Sword Among Us c1-1268

by Black Swordsman Online

  "As expected of one of the four Divine Thieves in the world of wanderers. You're really cunning." Happy smiled.

  "Thank you for the praise, master."

  "Alright. Come with me to Yin Weed Faction first, then we'll go to Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction." Happy decided to first obtain one of the stone plates from Evil King.

  After all, he turned all of Sword Sect into his enemy for this stone plate. If he did not reap the benefits, the loss would outweigh the gains.

  "Yin Weed Faction?" Thousand-faced Human Fox gave him a surprised gaze.

  "Master, are you searching for the strongest of the evil cult, Evil King?"

  Happy nodded and asked, "Have you gone there before?"

  "I didn't just visit the righteous sects in the world of martial artists. I've also gone to the eight sects of the evil cult before. But the Bewitching Notes in Yin Weed Note are very difficult to deal with. I've never gone inside before. The evil cults are much more alert than those of the righteous sects. They have a lot of spies, and they have a lot of traps in the places important to them. It's difficult to invade their sects. I don't have a lot of knowledge regarding the evil cult."

  Happy nodded in understanding.

  Sky Demon Sect was already filled with traps, to the point that there were traps in every step he took. If he took a misstep, he would end up at death's door. Plenty of martial artists had died there. In comparison, the righteous sects were always open to visitors, and their security was definitely like night and day compared to the security measures from those in the evil cult.

  "Let's go to Yin Weed Faction."

  *****

  When they nearly reached Yin Weed Faction's sect, Wan Wan intercepted them ahead of time.

  "I see, it's you, Miss Wan Wan."

  As Happy sized up the barefooted teenager who was as alluring as Eve, he spoke calmly, "The evil cult does indeed have marvellous abilities. I've just reached your territory, and you discovered me. Did your mistress ask you to receive me?"

  Wan Wan always stared at the strong with an incredibly resentful gaze. It was tempting and alluring, and by the looks of it, her skills had improved once more. Thousand-faced Human Fox widened his eyes by the side, and he looked as if he was completely taken by her.

  "Sect Master Happy, is that your friend?"

  Wan Wan did not answer Happy's question immediately. Instead, she took her time in observing Thousand-faced Human Fox, who was currently disguised as a normal and young martial artist. He followed Happy, and even though he was a follower, Wan Wan did not dare underestimate the people beside Happy.

  No matter what, Thousand-faced Human Fox was a martial artist at the later stage of Myth Realm and could open his own sect. Aside from being a little sleazy, he also had the presence of an elite, albeit it was faint on him.

  "He is my follower. If you have something to say, you can go on ahead and say it."

  "Sect Master Happy, you are indeed the most outstanding of the young heroes. Even your follower is an unfathomable elite. I found that I'm beginning to admire you even more now."

  "Do you want to be my follower as well?"

  "I am weak. Even if I want to, you will definitely not take a fancy of my abilities, so I shall not have such wild hopes…" Wan Wan had teased Xu Zhiling in the past because he was not very strong, but she admired him in terms of his temperament, but when she did not dare to act recklessly when it came to Happy, because he could face her mistress head on and was even a powerful martial artist Evil King regarded highly. She could hold her ground when it came to Happy!

  She quickly diverted the topic.

  "My mistress and Evil King know that you're outside the sect, and they had me come to deliver their message. Also, they wanted me to give you something."

  As she spoke, Wan Wan brought out a stone plate as white as jade. It appeared on her palm like magic.

  At the moment the white stone plate appeared, Happy's attention was instantly fixed on it. Even Thousand-faced Human Fox, who was staring at Wan Wan with an indecent gaze by the side, had his eyes focus on the stone. Then, he completely forgot about the beauty. Shock filled his face, and he mumbled, "This is... a Caturapramāṇāḥ Stone…"

  "Young Master Happy, your follower is indeed extraordinary. Evil King only managed to recognize this after researching it for a long time, and your follower managed to identify it with just one sentence. Might I know your name so that I might admire you?"

