Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 342 - 335 Testing the Sword IV

Chapter 342: Chapter 335 Testing the Sword IV

The blade sliced through the edge of the flower basket, emitting a muffled sound as if cutting through leather. In the blink of an eye, it split into two halves.

The cut left by the blade shone with a pink light, and an aroma far richer than before burst forth.

Lin Xin hardly felt any resistance as if he hadn’t been hurt at all.

He saw the flower basket magic artifact, which had gathered the power of various demons, effortlessly sliced open.

He looked at the Red Flower Sword in his hand with slight surprise.

It seemed ever since he had enhanced its lethality, the Red Flower Sword had become increasingly handy and sharp. Clearly, it was also affected by the attribute points.

Below, a large group of fox demons vomited blood and collapsed weakly to the ground as the basket was cut open.

"I’ll kill you!!"

With a furious leap, the Jade Fox King’s huge shadow almost instantly reached him.

Yin Mantuo’s numerous tendrils tightly wrapped around the Jade Fox King but to no avail. Even Yin Mantuo herself was pulled out from the ground.

Lin Xin watched expressionlessly as the attacker approached. The Golden Core Demon King was indeed powerful; even in the early stages, it could utilize divine skills to exert mid-stage power.

But that was all.

His right hand slowly covered with gray-black scales, a thick black Demonic Qi silently flowed into his arm.

Partial Demonic Body Transformation, for Lin Xin, who had been exploring it for some time, posed no difficulty.

"Songyang Needle."

He gently thrust forward.

In an instant, two additional Red Flower Sword shadows appeared just below his right ribs.

With the addition of his attack, there were three blades that pierced the oncoming Jade Fox King head-on.

In terms of speed and initiation, few could match Lin Xin now. After his demonic transformation, not to mention the early Golden Core stage, even those in the late-stage seeking the Dao wouldn’t dare take him lightly.

Scattered points of white light collided with the oncoming Jade Fox King.

In just an instant, the victor was clear.

The Jade Fox King, as if struck by lightning, was sent flying back, with three bottomless blood holes each meters in diameter appearing on its chest. The body crashed heavily to the ground.

With a loud thud, the massive body of the Demon King fell like a small mountain, instantly crushing some of the severely wounded foxes underneath that couldn’t escape in time.

Floating midair, Lin Xin looked down.

Yin Mantuo’s dense tendrils flailed wildly, restraining the foxes of the Jade Fox Clan and dragging them down to the ground.

"Yu Wan!!"

At this moment, a powerful aura that had been observing the situation from a distance rushed over rapidly.

That aura was far more potent than the Jade Fox King’s and instantly locked onto Lin Xin.

"Oh? Late Golden Core?" Lin Xin’s face showed no surprise.

Demon foxes always had the habit of relying on powerful groups for survival.

If the enchanting and seductive Jade Fox Clan didn’t have a backer, that would have been unusual.

But when the breath actually reached him, he widened his eyes in a bit of astonishment.

It was a huge, balloon-like, gray-black creature.

It resembled a sea urchin dipped in ink, round and full, covered in spikes with big drops of black viscous liquid trickling from their tips.

What was most bizarre was that its center teemed with countless closely packed blue eyes, like tiny fireflies emitting blue sparks.

The balloon monster was twice as big as the Jade Fox King, and when it flew in front of Lin Xin, just one of its spikes was almost as thick as Lin Xin’s waist.

To Lin Xin’s surprise, this creature was simply too ugly, and he had never seen such a species before...

"How dare you hurt my sister Wan!!"

The enraged creature directly pressed down on Lin Xin like a mountain, moving incredibly fast. And shrouded with threads of black Qi similar to his own Demonic Qi.

"These demon races always look out for themselves; no doubt this is the only Demon King willing to take up for Jade Fox. Taking care of him should resolve the issue."

With clarity in his mind, Lin Xin didn’t shrink back but thrust out a fierce Sword Qi.

Amplified by his Demon Body, one attack naturally evolved into three, shooting towards his opponent in an instant.

He was trying as much as possible to understand their Taoist intent.

But it seems these Golden Core Demon Kings are not easy to control; it would be more convenient to deal with foundation-level lesser demons.

With that thought, a fierce light flashed in Lin Xin’s eyes. He held nothing back anymore.

Boom!!!

A short time later.

He slowly walked out from the foot of King Fortune Mountain.

In his hand, he carried a bewitching young girl dressed in a white gown, unconscious, lifted by a pinch of skin on the back of her neck.

Upon leaving King Fortune Mountain, with a light leap, black Qi roiled under his feet, carrying him away into the distance.

King Fortune Mountain was famously known as a gathering place for the Demon Race. Previously, he had only reached its outskirts when a Golden Core Demon King appeared, like the Jade Fox King and the black urchin-like creature that showed up later—just ordinary characters on the outskirts of King Fortune Mountain. If one ventured into the very heart, stirring up swarms of Great Demons would be a real problem.

Lin Xin knew his limits, what opponents he could handle and what he could not.

He sought to challenge strong fighters to comprehend the Taoist Intent, but he wasn’t out for a group brawl. The wise do not stand under a collapsing wall, it’s best not to try some things lightly.

So he picked the strongest Jade Fox he could find and carried it away.

