Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

This was perhaps Happy’s longest match in the martial arts tournament. To the others, he was at a complete disadvantage because he was unarmed, and NotaRascal used the advantage he had with a long-ranged weapon to suppress his movements. Happy had no way of fighting back, but what the others did not know was that this was an illusion Happy had created.

NotaRascal might be able to execute his Arhat Spade in an ingenious manner, but he was far from being able to use the skill freely, and there was a lack of roundedness to his moves. He was nowhere near close to reaching the pinnacle of perfection. He might have already reached Grandmaster Realm, but he had only a superficial understanding of the skill. It was impossible for him to gain an understanding of the essence of the skill within the short one or two months. Even Happy would not dare say that he understood all low-tier martial arts fully, and neither did he dare say his skills were above all players!

The moment his foot stepped at the edge of the stage, not only did Happy not do anything to change his desperate situation, he spread his arms and jumped. He looked like he was about to jump off the stage.

‘Perfect chance!’

NotaRascal’s eyes lit up. Extreme delight showed up on his face, and without even thinking, his bronze spade trembled violently. With a flick of his wrist, it spun like the Wind and Fire Wheels [1] before he swung it down.

Along with Happy’s act of jumping off the stage, it created the false impression that Happy had been forced out of the stage!

All people were vain.

Even though NotaRascal had the upper hand firmly in his hands, every single one of his strikes missed its target, and he felt extremely listless. But if he could force Happy out of the stage just like this, how would the others regard him? If Happy did not even launch an attack at him, there would definitely be people who would say that he won because he had a weapon advantage and that he won using dirty tricks.

But if he managed to heavily injure Happy with his last attack, the results would be different.

However, just when everyone thought that Happy could not handle the fight, Tea Words suddenly let out a faint gasp. Then, he discovered to his disbelief that even though Happy had jumped into the air and could not use anything as a platform to change direction, he miraculously turned his body, and with a twist in the air, he stepped on something, as if an invisible object had appeared in the air. He forcefully spun and avoided the fatal strike from the bronze spade, and he also used the moment of NotaRascal’s attack, which meant he could not withdraw his spade because he had delivered a full-powered strike, to tap at the air with his foot and jump back onto the stage like a goose.

His actions were peerlessly ingenious, his bearing relaxed, and he looked supernaturally at ease!

“Beautiful!”

Phoenix Dances and Tea Words experienced a joy that made them feel as if they had just shot up to heaven from hell. At the same time, they experienced a sense of dejectedness and amazement that they could not describe with words.

The lightness skill just then was an outstanding move. It was dazzling to the eyes, and all those who saw it would not be able to believe their own eyes.

NotaRascal turned around in alarm only to see Happy in front of him with a composed expression. He did not attack him while his back was exposed. He just stood behind him, like he was an existence that was way above him. He still had his mask on, and his eyes were as calm and lively as before. All that happened just then seemed to be unable to cause his emotions to stir.

NotaRascal’s grip tightened around his bronze spade, then loosened. He repeated this action a few times before he finally sighed. He lowered his head and announced his defeat to end the third match.

“I lost.”

“Thank you for allowing me to win.” Happy placed his fist in his hand and bowed while humbly speaking to NotaRascal. His gaze swept past him and landed on his final opponent in Group A.

Rampaging Dragon!

This person had his mobility restored once NotaRascal returned to the ranks. He appeared across Happy with a solemn expression. Happy might not have shown his abilities with his fists during the fight just then, but he showed excellent lightness skill, and this made Rampaging Dragon wary of him. NotaRascal had had the upper hand during the entire match, but he admitted his defeat immediately at the end, and this was a clear sign of Happy’s strength. It was only natural that he did not dare underestimate him.

And the results of this battle would determine whether Happy would gain the right to become the person who won all four rounds in this segment of the tournament and would emerge as the person who had the right to progress to the next segment of the tournament!

“Please!”

When he came face to face with Rampaging Dragon, even Happy had a slightly solemn expression on his face.

Not only did this person have good abilities, he also had a secret technique, just like Butt Shaker. If he only had to fight against this person by using pure skill, Happy would not be afraid of him. However, since he had a secret technique, it was best for him to be on guard. If he ran into a rather domineering secret technique, it would be difficult to tell just who would win in the end.

