Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 654 - 649: Mission Three

Chapter 654: Chapter 649: Mission Three

Without realizing it, a night had passed.

In the early morning, Lin Xin rose and walked to the window, and he also noticed a small compartment on the wall beside it.

He casually opened it to find a row of thirty-six strings, each tied to a wooden tag.

Each string had a tag carved with a number.

They were numbered from one to thirty-six.

"What’s this?"

He frowned, reflecting on something.

His gaze shifted to the garden below the window.

This was the fifth floor of the tower. In the gardens below, seven or eight beautiful young girls were tending to the flowers, each with distinctive postures.

A number was stitched onto the light gauze clothing on their shoulders.

"Truly... licentious."

Lin Xin shook his head in disbelief.

At night, pulling on a string would indicate his choice, and the chosen girl would enter his room through a secret passage for his pleasure.

Such a design was truly...

He had figured it out; this situation must have been conceived from the demands of the cultivators who had come before him.

He also wondered, the highest combat power here was only at the Golden Core stage, why would they need him, a fifth-rank Human Immortal, to personally come down to the Lower Realm?

But now it seemed that these people descended to the Lower Realm more for enjoyment than anything else.

This mission was probably just a leisurely amusement. No wonder the contribution points were so low.

As for why it appeared among fifth-rank tasks, it was probably because after reaching the Human Immortal realm, one’s sensitivity to and control of space was strongest, preventing the space from breaking due to one’s strong presence, avoiding accidental harm to the Sect’s members.

After resting in the room for a while, a young girl brought up some food and drinks.

There were the freshest fruits and the most exquisite dishes, filling up a large table, with a girl standing by, ready to serve at any moment.

Lin Xin quickly finished his meal and had the girls clear up the leftovers.

"Du Ning?"

"At your service, sir."

Du Ning emerged from the left side of the door, bowing slightly.

"Inform the Sect Leader to resolve the affairs quickly, I can’t afford to waste time here."

Lin Xin was not used to staying in this place, where the Heaven and Earth’s Elemental Energy was too weak, and its concentration too low. The Taiqing Qi that could normally be restored in one breath now took more than ten breaths.

Staying here too long was simply a waste of life.

"Yes, sir," Du Ning responded earnestly and quickly left.

Shortly after, having had his mouthwash tea, Lin Xin heard that Elder Qing Qiu Zheng Ran was rushing over to request an audience from outside the door.

"Come in."

Lin Xin sat cross-legged on the wooden bed in the room, instructing someone to light a stick of sandalwood incense.

Qing Qiu Zheng Ran walked in slowly.

"Please forgive me, Immortal General, I have collected some information about the whereabouts of that demon. But the exact details of their location are elusive..."

"Give me something that retains their aura, like an item."

Lin Xin said impatiently.

"That’s easy."

Qing Qiu Zheng Ran quickly had someone bring a small piece of black jade pendant.

It was carved with three black dragons and had a large character "Xu" inscribed on it.

"This is the personal jade pendant of that demon, the Third Prince Xu Hong."

"Good."

After Lin Xin took it and sensed it for a moment, he immediately felt a trace of the living person’s aura on it.

"You all split up and go capture the other targets. If you encounter them, immediately activate this mark," he ordered.

Lin Xin extended his hand, and a stack of semi-transparent runic marks appeared in front of the old man.

The marks were silver-white, burning with a faint red flame.

As Qing Qiu Zheng Ran reached out his hand to take the runic marks, he suddenly felt a gust of wind pass by.

The Immortal General before him had vanished in an instant.

The window shook slightly, as if a strong wind had swept through.

Lin Xin mounted the cloud Qi, soared into the sky and flew away from the mountains where the Taoist temple was located, shooting towards the distance.

The aura from the black jade pendant in his hand began to churn, and similarly, far in the west, an identical aura rolled.

The range of this small world was much smaller compared to the Mortal Realm.

After flying rapidly for more than an hour, mountains, rivers, and towns of the Human Race retreated swiftly below.

The signal that Lin Xin was sensing grew closer and more intense.

Finally, within a continuous range of Red Pine Forest mountains ahead, the aura was just within reach.

Lin Xin descended from the clouds, heading straight for the source of the aura.

The Red Pine Forest on the ground rapidly grew larger, and amidst the dense pines, an aged woman in red, apparently instructing a young man in the art of swordsmanship, became visible.

At the sound, they both looked up in unison to gaze at the sky, seeing Lin Xin’s eyes looking back at them.

"Who dares to...!!"

Boom!!!

The forest floor exploded, lighting up with a terrifying white light spanning hundreds of meters in diameter, devouring all the surrounding pine trees and grass.

Lin Xin did not hold back as he struck, leveraging the force of his high-speed flight to slam down powerfully.

His sheer speed of flight meant that the force of impact was comparable to the full blow of a Core Formation stage cultivator.

The ground shook violently, and clouds of dust and debris were blasted into the air.

After a long while, the dust finally settled, revealing a huge, deep, round pit in the center.

The woman in red stood holding a dim, cracked short knife in one hand and shielding the young man with her other hand.

"Who are you!"

She demanded fiercely, staring at Lin Xin. She was positioned on the edge of the pit, a good distance, tens of meters apart from where she had been before the impact.

Lin Xin slowly straightened up and regarded the two of them.

The woman’s expression was grave, and threads of black Demonic Qi were faintly swirling around her body, suggesting that she was indeed the demon which had broken the seal.

The young man behind her had an inherently dignified air, even in the face of danger; his expression was slightly tense but composed, without a trace of panic. He was likely the Third Prince mentioned in the intelligence.

