Sword Among Us c1-1268

by Black Swordsman Online

  The soldier puppets used high-tier body fortification techniques, and they were all at Grandmaster Realm. Once that was combined with their extreme fighting instincts, they could attack their closest enemy with recklessness!

  Just then, Happy had intentionally approached them because he had wanted to trigger the mechanism within the soldier puppets before everyone squeezed into the semi-circular hall so that they could be wary.

  However, the soldier puppets' special treatment toward him left Happy at a loss.

  Once the others crushed the two soldier puppets and made their bits fall onto the ground in a flurry of motion, he went to the stone pile and found some of the silver coins from the previous dynasty. Then, Happy sighed.

  "What's going on?"

  "Why didn't they attack you just now?"

  Everyone questioned Happy before he could even answer it to himself.

  Happy spread his arms, smiled wanly, and shook his head. "I don't know, man…"

  He paused, having remembered something. He then brought out a small incense pouch Murong Clan had prepared for him.

  "It might be because of this."

  "Why?"

  Everyone was even more curious.

  Happy s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath in the face of inquiries and decided to be honest.

  "This royal mausoleum is the royal mausoleum of the previous dynasty, Yan Dynasty! Murong Clan is Yan Dynasty's royal descendants, and they are the guardians of the royal mausoleum!"

  The crowd was left speechless.

  Chapter 284 - An Enchanting Sight

  "If that's the case, you're a guardian of the tomb and won't be attacked by the guards of the royal mausoleum, but since the seven sects came here uninvited, we're tomb robbers?"

  Once Ouyang Qing understood what had happened, he did not know whether he wanted to laugh or cry. At the end of the day, they had actually entered a place that the Murong Clan, who were the descendants of the Yan Dynasty, guarded. It was no wonder then why someone else could join the raid aside from the seven great system-allocated sects. It explained how Happy had been able to enter after them.

  "Then can you attack the guards in the royal mausoleum?"

  "I don't think I can." Happy smiled ruefully.

  In truth, when the guards in the royal mausoleum attacked One Circle, he had wanted to take action and hold them back, but a system notification had immediately made him stop in his tracks.

  He was told that if he attacked the soldiers of the royal mausoleum, the incense pouch from the Murong Clan that provided him protection would lose its effects, and all the guards in the royal mausoleum would no longer show him any mercy.

  That meant that he would be treated the same way as any other tomb robber!

  In truth, the soldier puppets in the second level of the royal mausoleum dropped some masterpieces and martial art manuals. If Happy missed out on such a reward, he would suffer quite a great loss!

  But a crazy thought jumped into his head like a bolt of lightning.

  He took out the incense pouch from the Murong Clan and observed it. Aside from the attributes of allowing him to safely pass through Eight Trigrams Bewitching Matrix, there was another new attribute added to it.

  [Protection from those who are the descendants of the Murong Royal Family. You will not be attacked by all the guards in the second level of the royal mausoleum.]

  Happy s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath through his teeth, and crazed delight and great surprise shone in his eyes.

  "I knew it, it's as I expected. I see, so that's how it is," he mumbled under his breath while he summoned his quest log.

  He had planned to give up on his clan quest before he entered the royal mausoleum. But at that moment, he was so delighted that he felt as if he had just seen the sun after clouds had been pushed away, or as if he had just seen an enchanting sight during spring.

  *****

  Also, he was to retrieve the two national treasures the Murong Clan had hidden in the second level of the royal mausoleum from the hands of the Japanese Ninjas. Then, he had to bring them back to the Murong Clan!

  However, Happy had still had the impression left behind by the event in his previous life, from when he was a Shaolin Temple disciple. So when he saw that the quest asked him to kill all the ninjas, he had been dumbfounded, and his heart had grown cold.

  After all, he knew that Ninja King had already reached Moksha Realm. Unless he came when he was in Life and Death Realm, it would be impossible for him to fight against Ninja King. There was also a terrifying existence in the second level that was as equally strong as Ninja King—Old Swordsman.

  He was the most famous swordsman during the Yan Dynasty. His strength was incredibly domineering, but the person in the royal mausoleum was naturally not the real Old Swordsman. He was a top-grade puppet that Yan Dynasty had spent blood, sweat, and tears, to create. They had even hired royal craftsmen for the job.

  His combat prowess was infinitesimally close to that of the Old Swordsman, and he was so strong that not even Ninja King dared to reveal himself before him.

  Old Swordsman personally guarded Yan Dynasty's heirloom seal.

  With two powerful people acting as guards, there was no way Happy would dare to get close to them and bring misfortune pnto himself.

  However, the protective incense pouch had an unexpected effect at the second level. It made Happy happy, and he keenly sensed something different.

  'This is a fortuitous encounter!

  'That's right, a fortuitous encounter!'

  The clan quest of Murong Clan was clearly not completely impossible. It held profound secrets while giving Happy a chance to survive.

