Naked Sword Art

Not long after Li Lian entered the Divine Sword sect, she began to hear all kinds of wild rumours about herself. Many of which insulted her appearance or cultivation practices. Some directly calling her weak or afraid for not making a public appearance like Xun Wei did.

Li Lian wasn't too bothered by this. Instead, she saw it as an opportunity to stretch her arms and legs a bit before seeing Xiao Fang.

.

.

.

The sect lacked many public hangout places, so many outer, inner, and very rarely even core court disciples would go to the sect's large open park during their leisure time.

Besides being a place to relax, disciples often went there to spectate fights between disciples in a higher realm to attain greater insight from their battles. However, Li Lian had other plans.

She walked up to the stage attracting a few stares, then announced her name,

"I am Li Lian, Xiao Fang's fiancé!"

If her, as a stranger, walking up to the stage didn't attract everyone's attention, announcing her name and identity as Xiao Fang's fiancé certainly did.

Seeing that she got everyone's attention, she continued:

"I've heard the rumors accusing me of being weak and cowardly, but here I stand before you today, ready to fight anyone who still believe such thing. Those of you who spread false rumors, come now. Let's see who among us is truly weak."

The crowd broke out into chatter. A few passing elders even came by to see what all the commotion was about. Some disciples left rather to call a friend or spread the news, but no one dared to walk up to the large stage.

"All bark, but no bite," Li Lian taunted.

"You spread false rumors but shy away when asked to back up your words. I didn't know you'd all be so pathetic."

Li Lian quickly enraged the disciples. It was bad enough for a spirit cultivator to be talking down on them, but she did it while hiding behind Xiao Fang's name. Was there anything more shameless?

Of course, Li Lian didn't come here just to taunt and insult them, she wanted to fight. She knew what was holding them back, so she made a crazy declaration.

"Whoever can leave a scratch on me will be personally reward by Xiao Fang."

With that, the disciples all ran onto the stage like hungry wolves.

Li Lian laughed menacingly, making the weak of heart hesitate their hasty approach.

As her eyes, hands, and hair began to burn a rosy-red, her aura made her body look like a violently burning candlewick. What she was waiting for had final come.

Suddenly, with an extension of her arm, hell descended onto the stage. She even attacked the disciples outside of it, targeting those who were smart enough not engage her so recklessly.

Clouds of smoke blinded the disciples on the stage, and deterred the disciples outside of it from entering.

People far enough away to avoid the catastrophe watched in horror as the park was being destroyed and listened to the screams of the inner court disciples that were being roasted alive.

The elders present wanted to stop her, but no one she attacked suffered more than minor injuries, she only attacked them enough to knock them out.

Eventually, the inner court disciples realized that they had provoked a monster so they began to run in the opposite direction, but they couldn't escape without being burned and bruised.

From that day on, Li Lian would be remembered as the 'Tyrannical Fire Demon' and no one would speak poorly about her ever again.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, Xiao Fang was on his way to  his grandmother's place when he was confronted by a young inner court disciple.

"Xiao Fang, please help us. Your fiancé is going to burn down the entire sect."

"Li Lian is back?"

Xiao Fang almost laughed. She had just returned but was already causing so trouble for him.

'Just watch how I deal with you when I get home,' he thought.

"Please save us, Xiao Fang," the disciple cried.

"I'm a bit busy right now. If she's really destroying the sect then go report it to the elders."

"The elders don't want to get involved because it will look bad on the sect if they do."

Xiao Fang could tell that the inner court disciple was heavily exaggerating the matter. If Li Lian was really destroying the sect the elders would certainly make a move even if it was the emperor himself. Li Lian was a smart girl, so she was probably still playing within the rules, that's why the elders had their hands tied.

"What about the core court disciples? Why aren't they doing anything about it?" Xiao Fang asked.

"They said they don't want to offend you."

Xiao Fang scoffed.

'They don't want to offend me? Ha! More like they don't want to waste their time. Those core court disciples are becoming too cocky.' Xiao Fang thought.

His father made him in charge of supervising over the Core court disciples but also acted as their middle man when speaking to the Patriarch.

Xiao Fang thought for a moment then gave the young inner court disciple an order.

"Find Hu Ning, and tell him to resolve the issue," Xiao Fang said as he tossed him a special token to grant him access to the core court.

The disciple's eyes shined admiringly when he caught the token. He heard the rumors of the core court being like a Heavenly place full dense sword qi, so he couldn't wait to see it.

"I'll tell him right away!" He quickly said then left.

.

.

.

Xiao Fang was familiar with all of the disciples from the core court because for a period of time he was involved with the core court exam. Those that could leave a scratch on his body would pass the preliminary round.

It might sounded easy to fight against a young Xiao Fang, but once the lights were out he became every core court disciple's nightmare. It was a test of the disciple's swordman instincts, but Xiao Fang's instinct were so strong that he could practically see into the future. And of course, the dark was no hindrance to him.

The reason his father, the Patriarch, set this up was to allow him to get familiar with the core court disciples and their fighting styles. However, after the age of 15, his father had to exclude him from the test because he had already reached a level no core court disciples couldn't beat in the dark. It didn't matter how many realms they were above him, once the lights were out Xiao Fang was untouchable.

Having practiced against his father everyday, the sect's disciples felt like child's play. However, there was one person who caught his eye. His name was Hu Ning.

Although his father would eventually instructed Xiao Fang to go easy on the new disciples, Xiao Fang almost had to go all out just to leave a single scratch on him. It was as if he could see him in the dark too.

Xiao Fang found this suspicious. It was common for patriarchs to send their children to other sects, the same way Xiao Fang and Yu An at the age of 18 went to the Black Paradise sect, so Xiao Fang immediately suspected Hu Ning of that, but couldn't prove it.

If he belonged to a rivalled sect like the Golden Mountain sect then there would be a problem, otherwise there was nothing to worry about.

Strangely, when Xiao Fang brought this up to his father, he was told not to pursue the matter, but Xiao Fang was still curious.

Each time Xiao Fang sparred against Hu Ning they'd only use their sword to fight, so Xiao Fang could never learn more about him. However, sending him to suppress a spirit cultivator like Li Lian might require him to change his tactics. If he reveals anything infront of Li Lian, she'll tell him what it is, and that'll give him an idea of where he came from.