"We'll be rich this time, it's Nian! Haha! Hurry! If someone else sees it, it won't be good for us."
"It's running!"
"Idiot! Open up a gap in our encirclement! The people standing in the direction of the forest, move! Chase it into the forest and don't let others see it!"
The group took action while talking all at once.
Those people were all members of the same sect. They had formed a party to carry out a mission in an area near Wuhu, but they did not expect that a strange-looking creature would suddenly rush over from outside the government-made road as if there was nothing going on around it. It did not treat them as anything important and just grazed on the grass outside like a normal cow.
The party originally did not treat this as anything important either. The only problem was that the yellow creature was too eye-catching, and there was also a very clear Chinese character for year[1] carved on its forehead!
"Nian!"
Once the group approached it, someone cried out, and the entire party instantly burned with excitement.
For the last couple days, the people in the game and the official forums had been talking about Nian.
It was rumored that it respawned at different spots in the server and was very rare. However, each Nian seemed to have quite a lot of good items.
It was said that some of the normal players with quite good luck but had really bad abilities had obtained ten gold ingots and an entire set of high-tier martial art manuals that could be practiced at Blessed Realm through Nian. Then, they received the invitation from a few sects, which was something that many players found very awesome.
Because a Nian was very easy to deal with, a person could become rich and powerful overnight. This led to a hot trend of searching for Nian in World of Martial Arts.
Once they recognized Nian, the players had become incredibly excited, but they soon calmed down.
They deliberately let Nian run, and the startled beast panted as it fled. It did its best to run into the direction of the forest in an attempt to shake off the "monsters" that were swinging their weapons savagely behind it.
The party chased after it in excitement and ran into the unknown forest. When they entered the depths, they surrounded Nian again.
"We're rich! We're going to be stinking rich!"
"Heh heh, I wonder what Nian will give us."
"It's a pity there's only one."
The pitiful and honest-looking Nian was surrounded by a group of people while they talked to each other nonstop. It raised its hooves and paced around uneasily. It was shaking from its terror.
"Enough with the bullcrap! Let's just kill it before anything else!"
"Attack!"
All the players activated their qi realms. Most of them were Blessed Realm, but one of them even revealed the astonishing presence of a martial artist in Mystical Realm. A Ghost Head Saber showed up, and it was incredibly domineering. When the player swung it, it shone with a saber glare that could easily slice through anything. The damage the saber dealt was higher than the overall damage of all the others on Nian.
"As expected of a grade one masterpiece."
The party noticed that every time the person in Mystical Realm attacked, the pained cries from Nian would be abnormally loud, as if it was truly hurt. Their expressions grew wary because of that.
Even though they were together, only the person who dealt the greatest damage would be able to obtain the loot from the corpses or carcasses in the game. If the others wanted to get the loot, they would have to wait for three minutes before the loot protection went away.
Unless something happened, once Nian died, the items that it dropped would definitely belong to the Mystical Realm player.
Nian had plenty of golden ingots that were worth a huge sum, and it also had high-tier martial art manuals! The temptation of more than ten thousand RMB was very fatal to a normal player.
When Nian was injured rather badly, the joy on the Mystical Realm player's face grew more prominent, and he worked even harder to attack it, as if he had already obtained the system's notification telling him that Nian's items belonged to him. His actions became faster.
The others attacking Nian in the encirclement hesitated, and they slowed down their attack speed.
Chapter 214 - Crazy Man? Embroidery Needles!
"Orange, how are you going to thank us with the items Nian drops later?" After an oppressive silence, one of the people chuckled and questioned the man in Mystical Realm. "I heard that Nian will not just drop gold ingots, but high-tier martial art manuals and weapons, which are worth more than hundreds of thousands of taels of silver crumbs. It's a moving gift box. You'll have to reward us with something, right?"
"Hahahahaha… Don't worry! Once I become rich, I will definitely not forget all of you. When I go back, I'll treat all of you to a meal and some good wine in Moon Pavilion."
When Orange saw that Nian was about to die, his heart surged. He could already imagine himself rising to prominence once he obtained the treasures the creature will drop. He had no thoughts about dividing the spoils with his companions, who had attacked the creature with him.
Right after he said those words, no matter how stupid they might have been, all of his party members understood the underlying meaning of his words. Orange was thinking about taking all the loot from Nian for himself. But what about them? They did not become happy after they saw Nian simply because they knew they could drink with him!
"Hmph!" Some of the people immediately pulled out of the fight. "I don't have the interest of drinking with you. We found this Nian together, so what right do you have to take all the benefits for yourself?"
Then, the others who had hesitated about pulling out of the fight because they did not want to cause embarrassment and turn against Orange pulled out as well. They did not help him handle Nian anymore.
Orange finally understood.
He looked around and saw that aside from one companion who was good friends with him, all the others had gone on strike, refused to fight, and retreated to the side. But he did not mind that. He only smiled coldly at those people.
