Borrowed Sword

Chapter 278 : Suppressing the Bronze Sword

Chapter 278: Suppressing the Bronze Sword

Chu Huaixu hadn’t expected that along this path of borrowing swords, he would so quickly end up borrowing from the current Sword Sovereign.

What intrigued him even more was—what kind of situation would cause the Sword Sovereign to be present, and for the young Daoist to actually intend to borrow a sword from him?

Surely it wasn’t just for practice or casual experimentation, right?

Because Chu Huaixu noticed that the Dao Ancestor never seemed to borrow a sword from the same person twice.

“Sword Sovereign, this humble Daoist borrows your sword!” the young Daoist called out loudly.

From Chu Huaixu’s recent experiences, the Dao Ancestor had always seemed gentle.

This was the first time he had heard him speak in such a tone—his voice even carried a hint of boldness.

It made him realize that something extraordinary was about to happen.

At this moment, the young Daoist stood atop a mountain peak, looking down at the smaller hills below.

With a simple gesture, a longsword shot into the sky!

The blade bore black grid-like patterns.

The hilt was a deep blue.

As it soared upward, it let out a resounding sword cry.

For some reason, Chu Huaixu felt like he could understand the emotion contained within that cry.

—Anger!

Utter, overwhelming anger!

He couldn’t help but press a hand to his forehead. This body-refining lunatic was becoming increasingly convinced that he was “terminally ill.”

“I can practically understand sword language now…”

But why was the sword angry?

The Dao Ancestor’s way of borrowing swords was actually different from Chu Huaixu’s usual method.

Swords didn’t respond to him with the same eagerness they showed Chu Huaixu.

It felt more like:

“He insists on it!”

“…Fine, then.”

There was a sense of restraint and hesitation—yet if you pushed a little, they would still comply.

Unlike when Chu Huaixu borrowed swords, where the sword spirits were filled with excitement—even impatience.

Yet even so, after watching the Dao Ancestor borrow so many swords, Chu Huaixu had never seen one filled with such extreme anger.

So why this one?

But the moment this supreme-grade spiritual sword fell into the Dao Ancestor’s hand, everything around them froze.

The clouds in the sky stopped drifting.

The Dao Ancestor held the sword horizontally before him.

Chu Huaixu began mobilizing the power within his body, along with the power of his Heart Sword.

“Come!”

He spread his five fingers.

The moment the sword entered his hand, Chu Huaixu moved.

Instead of holding it with one hand, he pointed the blade downward and violently plunged it into the ground beneath his feet.

In an instant, the earth split apart with countless cracks!

A terrifying aura spread outward.

Chu Huaixu’s body erupted with wounds—his internal organs suffered severe injuries, and the bones in his right arm shattered completely.

It was as if he had unleashed 【Six Formations of the Broken Array】 multiple times in a single breath!

Because everything here was merely an illusion—only the Black Bead was something Chu Huaixu could truly touch—

Even though he repeatedly followed the Dao Ancestor in borrowing swords, once the sword entered his hand, he felt no physical sensation.

The sword was there, and he could sense its power, but it lacked any real, tangible presence—it was like a simulated phantom sword within the secret realm.

He could wield it, grip it, perform any action—but there was not the slightest tactile feedback in his palm.

Strange… yet fascinating.

And this simulated sword of the Sword Sovereign—

He couldn’t wield it!

The power contained within it was simply too immense!

According to 《Borrowed Sword》’s setting, a supreme-grade spiritual artifact in the hands of a low-level cultivator couldn’t unleash much of its power.

But this sword had been nurtured by the current Sword Sovereign.

Previously, borrowing the swords of major cultivators had already been somewhat unbearable—especially those of the Seventh and Eighth Realms.

Now, things were worse.

He had successfully borrowed the sword—but not only could he not use it, it had nearly crippled him!

Chu Huaixu was speechless.

At the same time, he became even more aware of just how powerful this generation’s Sword Sovereign was.

He suspected the man was in the Ninth Realm.

