Naked Sword Art

On the lowest floor of the prison in the Divine Sword sect, Xiao Fang remained chained and wrapped in restraints as he cultivated the [ Soul Devouring ] method.

[ 7th stage of the Spirit Refinement realm, 8th stage, 9th… ]

In a single day he was able to cultivate his Soul Qi to the Spirit Core realm with the [ Soul Devouring ] method. He was making so many breakthroughs he almost forgot the current state he was in.

'Unreal,' Xiao Fang thought.

He knew if he told anyone about this, they definitely wouldn't believe him.

As excited as he was, his Soul perception gradually grew, eventually, Xiao Fang could not only feel everything again, but he could also feel the threat inhabiting his body. He could feel the Curse.

Now that his Soul Qi was at the Core Spirit realm, Xiao Fang didn't feel powerless anymore.

'Let's see what you're made of,' Xiao Fang thought as he began to inspect his body for the Curse.

Circulating his Soul Qi throughout his body, he immediately felt the familiar burn from the curse again, but it wasn't nearly as strong as it used to be.

'Could it be because of the inscription formation placed on me?' he thought.

Recalling his grandmother's words, Xiao Fang understood that his restraints weren't really meant to imprison him, but instead, it was placed on him to stop the Curse from taking over his body.

'She called it a Curse tribulation, am I supposed to defeat this thing?' Xiao Fang thought.

Analyzing the Curse within him, he eventually noticed that it was moving as if to avoid his Soul Qi.

'It's alive.'

Even with the inscription formation placed on him, the Curse was still strong.

'You can't hide.'

With his Soul Qi circulating through his meridians, Xiao Fang knew what to do. The heart of the Curse was trying to avoid his detection, but now that Xiao Fang knew it was there, it was only a matter of time till he found it.

Giving it nowhere to run, Xiao Fang trapped it within his dantian, pouring his Soul Qi endlessly from all sides, blocking any chance for it to escape.

"Running is pointless. Show yourself," Xiao Fang said as he created a figure of himself in his dantian using his Soul Qi.

Hovering over the calm lake, Cursed Qi began to manifest itself into a figure as well, but it had no face. It was a tall man, as pale and thin as a corpse, but for the most part his entire body, including his head, was shrouded in a black mist. It was death personified, a grim reaper of the sort.

'Even with the inscription formation restraining it, it still feels strong,' Xiao Fang thought.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll let me be. If you kill me, you'll never have my power," the Curse suddenly spoke.

Xiao Fang wanted answers, so he asked,

"What are you?"

"I am a Reaper," it replied. "I am what you need to practice the [ Death Reaper ] method beyond the Heavenly realm."

"Beyond the Heavenly Realm? Nowhere in the Death Reaper scroll did it say that it was a Heavenly Cultivation method," Xiao Fang replied.

"The method you possess is an incomplete version. If you ever encounter the completed version, you'll need me to practice it," the Curse explained.

"Whether I find it or not won't matter if you kill me first," Xiao Fang replied.

"Unfortunately, that's not something I'll be able to do once the seal placed on me is complete."

"How long will that take?" Xiao Fang asked.

The Curse didn't reply, so Xiao Fang impatiently spoke again

"I have somewhere I need to be, I can't waste my time being trapped in here with you."

The lake of Soul Qi beneath them began to ripple and swirl, it was as if Xiao Fang was preparing to attack. Although it could potentially be a huge loss for him, Xiao Fang had already made up his mind.

The Curse didn't immediately react to it, but understanding better than anyone that Xiao Fang wasn't bluffing, it finally spoke.

"I might have a solution."

But before it could continue, Xiao Fang's Soul Qi enveloped it. However, it wasn't enough to suppress the Curse.

"You want to save your mother, you might have a chance of achieving that with my power," the Curse tried to convince Xiao Fang.

Xiao Fang knew he wouldn't be able to suppress the Curse spirit yet, but at the rate at which he was making breakthroughs, he knew it would be long till his Soul Qi was strong enough to eliminate the Curse. However, if the Curse had an alternative, Xiao Fang wasn't opposed to hearing him out.

"Speak, what do you propose?"

"I propose a contract, I'll freely grant you my power for 100 days, but in exchange I want you to give me something in return," the Curse answered.

"What do you want?" Xiao Fang asked.

"You should already know, I want to be fed. Kill 10,000 Refinement realm cultivators, or above."

"Much less kill, do you really think I'll be able to find 10,000 refinement realm cultivators in that time?" Xiao Fang frowned.

"You can either bring me 10,000 cultivators in the Refinement Realm, 1,000 in the Core Realm, 100 in the Profound realm, 10 in the Divine realm, or whatever variation of cultivators would be fine by me."

"And if I don't?" Xiao Fang asked.

"Then we'll be back where we started," the Curse answered.

Xiao Fang understood what he meant, he would either need to become a Heavenly Realm Cultivator or get his step mother to put this formation on him again after 3 months. He didn't need to think about it for long. Although 10,000 was too unrealistic of a goal to achieve, there was virtually nothing to lose.

Unless Lady Xu was dead in 100 days, Xiao Fang assumed there would be nothing for him to worry about.

There was no denying that he was tempted by the prospect of learning a Heavenly realm technique, and possessing the Curse's Qi would also be of great help to him in the Chaos sect.

"Fine, let's do it. Make it happen," Xiao Fang answered him.

The curse grinned, "As you wish."

It didn't take long for Xiao Fang to feel a difference.

Feeling the burning on his skin finally stop, Xiao Fang noticed the black markings on his skin begin to disappear, and with it, the Inscription Formation binding him no longer active.

"Finally free," Xiao Fang thought as he could feel his ordinary Qi filling his dantian once again.

However, what he didn't like was that his ordinary Qi was pushing out all the Soul Qi he had gathered into his dantian.

'I see,' Xiao Fang thought with a frown.

Mixing his Soul Qi with his Ordinary Qi in his dantian was like mixing water and oil. They didn't just not mix, but completely rejected each other. But that was not the case for his Curse Qi. Bringing it out, Xiao Fang immediately noticed how different it was. There was no markings or burning this time, and it felt no different than using his own Qi.

With it, Xiao Fang could tell that his power output had increased several times.

'Incredible, so this is what it's like to have full control over it,' Xiao Fang thought.

The Curse Qi coated his body with a black mist over his robes, but in the next moment, the inscription formation trapped him once again, draining him of all his Cursed and ordinary Qi. However, Xiao Fang wasn't discouraged by this, in fact, he was pleased by it.

'It would be a wasted opportunity to leave now,' Xiao Fang thought

Although he didn't like being restrained, it brought him an incredible opportunity to practice his new [ Soul Devouring ] method. But before he could start practicing it again, he suddenly heard someone coming.