Sword Among Us

“Shi Feixuan!”

When Shi Zhixuan heard this voice from the thousand Buddha statues, he frowned, and his awe-inspiring, solemn gaze quickly landed on a snow-white, petite figure who moved as lightly as an immortal. He swept his gaze at the area behind Shi Feixuan, but did not see Empress Yin Zhu Yuyan. His expression instantly turned dark.

He originally thought that Empress Yin should be able to hold the girl from Kind Boathouse back, but the situation had clearly progressed in a manner that was slightly different from what he expected.

Evil King did not know about the fact that Empress Yin had previously fought against Happy and had used up a lot of her primordial qi. When she worked together with Shi Zhixuan to chase down Shi Feixuan, she had also never shown that she was not at top form.

But now, Empress Yin had fled beforehand, leaving behind Happy, who was incredibly troublesome to deal with, and Shi Feixuan, who had already reached the middle stage of Myth Realm. Shi Zhixuan had also used up quite a lot of his true origin, and the situation he did not want to see the most had appeared.

“Is the last stone plate in your hands?”

Shi Zhixuan was very observant. His gaze locked down on Shi Feixuan’s stone plate, and it looked the same as the two in his hands. His expression changed again.

“The two stone plates you have are sacred items for Buddhists. Kind Boathouse will naturally take care of them. Evil King, hand it over!” Shi Feixuan landed not too far away and, together with Happy, flanked Shi Zhixuan from the sides.

“Hmph! You’re two juniors. Aren’t you really conceited?”

Shi Zhixuan’s expression returned to normal, and his gaze gradually turned cold. “The both of you are still not strong enough to be able to seize the stone plates away from my hands.”

“Dafo Temple is mutually connected to Shaolin Temple. Since this is a relic left behind by the divine monk, I, Shaolin Temple Disciple Happy, will naturally not disconnect myself from the situation. Shi Zhixuan, unless you step over my corpse today, don’t even think about leaving Dafo Temple with the stone plate!”

Happy’s expression turned dark, and he practically took one step forward with Shi Feixuan at the same time.

Their presences instantly fused into one, and they closed in on Shi Zhixuan from the left and right.

Shi Feixuan’s goal was the stone plates, and she would remain committed to achieving her goal.

At that moment, Happy had also received a system notification telling him to help Shi Feixuan kill Evil King and seize the relics left behind by the ancient divine monk in Dafo Temple.

The situation had changed, and Happy would naturally act on a sense of duty.

“How conceited!”

But no matter what, Evil King was the strongest person in the evil cult. He snorted coldly and chose Shi Feixuan to attack so that he could break out of the encirclement. He seized the preemptive strike and launched his offense.

Undying Seals!

Shi Feixuan’s expression changed.

When she noticed that Shi Zhixuan’s attack had become more threatening than before, she did not dare remain idle. She quickly retreated, and countless sword qis formed Clear Sword River to block Shi Zhixuan’s path.

Evil King had actually chosen her to break out of the encirclement between the two of them…

This caused her to be slightly surprised, and she could not believe it. When she fended against his attacks, she did not use her full strength to do so. She had a feeling that Evil King should be making a feint.

But Shi Feixuan clearly did not know that when Evil King fought against Happy, he had used all his available methods. Yet even so, he had not managed to kill that accursed Shaolin Temple secular disciple. Right now, when he saw that Happy had used another Fire Qilin Blood and had true origin aura surrounding his entire body, he knew that he had already turned into a stubborn little cockroach Shi Zhixuan could not kill again. He did not even think about fighting him in the slightest, which was why when he attacked, he did not hesitate and used his strongest attack at the fastest speed possible.

“Break!” Shi Zhixuan’s expression turned fierce.

“Cough!”

Since Shi Feixuan had been careless, she instantly suffered a setback.

Clear Sword River instantly crumbled because of countless fierce hand seals.

She grunted, and Shi Feixuan was sent flying away.

However, Shi Feixuan finally came to a realization during the critical moment, and she flung the longsword in her hands resolutely.

A dazzling light pierced through Shi Zhixuan’s figure at lightning speed, forcing him to stop in his offense. His body then froze for a moment, and he appeared more than thirty feet away.

