Sword Among Us

Musical Note’s appearance and her words instantly alerted Clear Music to a problem she had missed. She sucked in a sharp breath and understood what sort of trap she had nearly fallen into.

Even if the possibility of Towering Palace and Class One Hall working together being unable to get all the treasure chests was very small, what if something unexpected happened? What if there was another part to the quest? What if the process of them getting the treasure chests was not smooth?

If she had recklessly agreed to Dream Clouds’ suggestion, then based on what Dream Clouds said, when they divided the spoils, she would have to give up thirty chests for Class One Hall, and Towering Palace would just have to accept whatever was left.

“Little Sister Musical Note, you must be joking. Forget about destroying the marshall’s army, we can also get rid of the sects at the port if we work together. You are far too cautious,” Dream Clouds said with a smile.

When the people from Towering Palace heard this, they thought that she sounded reasonable.

“That’s not necessarily true.”

Musical Note was Towering Palace’s palace master. She walked to the front through the path the crowd cleared for her and nodded at her older sister, who took a step back without batting an eyelid. She allowed Musical Note to take over the negotiations.

Dream Clouds frowned slightly. She could be said to have wasted her breath saying all those words before.

“Since you are worried, then how should we split the loot based on your thoughts?”

“I do not think there is a need for us to work together.”

When Musical Note said that, the people from Class One Hall and Towering Palace were both shocked.

Dream Clouds was dumbfounded.

Clear Music also stared at her little sister in a flabbergasted manner. She did not understand what her little sister was thinking.

“Could it be that you want to take all of the treasures from Eunuch Yang’s Warehouse? Little Sister Musical Note, you are far greedier than your older sister. You should know that you must be careful not to die for wealth.”

Dream Clouds sucked in a deep breath, and her complexion was no longer as pleasant as it was before.

“Eunuch Yang’s Warehouse does not belong to anyone, and anyone can fight for it. I only think that we might not be able to take everything even with our powers combined. And by that time, we might end up angering the sect alliances by the coastal area.

“When that happens, you can just extract yourself from the situation and leave, but we will become the target of ridicule. Don’t you think you have a lot of wishful thinking, Hall Master Dream?

“But I have to think about this carefully. Hence, I cannot agree to this cooperation. We will just rely on our own abilities to get as many treasure chests as we can.”

Once she said those words, not only did Dream Clouds and Class One Hall’s anger fade away to be replaced by resignation, even Towering Palace came to a realization.

Indeed. Right then, Eunuch Yang’s Warehouse was a matter of great discussion. The players all over China had gathered in Yangzhou, and if Towering Palace worked together with Class One Hall, they would truly violate the world’s taboo and become enemies with all the heroes of the world. They would create countless enemies for themselves out of the blue.

When they thought of this, it was indeed not necessary for Towering Palace to fall into such an awkward and dangerous situation for just a few demon vessels.

“Alright.” Dream Clouds sighed. “Since you have your worries, I will not force you. We will rely on our own abilities to see how many treasure chests we can get. Goodbye.”

Once she finished speaking, she flung her sleeves and left with an unpleasant expression.

Without Towering Palace serving as their support, Class One Hall would definitely suffer quite a lot of losses in the fight for the treasure chests against so many people, even if they had quite a lot of people with them.

Besides, they would definitely have to pay some respect to Towering Palace during the fight.

After all, Towering Palace was the leader of Yangzhou. With one order, they could mobilize their people and lock down the paths on water and land. At that time, it would be awkward if they could not transfer the treasure chests to their territory.

It was the reason why Dream Clouds’ expression was so unpleasant after she was rejected.

*****

Just when the negotiations for a cooperation failed between Towering Palace and Class One Hall, the arrows from the port traveled forward like a swarm of locusts.

Pained screams rang out nonstop!

Due to a habitual thought they had formed while they were on their way, they ignored a possible attack from the elite heavy-armored cavaliers.

The elite heavy-armored cavaliers had never slowed down or stopped while they escorted the carriages and carts, so the people at the port thought that the cavaliers and carts would not hesitate about rushing into the narrow port.

But what happened was contrary to what they expected.

The formation they had set up turned into a decoration because of the elite cavaliers suddenly stopping, and the situation turned incredibly awkward for them.

Whoosh!

The heavy-armored cavaliers brought out their crossbows and lifted them horizontally to point at the crowd at the port.

“Damn it!”

“Fire!”

“Hurry up and look for cover!”

While the defense of war shields was great, they were not the huge shields that could shield the entire body, since those were forbidden items that players could not buy or use.

Hence, when they saw the defensive formation the heavy-armored cavaliers set up on the spot with the purpose of pushing forward, the people at the spot instantly panicked.

Arrows flew all over the air.

But to the heavy-armored cavaliers who were decked from head to toe in armor, the arrows were like a light shower falling on their skin. They did not did not receive any damage nor slowed down in lifting their crossbows.

Thud! Thud!

There was no order, but the cavaliers pushed their triggers at the same time. Rows of neat crossbow bolts gathered together into rows of horrifying lights accompanied by the shrill sounds of air being pierced.

The people at the port were so terrified that they felt as if their souls had left their bodies. Some of the shield-wielding elites at the front row were shot, and they jumped into the river because they were unable to handle the onslaught.

Without the protection of the people in the front, those behind were also forced to jump into the river. The ones who were slightly slower were instantly shot full of bolts and turned into porcupines.

The port had been full of a murderous air, and the players even had an orderly formation, but in an instant, corpses were strewn everywhere. Blood covered the river. Many people who were shot struggled in the river, which created a picture straight out of hell.

The elite heavy-armored cavaliers remained unmoved. They pushed forward slowly and continued to add crossbow bolts to their crossbows to fire at the martial artists in the river and the riverbank.

The crossbow bolt showers mercilessly harvested lives!

The thousand or so people hiding in the sparse forest behind the cavaliers sucked in sharp breaths.

They came to a realization that they had underestimated the combat ability of the marshall’s heavy-armored cavaliers, and they had also underestimated the collective battle prowess of a truly powerful and legitimate army.

If the two hundred elite heavy-armored cavaliers went up against the players one by one, many people could kill all of them within a short amount of time, but when more than one thousand Life and Death Realm martial artists fought against two hundred elite heavy-armored cavaliers, it felt as if they were facing a cold and merciless killing machine. They were scattered without any power to fight back.

Silence fell among the people.

Not only did the people from Towering Palace fall silent, Class One Hall’s Dream Clouds also did not give the order to attack after she personally witnessed the fighting strength of the marshall’s army.

She only watched the elite heavy-armored cavaliers kill all the living near the port. There were numerous corpses left behind them!

Thud! Thud!

Once the elite cavaliers completed their task of killing the people, due to the unique terrain at the port, they finally began to change their formation. A group of people protected the sides of the port, and the others protected the carts while they entered the narrow area.

The transport boats in the river finally approached the port slowly.

The people from Towering Palace, who originally thought that there was no hope in them getting the treasure chests, along with the people from Class One Hall, rushed to the port almost at the same time.

The sounds of battle rose once more.

But this time, due to the carts at the port blocking the area, the firepower from the elite cavaliers was weakened by one-third of their original strength. Even with two rounds of crossbow bolts, they killed fewer than one hundred people.

The dense mass of people charged at the elite cavaliers like a tidal wave!