Sword Among Us

When Happy returned to the Murong Clan’s seats at the foot of the stage, he discovered that there was a man in a brocade robe with black borders standing not too far away from the Murong Clan Lady. His body was lean and tall, and he looked like a sword that had been drawn. Even when he stood among a group of martial artists, he still appeared outstanding and eye-catching.

One Emperor!

“You’re here.” One Emperor tilted his body to the side and turned his head to give Happy a faint smile. “I have not made the wrong guess, you may perhaps be the first person in World of Martial Arts who can force me to use my fifth sword.”

“How are you so certain?”

“You must have experienced Silver Wolf’s battle replay, yes?”

One Emperor’s expression was the same as usual. He did not answer, but instead asked another question. He seemed to know Happy better than Happy knew himself.

“I did.”

“That’s great.” One Emperor’s tone was relaxed and indifferent. “In truth, I have also experienced your battle replays. Zhou Yu and Barren Murderer gave them to me.”

After hearing that, Happy did not have a very surprised expression. “I have too many battle replays. My techniques and strategies aren’t exactly a secret anymore.”

“That’s why I fought against Silver Wolf so that you can understand my sword technique.” One Emperor sounded as if he was talking about something that was not himself. “But I did not expect that Silver Wolf would actually be the first person to force me to use my fourth sword. Now, my belief that you will force me to use my fifth sword has increased even more.”

At that moment, Happy finally could not help but reveal a hint of surprise on his face. He stared at One Emperor’s relaxed side profile with great puzzlement. “Are you so confident that you can win against me?”

“I’m different from you. If I was not confident, I might have died multiple times. That’s why I have no fear no matter who it is that I face. I believe that my enemies will fall before I do.” He stopped for a moment but found himself unable to not add, “This is my principle when I conduct myself in life.”

Happy was silent for a few seconds before he looked at One Emperor and said loudly and clearly, “No matter who my opponent is, I will fight with everything I have.”

“Very good.” One Emperor had a joyful smile. “I was waiting for these words. But don’t worry, I won’t interfere with your grudge against Class One Hall. I will only fight against you when the martial arts tournament is about to end. During this period of time, you can work hard for your title of strongest in the world of martial artists. I just hope that you won’t disappoint me during this hour tomorrow.”

Once One Emperor finished speaking, he turned around and left.

Happy stared at his back quietly and only turned away after quite some time had passed.

He suddenly realized that One Emperor did not seem to be as cold and callous as he had believed him to be in his previous life.

*****

Happy did not go on the stage again.

He stood quietly behind the spectator seat outside the stages and admired the exciting fights on Dragon Tiger Arena. He enjoyed the fights of the elite martial artists along with the fights between players and other elites.

All those who could enter Dragon Tiger Arena were all top-tier elites!

Eleventh Crane did not manage to get to Dragon Tiger Arena, but Young Fallen Rain, Silver Wolf, Thunderous Battle, Lin Xiao, Red Dust, Wind Void, Wind Chimes, Ancient Wind, and the others had all made their way in through unrelenting hard work.

When the martial arts tournament had gone on for twenty-four hours, the number of players who had reached Dragon Tiger Arena finally reached fifty.

A continuous number of players went up the stage to show their abilities and strength, but the pressure of going up against Inaction Realm fighters was incredibly great, and most of them did not manage to last two rounds. They lost and ended up with the fate of having to watch the fights.

There were two people who managed to get through three rounds like Happy!

One of them was Lu Mingyue.

Happy had not met the man for a few months, and the other’s Sunflower Manual had become even more perfect. His actions all contained Dongfang Bubai’s essence. Even though he no longer laughed like a woman, his actions exuded a different sort of alluring charm and a faint, awe-inspiring might, causing others to not dare to stare at him too intently.

While he was on the stage, he guided the threads into the pinholes of his flying needles, tapped against acupressure points to break defenses, and injured others with his Soft Palm. He had a lot of attacks, and his dazzling moves were too much for the eyes to take in. All his opponents were caught off guard.

‘This Lu Mingyue…’

Happy scowled. For the first time ever, he felt slightly threatened by Lu Mingyue.

Even though Lu Mingyue was still a normal sect’s leader and occupied a basin in Changjiang that was not very large, it seemed that after losing to Happy a few times, he had come to understand some things. He had become much calmer, and his strength had also increased by leaps and bounds. He could no longer be compared to what he was in the past!

‘Sunflower Manual, as expected of one of the most amazing manuals in its time…’

While Happy was secretly marveling over that, he knew that Lu Mingyue had only been able to gain such achievements today because he had been shocked a few times by Happy himself. Lu Mingyue had learned from his humiliation and became even braver.

While out of everyone’s eyes, Lu Mingyue had recuperated and built up his strength. Now, he was probably planning to use the martial arts tournament to start afresh and fight against China again.

However, while it was not hard to build one’s reputation, wanting to gain a footing while four top-class sects occupied a steady place in the game as well as wanting to take a portion of the pie from their hands was basically the same as a dreamer having a grand but impossible dream.

Lu Mingyue’s individual strength was very good, but his vision of the overall situation was not very good.

Cold Moon Palace had already missed their best period of development. If he wanted to seize resource points from the four top-class sects right then, it would be close to an impossible task for him.

In fact, some of the resource points occupied by the smaller sects were also linked to the four top-class sects. They had alliances with them, and if he entrenched on their benefits, it would be the same as entrenching on the personal benefits of the four top-class sects. It might be possible for Cold Moon Palace to become slightly stronger, but they could no longer go through a qualitative change, even if they wanted to.

There was no need for Happy to fear Lu Mingyue.

There was also another person who exceeded Happy’s expectation.

Wu Tian, who was Duan Yu’s successor and who came with Dali’s royal family. His Six Pulses Divine Sword shocked everyone the moment he went on the stage!

Compared to Duan Yu’s half-baked Six Pulses Divine Sword when he was young, Vast Heaven could deliver three types of sword qi from his fingertips. They were purple, yellow, and blue.

His sword qi was fierce, and its momentum great, which made the three Inaction Realm elites not his opponents. They could do nothing against him, and they all lost before him.

When Vast Heaven turned to leave the stage, he cast Happy a meaningful glance before he stepped down.

Happy felt warning bells ring in his mind, for he understood the meaning behind that glance.

Since he successfully won against three people, Vast Heaven also challenged three people.

It seemed like the man wanted to compete against him in Dragon Tiger Arena!

Happy smiled faintly but said nothing

Six Pulses Divine Sword had the effect of tearing through defenses. It was the top of the crop among the sword techniques in the world, and only Nine Solitary Swords as well as Joined Finger could compare to it.

But if Vast Heaven wanted to dominate over the world with just Six Pulses Divine Sword, he underestimated the world of martial artists a little too much!

Duan Yu had Northern Obscure Divine Skill, Six Pulses Divine Sword, and a poison-resistant body, but he was still only able to manage the land of Dali while keeping a low-profile. And here was a person who only inherited six slashes from Six Pulses Divine Sword, but believed himself to be invincible in the martial arts tournament where various talented people gathered?

Happy shook his head.

He was completely unbothered by such a provocation.

Six Pulses Divine Sword might be very fast when it came to sword draws, but to elites who knew how to locate positions by listening to the wind and were fast in their movements, it was not completely impossible to avoid.

However, while Happy could endure the provocation, someone else seemed to be very interested in Six Pulses Divine Sword. One Emperor stood quietly in a remote corner without looking at the players on the stage, but at that moment, he became attentive toward Vast Heaven as he walked down from the stage.