Sword Among Us

There was a Guanlin Temple in Immortal Fox Village. On that night, under the bright moonlight, the area outside the temple was filled with people. They sat on the ground cross-legged while circulating their qi with dejected expressions to restore their primordial qi in their heavily injured bodies.

Those people had just been resurrected and were destined to only be able to slowly restore their primordial qi for quite some time. Those who had already gained a qi realm would need at least a month to restore their injured bodies to the peak of their condition, unless they ran into some miraculous event.

However, it was a common event in Immortal Fox Village. Very few people were sympathetic and compassionate toward those who revived, because every single person who came to Immortal Fox Village had one goal in mind, and it was Fox Cave and the high-tier martial art manuals that were worth more than 100,000 RMB.

In many players’ eyes, as long as they could obtain one high-tier martial art manual, dying once was worth it!

However, the situation on that was a little different. Most of the people who were revived were filled with resentment. Even when they sat down and circulated their qi, they did so with gritted teeth and cursed the names of a few sects.

This was due to the fact that Fox Cave had been forcibly occupied by multiple sects, and from the time three minutes before Fox Cave was activated and around ten minutes after it was open to the public, those players had died outside Fox Cave. Their deaths were not because of them trying to gain money, so all of them were incredibly indignant and resentful!

“Those bastards from Perpetual Joy Sect… Once I become rich, I will definitely destroy all of you!”

“Damn those from Thousand Dragons Sect…”

“There’s no law in this! Darn it! When I go back, I’m joining a sect as well! I’ll never be able to coexist with you people under the same sky after the grudge of today! I’ll fight against you until one of us dies!”

Among the noisy curses were a few people who were dressed in very different attire standing at the perimeter of the area. They stared at the gate of Guanlin Temple without blinking, and every single time someone walked out from within, they would quickly size up the person who walked out.

“Not him.”

“Not him either.” The onlookers had been watching for over twenty minutes like scanners, but they still did not manage to find the person their sect master told them to wait for. A crease gradually formed between their eyebrows. “Why isn’t he out yet?”

If they had not known clearly that the people who had died near Fox Cave would definitely be revived in Guanlin Temple, they would be sure that the person their sect master had ordered them to wait for had revived in some other place.

Flap! Flap! Flap!

A white messenger pigeon landed on one of the people’s shoulders. He took the letter out and looked at it before swiftly writing a reply and releasing the messenger pigeon.

*****

“What’s going on? It has been so long, and they still haven’t died?!”

The entrance of Fox Cave was as peaceful as ever. No one entered inside. Only Solitary Perpetual Joy and Situ Luoyu stood nearby with solemn expressions.

From the moment Happy and his party entered Fox Cave, they had ordered their people to wait outside Guanlin Temple. Once they noticed any signs of the four, they were to immediately report back.

However, it had been twenty minutes since then, and there was still no reply from that side. They could not help but begin to suspect that their people had been negligent of their duties!

When Solitary Perpetual Joy received the same news again, he found himself a little unable to sit back and wait anymore.

Many of the leaders of the other sects and their high-tier martial artists were beginning to become a little impatient. Night did not last long in the game. If they did not enter Fox Cave for a while more, it would be very difficult for them to clear the second level and work through the third level in the remaining time. They had brought with them the key to enter the third level this time, and they were prepared to meet Yao Hua and his wife, the mysterious couple from the legends!

“We can’t wait anymore,” Situ Luoyu quietly whispered into Solitary Perpetual Joy’s ears.

Solitary Perpetual Joy’s expression was solemn and uneasy. But he nodded slowly!

Perpetual Joy Sect and Fallen Feathers Sect still had some matters to attend to, so if they dragged it out too much, it would not be beneficial for their operation in Fox Cave. Hence, they turned around and faced the leaders of the sects that were not really famous. Everyone’s gazes lit up upon seeing their action, and Solitary Perpetual Joy and Situ Luoyu nodded.

The spirits of the leaders immediately lifted. They turned around and faced their sect members.

“Activate your qi realm! Activate your body fortification techniques!”

Right after they finished speaking…

Boom!

The hundreds of powerful martial artists looked as if they had been pumped full of adrenaline, and powerful aura exploded from their bodies at the same time! For a period of time, swarms of aura could be seen swirling around the air near the entrance of Fox Cave! The scene was incredibly grand!

“Enter the cave!”

Solitary Perpetual Joy and Situ Luoyu had stern expressions when they led their men to charge into the opened mouth of the fierce beast in a constant stream with the members of the other sects.

Once they entered, everyone stayed motionless according to their original plan and remained in the spot they appeared.

They were on guard while they swept their gazes over the area!

However, the situation in Fox Cave made all the people suck in a sharp breath.

There were a few carcasses of Red Foxes that had not disappeared by their feet. There were also a few carcasses slightly further away from them at the tunnel to the left.

Of course, that was not very shocking, what shocked them was that the large skulk of fox monsters across them had actually disappeared!

Most of the elites of the sects were veterans who had entered Fox Cave multiple times, so they naturally had a deep understanding of the place. Even if they did not understand it too much, the descriptions of Fox Cave in the battle replays provided to the internal members of their sects would allow them to understand the grand scenario that would greet them after they entered the place.

There was supposed to be hundreds of fox monsters not far from them, a “terrifying horde” that would shock them the moment they saw them and make them hold their breaths. Right then, however, there was only one huge and wide cave left. Aside from dozens of fox monsters scattered here and there, the place could practically be described as empty and desolate.

“How can this be?!”

When Solitary Perpetual Joy and Situ Luoyu walked out, their expressions changed drastically. They looked at the situation before them with incredulousness.

It had to be known that Fox Cave was a basin of gold that gave them their fortune. Every single time it was activated, it would give their sects around three to five high-tier martial art manuals and more than a million taels of silver crumbs.

The great players of the other sects entered one after another. When they saw the desolate and pathetic sight before them, they were all dumbfounded. Most of the large cake that they had come for had vanished without a trace, and everyone’s hearts became a little empty. They felt miserable.

“Happy’s not dead!” A hint of a smile gradually showed up on Red Dust’s face when he thought of what had to have happened. “Don’t panic, the fox monsters were probably lured into the tunnel!”

This sentence finally allowed the players from the sects to snap out of their daze. They composed themselves and became level-headed again.

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s go in and take a look.”

The crowd swarmed to the tunnels to the left and right.

Just as they expected, right when they approached the tunnels, dense skulks of fox monsters charged out from within, and some color returned to the sect members’ faces.

But it was not a good sign.

The tunnels were very narrow, and only four to five people could move side by side at the frontmost row. This meant that there were only a few people who could truly come into contact with the fox monsters.

This was completely different from the plan they had formed when they were outside!

Their goal for gathering all the sects together was to go up against the skulk of fox monsters in the cave. They would then divide the resources uniformly before they rushed to the third level. But right then? The dozens of fox monsters in the cave were definitely not enough to be divided, so who should claim them?

The leaders of the sects began to rack their brains for a solution, and faint cracks appeared in the seemingly harmonious temporary alliance.