Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 113 - 109: Inquiry Part 2

Chapter 113: Chapter 109: Inquiry Part 2

It had been ten years... Xiao Lingling had only ten years of her life left, if that strange elder from Yin Mountain Lake was correct.

His heart ached with pity, and he embraced Xiao Lingling for a moment.

Suddenly, he remembered the object he had grabbed as he was leaving, which must have been the Demon Talisman Seed; he vividly remembered that the direction he had lunged toward was where the Demon Talisman Seeds were scattered.

After comforting Xiao Lingling for a while, he asked her to carry out the blood-filled basin while he searched around the room, yet he could never find the Demon Talisman Seed he had brought out.

"Something’s not right... Although I didn’t gain much, I still managed to partially understand the symbols on the Demon Talisman Seed, or at least I guessed the meanings of a few runes correctly. I should have been able to bring it out..."

His brows were tightly furrowed.

But no matter how he searched, he couldn’t find the Demon Talisman Seed he had brought out. The Talisman Sword he had prepared, however, had indeed all disappeared, clearly indicating this dream was not false.

After having breakfast, Lin Xin went directly to the secret chamber training room to check the condition of his body.

He sat in the secret chamber, closed the door tightly, and lit two large candles, the light faint and dim.

Lin Xin sat cross-legged on the floor at the center of the chamber, then he reached into his waist pouch and pulled out a small shield.

The black shield was completely shattered, its Spiritual Light gone, covered with many fine cracks.

As soon as he took it out, it snapped into several pieces.

Lin Xin’s expression was dark and uncertain.

He slapped the floor of the secret chamber, and instantly a stone brick beside him rose automatically, revealing an oval cavity inside which lay a small black box.

He took out the box and opened it, inside was a transparent little glass sphere.

Clasping the glass sphere in his hand, he drew forth a strand of Innate Qi and fed it into the sphere.

Hiss...

The glass sphere immediately emitted a faint glow, in shades of green and blue, equally mixed.

"Wood and water... No matter how many times I look at it, it’s always a helplessness in my heart," Lin Xin sighed, "I need to complete three attributes to later condense the small Return to Origin and begin Qi Cultivation. Metal, earth, fire—the best would be to combine them all in one magic artifact, as having many magic artifacts would consume too much Inner Qi."

He held the glass sphere close to his eyes for careful observation.

Within the green and blue halos inside the sphere, faint black cracks were visibly drifting.

"Even the purity of Innate Qi is damaged, the injury is not light..." He sighed again and put down the glass sphere, placed it back in the secret compartment, and pressed the stone brick back into the floor.

"This severe injury is just the right opportunity to seclude and partake in the Heart Blood Sacrificial Refinement of the Blood Essence Magical Artifact. The material of the Red Flower Sword is very good, possessing Metal Fire attributes, and together with Yin Mantuo as an Earth Attribute, it can certainly serve as the core of my Heart Blood Sacrificial Refinement magical artifact. However, the energy exchange core truly relies on it needing more formations for enhancement, otherwise without maintenance formations, without a Dust Clearing Formation, without a Light Body Formation, it will be inferior compared to other core magical artifacts..."

With this thought, Lin Xin slapped the floor again; another stone tile slowly rose, revealing a secret compartment holding a scroll full of notes.

He took out the scrolls, quickly looked through them, and soon found a freshly written piece of yellow parchment with very fresh ink. The parchment depicted an irregular cylindrical structure, densely filled with parameters and symbols, entirely designed using mathematical symbols, numbers, and geometric shapes.

Lin Xin picked up the parchment, furrowed his brows, and corrected a few figures. Using a marker pen clipped in the book, he recalculated swiftly, confirmed it was correct, and then put it back down.

"I’ve mostly figured out the body structure of Yin Mantuo. Theoretically, it is possible to inscribe formations on a biological body, but due to rapid metabolism, the inscriptions must be repeatedly carved, and the cost-effectiveness is not high. The Man-Eating Flower has a very long lifespan, but its strength is limited, and it can only be enhanced by using my own attribute points. How to enhance the level of strength is a problem."

