Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 176 - 169: Junior - Part 1

Chapter 176: Chapter 169: Junior - Part 1

"What do you mean, ’dare or dare not take’?" Lin Xin countered as well.

"In a week, I am ordered to eradicate a Heretical Cult called Fish Lips Path. Though the cult is small, its legacy is long-standing. If you are interested, you can join the eradication. I can share a copy of the scriptures inside with you," Pudu Sheng said indifferently.

"Oh? A siege..." Lin Xin quickly analyzed the pros and cons and the risks involved.

"It just depends on whether you dare or not. You would march with my army, and there are even Elemental Energy Realm masters with us. Oh, Elemental Energy Realm is what you call the Golden Core Realm," Pudu Sheng chuckled lightly.

"I dare not," Lin Xin shook his head, "Putting one’s own safety in the hands of others is not what the wise do."

"So you choose not to go?"

"Tell me the location, and I’ll choose whether to go or not," Lin Xin said nonchalantly.

"Fair enough."

The two then exchanged the goods for Spirit Jade.

After the exchange, Pudu Sheng’s hands trembled slightly while holding the Spirit Jade.

"If you can find more Spirit Jade, any scriptures or the like, I’ll take them all! Whatever you need, I can get my hands on it as much as possible!" he tried to remain calm. "Also, the Demon Talisman Seeds might take longer, as I have already started procuring them. I might be able to get eight in total, that’s the most. For the assassination matter, I’ll make another arrangement. I need more Spirit Jade."

"It’s a deal!" Lin Xin was somewhat excited as well. Eight pieces of Demon Talisman Seeds were a fortune for him!

And so many scriptures, each of which he had checked. They had all been translated into ghostly script, among them, the Nine Morning Song even had steps for condensing Three Flowers and Five Qi after the Nascent Soul stage. These scriptures, in his view, were extremely precious. No sect in the Mortal Realm would willingly reveal such secret cultivation techniques, not for any amount of Spirit Jade.

But to think he had acquired so much here...

He felt like he had stumbled upon a treasure.

However, the current issue was to find more Spirit Jade. After this exchange, he was a bit short on Spirit Jade himself.

Spirit Jade now represented a powerful resource that could freely be traded for scriptures and materials.

"Moreover, if possible, I could completely cooperate with this person, paying a price to have him help me advance..." Lin Xin thought even deeper.

Standing by the creek for a long while, he finally summoned the carriage and stepped into the carriage compartment.

Surprisingly, another rune imprint emerged on the wall of the carriage compartment. This was the second sign he had seen since Noodle Country.

"This..."

Lin Xin crouched carefully, observing the imprint, lined up just like the previous ones, as if engraved on the inner wall of the compartment.

"Could this also represent a new place, like last time?" he guessed in his mind.

He did not rashly touch the imprint. Now that he had successfully connected with the people from Two-Faced Kingdom, such opportunities were not solely based on strength but also on luck. Finding such an opportunity in the next kingdom would be very difficult.

"If I can’t stand it here anymore, choosing to leave later isn’t too late." He calmed himself down, sat upright in the seat, stopped caring about the imprint, and focused on regulating his breathing.

Back in the dim courtyard, he studied the Formation Path and began to perfect the Heart Eye Sword Path.

The Heart Eye Sword Path, since Xiao Lingling’s death, had merged with the Red Flower Sword. Every time Lin Xin gripped the hilt of the Red Flower Sword, a faint sense of sorrow rose in his heart. Not only did the power of the Sword Intent greatly increase, but even the course of the swordsmanship became sad and unpredictable, so much so that even Lin Xin couldn’t predict how he would strike next. It was a kind of immersion into one’s mood.

At that moment, the swordsmanship subtly incorporated everything he had learned, hinting at a flavor of transforming the sword into a formation.

These days, Lin Xin was perfecting the new Sword Dao, incorporating the movement technique and other details. This Sword Dao had undoubtedly absorbed the explosive power of the Heaven’s Will Sword and the Extreme Yang Scroll, proving stronger than either, and much faster.

It had reached a level that even Lin Xin himself could find no fault with. At an equal level of cultivation, he wields it, the power is at least several times stronger than that of a typical Sect Cultivator.

However, judging by the effects when he taught it to experts from the Radiant Sun Sect and others, this Sword Dao seemed slightly stronger than the Killer Sword Dao but was not much stronger for ordinary people.

After pondering, he realized that this swordsmanship relied more on his own body, more on coordinating with his own attribute-enhanced physique, making it the most suitable Sword Dao for him but not for others.

"A trinity of Swordsmanship, movement technique, and cultivation technique. If I can completely integrate them, a single move moves all, then the power would surely reach a whole new level."

Lin Xin vaguely anticipated this.

Time slowly passed, and when he left the dark courtyard, he had lost track of time.

Outside, the rain was pouring.

As he got up from the bed, Lin Xin instinctively reached out his hand toward Xiao Lingling’s direction but still grasped empty air.

He felt a sense of loss and wiped his face, letting his long hair drape down from his cheeks.

The sound of rain enveloped the outside, yet the room was silent. For a moment, he felt as if he was the only person in the manor, lonely and cold.

He sat like that for a long while.

"Big brother." Suddenly, a voice came from outside the room. It was Lin Xinyuan. He knocked gently on the door, then entered without waiting for Lin Xin to respond.

"I’ve brought your breakfast," she said, smiling as she walked in with the tray.

