Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 42: Leaving the Pass - Part 2

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Leaving the Pass - Part 2

Lin Xin didn’t know how much time had passed when the first rays of sunlight pierced through the forest, casting light upon the water between the attic and the people gathered around.

The wooden door of the attic slowly and silently swung open.

Thud....

A bell rang, its sound long and lingering.

"The Sword Hall Transmission Forest is open!"

Disciples who had been waiting eagerly for a long time quickly hopped, stepping on the stones scattered over the marshland, and leapt over to land beneath the archway before briskly walking inside.

Dressed in the same pale yellow Taoist robe as those around him and carrying a Solar Yang Talisman Sword on his back, and holding a leather pouch with copying supplies, Lin Xin carefully observed and waited until most people had crossed before following their steps across the stones.

Barely touching the tops of several stones, he slightly activated his inner strength, landing precisely under the archway.

Behind him, a young man slipped slightly on a stone and immediately stepped into the soft mud of the marsh.

Splat.

Black mud splattered up, covering him in muck.

A couple behind him couldn’t help but laugh out loud as they jumped past him.

Lin Xin turned his head to look at the fellow, shook his head, and continued directly towards the attic of the Law Transmission Forest.

He walked past the large doors and deeper inside.

A light white incense wafted through the building, the smoke morphing into various shapes before gradually dissipating.

To the left, rows of bookshelves lined the area where out-region disciples were pulling down the texts they wanted and started copying, while some stood next to the shelves and read on the spot.

On the right, a small room with a sign above reading "Manager’s Office" had its door open; inside, two middle-aged men and women were discussing something quietly, casting their gaze from time to time onto the disciples in front of the shelves.

Lin Xin walked directly to the shelves and made a few rounds.

In total, there were four bookshelves, not fully filled with books, only partially occupied by various Martial Arts scriptures and the like.

Among them were the Pine Forest Sword Technique and the Small Return to Origin Technique.

The four shelves were categorized into Sword Techniques, Qinggong, Secret Techniques, and Inner Strength. Each section was marked with a brownish-red wooden sign hanging above.

Lin Xin waited until a girl standing in front of the swordsmanship shelf walked away, then he approached, running his hand over the order of the book spines.

Starting from the bottom of the shelf, there were five rows in total from bottom to top.

The first row was the Pine Forest Sword Technique, followed by several other books on analysis, interpretation, and summary of the Pine Forest Sword Technique.

The second row contained the Peacock Swordsmanship and the Peacock Secret Technique, an advanced version of the Pine Forest Sword Technique.

The third row held the Myriad Pine Sword Technique, which seemed to be an advanced version of the Peacock Swordsmanship.

The fourth row was the Smoky Sword Technique, along with a prescription for a complementary medicine, Smoke Spirit Powder, seemingly a stronger version of the Myriad Pine Sword Technique.

The fifth row was Miscellaneous Sword Techniques, also where the most books were shelved.

Tightly packed small booklets jostled each other. Among them, the Unparalleled Sword, Deer Spirit Sword, Earth Fiend Sword, Daybreak Sword Technique, Hundred Steps Divine Sword... and other various impressively named sword techniques were present.

Lin Xin casually took out a booklet.

’Drifting Sword Technique’ read the cover, with four bold characters and a red-written introduction behind it.

’Originating from Ancient Mountain Country’s Western Borders, elusive and with strong dodging steps.’

Lin Xin touched the red script, feeling it more like a commentary.

He picked up another booklet.

’Shadow Sword’

The commentary read: Assassination sword, focuses on silence and stealth, paired with divine weapons, strong in ambush.

He casually flipped through a few more booklets, not finding any that he liked, and noticed that these miscellaneous sword techniques were all incomplete, meaning they lacked advanced versions for higher power and were quite limited.

"Martial swordsmanship is for better expressing oneself, playing to one’s strengths, displaying one’s personality," a senior sister nearby quietly explained to her junior sister with whom she had come. "So first and foremost, focus on Qi to form your own unique inner Qi system, then choose sword techniques according to your preferences and strengths to develop a unique style of swordsmanship, which constitutes an overall style."

Her voice was soft, but Lin Xin, with his third-layer Inner Qi, heard her clearly and suddenly had a vague understanding.

"Looking at it this way, sword techniques themselves have very limited power; they only have different characteristics, which under the support of cultivated Inner Qi, continuously enhance their power. In view of this, even a common Pine Forest Sword Technique wielded by a Qi Refinement Realm expert would be more formidable than us postnatal experts using a high-level sword technique."

"Then, senior sister, doesn’t this mean we just need to find our favorite sword technique and stick with it until we reach the Innate or even beyond, without changing?" the little junior sister asked, confused at this point.

The senior sister smiled slightly.

"What you see fitting you now, what you like now, is just the sword technique that can showcase your current strength. Later on, you’ll encounter new sword techniques that you like more than the previous ones. Ultimately, martial techniques and sword techniques are all about further developing our Inner Qi strength. They themselves are a rigid system, like when you have a cup of water, you can contain it with a glass and it pours out. But what if you have a bucket of water? How much can a glass hold then?"

The senior sister gently pinched her junior sister’s cheek.

"At that time, you’ll need to switch to a bigger bucket. Fighting and killing are just like splashing water at each other. If you use a glass, and others use a bucket, who will get drenched first?"

"I understand now...!" the junior sister suddenly realized.

Lin Xin also slightly showed a look of realization.

