Naked Sword Art

'What's taking him so long?'

.

.

.

Waiting for their class to begin, Lai Yun's friends had nothing better to do than to ask her about Xiao Fang. She tried to answer them as best as she could, but the truth was that she really didn't know much about him.

"Leave her alone girls, she hasn't even been his guildmate for longer than a week. Of course she wouldn't know much about him," one of Lai Yun's friends said.

"Where is he anyway?" another asked.

"How could you let him sleep in? You two are guildmates now, you should start coming to class together."

Lai Yun was starting to get annoyed by her friends' words. It was no secret that they were into him, but they were of noble birth, so they should've at least tried to have shown some restraint.

Unable to keep her composure, Lai Yun said,

"What are you girls talking about? If he's late, that's on him. Don't bring me into it."

…

The girls continued to chat about Xiao Fang till Su Lingxi finally got everyone's attention. To their surprise, she had a new class planned for them. They would not be having class inside, but will be taking it to the Ancestral Training Ground. Su Lingxi spent the next few minutes explaining what they'd be doing then split them all into groups of 3 before saying,

"Look at your group members and get familiar with them. They will be with you till the end of the year."

The girls were happy with the groups because it was the same groups they were in last year. Since none of them advanced to the 4th division, none of them were unfamiliar with each other.

"These are the teams you'll be in when you meet your mentors next week. To prepare, I want you to use this class to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. I expect this trip to not only be a good opportunity for you to practice what you learned in class, but to also practice working together. By the time you meet your mentors, I expect you'll be ready," Su Lingxi said.

The girls were confused because they were already familiar with their teammates because it was the same teams they've been working with last year. These things rarely change, unless one of the members proceeds to a higher Class, or gets demoted to a lower one. However, none of the girls wanted to say anything about it because it was almost as if they were taking a field trip.

"Teacher, will we be having the same mentors as well?" one girl suddenly asked, prompting the other disciples to turn their heads to her with a deathly stare.

"You'll just have to wait and see," Su Lingxi replied mysteriously.

The girls started to suspect that Su Lingxi was just playing dumb, and making an excuse to let them have class outside now. If they didn't think she was the best teacher assistant before, they certainly did now.

While the girls were appreciating how lucky they were to have Su Lingxi as a teacher, Lai Yun, on the other hand, couldn't help but wonder where Xiao Fang was. The penalty for being absent was much more severe than being late, so she couldn't help but worry that they would leave without him.

She thought about stalling Su Lingxi to give him more time, but the more she thought about it the less she felt like doing anything.

'He's way too carefree. First he says he wants to start a war with the White Jade guild, now he's showing up to class late. He probably thinks the world revolves around him,' Lai Yun thought angrily.

…

Although Lai Yun wasn't going to stall for him, Bai Fan certainly was.

Suddenly standing in the middle row, Bai Fan raised her hand, but Su Lingxi already knew what Bai Fan was going to say. So before she could let her speak, Su Lingxi said,

"Bai Fan, if you're worried about Long Wang, don't be. He's out running an errand for me, so we'll see him when he returns. If no one has any more questions, let's get on our way."

Hearing that set Bai Fan's heart at ease.

As everyone was getting up to leave, one of Lai Yun's friends jokingly whispered to her ear,

"It looks like our teacher has a new favorite."

Lai Yun didn't pay any heed to her friend's words, but she couldn't help but feel disturbed by what Su Lingxi just said.

'I was with him the whole time, when could she have asked him to run an errand for her?' Lai Yun wondered.

Thinking back to when she was in his office, she recalled when Su Yun walked in on them saying that she spoke to her sister and that he was 'good to go'. Lai Yun didn't understand it at the time, but it seemed like they were planning something.

'Could the sister Su Yun was referring to be Elder Su Lingxi?' Lai Yun thought.

Whatever was happening, it couldn't be simple.

'Perhaps this could be exactly what Chen Li was looking for,' Lai Yun thought with a mischievous smirk.

If she played her cards right, perhaps she wouldn't have to resort to blackmail.

.

.

.

Once the class made it to the entrance of the Ancient Training Ground, they started going in with their teams, three by three. Su Lingxi sent a clone in with them as well, while her original body stayed outside with Bai Fan and Zhao Pan.

"Could he have already gone in without us?" Bai Fan asked about Xiao Fang, but Su Lingxi shook her head.

Su Lingxi would've seen him through her clone if he had, but before she could tell her that, Xiao Fang suddenly appeared.

"Elder Su, my apologies. Did I keep you waiting for long?" Xiao Fang asked as he approached.

"Fang, you made it!" Bai Fan said happily.

"Took you long enough," Zhao Pan said next.

"Not at all. You made it just on time," Su Lingxi replied. She then explained to him what they would be doing today, and that Bai Fan and Zhao Pan would be his teammates.

"I see," Xiao Fang replied before turning to them. "Let's work well together," he smiled.

Bai Fan nodded with a smile, but Zhao Pan seemed indifferent.

"Now that we got that out of the way, follow me in," Su Lingxi said.

"Elder Su, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," Xiao Fang said.

"What is it?" she replied.

"There's a technique I would like to learn, and I was hoping you could do me another favor and provide me with some assistance."

"A new technique? Sure, if I'm familiar with it, I'll assist you the best I can," Su Lingxi replied.

Hearing Xiao Fang say that he wanted to learn a new technique was a bit unexpected, so even Bai Fan and Zhao Pan were a bit curious to know what it was.