Borrowing a sword

Chapter 98 System permissions are not open

The next day, early in the morning, the family of three ate breakfast together at the table.

The scenery of Daomen Yaoshan is very beautiful. There is a tree planted outside the bamboo house of Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang.

Hers was a pomelo tree, while Chu Huaixu's was a sycamore tree.

The current scene perfectly echoes Li Bai's line: "Human habitation amidst the cold orange and pomelo trees, autumn colors aging the old paulownia trees."

The autumn air is crisp and clear; the temperature today is exceptionally comfortable.

Looking at the two "rice-eating immortals" sitting opposite her, Han Shuangjiang thought, "They eat ordinary rice at home. If they were to eat spiritual rice that helps with cultivation, we simply couldn't afford to feed them like this."

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but recall the matter of alchemy, and asked curiously, "Chu Huaixu, have you mastered the basics of alchemy?"

Xu Ziqing, who was engrossed in eating her porridge, immediately looked up, licked the rice grains off her lips, and looked on with curiosity.

Chu Huaixu was eating wild boar rice when he heard the housekeeper's question, and his eating manners immediately changed, becoming dignified and elegant.

He took a small sip of the hot porridge, then looked at her leisurely and said calmly, "I have successfully refined three bottles of Qi Gathering Pills."

"Huh?" Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing were both surprised.

I just exchanged for the Alchemy skill yesterday, and I actually succeeded last night?

Moreover, three bottles of pills contain 30 pills.
This is hardly a simple beginner's guide. You didn't actually master it overnight, did you?
The large ice block couldn't help but recall what Chu Huaixu had said yesterday: "I think I have a great talent for alchemy."

The cold-faced girl has recently been cramming on a lot of common knowledge about the cultivation world.

She knew very well that alchemy and weapon crafting were very profitable, but also extremely difficult. When she first started, the failure rate was ridiculously high, and she could consider the consumables as tuition fees.

With his talent, you wouldn't happen to be the reincarnation of the Pill King, would you?

Chu Huaixu continued to drink his porridge slowly and deliberately, while muttering incoherently again:
"Actually, I was a master alchemist in my past life, and I haven't forgotten that in this life after being reincarnated."

The big ice block rolled its eyes at him in its mind and couldn't be bothered to pay him any attention.

Xu Ziqing only felt that her senior brother was both humorous and capable.

After the meal, Han Shuang returned to her room to continue her cultivation.

Xiao Xu then began clearing away the dishes and chopsticks, and continued studying the "Six Outlines" in the courtyard, trying to continue to demonstrate his value.

He took a bath with the dregs of the medicine yesterday, and absorbed a small amount of its medicinal properties.

The boy thought that he might have a chance to open the seventh acupoint tonight!

As he drew ever closer to achieving complete mastery of the nine orifices, it signified that the true gate to the world of cultivation was about to open before him.

Xu Ziqing felt a faint excitement in her heart.

Chu Huaixu then went to the Treasure Pavilion again, intending to sell the 30 Qi Gathering Pills and then buy a batch of raw materials so that the cauldron could continue refining day and night!

"To be honest, I've had a very tough time too," he thought to himself.

Because the Qi Gathering Pills are produced in batches every two hours, he also had the spirit of the cauldron wake him up after he fell asleep, just like setting an alarm clock.

"Alas, the art of alchemy is truly exhausting, both mentally and physically," Chu Huaixu sighed, looking up at the sky.

"It's not easy to support a family!"

When Chu Huaixu walked out of the Treasure Pavilion, his storage token was filled with the raw materials for the Qi Gathering Pill.

The thirty perfectly high-quality Qi Gathering Pills did not attract any attention within the Treasure Pavilion.

The Taoist disciples working here have become numb to all kinds of treasures.

When I first started working here, I handled all sorts of rare and precious herbs, magical treasures, and elixirs every day, which I found quite novel.

In the long run, it'll just be the same!

Anyway, these treasures have absolutely nothing to do with them.

Moreover, this is just a mere Qi Gathering Pill, its quality is simply flawless.

Even if Chu Huaixu brings more and more pills in the future, they will only think that this kid has formed a pill refining team.

The employees below won't care too much about this, thinking it's none of their business.

As for the management, they wouldn't even know about such trivial matters; they wouldn't be at that level.

Moreover, within the Treasure Pavilion, the area for buying things and the area for selling things are two separate zones, each managed by two different groups of disciples.

Therefore, no one noticed that this young man had just bought the formula and herbs yesterday, and was now selling elixirs.

Instead, after selling the elixir, Chu Huaixu went to buy more spiritual herbs. He sought out the same senior brother who had worked there the day before, who kindly offered him a few words of comfort.

Because in this senior brother's eyes, the batch of spiritual herbs from yesterday was enough to refine several times over.

The efficiency of the medicine formula is very low when you first get it; it can't be used up in a day.

There's only one possibility for such rapid spending!
It failed halfway through and became a waste!
It's never as fast as it gets wasted.

"Junior brother, refining Qi Gathering Pills is indeed a bit difficult," he said in a tone of someone who had been through it all, with a look of empathy on his face.

This, however, left Chu Huaixu, who had been trying to subtly show off, somewhat disappointed.

"Looks like I'll just have to keep putting on a show in front of Big Ice and Little Xu when I get home!" he thought to himself.

A day passed in the blink of an eye.

Chu Huaixu didn't do anything special; he simply promoted himself by one level.

The reason is simple: Han Shuangjiang, the "Deadly Scroll Dog," has broken through again and is now on par with him in cultivation. Seeing how hard she's working, he's determined to crush her. Anyway, he still has tens of thousands of experience points, so leveling up another time won't hurt.

