Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 729 - 724: Advancement 2

Chapter 729: Chapter 724: Advancement 2

"Honored Master."

Lin Xin called out softly as he approached Dragon Serpent and stopped a few meters behind him.

"You’ve arrived."

Dragon Serpent spoke indifferently.

"I’ve prepared everything for you, take them with you as you leave. This time, in the Weaving Emperor Realm, I’m afraid I won’t make it through...."

Lin Xin immediately frowned.

"What do you mean by that, Honored Master?"

By now, he had already advanced, and with a slight concentration of his aura, the presence of Lin Youke and Lin standing beside him felt heavy, and their skin started to crawl.

"Eh?"

Dragon Serpent suddenly let out a light exclamation, turned his head, and scrutinized the disciple he hadn’t seen for a long time.

"Lieshan, you’ve actually broken through so quickly!?" On his haggard face, a hint of relief finally appeared.

"It’s not completely stable yet, only halfway there," Lin Xin replied respectfully.

"That’s also very good." Dragon Serpent stood up and looked out the window.

The spirit hall was situated in a basin surrounded by mountains, and in the distance, one could see an extraordinarily wondrous pillar of Earth Fire. Outside, the cold ice and snow danced, wrapped in a layer of white whirlwind, while the surroundings of the Earth Fire pillar were unbearably hot.

Only here could one see such a miraculous sight of ice and fire merging.

In other places, the high temperatures dominated, and it was impossible to see even a bit of snow.

"Come with me."

Dragon Serpent passed through a side door of the spirit hall.

Lin Xin followed closely behind. He instructed Lin Youke and Lin to stay outside to greet guests and help with the preparations.

Master and disciple walked down the corridor for a while before entering a somewhat dimly lit small room.

Dragon Serpent paused in his steps and stopped.

The door of the room closed automatically behind Lin Xin.

Dragon Serpent found a chair to sit down in. Now, with no outsiders present, his complexion turned even uglier.

Swarms of black qi circled continuously on his forehead, and his eyes were dull and listless.

When Lin Xin saw this, he was startled.

"Honored Master! You!!?"

He wanted to step forward to check, but Dragon Serpent waved him away.

"My end is near, there’s nothing that can be done.... The injuries suffered previously can no longer be suppressed, and the condition just now was actually quite good."

Dragon Serpent sighed.

"Unfortunately, before you arrived, Huo Jiu, that traitor, colluded with outsiders. Taking advantage of my absence, he sold off a large number of treasures from the Deep Fire Palace and has now fled. Otherwise... Oro and the others have already gone to hunt him down, but it’s uncertain if they can retrieve everything.... *cough* *cough*."

Dragon Serpent suddenly started coughing, and with each cough, trails of black smoke twisted and spiraled behind him.

The terrible news made Lin Xin’s face turn extremely pale.

"Has anyone from the headquarters looked at your injuries? And Huo Jiu! Wasn’t he always the most honest one... why would he suddenly do such a thing?!"

The end of his Honored Master was unexpectedly imminent!

Although he had only been a disciple of the Dragon Serpent Sect for a few hundred years, and the actual time spent together was not much,

Lin Xin truly held a heart of gratitude towards Dragon Serpent.

Dragon Serpent was the first teacher who genuinely wished him well and kept giving of himself.

Unlike before, he had gained a lot from his Honored Master.

And now, without having had the chance to repay him, he was faced with such dreadful news!

"Of course, I’ve seen them, it’s useless.... As for Huo Jiu, even if we don’t deal with him, the people of the Golden Crown Winter will take over. But whether they catch him or not, the Dragon Serpent Realm has no future...." Dragon Serpent smiled wryly.

He extended his hand to light the Spirit Stone on the wall, but as he exerted his mana, it struck an empty spot askew.

Was his Honored Master already so weak!? As Lin Xin noticed this, his heart sank, and an indescribable feeling surged in his chest.

He immediately reached out his hand, sending a stream of mana toward the room’s lighting Spirit Stone, illuminating it.

The soft yellow light brightened, casting upon Dragon Serpent’s face deep wrinkles.

By now, Dragon Serpent had fully shown his aged appearance.

"As the end nears for me, I originally could have lived a few hundred more years, but I hadn’t expected the wounds to be aggravated, hastening this day’s arrival." Dragon Serpent laughed offhandedly. "I’ve spent my life always striving to be the strongest; facing this outcome in my old age is also self-inflicted, and I can blame no one else."

"Are you talking about the incident in the Weaving Emperor Realm?"

Lin Xin stepped forward and gently supported Dragon Serpent, his voice remained calm, but it was clear he was suppressing an indescribable emotion.

"In my youth, I was full of vigor, and I made no few enemies. It’s natural to lack support in my old age," Dragon Serpent’s hands trembled as he took out an ordinary looking yellow wooden ring from his chest.

The ring was carved with a fierce and vivid dragon head.

He handed the ring to Lin Xin.

"This is prepared for you. Take it and leave immediately."

"Honored Master...."

"No need for more words, our fate has been fulfilled, there is no need to cling on." Dragon Serpent’s expression suddenly turned stern, and a hint of the former might of the Realm Master of Dragon Serpent returned to him.

"Or is it that you think your master is so weakened now, that you won’t even listen to these words!?" he raised his voice.

Lin Xin fell silent, saying nothing.

The two then remained at an impasse in the small room, neither making any further move. Yet Dragon Serpent’s complexion grew increasingly difficult to behold. He several times intended to lift his hand and strike, but each time he relented and let it fall.

"You!! Do you want to anger me to death?!?!"

"Disciple dares not..." Lin Xin lowered his head, without making the slightest move.

