Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 87 - 86 The Mystery of the Demon Talisman Seed (Part One)

Chapter 87: Chapter 86 The Mystery of the Demon Talisman Seed (Part One)

It’s already been three days....

Lin Xin’s heart sank. He had never lost consciousness for so long before.

"You can put me down... Don’t worry about me, you go up first, finding a master to come down and save me is also fine...."

"No way!" Xiao Lingling flatly refused.

A touch of warmth fleetingly crossed Lin Xin’s heart.

"You don’t need to...."

"I’m okay!" Xiao Lingling turned back with a brilliant smile.

Only then did Lin Xin vaguely see a bloody wound on her left cheek, the side that was against him.

"Your face..."

"It’s just a small wound, it’s just that I let it bleed too much..." Xiao Lingling quickly turned back, stating somewhat unnaturally.

"Brother Lin, don’t worry, I will definitely get you out of here. Definitely!"

Lin Xin was silent.

He knew that over these two days, Xiao Lingling might have encountered some incidents that she hadn’t spoken of, and as for what exactly happened, perhaps only she knew.

Carrying Lin Xin on her back, she walked step by step through the crevices between the stone pillars of the square. Her steps were somewhat difficult, but exceptionally determined.

"Brother Lin... I, Xiao Lingling, really invested a lot in you this time, you know? If you don’t make it through this ordeal, then I’ll truly have lost everything I invested." She joked while laughing, walking and gasping for air as she spoke.

"My mother was a businesswoman, although not very reputable in the past, relying on her beauty, she dealt with many important businessmen and officials, but she taught me many, many principles about doing business. Brother Lin, do you want to hear them?"

A hint of a smile emerged on Lin Xin’s face, and his mood became even more serene.

"What principles? Tell me...."

Xiao Lingling chuckled, thought for a moment.

"My mother used to say... In life and in dealings, one should be like those high officials and great generals at war.... Use one’s surplus capabilities, offer help wherever one can lend a hand, especially when others are weakest and most in need of help, that’s how you can obtain the greatest return." Xiao Lingling gasped for breath, seemingly exhausted.

"But... what’s more important is, if you receive help when you are weak... when you need it the most, then you must repay them with the greatest ability you have... This way... when others hear about it, they will be willing to reach out and help you when you need it." Xiao Lingling set Lin Xin down to rest temporarily. She wiped the sweat with her sleeve, which had turned somewhat yellow from the dirt.

"Makes sense... your mother was very impressive," Lin Xin whispered with a light smile.

"Yeah... I think so too." Xiao Lingling’s dirty cheeks revealed a sweet smile.

"But, my family is no good now... Since my mother passed away, everyone despises me, my father remarried a young and beautiful stepmother, and the family wealth my mother left behind has all been taken by them."

She took out a handkerchief that had turned yellow from wiping, rinsed it with water from the skin, and began to clean Lin Xin’s face.

"Later, I was so pressed I had no other choice, thankfully an uncle who once pursued my mother pitied me, acquiesced to my pleas, and used his connections to send me to the Pine Sword Sect. He’s a good person... and he even took in my sister... If my sister hadn’t come with me, as her talent wouldn’t suffice, and had stayed there, she would likely have suffered a lot..."

She unwittingly fell into her memories.

"You’ve also had a tough time..." Lin Xin sighed. "Indeed... if it weren’t for life’s pressures, why would a beautiful young girl like you, who isn’t the type to focus on cultivation practice, be willing to come so far to join a harsh sect like Pine Sword Sect."

"It’s actually okay..." Xiao Lingling smiled, putting away the handkerchief and rinsing it with more water. "I just think, if one day I can make a breakthrough in cultivation, enter the Innate Realm, and become an expert on my own right after leaving the sect, I could go and take my sister out, live a good life together with that uncle. Then all those at home who look down on me will shut up."

Lin Xin fell silent.

He himself, having rapidly made breakthroughs with treasures like Yin Blood, couldn’t relate to the feelings of disciples with mediocre talent at the very bottom.

"How much longer until you break through to the Second Layer?"

"Me?" Xiao Lingling was taken aback, "I’m not a genius like Brother Lin... The Second Layer... I guess it will take a very long time..."

She gave a bitter smile.

"Since joining the sect, my cultivation has only improved a little bit over this year...."

"Genius..." Lin Xin was at a loss for words; he was no genius, simply someone who had advanced by relying on secret treasures.

Yin Blood and the Human Face Fruit, both were high-level treasures that even Innate disciples longed for, all of which he had consumed, and even then he had only barely reached the Fourth Layer of the Innate Realm. If those resources were given to a regular disciple, they could probably have rushed to the Sixth Layer.

"To reach the Innate Realm in one year, if you, Brother Lin, are not a genius, then who is?" Xiao Lingling laughed, "Of course, excluding Sister Dugu and her brother."

Lin Xin couldn’t help but join in the laughter. Indeed, in the eyes of ordinary people, if he wasn’t considered a genius, then who would be.

After resting for a while, Lin Xin felt a bit tired again, and Xiao Lingling continued to carry him on their way.

Fortunately, it seemed that the disguised monsters on the plaza had been dealt with, and Song Jing, who had dressed up as Lin Xin to frame him, had also died at Lin Xin’s hand.

There was thus no danger on the plaza.

Xiao Lingling step by step left the plaza and reached the giant suspended disc above the abyss.

The stone disc was still the same, surrounded by dense black chains stretching upward, extending all the way to the invisible dark cavern ceiling.

It resembled a massive stone scale.

Xiao Lingling occasionally activated her Inner Qi to relieve the fatigue in her legs. Thankfully, as an internal arts expert, she had ordinary physical fitness but with the occasional burst of Inner Qi to help her, her stamina was not bad.

