Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 43 Accumulation Part 1

Chapter 43: Chapter 43 Accumulation Part 1

The array formations on the second floor were clearly much more numerous. Although there were only three bookshelves, they were densely packed with various types of array manuals.

Many of them were advanced versions or branching derivative versions of the arrays below.

For example, the simple illusion array on the first floor had three advanced branches here: the small illusion array, the demonic sound illusion array, and the imitative sound illusion array.

There was also an upgraded version of the mist formation from the first floor: the spiritual mist formation and the cold mist formation.

What Lin Xin was most concerned about was the advanced version of the small solar yang formation.

Sure enough, he found this advanced version on the second bookshelf.

The ’Crimson Flame Formation,’ ’Solar Yang Formation,’ ’Thunder Fire Formation,’ ’Wood-Fire Formation,’ ’Rock Fire Formation,’ ’Mundane Fire Formation,’ ’Yin Fire Formation,’ and so on spread out in a long row of manuals.

Lin Xin counted them, and there were actually dozens of types.

However, to his regret, most of these formations were marked as lacking advanced versions. Only a few were not marked incomplete.

Among them, the most mysterious to him was the existence of the five inner fire formations.

’Liver Fire Formation,’ ’Lung Fire Formation,’ ’Heart Fire Formation,’ ’Spleen Fire Formation,’ ’Kidney Fire Formation.’

He picked them up and flipped through them, indicating that if these five formations were inscribed onto a set of formation flags and combined, they could form a powerful internal burning array. An opponent with insufficient cultivation within the array would burn to death.

"At this time, today, Sister Yun, are you still unwilling to step out of the Formation Hall and Law Transmission Forest?"

While he was carefully reading, an elderly voice suddenly came from outside the attic.

"No matter how many times you come, it will be the same," the old lady sitting by the window replied faintly with her eyes half-closed.

Lin Xin glanced sideways and saw an elderly man in black clothes carrying a long guqin, standing at the corner of the attic’s eave, not knowing when he had appeared.

The autumn wind blew, sending a flurry of yellow-green leaves fluttering past and falling around him. He remained motionless as if he were a javelin.

The elder didn’t even spare Lin Xin a glance, his entire focus remained on the old lady.

"Disciple Yue from Wind-Riding Sect has come again," his expression complex, as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t.

By this time, several female disciples had walked out of the attic to check what was happening. Upon seeing the elder, some continued to return to their reading in the attic, while others whispered inquiries about the situation to the caretaker.

The old lady closed her eyes, unmoving, a black Taoist robe draped over her like a blanket, and she seemed to have actually fallen asleep.

Lin Xin stood in front of the bookshelf, curious about these elder’s affairs, but after waiting a while and seeing that neither the man in black nor the old lady made any other move, he continued to read.

The man in black stood quietly with his guqin on the eave, motionless, the old lady likewise appeared as if she were asleep. Both seemed indifferent to the disciples who saw them.

And from the look on those disciples’ faces, it seemed this was not the first or second occurrence of such a scene.

Lin Xin collected himself and continued to search for the array formations he needed.

Everything once again fell into tranquility.

Among the pile of fire attribute arrays, Lin Xin wasn’t clear about precisely what type he needed most and flipped through the books at random. He discovered that many of the arrays here required something called Spirit Jade as the core of the array, with only very few that did not; however, the formation talisman and formation patterns in those were far more complicated than in the others.

Spirit Jade was something that one only possibly came into contact with during the Qi Refinement Realm. Lin Xin had heard Kong Yuhui mention that a piece of Spirit Jade was worth a lot of Jade Money, which obviously could not be used in the crafting of his array instruments.

Thus, he immediately ruled out many arrays.

After careful consideration and disregarding the difficulty, he thought from a practical combat perspective and slowly reached out his hand to take a small black-purple manual.

The cover of the manual read: West Bell Fire.

Upon opening the first page, it seemed to have been written by an ancestor of the sect. It provided introductions to the origins and summaries of various fire seed array methods.

Lin Xin read each line carefully.

’The world is full of endless wonders, and the types of fire sources are just as endless. The earth is finite, but the sky is infinite, thus natural fire sources are limitless.

The West Bell Fire originated from the extreme west, uncovered from beneath a natural bell-sounding canyon, hence the name West Bell Fire.’

Lin Xin looked further down the page.

’Attribute-wise, it should be classified as a wind fire, but it carries a strange poisonous nature. The fire is not noted for its temperature, but for its intense toxicity, able to spread through the wind. The denser the flames, the stronger the toxicity.’

He shook his head; Lin Xin did not favor formations that could not enhance direct combat capabilities.

In total, there were four manuals that did not require Spirit Jade. Setting down the first manual, he picked up another.

The cover of this manual simply had two characters: Sacrificial Fire.

It described a method that could temporarily obtain various strange abilities through sacrificial rituals, belonging to a type that could not directly utilize fire against enemies.

The third was Luminous Fire.

This was also a fire system array method that a sect elder had accidentally obtained from a heretical cult site, kept here merely to flesh out the library. Its power was mainly based on explosions. Once released, the slightest collision would trigger a violent explosion, highly unstable, but its primary use was to shoot signal flares. They produced strong illumination in the sky, visible to disciples from great distances.