“If I had known, I would’ve entered Saint Body State first before forcibly receiving the sword!”

Chu Huaixu’s injuries rapidly healed.

The regenerative abilities of the 《Dao Canon》 manifested clearly at this moment.

A gust of wind passed, and the Sword Sovereign’s sword embedded in the ground dissipated into nothingness.

Everything around resumed movement.

The Dao Ancestor held the Sword Sovereign’s sword and shouted:

“Well met!”

Immediately after, Chu Huaixu heard a piercing sound tearing through the air.

Something streaked across the sky.

A mass of rolling black energy, wrapping something within, shot forward from afar.

It was incredibly fast—so fast that without the long trailing stream of black energy, Chu Huaixu might not have been able to track it with his eyes.

But this black energy—he recognized it instantly.

As it passed through the sky, clouds, birds—everything beneath it was devoured!

This was Baleful Aura!

At this point, how could Chu Huaixu not know who it was?

“So it’s that ugly sword,” he thought.

Then the reason for the Sword Sovereign’s sword’s anger became clear.

It was said that after the evil sword was forged, it immediately devoured its creator—the artifact-refining grandmaster—and began wreaking havoc.

Countless powerful figures came to suppress it, only to perish.

Even the Sword Sovereign of the Sword Sect had once fought it—and still failed.

Chu Huaixu guessed that before the Dao Ancestor arrived, the Sword Sovereign had likely already battled this evil sword—and lost.

That was probably why his sword harbored such pent-up fury.

This only further confirmed Chu Huaixu’s suspicion—the current Sword Sovereign was definitely a Ninth Realm expert, possessing Origin Power.

Otherwise, this was the Bronze Sword at its peak state—its terrifying Baleful Aura alone was already extremely troublesome.

Without the support of Origin Power, the borrowed sword would likely have already been devoured and destroyed.

At that moment, the young Daoist swung his sword forward.

The two swords clashed—

The entire mountain instantly began collapsing!

A terrifying shockwave spread outward. Chu Huaixu had no way to evade it!

Fortunately, this wasn’t part of the trial—it was just a “cutscene.”

The shockwave passed right through him without causing any harm.

The towering mountain shattered completely.

Massive chunks of rock collapsed, kicking up endless dust.

But even more terrifying—

Even the dust was devoured entirely by the Baleful Aura.

Only then did Chu Huaixu understand just how catastrophic the fully unleashed Bronze Sword was to the Xuanhuang Realm.

If left unchecked, the consequences would be unimaginable!

In just a single exchange, in that brief instant, an entire mountain had been completely devoured.

“I wonder… does this devouring ability have a limit?”

“If it never gets ‘full,’ then given enough time… could it consume the entire Xuanhuang Realm?”

Chu Huaixu suddenly felt that the emergence of this sword itself was a Heaven-and-Earth Calamity.

The Dao Ancestor swung his sword again.

A translucent ripple spread outward.

The rolling baleful aura around the Bronze Sword seemed to freeze midair.

It no longer spread outward—its devouring power was restrained.

The ripple continued expanding like waves on water.

Once it fully covered the area occupied by the baleful aura, it began contracting inward.

As the ripple shrank, the baleful aura was compressed along with it.

In the end, all the baleful aura emitted by the Bronze Sword was sealed back into the blade.

Then, the Dao Ancestor swung a third sword, a fourth, a fifth…

Each strike appeared plain and unremarkable.

But Chu Huaixu could tell—the power of the Bronze Sword was steadily weakening.

He suddenly recalled that the Dao Ancestor had placed nine layers of restrictions on the evil sword.

“So he’s sealing it right now… while at it?”

As expected—

After nine strikes, the Bronze Sword became like ordinary mortal iron.

It could no longer float, let alone launch attacks.

With a “bang,” the sword fell to the ground.

The Dao Ancestor slowly bent down and picked it up.

Holding the Sword Sovereign’s sword in his right hand, and the Bronze Sword horizontally in his left—

He looked at it and uttered a remark similar to what Chu Huaixu once said:

“So ugly.”