Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 446 - 440: Crossing 3

Chapter 446: Chapter 440: Crossing 3

Lin Xin was proficient in Curse Scripts, Formations, and Talismans, and his spiritual will was exceptionally strong. Forming a coercive Soul Pact with a small ant was naturally effortless for him.

Soon, the small ant, about the size of a sesame seed, flashed with a blue light, and the pact was formed without any obstruction.

"I don’t need to summon creatures that are too powerful; perhaps I just need to find the weakest ones. The burden on my spiritual power can be almost negligible. Then, by using my attribute enhancement to strengthen them layer by layer... I can have a minion whose mental burden I can almost ignore yet who possesses decent strength."

A whole new world seemed to unfold in Lin Xin’s heart.

"Moreover, I can inscribe various Formation Runes I am proficient in on them, which would rapidly boost their strength."

He felt a surge of excitement in his heart.

He had always been hunted and besieged by powerful forces, without a stronghold or a comfortable nest of his own. But if this idea proved successful, he could have an army of terrifyingly powerful subordinates. He could then disregard any opponent below Yuan Jing.

The most important thing was that he would gain an extensive network of informants and the support of forces!

Furthermore, he was looking forward to seeing how much ordinary creatures could be enhanced with his attribute enhancement.

Gently, he picked up the small ant and placed it on the floor of his cabin. Then, with his index finger, he gently touched the ant. A faint glow flickered as strands of white light were continuously transferred from his finger to the ant.

Hisss...

The small ant, originally the size of a sesame seed, inflated like a balloon and rapidly grew in size.

Crack, the ant’s six legs struggled wildly, easily piercing through the black sakura wood, known for its hardness.

The size of the ant had increased from a sesame seed to that of a chicken egg, and a pair of semi-transparent wings sprouted from its back. The shell on its body emitted a scorching whiff of heat.

Hum...

The small ant took flight, hovering in front of Lin Xin, nodding up and down, as if paying homage to him.

"Is this its first form?" Lin Xin could clearly feel that the ant’s form was now stable, but he had transferred less than a hundred points of his attribute enhancement.

"Looks like it can continue?"

The ant seemed to understand his meaning through the Soul Pact and hurriedly nodded.

Lin Xin continued to transfer his attribute enhancement.

Hisss...

The ant, now the size of an egg, expanded again to the size of a fist... then the size of a head... then the size of a basin... settling finally at the size of a bathtub, more than a meter in diameter!

The ant’s entire body was glowing red, and three pairs of transparent wings extended from its back. Meanwhile, numerous sharp spurs grew all over its shell, giving it a ferocious appearance.

"The transmission is around two hundred points, have we reached its limit?" Lin Xin faintly felt a tearing pain in his soul from the ant, indicating it had reached its physical limit and couldn’t enhance further.

"It seems that this kind of attribute enhancement is limited by the creature’s innate genetic conditions," Lin Xin mused.

"Ssss..." The ant, with its low intelligence, didn’t understand what he meant.

"Go, fly around, and kill any enemies you see."

Lin Xin sent out a command from his soul.

He wasn’t sure how strong the ant was, but it shouldn’t be weak.

Bang!

The ant smashed through his room’s door and charged out of the cabin. Then the sounds of screaming crew members could be heard from outside, obviously frightened by the giant ant.

Lin Xin, seated in his chair, watched the room turn chaotic from the ant’s flapping wings and couldn’t help but sigh.

Standing up, he followed out of his room and onto the deck, looking in the direction where the ant had flown.

There, the giant ant was fiercely battling a twin-headed black bird that had appeared from nowhere. It was a close fight.

"A Twin-headed Vulture..." Lin Xin recognized the bird’s identity; it was documented in the Second Grade creature atlas from the Outer Regions.

"It has Second Grade strength already? Not bad. Second Grade is comparable to the Qi Cultivation level, and if it can fight a Twin-headed Vulture, they should be about the same strength."

After observing the giant ant’s capabilities, it was clear that it wasn’t accustomed to the wings on its back nor to mid-air combat with an enemy. In less than half a minute, it was torn into pieces by the sharp claws of the Twin-headed Vulture and fell.

Lin Xin sighed. He felt the faint connection in his soul break completely.

"For a Second Grade, it makes decent cannon fodder," he thought.

He pondered for a moment, watching the Twin-headed Vulture with a thoughtful look.

"Master," Yin Mantuo approached him and whispered, "Are you puzzled by something?"

"It’s nothing... Go and catch me some ordinary creatures. Small birds, small animals, ferocious beasts, those with weak souls," Lin Xin instructed Yin Mantuo directly.

Through the soul connection, Yin Mantuo quickly grasped Lin Xin’s intent.

In just dozens of breaths, the Void Ship slowly descended, and soon, countless vines fell from the sky, snatching up a vast array of messy creatures and flying upwards, dropping them onto the empty deck.

As for the crew onboard, they were driven into the ship’s interior by Yin Mantuo, tasked with cleaning, cooking, and other miscellaneous chores.

