Chapter 317: Chapter 282: Acupoint Opening Pill and Refining Sword Formulas

In the secret realm, after Chu Huaixu lost contact with those Spirit Swords, he stood in his “view,” and the surroundings instantly plunged into endless darkness.

The system prompt sounded clearly in his ears.

“Why is there the word ’advanced’?”

He immediately opened his [Skill Bar].

The result was shocking as he looked at it.

The [Skill Bar] before him was both familiar and strange.

The skills listed inside were, to say the least, a long string, and he could keep scrolling down.

There was no way around it; having learned all three thousand volumes of Sword Dao with the Dao Ancestor, he ended up with a total of three thousand skills.

Some skills he might never use in this lifetime.

But still, just having them listed here gave a strange sense of satisfaction.

It reminded him of some wealthy players who might not even play the hero, but once a new skin is released, they collect it first nonetheless.

“I am undoubtedly the player with the most skills now.” Chu Huaixu felt this point was indisputable.

When he played “Borrowed Sword,” his main account only learned a dozen or so techniques, most of which were Yellow Level.

And among techniques, there is mutual reinforcement and counteraction.

In the future, he could at least have some control over others.

Chu Huaixu arranged the skills in the skill bar, setting them to sort by rank from high to low.

[Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Root (Advanced)] was prominently at the top.

And its specific rank was marked: Unknown!

This made him involuntarily squint slightly.

“It’s unexpected, unknown?”

He clearly remembered that after memorizing the swordsmanship of [Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Root] in the Daoist Sect’s Library Pavilion, it appeared in the skill bar.

At that time, it was still in the Heavenly Rank list.

“However, thinking about it, the original Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Root was already considered the strongest technique of the Heavenly Rank.”

“Now that it has advanced and exceeded this range, it’s understandable.”

“But why doesn’t the system provide a detailed skill introduction?”

“Or does the swordsmanship remain the same, only gaining an advanced effect due to my special endorsement as a user?”

Various conjectures began to arise in Chu Huaixu’s heart.

Moreover, didn’t the system ask if he wanted to “attempt to learn” it?

Looking at it, learning this skill still costs 1 million Experience Points as before, to try one’s luck.

Only this time, an additional line read: Probability of Success Increased Due to the Daoist Ancestor Inheritance Secret Realm.

Seeing this, Chu Huaixu once again recognized the absurdity of the system.

The increase in success rate wasn’t specified.

But one thing he knew for sure.

“I’m still too weak right now.”

“Even if I somehow manage to learn it, I still can’t summon ten thousand swords.”

For him, it was undoubtedly one of the gains from this trip.

But the biggest gain was upgrading Fearless Sword Intent to Great Perfection and successfully condensing the Sword Heart [Ten Thousand Swords Unite]!

Moreover, his Sword Heart upgrade progress bar had reached 56%.

The progress was more than halfway towards the Realm of Minor Success.

“If you convert all this to Experience Points, it would be quite a sum.” He knew well that he had to spend a terrifying total amount of Experience Points to advance through so many realms.

Now, he just felt incredibly powerful!

As for the East and West Continent Competition of the Third Realm, Chu Huaixu began to look forward to it more and more!

….

….

In total darkness, Chu Huaixu silently awaited his exit from this “Illusion Realm.”

During this trip, he learned much about past events, unraveling a part of the answers in his heart.

However, due to some actions by the Dao Ancestor, many new confusions arose in his heart.

“You’re just toying with me, old man!” He sighed helplessly, a bitter smile on his face.

Nevertheless, Chu Huaixu surely realized there was still a great secret within the Black Bead that needed to be gradually unearthed.

In fact, he already had a bold guess.

“This bead feels like the Dao Ancestor’s greatest chance and fortune!”

“After all, back when he was still a little Daoist at Junzi Temple, he already wore this pendant.”

It felt much like the golden finger obtained by the novel’s main character early in the plot.

Yet, just at this moment, a scene appeared once again before him.

This made Chu Huaixu furrow his eyebrows, deeply surprised.

“This instance was named Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Root, and now, I’ve already seen the content of ’that episode’ and obtained the advanced version technique, yet there’s more?”

The scene that appeared was still within Junzi Temple.

Only, Chu Huaixu could clearly feel that time was advancing.

The Dao Ancestor was now addressed as the Observatory Master by others.

Many new faces were now present inside the Temple.

The old faces had also aged by more than ten years.

Dao Ancestor stood with his hands behind his back, the morning sunlight spilling over his shoulders as he wandered aimlessly.

As he walked, he arrived at Purple Bamboo Forest on Wenda Peak.

The Daoist walked up to the giant stone that Chu Huaixu found particularly familiar.

Then, with a gentle tap of his toes, he flew onto the giant stone and sat.

This rock’s shape was indeed quite suitable for meditation in a cross-legged position…

The Dao Ancestor sat on the giant stone, seemingly pondering something.

