Sword Among Us

Once they made their decision, Dragon Tiger Sect acted like alarmed, paranoid storks. Not only did they place their primary focus on Black Wind Mountain and monitored that place, they also set up hidden sentries by Suzhou Creek, the mountainside of Black Wind Mountain, and the stronghold of the bandits to wait for Happy’s arrival!

But what they did not expect was that even though three powerful fighters in Gate Realm from Nangong Family and three other powerful fighters from Dragon Tiger Sect waited in these places for two days, Happy did not show up.

He seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth for two consecutive days. Not only did he not appear in Gusu City, he did not even appear in some of the decent level or money grinding spots outside it.

Dragon Tiger Sect, which had wasted a lot of manpower and resources, almost could not wait any longer.

They could not continue wasting time like this!

As time passed, more people became impatient, including the two arrogant disciples from Nangong Clan. If it were not because Nangong Ying stayed by their side every day, they would not have continued wasting time in Gusu City in such a boring way.

“What’s going on?! Why don’t we have news of that person yet?!”

Sect Master Inquire the Dragon was not a person who gave up easily. He knew that Happy would not leave Gusu City without reason. After multiple disappointments, he sent out even more people to get information. Finally, on the third day, he got himself new about Happy from a player in a tavern!

Though the player had gotten that information by pure coincidence…

The witness had originally gone to Purple Bamboo Forest, which was located in the suburbs east of the city, to collect medicinal herbs. As he walked around, he lost his way and entered a valley he had never gone to before.

The valley was very normal. It had no medicinal herbs or wild beasts around it, but there was a player in there, and he flew about the valley at astonishing speed.

In the beginning, the witness was very curious and puzzled, and he stopped to watch the strange scene for a while.

Once the player drew closer, the witness saw him clearly and recognized him as the famous Blue-robed Noble Sword User from Gusu City! When he remembered the rumors of his rise to power, the witness was incredibly delighted! He could not help but stop at the entrance to the valley and pay even more attention to the Blue-robed Noble Sword User and observe him closely, because he wanted to unearth whether this person had a shortcut to becoming stronger through a short period of observation.

Gradually, he was able to tell that the Blue-robed Noble Sword User was focusing his attention on practicing a lightness skill in the remote valley where no one would interrupt him. As he flew about, the witness found that Happy’s feet never touched the ground. His breath was calm, and his moves were powerful and nimble. He looked just like the martial artists in movies. He moved like the wind, and not only was his speed astonishing, when he stepped on the grass, it was never bent. He was supernaturally graceful.

The witness tried it as well.

But he soon noticed that the amount of qi required to execute lightness skills was too great. A player like him who had yet to enter Gate Realm would spend all his qi in less than two minutes.

If he sat down and circulated his qi with a qi cultivation technique, he would need fifteen minutes before he could fill up his qi again. If he did this repeatedly, it would be a great waste of time.

But Happy was clearly different!

His qi could last for a long period of time; he seemed to be able to last for more than five minutes. His lightness skill also appeared to have reached a certain realm, because his speed was extraordinary. He was at least twice as fast as a normal player.

What caused the witness to be even more depressed and resigned was that every time Happy used up his qi and sat down to circulate it using a qi cultivation technique, a very thick white fog would appear above his head. The air around him would surge, making it clear that his qi cultivation technique had reached a high level.

What amazed the witness even more was that the speed at which Happy recovered his qi was very fast. In less than three minutes, he would be filled with energy and begin to fly about the valley once more.

And he flew for an entire afternoon!

Qi cultivation techniques and lightness skills complemented each other, making the player who witnessed everything to admit Blue-robed Noble Sword User’s superiority. He finally understood why Blue-robed Noble Sword User could enter Gate Realm within such a short period of time.

When Dragon Tiger Sect received the news, more than fifty powerful players from Dragon Tiger Sect were mobilized, and under the lead of six powerful fighters in Gate Realm, they quickly gathered at the suburbs to the east of the city.

In World of Martial Arts, it was rare for so many players to act together.

The sight of nearly sixty players who had rather strong qi, were fully geared up, and were in uniform moving together caught the attention of quite a number of people. Everyone was instantly alarmed. When they saw the hostile expressions of Dragon Tiger Sect, they quickly took another path and avoided them while watching from the distance.