"Put it down, you can go now," Lin Xin said without looking up, still sitting on the bed, his voice low.

There was no response.

The door slowly closed.

Lin Xin looked up puzzled, only to see Lin Xinyuan standing in the center of the room, her back to him, slowly undoing her clothing. She had already taken off her outer dress, leaving only a set of close-fitting white underwear.

"What are you doing!?" Lin Xin’s expression darkened. He swiftly got up, his figure flashed, and he directly grabbed her hand that was still trying to remove the last piece of underwear.

Lin Xinyuan looked up.

"I didn’t do anything? I just did what I wanted to do." Her gaze was clear, devoid of any distractions, which made Lin Xin somewhat unable to keep eye contact.

"Put on your clothes," Lin Xin said sternly.

With a wave of his hand, the clothes flew up, and he drew them into his hands and draped them over Lin Xinyuan.

"Does big brother not need them?" Lin Xinyuan asked naturally. "I thought all men needed them?"

Lin Xin stopped responding to her and pushed the door open to leave.

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

"Master, if even the falling leaves have emotions and continue to rest under the shade of the tree after falling, what more of people. Yuanyuan has devoted herself to you wholeheartedly, why must you reject her from a thousand miles away?"

On the martial training field.

Lin Xin and Nan Shunqing stood in a pavilion, watching the Manor disciples and martial masters practicing in the morning.

"You need not worry about my business, just focus on your cultivation practice," he said softly.

Nan Shunqing exhaled.

"I’m not being nosy, but seeing Yuanyuan suffer so much every night, dedicating so many years wholeheartedly for you, yet receiving nothing in return, just feels heartbreaking."

Dressed wildly, he carried a huge sword and wore black silk clothes with white tiger gold trim, a large ’Spirit’ character on his back, and his long hair spread out, giving him a fierce look.

"Matters of the heart are not that simple. Has that Mix Mountain Hawk been following you with his men?" Lin Xin suddenly changed the topic.

"Mix Mountain Hawk?" Nan Shunqing’s strength at the Manor was now unfathomable, even Lin Xin could no longer see through him, vaguely creating a faction of his own.

"Master, are you talking about that bandit leader you brought back from afar? Yes, he’s actually quite decent. Later, it even turned out he can study large formations. I often take him out now, sort of as a staff officer."

"What about the others?" Lin Xin asked casually. "I’ve been too busy recently and haven’t paid attention to the four of you and your martial arts cultivation."

"It’s fine, Lin Luo took on a high-difficulty mission and is said to have gone to Jin Kingdom. I don’t know what for. I asked him, but he didn’t say, just gave evasive answers," Nan Shunqing also sighed, "Teacher, you always let go of responsibilities. You’ve let us four develop freely for so long without much intervention."

Lin Xin also felt somewhat embarrassed, often troubled by illusions, he always tried not to get too close to family and subordinates. After the incident where he accidentally killed a servant, similar events occurred several times, and he feared one day an illusion would inadvertently harm his loved ones...

"By the way, Master, do you know what ’in the dream of dusty yellow, only upright oneself is real’ means?" Nan Shunqing suddenly stroked his chin and asked.

"What scripture is this from?" Lin Xin slightly surprised.

"It’s not exactly scripture," Nan Shunqing replied casually, "I recently acquired a cultivation technique and feel it contains profound philosophy. Whenever I pick it up and ponder, I always find something new."

He smiled, "It’s a line from it, and I just can’t quite connect it."

Lin Xin was somewhat silent.

"It probably depends on the context and environment it’s placed in. If it’s not clear, you might want to test some theories."

"How to test?" Nan Shunqing was slightly stunned. How could a cultivation technique be tested? If something goes wrong, it could be life-threatening or possibly cause paralysis; such things couldn’t be tried casually.

"The principles often correlate, and while human bodies have their differences, they are generally similar," Lin Xin responded, though not directly.

Nan Shunqing also closed his eyes briefly, then quickly opened them, a trace of coldness flashing through his eyes.

"Thank you for your guidance, Master."

"Go on," Lin Xin said indifferently.

Nan Shunqing respectfully departed.

Standing in the pavilion, Lin Xin suddenly felt how little concern he had shown for these few disciples.

"Jin Kingdom’s Liu Ruoyun, here to visit!"

Suddenly, a lofty voice came from afar, the sort of special treatment reserved for people of high status.

"Liu Ruoyun?" Lin Xin frowned.

"It’s a friend of the disciples, teacher, you needn’t come forward, I will handle it myself," Nan Shunqing’s voice somehow transmitted to his ears.

"Alright," Lin Xin transmitted his voice back following the sound’s origin.

Standing in place, silent for a moment, he suddenly gently clapped his hands three times.

In a dark corner, a shadow flickered and vanished.

Soon after, Gongsun Li, in long flowing robes, walked into the pavilion.

"Greetings, Villa Master." Gongsun Li, though over ninety, still had a vigorous physique.

"Li Lao, how long has it been since we last met?" Lin Xin turned and smiled.

"About three days and four hours," Gongsun Li, ever the astute one, immediately returned a precise answer.

Both of them couldn’t help but laugh together.

"Li Lao, have there been any news about Qing’er? Why would someone from the Liu family of the Golden Jade Sect come looking for him?" Lin Xin quickly shifted to the main topic. The Liu family was a prominent surname in Golden Jade Sect, belonging to one of the Supreme Elders.

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)