who had become friends after their initial clash—to a meal, officially marking his entry into Changfeng Martial Hall.

Night.

Li Pin returned to the apartment and settled his mind.

Having a private space entirely his own felt like a new beginning.

He entered the meditation chamber, its floor covered with thick rubber mats, and recalled the boxing techniques he had cultivated.

Back then, without a renowned master to guide him, the manual he practiced drew from the strengths of many schools...

Or rather, it was a patchwork of bits and pieces, yet he had still forged his own unique method of training and combat.

His combat technique was the Eight Fiends True Fire Strength.

His training method was the Mysterious Gate of Profound Yin.

At its peak, it could Embrace Qi into Dan.

Of course, he had failed to Embrace Qi into Dan, and whether the Mysterious Gate of Profound Yin could reach that step remained to be verified.

"Ming Jin, An Jin, Hua Jin, Dan Jin, Gang Jin—all refer to the application of force. Though I haven't Embraced Qi into Dan, by using the Mysterious Gate of Profound Yin to embrace Yin and surge Yang, visualizing the Eight Fiends igniting the heart flame, I can still unleash Dan Jin."

Li Pin was very clear on this point.

But it meant nothing to him now.

Without Embracing Qi into Dan, his force hadn't coalesced into a unified whole; relying solely on blood and qi eruption to unleash the Eight Fiends True Fire Strength, which mimicked Dan Jin, was equivalent to overexertion.

At his peak, using it once or twice would drain his blood and qi, damaging his tendons and bones.

Back when he sparred with a Hua Jin martial artist, the loser harbored a grudge and hired experts to ambush him. He had unleashed three consecutive Dan Jin strikes to break through the encirclement, but it damaged his foundation, planting the seeds for his later failure to Embrace Qi into Dan.

Dan Jin was like this, and Gang Jin was even more perilous.

Gang Jin's eruption required resonance from the five viscera and six bowels; if the lungs and organs weren't strong enough, he would suffer internal bleeding and severe injury before even unleashing the Gang Jin.

In severe cases, death on the spot.

"Physique is the foundation. When physique combines with force eruption, and power and technique merge, that's when a martial artist's true strength is realized."

Li Pin calmed his mind, adjusted his breathing, and activated the Mysterious Gate of Profound Yin, supplemented by the Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound Technique, continuously vibrating his body as if making every cell move.

This process was second nature to him, not difficult at all.

After a full half hour, Li Pin completed a round of training. Though he hadn't engaged in intense exercise, his entire body was drenched in sweat.

A moment later, he regulated his breath, then focused his mind, slowly immersing himself in the perception of his own body.

The fusion of souls seemed to have granted him some kind of talent, allowing him to perceive his own body with astonishing precision.

In just a few minutes, he calculated the improvement in physical strength from this training session.

"If I use the Martial Arts Association's physique and blood qi intensity as the unit of measurement..."

Li Pin made the conversion: "This round of training increased my blood qi from the previous 16.113 to 16.127, an increment of 0.014, strictly speaking, 0.01466..."

As long as he wanted, he could precisely track it to the tenth, thirtieth, or even hundredth decimal place.

This level of precision...

Even though he wasn't trying it for the first time, his emotions still stirred.

Science simply couldn't explain this phenomenon.

But since something like transmigration had happened, what was science anyway?

"With my current nutritional intake, I can do six rounds of training a day, resulting in a total blood qi increase of 0.08796... rounding to three decimal places, 0.088, which is 2.64 points per month."

In five months, his blood qi intensity would reach 29.328.

That corresponded to the peak of Hua Jin, the threshold for Embracing Qi into Dan.

However...

"This is theoretical. Over the past half month, I've been continuously improving. The daily blood qi increase from the Mysterious Gate of Profound Yin has already risen from the previous 0.035 to 0.088. Though the improvement efficiency has slowed a bit, reaching 0.1 eventually isn't hard. If I supplement it with some martial arts herbs and increase training frequency, I might reach 0.15 per day, and attempt to Embrace Dan in just over two months."

No renowned master for guidance? Top-tier inheritance?

The feedback from his own body was the best teacher.

Li Pin didn't proceed with a second round of training.

He took a shower, changed clothes, booted up the computer he'd moved from the dorm, and logged onto Taibai's most popular Martial Arts Website.

As soon as he opened the website, a window popped up.

Taibai planned to launch a purge campaign against the ferocious beasts and demonic creatures in Death Valley, recruiting martial artists to delve deeper into the area.

Gaia Star spanned over two billion square kilometers, but two-thirds of it was wild mountains and forests infested with ferocious beasts and demonic creatures.

The source of it all...

The Star God.

A higher-dimensional being whose greatness could not be described by any number of words.

Its radiance filled the entire solar system.

Ninety-three years ago, some "qualified" individuals, through meditation, "saw" this vast and majestic presence, and fear, chaos, madness, and despair quickly spread.

Order collapsed.

Countless wars erupted because of it.

Three years later, the wars also ended because of it.

Humanity's proud war machines began to malfunction with increasing frequency.

Gunpowder failed, cannons exploded, warships broke down, instruments went haywire.

