Naked Sword Art

Xiao Fang was on his way back when he heard Supreme Elder Quan coming from the opposite direction.

'Did she follow me?' He thought.

She wasn't following his old trail, but she still had some ways to go before finding the beast army he defeated, so he considered going back to hide most of the evidence before she got there, but he eventually decided against it. There was no way he was going to hide all of their bodies in time. Also, he figured if she found all of the corpses, she would assume the trail didn't belong to him.

Xiao Fang continued going, but somewhere along the way he began to think about the colossal beast.

'If she keeps following my trail, there's a chance she might run into the colossal beast. I wonder if she'd be able to handle it.'

The colossal beast was nearly defeated when Xiao Fang left it, so he didn't think it would be too difficult for her to finish it off.

What Xiao Fang didn't know was that after he left the area, the colossal beast started to cannibalize the 9th tiered beasts at the bottom of the lake. The more it ate, the stronger it got. This was its last resort. Even though it saw Xiao Fang leave, it still assumed he was still in the area.

Eventually, its eyes glowed red as its body began to transform.

The colossal beast began to get smaller till it was only 2 meters tall. Although it got a lot smaller, the aura it released was much denser than before. It felt so much strength running through its veins, it no longer felt like it needed to hide from Xiao Fang anymore. With new found strength comes a new found arrogance, so it swam back up to the surface then looked around for Xiao Fang.

The lake was calm and the air was chilly. The more it looked around the more nervous it became. Despite being a lot stronger than it was before, it was still wary of Xiao Fang. It couldn't forget his confident demeanor and nonchalant expression. After a certain point it became painfully obvious that Xiao Fang wasn't going all out. It became convinced of this after he took out a much stronger sword at the end of the fight.

Thinking more clearly, it decided that it would try to avoid Xiao Fang from now on.

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When Xiao Fang returned to the 7th floor's entrance, he saw Xiao Hei laying on the floor and sleeping next to the wall. He gently brushed her hair till she was awake. Her round pretty eyes then slowly began to open as she lifted her head up off the ground. When she saw Xiao Fang, her eyes immediately lit up.

"Fang, you're back!" she said as she] jumped up to hug him.

"Haha, Xiao Hei. Were you worried about me?"

"Un!" She nodded spiritedly.

"How did it go? Did you fill your spirit pendant?" She asked.

"Take a look for yourself," he said as he tossed her his spirit pendant.

Xiao Hei's eyes shined as she stared at the glowing red pendant.

"Does this mean we can go home now?" She asked excitedly.

Xiao Fang shook his head.

"We've only been here for a day. It would be a waste of 6,000 merit points if we were to leave now."

Xiao Hei pouted.

"But I don't want to stay here anymore. I'm so bored."

Xiao Fang chuckled quietly when he saw the way she was acting. It was rare to see her throwing a tantrum like this, but it was a sign that she was becoming more human-like.

"Alright, since you don't want to stay here anymore. How about we go in together," Xiao Fang suggested.

"Go in together?"

She turned her attention back to the 7th floor, but after hearing a roar she quickly hid behind Xiao Fang.

"Ah... on second thought, I like staying here. I'm not bored at all."

"Nonsense, we're a team, so we should be fighting side by side. Besides, I'm going to need someone to watch over me while I cultivate all the qi in my spirit pendant."

Xiao Hei had a broad understanding of how his swordsman's instincts worked, so she had a feeling that he was just making up excuses to bring her along.

Suddenly, Xiao Fang picked her up and carried her over his shoulder.

"Ahhh~ I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go. They are going to eat me!" She whined.

Xiao Fang laughed.

"Let's go."

In the next moment, lightning qi coated his body then he was gone in a flash. Xiao Hei stopped whining when she saw how fast they were moving. They were moving so fast all she could see was a blurr.

Although it was true that he wanted to stay on the 7th floor to cultivate, he had another reason for wanting to go back in.

His expression became serious when he thought about the colossal beast. Although he assumed the Supreme Elder could handle it, he couldn't shake the bad feeling he was having about it.

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Meanwhile, Supreme Elder Quan tracked Xiao Fang's trail all the way to the forest where he had killed the army of 8th tiered beasts.

"This..."

She could already smell the foul stench of beast blood in the area, so she knew it would attract several high tiered beasts to this forest. This forest would likely already be infested with high tiered beasts, or there could even be an abnormal beast lurking in there.

At this point it was safe to assume that any disciple that made it this far would already be dead. Not only was it too dangerous for disciples to come this far, even elders were advised not to go this deep into the 7th floor.

If she weren't a supreme elder, this would've been the end of the road. She was strong enough to take care of herself, but for a minute she wasn't able to make herself go in. There's something off.

'This forest should be infested with high tiered beasts. Why is it so quiet?'