Using the vines, Yin Mantuo took full control of steering the Void Ship.

Among the creatures thrown onto the deck were a nest of flat-headed black sparrows, large white snakes with wings, and what looked like white, stone-shaped fur balls.

The most common was a golden beetle, about the size of a fist.

Lin Xin first selected the fist-sized golden beetle, which clearly looked tough, its glittering golden shell completely encasing its body. The beetle’s dense green compound eyes occasionally blinked at Lin Xin while also scanning the Void Ship’s hull.

"Are you from the Demon Race?" Lin Xin, discerning that the creature seemed somewhat intelligent, approached and looked down at it.

"Respected Human Race warrior, may I know why you have captured Keke Sai onto this Void Ship?" the golden beetle actually spoke.

"Don’t worry, I just wanted to perform a small experiment," Lin Xin replied with a gentle smile, not yet certain whether the Demon Race could be successfully augmented, though he assumed it could but might require more spiritual power.

Lin Xin extended his hand and forcefully chanted the Curse Script of the Soul Contract, to which the golden beetle could not resist and was at his mercy.

"Now beginning transfer of enhancement." With the contract sealed, Lin Xin placed his hand firmly on the golden shell of the beetle.

A faint glow quickly passed into the beetle’s body.

Hiss...

Amidst a noise like a current of electricity, Lin Xin and Yin Mantuo watched as the golden beetle’s body grew larger and taller.

In just a dozen breaths, the beetle, once fist-sized, swelled like a balloon, inflating wildly.

Its appendages became sharper and elongated, its shell shimmered with a dark golden luster, and special currents of air swirled around it.

When it finally stopped growing, the golden beetle had expanded to over ten meters wide and twenty meters long, hovering and dancing above the Void Ship, blocking out much of the light.

"Power... Such incredible power...!" the golden beetle roared in a ghostly language, as if enduring unimaginable, horrific pain.

"Master, magnificent and grand master, you have granted me immense power. Whatever it may be, Keke Sai will exert all my strength to fulfill your commands!"

The golden beetle Keke Sai was not highly intelligent, and Lin Xin could clearly feel that in the soul link, the space it occupied was roughly ten times larger than that of an ant.

"Keke Sai?" He gazed at the giant golden beetle fluttering in the sky with an interested expression.

At the sound of roaring, the ship’s captain, Zhou Aifa, and others ran out of the cabin. Zhao Ke, Ye Qingchang, and the young girl from Tianyun Path, Lin Xiaoyu, also followed, standing agape at the screaming golden beetle above them.

"This is...!!" Zhao Ke quickly drew his Magic Sword, ready to act.

"Do not make a rash move." Yin Mantuo suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking him with an outstretched hand. "This is the master’s servant and poses no threat to the ship."

"Is that so?" Zhao Ke felt uneasy, not knowing when this giant golden beetle had appeared; there had been no trace of it before. Suddenly being told it was Big Brother Lin’s servant... such a claim wasn’t easy to believe at face value.

However, a series of actions from the golden beetles soon left him, Ye Qingchang, and the others, including the sailors like Zhou Aifa, stunned and exchanging looks of disbelief.

The golden beetle flew down and transformed into a tall man clad in Golden Armor, standing beside Lin Xin. Then, with a thud, he knelt on one knee, his eyes filled with adoration like a devote of an Evil God, fervently worshipping Lin Xin.

"He will help us protect the Void Ship from significant threats," Lin Xin introduced. "Just call him Keke Sai."

Then, his gaze fell upon the several-meter-long flying snake.

Upon realizing that weaker creatures resulted in insufficient efficiency, he immediately raised the selection criteria for creatures.

Though the ones he picked were ordinary, they were also of the beastly type, dangerous even to ordinary people.

After augmentation, the Twin-Winged White Snake grew a pair of white dragon horns on its head, its body covered in many fine scales, and two short legs even emerged on its belly.

Most importantly, this Twin-Winged Flying Snake also expanded its size by dozens of times, becoming almost as large as the Void Ship, surrounded by clouds and exuding extreme terror. There was no reference for comparison, so the extent of its improvement was unclear. But with Innate Divine Abilities evolved, it was surely not weak.

Lin Xin did not continue to enhance other creatures, as he needed to study and improve the maximal efficiency of using this augmentation ability.

After sending off the golden beetle and flying snake to scout, he gave a rough hand-drawn map to Yin Mantuo and Captain Zhou Aifa, marking nearby terrain and directions for flight, then returned to his cabin to rest and study.

Time slipped away day by day...

The ten days agreed upon by Red Leaves arrived quickly, and Lin Xin sat steadily on the deck, staring at the pitch-black night sky, quietly awaiting the moment to sever ties.

He had been waiting far too long for this day.

Leaving the South Prefecture and coming to the Central Prefecture was for this purpose. Fortunately, he was now nearly at its fulfillment.

He sat cross-legged on the deck, gazing up at the huge grey-white vortex above.