Naked Sword Art-Chapter 425: Winning Spree

"…If not, the Black Paradise Sect will lose."

"Arrogant," one elder muttered.

"Impudent," another scoffed.

But as the next match began, and yet another girl from the sect was swiftly defeated, the once dismissive silence in the room turned cold.

One loss.

Two.

Three.

Just like Xun Wei, Chu Piao was on a winning spree.

The unease that began with Xun Wei's defeat had now bloomed into full-fledged dread. Chu Piao hadn't even broken a sweat. They might actually lose.

By the end of the fourth match, only six girls remained. Of them, Gao Fen and Li Qin were their strongest hopes before Li Lian.

Shi Lan turned toward Gao Fen, who was scheduled to fight next. "Gao Fen. Just from what you've seen so far—do you believe you can defeat him?"

Gao Fen met the Matriarch's eyes without hesitation.

"Yes, Matriarch. I can."

It was the answer everyone wanted to hear, but the weight in her voice betrayed her doubt. Everyone knew Gao Fen was a cunning and experienced fighter, but even the cleverest combatant could only do so much against overwhelming force.

"Good! Do your best," one elder encouraged. "Even if you can't win, we just need you to tire him out."

…

Before long, Gao Fen's turn arrived.

No one had expected Chu Piao to defeat seven of the Black Paradise Sect's strongest youngest disciples so effortlessly. Grim and gloomy expressions clouded the elders' faces, but Gao Fen remained calm and determined.

As she stepped onto the stage, she drew her whip. Unlike her, Chu Piao didn't reach for his sword.

He hadn't used his weapon since facing Xun Wei.

Gao Fen noticed.

He was underestimating her—just like he did everyone else.

But what Chu Piao didn't know was that Gao Fen wasn't just another disciple. She was a 25 years old Profound Realm cultivator—just like him. No matter how strong he was, she wasn't someone he could afford to take lightly.

The match began.

Unexpectedly, she tossed her whip to the side, then her body flickered. In the next instant, two of her appeared—one on either side of him, fists flying in perfect synchronization.

Chu Piao narrowed his eyes. One must be the clone he assumed. But they mirrored each other too perfectly, and they were too fast to tell.

No time to think.

He raised his arms to block both incoming punches—but just as the strikes were about to connect to his palms, the fists suddenly morphed into coiling snakes as it spun in the air, quickly latching onto his arms.

Before he could react, his arms were yanked together and bound behind his back.

As it turned out, both of the Gao Fen's that attacked him were clones of whips meant to restrain him.

To further everyone's shock, the whip Gao Fen tossed aside in the beginning suddenly morphed into the real Gao Fen.

Gasps erupted.

"Shit! He got caught!"

"He was too arrogant!"

From the Black Paradise Sect's stands, cheers broke out.

"She did it!"

"This could be huge!"

"She might actually win!"

Gao Fen wanted to capitalize on the advantage she created—she couldn't afford to give him a moment to recover. Without missing a beat, she raised her arm, and her whip shot out like a serpent of light. It snapped toward Chu Piao's head, but he tilted just enough for it to skim past his cheek.

She didn't stop there.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Strike after strike—blurring into thousands. Her whip split into dozens, then hundreds, until it looked like an entire web of glowing threads crisscrossed the arena, each one a phantom strike meant to confuse and entangle. A technique known among the Sect as [ Thousand Weeping Threads ]—a technique few dared to use in actual combat due to its brutal strain on the user.

From the audience, it looked like Chu Piao stood at the center of a vortex of snapping light.

And yet… he moved.

With hands still tied behind his back, Chu Piao began to shift his feet—precise, flowing, almost lazy. His upper body swayed like falling feathers, and somehow, impossibly, not a single strike landed.

Not even one.

"He's dodging them?" someone said in disbelief.

"That's impossible—she's forming illusory strikes faster than the eye can follow!"

But Xun Wei, watching from the corner with her arms crossed tightly, had already gone pale. Her [ Ghost Blade - Phantom Blitz ] was a technique she practiced tirelessly to master. After she failed to even land a scratch against Chu Piao, she thought her technique was still extremely lacking, but now she realized she was wrong. Her technique wasn't lacking, Chu Piao's swordsman's instinct was simply too strong, it could even rival Xiao Fang's.

'Chu Piao… I've definitely heard that name before,' Xun Wei thought, trying to recall where she heard it from.

Suddenly, Gao Fen slammed her palms to the ground. In an instant, waves of small, illusory red snakes burst forth, slithering toward Chu Piao in a chaotic swarm. But he moved with precision—leaping, weaving, and slipping through the gaps, effortlessly dodging every strike that came his way.

'Wait... wasn't he mentioned back in the Divine Sword Sect?' Xun Wei eventually remembered overhearing Inner Court disciples debating the strongest Core Court swordsmen. Most names meant little to her at the time, but Chu Piao had stood out—briefly mentioned, yet with an odd weight behind it.

…

"Chu's not the strongest," one had said, "but he's killed more Chaos sect members than any of them."

"Kills don't mean strength," someone argued, but the boldest girl had replied, "If you threw them all in a room and said only one walks out... I'd bet on Chu."

Xun Wei hadn't understood it then, but when she asked why, the answer chilled her.

"At one point, Chu Piao's bounty was so high, bounty hunters from all over the country tried to hunt him down. One day during a mission, he was captured... and delivered to the Chaos Sect. Everybody knows, the Chaos Sect doesn't take prisoners. But somehow, the day before his execution, he escaped."

Several more stories about Chu Piao escaping impossible situations were told, it was hard to tell which were real and which weren't but they assured her every story they told was true. Thinking it was all just stories, she didn't think too much into it, but seeing Chu Piao now, she wondered how he was going to escape.