Sword Among Us

“Orange, how are you going to thank us with the items Nian drops later?” After an oppressive silence, one of the people chuckled and questioned the man in Mystical Realm. “I heard that Nian will not just drop gold ingots, but high-tier martial art manuals and weapons, which are worth more than hundreds of thousands of taels of silver crumbs. It’s a moving gift box. You’ll have to reward us with something, right?”

“Hahahahaha… Don’t worry! Once I become rich, I will definitely not forget all of you. When I go back, I’ll treat all of you to a meal and some good wine in Moon Pavilion.”

When Orange saw that Nian was about to die, his heart surged. He could already imagine himself rising to prominence once he obtained the treasures the creature will drop. He had no thoughts about dividing the spoils with his companions, who had attacked the creature with him.

Right after he said those words, no matter how stupid they might have been, all of his party members understood the underlying meaning of his words. Orange was thinking about taking all the loot from Nian for himself. But what about them? They did not become happy after they saw Nian simply because they knew they could drink with him!

“Hmph!” Some of the people immediately pulled out of the fight. “I don’t have the interest of drinking with you. We found this Nian together, so what right do you have to take all the benefits for yourself?”

Then, the others who had hesitated about pulling out of the fight because they did not want to cause embarrassment and turn against Orange pulled out as well. They did not help him handle Nian anymore.

Orange finally understood.

He looked around and saw that aside from one companion who was good friends with him, all the others had gone on strike, refused to fight, and retreated to the side. But he did not mind that. He only smiled coldly at those people.

“Do you actually think that without you, I won’t be able to kill Nian? I’m telling you, this Nian is mine!”

Nian was covered in wounds and had become much slower. Once Orange delivered a few more full-powered strikes, it became even more pathetic and miserable. It was covered in blood. While it whined, it moved forward, but it looked incredibly powerless to do anything.

Orange cackled coldly and chased after it while slashing at it again and again, his Ghost Head Saber leaving behind bloody cuts. One after another, they frenziedly shaved off Nian’s dwindling life.

“You’re a bunch of Blessed Realm players, and you’re thinking about snatching Nian from me? I’m already showing that I think highly of you lot by treating you to a drink. Stop being so shameless!”

Even though they were from the same sect, they had only built the sect recently. Their impression of each other was not deep, and their relationship was not strong. However, Orange’s mean remarks truly enraged all his sect members, who were already displeased with him.

“Damn you!”

They looked at each other and pounced on him with anger on their faces.

“Kill this bastard!”

“Haha! You’re angry because I just embarrassed you, huh? And you even want to kill-steal me? Come on then!”

Orange was young and energetic, and he immediately flew into a rage as well because of his hot temper. His face was full of savagery, and he decided to ignore Nian—which couldn’t run fast anymore—so that he could turn around and swing his saber to knock away the weapon coming at him. While doing so, he even knocked away the person holding the weapon.

Cling! Clang!

By relying on his equipment, which was of average quality, he withstood two blows on his shoulders from the people to the left and right of him. He swung his Ghost Head Saber as quickly as lightning and left behind a gash so deep that bones could be seen on the chest of the person who had spoken to his left.

“It’s your fault for being so despicable!”

He gritted his teeth and sent the second person away. Some blood splashed on Orange’s face. He kicked away another person, and when he swept his gaze over the group with a sharp gaze, his expression turned even more ferocious and merciless. He roared, “Who else wants to attack me?!”

When he looked at them, the people who had not attacked finally found themselves unable to hold back anymore.

“Bastard!”

If they could even tolerate such blatant taunting, they would end up being pushovers!

The bastard had snatched Nian, killed their people, and still acted in an arrogant manner. Even people who were usually very good tempered were angered, which was evident from their expressions. They roared and activated their body fortification techniques before rushing at Orange together.

“AAHHH!!” Orange’s expression changed a little before he shouted in anger, “And you call yourselves my sect members?! You just don’t want to see me live a good life! Damn you, you’re all people who just proclaim yourselves to be saints! Today, I’ll kill all of you!” He then turned around and rushed to the left.

Even though Orange was hot-tempered and impulsive, he was not stupid enough to fight head on against eight people. He had just gone up against three, and he was already injured lightly. If he could not handle the situation well, not only would he die, there was even a possibility that Nian would be snatched by his attackers.

The party soon fought a heated battle.

Even though Orange continuously tried to avoid being hurt and did his best to kill his opponents, the injuries on his body just continued to increase. There were actually two people among his former companions who had high-tier martial arts.

However, he relied on fighting against them recklessly to kill four people with his ferociousness. It was a step forward in reducing the threat on his life.

When the internal fight of a sect because of the distribution of loot was about to end in the most tragic manner, an unexpected guest entered the forest.

Clap, clap, clap, clap.

He clapped while coming out from behind a tree with a relaxed expression. He showed his handsome face before the group without a single worry.

“Humanity is such a fragile thing.”

The group was stunned silent.

Orange and the remaining five people across from him quickly stopped. They stared warily at the man who did not stop walking toward them.

“This is a matter between us, don’t butt in!”

“Hmph, I don’t have the time to bother about you bunch of uncultured swine.”

With a light snort, the mysterious man walked over with light footsteps, and in a very feminine manner, he brought out a pink handkerchief. While he walked, he gently caressed his face and grumbled something under his breath, even though he did not notice it himself. Then, he stopped, and when he looked up, he saw Orange and the others staring at him with dumbfounded expressions.

“Hmph! If you continue watching me, I’m going to dig out your eyeballs!” Even though his tone was light, the killing intent within his words was very thick, and his meaning was very straightforward.

Orange and the others ignored the warning from the mysterious “man”. At that moment, they could already see that the mysterious “man” had foundation on his face, and there was mascara on his eyelashes. When he got closer to them, they could see bits of a woman’s charm…

They inhaled sharply through their teeth, and goosebumps broke out on their skin.

The matter that happened moments earlier had made them notice that there were people who only chased after fame and benefits without caring about the friendship between sect members in the game. It left them with a deep impression, but when they compared that with the eccentric person, they felt that whatever they just went through paled in comparison. ‘This is indeed a strange world filled with wonders. People like that have already come to show off in World of Martial Arts? I wonder if he’s a transwoman or just a cosplay fanatic.’

“Are you treating my warning as meaningless remarks?”

When the mysterious “man” noticed the people staring at him strangely, he flew into a rage. He rolled his eyes at the six people in a coquettish manner, and even though his actions were feminine, his killing intent bloomed.

He stopped moving his pink handkerchief for a while, and his gaze turned sharp. A few falling leaves froze in the air. A powerful presence rose in the forest, stirring up all the dust and fallen leaves on the ground. A few crystalline rays of light went charging at the six players with a barely noticeable sound of air being sliced.

Whish! Whish! Whish! Whish!

“Careful!”

“AAHH!”

The six had been staring at the mysterious “man” intently, so they noticed his actions straight away.

But it was still too late!

No, it should be said that “his” hidden weapons were just too fast. When the players noticed them, the hidden weapons had already arrived in front of them. The players covered their eyes at the same time and let out heartbreaking screams. Blood poured out of their wounds in streams.

The end of a needle shining with silver light could be seen in the gaps between their fingers covering their wounds. Those were embroidery needles!

And even more shocking was the fact that there was a thread connected to the end of each of the embroidery needles that came from the mysterious “man’s” hands. He suddenly smiled in a bewitching manner and gave a light tug at the threads. They tightened, and the six players screamed in pain at the same time before falling to the dust. They did not get up again.

When the mysterious “man” turned his gaze away, Nian had already disappeared.