Borrowed Sword

Chapter 145: Holding the Sword in the Left Hand

Between life and death, there was great fear.

Guo Zhennan shut his eyes as if accepting his fate, memories flashing through his mind like a spinning lantern. A roaring sound echoed in his ears.

He deeply regretted urging the other party to draw something from the sword case.

And now? Great — his fellow Sword Sect members were going to hold a memorial for him.

After a few breaths, Guo Zhennan cautiously opened his eyes.

Standing in front of the tall youth was a man with graying temples.

Situ Cheng, one of the 【Four Great Divine Swords】, had stepped forward and waved away the sword light.

A sense of post-catastrophe survival instantly filled Guo Zhennan.

His legs turned limp and almost gave way beneath him — he nearly fell flat on his butt.

Because of the crowd around him, he forced himself to stand, not wanting to disgrace the Sword Sect.

That sense of despair just now — it was something he had never experienced before.

At this moment, when he looked forward, all the stone tiles on the arena platform had been utterly shattered!

And this was even when the sword light had been slashed horizontally in mid-air.

The dark bluish-black sword light had moved laterally forward and hadn’t even touched the platform.

Those specially-crafted stone tiles had simply been crushed by the residual force!

Behind the refined youth, however, all the stone tiles remained perfectly intact — creating a stark contrast.

That ugly Bronze Sword had, at some unknown point, already returned to the sword case.

In truth, after Xu Ziqing unleashed that slash, he could no longer hold onto the long-bladed Bronze Sword.

Thankfully, the formation within the sword case, once activated, had instantly retrieved it.

Below the platform, most people wore expressions of shock.

There had even been a burst of commotion earlier — the sword light had been too overpowering, its force utterly terrifying. The crowd nearest to the platform instinctively tried to flee, reacting as anyone would when confronted by danger.

Though everyone had divine sense, and thus weren’t tightly packed, the scene had still turned chaotic for a moment.

“Too scary! That sword strike was too scary!”

“This is the First Realm, my ass!”

“Just the aftershock alone could’ve killed me!”

“He destroyed half the platform — how the hell did he do that!”

Almost every spectator was left with lingering fear.

Geng Tianhe and the others were downright dumbfounded.

They knew clearly — if they had faced that slash, even pulling out all their trump cards would’ve led to certain defeat!

“Can’t dodge it. There’s no way to dodge that!”

“Unless you find a way to make him slash in the wrong direction!”

That was the only solution they could come up with.

On the platform, Xu Ziqing’s left arm hung limply.

Blood flowed continuously, trailing from his fingertips and dripping onto the stone tiles — one drop after another.

His entire arm was mangled, flesh torn and bones broken. The injury was severe.

This arm could be considered half-crippled.

If he hadn’t followed the path of Body Training, this hand wouldn’t just be “half” crippled — it would’ve been entirely ruined!

Han Shuangjiang looked at the scene, eyes filled with worry.

She couldn’t help but turn her head toward Chu Huaixu, only to see him frown slightly, seemingly deep in thought.

“In 《Borrowed Sword》, Little Xu never wielded the sword with his left hand.”

“Probably because he couldn’t.”

“And right now, he’s actually not following the 【Auto-Pilot Style】? No Sword Spirit taking over?”

A suspicion rose faintly in his heart — this might be another butterfly effect triggered by his actions, leading to a chain of events.

Overall, Chu Huaixu felt the pros outweighed the cons.

“As it stands, Little Xu now has another trump card, another killing move, even when not controlled by the Evil Sword!”

“But the price is enormous.”

“And he only has the power for one strike.”

The 《Ice-muscle Jade-bone Method》 cultivated by Xu Ziqing did have some regenerative ability, though far inferior to the 《Dao Canon》.

With some high-quality healing spiritual medicine, paired with his Body Training path, the injury could recover rather quickly.

Still, even so, there was no way to heal while fighting — time was still required.

Even someone like Chu Huaixu, with a freakish regeneration ability, couldn’t manage that in combat yet.

“It’s fine. Little Xu practices Body Training — he’ll be alright,” Chu Huaixu said aloud, noticing Han Shuangjiang looking at him.

