Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 581 - 576 Breakthrough 2

Chapter 581: Chapter 576 Breakthrough 2

"Spirit Asura!!? How is this possible!!?" Gongshang Nuo was completely in despair; had the Demon Spirit Army gone mad? To have the vanguard deploy a Spirit Asura from the start.

They possessed extremely powerful defenses and regenerative power, infinite strength, and huge body mass. Except for not being very fast, they were nearly invulnerable.

These extreme behemoths were also one of the top powerhouses within the Demon Spirit Army, belonging to the apex predators at the very top of the food chain.

Even some cultivators speculated that they were a continuation of the Demon God bloodline from the Primordial Ancient Times.

Such beings could only be dealt with by Family Head level powerhouses; they were definitely not something he and his peers could resist.

The overwhelming dark hands ruthlessly pressed down on the bow of the ship, as a large group of fish-headed giants, even larger than dwarfs, charged towards the fleet.

Crack!

The ship’s hull suddenly split open with a crack.

The giant hand froze in place all of a sudden.

Its back began to shudder violently.

Hiss!

In an instant, a blood-colored sword light soared into the sky, bursting through the center of the hand, cutting a bloody gash, slicing through the gray clouds, tearing through the fish-headed giants’ formation to the rear, and traveling several meters before slowly dissipating.

Each of the black fish-headed giants, standing five to six meters tall, howled in agony, their bodies carved into countless pieces, their blood spraying like fountains.

The Spirit Asura let out a thunderous cry of pain and quickly withdrew its hand, revealing the full appearance of the ship below.

On the very first ship of the entire fleet, Lin Xin was holding the Red Flower Sword, his long hair billowed to the left by the sea breeze.

"Kasa! Kasani La!"

The large group of fish-headed giants, together with the dwarfs, madly dashed towards him again, swarming from all directions.

They enveloped Lin Xin’s position into a dark sphere in just a few moments.

But as soon as they had surrounded and enveloped him,

bursts of red light broke forth from within the dark sphere.

Boom!

Limb and flesh exploded, the dark sphere burst apart, and hundreds of fish-headed giants screamed as they were torn to pieces.

Lin Xin’s expression was icy as he revealed his figure from the center, looking up towards the Spirit Asura amidst the gray clouds in the sky.

By now, the people on the ship had been driven back repeatedly, forced to huddle together defensively. Most of the sailors were caught off guard, and with the strength discrepancy, suffered heavy losses in an instant.

Fortunately, people like Gongshang House’s Lè Wèi and Lin Youke, upon seeing Lin Xin take action, quickly followed suit to extend their victory, instantly repelling the dwarfs. The sailors were buoyed by their morale, cheering and seizing the opportunity to fight back fiercely.

"Thunder Scar!"

Lin Xin casually drew his sword blade through the air.

Suddenly, a ring of blue lightning webs appeared around him and exploded towards all directions with a swish.

The lightning web rapidly expanded like an enlarging ring, ingeniously avoiding all the human sailors while slicing the dwarfs and fish-headed giants intertwined on the deck into chunks of flesh.

After clearing the deck of Demon Spirits, Lin Xin was about to charge into the sky to take down the Spirit Asura. If he could lure it away to an uninhabited part of the sea, he could harvest a batch of attribute points.

"Kasa!"

Unexpectedly, this Spirit Asura seemed to feel threatened and began to shout loudly before its body exploded into a cloud of gray ash.

The gray cloud enveloped the remaining dwarfs and fish-headed giants, quickly vanishing into the sky.

The Spirit Asura had actually fled!

Standing at the bow, Lin Xin knit his brows; through his senses, he could distinctly feel the Demon Spirit Army’s presence swiftly receding, signaling a true retreat.

The deck was in shambles, the ground strewn with bits of flesh and blood, belonging to both dwarfs and sailors alike.

The sides of the ship bore distinct finger marks, a testament to the traces left by the Spirit Asura’s enormous hand.

"The ship is taking on water!"

Some sailors shouted.

Lè Wèi began to command the others to tidy up the corpses and debris. The blue-purple Thunderbolt Great Swords in the hands of the dwarfs had completely extinguished; Lin Xin had intended to collect some for research.

"How could there be a Spirit Asura here!?"

It was only now that Gongshang Nuo came running over, his complexion ashen. "Could it be that ahead..."

By this time Lè Wèi and a few others had also come over. During the brief battle, they had lost three out of ten, and the remaining people all wore somber expressions, clearly having been badly affected.

"Things have gotten out of our control. We must return to the family immediately and report the situation," Gongshang Nuo urged quickly.

Such words coming from anyone else might have been excusable, but from him, they aroused a distinct feeling of cowardice and disgust.

"Thanks to Young Master Sherie for scaring away the Spirit Asura; otherwise..."

A Lè Wèi said in a low voice.

"The front line defense must have fallen by now. With the appearance of a Spirit Asura, it seems that the Demon Spirits’ total offensive has accelerated."

Another Lè Wèi commented.

"Young Master, what do you think?"

Lin Youke and the others were mostly ineffective in a battle of this caliber,

and clearly, they were also contemplating a retreat.

Lin Xin squinted, tempted to hunt down the Spirit Asura alone, but with so many people around, it ultimately wasn’t convenient to make a move.

