Borrowing a sword

Chapter 62 Man is Sword
Shout it out! Shout it out!

Chu Huaixu thought it would sound very pleasant.

But this expression and these words made the handsome young man in the water feel that his senior brother was mocking him.

"Am I really that despicable in my senior brother's eyes?" He lowered his eyelids, clenched his teeth, and felt humiliated.

That rebellious streak of adolescence was completely unleashed.

He no longer even groaned in pain; his whole body trembled with agony, yet he remained silent as he endured the excruciating pain.

"Wow! Quite stubborn!" Chu Huaixu thought to himself.

In fact, he himself is also stubborn, otherwise he wouldn't always be at odds with the "Sword Refining Manual".

Not to mention Han Shuangjiang, who lives next door.

Now it's like three stubborn people living together.

He looked down at Xu Ziqing and said, "Once you've fully absorbed the body-tempering elixir, come out immediately. Don't linger in the water, understand?"

"Yes!" the handsome young man replied loudly and clearly.

"Why are you shouting so loudly?" Chu Huaixu was annoyed again.

But he quickly realized that he couldn't hold back the pain, so he shouted as a way to vent his frustration now that he could speak.

A smile played on his lips as he stopped provoking Xu Ziqing underwater.

"When you come up here, the first thing you do is practice your skills, understand?" Chu Huaixu gave him another chance to shout.

"Okay!" Xu Ziqing shouted again.

In any case, the requirement for passing the third test is to stay underwater for 30 minutes. If Chu Huaixu lets Xu Ziqing go ashore early, then the test will be failed.

He can go back into the water soon, and the body-tempering liquid will overflow again.

Chu Huaixu swam in the water for 30 minutes beforehand, purely to enter the secret room and see if he could exploit the bug again to get the dungeon completion reward.

Time passed quickly, and in just over an incense stick's time, the body-tempering medicine in the water was completely absorbed.

Xu Ziqing truly possesses a naturally gifted body for drug use, making her exceptionally abnormal.

The boy climbed out of the water, trembling all over, his face deathly pale.

He originally intended to take a break before practicing the "Sword Refining Technique".

But when he realized that Chu Huaixu was looking at him, he immediately remembered the message in the second brocade pouch and his series of sarcastic remarks.

He's out of control.

Xu Ziqing, dressed in rags, sat cross-legged and immediately began circulating his qi through the body.

As the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged toward him, the feeling of being crushed by a heavy object returned.

The boy steadied himself and reminded himself that he must not give up halfway.

Chu Huaixu sat down on the ground in front of him, not caring about getting his clothes dirty, since the boy in front of him would wash them anyway.

He looked at Xu Ziqing with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

He could sense that the other person's body seemed to be getting stiffer and stiffer.

His lips were trembling slightly involuntarily.

However, during this ordeal, Xu Ziqing felt an overwhelming joy!
That terribly blocked acupoint is now somewhat loose.

It was as if he could break through it in one go!

All the grievances that had accumulated in the boy's heart finally found an outlet.

He kept circulating his internal energy, and finally, he successfully broke through the first acupoint!
"You broke through?" Chu Huaixu sat on the ground, constantly observing him with [Information Detection].

He was not at all surprised that Xu Ziqing could break through.

The expectation in his eyes did not disappear.

Chu Huaixu seemed to be waiting for something.

Finally, Xu Ziqing let out a heart-wrenching scream, just like Chu Huaixu had that night!
Immediately afterwards, his body fell backward, and the boy fainted from the pain.

"That felt good, that felt good." The dead fox smiled, feeling extremely satisfied.

"I knew it, it wasn't my fault!"

Ouch! It hurts so much—!
After a long while, Xu Ziqing finally woke up slowly.

"You woke up so quickly?" Chu Huaixu was slightly surprised.

It seems he's fallen into a coma far too often in a short period of time; he's become quite the expert.

The boy never imagined that the pain of breaking through to a higher realm would be even more terrifying than during his usual cultivation!
More importantly, all of this happened so suddenly.

He was still immersed in boundless joy and was completely unprepared.

