Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 137 - 132: Encounter-Part 2

Chapter 137: Chapter 132: Encounter-Part 2

Lin Xin discarded the remaining half of his sword that served as a carrier for the Mundane Fire Formation, watching as the extremely high temperatures, capable of melting metal and iron, fiercely burned the opponent’s body.

He was about to step forward to collect the spoils of war.

Suddenly, a massive invisible air current burst forth from the flames, striking fiercely towards his chest.

Lin Xin’s expression changed slightly, the Spiritual Light Shield barely formed a thin white membrane before it popped like a soap bubble; he positioned his Red Flower Sword firmly in front, channeling Spiritual Energy into it.

Pff!

The air current hit the sword, instantly bending the blade and striking hard against the wound on his chest.

Lin Xin’s face paled, and a trace of blood seeped from his mouth and nose.

He held the sword forcefully; the air current only gradually dissipated after several seconds.

Only then did the fire slowly fade away, and the man in silver armor, still engulfed in flames, charged towards him, throwing a palm strike.

Under the Mundane Fire Formation, he was still not dead! This was a Qi Refinement Realm Formation that had integrated hundreds of Formations!

Lin Xin looked incredulously at his opponent. However, his Red Flower Sword had already reacted, with a fluttering red line, he suddenly appeared behind the opponent.

Shi!

A cut emerged around the man’s waist, merely breaking the skin slightly.

As the man turned and lunged at Lin Xin, he caught nothing but air.

The Flash Spirit movement technique was fully deployed; although it was just an Innate Body Technique, it was more than twice as fast under the enhancement of the Damage Attribute.

Lin Xin almost merged with his swordsmanship, moving rapidly, sword leading the movement, transforming into a white shadow intertwined with the red line, swiftly piercing through the man in the silver armor.

Shi! Shi! Shi!!

Several cuts continually appeared on the man, some of his skin was charred, yet he still displayed an extraordinary aura, throwing futile palms strikes in every direction.

The two fought from the rooftops to the street, destroying several two-story buildings along the way as they tangled.

The man’s silver armor was already shattered, parts of it melted and adhered to his body, multiple cuts continually emerged focused mostly around his waist.

One cut there had been deepened repeatedly by Lin Xin, becoming more severe.

Time ticked away slowly; it seemed this man had the highest cultivation in the town, and no one else dared approach.

The sunlight gradually reddened, nearing sunset.

Lin Xin’s movements also slowed down, his Spiritual Energy was long depleted, and Inner Qi also ineffective; he was nearly relying purely on his physical attributes.

With a 14-point damage power, his lethal swordsmanship was still shockingly fast, but undeniably slower than before, occasionally getting hit by the man’s palms.

Both were covered in numerous wounds, blood drenched.

The ground around them was splattered with blood spots from their fight, unable to tell whose blood it was.

Finally, after another hour had passed, the wound around the man’s waist deepened, almost cutting him in two halves.

He fell to his knees, eyes bloodshot, blood gushing from his waist like a fountain, able only to glare at Lin Xin. The angrier he became, the more rapidly the blood flowed.

Lin Xin also encountered someone so resilient for the first time. No, the opponent was no longer human, but rather belonged to the category of monsters.

He stood more than ten meters away, observing the opponent, noticing many notches on his Red Flower Sword, caused by the fierce strikes from the enemy. Even the treasured sword, crafted from precious materials, had suffered numerous scars and would likely be scrapped soon.

"It’s over..."

He too gasped heavily, watching the man collapse to the ground, motionless, finally letting out a sigh of relief. Only then did he realize, his body also had over a hundred wounds, blood pooling and unknowingly staining his white clothes.

His vision blackened, he could barely see anything in front of him.

His body swayed slightly as he walked towards the man; if he couldn’t find any spoils of war, this battle would indeed be a huge loss for him.

Before he got close, he felt a different kind of warm current suddenly flow into the vortex of Spiritual Energy in his chest and abdomen.

Swoosh.

Suddenly, a dark shadow burst out from the side, pouncing towards the corpse of the man in silver armor.

Lin Xin, powerless, couldn’t make a move in time and urgently spurred on Yin Mantuo.

Shi! Shi! Shi! Over a dozen roots broke through the earth, fiercely grabbing the corpse to pull it underground.

"Man-Eating Flower?" The shadow paused briefly, spoke out, and it was this voice that shocked Lin Xin deeply.

The words spoken were in a dialect accent from the Mortal Realm, similar to his own; he could recognize it.

"You!" Lin Xin had not yet managed to speak.

He just saw that person raise a hand with a knife.

Suddenly, a blinding flash of knife light shone brightly, just for an instant, Yin Mantuo conveyed a wail of agony, appearing to be severely injured.

Lin Xin’s Red Flower Sword thrust forward, but at this moment, its power massively reduced, the opponent casually parried with a backhanded strike.

Meanwhile, the items from the corpse had already been collected into a small red pouch.

