Naked Sword Art

After training in the Hollow Forest for 4 days straight, Xun Wei and Lei Xinyi finally went home to rest.

Upon learning that their master was in closed door training, they went back into the Hollow Forest to train.

Currently, they've been training there for another 3 more days, so they were planning on heading back to rest soon.

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Lei Xinyi watched in shock as Xun Wei dodged several tier 2 beasts with her eyes closed.

Xun Wei had already mastered her swordsman's instincts to such a degree that beasts in the 2nd tier couldn't even touch her.

Swordsman's instincts; a skill that normally took cultivators several years to learn only took her a week to nearly master. This amount of talent was simply too frightening.

'No, this is impossible. There must be some sort of trick to it," Lei Xinyi thought, but she couldn't refute what her eyes were seeing.

Truth was, after dual cultivating Xiao Fang's Yang qi for so long, it gave her the comprehension required to master every skill he knew. Even if she didn't realize it at the time, the more she cultivated his yang qi the more she comprehended his techniques.

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Suddenly, Lei Xinyi felt a tickle in her spine. Her swordsman's instincts were warning her that she was being targeted by a formidable threat.

She began to frown. Since she was hiding with a special technique, if a beast really did find her, that would mean it definitely wasn't ordinary.

She unsheathed her sword then released her aura. If a beast really found her then it was only a matter of time till it attacked.

However to her surprise nothing happened.

'Strange, a beast that didn't attack a cultivator on sight. Was there really such a thing?' She thought as she put her sword away.

Suddenly she heard a cry, she quickly looked back at Xun Wei, but then sighed in relief. Xun Wei was finally clearing the wave.

This past few days had been an emotional rollercoaster for her. Watching Xun Wei dance on the brink of death was extremely nerve racking and exhausting.

Xun Wei collected all of the beast cores around her then yawned. She had been up for the past 3 days, so she was starting to feel a bit sleepy again.

Suddenly, in the middle of her yawn she felt a slight chill on the back of her neck.

In that exact moment, Lei Xinyi's heart skipped a beat as she opened her mouth to yell in warning, but it was too late.

The creature was way too fast.

The 2 meter tall, black furred feline beast, had soundlessly jumped out of the darkness, pouncing straight for Xun Wei's backside.

However, in that exact moment, Xun Wei dodged and attacked simultaneously, exactly the way Xiao Fang had always taught her.

She immediately knew that this beast was dangerous so she used her strongest technique to end things quickly.

Her blade shined in a special way then disappeared.

[ Quick Blade: Ghost Blade Barrage ]

Slash~ slash~ slash~ slash~ slash~...

The creature crashed on the ground with cuts all over its body. That one technique was enough to severely wound it.

Although the strength of a 5th tiered beast could rival a Solid Body realm cultivator, since Xun Wei was using the qi from her divine sword method and using a strong technique, it was enough to take the beast down.

The beast was hurt so it tried to flee, but upon looking back at Xun Wei it discovered that she was no longer there. Instead she was standing right in front of it.

Seeing the look of despair on its face, Xun Wei heartlessly slayed the innocent-eyed beast with no hesitation at all.

Although the fight ended quickly, it was because she decisively used her strongest technique to end the fight before anything unexpected could happen.

As Xiao Fang always said, there's no point in prolonging a fight if you have the means to end it quickly.

Xun Wei finally frowned. This beast was only a few days old, but it was already in the 5th tier. Just how terrifying would its parents be?

She didn't want to find out, so she approached it to collect its beast core and quickly leave, but just before she could even touch it, the beast opened its eyes and swung its claw at her.

Xun Wei sensed the attack, but she was standing too close to completely dodge it. Xun Wei jumped back a few meters away, but upon landing she put a hand over her eye.

Her eye was cut.

Luckily, the attack was too weak and her eyelid was too tough for her eyeball to be damaged, but it was still a close call.

Xun Wei started to frown.

