Sword Among Us

Maple Leaves Fall in World of Martial Arts was a private website that Ji Feng set up on short notice two days ago. The registered accounts quickly grew to one hundred thousand, and it was a website for players in Ji Feng’s sect.

The reason behind why Maple Leaves Fall in World of Martial Arts was created was very simple. Since the sect Ji Feng created and the other three Beijing sects were destroyed within a short two days, the management of the sect decided to set up this website temporarily to keep track of all the members’ records, and Ji Feng as well as a lot of higher ups spent a lot of blood, sweat, and tears creating it. The website was created for the purpose of gathering together all these members who had fought with them for nearly two years after the sect was destroyed and retaining all their contact information.

Of course, it had another purpose right now.

It was used for the ease of Ji Feng’s orders being able to be sent in time to all the members of the sect so that they could break out of Beijing, kill their enemies, gain ground, and find a place so that they could regain their footing.

It had to be said that Ji Feng’s plan was great.

While Dream Clouds used her full strength to be on a lookout against the breakout group from Wind Assault Tower and started gathering a large number of soldiers to lock down the coastal area while also setting up another sect, more than fifty thousand people would break out of the encirclement Dream Clouds set up from another side.

Unfortunately, Dream Clouds had just casually sent some people and crushed Ji Feng’s plan to pieces. In the end, he lost half of his members, and Class One Hall guarded the spot where the other half logged off. When they logged in, they would be trapped in the awkward situation where they would immediately die.

In just one die, two-thirds of the people who were logged into Maple Leaves Fall in World of Martial Arts disappeared.

The forum started cursing up a storm.

Some of the people scolded Ji Feng, because his breakout plan was incredibly reckless.

Some people cursed Class One Hall for not showing any mercy and for their desire of killing their enemies as soon as possible.

Now, among the core group of Maple Leaves Fall in World of Martial Arts, more than twenty people held a video conference in great nervousness.

“Big Brother Ji, we can’t go on like this.”

“That’s right. If we don’t think of a plan to solve our current predicament, in less than three days, we’ll be the only ones left in the forum, and we won’t have any members left under us.”

There were more than twenty people who joined the video conference, and all the faces of the twenty or so people in their respective videos were very stern and solemn. They furrowed their eyebrows tightly.

There was a person’s face in the middle, and the face belonged to a man who was nearing his thirties. He had his head tilted to the side, and as the group urged him to give an answer while they gave him suggestions, he continued rubbing his forehead. After some time, he forced these words out of his throat. “It’s my fault for the breakout this time. I was indeed a little too rash and impatient. I didn’t care about Phantasmal Shadow’s advice and Wandering Know-it-all’s warning, and I ended up causing our members to die and be sent back to Beijing.”

“Big Brother Ji, this is not the time to be criticizing yourself. Our headquarters has already been destroyed, and if we don’t come up with a plan to change our current situation, our members will no longer be united. The longer we drag this out, the lower the possibility of us uniting them once more.”

The former vice sect master was clearly a short-tempered man. He could no longer wait patiently. Hence, he said, “I say that we might as well set a time and log in together to fight against those bastards. We might be able to slaughter our way out—”

Someone immediately spoke up to refute his words. “Stop coming up with stupid ideas. My classmate is from Class One Hall, and he told me that we currently have nearly fifty thousand people waiting for us to log in. It’ll be strange if we can get out with just a little over ten thousand people! Even if some of us manage to escape, we are surrounded by Class One Hall members. How far exactly do you think we can go?”

The former vice sect master instantly flew into a rage. “If you think it’s not possible, then come up with a plan!”

“Aren’t I thinking right now?”

“Enough!”

When he saw that the two had started to argue, Ji Feng finally spoke. He stared at the twenty or so pairs of eyes who stared at him from the screen. His expression was grave and dark, and he spoke slowly, “I’ve thought about this. This time, Dream Clouds has already made up her mind to completely crush us and Wind Assault Tower. Right now, we’ve also lost our chance to gather together with Wind Assault Tower and the people from the other two sects, and it’s basically impossible for us to break out of this place to run to safety. That’s why, I’ve come to a decision…”

When they heard this, the group of people realized from Ji Feng’s grave and dejected tone as well as expression that he might be making an incredibly difficult decision. They said nothing.

“I will dissolve the sect.”

When these five words came out of Ji Feng’s mouth, while the group had been expecting it, they still sucked in sharp breaths, because they were not prepared for it. They sank into a short period of dead silence.

“Are we giving up just like this?”

“Big Brother Ji…”

Ji Feng continued with a grave tone. “I know that all of you are reluctant to give up. Before I made this decision, I thought about many things, and my heart aches just as much as yours. But the situation is forcing us to do this. The Chinese server is completely under Class One Hall’s control, and the five sects in Beijing had never been able to break out with only nearly one hundred thousand people. Now, the numbers have shrunk even further. In the future, as Class One Hall continues suppressing us, it’s impossible for us to improve our situation. Even if we don’t dissolve now, we will crumble sooner or later. Instead of continuing to delay all our members’ training progress, it’s better for us to disband right now. It’s better to suffer for only a short period of time rather than a long period of time, right?”

Ji Feng’s grave and slow talking speed as well as his anguished expression deeply affected everyone. They fell silent.

All twenty or so people’s eyes became dull and dispirited on the screen.

Even the vice sect master who suggested for them to fight against Class One Hall in a life and death struggle fell silent. Ji Feng was right, but this was a reality that they did not want to admit.

