Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 551 - 545: Childhood Four

Chapter 551: Chapter 545: Childhood Four

"Is it our Lin Family’s One Hundred and Eight Running Thunder Sword?" a little girl asked. The question was posed by Lin Youke, the prettiest and cutest of the bunch of Lin Family children, a five-year-old girl rumored to be the daughter of a branch family head.

She wore a green dress, her skin so tender it seemed as if it would ooze water at a touch.

She always liked to call others "brother" or "sister" in a whining, babied voice. The dimples at the corners of her mouth could almost sweeten someone to death.

Among the group of little tykes, she was the most popular.

"Running Thunder Sword..." Lin Xin furrowed his brow. He had also heard from his foster father that this was the Family Inherited Sword Technique that everyone in the Lin Family was expected to practice.

The One Hundred and Eight Styles of the Running Thunder Sword were easy to learn but hard to master, he learned it was a sequence of continuous Sword Techniques which became increasingly difficult to practice further up the set. Yet, once mastered, they were infinitely powerful.

"Not sure about the specific power, but maybe it could be used as a reference on how to harness Heaven and Earth’s Elemental Energy."

A thought flickered through Lin Xin’s mind, it was time for him to lay the foundations with such flesh and bones.

He didn’t want to be tainted by the aura of the Underworld’s mark anymore, instead aiming to traverse the purely human path of Cultivation Practice, as a comparison and validation against his own Sacred Body.

"Let’s go take a look, it’ll be alright."

"My sister is inside too, we are going to learn the sword soon anyway, sooner or later we will come into contact with it."

"Exactly, what’s there to fear? Let’s go in and take a look."

A bunch of kids clamored, swarming towards the training grounds.

Lin Xin followed behind.

Upon entering the training grounds, they saw a vast space paved with gray-black stone bricks, and in the middle lay a large black carpet, very thick, upon which five young people were practicing swordsmanship.

The sounds were seemingly coming from there.

Lin Xin immediately spotted his sister, Lin Yaoyang.

She and a few other young people each had a faint blue flame flickering around their bodies.

It was a flame invisible to others.

No temperature, igniting nothing, it seemed even they themselves were unaware of it.

But Lin Xin saw it clearly, as their swords thrusted, the surrounding Heaven and Earth’s Elemental Energy vibrated and agitated continuously.

These vibrations, in an instant, were like countless tuning forks vibrating simultaneously, thousands of different frequencies mixed together to form an extremely profound and special frequency pattern.

As Lin Xin watched, he even became a bit entranced...

The vibrations gave him an unprecedented shock. He had never witnessed such complexly beautiful vibrations.

This blue flame, it wasn’t just a combination of many vibrations but also had a certain order, a pattern.

"Alright kids," suddenly a tall figure blocked the brats’ view, including that of Lin Xin.

This was a burly, bearded uncle, puffing on a pipe, his messy black hair shiny as the bottom of a pot.

"Stop looking, this isn’t the place for you," the bearded man exhaled a ring of smoke, speaking deeply.

"Why not? Isn’t this the training ground for sword practice? My sister comes here for training..." Lin Youke retorted.

"That was in the morning," the bearded man said flatly. "Right now, it’s time for the Secret Blood holders’ training."

Secret Blood holders.

At the mention of these words, the children fell silent immediately.

Secret Blood holders didn’t need to learn the Running Thunder Sword; what they practiced was how to fully harness the power of their bloodline. Everything else was secondary.

The power of Secret Blood was immensely strong, once awakened, it was not something any ordinary person could contend with.

Everything about them was for the future Seal.

Secret Blood holders and them, they lived in completely different worlds.

Not just in terms of family treatment, attitudes, importance. But also the supporting education, their status within the family, and so on, were worlds apart.

"Go back, this isn’t a place for you," the bearded man persisted.

"This big bearded man actually dares to stop us! Brother Yue, what should we do?"

"Brother Yue... what do we do now? Should we beat him up?"

"Big Brother Yue..."

Each of these brats was a big young master or young mistress of a prestigious family, encountering trouble, they instinctively thought of Lin Sherie, who had always been the most decisive.

This main family’s young master has been famous since a young age for being a prodigy. Although he didn’t talk much, after forcefully dominating others, he rightfully became the recognized genius leader in everyone’s minds.

Lin Xin glanced deeply at the group of Secret Blood holders in the distance.

"Let’s go, we should head back."

He said in a low voice.

Lin Xin was no stranger to Secret Blood holders; after all, his own sister was an authentic one, so he knew relatively more about it.

Secret Blood was nothing more than a preparation.

Preparing their bodies to be in the best condition possible, and then welcoming the Seal. Using the power of Secret Blood in conjunction with the Seal, they would transfer that entity into the body of the new Family Head.

The true purpose of Secret Blood was to assist the transfer of the Seal.

Lin Xin again recalled that trace on his foster father, a scent even he feared, unknown.

"Let’s leave." He turned around resolutely and departed.

"Big Brother Yue... wait for me!" Lin Shizaki was taken aback for a moment before hurrying to catch up.

The chubby kid and Lin Youke also hurried to follow; seeing the leader leaving, the rest of the kids also swarmed to leave promptly.

Watching the brats depart until they completely vanished from sight, the bearded man slowly sighed.

"Lin Sherie... such a pity... No matter how outstanding, without Secret Blood, no amount of effort will ever catch up with them..."

He turned back to look at the distant group, oblivious to his presence, shook his head, and walked leisurely their way.

