Chapter 13 - Clan Quest
There was an ancient saying in China: Picked up the sesame seeds, but overlooked the watermelons.
The message behind it was to not be obsessed with the trivial matters before one's eyes. Everyone needed to widen their horizons and observe the entire situation, or else, they would lose much more valuable things.
To Happy, the Refined Steel Sword and money on Li Shan were the sesame seeds, while Li Shan himself was the watermelon!
In his previous life, many new players learned of this strategy later on and killed the local rascals for their Refined Steel Swords, manuals, and hundreds of taels of silver crumbs once they tormented the local rascals until they had no more strength left. After their deaths, the players could pick up their rewards.
But later, when they found more local rascals, the rascals would start avoiding them, or they would refuse to show their dastardly nature even on pain of death. They would act just like any other normal NPC, giving the players no chance or reason to attack.
In his fight against Li Shan, Happy whittled down Li Shan's strength and stamina until the rascal was completely spent. If he then went over and delivered a fatal blow using his now ninth realm Shaolin's Long Fist, he could easily kill Li Shan and receive the hundreds of taels of silver crumbs and Refined Steel Sword from him.
But Happy did not do so.
He pretended that he was spent and rested on the spot for some time while gasping for breath. He then shot a glance at Li Shan, who had also recovered some strength and was now glaring at him fiercely, and turned tail. He quickly left Li Shan's sight and returned to the city.
As long as Li Shan did not die, all the local rascals in World of Martial Arts would not receive the news about Happy's strength, and they would not be afraid of him. Perhaps the next time they met, Li Shan would still say that he would cripple Happy and rush at him while flinging all caution to the wind.
This was what Happy wanted!
Player: Happy.
A.S.S: 27, AFF: 18, CPH: 26, BMM: 21.
Shaolin's Long Fist placed an emphasis on strength, so his Arm Strength had increased by three points. Happy was not surprised by that. His Body Movement had increased a little as well, which was the result of his recent fight against the wild wolves, but it was only a minor upgrade.
The important part was that his Comprehension had increased!
His Shaolin's Long Fist had entered the ninth realm, and it could now produce a faint thunderous boom. This meant that the last couple days of hard work had not been a waste. He finally had a martial art that he could bring to the table.
Happy let out a relaxed breath and smiled a little.
If he put in the level of his Shaolin's Long Fist into the South China Martial Arts Ranking Board, he should be able to get into the top thirty or twenty, right?
But that was not important.
It would become increasingly difficult to increase his realm starting from the ninth realm. The process of leveling his martial art from Level 80 to Level 90, which was the tenth realm, was very difficult, and he would progress at a snail's pace. He would no longer be able to rely on small tricks to swiftly reach a breakthrough, and if he wanted to reach the eleventh realm and achieve completion by reaching Level 99.99 from Level 90, he would have to devote all his attention to investigate and repeatedly practice the art to reach Grandmaster Realm.
Even if he did have one, since his qi was weak, he would have an incredibly high chance of dying if he engaged them. Hence, Happy decided to first set aside Shaolin's Long Fist and dig into another skill.
When he returned to Murong Mansion, he went to the front yard to look for the butler!
The young men and women he had seen multiple times over the past few days were still at their tasks at the front yard. They either cut wood, watered the plants, or practiced the simple qi cultivation techniques the butler had given to them. They did not interfere with each other.
When he noticed Happy coming over, the butler put on an amiable face and turned toward him.
"Ah, Happy, it's you. The lady has already told me about you. Since you are now Murong Clan's inner sect disciple, are you willing to contribute to the Murong Clan's quest to rule the land?" When he reached the later part of his speech, his expression turned stern.
The people who were working in the front yard had expressions that said they could not believe what they just heard.
They had been working for all that time, and they were just temporarily part of Murong Clan. They only did normal errands and had yet to pass Murong Clan's test to become a real disciple.
Yet the new boy who often went in and out of the inner court had become a disciple and began to receive clan quests from the Murong Clan. Everyone was instantly envious and jealous, and they quickly turned to look at him.
Happy acted as if the gazes around him did not exist. He wrapped his fist in his palm and answered, "Do you have anything that you need me to do?"
"Yes." The butler nodded in satisfaction. "This is what happened. Recently, a piece of news has been circulating in Gusu City. It is said that a group of tomb robbers has fled here, and a number of royal tombs have been opened. All the burial goods in the tombs were taken.
"The law enforcers from Six Doors might have deployed a number of people, but they only protect the tombs belonging to the royal family and the government officials. For the last few days, I have been worried. If anything happens to Murong Clan's tombs, as Murong Clan's butler, I will have difficulty absolving myself from the blame!"
He paused for a moment before giving Happy a deep look. "So I have decided to send you to investigate this matter. Once night falls, you will guard the tomb. If you notice any tomb robbers, fire this signal. I will rush over with our men."
"Yes!"
