Demon Within
Xiao Fang was shocked to see the path he thought was the safest be the most dangerous of all. He thought perhaps there was some truth to the words: "One often meets their destiny on the path they chose to avoid it."
Xiao Fang watched the whole thing transpire. The reason why he didn't immediately attack Gao Chen was because he saw the golem charging towards Li Lian. However, before he could save her, Xun Wei was the first to act.
Xiao Fang knew Xun Wei wanted to become a swordsman, so he treated her like one and used this opportunity to train her the best way he knew how: through defeat.
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[ Iron Cutting Iron ]
The sound of iron cutting iron echoed throughout the cave and it was followed by a large boom. Xiao Fang's attack had pushed its arm enough to miss its target, slamming into the wall next to Xun Wei.
The golem had a nasty gash on its arm, but it didn't seem to feel pain. Xiao Fang had put all his strength into that attack, but he couldn't even cut its thick arm off. Before Xiao Fang could think about helping Xun Wei to safety, the iron golem swung its 2 meter wide arm at him. Luckily, in the next moment, a dark figure flashed in to remove her from the wall and quickly take her away.
Xiao Fang heaved a sigh of relief and was able to dodge the attack with ease. The golem was remarkably slow compared to what he'd expect from a tier 3 beast, but that didn't make Xiao Fang take the situation any less lightly.
He dip, rolled, and swerved every attack. There was no pattern or anything particularly special about its attacks, but it was becoming more predictable after every swing. Xiao Fang smirked at its resemblance to himself. It had an abnormally strong defense and a strong basic attack, but that was about it. Xiao Fang couldn't help being disappointed in himself and wished he had learned a few special sword techniques while he was at the Divine sword sect.
Though it had a strong defense, Xiao Fang's attacks were good enough to inflict damage onto it, so it was only a matter of time till Xiao Fang cut it down and removed its beast core, even without targeting its head.
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Some distance away, Li Lian opened her eyes to see a little girl with long silky black hair, jade white skin, and wearing absolutely nothing but a nearly transparent black gown. In her arms rested Xun Wei.
The mysterious lady placed Xun Wei down and Li Lian crawled to her
"Xun Wei, are you alright?" she said as she hugged her.
Li Lian's nurturing flames engulfed Xun Wei and slowly healed her wounds. She looked up to the mysterious girl, but she was already gone.
She looked around, but saw no trace of her. She put her attention back on Xun Wei.
"Xun Wei, I'm sorry," Li Lian cried silently.
Xun Wei was barely conscious. Though she could hear Li Lian, the only thing going through her mind was the brief interaction she had with the iron golem.
"You must learn to attack and defend simultaneously, but if you can only do one, you must always attack to kill and not fear meeting another man's sword!" she remembered what Xiao Fang told her.
She clenched her sword tightly till her palm bled.
"Never again," she thought, as a mysterious silver light briefly shone across her eyes.
It was at that moment that she understood Xiao Fang's teachings and finally made a breakthrough in her body cultivation bottleneck.
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Meanwhile Xiao Fang was hunting Gao Chen down like a bloodthirsty hellhound. Xiao Fang was conditioned to kill spirit beasts since he was younger. This was part of his training growing up to be a swordsman. The purpose of it was to teach Xiao Fang to never hesitate, because to hesitate for even a second is enough to turn a battle on its head. However, what it also taught Xiao Fang was how to be ruthless to your enemies.
He had a crazy tyrannical aura that could make any living thing tremble in his presence, but when he finally caught up to Gao Chen he concealed it.
"Hm? Oh, it's just you Xiao Fang... A lot has happened since you were gone. Let's get out of here first and I'll tell you all about it,” he said before turning to leave.
Gao Chen was actually extremely pleased to run into Xiao Fang here, because this was a perfect opportunity to take him out and steal Xun Wei.
"Sorry junior brother, the least I could do is give you a quick death. Hahahaha, I'll be sure to take good care of Xun Wei for you when you are gone," he thought.
Without warning Gao Chen turned back around and fired a hail of spirit energy at Xiao Fang. Formless clouds of dust started to arise around Xiao Fang as Gao Chen's attacks hit.
"There's no way a cripple like you deserves a treasure like Xun Wei. I have nothing against you, but that's how this world works. I hope you understand and don't decide to haunt me as a ghost," he said before laughing mockingly.
Gao Chen wasn't willing to wait for the dust to clear to confirm his death so he turned to leave.
*Wu~ wu~ wu~*
All of a sudden, he heard something swishing through the air, but when he turned around to see what it was, it already pierced through his shoulder and pinned him to the ground.
"AGGHHHH!!!" He yelled in pain. It was Xiao Fang's sword.
He watched as a silhouette emerged from the dust. It was Xiao Fang. He looked completely fine as if he wasn't hit at all.
"Ahhhhh It hurts! Don't come any closer!" he used his free hand to shoot more spirit attacks at him, but Xiao Fang dodged most of them effortlessly and even deflected a few away with just his hands.
Xiao Fang pinned his free arm down with his foot, breaking it in the process.
