Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 41: Leaving the Pass - Part 1

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Leaving the Pass - Part 1

In a pine forest halfway up the mountain, white clouds lingered, and straight, towering trees shot up into the sky.

Sunlight hit the trunks of some pine trees, split by the leaves, turning into patches of yellow and gray.

Deep in the forest, a young man in his twenties, wearing a light yellow Taoist robe, stood beside a large pine tree, focusing intently. He was holding a longsword upside down, seemingly there to practice swordsmanship.

From a distance, the sound of other disciples practicing swords during the early morning intermittently carried over. The man remained motionless, as though waiting for something.

Time slowly passed, and after about ten minutes,

a green figure lightly swept from the left side of the man—it was a young girl wearing a white feathered ornament in her hair. The girl, with long hair down to her waist and fair, delicate skin, looked rather young.

"Lin Xin," the girl let out a relieved call upon seeing the man.

"You’ve arrived, Cheng Ruofei," the man opened his eyes and turned to look at her, showing a slight smile on his lips.

"I’ve waited for you half a year. If you hadn’t come out, I would have thought you died somewhere," Cheng Ruofei landed beside Lin Xin and said in a lowered voice with a laugh.

"How could that be? I’ve just come out from seclusion," Lin Xin shook his head, "Are you ready for our previous agreement?"

"Of course. Isn’t it just about combining a Formation with a device?" Cheng Ruofei’s lips curved up, and she suddenly produced a small booklet from her hand. "Lin, if you don’t want others to discover the secret of your Formation combination, you can use this type of lacquer recorded in here on your longsword. It should perfectly conceal the Formation Talisman. At least those below the Foundation Establishment Stage won’t be able to see through it."

"Nice item." Lin Xin’s eyes lit up, the problem with the Formation Talisman had been troubling him.

"By the way, how did you realize I was using a Formation device?" He smiled briefly, then pretended to be nonchalant as he asked. But his eyes involuntarily remained fixed on Cheng Ruofei.

This question was very important to him. His talent for formations could be disclosed, but definitely not now.

"Well... I happened to have studied formations for a while. It was initially to test my aptitude to see what areas I liked and was good at," Cheng Ruofei, quite astute, noticed Lin Xin’s nervousness and casually answered. "It’s indeed troublesome to hide runes, but with this lacquer, we shouldn’t have to worry about that anymore."

"Indeed..." Lin Xin’s expression relaxed slightly. He had been overthinking it.

If someone discovered his Formation device, they might assume it was sourced from somewhere else, not made by himself. After all, creating an ultra-micro Formation and integrating it within a few days was shocking. It went far beyond the category of genius; even calling him a monster would be an understatement.

"Moreover, the second item is compensation for obtaining ’that item.’ You may choose it yourself," Cheng Ruofei seemed much livelier and cuter this time. With her natural baby face and eyes squinting into crescents when she smiled, she wasn’t very beautiful, but she was adorable.

"What choices?" Lin Xin was slightly curious.

"Flameless Swordsmanship, plus a small Solar Yang Formation device. Naturally, its power is much greater than regular Flameless Swordsmanship. Although I don’t know where you got your Formation device, it must be at least of Master level. Such items are rare and invaluable. If used for a long time, they might get damaged and weaken, so..."

Cheng Ruofei smiled slightly.

"A recipe for Formation device maintenance oil, or... a new set of Evil-Breaking Sword Manual. It can be used with the Formation device, considered a second-level swordsmanship, stronger than basic first-level sword techniques like Pine Forest Swordsmanship. Lin, which one do you choose?"

Lin Xin, however, was impressed. Cheng Ruofei, the daughter of a great general, indeed had formidable resources at her disposal.

Pine Forest Sword Sect had many sword techniques, complex and diverse, all requiring purchases. A second-level sword technique, suitable for fully utilizing the capabilities of the Second Layer Small Return to Origin Technique, was worth thousands of Jade Money. With the scarce Evil-Breaking Attribute factored in, the price could multiply significantly.

The Evil-Breaking Attribute could play a crucial role in certain scenarios.

Thus, the cost Cheng Ruofei and he would incur to exchange for a drop of Yin Blood might near thirty thousand Jade Money—a staggeringly immense sum.

That was the equivalent of three million taels of silver, nearly priceless for ordinary mortals, possibly unaffordable even over several lifetimes.

"This is the utmost limit we could ask for from our family," Cheng Ruofei put away her smile and spoke earnestly.

"Very sincere."Lin Xin was satisfied, "I choose the recipe for the Formation device maintenance oil."

He took out the last remaining drop of Yin Blood in a porcelain bottle and handed it over.

And Cheng Ruofei passed him the small booklet.

Both received what they wanted and felt satisfied.

"The six-month task period is about to end. I wonder what mission you plan to take on next, Lin. How about we team up again?" Cheng Ruofei proposed.

"I’m afraid that won’t work." Lin Xin shook his head slightly. "I plan to take on some simple missions for practice. Moreover, I’m quite interested in the Formation on the Formation device and plan to study it while on missions."

A faint hint of regret flashed in Cheng Ruofei’s eyes.

"It’s a pity. Yue’er and I plan to go to Carefree Mountain to collect fallen flowers. This mission is somewhat challenging and time-consuming, but it could count for many tasks if completed at once. It would have been great if you could join us, Lin. Don’t worry, it will be absolutely safe this time."