However, he certainly won't spend all his experience points; he'll keep some for when he needs them.

For example, you can make a breakthrough at a crucial moment and restore your mana to full.

Anyway, you can upgrade anytime; it's just a matter of sooner or later.

"This way, I can slowly raise her level, always suppressing her by only one small realm, and still torment that big ice block to death," Chu Huaixu thought with a wicked grin.

In his eyes, Han Shuangjiang always had a cold face.

The more she acted like that, the more excited he became, and the more fun he found it.

After soaking in the dregs of medicine for two consecutive days, Xu Ziqing persevered in cultivating the "Sword Refining Technique" through her own efforts and gritted her teeth, thus opening up the loosened seventh acupoint.

This afternoon, Chu Huaixu heard his uncontrollable screams.

As someone who's been through it all, he thought to himself, "This is nothing compared to what's to come. When you break through to the ninth aperture, you'll suffer even more. That'll be real torture! It'll be several times worse than before!"

But he found the sound of those cries quite pleasant; it's better to share pain than to suffer alone.

"At this rate, he's estimated to break through to the first realm within half a month."

"If I refine some more pills suitable for him, the process can be even faster," Chu Huaixu thought to himself.

"From this perspective, it seems that Xiao Xu, who should have won first place, is now also capable of competing in the Eastern Continent Grand Competition."

His only uncertainty now is: "Does Xiao Xu still have a chance to retrieve the sword from the mountain?"

"With his qualifications, it would be very difficult for him to get the charred black wooden pass; he would have to take a lot of drugs."

"This is all thanks to me giving him the Xuan Tian Fetal Breathing Pill, which allowed him to transform from a pseudo-spiritual embryo into a level 3 spiritual embryo."

“Otherwise, no matter how many drugs he takes, it won’t work, and he won’t be able to meet the requirements within three days.” Chu Huaixu was well aware of this.

Moreover, even if you get the charred black wooden plaque, are you sure you can bring the sword down the mountain?
Chu Huaixu had no idea how Xu Ziqing obtained the wooden plaque and went up the mountain in "Borrowing the Sword," because the timeline was before the game's public beta, and this part of the plot had not been discovered by players.

Chu Huaixu also didn't know how he obtained that sword.

"But he seems to rarely use bronze swords?" he recalled.

In his memory, Xiao Xu was like the male protagonist in many TV dramas and anime, only suddenly bursting into action at crucial moments.
He would never draw his sword unless it was a matter of life and death!
This has led many players to speculate that although the protagonist of this world possesses the greatest sword in the world, he actually has many limitations, and he may have to pay a huge price every time he uses the sword!
Because the main characters were beaten half to death several times, the other three did not urge Xu Ziqing to use his sword quickly.

Chu Huaixu had imagined this scene before. If it weren't for the huge price to pay, I would have been beaten half to death. And that little Xu bastard still wouldn't draw his sword, dawdling around like that. I would definitely beat him to death when I got home!
"After this trip up the mountain, I'm certain that this world-renowned sword is very likely an evil sword!"

"If he really takes the sword, will it be a blessing or a curse for Xiao Xu?" Chu Huaixu was also unsure.

But he has always respected personal choices.

After all, the allure of this sword is simply too great; it is simply too powerful.

It's like if you were given 100 million, but the price was that you would live a certain number of years less, there would definitely be plenty of people willing to do it.

Whether something is good or bad ultimately depends on how you perceive it.

However, one thing is certain: the Chu Huai Preface.

"The Dao Ancestor must have put an insurance policy on that sword. Even if it goes down the mountain, it will still be relatively controllable."

"Otherwise, given its nature, wouldn't it run rampant once it leaves the mountain's seal?"

"In 'Borrowing the Sword,' Xiao Xu wouldn't be the protagonist embarking on a path to save the world, but rather the villainous big boss." He couldn't help but smile at this thought, unable to conjure up the scene in his mind.

The only thing that bothered him was that the bronze sword had murderous intent towards him.

Chu Huaixu had already indirectly concluded that it hated Daozu, and therefore also hated him for possessing the power of the Dao Canon.

He was bleeding from all seven orifices from the spiritual pressure, and that sword felt incredibly exhilarating.

"You act all high and mighty, but what happened? You couldn't even get down the mountain without my little brother!" he scoffed.

"If it discovers the deep-seated respect that Xiao Xu shows me after it goes down the mountain, wouldn't it be disgusted?"

Chu Huaixu felt a secret sense of satisfaction upon reflection.

Overall, he is currently taking a wait-and-see approach, wanting to see how the plot unfolds.

"If I have the chance to meet Chu Yinyin, I might try to get some information from my second master to learn more about the inside story." Chu Huaixu began to have designs on the old maid.

She's a big mouth and very easy to coax; a few words of coaxing and she's like an embryo, very easy to win over.

Today, Chu Huaixu had another matter on his mind, which was somewhat troubling him.

"According to the schedule, the closed beta test for 'Borrowing Swords' will be starting soon."

"Logically, my forum function should already be enabled."

"Everyone has been looking forward to this game for a long time. The closed beta hasn't even officially started yet, but as soon as the forum opened, netizens started chatting about it enthusiastically. I also posted some threads and advertised my gaming services back then."

"If I were to be limited in function like [Pain Regulation] because I traveled through time, that would be understandable. But it shows that the forum is not yet open."

"Normally, there would be a big banner on the forum that says 'Closed Beta Countdown'."

"Why is this?" Chu Huaixu looked at his system, somewhat puzzled.

"Is the closed beta going to continue or not?"

(End of this chapter)