Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 693 - 688 Development Four

Chapter 693: Chapter 688 Development Four

With this arrangement, once Lin Xin had recruited disciples with decent aptitude, he would be able to have them relocate here with their families, to become his own subjects.

He surveyed his entire realm of wasteland from above.

"Now, this wasteland should no longer be called wasteland."

Lin Xin distinctly felt that after the great battle, the concentration of spiritual energy in the air of the wasteland seemed to have increased significantly.

Originally, after the Golden Goddess statue was erected, the concentration of spiritual power in the air was roughly at the level of the Yu Fu.

But after the last great battle, a large amount of corpse-based fertilizer was added, and the concentration of spiritual energy quickly rose to more than twice its original level.

Although it was still not up to the average standard of the Mortal Realm, it was better than the Yu Fu and many small worlds.

"It’s time to name the realm."

Several names quickly flashed through Lin Xin’s mind.

"This wasteland may be small, but it’s ultimately a small world; since I come from the Yu Fu, let’s call it Youjie."

"Youjie, Youjie, simple and easy to pronounce, and also easy to spread."

Once Lin Xin had settled on a name, he transmitted it directly to every Taoist soldier’s brain via mental link.

"The Land for God Worship is the Earth Immortal’s deepest secret and must not be exposed when weak. Even if it is exposed, we must never allow untrustworthy individuals to enter."

By now, Lin Xin was also considering which individuals he should select to cultivate and populate the realm.

Members of the Lin Clan?

No, with evil qi entering their bodies, their aptitudes would be affected, and purification would be extremely troublesome.

Ordinary mortals from the Mortal World?

Those from the Mortal Realm are probably not suitable either, as its power structures are intricate and complex, making it hard to ensure others wouldn’t plant their spies within.

Moreover, a key point is that the current concentration of spiritual energy in Youjie is far too sparse compared to the Mortal Realm.

The cultivators from the Mortal Realm would be fools to enthusiastically come here and settle down.

Even if they are lured over by means, they might be willing for a while, but to expect their generations of descendants to live here is definitely something no one would agree to.

"It seems I have to look for mortals from small worlds with even sparser spiritual energy."

Lin Xin made up his mind.

"Another option is to attract void demon spirits to engage in large-scale slaughter, enhancing Youjie’s concentration of spiritual energy."

However, since Youjie is located in a quarantine zone, it is hard to move it without affecting its foundations. Lin Xin had asked his Honored Master, who confirmed it could not be moved.

This awkward position, once it attracted the attention of a void demon spirit army and they came to besiege it en masse, would truly be a death wish.

Facing a large-scale army, or even a Spirit Asura of that level, it is feared that the entire Dragon Serpent Realm might barely manage to resist.

"It seems there’s only one choice..."

Lin Xin sighed, he could only recruit from worlds with sparse spiritual energy, and they had to be sufficiently trustworthy.

Of course, going directly to some extremely remote areas of the Mortal Realm to recruit was also feasible, but the selection range was too small and not as convenient as going to small worlds.

If, by chance, an unexplored small world were found, that would be extremely fortunate, for it could then serve as a major rear base, growing to become the master of a realm.

In fact, many realm masters actually come to power this way.

"Wait, Realm Master?"

Lin Xin suddenly had a thought.

He remembered he had the Mysterious Gate, as well as the Kira Mask, the ancient divine artifact that could traverse worlds.

Most crucially, he had the continuous supply of energy cores, the Melting Core.

"The Mysterious Gate opens once every ten days and can be opened a total of three times."

When Kai Fenghuai gave him the black market Taoist Seed, the Mysterious Gate that was opened, though it had been opened once, still had two chances left. It had a good chance of connecting to some unknown small world, where he could use the Kira Mask to potentially find a pristine, untapped land.

The thought alone mildly excited Lin Xin.

The connection of the Mysterious Gate, the traversal of the Kira Mask, plus the Melting Core as an energy source, after going over to collect resources and set up a teleportation array, could form a complete pioneering system.

Many cultivators had also discovered new worlds through the Mysterious Gate, but due to the distance being too great, the cost of teleportation too high, and the inability to set up a teleportation array, for various reasons they ended up unable to start pioneering.

"But not me."

The more Lin Xin thought about it, the more he believed in the possibility.

He thus began to carefully deduce each step, took out the Kira Mask to check the traversal conditions.

The mask only needed coordinates to be able to traverse directly. However, its use was limited; it could only be used once a month, and not consecutively.

It required coordinates taken from any entity material of the target location, extracting spatiotemporal essence from it to perform integrated positioning.

Lin Xin wasn’t sure what spatiotemporal essence was, but he understood what is meant by any entity material.

"It seems I can give it a try."

He soared into the air and landed in the courtyard of his small Taoist Temple.

He straightened his robe and strode into the Taoist Temple.

The Mysterious Gate was placed in a sealed hall within the Taoist Temple, surrounded by walls reinforced by formations personally inscribed by Lin Xin, which except for himself, no Taoist soldiers were allowed to enter.

Its confidentiality was extremely high.

Following the passageway, turning left and right, he quickly arrived in front of the sealed hall.

Above the hall’s entrance was inscribed: Secret Seal Hall.

