Translator: YHHH Editor: Book_Hoarder
"Your Majesty, your humble servant is still injured." Ren Baqian was feeling conflicted. He was still thinking about the saber under his mattress.
"Your injuries have already healed, at most you have lost some blood. You can go for training, or do you want me to accompany you to train?" The empress was exasperated by him. She had never seen a person who disliked martial arts before. Was there anyone in Dayao who have had such an opportunity and yet never went all out to train?
At this moment, there was only a slight scar left on Ren Baqian's wound. The efficacy of the black mud cream could be rated as a divine drug.
He felt like dying during the period his wound was healing.
Just like this, Ren Baqian's duration of boxing practice, increased from six hours to eight hours daily.
Ren Baqian felt that he was seeking success by working himself to death.
If he had known, he might as well have gotten the empress to team up with the Lolita and fight against him.
Looking like a man who had just been tortured, Ren Baqian dragged his exhausted body back to his room and closed the door and windows. Then, he took out that saber from under his mattress.
His head was filled with thoughts of this Compliant Golden-Hooped Saber for the entire day. It could become long or short, but he didn't know whether it could become big or small.
"Did I come across a treasure?" Ren Baqian had been thinking about this the entire day and the moment he was back, he hurriedly inspected it.
Ren Baqian felt that he knew very little about this world.
For example, the weapons the aboriginal warriors used were made of ordinary fine iron. He also hadn't heard of any Heaven-grade weapons and such before.
However, this world had the existence of spirit swords, which would make Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin turn in their graves.
People in this world knew very little about the spirit swords. Even the sword masters didn't know much about them. At the very least, this was what Ning Caichen had said.
This gave Ren Baqian a feeling that there were many undiscovered things in this world and that even the empress didn't know much about them.
As such, even though this Compliant Golden-Hooped Saber was a shocking find, he felt it wasn't unacceptable. On the contrary, he wanted to know exactly what kind of treasure it was.
The sabre was restored to its original size—just thirty centimeters long. It made this morning's event seem like an illusion.
Ren Baqian held the handle of the knife, with the tip pointed up and said, "Grow."
"Grow. "
"Enlarge."
"Expand."
…
Ren Baqian fiddled with the saber repeatedly, but there wasn't any response at all.
If the saber hadn't pierced through his arm this morning, he would have regarded this as an illusion.
After thinking about it, the only difference between now and this morning was that the saber was stained with blood then and now there was no blood. Was it possible that this thing recognized its owner by blood? But he did drip blood on it this morning…
After going through the alternatives, he concluded there was only one possibility. He could only be satisfied if he tried. Biting his teeth, he cut his arm again, dripped his blood on the saber and observed carefully for any changes.
"Grow!" Following his command, the saber suddenly extended in length from 30 centimeters to 60 centimeters.
Moreover, the shape of the saber changed a little. The originally round and blunt front tip became sharper.
"Grow!" Ren Baqian continued muttering. The saber was one meter long this morning and it was still short by 40 centimeters.
As the blood continued to drip on the saber, the Compliant Golden-Hooped Saber only extended by ten centimeters after half a day of effort.
The blood that had flowed to the saber previously, did not spill out at all. It began to fade and eventually, disappeared completely into the saber. It was as if it had been absorbed by the saber.
"This thing doesn't recognize the owner of the blood. Is it absorbing blood?" Ren Baqian suddenly realized this problem.
Does this thing become longer the more blood it absorbs? Or maybe it changes according to one's wish?"
"Broaden! Grow!" After experimenting for half a day, Ren Baqian determined that the saber could only grow longer while the width and thickness remained constant.
Ren Baqian frowned, wiped his wound with a cloth and applied the black mud cream which was left behind by the physician this morning.
He had lost quite a lot of blood this morning. If this bloodletting continued, he reckoned that he might bleed to death.
After taking care of the wound, Ren Baqian held the saber and said "shorten". Once again, the saber returned to its original shape.
"Grow", the saber grew a little, but it was only half a meter long this time.
"It seems that the blood absorbed by this thing will be consumed or that it will shrink back to normal with the passing of time. That's why when I came back just now to make this saber transform, there was no response."
"This is considered something special, I guess?" Ren Baqian held the saber by the hilt to examine it closely. Based on its outer appearance, it wasn't outstanding, but the fact that this saber could grow or shrank itself meant it wasn't anything ordinary.
"Could this be a spirit sword?" Ren Baqian thought about what Ning Caichen had said about the spirit swords and reckoned that it shouldn't be the case.
A spirit sword came with sword essence. In addition, when the sword master held onto the sword, it would increase the power of the sword master even though the price to pay was the consumption of the sword master's life force.
However, there wasn't any response when he held this saber. In addition, it could absorb blood and could grow and shrink as well. It wasn't consistent with Ning Caichen's description of spirit swords.
From the look of it, it should be another type of treasure.
In any case, this saber should be considered as something good and Ren Baqian's first thought was to give it to the empress. On further consideration, it could only go to the empress as would not have much value in his hands unless he sent it to the laboratory. But, he dared not send it to the laboratory as it would generate controversy.
Thinking about this made Ren Baqian somewhat happy.
As to the empress's place in his heart, he still did not know how much he admired her up till date. It could be six, seven, eight, nine, or ten points, but he certainly fancied her very much and she was extremely important to him.
To give this treasure to her, Ren Baqian was not a little bit reluctant to part with it at all. Instead, he was more than happy to do so.
However, he hesitated after standing up and felt it was better to wait for a few days. If he sent it now, the situation around his previous wounds might inadvertently be exposed.
Just like that, Ren Baqian was on his way to Yangxin Palace Hall with the saber three days later.
"Your Majesty, I have found a treasure."
"Oh?" The empress straightened her body as she was curious. Ren Baqian was in the palace these few days, so how did he manage to find a treasure?
"It is this saber." Ren Baqian presented the saber with great ceremony and suspense. He even gave a brief description of its ability to grow and shrink.
The empress took the saber from Ren Baqian's hands. The scabbard was made of ordinary leather and the handle was covered with animal skin. She couldn't see anything precious in it.
She conveniently pulled out the saber from its scabbard. It was about 30 centimeters long, slightly thick and blunt in front. It didn't look sharp and there were even some grain-sized notches on it.
Ren Baqian looked confident despite the fact this saber looked no different from any other saber. Basically, it looked just like an ordinary and shabby saber.
The saber was with him for so long and if he was not wounded by it when apologizing to the empress that day, he would not have discovered its secret.
The empress initially believed that Ren Baqian had found a treasure, but on careful inspection, she found it to be an ordinary saber. She couldn't help but to raise her head and look at Ren Baqian.
"Your Majesty, this saber is indeed a treasure. Long ago, your humble servant saved the life of a woman who was bleeding profusely at the Chen family medical shop. The woman's husband gave me this saber as a sign of gratitude. At first, I thought it was an ordinary saber, but I unexpectedly found out this afternoon that it contained some mysteries…" Ren Baqian then told the empress about the history of the saber as if he was telling her a story.
The empress listened as she stroked the saber. Then, she flicked her finger at the blade.
"Clang——clang."
Ren Baqian's eyes were opened wide, his incessant talking muted, and he was petrified.
Broken! Broken! It was unexpectedly broken!
Following the flicking of her finger, he saw the blade missing a part. The tip disappeared, and a clanging sound emanated from the wall of Yangxin Palace Hall.
The empress looked at the broken part of the saber, it wasn't hollow and nothing was hidden inside. She was puzzled and raised her head to look at him.
Ren Baqian's only response was, "..."