Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 230 - 223 Method Part One

Chapter 230: Chapter 223 Method Part One

The leaves swayed, and a tempest coiled up.

In the entire forest, only the fierce vigor qi generated by the two people exchanging high-speed blows stirred intensely.

What was astonishing, however, was that the range in which they were sparring was extremely narrow, almost confined to a very small area around each other’s vicinity.

There wasn’t a trace at any of the peripheral locations around them.

The highly concentrated power, where blade lights and blade Gang clashed vehemently, some not even making a sound because the frequency of the sound was too fast, surpassing the upper limit that the average human ear could perceive.

White blade lights and transparent blade Gang surged incessantly in the forest, with black shadow blades emerging from time to time.

Hua Shen Xi stood motionless, the blade in his hand almost too blurry to see, leaving only faint white trails.

The Daoist Qiu Ye’s arms, like the Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara, morphed into a vast array of arms, with dense blade lights shooting out like spider silk, disappearing after flying two meters away and then reappearing already around Hua Shen Xi.

With each movement they made, they both created vulnerabilities and points of fierce sharpness.

They each tried to strike at the other’s weak points while using their own sharpness to block the other’s attacks.

The woods grew ever more silent; at first, there was still the sound of metal clashing, but later only the rustle of the wind stirred.

The blade lights and blade Gang became increasingly sparse, faster in speed, but fewer in appearance. Each time one appeared, it was bound to be much more ferocious than before.

Sweat slowly appeared on Daoist Qiu Ye’s forehead. The movements of his hands also started to slow down.

Seeing this, Hua Shen Xi gave a faint smile.

"Is this the limit of your skill?"

"Incineration!" Daoist Qiu Ye leapt from the ground, spinning like a top, flying towards the sky above the forest.

Suddenly, he fell down like a shooting star, rushing towards Hua Shen Xi. His entire body emitted vast strands of white, silk-like blade lights.

Copious amounts of blade light threads enveloped Hua Shen Xi from all sides, surrounding him completely.

Shriek!

All the blade threads converged together, weaving into a pristine white lotus flower.

The petals slowly unfolded, the center as if filled with flowing silvery liquid.

"Stars concealed, stars revealed."

Hua Shen Xi thrust his blade straight forward.

The blade vanished, crossing countless strands of blade petals, appearing in front of Daoist Qiu Ye.

Boom!

The blade exploded, and a hint of bewilderment flashed across Daoist Qiu Ye’s eyes. He raised his hand to block the other, but the blade unexpectedly passed through his arm like an illusion and pierced directly into his brow.

"Brow Piercing, Thought of Bloom," Hua Shen Xi softly recited the True Secret.

The blade lines and petals around him all disintegrated simultaneously, fading slowly. Each petal was entwined with a strand of transparent blade Gang, perfectly neutralizing the opponent’s blade lines.

Of the thousands of blade threads, not one was missed. Not even a blade of grass was harmed around them.

In an instant, a brilliant white blade light ignited, chopping straight towards his head from afar.

With a pinch of his fingers, Hua Shen Xi crushed the blade light as if it were a petal and then looked across, but he could no longer see the other’s figure.

With a slight smile, he turned and walked towards Lin Xin’s location.

Spiritual energy surged, parting the underbrush, which somehow was already empty.

The smile on Hua Shen Xi’s face immediately froze.

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

On a verdant green mountain peak, a snow-white sash hung on the cliff side, like a pure white ribbon, slender and elongated.

The sun shone brightly, and the autumn breeze was pleasant.

A black carriage suddenly burst out from the edge of a waterfall and softly landed at the edge, stopping.

The carriage door opened, and a man covered in blood tumbled out.

"Where is this?" Lin Xin lay on his back, squinting at the dazzling sun in the sky, his breath weak. He could feel his body like a balloon with holes poked in it, a large amount of blood flowing through the wounds affected by the previous ordeal, dyeing the surrounding grass red.

A few white deer drank from a pool under the waterfall and seemed to catch the scent of blood. They raised their heads and looked over.

Gurgle... Gurgle... Gurgle...

Suddenly, not far from his side, the sound of someone drinking alcohol could be heard.

Lin Xin managed to turn his head, only to see a familiar figure.

An ordinary-looking burly man, dressed in plain gray cloth, his back carrying a wide-bladed sword, a full beard on his face, sat squatting on the ground, holding a green alcohol gourd in his hand, pouring it vigorously into his mouth.

He was seated within a five-meter range of Lin Xin but seemed dazed, apparently not noticing him at all.

"Red Leaf Sword Master..." Lin Xin remembered him, the man referred to by Pu Du Sheng as the Red Leaf Sword Master, the odd man of the Redwood Forest. He quickly understood why he had appeared here.

Looking at the scattered Demon Talisman Seeds beside the Red Leaf Sword Master, it was clear; he had been brought here by the Demon Talisman Seeds that the man had piled up as coordinates.

The two of them lay and sat there, neither intending to speak to the other.