  With the protection provided by the protective incense pouch, he could ignore the threat of the soldier puppets in the second level and only deal with the ninjas.

  *****

  "You can't attack the soldiers?"

  While Happy was contemplating the future, the people from Beautiful Robes Faction felt that the situation was slightly troublesome when they learned that he could not attack the soldiers.

  The soldier puppets had already shown just how sturdy their bodies were. The group had to surround them and attack for more than one minute before they could destroy them, and that was when One Circle had grabbed all of the attention, which allowed the rest of the players to avoid a lot of threats. If more of the puppets came along, the sects would definitely not be able to handle the fight. They might even die.

  "Then what should we do?"

  Even though they had just been engaged in a short confrontation, the group could already sense an even grimmer and more dangerous presence in the second level compared to the first.

  Regardless if it were ninjas or the soldier puppets, the difficulty level was much greater than before.

  A thought struck Happy, and he said to the disciples from the four sects, "I'll go ahead and scout the path. I'll tell you beforehand about the places with many soldier puppets, but if I run into ninjas, I'll take care of them on my own."

  "Alright!"

  Everyone's spirits lifted at his words, and they swiftly agreed to it.

  Happy turned around and left.

  "Be careful."

  In the end, Phoenix Dances still could not hold herself back and warn him.

  Happy stopped for a moment and turned his head around to cast a glance at Phoenix Dances, who had a faint flush on her face. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, when I came over, I checked my fate with fortune. It's not too high, so I shouldn't be so lucky as to run into Ninja King."

  Everyone was taken aback by his words, then the next moment, they could not hold themselves back from laughing.

  *****

  When Happy was one hundred and nine yards away, a fork appeared in front of him. There were winding paths to both sides, and based on what he saw on the map, the two tunnels took a few turns to lead to different tombs.

  It was where one of the national treasures in the second level was placed!

&nb
sp; However, that item was rather unique. It could be said to only be semi-completed. Back in the day, the prime minister had suggested creating it, but up until the moment Yan Dynasty was destroyed, it had never been finished…

  Nation Protecting Divine Sword!

  Since it missed out on the final step of its creation, it was just a normal sword. Once Yan Dynasty was destroyed, the craftsman in charge of creating the sword vanished, which was why the process of creating the sword was halted, and it was locked in a tomb within the royal mausoleum. Eight general puppets with high ranks and extraordinary combat abilities were tasked with protecting it.

  Since there was hope for Happy to complete the quest, he had to retrieve that Nation Protecting Divine Sword!

  The Old Swordsman served as a guard for the heirloom. Even if the four sects sent all their people, they would not be able to take it away. Hence, Happy had decided to first take the Nation Protecting Divine Sword.

  While he was on his way, he activated all the soldier puppets along his path.

  But since he had the protective incense pouch with him, the soldiers soon became calm again. They did not return to their petrified states though. They just stood in their place and looked around them with cold gazes.

  Usually, when there were soldiers around, ninjas would not appear.

  He faced no danger while he dashed to the entrance of the tomb with Nation Protecting Divine Sword!

  Once he reached the entrance, Happy recorded the information of all the soldiers he saw on the way before he sent a messenger pigeon to Phoenix Dances. Then, his gaze focused. He tightened his grip over Silver Wolf Emperor Breaker Sword and entered the tomb filled with the luxurious and noble air belonging to the royal family…

  There was a weapon box with an ancient design placed quietly on a smooth stage made of jade.

  Whoosh!

  The eight soldier puppets protecting the area woke up at the same time, and eight pairs of cold and merciless eyes fixed upon Happy, who had intruded into the tomb.

  Chapter 285 - Ninja King Appears, Happy is Heavily Injured

  The divine sword that was to protect the nation was guarded by eight well built generals dressed in golden armor and carrying two swords on their backs. Regardless of whether it was their demeanor, appearance, or awe-inspiring mannerisms, it was clear that they were above the normal soldiers Happy had seen along the way. They were also much stronger than them.

  Eight pairs of eyes were fixed on Happy, and they sized him up repeatedly.

  Clang!

  They drew their swords in a uniform manner!

  Thud!

  The eight general puppets took a step forward and vanished at the same time. Once they were close to Happy, swords glares that could cut his face came slashing at him.

  Happy said nothing, but scowled at the air. Finally, he could not help the surges of emotion in his calm heart.

  While holding his Silver Wolf Emperor Breaker Sword behind him, he released a golden light around him. Its brilliance instantly reached the peak!

  However, just when the general puppets were about to pounce on him and Happy narrowed his eyes before his attack, an extremely cold killing intent rose from behind him!

  It appeared out of the blue!

  Happy did not need to turn his head around to know it. He had already formed a general outline of the person behind him based on the qi in that person's body, and he knew that there was an incredibly powerful presence standing behind him.

  All of that might have seemed to have happened over a long period of time, but only an instant had passed. The swift appearance of the presence behind Happy, the eight general puppets rushing past his sides, and Happy discovering Ninja King behind him had happened within a second.

