A layer of pale white light film slowly lit up on Lin Xin’s body.
The two stood opposite each other, only about a dozen meters apart.
Song Jing slowly raised the longsword in his hand, and in the middle of the blade, there was a clear black symbol.
"Junior Brother Lin, even if you can maintain the magic artifact’s defense, how long can you last without enough inner strength?"
He smiled, "Why don’t we sit down and have a good talk? As fellow disciples of the Formation Hall, I don’t really want to fight you. It was originally just a commission, but now it seems your strength has exceeded my expectations... The price previously mentioned no longer applies...."
"Are you trying to buy time?" Lin Xin saw the symbol on the blade in his hand and became vigilant.
"Buy time?" Song Jing shook his head, "You were quick to react during the encounter with the Earth Fiend Yin Beast earlier. You were even able to discern the transformed monster later... Tsk, tsk, I underestimated you indeed...."
"Earth Fiend Yin Beast?" Memories of the giant rooster and the transformative beast that could impersonate others flashed through Lin Xin’s mind.
"You’ve been following our team?!" He said, frowning deeply.
"Following you? You flatter yourself. I was merely taking the same passage down, that’s all...."
Song Jing laughed out loud, his figure suddenly darted forward with the speed of a black shadow, making his actions almost indiscernible.
In the darkness, a sword emitting red light suddenly lit up, covering more than ten meters, charging straight at Lin Xin’s face.
The red light moved at least twice as fast as Zheng Xiuqin and the others, reaching him in the blink of an eye.
Boom!
The Solar Yang Talisman Sword suddenly erupted, unleashing massive waves of red flames that transformed into a fireball in front of Lin Xin to meet the attack head-on.
The collision of the red light and the fireball occurred instantaneously.
With a hiss, Lin Xin was violently slammed backward, his feet dragging a black line behind him; he looked up to see Song Jing, his expression unchanged, charging at him again.
Lin Xin’s expression darkened, and he raised the Solar Yang Talisman Sword to meet the charge head-on.
Both were protected by the Spiritual Light Shield, and now the shields were constantly rippling and undulating from the explosive impact, creating waves.
Lin Xin was almost sure that what his opponent was holding was the Yang Charm Sword, as its power burst matched the descriptions of the Yang Charm Sword exactly.
But the Yang Charm Sword he had seen before was quite small, while the one in Song Jing’s hands was nearly the size of a regular longsword.
Clang!
Their longswords clashed, creating a small chip between the Solar Yang Talisman Sword and the Yang Charm Sword, with the chip on the Solar Yang Talisman Sword being slightly bigger.
The flames and red light entwined and expanded, scorching the area around them for several meters, making a hissing sound as the two elliptical Spiritual Light Shield films distorted violently.
Lin Xin felt a chill, knowing that the material of his Solar Yang Talisman Sword was inferior to his opponent’s.
"Isn’t that a Solar Yang Talisman Sword?!" Up close, Song Jing immediately noticed the issue with the Solar Yang Talisman Sword in Lin Xin’s hand. He, too, was a disciple of the Formation Hall and understood formation patterns. The camouflaging paint on the Solar Yang Talisman Sword had partially flaked off after multiple uses, revealing some of the small formation patterns on it.
"You guess?" Lin Xin sneered, forcefully parrying the opponent’s blade and retreating two steps before throwing several black spots with a flick of his hand.
"Yuan Yang Qi!"
He unleashed his strongest technique from the Flameless Swordsmanship with full force.
Bang, bang, bang! Three consecutive explosions occurred. The Luminous Talisman Stone emitted intense white light, so bright that Song Jing was forced to close his eyes and retreat.
It was then that Lin Xin’s Yuan Yang Qi Sword targeted his abdomen.
This sudden attack caused his shield’s light to distort violently, and with a crack, a small fissure appeared.
He snorted coldly, his inner qi surged out, and the crack on the shield light instantly healed.
"A one-time-use magic artifact?" He immediately recognized the nature of the explosive device, and with a shake of his blade, the red light intensified.
"Suspended in the air!"
He suddenly unleashed the Void Mysterious Sword Technique, and his blade bent into an arc, slashing a red line from the side, hitting Lin Xin’s shield precisely.
Their blades pierced each other’s shields simultaneously.
Thump!
"Die!" Song Jing’s lips twisted into a sneer, convinced that a mere Spiritual Light Shield couldn’t possibly withstand his full-force ultimate technique. Even an Eighth Layer Innate expert would have to dodge, let alone a Spiritual Light Shield that could only block one Eighth Layer attack?
But the moment his blade pierced Lin Xin’s Spiritual Light Shield, his face changed, feeling that something was wrong with its resistance. This Spiritual Light Shield was much stronger than he had anticipated!
"You!!?"
The shield’s light did not break, merely rippling with intense waves.
"Burst!" Lin Xin’s stern face appeared before him. His other hand, unbeknownst to Song Jing when, now wielded another black longsword, already aimed in his direction.
Boom!
A golden fire ring exploded violently, merging with the burst from the Solar Yang Talisman Sword’s Yuan Yang Qi Sword.
Song Jing’s body was flung fiercely like a ragdoll, and the Spiritual Light Shield on him suddenly shattered with a crack. He violently vomited blood and viciously slammed into the stone wall on his right, dislodging a large chunk of rocks before rolling onto the ground.
