Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 74: Sword Listening Trial - Part 2

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Sword Listening Trial - Part 2

"These are the rules. You can go in now, the timing starts from now," the ringleader grinned and stepped aside, pointing at the collapsed stone house behind him.

"Let’s go."

The group from the Poison Gang was the first to head towards the entrance, led by a Third Layer expert who seemed to have participated before and did not hesitate at all.

Following them were the Spirit Beads Gang, and then the other groups, each entering one by one.

At Xiao Lingling’s side, Brother Guang took the lead with a wave of his hand.

"We’re also going," he turned back to look at Xiao Lingling, "Lingling, follow behind me," his voice softened.

"Mm, thank you, Brother Guang," Xiao Lingling sweetly replied.

Lin Xin, silent, walked toward the entrance with the others.

Suddenly, he felt again as if someone was secretly watching him.

"There must be spies of Song Jing," he was certain in his mind.

Soon, all the groups had entered the dark entrance of the stone house.

Only then did the ringleader turn towards the woman on the back of the white dove.

"Sister, is the situation inside really that severe?" he asked, furrowing his brows.

The woman opened her eyes.

"People who have seen the worm women have been found at various places, all displaying the same symptoms. The plague spreading is clearly caused by the worm women. Many brothers and sisters have died in battle, and an elder sacrificed his cultivation to barely reinforce the border, preventing the source from leaking further," she said with a heavy expression.

The ringleader exhaled sharply. "I don’t know if it’s the Mysterious Leaf Cult or the Vermilion Bird Holy Court plotting behind the scenes. Do they not fear being swallowed up by the Underworld?"

"Swallowed? You underestimate them. If swallowed, they’ll just reopen it; at most, it’ll cost more mortals as nourishment. They don’t care," the woman scoffed.

"Many disciples from our sect have died in battle; now only a few dozen official disciples are left. Even if it’s cruel, we need to select new disciples to replenish the ranks, otherwise, the sect will face a situation with no available warriors," she explained.

"I see..." the ringleader realized.

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

Entering the entrance, Lin Xin and the others followed a stone staircase that extended downwards continuously; the stone house was merely a cover, which actually concealed a vast and dark cave entrance.

The group lit the torches they had prepared and held them up as they hurried along downward.

The cave was filled with dense mist, and occasionally, droplets of cold liquid would fall from above. Brother Guang led Xiao Lingling, Lin Xin, and a few others downwards. They hadn’t gone far when several branching paths appeared ahead. Each path extended down into a rolling and swirling mass of gray-white fog at the limits of sight.

Which way?" Brother Guang frowned and looked back.

"See where the people ahead are going?" Xiao Lingling whispered.

"They’re going every which way. Brother Guang is leading, why is he still asking us?" one person crouched to check the footprints on the ground, his tone a bit sharp. It seemed he was unhappy with how close Brother Guang always was to Xiao Lingling.

In the team, except for Lin Xin, everyone seemed to have designs on Xiao Lingling. This situation was quite normal.

Lin Xin felt again like someone was watching him.

"Then just pick any," he said casually.

He took the lead and walked towards a path on the right.

Brother Guang snorted coldly, glanced at that person, and followed closely behind, with the rest having no choice but to follow.

As they reached the end of the passageway, the rolling gray-white fog was right in front of them, as if it were a wall of clouds.

Lin Xin, with the Spiritual Light Shield covertly ready in his hand, took a step forward and charged into the fog.

It was like passing through a layer of cool mist. His vision suddenly broadened and, with a splash, a piece of rock fell downwards into an abyss.

Lin Xin was shocked into a cold sweat; beyond the gray-white fog, directly in front of him, was a pitch-black, seemingly bottomless abyss.

Passing through the fog, he had found himself right on the edge of a cliff, and one more step forward would have sent him plummeting down to his death.

He quickly moved aside to let others come in while he carefully moved to the right.

To the right was a narrow path on a steep cliff, winding downwards where some disciples were currently engaged in a fierce battle.

"Ah!" Behind him, Xiao Lingling came out, was knocked by Brother Guang who was behind her, and suddenly fell towards the deep abyss.

Snap.

Lin Xin quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back, helping her stabilize her form.

"Be careful."

"Thank you, Brother Lin," Xiao Lingling was also scared into a sweat and still in shock.

After getting scared, Brother Guang also hurriedly came forward to apologize and comfort Xiao Lingling with the others who had come in.

Lin Xin didn’t have time to bother with these people courting favor, and focussed on the disciples below who were in the midst of battle, who were surprisingly disciples of a Sword Sect, each wielding a longsword and attacking a large, black-haired monster.

The monster, two meters tall and wielding a black scythe, stood on its hind legs like a wild horse, snorting heavily from its nostrils with blood-red eyes as it swung its scythe fiercely, showing great strength.

As Lin Xin watched, just then two First Layer disciples burst out their Inner Qi, barely blocking the monster’s scythe.

On another side, a disciple failed to dodge and was viciously slashed at the waist by another monster.

With a rip, he was cut in half along with his burden, falling into the abyss.

This monster was extremely powerful; even a Third Layer leader at this moment could barely hold off one alone. The other two monsters were ferociously unstoppable, and within moments, two more disciples were knocked into the abyss, disappearing with screams.

"It’s people from the Poison Gang," Xiao Lingling recognized the main component of these disciples at a glance.

"The disciples behind, please lend your aid!" the only young male fighting a monster alone turned back and shouted, "This trial is perilous, we still need to... Boom!" His words were cut off as, distracted, he nearly got knocked off the cliff by the monster in front of him.

