Chapter 88: The Scabbard and the Medicine Cauldron [Third Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets!]
2025-08-18 Author: Kindergarten Boss
Chapter 88: The Scabbard and the Medicine Cauldron [Third Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets!]
Inside the bamboo house, Chu Huaixu heard the system prompt.
“[Ding! Congratulations, you meet the binding conditions and have successfully bound your Natal Spirit Artifact.]”
Listening to the voice, his eyes narrowed slightly.
“Meet the binding conditions?” He quickly caught the key point.
In his memory, when he bound his Natal Spirit Artifact before, those words shouldn’t have been there.
This meant that this black bead and the medicine cauldron within were likely closely related to the power of the Dao Canon in his body!
“No wonder I had a premonition, and it drained me completely upon first contact, sucking dry all my Spiritual Power, not even sparing what was carried within my physical body.”
In that moment, Chu Huaixu had a feeling… it was very hungry?
In an instant, it devoured him completely, leaving nothing behind.
After doing this, he took out a drop of blood from his fingertip and dripped it onto the scabbard, performing the ritual of dripping blood to acknowledge ownership for Calming the Wind and Waves. However, he did not fuse it with his Divine Sense to make it his Natal Spirit Artifact.
Natal Spirit Artifacts are unique; this fact remains unchanged for anyone.
Chu Huaixu opened his character panel to check his [Equipment Slots].
Calming the Wind and Waves had already acknowledged him as its master, and now it was placed across his legs. The [Equipment Slots] displayed: Equipped.
But he soon discovered something was wrong.
Calming the Wind and Waves was marked: Attack-type, Support-type Spirit Artifact.
[Medicine Cauldron (Natal Spirit Artifact): Unnamed], was marked: Defense-type, Secondary Profession-type Spirit Artifact.
This made Chu Huaixu somewhat surprised.
He hadn’t expected this scabbard to be an attack-type artifact.
He could understand the support-type; it was within his expectations.
“But this scabbard can also be linked to offense?”
Chu Huaixu immediately checked the Spirit Artifact’s functions.
Then, his mind was somewhat enlightened.
“So, it can store all the Spiritual Power within my body into the scabbard in the form of sword energy.”
“With my current [Spirit Artifact Development], I can only store 7 times.”
“This means I can use the scabbard to unleash seven stored sword energies.”
“However, because they are stored, even though each sword energy consumed all my Spiritual Power, the damage it can inflict is still incomparable to my normal full-power attack.”
“It can only achieve 30% of the effect.”
“The key point is the quantity, winning by sheer numbers.”
Chu Huaixu felt that this could become one of his trump cards!
More importantly, the number of pre-stored sword energies could be increased.
For low-level cultivators, even holding a precious treasure, they couldn’t unleash its full power, which was like a pearl hidden in dust.
Their cultivation had to catch up to match it.
According to the settings in “Borrowing Sword,” after being digitized, it would be [Spirit Artifact Development].
“Under normal circumstances, cultivators have the highest development of their Natal Spirit Artifacts. The development of non-Natal Spirit Artifacts is halved.”
“If it’s a Natal Spirit Artifact, a Low-grade Spirit Artifact can reach 100% development in the First Realm.”
“Mid-grade Spirit Artifacts require the Third Realm, High-grade Spirit Artifacts require the Fifth Realm.”
“The exceptionally rare Super-grade Spirit Artifacts require the Seventh Realm to reach 100%!”
Calming the Wind and Waves was not Chu Huaixu’s Natal Spirit Artifact. Based on this, it had to be halved, so his current development was a mere 7.14%.
Even if he cultivated to the Ninth Realm, the Spirit Artifact development would only be 64% after rounding.
This was the difference between non-Natal Spirit Artifacts and Natal Spirit Artifacts.
In the final analysis, it was because it only possessed a spiritual nature and lacked an Artifact Spirit that could communicate with the user’s mind!
“Because it’s only 7% now, I can only pre-store 7 sword energies.”
“Once this number increases to 14, 21… or even 64! That would be quite formidable!”
“Super-grade Spirit Artifacts are truly terrifying.”
