Before he knew it, he found a patch of grass and leaned against a tree in a lackadaisical manner. It was only then that he felt his emotions calm down slightly. However, his gaze was still somewhat dazed and full of dejection.
When he met Xu Yao, the girl to whom he had dated for around two years in his previous life, again, Happy felt angry, but he also felt a hint of surprise and calmness in his heart. Perhaps it was because of the sense of distance between the two of them along with the instinctive aversion he had gained toward her, but a d.e.s.i.r.e to not persist in taking revenge and jump out of the pool of hatred and do something else stemmed in him.
Watching all the work he had done in three years turn to dust had pained him greatly, but in the new life, was there a need to hang on to the grudge from his previous life? Was there a need for him to bring everyone down the path of what had happened in his previous life? Was he to make the tragedy happen again?
Happy felt a little averse to the idea!
No one would want to have old wounds be torn open again.
Once a person was injured, was it not enough for them to search for a corner and lick their wounds so they would slowly recover? Why did they have to persist in harming themselves and others?
"Whew."
With that thought in mind, Happy exhaled deeply. He leaned against the trunk of the tree behind him, and the sense of a sturdy support relaxed him.
Soon, he fell asleep just like that, resting against the tree trunk.
He did not notice that the bell for dismissal had rung, and a crowd had appeared on the path because of it. Xu Yao parked her bicycle not too far away and looked in Happy's direction with a complicated and confused gaze—Happy had taken the spot in which she usually loved to linger.
*****
"You're back?"
When Happy returned to the dorm, the Three Lonely Wolves were already there. Xu Xin waved at him with a smile on her face from where she sat on her chair.
"Yo, the beauty is here, eh? Our humble and simple abode has been graced by your presence—"
When he said this, Happy suddenly stopped talking. He cast a curious glance at the four people in the room. For some reason, he felt that the expressions and the smiles of the three boys and one girl were slightly strange. There was a profound meaning to them that made goosebumps appear all over his skin.
"Ahem!" Chen Fan coughed and rose up. He ignored the stunned look on Happy's face, walked over, and patted his shoulder heavily. "Not bad, you sure are loyal. You'll have good things happen to you if you're so loyal to Sweet Little Xin Xin."
Happy aimed a warning look at Chen Fan that made the other boy's skin crawl, and he quickly left.
"Good luck."
Bai Lang soon followed after Chen Fan. He came over and patted Happy's shoulder. Then, under Happy's baffled gaze, he walked out of the dorm.
The last was Qi Ci.
He was even more over-the-top than the other two. He snapped his fingers and looked at Happy with a sideways glance. Acting cool, he said a classic line from many movie scripts.
"I have high hopes for you, boy."
When he said that, he walked out of the dorm as well, and only Happy and Xu Xin were left.
Happy was confused. He did not know whether the trio had run into a wall and knocked themselves silly.
The girl was filled with a peeved because of embarrassment and felt very uneasy.
"What's going on? What's with them today? Do they have a few screws loose in their heads?" Happy had a vague feeling that there was something wrong. He could only ask for answers from Xu Xin.
She rolled her eyes in a mischievous manner and tilted her head to the side.
"Have you forgotten what you've done?" Her tone was not very bold and confident, but she sounded suspiciously like she was trying to direct her anger on him right then.
"... What did I do?" Happy blinked, feeling very innocent.
Then, from Xu Xin's explanations, he finally understood that his actions of giving the cold shoulder to the Great Beauty of the disciplinary committee, Xu Yao, twice—on the road to the university and the cafeteria—had already spread through all of the University of South China. A number of people began to guess whether he had lost the courage to come into contact with any beauties in the university because of Xu Xin.
Of course, there was another version of the story too. They said that after Xu Xin rejected him, he became a pessimistic person and turned immune to the charms of all beautiful women. He would be averse to them on an instinctual level. To put it in common terms, Happy's psychological trauma had caused him to act abnormally!
They knew that the two of them could now be in each other's presence in a relaxed manner, and there was good cooperation between them. They also had a very good and optimistic view toward the development of their relationship in the future. Naturally, they thought that Chen Kaixin had rejected to be interviewed by Xu Yao because the Great Beauty Xu Yao had taken a fancy of their new rising star—Happy.
"I see, so that's how it is." Happy released a sigh of relief, as if a great burden had been taken off his shoulders.
Xu Xin's petite face grew larger in his field of vision as she drew closer to him quietly. The curious little baby approached Happy.
"What's going on with you? Why did you reject Xu Xin? I heard that she's the woman of many boys' dreams. She's the type of beautiful girl who can be brought out to be showed off, and she can also take care of the house."
"Listen to your own nonsense. Compared to beauties like Xu Yao who are darlings to everyone else, I prefer quiet girls like you more, and you're innocent and lively as well. Hey, don't go blushing now. You're the one who started joking with me first."
When he saw that Xu Xin's blush reach her collarbone, making her look even more delicate and charming, Happy immediately knew that he went too far with his joke, and he quickly tried to save the situation.