When the system announced the start of the battle, the two of them did not move…

They stared at each other, and both put on defensive postures while facing the other. They did not want to take the initiative to get close to their opponent and attack!

The atmosphere between them froze for three seconds before Happy came to a realization that this person might know that he could not win against him in terms of skill and movements. Hence, he put on a defensive posture to lure Happy into attacking. He wanted to close the distance between them so that he could create the best chance to use his killing technique.

‘He’s a smart one.’

Happy frowned and cast a glance at the other stage in the distance. Orochimaru was fighting heatedly against One Circle. Right then, Group B had progressed to the third match.

‘I have to win this round as soon as possible!’

Happy extended his hand and touched his Universe Bag.

A cold glare shone!

Before the group could see what happened, they saw one of the dark horses from the University of South China, Rampaging Dragon, clutch his chest and fall to the ground. The system announced that Happy won all four rounds and was ranked first in Group A. He also obtained the chance to fight for the title of champion in the next segment.

Tea Words, Phoenix Dances, and NotaRascal sucked in a sharp breath. They looked at each other at a loss!

“… Excuse me?”

“What… happened just now?”

“… I wanted to ask you!”

“What happened!”

During that moment, the three of them had indeed not seen anything. They only noticed Happy do something that was incredibly inconspicuous, and the battle ended…

There might only be one person who knew the details of what happened, and it was Rampaging Dragon, who had just been resurrected. However, not a shred of anger or dejectedness could be seen on his face. Instead, he stared at Happy, who appeared below the stage and could now move about freely. There was endless zeal and delight in Rampaging Dragon’s eyes, along with admiration that was hard to notice.

‘Lancet knives…’

Rampaging Dragon’s emotions surged!

Before they fought against each other, he only knew that the Masked Swordsman had exceptional sword skills and never used more than three moves to defeat his opponent. Later on, he came to know that he also had a fist technique in Grandmaster Realm. When he fought against NotaRascal, he also showed ingenious control over his lightness skill. Just then, he attacked Rampaging Dragon using a hidden weapon technique at Grandmaster Realm, and he did not have any way to defend himself, even though he stood right in front of Happy…

There was indeed too many secrets in World of Martial Arts waiting to be discovered! Rampaging Dragon had thought that he was unbeatable in the University of South China since he had his secret technique, but now that he thought about it, it was plain ludicrous of him to think so!

‘Happy… I remember you now. I’ll look for you again in the future!’

Rampaging Dragon stared at the blue figure, and a very firm look appeared on his face.

Once he was placed first in Group A, Happy did not continue paying attention to the matches in Group A. He jumped down and moved to Group B’s stage at a relaxed pace.

One Circle and Orochimaru were in a heated fight against each other at that moment.

One Circle had indeed toughened up his body with his martial art. His Iron Shirt protected his body so much that his opponents could find no opening to attack him, and that included Orochimaru, who was used to torturing his enemies to death with his swords. Normal attacks could not deal any obvious damage to One Circle.

However, Orochimaru’s nimble movements along with how perfectly timed his advances and retreats were during the fight made it so that even though One Circle had Iron Shirt to protect his body, he could not keep up with Orochimaru’s rhythm. He was cut a few times, but he never managed to hit Orochimaru back. It was clear who was the stronger of the two with just one glance.

As he watched, puzzlement entered Happy’s expression.

Orochimaru’s sword technique was very strange. It looked like Kunlun Sect’s novice sword technique—Dual Swordplay—but there were slight discrepancies when he executed his skills. The form was similar, but the spirit behind it was different. Happy didn’t remember Dual Swordplay being this fierce and sharp.

Even though the level of the martial art was not high, Orochimaru’s Body Movement and Affinity seemed to be very high. The lethality of his skills was rather astonishing, and all of them seemed to be able to break One Circle’s Iron Shirt, which was already near Grandmaster Realm.

After observing it for nearly half a minute, the puzzled look on Happy’s face gradually turned into extreme shock.

Orochimaru was not using Dual Swordplay, but Reverse Dual Swordplay!

It was Kunlun Sect’s high-tier martial art—Reverse Dual Swordplay!

Translator’s Note:

[1] Wind and Fire Wheels: From Journey to the West. Used by Nezha.