Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 559 - 553: Unparalleled 6

Chapter 559: Chapter 553: Unparalleled 6

The sixth Prince of the Imperial Clan squinted his eyes and stared intently at Lin Yaoyang, his small eyes clearly filled with intense wariness and shock.

"To think she has awakened her wings... Do you remember how long ago it was since the last head of the Lin Family awakened their wings?"

"The last awakening of the wings... It has been two hundred years from now," a man in a white tight-fitting garment said in a low voice.

"Two hundred years ago, huh... It seems the head of the Lin Family of this generation is about to experience a brief period of glory once again."

The sixth Prince was the first to stand up and turn to leave, not bothering to watch the remaining ritual.

Although his behavior was rude, no one had the leisure to pay attention. Everyone’s focus was entirely captured by the father-daughter duo of the Lin Family at that moment.

Lin Hao was slowly advancing towards Lin Yaoyang, who was suspended in mid-air.

With each step he took, the purple-black runes on his body throbbed once.

Lin Yaoyang’s eyes had already started to slowly bleed, her expression twisted with obvious immense pain.

By this point in the ritual, it was clearly a critical moment.

Just as Lin Hao reached a position less than two meters away from Lin Yaoyang—

Whoosh!

Suddenly, Black Fire surged, engulfing the two of them in an instant.

Hiss hiss hiss hiss!

In that instant, large clumps of black flames shot out from within the fire, landing precisely on all individuals with Secret Blood.

Lin Xin’s expression tightened as he involuntarily clenched the hilt of his sword at his waist.

Boom!!

In a flash, all the flames exploded, scattering like droplets of rain in all directions.

Two Elders rapidly shook the hemp ropes in their hands, the multitude of copper bells jingling violently, yet only then could one faintly hear a hint of bell sound.

Every one of these copper bells was engraved with countless fine and intricate runes; Lin Xin caught a mere glance and barely recognized that they were related to sealing. The rest were beyond his recognition.

Such high-level Formation Talismans were encrypted.

What seemed to be runes were actually a unique system of runes created by the designers, whose meanings were known only to the creators themselves.

The creators used these encrypted runes to release certain frequencies of pheromones to the nature of the universe, then with a little primer, they would harness the formidable forces of nature.

At Lin Xin’s level, the way of Talisman Formation was no longer a widespread system but rather akin to a language or script that could be self-created, constructing one’s unique characters to encrypt desired Talisman Formations within.

Talisman Formation was, in essence, a form of language for an individual to converse with the natural universe.

That was all.

At this moment, Lin Xin’s gaze remained fixed on the center of the ritual.

Black Fire kept splashing out, releasing numerous explosive fireballs in spirals.

In his eyes, vast amounts of a certain grey mist-like force were swiftly covering all the individuals with Secret Blood, including Lin Shizaki.

Bit by bit, it engulfed and swallowed them completely.

Another cloud of grey mist seemed to sense something and slowly floated towards him, directly attempting to envelop his head.

The mist was filled with evil, brutality, cowardice, and a vindictive aura.

Just watching it from a distance, Lin Xinguang felt nauseated.

Seeing the grey mist daring to approach him, when he clearly was not a bearer of Secret Blood, seemed to go unnoticed by everyone else around him.

His gaze suddenly turned cold, and a black and purple symbol began to glow on the back of his right hand.

Humming... With a faint vibration—

Boom!

A giant black arm stretched out behind Lin Xin, its hand fiercely grasping the ground.

It was as if there was a massive cave behind him, and something was trying to struggle and crawl out.

Boom!

Another huge arm thundered down to the ground beside Lin Xin.

The arm didn’t seem to be physical as it passed directly through people’s bodies without anyone noticing or realizing.

Soon, a giant female face covered in silver-gray scales slowly rose from behind Lin Xin, staring intently at the black fire in the center of the ritual.

Roar!!!

The Desolate Vault Demon God, materializing only a transient Void Shadow, roared ferociously towards the ritual.

The Black Fire inside responded as if in echo, swiftly parting and taking on a bizarre form within Lin Xin’s line of sight.

It was a butterfly with wings spanning over ten meters.

The butterfly was back to him, fluttering its wings slowly.

And the real oddity lay in its wings.

The left wing was comprised of black and yellow earth, while the right wing was made up of deep blue seawater. As if continuously drawing vast amounts of black soil and seawater from the void, one could faintly smell the briny scent of seawater in the air.

The grey mist rushing towards Lin Xin vanished in the blink of an eye.

The Void Shadow of Desolate Vault behind Lin Xin also slowly retreated into darkness, concealed from sight.

In contrast, the giant butterfly within the Black Fire also gradually dispersed, fading into nothingness.

Lin Xin’s vision blurred, and all at once, the flames disappeared, revealing the body of Lin Yaoyang inside.

Her eyes were slightly closed, two trails of blood tears flowed from the corners of her eyes, drawing two red lines down her face,

Lin Hao had disappeared without a trace.

"Family Head, everything has been entrusted to the new clan leader," sighed one of the Elders deeply.

Lin Xin remained silent, for this was the price to pay.

He couldn’t understand the meaning of the Talisman Formation used in the ritual, but from the process, he roughly understood what had happened.

Lin Hao had transferred the seal of the butterfly to his daughter’s body, then used all he had as a bargaining chip to disperse a wisp of the Evil Power that leaked from the seal. Using some Secret Technique, combined with the Secret Blood of all the clan members, he mixed it in. He then temporarily purified it and turned it into a new kind of power.