"Hmph." Xu Xin turned her red face to the side. She looked quite angry, but the red on her face began to fade However, there was still a slight hint of amus.e.m.e.nt that Happy could not see in her eyes.
"No wonder the Great Beauty of the disciplinary committee is so angry. That mouth of yours must have thoroughly offended her."
She paused for a moment before she changed the topic with a slightly red face.
"By the way, do you have time now? Beautiful Robes Faction has been built for quite some time. They've already taken in more than five thousand students from the University of Southern China. The structure of the faction has been built as well, but for now we lack strong players, and everyone is scattered in different cities.
"Our ability to unify everyone isn't yet strong, and I would even call it rather weak. We can only be considered as a normal third-class sect. We've been thinking to push you to the forefront, since you're ranked at third place on the Famous People Rank."
"I… don't mind." When the topic became more serious, Happy swiftly shifted his mindset to the appropriate train of thought. "But there are pros and cons in me joining Beautiful Robes Faction right now. The popularity of the faction will naturally increase swiftly, but the overall strength will not change that much."
Xu Xin fell into silence after hearing his words.
"Also, you know that while Class One Hall lost fair and square in the quest, to them, this means that I provoked their might. With the methods those big organizations use, even if they don't take any action against me for the foreseeable future, some day, they will definitely find a chance to get back at me."
"Class One Hall?" Xu Xin frowned. It was only natural that she knew about that matter. "Then what should we do?"
"I'll be a member-in-name and support Beautiful Robes Faction in secret. I'll join when there are major quests or operations, but I won't join Beautiful Robes Faction officially. Only when Beautiful Robes Faction can stand against top-class sects with its own strength will I join."
"That works as well."
Chen Fan, Bai Lang, and Qi Ci wa
lked in at that moment.
It would seem like the three of them had been eavesdropping outside the door.
Qi Ci nodded and said, "Aside from Class One Hall, you've also humiliated quite a number of organizations and guilds. If they learn that you are connected to Beautiful Robes Faction, out development will definitely be held back. This seems like the best solution.
"By the way, I heard that you bought a few high-tier martial art manuals from Luoyang City. Why don't you sell them to the others at a fixed price? There are still a few of us in the university who can buy the manuals. If the others can't, I'll buy one."
Qi Ci patted his c.h.e.s.t in a bold and heroic manner. He was already considered a millionaire in the university.
"I managed to buy three manuals from the plaza, but they're too few in comparison to all the members in the sect. The manuals are also in high-demand. Hmm… I'll go to a few places and farm for a few books later."
When he said that, Happy suddenly felt alarmed, and he quickly stopped talking.
A look around showed him that the others were staring at him as if they were looking at a monster.
Right then, high-tier martial art manuals would only drop from Mystical Realm or higher qi realm NPCs aside from storyline and sect quests. Only some of the rather powerful guilds would organize parties to surround and attack such NPCs. They definitely did not find farming high-tier martial art manuals as easy as Happy had made it out to be. He made it seem as if it was as easy as breathing and talking...
Chapter 164 - Forbidden Grounds of Luoyang
There was a place outside Luoyang City that was known as forbidden grounds in the players' hearts.
It was a mass grave…
The place was disorderly and humid. It was a grave that was incredibly ghastly, and will-o'-the-wisps could be seen floating in the area around it.
There were zombies wandering about regardless of whether it was night or day. They were dressed in black government official robes and wore a round hat on their heads. Their arms were held straight, and their terrifying faces were savage but dull. They were not agile.
Their knees would bend before they leapt, and they would jump several feet into the distance. When they landed, a small pit would appear. They looked like clumsy but powerful martial artists when they moved.
The headquarters of Corpse Sect, which shared an equal status with Heaven's Secret Valley, which was the strongest sect among the sects that sided with justice, lay there. Corpse Sect was the strongest evil and deviant sect that practiced puppetry. They relied on capturing the corpses of various powerful martial artists to create zombies that would not lose to the puppets from Heaven's Secret Valley in terms of battle power.
Their zombies had long since made their names known in the world of martial artists!
Corpse Sect used their secret techniques to maintain them in good condition. All zombies retained their muscles and bones from when they were alive! There were also some fighting instincts left in their bodies. They could use some of the skills they had practiced before.
More terrifying was the fact that there was some brass polish on the skin of the corpses. After they were dipped in it, the sturdiness of their physical bodies could even rival masterpieces, and it was difficult for normal weapons to harm them.
The zombies themselves also had abilities that rivaled the abilities of martial artists in Mystical Realm. As of then, no player or guild would dare to get close to the mass grave. However, that did not mean that there had not been plenty of players who had rashly entered the mass grave since World of Martial Arts had been launched. All of them had been hunted down by the zombies and had their corpses buried in the mass grave.
That was how the mass grave gained its fearsome name.
However, on that day, a person came to visit the mass grave as a guest.