While he meditated for healing, he pondered, having reached the Seventh Layer of Innate, both his strength and the opponents he faced made both the Talisman Sword and Yin Mantuo seem insufficiently powerful.

Especially recalling that recent encounter with the white light curved blade.

"As expected of a Qi Cultivator... That slight aura must have been Spiritual Energy; I didn’t expect it to be so troublesome, able to penetrate the body directly."

After a glance at his own attribute panel, Lin Xin was about to move his gaze away but suddenly he sharply froze, then quickly returned to it.

"What’s happening?!"

He closely examined the attributes panel, and there was a change in the status!

’Damage—8, Defense—10, Dodge—1, Physique—1. Free Attributes—0’

’Minor Return to Origin Art—Seventh Layer. (Completion 22%) (Damage +7, Physique +7)’

"Internal Cultivation progress has suddenly increased by 20%??" Lin Xin was utterly puzzled. He had barely reached 2% progress previously, and now it had suddenly reached 22%, a whole 20% increase. He was certain he wasn’t mistaken, as he checked the progress almost every time after he practiced, so his memory was very precise.

"Could it be because of that place I visited?" he thought of the mysterious place the carriage took him to as his first thought.

With that in mind, he made a mental note, closed his eyes, and focused on regulating his breath and healing his injuries.

Throughout the day, he did as usual: brewing tea, playing the zither, dealing with affairs, practicing swordsmanship, and sacrificial refinement of magical artifacts; in the evening, he spent time with Lin Zhen, reading and writing.

The only extra thing he did was to sacrificially refine several Spiritual Light Shields and Yang Charm Swords, and he also prepared several bottles of Qi Transforming Elixir, Dust-Transforming Elixir, and top-grade emergency medicine Lifesaving Pills.

After dinner, with everything prepared, he then went to bed deeply sleeping, embracing Xiao Lingling.

***************

Tap... Tap tap...

The crisp sound of horse hooves faintly came from outside the room.

Lin Xin suddenly opened his eyes, flipped off the blankets, glanced at Xiao Lingling who was sound asleep, carefully covered her with the blanket, got out of bed, and changed into a set of black clothes.

He looked around the middle of the room.

The letter he wrote last night was still intact on the table, showing no signs of being tampered with.

Looking around the room, Lin Xin found that everything was exactly as he had seen it the day before.

He had a thought and walked over to the washbasin, sniffing it.

"No smell of blood... Perhaps it was washed too cleanly. Or... "

He put away the letter and strapped on the newly prepared Talisman Swords one by one, finally placing the Red Flower Sword in the most convenient spot for drawing.

He opened the room door, the carriage was right in front of the door, the inside deep dark and completely invisible.

Without hesitation, Lin Xin stepped into the carriage and found his seat by feeling around.

As the carriage door closed and the vehicle slowly started moving, Lin Xin had just sat down when he felt like he stepped on something. He bent down to feel it, picked it up, and examined it in his hand.

"Demon Talisman Seed?" He recognized the shape and pattern from just a few touches, deeply engraved in his memory.

"It seems it’s the one I caught last time before leaving; I thought it had disappeared, but it turned out to have fallen inside the carriage." Lin Xin realized suddenly.

"As I suspected, according to the partial rune explanation, as long as I activate the Demon Talisman Seed, I can summon the carriage to leave. But what would have happened if, when I first arrived, I hadn’t been able to get the Demon Talisman Seed?"

The thought sent a chill through him.

Holding the Demon Talisman Seed tightly in his hand, he closed his eyes and slowly adjusted his breath in the carriage, putting a Qi Transforming Elixir in his mouth but not swallowing it.

"This time I must figure out the reason for the increase in cultivation!" (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to vote for it at qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)