The moon was bright, and the stars sparse, crows flying south.
Outside the bamboo hut, Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang sat facing each other, eating.
He ate like a very appreciative regular custor, appetite like a rice bucket.
The two of them spoke as though chatting about everyday life, recounting their day’s experiences on Hidden Spirit Mountain.
Listening to Han Shuangjiang’s narration, Chu Huaixu understood that on her way up the mountain, she had faced hesitation several tis.
Along the way, quite a number of spirit artifacts had chosen her.
Among them were even top-grade spiritual artifacts and supre-grade spiritual artifacts.
Unlike Chu Huaixu, who, aside from the Sword Spirit, had only that jade pendant related to Body Training extending him an olive branch.
But he, like so scumbag, had told it to wait patiently. When he went up the mountain the second ti, he didn’t even give it another glance.
He had no choice—he no longer had the right to choose spiritual artifacts. One person could only take one. Looking further would only make it harder.
“Don’t worry, 【Zhegutian】 is the most suitable for you.” Chu Huaixu spoke as he stuffed rice into his mouth.
Han Shuangjiang nodded. Naturally, she agreed with that.
But she still couldn’t help asking: “The first ti you went up the mountain, it also chose you, right?”
Chu Huaixu, while picking food for himself, replied casually: “You already knew that, why ask?”
He quickly added another line, perhaps to comfort her: “All the swords on that mountain—tell , which Sword Spirit hasn’t chosen ?”
“Other Sword Spirits got way more excited when they saw !” He wore a smug expression. Google seaʀᴄh N()velFire
The Big Ice Block nodded. Though she still felt sothing strange in her heart, she didn’t say more.
Now that 【Zhegutian】 had already acknowledged her as master, she only felt closeness with its Sword Spirit and no longer wished to linger on such “trivial details.”
What else could she do?
—Of course, she had to forgive him.
At this mont, the cold-faced girl asked: “What you took is the Dao Ancestor’s sword scabbard?”
“Mm.” Chu Huaixu nodded.
He hadn’t ntioned the Black Bead to her, since that didn’t comply with the rules of Hidden Spirit Mountain.
He had long decided—the spirit artifact he showed openly would be the sword scabbard.
“What’s its na?” The Big Ice Block asked curiously.
“Seems like… it doesn’t have a na?” Chu Huaixu sounded uncertain.
Han Shuangjiang’s 【Zhegutian】 had its na carved on the blade.
But this wooden sword scabbard bore only so simple ancient patterns, with no inscription.
Even when Li Chunsong told him the story of the scabbard, he hadn’t ntioned any na.
“This scabbard originally ca with a wooden sword as a set, a standard sword from Gentleman Temple. I guess maybe it was called… Gentleman Sword?” Chu Huaixu said, clearly just speculating.
“So then, maybe it’s Gentleman Scabbard?” He smiled.
But he didn’t much like the na “Gentleman Sword.”
It reminded him of Yue Buqun from Smiling Proud Wanderer.
So he was rely rambling. He suspected it never had a na at all. Otherwise, Dao Gate should have had a record.
This made him suddenly feel: “The Dao Ancestor seed really lazy about naming things?”
The cultivation thod he practiced had no na either—it was only later generations who respectfully called it the 《Dao Canon》.
The sword scabbard he carried with him had no na, so later people could only call it simply “the scabbard.”
Even that bronze sword suppressed on the mountain had no na.
Everyone habitually called it the 【Dao Ancestor’s Sword】.
“Since that ugly sword is called the Dao Ancestor’s Sword, then my scabbard definitely can’t be Dao Ancestor’s Scabbard.”
“Because the Benevolent Gambling King said, the two were not a pair.”
“Who would want to give my elegant scabbard a couple’s na with that ugly freak?” Chu Huaixu thought to himself.
He picked up a piece of at, swallowed down a large mouthful of rice, then unconsciously poked at the rice twice with his chopsticks.
“Big Ice Block, what do you think… This scabbard may be the Dao Ancestor’s relic, but now that I’m its new master, if I give it a na, that’s not overstepping, right?” he asked Han Shuangjiang.
“How should I answer you?” The cold-faced girl’s expression was frosty. She firmly refused to take the bla.
You want to na it? Just na it. Why ask ! How would I know?
Hearing this, Chu Huaixu smiled faintly. His gaze fell on 【Zhegutian】 resting on the table.
He continued, talking to himself: “Many of Dao Gate’s spiritual artifacts are nad after lyric titles.”
“That’s because the Dao Ancestor’s ten true disciples all had life-bound treasures nad that way. Supposedly, Dao Ancestor just flipped through a book and picked them.”
“Since this scabbard was originally Dao Ancestor’s, why not na it with a lyric title as well?” Chu Huaixu reasoned.
Han Shuangjiang kept silent, watching him, waiting for him to speak the na.
Chu Huaixu set down his bowl and chopsticks, looking toward Hidden Spirit Mountain.
“Today, that sword on the mountain caused such a great uproar…”
“From now on, let it be called 【Ding Fengbo】.” He spoke with aning.
After the al, Han Shuangjiang went to wash the dishes.
Chu Huaixu returned inside the bamboo hut, stopping in front of Xu Ziqing’s room, feeling sowhat troubled.
—He no longer had a clean outer robe to wear!
Previously, he had hung all his dirty clothes at the youth’s door, waiting for him to see and wash them.
