đ CHAPTER 12: The Nine Element Star
The morning after absorbing the Ice Lotus ring, Huo Yuhao stood before the polished steel mirror in his private quarters. Frost patterns still adorned the walls, the air crisp with lingering cold. His reflection showed a boy who looked older than his yearsâeyes holding a weight that didn't belong to any eleven-year-old.
He dressed in his Advanced Track uniform, the dark blue fabric marked with the silver cogwheel emblem of a Combat Engineering student. In his pocket, the Tang Sect token rested, inert and harmless. On his wrist, the Intent-Reactive Barrier Bracer sat quietly. In his spiritual sea, the Black Book floated, serene and vast.
Today was the first official collaboration session with the Meng siblings on the powered armor project. But his mind was elsewhereâon the war, on the lives saved and lost at the outpost, on the cold calculation of the empire he was now helping to arm.
"You're hesitating," Tianmeng's voice echoed softly in his mind. "The path of rebellion is not a straight line, partner. Sometimes you must walk the enemy's road to reach the place where you can destroy it."
"I know," Huo Yuhao whispered back. "But it feels like I'm building the very chains I'm trying to break."
As he finished dressing, the Black Book in his spiritual sea trembled.
Not a normal tremorâa deep, resonant hum that vibrated through his soul. The stolen treasures orbiting it slowed, then stilled. The live-stream chat in his peripheral vision flickered and went silent, replaced by lines of scrolling, ancient script he didn't recognize.
Then, a new screen materialized before himânot in his mind's eye, but physically, hovering in the air of his room. Glowing lines of silver formed a complex diagram: a central circle with nine branching points, each marked with a different symbol.
Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. Lightning. Ice. Light. Shadow. Void.
At the top, in clear, modern script: "Multiversal Archive â Access Unlocking."
Below it, a list:
1. Battle Through the Heavens â đ UNLOCKED
2. Martial Universe â đ LOCKED (Requires: Host Rank 50 | Rebellion Points 10,000)
3. Perfect World â đ LOCKED (Requires: Host Rank 80 | Divine Spark Fragment)
4. Shrouding the Heavens â đ LOCKED (Requires: Host Rank 70 | Cosmic Comprehension)
5. Honghuang â đ LOCKED (Requires: Host Rank 100 | Primordial Authority)
Huo Yuhao stared. "What⊠is this?"
The Black Book's voice spokeânot Tianmeng's, but the System's own, neutral and profound. [Host has reached a nexus of comprehension. The Black Book's core functionalityâMultiversal Time-Space Navigationâhas activated. The first connected realm, "Battle Through the Heavens," is now accessible for knowledge transfer.]
"Knowledge transfer? Not physical travel?"
[Physical travel requires immense energy and stability. Current host capability allows for: Technique Extraction, Blueprint Download, and Conceptual Observation. You may learn from the unlocked world, but not enter it.]
The "Battle Through the Heavens" entry glowed. Huo Yuhao focused on it, and his consciousness was pulled into the Black Book.
He stood in a starry void. Before him, pages flipped, showing glimpses of another world: a young man with a ring on his finger, controlling a mysterious white flame⊠fighting with a giant ruler as a weapon⊠devouring heavenly flames to grow strongerâŠ
Xiao Yan. The Unparalleled Heaven Sovereign.
A stream of knowledge flowed into Huo Yuhao: cultivation methods, alchemical techniques, flame control, soul force exercises. And among them, one technique shone brighter than the restâa method of cultivation that devoured natural treasures to strengthen the body and advance elemental comprehension.
Its name: "Nine Element Star Technique."
The technique's principles seared themselves into his mind. It was a method of extreme ambition and extreme risk. Rather than slowly absorbing spirit energy from the world, it advocated for direct consumption of elemental treasuresâfire spirit fruits, water essence pearls, earth core crystalsâand refining them into pure elemental power within the body.
Ten Levels. Each level required devouring treasures of corresponding elemental purity and power.
At the 1st Level, one could strengthen their physique and awaken affinity for one element.
At the 3rd Level, elemental energy could be weaponized.
At the 7th Level⊠one could create "Elemental Assassins"âindependent constructs formed from pure elemental essence, capable of acting on the user's will.
It was a technique of devouring. Of turning treasure into power, directly, ruthlessly.
And it was perfectly compatible with the Black Book's treasuryâand with Huo Yuhao's need to grow strong fast.
He returned to his room, breathless. The system screen updated.
[New Cultivation Technique Acquired: "Nine Element Star Technique" (Heavenly Tier â Incomplete)]
Description: A devouring path technique from the "Battle Through the Heavens" realm. Consume elemental treasures to forge elemental stars within the dantian. Each star represents mastery over an element.
Current Progress: 0/9 Stars.