Soon, the group saw the valley the witness had mentioned.

It was more than 328 feet wide, but there was only one entrance. The other three fronts were all steep slopes that were very difficult to traverse. When the group from Dragon Tiger Sect quietly surrounded the valley, Dragon Tiger Sect’s Sect Master Inquire the Dragon, Vice Sect Master Long Meng, the new Vice Sect Master Zhang Pao, and Nangong Ying, Luo Zhiqiang, and Xiao Leng from Nangong Clan led sixteen of the best fighters in the clan to enter the valley.

…

After practicing for three days, Happy’s Cloud Treading Steps reached the ninth realm. In the beginning, he had only very slight increases in his Body Movement, but now, he could rise into the air with his lightness skill and move at three times his original speed. He was like an Asian arowana falling into water. When his speed reached its peak, he could hear the wind roaring in his ears and see the scenery around him flow past. He could jump thirteen feet into the air.

When Dragon Tiger Sect entered the valley in a grand manner, displaying their strength and marching with an aggressive presence, they swiftly caught Happy’s attention and put him on guard. His heart sank, and he quickly stopped practicing his qi. He brought out a medicinal tablet and chewed it to quickly restore the qi he had used up before looking up at the crowd with a wary and solemn expression.

When he swept his eyes over the group from Dragon Tiger Sect, his gaze paused for a moment on Long Meng.

“Dragon Tiger Sect.”

He moved his gaze away in disdain and for a moment examined Inquire the Dragon, who stood in the lead and was dressed in a mighty, fiery red suit of leather armor. Then, he quickly glanced at the beautiful woman with the veil and the two young men with arrogant and unruly gazes, whom he had briefly met before.

He quickly came to a realization—they were together.

And it seemed like there was no way things would end on a pleasant note on that day…

‘Oh well, since the grudge I formed with Dragon Tiger Sect had to be settled at some point, and they came to me on their own, I might as well go on a killing spree. Before I leave Gusu City, I will destroy their might so that they will stop thinking that I’m easy to bully because I am an honest person…’

Happy smiled faintly, and two lancet knives entered his hands. With a sharp gaze, he fixed his stare on Inquire the Dragon and Long Meng, who stood at the front of the group.

When they saw Happy draw his knives, the group from Dragon Tiger Sect came to a swift halt!

They drew their weapons, and a great battle was about to begin at any moment.

Inquire the Dragon’s resolute heart wavered slightly when he saw his sworn enemy for the first time. The boy stood proudly without showing any fear, and his attitude, which was one of lifting his weapon and fighting against the entire group alone made Inquire the Dragon be unable to help himself but call out to him, and the thought of valuing talents rose in his mind.

“You’re Happy!”

“Since you’re already here, then don’t bother with small talk and attack! Let me see just how powerful your aces are.”

In the face of the powerful fighters from Dragon Tiger Sect, Happy appeared calm, but his fighting spirit had already started burning. He had been vying to start the fight a long time ago, because he wanted to see how much he had improved over the past few days.

After he finished speaking, his lancet knives spun in his hands, and before Dragon Tiger Sect could see him move, the two knives turned into two cold rays that charged toward them!

Clang! Clang!

Two clear sounds rose into the air, and his lancet knives were flung to the side.

The people from Dragon Tiger Sect had long since been prepared for this. Two people jumped forth from Inquire the Dragon’s sides and brought out shields that were half an adult man’s height. They blocked the lancet knives that had always struck their target.

Happy was instantly stunned.

‘They actually brought shields…’

“Haha, Hangzhou has plenty of people who are skilled in using hidden weapons! Did you actually think that your little tricks will be of use?” Luo Zhiqiang of Nangong Clan laughed and moved forward.

“Does it?”

Happy snorted and brought out another two lancet knives. In a calm voice, he said, “War shields are military items, and they cost three thousand taels of silver crumbs. How many do you have?”

Before he even finished speaking, the lancet knives easily struck the chests of two aces of Dragon Tiger Sect!

Luo Zhiqiang had still been snickering when this happened, and the two knives were like a slap to his face. His face turned red, and he roared with an extremely sour expression, “You brat, you’re just asking for death!”