Sword Among Us

At the moment Happy fled Eternal Peace Temple while injured, a clear and pleasant sound rang by his ears. It was the notification from the system.

“Ding!

“Successfully completed escape quest.

“Quest requirement: Exchange at least five moves with A’san to obtain Ku Toutuo’s secret help to hide.

“You exchanged eight moves with A’san, injured him, and with Ku Toutuo’s help, you escaped safely. You successfully completed Reaching New Heights quest by completing the original quest by surpassing the requirements. You obtained four attributes!

“You completed the quest, and you obtained Ku Toutuo’s favor.”

In truth, from the moment A’san appeared, Happy obtained a quest that he had never received before. It was named Challenging Life and Death, and it had the content the system had just said.

As long as he could exchange five moves with A’san without dying, he would obtain Ku Toutuo’s help to leave Eternal Peace Temple. He would also break through his own limits under great pressure and obtain three additional attribute points. However, Happy had executed three killing moves at the end: Petite Dragon, Dragon Capture, and Emperor Shocks World to force A’san back. He had broken through the life and death scenario on his own and left Eternal Peace Temple.

Even though Ku Toutuo had helped him by preventing A’san from catching up to him, his act of completing the quest by surpassing the requirements allowed him to obtain four additional attribute points that he could distribute as he liked.

“Whew!”

‘I completed two quests in one go. It’s pretty good.’

Happy did not dare to stay. He did not care about Zhou Yu, Heaven Does Not Forget, and Lonesome Wind’s safety and just left Eternal Peace Temple. Three days’ time limit was almost over, so he had to hurry up and find the people from the six great system-allocated sects so that they could spread the whereabouts of the elites from their sects.

Happy did not expect that the quest he had unintentionally completed would gain him a chance to catch his breath.

*****

Once Zhou Yu freed himself due to Ku Toutuo deliberately setting him free, he found himself outside Eternal Peace Temple. In his mind was still the scene of Happy and Asan’s fight. A’san’s attacks had made him feel as if there was a guillotine about to fall on his neck at any moment, but Happy managed to fight against him for a while despite only being at Life and Death Realm. He had even…

Whenever Zhou Yu remembered that dazzling and peerless sword force, he felt a chill crawl down his spine.

It was impossible to dodge that sword force at close proximity!

Even A’san, who was in Inaction Realm, was injured by that hit. If he did not rely on his exquisite Buddhist external martial arts to withstand the disaster, he might have become the first ever Inaction Realm fighter to die in the game.

Zhou Yu stayed for a long time in one spot. Then, he picked up a pen and paper and sent a messenger pigeon into the air.

The messenger pigeon flew to the inner hall of Class One Hall’s headquarters, which was hundreds of miles away.

*****

“Added all four additional attribute points to Comprehension.”

When Happy returned to Eternal Peace City, he went into an inn and added all the attribute points he gained from the quest to his Comprehension. Then, he sat down cross-legged and began to circulate his Constellation Breathing Technique.

He suffered some internal injuries from A’san’s palm strikes, and some of those injuries could not be cured by medicinal pills.

Also, he was still on a quest and had to face imperial court soldiers. He was not safe in the city, and there was a good chance that he might be captured if he wandered around outside.

“It’s about time.”

Once the qi made a few full circulations, Happy finally managed to get rid of the extravasated blood in his body. He released a long breath, and a puzzled look appeared on his face.

If things progressed according to his original plan, Zhou Zhiruo would be with him, and he would not need to be worried about searching for the six great system-allocated sects.

But Zhou Zhiruo had slipped from his grasp, so how was he supposed to find the people from the six great system-allocated sects and Ming Cult?

Just when he felt troubled, someone suddenly knocked on his door.

“Who is it?!”

Happy was alarmed. He quickly wrapped his hand around his Nation Protecting Divine Sword, which was right beside him.

“We are disciples from Emei Sect,” the person from outside said. “We saw the signal left behind by our senior sister, and we came searching for it. Is the person who answered inside Young Swordsman Happy?”

The person’s voice was like bell chimes. It was clear and pleasant.

Happy’s puzzlement instantly ebbed away. He quickly opened the door and welcomed the Emei Sect disciples outside.

