Sword Among Us

When Happy noticed that the young men’s expressions had changed, he immediately judged that he had slipped up. Based on the look of the one who bullied Mu Li, he must have displayed Arm Strength that was far stronger than Mu Li’s. Happy immediately sucked in a deep breath, and while he circulated Nine Yang Divine Skill in preparation for anything unforeseen, he continued to quietly bring the buckets to Sword Pool 68.

Even though he might have exposed himself, he still had some hope that as long as he was not fully exposed, there was still hope.

After all, he had a human skin mask and a perfect disguise, so no one should suspect that he was a fake immediately. Besides, if Mu Li had stayed for a long period of time in Sword Crafting Hall, he should have the strength of a normal Sword Crafting Hall disciple. He might be bullied because he was a new member, but their understanding of him should be very low.

Countless thoughts flashed in Happy’s mind as he squashed down the churning emotions in his heart and continued steadily to the sword pool.

Everything was just his assumptions and inferences. He could not guarantee that no accidents would happen.

That was why he was still prepared for the worst.

Once he forced his body and mind to calm down and ignore the deafening sound waves, he paid attention to the actions of the young men who were staring at him while daydreaming. His body was tense. At the moment they cried out in alarm or exposed him, he would throw away the wooden buckets in his hands without hesitation, forget about the quest, and slaughter his way out of Heaven Shaker Fortress!

Even though there were people from three factions surrounding Sword Crafting Hall, Happy had Nine Yang Divine Skill protecting him. As long as he had the chance to switch his equipment, even if a Myth Realm elite came over, he might not be able to kill him.

“That brat… He’s been pretending to be a loser all this while.”

“We’re from the same cohort, but he has already become so good?”

“Could it be because we’ve been asking him to carry wooden buckets all day long that he became so strong?”

“Damn it!”

The group of young men waited for “Mu Li” to walk far into the distance with the wooden buckets before they sucked in deep breaths and discussed what they saw in whispers.

‘They’re gone.’

The conclusion the group of young men finally came up with was that their acts of lazing around and bullying others had instead made the person they usually looked down on the most become stronger and officially gain the strength of a Sword Crafting Hall disciple.

The group then went to carry their own wooden buckets with great regret.

Soon, the wooden buckets on the floor were divided, and the men carried them laboriously. The group of young men scattered like fleeing birds.

‘That was risky.’ Happy heaved a long sigh.

Once he was certain that he did not face the risk of exposing himself, he cast his attention on Sword Pool 68, which was not too far away from him.

It was very close to the core of Sword Crafting Hall. There were around ten tall forges surrounding a large sword pool that had a diameter of more than one hundred feet.

There were more than ten men with heavy hammers made of recondite steel in their hands surrounding it. They swung their hammers as if they weighed nothing, and the clear, pleasant, as well as rhythmic sounds of hammers striking metal were incredibly smooth there.

The shadows of hammers practically overlapped with each other in the air. Their actions and range of movements were practically the same, but there also seemed to be slight differences, and Happy was hooked by them.

‘Northern clan, what a clan you are.’

Happy’s initial guess was that the northern clan forgemasters should be the elite of the elites of Sword Crafting Hall. They were in Inaction Realm and so strong that they could rival people from Sword Sect.

Happy suddenly felt that things were a little strange.

The mighty northern clan had built up a lot of power over the years, so how many people would Sword Sect need to send before they could suppress the northern clan and safely steal Heaven Crystal away from them as well as the Nangong Clan?

While thinking about it, Happy imitated the other disciples and put the items next to the forge. Then, while he was under the forgemasters’ contemplative gazes, he moved to the next place.

“Over here!”

The other forges also started calling for additional materials.

His task was very simple. All he needed to do was move the items inside the wooden buckets to the forges. The forgemasters at them would add the materials into the forges according to the amount they needed.

However, every time Happy got close to the sword pools, the heat wave that came charging at his face would make him feel suffocated, and his mood would drop.

Fortunately, his Nine Yang Divine Skill could circulate at will.

“Mu Li, come here.”

Once Happy left Sword Pool 68, he heard a familiar voice calling to him. That voice entered his ears only, and it belonged to Ten Thousand Swords.

Happy did not turn his head around to look and continued walking to his next spot.

“Not bad, you didn’t show any flaws in your performance just now. Judging by your actions, you should have become used to things in Sword Crafting Hall. This is good.”

Ten Thousand Swords seemed to have been observing Happy from the shadows.

His voice traveled into his ears again.

“But you still have to be careful. Heaven Crystal’s repairs aren’t in the main hall of Sword Crafting Hall. Did you see that place the Sword Sect disciples, the mighty northern clansmen, and the Nangong Clan are guarding? There’s an entrance over there, and it leads to a secret underground sword crafting room.”

Happy’s heart trembled. He quickly spread out his spiritual senses and soon found an entrance guarded by more than ten Inaction Realm martial artists dozens of feet to the east.

“There’s a unique underground sword crafting room there. It’s the place that the mighty northern clansmen use when they create divine weapons!”

Ten Thousand Swords wore the disguise of a normal Sword Crafting Hall disciples, and he followed after Happy while explaining things for him. “The repairs for Heaven Crystal are nearing their end. Those people showed up during the day, and now, they’ve used up quite a lot of their qi.”

Happy frowned. He quickly noticed that the entrance to the underground sword crafting room surrounded by the group of people was encircled by a few large sword pools, and the temperature around in place seemed to be much higher than in the hall.

Each person’s face was an abnormal shade of red. Their breathing was quick, and there were even a few people who had already sat down cross-legged to fight against the evaporation of their qi due to the extremely high heat.

Happy said nothing.

While he added charcoal to the forges nearby, his thoughts raced. ‘This environment will clearly benefit the northern clan most. It’ll be very dangerous if the Sword Sect elites want to steal Heaven Crystal away from the mighty northern clan.’

Soon, Happy emptied the wooden buckets in his hands. He had to leave the core before he could return with another two buckets. There were nearly one thousand forges in Sword Crafting Hall, and they used up charcoal very quickly, so the disciples had to ensure a steady supply of it at all times.

While on his way back, Happy found a chance to walk side by side with Ten Thousand Swords.

A person with six hundred qi points could transmit voices privately, and Happy moved his lips slightly to send a message.

“There are plenty of people among the northern clan. It won’t be easy for Sword Sect to attack. How are we going to steal Heaven Crystal?”

At the same time, Happy also told Ten Thousand Swords about Torn Army.

Ten Thousand Swords was silent for a few seconds. “We never thought about leaving alive after we entered Heaven Shaker Fortress, but we will definitely not let Sword Sect have their way. Brother Happy, I hope that you will take revenge for us.”

“What do you mean?” Happy’s expression changed. He could sense an incredibly great will for death in Ten Thousand Swords’ tone.

“With Sword Sect’s methods and preparations, they will definitely have a solid plan. We’ll wait and act according to the situation.”

Once he finished speaking, Ten Thousand Swords walked past Happy to lift the wooden bucket to his left.

Happy quickly cast a glance at Ten Thousand Swords’ back. With slight unease, he continued doing what Mu Li should do.

Sword Crafting Hall continued having heat waves surge upward.