Sword Among Us

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Panda Novel

Thousands of miles away from Fox Cave was a desert. The air curled upwards in waves because of the heat. The whole world looked as if it had turned into the inside of a furnace the edges of which could not be seen. Aside from sand, everything else seemed to be burning. The scorching sun had even reduced the gravel into the ashes that could be found after the flames in a furnace died away. If a person stopped in a spot for too long, they would soon be roasted alive.

It had to be said that it was a place everyone hated.

But there were dainty-looking footprints in that place of despair that had made countless players hesitate and not enter in the end while killing many others of thirst. The footprints covered hundreds of miles with determination until their owner reached the center of the desert.

The woman in the desert was dressed in white robes. She moved forward through the yellow sand that danced in the air under the burning sun. Her bright eyes shone with resolution and pride. She had a head accessory inlaid with gold, and there was a silver veil covering her face, just like usual. It blocked the yellow sand and heat waves charging at her face while also hiding her beautiful face.

If there was anyone there, they would definitely be able to recognize the woman who had journeyed thousands of miles into the depths of the desert as the hall master of Class One Hall. She had recently reached the top of Phoenix Rank, was respected by many players, and was publicly acknowledged as the player who mastered her martial arts the fastest, had the best equipment, was the strongest, and the leader of the biggest guild, Dream Clouds.

She wiped off the crystalline sweat on her forehead, but the action could not help her get rid of the frustration and all sorts of negative emotions brought on by the heat.

‘It has been four days!’

She had entered the desert four days ago.

Dream Clouds had walked a total of four days and four nights in the desert that was known by countless people as Deadly Desert. She walked when the temperature was at a dazzling 140 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and she walked when the temperature was in the negatives during the night. To achieve that, she had used up all the Horse Plates she had found.

She’d had around ten good horses, but one would die once every dozen miles, and in the end, all of them ended up as food for the many vultures that flew above the desert. It made Dream Clouds’ heart sink bit by bit.

If it were not because of the clear red dot on the map guiding her path, she would have broken down a long time ago.

A person would break after switching between being in scorching heat and freezing cold for a few hours. Even when she logged off, she couldn’t free her character from its situation in the game, and she was finishing up the water in her Hundred Skin Bag at an increasingly faster rate. Her decreasing resources and her rapidly deteriorating mental state felt like someone had cursed her and was constantly urging her to die faster.

Even more depressing was the fact that messenger pigeons could not enter that area where not a single human soul could be found for miles.

She could only rely on logging off for a short period of time to understand the operations of Class One Hall as well as the development of the sects her guild had established.

Not long ago, she had received terrible news.

Most of the sixty or so elites from Fallen Feathers Sect had died, and that included Sect Master Situ Luoyu, whom she regarded highly and who was an important core member of Class One Hall.

But that was not all. Situ Luoyu had also affected Perpetual Joy Sect, whose abilities had become largely compromised. Not only did he not manage to complete his task of suppressing Chivalry Sect, he had even ended causing Happy and Red Dust to form an alliance.

For the first time ever, Dream Clouds recited the name of that person a few times in her heart.

“A student from the University of South China? That’s right.”

She fell silent, and after pondering over it for a long time, she sent an order.

“He managed to kill dozens of players with high-tier martial artists while being in Blessed Realm. His abilities cannot be underestimated. Notify everyone to temporarily put a stop on the plan to target Happy. Send someone to investigate and get close to him in secret. We should see whether we can make him join Class One Hall.”

*****

When Dream Clouds received the detailed description of what had happened in Fox Cave, the events there had already been automatically revealed in World of Martial Arts Secret News Log.

It was all thanks to the Universe Secrets Inkstone that Wandering Know-it-all had obtained. All the people who had been recorded on the ranking boards would automatically have their achievements recorded once they fulfilled the conditions set by Wandering Know-it-all, and even the ones who had fallen out of the ranks would have their names recorded on the ranks again if they fulfilled the conditions. They were ranked based on their fame, strength, wealth, and other data.

Happy had not just been propelled to the first place on the Famous People Rank. The amount of money he had on him reached millions again, so he was ranked on the Rich Rank again. He was, once more, a person who occupied a place on two ranking boards.

However, at that moment, when the people saw the battle achievements attached behind his name on the Famous People Rank, no matter how stupid and greedy they were, they would not send themselves and their parties to death for only a million taels of silver crumbs.

Fallen Feathers Sect and Perpetual Joy Sect were very reputable in the game right then.

Those who challenged Fox Cave were basically all elites of their respective sects or outstanding martial artists who wandered the lands alone.

No one was arrogant enough to believe that their abilities were above the two sects!

*****

Once they got rid of some of the White Foxes that were deeper into Dead She-wolf’s chamber in Fox Cave, Happy did not head to the third level. Once dawn arrived, he was automatically teleported out of Fox Cave. He arrived beside an NPC named Hu Mu in a safe zone within Immortal Fox Village.

Even though Happy had the key to activate the third level of Fox Cave, he had not made complete preparations to fight against Yao Hua and his wife.

Those two were some of the greatest NPCs who were above Moksha Realm! They were temperamental and could do anything they wanted! They could easily spill blood for hundreds of miles and were supreme martial artists who could bring disaster to the whole world without anyone being able to touch a single hair on their body!

Once they left Fox Cave, Happy immediately sensed complicated gazes being directed on them from everywhere. Some were envious, some were jealous, some were full of hate, some were curious, and some were full of admiration.

There were quite a lot of people who were from the two great sects, and there were also some from Thousand Dragons Sect—the players Happy and his party had killed outside Fox Cave.

Red Dust frowned.He took a step forward and met all their gazes with a cold and arrogant look. Then, he spoke at a volume that showed he had the intention to be heard by everyone.

“Don’t worry, even if these people want to take action against us, they will have to think over their actions first…” He paused for a moment before he cast a glance in the direction to his left, where a commotion had broken out. He instantly laughed. “Our people are here now!”

As he said that, a large group of players with the word “chivalry” sewn on their chests made the people in the area clear a path for them with an astonishing momentum. They appeared in front of Happy’s party proudly.

“Red Dust!”

A man with a square face and a burly body came out of the group with a heroic bearing. He arrived in front of Red Dust with a face full of surprise and slapped his shoulder with great force.

“Good going, I knew you wouldn’t die so easily.”

“Big brother!”

Red Dust received a slap on his shoulder at full force, but his expression was only full of surprise and delight.

“You personally led a team here?”

“Of course!” The man with the heroic face instantly looked outraged. “Those bastards even dared to touch you. If I didn’t come, they would start thinking that the people from Chivalry Sect are pushovers.”

The people behind him had indignant expressions, and they voiced their approval of the man’s statement.

“Big brother, let me introduce my friends to you. This is the current player ranked first on the Famous People Rank, Happy. This is All-powerful Medicinal Stone, and that’s Thunderous Battle, and that’s Little North. I only managed to survive this time because of them.”

“I know.” The man with the square face laughed. “There’s no way I wouldn’t know of such a big matter. Situ Luoyu and Solitary Perpetual Joy died in Brother Happy’s hands, so he can be considered to have helped me vent my rage! Come, brother, let’s get to know each other! My name is Lin Xiao!”

Happy did not say anything at first, but when he heard the name, he was stunned. He stared at the man’s heroic and smiling face, which did not show any signs of age, and a sincere smile that came from the bottom of his heart appeared on his face. “Vice sect master of Chivalry Sect, I’ve heard of you for a long time!”

In his heart, however, he thought, ‘Chivalry Duke, I’ve heard your name for a long while!’