Free Web NovelChapter 53: Chapter 53: Comprehensive Upgrade
4:23 PM. The bathroom.
Steam filled the air around Su Xing. Soapy water swirled around his feet, gurgling as it flowed down the drain.
"Nothing beats a shower after class on a hot summer day."
Su Xing dried himself off with a towel as he stepped out of the bathroom.
A few steps later, the reflection of a handsome man with damp hair and a towel wrapped around his waist appeared in the mirror outside.
Su Xing stared at his reflection, then let the towel drop, revealing his body. His gaze swept over his muscles inch by inch, as if inspecting them, before he nodded in satisfaction.
His muscles had become more condensed. Visually, they seemed smaller, but Su Xing could clearly feel a more explosive power coursing through him.
Su Xing clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking. Veins bulged on his arm as if an endless torrent of power was flowing through it. freewebnøvel.com
After a good while, Su Xing finally relaxed his fist. He ran a hand over his firm abdomen. The upgrade to his "Mundane Sword" ability had caused another hilt to appear there.
The new hilt rested quietly beside the Black Sword’s.
It was entirely red and currently composed of energy, lacking a physical form. Upon closer inspection, one could make out the pattern of a small sparrow seemingly carved into the hilt.
Besides its color and pattern,
this new hilt was exceptionally small—only about a third of the length of the Black Sword’s hilt. There was no way Su Xing could grip it.
Su Xing guessed that the Sparrow Sword wasn’t meant to be wielded in hand like the Black Sword.
Based on its size,
it was probably used more like a flying sword.
Of course, that was just his guess.
He wouldn’t know for sure until it fully materialized.
But one thing was certain for now:
it would definitely be more powerful than the Black Sword!
Su Xing walked to his bed, quickly dressed, and headed out of the Sword Hall.
The enlightenment period after upgrading his stats this time had been unexpectedly long. By the time he opened his eyes and got out of bed, it was already time for class. So, after finishing his class and taking a shower, he was finally ready to go out and test his new changes.
「Ten minutes later, on a small hill.」
Su Xing stood on the hill, looking down. He took a deep breath and made a grasping motion with his right hand. Faint black motes of energy instantly gathered, and in a flash, the Black Sword formed in his grip.
He raised the Black Sword, holding it horizontally before him. His gaze swept across it inch by inch. The Black Sword was now blacker, heavier, and sharper.
Su Xing flipped his wrist into a standard grip,
then swung the Black Sword straight ahead!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The terrifying force instantly tore through the air. Amidst two consecutive sonic booms, transparent, visible ripples spread out one after another. The calm air suddenly began to roil like a boiling lake, only returning to tranquility after a long moment.
"So strong."
Su Xing murmured,
a hint of surprise in his tone.
He knew full well... he hadn’t used any sword techniques. That was just an ordinary slash, yet the resulting commotion was immense.
If Su Xing had to face those Tier Three Peak Priests again, he was confident that a single, ordinary slash would be enough to wipe them all out.
He was that confident.
At this thought, an excited smile touched Su Xing’s lips.
Who could possibly refuse the exhilarating feeling of growing stronger time and time again?
Su Xing suppressed his excitement.
He still needed to test two other sword techniques: "Myriad Sword Convergence" and "Blade Aura Stance."
Su Xing stood on the hilltop with the Black Sword held horizontally at his side. One by one, white lines began to materialize behind him—thousands, even tens of thousands of them. They were so dense that they were impossible to distinguish with the naked eye, a blinding sight that made one’s eyes ache.
Before long, these white lines began to intertwine, gradually forming five massive white longswords that floated silently behind Su Xing.
One sword had become five.
Though it was still a far cry from "myriad swords."
But it was still a fivefold increase!
Su Xing nodded in satisfaction. With a wave of his right hand, the five longswords instantly dissipated. At the same time, a solid white blade aura materialized over the edge of his Black Sword.
Previously, the blade aura had been faint and flickering, sometimes visible and sometimes not. But now, it hung before the sword’s edge like a bright moon—solid and luminous.
Whenever Su Xing brought the edge near his skin, he could feel an intense chill, as if his skin would be torn open out of thin air at any moment.
Su Xing grew curious.
’Just what level is my combat power at now?’
His sword techniques hadn’t broken through to Tier Four, but he had long been unbeatable at Tier Three. Now, after upgrading "Mundane Sword" three levels in a row, he should have the combat power of a Tier Four.
As Su Xing was mulling this over, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang. DING-A-LING-LING! Su Xing took it out, swiped to dismiss the alarm, and then saw a message from Su Yu sent a few minutes ago.
"Bro, I’m getting discharged. Come help me pack up."
"Discharged?"
Su Xing glanced at the message in surprise. He hadn’t expected Su Yu to recover so quickly. But on second thought, it made sense. His little brother was a Sequencer, after all; of course he would heal faster than an ordinary person. He replied:
"Sure, give me a minute."
"OK."
Seeing Su Yu’s reply, Su Xing hailed a cab and headed for the hospital.
This driver wasn’t the same one as before. He was tall and skinny. After confirming the last four digits of Su Xing’s phone number, he didn’t say a word for the entire trip, quietly dropping Su Xing off at the hospital entrance.
After getting out of the car,
Su Xing was about to go find Su Yu, but as he took a step forward, he smelled something nauseating. His brow furrowed. He paused for a long moment before finally muttering:
"Such a pungent stench of death."
The stench was very faint, yet extremely acrid. It also seemed to carry a trace of sequence energy.
The ordinary people coming and going around Su Xing had no reaction; clearly, they couldn’t smell the strange odor.
’Don’t tell me the Spiritual Sect is causing trouble again.’
Su Xing thought to himself. He sniffed the air again to confirm he wasn’t mistaken, then determined the direction the stench was coming from. He pulled out his phone, sent Su Yu a text that read, "Found something. I’ll be a little late," and walked directly toward the source of the smell.
...
「In a small alley not far from the hospital.」
A man with a moldy, decaying body stood there, his posture crooked.
He wore the clothes of the Spiritual Sect and was leaning against a wall with his right hand. His rotting flesh seemed to be highly corrosive; after just a moment of contact, wisps of white smoke began to rise from the wall, emitting a sharp, acrid smell.
Seeing the white smoke, he seemed unaccustomed to his new body and quickly pulled his hand away. A sharp, grating sound, like two rocks scraping together, escaped him as he spoke:
"A Tier Four sequence... I’m really not used to it."
"Hm?"
His eyes shifted to the hospital entrance. He saw Su Xing get out of a car and said viciously, "That man... he seems to be Su Yu’s brother, doesn’t he?"
"Heh heh, since he’s delivered himself to my doorstep, I might as well kill him first!"
