Starforce Warriors

Chapter 2: Secret Time Pavilion

An anomaly appeared under the moonlight as the Moonlight Treasure Box began to give off a faint rainbow-colored glow.

"Woof."

A clear, loud, icy, mechanical female voice suddenly sounded from the Moonlight Treasure Box.

"Activation successful."

"Scanning host..."

"Binding to host."

"Unable to traverse spacetime as the host’s energy is too low."

"Searching for functions that can be activated..."

"The activatable function is Secret Time Pavilion."

Right after the voice stopped speaking, something weird happened.

Li Xiaofei's vision blurred, and he found himself in a magnificent and immense white temple. The walls, floor, pillars, and dome of the temple were all pristine white and emitted a soft and sacred aura. Apart from that, there was nothing else. It was incredibly quiet.

"What's going on?" Li Xiaofei exclaimed, startled.

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Soon he realized that he seemed to have activated some sort of special ability. Could this mysterious white temple in front of him be the so-called Secret Time Pavilion? Could it be that the function of the Moonlight Treasure Box was not just limited to spacetime transportation? It was different from what was depicted in movies.

Surveying the surroundings, Li Xiaofei tentatively asked, "Where am I?"

Sure enough, the icy mechanical female voice once again emanated from the Moonlight Treasure Box. "This is the Secret Time Pavilion. It is an extradimensional training space created by this treasure box. By entering it, you can gain an additional thirty days of time."

Li Xiaofei pressed, "What do you mean by additional time?"

The female voice replied, "In simple terms, it means that the thirty days spent by the host in the Secret Time Pavilion will not affect the progression of the timeline in the real world."

Holy cow!

Li Xiaofei was shocked by this answer. In other words, if he entered the Secret Time Pavilion at a certain point in time and spent thirty days inside, time in the real world would remain unchanged. It was just like the "save progress" button in a game. This special ability was truly incredible. One could definitely achieve many unimaginable tricks by using the Secret Time Pavilion.

"Can the Secret Time Pavilion function be used indefinitely?" Li Xiaofei asked again.

"No, at the current stage, there is a cooldown period of three days," replied the female voice.

Okay, so there's a cooldown. But it's much shorter than I imagined.

As he looked at the Moonlight Treasure Box in his hand, Li Xiaofei had a strong premonition that he wouldn’t be able to go back to five hundred years ago, but it was not a big deal. Since he was here anyway, he might as well make the most of it.

After all, for a martial arts fanatic like him, the 9-9-6 grind [1]after graduation could not compare to the chaotic world before him where he could practice martial arts. Now with a special ability at his disposal, Li Xiaofei's heart gradually filled with excitement.

However, the premise of everything is to survive first. I can stay in this Secret Time Pavilion for thirty days, and no time will pass in the real world. These thirty days are crucial for solving the deadlock. Let's try practicing first and see what this era's so-called starforce is all about.

Li Xiaofei's mind stirred as he absorbed the Moonlight Treasure Box back into his body, then slowly closed his eyes. He began to organize his memories.

According to the official martial arts cultivation system guide compiled and published by the Great Xia Republic, Starforce Cultivation could be divided into nine major realms: the Qi Refining Realm, Limit Breaking Realm, Acupoint Opening Realm, Meridian Expanding Realm, Five Spirits Realm, Golden Body Realm, Dao Union Realm, Divine Realm, and Transcendence Realm.

The Li Xiaofei in this world, after seven years of cultivation, had cultivated a vortex of starforce in his core. He was at the first stage of the Qi Refining Realm.

One cultivated qi through a breathing technique. The tip of the tongue should touch the palate, and sweet-tasting saliva will be produced under the tongue. Then, one should start breathing with a specific rhythm. At the same time, one should imagine that one is taking in a large mouthful of pure water into the lungs with each inhalation, washing the lungs like washing rice. Then, one should exhale as if expelling dirty water.

Rinse and repeat.

This was called the Clear Spring Breathing Technique, a very common basic breathing technique passed down among the gangs of the slums.

Li Xiaofei quickly entered a state of meditation. He focused his entire being inward, and found a faint golden qi vortex slowly rotating in his dantian. It was the hallmark of the first stage of the Qi Refining Realm.

The faint golden vortex rotated slightly like a nebula. It emanated faint and intangible wisps of qi that dispersed slowly into his limbs and bones. The qi was nourishing his flesh, organs, and bones, strengthening his body.

As time passed, the faint golden vortex seemed to slowly grow larger, strand by strand. But soon, Li Xiaofei opened his eyes and started pondering.

The good news is that it's indeed possible to cultivate inner qi in this era. The bad news is that cultivation is too slow.

Cultivating starforce qi is like cultivating internal strength five hundred years ago, it requires a lot of gradual effort. It’s not something that can be rushed overnight.

At this rate, there's no way I could break through to the second stage of the Qi Refining Realm even if I had thirty months, let alone thirty days. And even if I do, it won’t do me much good."

Just now, the Iron Arm Dragon, Fang Sheng, was at the second stage and had mastered the ancient Iron Arm Fist. Even so, Dugu Jue killed him with a single punch. It looks like I still need to find a way to expedite this process. Come out quickly, Moonlight Treasure Box!

The female voice echoed in his ear right on cue. "It is suggested that the host activate the Secret Time Pavilion special lottery function. The host can draw random martial arts from a long span of time across three thousand dimensions to enhance their strength."

"We can actually draw martial arts like in a gacha game?" Li Xiaofei was overjoyed and said, "Why didn't you mention this before?"

"This is an additional compensation for the host..." The female voice stopped abruptly, as if realizing something, and fell silent.

"Hmm? Compensation?" asked Li Xiaofei, realizing something was wrong.

He immediately asked, "Why compensate me? Tell me, are you that stupid dog that suddenly appeared? Did you mistake me for someone else?"

The female voice refused to answer and said, "Please, host, start drawing martial arts."

A blue vortex suddenly appeared in the air. Li Xiaofei hesitated for a moment, then reached into the vortex.

Ding.

"The host has drawn the Mighty Vajra Fist."

"This martial art belongs to the Jin Yong martial arts dimension, and is one of the seventy-two ultimate skills of the Shaolin Temple, used by the characters Xuansheng from the Shaolin Temple and the Mahacakra Jiu Mozhi (False)."[2]

1. The 9-9-6 working hour system is a work schedule practiced illegally by many companies in China. It derives its name from the requirement that employees work from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, 6 days per week. ☜

2. The characters and facts in this paragraph belong to Jin Yong’s famous novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Xuansheng is one of the monks at the Shaolin Temple; Xuansheng (玄生) is not a name per se, but a Buddhist monk name. Jiu Mozhi, also known as Mahacakra (大輪明王, Great Wheel Wisdom King) is a Tibetan monk who claims to use the Shaolin martial arts but is actually just mimicking them. ☜