Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 88 - 87: The Mystery of the Demon Talisman Seed (Part 2)

Chapter 88: Chapter 87: The Mystery of the Demon Talisman Seed (Part 2)

"Brother Lin? Brother Lin?" Xiao Lingling’s voice came from nearby.

Lin Xin regained his senses and saw Xiao Lingling watching him with a look of surprise and concern, the firelight flickering on her face, making her complexion appear even paler.

"It’s nothing, just thinking about something."

"Oh...." Xiao Lingling wanted to ask more, but seeing that Lin Xin was unwilling to talk, she held back.

"Here, Brother Lin, have something warm to eat." She filled a clean red porcelain bowl with a bowl of meat soup pancake and handed it to Lin Xin.

Lin Xin accepted it, feeling the warmth of the bowl, and a faint aroma of meat wafted up from the slightly milky soup, tempting his appetite.

After taking the chopsticks, he quickly finished the meat soup pancake, and both of them each took a Satiation Pill. They rested for about half an hour.

Xiao Lingling extinguished the campfire, intending to carry Lin Xin on her back again.

"No need, I should be able to walk on my own now," Lin Xin declined politely. As a grown man, having this delicate young lady carrying him for several days was fine when he was unconscious, but now that he was awake, it would be really shameful not to stand on his own.

"Then... then I’ll support you," Xiao Lingling said hesitantly, with concern in her voice.

"Okay."

Lin Xin nodded.

Xiao Lingling leaned against him, with almost her entire chest pressing against his body. She didn’t seem to mind at all.

Lin Xin felt her effort with every step she took to support him and move forward; a kind of inexplicable reassurance filled his heart. In this cruel world, it is valuable to have someone truly support you in your toughest times.

Such sincerity is extremely rare and precious.

At the same time, he also thought of the red-clothed witch who put him in this situation.

His gaze grew cold, "Red-clothed witch... I will settle this score with you sooner or later!"

He made a mental note. Although he did not know the witch’s name, he remembered her face.

The two of them staggered along the mountain path, slowly moving towards the exit above.

After walking for more than an hour, the exit, rolling with white mist, could be dimly seen, but there were several people standing by the exit as if they were specifically there to intercept.

Those people spotted Lin Xin and Xiao Lingling approaching from below.

One of them was sitting cross-legged on the ground, dressed in white as snow, with a snow-white Longsword on his back, even the tassel on the sword was white.

"Another one, Lu Rong. Go and meet them."

This person’s voice was shrill, sounding almost like a eunuch, but his face was the epitome of a handsome man, just pale and beardless, with long slender eyes that were delicate and beautiful like those of a woman.

"Yes." A woman in red among them bowed and responded, then quickly hurried toward Lin Xin and Xiao Lingling.

"The two of you have reached this point, the trial is considered completed ahead of schedule," the woman in red said loudly as she approached.

She glanced at Lin Xin who looked sickly, and at Xiao Lingling who reeked and had a bloody cut on her face.

"This is the Sect’s Jade Token." The woman took out a yellow jade token, with a large character "Lu" engraved on it.

Lin Xin could only feel that the woman’s presence was obscure and profound, totally beyond his sensing, and he shivered inwardly.

"Sister, may I know your name?"

"My surname is Lu." The red-clothed woman didn’t seem keen on talking much, maintaining a cold expression on her not-so-pretty face.

She lightly tapped on both Lin Xin and Xiao Lingling.

Instantly, two flashes of White Light flickered at her fingertips.

"Eh?" Suddenly she looked at Lin Xin with surprise and doubt.

"Red-clothed witch’s Yin turning poison? You, a mere Innate Fourth Layer, managed to face the Red-clothed witch and not die!?"

It seemed that with just one tap, she had fully understood Lin Xin’s injuries.

"And you..." She turned her gaze to Xiao Lingling. "Your body almost devoid of essence, yet still standing here steadily? You’ve been injured more severely than him! What Secret Technique did you use to stimulate your body?"

Xiao Lingling smiled and did not respond, but Lin Xin listened, his mind slightly stirred.

The red-clothed woman’s gaze gradually softened when she looked at Lin Xin and Xiao Lingling.

"The two of you... very good."

She grabbed them by their arms, and with a leap,

Whoosh!

Lin Xin just felt the world spinning around him, and after tumbling through the air, in just a dozen breaths, they halted.

He steadied his mind and looked around to find that they were already standing at the entrance of the misty cave. The man in white was sitting right in front of him.

"Brother, these two are severely injured and must be sent to the Sect for treatment immediately. They can’t wait half a month," Lu Rong said softly, releasing them.

"Take them away," the man in white said nonchalantly without even opening his eyes.

Lin Xin looked closely and saw the man’s breathing in white vapor, seeming to continuously absorb the surrounding mist as if drawing it from the void.

With a bow, Lu Rong showed respect and also led Lin Xin and Xiao Lingling into the misty cave entrance.

She gripped one arm of each of them but seemed to be able to give a steady strength to both, making it appear as though she was holding two weightless paper figures.

The three of them hurried on their way in silence.

Lin Xin silently estimated their speed, only seeing the stone walls on either side rapidly receding. The corridor, which used to take some time to traverse, was soon left behind, and they could see a gloomy gray sky ahead. On the edge of the cave’s exit, they could vaguely make out a part of the body of a giant white pigeon.

"It’s a dove from a Guardian," Lu Rong explained softly.

The three people quickly rushed out of the cave, and immediately an expanse opened up before their eyes.

