Borrowed Sword

Chapter 64: The Evil Sword on the Mountain

Inside the secret realm, Xu Ziqing looked conflicted.

“Senior Brother has a life-saving grace towards me!”

“No matter what I use to repay him, it’s only natural.”

“But… my whole family died because of it.”

This was the hardest decision for the delicate-featured youth. He felt that this was not something he could decide on his own.

After much contemplation, Xu Ziqing thought of a compromise.

“You’re all watching me from the heavens, aren’t you?”

The youth took out the third silk pouch gifted to him by Chu Huaixu.

The note inside the pouch had already been carefully refolded along its original creases and returned inside.

“If your spirits still linger in the heavens, I will toss this silk pouch.”

“If it lands face up, it means you’ve approved of this matter, and agree for me to gift that thing to Senior Brother.”

“If it lands face down, then it means you do not wish it.”

Xu Ziqing took a deep breath and gently tossed the pouch upward.

The silk pouch didn’t fall to the ground and gather dust. He was sitting on the ground at the moment, spreading out his robes. He had controlled the direction when he threw it, and the pouch landed right on his clothes.

——Face down!

Xu Ziqing’s gaze sharpened, dazed for a long while. He hadn’t expected it to land face down.

But after a while, the delicate-featured youth began muttering to himself, recounting all the good things Chu Huaixu had done for him.

“Father, Mother, Grandma, Little Sister… you don’t know this, but Senior Brother, he…” He rambled on at length.

As if the face-down result was due to his deceased relatives knowing too little.

After speaking, he looked up once more and said, “Senior Brother is truly that good to me. If your spirits are watching, then including just now, I’ll toss three times. If two out of three come up face up, then it means you’ve agreed.”

He tossed it twice more—both times, face up.

The delicate-featured youth with rosy lips and white teeth revealed a relieved smile.

“As expected! Father, Mother, Grandma, Little Sister, I knew you thought the same way!”

“Don’t worry. With Senior Brother’s help, I, Ziqing, will cultivate diligently and avenge you all soon!” he declared, full of ambition.

After resting a bit more, Xu Ziqing adjusted to his strengthened physique and leapt into the water pool once again.

He could clearly feel now that the Water Blade no longer hurt as much.

As his physical constitution improved, so did his pain threshold. He now understood the profoundness of the 《Sword Refining Art》, which Senior Brother called a peerless divine skill.

The delicate-featured youth no longer viewed the pool’s torture-like practice as suffering.

This was a required course set by Senior Brother!

He even wondered, “Could it be that Senior Brother also walked this path himself?”

“He must have tempered himself here too.”

With this thought, Chu Huaixu’s calm and breezy demeanor surfaced in Xu Ziqing’s mind.

“I’m far inferior to Senior Brother,” the youth sighed.

Two days passed.

Han Shuangjiang leaned against the bamboo house’s door, watching Chu Huaixu and Liu Chenggong spar from afar.

She had grown somewhat used to the commotion outside the house.

The cold-faced young woman had been cultivating more diligently in recent days, unwilling to be left too far behind by Chu Huaixu.

Thanks to her efforts, she had now reached the level of the Eighth Aperture.

The Body of Profound Yin truly was terrifying—her breakthrough speed was shockingly fast.

“I should be able to attempt breaking through to the Ninth Aperture tomorrow,” Han Shuangjiang thought to herself.

By then, she could go to the Scripture Pavilion.

The young woman had looked forward to this day for a long time.

At this moment, she watched Chu Huaixu and Liu Chenggong exchanging blows joyfully, feeling a bit puzzled.

“Didn’t he reach the Eighth Aperture days ago?”

“Why hasn’t there been any progress these days?”

“Is he too caught up in sparring, or is he waiting for me on purpose?”

Han Shuangjiang couldn’t figure it out.

Sometimes, she felt like she understood him well, but then she’d suddenly realize she only knew part of him.

This man seemed to harbor countless secrets.

A mere low-grade Spirit Embryo, yet his cultivation speed surpassed even her super-grade Spirit Embryo.