"Do you actually think that without you, I won't be able to kill Nian? I'm telling you, this Nian is mine!"
Nian was covered in wounds and had become much slower. Once Orange delivered a few more full-powered strikes, it became even more pathetic and miserable. It was covered in blood. While it w.h.i.n.ed, it moved forward, but it looked incredibly powerless to do anything.
Orange cackled coldly and chased after it while slashing at it again and again, his Ghost Head Saber leaving behind bloody cuts. One after another, they frenziedly shaved off Nian's dwindling life.
"You're a bunch of Blessed Realm players, and you're thinking about snatching Nian from me? I'm already showing that I think highly of you lot by treating you to a drink. Stop being so shameless!"
Even though they were from the same sect, they had only built the sect recently. Their impression of each other was not deep, and their relationship was not strong. However, Orange's mean remarks truly enraged all his sect members, who were already displeased with him.
"Damn you!"
They looked at each other and pounced on him with anger on their faces.
"Kill this bastard!"
"Haha! You're angry because I just embarrassed you, huh? And you even want to kill-steal me? Come on then!"
Orange was young and energetic, and he immediately flew into a rage as well because of his hot temper. His face was full of savagery, and he decided to ignore Nian—which couldn't run fast anymore—so that he could turn around and swing his saber to knock away the weapon coming at him. While doing so, he even knocked away the person holding the weapon.
By relying on his equipment, which was of average quality, he withstood two blows on his shoulders from the people to the left and right of him. He swung his Ghost Head Saber as quickly as lightning and left behind a gash so deep that bones could be seen on the c.h.e.s.t of the person w
ho had spoken to his left.
"It's your fault for being so despicable!"
He gritted his teeth and sent the second person away. Some blood splashed on Orange's face. He kicked away another person, and when he swept his gaze over the group with a sharp gaze, his expression turned even more ferocious and merciless. He roared, "Who else wants to attack me?!"
When he looked at them, the people who had not attacked finally found themselves unable to hold back anymore.
"Bastard!"
If they could even tolerate such blatant taunting, they would end up being pushovers!
The bastard had snatched Nian, killed their people, and still acted in an arrogant manner. Even people who were usually very good tempered were angered, which was evident from their expressions. They roared and activated their body fortification techniques before rushing at Orange together.
"AAHHH!!" Orange's expression changed a little before he shouted in anger, "And you call yourselves my sect members?! You just don't want to see me live a good life! Damn you, you're all people who just proclaim yourselves to be saints! Today, I'll kill all of you!" He then turned around and rushed to the left.
Even though Orange was hot-tempered and impulsive, he was not stupid enough to fight head on against eight people. He had just gone up against three, and he was already injured lightly. If he could not handle the situation well, not only would he die, there was even a possibility that Nian would be snatched by his attackers.
Even though Orange continuously tried to avoid being hurt and did his best to kill his opponents, the injuries on his body just continued to increase. There were actually two people among his former companions who had high-tier martial arts.
However, he relied on fighting against them recklessly to kill four people with his ferociousness. It was a step forward in reducing the threat on his life.
When the internal fight of a sect because of the distribution of loot was about to end in the most tragic manner, an unexpected guest entered the forest.
Clap, clap, clap, clap.
He clapped while coming out from behind a tree with a relaxed expression. He showed his handsome face before the group without a single worry.
"Humanity is such a fragile thing."
The group was stunned silent.
Orange and the remaining five people across from him quickly stopped. They stared warily at the man who did not stop walking toward them.
"This is a matter between us, don't b.u.t.t in!"
"Hmph, I don't have the time to bother about you bunch of uncultured swine."
With a light snort, the mysterious man walked over with light footsteps, and in a very feminine manner, he brought out a pink handkerchief. While he walked, he gently c.a.r.e.s.sed his face and grumbled something under his breath, even though he did not notice it himself. Then, he stopped, and when he looked up, he saw Orange and the others staring at him with dumbfounded expressions.
"Hmph! If you continue watching me, I'm going to dig out your eyeballs!" Even though his tone was light, the killing intent within his words was very thick, and his meaning was very straightforward.
Orange and the others ignored the warning from the mysterious "man". At that moment, they could already see that the mysterious "man" had foundation on his face, and there was mascara on his eyelashes. When he got closer to them, they could see bits of a woman's charm…
They inhaled sharply through their teeth, and goosebumps broke out on their skin.
The matter that happened moments earlier had made them notice that there were people who only chased after fame and benefits without caring about the friendship between sect members in the game. It left them with a deep impression, but when they compared that with the eccentric person, they felt that whatever they just went through paled in comparison. 'This is indeed a strange world filled with wonders. People like that have already come to show off in World of Martial Arts? I wonder if he's a transwoman or just a cosplay fanatic.'
"Are you treating my warning as meaningless remarks?"
When the mysterious "man" noticed the people staring at him strangely, he flew into a rage. He rolled his eyes at the six people in a coquettish manner, and even though his actions were feminine, his killing intent bloomed.
