But not a single peep was heard from behind him even after a long time had passed…
He turned his head around and looked back to find that Bai Lang had already put on his helmet to enter the game. It was unknown whether he had heard what Happy had said.
Happy felt extremely put out and rolled his eyes. He turned his head around and continued searching for the information he needed.
In truth, he could not be considered to be looking for information. Instead, he was hoping to find news regarding the situation near Gusu City from South China Martial Arts Ranking Board.
Every time he practiced the technique, he had to throw a throwing knife and hit his target if he wanted to increase his progress bar and level up. If he missed, he would not gain any experience, and that was the same as throwing his money into water.
Happy had already spent around 48,000 Ban Liangs outside Gusu City before he finally leveled up the skill up to the eighth realm. All the money he had earned previously that had made him a little rich was instantly gone like the wind.
The only thing that gave Happy some degree of satisfaction was that the requirements for a hidden weapons technique were as high as the requirements to increase one's qi realm!
He had looked for local rascals every single day and caused them trouble day and night by throwing away tons of money as if it were just pieces of paper. From this, his qi had increased by leaps and bounds from its initial four point something to the current eight point something.
If it were not for this discovery, Happy would have gone on strike a long time ago so that he could stop the money from flowing out from his wallet.
It was also because of this that he had to search for information about NPCs that were stronger than local rascals. He had to see whether there was a way to increase his Lancet Knife Throwing Technique to the ninth realm.
The lousy local rascals could no longer take more than a few knives when he used the Lancet Knife Throwing Technique at the eighth realm. If he let his guard down for a moment and threw a few more knives, his happy life would come to an end, and he would no longer have any rascals to serve as his free and endless EXP in the future.
This situation troubled Happy to no end.
Translator's Note:
[2] Wang Yuyan and Murong Fu: Both characters in Demi-gods and Semi-devils. They are cousins, and Wang Yuyan is originally obsessed with Murong Fu.
[3] Duan Yu: Also a character from Demi-gods and Semi-devils. In some renditions, Wang Yuyan ends up with Duan Yu.
[4] Dali Kingdom: a kingdom situated in modern Yunnan province, China from 937 until 1253 when it was conquered by the Mongols.
Chapter 21 - Small Black House
"Eldest senior brother!"
Soon after he returned to the game, Happy heard a strange address when he walked through the front yard, but he did not pay any attention to it. He continued walking forward until someone caught up to him from behind.
"Eldest senior brother."
It was only then that Happy realized that the person had been calling him. With a weirded out expression, he stopped, turned around, and stared at the man who had caught up to him. He was not unfamiliar with his face. He was a disciple who was in charge of chopping wood in the front yard, and he had yet to be taken into the clan as a real disciple.
"Are you calling me?"
"Yes, eldest senior brother. You're the first disciple in the Murong Clan, so it's only natural that you're our eldest senior brother! I've also just been taken in as a member of the Murong Clan by the butler. The butler asked me to learn from you, eldest senior brother."
The excitement on the man's face could not be hidden. He stared at the boy before him dressed in blue robes with his hand holding onto the Noble Sword and saw in him an elegant martial artist who wandered the lands. He did not care that he was older than the person before him. His eyes sparkled while he explained his reason for intruding upon him.
"Ah… ahaha. You flatter me. And you are?"
"Whirlwind Young Li. Senior brother, you can just call me Young Li Zi." Young Li spoke as if he was a machine gun, but he also had the boldness and heroism of a wandering martial artist, which left a good first impression on Happy.
He nodded and said, "I'm really not worthy of being known as your senior brother. My name is Happy, you can just call me Hap—"
"Alright, Eldest Senior Brother Happy!"
When he saw that his eldest senior brother did not put on airs, Young Li was even more excited. He addressed him by his name and title very seriously, and his earnest expression made Happy not know whether he wanted to laugh or cry.
Young Li then told him that he had received a quest to go out of the city. Happy nodded and agreed to chat with him while they did so.
"Eldest senior brother, no one can win against your fame in Gusu City!" Young Li's respectful tone and words stunned Happy.
"Fame? What fame?" Happy asked, curious.
He had been busy practicing his knife throwing technique lately, so he truly did not know that he had already received the title of Blue-robed Noble Sword User and Eldest Senior Brother of the Murong Clan. And those titles were acknowledged by all the players in Gusu City.
"Wow, you really don't know about it?"
Young Li looked at him with an exaggerated expression and let slip the information he had received over the last couple days. As it was becoming normal, he talked like a machine gun.
"Two Bloody Heroes came to Gusu City for a few days and challenged around a dozen pros. They were really cool, but both lost to your sword. They ran back to wherever they came from crestfallen a few days ago, so don't tell me that you aren't the reason for their departure.
"Also! There are very few people who can handle the rascals and ruffians in the taverns outside the city, but every single time you can retreat safely. Some people even said that you're using them to practice your martial arts. Someone also said that with your current abilities, you could easily complete the mission from the tavern and defeat those rascals.
"Do you want to tell all those are fabricated?"
