Borrowed Sword

Chapter 51: A Mountain of Treasures

A 【Swordless One】, with Sword Heart Clarity?

“Let Chu Huaixu ascend 【Hidden Spirit Mountain】!” Sect Master Xiang Yan suddenly made the decision on the spot.

This mountain could be called the treasure mountain of the 【Dao Gate】.

Under normal circumstances, only the outstanding group of young disciples at the entry of the First Realm could qualify to ascend.

Unless under special circumstances, one could only ascend once in a lifetime.

The sword left behind by the Dao Ancestor was located at the summit of 【Hidden Spirit Mountain】.

Yet very few had reached the summit to behold the grandeur of that sword.

Because the entire mountain was divided into three zones: the base, the midsection, and the summit.

The vast majority of disciples could only obtain the right to enter the base, and lacked the qualification to ascend further.

Those who reached the midsection were already considered outstanding.

Like Liu Chenggong’s Cangsong Sword, which he obtained at the base.

Don’t be fooled by his title as Deputy Captain of the Outer Sect Enforcement Team—it sounded impressive. But in truth, would a real Heavenly Prodigy be content to linger in the Outer Sect?

They would all be striving with full force to charge into the Inner Sect.

Everyone present clearly understood that what the Sect Master meant by allowing Chu Huaixu to ascend 【Hidden Spirit Mountain】 was certainly not granting him mere access to the base.

——It meant the entire mountain!

There was naturally no opposition to this.

Li Chunsong cupped his hands to everyone and said, “I’ll wait outside the secret realm first. Everyone else, please stay here in the Purple Bamboo Forest.”

Since Shen Man had drawn boundaries here, she certainly couldn’t leave for another place.

So bringing that kid here was the most fitting.

Not long after, Li Chunsong flew to the Cold Pool.

At this moment, the crowd gathered at the pool hadn’t lessened—on the contrary, it had only grown.

It felt like half the Outer Sect had come to squeeze in here.

Seeing the Sixth Elder arrive to take command, everyone became even more aware that this was no trivial matter.

But as soon as Li Chunsong arrived, he began dispersing the crowd—even driving away the stewards.

Niu Yuanshan cooperated fully, taking the lead to leave.

When he saw that it was the Sixth Elder who had arrived instead of someone else, his meticulous mind already had a clear guess. He even left with a smile on his face.

This left Mo Qingmei, who was sneaking glances at him, completely confused.

Liu Tianfeng wasn’t exactly a fool either. He had some inkling, yet still forced himself to speak boldly: “Sixth Elder, my son Chengqi is still down there.”

“No matter. This has nothing to do with him, so it has nothing to do with you. Just leave.” Li Chunsong casually waved his hand.

As these words landed, Liu Tianfeng felt like he’d been struck by lightning—the sky itself had collapsed!

As he departed, he looked back with every third step. His expression grew darker, until he looked utterly ashen, like a walking corpse.

......

......

Inside the secret realm, Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang stood before the stone door.

He raised his hand and tapped the mechanism on the stone wall—the stone door slowly opened.

The third stage was empty, which allowed Chu Huaixu to breathe a sigh of relief.

Then, to Han Shuangjiang’s surprise, he suddenly leapt into the water.

The four holes beneath the water showed no reaction. No Body Tempering Medicine Liquid surged forth, nor did any Water Blade activate from the underwater formation.

“I just felt there had to be some Body Tempering Medicine Liquid left inside the mechanism.” He explained his bizarre behavior.

“Seems like the formation and mechanism can’t be triggered this way. This secret realm likely links them as a whole system.” Chu Huaixu shared his theory.

“Let’s go.” He climbed out of the water and spoke to Han Shuangjiang.

Before leaving, he still glanced once at those four holes.

Unwilling to give up, he planned to return once more, starting from the first stage to press deeper and test again.

“This dungeon shouldn’t be a one-time use. It’s just that the final reward has been claimed.” Chu Huaixu speculated.

Standing beside him, Han Shuangjiang also looked at the water pool before leaving.

However, what surfaced in her mind were the intimate scenes beneath the water.

She quickly gathered her thoughts, suppressing the memories, trying to erase those filthy images from her mind.

The two of them exited another stone door, and what greeted them was Liu Chengqi, still trapped in the illusion.

His face was blank, his steps heavy, wandering aimlessly across the vast clearing—he looked like a zombie from 《Plants vs. Zombies》.

There was no light left in his eyes, as if he would never reach the end.

“This illusion isn’t low-level. Look, he hasn’t even noticed our arrival.” said Chu Huaixu.

Han Shuangjiang nodded. Since Liu Chengqi hadn’t even heard this, it was clear his five senses were sealed.

“Forget him. Let’s go.” Chu Huaixu’s heart was as black as the sword within his Sea of Consciousness.

“This is a kind of training for him, too. We mustn’t delay Senior Brother Liu’s cultivation trial!” Chu Huaixu added with righteous conviction.

His system could check the time—it had only been a little over six hours, or three shichen.

