Sword Among Us

When he returned to the world three years later, it had an atmosphere that was completely different from the joyous and high-spirited air in the other world. Right after Happy entered the game, he sensed the grave atmosphere from Wandering Know-it-all’s mansion growing and spreading outside.

In the past, every player would be incredibly proud of the fact that they could enter Wandering Know-it-all’s mansion, and they believed it to be a symbol of their status and strength.

But ever since Class One Hall took control over Beijing, even the people of the sects in Beijing did not dare come to him. Many of his divination disciples had also left. His mansion became much quieter and desolate. When he logged in, he saw Wandering Know-it-all sitting in his pavilion alone while he played a piece Happy could not name.

When he saw this scene, Happy could not help but suck in a deep breath in silence. He hesitated for a moment before he still decided to walk into the pavilion.

Perhaps he was snapped out of his stupor because of Happy’s footsteps, or perhaps it was because he had long since noticed Happy approaching him, but at the moment Happy entered the pavilion, Wandering Know-it-all spoke, and he did not stop playing his zither. “All this while, I have always thought that as long as I don’t get involved in all the affairs in the game, no one can snatch away or replace my title as World of Martial Arts’ Wandering Know-it-all. I didn’t think that in the end, I was still unable to hold myself back from breaking my vows and getting involved in the conflicts in the game.”

The zither sounds started rising falteringly, but they are harmonious and rhythmic. When they were coupled with Wandering Know-it-all’s calm and elegant voice, it actually sounded quite aesthetic.

Happy did not speak, he stopped walking and listened to Wandering Know-it-all laying his heart bare.

“But I don’t regret getting involved in the conflict of the world of martial artists this time.” Wandering Know-it-all raised his head slightly. His voice now became more powerful, and he scrutinized Happy’s face with an indifferent gaze. “I can’t do anything about the ending of the war, but I believe that it’s impossible for Class One Hall and Wild Wolves to rule over the Chinese server for too long. But my greatest regret is that Wind Assault Tower will have to disappear from the Chinese server, along with my disciple Wind Chimes.” When he played the zither to this point, an arrhythmical note destroyed the rhythm of the entire piece.

Happy still did not say anything. He just sighed softly in his heart.

After this battle, Class One Hall worked together with Wild Wolves, and they completely secured Class One Hall’s hegemony in the Chinese server. Wind Assault Tower no longer had the power to fight back, and it was only a matter of time before they were completely destroyed, and they would not remain gasping for their breaths for long.

As for Wind Chimes, even though she logged off to escape from this disaster, with the current situation in the game, it was very difficult for her to survive, since she had Nine Yin Blocked Pulses and was treated as the disciple of Class One Hall’s thorn. No matter how good she was, she cannot live long.

“There is no way for us to save Wind Assault Tower anymore, but I can escort Wind Chimes back to your mansion.” While he said this, Happy sat down across Wandering Know-it-all.

His words were filled with confidence, and it caused Wandering Know-it-all’s eyes to light up, but the light soon faded away.

“Even if you manage to escort her back, it’s very difficult for her to step outside anymore, because she has Nine Yin Blocked Pulses. Dream Clouds will take the risk of sending a top-class elite into jail and not letting Wind Chimes easily step out of this door.”

This was the first time Wandering Know-it-all was so pessimistic and resigned in front of Happy.

Regardless of whether it was in this world or in the world three years later, this was the first time Happy saw such negative emotions on Wandering Know-it-all’s face.

Happy scowled and brought out a pot of wine and two wine cups from his Universe Bag. He filled the cups nonchalantly before he picked one up. “What’s the point of being so worried? We’ll see how things go with each step we take. How bad can the situation be, anyway? After some time, the situation might become better.”

He gestured at Wandering Know-it-all to pick up his cup, and he stared at the man resolutely. “Wish me luck!”

Clang!

Their winecups knocked into each other. Happy then drank all of the wine incredibly frankly. Then, under Wandering Know-it-all’s surprised gaze, he rose up and walked out of the mansion.

“Where are you going?” Wandering Know-it-all finally noticed that there was something off about Happy’s tone, and he could not help but get up to chase him out of the pavilion.

Happy did not turn his head around when he answered, “Of course I’ll be returning to Wind Assault Tower’s former headquarters. Once I’m done dealing with Class One Hall, I’ll send you a messenger pigeon to tell Wind Chimes to log in.”

Wandering Know-it-all was shocked. He did not expect that Happy would immediately carry out with his plan after he said he would do it. He did not even intend to make any detailed plan about it. “But that place is currently a no fighting zone. Even if you go over, you can’t do anything about it.”

“That’s my own problem. You just need to contact One Emperor and ask him to be a bodyguard again.”

Happy left Wandering Know-it-all’s mansion without turning back.

Wandering Know-it-all frowned and paced around for a while in the pavilion. In the end, he still chose to write a letter to both One Emperor and Phantasmal Shadow to tell them about Happy’s decision.

He knew that Happy was not a rash person, but if he wanted to ensure Wind Chimes’ safety in a protected zone when she had not logged in until now and even bring her back to the mansion from a region that Class One Hall kept on eye on with great hostility, then he will be unable to avoid slaughter. There was no other way about it.

*****

“Tower master, you just have to let us handle these small matters. You should go and rest.”

“There’s no need for that.”

“Vice Tower Master Wu, please persuade the tower master to rest. If she continues on like this, her body will collapse.”

More than one hundred Wind Assault Tower members watched Phantasmal Shadow work hard in writing replies and sending letters at the center of a restaurant near Wind Assault Tower’s former headquarters. She had never stopped being busy, and all of them found themselves unable to bear with the sight.