"I must thank the Daoist for helping me get rid of this man in silver armor; otherwise, I might not have obtained the Demon Talisman Seed." The man laughed loudly, withdrew swiftly like lightning. Although not as fast as Lin Xin at his peak, he was faster than him at that moment.

Lin Xin sneered quickly swallowing several Qi Transforming Elixirs. The last trace of Inner Qi stimulated, his right arm suddenly lit up with White Light.

With a loud bang, the Luminous Formation engraved on the back of his arm exploded, the blast propelling him forward as he fiercely thrust his sword toward the opponent.

The man hadn’t expected Lin Xin to have one last trick up his sleeve and couldn’t react in time, only managing to hurriedly block with his bright, curved blade as he retreated frantically.

Hisss.

A soft sound followed, and he felt lighter, as if a burden had been lifted. The sword light was initially fierce, but when it harshly collided with the blade, it was utterly devoid of Inner Qi. Realizing he had been duped, he glanced at Lin Xin, who had already caught the bundle and gave him a slight smile. With a leap backward, Lin Xin instantly disappeared from sight.

"Bastard!"

Only then did he notice that not only was the bundle gone, but even the pouch on his waist had been cut off and lost at some point.

"Let’s go!"

Far away, another person in black also leaped onto a roof and shouted at him.

The man’s face was a mix of shame and rage.

"You guy in white, just you wait!"

He sped toward his companion. The two ran wildly, finally stopping beside a stream in a dense forest outside the town to rest.

His companion, a fair-skinned young woman with bright eyes and white teeth, was stunned to see he had come back empty-handed.

"Where’s your stuff?!"

"Forget it, let’s talk above!" the man said, annoyance evident in his voice.

"Explain now!" the girl insisted firmly.

The man glared at her for a moment but eventually couldn’t withstand her piercing gaze.

"Fine, I saw a master earlier trying to assassinate a Silver Armor Two-Faced man and thought I could profit from hiding, and almost succeeded, but then...

"But then, that man still had a trick up his sleeve, not only reclaiming your loot but also taking your own belongings?" The girl said, both exasperated and amused.

"Exactly..." the man replied helplessly. "Even my little booklet is gone."

"Brother, how many times have I told you? This realm is unlike the Mortal Realm above, with too many capable and strange folks around. Don’t be greedy for small gains; otherwise, a single misstep could endanger not just us but also our sect!" The girl earnestly said, "Now look, what if that master recognizes you from the notes in the booklet and sends someone after you? How will you handle that?"

"It won’t happen... I hid it very well, and besides, the secrets of this realm are known by few, so it’s not likely they can find us that easily," the man admitted his fault and whispered resignedly.

"What if it’s a local Sect master?"

"Uh..." the man hung his head low, "okay, I was wrong... I admit it..."

His voice trailed off.

"I just thought... if we could obtain one more Demon Talisman Seed, maybe we could fend off the illusions longer as a temporary solution..."

"It’s useless..." the girl’s eyes flickered with sadness, "we might as well kill more enemies; perhaps we can quickly advance our cultivation level and revive our sect. Once the sect is strong enough, entering the Sun Spring for cultivation could give us a chance to rid ourselves of illusions."

"But we can’t even leave the Two-Faced Kingdom now, having become fugitives. We barely managed to escape before by using the sect’s Spirit Talismans," the man said dejectedly. "The next time we descend, who knows what troubles we’ll face. Killing enemies when our magic artifacts have been targeted and avoiding Silver Armor suppression is already troublesome enough. The illusions are getting worse... I don’t know..."

"Don’t worry, brother... there will be a way... there will be," the girl said, her expression gloomy.

"This way!"

Suddenly, a thundering sound came from a distance, indicating the arrival of a master from the Two-Faced Kingdom.

"Let’s go!"

The two were startled and immediately leaped up, turning into two wisps of blue smoke that scattered.

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

Cough, cough, cough...

In a dark courtyard.

Lin Xin stepped out of the carriage, landing on the ground with a bundle and a small waist pouch in his hand.

He checked his cultivation level, which had been raised by a full ten points. Now at 56%, he felt a sense of relief.

"So I’ve encountered others... Interesting... It seems I’m not the only one who can access that place..."

Picking up the bundle and waist pouch, he casually tossed them to the ground and pried them open with his sword.

"Wonder if others can rely on this carriage to come and go, or if killing can increase their cultivation level?"

He checked the contents; the bundle contained a Demon Talisman Seed and a bronze token with a large, unidentified, blood-colored symbol inscribed on it.

The waist pouch held several miscellaneous items, a few small vials of elixirs, a stack of Talisman Papers mixed with Resentment Talismans and Sweet Dew Talismans, and a small black-covered booklet.

Lin Xin picked up the booklet and gently flipped it open.

’Underworld’

The title page had only two large characters written in ghostly script, clear yet twisted like a lying black snake.

"Underworld?" Lin Xin muttered to himself.

He flipped to the next page.

’Once you enter the Underworld, you are neither human, ghost, demon, nor devil.’

A line of blood-red characters appeared before Lin Xin’s eyes. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com.)