Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

There was an ancient saying in China: Picked up the sesame seeds, but overlooked the watermelons.

The message behind it was to not be obsessed with the trivial matters before one’s eyes. Everyone needed to widen their horizons and observe the entire situation, or else, they would lose much more valuable things.

To Happy, the Refined Steel Sword and money on Li Shan were the sesame seeds, while Li Shan himself was the watermelon!

In his previous life, many new players learned of this strategy later on and killed the local rascals for their Refined Steel Swords, manuals, and hundreds of taels of silver crumbs once they tormented the local rascals until they had no more strength left. After their deaths, the players could pick up their rewards.

But later, when they found more local rascals, the rascals would start avoiding them, or they would refuse to show their dastardly nature even on pain of death. They would act just like any other normal NPC, giving the players no chance or reason to attack.

In his fight against Li Shan, Happy whittled down Li Shan’s strength and stamina until the rascal was completely spent. If he then went over and delivered a fatal blow using his now ninth realm Shaolin’s Long Fist, he could easily kill Li Shan and receive the hundreds of taels of silver crumbs and Refined Steel Sword from him.

But Happy did not do so.

He pretended that he was spent and rested on the spot for some time while gasping for breath. He then shot a glance at Li Shan, who had also recovered some strength and was now glaring at him fiercely, and turned tail. He quickly left Li Shan’s sight and returned to the city.

As long as Li Shan did not die, all the local rascals in World of Martial Arts would not receive the news about Happy’s strength, and they would not be afraid of him. Perhaps the next time they met, Li Shan would still say that he would cripple Happy and rush at him while flinging all caution to the wind.

This was what Happy wanted!

When he returned to the city, he checked his status.

Player: Happy.

ASS: 27, AFF: 18, CPH: 26, BMM: 21.

Shaolin’s Long Fist placed an emphasis on strength, so his Arm Strength had increased by three points. Happy was not surprised by that. His Body Movement had increased a little as well, which was the result of his recent fight against the wild wolves, but it was only a minor upgrade.

The important part was that his Comprehension had increased!

His Shaolin’s Long Fist had entered the ninth realm, and it could now produce a faint thunderous boom. This meant that the last couple days of hard work had not been a waste. He finally had a martial art that he could bring to the table.

Happy let out a relaxed breath and smiled a little.

If he put in the level of his Shaolin’s Long Fist into the South China Martial Arts Ranking Board, he should be able to get into the top thirty or twenty, right?

But that was not important.

It would become increasingly difficult to increase his realm starting from the ninth realm. The process of leveling his martial art from Level 80 to Level 90, which was the tenth realm, was very difficult, and he would progress at a snail’s pace. He would no longer be able to rely on small tricks to swiftly reach a breakthrough, and if he wanted to reach the eleventh realm and achieve completion by reaching Level 99.99 from Level 90, he would have to devote all his attention to investigate and repeatedly practice the art to reach Grandmaster Realm.

For the time being, he did not have a suitable sparring partner to do that…

Even if he did have one, since his qi was weak, he would have an incredibly high chance of dying if he engaged them. Hence, Happy decided to first set aside Shaolin’s Long Fist and dig into another skill.

When he returned to Murong Mansion, he went to the front yard to look for the butler!

The young men and women he had seen multiple times over the past few days were still at their tasks at the front yard. They either cut wood, watered the plants, or practiced the simple qi cultivation techniques the butler had given to them. They did not interfere with each other.

When he noticed Happy coming over, the butler put on an amiable face and turned toward him.

“Ah, Happy, it’s you. The lady has already told me about you. Since you are now Murong Clan’s inner sect disciple, are you willing to contribute to the Murong Clan’s quest to rule the land?” When he reached the later part of his speech, his expression turned stern.

The people who were working in the front yard had expressions that said they could not believe what they just heard.

They had been working for all that time, and they were just temporarily part of Murong Clan. They only did normal errands and had yet to pass Murong Clan’s test to become a real disciple.

Yet the new boy who often went in and out of the inner court had become a disciple and began to receive clan quests from the Murong Clan. Everyone was instantly envious and jealous, and they quickly turned to look at him.

Happy acted as if the gazes around him did not exist. He wrapped his fist in his palm and answered, “Do you have anything that you need me to do?”

“Yes.” The butler nodded in satisfaction. “This is what happened. Recently, a piece of news has been circulating in Gusu City. It is said that a group of tomb robbers has fled here, and a number of royal tombs have been opened. All the burial goods in the tombs were taken.

“The law enforcers from Six Doors might have deployed a number of people, but they only protect the tombs belonging to the royal family and the government officials. For the last few days, I have been worried. If anything happens to Murong Clan’s tombs, as Murong Clan’s butler, I will have difficulty absolving myself from the blame!”

He paused for a moment before giving Happy a deep look. “So I have decided to send you to investigate this matter. Once night falls, you will guard the tomb. If you notice any tomb robbers, fire this signal. I will rush over with our men.”

“Yes!”

The moment he said that, Happy heard a notification from the system.

“Received ‘Pursue Tomb Robbers’ quest. Level: Unknown. Reward: Unknown.”

‘An unknown quest?’

This meant that the quest could be very simple, but the difficulty could also increase based on how things progressed. It was a quest with variables.

Usually, this sort of quest was difficult to complete!

When Happy heard the system notification, he did not say anything. He gingerly received the signal flare from the butler and tucked it away. Then, without asking any questions, he bade farewell to the butler. The day was beginning to darken and the cemetery was beyond the city, so he was on a very tight schedule.

Once Happy left, the group of people in the front yard broke the silence.

“How did he manage to become Murong Clan’s disciple so fast?”

“That’s right, I even arrived a few days ahead of him.”

“Damn it…”

“It’s so unfair!”

Some of those who had worked longer felt that things were unfair.

“Unfair? Who knows? Didn’t the official website mention that many things in World of Martial Arts rely on chance? I think he’s just luckier than we are… Aren’t we the same? Compared to the people outside, we are also lucky to be able to get into Gusu City’s Murong Clan. You can’t say that you won’t allow someone else to be luckier than us, right?” said a teenager who hadn’t grumbled once since the beginning. He had a smile.

From the moment Happy appeared until the moment he left, this teenager had kept watering the plants quietly. The only change about him was that the persistence and resolution in his eyes had become even stronger!

“What use is there to luck?!” the player who was the first to speak tutted with abnormal seriousness. “Once I become Murong Clan’s disciple, he will be the first person I’ll surpass! Opportunities? Chances? It’s nothing! Let’s see how long he can continue being so conceited!”

The others did not say anything, but they did not grumble either. Their eyes shone, and they trained even harder.

…

Murong Clan tombs were different from normal tombs.

Each member of the Murong Clan, regardless of whether they were men or women, were all famous martial artists. When they were alive, they were outstanding people, and when they died… they were still heroes among ghosts! Hence, even their tombs were connected to the graves of their swords!

Huge swords stood tall at their tombstones! Each saber was buried deep underground, and all handles were bound together by a steel chain the thickness of a thumb. With the exquisite and grand square stone tombs, the cemetery instantly turned into a battlefield whose sword aura surged into the sky!

However, a few sneaky figures ruined this awe-inspiring and solemn atmosphere under the moonlight!