Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

“Hall master!”

Dream Clouds was currently discussing with Blood Robes and the leaders of the twelve sects in Class One Hall’s headquarters in Beijing about the mobilization of their defense forces when she suddenly heard a loud shout. Then, she saw Evil Wolf rush inside from outside. Her expression turned dark, and a hint of unease flashed in her eyes.

“What’s going on?” Evil Wolf was currently in charge of coordinating the cities outside Beijing. If he rushed in right now without notifying her beforehand, then it meant that he was definitely not bringing good news. But Dream Clouds forced down the unease in her heart and asked sternly while putting on a facade of calmness.

After Evil Wolf walked in, he looked around and went straight to the point without bothering to hide anything. “Stilled Wind City just sent news. The highers in the branch we have over there were located by Happy, and they were all killed. Since we lack coordination over there, the branch has been surrounded, and more than two hundred of our people died in battle. Our members over there sent word saying that in less than half an hour, the people from Lovely Land took down our branches from Class One Hall and Blood Alliance.”

Dream Clouds could not help but suck in a sharp breath.

‘I knew it!’

None of the news that came out of Evil Wolf’s mouth over the past few days was good.

“Stilled Wind City… It’s the branch in the north?”

Blood Robes looked up from his seat and scowled.

“Yes.” Evil Wolf nodded.

“The resources at Stilled Wind City are pretty good. Not only does it have two crystal ore mines and one metal ore mine, there is also a high-grade adventuring spot that is similar to the royal mausoleum nearby.” Blood Robes frowned and looked at Dream Clouds. He sounded puzzled. “This is already the nineteenth branch! I don’t know where the brat learned all these tricks, but over the past four days, he and One Emperor have gone to all the cities around Beijing that are rather rich… He isn’t a simple man.”

“…Yeah.” Dream Clouds nodded solemnly. “In Lovely Land, Ji Feng is the one who knows about the situation around Beijing the clearest. He might be the one coming up with the plans later one. But if Happy could listen to his words and plans, it means that Happy doesn’t suspect the people he uses—”

Before she finished speaking, Blood Robes shook his head. “It shouldn’t be Ji Feng.”

Dream Clouds remained silent to wait for Blood Robes to continue speaking.

“I’ve recently arranged some spies to sneak into Lovely Land. Ji Feng might be a little smart, but he’s currently busy with the branches and the headquarters. He also has to continue setting up branches in various cities while he gathers together and calculates the profit he earns from the resource points. At the same time, he is in charge of designating tasks to the branches all over the place as well as recruitment. How could he possibly come up with plans for Happy in such a short time? I highly doubt he can.” Blood Robes showed great skepticism to Ji Feng’s ability.

“Last time, I never noticed that Ji Feng had such a clear head and could view the overall situation so clearly. Besides, he also knows that Evil Emperor will come out of prison three days later. Setting up branches and controlling the resource points near Beijing is all in vain. With how cautious he is, it’s impossible for him to have such courage.”

“Are you saying that all this is from Happy?” Dream Clouds looked at Blood Robes.

The group of people in the hall held their breaths and did not butt in.

After all, the people who knew Happy the best and had the highest right to place assessments about his character were Dream Clouds and Blood Robes.

Blood Robes shook his head toward Dream Clouds’ guess, and he said with an uncertain tone, “That’s not necessarily true. Aside from Ji Feng, Wandering Know-it-all and Phantasmal Shadow are also on his side. It’s also not strange for Lovely Land to have a few great strategists among them.”

When they heard Blood Robes’ answer, Evil Wolf and the group of sect masters nodded.

Lovely Land had gained favor from quite a number of players due to Happy’s grand statement and One Emperor’s act of joining the sect. On the first day, they had fifty thousand people, and later on, the number shot up to its current two hundred and thirty thousand members. The number had already surpassed the number of members the major Beijing sects had, and in fact, their number would soon surpass Wind Assault Tower, Blood Alliance, and Class One Hall.

Blood Robes and Dream Clouds did not think that Happy could come up with these plans.

After all, to them, Happy was already incredibly strong. It was definitely impossible for him to come up with these plans, which required a lot of brainpower.

“I’ve come up with a basic estimation. Three days later, the number of people in Lovely Land might go over three hundred and fifty thousand. The number of branches they have will also go over forty. The territory they occupy will have Beijing at its center, and it will encompass all the cities within a one hundred mile radius around us. Beijing has already been isolated.

“The situation has already become slightly complicated.

“Even if Evil Emperor comes out of the prison later, we will definitely have to face a force of power that does not lose to Wind Assault Tower and might possibly be even stronger than the Wind Assault Tower we fought against in Beijing.”

Those words tumbled out of Dream Clouds’ mouth. Quite a number of people in their seats could not help but move their butts a little because they had been sitting for too long. They listened even more attentively to Dream Clouds’ words.

Of course, there were also people who were incredibly confident with Wild Wolves.

Yuan Zhixiong could not hold back from speaking, “Hall master, even if Happy intends to use Lovely Land’s name to gather a group of frenzied people over, their strength varies, and they won’t be able to pose as too great of a threat within a short period of time. Besides, they don’t have many top-class elites. I say that we should let them act as arrogantly as they want for a few more days. When Evil Emperor comes out, we can send our army out of Beijing, and they won’t be able to last.”

When Blood Robes and the other sect masters heard Yuan Zhixiong’s matter-of-fact words, they were unable to control themselves from rubbing their foreheads.

