Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 651 - 646 Selecting Merits Four

Chapter 651: Chapter 646 Selecting Merits Four

The Black Fire Lion became faint and disoriented. It swayed and was knocked flying a good distance, yet it tried to stand back up.

It was immediately caught up to and brutally slashed by Lin Xin at the same spot—the previous wound.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Time and again, the impacts resounded.

Without any spell methods or divine skills, in a Polar Region state, the Black Fire Lion was repeatedly slashed by Lin Xin, unable to unleash its realm’s suppression.

If it were a cultivator, perhaps relying on the self-destruction of a magic artifact, one could buy a little breathing time to fully deploy the realm’s suppression.

But the Black Fire Lion was helpless in that regard; though it was tougher than cultivators of the same level, it ultimately lacked intelligence.

Its formidable strength merely resulted from its bloodline. In terms of application, it was naturally far inferior to the cultivators who had painstakingly practiced.

This crude and primal fight lasted for over ten minutes.

Within the Polar Region for over ten minutes, Lin Xin continuously struck three hundred and eighty-one swords, each slash a full force explosion of power and speed.

After swinging, even he himself was forcibly exhaling air, trying to recover his strength.

The Black Fire Lion finally had half of its head cleaved away and suffered heavy injuries, collapsing on the ground, its life hanging by a thread.

Its strength was formidable, its skin tough, and its body was immune to all low-level Fire System spell methods. It also had a protective black flame shield.

When faced with other cultivators, it might have been their bane.

But against Lin Xin, the tables were turned.

His strength was nearly equal to that of the Black Fire Lion, but he was faster, just as tough—practically a humanoid divine beast!

With a ferocious roar, the Black Fire Lion disregarded the realm’s suppression and engaged in a fight with Lin Xin, its bloodline inheritance of combat techniques also close to perfection.

The two fought wildly inside the pillar of fire, brute force against brute force, where spell methods were entirely ineffective.

The Black Fire Lion directly let out several black fireballs at Lin Xin, all to no avail.

Both were truly incensed.

Lin Xin’s arm started to swell significantly, and although he gripped both the Red Flower Sword and the Yinluo Sword with all his might, his hands were slightly trembling.

His back was struck by the Black Fire Lion’s tail, leaving several bloody gashes. Due to the Heavenly Demon Army Master’s intimidation, he couldn’t recover quickly.

As time ticked by, the two entered a war of attrition.

Gradually, the Black Fire Lion began to falter, its nostrils slowly seeping blood as thick as lava.

Lin Xin’s chest cavity was caved in, and he was gasping for air, his face covered in sweat and blood, his previous appearance completely gone.

Boom!

The Black Fire Lion eventually collapsed, suspended in midair within the fire pillar, devoid of any strength to move.

Around its body, wisps of black gas began to dissipate, swirling like a storm, vast amounts of black energy flowing from its body and dispersing.

Soon, its core was exposed, revealing an irregularly shaped, transparent stone.

Lin Xin reached out and drew it into his hand.

"The heart core of the Black Fire Lion should be this. It seems my physical strength indeed does not belong to a fifth-rank peak divine beast.

A fifth-rank peak divine beast’s realm is not enough to suppress human race cultivators. Their main approach is to rely on their robust bodies and fight fiercely by charging in.

In that case, I too can use my body to forcibly break through the suppression of the realm’s advantage."

Lin Xin roughly assessed this battle, and compared to the Black Fire Lion, he had indeed reached the peak power of the fifth-rank Perfection.

Having understood the limit of his body’s attribute strength, he swiftly left the pillar of Yin Fire — that place was too dangerous.

Even fifth-rank Perfection monsters could be encountered. Moreover, the Black Fire Lion was not truly dead; it would revive after a short while. It was better to leave sooner rather than later.

No wonder his senior brother specifically warned him when he provided the information: this was not a place to enter lightly. It was one of the most dangerous places in the entire Dragon Serpent Realm.

Silently taking the heart core of the Black Fire Lion, Lin Xin spent a few days flying back to the stone house. He set down his ’Door of Bewilderment’ and some other important items, securing them in the stone house with a simple Formation.

He didn’t want to repeat the last bitter struggle, where all the items and spatial equipment on his body were completely damaged and lost. The losses were so heavy they were almost indescribable.

All the resources he had accumulated over the years in the Underworld were wiped clean in an instant, leaving nothing behind.

He had to learn from this experience.

Afterward, it was time to head to the Deep Fire Palace.

Because he was injured, the Dragon Serpent Elder had always been recuperating in the Dragon Serpent Realm, either with his main body or a clone, and could be found at any time.

He flew swiftly to the great gates of the Deep Fire Palace.

The grand door gradually opened automatically, revealing the dark red hall inside.

Lin Xin strode into it.

"Honored Master."

"Ah, Lieshan," the Dragon Serpent still sat majestically on his throne, posture seemingly unchanged. Hearing the sound, he slowly opened his eyes, his gaze carrying a trace of warmth as he looked at Lin Xin.

"Anything the matter?"

"Disciple wishes to venture out for experience. My cultivation has recently hit a bottleneck; it seems futile to continue closed-door cultivation."

Lin Xin spoke respectfully.

"Venturing out for experiences?" The Dragon Serpent slightly pinched his fingers together. "Fine, your opportunity lies to the north. To break through, you indeed need to go out. Go, be careful, and take precautions in everything."

"Yes, Honored Master," Lin Xin replied respectfully. He slowly exited.

Leaving the Deep Fire Palace, he immediately activated the Jade Talisman and got in touch with a few close friends.

