Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 728 - 723: Promotion 1

Chapter 728: Chapter 723: Promotion 1

The greatest difficulty at the Sixth Rank is what they call "enlightenment." Only after that does the pain come.

Enlightenment is when someone steps into the Fifth Rank at the Land for God Worship. In that instant, in effect, they become the master of the Land for God Worship, and their being is subjected to a tremendous, momentary uplifting.

A soul already brimming with the Fifth Rank’s perfection suddenly receives an additional surge of the ascension power from a new Fifth Rank, or even several. This includes all memories and insights.

The laws of heaven and earth do not care whether you can bear it or not. If several people are promoted in the Land for God Worship, it dumps the combined ascension power and capacities of several people on you.

A massive amount of ascension power will come with each person’s advancement, bringing a portion to the master of the Land for God Worship.

Thus, those who are slightly weaker may have their souls directly burst.

If you cannot absorb it, or rather, if you absorb too much, it might also burst you.

However, if you have an epiphany during this ascension and can glimpse higher structural rules in an instant, fully accommodating all the ascension power, then you have successfully navigated the most challenging step of an Earth Immortal.

For Lin Xin, this wasn’t a problem.

Rather than calling it an epiphany, it was more accurate to say he forcefully swallowed all the ascension power.

His soul had already been strengthened through repeated torments at the Underworld.

In the Mortal Realm, he continued to enhance himself constantly in order to master a stronger body. At this point, his Soul Power had far exceeded the ordinary Fifth Rank, reaching an indiscernible level.

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

Some time after his successful advancement.

In the Netherworld, Lin Xin carefully instructed his disciples for several years. Soon enough, several more successfully advanced to the Fifth Rank.

As time passed, more and more disciples advanced, and Lin Xin began to selectively impart the new, complete version of the Green Yuan Decision to them.

After two hundred seventy-two years of seclusion.

The disciples brought by Lin Xin into the Netherworld totaled two hundred thirty-one, barely stepping into the Fifth Rank.

It was only when the accumulated memories and insights became somewhat unbearable even for Lin Xin that he stopped the cultivation plan in his Cave Mansion and began practicing the Sixth Rank Cultivation Decision of the Green Yuan Decision.

It was then that news came from the Dragon Serpent Realm.

Great changes in the Earth Fire Realm.

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

Dragon Serpent Realm, Suspended Volcano.

Dragon Serpent Honored Master, Dragon Turtle Elder, Green Robe Dragon Maiden Elder, three top-tier Earth Immortals gathered.

They all stood on the summit of another mountain beside the volcano, gazing at the largest Earth Fire volcano in the Dragon Serpent Realm.

"There’s disturbance in the Earth Fire Realm again,"

Dragon Turtle Elder said in a low voice, "This time, it might be ominous."

The Dragon Maiden looked somewhat like an ordinary beautiful woman, only dressed in a red martial outfit, carrying a black Longbow, with two small, cute, and exceptionally adorable black dragon horns on her head.

"Big brother, your previous injury has not healed, why did you go again so recently...!"

The Dragon Maiden’s eyebrows were tightly furrowed, her eyes filled with worry.

"I have my own judgments," Dragon Serpent interrupted her, "Third Sister, is your Netherworld Bone Dragon Arrow refinement complete?"

"Still missing something..." the Dragon Maiden shook her head. "Don’t worry about me; let’s first stabilize the situation here for Big Brother."

"I’m fine, don’t worry," Dragon Serpent smiled, "This injury is nothing to me. The disturbance in the Earth Fire Realm this time is clearly man-made. If we can’t find out which force is behind it, I’m afraid..."

"What are you suggesting, Big Brother?" Dragon Turtle asked.

Dragon Serpent snorted coldly.

"Although I, Dragon Serpent, am injured, I am not dead yet. As long as I live for one more day, no one can invade my Dragon Serpent Realm."

"But Big Brother, you clearly were injured twice...." the Dragon Maiden worriedly said.

"Enough, let’s not talk about this; I said I’m fine, so I’m fine."

Dragon Serpent was about to speak when suddenly, a powerful tremor erupted from below.

Humming...

The mountain peak they were standing on was also about to erupt with magma.

The ground shook violently, making it impossible to stand steadily.

Dragon Serpent quickly extended his Soul Power downwards, trying to find something unusual.

Ah!!

Suddenly, he heard a scream beside his ear.

Startled, he turned around only to see an unbelievable scene.

His Third Sister, the Dragon Maiden, was holding a Black Thorn, which she precisely thrust into the center of Dragon Turtle’s chest.

The Black Thorn, twisting like smoke, pierced into Dragon Turtle’s skin and instantly turned into black vapor that burrowed inside.

A shadow flickered across Dragon Turtle’s face, and he collapsed, reverting to his massive dragon turtle form.

"Second Brother!!"

Dragon Serpent flashed and teleported to his brother’s side, quickly pulling out a jade disk from his chest and pressing it against the wound on Dragon Turtle’s chest.

The jade disk slowly emitted green light, attempting to extract the black smoke.

"Big... Big Brother..."

Dragon Turtle’s eyes widened, his pupils already dispersing, indicating the terrifying power of the Black Thorn that it could affect a mighty Earth Immortal so quickly.

"I... can’t make it... don’t blame Third Sister... don’t blame..."

Meanwhile, the Dragon Maiden merely sneered.

"His Land for God Worship is also here. I don’t know how he managed to cultivate to this extent, so foolishly allowing me free entry to a place so critical to his life.

That place is probably starting to collapse now too."

She spat disdainfully.

"I can’t believe I called such a fool my second brother for so many years; it’s truly a disgrace," she said.

