Sword Among Us

Flower-pinching Finger was one of the seventy-two ultimate techniques of Shaolin Temple!

 It was a rather domineering finger technique, and while its might could not compare to that of Six Pulses Divine Sword, Joined Finger, and Throw Spirit Sphere, it had its own uniqueness.

 It was soft and silent. It was as gentle as if one was using their fingers to pinch a flower, but when the enemy was unaware of it, the user could subdue the enemy!

 When Happy saw that Master Kong Xiang had let go of his vajra and performed the Flower-pinching Finger posture, he immediately knew that getting close to fight against the monk was no longer practical. He tapped against the ground and gently flew dozens of feet away from Master Kong Xiang. He landed sixty-five feet away from him, exhaled, and shut his eyes.

 “What is he doing?!”

 Quite a number of players at the foot of the stage looked shocked.

 Only Zhou Yu and a few other people understood that Happy wanted to use his ability to determine positions by listening to the wind to handle Master Kong Xiang’s Flower-pinching Finger, but they were very perplexed. Why was Happy so certain that Master Kong Xiang would use such a rigid fighting style?

 “Amitabha.”

 Master Kong Xiang was looking at Happy when he suddenly cried out the name of Buddha. The people at the foot of the stage immediately felt as if thunder had just roared by their ears. His voice surrounded them, and their ears rang. At the same time, they saw him tap against the air with his finger.

 ‘It’s coming!’

 Happy might have suddenly lost his senses which could help him determine the location of the attack because of Master Kong Xiang’s voice, but he used his perception of the qi flow.

 An afterimage that had a hole left behind by a finger was at the spot where Happy originally was.

 Thud!

 A deep and small hole appeared on the sturdy floor on the stage behind it. Happy’s real body had already moved six and a half feet away when he stopped moving.

 “Good movements.” Master Kong Xiang nodded in praise.

 Happy did not dare to be careless, and his tone was respectful. “You showed mercy to me, master.”

 “Heh heh. Do be careful with the next attacks.”

 Master Kong Xiang did not deny it as well. His expression became stern then, and he tapped the air with both hands. One tap, two taps, and three taps. Three balls of barely visible ripples appeared in the air in front of him.

 Happy’s expression changed.

 He did not think that the attacks would be so brutal this time! The taps just then were actually three attacks together, and they were all fired very closely to each other. They blocked him from three directions, and those three were all his best escape routes…

 What caused him to feel even more suffocated was that Master Kong Xiang had swung his arm when he delivered those three taps. He then spread his hands to quickly tap at the air again and again!

 ‘This is insane!’

 Even though Happy had been thinking of holding back, Kong Xiang seemed to have noticed something, and he chose to attack at full force.

 An incredibly stern expression appeared on Happy’s face. Phantasm Body Movement Skill was activated, and with Petite Dragon, he jumped into the air to avoid the three taps from reaching him. His Golden Bell Cocoon was also swiftly summoned.

 A layer of golden light showed up before his body stopped moving. It was like a dazzling, golden sun that quickly appeared from his body to hurry forward and negate the effects of Flower-pinching Finger.

 The sixth tap and seventh tap then arrived, breaking the Golden Bell Cocoon!

 Master Kong Xiang’s expression became more solemn. Even though Happy’s Golden Bell Cocoon had been completely destroyed, there were still three moves left before the one hundred moves were done.

 “Go!”

 Master Kong Xiang never hesitated in his movements. He chased after Happy and poked at the air. Then, he pressed against it with both hands before he quickly tapped twice.

 Thud! Thud thud!

 Happy’s expression changed. His smooth evasions suddenly came to an abrupt halt, and he stopped in a very rigid manner. He punched forward, but the dragon-shaped vortex around him was crushed by an astonishing force. He shuddered and crashed into the floor as if he had been struck by lightning. Two bundles of shattered stones exploded violently at his sides, and two huge pits were formed on the floor beside him.