She then walked up to the beast to end its life, but before she could even reach it it had already died from blood loss. Still, Xun Wei took no chances, so she cut it stomach open and mutilated its corpse. Only then did she finally collect its beast core.

"Hmm, why is it purple?" She thought curiously before stashing it in her spatial pouch.

Lei Xinyi suddenly appeared next to her.

"Xun Wei, is your eye okay?"

"Mn, I'm alright."

"You were still cut. Take this healing-regeneration pill. It will prevent your injury from scarring."

However, to her surprise, Xun Wei declined.

"Xun Wei, if you don't treat it it might scar."

"Scars are something we Swordsmen wear proudly, did you already forget that?" Xun Wei said.

Lei Xinyi was speechless. To see the most beautiful girl she's ever seen willingly let her beautiful face get scarred was too difficult to accept.

Although her words were true, the women in the Divine Sword sect often didn't follow that philosophy.

Besides, Xun Wei had a very beautiful and innocent looking face, in fact, she was by far the most beautiful looking girl she's ever seen. Many women would kill their own families and genocide their entire clan to have a face and body like that, but she didn't seem to care about it.

Xun Wei used to look very ordinary before she met Xiao Fang. To her, beauty was something women used to seduce men with, but despite being surrounded by far more beautiful girls, Xiao Fang still chose her.

The only thing Xun Wei cared about now was her cultivation and to be recognized as a swordsman like her master, even if it meant looking a little more intimidating.

However, upon cleaning the blood from the scratch, Lei Xinyi sucked in a mouth full of cold air.

'How can this be.'

Lei Xinyi stood there shocked. The scratch didn't ruin her beautiful face, it actually added to it.

Xun Wei saw the shock in her senior sister's eyes and assumed it was bad, but she didn't want to think about it anymore so she ignored it. She instead looked down at her trembling hand.

After using the 2nd stage of the Quick Sword technique, it became difficult to carry her sword.

Surprisingly, the backlash wasn't nearly as bad as she was expecting, but she knew it was because of the sword her master gave her.

Thinking about her master, she was reminded of the fate that awaited her.

Seeing Xun Wei's mood change, Lei Xinyi tried to cheer her up.

"Xun Wei, the scratch doesn't look bad. You probably won't believe me when I say this, but it actually looks really good on you!"

Xun Wei chuckled inwardly when she realized why Lei Xinyi was so shocked, but to her, caring about how beautiful she looked just seemed childish. All that mattered was that she looked presentable.

"I'm not concerned about the scratch, I was just thinking about how master will punish me once she discovers what I did."

Lei Xinyi was surprised that she was finally talking about it again.

"If you want to talk about it, you know I'm always here for you," Lei Xinyi spoke in an empathetic tone.

As they were jogging back home, Xun Wei eventually told her about the punishment. Upon hearing it, Lei Xinyi couldn't help but feel terrified for her.

"Xun Wei, you must leave. I'm telling you this for your own good. Master will certainly not spare you. You must go before she comes out of her closed door training."

Xun Wei had already considered doing that, but she couldn't help feeling that it was a cowardly act.

"Xun Wei, don't be a fool. Forget master, with your talent you will certainly stand at the pinnacle of the cultivation world. Don't let her destroy your future prospects. Go, leave now and never come back."

Xun Wei frowned. She never considered herself a very arrogant person, but she couldn't refute Lei Xinyi's words when she considered all the progress she made in the short 2 months that passed.

If she lost her eyes that would significantly effect her ability to body cultivate. She didn't want to be crippled for the rest of her life, but most importantly she didn't want Xiao Fang to leave her behind.

Upon returning back home, she thought long and hard about it, then eventually made up her mind.

She said her farewells to Chun Hua, Yu An, and Li Lian, then left to go back to the Black Paradise sect.

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Current day.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Xiao Fang was in both shock and disbelief since he woke up next to Wu Yue. The reason for it was because of his current cultivation.

He was no longer in the 8th stage of the Solid Body realm. He was now in the 1st stage of the Profound Body realm!