Sword Among Us

Chapter 1111: Three Hidden Problems

Clang!

As the door to the meeting hall was shut, only two people remained in the hall. Then, Happy opened his eyes and quietly tapped his chair.

Thud, thud.

His rhythmic tapping seemed to have triggered some sort of mechanism. Suddenly, the sound of springs traveled into their ears.

One Emperor’s motion of rubbing the blade of his sword finally stopped. He cast a surprised glance at the armored walls, which were several inches thick, sliding down with a loud boom over the doors and windows.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

As if the Domino’s effect had been activated, armored walls continued to fall down one after another. In an instant, all the doors and walls were sealed shut, and the inside of the meeting hall instantly turned into a metal fortress with a tight defense.

One Emperor frowned when he saw this sudden change. His gaze landed on Happy’s face. “There’s no longer many things in the Chinese server that can threaten you. What topic exactly do you want to talk about that you require such secrecy…?”

Happy had suddenly done something so major and caused the atmosphere around them to be incredibly stern and grim. Even One Emperor could not keep his composure. He was unable to help himself but appear surprised.

“Of course there’s no need for us to maintain any secrecy if we want to talk.” While Happy spoke, he got up and walked to the center of the hall. “It’s been my wish for many years to fight against you. But while we were at Wind Assault Tower’s sect prison, both of us had our own concerns, and we didn’t fight at full strength. Since we’re a little free right now, could you let me see your eleventh and twelfth slash?”

“I see.” One Emperor’s eyes lit up.

One Emperor smiled faintly, and he stood up readily with his sword. At the moment he held his weapon, a sword will that surged to the heavens instantly caused the rather empty hall to be filled with a chill.

One Emperor’s voice hummed and echoed in the hall. “Even though I know that I am no longer your opponent, I am still very curious. I’d like to know how much of your strength I can force out of you…”

Before he finished speaking, he saw Happy bringing out his Golden Scale Divine Sword from his Universe Bag. It shone with a faint golden halo. One Emperor’s expression relaxed. In truth, he was actually rather worried that Happy would bring out Recondite Steel Heavy Sword just now.

When Happy heard this, he smiled faintly and answered, “You praise me too much. When I fought against Evil Emperor, I only won against him slightly because my defense was slightly tougher. But Evil Emperor didn’t lose to me, he lost to himself! In truth, as long as he could keep his cool, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything to him. He’s the one who revealed all those openings to me.”

When he said this, Happy could not help but sigh. “Even though I forced him to reveal all those openings, the main reason he lost is because Evil Emperor did not bring out his true strength and treat me as a powerful enemy.”

When he heard Happy’s calm and humble words, One Emperor did not say anything to interrupt him. He did not make any promises either. He only stood across Happy calmly as he watched Happy coolly make an argument about why he won.

“If Evil Emperor had treated me as a powerful enemy just like how he treated you right from the start, he wouldn’t have lost so badly.” Happy was not bothered by One Emperor’s indifference and quiet. He continued talking at his own pace. “In truth, I was surprised by myself being able to kill Evil Emperor twice. Right from the start, my goal was to use my full strength to stop him, but Evil Emperor’s goal was different. To protect his might as the strongest player in the world, his requirements toward himself were too harsh. He always hoped that he could use the fastest way to kill me instantly and suppress me with overwhelming advantage so that he could intimidate the people.”

One Emperor said nothing, but he could understand what Happy meant.

In all actuality, this was his thoughts as well.

Evil Emperor’s strength was still above Happy’s, but his overwhelming advantage had caused Evil Emperor to ignore the details. He wanted to use the shortest amount of time possible to kill Happy, and in the end, it led to Happy changing the tides a few times, thereby causing Wild Wolves and Class One Hall to be crushed completely.

“Evil Emperor has indeed lost to himself. He cares about his reputation too much, and he also paid too much attention to your experience of being in a coma for one and a half years.” One Emperor finally spoke. There was a myriad of emotions in his voice. At the same time, he stared into Happy’s eyes seriously. “One moment ago, I thought that you still don’t have the strength and right to become the strongest in the world, and the one who pushed you to gain that title is Evil Emperor. But I didn’t expect that you would be able to see through everything so clearly. Now, I’m going to cast aside my previous conclusion.

“Even if you’re still not the strongest in the world right now, sooner or later, that title is yours.”

When One Emperor praised him to the face, Happy became shy, which was something rare of him to do. “You don’t have to try and protect my ego. You told me before that once we get rid of Class One Hall and make Wild Wolves retreat, you will leave Lovely Land. That’s why we’re just friends. I, too, know that the title of a vice sect master won’t be able to keep you around…”

One Emperor instantly fell silent. After he remained silent for a few seconds, he spoke once more. “I’ve suddenly changed my mind.”

“Why?”

“Do you want to hear the truth or the lie?” One Emperor beat around the bush instead, which was also rare of him to do. He stared into Happy’s eyes with an underlying motive.

Happy could not help but quirk his eyebrow. “The strongest swordsman of the Chinese server is lying now?”

He sounded dumbfounded.

One Emperor ignored Happy’s light teasing. “The lie is that I suddenly don’t want to leave Lovely Land and want to continue being its vice sect master… The truth is that I don’t want the Chinese server to fall into chaos again and let Wild Wolves have the chance to take advantage of us.”

“Oh?” Happy’s lips curled up into the ghost of a smile. “Why did you say that?”

One Emperor did not answer Happy immediately. Instead, he stared at Happy’s calm smile and shook his head slowly. “Phantasmal Shadow is right. Just as she said, you’re born to be a leader. You know what I meant just now, and you also know that I won’t leave Lovely Land. That’s why you’re not worried about mentioning the promise we made in the beginning.”

