Borrowed Sword

Chapter 96: System Permissions Not Yet Open

The next day, early in the morning, the family of three sat at the table and ate together.

The scenery of Dao Gate’s Medicine Mountain was exceptionally beautiful. Outside the bamboo huts of Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang, each had a tree planted.

Hers was a pomelo tree, while Chu Huaixu’s was a parasol tree.

At this moment, the scene happened to echo Li Bai’s verse: "Human dwellings amid cold citrus groves, autumn hues upon withered phoenix trees."

The autumn sky was high and clear, and today’s weather was especially pleasant.

Han Shuangjiang looked at the two “Rice-gobbling Immortals” sitting across from her and could not help but think: "The family ate ordinary rice. If this were spirit rice that aided cultivation, there was no way she could afford to feed the two of them like this."

At this thought, she suddenly recalled the matter of pill refining and asked curiously: "Chu Huaixu, have you entered the basics of pill refining yet?"

Xu Ziqing, who had his head buried in drinking porridge, immediately lifted his head, licking away the grain stuck at the corner of his mouth, his face full of curiosity.

Chu Huaixu had also been wolfing down like a wild boar. Hearing Little Housekeeper ask this, his manner instantly changed, becoming dignified and refined.

He took a small sip of hot porridge, then looked at her leisurely and said lightly: "I have successfully refined three bottles of Qi-Gathering Pills."

"Hm?" Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing were both startled.

He had only exchanged for pill refining yesterday, and by nightfall he had succeeded?

And three bottles of pills meant thirty pills in total...

How was this mere entry-level? Could it be that he had mastered it in a single night?

The Big Ice Block could not help but recall Chu Huaixu’s words from yesterday: I think I am very talented in pill refining.

The cold-faced girl had recently been cramming hard on cultivation-world common sense.

She knew very well that pill refining and artifact refining were highly profitable, but also extremely difficult. At the beginner stage, the failure rate was ridiculously high, and materials consumed were regarded as tuition fees.

But with his talent, could it be that he was the reincarnation of the Pill King?

Chu Huaixu calmly continued drinking his porridge while spouting nonsense again:

"In truth, in my previous life I was already a Pill Refining Grandmaster. In this life, I reincarnated and haven’t completely forgotten."

The Big Ice Block rolled her eyes at him inwardly, too lazy to bother with him.

Xu Ziqing only felt that his senior brother was both humorous and incredible.

After the meal, Han Shuangjiang returned to her room to continue cultivating.

Little Xu began cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, then continued studying 【Six Formations of the Broken Array】 in the courtyard, trying to prove his worth.

Yesterday, he had soaked in dregs and absorbed a small amount of medicinal power.

The youth figured that tonight he might have the chance to open the Seventh Aperture!

Seeing the Nine Apertures nearing completion meant that the true great gate of the cultivation world was about to officially open before him.

Xu Ziqing’s heart could not help but feel faintly excited.

Chu Huaixu, meanwhile, once again went to the Treasure Pavilion, intending to sell the thirty Qi-Gathering Pills, then purchase another batch of raw materials so that the medicinal cauldron could continue refining day and night!

"Speaking of which, I truly am working hard," he thought.

Since the Qi-Gathering Pills required two hours per furnace, he even had the artifact spirit of the medicinal cauldron wake him up after he fell asleep, just like setting an alarm clock.

"Ah, the path of pill refining truly taxed both mind and body." Chu Huaixu lifted his head to the sky and sighed.

"It’s not easy to support a family!"

By the time Chu Huaixu left the Treasure Pavilion, his Storage Token was filled with raw materials for Qi-Gathering Pills.

Thirty flawless-quality Qi-Gathering Pills had not stirred any attention inside the Treasure Pavilion.

The Dao Gate disciples working there had long been numb to various treasures.

When they first started the job, handling Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, magical treasures, and spiritual pills every day still felt novel.

But after enough time, it was just the same.

After all, none of these treasures had anything to do with them personally.

What’s more, these were only mere Qi-Gathering Pills, just flawless in quality, nothing more.

Even if Chu Huaixu later brought in larger and larger quantities, they would simply assume this youth had formed a pill refining team.

The staff below would not care much, thinking it was none of their business.

As for the management level, they would never learn of such trifles; it would never reach their ears.

Furthermore, in the Treasure Pavilion, the buying and selling areas were separate, managed by two different groups of disciples.

Thus, no one noticed that this young man had just purchased pill formulas and spirit herbs yesterday and today came to sell spiritual pills.

On the contrary, after Chu Huaixu sold his pills, he went to buy herbs again. He even approached the same senior brother from yesterday, who kindly consoled him.

In that senior’s eyes, the herbs from yesterday were enough for several attempts at refining.

New learners were inefficient—there was no way they could finish in a single day.

To spend them so quickly meant only one thing—failures, wasted as scrap!

One did not use up materials that fast otherwise.

"Junior Brother, refining Qi-Gathering Pills is indeed rather difficult," he said in the tone of one who had been there before, full of empathy.

This instead left Chu Huaixu, who wanted to secretly show off, a little disappointed.

"Seems I can only go home and continue showing off fiercely in front of Big Ice Block and Little Xu!" he thought.

A day passed in the blink of an eye.

Chu Huaixu did not do much else, just casually leveled himself up once.

The reason was simple—grind-dog Han Shuangjiang had broken through again, matching his cultivation.

