Sword Among Us

The arrival of the emperor’s birthday meant that the quest that led to banditry had officially ended. It also meant that a group of people in the game would rise to power.

During such a critical period of time, a book named World of Martial Arts Secret News Log came into being out of nowhere!

It was made by a player who gathered information by himself and compiled all that he had into a book. Soon, it spread among countless players and gained their attention. It also caused a commotion in the game!

World of Martial Arts Secret News Log was just like its name. In it were not just some of the strange news, extraordinary affairs, and major events which had a great effect in the world of martial artists. There were also records of famous players whose names were discussed frequently online.

However, that was not the most important part. In the final pages of the thin book, which was bound by a thread and cost only fifty taels of silver, were WMA Famous People Rank, WMA Dragon Rank, WMA Phoenix Rank, WMA Rich Rank, and Divine Weapon Rank!

WMA Famous People Rank listed the countless famous players in World of Martial Arts who were adored by other martial artists, their situations, and their journey to the spotlight.

The first place belonged to Soul Severing Guest, who was also North Placating Duke. He was a man who hailed from the desert outside the Great Wall and who had overturned the headquarters of Wind and Rain Tower, which lorded over Beijing. He had nearly wiped that sect from the face of the game!

In his hands, he had the ultimate technique, Nine Gate Breaker Saber Technique!

Second place was taken by Quicksword Xiao Shan. He had thrice fought against Mountain Range Sect and had managed to get out safely each one. He killed more than four hundred powerful players from Mountain Range Sect, which was a heavy blow to them. They did not manage to keep even a single one of their tribute boxes, and the huge sect was dissolved a few days later. They fell into degeneration.

Xiao Shan’s sword technique was very normal. It was a low-tier martial art named Thunder Sword Style which placed an emphasis on speed. The ultimate technique which made him famous was Earth Shrinker, which was a high-tier lightness skill.

The third place was taken by the hall master of Class One Hall, Dream Clouds.

The reason why she was placed among them was because she was the first to reach Grandmaster Realm with her high-tier martial art. She was also a woman who had seven brocade boxes in her hands. If they were to be ranked based on their strength, then Soul Severing Guest and Xiao Shan, who were ranked first and second, were not her opponents. The main reason why she was ranked in third place was because she kept a low profile. If it was not for the event in Shaolin Temple, she would not have even joined the “famous player” ranks just then.

And the player who was ranked in fourth place was Happy, who was the Blue-robed Noble Sword User from Gusu City!

There were two reasons behind why he was in that list.

He was the champion of the offline martial arts tournament, where he had been able to defeat Blessed Realm players while in Gate Realm. His combat abilities could not be underestimated.

The other reason was because he was the instigator of the other tragedy in Shaolin Temple. Up till then, there had been many things that players did not understand about that event. In fact, not even Iron-mouthed Divine Breaker could elaborate on the details. He could only explain what had happened in the temple!

However, a part of the story was known. Since he could leave the brocade box, causing three great sects to slaughter each other, then easily retrieve it and severely wound thirty or so Blessed Realm players on the summit of Punishment Mount, he could absolutely enter the ranks of Famous People.

The people in the lower ranks were all famous after having done something to influence the game. However, compared to the top four, their achievements were slightly inferior.

The Dragon Rank, Phoenix Rank, Rich Rank, and Divine Weapon Rank had the information that the author, Wandering Know-it-all, had spent one million taels of silver crumbs to learn. They had the results of what he understood from the information he gathered from Iron-mouthed Divine Breaker’s mouth.

The famous players on Dragon Rank and Phoenix Rank were entered there when Wandering Know-it-all received the names of all players who had leveled up their high-tier martial art to Grandmaster Realm.

The Dragon Rank was just as its name suggested. It was a list of the top one hundred male players in the China server.

It had a detailed record of their high-tier martial arts, body fortification techniques, lightness skills, and qi cultivation techniques’ levels and realms.

It was the same for the Phoenix Rank.

The two hundred men and women who already had high-tier martial arts in Grandmaster Realm instantly stimulated numerous players, especially those who were still immersed in the delight of mastering low-tier martial arts. They gained an even deeper level of understanding toward those who had supreme power in the game, and they set up a higher goal for themselves.

However, the Dragon Rank still caused some disagreements.

For example, a powerful player such as Quicksword Xiao Shan had actually not managed to get into the top one hundred in the Dragon Rank, even though he had the ability to easily take away other people’s lives while he fought alone against an army of ten thousand. And Soul Severing Guest, whose abilities were recognized by all, had used only one broken saber to defeat all the powerful players in Beijing, but even he did not manage to make it into the ranks.

Instead, there were some nameless people in it.

The person at first place was Ashura of the Night Storm, and it was a name no one had heard before.

Wandering Know-it-all himself had also added a sentence at the back of the list: [This list is currently ranks people purely based on the realms of their martial arts, body fortification techniques, and lightness skills after all their data is gathered together. It does not take into account their real combat abilities, and you must not treat this as their strength. And there are also a handful of players who have multiple high-tier martial arts but who did not manage to make it into the ranks because their realms were not high enough. You must not believe in it fully, and I promise that I will improve this list in the future.]

However, the list of martial arts Wandering Know-it-all had for Ashura of the Night Storm shocked everyone.

It was because that person had actually practiced four high-tier martial arts: Vast Freezing Qi Cultivation Technique, Vast Freezing Sword Technique, Vast Freezing True Qi (which was actually a body fortification technique), and Vast Freezing Body Movement. Even though he only had one in Grandmaster Realm, the set of high-tier martial arts made him rank high on the list, and his name became very intimidating.

The same situation repeated with everyone else at the top of the list. However, others only had around two high-tier martial arts. Even those who had three high-tier martial arts were rarely found, and most of them either did not have a high-tier body fortification technique or a high-tier lightness skill.

The person ranked at the top of the Phoenix Rank was named Wind Void!

The name sounded very heroic, just like a male wandering martial artist, and if it were not for the fact that only women could enter the Phoenix Rank, everyone might have created a misunderstanding that a man had entered it.

Wind Void was also a player who had four high-tier martial arts, and her qi cultivation technique and lightness skill were even stronger than those of Ashura of the Night Storm. She occupied a solid position at the top of the Phoenix Rank.

The person in second place was Dream Clouds, the Hall Master of Class One Hall.

The difference in their martial art realms was not great.

In fact, there were some people who said that Dream Clouds would have definitely suppressed Wind Void if she had not run around in search of the brocade boxes. Without the quest line, she would have certainly taken the throne.

As for the Rich Rank, it was even simpler.

Wandering Know-it-all had the fortune teller figure out the players who had the most money in the game and were the richest. He evaluated nothing else. The richest person at that moment had four hundred taels of gold crumbs and millions of taels of silver crumbs. When they were all added together, she nearly had ten million, and she was worthy of being the richest person in the game.

She was Dream Clouds, the hall master of Class One Hall!

The people behind her might also have millions of the in-game currency, but the difference was still rather great.

However, there was another name among the one hundred people on the Rich Rank that drew a lot of attention.

That name was Happy!

Even Dream Clouds’ bright eyes stopped at the thirty-sixth name on the Rich Rank at the instant she saw it upon opening the book. Then, she moved her gaze elsewhere in a dismissive manner.

When they saw Happy’s name on the Rich Rank, practically all the people believed that Happy, who was entrenched on Punishment Mount, had received one million taels of silver crumbs as his reward after he opened the brocade box.

To a huge guild, money was just a number, because the people who could truly turn it into power were incredibly few!