  Boom!

  A golden arm struck the Golden Bell Cocoon around Happy's body at the speed of lightning. The Golden Bell Cocoon let out a sad noise as if a thousand-year-old temple was about to be destroyed—it had been shattered with just one hit from Ninja King.

  Happy coughed up a mouthful of blood.

  Bang!

  He was sent crashing into a wall like a cannonball.

  Boom!

  He crashed against the wall before he falling heavily on the ground. He landed right in front of the weapon box storing Nation Protecting Divine Sword.

  Happy said nothing. All that mattered to him was that he did not die!

  The eight general puppets were filled with murderous intent, and they used their bodies to block the entrance to the tomb. Four of them formed a row to work together to attack Ninja King, who was dressed in Golden Armor and was trying to rush into the tomb. The other four formed another row to stand behind the first row. Their eyes were cold and firm as they held their swords and stood in front of Nation Protecting Divine Sword to ensure its safety.

  The general puppets' combat strength was about the same as that of Ninja King's clones. They were also at the later stage of Life and Death Realm. Their sturdy bodies were on par with that of Ninja King who had Golden Armor to protect him. Once the puppets worked together, they managed to block Ninja King from entering! It was also because of them that Happy could have a chance to catch his breath after he received the almost fatal strike from Ninja King.

  Naturally, the good situation did not last.

  While the general puppets were not weak, they had to face Ninja King, who was an elite in Moksha Realm. His attacks could always send pieces of rock falling from the general puppets' bodies. In less than ten seconds, Ninja King seized the chance to cut down and crush an arm of a general puppet.

  Whoosh!

  Ninja King's target was Happy, who had entered the tomb and, for some unknown reason, was not attacked by the puppets. Once a gap appeared, Ninja King immediately rushed in, but the general puppets behind the first row worked together to form an encirclement. Eight longswords that contained terrifying strength came from all directions, and with a cold snort, Ninja King had to retreat with great reluctance.

  When Happy saw that, he knew that he had at least one more minute.

  He shut his eyes, and the area around him swiftly turned dark. A single spark that seemed to have come from a star appeared around his body. He activated Constellation Breathing Technique and circulated his qi madly to force the second star to light up.

  As he applied Constellation Breathing Technique with all his strength, the pain in his body was quickly suppressed. A hot wave swiftly became strong in his Dantian region and filled his limbs. With the astonishing medicinal effects released by the three Dew Pills, he quickly got rid of the internal injuries from Ninja King's palm strike. He also restored his damaged qi.

  Just like that, Happy's heavy injuries were mostly healed within half a minute due to the medicinal effects of the Dew Pills and his qi cultivation technique in Mystical Realm. Even though he did not return to the peak of his condition, if anyone saw that scene right then, they would definitely be so shocked that their jaws would fall.

  There might be only a handful of people in World of Martial Arts who could remain so calm and recover so quickly when Ninja King eyed them with hostility. Most people would have their first instincts telling them to run and quickly leave while Ninja King was held back.

  But Happy knew that the ninjas minded their own business in the second level of the royal mausoleum. They would definitely not have the courage to take the initiative and provoke them, so Ninja King's target was very clear!

  Happy made the best use of his time and healed his wounds so that he could return to the peak of his condition as soon as possible. It was his only choice, since only when his abilities were restored could he have a sliver of a chance to escape from Ninja King's hands.

  Only a few moments went by since he was heavily injured to when he made his decision.

  It was all thanks to the experience he had gained in his previous life. If he had taken a second longer to make his decision, Happy would have personally crushed even that last chance of surviving!

 
; Boom!

  Boom!

  During that period of time, two more puppets fell one after another.

  Happy opened his eyes and quickly cast a glance at Ninja King as well as the five remaining general puppets and scowled.

  When Happy got up, his eyes fell on the weapon box on the jade stage…

  Slap!

  With one strike, he shattered the cover of the box. A sword shining with a brilliant light lay quietly in the wreckage. The golden sheath had three gems that were yellow, blue, and purple embedded in it, which betrayed the lavish and noble air of a royal family.

  Happy put the sword back into its sheath without hesitation. While he put it into his Universe Bag, the system told him that he obtained the semi-completed Nation Protecting Divine Sword.

  Happy had not just been tasked to get rid of all the ninjas in the second level of the royal mausoleum, but to get Nation Protecting Divine Sword as well as the heirloom seal. At that moment, he had completed one of the three tasks!

  However, Happy knew that if he died, the quest item would definitely drop and be taken away by Ninja King. The real trial of strength had just started.

  Happy focused, then shot past the jade stage and approached the five general puppets from behind.

  The entrance of the tomb was very narrow, so when the five general puppets moved up to block the entrance, only the area above them was available for anyone to pass through. But to Happy, that was not the path to survival. It was the path of death that Ninja King had intentionally left for him.

  It was not time for him to break out of the encirclement just then…