Sword Among Us

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

While they were on the way to Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction, people suddenly charged out of more than ten piles of snow by the road. They swung their swords, creating fierce and cold sword glares to block Happy from going up the mountain.

“Whoever you are, stop!”

“This is where Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction is located. All those unrelated are not allowed to get closer!”

“All trespassers will be killed without mercy!”

More than ten Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples in now-white cloaks moved past each other in an orderly fashion, and the cold sword glares from their longswords trembled slightly. They pointed their swords at the man who stopped at the mountain path with murderous auras emanating from them.

“…”

As he faced these Inaction Realm Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples, Happy slowly looked up and cast a faint glance at the formation in front of him. “I don’t want to kill…”

“How dare you, you lunatic!”

Before the speaker’s voice faded away, the two Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples who were the closest to Happy had already rushed over conceitedly.

The normal disciples who were tasked to protect the sect had already reached the peak of Inaction Realm. Their swords trembled, and a boundless cold glare fell out of their longswords. The snow that fell from the sky suddenly howled as if they had gained sentience. They were dragged into the glares from the swords, as if a vortex had been formed. Cold wind rushed at Happy from his sides, and the momentum was great.

When he saw this scene, Happy could not help but gasp in his heart.

These normal disciples possessed outstanding skills. There were already sixteen elites at the peak of Inaction Realm guarding the mountain path. Even normal Myth Realm elites would not be able to easily break through this station!

As expected of a large sect who went into isolation and focused on practising martial arts. Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction should be a nameless sect in the world of martial artists, but their strength might not actually be any lower than Sword Sect!

However, they already posed as no threat to Happy.

Wave-like Subtle Steps!

As he faced the dazzling, bright, and fierce sword glares, Happy did not even blink once in shock. He moved like a cloud, and he manifested a string of afterimages to easily move through the two snow-white sword glares.

“Ah!”

“What’s going on?!”

“Stop him!”

“Set up formation! Don’t let him run!” Once they missed their target, they quickly realized how bad the situation was. They turned their heads around and shouted, but during that time, they saw that their senior brothers had turned the entire mountain path into a world of sword glares. The fierce sword glares were like dazzling but fatal fireworks that filled every corner.

Boom!

Sword glares flew everywhere in the formation in the mountain path. Unfortunately, none of them was able to stop Happy in his tracks. In fact, they could not even touch his sleeves.

The two people who were the first to attack stood at the bottom and watched that one figure stand with his hands behind his back. Sometimes, he was fast; sometimes, he was slow; sometimes, he moved to the left; sometimes, he moved to the right; sometimes, he moved in a straight line; sometimes, he moved in a curve. Very easily, he moved past the dazzling and dangerous sword glares as well as moved past their senior brothers, as if he was in a deserted land. In just a moment, he broke out of the formation and reached the topmost part of the mountain path.

“…”

“Seize him!”

The people on the mountain path instantly descended into fervor.

All the Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction members yelled in anger and chased after Happy.

But Happy did not have any intention to stop. After he broke out of the formation, he ignored the sixteen Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples behind him and increased his speed.

Whoosh!

Very soon, those sixteen people were cast far behind Happy.

*****

Even after he cast behind the people chasing after him on the mountain path, Happy did not relax. At the same time he kept to his speed while he charged forward, he frowned and turned his head slightly to the side while putting on an attentive expression.

Bang!

A dazzling ball of red light exploded above the icy world. It was accompanied by the loud, piercing sound of a signal arrow, causing the quiet mountain path in front of him to swiftly start bustling with activity.

Whoosh! Whoosh! WHOOSH!

The mountainside was originally void of people, but suddenly, a group of Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples dressed in snow-white cloaks shot out. They had their swords drawn, ready to fight. Swiftly, they filled the entire mountain path.

The large group of Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples pounced on Happy from all sides. Their sword glares flew everywhere. In an instant, an orderly sword formation was formed in front of Happy.

A monstrous sword qi seemed to have turned the mountain front of him into a huge sword that could cut the world in half. An unprecedented feeling of danger charged at him.

“…”

Happy came to a swift stop. He stared at the group of Inaction Realm disciples who caused him to sense danger, and an incredibly disbelieving expression showed up on his face.

Inaction Realm…

They were just a group of Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples who entered the mountain to train. The number in front of him was now twice of what he encountered previously, and they managed to give him a sense of danger and pressure that did not lose to an elite at the peak of Myth Realm.

“As expected of the master of Purple Bamboo Forest.”

After being momentarily stunned, Happy quickly understood that this must be because of the formation that was formed by the people in front of him.

Even though he did not understand the details in this, the formation Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction set up was definitely an incredibly profound thing.

“She actually managed to create a formation that can go up against Myth Realm elites with a group of Inaction Realm disciples. Unfortunately, if I get rid of the ones at the forefront of the formation, the formation will break down by itself. You’re facing absolute power, numbers will not close the distance between us.”

His eyes sparkled, and Happy delivered a few finger-generated gusts from the distance.

While the formation the Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples formed was powerful, they were not true Myth Realm elites. It was clear that they had not been able to swiftly attach enough importance to Happy, because they had to face Sun Finger, which was strong enough to be able to fight against those who were One with the World.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Careful!”

As three Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples grunted, those three people were sent flying away. The originally perfect formation instantly became incomplete.

The sword will that had just been formed and the intimidating pressure from those at the peak of Myth Realm was also largely weakened at the same time.

Happy seized the chance and activated Wave-like Subtle Steps once more.

During that period of time, he attacked repeatedly with his finger and sent multiple people flying, easily moving through the sword formation formed by the group of Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples.

The Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples had never suffered such a great loss before. When they saw their enemy reaching the top of the mountain as if he was traveling in a deserted land and injuring their own people in the process, they became indignant, especially when they saw him getting close to their sect.

“Stop chasing after him!”

At that moment, a loud voice stopped everyone from moving.

“The faction master has already said that if there is someone who manages to break our sword formation, then he is not someone we can handle. If we chase after him, we will just be adding to the number of casualties.”

“But Seventh Junior Brother and the rest are injured.”

Some of the disciples felt indignant and could not accept this, but that person’s next words gave him a reminder.

“He already showed mercy to us by not killing us. He’s too strong. We can only leave everything else to the faction master and the elders…

“I’ve already sent a signal. I believe that the faction master already knows that someone powerful has come.”

It was only then that the people were able to not accept this. They looked in the direction where Happy had disappeared. In that direction was Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction’s sect!

*****

After he got through the formation formed by forty-nine Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction disciples, Happy finally reached the highest place of the mountain.

The top of the mountain looked as if it had been cut off by a longsword.

At the moment he reached the top of the mountain, a violent gust of wind blew into his face. Even Happy felt a bone-chilling cold from the air. It was as if this was a chill that came from an ancient ice cave, and it could freeze a person’s blood.

Tendon Changing Classic swiftly increased its circulation speed. A powerful wave of warmth from his qi and blood was released from his Dantian region. It quickly spread to his limbs through his meridian system to chase away the cold.

At this moment, Happy discovered the source of the chill.

On the huge mountaintop was a large ice stage that was built by big blocks of ice. It stood before Happy in an incredibly dazzling and magnificent manner. It covered a circular area of three hundred feet, and it was thirty feet tall. It was like a gigantic work of art that shocked all those who saw it.

However, the area Happy’s spiritual senses covered was large. He could “see” from above, and he was still able to recognize that this large ice stage before him was not a work of art by Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction, but a huge arena.

Fixed to the center of the arena were multiple frozen longswords. There were more than one thousand of them. The only empty space was about more than thirty feet, and it was at the edge of the arena. Countless gashes caused by sword qi intersected each other densely on the arena. They looked horrendous, but they were filled with sword wills that were of varying degrees of strength.

To the side of the arena were two words that were written in energetic but also gentle calligraphy. “Heavenly” was carved to the right, and “Lake” was carved to the left. Its domineering air could be felt instantly.

“As expected of Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction… Amazing!”

When he saw this, even Happy was shocked by Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction’s mannerisms. He sighed in his heart. Then, he looked up and saw four figures jumping forward from the red walls in the distance.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

They had outstanding body movements, and they appeared quickly. In the blink of an eye, they arrived above Heavenly Lake. Each of them chose an ice sword, and they stood proudly like statues in the cold wind.

Whoosh!

Four pairs of fierce and awe-inspiring gazes were fixed on Happy coldly.

‘Elites at the middle stage of Myth Realm.’

With Happy’s spiritual sense, no Myth Realm elite could hide his strength from him. In an instant, he could gauge their strength.

‘Not bad.’

Sword Sect’s master brought four elites at the middle stage of Myth Realm with him. Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction was clearly not any inferior to Sword Sect. They should have more than four Myth Realm elites in their faction.

However, Happy did not dare to be as careless with them as he did with the four elites from Sword Sect.

Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction had been setting up formations since Happy was at the foot of the mountain. The formation set up by the forty-nine disciples at the second station had given off the presence of those at the peak of Myth Realm. All this proved that the foundation of Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction’s strength was not just in their swords, but also their formations.

Right now, these four elites at the middle stage of Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction also seemed to have formed a formation at Heavenly Lake.

No matter how great of a fool Happy was, he would not charge into the formation rashly and without any preparation.

If these four people worked together, they should display strength that would not lose to those at the peak of Myth Realm.

Breaking the sword formation formed by four Myth Realm elites would not be as easy as when he did it at the foot of the mountain.

When he thought about this, Happy instantly got rid of the thought of forcibly breaking the sword formation. He walked forward slowly and went up Heavenly Lake through the stone steps.

He wrapped his fist in his palm and had his qi circulate in his Dantian region.

“I am Happy of Shaolin Temple. I have something to ask of the faction master of Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction, and I hope that you will pass this message.”

His voice was like a thunderclap in spring. His clear voice spread out like waves due to the support from his sonorous qi.

At that moment, even the violent gusts of wind above the mountain seemed to have been suppressed by Happy’s voice.

Happy’s voice echoed above Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction’s sky.

“Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction is not a place for you to act as you please. Since you have not killed any of our people, we will not make a fuss over this. Begone!” said a Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction elite standing on Heavenly Lake. His words were like a sword, and his gaze was electrifying. A faint pressure swept toward Happy.

However, while this sword will was outstanding in the world of martial artists, it only managed to sweep up Happy’s sleeves slightly. He remained unmoved.

His prideful stance and powerful presence instantly made the four Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction elites wary.

The second person had fighting spirit burn in his eyes. He said, “You may meet our faction master, but you will have to first break the sword formation the four of us set up. If you manage to break it, our faction master will naturally meet you.”

Once he finished speaking, Happy used his actions to reply to the man’s words.

He took a step forward and jumped without hesitation. Then, he made it to the air above Heavenly Lake. When four powerful sword wills exploded forth, they made exploding sounds when they surrounded Happy. Happy surveyed his surroundings coldly.

Heaven Crystal’s quests, which had suddenly changed, were incredibly important. He did not have extra time to fight against them!