Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

“Who is that?!”

“He’s so fast!”

“Someone else is coming… Wave-like Subtle Steps! It’s Wave-like Subtle Steps!”

“It’s him?!”

Two figures moved through the streets and alleys in Beijing. One of them chased after the other, and they were as quick as lightning. When they moved passed, they only caused the barest flaps of the sleeves from the clothes the people around them wore, and their movements were barely audible, even so, they still caught many powerful martial artists’ attention.

Many people had even managed to recognize the person using Wave-like Subtle Steps, and once they did, they became so excited that they jumped up the roof, and they looked into the distance, with their eyes locking down at the figure who was moving like a phantom from the crowd.

“Happy?”

“That’s Happy!”

“Who is he chasing?”

The people started discussing among themselves.

Some of the more ambitious people had even discreetly chased after Happy in the direction where he disappeared to.

Many people did not forget about the sudden and major change Happy brought to World of Martial Arts one day ago. A sect master died, two elites walking down the dao of heaven showed up, and the ancient divine weapon, Heaven Crystal, was unearthed. All of them tugged at the players’ heartstrings.

“Sword Sect’s master was nourishing Heaven Crystal at Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction, but the sword was stolen. Is Happy currently chasing after the person who stole Heaven Crystal?” By the time most people realized what was going on, they lamented over their loss of a good chance, and they sighed, feeling incredibly worked up. “The heck. This is such a good chance, and I completely wasted it…”

“What chance are you talking about?”

Someone in the streets cast him a cold expression.

The people who had been lamenting just now instantly shut their mouths and said nothing.

Right now, there were more than two hundred thousand Lovely Land members in Beijing. If they continued lamenting about losing their chance to get Heaven Crystal, they might end up with a lot of trouble in their hands.

“Boss, let’s follow him quietly to take a look.”

Some people communicated to each other through their eyes in secret and discussed the matter through private messages, “That’s Heaven Crystal we’re talking about. We might have the chance to pick it up.”

“Pick it up, my foot. Stop daydreaming.” But there was also a person who was still rational among the group. He snuffed out their dreams mercilessly. “Aren’t you dreaming too much to be thinking about stealing things from Happy?”

“I’m not asking you to go up against him, boss. We’re just watching by the sided. Happy might lose track of it…”

“Lose track of it, my foot! Happy has Wandering Know-it-all by his side! The only one who’d be losing anything is you and your head! Enough with it! Stop thinking of these stupid things. We’re training!”

The group walked out of a corner of an alley. Following behind them was a young man who was using his hand to cover his rather swollen face.

*****

Boom!

As a loud bang that came out of the blue rang, the hole was punched out of a wall in a restaurant. A black figure shot out of it like an arrow fired from an arrow. While everyone watched him, he rushed into the street. Before anyone could react, he moved into the crowd like a phantom.

“What’s going on?”

“Who would dare to cause trouble in Beijing?” The people looked at each other at a loss.

But someone soon looked up and saw a figure moving even faster. He flew over the street, and in an instant, he disappeared.

More than one hundred players arrived on the roofs after him.

In the distance, they saw a cloud of black smoke that was dozens of feet wide appear in the air of a street in the distance. There was chaos in the area. Their companions quickly left into the distance as the sounds of tables shattering and walls crumbling rose.

“…”

“He sure is causing a huge ruckus…”

*****

Similar events happened nonstop in Beijing.

For a period of time, Beijing was in chaos!

This lasted for around ten minutes. When the forces from the imperial court were about to interfere with the situation, the two people finally rushed out of the city gate one after another. They left Beijing.

Beijing gradually regained its peace.

*****

These two black figures ran about wildly in the darkening wilderness. One of them was ahead of the other. They were like two shooting stars traveling across the horizon.

Whoosh!

“Urk…”

Happy’s expression grew more solemn, and his fighting spirit started burning.

This was the first time he ran into such a stubborn and powerful enemy. He had already activated Wave-like Subtle Waves for more than an hour and chased after this person for more than an hour, but he never let Happy have a chance to catch him.

Once he entered Inaction Realm, Happy was already confident that his body movements and speed would not lose to any sect master, but today, he had indeed run into a powerful enemy.

He was too fast!

Even if Happy took an Origin Leopard Pill, his speed only allowed him to maintain their current distance and make sure he would not lose his target. Also, if the man had not continuously used all sorts of tricks to try and shake Happy off, with his lightness skill and speed, the man should have originally widened the distance between them by a significant degree.

It was no wonder why this man was able to steal Heaven Crystal so discreetly while he was at Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction. In fact, he had done so without leaving any traces.

“I’d like to see just who you are.” Happy might feel troubled when he ran into this sort of enemy, but he would much rather learn just how troublesome was the series of quests related to Heaven Crystal.

For a full two hours, Happy’s qi continued circulating in him in endless waves. His speed remained at its peak condition at all times so that he could chase after the master thief. He chased after him from Beijing to a small, nameless lake.

Waves traveled on the surface of the lake.

The thief did not hesitate at all when he was within the area of Happy’s spiritual senses. He jumped on the lake and its waves.

Thud! Thud!

The thief’s frequency in stepping on water was incredibly fast in the dark. The calm, sparkling surface of the lake was instantly destroyed. Splashes flew everywhere, and soon, he went into the distance.

When Happy arrived by the lake, he could not help but frown for a moment.

But when he saw that the thief was about to disappear from the area of his spiritual sense, in the end, he still chose to continue chasing after him on the water.

Thud thud…

Cone-shaped ripples were drawn on the water once more. They stretched to the center of the lake like arrows.

*****

The thief’s speed on water was clearly much faster than Happy. After a few minutes, he completely vanished from the area of Happy’s spiritual senses.

