Borrowing a sword

Chapter 170 Eastern Continent Leader vs. Western Continent Leader
Inside the bedroom, Niu Yuanshan listened to the Crown Prince's question, and his face immediately showed an expression of extreme excitement.

This made Prince Rui's son feel strange when he saw his expression.

"Could it be that this Huo Dingyi has a surprise for me?"

Old Niu's face turned red, and his voice rose a few decibels, trembling slightly.

"Your Highness, Huo Dingyi is indeed Chu Huaixu!"

Even with Prince Rui's composure and calmness, he was somewhat uneasy at this moment.

"What!?"

Is Chu Huaixu, the leader of Dongzhou, a spy sent by my Yue Kingdom?

In an instant, the young man's first reaction was that his scalp tingled!

His right hand, which was resting flat on the table, suddenly clenched into a fist.

This is beyond incomprehensible.

He swallowed hard, trying his best to maintain his imperial demeanor.

The Prince Rui's tone turned serious. He feigned composure, a slight, insincere smile playing on his thin lips as he said:
"So, I'm going to have a duel with Huo Ding in a few days?"

"Is the so-called East-West Continent Grand Competition ultimately nothing more than an internal struggle within my Moon Kingdom?"

The so-called "organization" members are nothing but lackeys of my royal family and henchmen of the court.

Brainwashing to this extent means they're meant to be sacrificed.

They would give everything, including their lives.

His father always taught him to treat the world as a chessboard and all living beings as chess pieces.

You need to have a top-down, overall perspective.

From the perspective of the Heavenly Family, people in the "Organization" are the best pawns, but also the pawns that can be discarded at any time.

The more loyal you are, the more at ease they will feel when they abandon you, without worrying about any backlash.

How could Prince Rui have imagined that he, the future chess player, would one day be a chess piece on the board as his opponent?
Niu Yuanshan, of course, had no idea what he was thinking, but said excitedly, "Your Highness, you are right. In the competition between the leaders of the East and West Continents in a few days, no matter who wins, it will be a victory for the people of our Yue Kingdom!"

But as soon as he finished speaking, he realized he had misspoke and quickly corrected himself, adding, "Chu Huaixu may seem flamboyant, but deep down he is a very measured person."

Old Niu's hint was already quite obvious.

How could someone trained by the organization possibly tarnish the imperial family's reputation in a competition that the entire Xuanhuang Realm is watching?
We are nothing more than lackeys raised by the imperial court.

If someone were to actually do such a thing, they would deserve to die!
People who have been deeply brainwashed have completely solidified their thinking.

Prince Rui was actually aware of the true nature of the people within the organization.

He had witnessed firsthand how, at his father's command, someone would immediately commit suicide, no different from a death squad member.

Therefore, how could he not understand the meaning behind Niu Yuanshan's words?
As a member of the imperial family and the leader of the Western Continent, he naturally had to show his magnanimity.

"There's no need to say such things."

"If he can truly defeat me, I will be pleased. We are all subjects of my Yue Kingdom, aren't we?" He smiled faintly and said calmly.

But there was one thing he couldn't understand.

Why send these prodigies of heaven to the Daoist sect instead of nurturing them in my Moon Kingdom?
Isn't this tantamount to assigning the most top geniuses in the Xuanhuang Realm to the most dangerous jobs, where they are extremely likely to die young?

No matter how I think about it, it doesn't seem necessary.

But since the matter was already settled, Prince Rui had no intention of revealing Chu Huaixu's identity to others.

He didn't even intend to mention Eunuch Li from the palace.

"It's time for me to develop a reliable team of my own," he thought.

Time flew by, and before we knew it, it was the eve of the battle for supremacy between the East and West continents.

Chu Huaixu received the jade pendant, and it was personally delivered by Elder Nangong.

The master craftsman gave him a proper introduction.

"Its greatest function is to nourish the body day and night. Simply wearing it is equivalent to tempering the body at all times."

"It won't be too noticeable in the short term, but it's the result of accumulation over time."

"Besides that, it was originally a defensive magic weapon, but its effect was not particularly ideal."

"After I refined it again, and the law enforcement elder added seven more arrays to it, its defensive effect has almost doubled."

"Furthermore, I noticed before that the defensive spell you're currently learning is [Ink Splash], right?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Huaixu immediately nodded.

"So, you'll probably have to learn the advanced spell 'Being near ink makes one black' in the future?" Nangong Yue asked.

"Yes, we do have that plan," Chu Huaixu said.

“Yes, so when my senior brother inscribed the formation, I specifically asked him to follow this style, manifesting it as airflow. That way, it can be integrated with your protective spells to achieve a unified effect,” Nangong Yue said with a smile.

He probably understood.

As a female master craftsman, she even considered aesthetics!

Simply put, the special effects of this jade pendant can be integrated with one's own magic, without appearing too cluttered and thus affecting its aesthetics.

—Elder Nangong, I love it!

That's really well thought out; it's practically tailor-made for me!

"Disciple thanks Elder Nangong and Elder Enforcement," Chu Huaixu said immediately.

"I'm glad you like it." She smiled gently, her voice soft and gentle, with the accent of a Wu dialect speaker.

Since the competition was to be held the next day, Nangong Yue did not linger and did not delay Chu Huaixu's time.

