Naked Sword Art Chapter 264 - Inscription Master

Chapter 264 - Inscription Master

In the past 3 days, Xiao Fang had only been able to learn 2 inscriptions with the help of Xue Li and Xiao Hei. Unfortunately, neither inscription could be used for the Concealment Formation he now wanted to learn, so he was no closer to making his first Formation than Bai Fan was.
Xiao Fang assumed it would take them at least a week to learn all 3 of the Inscriptions required for this Formation, then maybe another week to learn how to put them all together.
However, to his surprise, Ru Ji's book accelerated his learning curve several times over, and he was able to learn one of the 3 inscriptions in just under an hour.
The inscription he made glowed on the special piece of inscription paper, telling him that he was successful, but when he tried it again, he wasn't able to make it glow.
'It seems I still need more practice,' he thought.
For the next hour, Xiao Fang was able to make the inscription paper glow a few more times, but never consistently. He could feel himself getting the hang of it, but he knew he needed to spend at least a few more hours with it back home before moving onto the next inscription.
"Long Wang, I did it," Bai Fan said excitedly.
Although she was able to learn it fairly quickly like him, much of it was due to his help. For the past 2 hours they've been pointing out each other's mistakes, but it was a lot easier for him to see her mistakes when he used his [ Spirit Perception ] technique.
Xiao Fang was about to congratulate Bai Fan, but then he suddenly heard someone coming. Bai Fan watched him curiously as he pulled his blindfold down from his forehead to his eyes again. A few moments later, she heard the door to the room suddenly burst open. When she looked back at who it was, her eyes suddenly widened.
"Su... Su... Supreme Elder," Bai Fan immediately bowed her head as if she got caught being somewhere she wasn't supposed to be.
"When I learned that someone had sneaked into my study space, I almost couldn't believe it. So it was you, Bai Fan," Supreme Elder Xue Jinghua said as her frown disappeared.
Supreme Elder Xue Jinghua was Xue Li's mother, but also her Inscription Master, and also the Head Elder supervising this Club.
When Xue Jinghua received the notification that someone without authorization had entered this room, she rushed over as fast as she could. It wouldn't have taken her so long if she weren't in the middle of something, but she knew she would've been able to find out who it was, even if they already left.
"Even though you are the daughter of a fellow Supreme Elder, you should know that it doesn't mean that you can go wherever you please," she half scolded Bai Fan.
"Supreme Elder Xue, we didn't mean to offend you. We didn't want the other girls disturbing us while we studied, so Xue Li told us it would be alright if we studied in here," Bai Fan replied.
"We?" Xue Jinghua replied in confusion.
She finally noticed Xiao Fang in the room and he was seated on a chair not far from Bai Fan, the sight of which shocked her immensely.
"You... how did you..."
The reason she was shocked was because she wasn't notified of his presence. The formation she had set up in this room was one that could detect anyone's natural aura. For him not to be detected would mean that he was somehow able to completely mask his natural aura.
'He must be wearing a cultivation treasure,' she thought.
Even if he was wearing a cultivation treasure, she still couldn't believe that her formation couldn't detect him.
'There's no such treasure that can completely erase one's natural aura, not even the Royal Court has anything of that caliber. If such a thing existed, it would certainly be big news, and I'd definitely hear about it. Whoever this boy is, he certainly isn't ordinary,' Supreme Elder Xue Jinghua thought.
She didn't want to offend someone that could potentially have a powerful backer, not only was she doing it for her own safety, but also for the sect's. Seeing that he was so young and already in the Phoenix-Class confirmed it for her, he definitely wasn't ordinary.
"Who are you?" She finally asked him.
"I am Long Wang, Phoenix-Class 5th Division," Xiao Fang replied.
The name was unfamiliar to her, but she wasn't surprised by that. She even suspected that he was using a fake name, so it made his back ground even more mysterious.
Seeing the two open books in front of him, she became a bit curious.
"You're already learning how make a Formation? Could it be that you both already learned all 69 Inscriptions?"
"Not yet, but the Formation we're trying to learn only requires us to know 3," Xiao Fang explained.
"That's true, but the most difficult part about a Formation isn't the Inscriptions you'd have to make, but the creation of a Formation Ring. Just learning how to do that could take a few months or even a year, so it's best that you spend some of that time practicing each Spirit Inscription to perfection," Supreme Elder Xue lectured him.
"A few months?" Bai Fan suddenly said in surprise as she turned her head to look at Xiao Fang.
Xiao Fang understood why she was looking at him, and frankly, he was a bit taken aback by the Supreme Elder's words as well.
"Supreme Elder, could this be what you're talking about?" Xiao Fang said before making a perfect Formation Circle in the air.
"This... this can't be."
The Supreme Elder couldn't hide the shock in her eyes. What she was witnessing was just too hard to believe.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" She asked.
Xiao Fang already told Bai Fan that he learned it from one of the books on the shelf, so he knew he couldn't switch up his story.
Xiao Fang told her the same thing he told Bai Fan, making the Supreme Elder just stare at him in disbelief.
Only a cultivator in the Spirit Refinement realm could start learning how to make a Formation Ring, but only a cultivator in the Profound Spirit realm could learn it as quickly as he claimed to have done it. Xiao Fang was rather a once in a thousand year genius, or a 19 year old in the Profound Spirit realm, both were equally unbelievable.
"Mother, wait!" A voice suddenly cried out as a person came running through the door. This person was Xue Li.
"Don't punish them. This is all a misunderstanding. I'm the one that allowed them to come in here," Xue Li quickly explained.
"Xue Li, so it was you."
Xue Li was surprised that her mother wasn't mad, but more interestingly, she seemed to only be looking at Xiao Fang. Both Bai Fan and Xiao Fang understood why, but Xiao Fang was a bit nervous about what she would do with this new information.
"Young man, do you have an inscription master teaching you?" She suddenly asked Xiao Fang.
"I don't," he replied.
"How would you like to be my direct disciple?"
Xiao Fang paused, because he was a bit shocked by her proposal. What would it mean to be a direct disciple to a Supreme Elder? Would he get special treatment, would he be sent to the Core Court? But most importantly, would they finally start looking into his background.
To his knowledge, no one in the province was more capable of an inscription master than her, and he had no background with inscriptions since both his mother and father weren't proficient with Inscriptions. Although he would risk having his background investigated, this was well worth the risk.
Xue Li and Bai Fan were shocked by Supreme Elder Xue's proposal, because they both knew that she didn't have any direct disciples under her. She already had her own daughter to teach, so she didn't want to waste time teaching someone else. However, Xiao Fang wasn't just someone else, to her, he was a genius amongst geniuses. She would be a fool to not take advantage of this opportunity.
"If Supreme Elder is willing. I'd happily accept," Xiao Fang replied.
Seeing that he was interested in becoming her disciple, she felt like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders. However, just to be safe, she wanted to test him first. Some things were just too good to be true, she would be a fool to accept a disciple without testing his abilities first.
"Good, but first, you must show me what you are capable of. If you can master the first Basic Concealment Formation in a week, I'll accept you as a disciple. How does that sound?"
Although what she was saying seemed completely unreasonable, if Xiao Fang was the genius she believed him to be, then this would certainly be within his ability.
Xiao Fang finally cupped his hands and bowed his head slightly before saying,
"Thank you for this opportunity."