Suddenly, he couldn’t finish the rest of his sentence.

"This monster is so formidable...our help wouldn’t be of much use..." Brother Guang paled upon seeing the Third Layer masters struggle so immensely, somewhat hesitant, yet he tried to remain calm. "We can take advantage of their distraction with the monster, go first, and then cover their retreat. That would be the best strategy."

Lin Xin didn’t speak, merely observing the situation carefully.

Xiao Lingling and the others quickly agreed with Brother Guang’s suggestion, clearly unwilling to get involved in the peril.

"Brother Lin, what do you think?" one of them asked Lin Xin.

Lin Xin’s eyes flickered slightly.

"Let’s go with your plan."

The group agreed, and just stood back to watch as the people from the Poison Gang fought the monster. The three-headed beast wasn’t invulnerable, sporting more and more wounds on its body, with black blood scattering everywhere.

Thud.

Finally, a Third Layer master from the Poison Gang forced one of the monsters off the cliff with a sword strike. He then gave Brother Guang and Xiao Lingling a cold glance, turned around, and went to assist the remaining disciples. By then, more than half of the over ten disciples from the Poison Gang had been killed or wounded, suffering heavy casualties right at the start of their journey.

"Now’s our chance, let’s go!" Brother Guang said quickly.

The group hugged the wall at the edge of the fierce battle, sneaking past it from the side.

The monster, having some intelligence, fiercely pursued those who had injured it, ignoring Lin Xin and the others passing by.

"Just the beginning, and we encounter such a ferocious monster...this trial is really..." Xiao Lingling, getting a closer look, was shocked by the ferocity of the monster and couldn’t help but turn extremely pale.

Puff.

Suddenly, a burst of white light exploded in the darkness ahead. The white light slowly formed a huge small sword symbol, lingering for several seconds before disappearing.

"It’s a signal flare from the Sect, asking for help, there’s trouble ahead!"

Xiao Lingling recognized it.

"Let’s go," Brother Guang urged, keen to leave the area.

The group quickly moved away from the Poison Gang and others, rushing forward.

Lin Xin, carrying a large bundle, carefully opened it on the road and then strapped a large sword box on his back before rewrapping the bundle.

The sword box was large, accommodating four talisman swords. Although it wasn’t opened, it nevertheless caused Brother Guang, Xiao Lingling, and the others to glance over at him.

The light from their torches began to fade, and a faint chill seemed to spread through the air around them. Brother Guang took out a Resentment Talisman and lit it, immediately restoring the torch to normal.

"Everyone be careful," he said seriously. "There’s resentment."

The group followed the narrow path along the cliffside downward, not knowing how long they had walked.

Just as a chill wrapped around them again, a tall dark figure suddenly appeared on the path ahead.

The figure stood before a cultivator’s body, holding a scythe and turning its head to look at them.

"It’s...it’s that person!!" Brother Guang couldn’t help but exclaim.

With the torchlight illuminating it, the figure revealed its true form, exactly the one from the earlier battle with the Poison Gang. However, this horse-like person seemed shorter, only about 1.78 meters tall, also brandishing a scythe, with blood-red eyes.

"This one’s weaker, let’s take it down together. We have the advantage in numbers!" Xiao Lingling then found some courage, and the rest, spurred by her, felt slightly less fearful.

Clang, clang...

Several swords were drawn in succession. Xiao Lingling pushed Brother Guang, and she also rushed in from the side.

All five of them moved forward a few steps and surrounded the horse-like figure.

Brother Guang, pushed hard, clenched his teeth and thrust his sword, which clanged against the scythe and was deflected, scaring him into quickly changing his position.

Pine Forest Swordsmanship and Peacock Swordsmanship were the main techniques practiced by the group, but their Peacock Swordsmanship had not reached the level of Secret Technique like Kong Yuhui had.

The group surrounded the horse-like figure and stabbed chaotically. Although their coordination was lacking, they caught it off guard and caused blood to flow freely.

"Lin Xin, what are you doing?"

Xiao Lingling rushed out and was shocked to see that one person was still standing in the original spot, it was Lin Xin whom she had always thought was a skilled master.

Lin Xin gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist, standing silently in place without moving.

His bundle was also placed on the ground, indifferent to Xiao Lingling’s words.

When they truly fought the horse-like figure, they realized its prowess. Its strength was at least twice that of the group, and although not very fast, it was still agile.

The most troublesome part was the wide attack range of its scythe a single sweep could encompass them all. Initially, unaccustomed to being outnumbered, it struggled;, but after adapting slightly, it went berserk, wildly swinging its scythe, causing everyone’s faces to pale, continuously dodging.

"Lin Xin, are you trying to get us killed?!" Brother Guang also lost his temper; he was already somewhat cowardly, and seeing Lin Xin standing aside, he found an outlet for his frustration.

"Shut up!" Lin Xin suddenly roared.

His shout startled everyone, even the horse-like figure suddenly stalled in its movements, trembling all over as if frightened by the shout.

But soon, they understood; it wasn’t Lin Xin’s shout that had scared the creature.

For, to their right, in the unfathomably dark abyss, at some unknown time, a chicken head had appeared!

A red crown, a gigantic rooster head, at least ten meters tall!

The head of a giant red-crowned rooster!

The rooster head was terrifyingly large, its pointed beak slowly nearing them, trembling, its two unblinking eyes seemingly scanning each life form present.

Just one of its eyes was taller than a person. The rest of its body was still hidden in the endless darkness below the abyss, of unknown size.

Everyone froze, not daring to move, and the horse-like figure was similarly stiffened, staring fearfully at the immense rooster head.