Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 480 - 474 Dark Sun 9

Chapter 480: Chapter 474 Dark Sun 9

Meng Qi sighed.

"On the Heavenly List, among the entire Human Race, we only select the top ten Yuan Jing masters as candidates for the list. Take the last-ranked True Monarch Lie Tian for example. He once charged alone into the great clan of the Outer Regions and successfully assassinated the clan leader. Afterward, he managed to retreat unharmed despite being surrounded by more than ten True Monarch-level foreign race experts."

Hearing this, Lin Xin’s expression also became serious.

He considered that although his combat power was strong enough, that was only the case when facing Yuan Jing below the Integration Layer.

If a master of the Integration Layer came after him, he feared that at best he would hold the upper hand, but killing them would be extremely difficult. After all, Yuan Jing would instantly use an Escape Skill to flee if the situation turned unfavorable.

And for True Monarch-level experts, if they came at him in their prime, he might not fear them, but to confront more than ten True Monarchs head-on and still retreat unscathed?

He doubted he could manage it.

"Such a grand array?" Lin Xin spoke in a solemn voice.

"Because they think you obtained the secret treasure inheritance of the Sandstone Demon," said Meng Qi with a shake of his head and a sigh. "After all, even I am curious as to how you managed to rise to this level in such a short period."

"A True Monarch, the eighth on the Heavenly List... tsk tsk tsk. It seems the Red Spine Sect is truly serious about me," Lin Xin’s eyes turned chilly.

"How about it? Do you want to join my Desolate Jade Pavilion? With your talent and ability, if I report this up, we can suppress this matter," Meng Qi said earnestly, clearly not intending to let this opportunity slip away.

"If it doesn’t require giving up my Life Flame, I would consider it," Lin Xin replied, his expression returning to a smile.

Meng Qi shook his head. Without the Life Flame, what would they do if they invested resources to nurture Lin Xin and he just ran off?

"What intrigues me, though, is that with such a grand array in place, your Desolate Jade Pavilion can still suppress it. The waters seem quite deep," Lin Xin said with a smile, his words fraught with meaning.

Meng Qi avoided the topic and instead started to ask about what he planned to do with so many Demon Talisman Seeds.

Lin Xin found an excuse to evade the question, not wanting to discuss it.

The two of them exchanged their views on the situation, but in reality, Meng Qi was discreetly passing on information about Central Prefecture to Lin Xin.

It wasn’t until the sun had set that Meng Qi slowly stood up and left the pine forest of the Sword Sect.

Lin Xin, on the other hand, went straight to the Sect Master’s secret chamber, where a large pile of collected Demon Talisman Seeds were stored. The arrival of the Kai Chen Demoness had also put pressure on him.

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

Amidst the rolling red clouds, a flash streaked through the sky as the sun set in the west.

Below, in the endless desert, a giant black ape emerged from the sand, tens of meters tall. With a stomp of its feet, it lunged towards the red cloud in mid-air.

ROAR!!

But before it could reach halfway, the giant ape suddenly stiffened, turned a grayish white, and with a poof, dispersed into countless salt particles, raining down from the sky.

The red clouds dispersed, revealing a man and a woman riding atop them.

The woman wore a goose-yellow dress, her figure graceful. She had two goose-egg-sized yellow topaz earrings on her ears and a slowly shimmering red bead necklace across her chest.

The man stood behind her in a gray-white Confucian scholar robe, wearing a light green turban on his head, but he was holding a pot of lush green plants, with a cluster of splendidly radiant bloody red flowers blooming inside, the species of which was unknown.

"Not yet fifty but already reached this level; there must be secrets on him, and big ones at that!" the woman said resolutely with an icy expression.

"Thus, my lord, our goal this time is to capture him alive and extract his secrets?" the Confucian Scholar asked in a low voice, furrowing his brows.

"Certainly, before Zhou Huaisha finds out," she said coldly. "The Southern Prefecture is impoverished and backward, yet unexpectedly, such an anomaly has emerged."

The Confucian Scholar shook his head slightly, hesitant.

"But what about the Sect Leader?"

"The Sect Leader’s Divine Technique is boundless. Even without us, it won’t matter. But if the secret treasure and inheritance of the Sand Time Divine Palace fall into my hands, perhaps even the slight from the last arrow can be repaid!" the woman’s eyes flashed with a hint of obsessive madness.

"But what if the Sect Leader discovers we have deserted our posts..." the Confucian Scholar said, slightly worried.

"He will understand. Besides," the woman said impatiently with a cold voice, "do you really think the Sect Leader cares about so-called dominion over the world?"

"To him, this world only contains Life and Death Knife and Yuan Qiuque. Otherwise, with his temperament, he would have gone to the Outer Regions to seek stronger opponents long ago," she stated.

The Confucian Scholar found no words to respond. Indeed, the last time the Sect Leader was hurt, it was mainly due to Yuan Qiuque and the outburst of the Life and Death Knife. The few other True Monarchs at best only played a small role in interference.

"Also, Yuan Dou Demon Sect seems to be making moves. Huang Yuan sure knows how to find excuses, claiming that the kid ultimately practices the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique and is part of their Yuan Dou Demon Sect. Why didn’t he say that before?" she said disdainfully. "Does he really think there’s no one in this realm who can break his Yuan Dou Star Force Formation?"

"My lord is wise," the Confucian Scholar said, forcing a smile.

The two suddenly spread the clouds beneath them, increasing their speed significantly, and hurriedly flew towards the Southern Prefecture at the other end of the desert.

