Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 181 - 174: Upgrade

Chapter 181: Chapter 174: Upgrade

Lin Xin’s heart chilled as he saw the scene unfold, and he hastily cleaved the formation with his sword, darting out and sprinting away from it. The two masses of clouds were already entangled with a vicious black-clothed female Taoist, who, even with one arm severed, forced the clouds to retreat repeatedly.

As the two cultivators were too occupied with the fierce Taoist to pay attention to Lin Xin’s escape, their eyes were red with the frenzy of battle.

Lin Xin fled rapidly. But before he could get clear, the sky was already embroiled in battle.

The fish-headed being stood on black clouds and leaped into the air, wielding a large Guan Dao and dueling with one of the Golden Core cultivators. Meanwhile, the snake-tailed being was clashing continuously with another Golden Core cultivator, and for the time being, it seemed impossible to tell who would come out on top.

Before Lin Xin could confirm his observations, however, the sky suddenly turned red.

The homunculus opened its maw full of sharp teeth and spewed forth a jet of Black Fire. The fire shot outwards, splitting from one to two, two to four, four to eight—multiplying and densifying as it went.

Soon, it turned into a vast cyclone of black flames that wrapped around the opposing cultivator.

On the other side, the cultivator flung out a handkerchief adorned with the Golden-Winged Roc, which spun faster and faster, growing larger until a resplendent roc burst forth, striking hard against the black flame tornado.

Boom!

The black of the flames mixed with the golden light, and for a moment, Lin Xin could see nothing.

Expanding his movement technique to its fullest, he flew toward the edge of the formation.

Throughout his flight, he passed by Loose Cultivators and fish-lipped Taoists locked in combat but paid them no mind.

His speed was incredibly swift, almost merging with the wind, leaving behind only faint and mysterious distortions that flashed by.

Suddenly, a large mass of something unknown shot down from the sky, slamming into the ground with an earth-shaking impact.

The mass landed not far from Lin Xin; when he managed to see what it was, his steps came to an abrupt halt.

It was a section of a serpent’s body, silver-gray and as thick as a bucket.

The silver scales and the steaming flesh were still undulating, twisting as if trying to grow new flesh to heal the wound.

After a moment of hesitation, Lin Xin slapped the Red Flower Sword, and a red light burst from its sheath, its runes shining brightly.

Instantly, vines surged from the ground, tightly entwining the mass of flesh and dragging it underground.

"Feast... feast... Stay hidden, and this place shall be your banquet..." Lin Xin didn’t spare a glance at Yin Mantuo as he flew away and came before a thin membrane of the formation, where three Taoists were besieging a masked woman. With a casual swing of his sword, a sword qi shot out, like an invisible blade of vacuum, extremely stealthy as it struck the three fish-lipped Taoists from behind. They were sent flying, as if struck by lightning, coughing out blood profusely, and soon they lay breathless.

The woman bowed to Lin Xin in gratitude, about to speak, but her vision blurred, and before she knew it, she could no longer see any trace of a person.

Having left the formation, Lin Xin appeared quietly behind a tree, his back against the trunk, silently sensing Yin Mantuo’s movements among the pavilions of the Taoist sect.

He sharply felt Yin Mantuo’s delight as the homunculus’s flesh appeared to be a great supplement for it, and the many corpses also became its nourishment, flowing into the roots of the flowers and vines.

Taking out the blood-colored bead he had just snatched, Lin Xin inspected it closely and infused it with a gentle surge of Spiritual Energy.

Hiss!

The bead suddenly emitted a blood-colored radiance, clearly no ordinary treasure; one that could provoke several Foundation Establishment Stage Loose Cultivators to fight over it was definitely not of common quality.

"My cultivation is closely linked to the Red Flower Sword; the higher the sword’s quality, the faster my cultivation will advance. Hopefully, this bead will be of help to me..."

He caressed the Treasure Bead, feeling that it might be an extraordinary treasure.

Hiss...

Suddenly, he sensed Yin Mantuo finding something delightful, a near giddy joy that echoed into his consciousness.

"Feast... feast..."

Lin Xin’s mouth curved into a slight smile as he waited in silence.

After an indefinite time, thunder rumbled across the sky, and the rain grew from a drizzle to a downpour, cascading down in torrents.

Lin Xin stood in the rain, tilting his head to glance at the sky, where the residents of the Underworld were nearly ready to withdraw.

He clutched the Demon Talisman Seed, funneling his Inner Qi into it.

Simultaneously, he summoned Yin Mantuo back to the Red Flower Sword. Soon after, a flash of red light dimmed the glow surrounding the sword, and Yin Mantuo returned directly to the blade.

A sensation of swelling pain to the point of utmost fullness was transmitted.

Pocketing the Red Flower Sword, Lin Xin took one last look at the pavilions of the Taoist sect and stepped into the carriage.

As the carriage door closed, he sat cross-legged, eyes closed, and began to regulate his breathing.

Warm currents kept spreading and circulating within his body, nourishment that he had obtained from slaughtering far too many two-faced people today.

Among them were not a few two-faced people of notable Qi Cultivation levels, and there was also an old Taoist he had killed on the way whose speed and strength were not far from his, providing the most warmth.

It was only when Lin Xin ceased his activities that he felt as though his body was about to burst from the inside. Even the skin and meridians faintly transmitted a slight sensation of swelling pain.

