Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 614 - 609 Territory Five

Chapter 614: Chapter 609 Territory Five

"According to the information on the Jade Talisman, the key factor in enhancing Dao weapons is Black Queal Gold. This substance can only be obtained by snatching it from the hands of void demon spirits."

"In addition, as Dao weapons continuously battle with void demon spirits, after killing the opponent, they can absorb some mysterious energy, allowing the Dao weapon structures to evolve themselves."

Lin Xin pondered to himself. He had already tried it. Since Dao weapons did not have souls, his Attribute Ability enhancement could not spread to them.

It was different when in the Underworld, where even an insect was essentially a soul creature.

These Dao weapons, on the other hand, were more like material life forms.

"The most fundamental characteristic of material life forms is that they can only be enhanced through materials. If I can refine a substance that can enhance them... perhaps I can also inscribe formation patterns on their bodies to strengthen them."

Besides being a grandmaster of formation mastery, he was also an Alchemy Dao grandmaster. Refining some sort of essence from materials was not difficult for him, and setting up formations on living things was something he had done countless times on his own body.

"Moreover, it’s interesting that killing demon spirits can enhance the Dao weapon buildings, rather than the Dao weapons themselves."

Thinking of this, Lin Xin closed his eyes, and immediately, countless red dots large and small appeared in his mind, surrounding the battle city. Each red dot represented a tribe of void demon spirits of varying numbers.

He quickly selected one of the nearest small red dots.

"That one it is."

He immediately gave the order, and thirty mud beasts set off, along with thirty mountain spirits.

They set out from the fortress in a mighty procession, leaving the rest to defend the fortress.

He stood up, walked out of the small hall, and with a light leap, flew out of the fortress, suspending in mid-air.

Amidst the flurry of snow, below on the ground, a team of dark mud beasts and a team of green dwarves marched out of the city gate, heading towards the direction where the snow was heaviest.

Lin Xin descended and followed behind them, advancing together.

After walking about a mile in the snowstorm, the heavy sound of panting, like that of a person with severe illness gasping for air, could be faintly heard ahead.

"Kill!"

Lin Xin gently drew a talisman in mid-air.

All at once, every dwarf and mud beast lit up with a green fluorescence, and their bodies slowly covered with a transparent protective membrane like glass.

The sixty-member team ferociously pounced towards the small void demon spirits ahead.

As they got closer, the snow scattered, revealing the figures of a dozen or so void demon spirits.

A dwarf swung his hammer down hard on a demon spirit.

Clang!

The hammer was blocked by a claw, and when the demon spirit’s other claw reached for the dwarf, it was stopped by the green light, unable to break through.

Thump!

The demon spirit’s head was hit hard by another hammer, flung out, dizzy and struggling to get up.

A barrage of hammers rained down immediately after.

The demon spirit was struck more than ten times in a row, finally cracking its skull open and dying instantly.

The dwarves moved swiftly, wielding their hammers and smashing everywhere. There was no particular technique, but with Lin Xin’s protective spell, they didn’t need to defend at all, only to attack with full force.

A mud beast entangled a demon spirit, constricting it like a snake, preventing it from moving.

But the demon spirit was strong and almost broke free in its struggle.

Suddenly, another mud beast charged over and with a splat, pressed its damp body on top of the demon spirit.

Then there was a scream from the void demon spirit, which quickly fell silent. It was suffocated to death on the spot.

One by one, the void demon spirits fought fiercely. Even with no effect, they did not retreat.

Soon the last demon spirit was killed, and Lin Xin withdrew his spell.

He had the mud beasts devour part of the corpses, and the dwarves carried the rest back to the city.

Along the way, he also began to study the changes in the Dao weapons after the slaughter.

"After the slaughter, the Dao weapons absorb a minute, inexplicable substance from the void demon spirits. If I can directly refine this substance, perhaps I could rapidly improve the quality of the Dao weapons."

Lin Xin clearly noticed that, after battling with the void demon spirits, the average quality of the Dao weapons seemed to have increased somewhat.

Although this increase was not much, if the battles happened frequently, it would be considerable.

After leading his thirty Dao weapons to sweep around the red dots, Lin Xin continuously used spells to cover all the Dao weapons with a protective membrane.

In this way, the Dao weapons were all offense and no defense, without any damage whatsoever.

However, during the fifth wave, Lin Xin deliberately withdrew the protection, having a mud beast and a dwarf cooperate against a void demon spirit.

But the outcome was tragic. In just two encounters, the void demon spirit joyfully tore them open, and their only achievement was cracking its head slightly.

After clearing out the small tribes in the vicinity, Lin Xin led the team back to the fortress, and he could clearly feel that his Dao weapons had enhanced by about ten percent in all aspects.

This method of combat seemed to be effective indeed, and the speed was very fast.

He pondered for a moment, then after returning, called over a dwarf and inscribed a speed-boosting formation on it. He embedded a Spirit Stone as the power source.

The dwarf’s speed did indeed increase, but the Spirit Stone only lasted less than half an hour before completely turning to ash.

In the Outer Regions of the Void, the consumption rate of Spirit Stones was far beyond that in the Mortal Realm or Underworld.

Lin Xin shook his head, realizing this approach was counterproductive. It seemed that direct formation enhancement was not viable either.

He had to think of another method. However, being versed in many secret techniques and possessing formidable abilities, he was not without recourse.

If all else failed, he could take some time to reset his own Formation Path, then trade the Array Plate for other Dao weapons."

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

Somewhere in the outer regions of the Void, a massive cloud of dark fog drifted slowly towards the small world landmass where Lin Xin resided.