He looked just like a husband comforting his wife after their child got hurt.

Right then, he caught the murmurs nearby.

The voice came from Kui Muquan of Spring and Autumn Mountain.

To his surprise, the man’s train of thought was wildly imaginative, saying: “His right arm isn’t crippled! That means if he has enough spiritual energy, he can unleash that terrifying move twice!”

Chu Huaixu heard that and couldn’t help but laugh.

“You clearly don’t know — if he wields the sword with his right hand, do you even know what you’ll be facing!” he thought to himself.

But after laughing for a bit, he soon stopped.

Because if his left hand was already this terrifying...

“Then what if I end up facing Little Xu with his right hand holding the sword?”

At that thought, he suddenly sensed the feeble Heart Sword within his Sea of Consciousness surging with fighting spirit!

………

………

On the platform, Situ Cheng stared at the refined youth before him.

Just now, he hadn’t been the only one to act in interception.

He’d simply moved the fastest, prompting the others to withdraw their hands.

After all, this was the Eastern Continent Grand Competition — not a life-or-death duel. No one should be dying here.

And as one of the Four Great Divine Swords and a Sword Sect elder, he clearly understood — this sword most likely still bore seals left behind by the Dao Ancestor.

Besides that, the haughty Sword Spirit that made others uncomfortable — seemed to have fallen into slumber as well.

If that truly was the Dao Ancestor’s Sword in its prime revealing itself in the world, then even if he personally intervened to stop it, it would basically be no different from walking in just to—

Even so, in that brief instant just now, Situ Cheng once again sensed just how sinister that sword truly was!

After channeling spiritual energy to block and shatter that sword light, a portion of his own spiritual power had actually been devoured by the sword!

This was an extremely alarming phenomenon.

“Even if we're equally matched, in the midst of battle, it could keep devouring and grow stronger the longer we fight!”

“And the Sword Spirit is sealed — yet it still devours?”

“Seems like it’s not just the Sword Spirit that’s wicked.”

“This entire sword, inside and out, is utterly demonic!” Situ Cheng thought inwardly.

At this moment, he looked from afar toward the blood-soaked youth and asked, “Kid, are you alright?”

“Reporting to Senior, this junior is unharmed,” Xu Ziqing answered. His face was pale as paper, but his tone remained calm.

This made the Sword Sect cultivator all the more convinced that the Dao Gate had found a real treasure.

“Gravely wounded, yet still so composed — as if he doesn't even feel pain.”

“This boy has an exceptional mind and unyielding character!” Situ Cheng’s gaze was filled with appreciation.

He directly tossed over a healing Spiritual Pill and said, “Take it — it’s yours!”

Then, turning his head toward Guo Zhennan, he said, “You’ve lost. Come down with me.”

He could tell Guo Zhennan’s legs were still a bit weak.

“Caught between life and death — this kind of awkwardness is natural. It’s just human nature,” Situ Cheng didn't blame him.

But he also didn’t want this timid side to be seen by all the disciples of the Dao Gate.

Guo Zhennan floated down from the platform, while Situ Cheng returned to the elevated stage.

Two inner sect disciples in charge of overseeing the event announced Xu Ziqing’s victory.

The youth slowly descended from the platform. Though clearly in bad shape, looking quite bedraggled, there was something about him.

For some reason, those standing nearby all moved aside to make way.

That sword strike from before still struck fear into their hearts.

This junior brother, with a face as delicate as a girl’s, had just now been like a god of slaughter descending upon the mortal world!

That sword light was filled with murderous intent, as if it aimed to destroy all of heaven and earth — terrifying to the extreme.

Xu Ziqing walked up to Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang. “Senior Brother, Senior Sister Han.”

“Don’t linger here. You’re badly hurt. Go back, take the Spiritual Pill, and rest for a day,” Chu Huaixu instructed.

“Alright,” he agreed.

Right now, he was indeed very weak — his whole body on the verge of collapse, yet still bracing himself.

And so, the youth departed.

But many by the stage instinctively kept their eyes on his retreating figure, watching him leave.

