Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 450 - 444: Relic I

Chapter 450: Chapter 444: Relic I

Half a month later....

Hum....

Gargantuan mosquitoes with a black sheen tinged with red buzzed violently as they encircled the Void Ship.

Each mosquito was the size of a washbowl, equipped with four wings, and had a mouthpart sharp as a needle and faintly glowing with a pale green hue, indicating potent toxicity.

Surrounding the swarm of mosquitoes were groups of black ants, each the size of a human head, these flying ants also enveloped the Void Ship, guarding against any creatures that might appear.

On the oval-shaped Void Ship.

The surroundings were enveloped by swarms of insects so dense that hardly any light could penetrate.

The only source of light on deck came from a blood-colored longsword, driven point-first into the deck at its center.

The blade of the sword emitted a faint blood glow.

Befitting before the sword sat a shadow, motionless and silent.

Hiss....

A lizard, over half a human tall, stepped heavily, thumping rhythmically as it approached the shadow.

The lizard had four eyes, an additional mouth on its chest, and limbs as broad as its own head.

With each step, it shook the deck violently, clearly very heavy.

"Master.... we’re nearing the destination you specified."

The shadow moved slowly.

"What about Keke Sai?"

A hoarse voice emanated from the figure.

"Lord Keke Sai... has taken people to search the surroundings," replied the lizard in a ghastly dialect, prostrating its limbs to show utmost respect.

"And what about the white snake?" the shadow continued hoarsely.

"Lord White Snake has just returned, bringing back a mutated demon bee queen."

"Bring her to me," the shadow commanded, breaking the silence.

The speaking seemed difficult and arduous for him.

"Yes."

The lizard turned slowly and headed towards the ship’s side.

Soon it vanished over the ship’s rail, seemingly leaping off.

After a moment’s pause, the shadow stood up slowly.

It revealed a twisted and ghastly pale face—it was Lin Xin, who had endured agonizing pain time and again.

His hair, now a bloody red, flowed freely, and he emitted an ominous aura; standing beside him, one could smell an intense, overpowering scent of blood.

Over the last half-month, he had repeatedly created various monsters, and the ordinary, feeble beasts had been amplified by attribute points, becoming increasingly formidable and terrifying.

The flying ants protecting the Void Ship and the abundance of bloodsucking mosquitoes were the fruits of his labor these days.

The flying ants boasted an exceptionally hard exoskeleton, chosen from various ants after the first experiment, and then amplified to produce a specific breed.

The bloodsucking mosquitoes had an acute sense of smell for blood and living beings—they could detect the scent of blood from hundreds of miles away with ease.

Furthermore, after mutating, they could absorb blood in large quantities to replenish the blood magic artifact Lin Xin had purchased at the auction, thus compensating for its consumption. They were essentially reserve blood bags.

Crucially, these flying ants and bloodsucking mosquitoes possessed Second Grade and Third Grade levels of destructive power, capable of penetrating the defenses of beings of similar grades. Their exoskeletons required at least a Third Grade to break through.

This ensured their maximum survival rate.

Upon standing, Lin Xin breathed quietly.

Merely standing and slowly breathing, peacefully listening to all the sounds around him, was a luxurious indulgence for the present him.

In this half-month, he had considered suicide numerous times and teetered on the brink of collapse.

But he had persevered in the end.

All thoughts were erased and compressed by boundless pain, leaving only one.

And that was to survive.

To live, he had established Soul Contracts with every insectoid creature he captured, then frantically amplified their strength with attribute points.

By now, he had contracted with over three hundred thousand various creatures. His spiritual power was also greatly depleted.

Even the smallest of insects, whose consumption was nearly negligible, began to be a burden when their numbers accumulated.

His reward was the dense throng of over three hundred thousand augmented creatures that now encircled him.

Each of these amplified beings had characteristics similar to his.

They possessed overwhelmingly superior speed and strength compared to their species, rapid recuperative abilities, and a strong resistance to energy.

"I will not die...."

As if talking to himself, he resolved.

Lin Xin stretched out his hand, looking at his palm, as though he could see it smeared with countless amounts of blood plasma.

In order to lessen his suffering, he crazily ordered all his subordinates to kill any living being they encountered.

Along the way, he had almost carved a ruthlessly bloody path through the entire slanting space.

There was no justice or evil, no morality or pity.

He was only trying to survive, nothing more.

Bang!

A heavy figure slowly descended from the darkness on the right front side of the Void Ship.

After the figure steadied himself, he walked slowly towards Lin Xin, then knelt on one knee, showing him the highest respect.

"Master, this is the race I have chosen." It was the white snake that Lin Xin had previously mutated. He now had a snakehead and a human body, with a white cloak-like adornment on his back, made from the remaining exuviae after his transformation into a body-fitting magic garment.

The white snake threw a fist-sized purple-black bee in front of Lin Xin.

