Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 148 - 141: Narrow Road

Chapter 148: Chapter 141: Narrow Road

After descending the mountain, accompanied by a few defenders, they had not yet reached the mid-mountain when Lin Xin returned to where they had tied the horses, only to be shocked to see a large group of bandits dressed individuals sitting around the horses.

The two men who were originally left here to guard the horses were now being surrounded and flattered by a gang of bandits, appearing to be quite carried away by the adulation.

As soon as they saw them coming down, the bandit leader with the golden earrings jumped up, and the two subordinates who had been comfortably flattered also startled, quickly standing up and running over.

"What’s going on?" Before Lin Xin could speak, Liu Zong asked coldly.

The two men hemmed and hawed through some account of the situation, which Liu Zong brushed aside impatiently. He glanced at the body of the Jubilant Bodhisattva on the ground, combined that with the information he’d heard, and quickly pieced together what had really happened.

"My lords... My lords." The bandit chief approached with a servile smile. "This humble one was blind and offended my lords’ horses. I am now waiting here to offer my apology..."

"Leave this place within ten breaths of time," Liu Zong said coldly.

The bandit chief hurriedly plastered on a sycophantic smile.

"There’s no need for that, my lord. We were here, waiting to find out if the two of you happen to be from the Spirit Heart Villa in Lu Fu territory?"

He gestured for his subordinate to bring something forward.

"This is a token of my respect."

The item turned out to be a golden hoop, not looking like it was made of gold but rather a coppery color. It was a copper ring.

Liu Zong glanced at it idly and immediately recognized it as a damaged Magic Artifact.

He took it, looked it over, and saw there were many unclear Runes on it.

"Let me have a look," Lin Xin said as he approached, and Liu Zong handed him the copper ring.

Upon receiving the ring, he immediately recognized that it was inscribed with a damaged Formation, and the material of the copper ring was strange, seeming not so much like a Magic Artifact but more like an array device.

The sole purpose of an array device is to carry the Formation inscribed on its surface, which differs from a Magic Artifact. Hence Lin Xin recognized it at first glance.

"An array device... and it’s recently inscribed. Did you carve this?" His gaze fixed sharply on the man before him.

"Yes...," the bandit chief replied eagerly, "My lord, do not be fooled by my rough appearance, I am most fond of studying Formations. Although my cultivation level is not high, I am quite confident in my abilities with Formations."

"With such talent, why do you remain hidden in the mountains?" Lin Xin asked curiously.

"To be honest, I have joined Sects five times, but each time, failing to reach the Innate Realm, I had to leave. Now, I am nearly sixty, and I made too many enemies in my earlier years. With no attachments, I finally decided to stay here and live as a mountain king, which is more comfortable than living in bustling territories and enduring petty torments," explained the bandit chief, who seemed a bit educated.

"Which Formations are you proficient in?" Lin Xin asked directly, not wishing to linger.

"My constitution is primarily affiliated with water, most harmonious with yin water, therefore I focus on ice and water system array studies. I can now set up First Grade large arrays independently," the bandit chief said, eager to show off.

"First Grade large arrays? Can a First Grade even be called a large array?" Liu Zong couldn’t help but laugh.

"Why can’t a First Grade be called a large array?" The bandit chief retorted, "Even without Spirit Jade for activation, other things can be used as substitutes. I’ve found such a method here in the mountains."

"Interesting. Then why don’t you sell your skills to the Immortal Sect?" Lin Xin laughed.

"The lord is unaware; it’s not that I haven’t tried but that I’ve tried too many times...," the bandit chief said, bitterness on his face. "The arrays I research are core-based on Earth Fire and are too demanding and costly to implement conveniently. No one believes my words... and it’s not easy to meet a Formation Path Master who can discern truth from falsehood..."

Lin Xin pondered for a moment, casually questioned him about the fundamentals of Formations, to which the other replied fluently, showing profound knowledge.

"Alright, dismiss your men, keep two trusted followers, take your things and follow me."

Without further ado, Lin Xin decisively decided to take this man with him.

The party dismissed the bandits and mounted their horses to head for the town.

After purchasing supplies in town, Lin Xin instructed Liu Zong to take the bandit leader and his two trusted men back to the Manor, while he himself galloped toward the nearby Honglian stronghold.

By Youth Lin Mountain, there was a Honglian liaison point, one of the bits of intelligence he’d gathered over the years using the power of the Manor. It came in handy now.

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

The rain fell gently.

Lin Xin held a red umbrella, walking quietly along the street, with hurried umbrella-toting pedestrians all around, and occasionally, some without umbrellas, swiftly taking shelter under the eaves.

Few were like him, walking leisurely and unhurried in the rain.

Honglian County, located on the eastern side of Yue Lin Mountain and near the Yue Xi River, relied on fishing for livelihood. It was the largest and most bustling settlement by the mountain.

There were gambling houses, shops, brothels, taverns, and various stables; anyone with a bit of money nearby would make purchases here.

Honglian County hosted a dedicated garrison of a thousand patrol troops, wrapped in towering city walls. If it came to battle, it would take days to conquer, providing a great sense of security to the residents.

Both sides of the street were lined with a dense array of shops – silk clothiers, general stores, scriptoriums, blacksmiths – every kind of shop was available.

Lin Xin strolled leisurely with his umbrella, moving slowly up the right side of the street.

A few drunken men, stumbling and soaking wet, staggered past him shoulder to shoulder.

An old man hurriedly sought shelter from the rain, a carrying pole loaded with radishes over his shoulders.

A woman in a simple white dress hurried by with a young boy in tow.