His hand flickered with spiritual light more than a dozen times, the doors to the Secret Seal Hall slowly opened automatically, and Lin Xin stepped in with big strides. The doors closed swiftly behind him, automatically engage the sealing formations.

The Secret Seal Hall was empty, the black floor dull and without reflection.

The walls on all sides flickered with a colossal white light symbol, and the ceiling was also pitch black, with sun secret stones embedded in each of the four corners—these gems, specially used for illumination, cast a soft and faint white glow.

As Lin Xin entered, he immediately saw the enigmatic doorway placed at the very center.

The door stood taller than a person, its silver-grey frame like metal bars twisted as if about to snap. Above the frame, a massive golden eye was carved.

Seemingly sensing Lin Xin’s entrance, the golden iris moved slightly, akin to a dragon’s eye with a pitch-black vertical line at its center—profound and bottomless.

"Last time, the link failed, and I had to disconnect it during the transfer. I hope this time it will be worthwhile."

Lin Xin approached the enigmatic doorway, cautiously extending his hand to press against the surface.

With a mere thought, the Qing Yuan Cauldron at the core of the ghost realm trembled slightly, releasing a large amount of Taiqing Water, which surged into the enigmatic doorway from the ground below.

"Ah..."

An ancient sigh echoed from within the frame of the door.

From what was once an empty frame, a swirling vortex of black and purple slowly materialized, rapidly filling the entire doorframe with countless fluctuations of power.

The vortex turned slowly, deeply.

Time ticked away.

Hum.

Suddenly, the vortex ground to a halt.

Hiss...

A beam of clear light shot out from the center, cascading over Lin Xin’s body.

"Eh?" A tender female voice came from the other side of the door. "Why has this door suddenly lit up?"

Although Lin Xin couldn’t understand the language of the other side, the enigmatic doorway automatically translated it into a mental wave of thought and transferred it into his mind.

He also breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that he might have unwittingly linked to some terrifying and great existence. He wasn’t concerned about extraordinary encounters; he feared special accidents.

However, he had forgotten that to countless other beings, as a Human Immortal at the stage of perfection, he had long been at the level where he could offer others extraordinary encounters.

"So pretty..."

The voice from the other side sounded youthful, clearly indicating that the speaker was not of great age.

Lin Xin contemplated for a moment, sensing the mask of Qila already in a state ready for traversal, he decisively stopped transmitting the Taiqing Water.

Immediately, the link to the enigmatic doorway began to disconnect slowly, and the voice from the other side gradually faded away.

"I’ll set up everything else first, and once all is ready, I’ll try to traverse."

He examined the enigmatic doorway closely, then turned and strode towards the exit.

Now that the connection was established, he could use the mask of Qila to locate and traverse at any time through a minor exchange; there was no need to hurry.

Having recently found the hero Yuan Qiuque, there were still many arrangements not yet in order. Should the mask of Qila traverse and he encountered trouble that prevented his return, it would be problematic.

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

In Beisang Continent, within the Ru State.

Nestled within a mountain range to the northwest of the country’s border.

A colossal black sword, hundreds of meters in length, was thrust into the heart of the mountains.

On the side of a cyan-black cliff beside the giant sword, a large expanse of small Taoist temples appeared gray and weathered.

In one of those temples’ courtyards.

Yuan Qiuque was stroking his beard, intently playing a game of strategy with a white-haired Elder.

Behind each of them, disciples stood respectfully waiting.

After a long while, the elder sorrowfully scrambled the game board.

"I’m done playing! I’ve lost again!"

"Why must you be like this?" Yuan Qiuque couldn’t help but laugh and cry, "After all, you’re the esteemed Elder of the Chao Tian Sect, the leading Sword Sect of Ru State. You can handle victory, but not defeat—is this how an Elder behaves?"

"As the Great Elder, I’m supposed to only win and never lose," declared the Elder with an air of righteous indignation.

"You old man!" Yuan Qiuque burst into laughter out of exasperation. Among all of Ru State, the two of them were also top-tier masters. If others knew that the renowned Elder Xin Luan was no more than a poor loser and a terrible chess player, many would have their idols shattered.

"Alright, alright, it’s just a game. Does winning or losing matter that much?"

Elder Xin Luan gestured magnanimously.

The disciples behind them struggled to hold back their laughter, yet they all had to do so discreetly.

"Long time no see, Hero Yuan still appears as distinguished as ever."

Suddenly, a voice with a hint of mirth came from the entrance of the courtyard.

Upon hearing it, Yuan Qiuque was startled, quickly looking up towards the direction of the newcomer.

"Who goes there?"

Both disciples were shocked that someone had managed to arrive at such close quarters without notice. One of the disciples was about to draw their magic sword to take action.

But Yuan Bofei immediately stopped him; as both a disciple and Yuan Qiuque’s own son, his experience far surpassed that of an average cultivator.

Knowing the newcomer likely possessed profound cultivation, he understood they were not someone the disciples could contend with.

Elder Xin Luan’s expression turned grave as he stood up.

"Daoist friend, arriving unannounced is likely a breach of courtesy, is it not?"

"Lin has his reasons, I hope fellow Daoist will understand."

Before the words even ended, the speaker had already reached the middle of the courtyard.

All four turned to look, only to see a young man of slight age, with pale complexion and a somewhat sickly appearance.