Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 345 - 338: Sneak Attack - Part 1

Chapter 345: Chapter 338: Sneak Attack - Part 1

Flying over the continuous snow peaks, even with demonic energy protecting their bodies, Lin Xin and Little Jade Fox both felt bitterly cold.

At the altitude they were at, looking down, they could see one sharp snow peak after another rising from the ground, right under their feet, seemingly within reach.

With temperatures of at least negative fifty degrees, Lin Xin even resorted to his initial Solar Yang Formation to raise the temperature.

But at such heights, the fire spirit energy around them was extremely sparse.

In the end, he could only use Spirit Jade to stimulate burning and raise the temperature of the demonic inner qi.

With a cluster of flames roasting by their side, the temperature near the two of them finally rose to around zero degrees, but it was still cold.

Lin Xin simply raised the Mundane Fire Formation, using it as a heating tool to increase the temperature of the demonic inner qi.

As they passed one snow peak after another below, a sharp peak taller than any surrounding snow peak soon appeared in front of them.

What was odd was that this mountain peak had little white snow on it. The entire mountain was a faint red.

"This is the place."

Lin Xin narrowed his eyes and said softly.

"Master, is this Situ Mountain?" Little Jade Fox asked somewhat nervously.

"Correct," Lin Xin nodded, "You wait for me on the outskirts. This is a Concealment Array Plate that can converge fluctuations of your aura. Even if they are at the Taoist Master Level, there won’t be many who can detect you." He took out his usual Concealment Array Plate and handed it to Little Jade Fox.

After instructing her on some precautions, Lin Xin alone descended from the clouds and shot towards that snow peak.

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

Crack.

With a crisp sound, at the summit of Situ Mountain, the plaque with the three large characters "Unparalleled Sect" fell, shattering into several pieces.

In front of the mountain gate, a large group of disciples clad in black wielded strange weapons, forming a special array, running and spinning in layers around the formation.

Threads like hairs continuously circled and danced above the heads of the disciples, surrounding a bright red figure in the center.

The Arm of the Demon Venerable was a middle-aged man looking over fifty, dressed like an ordinary fortuneteller. However, at this moment, he was holding his chest, eyes filled with hatred as he stared at the red figure surrounded by disciples.

"Chi Shengming, don’t push people too far!"

The red figure completely ignored the surrounding disciples, as if they were nothing. Those flying hair-like things seemed to be blocked by some invisible force every time they tried to approach, totally unable to get near him.

This person was a young-looking man, carrying a golden spear on his back. The spear tip seemed to be enchanted with something, constantly shimmering with a faint white light.

"Arm of the Demon, you refused to leave your mountain after several calls for you. The Vice Sect Leader sent me personally to invite you. Isn’t this face big enough for you?"

The Arm of the Demon simply sneered.

"When did your Qingzhuanshening Sect become the lapdog of the Red Spine Sect? As Sect Master, instead of seeking welfare for your sect, you sacrifice the interests of your sect just for your own cultivation. If your late father knew about this, I wonder if he would jump out from the ground to strangle you to death."

"So what?" Chi Shengming replied indifferently. His skin was very white, without a hint of blood, like porcelain, and without a single flaw. If someone observed carefully, they would notice that he didn’t even have the fine body hair that normal people should have.

This man always looked down, as if he was indifferent and careless about everything.

"Men die for wealth, as birds die for food. As long as I can break through that final barrier, rebuilding Qingzhuanshening Sect is not a big deal."

"For a selfish villain like you to cultivate such a great way, heaven truly is blind!" The Arm of the Demon Venerable said ferociously.

"Enough, no more nonsense. Today I have come, nine days have passed, and it’s time for you to answer," Chi Shengming said calmly.

The old face of the Arm of the Demon Venerable turned red.

"Thinking that you can persuade this old man to join the Red Spine Sect and do evil, you can forget about it!"

He growled.

"All disciples, heed my command!"

"Present!"

All the formation-forming disciples shouted.

"The White-Haired Divine Monarch Array!"

The Arm of the Demon Venerable opened his arms, and immediately a great mass of black hair surged from his back, converging above the disciples forming the array.

It quickly gathered above Chi Shengming’s head.

The disciples forming the array also began to spin faster, emitting threads of thin but thick black hair from their bodies.

More and more hair strands suspended in the air, gradually coalescing into the shape of an enormous arm.

Chi Shengming was initially expressionless, but as he saw the arm forming, his pupils suddenly constricted.

"I have indeed underestimated you, Arm of the Demon."

He slowly pulled the spear from behind his back, pointing it diagonally to the ground.

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

Lin Xin hovered at mid-mountain. Trying to fly to the top, as soon as he approached a kilometer range of the mountain peak, he suddenly felt a huge suppressive sensation come over him. His cloud-riding effect abruptly disappeared, and he almost fell straight down.

With a push of his legs, he directly stepped on the air to fly back in reverse for a bit, then resumed flight by controlling his Inner Qi.

"An Aerial Nullification Formation?"

These kinds of extensive Aerial Nullification Formations usually gathered a massive number of smaller formations and the power of various Spirit Jades. Even if it wasn’t Spirit Jade, there would undoubtedly be a large number of disciples operating it, constantly infusing it with Spiritual Energy.

If one were to forcefully contend against it, it would be like one person’s power against an unknown number of people from a Sect.

Lin Xin naturally wouldn’t do such a foolish thing and decisively descended from the clouds, continuously trying to get close to the mountain peak.

Soon, as he descended to roughly halfway up the mountain, the Aerial Nullification Formation ceased to exist.