Watching the voluptuous figure gradually fly away and disappear into the night, Chu Huaixu held the jade pendant in his hand, rubbing it a few times with his fingers to feel its texture. Strangely, it didn't have the coolness of jade, but rather a slight warmth.

That does fit the description of a woman's body as "warm and soft as jade."

Chu Huaixu wore it at his waist; he was dressed in a black robe, and the white jade pendant served as an embellishment.

"Senior Sister Han, come out quickly, let me show you my treasure!"

The dead fox shouted and immediately went to show off to his little housekeeper.

Two days ago, Han Shuangjiang went to the library to exchange for a suitable second-stage Heavenly Rank cultivation technique.

Today, I broke through to the second realm directly. The efficiency was ridiculously high. Breaking through realms was as easy as breathing.

She was obedient and came out immediately, knowing in her heart that the other party was going to show off again.

"Junior Brother Xu still hasn't gone home, and I'm the only one doing this kind of thing with him. Maybe he still doesn't feel satisfied enough?" Big Ice Block thought to himself, both amused and exasperated.

Chu Huaixu took a few steps closer to her, without any preamble or foreplay, and went straight to the point, starting to show off: "Watch closely!"

He began to use his divine sense to activate the jade pendant at his waist, and then unleashed the [Ink Splash] technique.

Just as Nangong Yue said, the defensive effect of the jade pendant and the flow of the magic energy instantly merged into one.

The ink-colored air currents did not become thicker or denser; on the contrary, they became lighter and more ethereal!
Han Shuangjiang, being a young girl, felt a pang of envy: "She's quite pretty."

Then she heard the dead fox start again: "How about it? Doesn't it make me look good?"

"It's alright," the big ice block replied.

Chu Huaixu immediately felt bored and began to miss the days when Xiao Xu was around.

"Tch! It's all thanks to Xiao Xu. He'll use all his knowledge and rack his brains to come up with all sorts of four-character idioms." He remarked directly to the girl, complaining that she was too quiet and uncooperative.

The big ice block didn't seem to care, and instead said, "Yes, I wonder what's going on with Junior Brother Xu, why isn't he home yet?"

"Maybe someone is a sore loser and has already started preparing for next year's Third Realm Competition, conducting special training ahead of time," Chu Huaixu muttered to himself.

That damned old man, he actually took over my laundry boy's job without my permission!

After returning to his bedroom, Chu Huaixu sat down on the futon.

Tomorrow, he will face off against the Prince Rui's heir.

Based on his years of experience playing "Borrowing Swords," he has a certain understanding of this protagonist of the Western Continent.

The heir apparent of Prince Rui was named Qin Xuanxiao.

Players described him as having the bearing of a powerful and ruthless leader.

When many people see the word "tyrant," the first person that comes to mind is probably Cao Cao.

In fact, both the Records of the Three Kingdoms and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms frequently use this word to describe Liu Bei.

—"Liu Bei, with his heroic demeanor and the fierce generals Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, would not remain subservient to others for long."

As mentioned before, the four main characters in "Borrowing the Sword" have different roles.

Qin Xuanxiao can be understood as a domineering CEO: he is rich, powerful, and handsome, and he and his princess consort have a passionate love affair.

However, this person is autocratic, decisive, far-sighted, and ruthless.

After all, he was born into the imperial family.

Generally speaking, if everyone in the main character's team is too kind at heart, it's actually difficult for them to achieve great things.

We need something ruthless!
Qin Xuanxiao is positioned in this way.

He is actually the one who oversees the overall situation in the main character team.

He is willing to give up far more than Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing!
"He has money, power, and resources, and he also has an aura of dominance. He is indeed the backbone of the protagonist's team in the early and middle stages."

In the small team of four, Xiao Xu and Da Bingkuai also centered around him.

Chu Huaixu, who considered himself the head of the family, suddenly felt that Qin Xuanxiao was somewhat similar to him, even though their personalities were not similar.

"So, as a member of the Yue Kingdom's royal family, did he know about my hidden identity?" Chu Huaixu wondered, then his gaze darkened.

The following day, the highly anticipated battle for supremacy between the East and West continents began at the martial arts arena.

Xiang Yan, Jiang Zhi, and the others took their seats on the high platform. Even Situ Cheng and the others did not leave and remained at the Daoist sect, waiting for this day.

Today, the final selection for entering the first level of the [Origin Spirit Realm] will be made.

This year's situation is unusual, and the dangers inside are extraordinary.

In previous years, this would have been tantamount to announcing the ownership of the [Fragment of the Primordial Origin]!

Even Jiang Zhi, who has always disliked Chu Huaixu, is definitely on his side now.

He came here today to see how this kid would deal with the leader of the Western Continent.

Chu Huaixu, the leader of the Eastern Continent, made his entrance in his own home arena amidst a huge crowd of thousands, a truly impressive display of power.

This was the first time the Prince Rui's son had encountered such a situation.

He, a member of the imperial family, had few followers, but the person opposite him was surrounded by a large group of people.

He felt somewhat out of place, as if the roles had suddenly been reversed in a scene he was used to.

What's even more interesting is that the person opposite him happens to be a royal bodyguard and a lackey of the court, while he is the true heir of the imperial family!
Moreover, a hint of surprise quickly flashed in the eyes of the two young people who were meeting for the first time.

Because this Prince Rui's heir, Qin Xuanxiao, was also wearing a black robe, which was also embroidered with gold thread as an embellishment.

They actually wore similar outfits.

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(End of this chapter)