Sword Among Us

Happy appeared to be a handsome young lad, and he was very eye-catching. When he held the Noble Sword, he became even more elegant and gained a little of the demeanor of chivalrous martial artists.

He quickly left the Murong Mansion through the gate, and the male players who had yet to be officially taken into the Murong Clan were enveloped in envy and jealousy while sighing and groaning behind him. The female players’ eyes sparkled with adoration. They stared at Happy’s figure from the moment he appeared until the moment he disappeared. It caused their companions, who were ignored, to feel even more depressed.

Once he left the Murong Mansion, Happy stored the Hundred-Battle Blade, which he got from the tomb robber, in the bank. Even though it was not a masterpiece, it was rather sharp and durable. It was just one step away from being a masterpiece. If he ever had the chance to practice sabers in the future, he could use it instead of having to buy another weapon.

As for the jade pendants he received from the unlucky Third, Happy brought them to shops and sold them. He received one thousand one hundred taels of silver crumbs, and with the one hundred and twenty taels of gold crumbs and the five hundred silver notes he had since some time ago, he could now be considered a rich person.

When he passed by the clothing shop, Happy stopped. He lowered his head and looked at the gray clothes on his person. At that moment, the memory of what the Murong Clan Lady had said came to him.

The Murong Clan was a reputable clan. He could not destroy the elegant and graceful reputation they had.

Yes, he had to spend his money.

He turned around and walked into the clothing store. When he walked out, his gray clothes had been switched for simple, light-blue warrior clothes. He had a blue hero’s headband tied around his forehead, and a little bit of the graceful bearing of the pretty boy image he previously had went away. Instead, he gained the heroic bearing of a warrior and the demeanor of a man.

He had not spent much on his clothes and was dressed in the same attire as when he had still not gained a name for himself in the World of Martial Arts in his past life. At that time, he managed to gain the affection of quite a number of girls, and he even set a trend. Of course, his weapon at that time had not been up to standard…

When he walked out of the shop this time, his attire immediately caused a commotion among the players on the street.

The Noble Sword, his blue warrior clothes, and the hero’s headband caused his appearance of a pretty boy to change greatly. He looked even more passionate than before, and half of Gusu City’s people fixed their eyes on him. In fact, some of the more daring female players even sent flirtatious glances at him and tried to make eye contact with him.

When they sensed the abnormal atmosphere from the street below them, two pairs of eyes peered out from the window of the first floor of a restaurant named A Restaurant. Those gazes quickly fixed on the back of the blue figure walking at the center of the street and causing a commotion.

“He’s very young.”

“Hmph, he’s also very flashy.”

The two people engaged in conversation were two young men. They appeared to be about twenty-two or twenty-three years old. Compared to most of the players on the street, they seemed to be more mature and level-headed.

This was also a feature of the World of Martial Arts. Once players played the game for more than a month, their physical bodies and appearances would slowly grow into their real life appearances, no matter how old the players were.

The duo stared at the light-blue figure on the street, and their gazes were incredibly disdainful and hostile!

“He’s just a newbie who hasn’t even gone through the newbie stage, and he’s already so arrogant. By the looks of it, he should be a disciple of some rich person.”

“Are you saying that we should give him a lesson?”

The speaker quirked an eyebrow at his companion sitting across from him. While keeping his composure, he pressed down his weapon on the table and met gazes with his partner. A faint smile appeared on his lips.

“You know me.”

The two of them laughed boisterously. They quickly stood up together and went downstairs.

*****

Happy’s goal when he went out of town was naturally Villain Li Shan, who was surely going around collecting protection money. Happy’s Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword had just entered the third realm, and while it was still a little lacking when dealing with Li Shan at half strength, his experience should make it a good fight. With that, he believed that the level of his skill would increase very quickly.

However, Happy did not expect that his path would be blocked by others while he was on the way to the tavern.

The two people before him were taller than him by a head. They were also dressed in warrior clothes and were players equipped with a saber and a sword. Happy immediately stood still and put on a solemn expression.

