Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

To Happy, visiting the Shaolin Temple in Mount Song was undoubtedly going back to a place where he had once stayed!

He had spent most of the three years in his past life in this place. It also the monster spawn point he frequented the most. He had many martial arts from Shaolin Temple that reached Grandmaster Realm, and he was so familiar with the trees, mountain creeks, passes, and even some of the monsters’ spawn points that he knew them like the back of his hand.

It was precisely because he was used to his surroundings that Happy chose a small pass that few people knew about and would approach. He entered the quiet forest and passed through it like a curl of black smoke. Soon, he arrived at Mount Song.

He avoided the spots with many players and jumped up through the trees with agility, as if he were flying. The temperature around him dropped swiftly, and it made Happy feel a little cold, because he was dressed lightly.

He would occasionally cast a glance at the map in his hands…

A light crease appeared between his eyebrows. A small red dot constantly trailed behind him. It was not fast, but neither was it slow. Happy could not shake it off. If he had not known that the person was a famous loner and regarded the idea of getting into complicated relationships with others in scorn, Happy would have killed him and tossed him aside a long time ago.

Happy left the direction leading to Mount Song and headed to the mountain ranges around it.

Waterfalls roared, and water splashed on rocks, flying into the air.

The various beautiful sights were like drifting clouds that passed Happy.

Soon, he arrived at the tallest mountain range. His field of vision broadened, and the beautiful and lofty sight of mountains during sunset brought with it a solemn and old feeling.

Happy’s footsteps slowed down. He was at the border of Mount Song. The area was filled with fierce animals such as white tigers and rhinoceroses. Normal players would find them very difficult to deal with, and they would usually not approach the place.

The brocade boxes would only be shown on the map if the person with it was three-tenths of a mile away from its holder. By then, there was only one and a half days until the emperor’s birthday. There was naturally no need to talk about the safety provided by this place if he stayed in it.

Even if he was unfortunately discovered by someone, Happy would still be able to free himself from trouble.

Of course, the most important matter right then was to deal with the problem behind him.

“It’s almost nightfall now, aren’t you going to come out and talk?”

He had his qi circulate in his Dantian region, and with its help, his voice traveled into the dark forest behind him.

Soon, boisterous laughter reached his ears.

“Hahahaha… Mount Song is indeed one of the great mountains of China[1], the scenery is indeed extraordinary. But I’ll have to thank you for leading the way, or else a wandering physician like me wouldn’t have been able to find such a beautiful sight!”

As he spoke, the unkempt middle-aged man walked out of the forest with a giggle, but he did not dare to get too close to Happy. He stopped when he was thirty-two feet away from him. He placed his fist in his palm while looking like he was there just to admire the scenery of Mount Song.

Naturally, Happy knew that he was still wary of him. He chuckled in his heart, but he did not expose him.

“You’re a doctor?”

Happy stared at the unkempt man from where he stood, scrutinizing the man’s face.

“That’s right.” The latter did not stop smiling. He made a seizing motion with his right hand, and as if he just performed a magic trick, a white flag that wandering physicians usually held while they traveled about appeared in his hand. There were indeed six words written on it.

SAVE THE WORLD, LOVE THE PEOPLE!

As he stared at the extremely eye-catching words, Happy felt his lips twitch.

When he saw Happy’s contemptuous reaction, the unkempt man was slightly surprised. He coughed to cover up his awkwardness, and at the same time, he put away his sign. He smiled and said, “Honestly, we’re quite similar. I made my sign spontaneously. But, bro, your getup is pretty good too. You look very mysterious and… should I say, leave a very deep impression on others?”

Happy was rendered speechless. He lowered his head to look at his attire, and only then did he realize that he was still dressed as the masked man in black. His getup and his act of getting rid of the Mystical Realm bandit leader earlier might have left a deep impression in the eyes of the unkempt man, which was why he was so wary of him.

Happy casually pulled off the veil that covered his face, which made the unkempt man cry out in surprise.

“It’s you!”

The handsome and young face made the unkempt man’s expression freeze. His jaw fell slack in shock, and he stayed like that for quite some time.