Lin Xin was in too poor a condition and was eager to heal his wounds, so he did not want to expend any more energy.

And this person showed no desire to speak. Ever since the Red Leaf Forest, he had always been like this, just drinking, never speaking.

After much effort, Lin Xin slowly and with difficulty felt around for his storage bag, which had already been destroyed, with its contents nowhere to be found. The healing pill bottle he had been carrying was also severed in the chaos, and where the pills inside had rolled off to was anyone’s guess.

Without anything for healing, he could only lie on the ground trying to control the rampant spiritual energy.

But the spiritual energy loss of control, caused by illusions, was too violent, especially now that he had reached the Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation and was only a step away from Foundation Establishment. At such a level, deviating into madness was extremely dangerous. If it weren’t for his exceptionally robust physical condition, most people would have likely exploded and died by now.

Had it not been for the attribute enhancements he had acquired earlier, he would not have been able to hold on for this long.

The two of them remained by the edge of the waterfall, where a herd of white deer with fawns came to drink from the pool, and soon after, several leopards and a large white bird swooped down to slowly sip water.

Lin Xin barely moved his body, trying to stand up, but was tripped up by the fluctuating spiritual energy and fell back down.

Thud.

He hit his back on a small rock, rolling downwards.

The movement seemed to have caught the attention of the Red Leaf Sword Master.

He slightly turned his face, glancing in Lin Xin’s direction. His blank pupils seemed to briefly focus.

Looking at Lin Xin beside him, he seemed somewhat amazed.

"You’re... not dead yet..." His voice was very hoarse, somewhat unclear as if there was something wrong with his tongue, making his words not very distinct.

"What do you mean I’m not dead?" Lin Xin was also surprised, not expecting his first words to be this.

But the Red Leaf Sword Master paid him no heed, continuing to space out on his own.

Time slowly passed by.

The two stayed silently by the waterfall pool as the day turned from noon to dusk.

Small green fluorescent butterflies emerged from somewhere, flocking to the moist black moss by the waterfall, turning the area into a sea of green light.

The two of them waited until nightfall.

The number of green fluorescent butterflies increased.

Lin Xin turned over, and the spiritual energy seemed to have calmed down a bit. It had settled, and he had now completely figured out that whenever he tried to harness the energy, it would activate and cause a rampage, resulting in his body becoming paralyzed and immobile.

By this time, the Red Leaf Sword Master had already stood up, walked over to pick up a Demon Talisman Seed from the ground, took a swig of his drink, and with a single step, walked into the air and vanished.

Lin Xin controlled himself not to touch the spiritual energy and just lay on his back by the pool.

"The manor must be frantically searching for me by now, right?"

He thought to himself while gazing at the night sky.

The dark blue night sky, like a vast curtain, was studded with countless stars, like tightly packed, tiny blue diamonds embroidered onto black cloth.

A crescent moon hung in the center, with something on it, seemingly some kind of structure.

Lin Xin strained his eyes to see clearly, but the distance made it impossible to discern the details.

Moving his body was very difficult, but it was already much better than before.

He struggled to stand up, his limbs stiff as if they had been frozen, and staggered to the edge of the pool. His lips were chapped, and he was terribly thirsty. Stooping at the water’s edge, he slowly scooped up some water to his lips and drank a few sips.

Hiss...

Suddenly, a faint sound came from behind him. He turned around and saw the Red Leaf Sword Master standing there, eyes staring straight at him.

Without a word, he watched for a while and then found a spot to sit down, taking large gulps from the gourd at his waist.

Lin Xin, puzzled by the strange situation, sipped some water and found a spot by the pool. He gathered dry twigs and leaves, piled them up, and planned to find a way to get something to eat, since his storage bag was ruined and he had no supplies.

Moreover, he had another idea. With his current condition, the fastest way to recover would be to use that...

He sat down laboriously at the side, grabbing two dry sticks and started rubbing one vigorously, intending to start a fire through friction.

He felt that as long as he didn’t use spiritual energy, his body was recovering quickly. Relying solely on the resilience of a normal human body, he was easily able to start a fire.

After a few strokes, the dry grass ignited, and the fire, first blowing thick smoke, soon sparked and was quickly added to the prepared pile of dry grass.

The flames burst out from the dense smoke after a few puffs.

With the fire started, Lin Xin felt tired and sat by the fire to warm himself. Without spiritual energy and his body not fully recovered, he couldn’t do much in this peril-ridden place.

Checking his body thoroughly, apart from a tattered storage bag, he found a few jade tokens, which were of no use in such a place, and certainly not in these circumstances.

He glanced at his torn clothes and the minor wounds that had been affected earlier.

"If I can’t use spiritual energy, I can’t use the Demon Talisman Seed to go back..." he fiddled with the fire, somewhat absent-minded.

The Red Leaf Sword Master was still sitting not far away, drinking alone.

After regaining some strength, Lin Xin grew hungry and got up to go to the edge of the pool where he tried to spear fish with a spiky stick. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)