'Dammit! It's now or never!'

.

.

.

Xiao Fang finally stopped to face his pursuers. The moment he turned, 5 9th tiered beasts suddenly jumped straight at him.

"Foolish."

He unsheathed his sword then attacked them as soon as they landed.

Even though he needed to get close to deal a decisive blow, his battle power was so much higher than theirs, it wasn't a difficult task. Since their numbers were low, the only fate that awaited them was death.

...

Relying on his quick footwork and masterful swordsmanship, he evaded all of their attacks and created deep wounds on each of their bodies. Xiao Fang defeated all 5 of the beast before the other 20 could even catch up.

"20," Xiao Fang counted the beasts that remained.

When the other beasts finally caught up, they didn't attack Xiao Fang recklessly like the first 5 did, they paused for a moment then tried to coordinate an attack, but Xiao Fang didn't give them a chance to do that. He was short on time so he wanted to deal with them as soon as possible.

[ Divine Sword Cutting Air ]

The sharp Divine Sword qi that coated his blade extended out by 10 meters, giving him a much larger attack range. With this, he didn't need to risk getting close to attack the 9th tiered beasts.

[ Illusory Clone ]

The moment his clones went in different directions, the beasts separated too. They knew they couldn't afford to split up against Xiao Fang, but they had no choice.

"19."

"18."

"17."

"16."

...

"15."

"14."

"13."

"12."

"11."

...

Xiao Fang kept creating clones whenever they were destroyed. Even though his clones were incapable of dealing any damage, it still tilted the battle heavily in his favor.

In a matter of seconds, Xiao Fang had reduced their numbers so low he no longer needed to rely on his clones to defeat them.

'It seems I overestimated them. Then again, the Illusory Body method is great against fighting uneven numbers,' Xiao Fang thought.

[ Floating Leaf Rushing Tide ]

Xiao Fang hovered an inch off the ground before he started running at blinding speeds.

Seeing that the fight was already lost, the remaining 9th tiered beasts turned tail and ran, but Xiao Fang didn't let any of them escape.

One by one they quickly fell. Once they were all dead, Xiao Fang extracted their cores then made his spirit pendant absorb its qi.

"Not bad. It seems a single one of these is as good as a 100 8th tiered beast cores," Xiao Fang smiled avariciously.

Suddenly a thought came to mind.

'Since they're all 9th tiered beasts, wouldn't it help me make a breakthrough with my body cultivation if I consumed their bodies?' Xiao Fang wondered.

However, before Xiao Fang could test that theory he noticed the colossal beast picking up a massive boulder from afar.

'Damn that monkey,' Xiao Fang thought before running towards the lake again.

A second later an explosion that could shake the heaven and the earth sounded out. All the beasts Xiao Fang had killed were now made into nothing but dust. The colossal beast snarled when it missed Xiao Fang, then it continued to chase after him.

.

.

.

Back at the entrance of the 7th floor, Xiao Hei waited patiently for Xiao Fang to return. Despite all that was happening, she couldn't see or hear any of it. All she could hear were the occasional roars of the powerful beasts that were roaming close to the entrance.

"Fang, what's taking you so long," she thought out loud.

Eventually she heard someone walking through the illusory wall, so she quickly hid herself before going into [ Stealth ].

The woman finally passed through the wall. When Xiao Hei saw her face, she instantly recognized her. It was Supreme Elder Quan, the same elder they saw during the inner court exam.

Supreme Elder Quan shook her head, as she thought back to when she gave Xiao Fang her high grade spirit pendant.

'I can't believe I gave him my pendant when there was still some qi left in there. I suppose its better than giving him a brand new one,' she thought.

Before she could pass through the 7th floor entrance she paused then turned around.

"Who's there?"

There was no response.

"If you don't come out, I'll bring you out by force!"

Xiao Hei finally came out of [ Stealth ] then walked out of hiding. Supreme Elder Quan was surprised to see Xiao Hei.

"Fei Lin, what are you doing here. Didn't anyone tell you this floor was strictly for elders?"

Xiao Hei shook her head.

"Ah, well I suppose it wasn't necessary since disciples weren't supposed to be able to see through this illusion," she said as she looked back at the illusory wall.

Supreme Elder Quan was about to take Xiao Hei back up to the 6th floor but then she realized something.

"Fei Lin, where's your group?"

"..." Xiao Hei didn't reply.

"Did you come with a group?"

"..." she shook her head hesitantly.

"A partner?"

"..." Xiao Hei eventually nodded, but she still stayed quiet.

Elder Quan didn't understand why Xiao Hei was being so quiet. The last time she saw her she was acting so brazenly and wasn't afraid to talk back to her despite her status.

"Forget it, we can look for your partner once I take you back up to the 6th floor."

"Elder, wait," Xiao Hei finally spoke.

Xiao Hei knew that Xiao Fang preferred to do things in secret, but she had been waiting for him for more than 24 hours. Eventually, she couldn't help but think that he was in trouble.

"My partner is in there," Xiao Hei said as she pointed to the 7th floor entrance.

Supreme Elder Quan's eyes widened in shock.

"How could your partner be so foolish!?"

"Elder, please help my friend. I think they might be in trouble." Xiao Hei said with a worried expression on her face.

The Supreme elder sighed. She didn't think there was a chance an inner court disciple could survive long on this floor.

"Alright, I'll look for your partner, but whatever you do, you mustn't pass through this entrance."

In the next moment the Supreme Elder disappeared.

"Xiao Fang, please be safe."

...

The Supreme Elder went looking through the forest but she couldn't find an inner court disciple's body anywhere. This was a large floor, so it could take weeks to explore all of it even at her speed.

When she saw the cut down trees, she paused.

'There was a fight here, but where's the body?'

She followed the clues till she made it out of the forest. The Elder frowned.

'She couldn't have gotten far.'

Just like that, the Supreme Elder continued her search for the missing disciple.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, Xiao Fang stood at the center of the lake as he waited for the colossal beast to arrive. He then reached up and took his blindfold off.

This was the first time Xiao Fang was going to fight against a beast that could move faster than sound. Relying on his ears would only hold him back.

In the next moment, the colossal beast jumped into the air.

"Rooaaar!!"

The colossal beast catapulted itself into the lake so hard it created a 50 meter wave that threatened to swallow Xiao Fang whole, but before it could hit, he swung his sword down while releasing profound lightning qi. It split the wave in half then cut right through the colossal beast that was on the other side. Suddenly, the beast dispersed into a mist of qi.

"What!?" Xiao Fang had never heard of a beast that could use cultivation techniques. So he almost couldn't believe what he saw.

'If that wasn't the real body, then-'

Xiao Fang didn't need to think about it because Xiao Hei had pulled the same stunt on him back in the rental cultivation room.

Xiao Fang immediately jumped out of the away, then a massive hand shot out of the water where he last was.

The beast seemed to have a smug look on it's face when it thought it grabbed Xiao Fang, but it turned out to be nothing but his illusory clone. Suddenly it could feel a stinging feeling on the back of its fingers. It was cut.

When it looked down, it could see Xiao Fang frowning at it with his sword drawn. Although he had successfully dodged the colossal beast's attack and landed an attack on it, he was anything but satisfied. Xiao Fang's powerful attack had barely left a shallow wound on it. Relative to its size, it was more appropriate to call it a tiny scratch.

The colossal beast grinned as it stared down at Xiao Fang. This was going to be fun.

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