Sword Among Us

‘Why are the people from the imperial court here?’

Happy had three years worth of experience in the game from his previous life. When he saw the Embroidered Uniform Guards charge over with great fanfare and with serious expressions. He frowned slightly, and a hint of surprise shone in his eyes.

In his previous life, the imperial court will rarely be involved in the fights in the world of martial artists.

Even though Embroidered Uniform Guards, Eastern Depot, Western Depot, and Six Doors produced quite a number of martial artists, most of them had the identities of wanderers. They also wandered about the land, and it was rare that they would just come into Yangzhou with just a large group of people.

They only did this in a few major events in Happy’s previous life!

Besides, every time the imperial court sent people over, those that they deployed were very strong, and they were much stronger than the ones sent during capture quests.

“…Embroidered Uniform Guards?”

“Why are they here?”

A large group of players outside the headquarters made way. At the same time, they began to secretly guess the purpose of these Embroidered Uniform Guards’ visit while they sized them up as they rode past the players on their horses and carriages.

These Embroidered Uniform Guards came on horses and carriages, and they rode past them with an aggressive momentum. All of them had an extraordinary foundation in martial artists. They looked around with burning eyes, and all of them exuded the cold and awe-inspiring presence of someone who had already gone through numerous fights and spilled countless blood.

“Damn… Looks like there’s none who are below Inaction Realm.”

“Are they going to interfere with the matter at Towering Palace’s headquarters?”

“Who knows?”

While the people talked about this, quite a number of players cast sidelong glances at each other. The Towering Palace members’ eyes were filled with hope.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards were indeed heading straight toward them!

When people no longer had any power to turn the tides in a desperate situation, when they saw any sort of power interfere, they will be filled with beautiful hope.

As the Embroidered Uniform Guards stood uniformly outside Towering Palace’s headquarters, the atmosphere nearby instantly turned strange, and it was filled with paranoia.

The crowd cleared out a path.

An old eunuch with fair and smooth skin got down from a horse with a swagger, and he held a yellow object in his hands.

A gentle voice traveled clearly through all of Yangzhou. Then, the voice also spread through the entire plains in China.

“The emperor has received orders from heaven, and he now issues a decree to the world.

“Martial artists who break the law has been increasing day by day in the world of martial artists, and they are currently causing disruption in the order of the country. They massacre the people and involve the innocents in their fights. Yangzhou City has the highest number of offenders among all martial artists. The sects are involved in fights, and they fight in the streets, causing hundreds of government officers to die. They are indeed wicked, and from today onwards, the son of heaven has issued a decree to the world. He will place a restriction of force in the world, and those who dare to fight in the city will be chased down by government officers with all their might. Those who kill government officers will treat the imperial court as their enemies, and the imperial court will chase after such offenders with all their might. The imperial court will not forgive such offenders.

“That is all!”

All of Yangzhou City instantly burst into commotion!

Everyone stared at the eunuch who put away the royal decree.

And they saw that once the eunuch put away the royal decree, his gaze suddenly turned cold while he surveyed the area and said, “You heard it. Next time, any of you uncultivated sects want to fight, fight far away from our sights. It’ll be best if you do not do it in the cities, or else, if you dare defile the emperor’s ears again and displease His Majesty… Hmph!”

Once he finished speaking, he said nothing else and led his group of people away.

The group came with a mighty momentum, and they left just as mightily. They did not bring anything else with them.

But a lot of astonishing changes happened in many places.

*****

Bang!

A window at a restaurant that was bustling with activity was suddenly torn. Someone from the floors above was sent flying violently out to the streets.

Before that person got to his feet, a few people chased after him from the restaurant. They quickly surrounded that person on the ground.

“Hand over that item, and we, the Five Tigers of Qilian, will spare you, or else… Hmph! Don’t even think about having a peaceful time in the game in the future!”

“You… Don’t go overboard!”

The person who was surrounded got up to his feet with grief and indignation.