He had dashing eyebrows and fluttering blue robes. With a few agile jumps, he treated all the ghastly tombs that filled his vision as if they were nothing. Not a speck of dust touched his feet when he entered the depths of the mass grave, causing the few people who followed behind him from the distance to look at each other at a loss. They nearly bit through their own tongues because of their shock!
One of them was stunned speechless.
"What should we do?"
"Darn it, he knows that we're behind him!"
"Cut the bull crap, if he really wanted to shake us off, wouldn't it be better if he just turned around and killed us? Do you actually think that the zombies in the mass grave are easier to deal with than us?"
"Then what should we do now?"
"There's nothing we can do. We definitely can't enter the mass grave. Guard this place. I'll send a letter and tell the sect master. We'll let him decide." One of the people sighed and quickly wrote a letter before he had a messenger pigeon take it away.
The other people looked at the tombs that protruded from the ground and were enveloped in a thick miasma. They could see a few black figures moving about in the fog, and they could not help the crawling sensation on their skin.
Perhaps there was no sane human who would do something as crazy as facing a group of Mystical Realm zombies. After seeing someone actually do it, the pursuers quickly formed a conclusion about the young blue-robed man.
"That guy's mad."
In truth, even if they had accepted the task, they did not know about their target's identity. They only knew that they were to follow him and observe where he went and what he did.
Soon, the messenger pigeon returned.
The person who received the letter turned his head around slowly.
"Boss said that we can leave now."
"Urk, doesn't that mean that we just worked for nothing?"
"What else do you want to do?"
Even though the people said that, in truth, they still held a little bit of anticipation in their hearts.
The mass graves was a forbidden ground!
The more dangerous something was, the more attractive it was to a player.
Of course, most rational people would not choose to step into a place which was too dangerous, especially a place like that which had all sorts of bombs buried everywhere.
But what they did not know was that the person who went into the mass grave, which was the headquarters of Corpse Sect, was Happy. He was the person ranked in third place on the Famous People Rank and discussed by countless players fervently!
This was because Happy had performed several major feats continuously. He spilled blood all over the temple in Mount Song, fought against Class One Hall in Punishment Mount, broke through multiple encirclements, gained the title of Killer Star, and even found a way to prevent the diviners from locating him. Many of the players even said that Happy's name not only surpassed that of the hall master of Class One Hall, but also began to overshadow Quicksword Xiao Shan and North Placating Duke!
However, the Famous People Rank had not changed for a long time, and Happy still remained at third place.
Because of it, arguments arose.
He was in a gloomy mood right then. Why did his momentary slip of the tongue bring such a huge problem and responsibility to him?
Even though he tried his best to make things clear and smooth things over, the Three Lonely Wolves still allocated him the task of handing in at least one assignment (high-tier martial art manual) per day. They even made it sound nice by saying that it was to strengthen Beautiful Robes Faction, which could also indirectly boost the fame and influence of South China Martial Arts Ranking Board!
Fortunately, the task was not too hard.
Besides, before the task was even given to him, he had thought to farm high-tier martial art manuals and earn a huge bucket of money while there was still a lack of high-tier martial art manuals in the market. At the very least, he would not have wasted all his time after he returned to the past.
However, while there were plenty of places that dropped high-tier martial arts, he did not know many that dropped high-tier marti
al arts that could be learned by those in Blessed Realm. He only remembered a few rather popular places.
Happy had actually once come to Luoyang City because he had been attracted by the fame of the mass grave. He had trained there for some time and knew that Thousand Corpse Hands—a poisonous palm technique—which was of pretty good quality, dropped from the zombies. There was also a chance that the corresponding high-tier martial art would drop as well—Ten Thousand Poisonous Palms!
Even though Ten Thousand Poisonous Palms was an unorthodox martial art, the wind stirred up by the palms would cause others to feel nauseous when they were engaged in close-quarters combat. Those without experience would be easily affected, and the damage of Ten Thousand Poisonous Palms was extraordinary. It was considered a rather good high-tier martial art at Blessed Realm.
The zombies were not stronger than the Mystical Realm monks who had broken their Buddhist vows. However, their fearless fighting methods were rather troublesome, and their poison techniques were also difficult to handle.
Happy brought a lot of antidotes with him because of that. He was prepared for them.
And yet, soon after he entered the depths of the mass grave, two loud booms signalling that something was charging through the air suddenly came from ahead of him. Two zombies dressed in coarse, gray clothes shot out from behind tombs with withered faces and terrifying expressions. They pounced on Happy as quickly as lightning.
Happy said nothing, but he was alarmed!
But he did not panic. He stopped moving forward, and the saber glare of his Hundred-battle Saber increased exponentially! The dark blue saber glare instantly swept past the bodies of the two zombies.
Bang! Bang!
The sounds of something crashing into something else with a solid thump rose. The two zombies clad in gray robes were flung to the side by Happy's hasty slash.
When he saw that the danger had been resolved, Happy did not become happy, but alarmed! He bent his knees and jumped several feet back. With a solemn look on his face, he swept his gaze around the area with increased wariness!
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