Judging from the combat power he displayed now, if she were to spar with him, she likely wouldn’t last more than a few moves.

She harbored a vague and inexplicable curiosity toward Chu Huaixu.

But she also remembered the teachings from the sisters in 【Red Sleeves Beckon】.

“Shuangjiang, a woman must never get curious about a man. Look at our sisters here—many of them started out with fleeting romance and brief spring flings with patrons. But once they got curious and wanted to understand the man, that’s when they started falling deeper, until in the end they wouldn’t even accept silver coins anymore.”

Han Shuangjiang didn’t fully agree with her sisters—after all, that place was one of wind and moon. But… there seemed to be a grain of truth in it.

Just as she was lost in thought, she heard Chu Huaixu speak.

“Senior Brother Liu, let’s stop here for today,” Chu Huaixu raised his hand and said.

“Hm? Ending so early today?” This left Liu Chenggong confused.

Too tiring. These past few days had been way too tiring.

This kid in front of him was like someone on drugs—brimming with energy like a dragon or tiger!

No matter how exhausted he was the day before, by the next morning he was bouncing around like nothing happened.

As a normal human, Liu Chenggong’s fatigue accumulated. What else could he do? He could only grit his teeth and actually take medicine!

Every night when he went home, Liu Chenggong had his Dao Companion cook him restorative meals.

Before heading out, he’d pop a Qi and Blood Pill. Today, feeling it wasn’t enough, he even took two in one go.

And now? The effects hadn’t even worn off yet. He was still boiling with energy, and you tell me we’re done sparring? What am I supposed to do with all this hot blood?

Little did he know, in Chu Huaixu’s eyes, this tool man had already lost all usefulness.

Just moments ago, he gained another 40 Experience Points, officially maxing out the total of 1200 points.

Continuing to spar would be pointless—unless Liu Chenggong’s strength suddenly skyrocketed and he could be pinned down and thrashed. In that case, Chu Huaixu wouldn’t mind beating him up a little.

"Alright then, Junior Brother Chu, should I come again tomorrow morning?" Tool man Liu Chenggong had already gradually gotten used to this routine.

"No need. I plan to break through to the Ninth Aperture tonight. I might have to make a trip to the Scripture Pavilion in the morning," Chu Huaixu said.

Liu Chenggong was startled upon hearing this.

Just listen to that tone—like breaking through was something he could do whenever he pleased.

Standing nearby, Han Shuangjiang received her answer: “So he really was holding off the breakthrough… waiting for me on purpose.”

The Deputy Captain of the Enforcement Team could only raise his hand in congratulations: “Then congratulations, Junior Brother Chu! I wish you success in finding a cultivation method to your liking in the Scripture Pavilion.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Senior Brother Liu,” Chu Huaixu said with a smile.

After Liu Chenggong left, Chu Huaixu turned around and looked toward the elegant figure beside the neighboring bamboo house.

"You’ll break through tonight too, right?" he asked.

“Definitely,” replied the Big Ice Block.

Back in his room, Chu Huaixu removed the robes that had been dirtied terribly during the sparring.

By habit, he hung his dirty clothes at the door of Xu Ziqing’s room, waiting for his return to have them washed together.

“Little Xu, why aren’t you back yet? If you don’t return soon, your Senior Brother’s going to run out of clean clothes to wear,” he muttered to himself.

So many days had passed in the blink of an eye, yet Xu Ziqing was still absorbing medicinal liquid in the secret realm.

This made Chu Huaixu even more convinced that this kid had a naturally drug-enhancing sacred body.

“If I had that physique, I could easily milk another 2000 Experience Points from the secret realm. Why would I need to suffer through sparring like this dumb method?”

“Wouldn’t it be nicer to skinny-dip in the water pool?” he thought, speechless.

Sitting cross-legged on the meditation cushion, Chu Huaixu didn’t rush to level up.

He was afraid of passing out from the pain and missing the meal, ending up with cold leftovers.

Usually, he’d choose to level up at night, sleep through it, and get a great rest.

