Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 259 - 252 The Great Achievement of Wan Sha

Chapter 259: Chapter 252 The Great Achievement of Wan Sha

"Heart Technique, Divine Shadow."

With a hiss, Lin Xin’s figure suddenly disappeared, leaving behind trails of afterimages as he passed through the thick hooves in mid-air and landed gently.

Chichi, chichi, chichi!!

All the afterimages stilled in mid-air, now all focusing toward the wound previously torn open, piercing continuously in the same spot.

The tough skin that had been previously impenetrable was finally torn open further by the barrage of afterimages, the tear growing larger and deeper.

Finally, with a ripping sound, the entire gash split open, extending across the whole thick hoof as a massive wound.

The thick hoof burned, dyed blood-red by the flames, and then pierced by a sword at that moment.

Boom!!

Amidst the fierce explosion of flames.

A blinding blood-red fireball suddenly lit up above the woods, the flame flaring for a moment before swiftly disappearing.

A large chunk of flesh fell from mid-air and then suddenly turned into a mist of blood and flesh, scattering down.

In the blood rain, Lin Xin looked up at the swiftly retreating thick hoof, and suddenly he took a fierce inhale.

The blood rain, as if drawn by some immense gravitational force, streamed toward his mouth and nose, funneling in as he breathed it in.

The Red Leaf Sword Master silently watched in mid-air.

"He actually managed to repel Salinado..." the transparent figure murmured in disbelief, "And he is still merely..."

The Red Leaf Sword Master’s lips curved slightly upward.

"Let’s go."

Without lingering, he turned and flew off into the distance.

The transparent figure couldn’t help but look down again at Lin Xin, who was greedily devouring the essence blood, as if committing his image deeply to memory.

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

Whew!!!

Sitting by the campfire, Lin Xin took a deep breath, feeling as though some fluid was seeping out of his chest.

He looked down to find his clothes soaked with blood, unaware of when it had happened.

"What...?"

He suddenly felt a surge of intense pain in his body, as if not a single part was spared; all his bones were violently breaking, and his muscles and tendons were tearing apart.

His organs convulsed violently, as if something was frantically being poured into his stomach and lungs.

The extreme nausea and discomfort finally made him unable to hold back, and he violently vomited forward.

It seemed like stomach acid mixed with fresh blood, creating a strange thick liquid on the ground.

Hum!!

The cyan lamp suddenly lit up with a fierce green light, intensely illuminating all parts of Lin Xin’s chest.

He distinctly felt an enormous amount of essence blood flooding into his body all at once, even more than when he had devoured the giant fruit initially!

His body felt like it was about to burst, his skin once again covered in dense blood spots.

Fortunately, the Dragon King’s foundation had been established, and his recovery was incredibly strong.

No sooner had the blood spots appeared than they were rapidly healed by his recovery powers, ceaselessly absorbing the essence blood and essence from his stomach and lungs into his body, transforming it into energy to heal the wounds.

The Red Flower Sword, unsheathed by no wind, slowly floated in front of Lin Xin, beginning to vibrate with a hum.

Lin Xin quickly followed the Belling Technique and the Sixth Layer of the Nine Morning Melodies to vibrate the Red Flower Sword, emitting a sound wave frequency that assisted in strengthening the body.

The sound vibration, emitting an extremely subtle tremor, helped a vast amount of essence blood to be absorbed, rapidly integrating into his flesh and bones.

The Nine Morning Melodies, originally requiring years of accumulation to refine the physical body to a higher level, were now nourished continuously by the vast amount of essence blood, providing ample energy supply and accelerating the pace of his practice even further.

Lin Xin closed his eyes and sat cross-legged, feeling the campfire behind him suddenly blaze up, the scorching heat nearly burning his back.

His physical body absorbed a large amount of essence, like a sponge without limits, yet the attribute status in his field of vision showed no change whatsoever.

Confused, Lin Xin suddenly remembered that the Sixth Layer of the Nine Morning Melodies required him to find the Life Fire and then transform it.

With a thought, he knew he was in a state of enchantment; that burning campfire—could it possibly be his Life Fire?

He turned his head, looking at the fiercely burning, inexplicably intensifying fire.

"The Fifth Layer’s Jade Resonance has reached its peak; to advance to the Fire Life, perhaps the key lies in this. That is if this is truly the Life Fire."

He controlled the Red Flower Sword’s vibrations while observing the bonfire.

"According to the records of Fire Life, the most fundamental point of Life Fire is that it is between the physical body and the soul. It burns the physical body to supply the soul in a critical transformation process, and it is also the core driving force in this transformation process."

"To touch it, one must be between life and death."

"Between life and death is essentially a blurred state where the soul is slightly detaching from the physical body, according to numerous texts and Cultivation Decisions."

It should be a moment when every cell in the physical body faces the threat of death and bursts forth with an unprecedented will to survive. At this moment, the Life Fire is supposed to operate at an unprecedented high speed, driven by the physical body to burn wildly at any cost in an attempt to hold onto the soul."

Lin Xin suddenly remembered the terminally ill patients he had seen in his previous life; many were consuming their bodies to maintain life, their bodies reduced to skin and bones, until finally, there was nothing left to burn, leading to complete despair and eventual death.

Often at such times, the Life Fire burns like never before, trying to rid the body of disease, but the excessive burning of the flames ultimately accelerates the consumption of fuel. And the fuel burned by people is their lifespan.

