Suspicions

Blake and company were in their way back to the arena, and she asked some things she was curious about, like why were they alone at a dangerous forest? Wouldn't Fang get a hidden bodyguard or something as he was getting groomed to be the next patriarch?

Fang's answer as pretty reasonable. The sect didn't want to assign protection to him because it would do more harm than good if enemy sects saw him getting protected. They would investigate why and eventually figure out his talent, ending up with assassination attempts.

Scarlet Flame Sect also wasn't exactly strong compared to its enemies, so Fang wouldn't be safe unless he had a inner Elder protecting him. And even then, if their enemies were determined enough they might send their own Elders to do it and it would result in both the Elder and Fang's death. Fang's talent was that terrifying, if their enemies got to know about it they would spare no expense to remove him, even if that risked a total war with the Scarlet Flame Sect.

Fang was also pretty safe as well since he had a Teleportation Talisman, so if the worst happened he could immediately flee, unless he met someone strong to the point of killing instantly before he even activated the talisman. But there was no reason for someone so strong to go after him, as nobody knew about his talents yet.

"So why did Little Xun not have one of those as well?" Blake curiously asked.

"Teleportation Talismans are immensely rare, and there is maybe ten or less in the entire sect. And that's because Scarlet Flame Sect is rich and one of the biggest sects on this country, a average sect doesn't even have one of those." Little Xun started explaining it this time.

"The sect can't afford to give these talismans to everyone, only to important people like the Patriarch and inner Elders. Unimportant people like me don't get those." Little Xun expression seemed a bit sad at the end, only to for it to immediately change back to his smile.

Both Fang and Blake noticed this, Fang clenched his fists and stared deeply at Little Xun, like he was infuriated the sect didn't care about Little Xun. Blake on the other hand frowned, and was having different thoughts.

'Just now, what I felt from him wasn't sadness, it was... Rage.' Blake doesn't know why but she seemed to be far more sensitive about other people's emotions, she wasn't capable of feeling it so easily before. Did she have a breakthrough in Aura without noticing?

Anyway, Little Xun actions were very weird. She was not feeling even a little bit of sadness coming from him, only rage, but his expression of sadness earlier was really convincing, Blake had to admit he was one hell of a actor. Did he do it on purpose? Why?

"Fang, then why did you go the forest in the first place? Wasn't it really dangerous and kinda pointless?" Blake doesn't understand why did they risk their lives for getting that damn sadistic bear's core, or why would the sect allow Fang to do it.

"The core wasn't for Senior Brother, it was for me." Little Xun sighed and gazed at Fang, before shaking his head.

Blake then heard of the rest of the explanation, turns out Little Xun has two Qi Natures! His natures are Fire and Earth, and his Fire Qi Nature was vastly superior to his Earth Qi Nature. That together with the fact they were in a sect focused on fire techniques, made him almost never use his Earth techniques, as they were both weak and he didn't have good ones.

one day, Little Xun told Fang he heard rumors about a Spirit Beast on the eighth stage of the Body Refinement Realm, who had Earth as Qi Nature. Spirit Beast cores can be used to boost elemental affinities with Qi Natures, to a certain extent, not only for making Spirit Artifacts. If Little Xun got the core, he could improve his Earth Qi nature immensely and make it useful in battle, improving his strength by a lot.

Little Xun then asked for help from Fang, since Fang's master had a high standing in the sect and probably could dispatch people to kill the bear easily. Fang, who always wanted the best for his friends didn't hesitate to ask his master, who refused his request.

The sect members aren't servants, so they wouldn't help unless they were given benefits, Fang accepted this logic begrudgingly and asked if the sect couldn't buy a Earth Qi Nature core for Little Xun. Fang's master didn't approve of it since according to him the sect was in no position to waste resources.

Fang was enraged, because he knew that a blatant lie. Scarlet Flame Sect is the richest sect in this country and the only thing they didn't lack is money and resources, not to mention they bought Fire Qi Nature cores for him as well besides a variety of other resources. So what does he mean by wasting resources? Was he calling Xun a waste?!

