novelraw Chapter 222 : The Dao Ancestor’s “Gift”
Chapter 222 : The Dao Ancestor’s “Gift”
Chapter 222: The Dao Ancestor’s “Gift”
In front of the stone wall, a mechanism stone door opened.
It was well-known that Chu Huaixu was a very polite person.
After all, others saw him as the legacy successor of the Dao Ancestor, yet he didn’t even have a place to properly pay respects to the Dao Ancestor’s spirit in heaven.
Today, he merely gazed at the character 【Dao】 for a short while and gained such an enormous harvest—truly touching!
How could he not feel embarrassed?
He immediately bent at the waist, cupped his hands, and performed a disciple’s salute, shamelessly confirming the identity for himself.
“Disciple Chu Huaixu of the Dao Gate, has now inherited your legacy and learned the Dao Canon.”
“Disciple thanks the Dao Ancestor for the gift.”
His Sea of Consciousness had now become even more solid, and his Divine Sense had increased by a full fifty percent—naturally, he was overjoyed.
As for how stable his Sea of Consciousness currently was, Chu Huaixu understood it well.
“My current Sea of Consciousness is equivalent to having triple layers of defense.”
“The outermost layer is that half-wisp of Origin Power. It coils beside the sword body of the Heart Sword, seemingly utilized by it.”
At present, Chu Huaixu was too weak to actively wield the Origin Power.
But when that power sought a place to root, it immediately found the Heart Sword.
Originally, the Heart Sword had been the outermost defense of Chu Huaixu’s Sea of Consciousness.
Now, it had been replaced by the Origin Power.
In this way, even those with high cultivation would be unable to harm him!
First, they would need to break through the protection of the half-wisp of Origin Power, then face the Heart Sword, and only afterward reach Chu Huaixu’s own meager Divine Sense—insignificant in comparison.
It was evident that the power contained within the 【Dao】 character carved by the Dao Ancestor was extremely profound.
It could evade the perception of cultivators, making it completely undetectable.
But since this inheritance secret realm was located in the outer sect, the difficulty could not be too high—it was intended for outer sect prodigies to temper themselves.
Thus, it was fundamentally incapable of breaking the protection of the Origin Power.
Yet the Dao Ancestor was highly skilled, so neither the Heart Sword nor Chu Huaixu detected anything abnormal.
All these elements together became a “free reward.”
Having received a “meeting gift,” Chu Huaixu’s affection for the Dao Ancestor soared.
As expected of a man remembered through the ages—what generosity!
Of course, he also felt the Dao Ancestor was a bit self-obsessed.
“Just by appreciating this carved 【Dao】 character, and being forced to admire it for exactly eighty-one breaths, you get a ‘small gift’.”
What was this? Some retired rich old man hosting an art exhibit and using free gifts to attract visitors?
He even gave you a present—what could you say?
Naturally, Chu Huaixu could only say, “This character 【Dao】 is carved superbly!”
In front of the stone wall, Chu Huaixu lifted his eyes to glance one last time at the character.
To be honest, he truly thought it was excellently done!
It matched his aesthetic taste perfectly.
He wasn’t in a rush to move forward but first checked the rewards for clearing the instance.
As it turned out, it only showed one hundred thousand Experience Points.
He wasn’t surprised by the low reward.
“After all, this is just an outer sect instance. It’s normal for the Experience Points to be minimal.”
“Like that Cold Pool Secret Realm before, the Experience Points were even more pitiful. The main prize was that Xuantian Embryo Breathing Pill!”
“Generally speaking, the stingier the Experience Points, the more generous the other rewards inside the instance.”
At that thought, Chu Huaixu’s heart burned with anticipation.
He quickened his steps and walked toward the stone door.
Inside was a narrow passageway.
At the far end of the passage, there was a glowing membrane emitting white light, through which nothing could be seen.
It seemed that passing through this membrane would lead to the next stage.
“Logically speaking, this is a single-player instance.”
“If someone’s already entered the next stage, others shouldn’t be able to enter.”
“So, is this glowing membrane actually a restriction?” Chu Huaixu speculated.
He slowly moved forward and stood before the membrane, carefully observing it for a while.
Then, he tentatively raised a finger and gently touched it.
In that instant, another wisp of Dao Canon power was drawn from his body.
Then, his finger pierced through the membrane.
As if his fingerprint had matched.
A relaxed smile appeared on Chu Huaixu’s face, and he easily passed through the white membrane and entered the second stage.
The moment he entered, his brows furrowed.
Because what greeted him was—scattered remains everywhere!
To be precise, they were the remains of many puppets.
This was a wide-open space, generally circular in shape.
The radius was at least half a mile.
This time, the massive character 【Dao】 was carved on the ground of this open space!
Chu Huaixu walked a few steps inward, then crouched down and picked up a puppet arm.
He immediately cast 【Information Probe】 to see if he could extract any usable information.
“【Mechanical Puppet:
Combat strength is equivalent to a typical Second Realm consummate-stage body cultivator (adjustable).