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

"The Secret Blood holders train not the Running Thunder Sword, but a different Sword Technique called the Full and Waning Sword Technique."

Lin Yaoyang sat in front of the wooden building’s door, side by side with Lin Xin, casually explaining.

"The Full and Waning Sword Technique? Can I learn it?" Lin Xin frowned and asked.

"Unfortunately, you cannot," Lin Yaoyang said with a smile, "Little brother, you have strong aptitude, exceptional talent, and you’re clever and witty. Among ordinary people, you are considered a prodigy. However, all these mean nothing to the Secret Blood."

She took a swig from the jug in her hand, and with a glug, glug, nearly half of it was gone in one gulp.

"Ha... Refreshing!"

"What’s the purpose of the Full and Waning Sword Technique?" Lin Xin asked again.

"You’re still young, why worry about these things?" Lin Yaoyang wanted to brush off the question.

"Just tell me, is the Full and Waning Sword Technique specifically designed to trigger Secret Blood and strengthen its power?" Lin Xin pursued with a frown.

"Pretty much, the power of the Full and Waning Sword Technique is much stronger than the Rushing Thunder Sword, a lot stronger..."

Lin Yaoyang smiled, "But you can’t learn it. It’s useless for ordinary people, and it might even be deadly."

"Is it that serious?"

Lin Xin knit his brows.

"Then let me ask another question."

"What? Go ahead," Lin Yaoyang said as she picked up the jug, ready for another drink.

"The Rushing Thunder Sword, can it harness Heaven and Earth’s Elemental Energy?" Lin Xin asked seriously.

"Heaven and Earth’s Elemental Energy? Where did you learn that term, you’re progressing quickly," Lin Yaoyang chuckled, "Of course it can. Otherwise, how could it be our Lin Family’s Inherited Sword Technique?"

"We’re about to start learning the sword," Lin Xin stated calmly. "I’ve already borrowed some related books from Teacher Rong in advance."

"Is that so? Such a studious young man," Lin Yaoyang said with an embarrassed smile, reaching out to ruffle Lin Xin’s head, but he dodged it.

When she was little, she was notoriously uninterested in studying, often getting her palms slapped by the master or made to stand as punishment.

Compared to her little brother, tsk tsk...

Her gaze wandered distractedly, and quite accidentally, she seemed to catch a glimpse of blackness flickering across the back of Lin Xin’s right hand.

"What’s that?"

She pointed to Lin Xin’s right hand.

"What?" Lin Xin lifted his hand, maintaining a calm expression.

"It looked like there was something on the back of your hand."

Lin Yaoyang frowned. But looking at Lin Xin’s hand again, it was clean and soft, with nothing on it.

An illusion?

"Alright, focus on learning the sword, and later I’ll spar with you!" She patted Lin Xin on the shoulder and got up to walk inside the building.

Lin Xin looked back at her retreating figure, slightly stumbling as if drunk, and shook his head.

He turned around again, gazing towards the distant horizon.

At dusk, the sky was a wash of colors, red, yellow, blue, all mingling together, with hints of golden red, exceptionally beautiful.

"What were you and your sister talking about?"

A deep and resonant male voice came from behind Lin Xin.

Lin Xin turned around to see his father, Lin Hao.

The tall, burly man draped in a stern, neat white robe had his face shaded in shadow, hiding his expression, somehow conveying an oppressive and rigid feeling.

"Just about sword learning," Lin Xin said, his heart tensing slightly as that subtle sense of oppression emanating from Lin Hao seemed to have grown stronger lately.

He concealed his right hand behind his back, where the back of his hand now bore glowing black and red runes, not knowing when they had appeared.

The Sacred Body was instinctively warning him, a signal he couldn’t suppress.

"About learning the sword?" Lin Hao repeated. "Indeed, in the blink of an eye, you’re almost ready to start practicing the Thunder Sword. Work hard and take it seriously." He too patted Lin Xin’s shoulder.

"Yes. I will," Lin Xin nodded earnestly.

"Dinner’s ready, Lin Hao, Xiaoyue," came Yuan Wanqing’s voice from inside the house.

"Coming!" Lin Hao turned and went inside.

He’s acting a bit odd.

Lin Xin could feel it but couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was off.

Clearly, from the reaction of the Sacred Body, the secrets that Lin Hao carried were definitely no lesser than those of him who once, in the Southern Residence, was known as the Southern Emperor.

Plus, with the fog of mystery, he couldn’t find any clues for the moment.

Luckily, Lin Hao soon received a request from the Extermination Society and left for other lands to subdue Demon Spirits.

It was finally time for Lin Xin to formally engage with the human realm’s cultivation practice systems.

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

Down the mountain, Moon City.

At noon, the blazing sun beat down mercilessly, as rows of children stood densely packed, formed into many lines and columns.

Lin Shizaki and Lin Xin, Lin Youke and the chubby kid were all there.

Besides them, there were other Lin Family branch children sent from different places, all here in Moon City for collective training.

With well over a hundred children standing together, all dressed in yellow, standing on the black field, the contrast of black and yellow was quite striking.

Around the square formation of children stood guarding disciples.

At the very front, there was a bald, burly man intently glaring at the group of little brats in front of him.

"The One Hundred and Eight Rushing Thunder Sword, while its name sounds simple, as our Lin Family’s Family Inherited Sword Technique, it is easy to learn but hard to master. The one hundred and eight forms progress step by step; how many you can master depends on your own talent and hard work," he said loudly, his eyes sweeping back and forth over the children.