Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 208 - 201 Turmoil Part 1

Chapter 208: Chapter 201 Turmoil Part 1

In the Giant Tree Forest, a wooden hut.

"Jing’er, are you all right?" Dongyue supported the pale-faced Jing’er, slowly helping her to sit down on a chair.

"We must leave this place as soon as possible," Jing’er said softly.

"Don’t worry... My brother, he won’t betray us, he’s not that kind of person," Dongyue said earnestly.

"But... this place is no longer safe," Jing’er grew anxious.

"But your injuries..." Dongyue gritted his teeth, "Alright, let’s leave right now! If big brother has been followed, that would indeed be troublesome. After all, those who can live here are suspicious in themselves." He also thought of the inconsistency.

"Yes," Jing’er agreed, no longer bothering to conceal anything at this point.

The two hurriedly packed their things, left the wooden hut, and with Dongyue carrying Jing’er on his back and holding their belongings, they ran towards another direction of the Giant Tree Forest.

They had not gotten far when suddenly a flying longsword descended from the sky and plunged fiercely into the ground.

Hisss!

A small, circular talismanic light screen lit up where the sword blade entered the ground. The green light screen illuminated Dongyue’s face.

His face changed instantly, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Who’s there!"

In the midst of the Giant Tree Forest, figures of a group of people emerged, led by none other than Xiao Yi and Hua Yunu.

"It’s here, it’s them!" Xiao Yi shouted loudly.

"Retreat!" Jing’er suddenly called out sharply. A halo burst forth from her body, wrapping around Dongyue as they both flew backward, slamming into the wooden hut with a thud and crashing to the ground.

At the same time, massive green vines and branches began to rapidly grow around the wooden hut, intertwining with each other. They quickly formed a huge nest-like structure.

The nest, with a diameter of several tens of meters, seemed to naturally form a natural formation. With a buzzing sound, green light sparkled as if connecting to some mysterious force.

Jin Yunu’s eyes turned sharp, and she raised her hand, causing a ray of golden light to appear.

The golden light struck the green light and was sent flying back with a clang. But it immediately transformed into a golden koi fish that swam around the formation, and within a few blinks of an eye, it actually found a tiny, not fully formed gap in the formation and slipped through.

"Saus!!" Jing’er’s complexion changed; the injury she had suffered from Lin Xin had not yet healed, and she had only recovered a little at this point. Although a lot of the medicinal effect had dissipated, the gap in strength between them was still too great. She could only muster all her strength to use her last insect curse.

She threw her hand, and immediately a large amount of black powder scattered, the powder turned into a black vortex in mid-air, shooting out strands of black hair toward the golden light, entangling it.

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

"What’s the matter." Lin Xin did not open the door, just sitting by the bed in the wooden hut. He felt a severe headache, continuously rubbing his temples with his fingers, but only getting a slight relief.

Spiritual energy was rapidly circulating inside his body, and his consciousness also continuously inspected his entire body, yet there was not the slightest abnormality, even the index finger on his hand that seemed a bit unusual on the surface was the same.

"There are four or five people in our team planning to leave the manor!"

"Hmm? Leaving?" Lin Xin was taken aback. He believed that he had given these expert disciples the best treatment in terms of benefits, status, and cultivation practice; he did not neglect their attitudes in any way, and now some of them actually wanted to leave.

"Moreover, someone has discovered that a giant fruit has disappeared nearby; it happened overnight. Early this morning, people noticed that a giant fruit that had been recorded in its previous location had vanished!"

The disciple outside hurriedly said.

"A giant fruit disappeared?" Lin Xin immediately thought of Yin Mantuo; this creature had silently gone out, aiming for the giant fruit—could it be that it had swallowed the enormous fruit?

He thought of the sudden surge of warm current he had encountered last night; the essence blood had far exceeded his digestion range, causing various injuries in his body, and there was still a large amount of essence blood accumulating, slowly being relieved and absorbed by the spiritual energy.

He checked his cultivation status again.

’Return to Origin Decree—Qi Refinement Eighth Layer. (Completion 5%) (Damage +17, Physique +17,)’

"Eighth Layer already?" He was slightly startled.

His cultivation had unknowingly advanced to the Qi Refinement Eighth Layer, which violently shook his heart. Suppressing his excitement, Lin Xin noted that ever since Yin Mantuo evolved, his improvement speed had started to become faster and much quicker than before. At this rate, he would soon enter the Foundation Establishment Stage, the biggest hurdle of which was constructing Sword Intent and Innate Dao Foundation. He had already achieved Sword Intent, and the Innate Dao Foundation, which required the reconstruction of the physical body, was relatively easier compared to Sword Intent.

After calming his emotions slightly,

"Is there anything else? Just say it all," Lin Xin asked again.

"No, it’s that a few Foundation Establishment elders who were left behind discovered the disappearance of the giant fruit, along with strange traces of a creature’s movement. They suspect that there is likely a Third-Grade Level ferocious creature near us."

"With the formation to protect us, there isn’t much to worry about," Lin Xin changed into a new set of clothes, swiftly cleaned up the bloodstains in the hut with the help of his spiritual energy, and then left the hut.

A few disciples from the manor stood outside, flustered, and Lin Luo had also arrived, standing off to the side, with Ouyang Fei appearing emotionless, not at all concerned.

"...But now, Elder Hua of the Foundation Establishment has taken most of the experts away from the camp... If something happens at this time," one of the manor’s expert disciples worriedly spoke, seemingly in conversation with someone.

