Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 970 - 965: Always One

Chapter 970: Chapter 965: Always One

For others, such a choice would indeed mean that death is the only expectation.

But for Lin Xin, it represents giving up and compromising.

"Sometimes, choosing to live requires more courage than choosing to die."

The woman in the white dress looked at Lin Xin and suddenly said seriously.

"The torment and suffering of millions of years are enough to test whether his eternal essence will wane." The Painter also took note of Lin Xin’s choice.

"Eva, how long have you been here?"

Although the Painter was just a switch, over nearly infinite time, he eventually had some autonomy and space for thought.

Other than being unable to leave to do other things, in other respects, he is no different from a normal person.

The woman in the white dress looked at the Painter’s back.

"I can’t remember... perhaps tens of millions of years."

"Do you want him to help you get out?" the Painter asked.

"Do you think I have no hope?" Eva countered.

"By engraving one’s eternity onto the Eternal Wall, one provokes the wall’s backlash. In the moment we speak here, the test this person undergoes is like a flash of millennia.

Do you think his will can withstand tens of thousands of years?"

The Painter asked faintly.

"I don’t know." Eva shook her head.

The Painter fell silent and did not continue speaking, only letting out a gentle sigh.

Time passed second by second.

Standing in place, Lin Xin’s expression gradually changed.

His once rosy cheeks rapidly paled at a speed visible to the naked eye.

His previously full and strong physique also quickly caved in, becoming gaunt. His skin began to gray, as if he had lost all nourishment of essential blood.

"The result is about to emerge...."

Eva fixed her eyes on Lin Xin.

The Painter didn’t respond, also focusing on this outsider who had finally entered this space.

For him, it might take millions of years to receive a formal visitor. And staying in this boring space, the only amusement was conversing with these outsiders.

"Are you afraid?" the Painter suddenly asked Eva.

"I’m not!"

Eva retorted.

"You are afraid." The Painter’s second sentence was a declarative statement. "Afraid that he might not succeed?"

"....."

The Painter chuckled.

"If it were someone else, maybe I still wouldn’t be sure, but this person...."

He recalled taking the most precious thing from the other party as collateral. And the true nature of that thing turned out to be...

Heh heh....

This is a paradox.

The Painter quietly waited.

Lin Xin’s body grew increasingly emaciated, soon becoming nothing but skin and bones, with not an ounce of flesh visible.

But then.

He opened his eyes, a hint of puzzlement and pain flashing in them.

"Did I pass?"

Lin Xin’s voice was very hoarse.

"Of course." The Painter was very calm, as if he thought it was self-evident.

Eva, on the other hand, shook slightly and relaxed entirely.

The Painter laughed softly.

His laughter was very abnormal, sounding like it was forcibly suppressing panic, a neurotic, breaking laughter.

It was creepy and sounded grating.

He raised his hand, and Lin Xin’s portrait in his hand immediately began to rapidly color.

He made no movement, yet the black-and-white sketch automatically started coloring. Every detail was precisely the same as the current Lin Xin.

He lightly flicked his hand; the scroll automatically framed itself and vanished into the large pile of frames beside it.

"I engraved your thing on the Eternal Wall," the Painter said as a matter of course.

"Mm."

Lin Xin was very tired.

In the eternal test, in such a short time, he seemed to have experienced countless years.

The torment and suffering of countless years, the negative emotions, had truly shown him the essence of his inner self.

"What use is engraving on the Eternal Wall?"

Lin Xin hoarsely asked.

"I don’t know." The Painter shook his head, "I’ve never been out, so I can’t comprehend your mode of existence."

"The first point. You can freely come and go from here." Eva interjected.

Lin Xin slightly turned his head, looking behind him.

"The second point, your timeline will gradually become independent, unable to be influenced by other Primordial beings.

This is the key use of obtaining the Primordial qualification."

A trace of envy flashed in Eva’s eyes.

"Although you cannot yet interfere with manipulating time and history, other Primordials cannot interfere to kill you either.

Because a part of you is left on the Eternal Wall, which is unchanging. Even if your body in the outside world is killed, as long as this place exists, you will not completely perish."

Eva stared at Lin Xin.

"I don’t know why you so easily obtained the qualification, but I once, enduring through the threefold test for tens of millions of years, ultimately failed and collapsed.

Can you tell me what you went through?"

Upon this topic, a peculiar expression appeared on Lin Xin’s face.

Yes, peculiar.

"I merely held onto my consciousness. Kept myself awake. I did nothing else."

Even though it had subjected him to tens of millions of years of torment and suffering, to just pass the Primordial qualification assessment like this left Lin Xin truly surprised.

