'They still did it, huh?'
Happy sat down in front of the computer and felt his thoughts become livelier.
He remembered that while South China Martial Arts Ranking Board was strictly for the students from the University of South China who played World of Martial Arts, it was further developed in the future so other universities could also join in, and later on, some powerful players showed up. The website had good advertising effects and economic returns. In fact, it even took the reins for announcing all quests and quest details from World of Martial Arts. Of course, this feature was only available for members who registered on the website.
"Not bad, right?"
When he saw that the fruits of his labor were taken seriously, Chen Fan felt his pride swell in a way that he could not describe. He went to the dress mirror at the corner of the dorm and combed his hair.
"This is the result of three days of work. It was officially launched yesterday night, and now, we have more than three hundred registered users. The numbers are still rising, and I was thinking, if I don't bring you in, the others will say we aren't united."
Before he finished speaking, he heard the sound of someone typing beside him.
"Put in your highest level martial art skill and qi cultivation technique. Based on the table of information from the official website, the website will automatically give you a rank. By the way, Happy, how many martial art skills have you learned?" Chen Fan asked curiously while turning to look at him.
Happy did not answer him. Instead, he swiftly entered his data in the table of information. [Shaolin's Long Fist: Lvl 67.7. Complete Reality Qi Cultivation Technique: Lvl 44.5]
Surprised, Chen Fan nodded repeatedly while standing behind him.
"Wow, not bad. You actually managed to reach the seventh realm so soon… It's a pity that it's Shaolin's Long Fist. This sort of martial art emphasizing on hard techniques is rather rigid. Oh well, no matter. I heard from White that once your martial art reaches the ninth realm, your qi will also start increasing. Try to work hard to make it reach that level over the next few days, and you should be able to rank in the top thirty in the ranking board."
Only those whose martial art reached the ninth realm could enter the top thirty in South China Martial Arts Ranking Board. This was a rather shocking matter, because it meant that there were quite a few people who had already reached this realm.
But Happy was absolutely not puzzled by this.
He keyed in his information, and his ranking instantly rose from 341st to 279th.
The speed in which Shaolin's Long Fist leveled up might be quick, but since Happy did not have any lightness skill, the level of Happy's qi cultivation technique was far behind, and he had also wasted a week feeding pets, so he had squandered quite some time in the process. It was normal for him to rank far behind the others.
Also, in a university where the exchange of information was done frequently, many people spoke to others while they threw themselves into their training. Hence, they could gather information everywhere, and they were very well-informed. Besides, when young people decided to be serious, their passion and explosive energy could astonish everyone. They would not be any less good than professional gamers. Reaching the ninth realm in around a month's time was not shocking.
There was no need for anyone to spend so much time to reach the ninth realm.
The Murong Clan did not give Happy any quests, so he had an entire day to train. If he used all his energy to increase his level, he should be able to enter the ninth realm by the end of the day.
However, this was nothing compared to his excitement when he saw a few familiar names.
A smile blossomed on his face that spoke of him foreseeing what would happen in the future. He scrolled down with his mouse in interest to check the names and levels of the people who ranked above.
Just as he expected, the list was the same as in his previous life. The gentle and quiet vice-class rep of Class 1, Brother Tea Words, was ranked first. He had Wudang Sect's Pine Sword Technique, and the level of that technique was at Level 89.7 (peak of the ninth realm). With just one more step, he could reach the tenth realm. He was the first person to discover that there were more opportunities at night rather than during the day, and he was also the first person to enter Gate Realm!
B.u.t.t Shaker.
Puffy God.
NotaRascal.
Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes.
Young Lonely White.
These people were at the top of South China Martial Arts Ranking Board, and they were also the pillars of the University of South China. All of them possessed martial arts that were at the ninth realm, and they had garnered quite a reputation for themselves in World of Martial Arts. It was especially so for Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes.
This person even created her own Beautiful Robes Faction, and in three years, there would be ten people who would enter the top one thousand from it in the international Sword Among Us tournament. And one of them… would be Happy!
However, as everyone graduated and went to different positions or joined different social circles, they would no longer have the passion from before. They would also be more rational and fickle when they handled certain matters.
At that moment, Happy would leave Beautiful Robes Faction because of one matter!
It was then that someone would attack him while he was weak. He would be ambushed and killed repeatedly at the foot of Shaoshi Mountain until his qi realm plummeted down the drain.
World of Martial Arts was a game where if a person died once, they would be considered to have been injured severely and only be able to bring out seventh-tenths of their original power while the remaining three-tenths of qi would be lost. They would not be able to recover within a short period of time unless they had valuable ingredients to create elixirs. Otherwise, they would have to go through a long period of time nourishing the body.
After Happy was severely injured multiple times, his realm fell from Life and Death Realm to Gate Realm. He also had to leave the Sword Among Us tournament in Mount Hua because of an inexplicable loss. His three years of hard work had gone away like the wind. Because of that, he had become disheartened and quit World of Martial Arts.
When he thought about it in retrospect, there were many mysteries surrounding the matter.
Since the heavens gave him a chance to begin anew, he would naturally not let the tragedy of his past life repeat itself!
He WOULD join the Sword Among Us tournament in Mount Hua!
"Alright, you continue reading, I'll go back and train my skills. Making a website wastes too much time. By the way, Happy, if you don't understand anything, just send a messenger pigeon to me. You know my name, right?"
Chen Fan made a phone call gesture before he went to his bed.
"Alright."
Happy returned his gaze to the screen and browsed through the website in general before remembering the very important strategic goal that had made him log out of the game—breakfast.
Chapter 10 - Masterpiece
When Happy returned to the game, he gained a stack of silver notes, which were earned from fighting against the Ferocious Wild Wolves for an entire night.
The fangs and claws of the Ferocious Wild Wolves could be used to create hidden weapons that were of slightly better quality. They could also be ground into powder to create medicine. Its price was basically twice of the one made from a normal A.d.u.l.t Wolf.
They might be difficult to handle for normal players, but experienced players who knew the wolves' attacks would actually spit at those "Ferocious Wild Wolves" and say that they were not fierce enough, and such was the case for Happy! The forest animals could not last long under his Shaolin's Long Fist, and he did not even have a chance to use the Jinchuang Ointment.
At daylight, all Ferocious Wild Wolves vanished, leaving only A.d.u.l.t Wolves wandering the area below Cold Mountain Temple.
The normal wolves could not help Happy at all. At the seventh
realm, Shaolin's Long Fist was already strong enough to handle difficult tasks with ease. When Happy delivered a punch, the explosive power behind it was shocking, and with just two or three blows, he could crush a wild wolf's bones. The value of the wolf pelts he gained were also less than a quarter of the wolf pelts he obtained at night. So if he continued, he would just be wasting his time.
Without any hesitation, Happy took the silver notes and went to a weapons shop in Gusu City.
...
The weapons in World of Martial Arts also had a system!
The iron weapons in the beginning could only increase the strength of an attack by a little. They would also wear down very quickly. It could be said after a single fierce battle, a player would need to return their weapons to the furnace and reforge or mend them.
The price of iron weapons was rather normal. They were priced from fifty taels of silver crumbs to one hundred taels of silver crumbs.
The more durable weapons and equipment were made from bronze. They would not increase the players' attack by much, but their durability was their unique characteristic. They were solid and easy to use, so sword users would usually prefer bronze swords over iron swords. No one liked to mend their weapons all the time nor being given trouble during important moments.
However, the price of bronze equipment was much higher. They usually cost more than two hundred taels of silver crumbs, and those that were of better quality or made by famous blacksmiths would double in price!
Above bronze was refined steel, cuprite, and cold iron. Weapons of this grade had to be crafted by famous blacksmiths, and practically all the weapons had a name.
Just as the concept suggested, all the weapons created by famous blacksmiths could be considered the blacksmith's brand, and branded goods… were naturally expensive. The price was also not something normal people could afford.
The lowest graded weapon (ninth grade) cost one thousand taels of silver crumbs, and superior first-grade weapons cost tens of thousands of taels of silver crumbs.
There were also divine weapons that were rumored to never have been possessed by anyone before!
Ganjiang Sword! Moye Sword! [1]
Fish Swords (There were five of them, and they were Wholesome Land, Pure Harmony, Defeater of Evil, Hidden in Fish, and Giant). [2]
Each divine weapon had extraordinary abilities, but no one knew exactly what they were.
...
Happy had five hundred taels of silver crumbs, so it was only natural that he could not buy masterpieces. He took a stroll through a weapon shop and stopped before one weapon with hesitation.
The lowest price for a bronze sword was two hundred and forty taels of silver crumbs, but what he wanted to buy was a pair of gloves. There were three types of gloves in the shop. One of them was made of iron rings and looked like something used by the antagonists in movies, so he decided against it. The other pair was made of iron silk and silver scales. It could increase his defense, and when he came in contact with weapons, the gloves would also increase his damage.
The last pair had a decent appearance as well. Its durability was greater than that of bronze weapons, and as long as Happy did not have to go up against higher grade masterpieces or divine weapons, it would be very difficult to damage those gloves.
But they were just too expensive!
Two thousand taels of silver crumbs…
There was no need to even think about the last item. It was a higher grade masterpiece, and it was known as Green Jade Shrouded in Heavenly Silk. The decorations on the gloves were extravagant, beautiful, and exuded a cold presence. With just one look, it was obvious that they were a masterpiece among masterpieces, so one could forget about buying them.
"A pawnshop?"
When he saw a building with the word [Pawnshop] above it, Happy suddenly had a thought.
