22 I'm Ready

After James' situation with Noel things went back to normal somewhat. The only difference was that Cara had permanently moved in with Noel and James.

When Cara had come up with this idea and brought it to James' attention in front of Noel he thought that they might kill each other but surprisingly Noel was ok with it as long as she got the front side of James' body.

Although you might think it was a perfect situation after that agreement it was quite the opposite.

When Cara would talk in her sleep or even move her arms a little too far Noel would punch her in the face and fight without remorse making both Cara and Noel take damage multiple times.

The only reason they would stop is due to James constantly getting in the middle so it didn't go too far.

Despite this James enjoyed his new life while he got closer to the two of them each day until the day before the Inner Disciple test arrived.

"For today you will be training with me all day. We need you to hone what I've taught you all the way so we can send you out there without worry." Cara explained to James in the middle of the training area meant for Outer Disciples and Sworn Sword Sect Disciples.

Normally people like James would never be allowed in such a place due to his Disciple ranking only being Outer Court but due to his connections with Cara and Noel the sect had ignored it.

"Got it, bring it on!" James said with a smile accepting Cara's training.

When Noel who was nearby saw this she face palmed wondering when James became so excited about training.

It's not really that he was excited about training but more the fact that he was ready to get stronger so he could protect the life he had gained up until this point.

The relationship and life he was living with Cara and Noel was something he didn't want to give up anytime soon and to keep it that way he had to have the strength to back himself up.

James quickly pulled out his sword which Cara had uniquely named Bloody Obsession.

The reason behind this scary sounding name was due to the ability they had found it had. When James is able to cut his opponent or land a successful attack that draws blood he is able to use the skill of his sword to draw more of the blood out and manipulate it to his will.

This skill sounds amazing and all but from the practice so far James had only been able to control it for a few seconds before it went back to normal.

The reason behind his lack of time while using the skill is his Qi reserves. No matter how powerful his black Qi may be there was only so much his Dantian could hold in this realm.

The only way he would be able to improve his time with the skill would be to break through once again to the next realm.

"Now that you have your sword, let's fight my love~" Cara said with a slight smile before rushing at James with her sword in hand.

Cara quickly closed the gap between the two of them before she spun into a wide-ranging slice trying to take away James' entire body in one go.

James knew that he couldn't counter it since his body and Qi was nowhere near Cara's so he quickly ran toward it before sliding under the cut sending his sword toward Cara's stomach with a thrust.

"You'll have to do better than that~" Cara teased as she spun once more out of the way of the thrust before shoving her sword at James' neck.

James couldn't dodge this but instead had to block the attack with his sword taking the brunt of the attack and making him shoot off into the distance crashing into the ground.

"James!" Noel shouted from the side letting her aura leak on accident due to her anger paralyzing all of the Disciples in the training area including Cara who struggled under the pressure.

"H-hold o-on. D-d you think I would actually do something that he couldn't handle?" Cara asked through gritted teeth as she used all her energy to speak.

The answer to Cara's question came in the form of a laugh, "HAHAHA! Good one Cara. I see what I've done now let's keep going." James said happily as he stood up from the ground before glancing at Noel and the other paralyzed Disciples.

"What's wrong?" James asked in confusion.

"Oh, nothing. Keep up the good work James, you're doing great." Noel said with a smile before retracting her aura completely letting James continue his martial arts training with Cara.

From here James and Cara continued to spar much to the surprise of Noel who thought he was surely down and out after Cara's attack.

Not only that, James was improving at an extreme rate making his sword abilities rise high enough for him to be considered a top-rate Dao Forming Realm cultivator.

While he didn't have the strength of one he definitely possessed the sword knowledge to act like one.

This was the culmination of all the hard work he had been doing with Cara and Noel over the past week which was absurd considering how long many of the others had taken to learn all the concepts.

By the time they were done training for the day both Cara and Noel were confident in James' abilities to make it through the Inner Disciple exam.

As they were leaving the training area to head home they met a group of people at the entrance with one man, in particular, leading the group at the front, "Cara! What a surprise to see you here. You normally never come to the training grounds. Ah, and who's this?" The man asked in surprise looking toward James and Noel.