Naked Sword Art

"Good, shall we begin?"

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Back outside, Li Xiang was awake and waiting with Xiao Hei for Xiao Fang to come out of the cauldron.

"How long has he been in there for?" Li Xiang asked worriedly.

"It's been over an hour," Xiao Hei answered.

"How could he be in there for over an hour without lighting up a single ring?"

Xiao Hei didn't respond because she also didn't know what was taking him so long. She assumed he was just stalling to not reveal his talents, but after a while she began to worry.

There was nothing in there that could threaten his life, but because they had such a close relationship, she naturally worried for him.

The supreme elder couldn't believe what she was seeing. Two extremely talented girls were worrying about a crippled and talentless man.

'Just what kind of spell did he put on these girls?' the supreme elder thought.

"Girls, don't you think you are acting a bit inappropriately. Someone with your talents could do much better than someone like him," the supreme elder spoke bluntly.

Hearing the supreme elder's words, Li Xiang's cheeks turned red.

"Ah, please don't misunderstand. I only care for him as a family member. He told me that his fiancée was someone in my family's sect," Li Xiang tried to explain.

"Ha! He told you that his fiancée was a member of the Li family sect? What is her name?"

"Her name is Li Lian."

"Li Lian?! Hahahahahahaha."

Li Xiang didn't know what the supreme elder was laughing about, but if she knew that Li Lian had recently became the Matriarch's only direct disciple then she might've understood her reaction.

The supreme elder laughed louder than she ever laughed before, it was as if Li Xiang had told her the most hilarious joke she had ever heard.

Wiping her tears after laughing so hard, she finally began to speak.

"Let me give you some advice. All men are liars. I wouldn't be so quick to believe anything they say."

"Ah, could he be lying about being engaged to her? I guess I believed it too easily. Perhaps I was really being naïve."

Although Li Xiang still liked Xiao Fang, she didn't want to go against the supreme elder's words. Even if she had told her that she was adopted, she still wouldn't refute her words, because the supreme elders were respected by everyone in the Black Paradise sect, even the Matriarch had to humble herself in front of them.

"Mn, you were being naïve. You should've known a talentless cripple like him would never marry any girl from a noble family, much less into the Li family clan."

Suddenly Xiao Hei snapped.

"Li Lian is his fiancée, and if you call him a cripple again I'll rip your fucking throat out!"

"You..."

Neither the supreme elder nor Li Xiang could believe what they were hearing. Considering how much of a talent Xiao Hei was, the supreme elder allowed it to pass.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear anything this time, but you would be wise not to offend me."

Xiao Hei took her angry eyes off the supreme elder then put it back on the cauldron. She couldn't help feeling that something had gone wrong. She only knew Xiao Fang for half a year, but she felt like she knew him enough that he wouldn't pull something like this. She didn't understand how, but she knew he was in trouble.

'It seems she's too much in love with him. It must be nice to be young and stupid. Even after thinking he has a fiancée she still can't stop licking his boots,' the supreme elder thought as she shook her head.

She thought that she could understand the situation better now. It wasn't Xiao Hei's fault for snapping at her. No disciple in their right minds would ever do something like that. If anything, Xiao Fang was the one to blame. She believed he brainwashed Xiao Hei to the extent that she couldn't even tell right from wrong. When Xiao Fang got out, the supreme elder planned to drag him into the tribunal and have him punished severely before kicking him out of the sect.

'Trash like him are the lowest of the low. There is no place for men like him in this sect.'

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In the cauldron, Xiao Fang was up against a spirit beast with the combat prowess equal to that of a Divine Spirit realm cultivator. Since he was purely in spirit form he could only rely on his spirit cultivation realm, which was currently only at the 7th stage of the Spirit Core realm.

'Dammit! What is she thinking? Even if I could use my Profound Body cultivation, this would still be an unfair fight,' Xiao Fang complained inwardly.

Without even getting a chance to prepare, Xiao Fang could see that the beast was going to attack, so he immediately stood on guard releasing his [ True Immortal Thunder Tribulation ] spirit attribute to the max.

If he could just breakthrough his bottleneck the first time he thought could avoid all the senseless beating he was going to receive from the Divine realm Spirit Beast.

However, the moment Xiao Fang released his spirit attribute, the beast immediately jump towards him, shooting his fist straight towards Xiao Fang's chest. Xiao Fang crossed his arms in time to block the attack, but he was still shot flying across the room.

Boom!

Xiao Fang's body hit the wall with a deafening bang.

The elder's jaw dropped.

"You idiot! I didn't say you could kill him!!!"

The beast had actually held back a lot. Also, even though he only had a fraction of a second to channel his spirit attribute power, Xiao Fang was able to increase his cultivation by another realm before the attack hit.

Considering how trigger happy the spirit beast was, Xiao Fang could only try to escape before trying to unleash his spirit attribute again.

The elder rushed to heal Xiao Fang, but then discovered something strange about his body. As she approached to see if he was still alive, Xiao Fang's body suddenly evaporated into a mist of qi.

...

Meanwhile on the first floor, Xiao Fang suddenly reappeared as he came out of [ Stealth ].

'That will buy me some time,' he thought.

He then quickly released his spirit attribute. A deep frown appeared on his face due to the pain, but he stopped himself from making a sound. He knew his clone wouldn't have fooled them for long, but if he screamed now then they would find him even faster.

Xiao Fang was in the middle of channeling his spirit attribute when he heard the elder's voice, only this time her voice sounded nothing like before. She sounded much angrier.

"You sneaky bastard! I thought you died up there."

Following the elder down to the first floor, the spirit beast saw Xiao Fang and his eyes immediately lit up. He charged straight towards him with a frenzied look on his face.

Xiao Fang frowned.

He didn't frown from the pain, or the fact that he couldn't breakthrough his bottleneck, he frowned because of the look on the spirit beast was giving him. It looked like it was going to enjoy beating up Xiao Fang.

"Good, come you beast! Let's see how long you can last against my fists!"