  "What is the message your mistress wanted me to receive?"

  Happy's gaze remained on the stone plate, but his tone was incredibly indifferent.

  "These are my mistress and Evil King's words. Evil King said that you are the strongest in the evil cult, because you honored your promise in killing Sword Sect's master and obtaining his head. Naturally, he will not break his promise. He had me bring the stone plate to you as part of his promise."

  As she spoke, she flicked her wrist gently, and the stone plate shot towards Happy.

  Thud.

  Happy's expression did not change. He easily caught the stone plate.

  The system notification rang clearly in his mind.

  "Ding!

  "Completed quest. You obtained your quest reward as Evil King kept his promise. It is one of the four stone plates of the divine monk…"

  While Thousand-faced Human Fox stared at the stone plate with great longing, Happy cast it a faint glance and put the stone plate into his bag. He cast his gaze on Wan Wan once more.

  "Miss Wan Wan, did Evil King send you out to deliver the item because he is not willing to see me and wants me to leave after taking it?"

  If those words came from someone else's mouth, Thousand-faced Human Fox and Wan Wan would definitely laugh until they fell on their knees. But when it came from Happy's mouth, he made it sound as if that was the case.

  Wan Wan turned her body slightly to the side.

  "Sect Master Happy, you speak too strongly. My mistress has gained some epiphanies after she returned from Song House, and when you came, she is coincidentally in isolated training. Evil King is serving as her Dharma protector and cannot leave, which is why he cannot receive. That's also why he had me come and meet you so that he would not be a poor host. He also said that when you drop by next time, he will definitely welcome you with open arms." Her final sentence was her tactfully sending Happy off.

  When Happy heard this, he frowned a little, and warning bells rang in his heart.

  Zhu Yuyan was in isolated training, and Evil King was serving as her Dharma Protector.

  By the looks of it, Yin Weed Faction was about to have a martial artist at the dao of heaven guarding it. Next time, if he wanted to come to Yin Weed Faction to train, he would have to think about it carefully.

  He could fight on par against one martial artist at the dao of heaven, but no force of power in the world of wanderers could fight on par with two elites at the dao of heaven.

  Happy immediately got rid of his idea of staying in the place. He said loudly, "If that's the case, please deliver my message as well. I hope that Empress Yin will be able to achieve a breakthrough soon. Goodbye."

  "I will definitely deliver your words, Young Master Happy."

  Wan Wan gave him light curtsy.

  Happy did not linger in the face. He led Thousand-faced Human Fox away.

  When they were several miles away from Yin Weed Faction's nest, Happy suddenly turned around and stared at Thousand-faced Human Fox.

  "Ten Thousand Years."

  "Your orders, master?"

  "You've wandered in the lands for a long time, you should know what sort of method those from the evil cult use to find us." Happy was still bothered by how he was discovered ahead of time.

  Even though Wan Wan's arrival could not form a threat to him, Happy was still worried that Hu Baiwan would use the same method to intercept him when he went to West Region to search for the ruins of Dragon Gate Inn.

  The ric.h.e.s.t man in the world was incredibly mysterious, and
he never had a lot of talented people by his side. Since he dared to set up the Chinese world of martial artists, it meant that the foundation of his strength might be as great as the evil cult.

  Thousand-faced Human Fox thought about this for a few seconds before he answered, "The evil cult has a lot of methods. Normal people will find it difficult to discover their sentries and hidden sentries. I don't know how I should start talking about this to you either. But usually, when I run into this sort of situation, I will use some disguises and medicine that will erase my scent to vanish."

  Chapter 1148 - West Region, Dragon Gate Inn

  Dragon Gate Inn was quite famous in the plains, because it was coincidentally located at the borders of the country. It was connected to the trading route linking all of the feudal territories in the Chinese plains, and it is a place that local and foreign merchants as well as wanderers had to pass. It was also a very famous place to receive quests.

