Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 56: Separate Actions Part 2

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Separate Actions Part 2

"Could it be that the main enhancement is the body’s blocking ability and dynamic vision?" Lin Xin guessed, given that these two aspects are the most decisive for defense.

But suddenly, he realized something was off.

Lifting his hand, he noticed his skin felt tough, as if he had practiced hard Qigong, something akin to old cowhide.

"Could it be that ’defense’ refers to this? Does it also include the body’s own resistance?"

He was struck with a sense of wonder.

In his memory, all sect disciples seemed to have high offense but low defense, with weak bodies reliant on external objects and inner strength, characterized by strong bursts but comparable to ordinary people once their inner strength was depleted.

"Perhaps it’s because they face too many strange and perilous situations, making simple physical defenses less useful compared to studying a variety of external objects to diversify the defensive system. That’s why most cultivators here don’t focus on the strength of their physical defense, after all, many kinds of damage can bypass physical toughness..." He could somewhat understand this reasoning.

Lin Xin had roughly guessed the true nature of his attribute system. Besides skills, it was essentially a detailed statistic of his own body performed by his brain, only that compared to others, he had an interface-like system that allowed him to visibly track all his conditions.

"Looking at it this way, attribute points can only improve my own physical quality, so I need to consider carefully about future development."

Lin Xin walked slowly along the road, while his mind was also pondering how to use his attribute points in the most optimal way.

"According to statistics and observations over this period, lethality is determined by strength and speed.

Defense is determined by the hardness and toughness of the body to withstand external forces, as well as dynamic vision.

Evasion is determined by bodily reaction ability and danger perception ability.

Physique, judging by the enhancement effects on inner strength, should be about resistance to various powers and maladies, as well as the burst limit of inner qi. After all, many people afflicted with poison manage to use their inner qi to temporarily suppress the poison from spreading. Some can even cure themselves of it."

Lin Xin slowly analyzed in his heart.

"Then, what should be the most beneficial attribute development for sect cultivation?"

He came to a halt and suddenly noticed on the road ahead, a set of white clothes floating in midair. It was a woman’s white garment.

Long sleeves and a long skirt, with no body. As if an invisible person was wearing it, standing right in front of him.

Despite not being able to see the person’s face,

Lin Xin felt as though he could see that person smiling.

Yes, the white clothing was smiling.

He smoothly drew the Solar Yang Talisman Sword with his backhand, activating a trace of warmth from the sword.

"In this kind of environment, it’s possible to encounter illusions, toxins, and various strange incidents." The blade of the Solar Yang Talisman Sword slowly turned red.

The white garment charged towards him at high speeds, similar to before, but its sleeves now seemed to conceal a pair of cyan-green gloves.

The gloves with outstretched fingers stabbed towards Lin Xin’s eyes.

"The first thing to do," Lin Xin raised his Talisman Sword, feeling he could barely keep up with the opponent’s speed.

"Is to defeat the opponent as quickly as possible."

A ring of fiery red flame exploded once again.

Boom!!

The white clothing deftly dodged away from the explosion’s reach, moving so quickly that even the speed of the flames could not catch up to it.

Lin Xin’s sword tip pointed downwards.

"If a quick battle isn’t possible, then I must focus on defense and wait for an opportunity..."

Suddenly, the white garment transformed into a length of White Rope, rapidly rolling forward, stretching out like a snake towards Lin Xin.

The forefront of the White Rope was distinctly those cyan-green gloves.

Lin Xin calmly faced the challenger, raising his sword to strike directly at the opponent. This time, thanks to the opponent taking slightly longer to prepare, he responded in time.

The Solar Yang Talisman Sword turned completely red, and its paint could barely conceal the hidden runes.

"Prime Yang Energy!"

In an instant, the air around the sword body suddenly expanded, radiating a distorted and scorching wave of fiery inner qi flow.

From afar, it looked as if the air around the sword body was twisting violently, and through that distortion, even Lin Xin’s figure began to warp significantly.

The range of the sword’s influence expanded by more than double.

The sword blade and the White Rope gloves collided fiercely.

Puff puff puff!

In that instant, several heated flows from the Flameless Swordsmanship naturally enveloped and struck the white garment viciously from the side.

Ah!!

It let out a piercing shriek like the high notes of a female opera singer. Then, the garment exploded, turning into large swathes of white threads.

Hiss hiss hiss, numerous threads scattered, with only part of them burnt by the heat and falling away, while the majority lunged at Lin Xin from all directions.

With a bang, a ring of fire burst forth once more.

All the threads were simultaneously ignited and burned.

Lin Xin, still holding the Talisman Sword, looked around slowly. He could see cyan-green gloves falling to the ground in front of him, along with a small fraction of burning garment threads.

"Finally..." He checked the inner qi within his heart, where only a small residue remained, "That battle was perilous; I almost exhausted all my inner qi. Without inner qi, I would have been in serious trouble."

Not daring to proceed any further, Lin Xin looked around and chose not to continue forward. Instead, he carefully found a concealed spot behind some bushes in the forest and sat down to rest and recuperate.

Before meditating, he scattered several bursts of heat with his sword to completely destroy and obscure the tracks of his footsteps.

Behind a sufficiently thick tree, Lin Xin sat on the grass. From here, he could peek at the road just by tilting his head slightly.

He was no more than about a hundred meters from the road.

He slowly gathered a trace of inner qi and channeled it into the Concealment Array Plate. Instantly, all traces of his presence began to fade and conceal themselves. This formation was designed to conceal his own scent, body odor, and exhaled breath.

Then he carefully checked to make sure the edges of his body and clothing were fully hidden by the tree trunk.

