Spiritual Embryo Divine Ability: Clear Heart Sword

Beside the Cold Pool, those Registered Disciples showed no reaction at all, sensing nothing.

They only noticed that the longsword slung across Deputy Captain Liu Chenggong's back had suddenly begun to tremble.

These people were only at the Aperture Opening Stage, with no spiritual power in their bodies—they hadn't truly begun cultivation yet.

Thus, the anomaly unfolding between heaven and earth was utterly imperceptible to them.

But Liu Tianfeng and the others were different.

The Old Man shot to his feet with a start, his gaze fixed in shock on the Cold Pool.

Niu Yuanshan couldn't help stepping forward, lowering his head to peer into the fathomless depths of the pool.

With their level of cultivation, they could sense another mysterious "ripple" spreading outward in all directions.

The change in Liu Chenggong's longsword must have been due to this very reason!

The two Outer Sect Deacons exchanged a glance, yet with their realms, they couldn't make heads or tails of it.

They immediately walked over to Liu Chenggong's side and began examining the sword.

"Did you get this sword from Hidden Spirit Mountain?" Niu Yuanshan asked.

Liu Chenggong took down the longsword. This was his Destined Magic Treasure—by all rights, it should be attuned to his mind. Yet now, gripping it with both hands, he still couldn't control it!

"Steward Niu, this sword is called the Azure Pine Sword. I did obtain it from Hidden Spirit Mountain. It's a mid-grade Sword Embryo, my Destined Spirit Sword." He replied honestly, his eyes filled with astonishment.

This was his prized possession. Ordinary Outer Sect Disciples couldn't even qualify to go to Hidden Spirit Mountain to claim a treasure.

Everyone had a bit of that show-off, pretentious streak. Liu Chenggong carried this sword on his back precisely to bask in the envy of others!

But what was happening now?

"Something's off," Liu Tianfeng said, looking at the Azure Pine Sword.

Niu Yuanshan spoke with a tone of certainty: "I suspect that mysterious force at the bottom of the Cold Pool affects far more than just this one sword!"

Neither he nor Liu Tianfeng were Sword Cultivators...

But both could agree on one thing: the Treasures inside the Secret Realm had definitely been claimed by someone, or else this anomaly wouldn't be occurring!

The only question was whose hands they had fallen into!

Outer Sect, Medicine Mountain.

Mo Qingmei, one of the Nine Great Stewards, was practicing her sword in her own courtyard.

Of the entire Outer Sect, only three female Stewards existed—half the number of their male counterparts—and she was one of them.

Mo Qingmei was middle-aged but had taken excellent care of herself. She was a charming, well-preserved beauty of a certain age, the type that Liu Chengqi would fantasize about fiercely in the dead of night.

She wasn't stunningly gorgeous, but her fair skin and pleasant features made her easy on the eyes—a woman of quiet elegance.

Add to that the fullness of her figure at this stage of life, paired with her gentle temperament, and she was quite popular among the Outer Sect disciples.

Recently, Mo Qingmei had acquired a new Profound-grade sword technique called Falling Cherry Blossom.

It was a sword art created by a female Sword Cultivator of a previous generation, and it suited her perfectly because it was beautiful to perform.

Right now, she was halfway through her practice when she suddenly turned around in shock.

She sensed a mysterious force spreading outward like ripples, and at that moment, it passed through her courtyard.

The Destined Spirit Sword in Mo Qingmei's hand began to tremble uncontrollably!

Though the tremor wasn't as pronounced as Liu Chenggong's Azure Pine Sword, it was still somewhat beyond her control.

"What's going on?" She was immediately alarmed.

An anomaly in one's Destined Magic Treasure was no small matter.

"It seems to be coming from the Cold Pool?" Mo Qingmei glanced westward.

She quickly sheathed her sword and headed toward the Cold Pool.

Strangely, even after the sword was back in its scabbard, it continued to tremble faintly.

Mo Qingmei was a cultivator at the peak of the Third Realm, unlike Outer Sect Disciples like Liu Chenggong.

She had been nurturing her Destined Spirit Sword for years, and its sword spirit was certainly more sentient than the Azure Pine Sword's.

"It seems... excited," Mo Qingmei mused, puzzled.

She hurried toward the Cold Pool, her expression grave.

This ripple continued to spread outward, soon surpassing the bounds of Medicine Mountain.

The Dao Sect's Outer Sect comprised three peaks, with Medicine Mountain being the closest to the Inner Sect.

Within the Inner Sect's Purple Bamboo Forest, the Tenth Elder, Chu Yinyin, was flying through the air.

She held her Destined Spirit Sword in hand, her expression deeply serious.

However, due to her cultivation technique, her physical form still resembled that of a little girl. So, with that grave look on her face, she gave off a rather amusing "little adult" vibe.

She quickly flew deep into the Purple Bamboo Forest, her face as still as water, as if facing a great enemy.

Ahead lay a stone wall, in front of which was a massive boulder. Seated cross-legged on that boulder was a woman.

She was slender, almost to the point of being gaunt, looking incredibly frail.

The woman wore a Daoist robe, dressed as a Daoist nun, with her ink-black hair coiled into a Daoist bun and fastened by an ancient wooden hairpin.

She faced the stone wall, her back to Chu Yinyin.

She was so thin that the entire Daoist robe hung loosely on her.

As the Tenth Elder of the Dao Sect, Chu Yinyin had reached the Great Perfection of the Sixth Realm.

She deliberately concealed her aura, quietly flying to this spot, and with her Destined Spirit Sword in hand, she lunged fiercely at the Daoist nun on the giant rock.

