novelraw Chapter 69
Chapter 69
Chapter 69: Sealing Magic
Perhaps all boys have a dream of wandering the world with a sword.
When Xia Li’s sword appeared in front of the F3, their attention was immediately drawn to it.
While waiting for the Fat Boss’s grilled fish to arrive, Hou Zijie and Fu Yuan began to examine the sword Xia Li carried with him.
“It’s definitely not steel; this thing is much heavier than steel.”
Hou Zijie was tall and strong, confident in his arm strength, but Xia Li’s sword felt incredibly heavy in his hand.
“A normal steel sword of this size weighs at most eight jin, but this sword is clearly over ten jin!”
With its astonishing weight, it could be mistaken for Thor’s hammer.
The veins on Hou Zijie’s forehead bulged as he struggled to hold the sword and swing it.
The pattern on the hilt dug painfully into his palm, making it feel like he was holding a durian barehanded, so he had to put the sword down. “Boss Xia, what did you buy this thing for?” Hou Zijie asked, puzzled.
“To train my physique,” Xia Li replied with a smile, taking a sip of tea.
He was quite amused watching his buddies trying to figure out his Demon Repelling Sword.
“How much does this sword weigh?” Fu Yuan, who was sitting on the other side, asked.
He was much weaker than Hou Zijie; the brief moment he held the sword almost sent him and the sword crashing to the ground. So, he could only watch enviously as Hou Zijie swung it.
“About twenty jin,” Xia Li replied without hesitation.
To an ordinary human, his Demon Repelling Sword would indeed weigh around twenty jin.
Holding it with one hand was akin to lifting two large bottles of Nongfu Spring water; the effort required was unimaginable.
“Twenty jin…” Fu Yuan repeated in astonishment.
“What material is it made of?”
“I’m not sure,” Xia Li shook his head.
Considering the Demon Repelling Sword was currently sheathed, and the sheath wasn’t thin, the twenty-jin weight didn’t defy Earth’s physics too much.
“Can it be drawn?” Fu Yuan asked again.
“You can try.”
Fu Yuan had developed a fear of the sword. He looked at Hou Zijie, who understood immediately. He grabbed the hilt of the toy sword with one hand and the sheath with the other, pulling hard.
Hou Zijie shook his head, indicating he couldn’t draw it.
“It’s a fake sword,” Hou Zijie declared.
“Here, give it to me.”
On a whim, Xia Li took the sword back.
The twenty-jin Demon Repelling Sword instantly returned to a weight of two jin in his hand.
However, seeing his effortless movements, the three friends simply assumed he was incredibly strong from regular exercise and thus adapted to the weight.
Under the watchful gaze of the three, Xia Li effortlessly drew the Demon Repelling Sword.
The blade scraped against the sheath, producing a sharp metallic sound. The sharp edge gleamed with a silver metallic sheen, and the indigo blade emitted a faint fluorescence in the air.
Judging from the exquisite craftsmanship and the weight of the sword itself, the three came to a conclusion—
This sword was definitely not cheap.
“Awesome,” Fu Yuan exclaimed in admiration.
“How did you draw it?”
“There’s a trick to it.”
Xia Li didn’t reveal the method. He merely showed them the Demon Repelling Sword before sheathing it again and tossing it back to Hou Zijie for further examination.
Hou Zijie studied it for a long time, his face turning red with effort, but he still couldn’t draw the sword.
“I don’t see any mechanism…”
At that moment, the grilled fish arrived, still steaming and emitting a fresh aroma of pepper and spices that tantalized their senses. Xia Li and Chen Tao, in perfect sync, took out their bowls and chopsticks and began to eat.
“Old Xia, where’s the mechanism?”
Hou Zijie’s large face was practically buried in the hilt, but he still couldn’t find any trick or mechanism.
Xia Li remained silent, acting like a mysterious expert.
“It’s like it’s sealed.”
Hou Zijie muttered, drawing and sheathing the sword again before deciding to focus on eating.
Xia Li stuffed a mouthful of fish into his mouth and chuckled, amused by the frustrated expressions on the faces of the monkey and ape duo.
He thought to himself, well, it is sealed, isn’t it?
But as he chuckled, the smile on his face froze.
Something wasn’t right.
◈◈◈
Sealed…
Xia Li suddenly felt a wave of dizziness.
The Demon Repelling Sword’s ability to recognize its owner was definitely not a simple physical switch.
It was a more complex form of contract magic.
Except when Xia Li drew the sword, it remained in a sealed state at all other times.
In other words, its sealing magic was always active.
This also meant…
Magic from Azure Continent could be activated on Earth.
Xia Li and Lucia had tried to activate magic numerous times, but the result was always the same.
Xia Li’s conclusion was: there was no magic power on Earth; magic didn’t exist on Earth.
But considering the existence of the Demon Repelling Sword, Xia Li’s second conclusion was clearly wrong.
Magic could exist on Earth.
The magic brought back from Azure Continent was always in an active state.
But Xia Li remembered clearly that the Demon Repelling Sword didn’t have the magic storage capacity of magic crystals. It only possessed magic, not magic power.
This was a contradiction.
Activating any magic from Azure Continent required consuming magic power.
Magic power was like electricity in human cities; using appliances consumed electricity, and without electricity, appliances couldn’t function.
“Old Xia, cheers!”
By now, Xia Li was distracted, and he didn’t hear a word of what Chen Tao and the others were talking about.
He only raised his glass and clinked it with theirs when he heard the word “cheers,” then subconsciously drank the beer in his glass.
Frowning, Xia Li gathered his scattered thoughts.
Chen Tao and the others’ conversation topics ranged from national affairs to esports, then to typical young people’s workplace complaints and idle chatter.
Whether alcohol tasted good or not depended on who you drank it with. The buddies at the table had watched each other grow from drinking milk to drinking soda, and now they were at the age where they used bitter alcohol to replace sweet drinks to escape their troubles.
Xia Li used to enjoy drinking with his three childhood friends because he relished the feeling of releasing stress with them, laughing and joking in a slightly tipsy state.
But now, listening to the noisy chatter in the restaurant, gazing at the endless stream of vehicles outside the window and the bizarre world formed by the intersection of neon lights, the grilled fish didn’t seem as appetizing anymore.
It was as if a faint thread of worry prevented him from truly immersing himself in the surroundings.
Looking at the bubbling red oil in the grill pan, after pondering the matter of the Demon Repelling Sword, another thought popped into Xia Li’s mind.
He would probably be happier if Lucia were here.
He should have ordered hot pot instead of grilled fish; Lucia could have the non-spicy broth.
She hadn’t tried hot pot yet…
And there was also Xia Li’s analysis of the Demon Repelling Sword just now.
If Lucia were here, he would definitely be whispering to her, their heads huddled together in a corner, discussing it in hushed tones.
In the vast grilled fish restaurant, every table had its own little world, and Xia Li had his own too.
Except his little world was currently left at home.
“Cheers~”
Chen Tao, drunk, had a face as red as a monkey’s butt. Hou Zijie patted his own butt and said, “Your face is here with me,” and the two started fooling around again.
Xia Li laughed heartily at the sight.
But his laughter soon faded.
“Boss Xia,”
At that moment, Fu Yuan, who was sitting next to Xia Li, patted his shoulder.
“I’ve called you a ride.”
“What?” Xia Li turned his head.
“Don’t bother finishing your meal. Seeing how distracted you are, you should go back and accompany Sister-in-Law,”
Fu Yuan said, “You miss her so much, she must be missing you too.”