After slowly waking up, Xu Ziqing's vision was somewhat blurry.

He could vaguely see a figure dressed in a black robe, but he couldn't make it out clearly.

The handsome young man lay half-prone on the ground, shaking his head vigorously until his vision cleared. He finally saw the person in front of him clearly; it was none other than Chu Huaixu.

But for some reason, he felt that his senior brother had changed in some way.

Having finally grasped the basics of the Sword Refining Technique, he inexplicably felt that "his senior brother resembled a sword!"

It doesn't mean that his temperament was as sharp as a sword.

Xu Ziqing didn't know how to describe this feeling.

He just felt that his senior brother was like a sword.

Yet it is not the kind of sword that is overtly sharp.

Or is it a hidden sword?

Previously, Xu Ziqing had never felt this way before.

He just thought his senior brother was tall and handsome, and he envied his effeminate appearance.
"Why would I have this misconception?" Xu Ziqing was a little conflicted, but in the end she didn't say such disrespectful things to her senior brother.

Chu Huaixu was also observing Xu Ziqing.

For him, he was upgraded through the system, while the other party was different and could be used as a reference.

But no matter how he looked at it, he couldn't see anything particularly remarkable about it.

Xu Ziqing is still the same Xu Ziqing, nothing special.

After observing for a while, Chu Huaixu got up to leave.

“Whenever a new acupoint is opened, the body needs a short period of time to adapt. You don’t need to rush to take a medicinal bath. Feel it for yourself first.”

"When you soak again, remember to come up immediately after you've absorbed all the body-tempering liquid. I'm leaving now," he instructed.

“Okay, I understand, senior brother,” Xu Ziqing replied.

After Chu Huaixu left, he stretched his muscles and bones here, feeling the changes in his body.

After a while, he even used his fingers as a sword to perform a set of family-inherited sword techniques.

Xu Ziqing could clearly feel that her physique had been strengthened.

"This is the wonder of spiritual practice," he couldn't help but exclaim.

All the torment finally paid off.

The gloom in his heart dissipated somewhat in an instant.

He looked up and began to think of his deceased relatives again: "Do you see? I have finally taken the first step in my spiritual practice."

The boy's eyes were red.

But he soon began to remind himself of this.

"Xu Ziqing, you must guard against arrogance and impetuosity! You must learn to face yourself squarely!"

He knew in his heart that his senior brother and senior sister Han had only entered the sect a few days earlier than him.

But look at their cultivation speed, they've already reached the sixth aperture.

And judging from this momentum, it seems they're maintaining a rate of breaking through one aperture per day.

Xu Ziqing knew very well that without this mysterious pool and his senior brother's help, he would never have been able to break through today.

This caused the once incredibly proud young man to feel frustrated once again.

He was once a dashing figure, riding a spirited horse and enjoying unparalleled prominence within his family.

It's as if he went through all sorts of hardships, even to the point of doing menial tasks, just to realize his own mediocrity?

The huge gap overshadowed the joy of the breakthrough.

Xu Ziqing shifted her gaze to the pool and saw the items she had placed beside it.

Before going into the water, he took all his belongings off his body and placed them on the shore.

That last brocade pouch was also among them.

"My senior brother said that I should open the third brocade pouch when I have made some progress."

"Now that I've opened the first acupoint, I guess I've already glimpsed the beginning," Xu Ziqing thought to himself.

But he had no expectations for the message inside the brocade pouch.

He even thought it was probably just some sarcastic remark that was meant to provoke people.

The boy felt he already knew his senior brother a little.

That makes sense, though. They're far ahead of me, while I'm cultivating at a snail's pace. Why should they respect me?
He forcefully opened the brocade pouch; the note contained more words than the previous two pouches.

After carefully reading through the text, Xu Ziqing couldn't help but look up, staring blankly in the direction Chu Huaixu had left. A warm feeling welled up from the bottom of her heart, her lips moved, and she couldn't help but murmur, "Senior Brother."

The note read:

"The flowing water does not compete to be first, but to flow endlessly."

(P.S.: Second update, please vote for me at the end of the month!)
(End of this chapter)