Clear Sword!

During the critical moment, Shi Feixuan did not let Shi Zhixuan have an easy time. She forcibly brought out her true origin and severely wounded Shi Zhixuan with just one strike.

A terrifying wound appeared on Shi Zhixuan’s arm, and blood instantly dyed half of his robe red.

Thud! Thud!

Shi Zhixuan moved very quickly. He swiftly sealed off his acupressure points to stop his blood flow, and at the same time, he destroyed the sword will that rushed into his body.

Shi Feixuan might have suffered quite the setback, but she had forced Shi Zhixuan to stop moving, and it created a chance for Happy. He seized the time and executed Wave-like Subtle Steps to move near Evil King.

“Leave those stone plates behind!”

His Recondite Steel Heavy Sword created three large, black aquatic dragons, and because of Wave-like Subtle Step’s speed, they intersected with each other to seal off all of Shi Zhixuan’s escape routes.

Evil King’s expression changed, but he said nothing.

He quickly delivered three palm strikes with his uninjured arm.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The black aquatic dragons were easily destroyed by Evil King, but the hidden forces contained within them were not that easy to endure.

Evil King was struck by three waves of hidden force. He grunted and staggered. He scowled.

“Again!”

Happy knew that he had to strike when the iron was hot. Right now, Evil King had finally been injured, and his strength was largely compromised. Naturally, he did not want to give Evil King the chance to easily turn the tides.

Dragon Swings Its Tail!

He charged forward at an unimaginable speed from the scattered black aquatic dragon sword glares.

Evil King’s pupils shrank.

Before he could react, he already suffered a vicious kick to the chest.

“You’re asking for death!”

Evil King had never been kicked by someone younger than he was before.

In his anger, he attacked with Undying Seals and pushed his palm viciously against Happy’s shoulder.

A huge wave of force gushed out.

But once it passed through Happy’s true origin aura, nearly half of Evil King’s true origin was weakened, and the remaining power was clearly not enough to injure Happy severely. In fact, it was not enough to sway Happy’s posture or interrupt his next move.

Happy used the force from Evil King’s attack to jump over his head.

Slap!

Dragon Capture!

His palm, which was as sturdy as a dragon’s claw, seized Evil King’s injured arm, causing the man to freeze for an instant, and a mighty wave of qi that was several times stronger than a normal person’s rushed into Evil King’s body from Happy’s widened meridian system.

The acupressure points which had been locked were instantly opened!

Pop!

The wound on Evil King’s arm instantly turned into a red fountain.

At the same time, the two stone plates Evil King had in his hands broke free from his grasp, and they flew into the air.

When he saw them, Happy’s eyes burned with desire.

He instinctively went to grab them.

Bang!

But even though Happy had already moved very quickly, Evil King was still a top-class martial artist, and his hidden forces as well as Dragon Capture could not create a long-term effect on him. He instantly reacted to the situation and struck Recondite Steel Heavy Sword with his palm while it was ready to strike down.

A loud bang rose.

Happy looked as if he had been struck by lightning. His act of seizing the stone plates was forcibly interrupted. He trembled, and he was sent dozens of feet back with his sword in hand.

But Evil King Shi Zhixuan was not in a better condition.

In his haste, he had exchanged a head on blow with Happy, and the powerful suppression effect brought by Happy’s Arm Strength was displayed, despite the low chance it could possibly happen. It managed to send Evil King flying because his strength had been largely compromised.

‘This is a good chance!’

Happy’s eyes lit up.

But a scene that shocked him appeared.

Evil King might have staggered, but he suddenly forced himself to find his balance while he was in the air. A violent wind blew out, and it managed to sweep up the two stone plates which Happy had managed to knock out of Evil King’s hands. Then, it returned the plates to Stone King’s arms. He tapped against the ground, and with a jump, he reached a spot that was dozens of feet away from Happy.

‘How fast!’

When Happy got rid of all the inertia in his body, he saw Evil King jumping two more times before he quickly left into the distance. He vanished from Dafo Temple, and he did it so quickly that it would shock anyone who saw it.

Happy was stunned silent.

Everything happened too quickly.