Warning: Treasure consumption carries risk of elemental backlash. Host's current physique can withstand Ice-element treasures only. Other elements may cause bodily collapse.
[Quest Unlocked: "The First Star"]
Objective: Devour an Ice-element treasure using the Nine Element Star Technique.
Reward: Ice Star (1st Star), Physique Enhancement, +500 Rebellion Points.
Huo Yuhao looked inward at the Black Book's treasury. The Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Lotus was goneâabsorbed as his spirit ring. But there were other ice treasures: Frozen Marrow fragments, Glacial Essence Crystals, even a wisp of "Absolute Zero Breath" taken from the depths of the Divine Realm.
He could start now.
But firstâhe had a meeting to attend.
---
The Meng siblings' private workshop was in the highest level of the Advanced Engineering Wing, accessible only via a spirit-powered elevator that scanned his security clearance three times before granting entry.
The space was vast, gleaming, and shockingly cold. In the center, suspended in a stabilization field, was the powered armor prototypeâa sleek, menacing suit of articulated black metal with glowing blue spirit circuits running along its limbs.
Meng Hongchen stood at a console, her red hair tied back severely. Her brother, Xiao Hongchen, was inside the armor's chest plate, adjusting something with delicate tools.
"You're late," Meng Hongchen said without looking up.
"My apologies. Cultivation breakthrough."
That made her turn. Her eyes narrowed, scanning him. "Rank 24? That's a significant jump."
"The front lines focus the mind," Huo Yuhao said smoothly.
Xiao Hongchen climbed out of the armor. "Your analysis of the overload problem was correct. The dampening array you suggested shows promise in simulations. But we need it physical, not theoretical. Can you build it?"
Huo Yuhao approached the armor. His Spirit Eyes activated, tracing the flow of spirit energy through the circuits. He saw the problem clearly: the armor's energy core was too powerful for the user's meridians to channel. It was like trying to drink from a firehose.
"I can build it," he said. "But I'll need phantom silver, spirit-conductive gel, and⊠a sample of the user's spirit power to calibrate it."
Meng Hongchen raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"The dampener must be personalized. Everyone's meridians are different. A generic solution will fail."
The siblings exchanged a glance. "Fine," Xiao Hongchen said. "I'll be the test subject. Take my readings."
For the next hour, Huo Yuhao worked. He used the academy's finest tools, but he also used his Spirit Eyes to see at the microscopic level, ensuring every connection was perfect. As he worked, a part of his mind was elsewhereârunning simulations of the Nine Element Star Technique, planning his first devouring.
He finished the dampening arrayâa palm-sized disc of spirit silver etched with concentric circuits. "This should reduce overload by 70% for you specifically. For others, it will need recalibration."
Xiao Hongchen took it, inserted it into a slot in the armor's back, and sealed the armor onto himself. The circuits glowed brighter, steadier. He movedâa punch that cut the air with a sonic crack, a leap that took him to the ceiling effortlessly.
"Stable," he reported, voice slightly amplified by the helm. "No nervous feedback. Estimated operational time increased from twenty minutes to⊠fifty."
Meng Hongchen smiledâa genuine, sharp expression. "Good. Very good." She looked at Huo Yuhao. "We'll need nine more, calibrated for our other testers. Can you have them ready in a week?"
"If I have the materials and spirit samples."
"You'll have them." She tossed him a small storage ring. "Advance payment. Mid-grade spirit crystals, rare metals, and access to our restricted material catalog."
Huo Yuhao caught it. The ring was heavy with promiseâand with chains.
As he left, he felt their eyes on his back. He was useful. And in the Sun Moon Empire, useful things were kept close.
---
That night, in his soundproofed, spiritually isolated workshop, Huo Yuhao prepared.
He placed a fragment of Frozen Marrow on the workbenchâa palm-sized piece of bone-like material that glowed with soft blue light and radiated intense cold. According to the Black Book, it was from the skeleton of an ancient ice-attributed spirit beast, containing pure ice essence.
He sat before it, cross-legged. In his mind, he recalled the Nine Element Star Technique's first step: "Draw the essence into the dantian. Not with the meridians, but with the soul. Devour, don't absorb."
He placed his hands on the Frozen Marrow. Instead of channeling spirit power, he reached with his spiritual senseâwith the same part of him that connected to the Black Book.
The marrow resisted. It was a treasure, after allâit had its own residual will, a faint memory of the beast it once belonged to. A wave of defensive cold surged, trying to freeze his hands.
Huo Yuhao pushed back. Not with force, but with authorityâthe authority of a reader who knew stories, of a rebel who refused fate, of a variable that shouldn't exist.
"You are treasure," he whispered. "I am the one who uses treasure. Be consumed."
His spiritual force pierced the marrow's defenses. The frozen essence flowed into himânot through his skin, but directly into his dantian, bypassing his meridians entirely.
