Naked Sword Art

Chapter 397: Dual Cultivation Clan

"Not much farther now," Yin Fei said.

The words brought a subtle wave of relief over Luo Yue. Though they hadn't encountered danger recently, the Inner Court's atmosphere was never truly safe. Danger here didn't announce itself with roars or killing intent—it whispered, watched, and waited. Xiao Fang, meanwhile, grew more anxious, his thoughts consumed by his mother and Chun Hua. He hadn't seen them in far too long, and their conditions were still a mystery.

They followed the winding path deeper into the Inner Court, where even the air itself began to feel... wrong. The change was slow at first. Like the sun gradually dimming behind a thick curtain of clouds. Then the sensation grew undeniable.

"The Qi…" Elder Luo muttered. "It's thinning."

"You noticed too?" Luo Yue said while turning to look at him, as if he was confirming that she wasn't going crazy.

"It only gets worse from here," Yin Fei simply replied.

The atmosphere grew heavier the farther they went, yet ironically, it was due to the absence of pressure. The natural Qi had become so faint it was barely perceptible—until finally, it was gone altogether.

Elder Luo had once heard tales about the Dual Cultivation Clan being confined to a barren section of the Inner Court, but seeing it firsthand was something else entirely. No spiritual Qi... not even a trace. It was as if the land itself had died.

"But why?" he asked, perplexed. "Why choose to remain in such a crippled location? Wouldn't this halt your cultivation altogether?"

"We didn't choose it," Yin Fei replied coolly. "It was assigned to us by the previous patriarch of the Chaos Sect. A punishment."

"A punishment?" Luo Yue blinked. "But why not leave the sect altogether if staying means stagnation?"

Yin Fei turned and arched a brow, surprised by the question. "Because there's nowhere else to go."

The group stopped briefly as her voice lowered, now laced with a cold edge. "We tried. We left. We begged. But the world doesn't want us. Bounty hunters, wandering cultivators, even Divine Sword sect hunted us down like beasts. We couldn't defend ourselves."

"What about crossing the sea, why not leave the country altogether then?" Luo Yue asked again, pressing. "Surely there must be other continents…"

Yin Fei let out a breath that might've once been a laugh. "The closest ports are deep within Divine Sword sect territory. We tried diplomacy. The Patriarch smiled to our faces and slaughtered us when our guard was down."

Xiao Fang didn't know how to feel. Part of him wanted to take his mother far away from this buried, Qi-starved exile—but was this really a hellish place? Was there anywhere safer for her to be?

All his life, he'd been told the Chaos Sect were the villains. But if there was one thing he understood better than most, it was the cruelty and arrogance of Divine Swordsmen. That was the world he grew up in. Their pride. Their principles. Their way of doing things. It had shaped him in ways he couldn't ignore.

Even when Yu An was being traded to the Chaos Sect, his grandmother had confided in him the truth: his grandfather had arranged her assassination the moment the trade was complete. He didn't want to risk even a single Dual Cultivator surviving.

'Yu An... where would I even take you?' Xiao Fang thought. 'Where in this world would you be safe from them?'

As they continued, Luo Yue's discomfort grew. She tried to imagine what it would be like cultivating in this place like this, but she guessed it would've felt like trying to breathe underwater.

"Even for punishment, this feels… cruel," she said.

"Perhaps," Yin Fei answered. "But we made it work."

Eventually, they stopped before what looked like a craggy outcrop of lifeless stone. The wind was still. The sky above was cloudless. A graveyard of Qi.

"Where is the clan?" Elder Luo asked, squinting through the haze of dust and rock.

Yin Fei stepped forward to a strange stone slab etched with a faint, intricate symbol. She pressed her palm against it, and the moment her Dual Cultivation Qi entered the stone, the earth groaned.

The rocks shifted. The ground split open.

From within, a soft violet glow bled through as a long staircase unfurled into the earth. Pale purple lanterns sparked to life one by one, lighting the way.

A slow, fragrant warmth began to rise from below. Not oppressive like fire, but gentle and heady—an aura of unmistakable power and pleasure. The Qi here was thick, but it flowed differently. It wasn't like the natural Qi from before.

This was Dual Cultivation Qi.

It curled around their legs like silk, humming with latent vitality and emotion. To Yin Fei, and even Xiao Fang, it was invigorating.

But to Luo Yue and Elder Luo, it felt… empty. Their bodies couldn't resonate with it, couldn't draw it in. They stood in a sea of abundance, yet starved all the same.

"This Qi…" Elder Luo said under his breath. "It's completely foreign."

"To you," Yin Fei corrected. "But not to us."

Luo Yue remained quiet, yet she couldn't help but notice: despite the dead land above, there was life down here.

And something told her it was far more beautiful than she could have ever imagined.

As they descended the violet-lit stairs, the Dual Cultivation Qi grew stronger. It wasn't oppressive—more like the gentle pull of a warm tide, brushing against their senses, coaxing emotion from deep within. Xiao Fang, more attuned to it than ever before, felt his body subtly responding. His steps grew lighter. His breath steadier.

But for Luo Yue and Elder Luo, the deeper they went, the more alien it became. The air was dense, rich, but not in any way they could benefit from. It felt like watching others feast while their own stomachs remained empty.

After a long descent, the staircase opened into a vast underground world.

And what lay before them shattered all expectations.

The first thing they noticed was the light.

Glowing crystals embedded in the high cavern walls bathed the city in a soft, perpetual twilight. The hues shifted between rose and violet, pulsing faintly in rhythm with the Qi. Bioluminescent flora clung to every surface, their petals slowly opening and closing as if breathing in tandem with the cultivators who lived among them.

The stone paths were polished smooth, weaving through gardens and hot springs where men and women sat in pairs or groups, cultivating in serene harmony. Beautiful architecture—domed towers and open-air sanctuaries—rose around the city like a natural extension of the cavern itself. Despite being hidden underground, there was no sense of confinement. It felt open, warm, almost sacred.

And the people… they were radiant.

Everyone they saw was attractive, glowing with health and sensual confidence. Even the children carried themselves with poise beyond their years. The deeper they went, the more evident it became—this wasn't just a hidden village. It was a sanctuary. A paradise of a very specific kind.

Luo Yue found herself stunned into silence. She expected desperation, squalor, ruins. What she found instead was… beauty. Peace.

Elder Luo looked around, visibly shaken—not by fear, but by confusion. "This... this shouldn't be possible. Without natural Qi... how did you build all of this?"

Yin Fei smiled, though there was a hint of pride in her eyes. "Dual Cultivation Qi sustains everything here. This land is dead to the world, but to us, it is pure nourishment. Everything here—our homes, our bodies, our cultivation—is in sync with it."

"Come," Yin Fei said. "I'll take you to them."

Xiao Fang's heart skipped.