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

In the secret chamber,

Lin Xin sat cross-legged in the center of a dark and cold stone chamber.

All around him, blood-red and black chains tightly bound his entire body, rendering him immobile.

He himself, however, had sweat on his forehead like a small stream, which could pool into a small patch and drip to the ground in just a few moments, only to be quickly evaporated by the suppressive formation array surrounding him.

Ugh...!!

With a clatter, all the chains suddenly started to move, and vast amounts of formation energy were transmitted into them to suppress the severe painful aftereffects within Lin Xin’s body.

Hundreds of chains densely wrapped around Lin Xin’s entire body, binding him into a ball of metallic chains.

At this time, all the chains were being stretched tighter and tighter, and Lin Xin, in pain, struggled instinctively.

Roars like those of wild beasts kept coming from the center of the chains.

Clatter!!

All the chains tightened even further.

The thick, dark red blood slowly seeped through the gaps in the chains, dripping onto the ground. Soon, this sticky blood, as if alive, wriggled its way back through the gaps in the chains.

Lin Xin quickly became entirely a blood man, covered from head to toe in blood.

But if someone could see through the plasma covering him, they would notice that his eyes were flashing with an incredibly vibrant light.

His exceptional insight and comprehension ability, along with so much time spent on careful analysis, had allowed him to have a thorough understanding of the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique he was currently cultivating.

The Yuan Dou Demonic Technique was, in fact, a popular Demonic Art that drew upon the star force of the heavenly Yuan Dou stars to cultivate oneself and achieve the transformation back into an Innate Demon God.

It follows the same path as all Demonic Arts, but it has developed to a very high level, and thus, in the Central Prefecture, within the Demonic Path, it is considered a upper-mid tier Cultivation Technique.

Moreover, what Lin Xin clearly realized was that he had somewhat understood why his Yuan Dou Demonic Technique was able to break through to Yuan Jing so fast, skipping a critical step in the process.

That was Body Cultivation.

His enhancement through attribute points had already brought the physical strength, which was supposed to be slowly improved by the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique, to a level that not only met the requirements but far exceeded them.

This was also the key to his last-minute realization of the ’Thousand Heart Integration’ that allowed him to achieve Yuan Jing cultivation instantly.

All Demon Cultivation requires Body Cultivation, although the requirements of the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique are not high, primarily following the path of ’Taoist Intent Integration,’ it still cannot be achieved within mere decades.

But it didn’t expect to encounter such an anomaly as Lin Xin.

Barely enduring the intense pain, Lin Xin carefully recalled.

"I am now on the Fifth Layer, my Demonic Arts are at Demonic Machine Realm, and to break through the Sixth Layer, the Demonic Image Realm, I need to comprehend the key Solidification of the Yuan Jing Soul Domain.

"The root source of the Primitive Demonic Realm is no longer an ordinary Soul Domain Yuan Jing, but a unique self-contained domain with the breath of an Innate Demon God, which cannot be improved and perfected quickly solely by comprehending Taoist Intent.

"Only by transforming my own body structure to make it stronger and more optimized, can I attract stronger Yuan Dou star force from the Lower Realm, and my Primitive Demonic Realm will be able to accommodate more star force for transformation."

Lin Xin pondered meticulously, after the Sixth Layer, the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique mainly lays out a series of methods to use the Yuan Dou star force to slowly increase one’s physical strength, thereby indirectly enhancing the Primitive Demonic Realm and allowing it to accommodate more Yuan Dou star force, attracting even stronger higher-level star forces.

This is the future path of cultivation for the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique.

To attract star force, adapt and strengthen, attract stronger star forces, and continue to intensify further.

This is a long and slow process. Lin Xin recalled that Senior Sister Quan Sheying and True Monarch Huang Yuan both had one thing in common.

That was their corporeal bodies were frighteningly robust compared to other True Monarchs.

This must be the result of star force enhancement.

"At the same time, the texts also record that as the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique attracts higher and higher levels of star force, the psychological and willpower distortions and shocks also become more savage, which is the key reason why this technique is known as a Demonic Art," Lin Xin quickly recalled a series of cultivation details of the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique. This was the cultivation memory transmitted to him by Senior Sister Quan Sheying.

His high regard for the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique was not because of its star force enhancement, but because of the higher-level bodily structure naturally produced by the star force impact later on.

This structure naturally enhances the outer Soul Domain, aiming to improve Yuan Jing cultivation.

If he just improved his attributes, even if his body was strong, he would not be able to enhance the strength of the external Soul Domain.

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the chains, he barely lifted one hand.

Hiss...

Suddenly, a black Storage Crystal floated in front of him, out of which a large pile of black Demon Talisman Seeds burst forth.

As soon as these Demon Talisman Seeds flew close to Lin Xin’s body, they naturally ignited, turning into streams of red aura, which were quickly inhaled through his mouth and nose.

This spectacle lasted for dozens of breaths, until the last Demon Talisman Seed was completely inhaled.

Lin Xin then slowly exhaled, just at the momentary pause in the pain.

He relaxed a bit and then turned to look at his current attribute status panel.

’Lin Xin: 47 years old.

Offense 890, Defense 247, Evasion 247, Constitution 684. Free Attributes 1713 points.’

Innate Divine Ability — Divine Shadow Mutation (Dragon King Foundation)

Special Status — Primitive Demon Body: Spiritual Energy is increased to nine times its original amount, both demon arms can perfectly replicate right-hand moves. Other attributes are overall enhanced by 20%.’