Sword Among Us c1-1268

by Black Swordsman Online

  If he did not spend the two million he had on him, he would definitely attract a lot of people l.u.s.ting over his money and coveting his items. Even though he did not need to worry with his current abilities, his martial arts would never improve if he kept getting into fights with other players. It was just not good.

  Right then, he really wanted to push his Shadowless Kick to Grandmaster Realm, then quickly start practicing Stormy Shadowless Kick.

  Even though the damage of Stormy Shadowless Kick was weak, its superspeed was practically unparalleled among the high-tier martial arts that could be learned at Blessed Realm. Movies often portrayed such skills: once Shadowless Kick was executed, not only would the enemies not have any way to fight back, they would also be left in a daze after being struck.

  It was the same in World of Martial Arts.

  While high-tier martial arts with high damage were powerful, if the user had no chance to use them, they were useless. Unless, of course, the enemy's equipment was several times stronger and could completely shrug off Stormy Shadowless Kick's damage.

  Happy walked on the streets of Luoyang. After walking down several of them, he still did not manage to find anything suitable. He frowned and wondered when he would ever be able to find anything if he continued walking around like that. Hence, he decided to take a turn and walk into a commission shop nearby.

  Commission shops were actually very normal shops. Players could place the items they wanted to sell to them, and the shops would put them on the shelves. The prices would be set by the players, but they would also need to pay a certain amount of rent. Of course, they could also give the commission shop money and have them send out the news that they wanted to buy certain items.

  Since the rental fees were rather high, the players for the time being found it rather hard to bear the price. Hence, there were very few who put their items on sale in the commission shops. Only three men and one woman moved about the counter.

  When Happy entered the commission shop, he immediately captured the attention of the four people!

  This was especially so since the marks of the battle Happy had had in the mass grave still remained on his c.h.e.s.t. The claw marks of the Thousand Year Corpse King were on his clothes, and it was a terrifying sight to behold. A murderous and dangerous aura was added to his handsome and relaxed demeanor.

  They swept a glance at the incredibly eye-catching claw marks with the black borders on the young man's c.h.e.s.t, and their eyes lit up. They exchanged a fascinated gaze before one of them said, "This person just returned from outside the city. He might have been to the mass graves."

  They temporarily stopped looking around and stood aside quietly to pay attention to the stranger's actions.

  Happy had played the game for three years, so he had a faint air of it about him. Hence, he was especially s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to the gazes on him.

  However, he was not at all worried about the group of four since he was in the city right then.

  He walked up to the counter of the commission shop and chose the [BUY] option. Once he paid the rent, he deposited a total of two million in a familiar motion and entered a note in the [ITEM WANTED] option.

  [Any high-tier martial art. One book for two hundred thousand taels of silver.]

  With two million taels of silver crumbs, he could buy ten high-tier martial art manuals. He would just have to see whether there was anyone who was willing to sell them.

  However, regardless of whether anyone would be able to take his money or not, it would still be considered to have been temporarily taken out of his wallet. Hence, the two million would not be counted into the Rich Rank!

  The news of him seeking to buy the manuals would spread through the game via the commission shop. There was one in every city, and each one would provide the same service of buying manuals from players for two hundred thousand taels of silver crumbs. There would be a notice specially placed outside and inside the shop about it.

  The three men and one woman in the commission shop simultaneously cast their gazes on the notice that had Happy's request.

  Right before their eyes, the newest trading information in the commission shop appeared.

  [Player XX will buy one high-tier martial art manual for two hundred thousand taels of silver crumbs! Current traded number of martial art manuals: 0. Money remaining: 2,000,000 taels of silver crumbs.]

  "Oh…"

  The four people looked at each other at a loss.

  They had sensed that the person who entered the shop had possessed an extraordinary disposition. It was clear that he was one of the people whose names were definitely recorded on the Rich Rank, but they had never seen him before. They also had not expected to run into one of them in a small commission shop. However, they still did not know who he was, since the commission shop would keep its patron names a secret.

  "Tsk tsk. He threw a really huge sum in here!"

  "He just spent two million to buy ten high-tier martial art manuals. He must a high-level manager of some major guild."

  The three men clicked their tongues in amazement and sighed with a well of emotion in their hearts.

  Even though obtaining money in the game had become easier as everyone's martial arts improved, they still needed it no matter where they went in the game.

  Transportation fees, accommodation fees, medicine fees, fees to enter cities, fees to buy manuals, repair fees for their weapons and armor, and other stuff all required money. They also needed to spend it to drink and eat. They needed huge sums to keep up their facade as wandering martial artists, or else, without a set of good clothes, they would find themselves looking very miserable and shabby.

  The fees for weapons and equipment were getting higher and higher, and they also had to save up money to buy horses. As of then, there were only a handful of people who had managed to become millionaires in the game.

  "Lass."

  "Hmm?"

  "Isn't that manual that you have a high-tier martial art manual that only those in Blessed Realm can learn? Hurry up and sell it to him."

  "Huh?"