In the silence, Ji Feng announced the disbandment of the sect once more, and he told the webmaster to announce this news at an eye-catching spot in the website.

At that moment, someone on the screen suddenly picked up his phone and left the screen.

The group could see the person’s back after he stood up. He seemed to be talking to someone, but no one paid much attention to him.

In less than ten seconds, that person suddenly turned around and sat down in his seat with great enthusiasm. There was crazed delight and excitement on his face. He said to the mic, “Big Brother Ji, stop being busy with dissolving the sec! Something has happened!”

No one said anything, but in his despair, he seized this bit of light bringing him hope.

Ji Feng was not the only one. The other people on the screen also became much more spirited at that moment. They put on attentive expressions.

“Speak up!”

“What happened?!”

“Wind Assault Tower is prepared to make a break! A large group of people in Beijing and the people from the other two sects have gathered together. It seems like they’re prepared to attack the lockdown in the direction of the coastal area, and One Emperor is serving as the vanguard!”

‘Wind Assault Tower and the other two sects are finally taking action?!’

The group first had their eyes light up, but immediately afterward, Ji Feng and the others became disheartened.

Even though Wind Assault Tower had finally decided to take action, the direction in which they decided to make a break was the lockdown at the coastal area, just as they expected. It was in the opposite direction of the direction they chose to breakout. It would be impossible for them to meet up.

Even if Wind Assault Tower decided to make a break, they could not change their current situation.

“Let’s hope that they can succeed in their operation.”

“Big Brother Ji, perhaps Dream Clouds will send a group over, and when the pressure on our side is reduced, we can have a chance.”

“There are a few hundred thousand people standing guard in Beijing, and Beijing has always been careful and thorough when she does things. She will not move any of her forces over here. Stop letting your mind run wild.”

Once Ji Feng finished speaking, the person who had his hand on the phone and was still receiving information still looked incredibly excited. When he heard Ji Feng’s words, he quickly explained, “That side isn’t the only place making a break right now. I heard from my classmate that an elite has suddenly appeared at the place we logged off, and he’s really good. Right now, he has already killed more than one thousand people. Someone suspects that he is Happy, but he’s using a human skin mask.”

“What did you say?!”

Ji Feng’s eyes lit up, and he suddenly became much more spirited. He pushed his hands against the table, and he looked as if he wanted to stuff himself into the screen to reach the side of the person with the phone.

“Happy? Are you sure it’s Happy?”

“They can’t identify him, but he came alone, and he’s really strong. He has already sent a lot of the enemies surrounding us scattering. Boss, what do you think?!”

“Could it be Dream Clouds’ scheme? Does she want to lure us to log in?”

“No way! The source of the information came from my classmate, and he saw it with his own eyes! Would Dream Clouds use more than one thousand people’s lives to trick us?” The person on the phone instantly became worked up. He widened his eyes, and he was about to start throwing his phone.

“If Happy is really around, our chance might have arrived.”

Ji Feng knew that Dream Clouds would definitely not use such a meaningless and stupid method. Besides, he received news earlier that Happy had indeed showed up to kill a group of Wild Wolves before he disappeared, and judging by the time he vanished, it was absolutely possible for him to arrive at the spot they logged off just now.

But he had just decided to dissolve the sect and the website…

“Big Brother Ji, should I log in and take a look?”

The person with the phone said, “There’s no need for you to guess anymore. They’ve already identified the person, it’s Happy! Happy killed more than two hundred people just now, and he seems to have used the same move he used against Evil Emperor. The place is in complete chaos right now.”

“Then there’s no mistaking it.” Ji Feng’s eyes burned. “There might be a lot of people over there, but they lack a top-class elite who can fight against Happy… No, not even a top-class elite can stop Happy. This time, we might…” When he said this, he could no longer control the speed in his speech. “We might be able to use this chance to break out!”

“Then what are we waiting for?! Send the order!”

“Our other members already can’t wait any longer!” The twenty or so people on the screen had been as silent as dead water a minute ago, but now, an enthusiasm that was as lively as a volcano that was about to erupt surged out of them.

“Happy has just killed more than thirty Wild Wolves, and it’s the same as slapping Evil Emperor in the face. If my guess is correct, Evil Emperor will soon appear in the area.” Before Ji Feng finished speaking, the others started shouting impatiently.

“Then what are we waiting for?!”

“We’ll log in right now!”

“Damn it!”

As the hot-tempered ones in the group started urging him to make a decision, Ji Feng finally cast aside all his worries. He gritted his teeth. “Alright, we fight! This is the last time we take a risk!”

He stopped talking for a moment before he quickly gave his order. “Immediately notify all our members in the website right now to log into the game one minute later. We will fight to the death with those bastards from Class One Hall!”

He practically shouted his final sentence.

The group turned off their computers at the same time and grabbed the VR helmets by their side.

*****

“Retreat!”

“Retreat, all of you!”

“Damn it!”

“Ji Feng’s group has logged in—”

“Forget about them! That person is Happy! It’s not worth it to fight against them! All of you, retreat!”

When Ji Feng and hundreds of his members logged in after they received the news, they heard hasty shouts travel from everywhere into their ears.

They looked around them, and they saw a large number of corpses scattered all around them. Blood splattered all over the place, and the place was like hell.

And there was a dense group of people retreating into the distance to the east.

The closest person to their left and right were at least 656 feet away from them. They were scattered all around the plains, and when they saw more people logging in, they retreated even faster.

When they saw this, Ji Feng and his group, who had logged in with the thought of fighting to the death and to take a look at the situation, were overjoyed!