Sword Among Us

As of then, there might be no one who knew of Punishment Mount’s existence in Shaolin Temple. Even if someone occasionally went near the bumpy and jagged roads on that dangerous mountain, they would find their way obstructed by thorns, bushes, venomous snakes, and wild beasts.

Even if a player who was in Blessed Realm managed to clear the obstructions, they would find a bridge that spanned over three hundred and thirty feet. It connected the space between two dangerous summits that were six thousand and five hundred and sixty feet above ground. Every single time a strong gust of wind blew, the crude Iron Chain Bridge would sway violently and let out a sound that made hearts tremble. No matter how courageous a person was, they would not dare to cross the bridge easily.

Besides that, there were many monks who had broken their Buddhist vows wandering near the Iron Chain Bridge. They were NPCs in Mystical Realm who had practiced martial arts of Shaolin Temple for many years. Their foundations were great, and bandits who ran wild in the lands could not hope to compare to them.

It could be said that Punishment Cliff was a place that no one could traverse for the time being. It was a fearsome spot where they could gain no benefits!

Even Happy had a hard time there.

Bang!

The ground trembled, and a huge python that was one and a half feet wide flopped on its belly, revealing its fearsome stomach. It crashed on the ground from a branch of a tree with a trunk that would need two adult men to envelop it.

The python’s smooth and swollen body was full of throwing knives. The beast struggled for a moment to break, but the more it moved, the more the throwing knives injured it. They had a bleeding effect, and the python lost blood even faster.

In the end, after struggling violently on the ground for a while, the giant green python that was twenty-six feet long finally died. Its eyes went dull and lifeless.

Whoosh.

The sound of sleeves fluttering rose in the air. A young man in thin blue robes landed on the ground while staring at the carcass of the large python. He let out a long breath.

“Thank goodness it’s just a normal Giant Python…”

As he spoke to himself, Happy crouched down beside the carcass. He observed it with a frown before bringing out a lancet knife. He fused his qi into the knife and easily skinned the Giant Python. With familiar movements, he took away skin that was the sturdiest and in perfect condition.

It was the strongest part of a Giant Python. It was also the most suitable material to create leather armor, gauntlets, and other equipment. From its sturdiness, it should be at least one grade higher than Giant Wolf’s pelt.

That was because the Giant Python had hunted for a long period of time in the depths of the harsh mountain. Its abilities alone were no worse than those of a martial artist in the middle stage of Blessed Realm. With its powerful physical body and nimbleness, it could appear and disappear like a phantom, which made it much harder to handle compared to a Giant Wolf.

If it were not because Happy’s Cloud Treading Steps had reached Grandmaster Realm a long time ago, which allowed him to easily return to the trees and use his lancet knives to continuously damage the Giant Python, he did not know just who would have had the last laugh in their battle.

Even though Happy swam in money and could be considered a millionaire, it was not a good habit to ignore tens of thousands of taels of silver on the ground. He immediately took the Giant Python’s fangs and gall before he cast a glance at the path from which he had come. He then lowered his head and frowned before he continued ahead.

Less than half a minute after Happy left, a group of people walked out of the forest that had returned to silence.

It was Li Heng and a dozen sect members from Heaven Descendants Sect.

They did not say anything. With awestruck expressions, they arrived near the carcass of the Giant Python which had its most valuable parts taken away. They then looked into the direction that had Happy left, and their gazes became complicated.

Someone beside Li Heng spoke, “Vice sect master, why didn’t you attack him just now? With our strength, we could have killed and robbed him just now, and it would have been done without anyone’s knowledge.”

Li Heng did not answer. Instead, he tapped the ground and moved around sixty-five feet forward. The forest vanished, and a cold gust of wind blew violently in his face. White fog filled his vision.

He looked around once, and the grave expression in his eyes became even stronger. He could tell that the forest came to an end and ahead of him was a complicated mountain with rocks scattered all over. The ground was jagged everywhere he turned.

If the blue-robed young man was so familiar with the place, why did he fight against the Giant Python when he got out of the forest? As long as he left the forest, the Giant Python would never take the risk of the scattered rocks stabbing its body and chasing after him.

‘Could it be?’

His eyes sparkled, and Li Heng sucked in a deep breath.

“It’s indeed a great place to kill people and bury their corpses.”

When he spoke, the implications contained in his words made the group sense that there was an underlying meaning to what he said. The closest person to him frowned and said, “Vice sect master… The person is now far away. Should we chase after him or wait for a larger group to arrive before we say anything?”

Right after he finished speaking, someone immediately retorted coldly. “Why should we wait for a larger group? He only has a better lightness skill and a hidden weapon technique. Are you saying we can’t actually deal with him? Do you want our people to come here and watch us make a fool of ourselves?”

He stared in the direction in which Happy had left and spoke again with disdain in his eyes. “Vice Sect Master Li, it’s late now. In just a few hours, time will be up. I suggest that we don’t waste our time. Let’s get rid of him as quickly as possible, take the brocade box, and leave in case any accidents happen.”

When he heard this, not only did Li Heng not react, he even flung his sleeves and sat down on the ground at a languid pace. “Don’t be so hasty.”

Everyone in the group looked at one another at a loss.

“Don’t you think it’s strange?”

“Strange?”

The group was once again baffled by Li Heng’s question, which seemed to have come out of nowhere.

Li Heng ignored the strange looks and just continued speaking at his own pace. “To tell you the truth, when the people from Bloody Blade Sect snatched the brocade box, I found it strange.”

He spoke slowly, but his tone was grave. His stern and serious expression led the group’s thoughts to the events that occurred an hour ago.

“Hmm?” Some of the rash players seemed to have noticed something, and contemplative expressions appeared on their faces.

“The monk suddenly disappeared. Then, only the brocade box could be found inside the house, not the player who had it. When we chased after the people from Bloody Blade Sect, I guessed that the person would use the chaos to mix into our group.”

The Heaven Descendants Sect’s members who had all their attention focused on the brocade box finally discovered the most unexpected and strangest part within the series of events that transpired over the last hour.

All of them had overlooked this—the most crucial person within this competition for the treasure was missing.

“Ah!” Light gasps and soft intakes of breaths could be heard from the crowd.

It had to be known that it was extremely dangerous to have a player who could kill a Mystical Realm bandit leader hiding among them!

At that moment, they finally came to a realization, and when they looked at Li Heng, they could not help but cry out in surprise.

“Vice sect master, is that why you intentionally fought against the people from Vast Ocean Sword Sect when the vice sect master from Bloody Blade Sect was killed by the fierce tiger? Was your goal to force that person who hid among us to reveal himself?”

“That’s right.”

Li Heng nodded solemnly.

“That person could only hide among the players who just lingered around the area without anything else to do. His goal was to retrieve the brocade box after we killed each other. He is very strong, and he is very familiar with the area around Shaolin Temple.

“Once he prevails, it’d be very easy to break free and hide himself, so I decided to have all of you stay and just sent one of ours to follow him in secret. My goal was to learn just who that person was! At the same time, I wanted him to reveal his strength!”

When they heard this, the people suddenly remembered that they had followed their target into such a remote place. That person’s actions clearly fit in to Li Heng’s guesses, and one person from the group could not help but say while feeling tense, “Vice sect master, are you saying that he—”

Li Heng had an awestruck look on his face while he nodded gravely.

“If we had attacked rashly just now, I can’t say whether he would be the one who would have ended up dead, or us.”

The group was astounded!