Naked Sword Art

Supreme Elder Quan walked into the forest, the deeper she went the stronger the stench of blood became, eventually she needed to cover her nose because the smell was making her feel nauseous.

"Heavens..." she gasped.

The forest was littered with 8th tiered beasts corpses. She knew there were going to be many bodies here, but she didn't think they would number in the hundreds.

'Which of those Supreme Elder's made such a mess,' she wondered.

This whole time she assumed that she was following the tracks left behind by a curious disciple. However, she didn't believe it was possible for a disciple to do something like this, so she assumed it had to be one of her fellow Supreme Elders.

She continued walking deeper into the forest till she heard a strange sound. She stopped for a moment then proceeded with caution. Finally, a humanoid creature came into view.

'It's an abnormal.'

It was 2 meters tall, with thick black fur, and large muscular arms. Since it had its back turned to her, it took her a few seconds to realize that it was gnawing at a piece of tiered beasts flesh. The moment she realized what it was doing, she felt a cold chill crawling up her spine. It wasn't just an abnormal beast, it was also a cannibal.

Even in its relaxed state, its heavy aura suffocated her. She wasn't sure if she could defeat it, but since it seemed to be heavily wounded. This was the best time to fight it, if any.

However, just as the thought crossed her mind, the beast got up then rushed towards her.

'It's quick.'

She didn't expect it to be nearly as fast as it was, so she didn't react in time to the sudden attack. Suddenly, it thrusted its arm right through her stomach, but she didn't show any signs of pain or discomfort.

The beast frowned as it watched her body disintegrate. She was a clone.

It knew her real body must've been close, so it began to look around, but the moment it turned its head, the clone suddenly attacked with a destructive spirit palm attack.

"Gaah!" The spirit beast cried as it was blasted through the forest.

It flew several meters, making it crash into several thick trees along the way. The abnormal beast didn't think the attack was very powerful, but it still hurt him because she targeted one of its open wounds.

A few kilometers away, Supreme Elder Quan's real body was cross-legged and holding up a peculiar hand sign. Once her clone was destroyed she finally opened her eyes, and a serious expression appeared on her face.

'It might be wounded, but it still has some fight left in it,' she thought.

The attack her clone just did wasn't weak at all, but the abnormal beast was still able to get up.

.

.

.

Xiao Fang was running so fast none of the beasts he passed were able to stop him. The few that got in his way were quickly dealt with, but he didn't bother taking their beast cores.

"Fang, is there somewhere we're going?" Xiao Hei asked.

"Mn, I found a strong abnormal beast, but it got away from me. If Supreme Elder Quan was following my trail there's a chance she might run into it."

Hearing her name, Xiao Hei briefly explained her interaction with the Supreme Elder at the entrance to him.

"I see. You did good by not mentioning my name," Xiao Fang said.

"But why are we helping her?"

It was clear that she still held some resentment towards the Supreme Elder, so she didn't like that Xiao Fang wanted to help her.

"It's only natural that I help someone who wanted to help me," he replied simply.

The truth was, Xiao Fang had 2 reasons for going back. For one, he wanted the abnormal beast's beast core. He suspected that having one of those would be enough to fill his spirit pendant 1 or 2 times over. As for the second reason, he had special plans for the Supreme Elder, so it was better for him if he could keep her alive.

Eventually, Xiao Fang and Xiao Hei arrived at the battle site.

"Fang, this..."

The forest reeked of beast blood, but Xiao Fang wasn't surprised by this since he was the one who was responsible for it.

As they walked into the forest, they eventually began to see some human blood in the mix.

"Xiao Hei, hold on tight," he said.

Xiao Hei's arms and legs wrapped around him tightly when she heard those words. In the next moment, Xiao Fang ran into the forest. The deeper they went the more human blood they found.

'Was I too late?' He thought.

Eventually he could sense what was happening with his hearing then sighed in relief. Although she exhausted most of her spirit qi, she still seemed to be hanging on.

...

'Dammit,' Supreme Elder Quan thought.

The more it ate the more it healed. For most of the fight it had been on the defensive, but after it regained most of its strength back the tables eventually turned. This was no longer a battle she could win so she needed to get out of there. She didn't have enough qi to run all the way back with her movement technique, so the only thing she could do was rely on her clones.

Once she made her clones she began to flee.

...

Xiao Fang watched from the distance as they fought and was skeptical about whether the abnormal beast she was facing was the same one he fought at the lake. Either way, the one she was facing now was a lot stronger, so if he wanted to kill it he would need to take it a lot more seriously.

The best thing to do was to catch it off guard, so Xiao Fang waited patiently for the right time to strike. When the time finally came, he made his move.

[ Stealth ]