CHAPTER 790: CHAPTER 320: THE SECRET OF DOUBLING STRENGTH_2

After that battle, Xu Jin became even more cautious.

Fifteen minutes later, he used both the Divine Soul Star Technique and the Earth Elemental Magnet simultaneously, and destroyed a Gold Star Level Heart Demon with a Great Sun Star Technique, obtaining a gold star.

Afterwards, he fell into deep thought.

In this challenge, Xu Jin made two discoveries.

The first discovery was that the combat power of a Gold Star Level Heart Demon at Fifth Tier Third Layer had increased at least double compared to that at the Second Layer, at the very least in terms of Star Skill potency.

The second discovery was that his Sixth Order Star Technique, Great Sun Star Technique, was not as strong as he had imagined.

It wasn’t even as powerful as the burst from Kou Jing’s Sixth Rank Top Grade Great Sun Emblem.

Theoretically, it shouldn’t be!

Because Xu Jin’s foundation was built on the Fire Origin Star Pattern of Eighth Tier Middle.

That Great Sun Star Pattern was also of Sixth Rank Top Grade.

Theoretically, it should have unleashed an attack as powerful as one from a Seventh-tier Middle Stage expert.

But in fact, it was only equivalent to a full blow from a Sixth Tier Early expert.

Just a little better than a Spiral Flame Burst.

This made Xu Jin recall Zheng Guan, the Fifth-order Ninth-layer expert he had encountered earlier, whose Star Technique potency also felt incredibly powerful.

His combat power was even stronger than that of a Sixth-tier Alien Species.

Something seemed off to Xu Jin.

Had the Fifth Tier experts and Fifth-tier Alien Races he previously encountered not been this powerful?

But upon further reflection, the Fifth Tier experts he had faced before never had the chance to use their full strength.

Xu Jin generally controlled them with a Divine Soul attack and then struck them down.

He had defeated both Fifth-order Ninth-layer and Sixth-tier opponents directly with Emblems, occasionally needing secondary attacks.

Direct, head-on battles like today’s had been rare.

With doubts in mind, Xu Jin challenged the Gold Star Level Gatekeeper again.

Fifteen minutes later, Xu Jin won, obtaining another golden star.

But he also discovered that the combat power of a Gold Star Level Gatekeeper at Fifth Tier Third Layer was twice as strong as one at the Second Layer.

Using the variety of Star Skills, Xu Jin could easily defeat them.

However, if this trend of increasing difficulty continued, it would become harder and harder for Xu Jin to obtain gold and Bright Stars in the future.

This was because with every tier advancement, the combat power of both Gold Star Level Gatekeepers and Heart Demons increased exponentially.

But Xu Jin’s combat power absolutely could not double with each tier advancement.

The combat power of these Gold Star Level Gatekeepers and Heart Demons, based on the current foundation, would double again, making them challenging for Xu Jin to defeat.

Doubling twice would require all his techniques, and tripling might leave the outcome uncertain.

Quadrupling would mean that without significant improvements, Xu Jin likely wouldn’t stand a chance of victory.

In other words, if the current situation continues, once Xu Jin’s Cultivation Level breaks through to the Fourth Tier Star Condensation Seventh Layer, he would no longer be able to defeat the Heart Demon and thus couldn’t challenge for gold and Bright Stars!

This prognosis shocked Xu Jin immensely!

If that were the case, Xu Jin’s future would only allow him to earn six more gold stars and three more Bright Stars, something he definitely did not want to see.

Why was it so?

With doubts, Xu Jin began to challenge for a Bright Star.

With the combat power of the Gatekeepers and Heart Demons doubling, winning the challenge was no longer easy.

If their power doubled or tripled again, it would be overwhelming!

After fifteen minutes, Xu Jin slew both the Heart Demon and the Gatekeeper, securing another Bright Star.

Thus, Xu Jin had four Silver Stars, five Gold Stars, and four Bright Stars in his possession.

The challenge over, Xu Jin stayed inside the Star Dome Secret Realm.

Initially, Xu Jin had planned to use up two hours of Enlightenment time within the Star Dome Secret Realm, consuming a tael or two of gold stars to comprehend a particular Star Pattern.

But now, Xu Jin felt uneasy and decisively sent a Starlight Transmission to the State Preceptor to express his doubts.

It was already late at night, and Xu Jin thought that the State Preceptor might have been asleep. Unexpectedly, just after five breaths, National Master Cheng Yuxiao replied!

"This is exactly what I told you before. After the Fourth Tier Late Period or the Fifth Tier, it will be extremely difficult to obtain gold stars."

"State Preceptor, what is the reason behind this? Why do the Heart Demons and Gatekeepers’ strengths multiply? And the Fifth Tier Ninth-layer cultivator I encountered also seemed extremely powerful."

"This is fundamentally related to the Fifth Tier Gathering Battle Realm! The Gathering Battle Realm, also known as Strengthening Stars Gathering Battle. After achieving Star Battle, you can use the power of Star Battle to continuously strengthen the Star Core.

"During this time, the impact of the rank of the Star Pattern in cultivation is once again evident.

"Let me give you an example. After the Fifth Tier Gathering Battle, if your Fire Origin Star Pattern is at Eighth Tier Middle, then you can strengthen it eight times, each time significantly increasing its potency.

"If your Fire Origin Star Pattern is at Sixth Rank Top Grade, you can only strengthen it six times.

"The difference between these two scenarios represents a substantial disparity in potency!

"Early Fifth-tier experts, just starting their Gathering Battle, haven’t begun to strengthen their Star Core yet, so the change isn’t big. But Fifth-tier Middle to Late Period cultivators have already started strengthening their Star Core, and some veteran Fifth-tier experts can even enhance a Star Core to the fifth or even sixth layer, naturally making their combat power very strong.

"The reason for the doubling in strength of the Heart Demons you challenge is precisely this.

"Normal cultivators cannot possibly strengthen each Star Pattern on the Star Cores by one layer with every tier advancement.

"However, heart demons and gatekeepers can.

"This is why the strength of the Heart Demons and Gatekeepers you challenge keeps doubling, and why the difficulty keeps increasing.

"It is also why, after reaching the Fourth Tier Late Period and Fifth Tier, it becomes very hard to challenge and obtain gold stars."