“I do not seem to know you.”

Happy had long since learned the evils of human hearts during his three years in World of Martial Arts. Many people might not be able to win against the NPCs in terms of techniques, but their hearts were much more dangerous compared to Villain Li Shan, Villain Third, and all the other evil NPCs.

“This brat’s sword… is quite good.”

“He seems to have quite some good stuff on him. How about this? If he drops his sword, it’ll belong to you, and if he drops something else, it’ll all belong to me!” The two men thought nothing of Happy and kept whispering in each other’s ears.

Happy was speechless.

When he heard what they said, he lowered his head and cast a glance at the Noble Sword in his hands. He then started laughing coldly in his heart.

He had not even gotten used to the sword yet, and he already ran into a robbery!

Hmph.

The two people seemed to have played World of Martial Arts for some time. Their weapons were pretty good, and their pulse as well as psyche were much more stable and level than that of new players. When they committed crimes, they did so without a guilty conscience, which meant they should have hurt a lot of newbies.

Once he understood that their greed had been stirred, Happy did not intend to waste his time talking to them. He drew the Noble Sword and pointed its cold tip downwards, diagonally at the ground.

“Come at me.”

Since the two had already decided to rob Happy, he did not mind fighting against them.

The duo looked at each other. They finally saw that there was something different about the young swordsman based on the burning fighting spirit and the calmness in his eyes. The disdain they had held for him swiftly faded away. This swordsman was completely different compared to the people they had met before. He was too calm and too composed…

But the boy was still too naive. They were experienced players who had played in the game for a month, so they did not regard him too highly. The young man with the sabar contemplated something for a while before he looked at the sword user.

“You go up first! I’ll hold the line.”

“Alright.” The person lifted his sword and took a few steps forward. He stared at Happy for a while before saying coldly, “Remember my name. I am Wu Hou!”

“Enough with the nonsense already.”

“Hmph! I’d like to see how long you can remain stubborn.”

The sword user was immediately provoked by Happy’s uncaring tone. He roared and executed a well-practiced Immortal Guidance. The glare of his sword became brighter, and he moved forward.

Happy’s eyebrows flew up. Genuine surprise showed up on his face!

No wonder the saber user was at ease with letting the sword user handle him on his own. Just as he expected, the sword user did have some tricks up his sleeve.

He used the Complete Reality Sword Technique from Complete Reality School. Based on his speed and strength, he was at the eight realm!

He might have been surprised, but Happy executed a Penglai Welcoming Guest without any delay to parry the enemy’s attack. Their swords clashed, and the difference in their sword technique levels instantly became clear.

As the realms of the martial arts increased, the speed and lethality of the skills also increased. Wu Hou clearly had the upper hand in terms of speed and lethality. He sensed the slowness of Happy’s Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword and attacked again and again without any hesitation. His attacks were abnormally powerful, and he delivered an assault that completely oppressed Happy.

“Haha! How dare you be so arrogant when you only have some children’s tricks?!”

Every time their swords clashed, Wu Hou could clearly feel that Happy’s power and strength were not of the same league as his. He seemed to have just learned the basics of the skill, and his movements were jerky and had yet to become mature.

But there was something very strange.

Even though his realm was very low and his sword techniques were inferior, his footwork was very methodical. It was as if he could predict Wu Hou’s next attack beforehand, which allowed him to block it by paying the smallest possible price. Even though it was very difficult for Happy, he did manage to parry all the attacks.

Wu Hou might have considered the first few times as Happy being lucky, but once this happened again and again, it showed that there was something off!

They fought for a while, and the expression of the saber user who watched the fight from the sidelines slowly turned stern and serious. He could tell that the young boy seemed to have a very good understanding of Complete Reality Sword Technique. His footwork was stable, and his sword technique became better each time he clashed swords with Wu Hou. Gradually, his movements smoothed out as well.

In other words, he seemed to be using Wu Hou to practice his Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword.