Sword Among Us

Once they rested a little in the tavern, Happy and Little North continued on their journey to Immortal Fox Village, which was located in Wuhu County.

The closer they got to Wuhu, the more players they saw on the government-made road. They traveled in groups of three or five, and they carried swords and sabers on their backs. Some of them rushed forward on their horses. Occasionally, Happy and Little North even got the chance to see sects and parties in the same uniform charging back and forth. They looked incredibly grand and fierce!

“Tsk, tsk, this is what I call the world of martial artists!”

Little North had been level-grinding in the mass grave, isolated from the world for many days. His emotions surged wildly, and he would occasionally let out sentimental words like that.

Happy did not find it strange, but he was rather troubled by the occasional, abnormal gazes that were cast their way from both sides of the road.

He had a zombie stuck behind his back, and it was NOT comfortable, especially when he had to make his horse dash forward on the government-made road which had people moving back and forth. He looked very flashy, abnormal, and a little terrifying.

Thud, thud, thud, thud…

The people cast them all sorts of gazes while pointing in their direction all the time. This made the duo rush forward at the fastest speed they could muster to Immortal Fox Village. They never stopped even once.

*****

Because of the gradually increasing popularity of the Fox Cave, more and more martial artists came from all over the land. Before they could even see the village, they would notice that all the training spots around the government-made road were occupied by multiple players. The moment the monsters respawned, they were shredded by the shadows of weapons that reached them so quickly they could not even see the attacks clearly. All of them died very tragic deaths.

“We’re here!”

Little North cried out excitedly when two tall pillars of wood appeared at the end of the government-made road. They looked like symbols of the village respectfully welcoming them, and a flight of stairs made from flagstones led upwards.

Happy looked up and saw a sign hanging above a tall mountain gate which was placed around one hundred steps up—Immortal Fox Village!

The flight of stairs leading to Immortal Fox Village was filled with people going up and down.

It was still day, so many people received quests from Immortal Fox Village, such as chasing away the crazed dogs whose temperaments had changed because they had been affected by the demonic noise outside Fox Cave. Some would accept harder quests, such as entering Fox Cave to kill the White Foxes and take revenge for the villagers of Immortal Fox Village!

Happy and Little North got down from their horses at the entrance to Immortal Fox Village.

They examined the two long rows of wood pillars at the foot of the stairs, then Little North looked around with great interest. He noticed an eye-catching Eight Trigrams plate hung high on every wood pillar. It would occasionally reflect a blinding light under the illumination of the sunlight. He could not help but find it rather strange. “What’s the use of those things?”

“To repel evil!”

Before Happy could answer, a player with an unfamiliar face quietly approached and answered Little North’s question.

Happy cast that person a glance before he smiled faintly. Then, he looked away.

“You sure came early.”

“Of course.” The person touched his nose and said softly, “We’re up against Class One Hall. If I don’t come here early to understand the situation, we won’t have any way of winning against them with just us.”

At that moment, Little North finally realized that the person before him was the man with the incredible lightness skill and whom Little North had been unable to catch while they were in the mass grave.

All-powerful Medicinal Stone?!

“Is there a quieter place that is situated in a remote area?”

Happy did not acknowledge recognizing All-powerful Medicinal Stone. Instead, he looked around warily and whispered in a volume that only the two of them could hear.

All-powerful Medicinal Stone pretended to not have heard anything and increased his speed while he walked toward Immortal Fox Village.

“Come with me.”

The duo followed behind him.

Immortal Fox Village was filled with people. There were players moving all around the area, and they were all in groups. The village was incredibly crowded.

All-powerful Medicinal Stone moved very quickly. He squeezed through the crowd and approached a small and worn down house like a loach.

Happy, with his attentive eye, noticed that when All-powerful Medicinal Stone went through the crowd, his hands seemed to have vanished into two unfortunate people’s Universe Bag for a while.

He… just could not break away from his bad habit.

But Happy said nothing. He just sighed and followed All-powerful Medicinal Stone into the worn down house.