  The only female player in the commission shop was stunned for a moment before enlightenment came upon her and she became delighted. "That's right! He said that he'll accept all manuals as long as they are of high-tier martial arts. He didn't say that he was specifically looking for a certain high-tier martial art manual, and he didn't say that we must provide the low-tier martial art manual that would complement it."

  In truth, the four had not come to buy anything from the commission shop. They came to look at market quotations.

  They wanted to see whether there were any strange items being sold in the commission shop.

  Hence, they decided to come to a commission shop to test their luck.

  However, they had been unlucky.

  There were quite a number of people who posted their requests for high-tier martial arts in the commission shop, but they would either state that they were looking for specific manuals or that the seller had to sell them the high-tier martial art manual along with the complementary low-tier martial art.

  The manual they had did not fit the specifications!

  The four of them, however, had noticed the loophole in the blue-robed playe's notice, and an impatient glee quickly appeared on their faces.

  "Hurry up! Hurry up!"

  "Click 'confirm trade', quick!"

  As the three men urged the woman to hurry, she s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath and walked up to the counter of the commission shop with great nervousness. She brought up the purchase log Happy set up and took out a martial art manual with a gray cover from her Universe Bag. It looked very common, and there were three words written on it—Wind Spirit Spin.

  She placed the martial art manual in the hands of the old shopkeeper with the white beard behind the counter.

  Under the quartet's nervous and excited gazes, the old man lifted the Wind Spirit Spin manual, observed it for a while, and nodded. "This manual does fit the req
uirements of the purchase request." He paused for a moment before he asked for confirmation. "Are you certain that you want to trade this book?"

  "Yes!"

  "Absolutely!"

  The four spoke simultaneously.

  The next second, a certain player who wanted to go out of Luoyang and take a look at the notice that was surrounded by countless players heard a notification from the system that made his entire body shudder violently.

  "Trade successful! Purchased Wind Spirit Spin!"

  Chapter 172 - Lu Xiaofeng

  Happy found himself speechless. He stood stunned near the city wall for a long time before he turned his head around and looked toward the commission shop. He shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. This time, he had made a huge mistake. He did not think that he would actually be able to buy a Wind Spirit Spin, which was a support skill manual only for grandmasters while he was trying to buy high-tier martial art manuals.

  Wind Spirit Spin was a support skill that all people in Blessed Realm could learn, but it was only suited for martial arts in Grandmaster Realm, which meant that it was a high-tier support skill that could only be successfully activated with max level martial arts. Its function was to widen the area of effect of the user's main martial art. It could help them deal the same amount of damage to the enemies to the sides of where he attacked, and as the level of the skill increased, its damage would also increase. In other words, this meant that the user's damage would spread to other people besides the main target.

  Happy could use that skill with all Level 99.99 attack-based high-tier martial arts. All of them were qualified for it.

  However, all the high-tier martial arts that had not reached Level 99.99, such as his Level 95.37 Flowering Knights' Song, would not be able to activate Wind Spirit Spin.

  Since it was a support-based high-tier martial art, Wind Spirit Spin's price was much cheaper than normal high-tier martial arts. Many of the sects and clans would provide a side quest which would reward Wind Spirit Spin manual once their disciple mastered a high-tier martial art. Most people obtain the manual like that, so there would be very few people who would need Wind Spirit Spin in the market.

  There was a very low need for it. In fact, the number of people who needed it could be overlooked.

  Happy remembered that the highest price ever offered for that manual was about a few tens of thousands of silver crumbs!

  When he noticed that the situation was bad for him, Happy quickly returned to the commision shop.

  The three men and one woman had long since vanished without a trace!

  Happy naturally did not know that the person who sold him the manual came from Luoyang. Right then, he only wanted to cancel the offer so that there would be no more bastards who would sell Wind Spirit Spin to him. If that happened, he would definitely be really depressed.

  Once Happy added a [Will not buy Wind Spirit Spins] to the requirements of the trade, he had the commission shop register his request again.

  However, he could not return what he had bought.

  After all, Wind Spirit Spin was an additional support skill. It was naturally a good thing to him right then, since his abilities would increase! Of course, the prerequisite was that Happy had to have a high-tier martial art in Grandmaster Realm.

  Based on his itinerary, Happy had wanted to return to Gusu City after the storyline quest ended and go back to Murong Mansion once to receive this quest.

  But the journey from Luoyang to Gusu was long, and he would need many days to reach it. He would waste a lot of time on the road, traveling back and forth, when he could use it to make even more money.

  Wind Spirit Spin might have been sold to him at a rather expensive rate, but if he looked at it from another angle, it helped him earn more time and opportunities.

  So he had actually benefited from the situation!

  If he did not need to return to Gusu City, he would have more time to level up Flowering Knights' Song and Stormy Shadowless Kick. After that, even if he ran into the hall master of Class One Hall, Dream Clouds, or any other powerful player who had many high-tier martial arts and possessed great power, Happy would still have some confidence to win. He would also not need to be worried if he had to fight against large groups of people.