The first was Feng Huai; this time, he owed him a big favor.

A gentle wave of too-pure energy was channeled into the Jade Talisman, and instantly, a pale cyan transparent light screen appeared in front of his eyes, with a list of contact names and symbols displayed.

Lin Xin selected Feng Huai’s symbol.

Instantly, it was as if through a telephone, a faint whistling sound came through, reminiscent of flute music gradually filling the air.

After the flute-like sound played for a while, there was a click, and the sound of a connection being made came through.

"Lin brother? Have you left your retreat? I was just having a little nap."

"It’s morning here, though." Lin Xin laughed.

"That’s the time difference for you, it’s morning in the Dragon Serpent Realm, but it’s already past noon here," Feng Huai chuckled in response, "How have you been these days? Adjusting well to the Dragon Serpent Realm?"

"Not too bad, apart from it being a bit barren and sparsely populated, everything else is fine."

"The Dragon Serpent Realm is connected to the Earth Fire Realm; sometimes powerful monsters from the Earth Fire Realm seep through. Be careful about your safety," advised Feng Huai, sincerely treating Lin Xin as a friend.

"I know. I’ve been here long enough, and I’m planning to go out for some experience soon. Any suggestions, Brother Feng?"

Lin Xin was not actually familiar with Green Lake Mountain, so he first sought advice from Feng Huai.

"That’s easy, you can head over to the main Sect of Green Lake Mountain, where you’ll find tasks suited to your level for training.

"Only tasks of a higher rank will be helpful to someone at your level. But don’t aim too high; it’s pointless for you to take on tasks that only Earth Immortals can handle."

Feng Huai explained, "However, the main Sect of Green Lake Mountain is quite far from the Dragon Serpent Realm, you’d need to use Teleportation Formations over ten times, and it’s quite pricey. Instead, I have some tasks here, I’ll transfer them to you first. Let me send you a projection of the task wall."

Suddenly, he broke off the conversation abruptly.

"Ah, I’m getting ahead of myself, your senior and master should have it, the task wall. Just go to them and record the Jade Talisman channel frequency. Then you can receive tasks via the Jade Talisman yourself."

"Task wall?"

"Just mention it to your senior or someone and they’ll understand," Feng Huai said with a laugh, "But do be wary. Some of the cultivators involved in these tasks are from Green Lake Mountain, but most are not. The task wall is a massive platform, posting tasks that are available to all Sects and all sufficiently ranked powers at the same time.

"Behind it is a mysteriously powerful organization in operation. Although it might not compare to our Green Lake Mountain, it is not to be taken lightly.

"So you must be careful; even amongst your teammates on a task, you can’t trust anyone lightly."

"Got it," Lin Xin nodded, "I’ll give it a try. If anything comes up, just call me directly, don’t be a stranger."

"Don’t worry, what are we, friends?" Feng Huai agreed readily, then faint voices of girls could be heard faintly in the background.

"Alright, alright, enough talk, I’ve got things to do."

With those words accompanied by the weak moaning of girls, clearly not engaged in anything serious.

The link was cut off, and Lin Xin was speechless.

Pocketing the Jade Talisman, he made a beeline for his senior, Oro.

Following the main lava river, he dove straight in and saw a pitch-black cave that extended several meters into the river.

Entering the cave, there were flame-shaped guards inside; when they saw Lin Xin, they all saluted him.

"Greetings, Elder Lieshan."

"Where’s my senior brother?"

Lin Xin asked casually.

"The king is resting in Majestic Spirit Hall, Elder, you may go directly to find him," replied one of the flame beings respectfully.

They were powerful spirits that Oro had been cultivating in the volcano for over a thousand years, naturally possessing no small intelligence.

Lin Xin followed the cave tunnel forward, passing through several forks, skillfully turning into a palace decorated with blood-red symbols on a black and red background.

Oro was moving his fingers over a white jade platform, seemingly drawing something.

"Is my younger brother here?"

"Senior brother, I’ve come to record the task wall frequencies," Lin Xin said straight to the point.

"Task wall?" Oro stopped his motion and looked up at Lin Xin.

"You want to go out for training?"

"Yes. The Honored Master has already agreed," Lin Xin nodded.

"That’s simple," Oro said, taking out a Jade Talisman and shining it towards Lin Xin.

Shh!

A green light immediately shot out, like a spirit snake, burrowing into the Jade Talisman on Lin Xin’s chest.

Lin Xin immediately felt a rush of information flood into the Jade Talisman.

"Thank you, senior brother."

"Be careful with everything. If you encounter something you can’t handle, you can call me through the Jade Talisman," Oro thought for a moment, then ordered someone to bring over a box.

He walked over personally, handing the black box to Lin Xin.

"This is a Bisheng Flower I’ve treasured for many years. When you find yourself in an insoluble predicament, this flower can instantly create a duplicate of you, identical in aura. It can’t attack, but even its soul, its endurance, and Escape Skill are the same as yours and under your control. It can last for three hours; after three hours, the duplicate will disperse.

"You can use it to distract powerful enemies and escape dire situations."

Lin Xin solemnly took the box, gently opening it to reveal a transparent, emerald green five-petal flower, with a faint white liquid flowing within, from which a strange spatial fluctuation constantly emanated.

"Thank you, senior brother!"

He knew how precious such a life-saving item was; at their level of power, objects that could produce such formidable effects were extremely rare.

Thus, he took it with great seriousness and reverence.

ps: ___ Following the agreement made with everyone previously on the worker number, I’ve posted a photo as requested. If you’re interested, go take a look...

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