Shing! Shing!
At the instant the Noble Sword was drawn, the four people reached him. The two who were protected by the shields immediately drew their swords and attacked from the flanks. Judging by the sound, it seemed that the realms of their martial arts were not low. Both had already reached the tenth realm.
"Perfect timing!"
At first glance, Happy recognized that one of them used Nangong Clan's Dwarf Star Sword Technique and Ground Martial Arts' Sword of Madness. He grinned and used Eight Trigrams Steps, twisting his body and moving out of the way. He weaved through the not-exactly rapid attacks from the duo, and the Nine Palaces Sword sliced nimbly and so close to its enemy that it was like a shadow attached to them.
Happy soon stabbed the weak part of Luo Zhiqiang's lower body from an unbelievable angle. Blood was instantly drawn.
Luo Zhiqiang's t.h.i.g.h had been struck, and pain surged through his body. He instantly fell to his knees and could not keep up.
With just one attack, the stronger of the two was determined.
Inquire the Dragon was the first whose expression changed, and he shouted a word of warning. "Pao'zi, careful!"
But it was too late.
How was he supposed to know that he was up against a seasoned player who was familiar with countless martial arts and had a lot of battle experience? He was alarmed, and before they could exchange two blows, Happy tapped him with his sword and pushed him to the ground. He chuckled and went back a few feet to retreat from the battleground. He did not take their lives.
Xiao Leng and Long Meng had pale faces. They came forward with the shields to protect their fallen comrades and stopped in front of them. With faces full of fear and alarm, they stared at Happy like a powerful enemy!
The group behind them had clearly not expected that the four powerful Gate Realm fighters would be so weak that they could not withstand one single blow. The situation in which two of theirs died and two were injured instantly extinguished their fighting spirit. They knew that they could not advance, but they could not retreat either. They were caught in a difficult situation.
Happy cast a disdainful gaze at the people from Dragon Tiger Sect who had lost their will to fight. He lost any interest he might have had in killing them. In the face of the two war shields that protected four Gate Realm players, he slowly put his sword back into its sheath before he cast a glance at Inquire the Dragon, the sect master of Dragon Tiger Sect. The man had an expression as if he had just seen a ghost.
"You only have this much strength, and you dare to build a sect?" Happy said in a voice as if he was teaching a lesson.
This sentence was like a huge slap to the face for Inquire the Dragon.
Happy's languid voice traveled at a moderate speed into the ears of all the people in the area.
"I don't care if you built a sect, but you didn't even order your subordinates to be more diligent in training and understanding the essence of martial arts to increase their strength. You only know how to take advantage of your strength to bully others, rob them of their resources, and provoke the heroes under heaven. You are just a disorderly crowd. If I must say, before long, you will end up with your sect destroyed."
The group from Dragon Tiger Sect could say nothing about that!
He tutted. "Leave."
Happy turned around and swung his arm. Without even turning his head back, he said, "If you have nothing else, stop bothering me. If you hold up my training any longer, I might just go and destroy your sect some day!"
The people from Dragon Tiger Sect looked at each other at a loss!
In the end, under Inquire the Dragon's signal, they came forward with dejected looks on their faces and helped Luo Zhiqiang and Zhang Pao up, since they were injured. Then, they left the valley gloomily.
'What the heck is this?'
They had come with raging anger and a mighty presence to surround Happy, but right after they met him, four of their people were defeated. Two of them were even elites from Dragon Tiger Sect and Nangong Clan. They had been mocked and taught a lesson by Happy in an indifferent tone. In the end, with all their dignity crushed, they fled!
"Big brother."
Nangong Ying never said anything during that period of time. Once she left the valley, she looked at Inquire the Dragon with a worried expression. She was afraid that after the battle, her older brother would feel discouraged and disinclined to do anything further, and from there, lose his fighting spirit completely and just fall into a slump.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." The big man laughed bitterly and waved his hand. "It's my fault for not listening to your suggestion. We should have tried to draw this sort of person into our sect and not offended him… Fortunately, he has a magnanimous heart. He should not hold a grudge against us, or else we wouldn't have been able to leave alive."
Nangong Ying instantly let out a breath of relief.
"Scholarly Immortal was right. I've indeed underestimated the heroes in this world and, by extension, the world itself. If I want to gain a standing in the game, I must have power, wisdom, and money, and none of them can be missing. Happy… was right.
"Long Meng, spread the word. Tell everyone that Dragon Tiger Sect has been defeated by Happy today, and we accept our defeat wholeheartedly. The Blue-robed Noble Sword User lives up to his name! From now on, all of Dragon Tiger Sect will avoid him if we run into him as a sign of respect."
Nangong Ying's eyes lit up, and Inquire the Dragon lost his dispirited look. He stared at the valley in the distance, and with a dazzling expression on his face, he said, "With my defeat today, I feel that World of Martial Arts is finally a bit interesting. However… to show that Dragon Tiger Sect is not a gathering of misfits, I, Inquire the Dragon, swear today to my dear sister and all my brothers that in the near future, I will definitely make Dragon Tiger Sect's name ring through Jiangnan! We will gain a firm foothold in this game!"