According to Senior Lei Wenyan’s words, the first and second stages each had a two-shichen limit, or one would be expelled.

Liu Chengqi was probably close to getting kicked out.

“Seeing him in this zombie-like state, there’s no way he’ll reach the third stage.” Chu Huaixu didn’t think he would waste the Body Tempering Medicine Liquid.

Han Shuangjiang glanced at the dead fox beside her and certainly wouldn’t wake Liu Chengqi, who had once harbored impure thoughts toward her.

So they left the secret realm and swam out of the Cold Pool.

Upon reaching the shore, they found Steward Liu and Steward Niu gone. Only Li Chunsong stood there.

“Greetings, Sixth Elder.” They saluted immediately.

Li Chunsong looked Chu Huaixu up and down, clicking his tongue in wonder.

“You really surprise me every time, kid!” he said.

“I didn’t expect to alarm the Sixth Elder. This disciple feels ashamed.” Chu Huaixu humbly responded, unaware that a celestial phenomenon had occurred.

“Hmph, alarm me? You even alarmed the Sect Master!” Li Chunsong scolded half-jokingly.

This shocked Han Shuangjiang to her core.

Sect Master Xiang Yan was a figure at the very pinnacle of the Eastern Continent!

Unlike the Western Continent, where imperial authority prevailed, the Four Great Sects in the Eastern Continent were stronger than the court.

Sect Master Xiang Yan’s word carried more weight than even the Emperor of Mirror Country!

“Even the Sect Master is watching him?” Han Shuangjiang was the one truly ashamed.

Climbing the mountain together with Chu Huaixu, her stubborn nature refused to be left behind too far.

“Seems I really must double my efforts.” She was about to start grinding again.

Li Chunsong glanced at the two of them and said, “Shuangjiang, you return for now. Chu Huaixu, come with me.”

“Yes.” The two accepted their orders.

As for Liu Chengqi still at the bottom of the Cold Pool—no one cared.

......

......

Within the Purple Bamboo Forest, Chu Huaixu was brought by Li Chunsong.

He recognized every senior figure of the Dao Gate before him—he had seen them on the forum of 《Borrowed Sword》.

Li Chunsong introduced them one by one, and Chu Huaixu saluted each in turn.

“Sect Master in real life looks even uglier than in the players’ recordings. He’s one of those photogenic types? Better in photos than in person?” Chu Huaixu thought.

“Elder Zhao Shuqin has squinty eyes. There’s a meme online that says squinty eyes are always monsters. I better watch out.”

“Elder Nangong Yue really is from the ‘Great Thunderclap Temple’. Wait—why is it that big?! And she has such a strong wife vibe.” He couldn’t figure it out.

“Enforcement Elder Lu Pan has a permanent scowl, like a school disciplinarian. No wonder he’s unpopular.”

“As for Chu Yinyin... just a loli, boring.”

She’s no different from a sixth-grade brat.

“Though she is admittedly cute.”

But with Chu Huaixu’s experience as a Seasoned Play Companion, he had served many cute-type clients. The cuter they looked, the more troublesome they were!

Instead, the one seated high upon the boulder drew his attention.

Though her face couldn’t be seen—only a thin back—he still thought to himself: “Is this the Dao Gate’s most mysterious Seventh Elder?”

Chu Huaixu didn’t know much about her.

Because she died in Xuanli 1993, three years later.

In the Purple Bamboo Forest, Sect Master Xiang Yan spoke first. His voice was so unpleasant it would make even voice-lovers cringe: “Chu Huaixu, there’s no need to be nervous.”

“Earlier you triggered a celestial phenomenon. We summoned you to examine your condition.”

“Hm?” Chu Huaixu was confused. So he triggered a celestial phenomenon?

But he could roughly guess—these seniors were probably using their divine senses, sweeping all over his body.

In front of them, he truly had no place to hide.

What made him uncomfortable was their occasional murmurs of doubt.

Like “Hiss” and “Huh?”

It was an unsettling feeling—imagine undergoing a CT scan and a group of doctors surrounding you, making such noises.

Later, they even took a drop of Chu Huaixu’s blood.

They weren’t surprised that he had transformed from a False Spirit Embryo to a Level-Three Spirit Embryo.

They could even detect faint traces of the Xuantian Embryo Breathing Pill on him.

But the strange thing was, none of them could sense the presence of the Sword Heart within him.

“How could a boy who hasn’t formally cultivated yet achieve such control?”

“There’s no way he could escape our eyes!”

In fact, the reason the seniors summoned Chu Huaixu was to have Lu Pan, the array master, place a restriction upon him—so that those with deep cultivation wouldn’t easily detect his Sword Heart!

It was meant as a form of protection.

But now Lu Pan was troubled.

Because he couldn’t even find the thing!

Helpless, everyone turned their gaze to the Daoist nun on the boulder—one of the 【Four Great Divine Swords】.

Among them all, no one understood swords better than her!

“Sea... of Consciousness.” The thin Daoist nun spoke softly.

Chu Huaixu’s heart clenched the moment he heard how easily she had noticed it.

......