He stopped moving his pink handkerchief for a while, and his gaze turned sharp. A few falling leaves froze in the air. A powerful presence rose in the forest, stirring up all the dust and fallen leaves on the ground. A few crystalline rays of light went charging at the six players with a barely noticeable sound of air being sliced.
Whish! Whish! Whish! Whish!
"Careful!"
"AAHH!"
The six had been staring at the mysterious "man" intently, so they noticed his actions straight away.
But it was still too late!
No, it should be said that "his" hidden weapons were just too fast. When the players noticed them, the hidden weapons had already arrived in front of them. The players covered their eyes at the same time and let out heartbreaking screams. Blood poured out of their wounds in streams.
The end of a needle shining with silver light could be seen in the gaps between their fingers covering their wounds. Those were embroidery needles!
And even more shocking was the fact that there was a thread connected to the end of each of the embroidery needles that came from the mysterious "man's" hands. He suddenly smiled in a bewitching manner and gave a light tug at the threads. They tightened, and the six players screamed in pain at the same time before falling to the dust. They did not get up again.
When the mysterious "man" turned his gaze away, Nian had already disappeared.
Chapter 215 - Needle Tide, Successor of Sunflower Manual
"Damn it! Where did that demon come from?"
A person staggered into the depths of the forest with a pale face. There was fear in his eyes, and he was still badly shaken.
He was Orange's companion, who was the one who had not joined the slaughter between the sect members. Since their relationship was pretty good, he had taken the initiative to follow after Nian. While the two sides were engaged in an intense battle, he chased Nian and continued to leave even more wounds on it, who was already covered in blood.
However, he was still "lucky" enough to witness the entire process of his sect members being slaughtered by the mysterious "man" using flying needles. If it had not been because Nian was already at its last breath and about to die and drop loot, he would have run far away a long time ago to hide from danger.
However, while Nian had indeed sustained a lot of damage, Orange's friend was just a normal Blessed Realm player without a high-tier martial art, so he was caught in an embarrassing situation. Even though he cut at Nian dozens of times, it did not have any effect. Nian continued to stagger forward like an injured lion.
The player wanted to cry, but had no tears and felt incredibly anxious. With an incredibly distressed expression, he watched Nian continue running away while feeling so gloomy that he wanted to vomit blood.
If he dragged on the fight any longer, the strange person would definitely catch up to him, and at that time, if Nian was not dead yet, he himself would be the one to die…
"Damn it! Will you just die already!"
At some unknown point in time, a clear, cheerful, and pink peach blossom forest appeared in front of the man. Nian did not seem to have noticed it and just continued to run ahead with its injured body.
But the man was astonished. He immediately recognized that it was where the outer sect of the incredibly famous Shifting Flower Palace was located in Wuhu. Their disciples covered their faces and acted as bandits, but more importantly, they were really powerful. Not only did they have high-tier lightness skills and sword techniques, but their body fortification techniques could be used to take damage in their place as well. It was a very good way to reduce the damage taken.
"Damn it! So unlucky!"
The man was completely depressed. There was an incredibly fierce and evil murd
erer chasing after him, and before him was a dangerous place from which he would not be able to return. No matter where he went, he would die.
But when he thought about it from another angle…
'What if that person ran into a Masked Female Bandit in the peach blossom forest after following me?'
Once the idea formed in his mind, his eyes lit up.
'I have a chance to survive!'
His spirits lifted, and he braced himself to enter the peach blossom forest while running after Nian. With gritted teeth, he increased his attacking speed.
But unfortunately for him, soon after he ran into the forest, a gentle but demonic voice that sounded like a woman's came from behind him.
"Still running?"
A powerful aura descended from the sky. Not only did it attract the attention of the multiple Masked Female Bandits in the area, it also upset the man who had just thought about how he could possibly survive and become rich. When he turned his head around to look, a mysterious "man" in a brocade robe the color of flowers appeared sixty-four feet away from him with a cold smile.
It was a really exaggerated entrance.
"Screw you— Urk!"
Before Orange's friend could finish cursing vulgarly, the mysterious "man" raised his hand and threw a flying needle.
The man coughed up blood and opened his mouth with great difficulty. He was horrified and filled with despair. He tried to use his sword to cut off the thread connected to the flying needle in his mouth, but his sword could not cut it. The thread was as tough as steel. Aside from causing him even more pain and further aggravating his injury, which made him cough up another mouthful of blood, his actions served no purpose.
"De… Mon!"
The mysterious man continued to stand in the air. When he heard the curse the man laboriously stammered out, he did not say anything. He did not immediately kill the man either. He just cast an indifferent glance at Nian and threw another flying needle at it to pull it back when it tried to flee without a direction. Then, he turned his head around and raised his chin with a coquettish look. He looked down and stared into the direction of two pretty and pink figures that came charging at him from the sides.
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