Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 580 - 575 Breakthrough 1

Chapter 580: Chapter 575 Breakthrough 1

Lin Xin stood at the bow, gazing out at the sea.

"It seems like there are some unusual waves ahead," Gongshang Nuo said in a low voice. "I’m afraid we won’t be able to reach the island on time."

"No matter," Lin Xin said indifferently. "Tell me about our mission?"

Gongshang Nuo nodded and took out the recently received Communication Talisman.

"The message just received says that there are already five Demon Master level Demon Spirits on San Wu Island, commanding thirty-three Demon Generals, currently building offensive fortifications on the island. We can first go to the nearby Qingyun Island to regroup, as two teams have already changed their routes and headed to the island to discuss strategies."

"Qingyun Island?" Lin Xin frowned. The strength he had shown was of a Demon Master level, which was the peak of the Golden Core stage, the same as that of Duanqing Long Kong Ruyi and the others.

But there were distinctions in strength even among those of the Demon Master level.

And he was indeed the strongest amongst those on the Demon Master level.

"There’s no need, we’ll go directly to San Wu Island; the sooner we resolve this, the sooner we can return."

Gongshang Nuo couldn’t help but smile wryly. "It’s not like that, Sherie, you are unaware that the waters near San Wu Island are riddled with hidden reefs. Once Demon Spirits occupy them, they are easy to defend and hard to attack, and the ships can’t approach without being sunk."

"So, we need to carefully survey the situation and find a way to the island before we can launch a counterattack."

Lin Xin showed signs of impatience.

"I’ll go on ahead to the island; you all can follow slowly. What’s the need for all this talk?"

"But my lord, even if you are strong, you cannot maximize the annihilation of all Demon Spirits alone. Once they escape and disperse into the surrounding seas, the difficulty of hunting them down will be greatly increased..." Gongshang Nuo continued to persuade.

Lin Xin frowned and closed his eyes for a moment, finally nodding.

"Alright, arrange it as you see fit; just make sure we arrive at Qingyun Island as fast as possible."

"We must avoid the storm clouds first and take a detour. We estimate that it will be the day after tomorrow when we reach Qingyun Island," Gongshang Nuo said, after consulting with the captain and getting a detailed answer.

"The day after tomorrow is fine too."

Lin Xin nodded slightly and turned to walk toward the cabin.

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

Bang!

The last body of a Kong Family member heavily smashed into the pile of rocks.

Kong Xin, Duanqing Long, and Gongshang Wu wore expressions of horror, staring fixedly at the still composed Confucian Scholar Jin Ma opposite them.

One of Kong Xin’s arms was already useless.

Duanqing Long’s face was covered in blood, and though his eyes gleamed with excitement, his complexion was clearly pale from blood loss.

Gongshang Wu was the most exhausted of the three, his body covered with wounds that at a glance numbered in the dozens.

The opponent’s strength seemed like an unfathomable abyss. They initially assumed it was at the Demon Master level, but when they joined forces and momentarily surpassed the Demon Master level to reach the strength of a Spiritual Asura, the other party casually raised their strength to the same Spiritual Asura level, easily blocking the attack and then killing half of their surrounding attackers with a counterstrike.

"Thinking of running away!?"

Jin Ma glanced around, his expression suddenly turning cold as he muttered. In an instant, his figure turned into a black line, vanishing from the spot.

Duanqing Long and the others then realized that the person who had come to report earlier had disappeared at some point.

It seemed that the Confucian Scholar had come specifically following the trail of the informant.

When the Confucian Scholar suddenly disappeared, after a while, everyone slowly came to their senses, still somewhat in disbelief that he had really gone.

Duanqing Long slowly sheathed his sword, casting a Decree with his hands, and a small circle of green mist exploded around him, as if something was dissipating into the surroundings with the mist.

After sensing for a moment with his eyes closed, he finally relaxed.

"He’s gone."

The other two simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who exactly is this guy!?" Gongshang Wu looked at his campsite, which was a mess. Thankfully, he hadn’t summoned his ordinary followers to attack, or else the casualties would have been heavy this time.

"Jin Ma... I’ve never heard of such a powerful person in the nearby sea areas," Kong Xin shook his head. "If there was such a powerful person around here, he would be able to start a sect and command a territory. We wouldn’t be ignorant of it."

Duanqing Long put away the Decree, licking his lips.

"A Spiritual Asura level expert is equivalent to a Nascent Soul Cultivator. Any Nascent Soul Cultivator emerging is a powerhouse capable of suppressing an entire region. Moreover, if a Nascent Soul Cultivator from another region came here to our Qiushi Region, they would normally notify the local families; they wouldn’t just suddenly appear."

"You mean..." Connecting the dots with the strange actions of the informant earlier, Gongshang Wu also had an idea.

"It should be someone here specifically for that informant. Although he killed ordinary members of the Gongshang family, he didn’t seem to want a fight to the death with us. Clearly, he still has reservations regarding the sealing power of the Army Masters of our Dao Seeking Association," Duanqing Long stated seriously.

"So, what do we do now? Continue with the original plan?" Gongshang Wu asked with a frowned brow. The reinforcements were not their clan members, just hired help, and given the inevitable casualties against the Demon Spirits, he wasn’t too concerned.

After all, it’s best to avoid provoking a Spiritual Asura level expert if possible.

"The previous guy drew the fire over, almost getting us killed; we’ll also observe and adapt," Duanqing Long said coldly.

