Naked Sword Art

10 hours after Xiao Fang stepped into the cauldron, the sun was finally starting to set, marking the end of the exam.

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Inside the cauldron, Xiao Fang looked beat. He exhausted all of his qi hours ago, so he was unable to create any more illusory clones while fighting against the Divine Spirit Beast. All he could do was rely on his bare fists.

After suffering another beat down from the Spirit Beast, Xiao Fang laid on the cold hard ground as he heard light footsteps coming his way.

Feeling a gentle hand on his neck, he immediately tried to pull away, but his spirit body was too injured to move.

The elder held him up in the air by the neck to make him look her in the eyes.

"I'm surprised you could last this long. How about this, if you give up now I will put you directly into the Snake class. What do you say?"

Xiao Fang smirked.

"Do you really think so little of me?"

The elder frowned.

'Wasn't he doing this to get placed into a class? Could it be that he actually wanted a spirit cultivation technique all this time?' The elder thought.

She tried to think of something she could give him, but she quickly realized that she didn't have any strong spirit cultivation technique she could give him.

Since they were both in spirit form, there was no way she could give him anything physical, the only way she could give him a technique was through a special method that required him to already meet the minimum prerequisites of the technique.

Unfortunately, Xiao Fang's spirit cultivation realm was far too low to learn anything she had, everything she had at his level were all weak techniques she almost never used.

'Dammit, I only said I would give him a powerful spirit cultivation technique so that he would agree to the challenge, I didn't think he would go this far for it,' she thought.

Although getting a spirit cultivation technique was nice, what she didn't realize was how close Xiao Fang was to making another breakthrough. The fact was that Xiao Fang wasn't doing it for the spirit technique or the class placement anymore, he was doing it to train. This was the greatest opportunity he had to train his spirit cultivation. To leave now would be a wasted opportunity.

Besides, above all else, she was the one that convinced him that there was nothing wrong with his spirit attribute. If he could, he wanted to unleash its full strength before he got out of here. If he couldn't do it while he was here, then he might never get the chance to do it.

"How can you be this stubborn? Is your pride really worth it? It's no fun seeing you suffer like this anymore, hurry up and give up."

Xiao Fang wanted to laugh, but his whole body hurt too much. He had lost to his father more time than he could count, but he never admitted defeat. That was just the way he was raised.

[ Never beg, never give up. ]

Despite how badly his body was damaged, he still had a serene look on his face.

'This feeling is nostalgic,' Xiao Fang thought as he was reminded of home.

How many times did his father push him to the brink of death. How was that any different from what he was going through now?

'That's right, this is no different from my father's training. Actually, if I was to compare the two, I'd say what I'm experiencing now isn't nearly as bad.'

Still being held in the air by his neck, he heard his father's voice. The same voice that always told him to pick up his sword and get back up.

[ A Swordsman's Pride makes us strong, resilient, and persevering. Pride is not a virtue, but it is what makes us great ]

'That's right. Even if I am without a sword, I'm still a swordsman.'

Xiao Fang struggled to raise his arm, but was eventually able to grab the wrist of the elder that was holding him up by the neck.

"I... will never... give up."

A fierce smile appeared on Xiao Fang's face, it was a smile telling her not to underestimate him, and that he was going to show her just how great he was!

Still being held up in the air by his neck, the dim blue light in Xiao Fang's dantian began to shine brighter. He was activating his spirit attribute once again.

The elder frowned. The look on Xiao Fang's face was not a look someone in his condition should've been making. His spirit body was in a piss-poor condition, but his fighting spirit was still as strong as ever.

Since he was already starting to power up his spirit attribute, she started healing him again.

Despite looking like he was doing the same thing over and over again, Xiao Fang had actually been studying his spirit attribute closely.

The reason why he couldn't unlock the full strength of his spirit attribute wasn't because he reached a bottleneck, there wasn't a barrier to begin with or else he wouldn't have made any progress whatsoever. All this time he had been subconsciously stopping himself from grasping that power, in fear of the suffering he would have to endure.

Xiao Fang was rarely scared of anything. He hated to admit it, but this time, he was scared. If he was feeling so much pain from just this small amount of control, then what kind of torture would he have to go endure if he unleashed it's full strength.

However, Xiao Fang finally realized something.

The first time he took the spirit attribute off the shelf, he had to push through unimaginable pain just to touch the scroll, but after he did, it no longer hurt him to touch it. Could the same thing happen if he released the full strength of the spirit attribute, or would he really be put through inhuman torture? There was only one way to find out.

Suddenly Xiao Fang's spirit body began to light up.

"Hey, what are you doing? At least wait for me to finish healing you first," the elder said.

Despite her words, Xiao Fang kept releasing more of his spirit attribute's power.

The Divine Spirit Beast didn't attack because Xiao Fang's spirit body was still badly damaged. Xiao Fang took advantage of that.

The elder tried her best to heal Xiao Fang, but his spirit body was breaking down faster than she could heal him. Each spirit vein in his spirit body was much larger than they were before, allowing more qi from his spirit attribute to flow through him. The cracks in his body began to shine, and the streaks of lightning began to zap and crackle around him.

The elder used as much of the pagoda's spirit power as she could, but his spirit body was simply breaking way too fast.

'What are you doing? Are you insane!?' She feared that all the pain he put himself through ended up making him go crazy.

Despite all that was happening, Xiao Fang was confident in himself and he tried to show that confidence while staring directly into the elder's eyes. Suddenly, his bright violet eyes began to glow in a curious way. She didn't know what to think of it, but it was making her feel weird.

"Stop being so reckless, if you keep going you're going to die!" she screamed for him to stop, but Xiao Fang ignored her.

Xiao Fang was aware of himself more than she knew. He knew he was walking on a fine line, but that was exactly what his spirit attribute wanted him to do. The spirit attribute had a mind of it's own, and Xiao Fang knew what it wanted, he could feel it. If he wanted to gain its power he would need to push himself to the very edge.

The reason Xiao Fang didn't tell the elder about his discovery was because he assumed she would've tried to stop him from beating the challenge. It turned out he was wrong about her. If she really disliked him as much as he thought she did, then she wouldn't have been so concerned about whether he lived or died.

She kept trying to make him stop, but what she didn't realize was the transformation happening to Xiao Fang's spirit body. He was going through rapid growth as his spirit body was continuously being destroyed and regenerated. Every second in this state was already way more beneficial to his cultivation than anything else he's ever done.

In her last efforts to make Xiao Fang stop, the elder finally told him the truth. She admitted to knowing that it was impossible for him to control the full power of his spirit attribute. She just wanted to have fun with him, but she never expected him to take it this far.

She looked as if she was about to tear up, but Xiao Fang eventually couldn't hear a single word she was saying. In the next moment his surroundings changed.

It was as if he was transported into a dark void.

'Where am I?' Xiao Fang thought as he inspected his surroundings.

Xiao Fang then noticed the giant gate behind him. The 2 doors were several dozens of meters high, and a few dozen meters across. On the doors were intricate designs of mystical creatures and beautiful scenery. However, after taking a step back, Xiao Fang was able to see 2 huge characters camouflaged into the epic collage of images. The ancient characters on the doors read:

[ Lightning Tribulation ]