Sword Among Us

On the second day, Happy still did not head to Purple Bamboo Forest. Instead, once he circulated his qi thrice using Complete Reality Qi Cultivation Technique, he left Gusu City and went to Cold Mountain Temple, which was located at the outskirts to the west.

The areas beyond the city were unsafe, but as long as people did not wander too far away from the city, they would not run into bandits or robbers. Bandits had intelligence and different levels. If Happy ran into a bandit who knew some martial arts, he would get killed in one strike, losing more than he gained from his venture outside.

Happy arrived at the temple and went into the forest in a manner of someone who knew his way around the area.

“What is he doing?”

“Don’t ask so many questions. Just follow him, and we’ll know when we see him.”

All the people who came out of the Murong Clan were very eye-catching. On his way to the temple, Happy caught the attention of some observant and ambitious people. They trailed him from behind, and when Happy went into the forest, they went in as well.

However, they were soon driven out…

There would never be a lack of wild beasts in the forest under Cold Mountain Temple. If anyone went inside recklessly, it was very normal for them to attract the attention of one or two wild wolves. Before they reached Gate Realm, unless the newbies had ample experience in handling wild beasts or had a great number of people in their party, it would be very difficult for them to escape the clutches of the beasts.

Happy did not know that his unwitting act would cause a few people from Gusu City to die. He just threw stones around to know which path was safe and carefully went into the forest. Then, he fixed his sights on a wild wolf who was separated from its pack.

Adult wild wolves were masters of the area around Cold Mountain Temple. They usually wandered about the forest in search of prey, and their fighting power was that of a martial artist who had just entered Gate Realm.

Happy’s target was one of them.

In World of Martial Arts, the level of realism of wild beasts was even greater than that of the NPCs; after all, it was easier to analyze and understand wild animals. Their instincts were rather basic and simple, and in terms of intelligence, they were much simpler than humans. The wild wolves in the game were similar to the fierce wolves in the real world. They were violent and brutal carnivores.

Happy came to the forest because he wanted to pick a wild wolf as his opponent in a real fight to the death so that he could get familiar with Shaolin’s Long Fist and increase the level of this technique. He could only understand the fundamentals of it through practice. If he wanted to truly understand the essence of the skill, he had to use it in a real fight.

The wild wolf immediately noticed a human entering its territory, and it was even a young boy. A cruel glare shone in the wolf’s light green eyes, and its limbs shuddered. Then, like an arrow fired from a bow, it flew towards Happy. It was even faster than an adult man.

When Happy entered the stance for Shaolin’s Long Fist, the adult wild wolf leaped into the air like a black specter. With its sharp claws, fangs, and the unpleasant smell unique to wild beasts’ mouths and nose, it pounced on Happy!

If any other new player faced a wild wolf for the first time, they would find it hard to remain calm and stationary in the face of such a fierce and swift pounce.

Happy remembered that when he first went out to experience a real fight, a wild wolf had approached them, and one of the three people in his party at that time had died moments later because they had been thrown into confusion. They did not even manage to hit the wild wolf with their skills, and in the end were forced to return to the city in dejection.

Of course, this time would not be the same.

Happy was confident in handling the wild wolf.

His eyes never left the wild wolf while each of Long Fist’s moves were clearly reflected in his mind. The starting stance, turn, and grapple were three easy moves. They would not only let him avoid the wild wolf’s claws, but the moment it passed by his side, he would go straight for its neck and seize it.

“Ha!”

With minimal power, Happy won against great power!

He turned around dexterously with his tiny body, and the adult wild wolf, which was much larger than him, was tossed away when he used the momentum to aid him. It crashed violently into a tree nearby and howled.

From the pain, the savage glare in its eyes became even brighter!

Happy shot a quick glance at his progress bar before his lips curled up. The level of his Long Fist had started increasing again. He had indeed come to the right place.

But the threat posed by the adult wild wolf still remained. If it gained the upper hand, it would be difficult to predict who would emerge as the victor of the fight.

The wolf roared!

Once it sensed Happy’s provocation, it violently clawed at the ground, and a few marks were left behind. The next moment, it disappeared from where it stood and was already high up in the air once more.

Adult wild wolves were cunning, but Happy was even quicker when it came to adapting to a situation. The moment the adult wild wolf moved, he took a quick step to take the initiative. Before the wild wolf’s speed reached its peak, he executed the seizing motion of Golden Dragon Stretches Claws and blocked off the adult wolf while it was in the air. Then, he punched it!

His Arm Strength might not be great, but if he hit the animal heavily in the face, it would not matter how powerful the beast was, since it would not be able to handle the blow.

The angry roar at the tip of its tongue turned into pained howls, and blood poured down nonstop from the corner of its lips.

While it was weakened, Happy would take its life!

Sea Swallows Drink Water!

Happy went to grab the wolf with his hands. He took hold of its fur and kicked the creature with all the force of his right leg!

Consecutive Kicks!

But despite his attacks, he only had a child’s strength. While the adult wolf howled in pain continuously, it did not receive any fatal damage, but Happy was not bothered by it. He was completely immersed in his plan to suppress the wolf.

Child Hugs Tree! Pummel Tiger Style!

He executed all the techniques within Shaolin’s Long Fist to his heart’s content. He was like a nimble forest walker that toyed with the adult wolf.

Every time the adult wolf tried to escape, Happy saw through its intentions because of foresight and would drag it back before dealing a few weak punches. When the adult wolf tried to bite him in retaliation, he immediately moved away or hit its face with a fierce blow.

The ferocity of the adult wolf slowly disappeared.

But Happy still did not let it go. He crushed the wild wolf’s leg and continued attacking it madly. Only when he used up all his strength did he finally kill the wolf.

“Ha…”

Once he received a Complete Wolf Pelt and a Big Chunk of Wolf Meat, Happy sat down cross-legged and executed Complete Reality Qi Cultivation Technique to restore his strength.

While he did not manage to use his skills to his heart’s content, the adult wolf had still been enough to increase the level of his Long Fist to the point where he could be considered to have gained a superficial understanding of the technique. The skill was at Level 15.7. This was the reward he received from fighting against a high level beast. If Happy had fought against a new player who was about the same level as him, the increase in level would have been much slower.

The level of one’s martial arts skills determined the level of their realm, offensive power, speed, and defense.

For example, Shaolin’s Long Fist was a technique that emphasized defense. The higher its level, the more power each of its styles would have.

In a more objective sense, if two saber wielders attacked each other, the victor would be decided by who was capable of blocking the other’s saber. This would mean that their defense had worked. The victor could also be decided by who managed to send the other’s weapon flying and drew blood.

But naturally, the victor in a martial arts match was never decided just by strength.

Body movements and the execution of skills were the main deciding factors!

It was well displayed in how Happy had fought against the adult wolf.

With its offensive power and speed, the wolf could kill many newbies, but once it ran into Happy, who had an extraordinary understanding toward martial arts, it was unable to fight back, let alone kill him.

His understanding of his own strength and his opponent’s strength as well as his understanding of his skills and how to execute them had maximized his lethality along with his ability to target the wolf’s weaknesses. With all this, he had managed to subjugate the adult wolf who had attacked him based on its instincts.

This was also why martial artists always tried to provoke their opponents before a battle.

A martial artist who could not remain calm would not be much stronger than a lethal beast in real battle.

Once Happy finished circulating his qi thrice, he quietly put away the wolf pelt and chunk of meat in his rucksack, placed it over his shoulder, and went deeper into the forest in search of more adult wolves that were walking by themselves!