Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 428 - 422 Inspiration Part 1

Chapter 428: Chapter 422 Inspiration Part 1

Several days later...

In the western region of the Central Prefecture, the Xi Lin Volcano Cluster.

The black mountains were all erupting volcanoes, one after another. Large swathes of red lava burst forth from the craters, falling to the sides and gliding down the mountain. As it slid, it slowly solidified, becoming part of the mountain itself.

At the largest of these volcanic craters.

Two figures, enveloped in a mix of black and red mist, slowly landed at the edge of the crater.

"Welcome the ancestor master back to the palace!"

A large group of various creatures lay prostrate on the ground, some even kneeling in mid-air, bowing toward the two figures.

Among these creatures were humans, pangolins, rabbit elves, fire lizards, and other strange members of the human race with dark red skin full of cracks.

The Fire God’s Disciple burst into hearty laughter.

"Quickly prepare the feast, today I shall host a distinguished guest generously!"

"Yes!"

A crowd of disciples scattered and flew away in streaks of light, leaving behind a few with bright red skin who clearly had the highest cultivation level to come forward and greet them.

Lin Xin, however, was somewhat surprised.

"I did not expect the Fire God Daoist to be so inclusive in his teachings, taking disciples not only from the human race."

"Of course," laughed the Fire God’s Disciple, "My master was originally a fire elf from within the volcano, who later took me as a disciple. Adhering to the principle of teaching without discrimination, I do the same. The heavens possess the virtue of loving all living beings and the intent of equality. One should not discriminate based on race; that is the Righteous Path."

"I am enlightened," nodded Lin Xin.

The party flew towards the mouth of the volcano, the walls of which were black and red solidified rock as they entered the giant circular crater.

The deeper they flew, the walls around them glowed with a darker red.

In no time at all, they could see a sea of bubbling, rolling red lava beneath them.

Jutting just ten meters above the lava, there was an enormous red and black palace shaped like a bull’s head with two horns.

The entire palace glowed faintly with dark red light, with occasional sparks flickering around it and groups of red and white fire elves flying to and fro.

These fire elves were ball-shaped luminous beings with large eyes similar to a human’s in the middle, blinking endearingly.

As the two approached, someone immediately came out from the main gate of the palace, tossing something with a flick of the wrist, and a long red carpet unfurled, soaring up to greet them in the sky.

The red carpet shot out, floating in mid-air, forming a pathway through the heavens.

"Please, enter the palace with the ancestor master!"

"Please, enter the palace with the ancestor master!!"

Shouts and cheers echoed continuously, even the bursting bubbles of lava couldn’t drown them out.

"Please," the Fire God’s Disciple gestured to Lin Xin and took the lead, walking down the red carpet.

Lin Xin followed suit in keeping with etiquette, walking slightly behind.

Upon entering the Fire God Palace, the Fire God’s Disciple took his seat at the head, with maids serving up fruits, confectionery, drinks, and an array of diverse offerings.

After enjoying some refreshments, they began discussing the details of their transaction.

"I’ll be honest with you, Daoist, your region’s Earth Fire is naturally like a cast forge. I wonder if I may borrow a stream of Earth Fire for a while, so I might complete the forging of the magic artifact I need here," Lin Xin spoke earnestly.

"That certainly isn’t a problem. Being able to observe a Master Level figure like yourself craft a magic artifact is indeed a blessing for my Fire God Palace," laughed the Fire God’s Disciple. In reality, his place lacked neither Masters coming to forge weapon treasures since it was filled with Earth Fire, hence his words were simply polite formalities.

"Then I thank you," Lin Xin replied with satisfaction, "Should you have any items that need forging, feel free to ask me to assist while I’m here...."

"No need, no need, just use what you need, but about the Fire Scythe Pill...."

The true motive of the Fire God’s Disciple was to obtain the Fire Scythe Pill. Although the pill prescription itself isn’t complicated, the refinement process is challenging. He had invited many Pill Masters, but the success rate was extremely low, and the quality was hardly commendable.

The quality and quantity of the pills traded from Lin Xin far exceeded those from so-called masters.

This was the key reason why he valued Lin Xin so much.

The Fire Scythe Pill was crucial to his ability to rebuild his body, suppress the Earth Qi, and for the transformation of his palace disciples who reached a certain level of cultivation and required it for Fire Spring Bathing.

Hence, this pill was almost intertwined with everything related to his Fire God Palace; most matters there couldn’t proceed without it.

Lin Xin understood his intentions as well.

"The Fire Scythe Pill isn’t a problem. As long as you have the materials ready, I can refine another furnace for you."

"Then... how many pills does one furnace yield?" the Fire God’s Disciple cautiously inquired.

"Naturally, nine pills," Lin Xin stated. "As for the compensation..."

He had not finished speaking when the Fire God Acyte interrupted him eagerly.

"The reward can be discussed, can be discussed. Daoist, don’t you need forging materials? My Fire God Palace might lack other things, but we have an abundance of diverse materials for forging."

On the way here, Lin Xin had indeed mentioned to him that he wanted to refine a sword capable of breaking through sword arrays, which is why he directly proposed to use materials as payment.

"Not to mention anything else, although we don’t have much of the highest, fifth-grade materials, we have a complete assortment of fourth-grade materials. Daoist can totally help me refine the Fire Scythe Pill as compensation."

