Naked Sword Art

{ "You should run." }

Bai Fan's eyes widened when she received Xiao Hei's spirit transmission, but she didn't hesitate to flee the moment she received it.

Although her decision to run was a rational one, the direction she was running to was away from Xiao Hei. She didn't care that Xiao Hei had helped her out of this sticky situation, the feeling she got from her was far more terrifying than anything she felt from any of the insect-type beasts.

.

.

.

When Bai Fan was far enough away, she finally put the girl down then tried to wake her up.

*Cough Cough Cough*

The girl opened her eyes then saw Bai Fan, but in the next moment she began to panic as she quickly got back up. To her surprise they were completely alone.

"Bai Fan, what are you doing here? Where did they all go?"

"You don't remember what happened?"

"No, I don't. One moment I was running from a swarm, the next moment I'm waking up here."

"Li Xiang, I told you not to trust people so easily," Bai Fan scolded here.

Li Xiang was the sole daughter of the Patriarch of the Li Family Clan, unlike the cold-hearted beauty, Bai Fan, Li Xiang was much more playful and kind-hearted. 

Bai Fan didn't like making friends, but Li Xiang was someone she paid close attention to. Even if they weren't friends, Bai Fan would often go on missions with her and regularly challenge her to fights. She did this because Li Xiang was the same age as her and also in the 7th stage of the refinement realm. There was no one else Bai Fan's age that could rival her, but not only was Li Xiang just as talented as her, she was also just as skilled as well.

...

Li Xiang was embarrassed that she was saved by her rival, so she didn't even offer a word of thanks, not that Bai Fan wanted one anyways.

"How the hell did you even get so many spirit beasts to chase after you anyways?" Bai Fan finally asked. 

"Ah, you see..." Li Xiang smiled bitterly as she scratched the back of her neck. She paused so that she could think of a way to make her actions seem less foolish than it really was.

Bai Fan sighed as she could guess what had happened. Even if they weren't really friends, Bai Fan had been around Li Xiang for long enough to know just the kind of mischievous person she was. Perhaps the girl that backstabbed Li Xiang wasn't totally unjustified after all.

"Just forget it, I don't want to know," Bai Fan said before she started leaving.

Li Xiang followed behind her.

"Don't follow me." 

The truth was Bai Fan didn't want Li Xiang following her because she didn't know what calamity Li Xiang would bring upon her. She was the kind of girl to do something dangerous just for the fun of it.

"Sister Bai, let's team up. How am I supposed to save you if you run away from me."

"If you keep following me, you're going to need to save yourself from me."

"I know you don't mean that," Li Xiang smiled brightly.

A dangerous look suddenly appeared in Bai Fan's eyes as she stopped running and turned around. In the next second, she executed a powerful spirit technique and aimed it straight at Li Xiang. With this attack she hoped to scare Li Xiang off.

Li Xiang reciprocated with a powerful technique of her own, cancelling hers out.

"You see? If you really wanted to hurt me, you wouldn't have used such a weak technique."

Bai Fan's eyes twitched out of annoyance. She knew that Li Xiang knew her attack wasn't weak at all. She was just trying to get under her skin like usual.

"Oh, common. Please let me come with you. These forests are too dangerous. It would be better if we teamed up."

Truth was, having Li Xiang as a partner would actually be a really good idea for passing the exam quicker. Also, knowing Li Xiang's character, she wouldn't stop annoying her until she got what she wanted.

Bai Fan sighed.

"Alright, let's team up."

.

.

.

The 2 girls resumed running through the forest when Li Xiang noticed that Bai Fan was following some kind of path as if she was familiar with the area.

"Bai Fan, are we going somewhere specific?"

"Yeah, I'm going back to where I rescued you from."

"Wait why are you going there?"

"I killed a number of them before I escaped. It won't be enough to make my pendant shine red, but it will certainly help."

"But isn't it still dangerous?"

"I don't know about you, but I'll be able to handle myself now that I'm not carrying you on my shoulder."

"Hehe, how about we make it a little interesting?"

"You better not pull anything, or I'm never teaming up with you again," Bai Fan warned Li Xiang.

"Hmph, you're no fun, Bai Fan."

...

Eventually, Bai Fan slowed down.

Bai Fan finally stopped moving and hid herself when she was close enough to see one of the flying beasts on the ground.

With caution, they both proceeded closer and closer to the open field, but what they saw was something they never expected to see. There were several dozens of insect-type beast corpses littered everywhere on the ground. Most were in the 2nd tier, while the others were in the 3rd.

"You... I thought you said you only killed a few."

"I thought so too," Bai Fan repied.

Bai Fan was in as much shock as Li Xiang, because whoever did this didn't even bother to take the beast cores out.

...

Bai Fan and Li Xiang quickly absorbed all of the beast cores, but they were still unable to make their pendants shine red. It seemed that they still had some ways to go.

"I don't get it, why would anyone just leave all of their beast cores here?" Li Xiang wondered.

Li Xiang wasn't expecting a response, but after a few seconds Bai Fan finally spoke.

"When I saved you, there was someone else there with me."

"Someone else? is it someone we know?"

"No... I don't think so. I couldn't see her face."

"Do you think she killed all of them alone?"

"It's likely. Were there any Spirit Core realm cultivators participating in the exam this year?," Bai Fan asked.

"Mn, I remember seeing a few, but it still doesn't explain why she would leave so many beast cores here."

"Maybe she didn't need it."

"What do you mean? Of course she would need it. She wouldn't be able to pass the exam without it."

"Unless... her pendant was already red."

There was a brief moment of silence before Li Xiang started laughing.

"Pfft, hahahah. Something like that would be impossible. It hasn't even been an hour since the exam started. How could someone already finish the first test?"

"I saw it. Her pendant was really red," Bai Fan spoke in a tone that made it clear to Li Xiang that she didn't care what she thought, she was confident in what she saw.

"You really-" 

Li Xiang looked at Bai Fan with a serious gaze, but Bai Fan didn't bother looking back at her. Li Xiang could tell that Bai Fan was convinced by what she saw, but Li Xiang wasn't the kind of person to believe nonsense so easily.

"Believe nothing you hear, and only half the things you see. That is what they teach here in this sect, right?" Li Xiang said.

At first, Bai Fan didn't reply, but eventually she closed her eyes and shook her head.

"You're right. I was probably just imagining it."

Li Xiang laughed it off, then eventually forgot about it. Bai Fan on the other hand couldn't forget, nor could she stop thinking about it. Whoever the mystery girl was, she was clearly hiding her strength from the public. If there was a genius hiding within the sect, Bai Fan wanted to know who she was. Bai Fan didn't know her name, nor the way she looked, but that didn't discourage her from wanting to find her.

The mystery girl was still in the exam. If she didn't run into her during the exam, she would definitely see her at the end of it.