Sword Among Us
Sword Among Us - Chapter 32: Path of Hidden Weapons

“Battle Assessment: Class A. Your understanding of Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword has increased. Your understanding of Lancet Knife Throwing Technique has increased.”

At the moment the second bandit chief died, the system’s notifications repeatedly rose up.

“You killed the second bandit chief of Black Wind Mountain. You have received 150 Chivalry Points and 50 Reputation Points. You currently have 1,050 Chivalry Points and 150 Reputation Points.

“Mission: Black Wind Mountain’s rage is complete! You now enjoy the support of all the people from Water Revival Village. The village mayor has already reported this matter to the government office in Gusu City. You received 150 Reputation Points!

“Please return to Gusu City and search for Gusu City Government Office so that you can receive your reward of two thousand taels of silver crumbs.”

The mission was finally over…

Happy could not help but release a breath of relief!

Even though there was no third part of the mission and the final Boss of Black Wind Mountain never appeared, he was already satisfied with this.

After all, the boss of Black Wind Mountain was a powerful martial artist in Blessed Realm. He was unlike these mini-Bosses who were just in Gate Realm that had just started building up their qi so its effects were small. All NPCs in Blessed Realm had unique abilities. They were people who could fight against ten enemies alone. If Happy went up against someone like that, he would truly be acting recklessly.

However, Happy was puzzled.

He killed the second bandit chief and received an honest-to-god Class A battle danger assessment, but he did not receive any rewards regarding an increase in his martial art realms, which he expected to happen.

‘Excuse me?!’

He had been dancing around in circles with the second bandit chief all this while and forced out all of the second bandit chief’s true abilities, but the system had only symbolically increased the level of his two martial arts. It was a completely different treatment from the time he dealt with the tomb robber.

Feeling gloomy, Happy could not be bothered to receive the spoils of war he obtained from the second bandit chief. He lowered his head and studied the levels of his martial arts. Even though their realms did not increase, he had gained some degree of epiphany during his battle against the second bandit chief and the mountain bandits. His attacks had become faster, which was something that had left a deep impression on him. That feeling was clearly…

‘As I expected!’

His Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword had reached the tenth realm when he fought against the second bandit chief. The small epiphany he gained had allowed him to reach Level 93.27 for this skill.

There was a notification that he previously overlooked for Lancet Knife Throwing Technique.

[The path of hidden weapons is not a path taken only by weaklings! Sometimes, you will need greater power and courage to fight against powerful enemies, and you did it! Your Lancet Knife Throwing Technique has now reached a breakthrough and moved from the ninth realm to the tenth realm!]

Along with Shaolin’s Long Fist, Happy now had three martial arts in tenth realm. With the completion of the two missions, two of his martial arts had reached the tenth realm, and the rewards could be described with one word—amazing.

Happy’s extremely happy expression did not escape the four people’s eyes.

“Congratulations, Senior Brother Happy!”

“Remember to treat us to a meal.”

Even though everyone felt that it was a pity that Xuan Kun and Whirlwind Young Li were sacrificed, the spoils of war they received along the way were so great that they still clicked their tongues in amazement. When they piled up all of their rewards, they found that they had more than six thousand taels of silver crumbs, and they had also received a few decent scimitars and longswords.

When he saw the group bringing out the money they looted and placing it before him, Happy frowned. He raised his head and met their gazes.

“Let’s split it into seven portions, and give my portion to Whirlwind Young Li and Xuan Kun. Without your help, I wouldn’t have been able to complete this mission so easily.”

“Senior Brother Happy, if you have a good opinion of us and truly think of us as your brothers, then don’t say such words. Keep the money. If we take your money, then wouldn’t this turn into a business deal?” Azure Wolf said frankly without much thought.

Eastern Green Gate and Qian Kunzi were stunned when they heard the first part, but when they listened to the second half of what Azure Wolf had to say, they nodded. “That’s right. Senior Brother Happy, if we run into anything else in the future and need your help, does that mean we have to pay you as well?”

Happy had nothing to say about this. He smiled wryly, since he found himself at a loss for a reply.

“All this talk about money will just ruin our relationship. Senior Brother Happy, just keep the money!”

“That’s right. Whirlwind Young Li and my brother have already received the news. They’re waiting for us at the entrance to Jade Gate Restaurant for the drinks.”

“Alright!”

Happy stopped trying to say anything else. He stuffed the money into his Universe Bag along with the leather armor, broadsword, another Universe Bag, one martial arts manual, and some money from the second bandit chief. He did not pay much attention to what he looted from the corpse.

“Let’s go and drink!”