"He is different. Extraordinary." The Painter interjected.

"Is that so....." Eva was stunned.

"My time has come." Lin Xin looked at the colorful thread on his wrist.

"As long as you wish, you can come here anytime. But next time, don’t recklessly devour the materials here." The painter smiled.

"I understand." Lin Xin forced a smile, his physique quickly becoming fuller.

Swish!

He disappeared from his original place in an instant.

Inside the windmill, only the painter and Eva standing at the door remained.

And the painting of a human head on a snake’s body gently fell at Eva’s feet.

She bent over to pick up the painting, her face showing a mix of envy and perplexity.

"I’ve never seen anyone so effortlessly gain the qualification." Eva sighed.

"He is different." The painter sighed.

"What’s so different about him? You’ve mentioned this three times already." Eva asked curiously.

"He... The most precious and important thing to him is himself.

I took away his soul and etched it onto the eternal mural as collateral, which means temporarily acquiring the essence of eternity." The painter answered helplessly.

"So the subsequent tests and experiences are meaningless to him, at most, they are just exercises.

Moreover....."

For the first time, Eva heard such an extreme statement.

"Can such an... an extreme being still appear in this world?!"

She was a bit dumbfounded.

"This is selfishness." The painter replied. "This person, selfish to the point of instinctively digging out his soul’s reflective ability.

That terrifying devouring ability is his means of constantly devouring external things to enhance his sense of existence.

Ultimately, it’s because he doesn’t want to die, doesn’t want to perish, doesn’t want to be forgotten, the most fundamental soul reflection."

Eva was truly stunned.

She had never heard of such a person existing.

"Unexpectedly... instinctively unlocked the soul reflection ability... That is an ability that can only be unearthed after one has unlocked their eternal unchanging soul essence, right?"

"Yes." The painter nodded. "It’s also an ability that only the Primordials qualify to possess."

"So you’re saying... he... he....!!?" Eva suddenly thought of a possibility, her expression changing, becoming extremely shocked.

"You’re not wrong." The painter sighed affirmatively.

"This person, this extremely selfish person, had long ago unlocked his own eternal essence ability, which is the soul reflective power....."

Eva stood stunned, unable to say anything, her mind a blank.

"He is selfish to the extreme."

The painter continued to murmur.

"This selfishness has extended to his surroundings, the people, events, and objects around him.

Everything of himself, life, soul, wealth, rights, and so on..... everything he owns.

Even as long as it’s everything belonging to him, relatives, friends, any close relationships.

All are seen by him as a part of himself.

This is also a part of his soul reflective ability."

The painter lamented.

"When the scope of selfishness continually expands to encompass everything around oneself.

Even reaching to one’s nation, one’s planet, one’s universe.

Seeing all of one’s own as a part of myself,

such selfishness..... becomes saintly."

"Born.... a Saint...." Eva blankly gazed at where Lin Xin had left, her heart stirred with waves of emotion.

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

In the great universe, on planet Aojia.

Lin Xin lay on a wicker chair, Ruan Rujun quietly making tea beside him.

The girl’s gentle and skillful tea art was as natural and amiable as flowing clouds and water, calming anyone who sees it.

In the afternoon, the sky outside was overcast without a sliver of sunlight.

The wind was strong on the balcony, howling.

Light from the hall behind them shone onto Ruan Rujun’s knees.

She knelt, making tea, her expression serene and content.

Lin Xin watched her intently.

It had been months since he returned from that mysterious space.

He had passed the test of Primordial Essence, gaining independence over his own timeline, though it didn’t make him a Primordial, unable to freely manipulate history.

Yet other Primordials couldn’t interfere with his history anymore.

This meant other Primordials could no longer manipulate time to kill him at will.

Moreover, with the millennium key he obtained, Lin Xin also completely understood over ninety percent of the great universe’s rules.

The remaining parts were not even on the millennium key, unresolvable.

But as it stands, it was enough to unlock the seal of the Netherworld Palace.

Thinking of this, Lin Xin recalled Lin Yaoyang who was imprisoned in the Netherworld Palace.

"Why do you like me?"

Lin Xin suddenly asked.

Ruan Rujun was startled.

Soon, a blush blossomed from her neck and cheeks.

She bowed her head, at a loss, not knowing how to respond.

"I..... I....."

The myriad thoughts that flashed through the girl’s mind were clearly perceived by Lin Xin.

Without her reply, Lin Xin already knew the answer.

Ruan Rujun’s love for him.

Was a mixture of many emotions.

A reliance akin to a brother’s.

A sense of safety like a pillar.

A dream-like anticipation.

And treating him as the emotional home and everything she belonged to.

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