Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 190 - 183 Gathering Part One

Chapter 190: Chapter 183 Gathering Part One

Having donned the armor with ease, Lin Luo moved slightly, feeling his body faintly taut, but the highly defensive material of the armor wrapped his entire body somewhat tightly.

"It’s a bit tight."

"It can be adjusted for tightness," explained Elder Yang, stepping forward to show him how to adjust it.

Once everything was adjusted, Lin Luo raised his right arm and waved it forward.

Whoosh!

A streak of red flame suddenly appeared in the air.

"One-tenth spiritual energy, equivalent to three-tenths effectiveness, impressive!" exclaimed Lin Luo, unable to contain his admiration, "If I could amplify all of my spiritual energy threefold..."

"That should be no problem. This set of armor can amplify up to the power of the Fourth Layer of Qi Refinement. If the wearer himself surpasses this level, there is no point in wearing it; at most, it can save some spiritual energy when using techniques of the Fourth Layer Qi Cultivation.

But if the wearer hasn’t reached the Fourth Layer, then its significance is quite substantial," Elder Yang explained.

"Even if it can only amplify to the level of a Qi Cultivator of the Fourth Layer, that’s still impressive," Lin Luo said with a hint of joy.

"Don’t be careless," Lin Xin smiled and said, "You understand that real cultivation is just a reference; what often decides victory or death are divine skills and magic artifacts."

Lin Luo nodded.

Indeed, cultivation only represents potential and level, but the real life-and-death battles depend on the grade of divine skills and magic treasures. This set of armor is perhaps between Second and Third Grade. Top-grade magic artifacts are extremely expensive."

"My Red Flower Sword is just an exception. For the manor to truly refine Third Grade magic artifacts, it still needs to attract more talents, especially in casting and forging," Lin Xin said with a smile.

"First get used to this set of armor. If there are any problems, report them to Elder Yang at any time for modifications."

"Understood."

Lin Luo nodded, knowing that as long as one had entered the Qi Cultivation Stage, they could amplify their power to the Fourth Layer with this armor.

And for those who had not entered the Qi Refinement Stage, just by embedding Spirit Jade, they could also enhance their killing power to the Fourth Layer of Qi Cultivators, which was terrifying.

This meant that possibly even ordinary people could exhibit the power of the Qi Cultivation Realm.

This was essentially building strength with a large amount of resources and wealth, something only the current Spirit Heart Villa could dare to do. Other forces probably wouldn’t do this; those that had such financial means wouldn’t need to spend so much effort on ordinary Qi Cultivators, and those without couldn’t afford to.

Lin Luo carefully began testing the power of the Fire Scale Armor with Elder Yang.

Lin Xin, on the other hand, left alone and exited the furnace.

Having just returned to his study and practiced calligraphy for a little while, he saw in the outdoor sky a blue light breaking through the edge of the clouds, zigzagging and pulling a blue streak, shooting toward the manor.

The blue light was extremely fast, reaching Lin Xin’s study window in just a few blinks, slowing down, and gently landing on Lin Xin’s palm.

It was a blue bird with one wing, its sharp beak like a needle’s tip, resembling a hummingbird but only the size of an egg.

Cough cough cough...

The bird coughed vigorously a few times, and from its sharp beak dripped some yellow liquid, falling into Lin Xin’s palm where it quickly congealed, seemingly alive, and automatically formed a small scroll that looked like ordinary yellow paper scrolls.

Lin Xin released the bird, letting it shoot out of the window, while he picked up the paper scroll with his fingers and gently unfolded it.

The scroll was filled with extremely small, dense cuneiform script.

"A Sect decree... passed by a one-winged bird, this is the highest level of alert... It’s a decree issued to all local guardians! Such a decree wouldn’t be issued without something extremely important," he thought to himself, feeling a pinch of alarm.

He carefully looked at the cuneiform script on the paper scroll.

’Sect Master Daoist’s decree, all local guardians heed the order, Worm Masters under the Queen are fleeing, establishing nests everywhere, command: turn every ten neighboring Territories into one large area, gather all guardians of each large area, and set off to exterminate the Worm Masters, depart immediately without delay.’

On the back, there was another line.

’Eradicate the demons thoroughly.’

"So many years have passed, and finally, I’m being called to act personally..." Lin Xin rolled up the scroll, understanding that since the decree had reached him, it meant that as a guardian, he couldn’t shy away.

"It must have been some recent event that escalated the problem to necessitate such a large-scale mobilization; gathering all forces urgently like this, it seems the situation might soon be out of control. This mission will surely be fraught with danger!"

He was very clear-headed; the Sect arranging this way was definitely facing severe troubles, otherwise, they wouldn’t call on them, who seemed to outsiders just ordinary practitioners of Qi Cultivation, especially since he was a rare expert in Formation Path, a rare talent.

"Regardless, it’s best not to violate the original oath of effort since it’s the Sect summoning... better to check it out," Lin Xin decided in his heart.

"Someone!"

He called out loudly.

A Hidden Guard appeared directly before him.

"Villa Master?"

"Notify the acting Villa Master, call back all the seniors, gather in the meeting hall."

"Yes!"

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

An hour later.

In the eastern part of the manor, on the top of the tallest pavilion.

