Naked Sword Art

In the middle of the lake, light swishing sounds could be heard from a bamboo stick slowly being paddled through the calm water.

Since it was so dark out, the people on the boat could see the moon and stars beautifully reflecting off of the ink-black lake.

Li Lian dipped her hand in the water leaving ripples as the boat moved. She then comfortably laid back on Xiao Fang's shoulder before looking up at the stars.

"This is beautiful," she said with a sparkle in her eye.

Xiao Fang put his hand on top of hers then she turned it over to hold his hand.

"I'm glad you like it, Lian'er"

Meanwhile, the man rowing the boat was growing furious.

'Enjoy it while it lasts, Da Long. Soon your woman will be mine.' The large man thought.

He thought he could keep his cool, but he was quickly growing impatient. A frown appeared on his face as he watched Xiao Fang hold Li Lian's hand. He couldn't help feeling as if Xiao Fang was touching his woman right in front of him.

Xiao Fang could guess what the man was thinking, so that made him laugh inwardly.

Xiao Fang brought his lips over to Li Lian's ear then whispered,

"Lian'er, it appears that you have an admirer."

Li Lian knew what he was talking about since she noticed how much the man was staring at her.

"Are you jealous," she teased Xiao Fang.

"Of course. How could he only stare at you when you have such a handsome husband sitting right next to you," he said sarcastically.

Li Lian covered her mouth with her sleeve as she quietly laughed at his joke.

The rower looked at Xiao Fang furiously, but Xiao Fang didn't even spare him a glance. Even though he didn't hear what Xiao Fang said, he hated Xiao Fang's guts for making her laugh like that. At this point, anything Xiao Fang did, the rower would hate. He just couldn't wait to rip Xiao Fang to shreds.

Li Lian on the other hand eventually realized that she was laughing at Xiao Fang's joke. She was surprised. When was the last time she laughed like this with him. All this time, she envied that Xiao Fang and Xun Wei got along so well together, but finally she was the one having a good time with him. She wished this moment could last forever.

'So this is how it feels,' she thought.

Xiao Fang saw that Li Lian was smiling even more beautifully than usual, so he was a bit taken aback by it.

'It seems she's really enjoying herself tonight,' Xiao Fang thought. Strangely enough that also made him feel good. From now on, he wished he could see her this happy more often. He made it his personal goal to make her laugh and to tell her that he loved her at least once a day.

Just as Xiao Fang was starting to feel a certain way, his ears suddenly picked up something coming from the distance.

Xiao Fang sighed.

'It's a shame that a perfect night like this has to be ruined so soon,' he thought.

He smiled at Li Lian then patted his lap, telling her to lay her head down so he could give her a massage.

She rested her head down on his lap then he started massaging her scalp.

She was so comfortable she felt as if her head was sinking into his lap. However, it didn't last for long, because he eventually broke the news to her.

[ "Lian'er, I'm going to tell you something, but I don't want you to panic." ] Xiao Fang said via spirit transmission.

Right away, she knew exactly what he was going to say because he had said the same words to her when they were being followed on their way back from the Divine Sword sect.

She wanted to sit up, but he didn't let her.

[ "Just stay like this. I don't want to raise any suspicions." ]

Li Lian couldn't send spirit transmissions, but she had so many questions.

[ "I don't know who they are, but if they wish to kill me. I will not spare them." ]

Just from those words she knew what he was going to do to them. She was scared.

Xiao Fang could see that she was feeling anxious, so he brought one hand down to hold hers. The moment she felt his hand she tightly held unto it with both hands.

[ "Whatever happens, rest assured that I will be able to take care of it." ]

They had nothing to fear in the outer court. The reason she was frightened was because she never seen a dead body before. All her life she had been sheltered because she was of noble birth.

Xiao Fang on the other hand had to kill someone when he was only at the age of 13. It was a right-of-passage for every son of the patriarch in that sect, and his Grandfather made sure that Xiao Fang followed through on that tradition.

Xiao Fang still remembers it till this day. It took everything he had to do it and he felt sick for at least a week after it was done. He would eventually go on to kill 2 others as he grew up, but nothing compared to the first time.

2nd kill was on an assassin that attempted to take Xiao Fang's life. He was assumed to be sent from the Chaos Sect, but they didn't have any proof.

3rd kill was on a core court disciple that was caught breaking one of the sect's rules, this is how the rumors about Xiao Fang being ruthless started to spread amongst the core court disciples. Though it was good to deter them from breaking the rules, the rumors were actually true, Xiao Fang enjoyed it.

Although Li Lian had no problem hearing about Xiao Fang's past killings, she didn't think she could stomach seeing a dead body for real.

She tightly closed her eyes, she just wanted Xiao Fang to get it over with.

[ "Li Lian, open your eyes. You aren't a little girl anymore. I want you to see this." ]

Despite being a spirit transmission, she could still hear the change in his tone. He was being extremely serious about this.

She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't make her body do it.

Xiao Fang remembered how difficult it was for him during his first kill, so he could empathize with her, but he didn't think it would be this hard for someone as tough as Li Lian to simply watch.

Xiao Fang lightly smiled. This was the first time he was seeing Li Lian so scared of something.

He knew she was a very hard working, beautiful, and violent girl, but she wasn't ruthless like Xun Wei and he was. When danger strikes, Xiao Fang would never feel fear, because he was much scarier than whatever would come his way.

...

The big man rowing the boat saw Xiao Fang smiling at him, but the more he looked at it the creepier it got. He gulped seemingly for no reason, but his hands started trembling as if his body knew something he didn't.

That was no ordinary smile, that was the smile of a cold-hearted killer just before a slaughter.