“Haha!”

“Let’s go!”

Eastern Green Gate and the other three laughed and clapped before they followed after him excitedly.

*****

The two people who were revived in Guanlin Temple met up with Happy and the others once they rushed back to the city and arrived at Gusu City’s Jade Gate Restaurant. They managed to swiftly gather together because they knew where they would meet. Then, under countless curious, surprised, and envious gazes from the people on the streets, they stepped on the very expensive stairs of Jade Gate Restaurant.

This place could be said to have a very eye-catching presence in Gusu City.

Perhaps some people did not know the Blue-robed Noble Sword User, but there was no one who did know that Jade Gate Restaurant used white jade to make their stairs as well as gold and silver to make their vessels. It had carved railings and jade tiles along with beautiful waitresses to serve their customers. The extravagant air could be sensed from a distance, and the shops around it looked dull in comparison.

However, there had been few players who had gone into Jade Gate Restaurant to spend their money since the day the restaurant was open for business.

There was one simple reason for it.

Even a small pot of tea in Jade Gate Restaurant, which was called the Iron Goddess of Mercy, cost five hundred taels of silver crumbs, and that was the cheapest drink sold in the restaurant!

A new player could earn at most around one or two hundred taels of silver crumbs a day if he went out to farm for money. If competition was great, they would earn even less. There would be times when a player would spend even more than they earned.

Hence, there were very few players who could go into Jade Gate Restaurant.

When a player went in there to spend their money, the news would quickly spread through all the streets in Gusu City.

The news of the Blue-robed Noble Sword User entering Jade Gate Restaurant with six other players was received by quite a number of players, and the word spread far and wide.

Everyone began to ask about the identities of the other six people.

*****

“Junior brother, Xuan Kun. We will give our first toast to you!” Happy stood up by the window and lifted his wine cup earnestly. “I’ll first drink it to show my respect to you!”

Once he finished speaking, he threw his head back and emptied the cup in one go!

When the stiff drink entered his throat, a dash of red swiftly crept up his handsome face. Happy exhaled, and he felt his whole body burn. He laughed, “This is good wine!”

The others got up and toasted each other too.

Eastern Green Gate and Whirlwind Young Li’s facial color remained the same, but they also felt the burn of the alcohol!

“This is strong wine!”

“Indeed.”

But the others were not so good at drinking.

“My gosh… This wine… Ack, it burns… Water… Where’s the water?”

Xuan Kun and Xuan Zhong were, after all, still students, and they lacked experience in drinking wine. They might have boldly and heroically taken a big gulp, but the moment they swallowed half of it, they nearly spat out what remained in their mouths.

They were even worse than Happy. Their faces went red, and their throats burned. They looked as if they were seconds away from spitting fire. While they wiped their tears, they let their tongues hang out of their mouths and fanned them as they searched for water, causing the others to laugh in amusement.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“You were the one who was the most gung ho about picking stiff drinks just now, but look at you now! HAHAHAHA!!!” Whirlwind Young Li grinned and laughed so much that his cheeks went sore.

“My little brother… picked it…”

Xuan Kun finally got a beautiful waitress to give him a cup of water. He quickly rolled his eyes and claimed his innocence, but the red on his face did not go away.

Happy talked about some of the things he had learned that could help people increase the realms of their his martial arts quickly, and he pushed the atmosphere of this banquet to its climax!

After drinking three pots of wine, Xuan Kun and Xuan Zhong turned into real-life Guan Yus [1] and lay passed out on the ground…

Qian Kunzi and Azure Wolf might not have ended up on the ground, but they were not much better. They nearly treated the beautiful waitresses by their sides as their bolsters.

Only Happy, Whirlwind Young Li, and Eastern Green Gate remained seated by the table without swaying.

As Whirlwind Young Li stared at the food on the table, he felt his heart ache.

“One meal costs two thousand three hundred taels of silver crumbs. This is blatant extortion… Hic… Next time, even if someone points a gun at me, I ain’t coming here… Darn it all, I’m so poor I’m going crazy…”

Whirlwind Young Li spoke with a lisp, and all his words were nonsense. His breath also stank of alcohol.

Only Eastern Green Gate’s head remained clear. He thus changed the topic of conversation.

“Senior Brother Happy, you should not be too far away from Gate Realm now, right?”

‘My qi realm?’

Happy was taken aback for a moment before he suddenly remembered that he had indeed not paid any attention to the increase of his qi over the past few days.

His Lancet Knife Throwing Technique had increased by a few realms. It was close to Grandmaster Realm, and so was Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword. This meant that Happy might have received quite the increase in his qi.