The bee was eerily peculiar, its body half-translucent. On its face was the incredibly enchanting visage of a woman.

The most disgusting part was the neck under the woman’s face, which was covered in a dense cluster of holes resembling insect eyes. At that moment, many tiny white worm-like creatures were continuously crawling out of these holes.

Fortunately, this female-faced bee was in a coma.

"What is this?" Lin Xin asked indifferently.

The white snake hurriedly bowed his head and replied.

"To answer my master, this is the most powerful race in this region, the Queen of the Demon Bees. By controlling her alone, an endless, vast swarm of bees can be spawned, and all worker bees can be controlled through her. It can save the master a great deal of loss."

"The Queen of the Demon Bees?" Lin Xin’s gaze shifted, his eyes, like those of a zombie, dry and moving as his sight fell upon the Queen of the Demon Bees at his feet.

"Master, Miss Yin Mantuo is still resting and healing after catching this bee queen. Keke Sai and I both suffered varying degrees of injuries." The white snake hurriedly showed his loyalty.

"Go down." Lin Xin glanced at him and said lightly.

The white snake shivered all over, quickly got up, and left in a hurry, blending into the darkness.

For this master, who had greatly increased his strength, he harbored a deep fear from the bottom of his heart. Although the master never beat or scolded them, never reprimanded them, just a simple gaze and a question were enough.

Yet, even so, he still felt an oppressive sense of suffocation, as if just staying near the master for too long would drive him insane.

After the white snake left, Lin Xin stood alone in front of the red Longsword, stretching out his hand to grasp the Queen of the Demon Bees from the ground.

Hiss...

A faint, colorless glow passed from his palm to the bee queen.

Complex and dry Curse Script Incantations continuously resonated from Lin Xin’s mouth. With his current overwhelming spiritual power, forming a Soul Pact with this heavily injured and comatose bee queen was effortless.

That Yin Mantuo herself was injured and fought desperately to capture this queen indicated that the queen’s strength was already at the Fourth Grade, the level of the Golden Core.

He was also controlling a Fourth Grade demon creature for the first time, but luckily, his spiritual power now far exceeded the Fourth Grade, and controlling such a seriously injured demon beast was nothing to him.

Even for many cultivators whose main battle strength lay in controlling demon beasts and summoning creatures, subduing such a gravely injured bee queen wouldn’t be hard. As long as the master’s cultivation did not fall below the Fourth Grade, it would be successful.

After the glow brightened for a while and met no resistance, it directly enveloped the entire body of the bee queen.

Lin Xin did not withdraw his hand but continued to caress the bee queen. A mosquito with an abnormally swollen belly from sucking blood, about the size of a human head, slowly flew to Lin Xin’s side. Aiming at the dying bee queen, the mosquito fiercely plunged its proboscis into the belly of the bee queen, injecting the fresh blood from its body into her.

The mosquito’s previously balloon-like swollen belly visibly deflated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Meanwhile, the belly of the bee queen slowly swelled up.

The six pairs of wings on the back of the bee queen twitched a few times, as if she was about to wake up.

"If it were an ordinary cultivator whose practice revolved around controlling demon beasts, perhaps they would only acquire a Fourth Grade level bee swarm demon creature. It wouldn’t be anything rare, as bee queens like you can be found plenty in the Outer Regions," Lin Xin spoke slowly with a gentle, calm voice.

"But you’re different because you met me..."

As he spoke, he gently pressed his hand onto the bee queen.

The fist-sized bee queen was forcefully pressed into his palm.

Buzz!

A ring of ripple-like Bright Light began shining continuously from his body. The red light flowed like water to his hand holding the bee queen. Oddly, once the red light passed over, it turned into a colorless, transparent halo, silently and swiftly merging into the bee queen’s body.

The Queen of the Demon Bees shivered all over and slowly opened her eyes to see Lin Xin in front of her. The connection of the Soul Contract quickly made her understand the situation she was in.

"Kill me..." she cried.

Nasty hatred filled the bee queen’s eyes.

"No use," said Lin Xin, looking at her strangely. "You’re now my slave. Under the Soul Contract, unless you become stronger than me, you’ll never break free from the bounds of the contract."

The bee queen’s body began to change noticeably as her Attributes increased.

Her body grew larger, and her belly more swollen.

Lifting from Lin Xin’s palm, her body expanded more and more. In less than twenty breaths, she had grown from the size of a fist to over one person tall, and she was still growing.

Hiss...

The bee queen’s body made a faint sound as it inflated and rubbed against the deck beneath her feet.

Lin Xin quietly watched as the bee queen mutated, his hand still firmly pressed against her.

The bee queen, barely at the Fourth Grade level before, grew larger and stronger under his Attribute augmentation. Her aura broke through the Low Level Fourth Grade and entered the Middle Level as if slashing through bamboo, and within a few breaths, she reached the pinnacle of the Fourth Grade.

A whiff of space-distorting aura began to emanate from the bee queen.