Pawnshops were places where people could get a huge sum of money in exchange for their items, which had to be repaid in interest within a short period of time, so good things always appeared in them. Incidents of valuable treasures ending up buried under a pile of junk always happened there, and the prices for those items would usually be much lower than in regular shops.
As long as a person's eyes were sharp and they had luck, they had a chance to get good quality items that had come into the hands of the pawnbrokers because the original owners could not redeem their items within the loan period.
While thinking about it, Happy walked in with his five hundred taels of silver crumbs.
The pawnshop was different from the pawnshops during the Qing Dynasty. It had a huge section that was no different from one in a normal shop with all the items that had not been redeemed during the loan period. There were all sorts of items there: sabers, swords, medicinal pills, clothes, jade items, and even martial arts manuals. The shop had everything and sold it at high prices.
Happy looked over.
He ignored the useless jade items as well as clothes. He was not interested in medicinal pills either. He only looked at the weapons and martial arts manuals, but he still got nowhere. There was nothing that suited him.
Some of the items might be valuable, but once he added in the repair fees, he would end up with a similar price as in the normal shops. He would not have saved up on anything.
They did not stay for long. A quick look was all they wanted before leaving.
It was a very inconspicuous thing, but players would usually not venture into places like pawnshops. It was also not very wise to put on a show of glancing at things quickly in this sort of place.
Happy's footsteps came to a halt. When the duo left, he cast his eyes on an item that one of the people had examined for a longer period of time. Then, his expression changed.
It was a jade item!
There was an old jade on the counter. It looked incredibly normal, and it was placed among many other jade items. If it were not because of the duo's strange actions that stirred up Happy's curiosity and puzzlement, it would have been difficult for him to realize that there were some faint words carved on the jade slit ring.
In the world of martial arts, some of the older martial artists were worried that their martial arts would be lost or they would forget some words from their skills. Because of that, they liked to write down martial arts manuals or incantations on small jade pendants that could be easily carried around. Those jade pendants would only reveal their secrets in certain situations, and the jade before Happy was clearly one such item.
"I see."
Happy smiled, looked away, and left.
While the price of the jade slit ring was similar to that of the other jade accessories and he could absolutely afford it, he would not have any money to spare once he bought it. Instead of buying a normal high-tier martial art that would be of little value to him for the time being, it would be better to spend his money on something more meaningful.
Happy did not believe that the pawnshop would not have noticed the jade's value when it was very obviously used to pass down a martial art and pawnbrokers were all brilliant at their job.
There could only be two explanations for the low price then.
Either the value of the martial art on the jade slit ring was not high or parts of the incantation were missing!
By the looks of it, the two players had their eyes fixed on the "bait" cast out by the pawnshop, but Happy did not have any intention to be another stupid fish, so he turned around and left the pawnshop.
*****
"The boy didn't fall for it!"
The two players walked out from behind the corner of the pawnshop with frowns on their faces.
As they watched Happy leave, they looked at each other in dismay.
"That shouldn't have been possible."
"We finally managed to trigger a slightly higher-level mission from the shopkeeper, the reward for which was one hundred taels of silver crumbs, but we didn't manage to complete it. That boy is too stingy."
Translator's Note:
[1] Ganjiang and Moye Swords: Made by a swordsmith couple who lived during the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. A pair of swords were forged by and named after them. Known as the Swords of Love.
[2] Fish Swords: China's most legendary swords are the ones made by Ou Yezi and his pupil, Ganjiang during the Warring States era, which are these swords plus all the ones mentioned above, and more. Read more here: https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/chinas-legendary-swords.t3323/
Chapter 11 - Rascal in the Tavern
"Wine" was written in huge letters on a white piece of cloth to serve as one tavern's signboard. It fluttered in the wind above the government-made road outside Gusu City. There were a few simple rectangular tables and long benches placed by the road. A young waiter ran back and forth passionately while occasionally shouting, "Alright. Dear customer, please wait for a while, I will serve you in a moment." Then, he would pour wine into the cups of the few customers in the shop, which made him look very busy.
Taverns were a major characteristic of the world of martial artists.
They were also the place where fights were most likely to happen.
Bang!
A plump hand slammed against the table. The bowl, chopsticks, and wine all trembled, which showed just how great the man's strength was.
"Shopkeeper!"
With a drunken burp, a man whose c.h.e.s.t was exposed and who had a fierce face lifted his wine pot. He stood up while taking a swig.
The shopkeeper was an honest middle-aged man. He was also on the thinner side, so he looked as if the wind could blow him off his feet at any moment. He smiled obsequiously and walked over. "Dear customer, what might you want?"
"Give me another… two pounds… of wine. Takeaway."
There were a few empty wine pots on the table in front of the man. The side dishes were also in disorder. He seemed to have drunk quite a lot. The people beside him could already smell the unpleasant stench of alcohol on him.
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