There was an herbalist in the house, and he appeared to be around sixty-seventy. His hair was white, and he had a hunched back. He was old and clumsy, coughed nonstop, and the house was filled with a medicinal fragrance.

There were players who would enter sometimes and leave right after they bought some medicinal tablets. However, compared to the very popular blacksmith’s shop and armor shop, the herbalist’s shop was incredibly quiet.

“Just the two of you?”

When there were only three people in the house, All-powerful Medicinal Stone cast a glance at Little North and his zombie puppets. “What about the other helper you mentioned?”

“He’ll be here soon,” Happy answered.

In truth, when he was not too far away from Immortal Fox Village, he had already sent a messenger pigeon to Thunderous Battle, who said that he had arrived a long time ago. He had been level-grinding outside and would arrive in the village soon.

“Which subordinate sect did Class One Hall set over here?”

Happy was not entirely certain that events would progress the same way as they did in his previous life.

All-powerful Medicinal Stone pondered for a while to recall the information he learned while listening around.

“As of now, I know that Fallen Feathers Sect belongs to them. Their sect master is Situ Luoyu. He has a high-tier martial art at Grandmaster Realm, and there are more than fifty powerful players with high-tier martial arts in the sect. Every single night, they rush to Fox Cave and try to clear it.”

“Only fifty?” Happy frowned.

All-powerful Medicinal Stone nodded.

“Situ Luoyu never allows those without high-tier martial arts to join the raid.”

“Smart.” Happy sucked in a sharp breath.

The attack speed of the fox monsters in Fox Cave was so incredibly fast that even those with high-tier martial arts would find it hard to handle them. There was not even a need to mention those with low-tier martial arts. They were all worthless, and if they entered the place, they would just die.

“What other sects are there?”

“Perpetual Sect, Chivalry Sect, and other sects of various sizes who aren’t part of the main trio. There are simply too many of them. The total number of sects here is over one hundred. There has been an especially great increase in the past few days.

“I heard that this is because someone from Perpetual Joy Sect has obtained a key to enter the third level. Once they go there, they can meet Yao Hua and his wife, and they can kill them to obtain the divine vessels.”

All-powerful Medicinal Stone chuckled coldly. “Once that information spread out, the sects in the cities nearby who had never come before began to send a lot of people to die. Today, we might need to line up in a long queue to actually enter Fox Cave.”

Happy’s heart tensed!

The key to the third layer?

He also had one of those keys! He had intended to use his key to cause strife between Chivalry Sect and Class One Hall once he entered the second layer, but perhaps he had not used it for a long time, the system had automatically respawned a second key.

His plans had to be changed.

Happy frowned and pondered over it for a while.

“We won’t go to the third layer. Medicinal Stone, tell us the situation in Fox Cave.”

It was not the time for them to stretch their claws toward the third layer of Fox Cave just yet.

“Alright.”

Medicinal Stone knew that it was the first time Happy and Little North came to Immortal Fox Village. He nodded and immediately began to explain the situation to the duo. He told them everything about when Fox Cave was opened to the players, where the entrance was, and the things they would encounter once they entered the place. He explained everything in great detail.

Since Happy knew about the situation inside even better than Medicinal Stone, he only pretended to listen.

But Little North was so excited that he nearly left his boots.

It was especially so when he heard that they would definitely be attacked by a large skulk of foxes once they entered Fox Cave. Every single night, there were countless players dying inside. Only those with great body fortification techniques could somewhat last in there, but only for a little while. Little North became even more excited when he heard that, so much so that his eyes sparkled.

“There is a chance that the White Foxes in Fox Cave will drop a high-tier martial art manual called Heaven’s Illusory Claw. Aside from this, there is also a chance that they will drop a high-tier lightness skill manual called Fox Monster’s Phantasmal Shadow. One Heaven’s Illusory Claw can be sold for two hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver, and a Fox Monster’s Phantasmal Shadow is worth one million and five hundred thousand taels of silver crumbs. If you can get even one manual, you’ll be rich!”