2 Death, By A Thousand Cuts

Xiao Fang was born into the Divine Sword Sect. His father is the patriarch, but his mother is a servant. She was someone his grandfather captured after wiping out her sect. So for that reason, she had refused to willingly marry the patriarch.

She came from a tribe that practice Dual Cultivation, which is considered a taboo cultivation method, and was proficient in finding pressure points all over the body. Growing up, she spent a great deal of time teaching Xiao Fang how to find these pressure point, but there was still a lot he could learn from her.

On Xiao Fang's 18th birthday his mother gave him her old tribe's Dual Cultivation Method and in just under 2 months he was able to reach the 2nd stage of the spirit foundation realm. The reason this was shocking was because it took him 7 months to reach the 2nd stage of the body strengthening realm back when he was a little kid.

The sect he lived in was full of body cultivators, so he didn't know much about the spirit cultivation world. He knew spirit cultivating was much faster, but that was about it.

For the past few years, Xiao Fang had been sleeping with women in the sect only to better practice his techniques, but now that he had a dual cultivation method, he can cultivate his spirit while having sex.

So this is where Xiao Fang's story begins. The story of his journey as a dual cultivator.

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"Fang'er, can you get me a bucket of water", a middle aged woman spoke. Xiao Fang had been sitting in a lotus position earnestly cultivating his spirit, trying to make a breakthrough into the 3th stage of the spirit foundation realm, but to no avail.

"I need to cultivate with more women", he thought.

"Xiao Fang!", the woman called out again.

"Ah. Yes, Mother", Xiao Fang replied.

Once he heard his name being called he jumped off his bed to grab a bucket of water for her. At the same time, she gathered all the dirty clothes then began cleaning them by hand.

"We have maids for these kinds of things, you know?".

"I won't accept anything that man has to give me, and you know that", she said suddenly scrubbing harder.

"He has given you a loving child", Xiao Fang teased.

"Thats not the same thing. I had played big part in that, it's only natural that you are with me. Ah, that reminds me. The patriarch is looking for you".

Since Xiao Fang was born, she never once referred to the patriarch as his father. He understood why, but frankly he didn't care about such things.

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Many elders gathered outside the main palace hall; including the overgrown chicken, Elder Chicken Jiang.

"Tell the patriarch I am here", he said to one of the servants at the door in a cool but respectable tone.

A few seconds passed then the doors finally opened followed by a heavy sound that made everyone present fall to their knees; everyone but Xiao Fang.

"Xiao Fang, you damn brat! Come in here this instant!!", a man shouted from within.

Everyone could feel his 7th stage profound body realm being carried out by his voice and it made them feel chills running down their spines. Though the doors were open the dark interior looked almost as if it were a black hole sucking in anything that came near it. Everyone crawled back just a bit, everyone except Xiao Fang. Upon hearing his father's voice he immediately walked in.

"Perhaps... if I were blind like that boy I'd have the courage to walk in too", one elder said with a shakey tone. However, just after he said those words he was immediately refuted by the other elders. Saying he'd also need to be deaf and stupid.

Although Xiao Fang had brought them endless troubles in the past, they couldn't help but admire his fearlessness, which was the greatest virtue for all swordsmen.

"He will be the hope for the sect. An 18 year old that is nearly in the solid body realm is completely unheard of. All he needs is a little bit of discipline", the elders thought.

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Inside, Xiao Fang stood a few paces away from his father's throne and waited for him to speak. Though it was dark, it were no different than a brightly lit up room to Xiao Fang; he is blind after all.

"I heard you've been causing trouble for your elders again. Do you really think you were free from punishment just because you are my bastard son?", The Patriarch took out a blade as long as his leg. It emitted a tyrannical aura.

He continued, "Let's see how long you can last against my blade", he smiled menacingly before leaping toward Xiao Fang with his sword overhead.

Xiao Fang redirected his blade with his real walking stick. However, it wasn't just any walking stick, hidden inside was his sword. This became evident to the patriarch once he saw the hilt seperate from the scabbard revealing the blade within.

"New sword?", the patriarch asked.

"I got it as a gift, from one of my lady friends", Xiao Fang said.

The way he said "lady friends" irritated him a bit, so he immediately continued attacking him.