Lin Xin understood; the two women had learned from their previous experience and definitely mobilized family connections this time, securing a master for support.

Last time, there was someone to look after them too—Kong Yuhui, yet the unexpected had happened. If not for Lin Xin, both women might have perished during the mission, possibly becoming scapegoats for the spirits haunting the village.

"It’s indeed a pity... but there will still be opportunities to be together in the future," Lin Xin chuckled in response.

"That’s true," Cheng Ruofei nodded, intensely scrutinizing Lin Xin, only able to bet that he was definitely above the first level, but unclear about the specific extent of his inner strength.

"Senior Brother Kong has already successfully broken through to the fourth layer, advanced to the Innate, and even looked for you after he came out. However, seeing that you were also in seclusion, he didn’t disturb you and has now taken on a mission and gone back to the Peacock Sect. He might not be back for several months."

"I forgot about that, having said I would find him within two months..." Lin Xin lost his smile wryly.

The two stood in the Pine Forest, casually chatting about recent events, and Cheng Ruofei mentioned that he could visit her stone cottage anytime before they parted ways.

Lin Xin faintly felt that this girl seemed to have some special feelings towards him, but he wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination.

He didn’t dwell on it much; now that he was out of seclusion, the first thing he had to do was adjust to now being at the Third Layer of Return to Origin.

Now, compared to when he was at the first layer, whether it was his explosive power or speed, he had improved significantly. Once he activated his inner strength, his speed, reaction time, and lethality would double!

If he didn’t adapt, not only would his strength not improve, but it would also lead to flaws in his swordsmanship that shouldn’t exist, thereby reducing his power.

After bidding farewell to Cheng Ruofei, Lin Xin walked deeper into the woods, found a place at random next to a dilapidated pavilion, drew his longsword, and began practicing his swordsmanship slowly.

Under the surge of inner strength, indeed, his body’s reactions, strength, and speed all elevated to another level.

If previously his swordplay could be seen like a silver snake, now it was just a silver void shadow.

Even without using the Solar Yang Talisman Sword, he could now confront Kong Yuhui and Ouyang Qing head-on without being at a disadvantage as long as the two did not use their most powerful techniques. Their strength would be about equivalent to his.

Only now did he truly understand how powerful the Solar Yang Talisman Sword was.

Initially, Zhou Jing had already reached the Innate Layer, and despite being unprepared, he was injured by one blow—though not fatally, he couldn’t recover for a while, allowing Kong Yuhui to kill him. And when Ouyang Qing at the Third Layer used his Green Poison Finger, he was also directly defeated and heavily injured.

Lin Xin internally assessed and converted his feelings: a fully unleashed blow from the Solar Yang Talisman Sword was roughly equivalent to the power between the second and fourth levels of inner qi.

But that one strike would also consume nearly half of his inner strength from the first level.

"The Solar Yang Talisman Sword remains my strongest move, but if I could combine it with the Flameless Swordsmanship they mentioned, perhaps the power would increase even more. Now, my inner strength is sufficient to support three full-power strikes with the Solar Yang Talisman Sword," he pondered.

Lin Xin closely felt his current state; when he was at the first level, his total inner strength was only enough to wield one full-power strike of the Solar Yang Talisman Sword.

Now, it had increased to three strikes.

Having familiarized himself with his current strength, Lin Xin distinctly felt that his capabilities needed to be enhanced. If he were to undertake missions now, the low-level ones wouldn’t matter much, but for equivalent level missions, he might encounter opponents at the Innate Layer.

This highlighted that the lethality of the Solar Yang Talisman Sword against those at the Innate Layer was not sufficient, becoming less effective. It was just stronger than his other ordinary moves when his third-level inner qi erupted.

Obviously, the power of the small Solar Yang Formation had reached its limit.

"Flameless Swordsmanship... and new formations... it looks like a trip to the Sword Hall Transmission Forest is necessary," he concluded.

The six halls of the Pine Forest Sword Sect were not on a single peak, but spread across six peaks connected into a mountain range.

Along with the Tingjian Valley next to the sixth miscellaneous hall, it formed the entire Sect of the Pine Forest Sword Sect.

And from Tingjian Valley to the Sword Hall Transmission Forest, it would take half a day to get there.....

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

Foot of Sword Hall Peak

Early morning.

Below the winding green forest, was a damp marshland, puddles mixed with aquatic plants swaying slightly with the ripples caused by the wind.

Large patches of green trees seemed to grow straight from the marshland.

Next to a thick tree, wide enough to take several people to embrace, grew a large cluster of white flowers with purple hearts, delicate and frail, attracting several black bees buzzing to and fro.

Across from the flowers, stood a three-story yellow wooden attic.

The attic was divided into two buildings, the front building was a shorter secondary building, and the rear was a taller main building. The entrance archway bore a plaque inscribed: Transmission Forest.

The three large characters were neatly inscribed with a penmanship that seemed both regimented and sharp, as if etched with a sharp instrument.

By the white flowers, a group of young disciples from Tingjian Valley were slightly restless. Dozens of them crowded on a small patch of solid ground by the big tree, all gazing toward the direction of the attic.