Chapter 52: Chapter 51: A Treasure Mountain

A “Swordless One”, with Sword Heart Clarity?

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

This mountain is truly the treasure mountain of the Daoist Sect.

Under normal circumstances, only the best among the young disciples who have just entered the First Realm can qualify to climb the mountain.

Unless in special cases, one can only ascend the mountain once in a lifetime.

The sword left by the Dao Ancestor is at the peak of Hidden Spirit Mountain.

However, not many have managed to reach the summit and witness the splendor of that sword.

The entire mountain is divided into three zones: the base, the midsection, and the summit.

The vast majority of disciples can only enter the base, lacking the qualification to ascend further.

Those who can reach the midsection are already considered outstanding.

Liu Chenggong’s Cangsong Sword was obtained at the base of the mountain.

Don’t be fooled by his title as the deputy leader of the Outer Sect’s Law Enforcement Team, it sounds impressive. But in reality, how many true prodigies would be willing to linger in the Outer Sect?

They all muster their strength to launch themselves toward the Inner Sect.

Everyone present clearly understood that when Sect Leader mentioned letting Chu Huaixu ascend Hidden Spirit Mountain, it certainly wasn’t to give him a spot at the base.

——It was the entire mountain!

To this, naturally, no one objected.

Li Chunsong cupped his hands toward everyone and said, “I’ll head to the Secret Realm and wait outside now. You all can wait for me here in the Purple Bamboo Forest.”

Since Shen Man had confined herself here, she certainly couldn’t go elsewhere.

So it was most suitable to bring the boy here.

Shortly after, Li Chunsong flew to the side of the Cold Pool.

At this moment, the crowd gathered by the Cold Pool had not decreased; in fact, it was growing larger.

It seemed half the Outer Sect had come to jostle for space.

Seeing the Sixth Elder come to oversee the situation, everyone increasingly realized the seriousness of the matter.

But as soon as Li Chunsong arrived, he started clearing out people, even the stewards.

Niu Yuanshan cooperated thoroughly, taking the lead to leave.

Upon noticing that the Sixth Elder, not someone else, had come, his meticulous mind already had a hunch, leaving with a smile on his face.

Making Mo Qingmei, who was glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, utterly confused.

Liu Tianfeng wasn’t a fool either and had some inkling, but he reluctantly gathered his courage to say, “Sixth Elder, my son Chengqi is still down there.”

“No worries, it has nothing to do with him, so it has nothing to do with you either. You may leave,” Li Chunsong casually waved his hand.

At these words, Liu Tianfeng felt as if struck by lightning, as if the sky had collapsed!

As he left, he turned around repeatedly, his face growing increasingly grim, eventually turning ashen as if he were a walking corpse.

…

…

Inside the Secret Realm, Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang were already standing in front of the Stone Gate.

He raised his hand and tapped the mechanism on the rock wall, and the Stone Gate slowly opened.

The third trial was empty, which put Chu Huaixu at ease.

Then, under Han Shuangjiang’s astonished gaze, he suddenly jumped into the water.

The four holes underwater showed no reaction; no Body Tempering Liquid surged out, nor did the array produce a Water Blade.

“I just thought there must still be some Body Tempering Liquid left in the mechanism,” he explained his strange behavior.

“It seems the array and mechanism can’t be activated this way; this Secret Realm likely has the array and mechanism operating in tandem.” Chu Huaixu speculated.

“Let’s go,” he climbed out of the water and said to Han Shuangjiang.

Before leaving, he glanced at the four holes again.

Unwilling to give up, he intended to come back another time, starting from the first trial to see if there would be any result.

“This copy shouldn’t be a one-time thing, only the final reward was taken,” Chu Huaixu guessed.

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

However, what flashed through her mind were the enchanting scenes underwater.

She quickly gathered her thoughts, trying not to recall, attempting to delete those indecent thoughts from her mind.

This pair of men and women proceeded through another Stone Gate, entering a sight where Liu Chengqi was still trapped in the Illusion Realm.

His face was blank, his steps heavy, wandering on this vast open ground, somewhat like a zombie in “Plants vs. Zombies.”

His eyes were devoid of light, as if he would never reach the end.

“This Illusion Realm level isn’t low; look, he hasn’t even noticed our presence,” Chu Huaixu said.

Han Shuangjiang nodded, as Liu Chengqi hadn’t even heard this sentence, clearly having his five senses isolated.

“Ignore him, let’s go.” Chu Huaixu’s mind and Sea of Consciousness were as dark as the sword inside.

“This is also a form of training for him; we mustn’t disrupt Senior Brother Liu’s trial!” Chu Huaixu added, shamelessly justified.

His system feature allowed him to check the time, and only just over six hours had passed, equaling three hours.

According to what Senior Lei Wenyan left behind, the time limit for the first and second trials was two hours each, or one would be expelled.

Liu Chengqi was probably about to be ejected.