"Even as inner-house experts, you’re all fussing; what does that look like?" Lin Luo said indifferently.

"This isn’t something that should have been brought up, but last night, the villa master directly confronted an elder from the sect. Today, even our movements are restricted, and this morning, it turned out that a few people were actually planning to leave the manor. We were all stunned when we heard this. The manor nurtured us, providing for our families from our weakest moments until now. How can we abandon our loyalty for profit, and just leave like that! Isn’t that ingratitude?"

A disciple said indignantly.

"Moreover, now is the time when we need more hands," another expert added.

"Have you asked them why they left?"

Lin Luo inquired. He had just gotten up when he heard the noises here.

"We don’t know, but all of them left with the manor’s equipment, not leaving behind a single item!" several of the manor’s experts complained.

"Then, where are they now?" Lin Xin asked indifferently.

"They’ve already joined Xiao Yi’s team. It must have been Xiao Yi who enticed them," one person said resentfully.

"Xiao Yi..." Lin Xin contemplated, "This person has always seen me as an enemy, for reasons I don’t understand. I wasn’t planning on settling scores with him. But now, he’s even resorted to such despicable means as poaching people."

"People may leave, but they should leave behind the gear they were equipped with," Lin Luo said calmly. "I will go."

"The storage bag and key medicines and array plate must be retrieved," Lin Xin nodded.

"What if they refuse to hand them over?" Lin Luo asked.

"Handle it yourself. Just don’t kill anyone," Lin Xin said nonchalantly, already growing tired of these trivial and tedious matters. Lin Luo and Lin Xinyuan were both better at handling these issues than he was. So, he decided to leave it to Lin Luo.

Lin Luo nodded and led a few people toward the place where Xiao Yi and others were staying.

Lin Xin then looked towards the person who had first knocked on the door.

"You just mentioned that Brother Hua led people out?"

"Yes. Most of the Foundation Establishment experts have been taken out," the person answered promptly. "Apparently, they have found an Insect Master."

Lin Xin did not speak again, but simply stood quietly for a while, feeling the changes in his cultivation within himself.

He felt like a large jar, already filled with a good amount of spiritual water, just a little short of being completely full. Upon being filled, it seemed that some unforeseen change would occur, which might very well be the key to achieving the Innate Dao Foundation.

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

A multitude of green branches intertwined next to the wooden house to form a large bird’s nest-like disc.

A group of cultivators gathered around the nest, with Hua Yunu and other Foundation Establishment Cultivators floating in the air, looking down at a man and a woman standing in the center of the nest.

The man held a sword in one hand, his lips tightly pursed, with strands of black spiritual power continuously weaving around him, as if smoke was seeping through his skin.

"Dongyue Junior Brother, from Autumn Flower Hall, at the Second Layer of Qi Refinement, I ask for your guidance," a cultivator leapt up and landed in front of Dongyue, holding his sword and bowing slightly.

Dongyue stared calmly at the cultivator in front of him.

"Please," he said.

"Have you really not considered stepping aside?" the cultivator advised in a low voice. "If it’s just you alone, you won’t be able to stop so many of us no matter what."

Dongyue held his sword horizontally, not saying much, but his eyes and expression had already made clear his attitude.

Behind him, Jing’er covered her chest, where a small golden sword was faintly embedded—it was unmistakably Hua Yunu’s Wandering Fish Sword. Droplets of blood slowly flowed down her dress onto the nest’s branches, almost staining a small area red. Many pieces of black hair were scattered on the ground nearby.

Jing’er’s eyes were open wide as she gasped for breath, unable to make a sound. She looked at Dongyue’s back with a touch of sadness.

"Then, please forgive my offense," the opposing cultivator declared, and his sword blade suddenly ignited with white Sword Qi.

The Sword Qi surged, like a fleeting wind piercing towards Dongyue.

"Blood Transformation." Dongyue didn’t try to block; he simply raised his hand to grasp at the Sword Qi.

Hiss!

A flash of bloody light, his palm was pierced with a hole, but the Sword Qi, not even piercing through the center of his hand, was dyed by the crimson blood, and it emitted a harsh corrosive sound.

The Sword Qi turned from white to blue in an instant, quickly dissipating, and that speck of blue contamination hurriedly crawled towards the cultivator’s sword, as if alive.

"Is this... the Myriad Poisons Body!?"

Dugu Lin exclaimed in surprise from beside Hua Yunu.

"To be able to suppress my Magic Artifact’s Return to Origin, a low-level cultivator with the Myriad Poisons Body... haha... it’s becoming more and more interesting..." Hua Yunu’s expression remained gentle and tranquil, but a fierce killing intent had begun to show in her eyes.

"The Giant Tree Forest’s Sword Sect actually possesses such a long-lost method of Refinement for the Myriad Poisons Body... truly..." Su Wan chuckled behind her hand.

The rest pretended not to hear and just watched quietly.

The cultivator below, alarmed by the spreading blue poison blood, hurriedly threw down his magic sword, retreated clumsily, and pulled out a jade ring from his chest, shouting an unknown decree.

The jade ring immediately emitted a green light, shining upon Dongyue, but it had no effect.

Instead, the blue poison blood enveloped the ring in an instant, snuffing out the green light. As the ring fell, the cultivator with the surname Hua immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, staggered back, his face pale as paper, and was hastily propped up and fed medicine by several sect members. (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to come to qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)