It didn’t really offer much in terms of lethal power.

Most of the arrays here were actually just to enrich the library and serve as references for study and research. Apart from daily use formations, those aimed at inflicting damage had limited practicality, and no one would choose to mainly rely on the arrays from this place.

The last booklet was about Moon Fire. A mysterious flame that used moonlight as fuel, its purpose unknown with no temperature, as if it was nothing more than an illusion.

Lin Xin was even less likely to choose this thing.

After careful consideration, Lin Xin took down the booklet on Luminous Fire, which could be used as a one-time consumable trump card. If stacked, the power might be enhanced.

Then he began searching through other Formation techniques, looking for those he could use.

Soon, he found another practical booklet, a Concealment Formation that could hide one’s aura and shape, as well as a Spring Rain Formation meant for detoxification and healing.

The difficulty of these three Formations was immense. Normally, the Formations on the second floor were challenging, and these three, which did not require Spirit Jade, were even more complicated, making them all the more difficult.

Placed here, they were intended only for reference and research.

Lin Xin was not very confident that he could create these three Formation artifacts. He simply copied them all to study them slowly.

With the three booklets in hand, he went to a desk nearby, took out his paper and writing brush, and began to transcribe.

After a little over an hour, he finished transcribing. Just as he put down the brush, he suddenly felt something was amiss.

"What are you transcribing these three booklets for?" The voice of that old lady from before suddenly came from behind him.

Lin Xin was startled and hurriedly turned and stood up.

"Senior," he greeted with a bow, "I haven’t been in the Sect for long and I’m extremely interested in the Formation Path, so I transcribed these three Formation techniques to study in detail."

"That kind of talk is only good enough to fool children," the old lady snorted, "Out of all the disciples in the Formation Hall, not everyone dares to say they can set up these Formations, and you? Study them?"

"The senior speaks the truth... this disciple was just casually looking, just casually looking..." Lin Xin replied quietly as sweat formed on his forehead.

The old lady gave Lin Xin a sidelong glance and suddenly sniffed with her nose.

"You smell of Evil-Breaking Fire... It seems you have set up a small Solar Yang Formation... But why does the concentration seem a bit off...?"

Lin Xin’s heart skipped a beat, this old fellow could even sniff that out? He mentally cursed her as bizarre. But his face could only show a respectful response.

"Senior has perceptive insight. This junior did indeed struggle to set up a small Solar Yang Formation once, but unfortunately, it exploded due to an accident..."

His mind raced, hesitating whether to reveal his ’talent’ in Formations.

By doing so, he could better conceal the existence of the Formation artifacts, and he could also openly sell Formation flags to receive more cultivation support within the Sect.

"You really have dog’s luck, a Solar Yang Formation that even Formation Hall disciples need three years to study before they can set up, and you, a new disciple, just casually managed to set it up by accident?" the old lady mocked with a strange tone, "Beating around the bush, hesitating, what are you trying to hide? With your talent, even if you had the highest Gathering Spirit Physique, so what? There are plenty with that type of physique, but how many of them can truly live through countless life-and-death situations and survive?"

Lin Xin didn’t understand the meaning behind the old lady’s words and chose to keep silent, nodding repeatedly.

Seeming to lose any further interest in him, the old lady went back to her old spot to rest.

Lin Xin also breathed a sigh of relief, quickly took his transcriptions downstairs, gave the Jade Money for the access to the administrator, and left the tower.

Approaching the exit, suddenly a voice entered his ears.

"Formation techniques are not as simple as you think..."

It was the old lady’s voice.

Lin Xin paused slightly in his step, guessing that the old lady had spoken more to him because she was interested in his talent; otherwise, she usually could not be bothered with anyone else.

He looked around; the administrator lady was yawning, sleepy, some disciples were napping, others were munching on prepared chocolate beans while reading books.

No one else heard the voice.

After leaving the Formation Hall and the Law Transmission Forest, he quickly made a trip to the market, bought a ton of Formation materials as listed in the booklets, and threw everything into his stone house.

He dove in and started to imitate the instructions in the booklets, Painting by the numbers.

Preparing materials, boiling special ink, took him three full days just to get the materials for a Luminous Fire Formation ready.

But then engraving the runes became troublesome.

Seemingly due to a lack of fundamentals and understanding, Lin Xin could only completely replicate the patterns from the booklet, and he couldn’t grasp many key points, resulting in runes that had no effect whatsoever.

He continuously drew hundreds of runes, none of which were effective, not even achieving Qi infusion.

Unable to find the reason for the failures, he was at a loss.

The Luminous Fire Formation was much more complex than the small Solar Yang Formation, with too many variables. When combined, it was impossible to know where the error lay.

After a day filled with laborious effort, he gained nothing, not even a single stroke of luck.

The next day, he decided to visit the Formation Hall and the Law Transmission Forest again, finding the old lady half-asleep as before, with barely any change in her position.

He quietly asked her about a few basic Formation Talisman questions.

As expected, the old lady answered them offhandedly.

Lin Xin felt elated, realizing the elder indeed saw potential in his Formation talents—as long as he did not reveal his extraordinary gift, he could leverage the reputation of an ordinary genius to fare better within the Sect.