Chapter 15: Chu Huaixu's Spirit Embryo
Chu Huaixu had a very long dream.
But when he woke up, he couldn’t remember a thing.
When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was an incomparably beautiful face.
Han Shuangjiang, without her veil, sat beside his bed, holding a cloth, having just wiped the sweat from his face and neck.
It was a face so beautiful it could make one lose themselves.
Fortunately, Chu Huaixu had quite a high resistance to this sort of thing.
In his line of work, it was essentially a service industry.
After doing it long enough, one could develop a slight... "dislike for women"?
Interestingly, due to her own upbringing and life experiences, the stunning beauty before him also had a slight "dislike for men."
It wasn’t hard to understand, really.
This cold, aloof woman looked down at Chu Huaixu and said, “The Sixth Elder asked me to take care of you.”
However, Chu Huaixu replied, “Smells nice.”
This rather flippant response made her gaze sharpen.
“I wasn’t talking about you!” The fox-faced man frowned and glanced at her.
He sat up from the bed and began looking around the room for the source of the fragrance.
Soon, he spotted a stick of incense on the table, nearly burned out.
Chu Huaixu turned to look at Han Shuangjiang with a questioning expression.
“That’s Calming Incense, left by the Sixth Elder.” Her expression visibly turned colder, and she stood up straight away.
She walked out of the bamboo house and returned to her own room.
Leaving Chu Huaixu sitting on the bed, rubbing his temples.
When playing 《Borrowed Sword》, as long as a player chose to level up, their cultivation stage would improve accordingly.
He still retained that cheat, but the overall experience wasn’t pleasant.
“Players can adjust the Pain Index, but I sure can’t right now,” he thought.
Of course, Chu Huaixu understood very well that the pain was entirely due to the cultivation method itself.
Player leveling essentially skipped over the step-by-step training process.
Or rather, those processes happened all at once in an instant, and the feedback hit your body immediately.
“So I cycled through the Sword Refining Art multiple times in a flash, and that’s why it hurts this much?” Chu Huaixu was puzzled.
He suspected that even practicing this technique the normal way without cheating wouldn’t be much more comfortable.
“For something this painful, you still have the nerve to call yourself the Sword Refining Art? You’d be better off named Menstrual Cramps.” He complained inwardly.
And so, a question arose.
“Why the hell does it match me 93%?”
He didn’t see himself as a “McDonald’s,” after all.
Although there was a classic saying in his industry: the flower language of steel wool is endurance and wealth.
But that had nothing to do with him.
He truly didn’t have that kind of kink, and even disliked those rich-woman-happy steel wool balls.
His Play Companion Profile certainly didn’t contain any hints for customers, nor did it carry labels like “McDonald’s” or “Starbucks.”
Even their industry had a hierarchy: people into “letter play” were ultimately niche companions—never mainstream!
Therefore, Chu Huaixu felt the system owed him an explanation.
After getting up from the bed, he checked how his body felt.
“Seems like... I really did get a lot stronger?”
“Was it because I added 1 point to 【Physique】 earlier? So the boost is significant in that area?”
“It probably isn’t just that.” He turned his attention to the jade slip and small booklet on the table.
Sitting down, Chu Huaixu picked up the booklet and once again flipped open to the first and second pages.
“Don’t practice!”
“Take the advice!”
He now understood that those two “seniors” must have suffered greatly, so they left behind two bad reviews to warn future practitioners — it was truly painstaking.
Chu Huaixu felt he should also write something for those who came after.
He picked up the brush and, with a serious expression, wrote a flamboyant phrase on the third page:
“Peerless Divine Art!”
...
...
Practice! Everyone get your asses to practice!
Chu Huaixu sat on the chair, cheeks puffed with frustration, and closed the booklet, realizing he still had unfinished business.
“I haven’t assigned the 【Spirit Embryo Attribute Point】 yet.”
The Spirit Embryo was closely tied to a cultivator’s innate divine powers.
This thing was just too, too, too important.
A False Spirit Embryo had no future at all.
He opened his Character Panel and directly assigned the 1 point of 【Spirit Embryo Attribute】.
But the first thing that popped up was — the selection of Spirit Embryo type.
This was easy to understand, as each Spirit Embryo had its own traits.
Take the Body of Profound Yin, for example. If Chu Huaixu selected it now, the Spirit Embryo section in his Character Panel would show: 【Body of Profound Yin (Covered in Dust)】.
Only when the attribute reached 10 points would the “Covered in Dust” label disappear, and the Spirit Embryo be considered fully developed!
However, when players selected their Spirit Embryo, they could only choose a major category and then draw one at random within it.
For instance, the Pure Yang Body and Profound Yin Body belonged to the 【Yin-Yang】 category.
Besides 【Yin-Yang】, other Spirit Embryo categories included 【Five Elements】, 【Lightning】, 【Dark Night】, 【Swift Movement】, 【Harmony】, and more — totaling several dozen types.
Each category was further subdivided.
If you were to carefully select one, your eyes would be dazzled by the choices.
But Chu Huaixu had long made up his mind.
“No choice — by a twist of fate, I’ve already entered the Dao Gate.”
“And that sword... is within the Dao Gate!”
He didn’t even look at the other categories and immediately made his choice — 【Sword】!
“【Ding! You have selected the 【Sword Spirit Embryo】, now initiating draw.】”
“【Congratulations! You have obtained 【Spirit Embryo: Heart Sword】.】”
Heart Sword?
He had no memory of this Spirit Embryo; no sword cultivator players ever had this one.
Chu Huaixu felt his body undergo a sudden transformation!
He closed his eyes and could sense that within his Sea of Consciousness, a sword was floating.
A pitch-black sword!
He didn’t know why, but he felt as if it were alive, attuned to his will, and had a certain spiritual nature.
However, it seemed rather lifeless, hanging there half-dead.
Chu Huaixu wasn’t surprised.
Because right there on his Character Panel, it clearly read: 【Spirit Embryo Heart Sword: 1. (Covered in Dust)】
Below it was a line of text introduced by the system:
“【The sword cleaves flesh, the heart cleaves soul】.”
...
...
Medicine Mountain, Outer Steward’s Courtyard.
Niu Yuanshan sat cross-legged on his bed, restless.
At this moment, dawn was breaking in the east — it was nearly morning.
Just two hours ago, the Sixth Elder, Li Chunsong, had come knocking again, asking where the Sword Refining Art came from.
Niu Yuanshan answered truthfully, saying he didn’t know.
It was true the jade slip was in his possession, but matters regarding the archive of Qi-Opening Stage cultivation methods weren’t under his jurisdiction.
“Sixth Elder, there should be records in the Library Pavilion,” he cautiously suggested.
Li Chunsong nodded, vanished on the spot, and flew to the Library Pavilion, leaving Steward Niu completely baffled.
“Didn’t we give the Sword Refining Art to that newcomer from the Organization?”
“Why is the Sixth Elder suddenly asking about this?”
“Could there be a problem with this Qi-Opening method?”
“Then that Chu Huaixu...”
Niu Yuanshan felt the impulse several times to rush to Chu Huaixu’s bamboo house in the middle of the night to check on him.
He suppressed the thought, but after a while, it would rise again.
All night long, he was plagued with inner turmoil and wild thoughts.
Chu Huaixu filled his mind.
Eyes open, it was him. Eyes closed, still him.
“Smack—!”
In the courtyard, an even louder slap rang out.
This time, Niu Yuanshan hit himself even harder than before, swelling up his own face.
“Admonition Rule Three: Do not harbor excessive curiosity about your peers!”
“Loyalty—!”
...