The situation now was already incredibly clear.

As Wind Assault Tower rested in the south and became stronger once more, the forces of power from Class One Hall in the north would be forced to be unable to go out of the city because of Lovely Land. The power setup in the Chinese server had originally been stabilized, but now, a major twist appeared, and the power setup was rocking dangerously like a person walking on a tightrope.

If their actions before this had not caused the people all around the Chinese server to be largely compromised and had not greatly damaged their foundation of strength, and Evil Wolf had not helped them control the situation in a small region, Class One Hall would be in a perilous situation right now.

As of current, Dream Clouds did not want to see the situation of two sects fighting against each other.

A large-scale war meant high casualties.

Class One Hall might seem to have an absolute advantage, but once they started fighting, they might end up luring over all sorts of Chinese players who would rush over because they thirsted for blood.

Aside from not wanting to fight head-on, Class One Hall was also in a very awkward situation.

As the cities around them were controlled by Lovely Land, Lovely Land became capable of monitoring all their actions within Beijing. No matter what Class One Hall did, Happy could notice it and prepare for it beforehand.

The third problem was Evil Emperor!

Even though the speed in which the battle replay between Happy and Evil Emperor shot up to the first place on the pay-to-view battle replay system on the official website was astonishing, it also allowed many people to know that the victor between them had been instantly decided. This caused many people to still be confident toward Evil Emperor, and even more people became fearful and respectful toward Happy’s strength, because it had reached an unfathomable state.

Even if Evil Emperor came out, he could at most hold Happy back, and Lovely Land still had one major fighter!

Yuan Zhixiong soon noticed that he might have said something stupid based on the people’s reactions. He quickly shut up.

“Evil Wolf, leave for now. I have other matters to discuss with the sect masters. If Lovely Land does something new, remember to notify me in time.”

“Got it.” Evil Wolf left the meeting hall.

Right after Evil Emperor left, a snow-white messenger pigeon flew in from outside and landed in Blood Robes’ arms as if it was flying into a forest. He looked dumbfounded.

Blood Robes grabbed the messenger pigeon, took the letter, and quickly read it. Then, he swiftly sat up straight.

Dream Clouds and the sect masters in the hall quickly noticed how strangely Blood Robes was acting. They looked at him.

Blood Robes then read the letter carefully for nearly ten seconds.

He slowly looked up, and Blood Robes’ expression turned incredibly grave. He sucked in a deep breath and looked at Dream Clouds’ direction.

“My people sent news. Lovely Land has sent an order to all the sects in the cities where their branches are.”

‘Lovely Land! Them again!’

Dream Clouds scowled. “What did they say?”

“They said that they will open up all the resource points they snatched from us recently to all sects, and they stated that the sects can send their occupation players over to mine ores, even the second level.”

Dream Clouds was still able to remain calm. She sucked in a deep breath before she asked another question, “What else did he say?”

“All the sects who enter the first level only need to give them a certain amount of money and consider it as them sponsoring Lovely Land in fighting against Class One Hall, Blood Alliance, and Wild Wolves.” Blood Robes stopped talking for a while. Then, with a dark expression, he spat out a piece of information that caused all the members in the room to be shocked. “But those sects who want to send their members into the second level must share their rewards with Lovely Land. While Lovely Land protects the mines, they will only take one-third of their profit. If they lose those mines, the contract will automatically turn void.”

Once he finished speaking, Dream Clouds became agitated. She slapped her right palm on the dragon head armrest and shattered it.

“Damn you, Happy!” She stood up with hate burning in her.

The remaining twelve sect masters put on troubled expressions.

Originally, they were not that afraid and worried about the Lovely Land Happy built, no matter how much stronger it grew, because if a sect did not have a stable source of income, it was very difficult for it to stabilize morale.

This was especially for Lovely Land, because it was a sect that suddenly rose to power. It only had fighting members and did not have occupation players to provide an endless supply of wealth.

With just one battle, this sort of sect could be crippled!

And it was also a pipe dream if Happy wanted to get a group of occupation players to support a large sect in such a short time.

But this move struck Dream Clouds where it hurt.

He offered up the valuable resource points and gave it up to other sects so that the sects who dared not publicly fight against Class One Hall or were not strong enough to fight against them could offer up money and manpower in these resource points to sponsor Lovely Land. This was undoubtedly a brilliant move.

The resource points in dozens of cities Lovely Land had numbered to more than one hundred, and there were more than five hundred sects of various sizes in a circular area of one hundred miles around Beijing.

With the sponsorship from these five hundred sects, Lovely Land could gain more confidence in fighting against Class One Hall.

As for the resources in the second level of the one hundred or so resource points, they were all gold mines. They would definitely attract many sects’ interest.

The profit brought to them was even more astonishing.

Even though the profit Lovely Land was much smaller with this move compared to them monopolizing those resource points, when the profit was gathered together, the profit they gained would not lose to any of the profit the twelve Beijing sects gained in one day.

And now, Class One Hall and Wild Wolves had caused countless Chinese players to want to fight against them, and there was a high possibility that many people would respond to Happy’s move within a short period of time.

At that time, even if Class One Hall wanted to take back those resource points, they would face the united resistance from Lovely Land and countless sects. Retrieving them would be as difficult as trying to reach the sky on foot!

Because of it, a shell with only a large number of fighters serving as its base formed the outline of its foundation of strength. It gradually started showing signs of becoming a stable sect.