The dark sky was a mass of churning clouds that seemed as if they were about to fall at any moment.

The enormous dove, the size of a two-story building, was still squatting in the same spot, motionless, with the blind girl in white on its back sipping from a gourd of liquor, seemingly indifferent to the events around her.

Outside around the dove, there were many ambulance personnel wearing white protective gear and face masks with white hats, with many stretchers prepared in advance. A row of tents had been erected, with people resembling doctors coming in and out.

Emerging from the cave, Lu Rong led the two into a crowd of white protective suited personnel, who laid Lin Xin and Xiao Lingling on separate stretchers.

"Take them to the Sect, without delay," Lu Rong said sternly.

A doctor stepped forward and took the pulses of Lin Xin and the others.

"The poisoning is deep, their vitality overly expended. Both are acutely ill!"

He reached out, pulling from who knows where two pills, one red and one white, shoving them into the mouths of Lin Xin and Xiao Lingling.

Lin Xin did not resist but simply swallowed the pills that melted in his mouth, only feeling a thick, sweet, and fishy taste.

The ringleader of the mission also stepped forward.

"Where are the bone fragments?"

Lin Xin pointed to a bundle on the ground nearby.

"Those belong to the two of us."

"Brother Lin!?" Xiao Lingling exclaimed in surprise from the side, "But those are all clearly..."

"We obtained them together!" Lin Xin cut her off, insisting.

"But..."

"Enough already, the two of you show loyalty and affection. Don’t display it here; go back to the Sect to heal. Then you can show all the affection you want," the ringleader said, already impatient. He peeled open the bundle, and a vast quantity of bone fragments spilled out.

"Huh?"

He exclaimed in surprise, then glanced back at Lin Xin.

"Not bad, not bad."

After a word of praise, he quickly tapped the bone fragments.

"Seventy-two pieces. Split evenly, thirty-six each. Good."

A slight smile flickered across the corner of Lin Xin’s mouth.

"That’s not right; all those were fought for by Brother Lin, one sword strike at a time. I don’t deserve so many..." Xiao Lingling became anxious on the side.

"Shut up!" the ringleader cursed abruptly, "Just focus on healing. Why are you talking so much, do you want to die?" He glanced at Lin Xin again, who nodded solemnly in response.

"Take them away, back to the Sect," said the ringleader, the corners of his mouth revealing a faint smile.

Lin Xin and the others were immediately carted off on stretchers toward a line of waiting horse-drawn carriages.

Lu Rong stood beside the ringleader, watching as the two were carried away, filled with emotion.

"It is indeed rare for our Sect to have disciples who are both talented and display such loyalty and affection," she remarked.

The ringleader nodded in agreement.

"The world is challenging; we all struggle on our paths. Yet, it’s always better than living an oblivious life like the ordinary people. Loyalty and affection, alas, are somewhat a luxury to us..."

"Perhaps so," Lu Rong sighed, then turned around and headed back towards the cave entrance. "I’ll go down to fetch more people. Continue standing guard."

The ringleader watched her leave, shook his head slightly, and turned towards one of the tents.

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

Lin Xin and Xiao Lingling were carried onto a carriage that jostled along for over two hours. Xiao Lingling, sustaining her spiritedness, kept prattling on about the matter of the bone fragments until Lin Xin, annoyed at her persistence despite her severe injuries, suddenly landed a chop to her neck, rendering Xiao Lingling unconscious to grant her some rest.

Soon the carriage arrived at a desolate riverbank and boarded a medium-sized ship.

This ship, docked among more than a dozen others on the bank, was painted all over in vermilion. With a small loft painted black and red, it was attended by gray-clothed servants and maids, all ordinary people. The two were hoisted aboard and saw several Sword Sect disciples also lying on stretchers.

"Brother Lin? Brother Lin Xin?" As soon as he was settled in the lower gallery’s hall to await thorough treatment from the physician, Lin Xin heard a familiar voice calling his name.

Turning his head toward the voice, he saw,

"Brother Huang?" It was Huang Shan, who was bandaged all over in white gauze, lying stiffly in the hall, immobilized.

"Brother Huang, how did you end up with such serious injuries?" Lin Xin was surprised; Huang Shan was one of the strongest in the Formation Hall, with a cultivation level at the Eighth Layer of Innate, only a step away from the Ninth Layer of Great Perfection. Who could have injured him so grievously?

Huang Shan also sighed deeply, having several attendants push his bed next to Lin Xin’s.

Looking around, Lin Xin saw that the others were also healing, with two meditating with closed eyes.

"Brother Lin, aren’t you the same? With your mastery of magic artifacts, whoever could injure you like this must not be a simple character, right?" Huang Shan said helplessly.

Lin Xin gave a bitter smile. "I was injured by the Witch of the Red Pavilion, and I still have a deadly poison in my body."

"You too!" Huang Shan exclaimed, eyes widening in shock. "The Witch of the Red Pavilion, Brother Lin, why would you provoke her for no reason?"

"I didn’t want to," Lin Xin gave a wry smile. "Just bad luck," he felt cursed to have met the Witch of the Red Pavilion.

"Lately, the Vermilion Bird Holy Court in the South has been making frequent moves, and our Four Sects’ domain has seen numerous Demon Sect disturbances. It seems like a storm is brewing..." Huang Shan, unable to move his body or even turn his head, could only speak out of the corner of his eye.

After taking the pill, Lin Xin felt much better and his spirit much more vigorous. Hearing this, he was intrigued. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly passes at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)