Thinking of how he was about to become a Nine Aperture powerhouse, a smile crept onto Chu Huaixu’s face.

A mere Level 9 shouldn’t have made him this happy.

But—Nine Apertures was the peak of the 《Sword Refining Art》!

“This means I’ve officially graduated. Stupid 《Painful Menstruation》, get lost!”

Having endured so much suffering, Chu Huaixu believed his good days were finally about to begin.

“From now on, I’ll just sit back and watch Little Xu scream on his own~” He found this far too satisfying.

As night fell, Xu Ziqing still hadn’t returned.

“Can he really absorb that much?”

Chu Huaixu was speechless. Why didn’t the so-called scientific and moderate drug use apply to him?

Just feeding medicine makes you stronger, huh?

He cast aside these stray thoughts and stopped envying the World Protagonist. He reminded himself to keep his feet on the ground, progressing step by step through his own efforts.

“System, level me up!”

In an instant, the completely blocked Ninth Aperture within him became completely unobstructed!

Thus, with all Nine Apertures opened, the Spirit Embryo’s secret reserve formed its own cycle. Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy could now enter his body, and after passing through the Nine Apertures, transform into Spiritual Energy within!

Spiritual energy from the surroundings surged wildly, continually tempering and pounding Chu Huaixu’s flesh.

In less than a moment, waves of excruciating pain swept in.

Even with his already high pain threshold, at this moment he felt like he was about to go mad.

The torment now was equivalent to the cumulative pain of opening all eight apertures before!

That sensation of his entire body being crushed under a heavy weight made him question whether his flesh and blood had already turned to mush.

He was no longer a person, but a puddle of human?

“Damn it, it’s a freight truck!” This was Chu Huaixu’s final thought.

He suspected he was walking along the national highway when the legendary 【Hundred-ton King】 freight truck rolled over him.

Chu Huaixu convulsed violently on the meditation cushion, but his entire skin shimmered with a flowing brilliance!

Within the Sea of Consciousness, that sickly-looking Black Small Sword was suddenly abnormally active.

It began to tremble, as if yearning to unsheathe.

In the next instant, the entire Medicine Mountain began to tremble slightly, as if an earthquake had struck.

In the 【Mountains Beyond Mountains】 region where the Dao Gate was located, every single mountain peak was the same!

Countless Dao Gate disciples were startled—this was the first time such a phenomenon had occurred.

“Is there an earthquake outside?”

“Mountains Beyond Mountains can have earthquakes?”

“Impossible. Even if there’s an earthquake outside, Mountains Beyond Mountains has a Mountain-Protecting Formation. There’s no way it would be affected!”

Unless… the tremor came from within the Mountain-Protecting Formation!

All the high-ranking members of the Dao Gate were stunned and came pouring out, flying directly to the very center of the 【Mountains Beyond Mountains】—Hidden Spirit Mountain!

Because the source of this tremor came from there.

For some unknown reason, the sword atop Hidden Spirit Mountain had begun to tremble and emit waves of sword cries!

At the summit of the mountain stood a stone platform.

Beside the stone platform was a stone stele, and in front of the stele lay a carving knife.

The stele was tall, bearing only two large characters at the top—【Gentleman】.

These two characters were written vertically.

Below, it was densely inscribed with small characters, as if people had extended the phrase starting from these two words, forming full expressions or phrases, then carved them with the knife.

Upon the stone platform lay a sword scabbard, pitch-black in color and exuding an ancient air.

Attached to the scabbard was a pendant—a black bead, from which hung black tassels.

Above the scabbard floated a sword.

Its tip pointed downward, its hilt upward.

This was a bronze sword, but slightly longer and darker than a typical bronze sword—appearing dark bluish-black.

At this moment, the bronze sword was trembling and letting out waves of sword cries!

And as it trembled, the entire Hidden Spirit Mountain trembled with it!

Though it hovered in midair, it could stir the whole mountain.

As if some invisible force tethered the sword to the mountain itself.

It was as though it had been chained to this mountain.

——The sword was angry.