Now, his current robe was far too filthy. He still had one clean undershirt left, but tomorrow he’d have to pick the least dirty of his outer robes…
“If the Sect Master and Elders don’t co looking for tomorrow, then I’ll go to the Cold Pool to see him.”
“How could one just keep cultivating endlessly? Sotis you need fresh air. I should wash my senior brother’s clothes before going back.”
“Kids just don’t understand responsibility!” He resolved to scold him harshly tomorrow.
Back in his own room, Chu Huaixu sat down on the ditation cushion and took 【Ding Fengbo】 out from the Storage Token.
For many cultivators, their life-bound artifact was a bit like Pikachu from Pokémon.
Other Pokémon willingly stayed in Poké Balls, but Pikachu refused.
Life-bound artifacts were often the sa.
Other treasures only contained spiritual awareness, but a life-bound artifact was nurtured to develop a mature artifact spirit.
Once it had intelligence, naturally it beca troubleso.
At this mont, Chu Huaixu’s large hand slowly brushed across the black wooden scabbard.
When his palm touched the Black Bead, he felt as though his spiritual energy was once again being drawn out.
“The scabbard is a supre-grade spiritual artifact, but this bead reveals nothing.”
“Even if I cast 【Information Probe】, the system only returns question marks.” He thought.
In truth, he could recognize the scabbard with blood and make it his life-bound item.
After all, it was a supre-grade artifact, high enough in rank.
Even in 《Borrowed Sword》, he had never owned sothing of this caliber.
Throughout the Xuanhuang Realm, such treasures were rare. Even in the Eastern Continent, the number of supre-grade spiritual artifacts players held was barely more than a handful.
“But this bead is a little too mysterious.” Chu Huaixu pondered.
In his understanding, it was the bead that had chosen him, not the scabbard.
【Ding Fengbo】 was simply dragged along with it, like a bonus gift.
Therefore, even though the Black Bead was mysterious, his heart remained conflicted—he leaned toward making it his life-bound artifact instead.
“It drained my spiritual energy, then unlocked the seal on the scabbard.”
“So is it the key?”
“Or was it actually the spiritual energy from the 《Dao Canon》 that served as the key?”
Chu Huaixu couldn’t find an answer.
What made him even more helpless was—the bead felt like… a dead thing?
From the scabbard, he could still sense faint strands of spirituality. Though not yet condensed into an artifact spirit, at least spirituality was present.
The essence of a spiritual artifact lay in that word—spirit.
But from the bead, he felt nothing.
If not for that faint, inexplicable pull, he would truly have believed it was a dead object, not a spiritual artifact.
“Perhaps that’s why even the Dao Gate elders couldn’t detect anything?” Chu Huaixu guessed inwardly.
“When I took it down the mountain, it ant the seal on the stone platform was undone. Without the seal, even the Benevolent Gambling King failed to notice the bead, only paying attention to the scabbard.”
He then let the system perform its check.
For players without a life-bound treasure, all they needed to do was hold an unowned item in both hands, stare at it for ten seconds, and the system would pop up: 【Would you like to make this your life-bound spiritual artifact?】
For Chu Huaixu, this auxiliary function had two benefits.
First, it let him know whether the bead counted as a spiritual artifact in the system’s judgnt.
Second, it helped him conceal the matter.
Normally, cultivators recognized their life-bound artifact by dripping blood on it, then imprinting it with a strand of divine sense.
Alternatively, they could use different thods.
So people even chose to first nurture it with divine sense for half a month, then add a trace of their soul, and finally recognize it.
Fancy thods—each with pros and cons.
Chu Huaixu planned to simply bind it through the system.
After all, he wasn’t sure whether Dao Gate’s higher-ups were keeping special watch on him lately.
Continuous divine sense monitoring was impossible. That would be too exhausting, and besides, they were busy with their own matters.
But given the current sensitive period…
“I can’t let anyone know I took an extra item up there.”
Through system binding, he needn’t worry.
The system was his cheat—no one could detect it. Even the frequent system prompts ringing in his ears were heard by no one else.
With that thought, he set the scabbard across his lap. While appearing to hold the scabbard, he secretly picked up the Black Bead attached to 【Ding Fengbo】.
Fixing his gaze for ten seconds, a system prompt indeed appeared before his eyes.
【Would you like to make this your life-bound spiritual artifact?】
Chu Huaixu willed: 【Yes】.
The next mont, that faint, inexplicable pull grew even stronger!
A subtle, mysterious feeling sprouted in his heart.
Now, alongside the Heart Sword in his Sea of Consciousness, there was sothing else linked with his intent.
At this instant, the pitch-black, opaque bead transford before his eyes.
Only in Chu Huaixu’s vision—the bead beca semi-transparent!
Looking inside, he saw… within the bead, there was sothing!
It seed there was another mysterious space within!
It was a cauldron—a… dicinal cauldron?
In an instant, Chu Huaixu’s heart surged like a stormy sea, his mind exploding like rolling thunder!
He recalled once again the legend about the sword on the mountain.
“The Dao Ancestor’s sword has many versions of its legend.”
“One of them is the Evil Sword version.”
“And in that version, there was a passing ntion—”
“It was said that the Dao Ancestor was an alchemist. His life-bound treasure was a dicinal cauldron. But though he had no life-bound sword, he yearned for the Sword Dao, and always claid himself a sword cultivator!”
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