Chu Huaixu couldn’t help but mutter to himself: “Is Master going into retreat here because in the Dao Ancestor Inheritance, she saw the Dao Ancestor meditating here?”

Seeing the Daoist sitting there so adeptly, it seemed it wasn’t the first time considering issues in this place, sitting in meditation.

Chu Huaixu watched the Dao Ancestor’s back, observing him as motionless as ever.

After a long while, he slowly raised his head and looked toward the sky.

“I have cultivated to this point, reached a realm beyond advancement, yet why am I always just one step away?”

The Dao Ancestor murmured to himself, a hint of confusion in his tone.

“Looking back now, every step I’ve taken was correct, not a single one was missed, yet why am I still missing that one step.”

“There’s no path to tread ahead, I have reached the end, so what should I do now?”

“Where should this step fall?”

Chu Huaixu listened beside him, completely unable to understand the troubles of such a person.

He was merely in the Third Realm, and this was not something he should be considering.

He even found it a bit difficult to understand what the Dao Ancestor was saying.

To be exact, he didn’t know what the Dao Ancestor was suddenly trying to do.

The Daoist began to repeat, “Where should this step fall?”

As if asking himself a few more times would suddenly provide him with the answer.

The result was evident.

— He truly got it.

Only to see the Dao Ancestor suddenly pat his thigh gently, and then burst out laughing.

“Why couldn’t it be that this path itself is wrong?”

“Since this step cannot be taken forward, then why not from the very beginning, take a step back.”

“As long as I step back at the start, then I have to take one more step to reach the end.”

“This step should fall there!”

He laughed heartily.

Chu Huaixu was utterly bewildered.

To speak disrespectfully, he even found the Dao Ancestor to be somewhat abstract.

“What is he talking about?”

Then, he heard the Dao Ancestor start to mutter to himself again, constantly repeating:

“But how can I add this step to the path of cultivation?”

The Dao Ancestor thus chanted nine times, and suddenly was struck by inspiration.

“Got it!”

“Just add one more realm before the First Realm!”

Chu Huaixu watched this scene from a thousand years ago, and goosebumps suddenly rose on his skin.

He already knew what it was, his heart already knew the answer.

— Acupoint Opening Stage.

Yes, it’s the Acupoint Opening Stage!

It is said that in the era of the Dao Ancestor, there was no such thing as the Acupoint Opening Stage; everyone began their cultivation directly from the First Realm.

Which meant only those born with all nine acupoints open could embark on the cultivation path.

And it was because the Dao Ancestor created the pill formula for the Acupoint Opening Pill, allowing even those with unopened acupoints to open them, and those with all acupoints open to clear the accumulated debris within, allowing for smoother channels.

“So, is this what the Dao Ancestor meant about taking a step back at the starting point?” Chu Huaixu now fully understood.

This act provided countless people under the heavens the opportunity to cultivate!

The scene suddenly shifted, showing the Dao Ancestor already holding a bottle of elixirs in his hand.

Chu Huaixu didn’t need to guess, he already knew it contained the Acupoint Opening Pill.

He only heard the Dao Ancestor murmur to himself, “In this way, the cultivation path of the world is finally complete.”

…

…

The entire cultivation system of the Profound Yellow Realm was thus changed by one person.

The scene changed again.

When Chu Huaixu could see everything around him clearly again, the Dao Ancestor had already started speaking.

“How about we call this step the Acupoint Opening Stage.”

“And this step happens to fill the gaps in my Sword Dao.”

After giving his speech, he raised his head and looked at the sword that floated in the air behind him.

This place was actually the peak of Hidden Spirit Mountain.

The Bronze Sword had at this point been sealed here, yet it seemed to be in slumber, not defiant like in the years to come, when it would look down impartially upon every climber for millennia.

At this moment, the Dao Ancestor started talking to himself again.

Chu Huaixu thought to himself: Every time you talk to yourself, why do I feel a little afraid?

“Bronze, can be a sword,” said the Dao Ancestor.

He looked at the sword scabbard he had set aside, reminded of the broken Black Wood Sword.

“Black Wood, can be a sword.”

“In truth, to a master of Sword Dao, at a certain realm, everything in the world can be a sword.”

He waved his hand, and the surrounding winds condensed into a sword.

“Wind can be a sword.”

He waved his hand again, causing droplets in the air to gather and form a sword.

“Water can be a sword.”

He waved his hand once more, and the earth began to rise, gathering into a sword.

“Earth, too, can be a sword.”

“Since everything in the world can be a sword, then…”

“Why can’t a person be a sword?”

After saying this, he opened his palm.

The Black Bead floated over, suspended in the Dao Ancestor’s palm.

Only to see the Dao Ancestor slowly turn his head, looking at the bewildered Chu Huaixu standing to one side, smiling gently, and speaking:

“Chu Huaixu, what do you think?”

….

(ps: Second update, just a few hundred votes away from the top ten, asking for monthly votes!)

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