Borrowed Sword

Chapter 48: Black Small Sword

Inside the secret chamber, Han Shuangjiang had been guarding Chu Huaixu.

She could clearly feel several changes in his aura, but couldn’t explain why.

Until the moment Chu Huaixu opened his eyes, her heart suddenly trembled.

It was strange. She actually sensed a sharp aura from one person!

But that feeling quickly disappeared completely.

Chu Huaixu exhaled a long breath of turbid air and lowered his head to glance at his body.

“So comfortable,” he sighed inwardly.

“If the 《Sword Refining Art》 could feel this comfortable, then cultivation would be an addictive thing.”

Han Shuangjiang took a few steps forward and asked with concern, “How do you feel?”

“Feels great,” he replied.

“Then try using the Spirit Disk to see how much your Spirit Embryo grade has improved,” she asked curiously.

What could Chu Huaixu do? Of course, he had to satisfy her.

He retrieved the Spirit Disk from the Storage Token and pressed his large hand onto it.

The pointer no longer stayed at mark one but moved all the way to mark three.

“One pill actually increased it by two levels,” Han Shuangjiang clicked her tongue in amazement.

Don’t be fooled just because Chu Huaixu was still a Low-grade Spirit Embryo. Anyone who had cultivated knew that improving the grade of a Spirit Embryo was a defiance of nature—extremely difficult.

This was common knowledge.

Precisely because of this, among all the 【Attributes】 in the players’ 【Character Panel】, upgrading the 【Spirit Embryo Attribute】 was the hardest.

Chu Huaixu nodded and said, “This Xuantian Embryo Breathing Pill was personally refined by the Pill King. Its effect is probably stronger than ordinary ones.”

“Too bad, this thing can only improve a Low-grade Spirit Embryo. If it could improve anyone, that’d be amazing.” He chuckled.

In theory, the maximum effect of the Xuantian Embryo Breathing Pill was to upgrade a third-level Low-grade Spirit Embryo to a fourth-level Middle-grade Spirit Embryo.

But Chu Huaixu didn’t plan to keep it and push the limit.

On one hand, possessing such a treasure could invite disaster.

On the other hand, with his memories, he was like half a prophet and had other ways to improve the Spirit Embryo.

It was better to raise his strength earlier during the early stages.

Without enough strength, many opportunities were simply not meant to be his.

Now, what Chu Huaixu cared more about was the 【Spirit Embryo Divine Ability: Sword Heart Clarity】.

“So fast to awaken a Spirit Embryo Divine Ability?” This truly surprised him.

Normally, both Top-grade and Superior-grade Spirit Embryos had a chance to awaken their Divine Ability during cultivation.

Usually, it only awakened at the realm of a Major Cultivator.

From a game perspective, 【Techniques】 were essentially 【Active Skills】, while 【Spirit Embryo Divine Abilities】 were somewhat like 【Passive Skills】.

Players also had a chance to awaken a Divine Ability while upgrading their Spirit Embryo Attribute.

The reason was simple. Take Chu Huaixu’s 【Heart Sword】 as an example. The status shown on the Character Panel was: Covered in Dust.

In theory, his upper limit was 10 Spirit Embryo Attribute points, which meant the ultimate form of the 【Heart Sword】 was a Superior-grade Spirit Embryo, though currently still in its Covered in Dust stage.

So it wasn’t surprising to develop a Spirit Embryo Divine Ability.

“But the issue is, from my past experience, no player has ever awakened a Divine Ability with less than 5 attribute points!”

Even his main account wasn’t an exception. It awakened the Divine Ability: Moment when reaching Level 5 Spirit Embryo.

That already counted as very lucky.

“Why did it awaken at just Level 3 this time?”

“Was it because the pill personally refined by the Pill King was especially potent?”

“Or is it because Han Shuangjiang, this World Protagonist blessed with great fortune, actually brought me luck? Letting me ride her luck?”

He remembered that many players had posted on the forum before, saying that if you entered a dungeon with Han Shuangjiang or did mainline story quests under her lead, the rewards were always impressive, and the luck was off the charts.

“Could she really have a Lucky Koi attribute?” Chu Huaixu looked her over.

