Sword Among Us

Jinjiu and Yinshi might be good, but compared to Fire Qilin, they were still much more inferior. If it were not because Fire Qilin’s wisdom could not compare to a human’s, it might have long since killed the two men.

 But that meant that it made things easy for Happy.

 The extremely hot and extremely cold caves could stop countless martial artists, but Happy, who had mastered Nine Yang Divine Skill, could move about with ease.

 Once he killed Yinshi, Happy shifted his attention to Jinjiu.

 The situation was much better than he thought!

 Yinshi’s death pushed Jinjiu into a crazed state, and he looked like a raving lunatic. He wanted to immediately catch Happy and devour him whole.

 But the fight against Fire Qilin had compromised his abilities. When he entered the cold cave, they were suppressed even more, and he soon fell into Happy’s trap.

 Time passed second by second.

 *****

 While Happy was immersed in Sky Demon Secret Cave, the mysterious masked man in black who had appeared briefly in Yangzhou showed up once more!

 He went first to Chivalry Sect’s Red Dust, Sweeper Monk’s direct successor.

 What left the people in the game utterly dumbfounded was that the mysterious man in black who had easily defeated various elites from Class One Hall and Towering Palace actually lost to Red Dust when they fought.

 The players who originally held endless expectations for the mysterious man in black were all stunned.

 Ever since causing a ruckus at Wind and Rain Alliance, Red Dust had lain low and now shown himself in front of anyone, but with Shaolin Temple’s Demon Subduing Staff and One-fingered Zen, he struck down the man in black after he had swept through the south and north of Changjiang.

 Not only were the martial artists in the game unable to accept this, but most of the other player sects who believed Chivalry Sect to be the weakest among the four top-class sects were no different. They suddenly sensed a power explode from Chivalry Sect after they lay low for a long time.

 The top-class elites from Chivalry Sect had never fallen behind the other top-class elites.

 *****

 “Red Dust… Those people from Chivalry Sect sure hid their strength very deeply!”

 The sound of porcelain breaking could be heard in Class One Hall’s headquarters. Dream Clouds, who had a noble temperament, would have shocked everyone if they had been present there. Her expression was sour, and her chest heaved. Her palms were pushed violently against a burnt tea table; she had lost her usual calm and dignified mannerisms.

 Blood Robes stood quietly next to her.

 Aside from a faint hint of surprise and bewilderment on his face, he was blank, but he could understand Dream Clouds’ violent reaction.

 Ever since Class One Hall entered the game, he knew just how hard Dream Clouds worked, and he knew about it the most among all other members. However, even though they had already gotten themselves to the best position they could and had accumulated an incredibly great amount of wealth, so much so that the wealth they accumulated was dozens of times more than the total of any game they joined in the past, but when had Class One Hall sunk into this sort of situation and status in any game?!

 The competition in the Chinese world of martial arts was far too fierce.

 Class One Hall was first suppressed by Chivalry Sect, and once they were distracted, Happy popped up as the top on Famous People Rank, and along with him came Mu Clan, which rapidly rose to power.

 Once Mu Clan became stronger, Class One Hall’s grand ambition of conquering the entire Chinese server shrank to only the northern corner of the Chinese plains.

 One quarter of the territory was enough for Class One Hall to accept it and to quietly cultivate their strength.

 But Towering Palace had quickly become stronger because of the resources in the coastal area and their cooperation with foreign forces of power. Their fame rose and pushed Class One Hall from the spot as the second strongest among the four strongest sects to the third spot, though it had never been publicly announced.

 If it were not because of mistakes caused by various coincidences leading to Class One Hall cooperating with Three Dragons Guild and Happy personally going forward to suppress Towering Palace and completely destroying their prestige in the coastal area, Towering Palace might have already secured their place above Class One Hall. It would have made the rumor that Class One Hall was the third strongest sect in the game a fact.

 Being third meant that they were already at the back among the four top-class sects.

 Now, a mysterious man in black popped up out of nowhere and used a simple high-tier martial art without anything fancy about it to destroy the dignity of Class One Hall and Towering Palace’s elites.

 But that would have been fine if that was all that happened.

 However, that man in black had lost to Chivalry Sect, whom Dream Clouds had underestimated and which she believed had no way to further develop.

 She had thought that the weakest top-class sect had already lost its ability to expand any further once it entered the shadow of its powerful ally, Mu Clan. It should have been difficult for it to escape being the first to be devoured by its ally and pushed down from its pedestal.

 That was why Dream Clouds did not expect…

 Instead of falling from its pedestal, Chivalry Sect stomped on Class One Hall and Towering Palace’s face to become the second strongest player sect in the game.

 Red Dust was the vice sect master of Chivalry Sect and Sweeper Monk’s successor, and he jumped from the twentieth spot on Dragon Rank to the third spot as well as the second spot on Famous People Rank.

 The duel had not only revealed Chivalry Sect’s strength and the tenacity of their top-class elites, but also shocked Dream Clouds awake from her dream. She could suddenly see the potential dangers lurking around and threatening Class One Hall!

 Right then, Towering Palace was only surviving and developing in the coastal area because of Mu Clan’s will.

 Chivalry Sect had suddenly revealed its power and how extraordinary it was before the people. They were like a sharp sword that was drawn and stopped all martial artists from continuing to look down upon them.

 If Mu Clan and Chivalry Sect chose to expand, Class One Hall and Towering Palace would be in a very dangerous situation!

 “Hall master.”

 “Why didn’t I kill this bane with my own hands while I was at Shaoshi Mountain…” Dream Clouds slammed her palm against the tea table.

 Bang!

 The tea table shattered, and bits of wood flew everywhere.

 Blood Robes said nothing, but his face was full of resignation.

 He knew just who was the bane Dream Clouds mentioned, and he also knew that ever since this bane speedily leveled up to Moksha Realm, no one in the Chinese server could control him.

 Besides, there was the largest and strongest organization in the Chinese server supporting him—Mu Clan!

 And the chip that he created for this bane had not grown enough to become the trump card that he truly needed right then.

 What caused him to want to cry and laugh was that before, he had helped Xu Yao’s family when they needed it the most, but the day earlier, he received quite a large sum of money. Xu Yao had been the one to give it to him.

 She even told him that due to her management work in Mu Clan, her status and salary had increased. Happy had raised their salary to two hundred thousand RMB a month, and her bonus from last month had even accumulated up to eight hundred thousand.

Blood Robes could sense that Xu Yao, who originally had no one to depend on, was slowly growing stronger and leaving his control.

 Class One Hall’s headquarters became desolate and quiet once more!

 Only two people’s barely audible breaths could be heard. It was like a physical manifestation of Class One Hall’s situation.

 At that moment, a snow-white messenger pigeon suddenly flew in from the hall outside, and under Blood Robes’ slightly startled gaze, it landed on Dream Clouds’ shoulder.

 She frowned and took the letter to read it. Then, her frown suddenly disappeared, and there was joy and excitement on her face, as if she had finally seen light after a long storm.

 “Blood Robes, I need you to do something.”