"If things go south, we pull out immediately."

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

On another side of Qingyun Island.

In the vast expanse of grey-white rock forest, Song Danhao ran frantically, gasping for air, while the Confucian Scholar Jin Ma, strolling effortlessly, steadily caught up behind him.

Boom!

He casually unleashed a beam of golden light, blasting apart a large swath of the rock forest. Rocks flew chaotically, and stone pillars collapsed, forcing Song Danhao to scamper about like a cat with its tail stepped on.

"You won’t get away,"

In Jin Ma’s hand was a Golden Whip, the source of the golden light that lashed out from time to time.

"I’ve told you, it’s not with me! It’s hidden somewhere else. If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do," Song Danhao yelled back as he fled.

"Do you think I would believe you now?" Jin Ma replied with a smile, yet his eyes were filled with intense coldness. "In ten breaths, if you genuinely can’t remember, then I’ll truly have no choice but to kill you."

Song Danhao opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly the ground ahead vibrated, and a dark cloud spread rapidly overhead.

"Indeed, it’s a Demon Spirit Cloud! The Demon Spirit army, and the Spiritual Asura!!"

His heart burst with euphoria as his goal was achieved. He laughed heartily, and in an instant, his body turned into a burst of white light and disappeared from the spot.

Just as he vanished, a thunderous explosion sounded.

The sky was suddenly overcome by a dense mass of countless grey clouds that enveloped the surrounding stone forest in an instant.

Jin Ma was about to follow but was too late, getting engulfed by the grey cloud.

Countless pitch-black Demon Spirits rushed out from the grey clouds, charging towards Jin Ma from all directions.

Kasa! Kasa!!

The Demon Spirits shouted an unintelligible slogan as they rapidly solidified into small, black dwarves.

They donned Black Leather Armor, wielding great swords of condensed blue-purple lightning, and surged toward Jin Ma in groups.

"Thunder Knife Demon Spirits?" Jin Ma looked on with surprise.

"It’s an elite branch of the Demon Spirit army."

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

The grey cloud slowly enveloped the fleet of ships.

Lin Youke stood at the bow, sword in hand, always vigilant.

"The seagulls have vanished, and the fish around have disappeared too, there’s something fishy about this grey cloud!"

She warned in a grave voice.

Gongshang Nuo also hurriedly brought people over.

"What’s going on?"

Before anyone could reply, he saw the grey clouds enveloping the area ahead and coming towards them.

At a glance, his face turned pale.

"Those aren’t thunderclouds, they’re Demon Spirit Clouds! Quick, to arms!!! Only a Spiritual Asura is worthy of forming a grey cloud!!"

Spiritual Asura!

The moment the word was uttered, everyone started panicking.

The ship’s crew and sailors immediately changed color and scrambled about in chaos, desperately trying to turn the fleet around.

A Spiritual Asura was an opponent they were not equipped to handle!

Kasa! Kasa!!

Just then, the grey cloud ferociously charged at them.

In midair, it coalesced into groups of small black dwarves wielding Thunderbolt Great Swords.

Chanting strange syllables and mingled with the clouds, they plunged towards the fleet.

"It’s too late! Prepare for battle!!"

A guard shouted loudly as he drew his curved sword, stepped forward, and slashed fiercely.

Chi!

A white blade of energy soared high into the sky, extending over ten meters and struck a dwarf squarely, instantly bisecting it, sending blood and flesh flying.

But immediately, more than ten dwarves swung their swords and hammered downward.

Crack!

An explosion sounded, and a multitude of arcs descended from the sky, connecting to form a thick web of electricity that swept towards the people on the ship.

"It’s a Thunder Net! Scatter!!"

Several guards stepped forward in unison, pulling out their rune-engraved longswords to meet the attack head-on.

Bang!!

The Thunder Net exploded, and the guards were blasted, blood spurting from their mouths and noses, as they fell to the ground incapacitated.

Gongshang Nuo was so scared that his face turned ashen, and he shrank back, hiding in a corner of the ship’s hull. He hurriedly crushed a one-time use rune stone meant for defense, which he had purchased at a high price from Green Lake Mountain.

The remaining guards and the noble family reinforcements on the fleet were now in close combat with the dwarves.

Swinging their Thunderbolt Great Swords, large groups of dwarves entangled with the people on board.

The sounds of battle cries and the explosions of electricity melded into chaos.

Lin Youke and her companions fought fiercely, but they were swiftly surrounded by more and more dwarves, quickly accumulating several wounds on their bodies.

Each of these Thunderbolt Great Swords had a paralyzing effect; the slightest contact and one’s body would become numb, movements hindered by the electric current.

If ordinary people without cultivation practice were to be touched, it would result in electrocution and death. Their power was terrifying.

Hum!

In an instant, a semi-transparent Sound Blade shot out from the cabin and densely packed into the crowd of dwarves.

Immediately, a large swath of dwarves were cleanly bisected at the waist, innumerable casualties falling in an instant.

The dwarves’ offensive was thus curbed.

A muffled cheer could be heard from among the crowd.

Two clansmen of the Gongshang House, lifting a long zither, appeared completely drained. Clearly, the move they had just performed exhausted all their True Force.

"Kasani La!!"

An angry roar suddenly descended from the sky upfront.

A colossal giant, half his body pitch-black and towering dozens of meters tall, reached out his hand fiercely towards the bow.

His hand, perfectly englobing the ship, came reaching over and completely cast the deck into darkness.