Sword Among Us

The requirements for the martial arts tournament were not high, so anyone who was a wanderer could try to join.

However, if they wanted to get into the top ten of their own sect and gain a title in the world of martial artists to enter Hero’s Mountain Villa, it was not easy.

Besides, not all sects had the right to obtain or be given a title from the world of martial artists, because Hero’s Mountain Villa could not contain the numerous sects from across the land.

There was no need to even mention the great sects. Wudang Sect, Shaolin Temple, and the other sects from the six great system-allocated sects had hundreds of thousands of disciples. After they organized their competition, their top ten would all be outstanding people whose names would ring far and wide in the game!

However, some of the medium-sized sects and small sects such as Five Tigers Sect and Unrequited Love Valley would find themselves insulting the fierce competition among the six great system-allocated sects if they, too, had to send ten elites from their side.

The small sects were divided based on their region.

Each region had to compete against each other, and the competition between the sects would allow them to choose ten outstanding elites who were publicly acknowledged by the reputable people from the world of martial artists. Only those people would head to Hero’s Mountain Villa.

Unfortunately, while Murong Clan was an aristocratic family and quite famous in the world, they could not change the fact that they had few people. Because of that, they suffered the tragic fate of having to fight against other sects for the ten slots to be sent to Hero’s Mountain Villa.

When the competition within the region began, the Murong Clan disciples who had prepared themselves to show off their strength became incredibly dejected, because the region where Murong Clan belonged to had people from Mantuo Villa, Nangong Clan, Unrequited Love Valley, and Peach Blossom Island.

All the rather famous sects and clans in the south had gathered together, so they could not avoid the fate of having to engage in a fierce battle.

Happy was fine with it, but the others had to get ready and seize every second they had to train as well as prepare the items they needed during the tournament.

*****

The other sects were also very tense. The tournament between the medium-sized and small sects was no inferior to that of the six great system-allocated sects, Beggar’s Sect, and the other large sects. Some of the misunderstandings and grudges between sects even increased the brutality of the competition.

At noon the next day, Happy returned to Murong Clan on time!

The backyard of Murong Mansion had been cleared and turned into a temporary fighting arena. The Murong Clan Master sat on a high seat, while the elders and the Murong Clan Lady were at his sides. The inner sect senior brothers and senior sisters just watched the lineup with cheerful expressions.

They looked at the hundreds of Murong Clan disciples who stood in orderly rows from above!

The atmosphere was stern and solemn!

The Murong Clan Master began to speak then, explaining the rules of the tournament.

“We will split you into ten dueling pairs. The elder will announce the names of those who will fight. The victor will remain, while the loser will switch to another fight. Those who lose three rounds will automatically get down from the stage. They will also lose their right to compete.

“If you win one round, you get one point.

“During the later stages of the fight, all those who never lost will have the chance to challenge others. You may challenge any winner, and if you win, you get two points. Those who lost will have two points deducted! You cannot challenge the opponents who have once lost.”

While the Murong Clan Master provided the explanation, the area below the stage was silent. Once the announcement ended, quite a number of people began to discuss among themselves softly.

“Damn it, they just want us to die!”

“If we lose three times, we lose our right to compete. Anyone who runs into Happy will only have two chances and lose one point from sheer bad luck. If they run into Eleventh Crane after that, they will only have one chance left. My god! This is awful!”

Every single person in Murong Clan seemed to already know how good Eleventh Crane was with his bow and arrow, and they also knew that he had obtained a fourth-echelon bow, which meant that his strength had increased by a large degree. The crowd treated Happy and Eleventh Crane as two mountains they could not cross.

Happy was dressed in blue robes and stood in front of the crowd in a majestic manner. He looked rather relaxed as he listened to the Murong Clan Master reading the rules, but once the speech was over, he suddenly found that everything around him had changed. The area around him had suddenly become much more open.

The large martial arts arena was instantly split up. The people quickly retreated to the sides, and the empty floor in front of them was split into ten rather large stages.

The borders of the stages appeared on the floor very clearly. There was an elder with extraordinary abilities standing at each one. They were there to prevent the throwing knives, hidden weapons, and other projectiles from bothering the people in the other stages during the fights.

The elders then picked Happy’s name.

He thus became the first to appear among the ten stages.

The crowd began to discuss among themselves. All of them showed signs that they wanted to retreat and were praying that the next name called out would not be theirs.

“I don’t want to…”

A pitiful Murong Clan disciple was called. He wanted to cry, but no tears came out of his eyes. Then, he appeared in front of Happy with a long face and gave up straight away.

Happy was a little speechless.

Life and death was not involved in the competition, so did these people not have any urge or interest to spar with him?

‘Am I really going to be standing here like a statue the entire day?’

When the people from the other stages quickly began to fight against each other, Happy discovered, much to his gloom, that his second opponent also chose to give up and run.

Happy was stunned.

A strange phenomenon appeared on the first stage.

Happy stood alone without moving, but two people had already automatically given up.

Even the Murong Clan Master and a group of elders who were watching the stages looked at each other at a loss. They did not expect that Happy would be so intimidating.

Although there were quite a number of people in the crowd who sighed nonstop because they found this situation regrettable, they could understand those who gave up and pitied them.

It would be good if they could get some guidance, but Happy was a strong player who could kill even Zhou Yu with two moves. Against someone like that, many people did not even know whether they should begin by moving with their left foot or their right foot first, or should they just now move at all?

The pressure was too great, and they were too ill at ease!

Under the invisible pressure, Happy gathered points without any effort. Many people had not even ended their first fight, and Happy had already gathered more than twenty points.

As time passed, everyone began to grow numb to the sight, and the people watching the fights lost the interest to admire Happy’s heroic gait.

Even Happy found it boring.

He placed his hands behind his back and began to observe the fights on the other stages!

Then…

A crispy voice suddenly appeared, and it sounded young when it rose in front of him.

“I, Fallen Rain, seek your guidance, Senior Brother Happy!”

It was a familiar voice, and there was a faint hint of mischief and stubbornness in it.

“Young Fallen Rain?”

The voice dragged a number of people’s gazes back to Happy’s stage, and that included Happy himself.

He turned his head around.

Fallen Rain, who was small and delicate, stood before him. She childishly held a delicate and beautiful jade sword while in a battle-ready posture. She looked refreshing and charming. Her eyes were bright, and she looked relaxed. When she blinked, it was as if she had seen something fun, for a mischievous smile appeared on her lips.

Happy could not sense the nervousness from others on her face nor connect her to the Fallen Rain who had been stuffing radish to the rabbits in the past.

After being bored for so long, Happy should have been happy that he finally had an opponent who dared to challenge him, but when he saw that it was Young Fallen Rain, he suddenly found himself unable to treat her as his opponent. His blood did not boil at the idea of fighting her.

‘This is so awkward!’

Happy stood on the spot with a strange expression.

Young Fallen Rain seemed to have noticed that she was being underestimated, and she glared at him in anger. An aura that caused Happy’s gaze to focus slightly suddenly rose from her, and he fixed his eyes on Young Fallen Rain’s index finger and middle finger, which were pressed tightly against each other.