Borrowing a sword

Chapter 254 Zhong Ming is saved

Literary figures and writers often like to give things elegant names.

When the Taoist patriarch bestowed a seal, even ordinary things would be given elegant names.

Chu Huaixu, thick-skinned and not at all bothered to reveal his ignorance, immediately asked what the meaning of "Jingjun" was.

In the end, he received an answer that left him both amused and exasperated.

"Oh, it's a broom!"

—The Pure Gentleman sweeps away the floating dust, the Cool Friend invites the refreshing breeze.

Among them, "净君" refers to a broom, and "凉友" refers to a fan.

He never imagined that the Daoist junior uncle, a famous figure, and the strongest person in the Daoist sect on the surface, would have a Dao seal that was actually a broom.

Chu Huaixu could easily imagine how unruly Jiang Zhi's expression would be after the Dao Ancestor bestowed the seal upon him.

And how happy his fellow disciples from the Gentleman's View would be!
"Don't even mention them, I almost want to laugh when I hear about them now!" Chu Huaixu thought to himself.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "How could there be a broom among the three thousand seals?"

“There are even stranger ones!” Chu Yinyin said with a grin.

If an ordinary person obtained this Dao seal, it would be quite laughable. But consider this: Jiang Zhi's most prominent characteristic is—vainness.

A stubborn, arrogant, and extremely vain person, given the title "Pure Sovereign" by the Dao Ancestor, he probably rarely uses the power of the Dao Seal.

Elder Lu Pan, known for his impartiality, spoke up: "The Dao Ancestor has a profound meaning behind the three thousand Dao Seals, so don't underestimate the title of Pure Lord."

The Dao Ancestor accompanied these two characters with the following text: "【The Pure Lord holds the pure snow, sweeping away all the dust of the nine heavens.】"

Chu Huaixu roughly understood the meaning of this sentence, comparing the snow falling all over the sky to a cleansing deity. When the snow falls, it sweeps away the dust in the sky, signifying the purification of heaven and earth.

Upon hearing this caption, he frowned slightly and said, "It's quite fitting that I've been with my master for sixty years since he went down the mountain to vanquish demons."

“Absolutely, absolutely,” Xiang Yan echoed.

"Evil cultivators are inherently filthy creatures in this world. Junior Uncle has made a grand vow to descend the mountain and vanquish demons for sixty years, which will naturally restore peace to the world and is in line with the profound meaning of the name 'Pure Lord'." The sect leader smoothed things over.

There's another point that's rather unlucky, so no one mentioned it.

Jiang Zhijun observed that of his generation, some had died, some had gone mad, and only he remained.

In more superstitious places, such a person would be said to have brought death to the whole family and was a jinx!

Upon hearing this, Chu Huaixu had only one thought in his mind: "Are all these things bestowed by the Dao Ancestor just things we imagined ourselves, or is the Dao Ancestor really that divine?"

Is it really like fortune-telling?

For a moment, not only him, but even the aloof Big Ice Block and the silly Little Xu had great curiosity and anticipation for the Dao Ancestor's bestowal of the seal.

The three newly initiated disciples of the Gentleman's Temple all began to think:

"So, which words will the Dao Ancestor bestow upon me?"

Inside the bamboo grove, the group chatted with Shen Man for a few more minutes. Seeing that she was still sparing with her words and somewhat indifferent, they led the three newcomers to the Gentleman's Temple.

A thousand years ago, Daozu was originally a junior Daoist priest in Junzi Temple.

Today, the Junzi Temple has basically preserved the architecture from a thousand years ago, only undergoing some renovations.

Before the Taoist patriarch became famous throughout the world, this Taoist temple was just an unknown little temple.

There was little incense burning, and it looked quite simple.

At the entrance of the temple, there is a couplet that is said to have been written by the abbot when the Taoist patriarch was still a young Taoist priest.

First line: The emperor reigns supreme, observing the stars in the heavens.

The second line reads: "The son guards the mysterious origin and knocks on the heavenly gate."

Chu Huaixu's cultural knowledge is limited, and he can't judge whether it's good or bad. He only knows that the first two characters can be combined to form the characters for "gentleman".

But he knew one thing: the so-called knocking on the gates of heaven actually meant ascending to heaven.

