Chapter 52: Gone Mad

The Sea of Consciousness was the most mysterious and enigmatic part of the human body.

In the Xuanhuang Realm, it was commonly referred to as the resting place of the soul.

If a person truly possessed three souls and seven spirits, then they would reside within the Sea of Consciousness.

Once the Sea of Consciousness collapsed, death was inevitable.

Many of the so-called mentally-oriented techniques targeted the Sea of Consciousness.

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Xiang Yan and the others had not probed into Chu Huaixu’s Sea of Consciousness.

Because Chu Huaixu had not officially begun cultivation, he had not developed Spiritual Sense yet, and his Sea of Consciousness was extremely fragile.

No matter how careful they were, probing it with so many people’s Spiritual Senses at once could easily kill him.

They didn’t know how Shen Man had sensed that the secret lay within the Sea of Consciousness—perhaps it was because she was already in the Sword Heart Clarity realm.

Xiang Yan simply said, “To explore the Sea of Consciousness, he needs a calm mind, or else it could go wrong.”

“That’s easy!” Chu Yinyin, barely one meter fifty tall, leaped up, ready to knock Chu Huaixu out with a karate chop.

In the end, it was Nangong Yue, gentle and elegant in demeanor, who stood by his side. She waved her hand, using her aura to block Chu Yinyin, and then gently blew a breath toward Chu Huaixu. He immediately lost consciousness.

“A nap will do him good.” That was the last gentle female voice he heard.

As Chu Huaixu’s body tilted backward, Nangong Yue quickly reached out and caught him, almost letting him fall into her ample bosom, using her chest as a pillow.

“You could’ve used a simple technique. You’re always so reckless,” she reproached the little junior sister.

“Tch!” Chu Yinyin turned her head away, ignoring her.

As the Sect Master, Xiang Yan continued presiding over the situation.

“Seventh Junior Sister, you do it,” he said to the Daoist nun on the boulder.

Shen Man nodded slightly, and her Spiritual Sense dispersed.

Before long, her slender face furrowed into a light frown.

“Spirit... Embryo... strange...”

“It’s... a Divine Power,” she said.

As always, she spoke in fragments and swallowed words.

The group could more or less understand what she meant.

But to be sure, these unexpected visitors took turns entering Chu Huaixu’s Sea of Consciousness...

As they entered, they murmured among themselves.

“Never heard of this type of Spirit Embryo before.”

“What a bizarre Spirit Embryo, unheard of, not even recorded in the sect’s ancient texts.”

“And how could it be a Spirit Embryo Divine Power? How can someone’s Spirit Embryo Divine Power be Sword Heart Clarity?”

“And this black small sword in his Sea of Consciousness—it’s eerie. Why do I feel like it has sentience?”

Everyone lined up and took turns. Finally, it was Chu Yinyin’s turn.

“Let me see! Let me see!” Chu Yinyin couldn’t wait.

She eagerly probed the Sea of Consciousness, only for the frail-looking black small sword inside to suddenly tremble, as if it could endure no more.

Chu Yinyin’s Spiritual Sense was forcibly repelled. She stumbled back a step, her face pale, and the Spirit Sword in her hand, 【Parting Joy】, began to emit uncontrollable sword cries!

A cultivator at the peak of the Sixth Realm, caught completely off guard at the level of Spiritual Sense!

“Junior Sister!” The others were alarmed and rushed to shield her.

This old maiden, likely not even one meter fifty tall, looked down at her Life-bound Spirit Sword, then at the handsome young man lying on the ground. She raised a hand to touch her flat chest and said,

“That scared the hell out of me. The sword in his Sea of Consciousness is actually alive!”

“It felt just like... just like...” Chu Yinyin struggled to find the right word.

The Daoist nun sitting on the boulder suddenly spoke again.

Her speech was slow, as she strained out two words.

“Sword... Spirit.”

...

...

“Tut tut tut!”

These “elders with no dignity” of the Dao Gate crowded around the prone Chu Huaixu, clicking their tongues in awe.

Even Nangong Yue, an artifact-refining grandmaster, wanted to take him home for a few days.

“Swords can have Sword Spirits, but I’ve never heard of people having one!” she said.