“Greetings, Young Swordsman Happy.” The women seemed to have noticed the questioning look on his face, so when they walked inside, they closed the door. “I heard that you descended down the mountain with our mistress and other sect sisters, but we’ve been waiting at the meeting point for a long time, but no one came.

“We then ran into some people from Ming Cult on the way, and we learned that something has happened to our mistress, which is why we rushed to Eternal Peace County through the tracks left behind. Where is our senior sister?”

It was only then that the Emei Sect disciples noticed that Happy was the only one in the room.

“It’s good that you’re here.”

Happy released a breath of relief. He did not conceal anything and told the Emei Sect disciples everything that happened along the way. Then, he brought out the jade ring that Mistress Annihilation had asked him to keep!

Against his expectations, however, when the Emei Sect disciples saw the jade ring Happy brought out, their expressions changed drastically, and they knelt down in extreme reverence.

“We, the disciples, greet the leader of the sect!”

“Urk…”

Happy was speechless.

Even though he did feel slightly smug and giddy when he saw the group of NPCs kneeling before him, it was clearly not the time for him to have his imagination run wild. He only had a bit of time left before the quest to investigate the whereabouts of the six great system-allocated sects came to an end. If he could not find the people from Ming Cult, he would not be considered to have completed the quest.

“Please, get up! Your mistress handed this to me as an authentication token to notify the six great sects and reveal the plot of the imperial court—”

“Young Swordsman Happy, please do not blame us for behaving this way.” An Emei Sect disciple got up and wrapped her fist in her palm before answering in an incredibly respectful manner. “The leader of Emei Sect has given an order that we are to treat the wearer of the jade ring as our leader. The person with the jade ring is akin to the leader of Emei Sect. This is enough to tell us just how much our mistress trusts you. Hence, if you have any orders, we will follow them!”

The system provided a notification.

“Ding!

“Obtained authentication token from Emei Sect. You can give orders to all Emei Sect disciples using the jade ring and make them to do your bidding. However, all of your orders must circulate around saving the six great sects.”

Once Happy received the specific details from the system, he understood that jade ring was extremely important!

“How many people do you have with you?”

“As of now, there are only four of us who entered the city. The other sisters are waiting outside. There is one hundred and seventy of us…”

‘Why are there so few of you?’ Happy criticized in his heart.

He had thought that if their numbers were greater, he might be able to take advantage of the situation while Zhang Wuji invaded Eternal Peace Temple at night and killed all of the Yang Dynasty soldiers over there.

One hundred and seventy-four people could not be considered to be a lot, but it was not little either. However, they did not seem to be able to accomplish anything great.

When Happy thought of that, he frowned and thought more about his situation.

‘Oh well. Right now, my most important task is to find Zhang Wuji and the others while I contact the disciples of the six sects to notify the whole world of martial artists.

‘If I can’t complete the quest in time, Zhang Wuji will definitely lead his people to Shaolin Temple and Wudang Sect first, just like in the original plot.

‘This quest is seriously wasting too much of my time.’

A thought bloomed in Happy’s head, and he quickly gave an order to the four Emei Sect disciples.

“Hurry up and send orders to the disciples outside the city to search for the people from Ming Cult, and send them news. Tell them that the elites of the six sects are imprisoned at Eternal Peace Temple, which is outside the city. Also, tell the world of martial artists that the imperial court has taken the elites of the six sects as hostage. They intend to be enemies with the entire world of martial artists.”

Two Emei Sect disciples left with his orders.

But Happy received a really terrible news on the second day.

Even though the people from Ming Cult received his news, they decided that it was not good for them to interfere in saving the six great sects, and they intended to first ask help from Shaolin Temple and Wudang Sect. Only once they got the reinforcements they needed would they launch the rescue mission.

When Happy thought about how much time would be required for their trip back and forth, his heart turned cold.

He remembered that because of the slaughter at Shaolin Temple and the matter at Wudang Sect, Zhang Wuji and his group were delayed for about half a month or more When they returned, the elites from the six great system-allocated sects had already starved so much that they were emaciated.

Of course, what caused Happy to be even more dispirited was that since he was bound by the quest, it meant that he had to lead a group of Emei Sect disciples every single day while they snuck around under the imperial court’s eyes.