Sword Among Us

More than half an hour was required to move from the foot of Mount Huangshan to Light Summit, and that was if they went at full speed and Ming Cult did not stop to fend against them.

“Stay where you are!”

When the group rushed out of the ravine that was previously a sea of fire, someone finally appeared at the stone steps leading to Light Summit and blocked Happy as well as Zhou Zhiruo. “Sir, how brave you are. How dare you come up to Ming Cult?”

The person who appeared was Zhou Yu, chief of Phoenix Sun Branch of Ming Cult. Zhou Yu swept his gaze over Zhou Zhiruo’s enchanting curves while she moved forward at the opportune moment to provide an explanation.

Zhou Yu smiled faintly then and his gaze landed on Happy. “I see you received a quest. Congratulations.”

Once he finished speaking, he calmly opened up a path without any intention to stop them.

Happy did not say anything.

He admired Zhou Yu in his heart. When he saw Zhou Yu move away elegantly, he immediately wrapped his fist in his palm and nodded at him. He then led Zhou Zhiruo past him to head to Light Summit.

They left swiftly.

“Big Brother Zhou, why did you let him leave so easily? Xiao Shan died in his hands, you know?” The sounds of robes fluttering could be heard, and the flautist appeared behind Zhou Yu with a displeased expression.

Zhou Yu turned around slowly and said, “I know. If it were anyone else, it would have been easier, and I would have fought against them for a while, but he brought with him Zhou Zhiruo. Sigh, she’s a woman the quest won’t allow us to touch. If we attack her and the cult master learns about this, everything we did today will be in vain.”

He paused for a moment before he continued. “Xiao Shan did not suffer any injustice when he died. Happy lives up to his name as the top ranked player on the Famous People Rank. Besides, even if we worked together today, we might not be able to kill him.”

“Hmph! I can’t calm down. When I think about Xiao Shan dying in his hands and how he managed to get a hidden quest to go to Ming Cult’s Light Summit, I feel so angry that I want to tear him apart.” The flautist was not as magnanimous as Zhou Yu.

“Then work hard on improving your skills; otherwise, if you just rely on your mouth, you won’t be able to kill Happy.” After saying that, Zhou Yu leisurely looked up and sighed. “I remember that my little sister warned me to pay attention to Happy in the beginning, but I didn’t pay too much attention to her words. If I knew that he would rise to fame during the Emperor’s Birthday, I might have stolen his tribute and fought against him.”

“It’s not too late now.” The flautist’s eyes sparkled.

Zhou Yu cast him a faint glance before he said leisurely, “He has a fourth-echelon Nation Protecting Divine Sword. Do some calculations on how much his attack speed and damage have increased.”

“By the way, why didn’t that fourth-echelon grade one masterpiece appear on the Divine Weapon Rank?” Once Zhou Yu gave him a pointer, the flautist felt his heart tremble. The volume of his voice increased from his disbelief. “Why hasn’t it been renewed yet? What’s going on?”

“You’re asking me? You picked the wrong person.” A sparkle appeared in Zhou Yu’s eyes. “Wandering Know-it-all is the one who writes that book. Go ask him that question. Right now, I want to know just how many fourth-echelon equipment pieces Happy has aside from that fourth-echelon Nation Protecting Divine Sword.”

The flautist said nothing.

*****

While the flautist was astonished by Zhou Yu noticing all those things, Happy had already led Zhou Zhiruo into Ming Cult’s headquarters without any obstacles in the way.

The disciples of the six great sects had already descended Mount Huangshan, which was why their arrival did not stir up a major reaction from the Ming Cult members. When they heard of the reason why they were there, they soon brought Song Yuanqiao over.

Song Qingshu also came over with an excited expression. He must have heard from the Ming Cult members that someone from Emei Sect had come over with something to tell them. When he learned that it was Zhou Zhiruo, he went through the trouble of coming out and meeting them.

“Hehe, I see, so it’s Young Swordsman Happy.” When Song Yuanqiao saw Happy again, there were hints of complicated emotions on his face. After all, Zhang Wuji was his fifth brother’s son, and Happy had nearly killed him. However, he still showed a magnanimous attitude.

“Young swordsman, you came back. Why is that so?”

Song Qingshu decided to go to Zhou Zhiruo and attend to her. “Junior Sister Zhiruo, why did you come here?”

