Chapter 232 - Divine Swordsmen

'He's... a Divine Swordsman.'

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Divine Swordsmen:

A cultivator who practices the Divine Sword Method. A fierce Cultivation Method only taught by the most infamous swordsmen sect of all, the 'Divine Sword sect'.

Within the country's swordsmen community, the younger generation often like to use the term to refer to those who were so exceptionally talented with the sword, they could even be mistaken for a real Divine Sword sect disciple. 

...

Although the host could be considered to be a part of the younger generation, in this particular case, she didn't mean it in that way. The moment she saw Xiao Fang's Qi, she almost immediately knew that he was practicing the [ Divine Sword ] Method.

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Xiao Fang put his sword down then approached the host.

"Did I win?" he asked.

He could sense that the host was still in shock, but he only assumed it was because she didn't expect him to do so well.

"Huh... ah right. Come with me," she eventually replied.

Xiao Fang followed her to the podium where the Phoenix Jade Hairpin was placed, then waited as she took it out of the transparent container. 

"If you join our club, this hairpin will be yours," she said while holding out a golden identity token.

Xiao Fang didn't like the idea of joining the swordsmen club, but he knew they wouldn't let him have it without being a member. 

He eventually took the golden token then passed his Qi into it till it glowed. Once that was done, she finally handed him the Phoenix Jade Hairpin.

Xiao Fang began to play with it in his hands as he inspected it, but he couldn't find anything extraordinary about it. All the Qi he saw it release earlier couldn't be detected either. Even if it was just a scam, he could tell that the hairpin was made of a precious grade of Jade, so he still felt like it would be a nice gift to give Li Lian the next time he saw her.

Happy with the item, he pretended to put it into his spatial pouch before storing it into his spatial ring, where all his most valuable items were kept.

"I didn't catch your name," the host suddenly said.

"Long Wang."

"We're lucky to have someone as talented as you join our club. My name is Chu Yan, I'm in charge of this place while my master is away. I look forward to working with you."

"Yeah... see you around, Chu Yan," Xiao Fang said before walking away. 

Even though he was a part of the club now, there was no rule saying that he needed to attend club meetings. He didn't have any hard feelings for Chu Yan, he just didn't have any interest in being a part of this club.

Chu Yan was a bit annoyed to see him walk away like that. The Chu family was one of the 3 strongest families in the province governed by the Divine Sword sect. She assumed that Xiao Fang was a spy sent by the Divine Sword sect, so she wanted to use her family name to intimidate him. Unexpectedly, Xiao Fang didn't react at all.

The reason Xiao Fang didn't react was because he didn't think she was from his province in the first place. Although it crossed his mind, he knew that the Divine Sword sect had never sent any of their spies to Black Paradise sect. That was one of the biggest reasons why he chose this sect as opposed to any of the other Major sects. 

Girls could be found in any sect, city, or village. Although he liked the idea of being in a sect full of women, if he wanted to keep the secret of his eye being healed from his grandfather, he knew he had to go somewhere that wasn't being monitored by him. 

Furthermore, Xiao Fang knew all of the Divine Sword sect's spies by name. He even crossed blades with them. If Chu Yan was really a spy sent by the Divine Sword sect, he would've known the second he saw her. Since he was confident that she wasn't spying on him, it didn't matter whether she was from his province or not, so he paid no attention to her.

...

Since Xiao Fang won the main prize, the girls who were only there for the Phoenix Jade Hairpin all started to leave their spot in the line.

Bai Fan and Zhao Pan waited for Xiao Fang at the door, but before he could reach them, he found himself in the middle of a swarm of girls all trying to buy the hairpin from him. 

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"How much are you selling it for?!"

"I'll give you all my merit points!"

"Merit points or spirit stones? I have plenty of both!"

...

The girls that swarmed him were relentless. They pushed and shoved each other just to get closer to him. Bai Fan and Zhao Pan were still amazed that he was able to cut all five bamboo sticks in one go, but they became amused when they saw him getting swarmed by so many girls.

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"Big Brother, why won't you sell it to me. Don't you think I'm cute?"

"Big Brother, don't listen to her. If you sell it to me, I'll let you do whatever you want to me."

"Ah, me too. My body is better than hers. Come feel."

...

Things very quickly got out of hand, and he was starting to have trouble moving through the crowd.

'Weren't these the same girls that were insulting me earlier?' Xiao Fang thought.

This was probably the first time he had been surrounded by women but disliked it. Xiao Fang finally stopped walking when he reached Bai Fan and Zhao Pan who were standing by the door.

"Listen up, all of you. This Phoenix Jade Hairpin is not for sale. I'm giving it to the woman I love, so hurry up and scram," Xiao Fang tried to shoo them away.

...

"Wow, are you really giving it to your woman?" 

"What do you think of me? Do you think I could take her place?"

"What about me?"

...

'Too shameless,' Xiao Fang thought.

"Bai Fan, Zhao Pan, I think I did enough club searching for today. What about you?" Xiao Fang asked.

"I'm done as well," Bai Fan said.

"The sooner we get out of her the better," Zhao Pan replied next.

"Alright, let's go."

With that, Zhao Pan and Bai Fan followed him outside. 

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It had been a long day, but the sun was still up and wasn't going to set for a few more hours.

"What now?" Bai Fan asked.

Without even realizing it, Bai Fan and Zhao Pan were following Xiao Fang even after they left the Club Center.

"Elder Su wanted us to practice the [ Illusory Clone ] technique. Maybe we should start doing that," Zhao Pan suggested.

Bai Fan enjoyed the idea of training, so she didn't oppose it. However, the sun was still up, so she wanted to spend a little more time with Xiao Fang.

"Practicing what you learned while it's still fresh in your mind is a good idea. Since I already learned the technique, I could help you practice it if you like," Xiao Fang suggested.

"Long Wang, would you really help us learn the technique?" Bai Fan asked.

"I won't be as good of a teacher as Teacher Su, but I'll do what I can."

"That's fine, any help from you would be fine," Bai Fan said happily.

"What about you, Zhao Pan. Will you be joining us?" Xiao Fang asked.

Although Zhao Pan hated receiving favors from people, she didn't like the idea of Bai Fan getting special training from Xiao Fang. The last thing she wanted was for Bai Fan and Xiao Fang to leave her behind.

"I… wouldn't want to be an inconvenience to you."

"I have time to spare," Xiao Fang said.

"In that case, I'd appreciate it if you could train me as well."

Xiao Fang was a bit amused that it took her this long to accept his kind gesture.

"Alright, follow me. I know a place where you could train."

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Deep in the middle of a forest, Zhao Pan and Bai Fan stood behind Xiao Fang as he was walking towards a large guild house.

"That house... where are you taking us?" Zhao Pan asked.

"This is my guild," Xiao Fang replied.

Bai Fan and Zhao Pan both knew that he was in a guild after witnessing his confrontation with Chen Li, so neither of them were surprised by his words.

"It's so big," Bai Fan said in awe.

"I'm a man with a lot of big things," Xiao Fang proclaimed, but neither of them seemed to catch the hint.

Xiao Fang was about to open the door when Zhao Pan suddenly stopped him.

"Long Wang, are you sure about this?" Zhao Pan asked nervously.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we aren't exactly members of this guild. You should at least ask your guild master if we could enter."

Finally understanding what they were worried about, he proceeded to open the door.

"Don't worry, the master of this guild has no problem letting you in."

"How could you be so sure?"

Xiao Fang opened the door then turned to face them before saying,

"That's because I, Long Wang, am the master of this guild."