Even though he had suspected it, when he saw that the blue-robed young man in the pavilion was indeed the mysterious masked man in black who killed a Mystical Realm NPC, he could not help but be shocked.

Happy’s expression was very calm. “Let me introduce myself, I’m Murong Clan’s disciple, and my name is Happy.”

“Urk.” When the unkempt man heard Happy introduce himself, he quickly realized some things from his actions. A pleased look appeared on his face.

“How straightforward! Brother, since you decided to be honest with me, then if I continue to conceal myself, I’ll look really petty! This humble man is a successor of Marvelous-handed Sect, and my name is All-powerful Medicinal Stone! Of course, I don’t practice medicine to heal the world for a living.”

The unkempt man chuckled. “The sign I showed just now is a cover, and I don’t think I managed to fool you. I can cure some injuries from falls with my medicinal skills, but it’d be difficult for me if you asked me to reconnect bones or cure broken limbs. But my thievery skills are pretty good.”

While he spoke, he shook the brocade box in his hands.

“All-powerful Medicinal Stone…” Happy repeated the name a few times, as if this was the first time he heard it.

“If you look at it another way, you can say that I’m a master key who can solve all problems[2],” the unkempt man explained slyly.

Happy nodded when he came to a realization.

“Interesting.”

“You’re even more remarkable. You’re the champion of the offline martial arts tournament. After meeting you today, you truly live up to your name.”

The unkempt man actually managed to link Happy’s name to the champion of the offline martial arts tournament that only a few people knew. Happy was momentarily taken aback before he put on a resigned expression.

“I was lucky.”

“Really?” All-powerful Medicinal Stone chuckled. “Were you lucky as well when you killed that Mystical Realm NPC?”

“Yes.”

“Urk… I say, you’re way too boring. By the way, you said that you’re a disciple from the Murong Clan, but you seem to be very familiar with Mount Song. You didn’t run into a single person on your way here…”

All-powerful Medicinal Stone looked around curiously before he said, “Even if you’ve come to Shaolin Temple before in reality, there’s no way you can understand the distribution of the monsters in this place so clearly, right?”

“Figure it out yourself.”

Happy did not have the energy to explain it. He did not believe that All-powerful Medicinal Stone would be able to guess that he had three years of experience in the game after he went back to the past.

His gaze instead moved to the brocade box in the man’s bosom, and he smiled and said, “If we have two brocade boxes near each other, the enemies we attract will multiply by several fold. Brother Medicine, look, this place is big. You can go on and find a place to wait by yourself. Forest Union will come only once every six hours. You should be able to handle them.” The underlying intention of Happy trying to chase him away was very clear.

“Heh heh.” All-powerful Medicinal Stone cast a glance at the brocade box in his hand and said with a smile, “It doesn’t matter to me whether or not I can get the items inside. Right now, I’m even more curious about how you managed to kill the Mystical Realm NPC. How about we make a deal? I’ll give you this brocade box in exchange for your information. How does that sound?”

It was not a good thing to have the unkempt man’s eyes fixed on him while shining with an extreme desire to know the truth. Happy’s skin crawled from the way the unkempt man stared at him. He felt as if he had ran into a strange and perverted middle-aged man, and, just like a rascal, that person even used a very big lollipop to try and tempt him.

“That sounds horrible,” Happy said decisively.

All-powerful Medicinal Stone did not show a single hint of surprise for Happy’s answer. Instead, his determination to figure out the secret became even stronger. The spark of curiosity and desire to learn the truth grew brighter in his small, sleazy eyes!

Translator’s Note:

[1] Five great mountains of China: The other four being Mount Tai, Mount Hua, Mount Heng, and Mount Heng.

[2] The joke is more obvious in Chinese. Medicinal stone and key share the same pronunciation (yao shi). The key here means that he can open all the doors he wants and steal whatever he wants. I put “master key that can solve all problems” instead because I wanted to try and tie it to the original and his name. Master key that can solve all problems would then mean he is an all-powerful key that has no problems with getting anywhere because he can open all doors.