Just as she closed in, the nun, still with her back turned, remained motionless. Only the wooden hairpin in her hair seemed to shimmer with an almost imperceptible flow of light.

A surge of Qi flow spread out, and Chu Yinyin was sent flying backward, crashing heavily to the ground—landing squarely on her rear.

The ambush had failed. Naturally impulsive, she yelped in pain and then threw a fit: "You damn woman! You made me fall on my butt again!"

The Seventh Elder of the Dao Sect, still facing the stone wall, sat cross-legged on the giant rock, her back to Chu Yinyin. She didn't utter a word, as if she hadn't heard a thing.

Chu Yinyin cursed and grumbled for a while, but the other woman ignored her.

She seemed long accustomed to this.

After venting enough, Chu Yinyin looked up at the gaunt silhouette on the rock and said, "Shen Man, when are you finally coming out of seclusion? You have no idea how they've been bullying me while you're gone!"

She began rambling about her experience in the main hall that day, complaining how everyone spoke in riddles, saying they had important matters to discuss that those below the Seventh Realm weren't worthy of knowing. The Senior Brother, as the Enforcement Elder, even set up a barrier to stop her from eavesdropping.

"They look down on me!" Chu Yinyin planted her hands on her hips, puffing out her flat chest indignantly.

As the Junior Sister, her favorite was the Seventh Senior Sister, and her least favorite was the Ninth Senior Sister, Nangong Yue.

The reason was simple: due to a flaw in her cultivation technique, she still looked like a little girl, while Nangong Yue was generously endowed in all the right places.

Not only was Nangong Yue alluring, but her chest was also astonishingly large.

Chu Yinyin had bathed with her once, and those two things actually floated in the water—it made her dizzy just looking at them! It was infuriating.

But the Seventh Senior Sister was great. She was so thin that she only had the faintest hint of curves.

Even though she was gaunt, her ethereal aura made her seem almost celestial. But hey, I'm cute too!

No contest, no contest!

But Nangong Yue was different—her size was shameless, her proportions obscene!

So, despite calling the Seventh Senior Sister a "damn woman" after her failed prank, the truth was that Shen Man, the Seventh Elder of the Dao Sect, had confined herself to the Purple Bamboo Forest after receiving the Dao Ancestor Inheritance, entering seclusion for enlightenment. Only Chu Yinyin would come to bother her, missing her after just a few days apart.

After she finished rambling, the Daoist nun sitting high on the rock merely nodded slightly, still silent as a mute.

But Chu Yinyin knew full well that the Seventh Senior Sister wasn't mute—she just didn't like to talk.

And even when she did speak, Shen Man lived up to her name: her words came out painfully slow, with odd pauses.

—Because she had a stutter.

Chu Yinyin was about to say more when she suddenly turned around, looking behind her.

That mysterious ripple had spread to this spot.

As it rippled outward, it stirred countless swords.

Even her Destined Spirit Sword, Xiang Jian Huan, trembled faintly twice.

Though subtle, Chu Yinyin definitely noticed.

"Huh? What kind of phenomenon is this?" She looked up sharply at the Daoist nun on the rock.

Her eyes fixed curiously on the wooden hairpin in the nun's hair.

But she was disappointed.

Her own sword, Xiang Jian Huan, had reacted, yet the nun—also a Sword Cultivator—had her wooden hairpin remain utterly still.

The ripple stopped abruptly just as it reached the giant rock.

This time, the nun, who had been silent all along, finally acknowledged her.

She gave the answer to the phenomenon.

Her voice was slow, with odd pauses, but it sounded beautiful:

"Sword Heart. Illuminated."

"What?!" Chu Yinyin gasped, then looked toward Medicine Mountain.

"But that's the Outer Sect!" Her tone rose sharply.

Her figure vanished instantly, flying toward Medicine Mountain, leaving only a parting remark: "Shen Man, I'm off!"

The Daoist nun on the rock was left alone, shaking her head with a faint smile.

"Doesn't even call me Senior Sister. Rude." She murmured in a doting tone.

Inside the Cold Pond Secret Realm, Chu Huai Xu sat cross-legged, with Han Shuangjiang guarding him. Neither knew how lively the edge of the Cold Pond had become.

The Xuantian Fetal Breath Pill was rapidly being absorbed, filling his body with warmth.

Though his body felt as hot as if it were about to boil, he experienced no discomfort at all.

Unlike when he was cultivating the "Sword Refining Art"—that "Menstrual Cramps" of a technique—Chu Huai Xu felt he was about to die from comfort!

Just half a stick of incense ago, he heard the system prompt sound: "Ding! Congratulations, Spiritual Embryo Attribute +1."

And just now, he heard the same content again.

A single Xuantian Fetal Breath Pill had actually raised his Spiritual Embryo Attribute by a full two points!

He had originally thought it would at most increase by one point, after all, the pill's characteristic was a high probability of upgrading the Spiritual Embryo's grade, so it was even possible that it wouldn't increase at all.

"As expected of a pill personally refined by a Pill King—truly domineering!" he mused inwardly.

Chu Huai Xu even suspected that ordinary Xuantian Fetal Breath Pills were Level 7 Spirit Pills, but this one might be more than Level 7!

Then, he soon heard a third system prompt sound.

"Ding! You have successfully unlocked Spiritual Embryo Divine Ability: Clear Heart Sword!"

Chu Huai Xu, who had been sitting in meditation with his eyes closed, snapped them open at the sound.

(PS: Second update, requesting monthly votes~)