Sword Among Us

“Senior brother, your Flowering Knights Blade Technique has reached Grandmaster Realm now, so what do you intend to practice next? Your Shaolin’s Long Fist, or Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword? Give us some spoilers and tips please! Should we aim to reach Gate Realm, or should we focus our attention on just one martial art for now?”

Once he drank a few cups of wine, Whirlwind Young Li forgot all about his previous displeasure. He then focused his attention on his eldest senior brother again while being in high spirits. Presumably, it was because he wanted to gain some advice from his eldest senior brother.

Happy smiled.

“Both are fine.”

In truth, his skills all came from the experience he had accumulated in his previous life, so he could only give some pointers to the two. As for the rest, it would be up to them to experiment and gather experience on their own.

“What? That’s basically the same as not saying anything!” Whirlwind Young Li grimaced. He grumbled gloomily, and everyone else snickered.

Happy smiled and explained, “Actually, if you enter Gate Realm first, you’ll have an advantage over those who have not reached the first qi realm. It is a realm advantage. But you can also focus on practicing one martial art. As long as you have one martial art that’s in Grandmaster Realm, it’ll be easier for you to gain a footing in the world of martial artists.”

“You’re right.” The two men pondered over this before they nodded. “But what about right now? Which path is better for us?”

“Get into Gate Realm,” Happy said without hesitation. “I made some calculations. If you have around ten low-end martial arts, you’ll be able to get into Gate Realm if you made all of them reach tenth realm. You’re almost there, and you can get into Gate Realm within three days at most. Then, you can focus and aim for Grandmaster Realm. I believe that’ll be better.”

After all, people like him, who challenged powerful martial artists to gain breakthroughs and epiphanies were not common.

“Alright!”

Happy’s words made Eastern Green Gate and Whirlwind Young Li become very energetic. They had already decided that they would linger around Black Wind Mountain for the next few days…

“More than twenty members of Dragon Tiger Sect died in our hands. It won’t be peaceful around Black Wind Mountain for the next few days. You must be careful. If you encounter them, run. You won’t be able to win against them, but it shouldn’t be a problem for you to run away.” Happy gave them a word of warning.

Whirlwind Young Li and Eastern Green Gate nodded solemnly.

“Senior brother, you have to be careful as well. Most of their members died by your hands.”

“I’m not worried. No matter how many of them come at me, I won’t be afraid.”

Happy smiled mysteriously before he brought out a manual with a black cover from his Universal Bag. It swiftly drew everyone’s attention to it.

“Black Dragon Murder?”

“Yes, do you remember the sword strike that the bandit chief used to pin me to the tree before he died?”

“Yes, yes! Of course I remember! That skill is very powerful!”

When Whirlwind Young Li remembered the scene of Happy being pinned on the tree thirty-two feet away and nearly dying, fear still rose in his heart.

“Senior brother, that skill seems to be different from ordinary martial arts.” Eastern Green Gate stared at Happy, and his words seemed to have an underlying meaning to them.

“That’s right.” Happy nodded. “It’s not a normal martial art. It’s a secret technique.”

“A secret technique?”

The two had puzzled looks on their faces.

“Secret techniques are unique martial arts that are very rare. Just like their names imply, they are incredibly lethal! Those who are struck by them will either die or be crippled! I once met someone who used it. He only used it once, but the technique drained all of his qi, and he lost most of his fighting power after that…”

“It’s that awesome?”

Whirlwind Young Li sucked in a deep breath and clicked his tongue.

“You can only use it once?” Eastern Green Gate remembered how the bandit chief had been drained of his strength after he used the technique and just waited for his death. He frowned. “Doesn’t that mean this is a technique that will mortally wound both sides?”

“Correct.”

“Is it difficult to train?”

“It’s about one hundred times harder than practicing normal martial arts!” Happy smiled wanly. “It also has levels, but every time I use it, I need to have sufficient qi, or else I won’t be able to use it at all.”

“Ah…” When they heard this, the duo were incredibly disappointed.

A long time was required to restore their qi. Even if they meditated using their qi cultivation technique, they would need around ten minutes to recover. If they kept on replenishing their qi and using it up, they might only end up increasing a few levels of such a technique in a day. Furthermore, it would be more difficult to train this skill the higher its level became.