“…I see, so Phantasmal Shadow told you those things.”

When Happy remembered the woman whose wit did not lose to Dream Clouds’ in the slightest, he finally understood why One Emperor could have said something so shocking just now.

One Emperor had always been a prideful and aloof swordsman who moved around alone all this while. He was never controlled by anyone, and he was a peerless elite who had nothing tying him down.

It was impossible for One Emperor to be interested in the benefits of a sect, but he had just mentioned the greatest hidden problem in the Chinese server, and this was completely unlike One Emperor.

“What else did Phantasmal Shadow tell you?”

When One Emperor stared at Happy’s calm face, he suddenly felt that this person was just as Phantasmal Shadow said. Happy had become even more unfathomable than before.

“Your concern for your friendship with Phantasmal Shadow is only an insignificant reason behind why you suddenly stopped Lovely Land’s expansion and stopped controlling all the resource points in Changjiang…”

Happy continued keeping quiet.

“Lovely Land is currently facing three fatal hidden problems!”

“The first is that while Class One Hall, Blood Alliance, and the other sects disappear, the members of those sects will not disappear. Instead, they will move to other sects and become part of their blood. If Lovely Land controls all resource points in the Chinese server, it will definitely bring about dissatisfaction from all sects.”

Happy still said nothing.

“The second hidden problem is Wind Assault Tower.”

Happy’s expression changed slightly.

One Emperor continued without changing his tone. “After all, Wind Assault Tower was once the greatest sect with the greatest charisma. Even though its charisma has been reduced by a large degree, it still has gathered a lot of capital and has a strong foundation of strength in the Chinese server. It won’t remain dejected for long. Once the problem with Class One Hall is settled, the people from Wind Assault Tower will remember yearn for the time when their branches filled the world, and it will be inevitable that they think that Lovely Land used the war to get riches that did not belong to us.

“…Perhaps phrasing it this way makes it sound rather serious, but it’s the truth that we became rich during the chaos. Right now, Lovely Land has given up all the resources to the south of Changjiang, and this has allowed Wind Assault Tower to remain calm for a period of time. Lovely Land can also use this time to organize itself and treat this as a grace period. If you hadn’t stopped the expansion, perhaps the conflict between Wind Assault Tower and Lovely Land would have already started.”

“As expected of Empress Shadow.” When he heard this, Happy finally had his expression change.

As someone caught in the situation, if Happy had only been able to see through this because he could not find anyone useful in Lovely Land and could not take care of this huge mess, then Phantasmal Shadow, as the second person caught in the situation, was truly a person with great foresight and could tell exactly what was important.

“What about the last problem?”

Happy hesitated for a few seconds before he looked up and asked One Emperor about the last problem Lovely Land faced.

“Dream Clouds.” One Emperor stared into Happy’s eyes.

But regrettably, this time, he did not see any sort of surprise in Happy’s eyes. It was as if his thoughts were the same as Phantasmal Shadow’s again.

Just as One Emperor expected, Happy did not ask for the reason this time, but just nodded with a well of emotions in his heart. “I knew that Phantasmal Shadow would be able to think about this as well. Since Dream Clouds could hide the information about the twelve Beijing sects so well and never revealed any information about them over the past five years, it means that Class One Hall’s accumulated strength has far surpassed Wind Assault Tower and our imagination. Class One Hall is not going to be so easy to destroy.”

“That’s what Phantasmal Shadow said as well.” One Emperor flicked the sharp longsword in his hands. “But the outside world only knows about how pathetic of a situation Class One Hall was in right now. Practically all of its branches have been destroyed. Its one million members have been reduced to less than one hundred thousand, and with you two protecting the south and north, Class One Hall should not have the chance to resurrect from the dead.”

“Beyond the borders,” Happy said faintly.

Right now, Class One Hall no longer had a place to stand in the Chinese server. Class One Hall could only develop its strength outside the Chinese plains. In any case, the world outside the borders was a world belonging to Wild Wolves, and they would not have a problem in finding their footing there.

One Emperor smiled wanly again. “Both of you thought of the same thing again. Now, I completely believe that you’re the same type of person as Phantasmal Shadow is. Looks like Dream Clouds didn’t lose in vain this time.”

Dream Clouds fought against an alliance between two enemies who possessed the same level of wit as she did, she should be proud of herself.

Happy smiled. “Since Phantasmal Shadow told you these things, it seems like your relationship is just like what Wandering Know-it-all said. You like each other.”

One Emperor was just about to say something when he heard this. The words that were already at the tip of his tongue instantly fell back into his throat, and he immediately had the urge to cough. He said in a slightly upset tone, “What on earth are you saying?”

Happy just smiled and said nothing else.

It was indeed much more appropriate for One Emperor to say these words compared to Phantasmal Shadow, and Phantasmal Shadow should also have been thinking of using One Emperor to keep Happy in check.

Right now, Lovely Land’s strength had already increased to the point that Phantasmal Shadow could not ignore it, and she also had to start thinking of the effects it could bring!

Happy managed Lovely Land in such a way that he could be stern in certain aspects but lax in other aspects, and it was always at an appropriate amount. She believed that Lovely Land will soon start to officially progress down the correct path of a sect. He would turn the bulky strength from the one million members of Lovely Land into its foundation, and it would turn into a true force that could guard the Chinese server. If someone as crucial as One Emperor stayed in Lovely Land, he could maintain a good relationship between Lovely Land and Wind Assault Tower.