Naked Sword Art-Chapter 394: Chaos Sect’s Inner Court

The roads were dark—not the kind of darkness born from a cloudy sky or a missing moon—but an unnatural gloom that clung to every wall and crept into every alley. It wasn't merely the absence of light. It was the presence of something else.

Luo Yue walked nervously behind Yin Fei. The darkness wrapped around her like a tide of ink, thick with unease. The only thing she could think about were the stories of the terrible things the Chaos sect had done, depicting their members to be akin to savage beasts if not worse.

With every step, her chest felt tighter, like the shadows were alive and watching—waiting. All the while, Xiao Fang lay dormant within her soul, observing closely to his surroundings through her senses, while monitoring Luo Yue's inner thoughts.

Each city they passed along the path lay in ruin. Some looked charred and broken, as if razed by fire; others bore the footprints of giants or were drowned in the dried remnants of great floods. And some, more horrifically, destroyed villages and cemeteries, where bones of men, women, and children were scattered—torment still evident in their remains.

This wasn't a sect—it was a graveyard. The bones of conquered cities, annexed by Chaos and left to rot as if their suffering was worth preserving.

It made sense now why the inner court was depicted to be so large, it was mostly unused, empty or ruined spaces.

Yin Fei skipped along the cracked, winding roads without a care in the world, pointing this way and that, naming the territories of the different clans that governed each place.

"Hate them... hate them... definitely hate them," she said, her tone mockingly cheerful. It was clear that she hardly liked anyone.

Even so, Luo Yue noticed her eyes never stopped scanning the shadows. For all her casual energy, even Yin Fei wasn't comfortable here.

A low growl rumbled nearby.

Luo Yue's gaze snapped to the side. Between two broken buildings, a demon beast the size of a wagon crouched, cloaked in darkness. Its fur shimmered with faint crimson sigils, and its eyes gleamed like molten silver. Another one paced behind them on a rooftop, claws clicking against the stone. Watching. Waiting.

But they never attacked.

No—what put Luo Yue most on edge were the Inner Court disciples they quietly passed. Thankfully, the Inner Court was vast—large enough to rival entire sects—so running into others at this hour was especially rare. But when they did… it always felt like they were walking among predators.

"This place…" Luo Yue murmured under her breath. "How can you call this a sect?"

Yin Fei chuckled.

"Don't be fooled, they may look intimidating, but if you get to know them, they make great friends."

Despite her words, the discomfort Luo Yue felt didn't change.

From within her Soul Sea, Xiao Fang understood how she felt. This place reeked of death and destruction. Although Xiao Fang didn't expect any less from this place. And to think that his mother was sent here just filled him with rage.

The deeper they went, the stronger his anger grew.

'Ever since I was born she's spent her life as a prisoner. And now she was sent to this hell to rot,' Xiao Fang thought with a deep frown.

He wanted to blame himself, but putting blame on anyone now was pointless. The only thing he knew was that he wasn't weak anymore, so he was committed to changing his mother's fate with his own two hands.

Luo Yue could feel how Xiao Fang felt, but she couldn't understand why he felt it, nor was she in the position to ask.

…

They eventually turned a corner and entered a wider road lit by flickering soul lanterns. They had entered a marketplace… or what was left of one.

Blood splattered the walls, and most of it was either withered or left in ruin.

But it wasn't completely lifeless.

Up ahead, five disciples lounged atop a massive tiered beast—easily 7th-tier or higher. But as they approached them, they made a sickening discovery. The beast wasn't dead.

The 5 disciples kept it alive—paralyzed and restrained, as they forced it to undergo some unseeable torture that made it twitch uncontrollably—while the disciples gambled on its back, laughing, drinking, and having a good time.

They wore robes from different clans, each bearing distinct crests on their Inner Court robes, yet they moved and joked like old friends.

"Aghh!! You cheated, goddamn it. Admit it!" one of them suddenly shouted as she stood up, pointing at another disciple that had a smug, easygoing look on his face.

The girl was tall and slender, her complexion was unnaturally pale. She couldn't be much younger than Luo Yue, but for some reason she couldn't help but look at the girl as if she was some kind of threat.

"Can you prove I cheated?" the young man laughed. "Fine, I admit it—but if you can't figure out how I cheated, it's as good as not cheating, right? Hahaha!"

"Even I saw how he cheated," another friend commented. "You really didn't catch it?"

"I'm totally using that on you next time," a third added with a smirk.

They all laughed except for the female disciple.

"Fuck! Fuck, fuck!!" the girl screamed and stomped down on the beast, making it wail in agony.

Seeing them, Yin Fei stopped walking, then scowled.

"Come on. Let's take another road," she said, motioning for Luo Yue and Elder Luo to follow her.

But as soon as she turned to leave, a shadow flashed by her in an instant. In the next moment the slender girl appeared face-to-face to her, like a ghost—pale, lean and tall, with a speed that defied logic. Little did they know, her clan's unique method was a speed-based one.

Elder Luo didn't react, he had been in and out of the Inner Court many times, so seeing people like this was nothing out of the ordinary to him, but for Luo Yue it was an incredibly humbling experience.

'I was right, this girl is strong,' Luo Yue thought, trying to remain composed.