"Yes!"
The group of people responded to him at the same time.
Happy did not know that his words that day had pushed Dragon Tiger Sect, which was supposed to be destroyed while it was at the eye of a storm, into an unknown direction.
Chapter 56 - All Sorts of Changes
After the group from Dragon Tiger Sect left, Happy continued to train in the valley. His Cloud Treading Steps might have reached the ninth realm, but he was still a distance away from being able to move to heights not possible by human means and anywhere else he wanted at ease.
If he reached Grandmaster Realm, he would need very little qi when he used his lightness skill, and the increase in his speed and the height he could reach would also far surpass what he could do at that moment.
His Complete Reality Qi Cultivation Technique had also reached Level 86. He was still thirteen levels away from Grandmaster Realm, but when he reached it, his qi cultivation technique would activate on its own. He was still a long way away from it, however.
Happy believed that after experiencing the battle with him, Dragon Tiger Sect would restrain themselves and would not dare to antagonize him for the time being. Eastern Green Gate and Whirlwind Young Li would also become more safe.
With his peace restored, he would practice his lightness skill and qi cultivation technique until they reached max level. Later on, when he wandered about the land, even if he ran into situations he could not handle, he should have no problems in fleeing.
Just like that, half a day passed, and night came.
Happy flew even faster under the slightly cool breeze. Every time he used his qi cultivation technique to restore his qi, he could last for a longer stretch of time. From his initial five minutes in the ninth realm, he gradually extended that time to eight minutes, and by then, he could fly for about ten minutes.
It was a pity that while the speed at which he circulated his qi using Complete Reality Qi Cultivation Technique became faster, his speed at which he increased his Experience Points (EXP) for his qi cultivation technique became slower. Every time he circulated
his qi, it would only increase by 0.03%. Hence, it was still stuck at the ninth realm, and it would take him a long time to reach the tenth realm.
When his lightness skill was about to reach Grandmaster Realm, a messenger pigeon flew in from beyond the valley. It chased after Happy's flying figure while flapping its wings and came to rest steadily on his shoulder.
Happy let out a light gasp of surprise and quickly stopped. He took out the paper tied to the messenger pigeon's leg.
[Senior brother, you're amazing! How did you do it? The sect master of Dragon Tiger Sect actually admitted that he couldn't win against you and ordered all those in his sect to avoid you when they see you next time! Haha! You're too awesome! Now, Gusu City is boiling with excitement, and everyone is talking about your fight against Dragon Tiger Sect. Recently, a few sect masters who created their sects came to us and asked us to contact you. I think they want to invite you to join them!
[Haha! Senior brother, you must absolutely not come back for some time. Let us enjoy the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of having someone beg us for stuff! Haha, this feels too amazing…]
At first glance, Happy knew that it was Whirlwind Young Li's message.
He originally thought that as long as he did not reveal what happened, Dragon Tiger Sect would understand his intentions and be grateful for it, so much so that they would not cause trouble to him in the future and gang up on him. He also thought that no one would publicize this matter.
Why then did Dragon Tiger Sect reveal the matter of losing to him after they returned to Gusu City?
If the sect master of Dragon Tiger Sect did this, he just increased Happy's prestige and reputation, especially with the order of avoiding him if they ever ran into him. It would also clearly ruin Dragon Tiger Sect's might and their awe-inspiring presence as the strongest sect…
'Do they intend to mend our relationship?'
Aside from this, Happy could think of no other reason why they would make such a sacrifice.
However, he would not be grateful for their good intentions because of this. In his eyes, Dragon Tiger Sect was just a group of random people gathered together that could pose no threat to him. As long as they did not take the initiative to provoke him, he would not go to cause trouble for them. As for mending their relationship? He would rather not in case he got into unnecessary trouble because of Dragon Tiger Sect in the future.
When he thought it through, Happy hastily replied to Whirlwind Young Li before returning to fly around the meadow in the valley.
When noon arrived, Happy logged off to eat, just as he usually did it.
When he removed his helmet, he noticed that the atmosphere in the dorm was strange. He turned his head to the side and found that the Three Lonely Wolves were all present, and they sat in a circle around the table. Their expressions were solemn, and they looked very serious.
However, something was not right. During the start of the game, the Three Lonely Wolves not suffered any major setbacks or hardsh.i.p.s, and he knew about the few times they did. So what happened?
'Could it be..?'
When a certain thought rose in his mind, Happy suddenly s.u.c.k.e.d in a sharp breath.
Could it be that because of the suggestions he provided that caused the parts of the progression of events in the world to change slightly, like the inclusion of South China Martial Arts Ranking Board into the official website, had brought about some unexpected changes?
'Looks like I should reduce my involvement in South China Martial Arts Ranking Board in the future. If too many changes occur, I might accidentally cause unknown changes and dangers to a website that is supposed to have a rather good development in the future.' While Happy rebuked himself in his heart, he nonchalantly jumped down from his bed.
