Sword Among Us
Sword Among Us - Chapter 640: Towering Palace’s Rise to Power

In the next half a month or so, Happy stayed at Sky Demon Branch and obtained a drop of Fire Qilin Blood or a small Fire Qilin Scale every time he went into Sky Demon Secret Cave. Even though he only had one chance to enter every day, Sky Demon Orders were rapidly reducing in number. During the later stage of their raids, even if they killed some evil cult elders, the chances of them dropping Sky Demon Orders became lower.

They raided Sky Demon Secret Cave for more than twenty days before finishing up all their Sky Demon Orders.

The other sects welcomed spring at that moment.

However, during the days Mu Clan monopolized Sky Demon Secret Cave, they collected eight Fire Qilin Scales and twelve drops of Fire Qilin Blood. They also obtained more than one hundred Moksha Realm martial art manuals and more than thirty demon vessels.

During that period of time, Mu Clan devoted themselves to developing their strategy in Sky Demon Secret Cave and ignored everything else. They just focused on raiding the dungeon.

Class One Hall, in the meantime, had a stable foothold over the north, just like usual.

Even though Chivalry Sect’s status was very stable, they were engaged in endless conflicts with local sects, and even if Wind Void as well as Lin Xiao boldly chased away groups who loved causing trouble, some of their branches still faced the dual trouble of their members not being a united front as well as the local sects attacking them. The loss of their members and resources was very great.

However, since Mu Clan was in most of the regions where Chivalry Sect resided, as long as Mu Clan came out to mediate the situation, they could still stabilize it. Hence, even though unrest exploded from within and its impact was incredibly great, Chivalry Sect did not reach a point where everyone’s spirits would be crushed and fall apart. Compared to their situation in Happy’s previous life, the trouble they faced was very minor.

Because of what was going on, the three great leaders of Chivalry Sect learned from Mu Clan. They governed their sect and branches based on regions, and the three leaders each served as garrison over one of them. They cultivated their own higher-ups and in time stabilized the situation in the south, albeit slowly.

However, during this period of time, Towering Palace, which had been lying low, began to organize frequent operations. They enjoyed great popularity in the game and outside, and they did several things that were very eye-catching.

Since they had the advantage of occupying the coastal area, Towering Palace’s contact with the various forces of power from foreign countries increased day by day, and they formed quite close ties as well as relationships with a large number of powerful players from other countries!

Towering Palace served as a middleman when the locals traded with foreign martial artists. They sold martial art manuals, weapons, and equipment from different regions to the foreigners and obtained tens of billions from it.

Also, through the astonishing resources from the sea, Clear Music and Musical Note brought a group of martial artists whose strength did not lose to that of Merciless Saber and Loving Sword into the palace. Gradually, they grew stronger in the coastal area.

Some foreign guilds surged into the Chinese server at the time, and they were even more complicated than the Chinese guilds.

Many of the players who came from countries with great unrest chose to play the game in a risky and exciting manner. They were like assassins in the dark!

They were ready to give up on everything for the sake of wealth!

In their eyes, many of the martial artists in China were moving treasure chests. Third-echelon masterpieces and weapons were incredibly dazzling existences, and they were very expensive in other countries.

Hence, theft, robbery, murder, ambushes, poison, arrows, and all other methods were used.

The coastal area became the most chaotic region in China, and the game also entered its darkest period. All sorts of malicious thefts became the trend in the world of martial arts.

However, the foreign players were very particular when it came to where they would attack. They did not attract the imperial court’s attention, and they kept themselves well hidden.

Every single time they committed a crime, they would stir up a large scale hunt, so they would take a ship to hide in an island before they quickly headed to another city. They were very flexible in their tactics.

All sorts of complaints rose, and during this time, quite a number of sects publicly cried out saying that they wanted to chase the foreign guilds away, but under Towering Palace’s might, they could not launch many of their operations.

If they chased away thee foreign guilds and elites, they would cut off Towering Palace’s path to riches.

Selling equipment to different countries had already become a way for Towering Palace to get rich quick. At that moment, if anyone chased away the foreign elites, it would be the same as them cutting off Towering Palace’s money-making path, and they would become Towering Palace’s enemy.

After a few sects were destroyed by Towering Palace, its authority in the coastal areas grew to the point that it carried a heavy weight. The foreign players and guilds also obtained very good land for their sects!

Because of that, a group of powerful foreign players even joined Towering Palace, and it received the good favor of many foreign guilds. The contact between them and Towering Palace increased day by day.

As the foreign organizations and powerful players gained their footing in the Chinese server, some foreign players who were dressed in the attire of Chinese martial artists could occasionally be seen moving through the streets.

There were some from China who scolded Towering Palace, but there were also some who supported them.

However, Towering Palace’s increasing strength became incredibly obvious. In terms of reputation, they were already showing faint signs of overtaking Class One Hall and standing together with Mu Clan!

*****

Over that period of time, many eye-catching new and powerful players appeared in the game.

As the plot for Twin of Brothers spread through the game, the disciples from the eight evil cults increased day by day. Some of them even approached Myth Realm, like Zhu Yuyan and Shi Zhixuan. Their strength increased by leaps and bounds, and they shot straight to become top-class elites like Vast Heaven, making many players incredibly jealous. They went to perform the quests with a greater frenzy in hopes that they would be able to soar in the sky and become one of the greats one day as well!

*****

At the ruins of Sky Demon Sect were a group of Mu Clan disciples. They guarded a spawn point in groups of three-five, and they either sat or stood as they waited for the appearance of Sky Demon Sect disciples.

Eleventh Crane was dressed in the normal attire of Mu Clan members. He hid in the crowd like a hunter with great experience. He watched the Mu Clan members ahead of him with wariness, and occasionally took a glance at the small forest behind him.

For some unknown reason, he felt that the atmosphere in the forest was a little strange.

Every day, one or two evil cult disciples would respawn there, and no one would ever notice it. But a few minutes ago, he clearly saw weapons shine in that spot in the forest.

Eleventh Crane said nothing, but after some time passed, he narrowed his eyes slightly. He looked as if he was nodding off, but a sharp look that was usually not there shone through the gap between his upper and lower eyelids.

“It should be about time.”

Eleventh Crane calculated the time. Faint tremors came from the ground, and soon, a herd of horses moving quickly appeared in the distance. They rushed over so loudly that it sounded as if thunder was behind them.

The person in the lead was Rampaging Dragon!

Once he got close, he quickly noticed that something was wrong based on Eleventh Crane’s expression. He tugged at the reins and looked around warily before he asked, “Big Brother Crane, how’s the situation today?”

Eleventh Crane raised his chin without batting an eyelid and pointed at the forest across from him.

“We have a few guests, ” he said and paused. “Where are Happy and Silver Wolf?”

He suddenly noticed that there were two people missing from Rampaging Dragon’s team. Only Little North and a few unfamiliar faces he had never seen before were in the group. However, their qi seemed pretty strong, and they gave off a cold feeling, as if they were ice.

“Big Brother Silver has some matters to attend to, and he can’t come over today.” Rampaging Dragon swept his gaze over the forest and narrowed his eyes slightly. He held back the killing intent in them.

“Happy perfected his Nine Yang Divine Skill yesterday, and his fight against One Emperor is around the corner. He should be wanting to prepare some things.

“He said that we are allowed to deal with any accidents that occur over this period of time! Now, right when the boss left, someone came over to cause trouble? Looks like they think that I’m very easy to deal with. Hmph!”

He spoke in a murderous voice and snorted at the end. Eleventh Crane’s heart trembled when he heard it.