Because...

"Atoms," bathed in starlight, gained will and grew close to the Star God.

When weapons and instruments, carrying hostile intent, attacked Star Refiners who had bathed in starlight through meditating on the Star God, the atoms resisted, malfunctions became frequent, and it was often the users themselves who were destroyed first.

The wars were forced to an end.

Thus, the era of the Star God began.

And it wasn't just humans who bathed in the starlight.

Beasts, plants, birds, and animals—all life on Gaia received an equal share.

Human living space shrank further and further.

The world was in turmoil for twenty years.

It wasn't until seventy years ago that the first batch of Star Refiners stepped onto the world stage, leading the armies of various nations to fight against the ferocious beasts and demonic creatures, that the current balance of power was formed.

The Tianyuan Federation was the product of nations uniting during those thirty years of turmoil.

Along with the Great Shang, the Empire, the Star Alliance, the Sunflare, and the Thirty-Six Nations of the East Sea, it was known as one of the Six Poles of the World.

Li Pin glanced at the conditions offered for recruiting martial artists.

Depending on their strength, the daily pay ranged from tens of thousands at the low end to millions at the high end.

Special discoveries came with even richer bonuses based on their value, up to a hundred million at most.

But he looked away after a single glance.

"Demonic beasts and Star Refiners share the same origin; getting close would trigger a reaction, so they have to send in martial artists to scout, but... this is a job that trades lives for money."

Li Pin closed the pop-up, turned to the page, and searched for videos of a few Dan Jin Masters and Gang Jin Grandmasters in action.

He didn't actually need to search, either.

Every video featuring a Dan Jin Master or Gang Jin Grandmaster had extremely high popularity, easily starting at millions of clicks.

He searched by click count, and aside from some troll videos, the quality of what he saw was generally decent.

Some of those videos even shared insights on Dan Jin and experiences with Gang Jin that he had sought in vain on Blue Star.

Though they were mostly for drawing traffic and lacked a systematic approach, it was still better than Blue Star, where he couldn't even find a single living Gang Jin Grandmaster.

"Truly a golden age of martial arts."

Li Pin sighed in genuine admiration.

He scrolled for a while and soon saw a video titled "Detailed Explanation of Embrace Dan."

The uploader had a string of certifications.

Associate Senior Title of the Jiangzhou Martial Arts Association, Vice President of the Yunguang City Martial Arts Association, Head of the Iron Sword Martial Arts Hall, Direct Lineage Inheritor of the Divine Ape Thirteen Swords, and Senior Martial Artist Master Luo.

"A professional certification from a state-level martial arts association?"

State-level professional certifications had always been somewhat inflated.

An Associate Senior Title only required being able to unleash Dan Jin.

As he clicked into it, he found that the man was indeed a genuine Dan Jin Master.

But after watching for just a minute, the video cut off abruptly.

"A paid video?"

Li Pin paused.

Half an hour of video, and the price wasn't high—just ten yuan.

He registered an account, ID...

After thinking it over, he entered the four characters "Hundred Thousand Star Years."

Then he paid to watch.

The video content brought Li Pin some delight.

Although this Master Luo was only explaining relatively basic concepts, it still helped him refine the Embrace Dan realm of the Mysterious Gate of Profound Yin.

For the shortcomings, he could try to fix them bit by bit.

"I was too narrow-minded. Right now, I don't necessarily need to spar with a Dan Jin Master to understand how to embrace Dan with blood and qi."

Li Pin watched for a while, then continued scrolling through some videos on Dan Jin application.

These videos all ended up pointing toward recruiting disciples for martial halls, claiming that only hands-on teaching could let someone quickly step onto the martial path.

But when people actually signed up and paid, if the hall master showed up once a month, that was already considered honest and decent.

Over the following days, Li Pin's life clearly fell into a routine.

Mornings, he trained at Changfeng Martial Hall.

From time to time, Shanhu would come find him for a spar.

Afternoons, he squeezed in time to teach a few rich kids who had been forced into martial training.

Although Taibai's social environment was relatively stable, with sixty years without war, the crisis hadn't disappeared yet. Especially the older generation, who had lived through turbulent times, lacked a sense of security. When their own talent fell short, they had no choice but to delve deeply into martial arts.

If they couldn't do it themselves, they pushed the younger generation.

The few rich kids grimaced every time they trained, but they didn't dare skip it.

Teaching them also let Li Pin review the old and learn the new.

After finishing with the disciples, he spent his evenings cultivating while watching videos.

Back on Blue Star, he had relied entirely on burying his head in hard training, never having come into contact with many Dan Jin Masters. Now, just by watching videos, Li Pin was constantly gaining insights.

By observing how others applied Dan Jin and combining it with his own Eight Fiends True Fire Strength for improvements, he grew more and more adept at circulating Dan Jin.

One morning, a month later.

Changfeng Martial Hall.

Before the coaches had clocked in for work.

"Boom!"

With a resounding blast.

Li Pin, whose physique had not yet fully recovered, for the first time in this world unleashed a strike that matched the explosive force of Dan Jin.

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