Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

Thud thud thud thud…

The sound of horse hooves was like thunder, and sand flew everywhere.

Silver Wolf and his party rode in the desert for more than half an hour, and they finally saw a cluster of buildings in the distance at the horizon of the desert.

“We’re here.”

Silver Wolf tugged at the reins of his horse at a high spot of a sand hill. His expression was calm as he looked down and said, “The town in front is our goal. That’s Flame Town! When we’re there, we’ll drink and get rid of our unlucky stroke.”

“We’ve been chased by those Embroidered Uniform Guards for half a day. It’s about time that we search for a place to rest. I’m starving.”

Bar stroked his belly in an exaggerated fashion and grinned foolishly.

Only Bar would occasionally cast a glance behind them. He would sometimes mumble about Tiger Soul and the alliance master, looking as if he found it incredibly regrettable and pitiful that he lost an exciting show.

“Let’s go!”

They turned their heads to cast a glance at Knife. Then, Silver Wolf slapped his horse and rushed to the sand hill.

“Giddy-up!”

Bar and Thunder clamped their legs around their horses, refusing to fall behind. With shouts, they chased Silver Wolf down the sand hill.

“These heartless people.”

Knife felt gloomy, and he had to chase after the three.

Four horses raced down the hill. Hot wind blasted against their faces. Knife felt that the wind was unbearably hot. He could not suppress the gloom in his chest. When he caught up to Silver Wolf, he shouted, “Big Brother Silver Wolf!”

Silver Wolf said nothing. He did not make his horse slow down, but he just turned his head around.

Knife did not care about the wind and sand as well as the hot wind that charged into his mouth. He said loudly, “Even if we don’t fight for Tiger Soul, it’ll still be good if we stayed around to see who Tiger Soul ends up with. Why did you bring us here in a hurry?”

“Haha! I told you, right?! I knew that his mind is still over there, because he’s been looking so dazed all along our way to this place!” Bar and Thunder looked at each other and teased him.

Knife knew that he could not hide his thoughts from his friends. “That is an ancient demon vessel. I refuse to believe that you don’t care about Tiger Soul.”

Bar shrugged and pouted. He looked resigned. “What’s the point of caring about it? It definitely won’t belong to you, anyway. The more you care about it, the more disappointed you’re going to be.”

“That’s right. It’s a waste of time, and you have to be in danger as well. Don’t forget. With how ‘fast’ our horses are, they’ll be able to catch up to us in the desert in just the blink of an eye. I don’t want to die before we even finish the quest.” Thunder was even more straightforward in his reply.

Once they removed themselves from the area where the desert palace was, not only did that mean that they had resolutely given up on Tiger Soul, they had also left Cao Huaian and Mo Yan’s sides. This meant that they had also given up on the quest they had been working on for most of the day. The sacrifice they made was quite great.

When the quest was mentioned, Knife became even angrier.

“We were doing Dragon Gate Inn’s quest just fine, so why did it have to be mixed up with the quest from the desert palace? We were just helping Cao Huaian and Mo Yan save Yu Qian’s kids, but now, we’re trying to prevent Tiger Soul from reappearing in the world of martial artists, I’m going to…”

“Alright, once you’re done grumbling, hurry up on your way. Don’t waste time.” Silver Wolf’s voice came from the direction ahead.

Once Silver Wolf spoke up, Knife immediately stopped talking.

He never said anything regarding Silver Wolf’s decision. This time, he had only been so restless because Tiger Soul had made him greedy.

“Flame Town…”

His attention had finally returned from Tiger Soul. Knife suddenly noticed something intriguing, and he snapped at the reins so that he could catch up to Silver Wolf.

“Silver Wolf, I think this is the border of the Chinese plains and West Region. Shouldn’t we head east and return to the Chinese plains? Aren’t we going in the opposite direction?”

Silver Wolf rolled his eyes in resignation when he heard Knife’s question. “Looks like Tiger Soul has seriously bewitched you. Boy, have you forgotten our original goal of entering the desert?”

Knife was stunned.

He was dumbfounded for a few seconds before he remembered something really important.

Happy!

Happy had asked them to head to the desert beforehand with a letter from a messenger pigeon. They had just been in time to run into the quest in Dragon Gate Inn, the black sandstorm, and the activation of the desert palace.

The series of major events and the appearance of the people in the dao of heaven brought them waves of shock that were each greater than the last, and it caused Knife to forget that Happy had asked them to be here.

When he thought of this, Knife’s expression changed.

“The sect master asked us to be here, but he has never shown up. Where is he?” As he spoke, he seemed to have remembered something. Suddenly, his eyes shone with a faint light, and he stared at Silver Wolf.

Bar and Thunder stared at each other.

Based on Silver Wolf and Knife’s conversation, these two people also remembered that since Happy had learned beforehand that there was an important quest in the desert, he would have definitely arrived earlier than they did.

“The sect master must have worn a human skin mask to observe the treasures of the desert palace and Tiger Soul. He definitely did that!”

Knife stopped talking for a while. He put on a puzzled expression. “That’s strange. If Happy’s goal is Tiger Soul, why did he make us leave? Could it be that he’s not there?”

When he made this guess, the party of four had already reached the town.

Flame Town was a town at the borders, at it was located at the westernmost side of the Chinese plains. It was a small town that had a lot of years of history, and it contained all sorts of people in strange clothes. It was a place that had almost fully adopted the culture of West Region.

Flame Town was unlike a normal town in the Chinese plains. It did not have tall and sturdy walls or a gate made of bronze needles.

