Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 65 Shu Ruoyun Up

Chapter 65: Chapter 65 Shu Ruoyun Up

The somewhat gloomy archive room was situated to the north of Tingjian Valley, by a small waterfall.

Not many people visited this place, just a few disciples assigned to guard it, and an old man with white hair was rocking a palm-leaf fan while lying at the entrance, resting his spirit.

When Lin Xin emerged from the mountain path, this was the scene he encountered.

The old man was bare-chested and beside him lay a black cat, also dozing off.

The archive room was a small tower, entirely gray-white, almost merging into one with the surrounding grayish leaves and trees. Its surface was also dotted with brownish spots, the cause of which was unknown. Several yellow-green birds were chirping incessantly on the tower’s roof.

Lin Xin walked straight toward the tower’s door, and as he approached, two men with black beards came out. They glanced at him but without speaking, hurried off.

Lin Xin also sized up the two men, sensing that they seemed powerful, yet not quite reaching the Qi Cultivation Realm.

He strode into the tower’s entrance. On the right side within the door, there stood a sign reading: Do not remove.

The inside of the tower was rather dark, lit only by a few beams of light streaming through the windows, its sole source of illumination. There weren’t many bookshelves, just five rows.

The people consulting the archives were either squatting or standing, the numbers sparse.

Having had prior experience at Law Transmission Forest, Lin Xin went straight to the labels pasted on the side of the bookshelves, one by one searching for the classification area of the materials he needed.

He quickly found the content related to Sword Qi Talismans. These items were quite popular among Qi Refinement Realm experts, with many high-level practitioners liking to create them for their juniors as protection. However, their production was costly, not only in terms of expense but also because crafting them could delay the creator’s own advancement in cultivation.

Lin Xin casually checked and discovered that there were over ten types of Sword Qi Talismans, most of which had similar ways of use. The most common type involved aiming in a certain direction and activating with Inner Strength, which was quite simple, just like his Talisman Formation.

After flipping through the materials on the Sword Qi Talismans, he began to search for information about the five black metal blocks.

Many booklets featured drawings, but after he browsed through the section on miscellaneous curiosities, he found nothing and started to frown.

After an unsuccessful search, he simply began to walk around the archive tower, slowly inspecting the labels on each bookshelf.

The archive tower appeared tall but had only two layers inside.

Finding nothing of interest on the first layer, he went straight to the second layer, where just a few people were browsing. At the entrance to the second floor, there stood a wooden sign that read: Miscellaneous Foreign Texts.

He casually flipped through a booklet and was confronted with a language he couldn’t understand. The characters were twisted and bent in every direction, indecipherable as to their origin.

Luckily, there weren’t many books on the second layer, just two bookshelves set far apart, each adorned with a few bamboo slips, bound into volumes.

Lin Xin took down a volume. He did not recognize the text, but he could comprehend some of the diagrams.

The diagrams depicted various plants and other objects. Some shapes were bizarre and grotesque, others eerily vicious, and some extremely simple.

His interest was piqued; the contents here might record sightings from faraway places.

Seeing that it was still early outside, he chose to follow the example of a person not far away, sat down on the spot, and began to read the bamboo slips volume by volume.

Time trickled by little by little. Before he knew it, more than an hour had passed.

Lin Xin inadvertently flipped through a bamboo slip and suddenly saw in a very small corner a pattern that looked vaguely familiar.

"Eh?"

He let out a soft exclamation, carefully examining the pattern, and felt it somewhat resembled the designs on his metal blocks.

Many unreadable characters were recorded around the pattern.

However, there were subsequent illustrations below.

He followed them down one by one only to find that the subsequent images became blurry—seemingly due to the great age, and since no one had maintained these slips, the patterns were somewhat faded.

In the second picture, the pattern was being smeared with blood from a wound by a hand.

The third picture showed the entire pattern completely covered in blood. The fourth picture depicted the pattern being placed into fire and burning, releasing thin strands of smoke-like substances.

In the illustrations that followed, that smoke was absorbed by a monstrous figure with three heads and six arms, after which there was no further information.

"Big brother, do you also like ghost and sprite scripts?" Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded behind Lin Xin.

He jumped in surprise, turned his head to look, and realized Dongyue had appeared behind him at some point, curiously staring at the bamboo slip in his hands.

He suppressed a flicker of strangeness in his heart—this Dongyue was definitely not as simple as he seemed on the surface. However, outwardly, he maintained a composed expression.

"How did you find your way here?"

Dongyue plopped down next to Lin Xin.

"Come on, big brother, don’t be such a stranger," he said with a grin. "I’ve been studying the language of the ghosts and specters for a while now and can understand some of it. How about I translate for you? We’ll call it even with the hundred Jade Money you borrowed from me, what do you say?"

"How do you know I don’t understand the language of ghosts and specters?" Lin Xin’s heart stirred, but his face remained expressionless.

Dongyue immediately chuckled in a hushed tone.

"Isn’t it obvious? You were just looking at the pictures.... And, you’re holding the bamboo slips upside down...."

Lin Xin was momentarily speechless.