"Two Bloody Heroes?"
Soon, Happy linked the title to Wu Hou and Luo Xiaotian, whom he had defeated on the road. He reckoned that it was their nickname, but he did not know that they had already challenged around a dozen experts in Gusu City...
But once he thought about it from another angle, he found that those people could actually not be called experts at all. They were all a bunch of greenhorns. Why were they pretending to be experts?
But when he heard Young Li talk about the rascals and ruffians, Happy could not help but be troubled!
He did not think that the other players would notice it so soon. It would seem that he would not be able to have exclusive rights to the rascals and ruffians in the future. When he thought about this, he could not help but find this matter regrettable.
"Haha, Eldest Senior Brother Happy, you're not disagreeing with my words, so you're acknowledging them, right? I knew it. The Murong Clan is the strongest in all of Gusu City. Heh heh, by looking at your deeds, I knew I came to the right place, eldest senior brother."
Young Li's smile grew brighter, and he began talking even more. "Tsk tsk, eldest senior brother, you already received the beautiful title of Blue-robed Noble Sword User. I wonder whether I, Young Li, will have such a resounding and elegant name in the future too."
Blue-robed Noble Sword User!
Was this going to be his nickname in the future?
Even though it made him sound like an outwardly attractive but worthless person and perhaps even like a wolf in sheep's clothing… it was still pretty good. It was simple and elegant.
He smiled in a self-deprecating manner. Happy did not say much to Young Li. He only listened quietly to him talk off the top of his head about Gusu City's situation.
Young Li attracted quite a lot of attention by walking beside the Blue-robed Noble Sword User, and his excitement could not be described with words. It was as if h
e wanted to achieve all his aspirations within his heart from that moment onwards.
When they reached the city gate, the two of them parted ways.
"Eldest Senior Brother Happy, if you have anything that needs to be done in the future, just give me a holler. I, Whirlwind Young Li, will definitely do a good job with whatever you ask of me, no matter how hard the task is!"
As he watched Young Li place his fist in his palm and step on the government-made road, Happy could not help but smile. He remembered himself when he had just joined World of Martial Arts. At that time, he was also like Young Li and spoke in the tone of the old wanderers who traveled the lands. He was filled with passion and enthusiasm, but later on…
When he remembered the regret he had when he missed the chance to fight against the other fifteen powerful martial artists in the Sword Among Us tournament in Mount Hua and how a certain someone set up that scheme at the foot of Shaoshi Mount, the smile on Happy's face gradually gained a hint of anguish and dejectedness.
The other was a person he had trusted.
But they made all the blood, sweat, and tears he paid over the three years end up in vain.
When he thought of this, Happy could not help but tighten his grip around the Noble Sword. His knuckles turned white, and he made an oath in his heart.
'I will definitely think of a way to reach the height I never managed to reach in my previous life, and I will stand at an even higher place compared to before!
'The strongest group of people in the legend… just you wait!
'One emperor!
'Two empresses!
'Three kings!
'Seven dukes!
'Thirteen aces!
'No matter who it is among you who set up that ambush at the foot of Shaoshi Mount, no matter who you are, even if you are a blessed child who inherited Nine Yin, Nine Yang, even if you are Dugu Qiubai's [1] disciple, and even if you are Sweeper Monk's [2] successor, I, Happy, will find you, regardless of how great your power is…
'I will fulfill the oath I swore before the Sword Among Us tournament at that time, and I will absolutely defeat all of you! I will make them sort out the ranks on the Heavenly Ranking Board of Ghost Valley Mystery Rank again!'
Translator's Note:
[1] Dugu Qiubai: a fictional character who is mentioned by name in three wuxia novels by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). He does not appear in any of the novels because he lived in an era long before the events of the novels took place. Nicknamed "Sword Devil" to reflect his prowess and devotion to the practice of swordplay, he attains the philosophical level of "swordsmanship without a sword", which means that he uses swordplay techniques in combat without the physical existence of a sword.
[2] Sweeper Monk: a nameless monk of unknown origin in charge of maintaining the library of Shaolin. The monk is very, very powerful.
Chapter 22 - Mini Storyline
In World of Martial Arts, training hidden weapons was the hardest, and it was even harder than practicing the bow.
Arrows and bows determined how much force was delivered when an arrow was fired. But for hidden weapons, the user's qi, sight, and technique were all required to be able to hit the target. Also, the amount of money required by hidden weapons was much higher than that of bows and arrows.
There were thirty-six knives in one set of lancet knives, and workshops would charge ten taels of silver crumbs to have them made. It was much more expensive compared to buying a quiver of twenty arrows for one tael of silver crumbs. Happy had dumped nearly all three thousand taels of his silver crumbs into making the throwing knives before his Lancet Knife Throwing Technique reached the eighth realm. This meant that he had thrown nearly ten thousand knives, and investing and subsequently using up this amount of money was something that was very burdensome to a new player.
However, since he had already done so much for this skill, Happy did not intend to stop just like that. No matter what, he had to make money to push his Lancet Knife Throwing Technique to the ninth realm.