"You want to know who I am right," Xiao Fang finally spoke.
He unwrapped his black blindfold from around his head till they became loose. Then using just his thumb, he lifted one side of his blindfolds up revealing one of his eyes.
There was an unnatural glow coming from Xiao Fang's violet eyes. When he saw the way it glowed hauntingly in the dark it made him feel chills running up his spine.
"Violet eyes... Da Long! You're Da long aren't you," his expression became ashen.
"So you've heard of me. In that case, you know what I want... I want Li Lian. I have nothing against you, but that's how this world works. I hope you understand and don't decide to haunt me as a ghost," Xiao Fang regurgitated Gao Chen's words back at him mockingly.
"You motherfucker!!!" he cursed at Xiao Fang.
Not only did Gao Chen nearly kill Xiao Fang's two girls, but he tried to kill him as well. Worst of all he called Xiao Fang the one thing he hated being called the most: a cripple.
Xiao Fang no longer tried to conceal his bloodthirsty aura and it enveloped Gao Chen like a rushing tide.
Before he could react, Xiao Fang's hands swooped in and gouged both of his eyes out. Gao Chen cried in pain, his head shook, and his legs kicked crazily.
"Let me ask you again: Who is blind. You or I?"
He had a very heavy demonic overlap to his voice. Gao Chen could no longer see, but if he could match that voice to a body it would be the devil himself.
“Spare me! Spare me!! You can take Li Lian! You can have her!”
“AGGGHHHH!!!”
Xiao Fang removed his sword that was lodged into his shoulder, but what he felt now didn't compare to what he was about to feel.
He suddenly felt a claw dragging him out of the cave by his eye sockets. Gao Chen screamed in agony the whole time, but for some mysterious reason he wasn't passing out from the pain. The pain far exceeded what anyone should have been able to tolerate, so he was slowly losing his mind from it.
Some time later, when he finally came back to his senses, there were 2 iron golems wandering around as if they were trying to find something or someone. Of course Gao Chen couldn't see them.
"Is anybody there, I can't see please help me!" he yelled for help. The iron golems started getting attracted to the sound of his voice and began rushing in on his location.
When Gao Chen heard them coming he knew he made a big mistake, but he couldn't see where they were coming from so he ran around aimlessly.
As if to reenact the scene that played out earlier with Li Lian, Xiao Fang threw a fist sized rock at Gao Chen with his full strength. Gao Chen's leg broke and he fell on the ground screaming in pain.
"AHHH! Mhh hmmhhmm!!” he tried to silence himself, but it was no use, the iron golems already found him.
His heart raced and his body shook. Now that his body was on the ground he could clearly feel the ground shaking from the charging iron golems.
Their growls terrified him. He screamed and cursed at Xiao Fang, but it didn't last long, because the iron golems immediately began pummeling him to death once they were in striking range. Gao Chen died a miserable death, and Xiao Fang's heart finally settled.
Suddenly, a strange energy came out of Gao Chen's body and entered Xiao Fang's body. However, it didn't seem like he was being attacked by it, he was absorbing it.
Once it was over Xiao Fang's heart began to beat faster, his vision became sharper, and his muscles became harder. Whatever that strange energy was it had invigorated him.
With little hesitation, Xiao Fang fought and killed the two iron golems before collecting their beast cores. Normally he wouldn't enjoy killing beasts, but this time it felt so good to him. He couldn't explain it, but being the way he was now made him feel like his 'Iron cutting Iron' technique was improving so much faster than ever before.
So for the next few hours he searched through several caves, killing every iron golem he could find till his arms ached and could no longer use his technique.
The iron golems were extremely difficult to find and very dangerous to fight, even for Xiao Fang. However, this was an incredible opportunity for him, so he couldn't pass it up.
[ Iron golems kill count: 34 ]
[ Experiencing it once is better than reading it a thousand times ]
[ Body Cultivation: 1st stage Solid Body ]
[ Divine Sword method: 9th stage Body Refinement Realm ]
Without realizing it, each iron golem he killed was equivalent to a few days worth of training alone. So after today he will be at a point where he can confidently say that he has mastered the technique.
Xiao Fang understood that he could no longer rely on his simple training routine, but will need to start fighting high tier spirit beasts if he wants to make noticeable progress in the future.
Xiao Fang returned to the cave his girls were in and found them both sleeping.
"Did you have fun? They fell asleep not too long after you left," the pet said through a spirit transmission.
"Let's go. The sooner we get back to the sect the sooner I can rest." Xiao Fang carried the two girls, one in each arm, and the cat rested on his head.
When they were leaving they noticed the rats behaving less crazily. Xiao Fang assumed the reason they were spreading to other cities was because his new pussy, ehhem... I mean, the new pet was scaring them off with the technique she called fear.
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Once they were back in the sect Xiao Fang didn't have the energy to bring Xun Wei home. So after he washed up, the four of them slept peacefully on Li Lian's large bed. Li Lian on the right, Xun Wei on the left, Xiao Fang in the middle, and the cat on his back as he slept on his stomach.