Only then did he relax and start to meditate, recovering his inner qi. At the same time, he kept part of his awareness on the lookout for any disturbance outside.

The pair of cyan-green gloves still lying on the ground might attract the people behind the scenes to show themselves. And now, he had no strength left to spare, whether he moved forward or back, he needed to recover a bit first.

Time slowly passed, the sky gradually darkened, and the leaves in the forest rustled in the wind.

Suddenly, he heard a faint sound of footsteps coming from the driveway.

Slowly opening his eyes, Lin Xin quietly turned his face and peeked out from behind the tree, looking towards the direction of the driveway.

On the driveway, Shu Luoyi and Yu Chang were stumbling backward, covered in blood, as if they were vigilantly aware of something around them at all times.

The two held swords and sometimes stood back to back, their eyes revealing a hint of terror.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a white shadow flew at high speed from the side, charging directly at the two.

The white shadow moved so fast that Shu Luoyi could only barely lift her sword, trying to block it in front of her.

With a hiss, she failed to block it, and another cut was slashed on her arm, splattering blood that fell to the ground, turning into specks of crimson.

Soon there was another groan, as Yu Chang was also struck by the white shadow, he let out a painful grunt, and another wound appeared.

"He’s too fast!" Yu Chang gritted his teeth.

"Are you okay?" Shu Luoyi asked breathlessly. But her eyes did not dare leave the darting white shadow for a moment.

"Still... can hold on..." Yu Chang managed to reply.

Neither of them practiced Flameless Swordsmanship; they didn’t have an extra flow of heat to help defend against attacks. Moreover, with their slower speed, it was impossible to completely fend off the opponent.

Lin Xin did not rush out to help immediately but instead carefully observed his surroundings for any other ambushes.

Meanwhile, the white shadow continued attacking them, not rapidly, as if it wanted to grind the two of them down alive.

Lin Xin also took the opportunity to observe the white shadow’s attacks.

Its speed was too fast, to block its attacks, there were only a few options.

One was to have a large enough defense, like finding a large shield.

Two was to match the speed of the opponent.

His own Flameless Swordsmanship had a large defensive area; although it was just a sword blade, the surging hot flow of inner qi could, in fact, serve as a barrier.

But Shu Luoyi and Yu Chang had no such luck. They could not keep up with the speed, nor did they have sufficient defense.

Lin Xin assessed his own inner strength, noting he had only recovered about a fifth of it over two hours.

"Only enough for one use of the Three Suns Sword..." he gauged the consumption of each of his sword techniques and calculated in his head.

After thinking for a moment, he reached into his pouch and pulled out a black stone carved with tadpole-like runes.

Standing up, he dashed out with a burst of speed.

"Close your eyes!"

He abruptly threw the black stone in his hand.

Shu Luoyi and Yu Chang simultaneously saw Lin Xin rush out and heard his shout, stunned. They didn’t know whether to heed Lin Xin’s words or not.

Pop!

In an instant, an intense white light exploded, spreading rapidly in the air between the two and the white shadow.

The scorching heat and the dazzling white light brightened the somewhat dim forest driveway as if it were broad daylight.

Shu Luoyi covered her eyes with her right hand, evidently dazzled by the light.

Yu Chang, on the other hand, was quicker, closing his eyes and turning his head away from the direction of the explosion.

Ah!!!

The white shadow, however, was hit squarely by the blast, letting out a shriek like a woman’s scream, and then quickly flew away to escape.

"Don’t let him get away!!" Shu Luoyi shouted. Lin Xin did not make any move to chase.

The white light lasted for two seconds before quickly fading away.

Lin Xin, sword in hand, walked over to the driveway, looking at the two of them, covered in cuts and bruises.

"Sister Shu, how badly are you hurt?"

"Are you an idiot?!?" Shu Luoyi suddenly rushed up, aiming a slap at Lin Xin’s cheek.

Slap!

Lin Xin blocked her with one hand, their palms clapping together with a crisp sound.

"What are you doing?!" Lin Xin was getting angry. Was this mad woman out of her mind? He had saved her and instead of being thankful, she was lashing out at him?

Did she really think he wouldn’t lay a hand on a woman?

"What am I doing? I want to know what you’re doing!" Shu Luoyi’s eyes were bloodshot, "You clearly had the ability to act and capture it, why didn’t you move earlier!?"

"Sister Shu..." Yu Chang tried to ease the tension from the side but was slapped away by Shu Luoyi.

"Move!"

Shu Luoyi was on the brink of madness.

"Lin Xin!" She pointed a finger at Lin Xin’s nose, "I warn you, I’ve found you suspicious for a long time! The target we were protecting was fine for two days, and then she dies as soon as you show up. Back at the clothing store, we all were injured, and only you emerged unscathed. Now we are seriously injured again, and you’re still untouched! And you deliberately let that Ghost Garment escape just now! Tell me!"

Her finger was nearly touching the tip of Lin Xin’s nose.

"Tell me! What’s the deal with all these situations? If there’s nothing wrong with you, I’ll write my name Shu backwards!"

Her chest heaved violently with rage.

"Then what do you need for you to believe there’s nothing wrong with me?"

Lin Xin looked at the woman, his heart suddenly returning to calm once again. He was just slightly disinterested; if he managed to obtain the treasure with these kinds of incompetent allies, that would really be dumb luck.

"Believe you? Dare I to trust you?" Shu Luoyi scoffed, "From today on, we each rely on our own skills to see who can get the human-faced fruit. Don’t come looking for me, and I won’t look for you! Let’s wait and see!" With that, she turned and walked away.