He slowly absorbed the rioting warm currents with his Return to Origin vortex, guiding them one by one into the Return to Origin. His cultivation was also unknowingly improving.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, the carriage had also stopped, but Lin Xin was still inside, sitting cross-legged and regulating his breath.

After a while, in the darkness, his eyes opened, and a wisp of fluorescent white vapor sprayed out from his mouth and nostrils, slowly dissipating.

His entire body was covered with traces of blood-red sweat, soaking through his clothes as if he had been injured, but seemed like he had sustained a heavy blow, with blood seeping through his whole body.

Looking at his clothes in bewilderment, Lin Xin glanced at his attribute panel, and was shocked into stillness.

Under the cultivation level section, it clearly displayed:

’Return to Origin Jue——Qi Refinement Realm Fifth Layer. (Completion 5%) (Damage +14, Constitution +14),’ with the additional effects: Sword Qi, Spiritual Energy Possession.

He had advanced a level in his cultivation without any signs or disturbances.

"Although the main point from the Fourth Layer to the Sixth Layer is to accumulate Spiritual Energy, it shouldn’t have been without the slightest ripple that it improved, right?" he frowned slightly.

When puzzled, he suddenly remembered that treasure bead and took it out to look, which made him somewhat startled.

For some unknown reason, the blood-red bead had become a bit clearer.

"Could this be... a demonic treasure capable of seizing other people’s Essence Qi and cultivation?" He vaguely remembered that many treasures from the Demon Path had similar abilities, although the difference lay in the amount of impurities refined out and the purity of the Essence Qi cultivation feedback provided.

"Jade Blood Demoness Pearl...." He recalled the name the old man had called out in ghostly tones. With a thought, he pinched the bead and held it up to the light, peering closely at it.

Through the bead, he could faintly see a similarly pallid woman’s face, with one eyeball staring right at the bead, similarly looking at him through the bead.

Furthermore, there were many intricate and delicate scriptures around the edge of the bead, slowly rotating along its edge like lace. If one didn’t look closely, it would be difficult to notice that these could actually be read as scriptures; and they were all in the script of spectral demons.

"This is...." Lin Xin was startled, and upon closer observation, ignored the eyeball staring at him. Instead, he focused on the scriptures on the edge.

The language of spectral demons was one of the oldest texts in history, widely spread across the Underworld. The scriptures carved inside the bead were surely not ordinary, as they were etched in the language of spectral demons.

Reading the text within, Lin Xin articulated the name of the scripture at the very front.

"Yin God Pearl.... Bell Sound Great Method.."

Lin Xin’s heart trembled. He had seen records of the Bell Sound Great Method in ancient texts. It was an extremely vicious cultivation technique from an ancient sect that had been exterminated. While not of the Demon Path, it was unusually heinous, primarily using sound waves to bewitch and snatch souls, capable of affecting the enemy’s mind silently and even achieving victory without battle. It was a Code of Law that primarily used sound for cultivation practice.

And the Yin God Pearl, he knew, was famous among the Hundred Arms Catalogue.

Its refinement required forty-nine years, with extremely harsh conditions and materials, including the injection of the souls of a thousand cultivators with exceptional talent who died from flaying. The goal was to have these souls devour and battle each other, merging into a single vicious soul overflowing with evil Qi, called the Yin God.

The Yin God Pearl was immensely powerful, qualifying it as a near Fourth Grade treasure with growth potential, and capable of nourishing its owner with Essence Blood Cultivation. It was one of the twenty revered Demon Path treasures.

Moreover, the Yin God could be released for powerful combat, possess a human body, infiltrate others’ dreams, or accomplish many tasks ordinary people couldn’t, with endless ingenious uses.

The only concern was that the Yin God might retaliate, being extremely vicious and inherently cunning.

"Yin God Pearl... Just that I don’t know to what level the Yin God inside has reached...." Lin Xin felt somewhat worried, yet also excited.

What worried him was that if the Yin God was too strong, he would not be able to suppress it and might be devoured in return. The excitement stemmed from the thought that if the Yin God could be driven by him, then it would certainly be a significant aid.

"Nearly Fourth Grade? That means that the Yin God inside has at least reached the Foundation Establishment Stage. It seems I can’t release it lightly. I will consider using it when my cultivation is sufficient, or I find a safe method to control it."

He noticed that the bead still seemed to have an aura of incompleteness, as if the Taoist from the fish-mouthed path hadn’t completely finished the sacrificial refinement.

After stepping off the carriage, he stored the bead carefully, stood in the middle of the courtyard, and slapped the Red Flower Sword.

With a clang, a red light shot out, and the Red Flower Sword flew around him for a circle before abruptly planting itself into the ground.

As the red light flourished, the ground slowly swelled, and the massive main body of Yin Mantuo slowly arched out of the earth. By this time, its main body was over seven meters tall, and the huge petal in the middle housed an ever-growing blood-red vertical pupil.

"It seems we’re on the edge of evolution again..." Lin Xin lamented. Life in the secluded mansion was practically heaven for Yin Mantuo, and its growth rate was far beyond his expectations.

As his gaze swept over the potential changes on Yin Mantuo’s body, suddenly several of its tendrils gently grasped a few items, lifting them up to present in front of him.

"What’s this?" Lin Xin was slightly taken aback, but when he saw the items, his eyes suddenly fixed in surprise. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendations, monthly tickets, and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)