The conical roof formed a triangular-like space; its interior was covered with a brown carpet. On the walls hung complete processed pythons, embedded in the wall structure, two pythons each over ten meters long flanked the sides, their heads topped with a large heart shaped arrangement made of peacock feathers.

In the main hall of the rooftop, there were three chairs in the principal position, one in the center and two on either side.

The rest of the seats were a bit lower than these three chairs, all lined up in two rows extending outward. Each redwood chair was intricately carved with patterns, and the backs each had different characters that appeared to be the name of each individual etched into the designs.

At that moment, Lin Xin sat in the highest principal position, Lin Xinyuan to his right, Gongsun Li to his left.

The other manor folks like Ou Yinghong, Taoist Lu Suo, Sanyuan Zen Master, Huang Puyang, and others sat at the upfront on both sides. Following them were Lin Zhen, and Lin Luo and Lin Duan who had hastily returned and had not yet changed into formal attire, were also present; Lin Duan was responsible for the manor’s Alchemy Dao and medicine department.

There were also other higher-ups, as well as representatives of various factions within the manor.

Under everyone’s gaze, Lin Xin waited until everyone had assembled before he slowly began to speak.

"There are some people who can’t make it back from outside in time; we won’t wait. We’ll start first." he paused, signaling the maids on both sides to draw the curtains.

The thick curtains slowly closed, plunging the room into darkness.

Clap.

He clapped his hands, and candles on the ceiling and both sides of the hall ignited.

The light brightened up instantly.

"Villa Master, I wonder why you urgently summoned us, is there something urgent?" a recently joined innate-level master of the manor quietly asked.

"I’m in charge of Di Shui Hall and there’s a large batch of goods that I need to go back to manage. Any delay would mean a significant loss of silver!"

Lin Xin made a calming gesture with his hand.

"The reason for urgently convening this meeting is that there is an urgent matter requiring the mobilization of experts from various groups."

"Mobilizing experts?" Lin Xinyuan was the first to frown, currently handling most of the daily operations of the manor. If experts were suddenly mobilized, it would catch her off guard and lead to operational chaos. "Why didn’t Big Brother inform me in advance? I could have made arrangements," she complained somewhat.

"I also received the news abruptly." Lin Xin grimaced, "The sect issued a decree, ordering us, the suppressors, to personally move out to a specific location to gather and combat the insect masters."

"Insect masters?" Lin Xinyuan naturally knew of the minions under the legendary Insect Mother, but she was unclear about the exact level of such opponents. "Combating insect masters, the Insect Mother, shouldn’t that be the work of high-level masters of the sect? Why are we, the suppressors, needed to move out?"

"I’m not sure either, perhaps to eradicate some minions and numerous monsters," Gongsun Li speculated.

"What Elder Li said makes sense, we wouldn’t be of much use against the tough ones, the gathering of so many forces must be to handle the same low-level opponents. Maybe because their numbers are too great, they need us," Huang Puyang said.

"Is there a limit on manpower?" Lin Xinyuan asked.

"It hasn’t been mentioned, but it’s probably best to have a moderate number of people. Too many would make it difficult to manage supplies, too few might prove disadvantageous," Gongsun Li said, frowning.

"The idea is to select experts to go together. It’s quality over quantity. Take as much prepared equipment and supplies as possible without being cumbersome," Lin Xin said seriously.

"So how should we choose the personnel?" Lin Xinyuan continued, "Big Brother, are you also going?"

"Yes, I must go. As for the others, based on cultivation level and volunteerism, there might be great danger on this expedition. Those who are willing can meet at Wang Shui Pavilion tonight, I’ll wait there," Lin Xin explained.

"I’ll handle the equipment and logistics," Lin Xinyuan nodded, understanding that her own cultivation was too weak to participate.

"I’ll go inform the retainers," Gongsun Li added.

"The team should be around thirty people; we only need fifteen innate-level experts, Qi cultivators are all on a voluntary basis. Some will be specifically responsible for vigilance, some for combat, and others for healing and defense. This way, forming a team, the effectiveness will be much better!" Lin Xin had considered this before; rather than a pure combat team, he preferred a more mobile base-like team.

"The Villa Master’s words are very wise," agreed the gathered individuals.

"Wouldn’t this slow us down? It’s fine if we progress slowly, but what if we need to speed up?" Lin Xinyuan reminded.

"That’s also an issue," Lin Xin pondered, "Well, stick to the original plan then. Choose only innate-level experts to go. Prepare storage bags, one for each person, and prepare all resources."

"That’ll be good," Lin Xinyuan agreed without further objections.

She moved her lips slightly, as if wanting to say something, but couldn’t bring it out.

"That will do. Notify everyone in the manor to increase the alert level until I return," Lin Xin concluded.

With that arrangement, thirty of Spirit Heart’s top experts gathered, each marked with a white uniform and a Qing Zhu. Each of them represented the most elite forces of the manor over the years, equipped lavishly to the outside eye. The enhanced equipment significantly boosted their strength nearly twofold.

Riding through the night, Lin Xin personally led the group on horseback, bidding farewell to his loved ones before heading straight to the rendezvous point.

Each major area had a designated gathering point; upon gathering his forces, Lin Xin received further notices.

The gathering point for Spirit Heart Villa was located at Qiushui Realm, San Lin Mountain. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please consider giving it a recommendation vote or a monthly ticket at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)