Naked Sword Art

Chapter 367: You Failed

"They'll lead us to him."

.

.

Just as Bai Fan had said, her grandmother—Supreme Elder Song—arrived outside the city gates, stepping out of a carriage alongside Xiao Fang's clone.

"Lead the way," she said.

Xiao Fang wasn't particularly concerned about being found. He still wasn't sure of the old woman's intentions, but if she had come to reclaim the Phoenix Jade Hairpin he'd won from her sword club, there was little he could do to stop her. Sooner or later, she would get it back.

From a distance, Bai Fan and Zhao Pan watched as Supreme Elder Song entered the city with Xiao Fang's clone. A faint smirk played on Bai Fan's lips.

"Oh, they really came," Zhao Pan said, mildly surprised.

However, their confidence wavered when they saw the pair heading straight for the auction hall. The moment they stepped inside, the two girls quickly followed—but lost sight of them just as fast. Unbeknownst to them, Xiao Fang had allowed Supreme Elder Song in through a private entrance.

[ Booth 87 ]

Wearing his blindfold again, Xiao Fang invited Supreme Elder Song into his booth. Her eyes narrowed as she inspected him, but was dissatisfied by what she saw. He had hardly any presence, it wasn't difficult to suppress their own presence, but it became increasingly difficult to do the higher their cultivations got. The only way to completely make his cultivation disappear like that was if his cultivation was already low to begin with, considering that he had only been a disciple of the sect for a year, it wasn't hard to believe that was indeed the case. But there was still one thing confusing her.

Taking a sword out of her spatial pouch, Xiao Fang caught it in the air, curious as to what she was planning to do. But the moment he did, her eyes narrowed even more.

"How are you able to see with that blindfold on," she asked.

Xiao Fang pointed to his ear and said, "I can sense my surroundings with my ear alone."

"That's quite the skill, but can you see enough to become a capable cultivator in the future?"

"I have a feeling that you came here personally to find that out."

"You're right, I did…"

"Fang…" Xiao Hei said with a strange tone.

Before Xiao Fang could decipher why Xiao Hei had such a strange, almost worrying, expression on her face, he suddenly heard a voice coming from not even a meter in front of him, it was Supreme Elder Song's, and she said,

"You failed."

Xiao Fang's brows became knitted. Then he almost instinctively used his Dual Cultivation observation technique to see through his blindfold.

[ Spirit Perception ]

His eyes quickly changed from violet to blue, then all the Qi in the room came into view. That's when he saw Supreme Elder Song's clone standing right in front of him, holding an Illusory Qi sword to his neck. His swordsman instincts never kicked in because there was no malice nor intention to harm him in her blade, she was merely testing his ability to detect her clone getting close to him, but he wasn't prepared.

"Return my hairpin to me. You're undeserving of it, and in my eyes you're unfit to become a cultivator, but that's your choice to make," Supreme Elder Song demanded.

Xiao Fang hesitated then sighed.

Taking out her Phoenix Jade hairpin from his spatial pouch, he tossed it back to her.

Xiao Fang returned back to his seat, then leaned back into it, the faint glint of frustration flickering in his eyes before fading into calm resignation. Supreme Elder Song caught the hairpin midair without even looking at it, sliding it back into her sleeve.

"You're not as arrogant as I expected," she said.

"You've taught me an important lesson, something that might save my life one day."

"And what's that?" Supreme Elder Song asked.

"I should never let my guard down."

Xiao Fang's eyes remained as blue as the sea as he stared out of the glass panel through his blindfold, being able to see the Qi flowing within everyone in the crowd below. However, he was still unable to see any of the people that were in a booth like his.

Supreme Elder Song paused, studying him for a moment longer. Her [ Illusory Clone ] dissolved into shimmering motes of light before vanishing completely.

After a few more moments, she turned wanting to leave the booth without another word. But just as she placed her hand on the door, she stopped. Without turning around, she asked,

"You told me you were planning to give my hairpin to someone in the Core Court, who was that person going to be?"

"Her name is Xun Wei," Xiao Fang answered. "Test her, I'm confident she will pass your tests."

Supreme Elder Song became skeptical, because she was familiar with everyone in the Core Court, but she had never heard of someone named Xun Wei. There weren't supposed to be any new Core Court disciples this year, but unless she was a new Core Court member there was no way she wouldn't have heard about her. The thought of Xiao Fang knowing someone from the Core Court was equally as ridiculous so she couldn't help but think that he was making it up, but she was still curious to verify his claim, since he seemed so confident about it.

"Very well, I'll go find this… Xun Wei. In the meantime, return to the Black Paradise sect by your own means. I need to hurry back, so I'll leave first. Ah, and as for the tournament next week, I'll inform the Matriarch that you're unfit to participate. Are you dissatisfied by my judgement?"

Xiao Fang didn't reply. He had no intention of attending the tournament anyway, so he felt indifferent to her decision.

In the next moment, she left, her presence vanishing like mist.

Once she was gone, Xiao Fang slumped back slightly in his chair, satisfied by how conveniently everything worked out for him.

"Why did you just give it to her like that?" Xiao Hei suddenly asked.

"Because people like her don't leave you alone until they've gotten what they want," Xiao Fang replied.

He couldn't afford to have a Supreme Elder on his ass, so he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Luckily, she was going to give it to Xun Wei like he originally intended.

"Now let's just focus on what we came here for."

Just then, a bell chimed throughout the building, followed by an amplified voice echoing from the stage below.

"Ladies and gentlemen, cultivators and honored guests... tonight's auction shall now begin!"

The lights dimmed, and the first item was unveiled beneath a curtain of golden light.

The auction had begun.