"What's wrong with you guys? Did you run into any problems with affiliating yourselves with the official website?"
"What? Nah, we just got through with the application."
Bai Lang nudged his glasses up. He looked a little disinterested. "But the official website for World of Martial Arts just launched a minor competition, a martial arts tournament! They asked all the regions who are affiliated to them to recommend a player whose abilities are quite good to enter the competition so that they could be certain of the ranks of each region."
"A martial arts tournament?"
It was not that he did not have any impression of this. He had relied on martial arts tournaments such as this to continuously spar against powerful players from all over the country and even all over the world. Because of that, he had managed to get himself extraordinary fighting skills and experience facing various enemies.
However, at that time, those tournaments were all held in the game itself…
Could it be that the predecessor of the martial arts tournament was through some tests and data offline before they officially spread it through World of Martial Arts?
Since the problem that troubled the Three Lonely Wolves did not have anything to do with the immediate interests of the website, Happy instantly released a breath of relief and asked about the details.
"The deal is…" Chen Fan told him the truth.
In reality, what truly troubled the trio was not the ranking that would come due to the martial arts tournament, but if they wanted to join this martial arts tournament, the website in charge of the region had to organize a rather large-scale tournament of their own.
The number of people participating in the tournament had to be over one hundred for it to count!
Only with this prerequisite would the person who emerged as the victor be selected as the person recommended by the website. They would then fight against the other recommended people from other websites and receive a ranking.
Initially, the Three Lonely Wolves were very excited once they received this news. They went about trying to encourage the students in the university to enter the tournament.
Because of that, they only managed to gather around sixty people, and most of them were their friends. There were very few of them who were strong. Most of the powerful ones on South China Martial Arts Ranking Board did not join.
"Count me in."
Once Happy understood the whole story, he showed that he was willing to join without any hesitation.
"It doesn't matter if one more person joins. We must have one hundred people before the officials recognize the University of South China as a region." Qi Ci looked resigned. "But the tournament will take up a lot of time and hold up progress, and the officials already said that only the victor will have rewards, so there is no motivation for anyone to just participate. That's why we can't mobilize them. South China Martial Arts Ranking Board will definitely end up at the last place, and we won't even have a rank. We'll only have an empty title."
When he heard Qi Ci's words, Happy was stunned for a moment, then a confident smile stretched across his lips.
"If you only want to motivate the people, I have a plan."
The trio was stunned!
Chapter 57 - Reward Initiative
Among a series of food stalls near the cafeteria in the University of South China were four very fashionably dressed men. They picked vegetables and ate them with great appetite. They drank some wine while they talked about the hottest story in World of Martial Arts. When they were halfway through, one of the people closer to the wall raised his head and saw two people walk in. One of them was plump, and the other thin. A smile instantly bloomed on his face. With a tone showing his familiarity with the person, he greeted the duo.
"Puffy, Rascal, have you guys eaten?"
"Wow, you're even drinking? You sure are in the mood."
The duo came over with smiles on their faces. They went to the table where the four people sat. Three of them quickly got up and respectfully greeted the duo by calling them brother before they moved to another table.
"We've eaten. We have something up, that's why we came over to talk to you."
The two of them were not bothered by what happened and just sat do
wn.
Naturally, they were two people who thrived on South China Martial Arts Ranking Board. One of them was Puffy God, who was in second place, and the other was now ranked in third place and had overtaken B.u.t.t Shaker, NotaRascal. This plump and thin duo never left each other's side. They looked like two sculpted fierce-looking gods who were usually painted on doors or temple gates.
The fashionable man who greeted them earlier was the great player Brother Tea Words. His fame in the University of South China was great, and he constantly occupied the top spot on the ranking board!
Brother Tea Words' real name was Yu Cha. He was a very good gamer. He was a pro when it came to Counter Strike, and once he entered World of Martial Arts, he could not help himself but be attracted by the content and martial arts in the game. Hence, he switched his focus to World of Martial Arts!
Puffy God and NotaRascal were people he got to know when he played other games in the past. Their relationship was not very deep, and they were at best acquaintances. Only when South China Martial Arts Ranking Board appeared did their impression of each other became deeper.
"What is it?"
When Yu Cha heard that the duo had intentionally come searching for him, he could not help but be curious.
"Did the developers of South China Martial Arts Ranking Board come to you?"
"... Yes?"
Yu Cha quickly understood their intentions. He nodded and cast them a profound glance. "They did. It's because of the martial arts tournament, right? By the looks of it, they also came to you two, but you didn't agree to it."
"Yup, 'course not." Puffy God smiled like a Maitreya Buddha. "Those three guys are indeed smart, but they don't know how to do things at all! We never thought about anything when we registered as members, but the offline trading system they suddenly launched a few days ago will take 5% from the money traded as usage fee when we conduct a trade, and the both of us are not excluded as well. They're clearly just using us as employees."
Sword Among Us c1-1268 Page 33