Since yesterday, Phantasmal Shadow had sent thousands of letters, and over the day, she had only rested on and off for two hours, and when she rested, she even did it in the game.

In the beginning, she sent letters to the sect masters and vice sect masters. Later on, she sent letters to the famous elites from the Chinese server. She would read through all of their replies before personally replying.

They knew why Phantasmal Shadow was working so hard.

It was for Wind Assault Tower. She was trying her best to protect Wind Assault Tower.

Right now, there was no way she could not work hard. Wind Assault Tower’s former headquarters in Beijing had been destroyed, and the spot for their current headquarters was changing rapidly. However, their branches were being destroyed one after another, and right now, they had fewer than two hundred branches left from their original three hundred or so branches. Each of them were also in precarious situations.

It can be said that Wind Assault Tower was an egg in danger of falling off a cliff while it was being blown by a violent gust of wind. With just one careless move, it could end up being smashed to pieces.

Only Phantasmal Shadow herself noticed that she did not have a lot of time.

To contact and mobilize more forces as much as she could, she spent all her resting time in doing this task. She did not even use her right hand men and her trusted friends. She just made sure that she personally read every single one of the letters.

One Emperor had been sitting in a corner of the restaurant for a long time and just stared at Phantasmal Shadow. He had been staring at her for an equally long time.

As he watched how the restaurant was filled with a large number of messenger pigeons and a dense stack of papers, there were a few times where he wanted to go over and tear all those letters and pigeons apart with just one slash.

But every time he saw Phantasmal Shadow’s eyes light up with hope when she saw a rather lengthy reply, he would suppress that urge.

At that moment…

Flap flap flap!

A messenger pigeon descended from the sky while the sound of its wings fluttering was heard.

One Emperor was now sick of seeing messenger pigeons, but there were only that many people who would send him letters, and they would usually not contact him unless there was something important.

One Emperor quickly held the messenger pigeon.

He opened the letter and cast a glance at it. Then, One Emperor could not help but tighten his grip over the sheathed, black longsword on the table.

His act instantly attracted the attention of many people in the restaurant.

He sucked in a slight breath. Then, One Emperor’s expression returned to normal.

Under all the Wind Assault Tower members’ surprised gazes, One Emperor picked up his sword on the table before he got up quietly and moved.

“I’m going out to take a breath of fresh air.”

When he passed by Phantasmal Shadow, he saw Phantasmal Shadow frown, and suddenly, she accurately grabbed one of the messenger pigeons from a band of pigeons that just arrived.

When she opened the letter and skimmed through it, a voice rose from behind One Emperor.

“Vice Tower Master Wu, bring Wind Assault Squad and go out with One Emperor to take a breath of fresh air.”

When One Emperor heard this as he arrived at the entrance of the restaurant, his feet stopped moving for half a second before he continued moving in resignation.

At that moment, Wu Kuo swiftly understood what they meant. One Emperor’s “going out to take a breath of fresh air” probably meant that he wanted to do something.

“Let’s go!”

With that order, the sound of weapons being grabbed rose nonstop. One-third of the one hundred occupied seats in the restaurant were emptied.

*****

Wind Assault Tower’s aces followed One Emperor out of the restaurant, and they immediately attracted the gazes from Class One Hall members and the other people on the street.

A few messenger pigeons rose to the sky!

“Where are they going?”

“I don’t know!”

“One Emperor is personally leading the group, and they will definitely do something about it. Let’s follow them.”

“Huh?”

“Judging by the direction they’re taking, they seem to be heading to Wind Assault Tower’s former headquarters.”

“Hasn’t that place been reduced to ruins? Why are they going there?”

“I don’t know…”

“Wait. Isn’t there a group of people stationed there? I’ll send a letter to the hall master.”

Beijing had been slowly regaining its peace, but at that moment, this small action had caused a minor stir, just like a stone causing some ripples in a lake when it was thrown in it.

*****

Class One Hall’s new headquarters was built on where it originally was.

As the situation in Beijing gradually became stable and the cities around the area were controlled, Dream Clouds and a group of Class One Hall higher ups began to urgently discuss their next plan in the meeting hall of the newly built headquarters.

“Once Wind Assault Tower is destroyed, there will be no force of power that can stand against us in the Chinese server, but I suggest that we take extra care of Wind Assault Tower’s remnants and prevent the event that happened to us one and a half years ago after what happened to Happy appearing again.”

“That’s right.”

“There’s also the resources. Right now, there are more than one hundred sects we have destroyed in the server, and we have plenty of resource points that are now open for grabs. Should we develop another group of occupation-focused players and expand the number of our branches to five hundred?’

Evil Emperor was not quite interested in listening to the discussion among the Class One Hall higher ups. Then, Flame Wolf suddenly leaned close to his ear and whispered something that made his spirits lift.

“He’s online.”

“Where is he?”

“The Prophet said that Happy seems to be heading to the ruins of Wind Assault Tower’s headquarters.”

“Why is he going there?” Evil Emperor frowned slightly.

Right now, there were only two people he would pay attention to in the entire Chinese server. One of them was One Emperor, and the other was Happy. But One Emperor never appeared in front of him ever since Evil Emperor showed up in the Chinese server. He could already guess that perhaps One Emperor had already understood the difference between them based on the battle replay between him and Happy, which was why he did not come forward to challenge him. After all, the Chinese server was currently very weak, and if One Emperor lost, there would be no doubt that the Chinese players’ morale, which was already not very strong, would plummet to the ground.

Flame Wolf shook his head. “I don’t really know right now.”

Before his voice faded away, next to them, Dream Clouds tore apart the letter in her hands and turned her head toward them. “If my guess is correct, he’s going to the ruins of Wind Assault Tower’s headquarters to save someone.”