He gently flew toward a piece of pale red rock.

The rock bulged outward like a disc.

Standing on the rock, he saw that from the bottom to the top, the entire mountain did not have a single tree or a cluster of plants—it was all bare and pale red rock.

Weirdly shaped rocks were stacked upon each other, and many places were carved with inexplicable black symbols, which looked somewhat eerie.

What surprised Lin Xin the most was that Situ Mountain, the lair of the Venerable Demon Arm, was seemingly unguarded even at the waist of the mountain.

Boom!

Suddenly, a thunderous roar came from the mountaintop.

Looking from a distance, one could only see a red fire cloud rising into the sky, then slowly spreading out and transforming into a circle, dispersing in all directions.

"It seems I’ve arrived just in time," Lin Xin’s lips cracked into a smile as his figure suddenly blurred, racing towards the mountaintop at high speed.

His velocity was so fast it was unimaginable to the average person; in almost the blink of an eye, he traversed a distance of hundreds of meters, with all the rocks and steep terrain in between posing no obstruction whatsoever.

It was as if time and space were accelerated, the surrounding scenery a blur, with only the landscape directly in front seemingly approaching rapidly and enlarging.

After about twenty breaths in this extreme speed state, a cluster of slightly dark Taoist temple buildings suddenly appeared above him.

In front of the Taoist temple’s gate, suspended in mid-air, was an arm composed of countless black hairs that was fiercely pressing down on a mass of fiery red clouds.

Lin Xin’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

At this time, he was no longer in his initial state. Seventy-seven points of lethality had granted him the terrifying strength and speed to contend against Golden Core Cultivators with his bare body alone.

This didn’t even include the enhancement from stacking Spiritual Energy or Demonic Qi onto his Demon Body. With such cultivation strength, unless it was a Dao Seeking killer move, other Cultivators posed no real threat to him.

Yet, even so, the massive battle erupting before his eyes, with one black and one red force, somehow managed to make him feel a significant threat.

He glanced at his current state of the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique.

After killing the two Golden Core Demon Kings of the Jade Fox, thanks to the influence of the secluded mansion, his Demonic Arts had improved again, from 37% to 56%. His comprehension of the Jade Fox’s Taoist Intent had also significantly improved, something he hadn’t anticipated. His current state was:

’Yuan Dou Demonic Technique — First Layer, Primitive Demon Body (89%).’

"According to the record of the Cultivation Technique given to me by my senior sister, breaking through the First Layer generally requires twenty-five years, and yet I’m already close to the critical point so quickly."

He understood that it was mainly due to the help of the Skill Manifestation ability. His comprehension speed of the Jade Fox Taoist Intent was unimaginably fast. What took others decades of understanding and cultivation, he had thoroughly grasped in just over a month.

In the month after the Skill Manifestation, he continuously repeated the use, and in this process, reviewing the entire activation process of the Taoist Intent again and again, even an idiot could comprehend its essence in a very short time.

"It seems comprehending complete Taoist Intent also has great benefits for my practice of Demonic Arts. For Demonic Qi, I can hunt Demon Bodies or seek some odd locations to absorb and cultivate, but Taoist Intent is an inevitable step that requires no shortcuts. The method of continuously comprehending like I did with Liu Cheng last time is indeed good."

Snapping back to the present, Lin Xin looked up at the black-haired arm and the red fire cloud that were still fiercely battling at the mountaintop. The threat level of these two forces gave him the feeling that they were even stronger than Zheng Yunzhen with his Flowing Clouds Blade Intent, and much more potent than his own Demonic Body Transformation. But clearly, they did not give off the sensation of being at the Nascent Soul Scenic Level.

"Golden Core Daoist Masters, able to be this strong?"

He was somewhat skeptical.

He quietly followed the mountain path forward and soon, the scene of the battle was revealed.

A large group of disciples in black robes, all with pale faces, were circling around a man in red clothes with a Golden Spear, while a middle-aged Taoist with his arms spread wide had an incessant flow of thick black hair flying out from behind him.

The same fine black hairs were faintly emerging from the bodies of the disciples as well, merging with the Taoist’s black hair to continuously replenish the arm above their heads.

It was evident that both parties were having a difficult time maintaining their stance.

The man in red clothes with the Golden Spear had a stern expression, but the sides of his head and forehead were noticeably covered with large beads of sweat constantly sliding down.

His whole body was stiff, seemingly in a state of cultivation where the slightest disturbance was not to be allowed.

The black-robed disciples and the middle-aged Taoist had blood trickling from the corners of their mouths, their eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets, and their skin so pale it was void of any blood color.

"The Red Spine Sect?" Upon arriving, Lin Xin immediately recognized the insignia on the clothes of the man within the red cloud.

Because the man was wearing red clothes and was also tied with a White Belt.

It was the notorious and infamous symbol of the White Belt organization under the Red Spine Sect. The White Belt was a privileged organization within the Red Spine Sect, nominally a Dynasty force, but in reality, it was completely controlled by the Sect Leader of the Red Spine Sect as an intelligence and assassination organization.

Lin Xin had never had a good impression of the Red Spine Sect. Ever since coming to the Central Prefecture, he had always encountered negative incidents related to this Sect.

Yuan Qiuque, who had a debt of gratitude towards him for providing a book, was still being hunted by the Red Spine Sect.

Although he didn’t want to admit it, he was indeed now a person belonging to the Yuan Dou Demon Sect. The Yuan Dou Demon Sect was a part of the Immortal Demons Alliance and a sworn enemy of the Red Spine Sect.

So no matter from which angle, they were on opposing sides.