“Even though the effects are minimal, we can increase the levels of our qi cultivation techniques through this, and if the realm of our qi gets high, we would be able to execute the secret technique multiple times. It should be pretty good.”

As he spoke, Happy made a confirmation that he wanted to learn Black Dragon Murder.

It was then added to his martial arts tab.

[Black Dragon Murder: Level 1.00]

Its initial damage was six hundred, and it was one point five times higher than the damage dealt by Shaolin’s Long Fist at Grandmaster Realm.

Once he was done, Happy brought out another manual—Flashing Sword Breaker.

It was the other manual the bandit chief had left behind. It was of equal status to Flowering Knights Blade Technique, or even more valuable during certain times. Without another word, Happy learned it, and the manual turned into dust in his hands.

Player: Happy.

ASS: 28, AFF: 20, POC: 30, BMM: 25.

Qi: 45.16 (Gate Realm)

Complete Reality Qi Cultivation Technique: Level 62.01

Shaolin’s Long Fist: Level 96.37

Lancet Knife Throwing Technique: Level 99.99

Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword: Level 94.19

Five Continuous Axe Strikes: Level 84.10

Flowering Knights Blade Technique: Level 99.99

Black Clouds Sword Technique: Level 90.17

Black Wind Blade Technique: Level 90.08

Black Tiger Fist: Level 90.12

Black Snake Staff Technique: Level 90.11

Black Dragon Murder: Level 1.00

Flashing Sword Breaker: Level 1.00

He had gained two points of Comprehension when his martial arts reached Grandmaster Realm. The other three points were an extra reward for getting the highest ranked Class S battle assessment for killing the bandit chief of Black Wind Mountain.

The increase of his Comprehension caused Happy to be incredibly excited. He might still be a long way away from learning high-end martial arts because none of his statuses reached the requirements, but the extra increase in his Comprehension still allowed him to see a shortcut to becoming a powerful martial artist.

Even though this path was definitely filled with extraordinary trials and difficulties, Happy, who had three years of experience in the game, still had a certain degree of chance to make it work.

Besides, right after a person reached Gate Realm, the sect or clan they joined would give them a quest to learn and compare notes regarding their martial arts through sparring.

As long as they did not lose during the sparring against the seniors in the sect or clan, they could get some extra surprises as a reward. One of them was additional points to their innate statuses, including points for their Comprehension!

…

Happy bade farewell to Eastern Green Gate and Whirlwind Young Li and promptly left Jade Gate Restaurant to return to Murong Clan.

“Happy.”

Right after he entered the mansion, he saw the Murong Clan Lady and the butler come toward him one after another. Happy quickly went up to them to greet them.

“My Lady, Uncle Rong.”

“Your qi has shown signs of improvement. Yes, not bad.”

The Murong Clan Lady smiled, which was a rare sight. Her extremely good looks dazzled the young disciples in the mansion.

“It has not been long since you joined Murong Clan, but your talents surpass those of the others. I’ve already talked about this with the butler. We will now officially teach you the martial arts unique to Murong Clan.”

“Thank you for teaching me, My Lady! Thank you, Uncle Rong.”

“But the martial arts of Murong Clan are slightly strange. Before we can officially teach you those skills, I will have Uncle Rong test your abilities.”

When the Murong Clan Lady finished speaking, Uncle Rong took a step forward with a smile.

“Do not worry. It is just a normal sparring session, and we will not use qi. As long as you can last fifty attacks, you will be able to officially learn our martial arts. If you can’t, it’ll mean that you will need to train a little longer.”

“I understand.” Happy sucked in a deep breath and took his stance. “Please teach me.”

When he saw Happy take his stance, Uncle Rong nodded in admiration. Then, he put away his smile and took a slow step forward with his right foot. Before he even bent his knee, his presence spread out!

It was as solemn as a mountain.

The sparring sessions had the goal of motivating the other disciples. Hence, they were held in the empty spot in the front yard of the mansion. When the butler took his stance, astonishment appeared on the faces of a number of disciples who had looked down upon him.

Happy, however, looked very calm.

It did not seem like he could sense the oppressive presence spreading out from the butler’s body. Instead of using any weapons, he took up the authentic fighting stance of Shaolin’s Long Fist, and with his dashing looks, he gave off a heroic air while staring Uncle Rong in the eyes.