Sword Among Us
chapter-481

Chapter 481: Forces of Power in Beijing

It only took one day and one night to travel from Henan’s Mount Song to Beijing, and if the player used Hoof Shadow, they would only need half a day to do it.

Right then, there were already quite a lot of players who had Hoof Shadows. Even though it was a symbol of high class, it was no longer as attention grabbing as before. It might be because everyone had already gotten accustomed to it.

However, Beijing was not a normal city. Only those with government titles could continue riding their horses on the streets after they entered the city. The wanderers could not act recklessly in Beijing.

After all, this city was directly under the emperor’s jurisdiction, and the government officials as well as soldiers were much stronger inside it. The soldiers who guarded the city gate were all in Life and Death Realm and equipped with armor. The person who served as garrison at the gate was also in Moksha Realm. It would not be easy to defeat them, but it would be easy to take too long and end up luring over countless elites from Beijing.

“Get down!”

Before the guard could finish speaking, Happy got down from the horse and landed on the ground. He put away his Hoof Shadow into his Horse Plate, and with a calm expression, he acted like a wandering martial artist who always went to Beijing, and was cleared. Then, he entered the city.

The streets of Beijing were much wider than those of normal cities, but they were orderly. Even though there was a huge crowd moving through the streets, since the constant stream of patrolling guards provided a great intimidating force, Happy did not see any players setting up stalls as they pleased. Hence, the shops on the sides were rich. There was a constant flow of people, and it gave off an air of prosperity.

Players with weapons or armor with three colors could be seen hurrying about through the streets. Refined weapons and armor having become a common sight was even more blatant there.

One emblem was often seen on players’ chests. It was Class One Hall’s three drops of blood.

They dominated the north.

There was naturally nothing that could be said about Class One Hall’s strength and wealth.

They claimed that they had more than sixty thousand Life and Death Realm players, and their strength was above that of countless sects. They were a giant that numerous people could look up to.

There were two other extraordinary sects in Beijing.

Even though they could not compare to Class One Hall, their strength and effect solely in Beijing was not necessarily weaker than that of Class One Hall.

One of them was Sky Penetrating Tower whose Tower Master was Langye!

He was an elite from the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and he had carried out multiple secret missions from the imperial court. It recognized his worth, especially his contribution in saving a high-ranking imperial envoy, and broke its own rules to promote him to a vice commander of an entire troop of Embroidered Uniform Guards.

He had the right to mobilize Embroidered Uniform Guards to capture criminals in the world of martial artists as well as the right to release prisoners.

It was said that plenty of high-ranking criminals from the prison of Embroidered Uniform Guards had been secretly sent to Sky Penetrating Tower!

The other sects had to mobilize a lot of forces and spend great effort to capture criminals to fill up their sect prison, but Langye could easily use his authority to fill up his own sect prison.

Also, if anyone went up against Sky Penetrating Tower, they would be going up against the Embroidered Uniform Guards as well. No matter which city Langye went to, he would be protected, and he even promoted a group of his subordinates from the original Embroidered Uniform Guards to higher-ups in his tower.

Once they were attacked in the city, then even if it was within the “sect headquarters”, which was a place where brute force was allowed, the Embroidered Uniform Guards, Six Doors, Eastern Depot, and Western Depot would all attack without hesitation. Hence, there were even rumors saying that Sky Penetrating Tower was the one sect that players could not provoke.

All of this combined meant that Sky Penetrating Tower might become the fifth top-class sect after Mu Clan.

The other sect was Wind Assault Tower, which was created by Phantasmal Shadow, who was the second on Phoenix Rank and a disciple of Ancient Tomb Sect.

It was entirely due to her own abilities that she was able to become outstanding in Beijing even though she had only built her sect later on.

On the first day she set up her sect, Phantasmal Shadow issued a challenge toward Dream Clouds. With her perfected whip technique, she managed to suppress Dream Clouds’ Divine Flames Art. Both players were equal, and in the end, the match ended in a tie.

Clear Music of Towering Palace did not accept her challenge.