  Wind Spirit Spin's existence could increase his ability to fight against groups!

  When he thought about it, a faint smile appeared on Happy's face. He quietly put away Wind Spirit Spin and headed to the city wall.

  The notice at the city wall was actually a bounty!

  Thirty years ago, an extremely talented teenage martial artist had appeared in Luoyang. With outstanding fist techniques, he ruled over Luoyang, and once he entered Shaolin Temple, he created a fist technique that was on par with Shaolin Temple's Seventy-two Ultimate Techniques—Blood Palm Print!

  It could gather up the blood and qi in the entire body and cause the enemy's true qi to run rampant. The blood and qi in the enemy's body would flow in reverse, and in the end, a blood red palm print would appear on their c.h.e.s.t. Once someone was injured by that technique, they would surely die! It was an incredibly vicious technique.

  Once Blood Palm Print was created, the teenager had already become a middle-aged man. With this vicious martial art, he descended the mountain and wandered the land of martial artists. He was brutal and ruthless, and he killed dozens of famous martial artists, gaining an infamous name for himself. In the end, an order to arrest him was made, and countless martial artists surrounded him. Then, he plunged down the Head Breaker Cliff that was near Luoyang, but his corpse could not be found.

  However, twenty years after the incident, Blood Palm Print appeared in the world of martial arts again!

  The bodies of a few famous martial artists were cast out in the wild near Luoyang, and there was an unpleasant, blood-red palm print on their c.h.e.s.ts. Its dark red color correlated with the way the demon had done things when he mastered his skill.

  The martial artist who stood at the city wall was one of the famous swordsmen in the hearts of the martial artists who walked down the path of justice—Lu Xiaofeng!

  The small event soon riled up all of Luoyang. Countless players gathered under the city wall, but they did not do so for Blood Palm Print. Instead, they surrounded Lu Xiaofeng and spoke to him because they wanted to try and trigger his storyline quest and learn Lu Xiaofeng's ultimate technique—Perception Finger[1].

  But they did not remember that ultimate techniques were not easy to learn.

  Those who were smart shifted their gazes to the contents of the notice on the city wall.

  If they captured Blood Palm Print and brought him to justice, perhaps they would be able to gain Lu Xiaofeng's recognition. If they could catch Lu Xiaofeng's fancy just by talking to him, then wouldn't this Greatest Swordsman Detective not quite live up to his name?

  He had actually never heard of this quest before.

  Perhaps it was a storyline quest that was strictly limited to Luoyang.

  Even though Lu Xiaofeng was incredibly famous, there were plenty of famous martial artists in the world of martial artists, and even after the game had been launched for three years, there were still plenty of powerful players who were not known to others.

  Happy did not have the ability to learn about everyone's information either.

  However, based on the contents of the notice, Lu Xiaofeng had traveled thousands of miles from Beijing to Luoyang to capture the demonic Blood Palm Print, who had committed multiple crimes.

  Who was Lu Xiaofeng? He was an extremely powerful fighter above Moksha Realm.

  How could anyone who was personally wanted by him and upon whom he had set his eyes be easy to handle?

  At the very least, he had to be in Life and Death Realm, right?

  But Happy had heard of Blood Palm Print before. Someone from his previous life had learned it, and he had ruled over the game for a period of time. The damage of that skill was incredible, and it seemed to be an ultimat
e technique as well.

  When he thought of this, Happy shook his head in silence.

  The notice might be calling out to all righteous martial artists and telling them that they should get ready to search for the whereabouts of the demonic Blood Palm Print on the surface, but in secret, it was reminding them that they were to absolutely not run into this person.

  That demon was not an ordinary NPC!

  He had to be someone whom Happy could not meet at his level.

  He turned around and left, exiting the city without any reluctance.

  Since he already had Wind Spirit Spin, he could stay in Luoyang for the foreseeable future. It was quiet in the mass grave, and it was a suitable place for him to practice his martial arts. He could also farm high-tier martial art manuals to provide help for Beautiful Robes Faction to become stronger at a steady pace.

  Chapter 173 - How Does Someone Become Powerful?

  Thud, thud! Thud, thud! Thud, thud!

  The attacks from Shadowless Kick did not have the dull booms in the air that were characteristic of normal low-tier martial arts. However, the continuous stream of air being torn was incredibly frequent, and it was so fast that the speed was unimaginable.

  Happy did not feel any sort of pressure whatsoever when he faced a Blessed Realm zombie. His fists moved about very quickly. He was practically throwing his fists and kicks in torrents.

  The speed of Shadowless Kick was practically twice of slow martial arts. As long as the attack was effective, the speed at which it absorbed EXP was twice the other martial arts too.

  In just about half a day, Happy pushed Shadowless Kick to the tenth realm from Level 1.00. The higher the realm, the more its attributes would head to perfection, and it would become even faster!

  Even though Blessed Realm zombies would attack at full strength without holding anything back under their master's command, they still did not have any room to fight back under Shadowless Kick's relentless and crazed attacks.