Naked Sword Art

Chapter 330: A Blessing and a Curse

"Long Wang, members of the White Jade guild have come to see you."

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Xiao Fang knew that they'd eventually come, but he didn't expect them to come so soon.

"Let them in," Xiao Fang replied.

Opening the doors for Tan Songyun, Gao Jiaji, and Gao Meihui, Ruo Shi showed them in then stepped out before closing the doors behind them. However, upon entering, they became confused.

"Where is she?" Tan Songyun asked in confusion.

They had asked Ruo Shi to take them to see the Nameless Guild's leader, so they didn't know what to think when the only 2 people in the room with them were Xiao Fang and Chu Yan.

"Who are you looking for?" Xiao Fang replied.

"Where's the owner, we wish to speak to her," Tan Songyun said.

"You're talking to him. Speak. What business do you have with me?" Xiao Fang replied nonchalantly.

None of the 4 were able to hide the shock in their eyes, even Chu Yan and Chen Li were a bit taken aback by his words. They hardly knew anything about him, but he was somehow able to accomplish so much in just the first week of the year.

Looking at him gracefully sitting on the chair with his fingers interlocked on his lap and legs partially extended, he seemed unfazed by the appearance of 3 Dragon-Class disciples standing before him. Of course, it crossed their minds that it was because he couldn't see them through his blindfold.

"Young man, it's best you don't play games with us," Gao Jiaji said threateningly as she expanded her Profound Spirit realm aura.

The pressure from her aura would make anyone one in the Core Spirit realm tremble, but the moment she expanded it, Chu Yan did the same, canceling it out.

"Elder, you…"

Despite calling Chu Yan an Elder, the 3 Dragon-Class disciples were all in fact older than her.

"Young miss, forgive me, but I was given orders by my master, Supreme Elder Song, to protect the man sitting behind me. If there's a problem, I'd suggest you settle it in a different way."

Although they knew they could easily defeat Chu Yan with their combined strength, they knew they couldn't afford to offend the person backing her. Besides, their purpose for coming today wasn't to start a fight.

"How brazen. You were welcomed into my guild and this is how you act," Xiao Fang said with a disappointed tone.

Xiao Fang was just a no-name disciple to them, so hearing him speak as if he was superior to them certainly struck a nerve.

Being the leveled headed person that she was, Gao Meihui was the first to reply.

"Forgive my guildmate here, she got a bit carried away. But as your guests, shouldn't you at least have the courtesy to look at us," Gao Meihui said, implying that he should remove his blindfold.

Xiao Fang understood what she was thinking. It's easy to act arrogant when a threat can't be perceived, but who was Xiao Fang? These girls were nothing in his eyes.

Not thinking much about her words, Xiao Fang pulled down his blindfold before looking at them. His piercing violet eyes scanned each of their bodies, one by one, making them shutter when they felt his gaze land on them. They already knew he'd be a handsome individual, but it still stunned them to see his full face. However, no one was more shocked than Chen Li.

Breaking the silence, and still keeping the tone of superiority, Xiao Fang said,

"So then, what matters do you wish to discuss with me?"

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Standing outside of the Training Hall. Ruo Shi eventually saw the 3 Dragon-Class disciples coming out of the Training Hall with smug looks on their faces. She didn't know what happened, but she didn't get a good feeling from it.

"Ruo Shi, do you have the new nameplates I asked for?" Xiao Fang suddenly said to her as he exited the Training Hall next.

Recalling the favor he asked her the other day, she quickly nodded her head then tapped her spatial pouch on her waist to confirm that she had it.

"Good, gather our guildmates. I have something to announce to them," Xiao Fang said.

"Right away," she replied subserviently.

Watching Ruo Shi leave, Xiao Fang couldn't help but feel as if Ruo Shi was taking things too seriously. Or Perhaps, he was being too confident. The only thing that mattered to him now was going to his mother in the Chaos sect.

Returning back to his chair, Xiao Fang tried to return his consciousness back to his original body, but, like always, he was unable to feel anything. Everything was numb, all his senses were gone, he wouldn't even know whether he was dead or alive if it wasn't for his clone.

As much as he wanted to break free, anything he did was hopeless, every drop of Qi he could produce would immediately be drained, making cultivating impossible.

'Dammit!' Xaio Fang cursed inwardly. 'How long am I supposed to stay like this?'

He tried practicing every cultivation method he knew, but it was all hopeless. If he couldn't produce Qi, he wouldn't be able to strengthen his dantian. That was common sense in the cultivating world, or so he thought. There was one cultivation method he didn't try, a method he had never had the opportunity to practice yet, and now was as good of a time as any.

Returning his consciousness to his other clone that was in the 7th floor of the Ancestral Training Ground, Xiao Fang began to read the [ Soul Devouring ] cultivation method Luo Biya gave him, but this time, he put it into practice.

It took some time for Xiao Fang to understand it, but he eventually did. Returning his consciousness back to his real body he began to cultivate it. Despite trying again and again, Xiao Fang had no idea if he was succeeding or not. However, that all changed when he finally felt something.

'This… am I imagining it?' Xiao Fang thought.

His dantian, what was earlier an empty void, was now a calm lake containing a profound nature. It felt similar to ordinary Qi, but also the exact opposite at the same time. He could feel it, or rather, it was always there but too small to notice till he started practicing [ the Soul Devouring ] method.

[ Soul Qi: Instead of being produced by a cultivator's dantian, it is produced by a cultivator's being. ]

'What a strange feeling,' Xiao Fang thought.

Once his dantian was full of Soul Qi, Xiao Fang concentrated and tried to practice the [ Soul Devouring ] method, but to his surprise he almost immediately made a breakthrough.

'2nd stage of the Foundation realm already?' Xiao Fang thought in shock.

What he didn't know was that since his natural Qi was no longer present in his dantian, his Soul Qi was able to freely utilize it.

Without realizing it, Xiao Fang's realms began to climb with that method, because while other cultivation methods used Qi to strengthen his dantian, the [ Soul Devouring ] method used his dantian to strengthen his soul. Since Xiao Fang spirit Cultivation was already in the Profound Spirit realm, his dantian was no small thing.

Before he knew it, he was already in the Spirit Refinement realm with the [ Soul Devouring ] method.

The prison he was in was a blessing and a curse.