Sword Among Us

“Move!”

Happy’s voice echoed in the heart of the mountain. It was loud, and he sounded confident. His intense gaze was fixed on Jian Ao, and an astonishing fighting spirit shone in his eyes.

Jian Ao quirked an eyebrow.

He seemed to have noticed something from the sudden change in Happy’s mannerisms. His pupils shrank slightly, and he quickly glanced at Heaven Crystal before he said coldly. His tone grew darker, “I’ve already told you that I will spare you if you leave Heaven Crystal behind.”

“And I told you to move, and I’ll spare you!” Happy did not relent and took a step forward. His raging fighting spirit burned even fiercer. His words matched Jian Ao’s tit for tat. His resolute tone caused Jian Ao’s expression to freeze, but his gaze just gradually turned cold.

“How preposterous!”

Jian Ao did not relent either. He continued blocking the exit. He spoke clearly, and he was exasperated.

“…”

Happy knew that it was impossible for him to use words to force Jian Ao to retreat. If he did not show his strength, it was impossible for Jian Ao to get rid of his plan to seize Heaven Crystal. He did not say anything else. Right before Jian Ao’s eyes, he put Golden Saber Divine Sword into his Universe Bag and held Heaven Crystal with his right hand.

He had his qi activate the sword, and the chill spreading out of Heaven Crystal instantly became much stronger!

The chill seemed to have a physical form. With Happy as its center, it quickly spread out in all directions. The ground of the moist heart of the mountain was swiftly covered in a thin and white layer of ice. It spread out quickly, and it rapidly went to Jian Ao.

“…”

When he sensed the substantial chill from Heaven Crystal and the dangerous presence that rose from Happy, Jian Ao became even more solemn.

He slowly drew his longsword.

Happy was unmoved by Jian Ao’s cautious and grave action. His qi circulated in Heaven Crystal once, and he sensed how Heaven Crystal seemed to have become one with him. He sensed the strength within Heaven Crystal, and after a long time, he slowly opened his eyes. An even more confident light shone in his eyes.

“Jian Ao, today, I will use your blood as an offering to Heaven Crystal…”

“How conceited!”

Jian Ao snorted coldly. A presence as great as mountains went charging at Happy.

This was a unique ability among those walking down the dao of heaven. They could create a mental pressure by fusing with the imposing presence of the world! All enemies who had their qi activity locked would find their fighting abilities and morale largely reduced.

However, Happy had three Willpower points. This sort of pressure on his qi and spirit could not give Jian Ao any form of advantage.

Happy stood tall like a mountain with his sword. He was not at all affected by Jian Ao and slowly brought Heaven Crystal before his face to observe it carefully.

As expected of an ancient divine weapon.

Aside from offering a large boost to his attributes, the sword itself was long and light. Its edge was also incredibly intimidating. It was even sharper than a fourth-echelon Golden Saber Divine Sword, and it was also much more reliable. It gave Happy the confidence that he could easily cut everything before him!

His qi flowed in the sword, and Happy could clearly sense two exceptionally powerful forces ready to gush out at any moment. These were Heaven Crystal’s sword will and sword qi.

With Heaven Crystal in hand, the difficulty in running away from Jian Ao was completely gone…

In fact, Happy believed that with Heaven Crystal, if he had time, all the elites who targeted Heaven Crystal for years would not pose a problem to him.

Boom!

When he thought of this, a great wave of confidence and fighting spirit rose in Happy’s chest.

*****

The night was cold as cold water. Ever since Happy and Jian Ao’s departure, the area outside the cave became silent once more.

Thousand-faced Human Fox had been abandoned by the two on the beach. At that moment, he was incredibly nervous. With every second he had, he tried his hardest to gather his true qi to unseal his sealed acupressure points. He looked incredibly pathetic.

He was first captured by Happy and brought to this island.

Then, he was nearly killed by Jian Ao so that he could keep the secret. This caused Thousand-faced Human Fox, who loved keeping treasures, to be at death’s door twice in a night. Even though Happy had only threatened him using Chu Liuxiang, to him, that was even more tormenting than dying once.

Because of what had happened, Thousand-faced Human Fox valued his life greatly.

In any case, Heaven Crystal’s location had been revealed. Thousand-faced Human Fox did not want to lose his life for something that was not his. Right now, he just wanted to use the shortest amount of time possible to unseal his acupressure points and leave this place.

The further he was from the island, the better!

Once Happy or Jian Ao obtained Heaven Crystal, the one who did not obtain it might come back and vent their anger on him.

Thousand-faced Human Fox did his best to unseal his acupressure points.

An hour passed by.

Through his hard work, Thousand-faced Human Fox finally noticed that his sealed acupressure points were beginning to show signs of being unblocked.

Thousand-faced Human Fox’s eyes lit up. He did not dare to slack off and was even more serious when he prepared for the final push.

Thud!

His acupressure points were unsealed, and his qi as well as blood flowed through his entire body.

Unable to control himself, Thousand-faced Human Fox rolled on the ground.

“Haha!”

Thousand-faced Human Fox was delighted. He climbed up from the ground. His pathetic gait from before was gone. In his excitement, he lifted his robe and had every intention of leaving the island.

At that moment, Thousand-faced Human Fox’s ears twitched a little. Then, dumbfounded, he craned his neck to look at the area beyond the island.

The faint sounds grew clearer with each passing moment.

Those were the sounds of sleeves fluttering, of feet stepping on waves and water, and barely audible human voices.

