Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 395 - 389 The Path to Supreme Strength IV

Chapter 395: Chapter 389 The Path to Supreme Strength IV

Su Xia actually had no serious business; she was merely prompted by curiosity to check out Lin Xin and his company after hearing news of their arrival, suspecting they could be the ones who abducted Qing Xiuzhen. She wanted to see for herself who these people were who would dare to openly attack the Lion Fist Sect in broad daylight. Such audacity couldn’t be described merely as bold.

Those who dared to act so brazenly must have something to rely on.

"Actually, there’s nothing much," she said, "I just heard that Mr. Lin had done some earth-shattering deeds, so I came to see if it was true. However, Mr. Lin need not worry, the Su Family will not intervene in whatever disputes you have with the Lion Fist Sect."

Su Xia smiled charmingly.

"Come to think of it, we are actually in direct competition with the Lion Fist Sect."

"The Su Family Head must have come here quite early, right?"

Lin Xin said indifferently.

"Indeed." Su Xia nodded, "I arrived when the Qing siblings did. Mr. Lin’s strength is truly formidable, to be able to defeat the Gold Level Qing Shishan head-on. I was somewhat worried earlier that you might not manage."

Her words were an open attempt to curry favor.

"Thank you for your concern, Family Head Su, but there might be some conflicts coming up. If you have no pressing matters, it would be wise for you to leave early." Since she extended an olive branch, and there had been some goodwill before, Lin Xin did not skimp on his own kindness, thus he warned her now.

Su Xia’s eyes flickered with a sharp light, but she did not leave immediately.

"Seeing how effortlessly you dealt with Qing Shishan earlier, I’m curious—just how much of your strength did you actually use? If you need the Su Family’s assistance, feel free to ask. Of course, if it’s inconvenient for you to say, that’s also fine." She was only probing, as inquiring into someone else’s strength was a big taboo in Jianghu.

Lin Xin’s smile broadened.

"The man named Qing Shishan? Indeed, his strength is not bad; I also nearly used ninety percent of my strength. There’s nothing secretive about that."

He had indeed used ninety percent of his strength, ninety percent of his physical body. As for the power within the Qilin Red Flower Sword Path, that was not included, so it wasn’t technically a lie.

"Then you must be careful, Mr. Lin," Su Xia said earnestly, "Qing Shishan is only ranked fifth in the Lion Fist Sect. There are four other martial artists ahead of him even stronger, and the most formidable among them, the Skyruler Duan Ci, had achieved Dao Seeking Level thirty years ago and even possesses the sect-protecting magical artifact, the Lion King Band. It’s uncertain to what degree his strength has reached now."

"Thank you for the reminder, Family Head Su." Lin Xin thanked her for the gesture, recognizing that a Dao Seeking Level master was indeed worth noting.

Without crossing into the Yuan Jing realm, one should never overlook a Dao Seeking master. After all, the lethality of Dao Seeking ultimate kills is immense, and carelessness could lead to an unexpected downfall.

"Then I wish you a smooth journey, Mr. Lin." Su Xia did not add anything further, knowing how arrogantly he had entered the Lion Fist Sect branch that day, and understanding that such people always do as they please, forsaking all for the pursuit of martial arts. People at the pinnacle of the path are often considered madmen.

"Thank you."

Lin Xin returned the gesture.

The two passed by each other, with Lin Xin not looking back, carrying Shasha as he ran swiftly into the distance.

From afar, Su Xia watched his retreating figure, her expression thoughtful.

"This person’s aura is obscure, he remains composed in the face of danger, and most importantly, that hint of blood qi on him..."

She faintly recalled the scene when she conversed with Lin Xin just moments ago.

The blood qi that wafted from him, though faint, was denser than that of most practitioners of the Demon Path by several times.

"My premonition tells me... this man must not be provoked!"

She felt a chill in her heart; for a long time, she had sensed that she had a special ability others did not, allowing her to vaguely detect details that escaped most.

From Lin Xin, she had felt an indistinct but horrifying and profound aura, one that lay even above the strong blood qi he emitted.

Yet her cultivation practice’s secret technique told her he was not a Yuan Jing Cultivator. Below the Yuan Jing realm, the Lion Fist Sect had no fear. Each of their top three ranked members possessed Dao Seeking Cultivation, incredibly formidable.

"How strange." There was a clear discrepancy between her tactile sense and secret technique, causing Su Xia to frown subtly.

After one last glance in the direction Lin Xin had departed, she suddenly vanished within an explosion of smoke, disappearing.

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

In the vast forest,

Lin Xin was carrying Shasha, moving swiftly among the trees.

His evasion attribute had reached over a hundred points, alerting him constantly to hostility approaching from all directions.

The sound of the wind brushed past his ears. He chose not to teleport or to fly away shrouded in demonic qi,

because his evasive instincts gave him a not-so-good feeling. It seemed that taking to the air would bring about an even worse outcome.

As he moved forward, the unease grew stronger.

Landing on a large tree trunk, Lin Xin steadied himself and glanced around.

"Wu wu wu..." Shasha, whom he held in his hand, made muffled noises with a towel stuffed in his mouth, struggling.

Lin Xin slapped Shasha on the back of the head, and the latter passed out. Lin Xin hung him on a tree branch, then lightly jumped down to stand still.

"Come out, you’ve followed me long enough."

He said softly.

