Chapter 22: The Repaired Sword Case

Faced with such an icy question from his master, Zhang Nuo's body felt as if it had fallen into ten-thousand-year black ice; he shuddered violently, yet his mind raced rapidly.

He understood perfectly well why his advancement had been so fast; if not for the "Nine Dragon Sword Case," even if he were given another two years, he might not have been able to advance to the Sixth Layer. However, with Lin Fan present, he could not continue to hide it, because no matter what excuse he used, it would not hold up under the current circumstances!

"It is because of the 'Nine Dragon Sword Case'!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lin Fan was startled. It was not just Lin Fan; even Gao Dakuan and the other two looked at Zhang Nuo in astonishment. They all knew that when Zhang Nuo had originally chosen a Magic Treasure, he had picked the "Nine Dragon Sword Case," an ancient divine artifact that was almost on the verge of being scrapped. But what did that have to do with his cultivation speed improving?

"Bring the sword case here and let me see it!"

Lin Fan was still somewhat skeptical in his heart; after all, that sword case had been in his possession for nearly a hundred years, and during those hundred years, he had not discovered anything special about it.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Nuo walked back to the stone bed, picked up the sword case, and returned to Lin Fan's side. After handing the sword case to Lin Fan, the four of them walked toward the main hall of the Cave Abode.

Sitting on the main seat in the hall, Lin Fan flipped the "Nine Dragon Sword Case" in his hands back and forth. A moment later, his brows were tightly locked, and his eyes, still not fully sober from the wine, released an expression of disbelief.

"What have you done to this sword case?"

Putting down the sword case in his hands, Lin Fan stared fixedly at Zhang Nuo and asked.

"I haven't done anything. It's just that after Master gave me this Magic Treasure, I kept it by my bed. One night while I was practicing, I suddenly discovered that at a certain time late at night, it would automatically gather Spiritual Qi!"

Zhang Nuo would absolutely not speak of the "Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect." Now he understood even more clearly that this Spirit Insect could not be exposed. Once someone knew about the Spirit Insect, his life would certainly be threatened. Even in front of his own master, he could not reveal the matter of the Spirit Insect.

"Gathering Spiritual Qi!"

Gao Dakuan took a deep breath, while Qu Yuan and Ye Ling'er looked at the sword case with incredulous gazes. For a cultivator, the most important thing was Spiritual Qi. The fact that the "Nine Dragon Sword Case" could actually gather Spiritual Qi made it a priceless treasure based on this point alone!

Lin Fan pondered for a moment before speaking:

"Before I gave this sword case to you, it was damaged beyond recognition. It was difficult even to activate, let alone gather Spiritual Qi. But now, the sword case has actually been repaired a little. Although it hasn't reached a perfect state, it is now fully usable!"

Repaired! Gao Dakuan and the others might not understand this term, but Zhang Nuo immediately understood the whole situation. It turned out that the crystals produced by the "Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect" had a restorative effect on the "Nine Dragon Sword Case"! However, he did not show too much surprise and still pretended to look at Lin Fan with a puzzled expression.

"When my master gave me the sword case back then, he once said that this 'Nine Dragon Sword Case' was a divine artifact, and to repair it, one must use 'Five-Colored Profound Crystal Stone'! But this kind of stone is rare in the world. Even if one occasionally finds some, there is only a tiny bit. When I was traveling across the Tianyuan Continent, after several decades, I only found a piece as thick as a strand of hair, and for just that little bit, I spent over ten thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones."

Speaking of this, Lin Fan could not help but smile bitterly. Gao Dakuan and Qu Yuan looked at each other, both feeling greatly shocked. In the Cultivation World, the main currency in circulation was the Spirit Stone. As the name implied, a Spirit Stone was a stone containing Spiritual Qi.

Spirit Stones were divided into four grades: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and top-grade. The equivalent exchange rate between Spirit Stones was one hundred times; that is to say, one hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones could be exchanged for one Mid-grade Spirit Stone, one hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones could be exchanged for one High-grade Spirit Stone, and so on.

Low-grade Spirit Stones and Mid-grade Spirit Stones were the most widely circulated in the Immortal World, while High-grade Spirit Stones and Top-Grade Spirit Stones were very rare. The reason was simple: the higher the grade of the Spirit Stone, the purer the Spiritual Qi it contained. Although there was an exchange ratio, most cultivators were unwilling to use High-grade Spirit Stones to exchange for Low-grade ones.

Ten thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones—no matter where this number was placed, it was a significant amount! Seeing that everyone was very surprised, Lin Fan shook his head slightly and continued:

"But what I didn't expect was that this 'Five-Colored Profound Crystal Stone' is not one kind of stone, but is distinguished by color: white, black, green, yellow, and purple! Only when five kinds of crystals are together are they called 'Five-Colored Profound Crystal Stone'! The tiny bit of crystal I collected back then was only White Profound Crystal Stone, which was simply not enough to repair the 'Nine Dragon Sword Case'! To fully repair the sword case, one must have a large amount of Five-Colored Crystal Stone!"

At this moment, the bitter smile on Lin Fan's face grew deeper. The crystals he had exhausted his efforts to find were like a cup of water trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood; they had no effect on the sword case at all.

"So that is why Master put the 'Nine Dragon Sword Case' into the Magic Treasure room and never took it out?"

Gao Dakuan looked at his master with some sympathy and said.

"Yes! I thought it was just a useless Magic Treasure, but who would have thought that once the sword case reached Nuo Er's hands, it would actually repair itself! Don't you think this is Heaven's will? Perhaps it was that tiny bit of White Profound Crystal Stone I put into the sword case back then that finally took effect?"

Lin Fan picked up the wine gourd beside him and drank a few mouthfuls of wine before saying this with a sense of loss.

At this moment, even if Lin Fan were beaten to death, he would not believe that Zhang Nuo had a large amount of "Five-Colored Mysterious Heaven Crystal Stone," which was why he thought it was the crystal he had put into the sword case that had taken effect.