However, in the Xuanhuang Realm, ascension is actually just an illusory concept.

Even in the Kunlun Grotto-heaven, there are those who call themselves cultivators, but there is no such thing as ascension. The limit is to attain the Heavenly Dao Fruit at the Nascent Soul stage.

Xu Ziqing was already quite familiar with the concept of a gentleman, and Chu Huaixu had also secluded himself here, but Han Shuangjiang was quite unfamiliar with this place.

The three of them quickly chose a place to stay.

For the time being, Chu Huaixu and Xu Ziqing will still share a room, while Han Shuangjiang will have a room to herself.

After choosing a place to stay, Xiang Yan looked at the three of them and said, "I know that you are all eager to obtain the Dao Ancestor's seal, aren't you?"

"Then we won't call your current generation of senior brothers and sisters from Junzi Temple out yet. They will all come out to watch when you are granted your seals. Then you can get to know each other."

"Okay," Chu Huaixu and the others replied.

Then, Xiang Yan waved his sleeve and led everyone to the Dao Bell.

The so-called Daozhong (Taoist bell) looks like nothing more than an ordinary but ancient-looking large bell.

"I heard that when the Taoist Ancestor was still a junior Taoist priest in the temple, he was often in charge of striking the bell," Xiang Yan told them with a smile.

"Later, he sealed all three thousand Dao Seals he had refined inside this great bell, which is why we, the later generations, call it the Dao Bell."

“When you two obtained the Dao Seal in the Inheritance Secret Realm, the bell also rang, ringing twice and three times.”

After saying that, he looked at Lu Pan and said, "Senior Brother, you should take charge."

Lu Pan nodded and took a few steps forward.

He walked to the bell and said to the three of them, "Each of you take a drop of blood from your fingertip."

The three of them did as instructed immediately.

Three drops of blood floated toward the Dao Bell and then merged into it.

Immediately afterwards, three wisps of green smoke drifted out from outside the bell.

They slowly drifted towards Chu Huaixu and the others, merging into their bodies and surging into their sea of ​​consciousness.

Chu Huaixu controlled the small black sword within his sea of ​​consciousness to prevent it from resisting the wisp of green smoke and preventing it from entering.

The green smoke lingered within the sea of ​​consciousness, then gradually expanded and spread, as if covering the sea of ​​consciousness with a thin mist.

But for some reason, the system task was not triggered.

After doing all this, Lu Pan instructed, "You can now go to the inner sect's disciple hall to receive the appropriate demon-slaying missions."

"Remember, you must kill a heretical cultivator who is a whole realm higher than you on your own."

The three replied in unison, "Yes, we obey."

However, Chu Huaixu quickly said, "Judging by the days, I should go and treat Fifth Master's illness. After I've been to Fifth Master's place, I'll go down the mountain." "That's very good," Lu Pan said with a smile.

But the smiles on everyone's faces quickly froze.

Chu Huaixu immediately asked, "Which master would be willing to accompany me?"

Zhong Ming was, after all, a madman at the ninth realm. Although there were many restrictions inside the house, it was still not very safe for Chu Huaixu to go there alone with his meager cultivation.

Therefore, Jiang Zhi had already given instructions that someone should accompany him every time he went to receive treatment.

But this also means that someone has to eat that extremely unpalatable Ding Sheng Gao (a type of rice cake).

Previously, Chu Huaixu and Jiang Zhike had planned that next time he went to treat his illness, he would focus on operating [Nan Liujing], while the person accompanying him would just eat on the side.

The Fifth Master liked to quietly watch others eat the Ding Sheng Gao (a type of cake) he made, as this made it easier for him to treat patients.

"Whose turn is it this time?" Elder Lu Pan asked with a serious expression, glancing at everyone.

The gambling addict Li Chunsong reluctantly stepped forward and said with a wry smile, "It's my turn to eat."

"Then, Sixth Junior Brother, please." Xiang Yan said with a smile.

The two soon headed to the small courtyard where Zhong Ming lived.

Li Chunsong was busy eating on the side, while Chu Huaixu was unleashing the power of [Nan Liujing].

In his view, the Fifth Master had not actually improved much.