"Let’s head to Qingyun Island first. Since there are already a few other teams who have gone there, we’ll join them and understand the whole situation before making any plans."

"Young Master Sherie, that’s a Spirit Asura we are talking about!! Even if you can hold it back temporarily, if it goes berserk, no one here is its match, and in the end, I fear you might be the only one left alive." Gongshang Nuo said with some panic. "We should hurry back instead."

Lin Xin didn’t even look at him.

Instead, his gaze turned to the other five people, including Lin Youke.

"What about you? Do you all think the same?"

His question was abrupt, but the atmosphere and meaning it conveyed made the others around him fall silent.

The faces of Lin Youke and the other four were solemn.

This was a choice.

Without inheriting the seal, without being of the Secret Blood, no matter how talented, no one had confidence in Lin Xin.

Even though he had repelled a Spirit Asura before, that was still a Nascent Soul Level terrifying Demon Spirit, something that no one below Family Head Level could deal with. The damage dealt to it earlier was probably due to some secret technique. Lin Xin did not explain.

At such a time, making a choice would likely rely only on blind faith in Lin Xin.

"Young Master, I...I want to go back."

After a moment of silence, finally, two people stepped forward and said in a low voice with their heads down.

"Me too."

Lin Xin nodded without changing his expression and took out a small booklet from his sleeve, tossing it to the two of them.

"This is a record of some of the experiences and tips I’ve gathered from practicing the Rushing Thunder Sword. Take it and study it carefully; consider it compensation for the days you have followed me."

With those words, he effectively ended their obligations.

The two people had chosen to trust him and to follow him without hesitation before. Although they were retreating now, they had contributed their efforts even if there was no merit.

Therefore, he awarded them clearly, giving them this precious record.

Catching the booklet, the faces of the two were even more ashamed.

Lin Youke and the other three stood to one side, distancing themselves slightly from them and following closely behind Lin Xin.

"You take a separate boat, and take anyone who wants to return with you. Youke, the three of you, come with me."

Lin Xin walked towards the stern of the boat first.

Lin Youke and the other two felt a jolt in their hearts, knowing that Young Master Sherie had finally decided to accept them and make them truly part of his forces.

Their spirits lifted instantly, and they quickly followed.

The four of them reached the stern of the boat.

Lin Xin stood still and then turned around. His gaze, sharp as a sword blade, swept across the faces of the three.

"I’ll ask one more time, are you truly willing to follow me, never to leave or forsake me?"

His voice was deep and powerful, subtly giving people a strange sense of mission, as if they weren’t just answering a question but making a vow towards something precious.

Suppressing the bizarre feeling in their hearts, Lin Youke and the other two exchanged glances, then stepped forward and knelt on one knee.

"I, Lin Youke, am willing!"

"I, Lin Chuan, am willing!"

"I, Lin Chenguan, am willing!"

Lin Xin narrowed his eyes. It seemed he had decided to truly cultivate his own power.

Otherwise, like those dwarf-like enemies before, it wasn’t possible for him to personally take action every time. If it always went like this, having an increasing number of enemies in the future would either wear him out or annoy him to death.

These three in front of him, after close observation over these days and the second selection just now, he could clearly see that they were completely subdued by him.

That’s why he planned to personally take the three under his wing.

"Very well." Lin Xin took out three contracts he had prepared in advance from his sleeve, which were Soul Contracts altered using runes that he had painstakingly corrected.

They were akin to the Underworld’s Soul Pacts. However, due to the more complete rules of the Mortal Realm, he had added six hundred and seventy-three runes to the base of the Soul Pact to complete it.

After numerous tests and referencing some corresponding talisman formations collected by the Lin Family, having experimented hundreds of times to ensure there were no issues, he then crafted ten of these items.

"This is a Spirit Soul Contract, once signed, your fate will be forever linked with mine. If I am strong, so will you be; if I am weak, so will you be. If I die, so will you," Lin Xin articulated word by word. "Are you willing?"

He had too many secrets. Although he could explain the enhancement of attributes through secret techniques, adding another layer of security was ultimately best.

Moreover, to pass on attributes, it was necessary to sign a Soul Contract to connect the souls.

Lin Youke and the other two took the Spirit Soul Contracts and examined them closely; Lin Xin had already listed the key contents in a language they could understand.

This was essentially a form of subordination contract. Once signed, Lin Xin would have complete control over their life and death. Other than being slightly better than a slave contract, it was essentially a modified master-servant agreement.

After reading through it, a look of struggle appeared on the faces of the three men.

The name of Young Master Sherie had already spread far and wide; as long as he didn’t die, anyone could see that this powerful and talented second son of the Lin Family, with the support of the main family, was destined to be a star shining brightly.

Leaving the Gongshang House, it was feared that many masters would immediately want to come and become the Young Master’s retainers.

Thus, if they didn’t sign the contract now, they might not get the chance again once they returned.

The three were decisive individuals. Once the Soul Contract was signed, unless their own strength surpassed that of their master, they had no hope of breaking free. That is to say, once they signed, they would never have the opportunity to regret it, whether they wanted to or not.

After some time of deliberation, they all came to understand and resolutely bit their index fingers, pressing their bloody fingerprints on the contract.

No sooner had the contracts been stained with blood than they self-ignited, turning to black ash and dispersing in the sea breeze within three breaths.