Naked Sword Art

"That boy... is cursed."

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Seeing the black markings spread across his body, Xiao Jianhong and Lady Xu could feel Xiao Fang's battle power quickly rise.

"Jianhong..." Lady Xu said nervously.

"I know," Xiao Jianhong replied with a calm but serious tone.

His powerful aura began to illuminate his figure blue as his battle power began to rise to match Xiao Fang's. In the next moment, Xiao Fang disappeared, but at the same time, Xiao Jianhong did too.

Tzzz~~~

Without warning, a large shockwave suddenly pushed Lady Xu back, but it didn't take her long to regain her footing.

'So fast!' She thought in shock.

After getting his first attack blocked, Xiao Fang did a quick strike overhead before getting low and sliding forward to slash his legs. However, his father somersaulted over him to dodge his blade, then he cut Xiao Fang's right shoulder as he was directly over him.

The moment he landed he immediately turned around then lunged towards Xiao Fang, but while Xiao Fang was on one knee, he still redirected his father's blade without turning around. In the same motion, Xiao Fang turned around while changing knees, before swinging down vertically at his father. Xiao Jianhong quickly dodged his blade, then blocked Xiao Fang's following Horizontal slash with his sword.

Xiao Fang was much weaker than his father was physically, so he stayed low so he couldn't use it against him. However, in the current position he was in, Xiao Fang couldn't make the next move, so he waited for his father to do something first.

"Xiao Fang, control yourself. She is not your enemy," Xiao Jianhong said, but Xiao Fang had no plans on letting her go.

Staring directly into Xiao Fang's new eyes, Xiao Jianhong had always imagined this moment to be a lot more joyful. Reminisce about his eyes in the past, he remembered them being full of so much joy, but now all he could see in them was hate.

Xiao Fang's breath steamed up his blade as he looked up into his father's eyes. No matter how much he hated his father, he knew he wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for him.

However...

Suddenly, Xiao Fang's lightning aura became more frantic as his eyes sparked with streaks of light blue lightning.

However... if his father was going to stand in his way, then he wasn't going to show him any mercy.

[ Lightning Grip ]

Suddenly, the lightning Qi in Xiao Fang's palms quickly travel up his sword and through his father's blade faster than a spark could fly off a piece of flint. In the next moment, Xiao Jianhong's whole body was being brutally electrocuted by the lightning attack.

The torturous Lightning attack was so vicious it tore away at parts of his robes and scorched the ground beneath his feet, but Xiao Jianhong didn't even let out a single sound. The only thing that changed was that his eyes were now closed and a slight frown appeared on his face.

Xiao Fang didn't feel bad for him because he felt this was what he deserved. With this, Xiao Fang felt like he could finally let all his anger out on his father for not being able to protect his mother while he was away.

'A few more minutes of this and I'll go after that Chaos sect bitch next,' Xiao Fang thought as he briefly took his eyes off his father and looked at Lady Xu who was now sitting on the Patriarch's throne. However, the moment Xiao Fang looked away, he suddenly felt his father's hand clenching onto his wrist.

'What!?'

Xiao Fang immediately looked back at his father in shock before seeing that his eyes were now open and sparking blue lightning just like his.

In the next moment, Xiao Fang felt his father kick him right in the stomach, making him fly straight into a wall.

Not even a second later, Xiao Fang climbed out of the rubble before then bolted towards his father. Just like that, they resumed their fight.

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Meanwhile, outside of the Patriarch's Hall, the Elders were in a bit of a panic discussing what to do. No sound could go in or out of the Patriarch's Hall, but that didn't mean they couldn't feel the ground shake. Whatever was happening in there, it was anything but a pleasant talk between a father and son.

Feeling the ground shake, Xiao Jing began to frown.

"Ah, what's going on?" Xiao Jing said.

Appearing behind her, Xiao Jing's new instructor, Chu Piao, answered,

"Don't worry, it's just an earthquake. We get them now and then."

"Ah, I see," Xiao Jing replied.

She had heard from her mother that earthquakes happened here in this province, so she was quick to believe it. Since she had never felt an earthquake before, she was quite fascinated by it.

Supreme Elder Chu, who was standing several meters away from them, gave Chu Piao a look as if to ask him why he lied to Xiao Jing just now, but Chu Piao simply smiled back at the Supreme Elder not giving him a clue at what he was thinking.

Supreme Elder Chu might've been many years older than Chu Piao, but he knew better than anyone else that Chu Piao wasn't simply a genius amongst geniuses in terms of talent, but he was also incredibly cunning and wise for his age. Certainly far beyond his peers.

Supreme Elder Chu eventually looked away from Chu Piao as if he was no longer interested in why Chu Piao did it. He knew he could always get Chu Piao out of trouble if he needed to, and frankly, there were more pressing matters at hand.

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Back inside, Xiao Fang could feel the curse mark burning his neck as it made its way up the skin. Despite all the power he gained from it, he wasn't able to land a single hit on his father.

Sparks flew, clashed rang, and deep cut sword marks were all over the ground, ceiling, and walls. They've only been fighting for a few minutes, but they already managed to nearly destroy the place.

Fighting with similar styles, Xiao Fang and Xiao Jianhong alternated between offence and defence every other second, but Xiao Jianhong seemed to be winning every exchange.

'Dammit,' Xiao Fang thought. 'I can't even land a single hit. More, I just need a little more power!'

He knew he was severely outmatched in terms of skill compared to his father, but he hoped that his elevated battle power would make up for it.

Xiao Fang wanted to take revenge, and his curse mark only fueled that hatred. However, nothing he did seemed to be working. He was even beginning to suspect that his father was holding back against him.

Eventually, his father spoke.

"Are you done?"