Lin Xin was also startled, thought for a moment, and then agreed.

"Alright, I’ll refine a batch of Fire Scythe Pills. My reward will be a complete set of fourth-grade sword instrument forging materials. How about that?"

"Deal!"

The Fire God Acyte was also overjoyed.

At the feast, he repeatedly made toasts to Lin Xin. His lineage had a long and ancient heritage, but the refinement of the Fire Scythe Pill had always been a significant challenge.

Due to the high consumption of the Fire Scythe Pill and the difficulty in obtaining the medicine, even the wealthy Fire God Palace, with its countless riches, would gradually weaken without enough Fire Scythe Pills.

But now, judging by Lin Xin’s tone, it seemed as though refining a batch of Fire Scythe Pills was exceedingly easy. While the Fire God Acyte was doubtful, he was also determined to note that this Yuan Mo Daoist possessed extraordinary strength and might really be capable of refining Fire Scythe Pills.

If this were the case, as long as they maintained a good relationship, the Fire God Palace would not have to be constrained everywhere by others.

For a time, both host and guest thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

After a hearty meal and plenty of drinks, Lin Xin was arranged to stay in a special courtyard with a garden, where over ten cultivator servants were ready to serve him at all times.

The materials for sword forging were quickly assembled, and the Fire Scythe Pills were handed over. He immediately immersed himself in contemplation about how to reforge the Red Flower Sword.

When he forged the Red Flower Sword back then, he used a summoning type array as the core, and that summoning array was only a low-level one.

But now, with his formidable strength far surpassing what it used to be, he naturally chose more powerful arrays.

This time, the materials he chose for reforging the Red Flower Sword were the best within his capability.

Even refining a fifth-grade magic artifact was well within his means, so the key was the array.

The Red Flower Sword was fire-based and a key component for unleashing the Qilin maneuver.

However, now that the sword body is broken and the array is shattered and rendered useless, without Yin Mantuo’s assistance with the fire formation talisman patterns, his, Lin Xin’s, Qilin’s power is greatly diminished. Therefore, Lin Xin hardly ever uses the Qilin against enemies, as its effect is too weak and the consumption too high.

"Since the main component is the fire formation, the strongest fire formation I now control is the Holy Sound Fire Formation seen by the Yuan Dou Demon Sect."

Lin Xin pondered carefully. During his time in the Yuan Dou Demon Sect, he had consulted many formation records that were helpful to him, one of which was the Holy Sound Fire Formation, a third-grade fire formation that was extremely difficult to set up and provided impressive power.

This fire formation was one of the rare ones that could reach fourth-grade power with just a third-grade formation—a terrifying killing array.

It was, among all the formations Lin Xin controlled, the most powerful one in terms of fire-based abilities.

Currently, he could only engrave third-grade formations; he had not yet reached the level where he could miniaturize fourth-grade formations, so he had to settle for this level of formation.

The principle behind the Qilin’s emergence was originally due to the mixing of a vast amount of flames, with sword intent as the main thread, threading and connecting. The type was key.

During his time at the Fire God Palace, Lin Xin studied carefully and found that the activation of Qilin required at least five different types of flames to reach an extremely high combustion temperature, further mixed with Taoist intent, to cause a transformation.

Furthermore, he discovered that the selection of Taoist intent could lead to different outcomes after the transformation...

He called this phenomenon the Qilin Phenomenon.

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

Seven days later....

Inside the refining hall of the Fire God Palace, Lin Xin stood before a massive red pill furnace, which floated in mid-air, rotating at high speed.

He continuously shot out pill formulas, turning them into red light that entered the furnace; the temperature of the entire device grew higher and higher, a fine vibration gradually emanating from within it.

Lin Xin did not look much at the pill furnace, but walked to another corner where there was a small round arched door.

Passing through the door, there was another refining hall of a similar size. The difference was, there were no pill furnaces here, but rather pools of varied sizes, in shades of fiery and dark red.

Each of these pools had temperatures that could instantly burn mortals to ash, with various different metals inside each one of them.

Lin Xin walked to a slightly larger elliptical pool, looking down at the black metal bar that was continuously burning within.

"With the Red Flower Sword Intent as the backbone, and many fire formations as the flesh, I formed a Qilin shape.

So if I use other Taoist intents as the backbone, and other fire formations as the flesh, what shape will that produce?"

A hint of anticipation flashed in his eyes.

Yes, he was experimenting to see what would happen if he used other Taoist intents, combined in the same way that initially generated the Qilin, to mix and blend with the Taoist intent.

The generation of the Qilin was extremely accidental. It required a specific frequency, specific Taoist intent, specific formations, and a combination method, order, etc. It couldn’t just be created casually.

Lin Xin had tested more than ten different Taoist intents, but with so many variables, he had not made much progress thus far.

On the other hand, he had refined several furnaces of Fire Scythe Pills for the Fire God Acyte. This terrifying efficiency made the Fire God Acyte so happy that he couldn’t stop grinning, warmly calling him brother and Daoist as if he were about to swear brotherhood with him.

This was because Lin Xin’s success rate was too high. Other alchemists would consider it good if one or two furnaces out of ten batches of ingredients for a third-grade pill like the Fire Scythe Pill were successful.