Sword Among Us

In the beginning, Happy did not intend to recruit all these people into his sect, but wanted to gather together all the friends he was familiar with in the name of the Imperial Army and under the banner of destroying Wild Wolves. Then, he wanted to slowly have them become familiar with him as they spent time together, and he would search for a chance to recruit them all into Lovely Land after that.

He did not expect that the sudden and unexpected change in the reward for the quest would cause the entire process to become much smoother.

Heavenly Saber Song Que’s legacy had fired up the fighting spirit within the people and made them want to compete for the title of the strongest in Lovely Land!

But Happy did not understand how these people managed to summon the confidence for their fighting spirit, because there were already around forty top-class elites in Lovely Land itself.

However, since Silver Wolf and the others joined Lovely Land earlier than planned, Happy became incredibly excited. Once Wind Assault Tower and Chivalry Alliance agreed to join the plan, he naturally shifted the topic of conversation to the building of the Imperial Army.

“We don’t need to be in a hurry to destroy Wild Wolves, but we can’t delay the matter for too long either.”

The first thing Happy mentioned resonated with Phantasmal Shadow. Her expression became stern, and she nodded in agreement. “That’s right. Even though Evil Emperor left in defeat, it’s mainly because he overestimated the trump cards Dream Clouds had, underestimated Happy, and overlooked Lovely Land’s combat power. If Wild Wolves had sent all their forces over in the start, Wind Assault Tower and Lovely Land would no longer exist in the Chinese server.”

Silence fell.

Lin Xiao and Red Dust looked at each other and nodded slowly. Their expressions were incredibly grave.

Silver Wolf and the rest put down the winecups in their hands and surrounded these sect leaders. They watched Happy and Phantasmal Shadow, and they also listened attentively.

“Right now, Wild Wolves has already lost their best agent in the Chinese plains, but if we give them time, they will definitely bring up a decently-sized sect, and they will come to the Chinese plains in an even more dangerous fashion. By then, it will be another disaster to the Chinese server. Sect Master Happy, you mentioned that you will build the Imperial Army and send them out of the Chinese plains to fight against Wild Wolves so that you can build another defense line outside the Chinese server, right? Wind Assault Tower will cooperate fully with you in this!”

She stopped talking for a while. Phantasmal Shadow’s gaze was redirected elsewhere, and she said, “But we will definitely need to retain a certain number of elites and guards in the Chinese server itself to prevent Class One Hall from rising from the ashes. As of right now, you must take this into consideration.”

“Empress Shadow, you’re right.” When he saw Phantasmal Shadow’s gaze, Happy nodded quietly, but his tone suddenly changed. “But this isn’t a good place to talk about this. If I may say, let’s talk about this later. Of course, if there is anyone who is willing to change your thoughts and is willing to join the Imperial Army, I will welcome you. That includes my friends on the wall.”

“I’ll join it!”

“I want to join Lovely Land!”

“Will we have any benefits if we join the Imperial Army?”

Loud sound waves suddenly rose from the area outside. Happy only smiled, got up, and lifted his cup. “I propose a toast to Senior Heavenly Saber. Congratulations for entering the dao of heaven, senior!”

The new Lovely Land members got up. “Congratulations to Senior Heavenly Saber!”

After taking a huge turn from the main course, the feast finally returned to its main topic—the feast itself.

*****

In truth, Happy had already formed the basic outline for the Imperial Army.

Silver Wolf and the rest all joined Lovely Land!

This time, the people he had in mind to form the Imperial Army were basically all there. Only All-powerful Medicinal Stone, Ancient Wind, and Momo did not appear.

But since there was no need for the Imperial Army to be too large for the time being, even if Wind Assault Tower did not join them, Lovely Land could still build its own Imperial Army.

Right now, the main thing Happy was thinking about was to increase their strength within the shortest amount of time possible.

One Emperor was currently going over to Thailand. If he calculated the time, Wild Wolves’ reinforcements should have already reached the area nearby, and the storm of conflict between Wild Wolves and the Chinese plains was about to rage once more.

The Imperial Army did not have a lot of time to become stronger!

*****

As the people from Chivalry Alliance and the people from Wind Assault Tower left under Lin Xiao and Phantasmal Shadow, the mansion became a place solely for Lovely Land members and Happy.

There were plenty of people Happy was familiar with in the hall.

Most of these people were incredibly outstanding managers in Mu Clan in the world three years ago.

There was no need for him to even mention Thunderous Battle and Silver Wolf. Little North was still a Corpse Controller, but since he did not run into Happy, his luck was not so good. Even though he was in Inaction Realm, he was only about average strength. Knife, Thunder, and Bar were strong, but it had just been a short time since they joined the game, and they lacked blessings and the chances to become outstanding for the time being.

But he had to say that these people had already lost the best chance to have their strength jump by leaps and bounds. Once a player entered Inaction Realm, it was impossible for their training speed to become any faster, unless they received a fortuitous chance that was so great that it could allow them to be like Happy and fight against Evil King.

Happy thought about this for a moment before he said, “Everyone, there is still half a month until the competition in Lovely Land. At that time, the branches will send a few elites to the headquarters to determine who is the greatest. I hope that you will be able to gain a ranking by then.”

“Boss Happy, I’d like to ask a question. Since we’re Lovely Land members, if we join Lovely Land at the same time as well and leave the Chinese server to fight, will we get even better benefits?”

The person who asked the question was Little North.

He had been sitting for a long time beside Happy, and as time passed, he slowly gained the feeling that this strongest person in the Chinese server was not as difficult to get close to as rumors said him to be.