Suddenly, a ripple of Spiritual Power passed into the room, entering Lin Xin’s mind.

After reading the message, his face turned even colder.

Dragon Serpent faltered slightly before laughing.

"Has the Weaving Emperor Realm made its move? No... it should be the Earth Fire Realm that’s in rebellion."

Lin Xin said nothing.

The information came through Lin Youke’s channels.

Countless fire creatures surged out of the Earth Fire Realm and plundered and destroyed everything at the edges of the Dragon Serpent Realm. The army was bearing down upon the Deep Fire Palace.

The Weaving Emperor Realm had also already gathered powerful individuals to lead teams, ready to head to the Dragon Serpent Realm at any moment. It was said that the Weaving Emperor Realm Master and Qing Shan Realm Master were coming hand in hand, under the pretense of helping the Dragon Serpent Realm maintain its safety.

"Honored Master!!!"

With a bang, the door was thrust open by a slender figure.

A beautiful girl with white jade dragon horns on her forehead, dressed in a white gown, stormed in furiously.

"Song Ran ah...."

Dragon Serpent’s brows furrowed deeply.

"Why have you come back again!? Where is your mother!?"

Lin Xin recognized the girl; she was the daughter of Song Yue, a Venerable whom the Honored Master had taken in later.

"If Honored Master doesn’t leave, I won’t leave either!"

Song Ran declared resolutely.

"Nonsense!"

Dragon Serpent immediately shouted in anger.

His time was running out, and the Dragon Serpent Realm was about to see a change of leadership; the two Venerables, Song Yue and Wukou, who had already lost hope, had found ways to leave early on.

Yet, unexpectedly, this girl had sneaked back.

"I’ll notify your mother right away, so she can come and take you back."

He took out the Jade Talisman but then started coughing violently again. Dark qi began to roil behind him, growing denser and denser.

The Jade Talisman, too, was accidentally dropped to the ground, rolling away a few turns.

"Honored Master!!"

Lin Xin quickly stepped forward, and a stream of pure Taiqing water flowed into Dragon Serpent’s shoulder.

Boom!!

Suddenly, a burst of dark red firelight exploded.

Dragon Serpent raised his hand and sent Lin Xin flying back violently.

"I’m not dead yet! Don’t use True Yuan!"

He exclaimed urgently.

"Honored Master!!"

At that moment, Oro also rushed in, the lava giant Disciple who had lost an arm, covered in icy blue scars, clearly having suffered hefty losses as well.

"Honored Master, what’s wrong with you!!?"

He tried to support Dragon Serpent immediately but was repelled just as well.

"Didn’t I tell you to leave!? Once you’ve retrieved the items, take them and go! What are you doing back here?"

Dragon Serpent roared in anger.

"Oro won’t be able to get far anyway," Oro roared back just as furiously. "At times like this, even if you kill me, I won’t leave, Honored Master!"

Lin Xin stood aside, with Lin Youke’s and the outside world’s messages constantly in his ear.

His spiritual sense spread out; now at the Demi Earth Immortal Level of perception, apart from Dragon Serpent, no one else sensed anything.

A search revealed that aside from a few basic spirit servants maintaining order, there were no other Disciples nearby.

They had either sneaked away or had been given items by the Honored Master and sent off early.

The Dragon Serpent Realm had no future left. Once the Realm Master died, the entire minor world would be annexed and integrated, becoming part of another world.

If anyone stayed, they would be left without protection, hunted down and attacked by the old enemies of the Dragon Serpent Realm seeking retaliation.

A Fourth Realm Earth Immortal of the Candle of Fate was not something other levels could compare with.

Dragon Serpent, an Earth Immortal at the Perfection of the Candle of Fate, possessed immense Qing Yuan dragon force, unmatched by any other. Without any Magic Artifact or Decree, nor including any Decree amplifications, the sheer power of his True Yuan alone could produce a terrifying effect three times greater than that of an average cultivator.

But over rigidity leads to brittleness; such powerful True Yuan also resulted in many hidden injuries and chronic issues.

"Now, are there only the three of us left from the great Dragon Serpent Realm?"

After receiving the latest intelligence from Lin Youke, Lin Xin also felt a sense of desolation.

The biggest difference between the Dragon Serpent Realm and Qing Shan was now glaringly obvious.

Here, the only one maintaining a front was the Dragon Serpent Realm Master himself.

With him standing, there was a foundation to rely on.

Once he fell, all the glory would collapse overnight. The entire Dragon Serpent Realm was in grave danger.

This was the disparity, the result of differences in systems and structures, and also determined by the poor and dangerous nature of the Dragon Serpent Realm itself.

That Dragon girl, Song Ran, was eventually knocked out by Dragon Serpent himself and handed over to the urgently arriving Song Yue Venerable by Oro.

Song Yue left with apologies, taking Song Ran and also the last ring bestowed by Dragon Serpent.

The Dragon Serpent Realm was thus left with only Lin Xin, Oro who refused to leave, and Dragon Serpent himself.

Lin Xin simply sent Lin Youke and the others away too. They were bound by a Master-Servant Pact and couldn’t leave even if they wanted to.

If Lin Xin was in trouble, none of them could survive. Thus, although the pact was somewhat shady, it proved very useful in critical moments; there was no need to test so-called true natures.

The three Disciples paid respects to their Turtle Honored Uncle with incense sticks and then returned to the Deep Fire Palace.

There was no longer the incessant sound of hammering day and night within the palace.

The gates were wide open, no servants or maids to be seen, leaving it cold, clear, and empty.

Inside the main hall of the palace, everything that could be removed and carried away had been swept clean.