Borrowing a sword

Chapter 54: Raging words
Chu Huaixu had a very, very long dream.

He dreamed that he was still living on Earth, and dreamed of all the little things from the past.

But when he woke up, he felt as if he had been in another world.

For some reason, he felt a little listless.

"You're awake." Li Chunsong's voice came from beside me.

Chu Huaixu looked around and found himself back in the bamboo house, lying on the bed.

The Sixth Elder sat at the wooden table to the side, brewing himself tea.

The tea has a rich aroma that is refreshing and invigorating.

"Want a cup? This is soothing tea; it'll make you feel better after you drink it," Li Chunsong said with a smile.

Chu Huaixu got up from the bed and, at the Sixth Elder's prompting, sat opposite him.

He took a sip of the calming tea and felt much better.

Even though it was hot tea, a refreshing sensation spread throughout my body, making my mind clearer than coffee.

"Sixth Elder, what's wrong with me?" he asked.

“We examined your sea of ​​consciousness, and that’s why you’re feeling a bit mentally exhausted. Once you officially enter the first realm and your divine consciousness is born within your sea of ​​consciousness, this will no longer happen,” he explained patiently.

Li Chunsong put down his teacup and looked at the young man with great admiration.

After arriving at the bamboo house, he slapped his thigh in frustration.

We should take this opportunity to gamble with everyone again in the Purple Bamboo Forest!
What great material for gambling! He has so many amazing qualities; we could definitely play a few rounds of gambling with him!
This is one of the reasons why he found Chu Huaixu increasingly pleasing to the eye.

This mentality is somewhat like: "Wow, you're really good at creating entertaining content, I'm definitely following you!"

Meeting the gaze of the philanthropic gambling king, Chu Huaixu sincerely inquired, "Sixth Elder, is there a problem with my sea of ​​consciousness?"

"It's hard to explain in a few words. Well, you know that a natal spirit sword will develop a sword spirit, right?"

"The small black sword in your sea of ​​consciousness is somewhat like a sword spirit."

Chu Huaixu frowned immediately: "Hmm? Sword spirit?"

He didn't really like this metaphor.

Swords have their own spirits, which is reasonable.

Humans possess sword spirits, so what am I? A sword-wielder?
Sixth Elder, don't play such low-level puns with me!
Li Chunsong waved his hand, signaling him to calm down: "Don't panic, we haven't found any problems yet."

"On the contrary, it is very mysterious and can spontaneously protect your sea of ​​consciousness. The Tenth Elder was almost caught off guard by it and was directly driven out." He began to marvel.

Chu Huaixu was somewhat surprised when he heard these contents. He hadn't expected it to have such a wonderful use.

Suddenly, he remembered the description given by the system when he drew the [Heart Sword] after practicing the "Sword Refining Technique":

"The sword severs the flesh, the heart severs the soul."

So that's what it meant?

Seeing Chu Huaixu deep in thought, Li Chunsong smiled and poured him another cup of calming tea, saying, "You don't need to think too much about it. Right now, you can't understand it anyway."

Chu Huaixu nodded.

The Sixth Elder continued with the important matter: "By the way, keep this safe."

He placed a black wooden token on the table.

The token is made of some kind of wood, which looks a bit like lightning-struck wood, with a charred texture.

There is a golden "藏" (Zang) character on the front and a golden "灵" (Ling) character on the back.

Upon seeing the token, Chu Huaixu's face showed a look of confusion, but his heart was filled with ecstasy.

"This is the pass to [Hidden Spirit Mountain]!"

Li Chunsong explained, "This is a token that leads to [Hidden Spirit Mountain], granted by the sect leader."

"This is the treasure mountain of my Taoist sect. Many people obtained their natal magic treasures on this mountain."

"The specifics will be discussed with you in detail before you go up the mountain."

"But your most important task right now is to break through to the Qi Refining stage as soon as possible."

"Only when you have divine consciousness can you create your own natal magic weapon. Therefore, according to the rules, those in the Qi Refining stage cannot go to [Hidden Spirit Mountain]."

Upon hearing this, Chu Huaixu immediately placed the token into his storage space: "Disciple understands."

After thinking about it, Li Chunsong felt he should still offer a few words of advice.

“Your spiritual embryo is special, and now that you have awakened your innate divine power, you are essentially a born sword cultivator.”

"Therefore, once you arrive at [Hidden Spirit Mountain], sword-type magical artifacts will be your best choice."

"Once you pass the rigorous tests of the outer sect and officially join the inner sect, you may have the opportunity to become the Seventh Elder's disciple. She is one of the Four Great Divine Swords of this era, a person who stands at the pinnacle of swordsmanship."

Although the matter had been discussed and decided internally, the philanthropic gambling king did not make any grand promises. Instead, he used the promise of easy money as an incentive to prevent the young man from becoming too arrogant and complacent.

"Yes!" Chu Huaixu replied excitedly, as if his blood was boiling.

But many thoughts arose in his mind.

"Seventh Elder? That's the Daoist nun sitting on the boulder, isn't she?" "Becoming a true disciple of one of the Four Divine Swords is indeed like hooking up with the strongest thigh among sword cultivators."

"Moreover, she also possesses the legacy of the Dao Ancestor!"

"But the problem is that my future master died three years later! She died in the Xuanli year 1993!"

"These thighs don't last long," Chu Huaixu thought to himself.