 A stunned expression appeared briefly on Master Kong Xiang’s face. Then, he smiled wanly and stopped attacking. “Amitabha! Young Swordsman Happy, you have great wisdom. I am impressed.”

 Happy had forced him to use the profound secret of Flower-pinching Finger, which was a formless attack, for the final strike, but Kong Xiang did not expect that Happy would choose to receive the first of the three attacks to avoid the subsequent two attacks, which were much fiercer.

 Even though the damage was not light, he did manage to avoid losing. He had withstood all one hundred attacks!

 “I was lucky.”

 Happy was actually drenched in cold sweat, and it even spilled on the floor. His memories of that attack from his previous life were still fresh, so he knew that if he did not avoid it, he would have to waste one of the villa master’s Illusion Life and Death Pill, since he no longer had the protection of his body fortification.

 “Since that’s the case, I will admit defeat and go down the stage.”

 At the moment Kong Xiang turned around, the system sent a notification.

 “Ding!

 “Increase Comprehension by three points. Increase level of Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm. Successfully reached great completion and Grandmaster Realm!”

 An astonishing wave of qi surged into Happy’s body, and he sensed that his meridian system had expanded by quite a lot.

 He sat up cross-legged and circulated Golden Essence Nine Yang Skill to restore his wounds. At the same time, he quickly checked the condition of his body.

 As expected, if he won several consecutive rounds in Hero’s Mountain Villa’s Dragon Tiger Arena, the level of his Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm increased, and his qi rose by more than ten points. Also, his Arm Strength and Affinity had both gained more than ten points and broke through the great wall that was 130 points.

 *****

 At that moment, Zhou Zhiruo and One Emperor’s fight resumed.

 Zhou Zhiruo held Heavenly Sword while One Emperor held a black divine sword in his hand. Both sides had their sword qi move about freely, but neither could do anything to the other. Zhou Zhiruo had Nine Yang Manual to support her, and her speed was incredibly quick while her strength was astonishing. She could perfectly suppress a few of One Emperor’s sword techniques, and Happy felt tense just by watching it.

 In truth, he did not wish for Zhou Zhiruo to lose, but he also looked forward to fighting against One Emperor!

 However, one of them had to lose!

 “Let’s end this!”

 When One Emperor saw that Happy’s fight had ended, he let out a fierce bark of laughter, and an astonishing ball of light shot out from him.

 Zhou Zhiruo snorted coldly. A huge palm made of white bones quickly formed in front of One Emperor to go up against the ball of fierce black light. Then, it closed around it…

 The next moment, the few piercing rays of black sword glares moved like tidal waves and broke through the bone palm to stab violently into Zhou Zhiruo!

 She grunted and flew off the stage with her sword!

 But One Emperor did not have it easy either.

 He might have cut down Nine Yin Skeleton Claw, but the remaining force in it had slammed into his body. He flew into the distance like a kite with its strings snapped and left the stage.

 Little North and the others at the foot of the stage were dumbfounded by what they saw. It was only then that they realized why Happy previously said that Zhou Zhiruo was even harder to handle than Kong Xiang. Zhou Zhiruo had a divine weapon with her, and only someone like One Emperor could fight against her. If Little North had gone up, his three precious zombie puppets might have been cut down by a single slash!

 When Little North saw One Emperor and Zhou Zhiruo heavily injured, he came to understand just how accurate was Happy’s judgment at that time. A woman who knew Nine Yin Manual was indeed terrifying. It was no wonder then why Zhang Wuji had to avoid her at all costs.

 However, One Emperor and Zhou Zhiruo had been forced off the stage at the same time, so everyone was concerned about the outcome of their match. Would One Emperor continue with the challenge, or would his journey on the Dragon Tiger Arena end?

 That was something they cared about a lot.

 The people worrying about it included Happy. He, too, stared at the duo who fell off the stage. He held his breath and listened for the judgment of the villa master as well as the heroes of the world.