His voice echoed throughout the surrounding forest, and leaves slowly drifted down like raindrops,

One by one, muscular men with their upper bodies bare emerged from the forest, as if they had appeared from thin air.

Several slender, panther-like women in black bodysuits silently appeared on the surrounding tree branches.

Qing Shishan, accompanied by two white-skinned giants more than four meters tall, emerged, with wisps of white smoke dissipating behind them, evidently having traveled by an escape skill.

Lin Xin had seen giants before, but this was his first encounter with white-skinned ones.

In the Central Prefecture, this race of giants was originally an oddity that had migrated from the Outer Regions, but after a long time of integration and intermarriage, their numbers had dwindled.

Only more and more humans with giant bloodlines remained, and these two were clearly a result of reversion to ancestral traits.

The two giants wore simple leather pants with crossed leather straps across their chests, bald heads with not a single hair, their auras just a hint stronger than Qing Shishan’s.

Lin Xin noticed that each person here bore a white mark of a lion’s head, all of which were located on the upper right arm.

"Lion Fist Sect?"

"You’ve provoked our Lion Fist Sect and are running around wildly at the edge of the city," one of the giants said coldly. "Speak, which power sent you here?"

"What power?" Lin Xin was about to speak when, all of a sudden, a whistling sound came to his ears again.

Two robed elders with long beards descended from the sky, slowly landing in front of the giants.

The originally overbearing aura of the two giants instantly became restrained, and they looked at the two men with a slight respect.

"Honored Master," a giant said in a low voice, "it’s him, this fellow has kidnapped the sister of our Branch Chief Qing Xiuzhen, brother Qing Shishan."

The elder nodded, and one of them, holding a Jade Ruyi, turned their gaze towards Lin Xin as if appraising an item.

"Enough talk, take him away and deal with him according to the Law Enforcement Hall’s disciplines."

The two giants saluted with their hands, and one of them took a step forward with a golden funnel appearing in his hand, the bigger end pointing directly at Lin Xin.

He also started to mutter a long and complex Curse Script.

Lin Xin looked around and saw that the positions the people stood in formed a somewhat mysterious and huge Formation.

Cold breaths, like tentacles, began to wind up from the ground around his feet.

"Go!" At that moment, the funnel suddenly erupted with a burst of golden light, turning into a swarm of birds with golden flames, rushing toward Lin Xin.

All the birds were only the size of a palm, and as they flew halfway, they suddenly merged into a single golden Fire Phoenix as long as a person, crying out as it flew towards Lin Xin.

The Phoenix moved with incredible speed, nearly as fast as lightning, leaving no time for even a Golden Core Cultivator to react. As everyone blinked, they saw the Phoenix dive down, turning into a golden line.

Lin Xin’s head tilted slightly.

Whoosh!

The fiery line brushed past the left side of his neck, missing by a mere finger’s breadth before violently crashing into the trunk of a tree dozens of meters behind him.

Boom!

The golden flames instantly created a human-sized hole in the thick tree, which immediately caught fire and turned into black ash in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace whatsoever.

"How... how is that possible!?"

The Golden Phoenix Fight had actually gone awry...!!

This was the Sun Heavenly Fire transformed into a Golden Phoenix, with speed comparable to the speed of light upon its final lock-on.

And yet... yet it had been evaded by that man!

The giant holding the Magic Artifact was stunned.

The surrounding crowd was also somewhat dazed. The brows of the two elders furrowed slightly. Having lived through so many years, they feared sudden unforeseen events the most.

Oftentimes, when a normally foolproof magical artifact malfunctioned, it indicated a particularly troublesome and difficult problem. They had encountered such situations more than once or twice before.

"Quite interesting, eh?"

Lin Xin stood in place, grinning, revealing his stark white teeth.

"Come again."

He pointed to the center of his forehead.

"Hit here."

"Kill him!"

One of the elders, sensing something was amiss, immediately gave the order.

The giant began muttering the Curse Script once more. The power of the Golden Phoenix Fight was so fierce that even a Yuan Jing old freak would have to avoid its edge, let alone a mere Fourth Grade Golden Core Cultivator like Lin Xin, who likely had just experienced a fluke. Now, he was just putting up a front.

The lengthy Curse Script was quickly recited, and the giant raised the Golden Phoenix Fight, focusing a mass of golden light on Lin Xin.

"Go!!" he shouted lowly.

Suddenly, a large group of golden firebirds swarmed out, blanketing the sky as they shot toward Lin Xin.

Halfway into the air, all the firebirds converged into one, transforming into a Fire Phoenix and diving fiercely toward Lin Xin.

Almost immediately upon merging, the Fire Phoenix vanished from its place, teleporting to appear right in front of Lin Xin.

Whoosh!

The golden line grazed over his left shoulder.

In that split second, Lin Xin had taken a step to the left, perfectly and flawlessly avoiding the second strike of the Golden Phoenix Fight.

Boom!!

The golden flames exploded behind him, shooting skyward and burning a large hole with a diameter of several meters into the ground.

Lin Xin’s eyes narrowed as he stared intensely at the four individuals before him, a hint of eerie killing intent flickering in his eyes.

He had already given them a chance before and had provided them with Spirit Jade as compensation for his past actions, and yet they now dared to come and attempt to kill him.

They should not blame him for being ruthless now...

"How is that possible!!?"

This time everyone saw it clearly; it wasn’t that the Golden Phoenix Fight was faulty, but rather that the opponent seemed to intuitively dodge just a tiny distance ahead of time...