Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 373 - 367 Variables Six

Chapter 373: Chapter 367 Variables Six

The two continued to advance a good distance before encountering a fork in the passageway, where a team of four Silver Armor Guards was rapidly approaching from the other direction.

"Has everyone been evacuated?"

"Almost all of them have left," someone replied. "Just a few guards remain, and they’ve entered the Absolute Prison. Even Elder Yuan Jing can’t get in without the key. There’s nothing to worry about."

"We must get in there before the Wei Family and Yuan Dou Demon Sect start clashing. Things are looking grim; we need to move fast."

"The Palace Spirit has made arrangements. Neither party would dare to lay a hand on us, the defenders. After all, as long as we belong to the Defense Team, we surely won’t violate the Palace Spirit’s rules."

The Silver Armor Guards chatted as they swiftly passed through the corridor.

The two who were invisible didn’t dare to move an inch, remaining completely still until the guards had passed; only then did they continue on their way.

After walking for a short while, they soon spotted a man clad in all black with a masked face ahead of them.

Gradually, the air stirred, naturally revealing two women clad in tight, white bodysuits. They each wore crystal pieces over their eyes, reminiscent of glasses, and their white suits accentuated their graceful curves.

Strangely, however, the two were firmly joined at the left hand, as if they had been connected from the beginning, grown together.

Beneath their sleeves, instead of palms, there were just two forearms fused together, making a bizarre sight.

"Right on time," one of the women in the bodysuit respectfully said to the masked man. "Guide, thank you for your trouble."

"Just focus on the object," the masked man replied indifferently. "You two go ahead. I’ll follow at a distance of about a mile. If anything happens, I can make a decision at any moment."

"Understood."

"There will be an Elder Yuan Jing to guard you one mile ahead. The object we carry is extremely important. Any carelessness could lead to dire consequences," the man in black warned with a deep voice. "Be very careful."

"We will," the women quickly nodded.

"Go ahead."

"Yes."

The pair continued forward.

After walking a little further, faint traces started appearing on the walls of the corridor, seeming like natural scratches, but as their gaze passed over them, they could discern the hidden meanings.

"The Guide ahead has also taken position," they communicated to each other with a nod and then picked up the pace.

The Underground Palace was vast and very deep, with more than thirty layers,

Every hundred breaths or so, they would encounter a Guide, with top-tier Guides safeguarding both ahead and behind them.

The protectors were none other than Elders Yuan Jing, which highlighted the significance of the object being escorted.

These Yuan Jing experts, normally able to dominate any territory outside, were willing to escort these two women and their cargo through the palace.

The two hastened their pace and soon came upon an oval-shaped hall strewn with the bodies of Bronze Armored Guards.

"Has someone acted already?"

The women exchanged glances.

"Never mind that, completing the mission is what’s important. We’ve got Guides protecting us, and with the commotion between the Palace Spirit and Wei Family elders, this is our best chance to get out."

After briefly exchanging these thoughts, they hastened their exit.

Just a few breaths after they left, a shadowy figure in black emerged from the wall – Lin Xin, who had entered the Underground Palace earlier.

"What are they escorting... As I suspected, their confrontation was merely a diversion, or perhaps just part of their purpose," Lin Xin mused, watching the direction the two women had gone, his gaze flickering.

"Good thing I dodged in time; running into an Elder Yuan Jing head-on would have been real trouble. With such an entourage... the item they’re protecting must be extraordinary."

He scanned the area behind him, then quickly stepped out of the wall and followed after them.

Although the Concealment Array Plate wasn’t very effective against Yuan Jing, it was quite easy to remain invisible to the two women carrying the object.

In the half hour that followed,

he stuck closely to the mysterious pair, with Elders Yuan Jing clearing the way both ahead and behind. The scale of the escort stoked his curiosity to the brim.

Furthermore, the results he sensed from a Secret Technique at the outset added to his contemplations while he tracked them.

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

Over an hour later...

In a certain area of the Underground Palace,

a man in Golden Armor bearing the Wei surname and a woman dressed in blue moved at a leisurely pace down the corridor, headed toward the lowest parts of the palace.

"Brother Wei Fulin, I heard you recently took on an apprentice with a Fifth Grade Spirit Gathering Physique?" the woman in blue suddenly asked in a soft voice.

"Second Princess is well-informed," the man in Golden Armor, Wei Fulin, chuckled. "Since leaving the Demon Sect, I haven’t once thought about taking an apprentice."

"When we return, I can bring a gift for your apprentice," the woman in blue said with a smile.

"A gift?" Wei Fulin was surprised. "Second Princess, it’s rare for you to make such an offer. A common gift surely won’t do justice to your status."

"You always know what to say," the woman in blue said, slightly helpless. "But a Spirit Gathering Physique needs a strong Innate foundation; they tend to weaken later on, hence a Spirit Locking Seal is necessary, to suppress and seal their Spiritual Energy with immense Mana."

"A Spirit Locking Seal... Isn’t that the...?" Wei Fulin said, startled.

"Indeed, it’s not our specialty," she replied. "But isn’t there someone here who’s a master of that art?"

The woman in blue subtly turned, her meaningful gaze fixed on the shadows behind them.

"Don’t you agree, Elder Wei Fengjue?"

As her words fell, a low chuckling emerged slowly from the darkness.

"Second Princess still possesses the same keen mind as before, to detect this old man from such a distance," a white-robed elder with a slightly stooped back said as he walked forward, his intense gaze fixed on the two figures ahead.

It was a curious sensation to see eyes that seemed to burn like flames, radiating an intense heat despite being just flesh and blood.