Seeing her working so hard, he naturally had to crush her. Anyway, he still had tens of thousands of Experience Points, so leveling up again was no problem.

But of course, he would not spend them all. He would leave some for emergencies.

For instance, in a critical moment he could suddenly break through, restore full mana, and so on.

After all, leveling up could be done anytime—it was only a matter of sooner or later.

"Perfect, this way I can always stay one small realm above her, tormenting Big Ice Block to death." Chu Huaixu smirked inwardly. In his eyes, Han Shuangjiang’s perpetually cold face only made it more entertaining.

After soaking in dregs for two days, Xu Ziqing also managed to grit his teeth and persevere in cultivating the 《Sword Refining Art》, successfully opening his already-loosened Seventh Aperture.

That afternoon, Chu Huaixu heard his uncontrollable scream.

As one who had gone through it himself, he secretly muttered: "This is nothing yet. When breaking through the Ninth Aperture, that’s when the true torment begins! Several times worse!"

But listening to that scream, he still felt comforted. Shared pain was better than suffering alone.

"At this pace, he should be able to break through to the First Realm within half a month."

"If I refine some pills suitable for him, he could advance even faster," Chu Huaixu thought.

"Looking at it this way, Little Xu, who was supposed to take first place, might just catch up in time for the Eastern and Western Continents’ Grand Competition."

The only thing he was unsure of was: "Would Little Xu still have a chance to seize that sword on the mountain?"

"With his talent, obtaining the Charred-black Wooden Token would be very difficult. He’d need to gorge on pills."

"Thankfully, I gave him the Xuantian Embryo Breathing Pill, raising him from a False Spirit Embryo to a Level 3 Spirit Embryo."

"Otherwise, no matter how many pills he took, it would have been impossible to meet the requirement in three days." Chu Huaixu knew this well.

Moreover, even if he obtained the Charred-black Wooden Token, would it really guarantee he could bring the sword down from the mountain?

In 《Borrowed Sword》, Chu Huaixu had no idea how Xu Ziqing had acquired the token and climbed the mountain. Since the timeline was before the game’s open beta, this part of the story had not yet been uncovered by players.

How he obtained that sword, Chu Huaixu likewise did not know.

"Only, it seemed he rarely used the Bronze Sword?" he recalled.

In his memory, Little Xu was like the protagonists of many dramas and anime, suddenly exploding with power at crucial moments. Unless it was a life-or-death crisis, he would never draw his sword!

This led many players to speculate that although the World Protagonist possessed the world’s number one sword, there were actually many restrictions. Perhaps each time he used it, he had to pay a terrible price!

After all, several times the protagonist’s party had been beaten half to death, yet the other three never urged Xu Ziqing to hurry and use the sword.

Chu Huaixu imagined himself in that scene—if he were beaten half-dead and Little Xu still refused to draw the sword, dawdling about, he’d beat him to death at home!

"On this trip up the mountain, I can already be certain—that famed sword of the world is very likely an Evil Sword!"

"If Little Xu truly took the sword, would it be a blessing or a curse?" Chu Huaixu could not tell.

But he had always respected personal choice.

After all, the sword’s temptation was far too great. Its power was overwhelming.

It was like being offered a hundred million at the cost of shaving years off your life—there would always be plenty willing.

Many things, whether good or bad, ultimately depended on how one chose to see them.

Still, there was one thing Chu Huaixu was sure of.

"The Dao Ancestor must have placed safeguards on that sword. Even if it left the mountain, it had to remain relatively controlled."

"Otherwise, with its nature, freed from the mountain’s seal, wouldn’t it run rampant?"

"In that case, in 《Borrowed Sword》, Little Xu would not be a Savior of the Sword and World Protagonist, but instead the final villain BOSS." At this thought, he couldn’t help but laugh, unable to picture it.

The only thing that somewhat concerned him was that the Bronze Sword bore killing intent toward him.

Chu Huaixu had already deduced indirectly that it hated the Dao Ancestor, and thus also hated him, who possessed the power of the Dao Canon.

It had made him bleed from all seven apertures with its spiritual pressure, reveling in it.

Acting all high and mighty—yet without my little brother, you can’t even leave the mountain! He sneered.

"Once it goes down the mountain, if it discovers the innate respect Little Xu has for me, wouldn’t it be utterly disgusted?"

Chu Huaixu thought of this and felt secretly delighted.

Overall, he chose to wait and see, curious about how the story would unfold next.

"If I get the chance to meet Chu Yinyin, I could perhaps coax some inside details out of my Second Master," Chu Huaixu began plotting.

She was a blabbermouth and easy to coax, a few words and she’d be melted like an embryo, easy to win over.

Today, Chu Huaixu also had another matter weighing slightly on his mind.

"By the calendar, 《Borrowed Sword》 should be opening its closed beta soon."

"Logically, my forum function should already be accessible."

"This game had been long-awaited. Even before the beta officially opened, the moment the forum was live, silly netizens were chatting up a storm. Back then, I also joined in, posting as a Play Companion GG."

"If my transmigration meant that, like 【Pain Regulation】, certain functions were restricted, I could accept that. But instead, it displayed that the forum was not yet open."

"Normally, there should be a huge banner in the forum, counting down to the beta."

"Why is this?" Chu Huaixu stared at his system, puzzled.

"Will this beta actually begin or not?"