There were only lumps of earth that had been emptied out. It looked incredibly barren and crude.

“…”

“Big Brother Silver Wolf, are you seriously telling me that we came here to drink and seek entertainment?” Thunder cocked an eyebrow and looked at the dilapidated town. It was so broken down that not even the signs for taverns could be found. He was so startled that his eyebrows nearly flew up his hairline.

“Look up.”

Silver Wolf ignored him. He just gestured at the sand wall beyond the town with his eyes.

The other three looked over on his instruction.

“Huh?”

“Why is he here?!”

To the left of the sand wall was a dilapidated and crude pavilion, and in the pavilion was a teenager dressed in white. He sat there in a leisurely manner and sipped tea. To his side was an old servant who held a teapot. They looked very relaxed, and the teenager looked like an aristocratic boy who had just passed by the place.

It was the white-clad teenager.

The party of four managed to recognize the person who managed to make the alliance master’s full-powered slash scatter with just one attack near the quicksand. He was the mysterious white-clad teenager whose strength was inscrutable.

Knife had been grumbling, but in an instant, he stared at the white-clad teenager as if he just saw a piece of treasure. He almost gulped.

The trio resisted the urge to shout. All of them cast intense gazes on Silver Wolf’s face, then at the white-clad teenager. Their eyes then moved back and forth between them.

“Big Brother Silver Wolf, did you manage to activate some sort of hidden quest?”

Regardless of whether it was at Dragon Gate Inn or after he showed up from the desert palace, this white-clad teenager had always been incredibly powerful in their eyes. In fact, he was so powerful that he was just second to the alliance master to the party of four. It was no wonder why they were so shocked when they saw the white-clad teenager.

But Silver Wolf observed him closely for a while before he suddenly sighed. “I thought that Happy must have missed the show at the desert palace. I didn’t expect that he was closer than any of us to it…”

“Hmm?”

Knife and the other two did not understand what he meant.”

“Come here.”

At that moment, a familiar voice traveled into their ears. Then, Happy stopped trying to keep his identity a secret to Silver Wolf and his party.

Silver Wolf was the only one who looked like he expected it. The other three were shocked.

“Sect Master!”

“You’re the sect master?!”

The trio looked at each other and blurted out these words.

Once Happy sent the message over, Silver Wolf and the other four did not dare to idle around. While still doubtful and shocked, they put away their horses and jumped up the city gate. Quietly, they sized Happy up.

“You’ve worked hard over the past few days.”

Happy got up from his seat.

His white robes brushed past the stone seat, and the motion had an otherworldly feel to it. It made him look incredibly elegant, and he did not look like a player at all when he did this.

Even Silver Wolf widened his eyes at this. As he watched Happy pretend to be the white-clad teenager, he had great disbelief and incredulity shine in his eyes.

The white-clad teenager’s movements were incredibly elegant and free. His expression and presence seemed to come from the depths of his soul, and he looked like the heir of an aristocratic family in the world of martial artists. At that moment, even though they already knew who he was, they could not quite believe their eyes. They still felt that they were facing an NPC, not a human player.

Silver Wolf was the only one who was able to regain his composure quickly. The other three looked at each other and gulped.

“What’s wrong?”

When Happy saw how cautious the trio was, he smiled faintly, raised his hand, and pointed at the lump of earth in the pavilion.

“Sit.”

At that moment, they finally returned to their senses.

Silver Wolf led the group to sit down. The four of them arrived in front of Happy one after another and sat down. Even though they were all tough men, when they stood before Happy, they still felt a strange sense of pressure, and they also felt intimidated.

Perhaps it was because the white-clad teenager had managed to defeat the richest merchant in the world while they were in Dragon Gate Inn. Perhaps it was because he had managed to block the alliance master with just one slash. Happy had once needed to work together with Heavenly Saber Song Que to be able to come to a tie with Evil King, and he only managed it barely. But now, the sect master of Lovely Land had become even more unfathomable.

This awe-inspiring presence and pressure he brought to them did not cause them any discomfort, however. Instead, it made them forget about Tiger Soul and the alliance master. They only saw Happy, and they felt incredibly safe.

This small pavilion in the desert seemed to have become the safest place on Earth.

All four of them sat down, and a person took one step forward from beside Happy.

Whoosh!

A few cups of tea giving off cold steam were instantly placed in front of them.

“Taste this snow lotus tea. It’s picked from Heaven Mountain, and it tastes pretty good.”

While Happy spoke, he picked up the teacup in front of him. He looked as if he was enjoying life.

Silver Wolf and his party had their attention completely taken by the old servant behind Happy.

Since they were shocked by the reveal of Happy’s identity just now, they had not paid attention to the follower beside him just now.

Now, they remembered it. Suddenly, they recalled something that happened in Dragon Gate Inn. At that time, this old man had easily blocked off three Myth Realm red-clad Lamas on his own. He possessed extraordinary strength as well.

Since Happy was a player, who was this person?

Another powerful person had appeared in the Chinese world of martial artists, and he might only be slightly weaker than Happy and One Emperor.

But based on his actions and expression, his respect toward Happy came from the bottom of his soul.

Silver Wolf and his party were instantly confused.

Naturally, Happy could see the puzzlement in Silver Wolf and his party’s eyes. He could also see that they were trying to guess his identity, but he did not expose them. Neither did he offer any explanations. When the party of four picked up their teacups to taste the snow lotus tea, he asked, “How’s your training with Four Matchless Sword Formation?”