Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 256 - 249 Test Part 2

Chapter 256: Chapter 249 Test Part 2

Just a moment passed, and Lin Xin offered a faint smile, suddenly withdrawing his imposing aura.

The gap in strength between the two was too vast; there was no need for a fight. He had already grasped an understanding of the level of the Sword Sect’s heart power users.

"So this is the strength of a Sword Heart power user?" He sheathed his sword and turned towards He Jing, who was nearly petrified with fear by Lin Xin’s aura.

The disparity in their killing intent was so large that there was no need for action; the other party had already reached the brink of collapse.

Feeling somewhat bored, Lin Xin roughly understood the level of Sword Heart power users, equivalent to Qi Cultivators but slightly stronger. Of course, this was only an estimation based on aura; actual combat had many uncontrollable variables and was not precisely predictable.

"Which elder is joking with a disciple in the middle of the night?" To his surprise, the woman across from him, Nan Xiulu, suddenly called out loudly.

"Elder?" Lin Xin immediately realized she had mistaken him for a senior expert from the Sword Sect. Without responding, he turned and blended abruptly into the darkness.

"That will be all for today; my apologies for the offense."

Having said that, he turned to leap back.

Yet, as soon as he mustered his Spiritual Energy to perform Qinggong, a burning hot stream suddenly surged into his chest.

That stream was wildly turbulent, and when it reached his heart, irritable and violent thoughts inexplicably surged in his mind.

Startled, Lin Xin quickly stabilized his Inner Qi and tried to leave the place swiftly.

But the sudden hot stream kept increasing, and soon it was on par with his total amount of Spiritual Energy, circulating inside him through another channel of meridians.

Looking down, Lin Xin saw the green light from his cyan lantern piercing through the dark fabric of the storage bag, already alarmingly bright to the point where the bag could no longer conceal it.

A series of slight pricking pains spread across his chest.

He hurriedly tore open his chest cloth, and indeed saw that the decay around his chest was spreading further.

The light emitted by the cyan lantern seemed to have a cool and clear aura, slightly suppressing and neutralizing the scalding hot stream flowing toward his heart. However, compared with the immense hot stream inside his body, Lin Xin distinctly felt the energy inside the cyan lantern being rapidly drained and diminished.

The places bathed in the green light around his chest remained intact, but the surrounding areas began to decay rapidly.

In his mind, waves of irritability and violence, various crazed thoughts trying to burst forth, were forcefully suppressed by him.

"What’s happening!? Is it the power of the Yu Mansion acting up?" He bit his lip and leaped toward his lodgings.

But the more he used Qinggong and mobilized Spiritual Energy, the more violent the boiling inside him became.

His heart’s beating became more intense, one throb after another, as if something wanted to leap out.

Thump... Thump... Thump...

Amidst the loud sounds resembling war drums, Lin Xin’s entire being faintly glowed red.

He quickly took out the Demon Talisman Seed, holding it in his hand, about to summon the carriage.

"Husband... where are you going?" Suddenly, Xiao Lingling’s voice came from behind him.

Lin Xin stiffened all over, abruptly stopping, and slowly turned around.

Standing behind him was a red-dressed woman with skin so pale she hardly seemed alive. Her skirt was blood-red, and she held a crimson paper umbrella, partially covering her face. One could only see that she had the same body and graceful motions as Xiao Lingling.

In the riverbank’s expanse, shadows and darkness surrounded the two of them.

"Lingling..." Lin Xin’s throat constricted slightly.

"Husband, how long has it been since you’ve accompanied Lingling?"

Lin Xin, struggling with the violent madness surging in his chest, walked slowly over, reaching out to caress the woman’s face under the paper umbrella.

"Husband... don’t you love me anymore?" Xiao Lingling slowly extended her hand, reaching towards Lin Xin’s face.

Hiss!

Halfway through, her hand transformed from a touch to a claw, ferociously aiming for Lin Xin’s throat.

Boom!

Lin Xin swiftly caught her wrist, his eyes flashed with bloodlust, and his other hand reached for her head. Yet, just as he was about to crush her skull, he stopped.

His palm hovered over Xiao Lingling’s forehead, Lin Xin’s face twisted, his eyes blazing red without a hint of pupils.

"Husband..." Xiao Lingling reached out to touch his hand.

Ah!!!

Lin Xin let out a fierce roar, hastily retreating. Suddenly, a black carriage appeared behind him, and he crashed into it. The black horses pulled the carriage, quickly disappearing across the water.

Xiao Lingling, who stood in the original spot, also suddenly transformed into a circle of red swirls, twisting and disappearing.

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

Ahhhhhh!!!!

Roars of rage, pain, and madness suddenly exploded at the edge of the waterfall.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The water in the pond splashed up dozens of meters high.

A ring of red light appeared abruptly, Sword Light flickered, and the pond exploded time after time, steaming up massive amounts of mist. Lin Xin was in the midst of it, his eyes blood red, frantically swinging his blade, with currents of Spiritual Energy bursting unpredictably in all directions.

The Red Leaf Sword Master stood on the bank, silently watching his frenzied venting.

"It’s useless... Simply relying on this is useless. If you don’t kill, you will sooner or later be devoured by yourself."

