Borrowed Sword

Chapter 25: Hidden Dungeon

"That child got hurt?" Niu Yuanshan had only a trace of doubt on his face, but his heart suddenly tightened.

Han Shuangjiang nodded, realizing she had found the right angle.

"He got into some conflict with someone." She began to dig deeper into the topic.

Steward Niu frowned at her words and immediately asked, "Was he badly hurt?"

The cold-faced girl replied seriously, "I'm not sure either. He didn't let me look. He... seems to like toughing it out."

She used some rhetoric, half true and half false.

From an outsider's point of view, Liu Chengqi's final move of that Bagua Palm — whose name she had already forgotten — had come on fiercely, clearly extraordinary.

But what about Chu Huaixu?

After taking half a palm strike, he didn’t even grunt.

— He seemed rather manly.

Realizing he might be in trouble, he had remained clear-headed and made swift decisions.

Most importantly, whether in front of Liu Chengqi or now, he had stood in front of Han Shuangjiang.

As if no matter what happened, he would bear it.

Even amidst danger, that fox-faced guy still had the nerve to joke around, without adding pressure on others.

A man who could handle things calmly, capably, and with the right mindset in a crisis — that was a truly charming trait.

And that trait worked on both men and women.

Due to various life experiences, Han Shuangjiang was bound to be someone who lacked a sense of security.

Though her contact with Chu Huaixu had been brief, she felt an odd sense of reassurance around him.

Therefore, since he had stepped up, she had to make sure the backup work was well done.

As someone born in a brothel, how could she possibly be a naive sweet girl?

Rhetoric was something she had to learn.

Sure enough, Niu Yuanshan’s frown deepened.

"Which damned bastard dared to lay a hand on someone from our 【Organization】!" Fury was already flaring in his heart.

Looking at the jar of Erlang Wine from the Moon Country on the table, his anger only grew.

However, Niu Yuanshan still needed a reason.

After all, he was a Golden Mask in the 【Organization】. That golden mask represented that he was core strength — deeply trusted!

He knew this newcomer Chu Huaixu was quite unorthodox, seemingly adept at taking unusual paths and acting flamboyantly.

He didn’t lie low and hide like the rest of them.

But to have just joined the outer sect and already be involved in a private fight — he felt he needed to understand more about the situation.

Steward Niu didn’t show too much anger on his face, and his words sounded reasonable: "You two were brought here by the Sixth Elder, so I imagine he wants me to look after you a bit."

"Shuangjiang, explain the situation — what exactly happened?"

"Okay," Han Shuangjiang replied.

...

...

Inside the bamboo house, Chu Huaixu loosened his robe and checked his injury.

"Not bad, nothing serious."

The short blade stained with blood was reattached to his waist.

He had just looked at some task details, and according to the system's description, he realized he was truly in trouble this time.

"The Mission System assigns difficulty ratings based on various combined factors."

"There are four ranks: A, B, C, and D."

"An A-rank mission is the highest level."

"In other words, the system had determined that Liu Chengqi was someone a player shouldn't mess with during the newbie stage!"

Even more outrageous — this passive mission was titled 【Revenge from Liu Chengqi】, and its only requirement was to not die.

"Shit, is he seriously coming to beat me to death!" Chu Huaixu was stunned.

As long as he didn’t die, the mission would be considered complete — just what kind of background did Liu Chengqi have?

"Moreover, the mission's only requirement is to not die, yet it's marked as A-rank difficulty..."

"Doesn’t that basically mean the system is telling me it’s very likely I’ll die?"

That’s incredibly unfriendly to a transmigrator like me.

No choice — for silly players, failure just means mission failure plus wasting a 【Revival Coin】.

Chu Huaixu had three Revival Coins too, but he wasn’t sure if he could really come back to life, and didn’t want to take the risk.

"The mission reward is pretty generous — 1,000 Experience Points."

That was a very high reward for a newbie player, enough to level up several times.

Besides that, Chu Huaixu’s gaze was deeply drawn to one line of text.

"【There is a certain probability to trigger a hidden dungeon】."

That was what he was most interested in!

"Hidden Dungeon" was what the system and players called it. In the Xuanhuang Realm, people usually referred to it as a fortuitous encounter — a chance!

This made Chu Huaixu fall into deep thought.

"Hidden dungeon?"

He thought carefully and suddenly recalled something, unsure whether it was related.

"Earlier, I used 【Information Probe】 on Liu Chengqi to gauge his strength."

"The system’s feedback was: His current state is a damaged Spirit Embryo."

"Could it be related to the Spirit Embryo?"

These chance-based hidden dungeons were the worst.

Because even if you completed the mission perfectly, there was still no guarantee it would trigger.

There were too many elements of chance and coincidence involved.

It all depended on players exploring and developing it themselves — or just getting lucky.

When he first encountered this in 《Borrowed Sword》, his heart had burned with excitement.

But after failing to trigger it again and again, he gradually became indifferent and calmed down.

It’s great if it triggers, but if not, so be it.

Outside the house, a voice soon rang out.

"Chu Huaixu! Where is Han Shuangjiang? Come out and face me!"

Chu Huaixu had no intention of running. He opened the door directly, only to see three men in black robes standing outside the bamboo house.

The leader stood around 1.75 meters tall and looked a bit like Liu Chengqi. A coiled whip hung at his waist, and lightning-shaped embroidery adorned his chest.

"Disciplinary Squad?" Chu Huaixu squinted his eyes.

Just as every nation has its laws, every sect has its rules.

That was why the Disciplinary Squad existed.

One of the harsh punishments within the Dao Gate was flogging.

"What kind of Singapore-style rules are these?" Chu Huaixu muttered in his heart, eyeing the whip.

As far as he knew, the outer sect used ordinary whips, but the inner sect was different.

Did you see the lightning embroidery on their chests?

The inner sect used lightning whips...

Some Dao Gate players who loved being whipped would deliberately cause trouble just for the thrill.

With pain sensitivity turned down, it didn’t hurt much but was electrifying — incredibly stimulating and wildly addictive.

Chu Huaixu’s gaze narrowed slightly, but he had considered that official forces might show up.

"How should I address you, senior brothers?" he asked.

He had already used 【Information Probe】, and all three showed up as question marks — meaning their levels were at least ten levels above his, legitimate cultivators.

"Liu Chenggong, Vice-Captain of the Disciplinary Squad on Medicine Mountain," the leader answered.

Hearing that name, Chu Huaixu felt the guy probably appeared on the same page of the Liu clan’s genealogy as Liu Chengqi.

All from the same damn generational branch, huh?

"I wonder what Captain Liu needs from me?" he played dumb.

"You caused trouble and started a private fight on Medicine Mountain, violating sect rules. On top of that, you injured someone and robbed them. That’s multiple offenses!"

"Junior Brother Chu, come with us!"

...