“Judging by his zombielike demeanor, he surely won’t make it to the third trial,” Chu Huaixu didn’t think he would waste the Body Tempering Liquid.

Han Shuangjiang glanced at the dead fox beside her, certainly not intending to wake Liu Chengqi, who had harbored inappropriate thoughts about her.

They left the secret realm in this manner and then swam out of the Cold Pool.

Once ashore, they found that Steward Liu and Steward Niu were missing, with only Li Chunsong standing by the shore.

“Greetings to the Sixth Elder.” They immediately saluted.

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

“You kid always give me a big surprise every time!” he said.

“I didn’t expect to alarm the Sixth Elder, I’m ashamed,” Chu Huaixu replied modestly, unaware that he had caused a Heaven and Earth Phenomenon.

“Hmph, alarm me? You even alarmed the Sect Leader!” Li Chunsong said with a hint of irritation.

This shook Han Shuangjiang beside him to the core.

Sect Leader Xiang Yan, a figure standing at the pinnacle of the entire East Continent!

Unlike the imperial power flourishing in the Western Continent, the Four Great Sects are more influential than the Court in the East Continent.

The words of Xiang Yan hold more sway than those of the Emperor of the Mirror Country!

“Even the Sect Leader is paying attention to him?” Han Shuangjiang was the truly embarrassed one.

She climbed the mountain alongside Chu Huaixu, her stubborn nature unwilling to let him leave her far behind.

“It seems I really need to work doubly hard,” she thought as she steeled herself for more effort.

Li Chunsong glanced at the two of them and said, “Shuangjiang, you should go back first. Chu Huaixu, come with me.”

“Yes,” they both accepted the order.

As for Liu Chengqi, still at the bottom of the Cold Pool—nobody cared.

…

…

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

He actually recognized every high-ranking member of the Daoist Sect in front of him, having seen them on the forum of “Borrowed Sword.”

As Li Chunsong introduced them one by one, he saluted each in turn.

“The Sect Leader in reality looks uglier than in the players’ photos; is he the type who looks better in pictures?” Chu Huaixu thought internally.

“Elder Zhao Shuqi has squinted eyes, and there’s a joke online that says people with squinted eyes are monsters. I should be careful with him.”

“Elder Nangong Yue is indeed from the ’Great Leiyin Temple.’ But why so voluptuous? And she exudes such a strong wifey vibe.” He couldn’t wrap his head around it.

“Law Enforcement Elder Lu Pan has a perpetually stern face, like a school disciplinarian, no wonder he’s unpopular.”

“As for Chu Yinyin… just a little girl, not interested.”

How different is she from a fifth or sixth-grade kid?

“But she is indeed cute.”

With Chu Huaixu’s experience, while being a playmate, he had worked for some cute-type bosses, and the cuter someone was, the more troublesome they turned out to be!

Instead, it was the one sitting high on the boulder that caught his special attention.

Even though he couldn’t see the face, he could only see a lean back, but he still thought to himself, “Is this the most mysterious Elder Qi of the Daoist Sect?”

Chu Huaixu didn’t know much about her.

Because she died in the year 1993 of the Xuan Calendar, just three years later.

In the Purple Bamboo Forest, Sect Leader Xiang Yan was the first to speak, his voice so unpleasant that even fans of melodious sounds would find him repulsive: “Chu Huaixu, you don’t need to be nervous.”

“Just now you triggered a Heaven and Earth Phenomenon, and we called you here to see your condition.”

“Hmm?” Chu Huaixu was a bit puzzled. Did he really trigger a phenomenon?

But he could roughly guess, these high-ranking experts were probably all using their Divine Sense, scanning back and forth over him.

In front of them, he was pretty much an open book.

What made him uncomfortable was that they would occasionally make some sounds of doubt.

Like “hiss” or “hmm?”

This feeling was unsettling, like having several doctors surrounding you post-CT scan, making these kinds of noises.

Later, they even took a drop of blood from him.

They were not surprised at all about Chu Huaixu’s transition from a Pseudo Spiritual Embryo to a Third Level Spiritual Embryo.

They could still detect a trace of the Profound Celestial Fetal Breath Pill’s residual aura on him.

But strangely, they couldn’t feel the presence of a Sword Heart in him at all.

“How could a kid who hasn’t formally cultivated control it so freely?”

“No way he can escape our perceptive eyes!”

In fact, calling Chu Huaixu here was primarily to have Lu Pan, the Array Grandmaster, impose a Restriction on him, preventing those with profound cultivation from easily detecting his Sword Heart!

This was a form of protection for him.

But now Lu Pan was in a difficult position.

Because he couldn’t find where that thing was!

Helplessly, everyone could only look toward the Daoist Nun on the boulder, one of the Four Great Divine Swords.

No one among them understood the sword better than she did!

“Sea…of Consciousness,” the slender Daoist Nun said in a very soft voice.

Hearing her so easily spot this, Chu Huaixu’s heart suddenly tightened.

…

(ps: Second update, requesting monthly votes.)

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