  Here, the players passing by could get some quests from the coquettish and bold female owner of the inn, Jin Xiangyu.

  The players in the evil cult could obtain quests telling them to collect materials. They were to kill wanderers passing by the area and sell their corpses to the female owner so that she could turn them into human meat buns.

  The players in the righteous sects could obtain quests from Cao Huaian, who came to stay at the inn. They could work to fight against the Embroidered Uniform Guards and even attack the special agent organizations at the borders.

  But since yesterday, a new Dragon Gate Inn popped up beside Dragon Gate Inn. The ruins of an inn which had been buried under the sand of the desert showed up in just one night, and the words on its plate could be seen clearly. It showed up out of the blue one-third of a mile away from Dragon Gate Inn. Then, the customers who came from within and outside the country increased by leaps and bounds. All of them fought against each other to observe this strange ruin which had showed up in the sandstorm.

  Since yesterday, the information that popped up the most from the merchants who dropped by was the legend behind this new Dragon Gate Inn, along with the legend of a palace in the desert whose existence was practically a miracle.

  Silver Wolf brought Knife, Bar, and Thunder and passed by the new Dragon Gate Inn while they braced the rampant sandstorm.

  Bar went inside the ruins before he quickly returned to the party. There was uncertainty and shock on his face.

  Silver Wolf saw this, and the puzzlement in his heart increased.

  "What did you manage to find?"

  "There's nothing special about it." Bar frowned and answered, "The people inside are all talking about the palace in the desert, and they speak as if it really exists. Also, aside from trap masters, there are also a few rather famous players from the Chinese plains inside. All of them seem to be searching for something in groups, and they're not saying anything. Big Brother Silver Wolf, I think there's a complicated reason behind the sudden appearance of Dragon Gate Inn's ruins, or else, why would it have appeared so coincidentally? It showed up right when the sandstorms in the desert are about to start raging, and it lured over so many curious barbaric merchants."

  "Barbaric merchants?" Silver Wolf was stunned.

  Bar nodded and quickly explained, "Most of the people surrounding Dragon Gate Inn are barbaric merchants…"

  "What's the percentage of NPCs?" A thought popped up in Silver Wolf's mind, and his tone changed. It turned slightly graver.

  Bar quirked an eyebrow in the direction of Dragon Gate Inn's ruins and answered, "NPC? I didn't see them. But by the looks of it, there should be a lot of them…"

  Right after he finished speaking, Knife spoke up by the side, "Big Brother Silver Wolf, Dragon Gate Inn's legend might be true. There might really be treasures that could allow a person to fight against an entire country in there!"

  "That's right! This time, the sect master sent a message to us, telling us to fight against the imperial court's army, but something like this appeared. What should we do?" Thunder was a little tempted.

  Silver Wolf cast the trio a glance, and he knew exactly what they were thinking about.

  They had joined the game for a long period of time. Even though they were offered a lot of quests in the past, most of the time, due to time constraints or the problems brought about by the location of the quest, they could not join the quests in time. It was either this, or they were not strong enough. Right now, after training hard for four days, the levels of their martial arts had increased exponentially. Their skills had also improved. Right now, since they had come ahead of time, they managed to run into this quest at Dragon Gate Inn, and there was a chance that they could obtain the treasures in there.

  They did not want to miss it.

  "The ruins will not run away. Besides, the sect master told us to gather at Dragon Gate Inn. It's not too far away from here. Let's complete the task the sect master told us to do first, and we'll also pay attention to the palace in the desert. We'll see if we're lucky enough to participate in it." When he said this, Silver Wolf stopped talking for a while, and subconsciously, he said something strange, "But I find it strange. When the sect master told us to come over, Dragon Gate Inn's ruins appeared. Isn't it too much of a coincidence?"

  Knife, Bar, and Thunder looked at each other, but they did not say anything in response.

  "Since that's the case, we should hurry…"

  "The original Dragon Gate Inn is right in front of us!"