The moment he said that, Happy heard a notification from the system.
"Received 'Pursue Tomb Robbers' quest. Level: Unknown. Reward: Unknown."
'An unknown quest?'
This meant that the quest could be very simple, but the difficulty could also increase based on how things progressed. It was a quest with variables.
Usually, this sort of quest was difficult to complete!
When Happy heard the system notification, he did not say anything. He gingerly received the signal flare from the butler and tucked it away. Then, without asking any questions, he bade farewell to the butler. The day was beginning to darken and the cemetery was beyond the city, so he was on a very tight schedule.
"How did he manage to become Murong Clan's disciple so fast?"
"That's right, I even arrived a few days ahead of him."
"Damn it…"
"It's so unfair!"
Some of those who had worked longer felt that things were unfair.
"Unfair? Who knows? Didn't the official website mention that many things in World of Martial Arts rely on chance? I think he's just luckier than we are… Aren't we the same? Compared to the people outside, we are also lucky to be able to get into Gusu City's Murong Clan. You can't say that you won't allow someone else to be luckier than us, right?" said a teenager who hadn't grumbled once since the beginning. He had a smile.
From the moment Happy appeared until the moment he left, this teenager had kept watering the plants quietly. The only change about him was that the persistence and resolution in his eyes had become even stronger!
"What use is there to luck?!" the player who was the first to speak tutted with abnormal seriousness. "Once I become Murong Clan's disciple, he will be the first person I'll surpass! Opportunities? Chances? It's nothing! Let's see how long he can continue being so conceited!"
The others did not say anything, but they did not grumble either. Their eyes shone, and they trained even harder.
Murong Clan tombs were different from normal tombs.
Each member of the Murong Clan, regardless of whether they were men or women, were all famous martial artists. When they were alive, they were outstanding people, and when
they died… they were still heroes among ghosts! Hence, even their tombs were connected to the graves of their swords!
Huge swords stood tall at their tombstones! Each saber was buried deep underground, and all handles were bound together by a steel chain the thickness of a thumb. With the exquisite and grand square stone tombs, the cemetery instantly turned into a battlefield whose sword aura surged into the sky!
However, a few sneaky figures ruined this awe-inspiring and solemn atmosphere under the moonlight!
Chapter 14 - Tomb Robbery Quest
"Discovered tomb robbers!"
The system sent Happy the notification the moment the tomb robbers arrived. It asked him whether he wanted to immediately fire the signal and request reinforcements from the Murong Clan so he could temporarily resolve the crisis of the sword tombs being dug out or whether he wanted to personally go over and take a look at what was going on before requesting backup.
The quest was indeed not simple: He could make choices.
The system notification also gave him clear directions. If he immediately fired the signal flare, he would definitely alarm the tomb robbers in the sword tomb and make them flee.
If he did that, he would at most complete a low level quest, and the rewards would be very small. With that being the case, it would be better to observe the situation first to see if he could discover something.
Once he made his decision, Happy quietly went behind the sword tomb and drew closer to the robbers…
Due to the huge metal sword and chains surrounding the area, the tomb robbers had a lot of trouble entering the tomb. Their progress was very slow.
Happy quietly turned his body sideways while hiding in the shadows of a sword tomb. He then realized that the tools the tomb robbers used were not very professional. They were all farm tools, like hoes, shovels, hand planes, and others.
The two scouts sent to watch the foot of the mountain for any signs of activity did it with great nervousness. They would also occasionally turn their heads around to observe the progress of the digging crew up in the tomb.
"Hurry up!" one of them urged anxiously with a hiss.
The Murong Clan was not a force that could be underestimated. If anyone noticed them, they could forget about having an easy life in Gusu City and even the entire Jiangnan!
"Could you stop urging us to be faster? The bricks in this tomb are too strange, alright? YOU can do it yourself if you want."
The man working hard on digging the tomb grumbled and put down his tools. He spat on his palms and rubbed his hands together before he grabbed the shovel and continued working.
"The stranger they are, the better. I heard that the harder it is to dig the tomb, the more treasures there are in it. The Murong Clan is the most reputable family in Jiangnan. Think about it, there will definitely be a lot of grave goods in their tombs."
"That's right. Everyone, let's hurry up. Once we're done with this, we'll never have to be poor again."
"Let's hurry!"
The group was motivated once more, and the digging sounds rose and fell from the sword tomb again.
Happy listened in the dark and understood what was happening. It instantly made him depressed.
'Oh, come on…'
He had thought that there was a very skilled and organized group of tomb robbers, but based on the conversation he heard, it seemed like those people were first timers. They knew nothing and seemed like a group of normal villagers.
Yet if that were the truth, the quest would not be very attractive. With his current abilities, Happy would have no problem in defeating a few normal people.
If Happy were a normal newbie, he would have definitely been slightly puzzled.
But since he wasn't one, a different thought came to his mind, and he instantly lay down in the shadows behind the tomb. He then saw a group of martial artists come into the Murong Clan tomb.