Li Chunsong furrowed his brow and gave his opinion, “Could the issue lie with the 《Sword Refining Art》?”

They had previously debated this Qi-Opening Stage cultivation method, thinking it resembled an artifact refining method—treating the human body as a sword embryo to temper.

But this method had been added to the archive by Little Martial Uncle, and Chu Huaixu had successfully opened his orifices with it. At the time, no one gave it much thought. So it’s a bit unorthodox—so what?

There were countless unorthodox cultivation methods in the world. Chu Yinyin, who had become an old maiden due to her technique, was a living example.

Cultivation was all about defying the heavens; sacrifices were expected.

But how had he ended up with something like a Sword Spirit?

Xiang Yan shook his bald head at that thought.

“The peculiarity in him stems from the Spirit Embryo. Even Sword Heart Clarity is part of his Spirit Embryo Divine Power.”

“Sixth Junior Brother, you must understand, a cultivation method is one thing, a Spirit Embryo is another. How could they influence each other?”

“A person’s Spirit Embryo is innate. It’s defined at birth. Even taking a Xuantian Embryo Breathing Pill only upgrades the grade, not the type.”

“Even a False Spirit Embryo is considered an unawakened one. Its type and nature are fixed at birth.”

“There’s no way he cultivated first and then formed a Spirit Embryo, right?” Xiang Yan rejected Li Chunsong’s theory.

Lu Pan nodded from the side. “Sect Master is right. When has a Spirit Embryo ever been affected by a cultivation method?”

Despite all the discussion, no one could figure it out.

But so far, it didn’t seem like a bad thing.

Xiang Yan also raised an important point.

“The Great Calamity of Heaven and Earth is approaching. The Origin Spirit Realm will soon open. For this kid to already have Sword Heart Clarity—do I need to explain how valuable that is?”

At his words, everyone’s eyes lit up.

“One with Sword Heart Clarity, and one with the Body of Profound Yin.”

“Seventh Junior Sister received the Dao Ancestor Inheritance a year ago and read the Dao Ancestor’s admonition. Then Little Martial Uncle descended the mountain to seek the savior—and he actually found him!”

“Heaven truly favors our Dao Gate! Heaven favors the Xuanhuang Realm!” The eldest, Lu Pan, was filled with emotion.

Everyone burst into laughter, feeling the weight on their shoulders lighten.

Only Chu Yinyin stood aside, mouth slightly open in shock. Now she understood why those below the Seventh Realm weren’t privy to this—it was bigger than she’d thought!

This wasn’t just about the Dao Gate—it concerned all living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm!

Strangely, this old maiden found herself thinking, “Little Martial Uncle is actually reliable this time?”

“That’s so unlike him...” she secretly grumbled.

In the end, after their discussion, they decided to let Lu Pan place a restriction on Chu Huaixu, to prevent others from detecting the black small sword.

After that, Xiang Yan finally instructed, “Sixth Junior Brother, take him back to the Outer Sect. Both he and Han Shuangjiang are unpolished jade—they still need refinement. Oh, and make up some excuse to deal with those busybodies in the Outer Sect.”

“Yes,” Li Chunsong accepted the order.

...

...

Beside the Cold Pool, Liu Chengqi was kicked out of the secret realm after exceeding the time limit, having stayed two full hours in the illusion.

“Gurgle!”

He was suddenly flung into the Cold Pool by a force. The Water-Repelling Pearl didn’t activate immediately, and he choked on water.

Inside the secret realm, he had wandered through the maze endlessly, utterly exhausted and despairing, with no end in sight.

Now, having been thrown out suddenly and nearly drowned, he was on the verge of a breakdown.

He numbly and dejectedly swam to shore, looking completely disheveled—his mental state shattered.

After getting ashore, he discovered that there was no one waiting by the Cold Pool—completely deserted.

“Father! Father!!” Liu Chengqi knelt and roared, overcome with emotion, screaming “father” endlessly.

Before he was kicked out of the secret realm, the illusion had faded, and only then did he realize he had been trapped in it all along.

Now, seeing that Liu Tianfeng wasn’t even waiting on the shore, he soon fell into a deranged state, muttering like a madman:

“It’s all an illusion, all an illusion, all an illusion...”