He just won't suddenly go crazy anymore, but he's still mentally challenged.

"Won't this just be treating the symptoms, not the root cause?" Chu Huaixu began to doubt himself.

To be precise, it is a questioning of the Dao Seal bestowed by the Dao Ancestor.

However, after the treatment ended, Chu Huaixu suddenly received a notification from the system.

"Current treatment progress: 1%."

This really caught his eye!
"If there's progress, then it proves it's still useful!"

"Perhaps the reason it didn't appear before was because the effect was negligible, not even reaching 1%?"

Chu Huaixu is a person with a good attitude. He won't be frustrated because he has come so many times but the progress is so small.

"This at least proves that I wasn't doing something in vain!" He was quite excited.

As your strength increases, your progress will only accelerate.

He even felt quite accomplished.

So much so that when he walked out of the courtyard, he had a big smile on his face, while Li Chunsong looked like he had no will to live.

"Why do I feel like my Fifth Uncle's cooking is getting worse and worse?" he couldn't help but mutter.

Next, Chu Huaixu and the others bid farewell to Xiang Yan and the others, and soon went to the inner sect's disciple courtyard to receive their sect's mission.

Due to the Black Moon Cult's bizarre practices, a large number of heretical cultivators have emerged and are now rampant.

This led to an increase in demon-slaying missions within the disciples' courtyard. The Taoist sect dispatched specialists skilled in movement techniques and concealment to patrol the mountains, collect the whereabouts and tracks of evil cultivators, and attempt to leave location marks on them.

"But this makes it easier for us to complete our mission," Chu Huaixu thought to himself.

After much deliberation, they found no task that was entirely suitable.

The most suitable mission would be one where there are three evil cultivators at the fourth level on the other side, and it wouldn't matter if there are a few more first or second level miscellaneous fodder.

Unfortunately, such a coincidence did not occur.

Ultimately, Chu Huaixu's gaze fell upon the [West Gorge Mountain] mission.

There are traces of five evil cultivators at the early stage of the fourth realm here, as well as several evil cultivators at the third realm.

"Why don't we go with this?" he suggested to the two of them.

"You each take charge of one, and I'll handle the remaining three," Chu Huaixu began to give instructions.

Upon hearing this, Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing exchanged bewildered glances.

To kill someone from a higher realm, and to fight three against one?

If it were anyone else, they would definitely think this person is crazy.

But if it's Chu Huaixu, then let him be!

In the eyes of the dead fox, these were all walking experience points.

He's even considering living in the disciples' quarters and taking on missions every day.

"Thank you for the food, Black Moon Cult Leader."

As for those third-realm heretical cultivators, Chu Huaixu didn't care at all how many there were.

These small fry can be killed instantly with a single sword strike from the sword energy stored in his scabbard, "Calming the Waves."

It's just an appetizer.

The three's every move in the disciples' courtyard was detected by Xiang Yan and the others using their divine sense.

"They're quite bold," Zhao Shuqi commented.

He only needed to cross the border and kill one person, but he insisted on killing three.

This left Xiang Yan somewhat amused and exasperated: "Before entering the Origin Spirit Realm, my junior uncle and I specially sent him down the mountain for training, fearing that he wasn't ready to kill."

"Now it seems that he has a bit too much killing intent, which is similar to Junior Uncle."

After receiving their mission, Chu Huaixu and the others immediately mounted their swift steeds and headed down the mountain.

Inside the Junzi Temple, the sect leader, Xiang Yan, glanced at everyone and said, "Things haven't been peaceful down the mountain lately."

"This leader of the Black Moon Cult is probably not simple," he said in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Lu Pan offered, "I'll go down the mountain and go with them."

"Okay." Xiang Yan nodded.

The eighth-realm law enforcement elder then transformed into a stream of light and disappeared into the clouds.

Xiang Yan raised his head and looked in the direction where his senior brother had left.

In his heart, his eldest brother was the most reliable and reassuring.

He still remembers the inscription next to the characters for "pine and cypress" when Lu Pan received the seal from the Daoist Ancestor.

—Like pine and cypress reaching for the sky, with iron will, they stand firm against the fierce winds from all directions.

(P.S.: First update, please vote with monthly tickets.)
(End of this chapter)