Happy catching up to Shi Zhixuan, subsequent fighting against him, causing Shi Zhixuan’s wound to tear, and making him flee into the distance had all happened within an instant.

Shi Zhixuan had also just stabilized her body with a hand over her chest when she saw Happy severely wounding Shi Zhixuan, forcing him to flee into the distance. She was stunned for a moment, and after a few seconds, she knew that things had just become really terrible for them.

“Evil King has taken two of the ancient divine monk’s stone plates! Why didn’t you stop him?”

Happy originally felt really gloomy, because he had actually let Shi Zhixuan flee. When he heard Shi Feixuan’s slightly accusatory tone, he rolled his eyes and said brusquely, “If you want to stop you, you’re welcome to do so yourself. I’m weak, and I can’t stop him.”

Shi Feixuan was stunned silent for a moment, but she was still a successor of Kind Boathouse, and she soon understood that her words had been inappropriate. “I have been ill-tempered just now, and I must have offended you. My apologies.”

“It’s alright.”

Happy was not a petty person either. Besides, the NPC he was currently facing was Shi Feixuan.

It was only then that Shi Feixuan recognized Happy. “Oh, it’s you. We met three years ago at the Sword Among Us Tournament at Mount Hua. You were the most outstanding among the young Shaolin Temple disciples at that time. I remember you.”

“It is my pleasure to be remembered by you, Miss Shi.” Happy smiled in a humble manner, but he subconsciously tightened his grip over the stone plate.

Shi Feixuan’s gaze swiftly scanned over the stone plate in Happy’s hand. Her smile did not fade away. “I was wondering just now just who could last so long under Evil King’s hands. So, it’s Young Swordsman Happy. It has been three years since we last met. Your strength has increased by leaps and bounds since then, congratulations!”

Happy said, “Miss Shi, you praise me too much. If you had not been here to heavily wound Evil King, I would not have been able to force Evil King back.”

“Young Swordsman Happy, you are too humble.” When Shi Feixuan said this, her clear eyes, which shone as if there was divine light in them, finally landed on the stone plate in Happy’s hands. “This time, I heard that Evil King was prepared to search for the relics left behind by the ancient divine monk in Dafo Temple and bring terror to the world of martial artists once more. I came here on orders from my sect to stop him and retrieve the relic from the ancient divine monk.”

The underlying meaning in her words was already very clear.

Happy felt his heart tense, and he said without batting an eyelid, “What a coincidence. I came here this time for that reason as well. Shaolin Temple is the sacred ground for Buddhists, and it has relations to Dafo Temple. I came here this time to retrieve the divine monk’s relics for Shaolin Temple as well.”

When he said this, Shi Feixuan frowned a little.

Happy continued speaking with his face schooled to a cool expression, “Unfortunately, I have only got myself one piece, and among the four stone plates, Evil King has snatched away two of them.”

Shi Feixuan stared at Happy with a contemplative gaze and said, “Young Swordsman Happy, if you are confident in Kind Boathouse, why don’t you hand the stone plate to me? I will bring it back to Kind Boathouse and make sure that Evil King cannot get these two stone plates!”

When she finished speaking, Happy showed no willingness to back down and retorted, “Miss Shi, you’re slightly wrong in that regard. Kind Boathouse might be a sacred ground for Buddhists, but Shaolin Temple is duty bound to protect the relics of the divine monk. It’s better to let Shaolin Temple take care of such a dangerous matter, don’t you think? Of course, if you can believe in me, I will be honored.”

Shi Feixuan said nothing, but her expression changed.

It was not difficult for her to tell how determined Happy was based on his words.

However, Happy was arguing with her tit for tat, and she could not find any flaws in his argument to exploit or reasons to refute him.

Shaolin Temple was a respected sect in the world of martial arts because of how honorable they were.

Just like Kind Boathouse, they did have enough authority to take care of the divine monk’s relics from Dafo Temple.

What troubled Shi Feixuan even more was Happy’s strength. If Happy were just a normal martial artist, she would not even bother speaking to him anymore and would just grab the stone plate.

She said nothing.

Because of it, the two stared at the stone plates in each other’s hands and sank into indescribable silence.