But Happy did not mind.

He continued moving forward on the water.

Happy had already noticed a small island right ahead of him in the dark.

Perhaps that was the thief’s main camp!

But when Happy approached the island, a change occurred.

Whoosh!

The water in front of him suddenly exploded and split apart.

Dozens of incredibly fierce sword glares appeared out of the blue and cut apart the surface of the lake. They exploded forth from the bottom of the lake like lotuses that suddenly bloomed and dragged Happy inside from all directions.

“…”

Happy was shocked.

This matter had happened suddenly. The people who ambushed used the lakewater and the night to hide their tracks and murderous intent. They could not be detected by spiritual senses. Their ingenious plan and ruthless method caused Happy to instantly be dragged into danger.

By reflex, Happy had his true origin aura instantly spread through his entire body. Happy shouted, and he instinctively jumped up to leave the surface of the lake.

There was no need for him to mention just how strong his true origin aura was. After briefly cushioning the attacks, Happy noticed that the person who charged out of the bottom of the lake was the thief whom he had chased for more than two hours. He was the great thief who was skilled in the art of disguise, to whom even Lu Xiaofeng could not identify for the time being.

“Perfect timing!”

Happy’s true origin aura was reduced by one-tenth of its original size because of the thief before it stopped shrinking. The ferocity of the attacks started falling, as if they were blocked by something.

“Roar!”

A dragon’s roar rose. The peaceful air above the lake was instantly shattered because of the roar.

His ambusher was caught off guard. He froze and instantly fell into Happy’s control. With Dragon’s Capture, he instantly seized him, and with one finger attack, he broke his defense.

Bang!

The ambusher was already regretting his decisions.

Even though he made sure to work his plan in such a way that he ensured that the climate was favorable and he had geographical advantage, used the night and lake to hide himself, and even made sure that he got the timing for his ambush downpat, he did not expect that Happy would not show any signs of his qi draining even after chasing him all the way to this place.

What was even more terrifying was that Happy did not panic when he faced his ambush, which he had prepared for a long time, or even when he faced the unique environment above the lake. He had even displayed unimaginable defense.

His instantaneous attack had not been effective, and it had even dragged him into danger. A dragon’s roar rose, and with one Dragon’s Capture, Happy easily drew close to him and controlled him.

He could not bring out the advantage of his qi at all.

At the instant they drew close to each other, he could even feel a sense of danger coming right at him. It was accompanied by a pressure that he could not hope to block.

Now, he finally understood that it was not by chance that Happy was able to force Evil King to retreat from Song House andalso kill Sword Sect’s master.

However, when he realized this, it was clearly too late.

Pain flared in his chest, and his defense was broken.

Before he understood what was going on, Happy tapped two of his acupressure points in succession. His entire body instantly turned stiff, and he could not move.

Then, he felt someone grip his back.

Wind howled in his ears.

He quickly drew close to the island in the distance.

“…”

At that moment, Thousand-faced Human Fox was weeping in his heart. He was captured.

He had wandered in the world of martial artists for years, and he stole from the world by relying on his disguise techniques, which allowed him to remain elusive, and his cunning wit. But now, he was easily captured by this young fellow. If this news spread through the world of martial artists, they would laugh until they started crying.

Thousand-faced Human Fox was incredibly regretful.

But as of current, he was at Happy’s mercy. Happy could do whatever he wanted to him, and he had no power to fight back.

Even if he tried to mobilize what remained of his true qi to unblock his acupressure points, it was impossible. Since Happy was able to chase him to this place from Beijing, his wariness and observation skills were not to be underestimated. It would be foolish to try and unseal his acupressure points under his nose.

Just like that, Thousand-faced Human Fox remained obedient even when he was tossed on the beach of the small island.

Bang!

It was only at that moment that Thousand-faced Human Fox had the chance to scrutinize the boy who had been chasing him for half a day.

He was a very normal-looking youngster.

His eyes shone.

While Thousand-faced Human Fox observed Happy, Happy was also observing this great thief who had outstanding lightness skills. He was surprised to find that this person had an average looking face that was very forgettable.

He frowned. Happy reached out to grope Thousand-faced Human Fox’s face, and suddenly, he exerted force in his hands.

Rip!

As Thousand-faced Human Fox turned his face, a pale and exquisite human skin mask was ripped off from the person’s face.

“You obtained a demon vessel—human skin mask!”

“That’s good stuff.”

Happy was delighted. He ignored the mysterious thief’s anxious expression and put the human skin mask into his bag.

Even though he had this item, human skin masks had always been items on high demand in the market, but there was never any sold, because it was too useful and practical. It was the most expensive among demon vessels, and the sellers did not have to worry about there not being a market.

Happy especially needed it after Wandering Know-it-all revealed to him that those with human skin masks could be rid of the Prophet’s sights. The top elites in the Chinese plains all hoped that they could own a human skin mask.

The unexpected reward caused Happy to be even more excited. He turned his gaze to the thief.

“Name.”

The mysterious thief stared at Happy and said nothing.

“Do you like your tendons being ripped off or your bones dislocated, or would you rather have ants gnaw at your heart?”

Happy said those words coldly.

He shuddered, and anger flashed in his eyes.

“As expected of the best among the youngest heroes, who even forced Evil King to retreat. Sect Master Happy, you do indeed live up to your name. I’ve never hidden my name before. I am Chu Liuxiang!”

Happy was nearly rendered speechless. He glared at the person.

“Thief, aside from your lightness skill being slightly like his, nothing else about you resembles Chief Xiang. Alright, I don’t want to know just who you are either. Tell me, where is Heaven Crystal?!”