Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 290 - 283 Start 3

Chapter 290: Chapter 283 Start 3

"To be honest, I’m quite fond of the secret techniques you mentioned, and I’ll take those Demon Talisman Seeds as well. I’d also like to copy a set of your father’s notes, if that’s alright?" Lin Xin continued with his thoughts.

"No... no problem," the boy stuttered, "You... you agree?"

"Of course, what else do you want?" Lin Xin asked in return.

"It’s just that, for such a small price..."

"Let’s settle it then, you and I will make a contract." Lin Xin pressed a palm-shaped pattern on the table.

The pattern immediately lit up. Between the two of them, as his thoughts willed it, a white piece of paper appeared, swiftly outlining the terms of the contract they were about to enact.

Once the content was filled, the paper divided into two identical copies, sliding in front of each of them.

"By signing this agreement, our names will be monitored by the Radiance Society. A violation will result in the Radiance Society issuing a long-term mission as a penalty. Think carefully. It might not be just the Radiance Society; similar organizations could also keep this record," Lin Xin said indifferently.

"I have nothing to hesitate about," the boy declared, grabbing the contract. Biting his finger, he pressed down hard, leaving a bloody handprint.

Lin Xin, on the other hand, signed with his codename.

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

Dozens of miles outside of Naxi City.

The dense forest surrounded them, hillocks undulating, silver streams weaving through.

Clang!

High in the sky, two gray shadows suddenly split apart, scattering silver halos between them.

Behind one person, a giant cypress tree emerged; above the other’s head, a golden monkey’s void shadow flew out. The two paused briefly before crashing into each other again with force.

Below, a large group of Qi Cultivators tangled together in battle, radiance scattering everywhere, the reflection of weapons flickering incessantly.

Figures continuously rushed in from the distance, pairing off to fight. Although the combat was fierce, few struck with lethal intent, usually pulling back once the opponent was wounded.

When Lin Xin arrived, this was the scene he encountered.

He stood atop a large tree canopy, gazing towards the distant battlefield. The sea of trees was aglow with flashes of light, the ferocity unmatched.

"Those from the Red Clothes Cult must be the cultivators wearing red," he deduced.

Before setting out, he had obtained runes capable of identifying spiritual light from a branch office; now, in his vision, all the people were sorted into two categories: those wrapped in blue light and those in red light, distinctly clear.

Not far from him, two Heart Level Qi Cultivators were locked in a deadlock of combat, equivalent to the Innate and Qi Cultivation stages. The means they could employ, however, differed from those of Qi Cultivators.This pair fought up close with their weapons, occasionally exchanging punches and kicks, bursting into glittering spots, revealing that their spiritual energy was also clashing.

"Everyone is holding back. It’s much too peaceful here compared to the southern prefecture," Lin Xin shook his head slightly; he did not share these scruples.

With a flash, he suddenly appeared behind a man glowing with red light, pressing lightly against the man’s back with his palm.

Thump!

The man violently coughed up blood, flew dozens of meters forward, and crashed into a tree trunk, exploding into a mist of blood and flesh.

The female member of the Radiance Society was also stunned, her face turning white only after being sprayed with blood and flesh.

Before she could react, Lin Xin’s figure had vanished again.

With his top-notch Qinggong and speed amplified by his attributes, plus the gaping chasm of their cultivation levels, the woman couldn’t even see an afterimage before he disappeared from view.

Dashing rapidly through the woods, Lin Xin moved like a phantom.

A pair of men in black surrounded a man in white, pressing him to the point of a final strike.

Lin Xin’s shadow flitted silently past the men in black.

With two soft slices, the smug smiles on the men’s faces froze as their heads rolled off their necks.

A man wearing a white headband wielded his treasured sword, slashing out Blade Gangs at an old man in a mask across from him.

Thump!

A muffled sound followed. The man teetered, as if struck by something, and half his body bizarrely vanished into thin air.

Two women brandished their magic artifacts against each other, one with a flower basket, and the other with a treasured sword, the artifacts entangled mid-air, clashing with scattered spiritual light.

Around the women ran ring after ring of faint needle-piercing white spiritual light, seemingly a protective formation.

A flash of red, and Lin Xin appeared abruptly behind the woman with the flower basket. With a backward thrust of his sword, he did not even look back, moving swiftly on.

The woman instantly stirred the spiritual light body protection around her, the formation’s spiritual light twisting and shattering.

Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss...

A series of spiritual light layers being pierced sounded, and a black Spiritual Armor surfaced on her back. Its surface twisted with numerous runes.

But it was all in vain as the red sword blade instantly penetrated all the spiritual light, breached the armor as if stabbing through thin paper, and plunged deeply into the woman’s back.

Blood spurted, the woman stood rigid for a moment, her body rapidly withered, as if all her blood and flesh had been sucked dry by something.

The woman on the other side also watched in horror as her complexion drained, and a chill washed over her. When she scanned her surroundings again, the assassin’s figure had already vanished.

Looking down from the tree line, pairs of combatants were engaged in entanglement, constantly pierced by a red thread weaving through them.

Wherever the red line passed, the combatants were almost instantly defeated, with the members of the Radiance Society emerging as the victors.

