Half a year was calculated based on his previous cultivation aptitude.

Now, after the baptism of the stars, his aptitude has clearly improved, and the half-year time frame is a conservative estimate; in reality, the cultivation will only be faster.

Thinking of this, Liou Yuan couldn’t wait to move his consciousness towards his two Star Acupoints.

"Let me see my aptitude."

The Gold Acupoint didn’t show any obvious changes; Liou Yuan tentatively absorbed the surrounding Spiritual Qi with the Gold Acupoint, and it was just slightly faster than before.

The biggest change was in his Water Acupoint.

With just a slight movement of Liou Yuan’s thoughts, the Water Acupoint erupted with a terrifying pulling force, and in an instant, dragged all the Spiritual Qi within a dozen feet at the entrance into Liou Yuan’s body.

This was still the result of Liou Yuan deliberately controlling it. If he let go and unleashed it fully, the Water Acupoint could wipe out nearly two hundred feet of Spiritual Qi from the vicinity of the canyon in an instant.

In terms of speed of absorbing Spiritual Qi, the Water Acupoint was now nearly twice as strong as the Gold Acupoint.

Liou Yuan’s expression was odd, and with an uncertain voice, he uttered four words: "Five-Star Water Acupoint?"

Liou Tao had a Five-Star Mist Acupoint. The Mist Acupoint and Water Acupoint share the same origin, so it wasn’t surprising that Liou Yuan absorbed Liou Tao’s Star Acupoint, upgrading to a Five-Star Water Acupoint.

However, this was merely Liou Yuan’s unilateral judgment.

To determine if he truly had a Five-Star Water Acupoint’s aptitude, he needed the Fixed Star Compass to verify it for certainty.

With this thought, Liou Yuan’s breathing grew heavy, and he quickly activated the Fixed Star Compass, letting the compass’s radiance shine upon him.

His cultivation and aptitude were fully revealed before him.

[Human Race Liou Yuan]

[Cultivation]: Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer (Unranked)

[Body Cultivation Realm]Blood Qi Exposed

[Aptitude]: Five-Star Water Acupoint, Four-Star Gold Acupoint

[Talent]: Evil Eyes

[Magic]:

"Yunwu Prefecture"Grade D Lower

"Lion’s Roar Spell"Grade D Middle (Great Success)

"Talismanic Skill"Grade E Superior (Small Success)

"Treading Flowing Waves"Grade D Upper (Small Success)

"Calming Spell"Grade D Upper (Introductory)

"Green Tide Pure Water Sword"Grade D Superior (Small Success)

"Blood Imperial Spell"Grade C Lower (Introductory)

"Celestial Calculation Skill for Taming Objects"Grade D Superior (Introductory)

"Five Elements Birth and Destruction Array Derivation"Grade C Lower (Introductory)

[Cultivation Technique]:"Five Mansions Star Gazing Breathing Skill"（Progress: Fourth Mansion Mid-stage）

"Indeed, Five-Star Water Acupoint!" The Fixed Star Compass’s appraisal would not lie; Liou Yuan stared blankly at the four big words ’Five-Star Water Acupoint’, and after a moment of silence, a smile uncontrollably spread across his whole face.

Even though he forcefully suppressed his inner excitement, his body couldn’t help but tremble.

As of today, Liou Yuan truly possessed Five-Star aptitude.

Previously, the sect designated him as having Five-Star aptitude solely because Liou Yuan relied on the combination of a Four-Star Gold Acupoint and Double-Star Acupoints, supplemented by the Fixed Star Compass’s fierceness for cultivation, to diligently practice day and night.

He barely kept up with the disciples with Five-Star Star Acupoints aptitude.

Strictly speaking, at that time, Liou Yuan couldn’t be considered a genius; he could only be seen as compensating for his lack of wit with hard work.

Now, with the successful upgrade of the Water Acupoint to Five Stars, Liou Yuan became a true genius in every sense.

"With this Five-Star Water Acupoint, my cultivation speed has doubled."

"Is this the feeling of being a genius?"

Quietly savoring the Water Acupoint’s continuous pull of surrounding Spiritual Qi, Liou Yuan’s eyes revealed a look of indulgence.

Even when not possessing Five-Star talent, he could catch up to disciples with Five-Star aptitude by diligently cultivating by the Fixed Star Compass’s traits.

Now with Five-Star Water Acupoint and Four-Star Gold Acupoint, his cultivation speed would surpass that of Five-Star aptitude disciples.

Of course, he still couldn’t compare to Tuoba Xin with his Six-Star Star Acupoint.

