Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 204 - 197: Insect People - Part One

Chapter 204: Chapter 197: Insect People - Part One

Lin Xin drew his longsword, and with a series of rapid stabbing motions, quickly killed more than a dozen worm-like creatures.

When the blade pierced through these worms, he faintly felt some resistance, as if there was a thick layer of skin obstructing the tip of the sword.

"These bugs aren’t too difficult to deal with," someone said with ease.

"Be careful!" Before the words had finished, a worm behind him suddenly sprang forward, seemingly ignoring the defensive spiritual light magical artifact in front of him, and burrowed into the man’s back as if it were nothing.

Ah!

The man immediately screamed in pain, collapsing to the ground, rolling around frantically, and soon stopped moving altogether.

"Brother Huang!!" Several cultivators nearby were shocked and sought to go to his aid, but they hardly took a few steps before...

With a hiss, a magic sword flew out, and the cultivator who had fallen to the ground suddenly opened his eyes wide, blood-red with dispersed pupils, and stabbed directly at two men’s waists.

"Brother Huang, you—!?"

Caught off guard, one of them was pierced by the magic sword. His waist’s defensive magic artifact and the magic sword collided fiercely, creating a violent hissing noise upon impact.

His face turned to horror, as he tried to retreat but instantly felt a chill in his back; behind him appeared another cultivator with blood-red eyes, ruthlessly pulling his sword out from his back.

In a state of panic, the other person tried to flee by leaping into the air, but was struck down by a flying sword from someone nearby, crashing to the ground, where a swarm of worms immediately converged upon him.

The whole team was thrown into chaos, and for a moment, it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe, as they fought amongst themselves.

Several people from the manor were afflicted as well, but were quickly restrained by their own, Lin Luo reacted exceptionally fast, proving his experience as a seasoned assassin. Noticing something amiss, he used his swift swordsmanship to slit the throats of several experts controlled by the worms, gathered their belongings, and turned to command everyone to form a circular formation, spreading Resentment Talismans and Isolation Talismans on the ground.

He then took out some dark purple powder and sprinkled it on the ground. Immediately, the tree bark began sizzling with corrosive noise.

"Bring torches!" He took out an array plate with blue dragon motifs carved on its surface.

Someone nearby lit a torch and handed it over to him. He accepted it and pressed the burning torch against the plate.

Hiss!

A burst of scalding steam rose, and the array plate melted away, transforming into a sticky mass of blue-green mucus that fell from his hand, spreading quickly to cover the middle of the circle formed by the team.

That patch of ground immediately solidified into a disk several meters in diameter, with patterns of an Azure Dragon slowly emerging on its surface.

"Up!"

Lin Luo pinched a decree, channeling spiritual energy into it.

Threads of blue light instantly began to shine from the disk, enveloping everyone from the manor within.

At once, everyone felt as if a thin green film had appeared on the surface of their bodies.

"This is Azure Dragon Water, which can block attacks from many creatures capable of penetrating spiritual defenses. However, it can only be applied to fifty people at a time!"

Lin Luo explained.

Lin Xin nodded to himself, acknowledging that Lin Luo had become fully capable of standing on his own. No, perhaps he was even better than himself at leading everyone.

Surveying his surroundings, his Spirit-Enhanced Sword incessantly vanished and reappeared in his hands at high speed, each disappearance accompanied by the death of numerous worms.

Driven by attributes and spiritual power, the sword speed was extremely fast, yet it did not display overwhelming power, just barely maintaining a level of ordinary Qi cultivation. Apart from the speed and accuracy, nothing else stood out.

Given the chaos at the moment, no one noticed the slight anomaly.

As more and more worms were pierced and became stiff, Lin Xin clearly felt a warm current flowing into his body. Killing these worms seemed to be even more useful than slaying the two-faced cultivators in the Ghost Mansion!

His heart grew cold, and he quickly glanced at his attribute panel.

The ’Return to Origin’ skill was visibly improving in cultivation. Think it over, he switched swords, drawing out the Red Flower Sword from its sheath and creating a series of light spots. In an instant, dozens of worms on the ground were directly pierced and killed.

Strangely, the Yin Mantuo within the Red Flower Sword emitted an excited, jubilant emotion, as if these worm-like creatures provided excellent nourishment.

His eyes flickered, and Lin Xin quietly transmitted a message to Lin Luo, who nodded slightly in understanding.

Lin Xin then unobtrusively moved to the edge of the crowd, the Concealment Array Plate on his person unwittingly taking effect, making the others unaware of his presence.

With a flash of red light on the Red Flower Sword, Yin Mantuo was released, boring into the trunk of the giant tree.

As soon as Yin Mantuo was released, Lin Xin felt a surge of Essence Qi essence from the Red Flower Sword rapidly flow into his body, integrating into his cultivation.

The cultivation value on the attribute panel visibly jumped a few times. ’Return to Origin’ moved from 55% to 58% in just a short moment, climbing by three percent.

"What is this...!?" His heart leaped with joy, as the worms turned out to have such a tremendous effect, almost equivalent to the high-level masters he had continuously slain in the Ghost Mansion.

Suppressing his emotions, he continued to move towards the periphery, with countless worms pouring towards him but all being eaten directly by the flower vines and suckers constantly emerging from Yin Mantuo.

The others, too busy with their own chaos, failed to notice his movements.

Soon, he realized that these worms were mainly targeting a group of Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators at the forefront. The worms attacking them were the largest and most numerous, and some had even started to clump together, slowly condensing into humanoid forms to become various insectoids, each taller than an average person.

After these insectoids formed from foot to head without fully solidifying their facial features, they let out a scream and pounced towards the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators.