"You’re insane!!"

Dragon Serpent roared fiercely, reaching out to grab the dragon girl with one hand.

Boom!

A thunderous noise erupted as hundreds of claw shadows identical to Dragon Serpent’s claw appeared around his hand, densely packed like raindrops, instantly covering the surrounding area of several hundred meters.

The space was immediately torn apart, revealing the outer Void.

The Void also split instantaneously, revealing even darker cracks of the second heaven and even letting the white aura of the third heaven seep through.

A multitude of claw shadows enveloped the dragon girl completely.

Clang!

Amid countless claw shadows, a yellow-brown bell-shaped light screen descended, protecting the dragon girl’s entire body.

"It’s useless! That piece of trash is as good as dead!" the dragon girl cackled. "Dragon Serpent, your third sister called out to you so heartbreakingly before she died... It was truly pitiful. But after being tortured by me for ten years, she couldn’t hold on any longer and her life just fizzled out. I had originally planned for you and her to reunite as a couple destined to share the same fate."

She laughed uproariously, and under the influence of her laughter, the yellow bell slowly turned transparent and faint, and then it vanished right in front of Dragon Serpent.

"Cursed Clock...! Shadow City!!"

Dragon Serpent’s face twisted viciously as he roared towards the sky.

Auuuuuu!!

The giant dragon turtle at his side became increasingly black and soft.

Boom!

The entire dragon turtle suddenly dissolved, exploding into a mass of black water.

The black water fell on Dragon Serpent, instantly corroding into true smoke. However, he was completely unaware of it.

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

When Lin Xin arrived, the funeral at Dragon Serpent Realm’s Heavenly Fire Pillar annex had already begun.

The dragon turtle master uncle had passed away, and the annex was draped everywhere with white silk, all in white.

Many people had come to mourn. There were members from Green Lake Mountain, ranking equally as realm masters, and there were also major and minor forces from the surrounding areas.

There were also Earth Immortals from the Illusory Sea Polar Territory.

Within one night, Dragon Serpent Realm had lost two major generals. The sworn sister, Dragon Girl, had been confirmed to have perished decades ago inside a relic within Black Cloud Mountain within the realm, tortured by others before her death, dying a gruesome death with even her soul unable to remain for reincarnation.

The dragon turtle was poisoned with the Yin Demon’s heart-corroding toxin, one of the eight peculiar poisons of Shadow City, renowned for its quick effectiveness and extreme potency. Moreover, his vital points had been stabbed, resulting in the annihilation of his spirit and soul.

The two powerful Earth Immortals, along with the holy land, were utterly destroyed.

Only Dragon Serpent was left. As for the other Earth Immortals he had cultivated, most were only of Dust Condensation level, suitable to deal with Human Immortals of the fifth rank, but truly facing high rank mighty beings was just a matter of expending more efforts.

For a time, the entire Dragon Serpent Realm fell further into decline, originally due to Dragon Serpent’s approaching doom and lack of Suppressing Level masters.

With Dragon Serpent Realm already being barren, it now further displayed its weakening trend. Now, with the simultaneous demise of both powerful Earth Immortals, it was adding frost to snow.

Just as Lin Xin was rushing back, he received another piece of news.

The Weaving Emperor Realm had issued a challenge for the integration of ownership rights against Dragon Serpent Realm.

Simply put, they wanted to annex Dragon Serpent Realm!

The challenge for the integration of ownership rights is a rule set by Green Lake Mountain for the lords under its command who lack the power to protect their own territories.

It evaluates when you no longer have control over your territory and cannot cope with the external threats that follow, allowing others to actively challenge your territorial ownership.

If you can’t defend it, then you must relinquish control of the territory.

Of course, this rule only applies to those small worlds not integrated with a boundary stone, bestowed by the Sect.

And Dragon Serpent’s Dragon Serpent Realm falls into this category.

Weaving Emperor Realm had always been one of Dragon Serpent Realm’s old rivals, unlike Qing Shan Realm, its realm master’s cultivation also reached the extreme of Earth Immortal, in the Realm of Life Candle, and its enmity with Dragon Serpent was not too great.

It was one of the powers that Dragon Serpent had offended when he was young and strong.

The reason he had not taken action until now was simply because he did not want to pay too high a price, considering Dragon Serpent Realm was too barren. Additionally, the realm master of Dragon Serpent Realm himself was also a formidable force.

Now, taking action because, despite its barrenness, Dragon Serpent Realm was still a small world, even if this small world was on the verge of doom. It would still be a good addition to integrate into their own world.

The cost they needed to pay was minimal, yet they could gain a complete small world, a deal that was extremely cost-effective.

Since mortal combat was not allowed within Green Lake Mountain, they proposed the challenge for the integration of ownership rights, pitting high-end strength against high-end strength.

This was to determine if Dragon Serpent still had the power to control the small world, to suppress Earth Fire Realm.

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

Clang...

Clang...

Clang...

The funeral bells tolled one after another.

Lin Xin, along with Lin Youke and Lin Outside, passed through the guards and quietly entered the funeral hall.

The spacious funeral hall resembled a grand hall, with its surroundings draped all over with ice and snow-condensed sculptures of pure white silk.

Portraits of the dragon turtle master uncle hung on both sides of the walls, the floor embedded with a dark red talisman formation inlaid with purple-black gems, faintly glowing with a dim red light.

Upon entering the hall, there were unexpectedly few people inside.

Lin Xin and the others all frowned slightly.

Dragon Serpent was sitting cross-legged in front of the spirit tablet, his expression wooden and showing little emotion.

Oro and the other brothers were nowhere to be seen. They must have gone out to arrange other affairs.