Thousand-faced Human Fox had just relaxed, but immediately, he became nervous once more.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

During the time he was stunned, dense groups of black figures appeared on the moonlit lake. Thousand-faced Human Fox had pretty good sight. He used the light from the moon and saw that the mysterious figures were all dressed in night-travelling clothes from head to toe. Only pairs of cold eyes could be seen.

‘Sword Sect!’

Thousand-faced Human Fox might not be able to see these people’s faces, but he had been a wanderer for years, and he had in-depth knowledge of the martial arts of the sects. In fact, few could compare to his knowledge regarding the sects. With just one glance, he recognized them based on the unique qi cultivation technique and lightness skill they showed. His expression changed.

‘Welp, I’m out!’

He said nothing else. Thousand-faced Human Fox vanished from the beach.

But something caused his mood to plummet.

Plenty of people from Sword Sect came this time.

Thousand-faced Human Fox used the forest to provide cover. When he quietly arrived at the other side of the island, he noticed that nearly one hundred Sword Sect disciples had formed a row on the beach.

The moonlight helped him see clearly that these Sword Sect disciples had completely locked down and surrounded the island.

“…”

Thousand-faced Human Fox frowned.

Even though most of the Sword Sect disciples were only at Inaction Realm, based on how these people stood in formation, when the sword formations of various sizes were activated, even a sect master would be caught in it, and it would be difficult for anyone to be able to escape within a short period of time.

“Bastards.”

At that moment, Thousand-faced Human Fox saw a few Myth Realm Sword Sect elites leaving the shore and entering the forest. He dared not linger around and was forced to head deep into the island to hide.

*****

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Just when a large group of Sword Sect elites reached the shores from everywhere and went to surround the cave, Happy and Jian Ao shot out of a cloud of dust and smoke while causing a loud clamor.

It had been a full hour.

They fought for an entire hour, and Happy finally forced Jian Ao out of the cave.

When they landed on the ground, they saw the solemnity and wariness in each other’s eyes.

Jian Ao was an elite at the dao of heaven. His strength had already reached perfection. He had only fallen into temporary disadvantage during their brief exchange just now because he did not understand Happy’s strength. But when they fought against each other at full strength, Happy’s strength actually made it difficult for him to suppress Jian Ao.

But Jian Ao was not in a very good condition either.

Happy had Ten True Dragon Styles, Sun Finger, Wave-like Subtle Steps, Tendon Changing Classic, and Marrow Changing Classic.

Even if he was up against Evil King, Happy would not be at a disadvantage if he fought against him for a short period of time. Right now, he had five ultimate techniques, along with the ancient divine weapon, Heaven Crystal, even though he could not oppress the elites who were One with the World right now, he could fight against them on equal grounds.

The frequent Full Winds in Long Skies had long since completely destroyed Jian Ao’s body fortification. Right now, his snow-white satin brocade robe had long since been ripped apart. It was covered in dust, and it was dancing in the wind in tatters. There were around ten gashes on his body, and he no longer looked like the poised sect master when he came by.

But Happy was in an even worse condition…

After that one hour, Happy had taken a lot of medicinal pills to train his Inaction Realm ultimate technique, Sun Finger, and Inaction Realm unique sword technique, Hourly Sword Technique. He reorganized his true origin aura and blocked Jian Ao’s sword qi. His demon vessels had their patterns completely destroyed, and they were like blank metal armor made of crude iron.

At that moment…

Bang!

A bright signal flare shot into the dark sky, and it exploded to deliver brilliant fireworks.

A bright red light shone on their faces.

Jian Ao spoke once more, “Sect Master Happy, my disciples have all arrived on the island. I will definitely obtain Heaven Crystal! If you give it up now, you will still have a chance of being spared.”

“Even you can’t stop me. If you send so many disciples over, you’ll just be sending them to their deaths.”

“Oh?” Jian Ao smiled coldly. “If I can hold you back alone, did you think that with your strength, you can fight against all of Sword Sect?”

When he heard this, Happy said calmly, “Who said I’m alone?

“I was just using you to polish my sword technique. Why don’t we fight again, and we’ll see whether you really have the ability to stop me!” Before his voice faded away, Happy quickly brought a drop of Fire Qilin Blood out of his Universe Bag and tossed it into his mouth.

The Fire Qilin Blood turned into warm streams of heat when it landed in his mouth. Waves of shocking warm streams of qi rushed out of his Dantian region.

Under Jian Ao’s shocked and grave gaze, Happy’s wounds started to quickly heal.

At the same time, his qi, which had gradually become drained because of how frequently he used Full Winds in Long Skies, also started increasing madly. His qi rose, and he quickly recovered to the peak of his condition.

“It’s useless.” Jian Ao was first stunned before he slowly shook his head. A drop of fire red blood appeared in his hands.

This time, it was Happy’s turn to be shocked.

He watched Jian Ao swallow the very same Fire Qilin Blood. His wounds, too, swiftly recovered, and his qi, which had fallen to the state of only a Myth Realm elite, started increasing madly.

Boom!

He became one with the world.

With the powerful effect from Fire Qilin Blood, Jian Ao returned to the peak of his condition again. His eyes shone brilliantly and clearly. He stared into Happy’s eyes confidently.

“Give up on Heaven Crystal, and I will spare you!”

He spoke with a high and mighty tone. With the frequent and clear sounds of clothes flapping around him, Happy’s pupils gradually shrank.