  "Let's go!"

  The party of four pulled down the veil over their bamboo hats. They clamped their t.h.i.g.hs around their horses, and their horses instantly started charging forward to head to the banner flying on a pole in the distance.

  At Dragon Gate Inn…

  "Whoa!"

  Silver Wolf and his group mingled in the crowd moving about the area. They arrived outside Dragon Gate Inn, and soon, they noticed that the atmosphere here was strange. They tugged at the reins to stop their horses.

  Jin Xiangyu, the coquettish and bold owner of Dragon Gate Inn, might be dressed in a normal dress, but it could not hide her charms during her youthful years. With great hospitality, she stood at a spot not far away from the entrance and sent away an elegant swordsman who stood tall. She looked as if she was reluctant to see him go, and she leaned against him while she handed the reins of his horse into his hands.

  "Huaian…"

  "...Thank you, owner."

  Cao Huaian's expression was calm. There was a certain wildness in his features. He cast the people behind him a glance and said, "I'll be back soon. Keep a close watch over my things."

  Standing behind Cao Huaian was a handsome and pale swordsman. He was incredibly displeased with Jin Xiangyu's hospitality, and he had his face turned to the side. His disdain and impatience was incredibly clear.

  When he heard Cao Huaian's instructions, the handsome and pale swordsman turned his head around.

  "Don't worry."

  Cao Huaian cast him a profound look before he jumped on his horse.

  "Giddy-up!"

  He struck his horse, and they left into the distance.

  The handsome and pale swordsman stared at Cao Huaian leaving into the distance before he looked away. His gaze landed briefly on Jin Xiangyu, and he snorted coldly before he walked into the inn.

  Jin Xiangyu did not enter immediately. Instead, her eyes landed on the wanderers who walked over to the inn. She sashayed over in the manner of a great host.

  "My dear customers, are you staying for the night, or are you just staying for a short while?

  "Ah… that brat… Where are you lazing off now, boy?! Come out and serve the customers!

  "Hmm? I'm not talking about you. Come quickly. Please go inside. You can just lead your horses into the stable. We've prepared top-grade food for them."

  Jin Xiangyu led the group of people into Dragon Gate Inn in a friendly manner.

  They were made up of three groups of people. One of them was Silver Wolf's party, a group of w
anderers dressed in black and were armed with sabers, and a group of barbaric merchants.

  Silver Wolf and his party acted naturally. They lingered at the back of the group.

  But Silver Wolf noticed that the group of black-clad wanderers armed with sabers had a larger group, and their gazes were all sharp. They protected an elderly and a youngster while they looked around warily. While they walked, they seemingly deliberately made sure that the people who tried to get close to them stayed a certain distance away from them.

  The other group of people in the crowd that entered the inn was shoved to the side by the black-clad group.

  When they saw this, Silver Wolf, Bar, Knife, and Thunder exchanged gazes, because they found this interesting. They did not say anything about it, and once they entered, they chose a rather remote corner and sat down.

  There were quite a lot of people in the inn.

  When they walked into the inn, the black-clad wanderers armed with sabers remained as wary as ever. They looked at the few empty tables scattered everywhere and searched for the female owner to ask her to let them join the tables together.

  "It's very troublesome if you want to join tables."

  Once she entered her territory, Jin Xiangyu was no longer the feminine, dependent lady outside the inn. Her coquettish and cunning personality appeared. She tilted her head to the side, and in a very charming manner, she waved her hand. She used her other hand to twirl her hair, which had not been washed for who knew how long.

  "This is the fee for your service."

  A handful of silver worth one hundred taels was given to her, and it caused Jin Xiangyu to be satisfied and delighted. She calmly put the silver away. She winked at them in a coquettish manner and sashayed away in an extremely alluring manner. "Well, since you're so polite… We're short staffed here. If you want to join tables, you'll have to do it yourself. You can't let a lady do such hard work, can you?"