A man in gray clothes floating mid-air relaxed a bit when he noticed this.

"When did such a formidable backup arrive at the Society, delivering lethal blows with every move, this person emits such heavy killing intent!"

One glance confirmed to him that every member of the Red Clothes Cult pierced by the red line was dead beyond doubt. This scene was far removed from the previous norm of back-and-forth fights that seemed more like weak skirmishes than deadly combats.

An older man in gray on the opposite side, however, looked increasingly uneasy.

"Xu Siming, from where does your Radiance Society bring such unruly people!"

"He must be new, but I too have long grown weary of these tepid entanglements," the man in gray clothes snickered coldly, taking advantage of the moment. He scattered a handful of silver sand into the air, which congealed into the upper body of a stag and charged headfirst towards his opponent.

"If we are to tear off each other’s masks, then don’t blame me for my ruthless hand!" The elder raised his hand and threw a golden, glittering treasure bead. The bead grew larger and larger, spinning as it ferociously smashed into the stag.

Shii!

Lin Xin casually pulled the Red Flower Sword from someone’s chest and looked up at the sky.

"He must be at the peak of the Intent Level, comparable to the Golden Core Stage. It seems that the Taoist Master Level is not an ordinary position anywhere, and what’s happening here appears to be just a small-scale conflict. The strongest aura in the vicinity is right here."

A woman in a black dress holding a bow and arrow looked around at the bloody carnage, her heart growing cold. The three who had been surrounding her were suddenly slaughtered in the blink of an eye, even before they could use their moves—some didn’t even have time to react before their heads were severed. Their Spiritual Light Body Protection was utterly useless.

This speed, this power...

"Senior..."

She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly the red shadow in front of her blurred like an illusion, slowly fading away. She couldn’t sense his presence at all and stood there, agape, unable to respond for a long while.

Lin Xin ran at breakneck speed, his pace quickening. He hadn’t noticed before as he had always been fighting against Peace Level or even higher-level adversaries.

Now, as he faced off against common Intent Level or Heart Level masters, his movement technique grew ever more adept and elusive.

After encountering so many people, including those at the Intent Level, he hadn’t met anyone who could keep up with his speed. At most, he encountered those who just managed to realize they had been hit, but most died without even knowing how they had perished. They didn’t have the chance to react.

The additional eighteen points of attribute damage was equivalent to increasing his sword speed and lethal power by a third over the normal baseline for his level.

This was different from the times when his base was low. Now, with the foundation of the Dragon King, his body cultivation and qinggong were both top-notch. When he burst forth, his instantaneous speed was already on par with the Golden Core Stage.

With the bonus from his attributes, his speed was now one-third faster than that of a normal Golden Core Taoist Master!

The power of his attributes allowed him to surpass his peers at every level.

Being slightly faster in an attack could often mean the difference between life and death, and being one third faster was nearly an insurmountable gap.

As Lin Xin rapidly moved from one combat group to another, he almost single-handedly untangled the numbered battles at high speed.

The Radiance Society triumphed fully!

He completely disregarded the unspoken rules of the Central Prefecture. In a battle of such scale, it was usually strong masters against strong masters and others facing off against their equals. But he was different.

With a light leap, Lin Xin soared into the air, heading straight for the gray-cloaked elder mid-air who was confronting a magic artifact with the man in gray.

"You impudent fool, courting death!" The elder had noticed Lin Xin’s charge and had been helplessly watching his own forces get slaughtered below while his opponent tied him down. His anger had long been simmering.

With an opportunity at hand, he lashed out with all his might!

"Sea Calming!"

He bellowed lowly, and a deep blue oceanic void shadow burst into existence around him, roaring and surging violently towards Lin Xin.

This void shadow was overwhelming, nearly blanketing an area of tens of meters around him.

"Just Intent Level?" Lin Xin slapped the Red Flower Sword, and its blade suddenly turned into a red thread, shooting out as a profound sorrow spread in the air. The blade hovered in front of him for a moment, then abruptly darted outward, whistling sharply as it cut through the air.

Squeak!

The red thread, like a bird’s chirp, sliced through the oceanic shadow, and in a flash, struck the elder’s chest with a fierce impact.

Bang bang bang!

Layer upon layer of Spiritual Light shattered, and a ring-shaped jade pendant flew up in front to block the way.

With a sharp crackle, the Red Flower Sword was deflected back.

The elder broke out in a cold sweat; fortunately, his jade pendant, a top-notch protective treasure purchased at a high price from the black market, could withstand a full-force blow from an adversary of his level.

Unexpectedly, the opponent’s last strike was so powerful. Clearly, he was only at the lower levels of the Intent Level... yet he managed to penetrate the externalized intent, shatter the Protective Aura, and nearly break through the jade pendant. It was truly a close call!

"I must retreat at once!" The elder’s mind snapped to alertness.

With lightning speed, he formed a Seal Decision with his hands, and a burst of white light exploded under his feet, instantly propelling his body towards the distance.

But just as he hadn’t flown far, he felt a sudden chill in his heart. An instinctive sense of danger made him swiftly dodge to the right.

Shii!

The red line swept past the spot where he had just been, disappearing in a flash. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)