After a few clashes it became as clear as day that the patriarch was not putting any effort whatsoever is his strikes, but Xiao Fang was still in a miserable state. The patriarch looked as if he had just finished taking a stroll in the park while Xiao Fang was a bloody mess. He was cut all over from head to toe. He was almost unrecognizable.

"Good, good. You have made some progress since the last time we practiced. I'm sure you will breakthrough to the 9th stage of the body refinement realm in a few months. I assumed all that time you've spent chasing women around would have rusted your sword, but clearly I was wrong. Alright, prepare yourself. This will be my final strike, do well to defend yourself".

The blood flowing out of his mouth dyed his chin red. He felt his energy escape him just from carrying his sword. He was panting heavily, waiting for the inevitable. When the patriarch was only 5 steps away he saw him raise his sword with the intent to strike down with a thousand dragons, but with the intent to inflict only a shallow wound.

However, to the patriarch's surprised, Xiao Fang didn't try to defend, instead he seemed to be jumping back to evade his strike. The patriarch sighed inwardly thinking he had a lot to learn.

Xiao Fang was indeed falling backwards, but something about his movement seemed too artificial.

Suddenly the patriarch was slashed. He looked down and saw that his robes were ripped across his abdomen.

Maybe because it was too dark to see or just too unexpected, the patriarch was unable to react to it at all. He could only feel the blade of an amateur sword wielder tickling his metal like skin.

[ Every learned Swordsman knew that one must always attack and defend simultaneously in a fight. However, when you can only do one, you must always attack and not fear meeting another man's sword! This is the what it means to be a swordsman ]

"That attack... it felt like Iron cutting Iron", the patriarch thought. However, upon touching the scratch on his body his eyes widened with shock. "When did he...", he rubbed the blood on his finger till it disappeared.

"I see, so you faked your retreat to find an opening. That was pretty clever of-", when he turned around he saw Xiao Fang on the ground in a near lifeless state.

The patriarch's shock lessened. He realized Xiao Fang didn't master the technique, but used it anyways just to draw some blood from his body, knowing full well that he would be incurring a heavy backlash from it.

If you cannot save a life, take it.

If you cannot take a life, save your own.

If you cannot save yourself, draw some blood and hope your contribution is not wasted.

- Death By A Thousand Cuts

[ Divine Sword secret technique: 1000 cuts ]

Despite being a relatively small sect, the Divine Sword Sect is recognized for being the top sect in the province and one of the strongest sect in the 13 provinces.

Much of that reputation is due to this technique alone. The swordsmen from this sect would even give their lives just to inflict a small cut, because no matter how strong someone is, no one will survive after the thousandth cut; hence the name. No one would want to mess with a sect as crazy as that.

"Death by a thousand cuts. No matter how strong one might be. 1000 cuts is all it will ever take"

However, this was merely a training session disguised as a punishment.

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Seeing this, the patriarch casually force fed him two pills; one pill to stop the bleeding, the other to start healing him. Though the pills were extremely valuable, it was special prepared for this training session.

After regaining conciousness he tried to get up, but could only sit.

"Rest a bit longer. I have something to tell you", The patriarch said.

"You have been been giving me a headach for me in this sect, but now you are old enough to go into the world alone. Once you are healed up I want you to leave. Go explore the world, make a name for yourself. The next time I see you I want to see someone impressive. Don't disappoint me, Son"

"And if I refuse?"

"I will kill you on the spot. Theres no option. Your mother and I have both agreed on this. Furthermore, if you go I'll give you this treasure", he pulled out an unimpressive ancient wooden box from his storage ring. Storage rings were extremely rare treasures. Even in this sect only the patriarch had one.

Within the box was an elixir. He gave the elixir to Xiao Fang then told him to drink it.

"Its a priceless ancient treasure. Your mother and I believe it could cure your blindness".

Hearing him say that, the elixir in Xiao Fang hand felt infinitely heavier.

"Cure... my blindness...".

In a single gulp he had drained the entire elixir. Suddenly his heart began beating louder, what followed next could easily be described as inhumane torture. His eyes felt like they were being peeled while being washed by alcohol.