"Who is it?"
"Run! It's the people from the Murong Clan!"
The two villagers in charge of scouting discovered the black figures approaching them, and their faces instantly turned stark pale. They cried out in surprise and abandoned their tools to flee from the upcoming danger.
"Haha, boss, we ran into our peers!" said a person drawing closer from the south of the sword tomb. He laughed as he walked closer and spoke in a loud voice.
Before he even finished speaking, a cold and serious snort came from even further away. "You bunch of reckless fools, how dare you use our name to rob this tomb? Beard, make sure all of them stay. Once we're done, throw them into the tomb. It'll save us some trouble."
As the man spoke, his murderous intent was revealed, and it further added to the villagers' panic.
They had thought that they had ran into the Murong Clan, so they hadn't expected that the newcomers would be the tomb robbers who had repeatedly robbed the royal tombs! And by the sound of it, they were even people who killed without batting an eye.
"Boss, please spare us."
"Don't kill me!"
The villagers fled everywhere with ash pale faces.
However, after a few cold barks of laughter and the sound of wind roaring rose into the air, the villagers who dreamed about becoming rich were pinned to the ground. One of them fell beside Happy, but he was not dead yet. His eyes were wide open, and he pointed at the boy in the shadow while saying laboriously, "Catch… Catch them…"
Then, he breathed his last.
Even though Happy knew that everything before him was just fabricated by Artificial Intelligence (AI), the display of humanity in the NPCs and the feeling he had when he saw it made him sense the indignation, regret, and the sentimental attachment toward life the villagers had before they died.
His expression turned gloomy.
"Boss, they're all dealt with."
"Hmph."
"At least these people didn't die in vain. They did help us do some work."
"Alright, enough talk. Get to work!"
The dialogue between the tomb robbers made Happy snap out of his dejected mood. His gaze cleared, and he held his breath. His thoughts raced as he lay hidden behind the tomb.
There was no doubt that the people before him were the tomb robbers who had been very active lately, and they were his real targets.
'If I hadn't chosen to observe the situation, I might have missed this group of real villains…' Happy felt that the situation was very grave. In truth, he was in a rather difficult position.
The tomb raider group was not large, since there were only three people in it.
But all of them were people who could kill others without batting an eye.
They were also much more powerful than Villain Li Shan. Happy might be able to stop them from digging up the tomb if he fired the signal, but that would also reveal himself.
To three villains who killed without batting an eye, especially tomb robbers who possessed hidden weapons, it was very easy to kill a normal player who was new to the game and had yet to even reach Gate Realm!
Happy agonized over whether he should fire the signal flare or continue hiding until the tomb raiders left on their own after they dug out the grave goods in the tomb.
He was troubled.
Yet the system gave him no new prompts!
In the silent night, the sounds of digging could be heard again.
'If I die, then so be it!'
A hint of resolution and decisiveness flashed in Happy's eyes. He quietly took a few steps back until he was a few tombs away from the tomb robbers and dug out the signal flare.
Hiss!
A frightening spark and a faint sound suddenly rose in the quiet shadows of the night.
"Someone's here!"
"Third!"
The three tomb robbers jumped out of the tomb at the same time. They were just in time to witness a fire-red light shoot into the sky and the figure of a boy be completely revealed at the spot where the light had arisen. He was at the gate of the cemetery, and he was heading down the mountain. Th
is both shocked and enraged the tomb robbers.
"It's the signal flare from the Murong Clan!"
"We've been discovered…"
"What should we do?"
Two of the tomb robbers went to chase after Happy while waiting for their leader's decision.
Their leader was a middle-aged man with a ruthless face. He was pale, and his expression was cold and harsh.
"He should be a disciple recently taken in by the Murong Clan, so he is not very skilled. It's a pity, but he saw our faces. Third, chase him down and kill him. Then, we'll immediately leave. Meet up with us at our old place." Once he said that, he turned around and walked away.
"Got it!" Third said.
The other tomb robber who had been involved in the chase turned around without hesitation and left the area as well.
Chapter 15 - Losing Way in the Tomb
"Successfully fired signal flare. Last for the time it takes an incense stick to burn [1] in the hands of Third Tomb Robber!"
The notification from the system made Happy overjoyed.
When he saw that two of the three villains in Gate Realm left and only Third came to chase after him, he instantly felt his spirits rise, because the light of hope had just shone on him when he was in despair.
While Third was good at using hidden weapons and was also the best when it came to the lightness skill, Happy was not the normal amateur that the three tomb robbers expected.
Even though Happy's qi was weak and he was unarmed, he believed that he still had a chance to defend himself and survive if he were up against Third alone.
Hiss!
The sound of wind being sliced charged towards him. Happy listened to the sound of the wind to determine where it came from and rolled forward without bothering about his image. He then jumped backwards and avoided a lancet knife that went past him.
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