The admiration of the strong — it was human nature.

This short and refined-looking youth had, with just one sword strike, proven himself today!

On the high platform, even Mei Chuxue and the others watched him walk in the direction of the Gentleman Temple within the inner sect.

Her gaze couldn’t help but linger on that sword case.

As a high-level figure of one of the Four Great Sects, she knew the sword on Hidden Spirit Mountain was an Evil Sword — that wasn’t a secret.

After all, a thousand years ago when the Evil Sword first appeared, the Sword Sovereign of that era from the Sword Sect had personally gone to suppress it — only to be defeated and gravely injured.

Because of that, figures like Situ Cheng were aware: this so-called Dao Ancestor’s Sword had actually been suppressed by the Dao Ancestor all this time.

They just didn’t know why the Dao Ancestor hadn’t destroyed it.

“Maybe... even the Dao Ancestor couldn’t?”

In any case, the sword had sat at the summit of Hidden Spirit Mountain for a thousand years.

They knew nothing about any Dao Ancestor’s Maxim, nor about any Sword Attendant.

So, these three cultivators at the Eighth Realm had never once imagined that after crossing a millennium, the Evil Sword would one day resurface in the world!

If it could be controlled — that was one thing.

But if not, and even the slightest error occurred... no one in this world could suppress it again!

Thus, at this moment, Situ Cheng’s expression grew grave.

He sent a voice transmission to all present cultivators at the Seventh Realm and above — effectively only the upper echelons of the Four Great Sects, explicitly excluding Chu Yinyin.

“You all felt it too, didn’t you?”

“When I intercepted that sword light earlier, even then, part of my spiritual energy was devoured by the sword.”

Situ Cheng’s face darkened as he turned to Xiang Yan.

“Sect Master Xiang, are you certain there won’t be any incident?” he asked.

This whole thing felt like a boy walking around carrying a nuke. For now, it looked stable — but if it went off, nobody could handle the fallout!

It was the “what if” that terrified them!

Xiang Yan sent them a voice transmission in reply: “Little Martial Uncle will explain this matter to you all in detail. For now, why don’t we just finish watching today’s matches?”

Situ Cheng and the others exchanged glances but ultimately said nothing more.

Only Chu Yinyin seemed vaguely aware and inwardly grumbled, “Are they whispering behind my back again?”

‘Just say the word, and this lady will break through right now to show you all!’

For the moment, whether the Four Great Sects would come to a unified stance remained uncertain.

After this battle, although the following matches were all excellent, the overall enthusiasm had clearly dipped.

Understandably so. Han Shuangjiang, with her unrivaled beauty, had stunned everyone by unleashing her Sword Intent, instantly pushing today’s Eastern Continent Grand Competition to its peak.

And then Xu Ziqing stepped up and pushed it even higher with his overwhelming strike.

Everything afterward just felt like an anticlimactic epilogue.

Chu Huaixu’s match against Zhao Xinghan was scheduled for tomorrow.

Originally, it was supposed to be the most anticipated fight — even among the high-stage cultivators on the platform.

But now, no one believed it could surpass Xu Ziqing’s performance.

After the event dispersed, he and Han Shuangjiang walked side by side back to the bamboo hut.

On the way, Big Ice Block couldn’t help but remark, “The sword strike Junior Brother Xu delivered on stage today — I don’t think I could’ve blocked it.”

Chu Huaixu nodded slightly at her words.

He understood well — this was Xu Ziqing’s role among the four main protagonists.

Han Shuangjiang, being of the Body of Profound Yin, would leap ahead in cultivation as long as she didn’t intentionally suppress her realm. The further into the story, the more this advantage would show.

But even if she was one or two full realms ahead, the protagonist team often still needed Xu Ziqing to pay the price and erupt with a burst of power...

Right now, Big Ice Block wasn’t far ahead in cultivation, so it was natural she didn’t feel confident.

But at this moment, Chu Huaixu replayed that sword strike in his mind, imagined himself as the opponent, and looked at Han Shuangjiang.

Then he said, with firm confidence—

“I can.”

......