Thinking of that young man in golden attire, already preparing to break into Foundation Establishment after two years of achieving perfection in the Qi Cultivation Realm, Liou Yuan pursed his lips.

"There’s no point in comparing myself to him. It’s hard to find anyone in the entire Five Extremes Mountain, even in the Jin Dynasty and Jiuli State, who can be on par with him."

A monster with Six-Star aptitude, Liou Yuan was far behind and couldn’t keep up.

Compared to ordinary Five Star Acupoint geniuses, Liou Yuan’s current aptitude could be considered the very top, with no rival.

"The Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer is within reach." Liou Yuan stood up, his eyes shining brightly, feeling as if the path ahead was clear and unobstructed.

Liou Yuan had always been a diligent cultivator, and with such a significant transformation in aptitude, he would cultivate even harder in the days to come.

Of course, the practice of refining his swordsmanship through Star Erosion was not left behind.

He knew very well that his ability to defeat Zhan Huaping was largely due to his intense sword training in Erosion Land recently.

If not for the practical combat that ingrained the Silent Rain-Slaying Sword Skill into his bones during this period, it would have been difficult to execute that final sword cut, Broken Rain Traceless, at the last moment.

Liou Yuan seemed to continue living his days of deep cultivation.

Besides regularly venturing out of the canyon to refine his swordsmanship through Star Erosion and collecting Stone Pearls.

He never neglected his research into Array Formations, especially considering the Refined Gold Breaking Mountain Array related to whether Liou Yuan could slay the Purifying Dark Demon.

If he could set up the complete version of the Refined Gold Breaking Mountain Array, supplemented by the Earth Mother Prison Array, Liou Yuan was confident he could trap the Purifying Dark Demon at Half-Step Foundation Establishment.

Thus, Liou Yuan concentrated on three things each day.

Cultivation, practicing swordsmanship while collecting Stone Pearls, and researching Array Formations during leisure.

This made him busier in Erosion Land than when he was on the Five Extremes Mountain.

He was completely unaware of the uproar that arose in Erosion Land after he killed Liou Tao.

On the third day after killing Liou Tao, the news swept through Erosion Land like a whirlwind.

If not for Erosion Land being too vast for disciples to easily meet, it would have been known to everyone within a day.

People were shocked by Liou Yuan’s ruthlessness.

"Liou Tao was considered one of the best in cultivation aptitude among the Liou Family in this generation."

"Killing Liou Tao was akin to shaking the very foundation of the Liou Family. No wonder a few of their Foundation Establishment elders were going crazy."

Almost everyone shared the same opinion as Yan Yingsi, believing Liou Yuan had no chance to survive.

Despite the uproar in Erosion Land over the matter.

Imagine the storm brewing on Five Extremes Mountain now.

As time passed day by day, Liou Tao’s death only stirred up a brief storm within Erosion Land.

The Outer Sect disciples coming to Erosion Land hadn’t forgotten their purpose here and quickly invested themselves in hunting Star Erosion.

Seeing the time is now halfway, as Liou Yuan predicted, many disciples began to target their fellow sect members.

Robbing Stone Pearls from those disciples was much faster than honestly hunting Star Stones one by one.

Thus, as the Outer Sect deadline approached, the atmosphere in Erosion Land grew more tense and heavy.

Occasional fierce conflicts exploded between disciples.

Liou Yuan counted the time, seeing that the day of his showdown with Tuoba Xin was fast approaching.

He was very motivated, and after a month’s painstaking study, failed countless times, he finally managed to inscribe eight hundred and forty complete array patterns of the Refined Gold Breaking Mountain Array in the depths of the canyon near the Purifying Dark Demon.

In addition to setting up the Earth Mother Prison Array necessary for enhancing the power of the Refined Gold Breaking Mountain Array.

Of course, the Earth Mother Prison Array and the Refined Gold Breaking Mountain Array were of equivalent levels in terms of formation difficulty, and it was impossible for Liou Yuan to inscribe the complete Earth Mother Prison Array while researching the Refined Gold Breaking Mountain Array.

He used a streamlined version of the Earth Mother Prison Array; the support for the Refined Gold Breaking Mountain Array would naturally not be as strong as with the complete Earth Mother Prison Array.

Liou Yuan’s thought process was simple: being able to add even a little was better than doing nothing.

The array discs used, naturally, were the ones Liou Yuan threw out while luring Liou Tao into the canyon before.

He picked those array discs back up and inscribed the formations onto them.

Indeed, these array discs were left with magic marks.

But as long as he didn’t leave Erosion Land, these array discs would still be useful, and he simply wouldn’t take them away.