Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 694 - 689: Shuttle One

Chapter 694: Chapter 689: Shuttle One

"Who might you be, Daoist? I, Yuan, have a good memory, yet I do not recall ever making the acquaintance of a cultivator such as yourself,"

Yuan Qiuque frowned as he spoke.

"It must be a demon cultivator from the Vermilion Bird Demon Palace! Look at the magic artifact!"

Suddenly, a cyan lightning bolt plunged from the sky, strikingly it transformed into a talisman sword shaped like a cyan-green flood dragon, aiming directly downward at Lin Xin’s crown.

"How audacious!!"

Two cyan-robed cultivators suddenly appeared in midair, shielding the individual below while they simultaneously counterattacked.

One wielded an umbrella, the other a spear, both fiercely striking the cyan longsword.

With a clang, the cyan longsword cracked and flew backward.

"How dare you disrespect our master, kill...."

"Stand down."

The young master interrupted his subordinate, speaking indifferently.

"Yes."

The two halted their offensive stance instantly, their expressions changing as they respectfully stepped back. Their bodies surged with the cultivation of Yuan Jing Cultivators, causing everyone present to feel a chill.

In the Chao Tian Sect, Yuan Jing Cultivators were at least positioned as Elders, but here, they merely served as guards.

A cyan figure suddenly landed next to Yuan Qiuque and Elder Xin Luan, revealing herself to be a beautiful young female cultivator with blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, clearly having just suffered a severe injury.

"Could it be the Palace Master of Vermilion Bird Demon Palace herself taking action?"

With her magic artifact destroyed, she whispered fearfully to Elder Xin Luan.

"The Vermilion Bird Demon Palace?"

Lin Xin could not help but chuckle, he knew of this sect, which seemed to have some connection to the Underworld. Its Palace Master had recently participated in the Disciple Recruitment Conference in the Dragon Serpent Realm with the prodigy from the Heavenly Yin Sect, only to be eliminated in the fourth round.

Such a sect, whose strongest combatant was merely a second-level Human Immortal, posed no threat to him in his current status. He needed only to utter a word to easily annihilate their entire sect.

Not even the headquarters, the Heavenly Yin Sect, would dare utter a sound.

"What does the Vermilion Bird Demon Sect amount to? To even dare to speak of themselves in the same breath as our master,"

One of the guards couldn’t help but laugh. The opposing side’s technique of transmitting messages was so poor that it was virtually unshielded, allowing them to hear everything clearly.

This was indeed the difference in heritage.

Green Lake Mountain was the strongest sect of the Human Race, naturally far superior to other sects.

When these words were uttered, the expressions of the four from the Chao Tian Sect changed instantly.

Yuan Qiuque became even more earnest, looking over Lin Xin thoroughly.

Lin Xin’s current body was reincarnated, and with Lin Sherie’s face totally unlike Lin Xin’s former appearance, and the aura different as well, not to mention he would never recognize Lin Sherie as the Lin Xin from the Underworld.

"Honored Yuan, do you remember the time we parted at the inn years ago, sharing drinks and pleasant conversation?" Lin Xin slightly released a hint of the aura of the Sacred Body.

Everyone sensed it, but only Yuan Qiuque’s face shook visibly.

All eyes were upon him, clearly curious to see whether he recognized the newcomer.

"Indeed... It is indeed Daoist Lin!" Yuan Qiuque took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart, a junior he had encountered by chance in the Underworld, and here they were meeting again in the Human World.

This chance encounter somewhat unsettled him.

Seeing his expression, Lin Xin also knew this was unexpected.

"Honored Yuan, might we find a place to speak?"

Yuan Qiuque glanced at the Great Elder, who nodded slightly.

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

Within the pale yellow chamber, a purple incense burned on the table.

Swords hung on the walls, and several unknown types of animal pelts covered the chairs.

Lin Xin and Yuan Qiuque, one stood by the window, the other by the wall.

"Actually, I tracked down Honored Yuan a long time ago, but have been too busy with cultivation to intrude. Only today did I find the time to come," Lin Xin said with a smile.

Both hailing from the Underworld, they shared a feeling of meeting a familiar face in a foreign land, and a mutual understanding of each other’s plight. This brought them considerably closer.

Moreover, they had a positive karmic connection from before, with Yuan Qiuque having even gifted Lin Xin a secret manual in the past.

Hence, the atmosphere was quite amiable.

Yuan Qiuque reflected emotionally.

"Upon arriving here, I was without kin and everything was unfamiliar. It was only with great difficulty that the Chao Tian Sect took me in, and hence I have stayed up to now. Before I knew it, more than two hundred years had passed."

"Does Honored Yuan know the whereabouts of Huang Yuerong?" Lin Xin asked in a low voice.

With protective arrays and his own soundproofing formation activated around them, they were indeed able to speak freely.

"Huang Yuerong ascended with me, but afterwards, I never saw him again. I assumed he had gone somewhere else until I inquired further and discovered that there was no trace of him anywhere," Yuan Qiuque furrowed his brow as he spoke.

"When we ascended, the powers of the Underworld meddled in it. I thought perhaps he was pulled into the Underworld."

"The Underworld again?"

Lin Xin furrowed his brow.

"That ruler of shadow, mighty since the ancient divine wars, dominated a realm on her own, ranking among the three great lords of Shadow City. If she chose to strike against us, it’s something we simply could not defend against, yet..."

"The ruler of shadow?!" Lin Xin was startled.

Yuan Qiuque looked at him curiously.

"What is the matter?"