“Life will be very difficult for you if you enter the Imperial Army and fight for the Chinese server. At that time, you will naturally receive some benefits. But you must fulfil the requirements. The requirements to enter the imperial Army are also very harsh. Even though many of the people in the area received Wandering Know-it-all’s invitation to come to this place, I am still the one who will make the decision on whether you are truly qualified to join the Imperial Army.” Happy reminded the people.

The group came to a swift realization, and he nodded repeatedly.

“But the competition this time is something we have decided upon a long time ago. It’s because we want to stabilize Lovely Land. That’s why when I won’t prioritize any of the members in the Imperial Army when it comes to Senior Heavenly Saber’s legacy, but I can assure you that if there are similar chances in the future, the Lovely Land members in the Imperial Army will have priority over the other members.”

Happy finally gave an answer that satisfied the expectations of all the people in the Imperial Army.

“Sect master.”

“You can call me Happy.” Happy turned his head and said to Silver Wolf with a smile.

Silver Wolf nodded and asked, “Alright, Happy. I just want to know what the requirements to join the Imperial Army are.”

In truth, the preferential treatment Happy promised to give the Imperial Army made him suddenly look forward to join the Imperial Army, and that was aside the temptation posed by Heavenly Saber Song Que’s legacy.

Even though he did not have a lot of confidence toward the organization Happy attempted to build to fight against Wild Wolves, based on Happy’s performance today, it seemed like the person—Happy—serving as a garrison for Lovely Land not only had outstanding strength, but he was also someone who was magnanimous.

This caused Silver Wolf to be unable to help himself but have slight changes to his thoughts, and he suddenly began to look forward to the Imperial Army.

When they heard Silver Wolf’s question, the group of people surrounding them held their breaths.

“I remember that you once rejected Wandering Know-it-all’s invitation, and you said that you’re not willing to join the Imperial Army. By the looks of it, you seem to have changed your decision.” Happy smiled faintly, and instead of answering, he just voiced his observation.

Silver Wolf was stunned for a moment before he smiled wanly. “Now, I completely believe that you are indeed paying me a lot of attention. I thank you for recognizing my worth, but previously, I did indeed not have a lot of confidence in the Imperial Army… No, I should say that I have absolutely no confidence in it,” Silver Wolf spoke naturally, and he seemed to not be worried at all that Happy would be angry because of this.

Thunderous Battle and the others noticed to their surprise that Happy did not seem to be angry at all. Instead, he seemed to have been expecting this a long time ago. He shrugged in a natural manner.

“What about now?”

Silver Wolf remained quiet and stared into Happy’s eyes. “Now, I think that if you pay full attention to building the Imperial Army, perhaps we will actually have some hope in resisting Wild Wolves.”

“Just resisting them?”

Happy’s wan smile caused Thunderous Battle and the group to be shocked.

Silver Wolf showed no intention of retracting what he said. He nodded and said with a firm tone, “Being able to resist Wild Wolves is already my best hope.”

“Alright, keep that thought. But one day, I’ll let you know that the Imperial Army isn’t just made to fight against Wild Wolves.”

As he spoke, Happy stood up. “I can tell you about the requirements of the Imperial Army. You have to work full time in it. You have to be there when the time comes. Aside from this, you must also have at least the strength of a high-ranking first-class elite. You must have good judgment and skills, and neither must be missing. I will choose the members for the Imperial Army slowly, and one month later, I will tell you whether you’re eligible to join the Imperial Army.”

“Alright. You still have half a month to train. Prepare for the competition. I hope that I will be able to see you at the headquarters later.”

Once he finished speaking, Happy moved and appeared at the wall dozens of feet away.

He used Wave-like Subtle Steps, and with a few jumps, he quickly vanished from the people’s sights.

Once the main character was gone, there was no longer any need for the others to remain in the feast.

One after another, the people who just became sect mates bade farewell to each other and left.

Silver Wolf and his party were the ones who left the fastest.

The last to leave were Thunderous Battle and his party, along with Little North, who was alone with his few zombies.

At the moment he left Song House, Thunderous Battle suddenly turned around and stared at Little North, who quietly left with his zombies. He had a strange look on his face as he called out to Little North. “Hey… You wanna come with us?”

He knew that many righteous martial artists in the world of martial artists did not like to go adventuring together with these deviant players who controlled zombies.

But when he thought about how Happy had casually and calmly got Little North from his predicament as well as how he had taken the initiative to have Little North sit beside him to drink with him, Thunderous Battle decided to do something as well.

“Huh?”

When he heard the unexpected greeting, Little North looked up in a dumbfounded manner before he nodded vigorously. “Sure!”

“I’m Thunderous Battle. I’m their temporary party leader…”

“Big Brother Thunder, big brothers, you can just call me Little North.”

“We know you. You sure gave us a shock when you proposed a toast to Lin Xiao and Red Dust… Haha…”

“Big brothers, please stop making fun of me. At that time, I was just dumbly thinking about how I can curry favor to Boss Happy…”

“Haha! You sure are honest. But you’re lucky. You actually had Sect Master Happy take the initiative to help you smooth the situation over. Whew… At that time, I was really jealous of you.”

“Hehe…”

Little North was always really clever, and because of it, he soon gained the recognition of the group as their youngest junior brother. The party went out of the city and went to the port.

*****

Happy stood on the deck at the bow with a calm gaze on the Song House ship that had just left the port. He stared at the surging, wide sea and just allowed the wind of the sea crash against his face. His hero’s bandana drifted behind his head.

Silver Wolf, Knife, Bar, and Thunder stood behind him and quietly stared at Happy’s back.

No one would have expected that Silver Wolf had chased after Happy hastily, and before the ship sailed off, he took the initiative to make a tentative suggestion to Happy, and he tested his luck, hoping that Happy could help them increase their strength as quickly as possible.

And Happy agreed to it.