Xu Ziming still went home, his body covered in a thick layer of black sludge.
When he first came out of the training room, the smiling young woman's expression had changed, but she still processed Xu Ziming's checkout.
Even the large crowd of martial artists nearby had discreetly sized him up.
Wait, had he just taken a dump in the training room?
When he got home, his younger sister was still at school, and his mother had probably gone grocery shopping.
Xu Ziming dashed into the bathroom and scrubbed himself from head to toe. He spent a full half hour washing before finally coming out.
For a guy who spent no more than five minutes in the shower each day, that was an awfully long time.
Standing in front of the mirror, Xu Ziming carefully examined the changes in his body.
The most obvious was his complexion. Practicing Iron Cloth Shirt hadn't turned his skin black; instead, it had made it paler and smoother.
Aside from that, his previously indistinct abs had begun to bulge slightly, taking shape. Even his face had grown more refined.
"Ancient martial arts really are something else. No wonder training is so torturous, yet so many people still try it."
Xu Ziming recalled the scenes from his training: being bound, having sandstones rubbed against his crotch, and finally being branded with hot irons all over his body. His hairs stood on end all over again.
Let me ask once more: was this really a proper cultivation method? Why did it feel like it was designed for some kind of special-interest crowd?
After cleaning himself up, he immediately opened the Equipment Slot he'd just closed. Sure enough, a new slot had opened up.
The "Steel Skin" trait granted by Iron Cloth Shirt had already been permanently fixed.
Next, he tapped on the total number of his traits.
A huge frame appeared out of thin air in front of him.
[Permanent Traits: Natural Sword Bone, Steel Skin] [Equipped Trait: Qilin Body] [Empty Equipment Slots: 1] [Equipment Slot Unlock Condition: Permanently fix two traits; currently fixed: 1/2] [Equipable Traits: Filter Charge (E-Grade Blood Qi Potion), Body Forging Acceleration (Basic Body Forging Method), Alien Slayer (Purified Alien Warrior Life Source Crystal (One Evolution))]
As expected, he needed to permanently fix two traits to unlock another equipment slot, and that number might well increase in the future.
He absolutely couldn't remove Qilin Body. Otherwise, there was no guarantee that his Qilin Source Blood wouldn't be discovered, and Qilin Body's effects were truly heaven-defying.
It could double all his physical stats with no cost whatsoever. It only required a cooldown period.
So what he needed most now was to permanently fix the trait granted by Basic Body Forging Method. Only then could he free up another equipment slot.
True to his word, Xu Ziming immediately equipped Basic Body Forging Method.
As Body Forging Acceleration once again took effect, that long-missed feeling of blood and qi coursing freely surged through his meridians.
"So satisfying. I'd better get this trait permanently fixed soon."
However, he couldn't speed up the process because of his physical limitations. After all, he still couldn't equip the Filter Charge trait, and of the five E-Grade Blood Qi Potions Teacher Ma had given him, only one remained.
This also placed a limit on Xu Ziming's training.
"I'll buy some Blood Qi Potions first, then get myself a sword. I can't keep using a Type-1 Zero-Energy Sword forever."
He immediately opened his wristband and found the shopping page. An E-Grade Blood Qi Potion cost five thousand yuan each, and with his current funds, he could only afford four.
He still had to look for a sword, after all.
After buying the four Blood Qi Potions, Xu Ziming had only twenty-five thousand yuan left.
He browsed the sword weapons section and found all kinds of spirit swords. The cheapest was the Type-1 Zero-Energy Sword he was already using.
It only cost three thousand yuan. The one he had now had been handed out by his school after martial arts class in high school.
Damn, was his school really that rich? Still, any school that gave him a sword was a good school.
The wristband was quite advanced. It could display products in 3D simulations, allowing buyers to try them out beforehand without worrying about damaging them.
But while shopping, Xu Ziming ran into a serious problem: most swords could only activate the Natural Sword Bone trait when he held them.
There was no change at all. Any sword that could activate a better trait, however, was far beyond Xu Ziming's means.
"Looks like I can't buy one today." Xu Ziming scrolled through the product catalog helplessly. There wasn't a single sword in the entire store that met his requirements.
The cheapest one was listed at the "sky-high price" of one hundred and fifty thousand yuan.
But just before he was about to close the store page, a rather unassuming sword caught his eye.
He slowly touched it with his hand. The next moment, an electronic voice rang in his ear.
[Equipable Item Detected: Ancient Sword: Jinghong] [Estimated Trait: Sword Saint Body Technique] [Trait Effect: The mightiest sword-path body technique throughout the ages. All sword techniques are mastered automatically without practice. Sword technique cultivation speed increased by 500%; all sword technique effects increased by 100%.] [Permanent Fix Condition: Develop a sword intent of your own] [Note: Equip it, future peerless sword-path powerhouse]
An ancient sword?
Modern swords were almost all made in standardized factories, categorized from Type-1 to Type-5 according to the precision of their manufacture.
The price increased tenfold with each model. Aside from these swords, most swordsmiths had very low output. Even if they devoted themselves completely to their craft, they could forge no more than seven or eight swords a year.
So most swords on the market were still mass-produced models. He hadn't expected to find an ancient sword here today.
Looking further down, he saw that the sword was priced at only twenty thousand.
The comments section was full of remarks like these:
"Where did they dig this sword up? It's 2070, and there's still a pure iron sword?"
"With antiques like this, they either slap on a sky-high price or end up with something nobody wants."
"It's been listed for two or three years. Is the seller still not giving up?"
"I heard this sword killed off a bunch of its owners. The seller now is the child of its previous owner."
Seeing these comments, Xu Ziming's heart began to pound with excitement.
If everyone thought that way, he might actually have a chance of getting his hands on the ancient sword.
With that thought, he immediately contacted the seller, pretending to be an elderly man.
"Hello. I saw you're selling this pure iron antique. I'm interested in collecting it, but given this sword's reputation, I'll only offer fifteen thousand yuan."
His message went out in an instant. He'd expected to wait a while for a reply, but the seller responded almost immediately.
"No. At least twenty thousand. I absolutely won't sell it for less than that."