"Is the Underworld controlled by the ruler of shadow?" Lin Xin was hearing this for the first time.

"Do you really not know?" Yuan Qiuque was immediately astonished.

"I truly don’t know." Lin Xin shook his head. Perhaps the main division at Green Lake Mountain could have provided some information, but he hadn’t been to the main division yet and was thus unclear about these secrets.

Yuan Qiuque fell into contemplation.

"You once possessed the power of the Underworld and should have come into contact with this aspect. The Lord of Underworld Time controls the Underworld from the Underworld, setting up hidden paths in many small worlds. I heard this from Huang Yuerong, actually.

Although I don’t know why she intervened at a critical moment, I suspect that her disappearance is probably due to this reason,"

Lin Xin narrowed his eyes.

Another matter related to the Underworld, the Lord of Underworld Time... one of the three City Lords of Shadow City.

Just hearing about the City Lord of Shadow City made it clear to him that the opponent’s strength and status were terrifyingly great. He, a mere core disciple of Green Lake Mountain, could not influence or shake that.

To fulfill his promise, to rescue Hong Ye, would now be difficult.

However, his visit this time was just to meet an old friend and inquire about the condition of ascension; in fact, he truly had no specific goal.

"What about the Life and Death Demon Sword?"

He suddenly remembered and asked.

Yuan Qiuque smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"It disappeared on the journey of ascension. I don’t know where it went; it seems to have left with Huang Yuerong."

"So, does Yuan Qiuque willingly stay in this North Sang Continent? Won’t you go back to Shen Luo Mansion?"

"Shen Luo Mansion?"

Yuan Qiuque was startled.

"Is there a Shen Luo Mansion here?"

Lin Xin shared everything he knew, and Yuan Qiuque was stunned for a long while.

Suddenly, his eyes began to moisten.

He had always thought he had arrived in a completely unfamiliar place but had never expected that there would also be a Shen Luo Mansion here.

Lin Xin was also moved and talked leisurely with Yuan Qiuque for a while, exchanging some experiences about their arrival in the Mortal Realm.

Learning that Lin Xin was now a cultivator from Green Lake Mountain, the strongest Sect, Yuan Qiuque was also happy for him.

Moreover, Lin Xin unexpectedly learned another piece of information from him.

That was, cultivators who had ascended from the Underworld were not only the two of them.

Yuan Qiuque had also encountered a couple of cultivators who had become Daoist partners, who had also ascended from the Underworld.

He exchanged information with them and found that there were quite a few Underworld cultivators who had ascended, but they were always very scattered and distributed in various places.

"If you are interested, you might consider looking for these fellow Daoists," Yuan Qiuque remarked.

He pulled out a long Jade Talisman from his sleeve.

"This is the contact Jade Talisman given to me by those two Daoists; you can use it to contact them."

Lin Xin also harbored a bit of this intention and reached out to take the Jade Talisman. He also gave Yuan Qiuque his address.

"If you have spare time, Yuan Qiuque could come to look for me at Green Lake Mountain in the Dragon Serpent Realm."

"Certainly,"

Yuan Qiuque smiled and felt much lifted in spirits. The Mortal Realm was extremely strange, and it was not easy to encounter a fellow from his hometown, which naturally affected his mood.

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

After bidding farewell to Yuan Qiuque, Lin Xin boarded the Airship with his people and slowly left North Sang Continent.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, he stood on the azure, shuttle-shaped deck of the Airship, facing the wind and looking down at the land below.

The pale yellow mountains and silver-blue rivers, the green-black grasslands and forests were evenly distributed across the undulating hills.

Chirp~~

A small white bird flew past Lin Xin, seemingly curious, circled around him twice, and gently landed on Lin Xin’s shoulder.

The small bird had faint blue tips on its wings, and its head was also topped with blue feathers, looking incredibly beautiful.

Gently touching the small white bird, Lin Xin thought again of the Lord of Underworld Time mentioned by Yuan Qiuque.

"Shadow City has already made several unsuccessful attempts on me, and they will definitely elevate their evaluation of me. If they make another move next time, it probably won’t be this simple anymore."

He was well aware; last time, the Sixth Rank Earth Immortal, Wang Zhu, attempted assassination, and his Honored Master mentioned that three other Earth Immortals appeared at the same time. Such a massive force, even if aiming at a true Sixth Rank, would be sufficient.

Yet in the end, they had returned empty-handed and even lost a Wang Zhu, fallen into enemy hands.

"Shadow City... Shadow City..."

Lin Xin already listed Shadow City as his greatest enemy.

Whether it was the Underworld or other Sixth Rank pillars, all posed great threats to him.

"Still too weak..." he sighed inwardly.

Although his progress was quite good among many cultivators, he was still too weak compared to the enemies he faced.

"If I could really use the ’Obscure Gate’ to know about an undiscovered small world, then just by finding the Boundary Stone and refining it, I could become the Realm Master and use the power of that world to support myself. Then, by gathering some disciples with good aptitude, becoming an Earth Immortal would be within reach very soon!"

He had already meticulously planned this.

If he could really travel through worlds with the Qila Mask, then using the ’Obscure Gate’ might not even be necessary.

As long as he collected various unique substances from other worlds, as long as he had items that originated from those worlds, and those worlds had not perished, the Qila Mask could directly take him there.

"No wonder, being such a powerful Ancient Divine Artifact, it only had this one ability, but now it seems, this one ability is already immensely powerful."

Lin Xin felt a deep sense of awe.

"I’ll start traveling through worlds once I return," he decided resolutely.