The Qi Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage, each holding a longsword, with their Sword Intent erupting. The majority of the blades immediately transformed into sword shadows cloaked in white light, layer upon layer dividing into over a dozen copies. Under the operation of Spiritual Energy, both speed and strength were extraordinarily astonishing; with each Sword Shadow Dividing Light, they could easily sever and pierce through the surrounding insects.

Behind every Qi Cultivator invoking Sword Intent at the Foundation Establishment Stage, there faintly appeared the void shadow of a green pine tree.

"Green Pine Sword Intent..." he muttered softly, "So many Green Pine Sword Intents, it seems that truly by pushing Swordsmanship cultivation to the highest level and comprehending the artistic conception within, one can attain the Sect’s Sword Intent. It’s different from my Red Flower Sword Intent..."

Then looking over at Dugu Lin.

Dugu Lin, standing on a Flying Sword, hovered in midair, with strands of silver filaments shuttling around her at high speed, constantly revolving. Instead of filaments exploding into swirling silver mists, those mists would occasionally and abruptly condense into silver threads, unpredictable and extraordinarily eerie.

Countless insects, as soon as they approached her, would naturally disintegrate on their own.

Just that it was unknown what her Sword Intent was.

Hua Yunu’s sword hilt shone with a golden halo, with dots of golden light swirling around him. Those golden lights, like even finer insects, began to battle against the surging insects. For a moment, the golden sparks fiercely suppressed and devoured a large number of insects, and during this process, they would split into even more golden lights on their own.

He didn’t even need to lift a finger, just floating in place, quietly and vigilantly watching the now-formed insect people.

Su Wan’s movement technique was exceptional; her figure was cloaked in a grey-green glow, and a sinister complex rune lit up on her veil, making no insects attack her, as if she did not exist at all.

Sensing someone was watching her, Su Wan’s gaze suddenly turned towards Lin Xin’s direction.

Hastily averting his gaze, Lin Xin naturally exhibited the appearance of struggling to fend off the insects’ assault, continuously wielding his sword to dodge.

He could feel Su Wan’s gaze linger on him for several seconds before slowly shifting away.

The team below was in utter chaos, and those at the Foundation Establishment Stage above had no intention of moving to support, seeming very vigilant and on guard against something.

Roar!!

Suddenly, several insect people lunged forward. They were extremely fast and powerful; with a push of their legs against the tree trunk or the ground, a cracking sound ensued, and a section of the tree trunk was indented.

Using the rebound, the insect people targeted Dugu Lin first, who had been slaughtering the fastest.

"Cloud Style!"

Dugu Lin snorted coldly, without any fear. The silver threads around her suddenly exploded. Amidst the humming of swords, a large swath of silver mist also rushed towards the swarm of insect people.

She herself was wrapped in the silver mist as well, charging at the insect people.

The mist enveloped them both, and a symphony of clashing metal and roars emanated.

Boom!

When the mist dissipated, the situation inside was revealed.

Dugu Lin, holding a Broken Sword with an unsightly expression, blood oozing from the corner of her mouth, had a grave look. In front of her, several insect people had vanished, replaced by a giant insect person over five meters tall.

"Intruder, die!" The insect person’s distorted face, crawling with roundworms, revealed a fierce expression.

He stomped his foot, and immediately, his body shot out explosively, like a cannonball, harshly colliding with Dugu Lin in midair.

With a clang, Hua Yunu’s body suddenly appeared behind it, stabbing with a sword. The tip of the sword touched the insect person’s back, making a crisp clashing sound; his expression changed slightly. His body, like a swimming fish, dodged to the left.

Thump!

The spot where the insect person was stabbed bulged with an arm made of insects, its fingers outstretched to fiercely grab at Hua Yunu’s chest.

Golden light points emerged, forming a dragon pattern, reflecting like a mirror to block the arm.

With a clatter, like glass shattering, the dragon pattern broke apart, and the arm also violently shook, slowing down.

Hua Yunu seized the chance to disengage and back away.

The rest of the Qi Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage also charged forward, unleashing their Sword Intents. The overlapping Sword Shadow Dividing Light, which was inevitable, fell upon the insect person in either slashes or stabs, yet all they did was spray forth little yellow sparks, having no effect whatsoever.

"Use High-Level Talismans!" Hua Yunu shouted loudly, first. He took out a High-Level Suppression Talisman from his bosom. This talisman, inscribed with the Third Grade Demon-Suppressing Formation, was a high-valued talisman paper worth several Spirit Jades. However, at that moment, such considerations were cast aside.

With a wave of his hand, the talisman paper flew out, turning into grey ashes in midair and condensing into a massive grey seal void shadow over one person tall.

Simultaneously, other Qi Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage also threw their High-Level Suppression Talismans, and all the ashes from the talismans merged together, forming one collective massive grey seal void shadow.

This void shadow swelled to over five meters high and four meters wide within a few breaths, like a small grey mountain.

"Go!"

Hua Yunu, struggling to control the guidance, roared.

The mountain-like seal viciously flew towards the insect person. At the same time, a great force of locking and pulling held it firmly, leaving no chance for escape.

Boom!!

Far away, Lin Xin turned away his gaze, not looking any further. He scanned the Manor disciples. Aside from a few early casualties, the rest were safe and sound. Under the protection of Lin Luo’s Formation Secret Treasure, they could defend themselves, not to mention the four sets of Armor hidden in the shadows. He was in no hurry.

Under a slight movement of thought, Lin Xin pretended to slaughter the insects desperately while carefully observing the feedback coming from Yin Mantuo’s side.

Waves of dense life essence continuously surged from the Red Flower Sword into his body, almost giving him an elevating sensation, as if every cell in his body was leaping in excitement...(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to 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.)