Lin Xin too was shaken back several steps by the massive recoil; the Spiritual Light Shield in front of him was now so thin it was almost invisible. He was also inwardly shocked—having the Luminous Talisman Sword and Solar Yang Talisman Sword burst forth with his strongest move, the Yuan Yang Qi Sword, all at the same time was almost the strongest attack he could execute at present, and he hadn’t expected it to be so powerful.
Not only was Seventh Layer Song Jing severely injured, but even just withstanding the recoil alone, the Spiritual Light Shield nearly collapsed directly.
"This was a Spiritual Light Shield enhanced with my attribute points!" Lin Xin steadied his mind and quickly walked towards Song Jing, who was not far away.
Without any unnecessary words, he diagonally slashed his sword at Song Jing.
Unexpectedly, Song Jing rolled over and threw a golden needle straight at him.
The shield light on Lin Xin immediately shattered, and he quickly dodged the golden needle, fortunately, Song Jing seemed to be severely injured and was slow to act.
After dodging the golden needle, Lin Xin looked up to see Song Jing has backed up about ten meters away.
He hurriedly gathered his Inner Qi, only to be shocked to find his body was nearly empty, with only a thin, pitifully weak Inner Strength slowly circling around his chest.
No sooner had a problem arisen here than Song Jing noticed it; he turned back and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Impressive! A mere Fourth Layer Innate, but capable of such a huge burst of power just now. Tsk tsk... I said it, with such a powerful attack, the consumption must be enormous. Having just fought those two for a while, how could there still be so much Inner Qi."
He said while grinning savagely, then with a lunge, a sword light suddenly drew a small red snake, darting flexibly and eerily straight towards Lin Xin’s throat. At the same time, a shallow layer of Spiritual Light Shield reappeared on his body.
"My turn now! Die!"
Song Jing’s countenance grew fierce, a far cry from his initially calm and gloomy demeanor. Joining his Seventh Layer Cultivation burst move with the Yang Charm Sword, he propelled himself directly to the peak of Eighth Layer Innate Realm.
Without Inner Qi, Lin Xin couldn’t even speed up to dodge; he could only watch helplessly as Song Jing thrust his sword at him.
The sharp sword blade transformed into a red light snake, reflected in his clear pupils, getting closer and closer.
"No!!" Xiao Lingling’s voice came from behind in the corridor.
She was standing by the stone wall, sweating profusely, anxiously looking this way.
Hisss!
Thump...
Blood was spilled everywhere; Song Jing fell to his knees with a disbelieving expression, his face in a daze.
There was a fist-sized hole shockingly visible in his chest. One could see Xiao Lingling directly through the bloodied hole.
Lin Xin’s complexion remained indifferent, as he lowered the Sword Qi Talisman in his hand, glanced at Xiao Lingling in the distance. Reversing his grip, he sheathed the Solar Yang Talisman Sword back onto his back.
"Such a pity for this Sword Qi Talisman..." Lin Xin shook his hand, discarding the talisman paper in his hand. Just a moment ago, he had consecutively activated three bursts of Sword Qi Talisman. The first two negated the sword techniques burst forth by Song Jing, and the third instantly tore open his shield light, creating a fist-sized hole in his chest.
Without protective gear, even a cultivator is as vulnerable as an ordinary person.
The Sword Qi Talisman, given a slightly farther distance, others would be able to react in time. Plus, since its trajectory can’t be controlled and only travels straight, it’s very easy to dodge.
If it weren’t for Song Jing’s complacency, staying so close, thinking he was sure of victory, and not paying attention to the burst from the Sword Qi Talisman, he wouldn’t have lost his restraint and charged in close without regard.
Song Jing collapsed to the ground.
Lin Xin quickly searched his body, finding a pouch and a small notebook that seemed to be a record of his experiences. As for the thirty or so bone shards, they were mixed with the previous ones already taken.
Lin Xin thought for a moment, picked up the Yang Charm Sword to inspect it. It already had a small nick, and being a magic artifact sacramentally refined with Song Jing’s heart blood, other people would need a long time to dissipate his blood’s sensory connection, which is quite troublesome. Moreover, due to its too obvious and bulky features, it was not easy to carry, so he decided to abandon it.
Packing away the pouch and notebook, Lin Xin was about to speak, but saw Xiao Lingling’s complexion change.
"Brother Lin, run! Two Innates are coming from behind! They’re both looking for you!" Xiao Lingling shouted.
Lin Xin’s expression darkened.
"What’s going on?"
"It’s the two we ran into before! Just run!" Xiao Lingling urged, jogging towards him.
Without further ado, Lin Xin grabbed Xiao Lingling and ran deeper into the corridor.
After running awhile, Xiao Lingling clearly began to falter due to exhaustion; she was just a First Layer, and even with Lin Xin nearly out of Inner Qi, she couldn’t keep up with him even if he occasionally used it to enhance their speed explosively.
After running for a while, the sound of pursuit from behind seemed to be getting closer.
"Brother Lin, don’t mind me! Go by yourself!" Xiao Lingling abruptly let go of Lin Xin’s hand, "I’m just a mere First Layer; even if they see me, they won’t do much! You better run!"
Lin Xin paused briefly, then nodded.
"They are after me. Just tell them that I kidnapped you, you should be fine." Although he valued Xiao Lingling’s Perception Ability highly, the circumstances gave him no choice at this time.
Saying this, he quickly took out a bone shard from his waist pouch.
"This is your compensation for following me all these days." Xiao Lingling had followed him all this time for these bone shards. Being greatly powerful, he could easily acquire more once he had rested and recovered; he was not lacking in them.