At this moment, Lin Xin couldn’t hear him; he was just continuously and madly releasing blood-red Spiritual Energy, brutally expanding the surroundings of the pond to several times its original size.

The currents of air in the forest stirred, frightening a large number of strange creatures into flight.

Soon, only a small circular spot where the Red Leaf Sword Master stood remained undestroyed; the rest was ruined, with only pond water spreading throughout.

The blood-colored Spiritual Energy, like some giant monster, hovered and gathered above Lin Xin, looking down below.

He didn’t know how long it had been when the sky turned dark, and the explosions finally stopped.

Lin Xin walked step by step to the shore, his body a mess, collapsing onto the ground.

In a daze, he looked up to see a pair of delicate silver-gray boots approaching him.

"The trial has begun, and in the next ten days, if you can endure, you’ll still have a chance to survive."

The voice of the Red Leaf Sword Master was fuzzy as it reached his ears.

"I will come to see you again in ten days," the Red Leaf Sword Master said before turning away and leaving.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded until no more could be heard.

Lin Xin’s vision was slightly blurry, and he felt his body was in excruciating pain as if it were tearing apart, with a burning heat all over, only a cool spot at his chest kept his waning sanity. It was the light of the Greenfish Lamp.

He struggled to turn over and gazed up at the night sky.

In the black sky, there was no moon, only the stars, a myriad of faint blue that shone like scattered blue diamonds, resplendent and beautiful.

Huff... Huff...

He breathed heavily, as if his lungs could not get enough air.

There was no one around, and the Red Leaf Sword Master had left.

The sky was boundless, and by night the only sound was the continuous roar of the waterfall.

A sense of solitude like he had never felt before welled up inside him.

Lin Xin lay powerless on the shore, all his spiritual energy exhausted, his physical strength as well. He could only lie there, resting quietly.

After lying down for a while, he struggled to sit up against a rock near the edge of the pool.

Perhaps due to the great physical exhaustion, he soon fell into a deep, heavy sleep.

Time passed unknowingly, and Lin Xin slowly woke up to find darkness all around, except for a campfire burning on a dry spot near the pool; he didn’t know who had made it.

Feeling much recovered, Lin Xin stood up and walked toward the fire.

There was no one around the fire, solitary between the pool and the forest. Looking far into the distance, it seemed as if the only light in the world was this fire, with the stars in the sky now obscured by clouds.

The fire crackled loudly as Lin Xin sat down beside it, intending to dry his drenched clothes.

"Awake?"

Suddenly, an elderly voice sounded behind him.

Lin Xin quickly turned around, only to see a pair of skeletal, stick-like arms emerge from the darkness, holding a piece of roasted meat from some unknown animal.

"Hungry, huh... Eat, you need to eat this to have strength..." An old woman’s voice came from the darkness.

He could hear the voice but could not see anyone beyond the outstretched arms in the darkness.

"Who are you...?" he asked softly.

The arms placed the meat on the ground and slowly withdrew, then no more sound came forth.

Looking at the roasted meat, Lin Xin’s throat involuntarily gulped a few times. He touched his storage bag, took out a bit of food, stuffed it into his mouth, but didn’t dare to touch the meat lying on the ground.

It was wise not to carelessly eat things of unknown origin.

After drinking some water, he slowly stood up. The super recovery power of the Dragon King’s foundation allowed his strength to return.

"The trial has begun again...?" He recalled what the Red Leaf Sword Master had said upon leaving.

"What exactly is the trial?"

He had always known the term but didn’t understand what it truly meant.

The surrounding darkness was eerie and cold. He wanted to walk around and explore, but as soon as he stepped to the edge of the firelight, about to enter the darkness, an unprecedented sense of crisis surged from his heart.

He stopped abruptly.

Looking at the spot just short of stepping into the darkness, he realized that despite facing away from the firelight, which should have cast his shadow, there wasn’t a trace of it at his feet, as the firelight formed a perfect circle without leaving any shadows.

He had the vague feeling that once he left the circle of the fire and stepped into the darkness, something extremely severe might happen.

"The fire’s burning too fiercely... I’m gonna douse it with water..."

Suddenly, an elusive figure appeared at the edge of the fire, muttering to themselves while carrying a bucket of water, ready to pour onto the fire.

"Stop him!!"

A shouted warning surged in Lin Xin’s mind. He had a strong premonition that if that person doused the fire, he would fall into a dire, irreversible predicament!

Without time to think, he used Flash Spirit and rushed forward, with his Red Flower Sword swiftly drawn from its sheath.

Clang!!

The blade was halfway out of its sheath when Lin Xin came to a sudden halt, astounded.

Though he was sure he had flashed behind that figure, there was nothing there when he arrived.

Not a person, not even a trace on the ground.

All was quiet around him, only the campfire burning steadily in front. The light and warmth from the fire gave him a sense of comforting security.

Without a sound or a breath, Lin Xin sheathed his sword and sat down by the fire.

Time passed, and the sky remained pitch black. The nearby waterfall seemed to shrink, its noise softly fading away.

Lin Xin still sat by the campfire, occasionally adding some dry branches to keep it alive. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)