If one eventually recovers and survives, then it amounts to a consumption of lifespan. If not, it leads to death by burning.

"If understood this way, the Life Fire can actually represent metabolism," he roughly summarized. "Or say it drives the core of metabolism."

"That one can only touch it between life and death... no wonder so few people in the Two-Faced Kingdom have mastered the Jiuchen Qu over the years. The difficulty is such that most who try it probably end up seeing the King of Hell..."

With a bitter smile, Lin Xin felt his body swelling more and more, as the essence he absorbed was about to become unmanageable.

"I must find a way to metabolize these substances; otherwise, my physical body is definitely going to be in trouble!" In desperation, his mind raced, quickly searching through his memory for the most suitable Cultivation Technique that consumed a significant amount of Essence Blood.

"Apart from Jiuchen Qu, the only other suitable one for me is the Giant Manta Wanza Technique."

He quickly recalled the Giant Manta Wanza Technique, having thoroughly studied all the techniques he had obtained from the Two-Faced Kingdom. This technique was actually practiced by the Demon Race.

The reason it consumes a large amount of Essence Blood is that the Demon Race naturally practices by consuming raw flesh and blood, so there is a specific part of the technique dedicated to metabolizing the essence of blood. Moreover, the technique requires a large amount of essence, which is perfect for using up the essence that has nowhere else to go and converting it into actual combat strength.

"Originally, I planned to focus solely on cultivation. Inadequate talent and greed would have impeded progress, but now I really have no choice."

With his mind made up, Lin Xin began recalling the details of the Giant Manta Wanza Technique.

Giant Manta Wanza Technique: A Body Refining Technique, extremely aggressive in nature, primarily focused on cultivating the Dharma Body. When cultivated to the peak, the Dharma Body is impervious to water and fire, invulnerable to metal and stone, and all laws yield before it.

The technique is divided into nine layers, over three stages: the First is Blood Consumption, the Second is Soul Consumption, and the Third is Divine Consumption, each stage further divided into three layers. Different cultivation environments are required for each stage.

Unlike Jiuchen Qu, this technique, as long as one consumes enough flesh and blood essence, advances quickly. It can only be regarded as a Combat Technique, without a direct path to the Tao.

At its peak, it merely results in formidable combat power.

Lin Xin categorized such techniques, along with those other Divine Skills and practical combat arts, commonly known as Combat Techniques.

And those cultivation techniques that don’t focus on attack but pursue the Taoist Arts of Longevity are termed Taoist Arts.

Taoist Arts can extend one’s life greatly. Combat Techniques can help one resist calamities. Only by combining them can one truly survive long.

"Looking closely, the Nine Morning Song actually falls under the Body Refining Technique within the Taoist Arts, while the Gigantic Stingray Vanasha Technique belongs to Combat Techniques." After careful deliberation, Lin Xin began to attempt the first layer of the first stage.

The first stage of the Gigantic Stingray Vanasha Technique is Blood Consumption.

It requires control over the essence of the essential blood to condense a core talisman. This talisman is extremely complex and mysterious, and even now Lin Xin could not understand many of its structural runes. It seemed to be carved with Demon Patterns. He could only follow the steps methodically.

Fortunately, his skills in Formation Talisman were powerful, and he easily succeeded in condensing it on his first attempt.

Soon, under the firelight, a blood-colored liquid formed into a rune, slowly floating in front of Lin Xin, showing a translucent color.

"The more essence of essential blood spent in the first stage of rune condensation, the stronger the power formed later!" He had read in the records of the Gigantic Stingray Vanasha Technique that among its practitioners, the most formidable one was a great demon bat who had devoured tens of thousands of people to practice this Divine Technique and managed to survive after being frantically hunted for decades, finally achieving overwhelming combat power.

"Among those tens of thousands, they surely weren’t all ordinary people; many were definitely cultivators. I definitely can’t match that great demon, nor do I plan to focus on this as my main practice. I merely use it as a place to store essence of essential blood, so it hardly matters."

His hand seals rapidly changed, ending with a final hand seal.

Hiss!

A beam of red light exploded, and immediately the blood-colored rune lit up, suddenly showing a huge pulling force, pulling the vast amount of flesh and blood essence about to explode in Lin Xin’s body crazily into it.

The intense pain that nearly burst his body also finally eased, and he felt much lighter.

In the void, a massive amount of essence blood continued to pour out, but at this moment, all of it was being absorbed by the rune. It seemed like this mysterious rune was a bottomless pit, able to infinitely contain countless essences.

Feeling the continuous flow of essence with no sign of ceasing, Lin Xin simply let the rune absorb it freely without advancing to the next stage.

"According to the records, it seems that no one has ever filled this rune before. I want to see how much it can absorb."

Lin Xin was not in a hurry, since he could retrieve the essence inside at any time. Now, he intended to see if it could be filled.

Sitting by the campfire, it was odd to say, but with a place to share the essence, the intensely burning campfire also began to calm down, gradually returning to normal.

The rune floated in mid-air, constantly pulling out streams of twisted blood-colored liquid from the void. The relentless flow of blood converged within it, and its surface patterns spontaneously grew increasingly complex.

It was no longer the simple marking Lin Xin had initially carved.

Noticing this, a slight shock began to ripple through Lin Xin’s mind.

"This rune... could it possibly be the legendary Growth Rune? Talisman Seed?!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), or send gifts. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)