Suitable for formation-based combat.】”
Chu Huaixu stared at the floating information, slightly stunned.
“Oh? So it's a simulated companion of me and Little Xu.”
He didn’t expect he was holding the broken remains of a simulated body cultivator.
He stood up and did a headcount.
“There are nine in total.”
But the word “adjustable” in the probe—what did it mean?
After a moment’s thought, he understood: “It probably means their combat strength can be adjusted—raised or lowered.”
“If that’s the case, then could it mean that Big Ice Block has already reached the consummate stage of the Second Realm?” Chu Huaixu speculated.
Taking on nine mechanical puppets of the same realm single-handedly—and they fought in formation—wouldn’t be easy.
Of course, the real difficulty lay in the formation itself.
The gap in strength between different formations could be enormous.
But since this was left behind by the Dao Ancestor, it must be extraordinary.
Chu Huaixu scanned the ground closely and, as expected, spotted faint traces of dried blood.
Mechanical puppets wouldn’t bleed—so the blood had to be from Han Shuangjiang.
“She was injured.” His heart tightened, eyes filled with concern.
He stepped forward, crushing a puppet’s broken leg on the way.
Inside the stone door, there was indeed a small stone chamber.
Almost nothing was inside except a huge wooden barrel.
As soon as Chu Huaixu entered the chamber, his body once again moved involuntarily!
Just like before, when he couldn’t avert his eyes from the 【Dao】 character!
He began walking toward the barrel.
Chu Huaixu didn’t resist.
Because this was obviously a reward!
“So Big Ice Block did all the hard work, but I get to enjoy the benefits?” he thought.
They had said he’d just tag along—but every big opportunity so far, he’d managed to sponge thoroughly.
He reached the barrel. His body started to lean into it.
There was water inside.
More precisely, medicinal liquid.
It resembled boiled traditional medicine in color, and carried a strong herbal aroma.
Next, he sat cross-legged inside the barrel.
Without removing his clothes, he simply soaked himself as he was.
Chu Huaixu reacted immediately.
“Don’t tell me this is Big Ice Block’s leftover bath water.”
He found that highly probable.
“So, I’m bathing in her used bathwater?”
Chu Huaixu: “...”
He tried using 【Information Probe】 again, but only a string of question marks appeared.
“Got it! This isn’t some common stuff! Definitely a treasure!”
He immediately stopped being picky.
“It’s my own Dao Companion’s bathwater. Why shouldn’t I use it?”
After all, some people publicly expressed their desire to drink ‘Widow Sister’s’ bathwater.
All things considered, this counted as another shared bath.
Clearly, residual medicinal power still lingered in the barrel.
“This isn’t leftover dregs—it’s just that Han Shuangjiang didn’t absorb it all.”
“But why didn’t she finish it?”
“Time constraint? Or maybe it has an absorption limit?”
Chu Huaixu leaned toward the latter.
Although it was a single-player instance, the Dao Ancestor was extremely generous—he’d already experienced that. He must have ensured there was more than enough medicinal power, just in case.
Well then—waste not, want not.
“This leftover water, your disciple will gratefully accept,” he thought.
Before long, Chu Huaixu felt his body heat up.
Then came a wave of intense pain!
He immediately understood why the body had to be restrained during the medicinal bath.
It was to keep you submerged at all costs.
The pain was considerable.
And more so, it struck in a particular location.
“The meridians!”
These were the essential paths for spiritual energy flow during cultivation.
Spiritual energy circulated through the meridians in cycles, then transformed into Spiritual Power to be stored within the body.
The current sensation felt like blades stirring within those meridians.
Chu Huaixu remained calm, unfazed.
But soon, another thought struck him.
“Tch—wouldn’t Han Shuangjiang have been in unbearable pain?”
After all, that cold-faced girl was different from him and Little Xu—she hadn’t trained in the Sword Refining Art, and her pain threshold remained the same as any normal person’s.
Which meant she had to endure it entirely through willpower.
“Sigh... if that’s the case, then what she went through must’ve been no less than the torment I suffered on my first night upgrading with Sword Refining Art.”
Back then, his pain threshold hadn’t increased yet, and the torment was inhuman.
Time passed as he drifted in thoughts, not noticing how long had gone by.
Until his meridians no longer ached—and he regained control of his body.
Just then, a system notification chimed in his ears.
“【Ding! Congratulations, ‘Spirit Gathering’ attribute +1!】”
A trace of delight appeared on his face.
“As expected of an extraordinary item—it actually gave me a full point of Spirit Gathering!”
But clearly, Chu Huaixu had reached his absorption limit.
He pressed both hands on the edge of the barrel, preparing to rise and make a dramatic exit like a handsome man from the bath.
But just halfway up, he sat back down.
Because Chu Huaixu realized—the Dao Ancestor truly was generous beyond belief.
There was definitely medicinal power still left in the liquid!
Suddenly inspired, he wanted to try something new.
He sat back down, and with a single thought—
A golden mark appeared on his forehead, and golden flames blazed within his eyes!
Body Training Divine Ability—Flesh Becomes Saint!