Fang was really annoyed by the sect's blatant favoritism, even though it was towards him. So one day, under Little Xun's protests, he sneaked out of the sect together with him to hunt down the Spirit Beast.

Once they reached the forest they were searching for, Little Xun saw something and impulsively went ahead, not hearing Fang's shouts to be careful. He was then surprise attacked by the bear and Fang took the hit for him, what happened after Blake already knew.

Fang is now under heavy surveillance by the sect as he not only sneaked away without telling them, but almost died as well. He is in deep trouble because of it and was more or less grounded, with constant complaints from his master or other elders who knew about him to be more careful.

The Elders impression of Little Xun has also fallen considerably because of this, since for them, he was the reason for Fang almost dying. Still, he was not punished since very few people knew about it and they want to bring as less attention to Fang as possible, punishing Little Xun would make those who were paying attention to the incident realize they heavily value Fang.

So, they punished both on the surface, when in actual fact Fang was only grounded in the sect while Little Xun will not get Spirit Stones, pills or any other cultivation resources for some time. Inner disciples get these monthly. And if Fang didn't complain to his master a lot, Little Xun would have his monthly cultivation resources revoked for a quite long amount of time.

"So you guys had so much trouble to deal with, and you still dared to give me that cultivation technique Fang? Are you crazy?" Blake was really impressed at this guy recklessness.

Fang was silent hearing this and just gazed to the side, Blake could feel he was embarrassed with her Aura. She barely managed to not laugh out loud as the seeing the usually cold face Fang so embarrassed as really a sight to behold. Little Xun just shook his head and sighed at his Senior Brother's actions.

"Sister Blake, I must thank you again for that time with the bear. You have not only saved our lives, but also gave me the Earth core and allowed my strength to grow. You have my deepest gratitude." Little Xun said seemingly sincerely and full of emotion, Fang also looked at her and nodded.

"You guys don't need to thank me so much, you all already gave me so many things that I should be the grateful one instead." Blake smiled and looked embarrassed as she scratched the back of her head, remembering Fang gave her valuable pills, Spirit Stones, a cultivation technique and even a place in this sect.

But, her attention was caught by something else.

'Just now, did I feel some mild anger coming Little Xun. Why?' Blake couldn't help but become suspicious, even though she decided to put this matter aside earlier. First, Little Xun feeling bitterness while talking about how Fang was discovered by the sect, then rage when talking about how Fang was considered more important, and now some anger while talking about me saving them, like he failed at something?

Blake eyes suddenly widened and she couldn't help but think of a terrifying possibility, Little Xun actually hated Fang and the incident with the bear as a plot to kill him! This made a lot of sense considering the emotions she was feeling from Little Xun and his unusual actions, he definitely wasn't the impulsive type and him asking for Fang to kill some beast in a random forest is really weird even with the Earth Core as reason.

Maybe he, knowing very well how Fang would act did it in purpose to lure the Spirit Beast out, and he also knew the Spirit Beast was actually stronger than the rumors. The bear would then force them to fight to the death and Fang would use his teleportation talisman on him instead as he would never leave a friend to die, successfully killing Fang and escaping unscathed?

*PAA*

Blake loudly slapped her own cheek, and strongly shook her head. How dare she doubt a friend like that? Little Xun would never plot to kill Fang, she is definitely misunderstanding something here.

"Sister Blake?" Little Xun and Fang looked at her in surprise as she suddenly slapped herself for no reason.

"Sorry, there was a insect on my cheek, haha. You know, I really hate insects insects." Blake hurriedly found some random excuse as Little Xun and Fang sent her weird looks.

In the end, Blake stopped thinking about this as they walked to the arena. Blake was pretty naive herself, and the experiences she had with people since coming to this world didn't help much either. Most people she met were good to her, even the bandits were polite to her. Because of this, she had a wrong impression about how cruel the cultivation world was.

One day in the future, she will deeply regret this naivety and lack of action right now.