Chapter 62: Man is the Sword
“Shout it out, I want to hear you shout!”
Chu Huaixu thought it would be pleasant.
But the demeanor and words made the fair-faced youth in the water feel that his senior brother was mocking him.
“Am I truly so worthless in my senior brother’s eyes?” His eyelids drooped, and his teeth clenched. Humiliation churned in his heart.
The rebellious spirit of adolescence was thoroughly ignited.
He no longer even let out a muffled groan after the pain. His entire body trembled with agony, yet he remained silent, enduring the torture as if being cut into a thousand pieces.
“Oh! Still quite stubborn!” Chu Huaixu thought to himself.
In fact, he was also stubborn by nature. Otherwise, he wouldn’t always be butting heads with the Sword Refining Art.
Han Shuangjiang, who lived next door, was even more so.
Now, it was as if three stubborn individuals lived together.
He lowered his head and said to Xu Ziqing, “As soon as you’ve completely absorbed the Body Tempering liquid, get out immediately. Don’t linger in the water, do you hear me?”
“Yes!” the fair-faced youth replied loudly and clearly.
“Why are you shouting so loud?” Chu Huaixu was annoyed again.
But he quickly figured it out. The youth obviously couldn’t bear the pain and was using the opportunity to speak to let out a shout and vent.
A smile played on his lips, and he didn’t provoke Xu Ziqing in the water any further.
“After you come up, start practicing immediately, understand?” Chu Huaixu gave him another chance to shout.
“Okay!” Xu Ziqing shouted again.
After all, the requirement for passing the third trial was to stay in the water for 30 minutes. If Chu Huaixu made Xu Ziqing come ashore early, the assessment would fail.
He could then enter the water again, and more Body Tempering liquid would overflow.
Chu Huaixu had previously swam in the water for 30 minutes purely because he wanted to enter the secret chamber to see if he could exploit a bug and get the instance completion reward again.
Time flowed by. After a little more than the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the Body Tempering liquid in the water was completely absorbed.
Xu Ziqing truly was a chaotic innate Body of Perfected Medicine Body, exceptionally monstrous.
The youth climbed out of the water, his entire body trembling, his face ashen.
He initially intended to rest for a bit before practicing the Sword Refining Art.
But when he noticed Chu Huaixu watching him, he immediately remembered the message in the second silk pouch and Chu Huaixu’s string of taunts.
—He was getting worked up.
Xu Ziqing, clad in torn clothes, sat cross-legged and immediately began circulating his energy.
As the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged towards him, the sensation of being crushed by something heavy throughout his body reappeared.
The youth stabilized his mind, admonishing himself not to give up halfway.
Chu Huaixu sat down on the ground before him, not afraid of dirtying his clothes, as he would have the youth wash them anyway.
He watched Xu Ziqing, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.
He could feel that the other’s body seemed to be becoming increasingly stiff.
His lips were involuntarily trembling slightly.
However, amidst this torment, infinite joy blossomed within Xu Ziqing!
The stubbornly blocked acupoints were actually showing signs of loosening.
It was as if he could break through them with just one surge of effort!
All the grievances accumulated in the youth’s heart now had an outlet.
He continuously circulated his energy, again and again, and finally, successfully broke through the first acupoint!
“A breakthrough?” Chu Huaixu, sitting on the ground, had been observing him with the Information Probe.
He was not surprised at all that Xu Ziqing could break through.
The hint of anticipation in his eyes did not dissipate.
Chu Huaixu seemed to be waiting for something else.
Finally, Xu Ziqing let out an uncontrollable, heart-wrenching scream, just like Chu Huaixu had on that night!
Immediately after, he fell backward. The pain caused the youth to faint.
“So comfortable, so comfortable.” The sly fox’s face broke into a smile, feeling immensely satisfied.
“I knew it wasn’t my fault!”
Pain! So painful—!
After a long while, Xu Ziqing slowly woke up.
“You woke up so quickly?” Chu Huaixu was slightly surprised.
It seemed he had fainted too many times in a short period and had become quite experienced.
The youth had never imagined that the pain of breaking through a realm would be even more terrifying than the pain of normal cultivation!