"Are you the escaped demon and the Third Prince?"

He asked indifferently.

"Who are you...?" The woman in red spoke coldly. Suddenly, her expression changed as she recognized the clothes and attire on Lin Xin.

"You’re from the Qingyun Sect!"

Behind her, there was a faint fluctuation of mana, clearly engaging in some minor trickery.

"I am an Immortal General from the Qingyun Sect of the Upper Realm, specifically here to suppress the evil demon." Lin Xin spoke calmly, for in the face of absolute strength, all forms of resistance were futile.

"An Immortal General? Everyone from the Qingyun Sect must die!"

The woman’s expression changed slightly as she waved her hand fiercely, and countless streaks of black Qi shot out, transforming into human faces and charging towards Lin Xin.

"Useless."

Lin Xin stood still, letting the black Qi strike him.

Pfft pfft pfft...

One after another, the black Qi was dispersed by the protective aura.

"Burning Body."

Lin Xin pointed with his hand, instantly casting a fire technique.

The fire techniques he mastered all had corresponding spells for each rank.

From low to high, from First Rank to Fifth Rank, he had learned them all. The Burning Body Technique was a First Rank spell from the Fire System.

Whoosh!

A burst of reddish flames suddenly appeared around the woman and the Third Prince, engulfing and burning the two of them.

But as a First Rank fire technique, it was ultimately only First Rank. Black Qi could be faintly seen dissipating within the flames, clearly resisting with all its might.

"Burning Heart."

With another point of his finger, Lin Xin released another First Rank fire technique.

At that moment, the woman let out a piercing scream, her voice tinged with a hint of irritability.

Burning Heart used fire elemental energy to trigger the heart’s fire, causing it to become agitated and the body to lose balance.

In Lin Xin’s hands, because of his cultivation practice in the Fire Cloud Technique, the power of all Fire System spells tripled.

In the realm of First and Second Rank techniques, this was equivalent to a one-rank increase in power.

Furthermore, given the intrinsic disparity in the quality of spells, the top-tier spells of the Human World were far beyond what such a lower world could match.

A First Rank in the Human World was stronger than a Second Rank here.

With these changes, Lin Xin’s two First Rank techniques trapped the woman and her companion.

"Surrender or die."

Lin Xin stated blandly.

"Never!!"

The woman shouted shrilly.

"Then die."

Lin Xin could not be bothered with further words and pointed once more.

Boom!!

A large orb of white fire exploded at the position of the two beings.

"No!!"

Suddenly a streak of black light shot out from the flames.

The man’s furious cries could be heard.

"Master!!"

The voice carried a trace of despair and agony.

"Sacrificing your life and soul just to send your disciple away?"

Lin Xin’s mouth curved coldly as he murmured two syllables.

An inexplicable sound vibrated, shaking the heaven and earth’s elemental energy and gathering all the fire-type forces into one place.

Boom!!

A three-meter-long black flame spider burst forth from the void, letting out a sharp shriek.

Without hesitation, the fire spider precisely caught the fleeing black light in its mouth and swallowed it whole.

On the other side, the white fireball dissipated, leaving behind only some remnants of a magic artifact; the woman was dead beyond doubt.

As the black light, which was the Third Prince, was consumed by the fire spider, it too was reduced to nothing.

"How uninteresting."

Lin Xin shook his head slightly and with a wave of his hand, the fire spider dispersed and vanished, with only some white ash left on the ground—this was all that remained of the Third Prince.

Looking around and finding no further traces, he tossed aside the black jade pendant he was holding and shot up into the sky.

Suddenly, he uttered a soft sound of surprise as something seemed to pull at his heart. He stopped abruptly.

The figure that had just soared halted quickly.

Hovering in mid-air, he flew towards the place where the remnants of the Third Prince had been devoured and digested by the fire spider, and carefully sifted through the white ashes.

A black metal token appeared, engraved with a monster that had three heads and six arms, continuously exhaling smoke from its mouth and nostrils.

"Is this... a Demon Talisman Seed?"

His heart sank.

It had been so many years; this was the first time he’d seen a Demon Talisman Seed since his reincarnation to the Mortal Realm. And this Demon Talisman Seed was even resistant to being burned by fire.

"The rise of this Third Prince must be related to the Youfu. Perhaps he is a child of the Youfu himself?"

He suddenly speculated.

Picking up the Demon Talisman Seed, he checked the woman’s remaining ashes once more but found nothing else of note. Only then did he get up and fly away.

About half an hour later, Lin Xin felt a tremble from the mark he had left.

He swiftly changed direction and flew towards the source of the message.

After crossing a dense forest and two majestic snowy mountain ranges, a vast green prairie gradually appeared before him.

The Sect Leader of the Qing Yuan Sect was encircling a small mountain with his people, and a dense crowd of officials and cultivators holding torches surrounded them as if facing a formidable enemy.

In the middle of the small mountain, a pale yellow cloud constantly circled overhead.

Within the cloud floated a gaunt Taoist, his eyes slightly closed, indifferent to the besieging parties.

"Floral Shadow Taoist, I, an Immortal General of the Green Lake Mountain’s Qing Yuan Sect, have descended to the Lower Realm to support the Righteous Path. Why must you insist on fighting like a trapped beast and seek your own destruction?"

Qing Yuan Sect Leader Qing Qiu spoke in a clear and loud voice.

"After knowing each other for hundreds of years, the Floral Shadow Sect was not established easily. Why must you protect the evil demon Xu Hong and thus ruin a millennium of foundation in an instant?"