It hurt. Not like meridians tearing, but like his soul was being flash-frozen. Visions flashed: a glacial plain under an eternal moon, a beast with ice for bones roaring silently, the slow, patient cold of millennia.
He held on. The technique guided him, compressing the flowing essence into a dense, spinning point in his dantianâa nascent star.
The marrow on the desk cracked, then crumbled to dust, all its essence extracted.
Inside him, the star solidified. A tiny, brilliant point of blue light, spinning slowly, emitting waves of pure ice power that washed through his body.
His muscles tightened, his bones hummed, his skin grew pale and resilient. Frost spread from him in a wave, coating the room in a thicker, more permanent layer of ice.
[Quest Completed: "The First Star"]
Ice Star (1st Star) formed.
Reward: +500 Rebellion Points. Physique enhanced (Ice Resistance +30%, Cold Environment Tolerance Max).
Nine Element Star Technique Level: 1.
He opened his eyes. The world looked differentâsharper, clearer, and he could see the cold in the air as a visible mist, could feel the temperature gradients in the room as tangible layers.
He stood, and his body felt stronger, denser. He willed a bit of ice energy, and a perfect, razor-edged ice dagger formed in his hand instantly, with no spirit power drain. It was as if the ice itself was now part of his flesh.
"This techniqueâŠ" Tianmeng breathed in awe. "It doesn't just give you power. It changes your very nature. You're becoming an elemental being."
Huo Yuhao dismissed the dagger. "One star down. Eight to go."
But the next stars would require other elementsâfire, water, earth. His body wasn't ready. He needed to strengthen his physique further, or the conflicting elements would tear him apart.
The Black Book's system screen glowed.
[New Function Unlocked: "Cross-World Observation"]
You may now observe key events or techniques from "Battle Through the Heavens" in real-time. Current available observation: "Xiao Yan's Flame Devouring Process â Fragment."
Cost: 200 Rebellion Points per hour.
Huo Yuhao hesitated, then paid. The room dimmed. A holographic scene unfolded before himâa young man in simple robes, facing a raging white flame in a deep cave. Xiao Yan. He watched as the youth used a mysterious technique to tame and devour the flame, absorbing it into his body despite the agony.
He saw the method: the careful balancing of spiritual force, the use of auxiliary medicines to protect the meridians, the moment of merger when the flame became part of the cultivator rather than an enemy.
He learned. Not the technique itself, but the principle: devouring was not conquest. It was negotiation. You had to offer something in returnâpart of your own energy, your own willâto make the elemental treasure accept becoming part of you.
He ended the observation, mind racing. He could apply this. He could prepare medicinal pills or arrays to cushion the elemental shock. He could use the Black Book's analysis to predict compatibility.
But first, he needed more treasures. And not just ice.
He looked at the storage ring the Meng siblings had given him. Inside, among the metals and crystals, was something that made his new Ice Star trembleâa small, sealed vial containing "Emberroot Essence," a fire-attributed plant extract.
Fire and ice were opposites. Consuming it now would be catastrophic.
But⊠what if he didn't consume it directly? What if he used it to create something else?
An idea sparkedâdangerous, brilliant. The Nine Element Star Technique at higher levels allowed the creation of "Elemental Assassins." What if he could create one now, prematurely, by binding the elemental essence to an external container? A golem of sorts, powered by treasure, not his own body.
He would need a vessel. A core. And a lot of control.
He smiled. Another project. Another secret.
---
The next morning, as Huo Yuhao prepared for class, the Black Book trembled again. A new notification, urgent and red.
[Warning: Divine Scrying Detected]
Tang San's gaze has intensified. Probability of direct intervention within next 30 days: 17%.
Recommendation: Accelerate growth. Increase unpredictability. Prepare countermeasures.
Huo Yuhao's blood went cold. He was running out of time.
He looked inward at the Ice Star spinning in his dantian, at the Black Book floating serenely, at the unlocked path to other worlds.
He had tools. He had techniques. He had a war to navigate and a god to defy.
And he had a new purpose: not just to break the script, but to rewrite it with ink made of devoured stars.
"Alright," he whispered, strapping on his bracer, adjusting his uniform. "Let's go to class."
But in his pocket, his fingers brushed the Tang Sect token. And in his mind, he began designing not just a fire-element assassin, but a planâa way to use the Meng siblings, the army, the war, and the Nine Element Star Technique to build a power even a God King couldn't control.
Chapter 12 End.
---
Next Chapter Preview: Huo Yuhao begins constructing his first Elemental Assassin using stolen fire essence and soul tool principles. The Meng siblings grow suspicious of his rapid advancements. Meanwhile, Tang San dispatches a subtle agent to the Sun Moon Empire to investigate the "anomaly." And the Black Book reveals the next step of the Nine Element Star Technique: Dual Element Balance.