Within the fog, countless Void demon spirits floated like slumbering infants, curled into fetal positions, still not awakened.

However, as an indescribable, extremely faint breath passed by, suddenly numerous Void demon spirits gradually started to stir, opening their mouths to make unconscious heaving sounds.

They seemed to have sensed the scent of something unknown, turning their heads in the direction of Lin Xin’s location.

The entire cloud of fog, initially moving slowly, suddenly accelerated towards Lin Xin’s direction.

In this cloud of fog, there were at least hundreds of thousands of Void demon spirits, and among them, one that was more than twice the size of a regular demon spirit writhed, its body not black, but with faint hints of red.

Had a cultivator seen this, they would have immediately recognized this to be a true Void Demon General. Their individual strength was not strong, but if they could amass a large number of Void demon spirits, they could reach a level that even a Human Immortal of the fifth rank would somewhat fear.

This was considered a first-level disaster in the outer regions of the Void.

After all, for those of the fifth rank, all troubles of a low rank were completely negligible and not worth noting. Only the Void Demon Generals counted as a real tough nut to crack.

"Haha....." It bellowed loudly, emitting a kind of driving sound.

Immediately, the fog flew even faster. By its speed, it was feared that in a few days it might reach the location where Lin Xin was.

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

Click.

Lin Xin inserted a new Spirit Stone into the Array Plate of the Concealment Formation.

The consumption of Spiritual Energy in the outer regions of the Void was enormous, and the rate was frightening. He had already swapped out quite a few Spirit Stones these past few days.

Moreover, he had a vague premonition that his presence here might have begun to attract the attention of the surrounding mid-sized demon spirit tribes.

Each of these mid-sized demon spirit tribes had at least hundreds of thousands in number. Although they might not necessarily have high-level demon spirits, they were fierce and unafraid of death, much like locusts that could sweep over and devour any consumable material.

The resonance effect would become apparent when there were several hundreds of thousands of Void demon spirits, the greater the number, the brighter the Spiritual Light they generated, which could amplify the strength of their peers.

Certain magical weapons naturally possessed this ability too, but only at a high level.

He himself was not afraid, but the spell method he had just acquired could prove to be troublesome, as it could be overwhelmed and annihilated in an instant.

Lin Xin stood up, reactivating the Array Plate to conceal his presence.

With his strength at the third level of the fifth rank, he naturally did not worry about the mischief of small groups of demon spirits, but the challenge of dealing with several hundreds of thousands of Void demon spirits was beyond even him.

The portal could not be opened at any time, it could only be activated once every year. So, if he was discovered now, there really would be no way out, and he could only stand firm.

"The premonition should not be wrong, it seems that a large swarm of Void demon spirits has discovered me. I must hasten to enhance the strength of my magical weapons," Lin Xin thought to himself.

The way of formation is all about manipulating Elemental Energy, and Elemental Energy is not merely comprised of Spiritual Energy.

Demonic Qi, demonic power, and Evil Qi are all among the elements that can be manipulated.

The flow of energy contained within the bodies of these Void demon spirits also constituted a type of qi, which should pose no problem.

Lin Xin rose from his seat and walked to the side of the small hall, where various bones and carcasses of Void demon spirits were displayed. Some had been dissected by him beyond recognition, some had been decapitated with limbs strewn apart, like broken toy figures.

As a Grandmaster of the Formation Path, Lin Xin had long surpassed the energy restrictions of common talismans. He had spent these days designing a new method to modify the structure of his magical weapons.

After dissecting hundreds of Void demon spirits, he had already gained a preliminary idea.

Looking at the scattered remains around him, Lin Xin narrowed his eyes and scanned the area.

The thoughts in his mind became clearer and clearer.

With a flip of his hand, a black rock streaked with silver spots appeared in his palm.

"Go set up the formation like this," he instructed.

Having made up his mind, Lin Xin mentally summoned a group of dwarves to get moving,

Over thirty dwarves burst out swiftly, scattering to all sides of the fortress, hammering away.

Lin Xin also corrected the dwarves’ mistakes through a mental connection from time to time.

Soon, the strongest formation currently at Lin Xin’s disposal was laid out by the dwarves, protecting the Snow Ice Fortress at the center.

This formation, which Lin Xin had obtained by scouring the Underworld for many years, was a fifth-rank formation with relentless might—the defense it provided could be sustained as long as there was Spirit Jade, replicating the terrifying effect of a fifth rank Human Immortal’s full force.

But now, it had been modified by Lin Xin to be supported by a variety of energy sources.

Spirit Stones and Spirit Jade would work, as well as Black Que Stone.

The only difference was that the formation’s might would vary depending on the energy source used.

This was the formation he had chosen, and it would operate well over a short period of time.

In combination with the Concealment Formation, it could certainly protect the newly repaired Snow Ice Fortress for a while, awaiting the development of his magical weapons.

After instructing the dwarves to set up the formation, Lin Xin released some Spirit Jade as the energy source for the formation.

These were his savings from his time in the Underworld.

In addition, he was also researching low-level formations, which are characterized by their independence from Spirit Stones. Instead, they could autonomously harness the free Elemental Energy between heaven and earth as a consumable energy source.

Such formations could summon creatures of a fixed frequency, and also produce various low-level formation effects.

Lin Xin’s grand idea was to use formation talismans to remedy the shortcoming of his magical weapons, which couldn’t cover all Attribute Abilities.

In other words, he planned to directly modify the very construction of his magical weapons to transform them into different types capable of housing more soul content, much like those in the Underworld.

And where would the surplus souls come from? Naturally, they would need to be supplemented from elsewhere.