Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

When Happy logged out of the game, he seized the time to go to the cafeteria to offer a sacrifice for the most important temple in his world—his body.

The topic that students from different courses talked about the most often on the main road to the university and the cafeteria was still World of Martial Arts. They spoke about who got what item on that day, who earned how much money, or what sort of quest they got. They were very invested in it, but the most commonly discussed topic was still the tributes that brought about great unrest in the game.

“Tsk tsk, did you hear? Something major happened in Shaolin Temple today.”

A few people who were not too far away from Happy ate their food while speaking to each other with great interest.

“Yeah, I heard. It’s about the chaotic battle that erupted because of the few tributes the thirteen staff-using monks protected. Tsk tsk, I heard that not only did a large number of Shaolin Disciples get involved later on, the large sects from Dengfeng County and Zhengzhou even mobilized their forces because they wanted to snatch the tribute box from the thirteen staff-using monks.

Happy said nothing, but his hands shoving the food into his mouth stopped, and he frowned a little. While acting calm, he turned his head slightly to the side to listen, and the people’s conversation entered his ears more clearly.

“When I came down, I heard that all of Shaolin Temple was sent into complete chaos, but the NPCs completely ignored it. Who knows how long this battle will last.”

Boy A had a longing look on his face. “This is the first time I’ve seen Mount Song bustling with so much activity. Tsk tsk, no matter where I go, there will be people around. They’re constantly shoving and killing one another. Even if you rush to the forefront, you don’t know to whom the brocade box actually belongs, so no one can who will have it in the end…”

“Nonsense, it’ll naturally belong to the group who will last till the end,” Boy B commented simply.

“That’s not necessarily the case!” Boy C refuted while shaking his head. “I heard that a few groups have already gathered at the foot of Shaoshi Mountain. All of them came from the large sects in the big cities nearby. Their brocade boxes have all been confiscated by the NPCs, so they’ve made up their minds to take Shaolin Temple’s tribute…”

The more Happy heard, the more his heart trembled.

He did not expect that the box that should have ended up in Black Heron’s hands and should have been brought far away would have a different progression because of Happy joining the event.

Based on what he heard, it seemed that not only did the third brocade box not land in Black Heron’s hands, it had even brought about an unprecedented disaster to Shaolin Temple!

“Hiss…” When he thought of this, Happy instantly lost his desire to finish the last bites of food in his bowl. He put down his cutlery to where they should belong and quickly returned to his dorm.

Only Bai Lang of the Three Lonely Wolves was in the dorm. He sat in front of his computer and stared at its screen seriously. He did not even notice when Happy stopped behind him.

“This adult artistic film is a bit behind the times…”

While he was engrossed with studying some of the more complicated positions in the film, he suddenly heard something behind him. Bai Lang nudged his glasses up and snorted derisively before he refuted his statement. “If you don’t understand anything, don’t say anything. This is the newest issue this month—”

“You’re not managing the website anymore?”

“Who said I’m not? Don’t you see that I’m searching for inspiration? I’m doing both at once!”

While Bai Lang defended himself in a very confident and upright manner, he invited Happy to get corrupted together.

“Go away.”

Happy rolled his eyes. He ignored Bai Lang, snatched his mouse, and closed the muted film. He then opened a website and said, “Did you hear about Shaolin Temple?”

“Oh.” As expected of the maintainer of South China Martial Arts Ranking Board, right after Happy mentioned the issue, Bai Lang understood what he meant. His expression became serious, and he nodded.

“I know. The thirteen staff-using Shaolin Monks are the most pitiful bunch. They were first killed by Black Heron with his team, then after they snatched one of the boxes back after they revived, someone spread the news, and they were chased by a dozen sects. Half of their people died, and they lost their tribute again.”

“What happened next?” When Happy heard that, he knew that the situation was bad.

“What do you mean what happened next? Things haven’t ended yet. They’re still fighting.” Bai Lang habitually nudged his glasses up while speaking in a calm tone. “Before, only groups with a lot of tributes would stir up such a large-scale battle, but now, most of the tributes have been confiscated by the system. Their numbers have been drastically reduced.

“There are fewer than one hundred tribute boxes among the players. You can guess just how valuable they’ve become now, right? So all the big sects in Zhengzhou have gone mad! They’ve mobilized all their forces for this item, and they’re prepared to fight to the death for it.”

He paused for a moment before he told Happy, “Fortunately, we listened to your warning in the beginning and did not get involved in this matter. We just focused on training, and right now, all of us are in Blessed Realm. By the way, Chen Fan and Young Seven are making preparations to build a sect, and they intend to bring all the students in the University of South China into it. Over the past few days, they’ve asked the opinions from quite a number of people from the Power Ranking Board. What do you think those people said?”

Happy was busy worrying about the large-scale chaos that erupted in Shaolin Temple, so when he heard Bai Lang change the topic, he could not help but be stunned. “Build a sect?”

An unexpected change had happened again.

In his previous life, the Three Lonely Wolves had not built up such great prestige for themselves. Besides, they had never had any thoughts about building a sect. Hence, only two slightly larger sects ever appeared in the University of South China. But he did not remember that a sect was ever built at this period of time in his past life.

And the people who brought up the matter first were even the Three Lonely Wolves…

“What’s with that face? You don’t seem to be very excited by the idea of us building a sect.” Bai Lang cast Happy a glance with a strange look on his face. He felt a little resigned.

“Oh, well, judging by your look, you wouldn’t be able to guess it either. Tea Words, Phoenix Dances, and even Rascal as well as Puffy have said that as long as you entered, all of them would join. We’ve thought about it. Once you join, you can continue to retain that sense of mysteriousness around you. So…”

When he said that, Bai Lang paused. However, his intentions were clearly reflected in his eyes behind his glasses. He wanted to fulfill his duties and make an announcement. As long as Happy said that he would join the sect, not only would all the powerful players at the top of South China Martial Arts Ranking Board’s Power Ranking Board join, perhaps all the students in the University of South China would join out of their admiration for Happy, and they would form an organization with considerable strength.

“Do you intend to manage the website while managing the sect at the same time?” Happy did not give his answer immediately. Instead, he posed a question for Bai Lang with a frown on his face.

Bai Lang seemed to have been prepared for that question a long time ago. When he heard it, he smiled.

“I knew you’d ask that. Xu Xin asked us about this as well. We thought about it, and we know that the three of us will definitely not be able to handle it. Tea Words doesn’t know how to manage a sect as well. So, the sect master will be Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes. On one hand, she would attract all the female players in our university to join the sect, and on the other hand, a female sect master can also increase the unity of a sect. You know that there are some people in our university who are at odds with each other, right? Phoenix Dances’ power to rally people together is much greater than ours.”

Happy was rendered speechless. He only barely managed to quell the discomfort he felt.

If Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes became the sect master, then the matter would not be as complicated as he thought. The events from his past life had just taken a turn, and the two sects were merged into one. He could still accept this.

“What’s up with you? Why did your expression become like that when I said Phoenix Dances is going to be the sect master? Are you actually interested in that girl?” Bai Lang asked in a very nosy manner. “You can’t be this way, you know? You can’t just switch your sights to someone else when Young Xin Xin is now interested in you.”

“What the heck are you even saying? There’s nothing of that sort. Phoenix Dances is much better than all of you as a sect master. I can join. You handle the announcement. I’ll go play the game now.”

After he finished speaking, he pounced on his bed impatiently.

By then, Shaoshi Mountain was overcrowded. If some careless idiots ran too far away and discovered that there were two red dots near their area, things were going to get really “fun.”

After all, even if they logged off, the marks of their tributes would still remain on the maps.