Meeting his gaze, Han Shuangjiang felt a little uneasy and asked, “What are you looking at?”

“I just feel that today’s fortune seems a bit outrageous.”

His next words even startled the cold-faced girl.

“I’ve awakened a Spirit Embryo Divine Ability,” Chu Huaixu said.

......

......

Spirit Embryo Divine Abilities were usually exclusive to powerful cultivators and one of their symbols.

Thus, in many stories circulating among mortals, they were often mentioned.

Han Shuangjiang didn’t expect that Chu Huaixu, still at the Qi-Opening Stage and technically not even officially cultivating yet, would awaken a Spirit Embryo Divine Ability?

“Besides, isn’t he a Low-grade Spirit Embryo?” the girl was puzzled.

But despite her surprise, she genuinely felt happy for him.

She even felt happy for Senior Lei Wenyan.

Frost Bao’s nature was indeed kind.

She was also sensible enough not to ask about the specific Divine Ability.

But Chu Huaixu himself was full of question marks inside.

“Why is it Sword Heart Clarity?”

“Why would it be Sword Heart Clarity?”

His Spirit Embryo was the 【Heart Sword】, and it awakened 【Sword Heart Clarity】. At first glance, they seemed to match.

But he knew very well that 【Sword Heart】 was actually a realm among sword cultivators.

Sword cultivators with strong strength and deep understanding of swordsmanship would develop a Sword Heart.

The so-called Sword Heart Clarity was the supreme state of Sword Heart!

The four peerless sword cultivators known today as the 【Four Great Divine Swords】 had all reached the realm of Sword Heart Clarity.

That sounded impressive, yet Chu Huaixu felt a bit conflicted.

The reason was simple. If he had chosen the sword path and become a sword cultivator, then as his strength grew, a Sword Heart would inevitably develop.

This meant he had essentially wasted a Spirit Embryo Divine Ability! Who had a Divine Ability that was just a Sword Heart!

But looking on the bright side, developing a Sword Heart was something that happened in the mid-to-late stages of cultivation.

As for the realm of Sword Heart Clarity, that was even more distant.

To put it in boastful terms: the 【Four Great Divine Swords】 might kill me as easily as crushing an ant, but when it comes to understanding the sword path, you all are merely shoulder to shoulder with me.

At the moment when Sword Heart Clarity awakened, Chu Huaixu seemed to have a profound understanding of swordsmanship, and also seemed to see many, many scenes in a flash.

But the next instant, he remembered nothing, only a mysterious mood lingering in his heart—unspeakable and unclear.

He had forgotten his form in his delight, gained the essence and forgotten the form!

Chu Huaixu opened his Character Panel and examined the description closely.

As he expected, the effect of this Spirit Embryo Divine Ability matched his understanding of Sword Heart Clarity—it wasn’t just a name.

To put it simply, once a sword cultivator developed a Sword Heart, all his sword techniques would see improvement across the board.

In game terms, when Sword Heart appeared, effectiveness increased by 10%.

Minor Achievement in Sword Heart meant 40%.

Major Achievement meant 70%.

Sword Heart Clarity was 100%!

Don’t underestimate that small percentage difference.

In real combat, that was truly overwhelming!

Because it boosted all aspects of sword techniques, not just 【Damage】, but also 【Speed】, 【Defense Breaking】, and more.

For Chu Huaixu at this stage, the so-called invincibility among the same rank was just basic operations.

Moreover, he could clearly feel that the black small sword in his Sea of Consciousness had become much more active—not as lifeless as before.

“Roughly evolved from a breath-hanging near-death state to... a sickly state?” That was what Chu Huaixu felt anyway.

He suddenly had the feeling of raising a child, slowly nursing it to health.

“One more thing, very important.”

Chu Huaixu was connected to this Heart Sword. He could clearly sense its state.

Relying on his perception, he could tell that the power of Sword Heart Clarity was actually hidden within the black small sword.

“Thinking about it, it makes sense. After all, it was produced in the form of a Spirit Embryo Divine Ability, and my Spirit Embryo is the Heart Sword.”

At this thought, his eyes suddenly sharpened, and a bold speculation surfaced in his heart.

“Doesn’t this mean... I still have a chance to develop another Sword Heart on my own?”

......