Zhou Zhiruo ignored Song Qingshu and went down on one knee, giving Song Yuanqiao and Song Qingshu a shock. “Great Swordsman Song, Emei Sect has been ambushed by the dogs of the imperial court. Right now, hundreds of my sect members are in danger. My mistress is also in a perilous situation. Great Swordsman Song, I hope that you can lend us a hand.”

Happy cast a curious glance at Song Qingshu. He remembered that Song Qingshu should have followed the crowd to return to Wudang Sect, with which he would also be captured. Why was he here?

“What?!” As expected, Song Yuanqiao’s expression changed drastically. “Please, get up. What happened. Tell me in detail.”

Something major had happened, and Song Qinghu did not dare to act rashly. He stood and listened to Zhou Zhiruo narrate the entire matter once she stood up.

Song Yuanqiao’s expression changed repeatedly, and he looked incredibly solemn.

“This is bad!

“If the six sects are ambushed at the same time, wouldn’t my sixth brother be—”

“Dad, sixth uncle is in danger!”

It was only then that Song Qingshu remembered about that matter. Song Yuanqiao had wanted to take care of Zhang Wuji, and so Song Qingshu stayed with his seventh uncle in Ming Cult, but his sixth uncle had led the Wudang Sect disciples to return to the sect and spread the news that Zhang Wuji had not died yet back to Wudang Sect.

“Let’s go and take a look.”

When he heard Song Qingshu’s suggestion, Song Yuanqiao shook his head solemnly. “There are many powerful fighters in the imperial court. They must have sent a lot of their elites to fight against the six great sects, so if we go, it’ll be too late, and we might even end up dying ourselves.”

“Great Swordsman Song, please save my mistress!” Zhou Zhiruo panicked when she heard that, and she began crying.

“Miss Zhou, please don’t panic. If you want to save your mistress, you must seek help from Ming Cult. I’ll go talk to Wuji,” Song Yuanqiao said solemnly.

“Isn’t Zhang Wuji recovering from his wounds?”

A flash of regret and worry appeared in Zhou Zhiruo’s eyes. She caught up to Song Yuanqiao, but she did not expect that the worry in her voice would displease Song Qingshu. A hint of hate appeared briefly in his eyes.

“Wuji has Nine Yang Divine Skill, and his physical constitution is incredibly good. He can recover after taking medicine and resting for a while. By the way, I forgot to tell you, but Wuji has been elected as the cult master of Ming Cult.”

Zhou Zhiruo was so shocked by the sudden news that she could not speak.

Song Qingshu snorted. “Being a cult master of an evil cult means that he’ll die sooner or later.”

“Qingshu!” Song Yuanqiao glared at him to reprimand him.

The group arrived went to the inner hall of Ming Cult’s headquarters. When they saw Zhang Wuji, they found that his face was now clean. He was recovering from his wounds with the help of the seven elites from Ming Cult. Even if they were in the distance, they could already sense the hot and pure qi from his body crashing into their faces.

Happy and Zhou Zhiruo were both people who had injured Zhang Wuji, so their presence immediately brought displeasure to the seven elites from Ming Cult.

“Great Swordsman Song, why did you bring those two here?”

“Miss Zhou.”

Zhang Wuji did not think too deeply about it. He immediately stopped circulating his qi and comforted Yang Xiao as well as the others before he arrived in front of Zhou Zhiruo.

She bowed beautifully. “I, Zhou Zhiruo, greet Cult Master Zhang. I hope that you can lend a hand and save my mistress.”

“Your mistress? Mistress Annihilation? What’s wrong with her?” The delight on Zhang Wuji’s face instantly vanished, and he looked at Happy in puzzlement.

When he noticed that Zhang Wuji’s gaze was neither wary nor filled with hate, Happy felt slightly guilty.

“Cult Master Zhang, you have a kind heart. If we have a hero like you taking care of Ming Cult, it is a blessing for the world of martial artists!” Happy opened up the conversation with such words and repeated Zhou Zhiruo’s words.

“The six great sects have been ambushed, and the martial artists will definitely blame this on Ming Cult! Cult master, since you’ve already decided to revive Ming Cult, we must take this matter into our hands,” Yang Xiao said when he walked up. His gaze moved back and forth between Happy and Zhou Zhiruo’s faces.

Happy felt as if he had just been sliced by a knife.