“Hmph, so what if we’re bullying you? You’re alone, and you can’t even protect that treasure. Instead of letting others benefit from it, it’s better if we’re the ones who benefit from it.”

Right when one among the Five Tigers of Qilian finished speaking, they suddenly heard intense and urgent sounds of horse hooves rushing toward them.

Clop clop! Clop clop!

The group of people turned their heads sideways to look in surprise, and their expressions instantly changed drastically.

“This is bad!”

A group of Embroidered Uniform Guards with extraordinary presences urged their horses toward them.

“Inaction Realm martial artists…”

“Damn it!”

“Go!”

The Five Tigers of Qilian had already heard of the series of announcements just now, but they thought nothing of it, because the imperial court had always been inept in their pursuits, but now, they were too fast, and the ones who came were all Inaction Realm martial artists.

Right when the five tried running away, Embroidered Uniform Guards also appeared behind them on the street. The Embroidered Uniform Guards on the horses laughed coldly. “You committed a crime in the city, where do you think you’re going?”

When the group of Inaction Realm martial artists surrounded these people, in just a moment, all five people were chained up.

That was not all, the Embroidered Uniform Guards scolded the five fiercely right in front of the martial artists in the area.

“Take these five fools who caused trouble in the city back for a beating!”

“Huh?!”

“Aren’t we supposed to just be imprisoned?”

“You can’t just subject us to lynching!”

The Five Tigers of Qilian had their expressions change swiftly, and they made a ruckus.

Those who were subjected to a beating after they were imprisoned were usually criminals who committed serious offense. After they were imprisoned for a while, they will be sent straight to Guanlin Temple, and this fate was even worse than dying once.

“Lynching?”

The Embroidered Uniform Guards laughed coldly. “We are an organization formed by the imperial court, and our right to execute punishment is given by His Majesty himself! Move!”

Their words set the Five Tigers of Qilian’s fate in stone. They were bound for death.

When the martial artists in the area saw this, they could not help but feel a chill down their hearts. Only the person who was saved felt lucky and was eternally thankful to the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

After this event, quite a number of people managed to tell that once the emperor gave his order, the government officers had clearly sent more powerful people to execute the law.

They had begun to place an emphasis on the killings in the Chinese world of martial artists.

Next time, if they caused trouble in the city, they will not just be hunted down. If they were not strong enough, not only will they be imprisoned for a while, but they will also need to die once.

This was very hurtful for their progress!

Events such as this happened frequently in the Chinese plains.

Very soon, practically everyone learned that after the emperor gave his order, the custodians of the city and enforcers had their strength increase by leaps and bounds, and the players became more cautious and exercised restraint while they were in the cities.

*****

Once the group of Embroidered Uniform Guards left Yangzhou City, Happy’s heart began surging with emotion.

The progress in the game increased again!

In his previous life, the enforcers in the cities only had their strengths upgraded during the third year to move from Moksha Realm to Inaction Realm, and their purpose was to put a limit on the players, who had become wilder in their actions day by day.

But this was just the start of the second year since World of Martial Arts had been launched.

By the looks of it, under his influence, the game was still providing new changes continuously. The progress of them had been brought forward, and the changes had also become more frequent.

‘But…’

Happy used his power as the clan master to release an announcement to all Mu Clan members and restricted their actions in the city in order to prevent his clan members from getting into any sort of conflict in the city with the Embroidered Uniform Guards in the future.

Even though there was no reason for them to be afraid of the Embroidered Uniform Guards’ strength and it might seem as if the imperial courts’ martial artists cannot compare to those of the major sects, in truth, the shadows of many sects could be found behind the imperial court, and they were the strongest forces in China.

The imperial palace was filled with all sorts of elites.

And Happy could vaguely sense that the restriction of force in the world was not merely caused by the event in Yangzhou City. Later on, the war achievement system that he had not had the time to fully understand in his previous life should be launched very soon.