Ancient Sword: Jinghong

Xu Ziming still went home, covered in a thick layer of black grime.

When he first emerged from the training room, the smiling young lady at the counter had her expression shift instantly, though she still processed his checkout procedure.

Even the large crowd of martial arts practitioners nearby cast subtle, lingering glances at Xu Ziming.

No way, did he take a dump in the training room?

Upon returning home, his younger sister was still at school, and his mother had likely gone out to buy groceries.

Xu Ziming immediately rushed into the bathroom and began to scrub his body vigorously, spending a full half-hour before finally stepping out.

For a teenage boy whose daily showers usually lasted no more than five minutes, this was undoubtedly a long time.

Standing before the mirror, Xu Ziming carefully examined the changes in his body.

The most obvious difference was his skin tone; the practice of Iron Cloth Shirt had not turned his skin black, but rather made it fairer and smoother.

Beyond that, his previously ill-defined abdominal muscles had slightly bulged, showing the beginnings of a physique, and even his face had become significantly more refined.

"The Martial Way is truly extraordinary. No wonder it's so agonizing to practice, yet so many people still attempt it."

Xu Ziming recalled the scenes of being bound, having his crotch scrubbed with abrasive stones, and finally being branded with hot irons, and felt his hair stand on end all over again.

Let me ask again, is this really a legitimate technique? Why does it feel like something meant for a specific group of people?

Once clean, he immediately opened the Equipment Slot he had just closed, and sure enough, a new position had opened up.

The "Steel Skin" trait brought by Iron Cloth Shirt had already been permanently solidified.

Next, he tapped on his total trait count.

A massive interface frame appeared out of thin air before him.

<strong>[Permanently Solidified Traits: Natural Sword Bone, Steel Skin]</strong>

<strong>[Equipped Traits: Qilin Body]</strong>

<strong>[Empty Equipment Slot: 1]</strong>

<strong>[Equipment Slot Unlock Condition: Permanently solidify two traits, currently 1/2 solidified]</strong>

<strong>[Equippable Traits: Filter Charge (E-grade Blood Qi Potion), Body Forging Acceleration (Basic Body Forging Method), Alien Slayer (Alien Warrior Life Source Crystal (First Transition) Purified Version)]</strong>

As expected, unlocking further equipment slots required permanently solidifying two traits, and this number would likely increase in the future.

The Qilin Body absolutely could not be unequipped, otherwise, there would be no way to ensure the Qilin Source Blood wouldn't be discovered, and the effects of Qilin Body were truly heaven-defying.

It could double all physical stats without any cost, requiring only a cooldown period.

Therefore, what he needed most right now was to first permanently solidify the trait brought by the Basic Body Forging Method; only then could he free up a new equipment slot.

Action followed thought, and Xu Ziming immediately equipped the Basic Body Forging Method.

As the Body Forging Acceleration trait exerted its power once more, that long-lost sensation of smooth-flowing blood qi surged through his meridians again.

"So refreshing. I really need to hurry up and permanently solidify this trait."

However, due to physical limitations, he couldn't accelerate this process yet; after all, the Filter Charge trait couldn't be equipped at the moment, and of the five E-grade Blood Qi Potion units Teacher Ma had given him, only the last one remained.

This also limited Xu Ziming's cultivation to a certain extent.

"I should buy some Blood Qi Potion first, and then buy myself a sword. I can't keep using the Type-1 Zero-Energy Sword forever."

He immediately opened his wristband and navigated to the shopping page. The price of an E-grade Blood Qi Potion was five thousand yuan per unit; given his current net worth, he could only afford to buy four for now.

After all, he still had to look at swords.

After purchasing those four units of Blood Qi Potion, Xu Ziming had only twenty-five thousand yuan left.

He flipped through the sword weapon category and found all sorts of spirit swords. The cheapest was the Type-1 Zero-Energy Sword he was currently using.

It only cost three thousand yuan, and the one he had was issued directly by the school after his high school martial arts class.

Damn school, are they really that rich? Though, any school that gives me a sword is a good school.

The wristband was quite intelligent; products could be displayed via 3D simulation, and buyers could try them out in advance without worrying about damage.

However, during the shopping process, Xu Ziming encountered a major problem: most of the swords he held could only activate the "Natural Sword Bone" trait.

There was no change, and any sword capable of activating a better trait had a price that far exceeded Xu Ziming's budget.

"Looks like I can't buy one today." Xu Ziming helplessly scrolled through the product catalog; not a single sword in the entire mall met his requirements.

The cheapest ones were marked with a "sky-high price" of one hundred and fifty thousand.

However, just a moment before he was about to close the mall page, a somewhat plain-looking sword caught his eye.

As he slowly touched it with his hand, an electronic voice rang out in his ears the next moment.

<strong>[Detected equippable item: Ancient Sword: Jinghong]</strong>

<strong>[Expected trait acquisition: Sword Saint Body Technique]</strong>

<strong>[Trait effect: The strongest body technique in the history of the sword path. All sword techniques are automatically mastered without practice, sword technique cultivation speed increased by 500%, and all sword technique effects increased by 100%.]</strong>

[Permanent solidification condition: Cultivate a sword intent of your own]

[Note: Equip it, future peerless powerhouse of the sword]

An ancient sword?

Modern swords are almost all churned out by unified factories, categorized from Type 1 to Type 5 based on the precision of their craftsmanship.

The price increases tenfold with each model, and aside from these, most swordsmiths—due to low production capacity—can only forge seven or eight blades a year even if they devote their entire heart and soul to the craft.

Therefore, most of the swords circulating on the market are standard-issue, so he never expected to encounter an ancient sword here today.

Looking further down, the price of this sword was marked at a mere twenty thousand.

The comment section was filled with uniform remarks:

"Where did this sword come from? It's 2070, and there are still pure iron swords?"

"Antique swords like this are either priced astronomically or completely ignored like this one."

"It's been listed for two or three years; is the seller still not giving up?"

"I heard this sword cursed many of its previous owners to death, and the person selling it now is the child of its last owner."

Seeing these comments, Xu Ziming's heart began to beat faster with excitement.

If everyone thought that way, perhaps he really had a chance to acquire this ancient sword.

Thinking of this, he immediately contacted the seller, disguising himself as an elderly man.

"Hello, I see you are selling this pure iron antique. I am interested in collecting it, but given the reputation of this sword, I am only offering 15,000 yuan."

The message was sent in an instant. He had expected to wait a while for a reply, but to his surprise, the seller's response came back almost immediately.

"No, at least twenty thousand. I will absolutely not sell it for anything lower than that price."