Then, Phantasmal Shadow, who was rising in fame, showed her splendour during the quest to attack Light Summit. Not only did she defeat Song Qingshu, she even defended Zhang Wuji, and she officially became one of the people on Famous People Rank.

It was said that Phantasmal Shadow obtained Yang Xiao’s guidance because of that battle, and she received a whip technique manual Ming Cult kept as a treasure. Phantasmal Shadow then improved again.

Naturally, Wind Assault Tower’s strength was not contributed to Phantasmal Shadow alone.

Aside from her, she also had a group of extraordinary players gathered around her. Among them were three people who had a place on the Dragon Rank and Phoenix Rank. It was said that they were in the same company in reality, but what puzzled everyone was how they could possibly have so many chances to log in for extended periods of time even though they were all working and how they were such good players. It forced everyone to wonder just what sort of company they worked in.

Of course, aside from the three forces of power, there were plenty of capable and amazing people in Beijing, such as Wandering Know-it-all, and they were not people that the sects could provoke at will.

Once Happy entered Beijing, he moved through the streets in a very familiar manner until he reached the lavishly decorated Heaven Fragrant Tower.

It was one of the most lavish restaurants in Beijing. Happy remembered that the people who could enter it in his previous life were all rich people who spent their money like water. They were real millionaires, and they did not spend just thousands of taels of silver. A player would have to spend 300 RMB each time they came to the restaurant, which was the lowest amount of money a player spent in the game a month.

If they hired a few of the popular performers to drink with them, they would need to pay them three thousand taels of silver for each quarter of an hour. The other entertainment options—such as sword dancing, sleeve dances, zither playing, caligraphy, and painting—were even more expensive.

All of that allowed people to enjoy entertainment in terms of their sight and hearing and feel as if they had returned to Imperial China. Each performance was worth thousands of taels of gold, however, so this restaurant was one of the places Happy had slandered the most for making people spend lots of money.

“A precious customer has arrived!”

The person standing by the door was a charming beauty in her thirties. When her gaze landed on Happy, her sweet voice rang out in the air. “Jade Servant, bring the customer to Heaven Fragrant Tower. Lead him to the best room for honored guests.”

A pleasant smelling aroma wafted into Happy’s nose. A beautiful and charming girl drew the bead curtain and gracefully arrived in front of him, where she bowed respectfully. “I, Jade Servant, greet you, young master. Please come here.”

She had a mellow voice. It was clear and pleasant to the ears, but it also sounded sickeningly sweet, making others unable to help but have the urge to tease her by tilting her chin to look at her.

Happy said nothing.

No matter what, he had seen many situations in his previous life. Besides, he had just parted ways with Zhou Zhiruo, and he had already built some degree of resistance toward the beauties in the game. He nodded and had Jade Servant lead the way while he followed behind her calmly with an indifferent expression.

In truth, Happy was not quite happy with Wandering Know-it-all for choosing this sort of place. There were a lot of people going about the area, and Beijing was a land of gossip.

But when he thought about it, it was the first time they met, and Heaven Fragrant Tower was also a rather interesting place. Perhaps Wandering Know-it-all thought this was the first time he came to Beijing, which was why he prepared some programmes to entertain him.

‘Oh well, let’s see how the richest person in the game has decided to entertain me.’

Happy followed behind the graceful Jade Servant while passing a multitude of women before he entered a single courtyard that was so lavishly and regally decorated that it looked like a palace.

Heaven Fragrant Tower!

Wandering Know-it-all had already received news of his guest’s arrival, so he went to the door to wait for Happy.

Wandering Know-it-all was dressed in plain white, and there was a smile on his face while he stood at the door calmly. There were two matchless beauties standing by his sides. One of them had fair skin as well as a charming presence. The other was petite, exquisite, smart, and adorable. She was even more charming than Jade Servant, who led the way.

When Happy saw them, he smiled. “Haha, as expected of the richest player, Wandering Know-it-all. You actually managed to buy Little Moon Immortal and Delicate Servant. You sure know how to spend your money!”