Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 364 - 357: The Sixth Canon of the Dao

Chapter 364: Chapter 357: The Sixth Canon of the Dao

Yuan Dou Demon Sect Headquarters.

A black dot shot through the window, landing by the slowly burning campfire. With a hiss, it unfolded into a halo of light from which Lin Xin emerged.

Puh!

A mouthful of blood sprayed forth, and his complexion was deathly pale.

"I did not anticipate that despite increasing so many attributes, I still could not withstand the power of the Yuan Jing! If I hadn’t self-destructed my Demon Body, I might not have been able to make it back at all! Such tremendous power!!"

He was still experiencing the lingering fear even now.

With a wave of his hand, the window automatically shut, and then he retrieved the silver spike that he was tightly clutching in his left hand.

This was the gift from Senior Martial Sister. Even when facing an elder of Yuan Jing, it provided a means to escape— the Heaven Earth Yin Yang Shuttle. Inside was a mysterious force field capable of resisting the rules of Yuan Jing. It was a Fifth-Rank magical artifact designed for repeated use, but now...

He opened his hand, placing the Heaven Earth Yin Yang Shuttle on his palm. The silver-white spike, about the length of a finger, now had a tiny crack on the black and white Yin Yang sphere on it.

"Such a formidable Yuan Jing elder. This magical item, a lifesaving gift from Senior Martial Sister, can be used five times under normal circumstances by a junior Yuan Jing. But against that individual, it was depleted with just one use, as if it had been utilized twice under normal conditions!"

A hint of shock appeared in Lin Xin’s eyes.

If he hadn’t decisively self-destructed his Demon Body’s arm just then, he feared that he might not have been able to return.

Raising his right hand, his right arm from the forearm to the elbow was entirely missing, nothing more than empty space.

Suddenly, his expression changed slightly as something occurred to him.

Without hesitation, he retrieved the long prey he had just captured from his Storage Bag.

After tossing the prey on the ground, he finally got a clear look at the creature.

It was nothing more than an utterly ordinary weasel.

With a mild focus, Lin Xin extended a finger, drew a circle in the air, and instantly split open a gash on the weasel’s head. Amidst the splattered brain matter, a black object flew out.

Lin Xin caught the item and examined it in his palm. It was, astonishingly, a black statue the size of a fingernail.

The statue depicted a bizarre, round creature, resembling a black monster whose body was like a bloated ball. Its physiognomy resembled a snowman— a large belly with a slightly smaller head.

What was most peculiar was that its face was upside down, with eyes situated where the mouth should be, nostrils pointing skyward, and a mouth where the eyes would normally be, as though the entire head had been flipped over.

"Is this...the statue of Zaxilei, the Evil God?!" Lin Xin, with his vast knowledge, remembered the origin of the statue.

Closing his eyes, he immediately sensed in his secret technique that the statue was burning like blood-colored flames right before him.

"It’s more precious than ordinary Demon Talisman Seeds; it’s this one!"

A possible answer began to form in his mind.

This object should be the legendary Evil God Primordial Embryo.

"Unexpectedly, I intercepted an Evil God Primordial Embryo... No wonder a Yuan Jing elder personally intervened to stop me."

He glanced again at his right arm, which had unwittingly grown a small new section.

"With my body’s current strength and density, I was able to regrow such a significant length of limb in such a short period. Deserving of the physical attribute beyond 80 points."

He shifted his gaze away with satisfaction, looking again at the Evil God Primordial Embryo.

"The Evil God Primordial Embryo typically originates from the long-term worship of followers of heretical cults, congealing into a special faith-based product, which also contains a mix of essential blood and souls offered by these devotees.

If left unattended, in less than a few hundred years, the statue might automatically develop into a genuine nascent Evil God."

"Who would have thought it would be intercepted!" Doubts continuously emerged in Lin Xin’s mind.

Clearly, whoever intercepted the Evil God Primordial Embryo was part of a complete network, as the benefits that could be derived from an Evil God Primordial Embryo were not ordinary. He had read in some texts that the Primordial Embryo could help Yuan Jing Cultivators nourish their Yuan Jing, improve their cultivation, and even aid in reaching Perfection.

It was impossible to find on the market. Despite the occasional whispers of it being traded in the black market, it drew the attention of numerous senior Yuan Jing elders.

Without exception, a sky-high price would be reached every time.

"So why did the Primordial Embryo appear here? This is the site of the ancient Nether River scriptures." Lin Xin frowned slightly.

"Forget it, I shouldn’t bother with that for now. Good things should be consumed first!"

He grabbed the Primordial Embryo, his body swirling with black smoke as he transformed into his Demon Body state. With a mouth full of sharp teeth wide open, he threw the statue inside.

Crack!

Faint cries like those of a child echoed from the statue, which seemed to be a living thing trying to crawl out, but Lin Xin held it down with his hand, pushing it back in firmly.

After a few big chews, he swallowed the entire statue in one gulp.

Having swallowed the Primordial Embryo, Lin Xin quickly sat down cross-legged, closing his eyes to regulate his breathing.

Gulp!

His stomach bulged with a large lump, where the swallowed Primordial Embryo was franticly trying to break out, seeking escape.

Gulp!

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

Lin Xin’s belly was raised into a large ball, the surface of which displayed an angry human face.

"Yuan Mother Battle Essence." Lin Xin drew upon the core demonic essence of his Yuan Dou Demonic Technique.