However, Xiao Lingling had previously sustained serious internal injuries to her abdomen, so walking was still somewhat arduous.

He walked slowly across the stone disk and onto the mountain path embedded in the abyss’s stone walls.

"Brother Lin, do you know who the red-robed woman who injured you is?" Xiao Lingling asked.

"I don’t know..." Lin Xin shook his head slightly, "But I guess... it might be the demon cultivator living in this cave, the Red Mansion Witch."

"Red Mansion? It’s quite famous in our Duke Yu’s Mansion..." Xiao Lingling was taken aback, somewhat moved.

"What do you mean?" Lin Xin came from a small place. Red Pine City, isolated from the world, was remote and secluded, and he was far less informed than Xiao Lingling who hailed from the heart of a great nation.

"A branch of the southern Vermilion Bird Holy Court, and a mortal enemy of our Four Sects. The Red Mansion, because most of its members are female and they like to kill ordinary people to consume their Essence Qi, has a notorious reputation in the Mortal World," Xiao Lingling explained.

"The witch must have been the trial target for Xiaosi and the others. Just don’t know how they let her escape," Lin Xin speculated.

"A target of four Innate Great Perfection individuals..." Xiao Lingling felt it was beyond her reach, that an existence of such a high caliber had somehow become slightly connected to her, which seemed somewhat surreal.

"Alright, we’re here now, and the exit is near. Let’s eat something before we go," Xiao Lingling took out the tools for making fire from her bundle.

It was tough for her to carry Lin Xin by herself and manage the belongings of both of them. She combined two parcels over her shoulder, which was nearly the size of a cotton quilt.

Lin Xin watched her start to get busy, lighting a fire, boiling soup, then tearing off pieces of bread and cooking them until soft in the soup. She then took out the bamboo tube containing Satiation Pills. Occasionally, she hurriedly tended to the burning campfire.

Suddenly, he felt an unusual sense of tranquility wash over him.

"By the way, how are your injuries?" he asked.

"Injuries? Those minor injuries have long healed," Xiao Lingling replied with a smile, naturally.

"Is that so?" Lin Xin said doubtfully.

"Don’t worry," Xiao Lingling answered with a smile.

She looked up at the dark ending of the mountain path above them, recalling the giant rooster they had encountered on this mountain road, wondering if it would still be there when they returned.

"Let’s hit the road after we finish eating." She felt the pain in her lower abdomen intensifying. With a gentle hand on her belly, she said, "Brother Lin, I’m going to wash up, I’ll be right back."

"Hmm..." Lin Xin’s vision was not very clear; although it had improved significantly, he was still somewhat low on energy and did not notice her peculiarity. He reached into his pouch, looking for any healing medicine, but instead inadvertently touched a strangely altered metal block.

He carefully took out the metal block, recalling its formal name.

"Demon Talisman Seed... I wonder what it does."

He thought for a moment, then slowly smeared the metal block with his own blood. His wound was now so bad that he could squeeze out a lot of blood from anywhere. Following the pattern found in the blood sacrifice ritual, he drew it properly three times before he succeeded.

Then he threw the Demon Talisman Seed into the campfire.

After standing up, Xiao Lingling walked to a protruding stone behind the mountain wall.

She untied her clothes and reached under herself, only to see her hands were covered in dark red blood when she looked at them.

Waves of intense pain swept through her body from her abdomen, and Xiao Lingling clenched her teeth to endure it. All the Sweet Dew Talismans had been used up on Lin Xin, and she only started using a few herself to stabilize the injury. Afterwards, she had been carrying Lin Xin and evading pursuit, always on edge with fear and hardship. Even when resting, she dared not close her eyes for fear of an ambush.

Without proper rest, her injuries had gradually worsened, causing her to experience pain once every few hours.

Using a bandage strip meant for treating wounds, Xiao Lingling carefully wiped away the fresh blood, waiting for the pain to slowly subside before she returned to the campfire and took some hemostatic medicine. Although the effect was minimal due to severe lack of rest, it was better than nothing.

Just as she sat down, she saw Lin Xin holding a thick stick, stirring something in the fire.

"Brother Lin?"

"It’s nothing," Lin Xin said with a smile to her.

In a vision unseen by others, the faint red color of his attribute bar had now merged with the campfire’s glow.

In his vision,

The Demon Talisman Seed being scorched in the fire was emitting strands of crimson smoke.

The smoke wafted towards him and entered his mouth and nose on its own.

Lin Xin inhaled the smoke gently, feeling an intense pleasant sensation spreading through his body.

Crack.

Suddenly, there was a faint sound.

Lin Xin snapped back to awareness from the pleasurable feeling and saw an exhilarating change take place.

The attribute bar in his vision had miraculously gained an extra point!

"It’s actually an attribute point!?" Lin Xin could not suppress the elation in his heart.

This was not just about gaining an extra attribute point; more importantly, he might have found another method to acquire attribute points besides increasing Inner Qi!

"If I’m not mistaken, the Demon Talisman Seed... should be about devouring others’ souls and then converting them through a ritual into an energy similar to attribute points for consumption," Lin Xin recalled the scroll he had seen about the Demon Talisman Seed. He then searched for the Talisman Seed in the fire but couldn’t find it anymore.

"In this way, I can completely collect a large number of Demon Talisman Seeds and then hunt down powerful souls to obtain more attribute points!" A thrill of excitement began to surge within Lin Xin. The use for attribute points had already been verified, not only in enhancing himself but also in amplifying the power of his magic artifacts.

If he could gather enough attribute points, Lin Xin himself dared not imagine what level his power could reach!