His blood-curdling screams reached the elders outside. They couldn't imagine what the patriarch could be doing to him to be making such a sound. Some of the elders thought back to what Xiao Fang did. Despite making a fool out of them he was just having fun. To be tortured for something as simple as a prank and to his own son. The elders felt greater fear in their hearts towards to the patriarch now, more than ever.

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Xiao Fang had slipped in and out of consciousness from the pain. His eyes bled profusely. The patriarch renewed the bandages that covered his eyes and cleaned the blood off his face.

This went on for 3 days. By the end he looked like a corpse.

The whole time the Patriarch seemed a bit worried, but what he soon discovered nearly blew his mind.

"Your cultivation! You- you actually made 2 breakthroughs to the Solid Body Realm", His jaw dropped he couldn't believe what the elixir had done to his cultivation. The patriarch was in the Divine Body Realm so now he was only 1 realm above his son despite being more than 3 times his age.

Frankly, even someone as tyrannical as him, wouldn't have given his son the elixir if he knew what kind of pains he would have to go through, no matter the gains.

"Maybe in 15 years time, no... maybe less than 10, he will certainly surpass me" he thought. He smiled bitterly at the kind of monster he was sending out to the world.

"I cant wait to see you again, son". He picked him up to carry him back to his room

The doors finally opened. The elders waiting outside were in a sort of meditative state, but now they were fully awake. The horrifying body of Xiao Fang made them tremble. His robes were completely torn, his hair was a mess, and the blood that covered his body stuck on to him like another layer of skin. Most frightening of all was that the black blindfold he always wore was no longer black. It was clearly crimson.

Xiao Fang was in the arms of the patriarch who was expressionless. Xiao Fang wore a powerful stench of blood. He resembled a melancholic hero that had been killed under false accusations.

Some felt their knees grow weak and had to resist bowing to him as they stared with their apologetic gaze. They felt this calamity was the result of their actions. Some started feeling regret in their hearts.

Of course there were a few, like Elder Chicken Jiang, that originally thought it was a punishment well deserved, but after 3 days of it his expressions slowly turned ashen.

Once he returned from Xiao Fangs room and back to his own hall, he finally told the elders to enter.

He looked like a demon butcher from the way he wore Xiao Fang's blood on his clothes and a nonchalant expression on his face. They never felt reverence like this to him or anyone else in their entire lives.

The patriarch could sense that they wanted to ask. "Don't worry, Xiao Fang won't be bothering you anymore. After today he will be leaving this sect, their hearts sank. A crippled bastard child had been tortured then banished by his own father, what kind of fate is this?

They couldn't help but feel that they were the ones responsible for all of this. He was going to be their sect's genius and now because they couldn't tolerate his actions, they are seeing him go in such a miserable state. They definitely couldn't request that he is to stay after demanding that he be punished, not if they cared for their own lives.

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Back in his room, Xiao Fang's mother became furious once she saw Xiao Fang's condition, but after Xiao Fang explained everything she quickly understood.

She packed up his things then prepared to send him off. Suddenly the elixir's side effect hit again, but this time with his mother around he suppressed his screams till he eventually passed out. When she noticed, she cupped her mouth and became teary,

"I'm sorry, I didn't know", she said with a shakey tone. The bandage around his eyes became bloodied once more and it trickled down his face like bloody tears then she began to weep.

Xiao Fang's mother got up and rushed to find new bandages, but suddenly there was a knock on the door. It was the elders. They had come to give farewell gifts. But once his mother opened the door they were all able to see his condition. The female elders had the same expression Xiao Fang's mother had.

"What inhuman torture did he go through? I noticed the new bandages, but I never expected this", one of the elders revealed his thoughts. However, Xiao Fang's mother responded in the same way the patriarch did, telling them he will be fine. She then accepted the gifts that were all stored in the little spacial pouch then closed the door.

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In the morning of the next day, Xiao Fang left the sect. He wasn't passing out anymore, but his eyes bled even more than before.

Inside the spatial pouch the elders gave him he found some cultivation technique and healing pills. Xiao Fang didn't need anything in it, but accepted their sincerity.

Going down the mountain was difficult in his condition. He tripped and fell many times, but he needed to be at the Black Paradise sect within a week to participate in the entrance exam. So he didn't waste by taking breaks. However, by the time he reached the bottom of the mountain he already looked like he crawled out of hell.

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