At the Fourth Layer, it was natural to cultivate various demonic essences of varying sizes. Each of these essences represented the crystallization of Lin Xin’s comprehension of different Daoist intents.

The Yuan Mother Battle Essence was the demonic Qi core among all the Daoist intents, the fundamental that governed all intents. It was also the most primitive, most ancient Primordial Mother from ancient times, the mother of demonic Qi.

Every Demonic Art, as long as one possesses a Demon Body, is actually modeled after the Ancient Demonic Gods from the Primordial Ancient Times.

In other words, the Demonic Body and Demonic Arts are essentially special Cultivation Techniques derived from the visualization of the form of a Demon God.

The Yuan Dou Demonic Technique originated from an Ancient Demonic God known as the Dou War Primordial Mother.

The stronger and more perfect the Demon Body, the closer it approaches the true nature of the Demon God.

And the so-called inheritance of Demonic Arts is a special intent with a trace of the Demon God’s true nature, which the Eldest Senior Sister passed on to Lin Xin.

Whether it really is the intent of a Demon God, no one can say for sure, but Lin Xin felt an overwhelming aura of True Monarch Huang Yuan from it.

It likely was a strand of suppressive intent differentiated from the Demon Body of True Monarch Huang Yuan.

Once the Dou War Primordial Mother was manifested,

Lin Xin, who was sitting cross-legged, slowly levitated, and behind him appeared the face of a woman covered in silver-grey, metallic scales.

The face was taller than a person and took up all the space behind Lin Xin.

Its eyes were a profound, pure black darkness, devoid of any distractions.

As the woman’s face slightly opened her mouth, streams of black poisonous snakes poured forth.

The snakes, entwined like ropes, split on either side of Lin Xin, encircling him round and round.

Suddenly, Lin Xin’s bloated belly rapidly shriveled, and the furiously struggling Evil God Fetal Essence let out a frightened scream.

Then, a great mass of poisonous snakes covered up Lin Xin’s belly, and quickly there was silence.

"I want to see what use this Evil God Fetal Essence actually has,"

Lin Xin immediately looked towards his attribute panel.

Free Attributes were already rising slowly.

From the initial zero, it had climbed to 23 and was still slowly increasing.

25... 30... 37... 40... 50... 60... 70... 80... 100...

Free Attributes ultimately settled at the hundred mark.

"One Evil God Fetal Essence can actually provide a hundred attribute points?!"

Lin Xin was inexplicably thrilled, having accumulated so many Demon Talisman Seeds before only to gain just over eighty points – and now, he had gained a hundred all at once.

And this was just one of the materials Yuan Jing Cultivators used for advancing their realm and cultivation.

He finally profoundly understood the vast gap that existed between ordinary cultivators and Yuan Jing ancestral masters.

"It makes sense, a Yuan Jing ancestral master requires at least hundreds to thousands of years of accumulation to arise. Even top-tier talents can’t just break into the Yuan Jing Level in a short period of time. At most, they can barely contend with the lowest level Yuan Jing with sheer combat power, but that’s just relying on Divine Skills or mighty artifacts."

"Such a gap accumulated over many years is naturally not something that can be bridged by one or two exceptional treasures. After all, none who have reached the level of Yuan Jing ancestral master is without talent. It often takes talent, determination, luck, and both mental and perceptive qualities, none of which can be lacking."

With that thought in mind, Lin Xin felt more at ease about his near-instant defeat just moments ago.

"A hundred points... first, let’s make up for the deficient attributes," his intuition told him that by balancing out the deficient attributes, he might receive unexpected surprises.

Offense—82, Defense—58, Evasion—5, Constitution—82, Free Attributes 100.

Defense was missing 24 points.

Lin Xin threw all 24 points onto it, directly raising his Defense to 82, then he turned to the last attribute, Evasion.

Regarding this attribute, he had always felt it was somewhat superfluous; after all, in methods involving Spiritual Energy or Demonic Qi, using Formation Talismans or Taoist paths provided extremely acute detection abilities. The role of Evasion in sensing danger was limited and its effects overlapped with other methods, making its utility negligible. As such, he didn’t place much importance on it.

But now, for the sake of attribute balance, he decided to also bring this attribute up to an even level.

With 76 Free Attribute Points left, he threw them all in.

Evasion skyrocketed from 5 points like a rocket, rapidly breaking through to 20 points.

Then to 30, 40... 50... 60... 70... 80... 81.

Ultimately, it stopped at 81 points and came to a halt.

"Too bad, just one point short."

Lin Xin distinctly felt as though a thick cocoon enveloped him, needing only a small break to hatch anew.

The sensation was very subtle.

It was as if something mysterious was being nurtured within the cocoon.

Just like... just like when he first established his Dao Base, experiencing the special sensation of an Innate Divine Ability’s emergence.

"Innate Divine Ability?" Lin Xin’s eyes suddenly brightened.

He remembered the origin of the Innate Divine Ability, wasn’t it based on the Dao Base’s establishment in the flesh?

The Divine Skills born from the Dao Base were inherently related to the vitality of the flesh.

"A strong body should be the first to influence my Innate Divine Ability, the Divine Shadow!"

At this moment, he was filled with anticipation.

The Divine Shadow was originally a common speed-based Divine Skill, something that was common among types of Innate Divine Abilities.

But what if it was continuously enhanced to the limit by a strong physique?

The essence of the Divine Shadow was not simply about speed augmentation, this Lin Xin understood clearly.