Naked Sword Art

Chapter 23 - 1 Year Agreement

"Is anyone home, it's me Elder Yao Wu".

Elder Jiang Mei froze. When the voice called out from outside her door, she almost couldn't believe her ears. Why would Elder Yao be here at this time?

She quickly composed herself before opening the door. She was wearing a pink silk gown. It was so thin Elder Yao could almost see through it. The way it flapped in the wind made her seem like a celestial fairy.

"Elder Yao, why are you here so late at night?"

"May I come in? Theres something I need to speak to you about".

"Yes, of course. Come in", she opened the door up a bit wider.

Elder Yao walked in then Jiang Mei began to close the door till she saw a dark silhouette in the distance. When she looked at it with narrowed eyes she could tell it resembled Xiao Fang.

"Is something the matter?" Elder Yao asked curiously.

"Ah no I'm simply admiring the moonlight", but as she spoke Elder Yao was already next to her looking out her door.

...

"Mn, I agree. It's an especially beautiful moon out tonight".

When she looked back outside, the silhouette was gone. She inwardly sighed in relief.

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Xiao Fang saw the elder enter her house so decided to give up on her tonight.

He wandered around till eventually his feet brought him back home to Li Lian.

"It seems my body has a mind of it's own", he chuckled to himself.

He was less than a 100 meters away from her house when he noticed where his body was taking him, but before he could turn around, he saw Li Lian and her parents coming from afar, so he hid.

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Li Lian had arrived a bit earlier than usual to welcome her parents to the sect. She showed them all the hot spots and spent most of the evening with them. They didn't get along very well back home outside of the sect, but that didn't mean they didn't have their good moments. She had to admit, she enjoyed their visit upto this point.

When Li Lian and her parents finally arrived home, she found an unexpected visitor waiting for them. It was her senior brother, Gao Chen; The man she'd been avoiding in her missions.

"What are you doing here?", she asked.

"I was invited, by mother and father in law. Lian'er, you have been avoiding me for some time now so I also wanted to see if you were still okay". Gao Chen called her "Lian'er" in a tone that made it seem as though they were already married.

"I told you not to call me that", she looked at Gao Chen angrily.

"That is no way to speak to your fiancé", her dad interjected.

"But Dad-"

"Li Lian!", he immediately interrupted her. Staring at her sternly.

"Can't you see how caring he is towards you? Why must you push him away?", her mother was next to speak.

Her father sighed, "Gao Chen, it's really late now, son. Thanks for stopping by to welcome us", he spoke politely. Gao Chen bowed respectfully before leaving.

"Lian'er, we agreed if you didn't get into the inner court within a year that you'd marry Gao Chen. Are you even confident that you can satisfying this condition?".

The truth was, last year she made about 5000 merit points but spent nearly all of it on cultivation pills. This year, in the 3 months that passed, she only made about 1000 merit points on her own and got 500 from Xiao Fang's for rent. She tried to refuse his payment, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. So in total, she accumulated 2500 merit points; 1500 in 3 months, and the remaining 1000 from her previous year.

At this rate she wasn't going to meet the deadline. She bit her lip and furrowed her brows.

"I still have time", she replied.

Her father shook his head.

Li Lian's mother tried to comfort her, "Don't push yourself too hard. He's a good man, he will definitely treat you well".

"Do you want me to give up my passion for cultivation just to be with a good man?", it was at that moment that she thought she understood how Xiao Fang felt.

Her father finally lost his temper, "Don't be such a stubborn child! Who will take care of your kids if you are not home? Who will take care of you when we are not around? We have given you only the best things in life, and now we have given you the greatest gift of all, yet you still refuse to accept it?"

Her mother sighed and was next to speak, "This is how the world works. Stop chasing a pipe dream and come home with us".

Li Lian was furious, her fists were clenched and her pretty nails were dug into her palm. "I don't want you controlling my life anymore. I said 1 year, so you will wait 1 year. Don't disturb me untill then", she was crying inside and trying to suppress her anger.

"Che, what an unfilial child. I told you not to spoil her so much, now look what she's become".

"Me? Weren't you the one that suggested she go to this sect?"

They spoke about her as if she were a defective product when they were right infront of her.

"S-shut, shut up"

"What did you say?"

"I told you to shut the hell up! I have a fiancé a 100 times better than that Gao Chen, and his name is Xiao Fang!!"