Martial techniques fundamentally served to maximize the use of inner qi strength. The more outstanding the martial technique, the better it could utilize limited inner qi to unleash powerful skills.

Low-level martial techniques were common and ordinary, with constant skill consumption, and the power or other properties were also average.

High-level martial techniques required less consumption but offered stronger power and other properties. That was the difference.

Understanding this, Lin Xin realized that what he needed now was a sword technique that could maximize his strength, one suitable for his Third Layer inner qi.

And undoubtedly, the most suitable sword technique to complement the Solar Yang Talisman Sword was the Flameless Swordsmanship.

He quickly searched through the bookshelves and soon pulled out a copy of the Flameless Swordsmanship manual from a corner.

The comment for ’Flameless Swordsmanship’ was: No flames but smoke, forsaking all speed, power, sharpness, in exchange for high-temperature lethality. High difficulty in training, but powerful.

Lin Xin noticed that there was a small booklet behind the Flameless Swordsmanship, labeled Red Flame Powder.

He pulled it out to see that it was a medicinal pill intended to enhance the study of Flameless Swordsmanship.

"Next are formations. But they’re not found here, I must go to the Formation Hall Transmission Forest," he picked up the booklets and began carefully transcribing them.

Copying booklets to take out cost money. Apart from the Pine Forest Sword Technique and the first three layers of the Return to Origin technique which were free, the rest required payment in Jade Money.

Lin Xin transcribed a copy of the Flameless Swordsmanship and the Red Flame Powder and was charged two thousand Jade Money when leaving, which felt like a robbery!

"You can go to this address, seek Brother Hua Lin for guidance on practicing Flameless Swordsmanship, and the duration is one month. Brother Hua Lin is also a master of Flameless Swordsmanship within the sect," the middle-aged administrator told Lin Xin as he left.

Having the guidance of a master, Lin Xin felt much more balanced in his mind. Otherwise, the two thousand Jade Money would have felt too extortionate. After all, one couldn’t just casually learn a set of sword techniques by looking at a booklet—these were three-dimensional movements, not just a few flat drawings where you could simply get the posture right.

Even with his attribute ability, if he didn’t know what the correct posture was, then his ability would have nowhere to be showcased.

After leaving the Sword Hall Transmission Forest, Lin Xin went to the Formation Hall Transmission Forest.

The exterior of the Transmission Forest looked exactly the same, both were wooden pavilions, just that the characters hanging on the arch outside were different. Apparently, written by different people.

The Formation Hall Transmission Forest was seldom populated. Only a few females were browsing through the booklets there.

As a male disciple entered, Lin Xin inevitably attracted some attention.

He didn’t mind and walked directly to a few bookshelves, as the layout here was identical to that of the Sword Hall Transmission Forest.

However, there were notably fewer booklets on the shelves.

’Joyous Formation: Improves mood, regulates liver and lungs.’

’Mist Formation: Creates white mist and water vapor, obscuring vision.’

’Little Solar Yang Formation: Generates a small amount of Solar Yang Qi, slightly increasing the temperature of inner qi within the formation, suitable for the maintenance of plants.’

’Simple Illusion Array: Produces various sounds, disturbing opponents psychologically.’

’Clear Forest Formation: Produces a small amount of life-giving essence, promoting the growth of animals and plants, caution against excess heat.’

"There really aren’t few formations usable by those below the Qi Cultivation Stage," Lin Xin muttered with delight, beginning to sift through them one by one carefully.

However, after searching for a long time, he couldn’t find any that could truly be used in actual combat.

Even if Mist Formation and the like were stacked up more, it was only a matter of more or less mist, not really useful.

And most other formations were similar.

"What I need is a formation that can turn quantitative change into qualitative change..." Lin Xin had a clear goal in mind and continued to stroll between a few shelves.

"Fellow disciple, what kind of formation are you looking for?" asked a young dark-skinned female administrator, approaching him after seeing him roaming around for quite a while.

"Uh... excuse me, sister, are there any fire attribute formations here that students below the Qi Cultivation Stage can use, aside from the Little Solar Yang Formation?" Lin Xin hurriedly replied.

"Go to the second floor," the female administrator smiled, "The formations on the first floor are all low-rank, those on the second floor are stronger but more difficult to set up. Many are advanced versions of the formations here, mostly Innate Level, meaning only those at the Innate Level can set them up. If you’re not afraid, you can take a look."

As if by magic, she then pulled out two black formation flags from her pocket, "I also sell blank formation flags that can carry Innate Level formations. If you find a formation you like, you can buy the flags from me with a 20% discount."

"Uh... okay, thank you, sister," Lin Xin replied.

Following the sister’s directions, Lin Xin went up the stairs from the left corner to the second floor.

The second floor was almost empty with only three shelves placed in the center. The sunlight streamed through the right side windows, casting two golden columns of light on the mahogany floor, within which floating dust could be seen.

Upon ascending, Lin Xin immediately smelled a faint musty odor. Clearly, this place wasn’t opened often.

Thud thud thud...

His footsteps made crisp sounds on the wooden stairs, and when he reached the second floor, he finally saw someone else was there.

An elderly woman with white hair was sitting by the window, basking in the sun.

"This place really seems too Yin, not enough Yang." Lin Xin muttered to himself, noticing from the time he entered that most of the people here were females, whether disciples, administrators, or this elderly predecessor on the second floor.

Ignoring her, he went straight to the three shelves and began examining them one by one.