He took another look at the bamboo slips in his hand, turned them right side up, and immediately noticed that the pattern was distinctly shaped like a token. The creature with three heads and six arms appeared to be deeply underground, looking upwards and inhaling smoke.

"This is a record of the Demon Talisman Seed," Dongyue whispered, "Nothing special. Demon Talisman Seeds are found in many places, though they’re not numerous, and they are widely distributed. I’ve seen these bamboo slips before. They say that the Demon Talisman Seed was used a very, very long time ago for sacrifices to the mighty beings of the Underworld. As for other uses, none have been found. It’s impervious to fire and water, very tough, and nobody has yet discovered what else it can be used for."

Lin Xin was intrigued.

"Didn’t you say it can be used for sacrifices?"

"That was a long, long time ago. Some have tried to use it for sacrifices, but to no avail. Following the procedure outlined here doesn’t change anything, it remains untouched, without any reaction," Dongyue said, shrugging his shoulders. "Remember, big brother, you agreed to hire me as your ghost and specter language translator for a salary of a hundred Jade Money a month. How about it?"

Lin Xin, speechless, thought the kid was always fixated on money. He thought it over and directly agreed.

"Alright, you can start by telling me about the Demon Talisman Seed."

"What’s there to say about it?" Dongyue pouted. "Some people in the sect have collected it, but no one has been able to discover its purpose. It makes for a good weapon to throw at someone. Very hard."

"So that means it’s not that rare?" Lin Xin was slightly disappointed.

"Though it’s not everywhere, it can be found in many places. It’s just that it’s rather sparsely distributed. Did you get your hands on this thing?" Dongyue detected the implication.

Lin Xin didn’t conceal the fact, nodding in response. Since it wasn’t considered a rare item, there was no need for secrecy.

"I got a few pieces."

"Then throwing it at someone isn’t a bad idea," Dongyue laughed. "But you could also try following the diagrams here, who knows, you might actually get in touch with some super powerful presence. If it really works, you’ll strike it rich."

Lin Xin could tell he was being teased but ignored him. Still, he memorized the diagrams before getting up with the bamboo slips in hand.

"Dongyue, you do seem to know quite a lot. Come on, let’s go out for a walk."

"Sure thing," Dongyue followed Lin Xin, bouncing excitedly.

Once they left the tower gate, the old doorman opened his eyes, glanced at them, lingered on Dongyue for a moment, then closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Lin Xin led the way, meandering along the mountain path through the grey and white forest.

"You’re well-informed. Tell me, has anything significant happened in the sect lately?"

Dongyue said cheerfully,

"The Tingjian Valley event, big brother. The biennial Tingjian Valley event has begun, with prizes that include various Spirit Pills, Magic Artifacts, and Array Plates. That’s the biggest news lately."

"The Tingjian Valley event?"

"Yes, the selection event for outer disciples. Those who excel not only have the chance to win prizes but might also be taken as disciples by the Foundation Establishment Stewards from upstairs. It’s a great chance to leap through the Dragon Gate," Dongyue said, chuckling.

He suddenly looked Lin Xin up and down.

"Big brother, with your powerful stride and keen gaze, you must be close to Innate, right? You could participate too. I heard that the Formation Hall has been praising you, saying they have high hopes for you."

"Ah? Formation Hall?" Lin Xin was slightly taken aback. He suddenly remembered the eccentric old granny he often went to consult in the Law Transmission Forest of the Formation Hall. Apart from her, he hadn’t interacted with anyone from the Formation Hall. Could it be that this rumor originated from the old granny?

"Yes, the Formation Hall," Dongyue nodded. "Among the six halls, the Formation Hall has the fewest fledglings, and they’ve become quite inconspicuous in recent years. After all, as you know, we, the marked named disciples with a high casualty rate, initially choose the simplest self-preservation techniques to enhance our combat strength. Many also aim for the Elixir Hall’s Alchemy Dao which enables rapid improvement of cultivation. Therefore, the Sword Hall and Elixir Hall are the most popular, with many disciples. The other four halls are much quieter. Due to the immense difficulty, not many disciples go to the Law Transmission Forest of the Formation Hall each year. Big brother, your story has already spread."

Lin Xin was speechless.

He thought he had kept a low profile, but his name had become well-known nonetheless.

"Big brother, you know how it is, Sword Valley isn’t considered big or small, but ever since you unsuccessfully challenged the Innate Realm and fought with Kun Si Lang, you’ve made a name for yourself. People have ranked you just behind the ’Four Shows’ after you went out on the mission, achieving such rapid progress in such a short time. Many consider you to have promising prospects in Qi Cultivation," Dongyue explained softly.

"They’re thinking too much," Lin Xin said indifferently. He didn’t care about the empty reputation, but now that the Formation Path was exposed, he could legitimately display his talent in Formations and hope the sect would take more notice of him. After all, he had been in the sect for a while now, and the time buffer was there. Learning a simple Formation in just over half a year was not unprecedented even for a Formation genius.

The two chatted as they walked, and after a while, Dongyue excused himself as he had something to do and left.