"Elder Wei, you’ve come alone to obstruct us? Take care not to overtax yourself... and not make it back," Wei Fulin finally noticed the newcomer, feeling a chill, but his words remained defiant.

"Wei Fulin... I thought only the Second Prince was here," the elder, with a body as thin as old tree bark and not an ounce of flesh, swept a glance over Wei Fulin, clad in golden armor, with his somewhat terrifying eyes.

"I originally came specifically for the Second Prince, but since you’re here too, I might as well take care of you both."

Wei Fulin’s eyes suddenly grew cold.

"That’s quite bold of you."

The robed elder smiled faintly. His right palm opened and slowly rose.

"My Yuan Jing, Chaotic Smoke and Clouds."

Shh!!!

In an instant, countless white pillars of smoke burst forth from behind him, turning into numerous white cloud dragons with blood-red eyes, and pouncing towards the two of them.

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

Hiss...

A layer of frost slowly enveloped the ground and walls with a wisp of white fog.

Guan Mingyue sat cross-legged alone, floating within the passageway, his brow furrowed as he observed the layer of frost covering the ground.

"This is the Ice Attribute Yuan Jing spread, where every living being within its range can only be steadily frozen and halted by its rules. Which Elder from the Wei Family took action?"

He continued to float forward, and for a full mile’s distance, the passageway floors were all spread with the edges of the Yuan Jing frost.

"Such a vast range for the Yuan Jing. Given the Wei Family’s Thousand Blades Cold Chiding Decision, they must possess Ninth Layer Cultivation! The one acting must be at least one of the three ancestors!"

His expression became more solemn.

He paused for a moment, just about to accelerate forward, when his body suddenly stopped, his eyes lifting and staring intently at the empty passageway ahead.

"Guan Mingyue, how many years has it been since we last saw each other?"

Another white-robed, equally emaciated elder emerged from the ground, floating up directly to reach the same height as him.

"Wei Yucha!" Guan Mingyue took a slow step back, his expression growing serious.

"Unexpectedly, you still caught up."

"All three Wei brothers have come. Naturally, it’s to deal with your earth-shattering moves," the elder Wei Yucha said indifferently.

"So, Wei Fengjue and the others have come out too? The one currently acting should be one of them, right?" Guan Mingyue quickly regained his composure and said.

"Why not settle this matter tonight in the Underground Palace?" Wei Yucha lowered his eyelids.

"Perhaps," Guan Mingyue said noncommittally, "I was just idly strolling, does Elder Wei think I might have any other..."

"Cut the nonsense. Let’s get to the point," Wei Yucha interrupted him without any courtesy.

Guan Mingyue exhaled.

"Alright then, it seems I can’t avoid it."

"It’s good that you understand, Brother Guan."

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

Urgent footsteps resounded continuously.

Two women in tight white clothes sprinted forward through the serpentine passageway.

The ground beneath their feet vibrated intensely.

"They’ve started acting. We must hurry!"

"We’re running out of time."

The two women glanced at each other, seeing each other’s thoughts in their eyes.

Lin Xin quietly trailed behind. Having observed their path, he had mostly figured out the pattern of their hand-offs and guide duties.

He moved like a shadow lurking in the darkness.

"Traveling from one mile away requires three seconds. Intermediaries hand off every hundred breaths, with a secret passage in the Underground Palace every two hundred breaths. There is one protector before and after. If these two women are of the Fourth Grade, that gives me two seconds to react and one second to conceal."

"If their Cultivation is Fourth Grade, I need to delay by one second, for Third Grade, by half a second, and Second Grade can be ignored. The key is the Yuan Jing. The fastest Escape Skill also requires one second to construct the Formation Talisman, taking everything into account, I must resolve everything within two seconds."

"Two seconds? No, one second is enough."

Lin Xin, hidden in the darkness, watched as his eyes gradually changed from dark red to a bright red.

He gently drew the Red Flower Sword, the blade slowly unsheathed. As the sword was fully revealed, the red glow in his eyes also reached its brightest.

"Heart Eye Sword Path, Red Flower Chorusing."

Clang!!!

The clear sound, like that of a nightingale, suddenly pierced the air.

A red light flashed, drawing a clear arc through the darkness.

The two women instantly became alert, their Protective Auras bursting forth, but it was too late. The white glow around their bodies was cut in two by the red line in the blink of an eye.

Without uttering a sound, they fell backward onto the ground, split into four sections. Blood sprayed all over the wall.

Lin Xin moved like light, swiftly passing by; the connector on their palms and the Storage Equipment on their bodies disappeared simultaneously.

"Who’s there?!"

The moment he killed the two women, an extreme and terrifying pressure descended from the heavens, slamming down into the entire passageway.

A hazy white Escape Light appeared in front of the corpses, evidently the Elder closely following behind had sensed something was wrong and was now using the fastest Escape Skill.

Lin Xin, however, rolled consecutively over ten times, landing just on the edge of the pressure zone. His terrifying Evasion Attribute allowed him to precisely avoid the impending danger.

Through the Escape Light, an elder with long eyebrows in white robes quickly emerged. But the last thing he saw was a man with a yellow complexion giving him a ghostly smile before flying backward into the darkness of the passageway.

"Seeking death!!"

His face turned red with rage when he saw the corpses on the ground; with one hand, he reached out to grab the escaping man, but the force fell through, clutching only air.

Promptly running to the edge of the corpses and reaching out, he found nothing.

"Jade Pure Dao!!"

Thinking of the severe consequences of this incident being exposed, his heart surged with urgency and anger, immediately blaming the matter on Jade Pure Dao, which had always been at odds with him...