A power to serve as a buffer between Lin Yaoyang and the seal.

Through this power, it seemed that Lin Yaoyang could harness the Evil Power leaking from the seal without direct contact and without backlash.

"Fortunately, the Family Head’s Secret Blood is very potent this time; it should last a long while."

The elder by his side couldn’t help but whisper with joy.

Lin Xin remained silent.

Lin Hao was dead.

Although he didn’t feel much for this adoptive father, since the interaction time was short and his worldview wasn’t genuinely formed from infancy.

But throughout his life, he indeed received quite a lot of care from Lin Hao.

Secret Blood was a purifying force, although it could form that buffering Evil Power, it would still be subjected to continuous pollution by the leaking power of the seal.

If it was for a short while it would be fine, but over a long time, the pollution would worsen. When the buffering power could no longer hold, it would be time to hand over the position to the next Family Head.

Lin Xin also understood the reason in an instant from the elder’s words.

He couldn’t stop Lin Hao’s death, in fact, long ago when he first noticed something was wrong, Lin Hao had already begun to be polluted.

"That seal..." Lin Xin stared intently at Lin Yaoyang at that moment, remembering the giant butterfly he had just seen.

One half of its wings was earth, the other half sea water, and then there was that distinctive evil and violent aura.

Clearly, the seal contained an Evil God.

He was not clear about the opponent’s level, but he had once encountered the aura of the Demon God sealed in the Underground City of the Yuan Dou Demon Sect.

These Evil Gods and Demon Gods, unless they are of the same kind or the level gap is too huge, generally cannot be judged for strength and weakness.

The reason being is that many of them possess all sorts of bizarre abilities; some abilities might not be strong, but they’re sufficiently disgusting and unresolvable.

So without understanding the opponent’s capabilities, he could not act rashly.

At this moment, Yuan Wanqing’s crying came from behind. She suppressed her voice, but it still clearly pierced through to the ears of the people around.

The clan members who were originally somewhat happy all suddenly fell silent.

Soon the ritual ended, and the last trace of Black Fire faded sadly away.

All the bronze bells and hemp ropes also snapped, piece by piece, falling to the ground.

All the Secret Blood bearers, including Lin Yaoyang, took a step forward.

Hiss!!

A whiff of evil and violent aura erupted from their bodies, uniting into one, distorting the space around them and causing an oppressive feeling of breathlessness.

"Congratulations to the Lin Family Head." Those two mysterious women spoke aloud, one of them glanced at the spot where Lin Hao disappeared, a trace of sorrow flashing in her eyes.

Lin Yaoyang returned the gesture with cupped hands, then saw the two figures turn and leap away.

Then came a succession of people taking turns to both offer condolences and congratulations.

Lin Hao had died, but the Lin Family had gained a stronger Family Head in return. The Family Head must be more prosperous.

At this moment, the bodies of the Secret Blood bearers were clearly emitting uncontrollable power fluctuations, twisting the air around them and deterring anyone from getting too close.

Most of these Secret Blood bearers, while feigning sadness, actually had excitement and pride that they couldn’t repress in their eyes.

They politely exchanged small talk with others, mimicking the demeanor of their elders, refined and courteous.

Their elder Secret Blood bearers, aside from a bit of weakness and a significant drop in strength after losing the Evil Power, displayed no other changes.

The only one sacrificed was Lin Hao.

Everyone was jubilant, the only ones in sorrow were from the main branch of the family.

The power emanating from Lin Yaoyang had already surpassed the Golden Core Dao Seeking level, stepping directly into the Yuan Jing stage.

Just from the power emanating, Lin Xin could judge that Lin Yaoyang’s strength was at least at the Yuan Jing Solidification level.

"No wonder one can skyrocket to the heavens in one step, catching up to other Sects’ thousand years of accumulation," he sighed inwardly. Lin Hao was dead, and he felt a trace of sorrow too.

He had thought of ways to try and save Lin Hao’s life, but regretfully, the connection between the Secret Blood and the seal was too deep. He had only observed for a while before realizing he was powerless to do anything.

The main family’s Secret Blood bearers had almost half-merged their Secret Blood with the seal. Their generations of alternating sacrifice, renewing the Secret Blood lineage, was actually a way of indirectly replenishing the seal.

The continuous infusion of new Secret Blood would replenish the weakening seal to its peak, maintaining the suppression of the unknown existence within.

This seemed to be a mission, a family mission.

"Little brother." Lin Yaoyang came up to Lin Xin at some moment. "Walk with me."

Lin Xin looked at her, eyes swollen from crying, obviously she had just cried.

"Okay."

He nodded slightly.

He also wanted to have a proper chat with this adoptive sister, about the seal and the exact details of that giant butterfly.

The two went up to embrace Yuan Wanqing, and then they left for a distant place.

Within the faction that split from the family, one of the Family Heads, Lin Shangxiu, was at this moment watching the two figures with flickering eyes.

An inaudible voice crept into her mind.

"Are you confident?"

"Of course, that weakness will last for a while, only the Family Head knows about it, and I found out by chance," Lin Shangxiu responded in her mind.

"Good, once the deed is done, and you take the helm, we have long prepared a place for your Lin Family. Rather than being restrained in the Extermination Council, our presence in the darkness is where you truly belong."

The voice spoke deeply.

"It’s a pity the main branch doesn’t understand," Lin Shangxiu responded coldly, her eyes glancing coldly at the direction where Lin Yaoyang and companion had left.