Of all the high-ranking members of the Daoist sect, the one he understood the least was Shen Man.

When "Borrowing the Sword" was first released for public testing, she was still in seclusion, drawing a circle on the ground in the Purple Bamboo Forest to comprehend the Dao Ancestor's legacy.

She emerged from seclusion in 1992 of the Xuanli era.

Then the following year, he died, his life extinguished.

In Chu Huaixu's memory, Shen Man did not seem to be the one with the highest cultivation level among this group of high-ranking Daoists.

She should only have the cultivation level of the seventh realm at its peak.

Among the Four Great Divine Swords of the Eastern Continent, she is the only sword cultivator at the seventh level, while the other three are all powerful cultivators at the eighth level.

Among them, the current Sword Master, the leader of the Four Divine Swords, is at the peak of the eighth realm! He even has a record of killing someone at the ninth realm!

If ranked solely by cultivation level, she would be the last of the Four Divine Swords.

It gives the impression that she inherited her master's position and the title from him.

"However, according to the content posted by players on the forum, during several difficult battles, the higher-ups of the Taoist sect repeatedly lamented: 'If only Seventh Sister were still here.'"

"As a result, there have been many speculations on the forum regarding Shen Man's personal combat strength." Chu Huaixu's thoughts were racing.

When he went to the Purple Bamboo Forest, he only saw the Taoist nun's back; he didn't even see her face.

But for some reason, even though she was very thin, making her Taoist robe look extremely loose, she still gave off a very ethereal feeling.

Just then, Li Chunsong suddenly waved his hand, removing the sound-silencing array, and said, "Shuangjiang, come in. Don't wait outside. He's already awake."

The door opened, and Han Shuangjiang entered with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

She was indeed somewhat worried when she saw that Chu Huaixu had returned unconscious.

Li Chunsong looked at the young couple with a playful smile, as if he were trying to play matchmaker.

He then set up the magic array again, reminding everyone, "Don't mention your sword heart clarity to anyone else. It won't do you any good. Shuangjiang, you must also keep it a secret for him."

"The sect leader has already instructed the law enforcement elder to personally set up a restriction for you. He is a rare array master in this world, and ordinary people would not be able to detect it," the Sixth Elder said to Chu Huaixu.

"Alright, disciple understands." Chu Huaixu replied, and Han Shuangjiang immediately accepted the order.

He knew the principle that possessing a treasure is a crime; it was fine to show off in front of others, but he couldn't do it too much.

After thinking for a moment, he decided he needed to play dumb and asked, "Sixth Elder, I know about the Spirit Embryo Divine Power, but could you explain to this disciple what exactly is Sword Heart Clarity?"

He learned about his specific situation based on the system's explanation.

Given his current status and level of attainment, his normal state should be: although he has entered a mysterious realm, he is completely bewildered and has no idea what this thing is.

There are shortcomings in their understanding, which is consistent with their persona.

He is a bold yet meticulous person and would not make a mistake on such a small matter.

Li Chunsong smiled and thought it made sense, so he said, "The so-called sword heart is a power that is born after a person has a profound understanding of the way of the sword."

"In today's cultivation world, those who possess a sword heart are usually sword cultivators with considerable strength and renowned reputations."

"But in reality, the sword heart and the cultivation level of a sword cultivator are not actually linked; it lies in just one word—enlightenment!"

At this point, like many Taoists, he began to habitually boast about the Taoist patriarch.

"You should also know that before the Dao Ancestor refined the Qi-Opening Pill, the threshold for cultivation was extremely high, and very few people in the world could step into the door of cultivation."

Chu Huaixu nodded repeatedly. This former virtual male model had perfectly replicated Li Chunsong's expression, and his face showed a look of reverence.

Li Chunsong continued, "In that era, there were actually many sword geniuses in the world, but they had no chance to cultivate."

"Legend has it that many swordsmen in the mortal world, though lacking spiritual power, are devoted to the way of the sword throughout their lives. Many have even touched the threshold of the sword heart, and some can even kill cultivators of the first realm with their mortal bodies." He began to tell the legend from a thousand years ago.

"Unfortunately, these heroes of the martial world have only touched the threshold and cannot generate profound power with their mortal bodies."

"You may not know, but among the four major sects today, the Sword Sect has a longer history than my Dao Sect. It was just that it declined for a period of time and did not prosper for thousands of years like my Dao Sect."

"Fifteen hundred years ago, the first Sword Master of the Sword Sect asserted that those with spiritual power and those without spiritual power were as different as clouds and mud."

"Even if someone is a genius, they will never have the chance to develop a sword heart if they have no spiritual power."

"Do you know what this means?" Li Chunsong asked.

He originally wanted to say that Chu Huaixu was an exceptional case among exceptional cases, and that he should be more careful in the future, since the Sword Sect was known for producing sword fanatics.

To his surprise, Chu Huaixu's reply stunned him for a moment, and then he couldn't help but burst into a hearty laugh!
The reason was simply because what the boy said was so shocking and unconventional, yet it resonated with him deeply.

If these words were to get out, the people of the Sword Sect would likely be furious and launch a full-scale attack, with verbal and written criticism being the least of their worries!

Chu Huaixu replied calmly and earnestly:
"This means Sword Master was wrong."

(P.S.: Second update, please vote with monthly tickets.)
(End of this chapter)