For the time being, there were certain dangers to the higher missions and quests that would give loads of money. For a new player, those were too hard, so most of their income came from the wild beasts outdoors and the quests given to them by their sects.
The amount of money awarded by the sects for a completion of a quest was high, but the number of quests they issued were few, and Happy did not intend to snatch the very limited resources known as wild beasts from the new players. This meant that he had no choice but to cast his eyes on the rather dangerous areas outside the city!
There were fearsome beasts and mountain bandits there, and Happy's target was the mountain bandits because there should not be many people who dared to challenge them.
After all, while the value of fearsome beasts was much higher, the loot they dropped would occupy space in a Universal Bag, and it was extremely inconvenient for Happy to transport his loot back and forth. It was much better if he dealt with mountain bandits. When they died, they would almost certainly drop pieces of silver or silver certificates. The high-class ones would even drop martial arts manuals, and it was much more convenient to collect such things.
Once he went out of the city, Happy came to Suzhou Creek, which was about three miles away from the city…
"Mister boatman."
"Here! My dear customer, do you wish to cross the river?" The boatman quickly put away his fishing equipment and got down the boat to push it over.
"Yes. I'll have to trouble you."
Happy placed his fist in his palm and expressed his gratitude while he got on the boat.
"Hehe, you're far too polite."
The boatman had pretty good skills with the boat. The boat traveled very steadily across the river. When they reached the middle, the honest old man seemed to be in good spirits and began to sing his heart out.
Happy smiled and continued to sit cross-legged in silence. As the small boat rocked about, he listened to the song.
The boatman did not sing any gorgeous songs that were pleasant to the years, and there were no gentle or heroic tunes either. However, his honest voice drifted about the calm and peaceful river, managing to touch other people's hearts in another manner.
Boatmen rowed their boats for decades.
But who could tell whether this was a sad thing or whether it was a blessing that normal people would never be able to find and obtain?
There were plenty of rules in the world, and other people had plenty of thoughts regarding all sorts of matters, but the boatmen did not care about them, and neither did they need to care.
As the boat swayed and the boatman sang happily, Happy felt that his mood instantly lightened. He gradually unfolded his legs and leaned against the boat in a relaxed manner. With his sword in hand, he stared at the calm surface of the river. The ends of his hero's headband fluttered behind his head along with the wind, and it brought joy to him that he could not put into words.
Before long, the boat reached the other side of the river.
Once Happy paid the boat fare, he made preparations to disembark.
At that moment, a girl suddenly ran up the river port while sobbing. She was covered in dirt and staggered along the way. When she saw the boatman, she ran headfirst into his bosom while he stood transfixed on the ground, and bawled.
"Young Huan? Why didn't you stay at home? Why did you come here?"
The boatman was a man covered in wrinkles. He was alarmed when he saw the bawling girl, and as if realizing that something bad had happened, he quickly questioned her.
Happy could tell at first glance that he had walked straight into a mini storyline in the game, and he had triggered it with a stroke of 'good' luck. He frowned, but he was not in a hurry to leave.
"Sob… Grandpa! Mother… Mother was captured by bad people! Father was also injured by those people, and he's still coughing up blood… Sob… Grandpa, those bad people even said that if we reported this to the officials, they would burn our village next time… What shoul
d I do? I want my mother…"
The boatman was troubled greatly. He stomped his feet repeatedly.
"It must be those thrice cursed bandits from Black Wind Mountain. They must have come here to bring harm to the villagers again.
"Xiu Niang… Oh, what are we supposed to do with Xiu Niang [1]?!"
The honest boatman who had only rowed his boat all his life was also a little stupefied for a time. He simply did not know what to do, so he just held his granddaughter and cried.
"Are you willing to help save the boatman's son and Young Huan's mother?" Just as expected, the system sent Happy a notification and made things hard for him.
He frowned deeper.
If he were to only kill a few bandits, he could do it. He could also easily save the boatman's son with just one Jinchuang Ointment, but if he were to go to Black Wind Mountain to save Young Huan's mother…
Honestly, up to this date, there had yet to be a player who could survive going to Black Wind Mountain on a rescue trip!
Logic told Happy that… he should not accept this mission.
But if anything were to be blamed, then the design of World of Martial Arts had to be blamed, because everything in the game was too real. Happy just could not harden his heart enough to ignore Young Huan despairing cries and sadness or to leave the old boatman weeping helplessly.
Black Wind Mountain!
If that were the case, then he might as well try.
'Fortunately for me, I have some extraordinary skills. Let's see… I have Shaolin's Long Fist, Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword, and Lancet Knife Throwing Technique.' Happy tried to comfort himself in a rather self-deprecating manner.
He walked to the duo who held each other and wept and said, "Old boatman, Young Huan, please, get up first! Black Wind Mountain has done evil to your village. As a disciple of the Murong Clan, I, Happy, cannot just ignore it. How about this? Bring me to your village first. I will first save Young Huan's father, and then, I'll think of a way to save her mother."
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