Besides this, Calming the Wind and Waves was not only an attack-type Spirit Artifact, but also a support-type.
Its support function was reflected in its second miraculous ability.
A scabbard’s purpose is to sheathe a sword.
Its support function leans towards sealing and suppressing.
It could weaken the attack speed and attack effects of all spirit swords.
For non-sword-type Spirit Artifacts, the weakening would be halved.
The specific weakening value was linked to the strength of both parties.
Of course, the higher the Spirit Artifact development, the better the effect.
“If there is a suppression of cultivation or Sword Dao realm, and the strength of both parties is immensely disproportionate, it could even make it difficult for the opponent’s sword to be drawn! Or unable to attack after being drawn!”
“This is quite interesting.”
“This function, in fact, can complement my Heart Sword.”
“The scabbard suppresses the Spirit Artifact itself, while the Heart Sword suppresses the Sword Spirit.”
This was definitely an unexpected joy!
Chu Huaixu could imagine how terrifying the effect would be in actual combat!
“I’ll go find the ice block later to try it out.” The sly fox was itching for some action and wanted to bully the woman.
Then, he turned his gaze to the main event – the medicine cauldron.
Chu Huaixu only gave it a cursory glance, and his eyes couldn’t help but narrow.
“What’s going on?”
“How can the Spirit Artifact development only be 10%?”
“Even a Super-grade Spirit Artifact should have over fourteen percent development in the First Realm!”
“Could it be…” A shocking thought crossed his mind.
This medicine cauldron was suspected to be the Dao Ancestor’s Natal Spirit Artifact from before his demise.
It looked like the bronze sword on the mountain; it was something beyond the scope of Spirit Artifacts, wasn’t it?
Chu Huaixu sat on the futon, looking out the window, trying to calm his emotions.
He increasingly felt the rumors were reliable, and became more convinced that this thing was indeed the Dao Ancestor’s natal item from before his demise!
Even if it wasn’t his natal item, it was most likely the medicine cauldron the Dao Ancestor usually used!
“You must know that the Dao Ancestor was the foremost alchemist of all time.”
“Only the Pill King could be considered a close match to him.”
Chu Huaixu’s heart secretly quickened. He hadn’t expected to obtain such a treasure on this trip to Hidden Spirit Mountain!
He began to carefully examine the medicine cauldron’s functions.
It was a secondary profession-type Spirit Artifact, which Chu Huaixu did not find surprising.
Medicine cauldrons are used for refining pills and medicines; they are essential items for alchemists.
Alchemy, artifact refining, talisman making, array formations… these were all considered secondary professions in “Borrowing Sword.”
“But since it’s also a defense-type Spirit Artifact, I want to study its defensive capabilities thoroughly.”
As a result, of all things, the system introduction followed the defensive function with three question marks.
Chu Huaixu became angry instantly.
“No! This is my Natal Spirit Artifact, and you’re not even giving me investigation permission?”
This phenomenon was unheard of and bizarre!
This way, he could only explore the Spirit Artifact’s characteristics himself, just like Han Shuangjiang next door.
Chu Huaixu took a deep breath and then began to examine its secondary profession functions.
With just one glance, his left eyelid started twitching uncontrollably.
Because the information he saw was:
“[Secondary Profession: Alchemist.]”
“[Status: Untrained.]”
“[Level 1 Low-grade Pills, current success rate: 100%.]”
These three lines made Chu Huaixu stare blankly.
Because the third line did not logically follow the first two.
He hadn’t learned any alchemy techniques yet.
Alchemy also fell within the scope of [Spells], which could be learned on the fourth floor of the outer sect’s Scripture Pavilion.
The Daoist Sect had an alchemy Grandmaster, who was the Second Elder of the Daoist Sect, but he was not currently on the mountain.
“I haven’t even learned anything, and yet the success rate for Level 1 Low-grade Pills is 100%?”
“What does this mean? I just throw the raw materials into the medicine cauldron, and then I can successfully refine them?”
“What kind of automatic alchemy furnace is this!” Chu Huaixu was wide-eyed.
He even wanted to find some Level 1 pill recipes right now, get some raw materials, throw them into the medicine cauldron, and see if it was truly that miraculous.