More importantly, it all happened so unexpectedly.
He had been immersed in boundless joy and had no psychological preparation whatsoever.
After slowly regaining consciousness, Xu Ziqing’s vision was somewhat blurry.
He could vaguely see a figure in black robes but couldn’t make out the details.
The fair-faced youth was half-propped on the ground. After shaking his head vigorously, his vision finally cleared.
He finally saw the person before him clearly; it was naturally Chu Huaixu.
But for some reason, he felt that something about his senior brother had changed.
Having finally grasped the basics of the Sword Refining Art, Xu Ziqing inexplicably felt: “Senior Brother seems like a sword!”
It wasn’t that his aura was sharp like a sword.
Xu Ziqing didn’t know how to describe this feeling.
He just felt that his senior brother was like a sword.
But not a sword that revealed its sharpness.
Rather, a sword that hid its edge?
Previously, Xu Ziqing had never felt this way.
He just thought his senior brother was tall, handsome, and effeminate, which he envied.
“Why do I have this misperception?” Xu Ziqing was a bit conflicted, but in the end, he did not say such disrespectful words to his senior brother.
Chu Huaixu was also observing Xu Ziqing.
For him, he upgraded through the system. The other was different, and he could serve as a reference.
But after looking and looking, he couldn’t discern anything exceptional.
Xu Ziqing was still the same Xu Ziqing, nothing particularly special.
After observing for a while longer, Chu Huaixu got up, preparing to leave.
“For normal people, the body needs a short period to adapt after opening each acupoint. You don’t need to rush back into the medicinal bath; feel it for yourself first.”
“When you soak again, remember to come out immediately after the Body Tempering liquid is absorbed. I’ll be going now,” he instructed.
“Okay, I remember, Senior Brother,” Xu Ziqing replied.
After Chu Huaixu left, he began to move his muscles and bones here, feeling the changes in his body.
After a while, he even used his finger as a sword and performed a set of his family’s sword techniques.
Xu Ziqing could clearly feel that his physique had been strengthened.
“This is the magic of cultivation,” he couldn’t help but sigh.
All the torment finally yielded results.
The gloom in his heart instantly lessened.
He looked up and began to miss his deceased relatives: “Did you see it? I’ve finally taken the first step in cultivation.”
The youth’s eyes turned red.
But he quickly began to admonish himself.
“Xu Ziqing, you must not be conceited or impatient! You must learn to face yourself!”
He knew that his senior brother and senior sister Han had only started their cultivation a few days before him.
But look at their cultivation speed; they were already at the sixth acupoint.
And from the looks of it, they seemed to be maintaining a pace of one acupoint per day.
Xu Ziqing knew very well that without this mystical pool and without his senior brother’s help, he certainly wouldn’t have been able to break through today.
This caused the once immensely proud youth to feel a sense of frustration again.
He had also been a dashing young man, once the center of attention in his family.
It seemed that after all his hard work, even entering the Daoist Sect as a menial laborer, was ultimately just to… realize his mediocrity?
The huge discrepancy dulled the joy of his breakthrough.
Xu Ziqing shifted his gaze to the pool and saw his belongings placed beside it.
Before entering the water, he had taken out his belongings and placed them on the shore.
The last silk pouch was among them.
“Senior Brother said to open the third silk pouch when I achieve some small success.”
“Opening the first acupoint now can be considered a preliminary glimpse, right?” Xu Ziqing thought.
But he no longer held much hope for the messages within the silk pouch.
He even thought that most of it would likely be some stimulating, sarcastic remarks.
The youth felt he understood this senior brother quite well now.
But then again, the other was soaring ahead, while his cultivation was slow and steady. Why should he expect to be respected?
He forcefully opened the silk pouch. The number of words on the slip of paper was slightly more than in the previous two.
After Xu Ziqing finished reading it carefully, he couldn’t help but raise his head and stare blankly in the direction Chu Huaixu had left. A warm current surged from the bottom of his heart, his lips trembled, and he couldn’t help but murmur, “Senior Brother…”
The slip read:
“Water does not compete for priority; it competes for continuity.”