One after another, people brushed past Lin Xin, whose senses, akin to a reflective surface, seemed to spread mysteriously in the rain.

The Spiritual Energy within his body roiled, slowly bubbling up under the action of the Concealment Formation, like boiling water.

Unwittingly, he arrived in front of a green and red building. The building was five stories high, one of the tallest constructions in the county, with faint music drifting from within. A steady stream of carriages came and went, and a pair of husky guards chatted intermittently under a rain shelter.

Standing at the doorway, Lin Xin could still see the bustling worker of the loft, enthusiastically greeting the guests stepping off their carriages.

Raindrops hit the surface of the umbrella with a crisp pitter-patter sound.

Lin Xin looked up at the loft’s signboard.

"Drunken Dream Pavilion"

The three large characters danced like dragons and phoenixes, yet they exuded a touch of Yin softness.

"If you stand before the pavilion, halting without entering, are you here specifically to seek Miss Xin He?" A chilling voice wormed its way into Lin Xin’s ears out of nowhere.

Lin Xin smiled faintly. Clearly, the other party had sensed his ill intent; Red Tower was an expert in intelligence, so it was not surprising they detected his anomaly.

Besides, he had no intention of hiding his cultivation at this moment.

"Is this a Red Tower branch?" His voice made no attempt to be discreet.

The sound waves, carried by his Inner Qi, traveled far into the distance. Soon after, the Red Tower fell silent for a moment, then many windows of the loft burst open at once. Some people hurried out to see what the commotion was about, some even with girls in their arms, looking on with an entertained expression.

"Yo, another one here to cause trouble?" That icy voice sounded again. By not hiding the voice and making it audible to ordinary people, this kind of unorthodox behavior was a clear sign of ill intent.

At the top floor of the loft, a beautiful woman dressed in blue slowly pushed open a window, frowning as she looked down at Lin Xin.

"Knowing this place belongs to Red Tower, yet daring to come alone, are you from the Feng Family or the Zhao Family?" The woman’s voice was cold, exuding a strange androgyny.

The corners of Lin Xin’s mouth curved upward.

"Take a guess."

Boom!!

The ground beneath him collapsed suddenly, forming a circular depression. Immense reactive force propelled him in an instant, lunging forward with a sword thrust toward the woman.

The bright Sword Light suddenly bloomed, gorgeously like a white lotus, a set of Jianghu’s most common White Lotus Sword Technique, in his hands, amplified by Attributes and Spiritual Energy, looking less like Innate Sword Technique and more like a Second Grade Cultivation Decision.

The woman’s face paled, and she made a Hand Decision; a red light then flew out from her sleeve, confronting Lin Xin head-on.

Imperial Artifact Techniques—she was indeed in the Qi Refinement Realm.

The red light scattered, casting down glimmers like red crystals—apparently, it was a small red mirror. As the gleam came into contact with the White Lotus Sword Light, the sword dissipated instantly.

The woman’s face relaxed slightly, about to speak.

Shhh!

Her expression froze in shock, glancing down at her chest where, unexpectedly, the sharp tip of a sword had appeared.

The silver sword tip was still wet with the warm blood from inside her body.

"This...so fast...." She uttered her last few words before her body violently exploded.

Bang!

A rain of blood mixed with fragments of the white dress slowly fell, scattering in the rain.

Lin Xin’s figure appeared behind her, holding a sword in one hand, his expression unchanged as if the Qi Cultivation expert he had just killed was nothing of significance.

But upon closer inspection, one could see his pupils subtly constricting, as if he had discovered something extremely astonishing.

Ah!!

Soon, the guests in Drunken Dream Pavilion started screaming, fleeing in panic from the loft. The guards who had planned to come to the aid were also in the fleeing crowd, with no one daring to provoke Lin Xin, who had just slain Miss Xin He with a single sword.

Lin Xin stood atop the highest floor of the loft, where Miss Xin He’s bedroom had been, the air filled with the scent of blood and perfume.

"I never thought... that killing from above would also be effective...." He could distinctly feel his cultivation slowly advancing, though it was a mere trifle.

Yet the bloody Spiritual Energy was ultimately growing, as if absorbing the Spiritual Energy within her.

It’s just that her cultivation was too weak, merely at the First Layer of Qi Refinement, but she was already the strongest expert Red Tower had sent to oversee the Yue Lin Mountain area.

He casually flipped through the items on the desk in the room. Piles of intelligence letters gathered there, all from recent days, obviously not yet destroyed. He quickly found the information he needed.

Then he bent down to pick up the Magic Artifact she had cast. To any cultivator, the Artifact she had summoned was definitely the most significant collection of wealth.

Lin Xin’s figure flashed, shooting out of the window, vanishing into the heavy rain.

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

In the evening, near a deserted Mountain God Temple in the outskirts of Yue Lin Mountain.

Bang!

The temple doors were violently flung open, and a tall and muscular man wielding a Wolf Fang Club strode in.

"Zhao Yunshan is here to fight, members of Star Calamity Hall, since you’ve come, what kind of heroes hide and skulk in the shadows!"

The man’s voice was loud and rough, with a faint red light flowing over the Wolf Fang Club behind him, evidently a Sacrificially Refined Magic Artifact.

No sooner had his voice faded than two figures clad in black with green stripes emerged from the shadows of the Mountain God Temple. The man was missing an ear, with a dark complexion and purple lips. The woman was blind, her eyes seeming to have been gouged.

"Where is the lady Xin He of Red Tower?" Zhao Yunshan laughed heartily with a touch of desolation, "If it’s only the two of you, I fear tonight will mark the doom of the Star Calamity Hall branch!" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)