With this thought, Chu Huaixu slapped his thigh heavily.
“I even spent over four hundred sect contribution points to exchange for pills!”
“What a loss!”
He regretted it immensely.
After all, even if he didn’t rely on popping pills to gain experience, he still had some other methods, it was just not as convenient as taking pills.
As mentioned earlier, some developed Secret Realms were modified by the Daoist Sect and opened to Daoist Sect disciples as trial grounds.
These were like sect instances; Chu Huaixu could gain experience by clearing them.
He sighed and began to adjust his mindset.
He had always been someone who didn’t dwell on internal struggles.
“Forget it, as a traverser, I shouldn’t be so petty about a few contribution points.”
Chu Huaixu lowered his head and looked at the black bead hanging on the scabbard.
The bead had a world within it, and it seemed to be integrated with the medicine cauldron.
He didn’t need to take the medicine cauldron out; he could activate it within the bead’s inner space!
This would allow for greater secrecy.
Chu Huaixu began to carefully observe his Natal Spirit Artifact, not missing a single detail.
The medicine cauldron was entirely black; it was unclear what material it was made from.
Like most cauldrons, its design was: three legs and two ears.
Hence, there was the saying “three-legged dominance.”
Compared to the simple and ancient scabbard, the medicine cauldron had much richer patterns engraved on its exterior.
Intricate carvings of flying birds and beasts, plants and fruits, and even lurking spirits were depicted.
It was all-encompassing and lifelike.
When his Divine Sense entered the bead’s inner world, he could feel the state of the cauldron’s Artifact Spirit.
—It was very hungry!
It desperately wanted to absorb Chu Huaixu’s Spiritual Power.
It seemed the previously absorbed amount wasn’t enough to even pick its teeth.
He thought about it and then channeled his internal Spiritual Power into the black bead, which was then absorbed by the medicine cauldron.
The next moment, he felt the Artifact Spirit become a bit more active.
But as soon as he disconnected the Spiritual Power, it returned to its previous state – I’m very hungry.
Chu Huaixu didn’t know if it was because his cultivation was too low.
This medicine cauldron gave him the feeling of being insatiable, no matter how much he fed it.
Moreover, he didn’t know what the actual effect of absorbing the Spiritual Power was!
“If I channel Spiritual Power into the scabbard now, it can at least be converted into sword energy.”
“But this medicine cauldron still hasn’t shown anything.”
However, Natal Spirit Artifacts themselves needed cultivators to continuously nourish them.
The mainstream method was to nourish the Artifact Spirit with one’s Divine Sense, and then use items made by artifact refiners for regular maintenance of the Spirit Artifact.
This was similar to what many people say when buying cars: “I can afford to buy it, but I can’t afford to maintain it.”
Good Spirit Artifacts would require more resources in the future “upkeep.”
The setting in “Borrowing Sword” was actually present in many games. Many games had a [Durability] stat for equipment.
“Could it be that the way to nourish my medicine cauldron is to constantly absorb Spiritual Power?”
Chu Huaixu attempted to communicate with the Artifact Spirit, but found that it seemed to lack much intelligence, always conveying only one message – hungry!
“Hilarious, are you a reincarnation of a gluttonous beast?” Chu Huaixu was speechless.
Indeed, he saw a Qilin engraved on the cauldron, as well as dragons, phoenixes, and mythical creatures.
With nothing else to do, he began to carefully examine all the patterns engraved on the cauldron.
Chu Huaixu even started counting.
He finally counted eighty-one in total.
After examining the exterior, he looked at the interior of the cauldron.
As a result, he saw three words inside.
These three words were engraved on the inner wall, and they were not carved too deeply. If one didn’t look closely, they might be easily overlooked.
“Could this be the name of this medicine cauldron?”
“It also complements the patterns carved on the outside,” Chu Huaixu thought.
Engraved on the inner wall of the medicine cauldron were – [Dao Sheng Yi].
—Medicine Cauldron · Dao Sheng Yi!
This made him recall that famous saying:
Dao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things!
(PS: Third update, we might get the monthly ticket daily crown today! Ten thousand word update requesting monthly tickets!)
Requesting monthly tickets!!