Flying with demonic Qi marked Lin Xin’s attainment of the Foundation Establishment level of cultivation, a skill any Demon Path Cultivator would have upon reaching Foundation Establishment.

Traveling on Qi refers to Cloud Stepping Qi, which is actually a spell belonging to the Water System. Because it’s very simple, everyone knows how to do it.

But because it is simple, such a flying technique is extremely slow, at least much slower compared to flying with an Imperial Artifact. However, its advantage is that it consumes very little energy, so the consumption of spiritual energy can be completely disregarded with respect to the recovery speed of the spirit heart.

Lin Xin was capable of flying on his sword, but his original intent was to walk slowly along the way, searching for any Demon Talisman Seeds he could find.

So every once in a while, he would concentrate and use a Secret Technique to sense his surroundings for potential Demon Talisman Seeds.

That’s how he had come to King Fortune Mountain this time.

After flying a distance, he found a mountaintop to land on, hollowed out a cave, cleaned it with Taoist Arts, and made it habitable.

Night gradually fell.

The bonfire inside the cave was burning brightly.

Lin Xin drank the fruit juice beverage from his Storage Bag, which he had made himself by pressing fruits during his time with the Yuan Dou Demon Sect. He ate a few layers of flaky pastries and then feasted on big chunks of meat.

The most abundant item in his Storage Bag was the meat of a demon beast called Longyi.

Lin Xin didn’t know where this thing came from, but the meat was obviously delicious, like the flesh of fruit, fragrant and not fishy or greasy. Eating it also helped the recovery of Demonic Qi in his body.

Sitting by the bonfire, he glanced at the unconscious Jade Fox girl opposite him, stretched out his hand from afar, and casually waved at her.

Boom.

A burst of invisible Vigor Qi shot out again, accurately hitting the Jade Fox girl’s head, further extending her unconsciousness.

He looked impassively towards the cave entrance.

Lin Xin casually took out a small Array Plate from his Storage Bag and tossed it outside.

Pfft.

The Array Plate instantly exploded into a cloud of black Qi, covering the entire entrance and turning into a grey-white rock formation.

After a short while, the black Qi dissipated, and everything returned to normal; the Array Plate disappeared as if nothing had happened.

But if someone were to pass by outside the cave, they would see that the entrance looked just like the surrounding rock walls—a solid rock face.

Even if one reached out to touch it, they would only feel rock.

Unless someone could break the formation, no one would be able to enter.

Even so, Lin Xin was not completely at ease.

He gently drew the Red Flower Sword and thrust it straight into the ground at the entrance of the cave.

The ground’s rock layers were pierced as easily as tofu. The sword blade flashed with red light and then became calm again.

After all this, Lin Xin finally returned to his seat.

Looking at the bonfire in front of him, he emotionlessly took out a series of black metal blocks from his Storage Bag. At a closer look, they were a large bunch of black tags stacked together. Each one was a Demon Talisman Seed that Lin Xin once treasured dearly.

"Got seven from those two Demon Kings of the Jade Fox. Including the previous ones, I now have 31. Keeping one as a reserve, this time I can use thirty."

He took off one Demon Talisman Seed and kept it, then tossed the rest into the fire.

Normally tossing a big pile of metal blocks into a bonfire would definitely affect the burning of the flames.

However, strangely enough, these metal blocks didn’t hinder the burning; on the contrary, they seemed to fuel the flames, rapidly melting into large plumes of red smoke, drifting toward Lin Xin.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Lin Xin took a deep breath, continuously inhaling the red smoke into his body.

Watching the Free Attributes rapidly climbing on his status bar, a hint of joy faintly shone in his eyes.

’Attack Power—57, Defense—17, Evasion—3, Physique—21, Free Attributes 30.’

Soon the status bar was set in stone; the red smoke was completely absorbed.

Lin Xin closed his eyes to decide which attribute to enhance.

"Attack Power at fifty-seven means that whether it’s strength or speed, I am enough to contend with the early stages of Golden Core. The other attributes are a bit weak. Defense is the toughness of the flesh, Evasion is the premonition of danger, Physique is resistance and recovery.

Most Golden Core Cultivators have startling Attack Power, but not much Defense, with only a few demon races being exceptionally tough.

As for premonition of danger, that ability seems a bit too illusory.

Last of all, resistance and recovery, it seems that due to the Primitive Demon Body, my resistance is very strong, and my recovery far exceeds that of the usual demon races. Strengthening it further is momentarily unnecessary."

His thoughts were clear, as he remembered the details of his encounter with the Jade Fox King.

"Currently, my speed and strength are both incredible, but correspondingly, the tremendous strength brings an equally powerful backlash. This might not be necessary now, but it will definitely need to be strengthened later.

"My body’s toughness seems to be a bit lacking."

"Additionally, the Protective Aura was broken after just a few hits, which is also related to the weak defense. Although compared to other same-level Protective Auras, mine is already freakishly strong, the opponents I face are different."

After careful consideration, he decided to keep it the same way as before and boost Attack Power first. Keep some leeway to see when balance issues between attributes will occur.

Furthermore, focusing on improving Attack Power first also greatly assists in hunting for Demon Talisman Seeds. It’s the fastest way to enhance strength.

Without any hesitation, he poured most of the attribute points into Attack Power.

Attack Power instantly began to rise from fifty-seven.