Sword Among Us Novel - Chapter 99

Chapter 99: Soul Severing Guest
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Beijing was the most prosperous city in China, and its people the most well-informed. It was also the city with the most powerful players and most fortuitous encounters. The resources there were something all players could only dream of.
Not only was the city surrounded by the eight great sects and countless other small sects, the power of the court was also the greatest there.
The headquarters of Six Doors was there. The Eastern Depot and Western Depot, which were the most influential factions that branched out of the court, were also there. 1
Even though it was aggravating for the workers to work under a group of eunuchs who loved pretending to be mysterious and embarrassing to admit to that fact, the old eunuch Liu Jin[1] was the one who watched over Western Depot and Eastern Depot. He was a powerful fighter who got to practice Lin Zhibao’s Sunflower Manual[2].
The martial arts practiced by Eastern Depot and Western Depot were also the ultimate martial arts from all great sects. They were so powerful that their strength was beyond all doubt. They could even suppress the top fighters from other sects with ease, which was why they attracted a certain number of players to them.
As for the Embroidered Uniform Guards[3], it was normal for the players to get the Flying Fish Suit and the embroidered saber the moment they joined the imperial secret police. Even though their skills were not very outstanding, they could gain a quiet training spot using the various convicts on death row shut in prison. They could be considered to be a force possessed by the court that had quite the special privilege.
There were all sorts of child beggars dressed in rags and holding a bamboo pole that begged on the streets of Beijing. There were boys and girls in great numbers, but no one ever cast them disdainful or contemptuous gaze!
After all, in all of World Martial Arts, the Beggar’s Sect had the greatest number of disciples, and the uniting force between them was also the greatest!
They all practiced Mad Demon Staff Technique in a frenzy!
Everyone looked forward to the child beggars’ unruly and bold lifestyle of eating meat and drinking wine, as it was depicted in Demi-gods and Semi-devils. Even though they weren’t rich, they were happy, because they had no goals, hence they gained rewards every day in life, which was something the people in the real world could not experience and understand.
Besides the Beggar’s Sect, there was another great sect which stood tall in Beijing—Ming Cult.
At that moment, a group of three stood above Nine-dragon Mountain, which was outside Beijing. One person stood in front of the other two while looking into the distance. With a solemn gaze, he admired the tall, lofty, and sturdy wall surrounding Beijing. Behind it was the ancient city that contained thousands of years of history and culture of China!
“As expected of the country that contains a quarter of the population of the world. Each generation surpasses the last… and there will always be a taller mountain.”
The middle-aged man in the lead was looking at the city wall with an incredibly sentimental gaze. When he slowly spoke, his words came from the bottom of his heart. Clearly, he had not come to admire the view.
The two people cast each other a glance, but they remained silent. The atmosphere between them was freezing cold.
“Hahahaha!”
The man in the lead let out a long string of laughter before he opened the folding fan in his hand.
“What a joke!” he mocked himself. He then turned around, swung the fan, and lamented, “The master of Wind and Rain Tower has more than one hundred Blessed Realm members and more than five thousand members under them! But so what? We’ve plotted and schemed against them for three months, but we did not even manage to take down Beijing.
“We even laughed when Mountain Range Sect was defeated by a single swordsman… Hmph, right now, we were also easily defeated by a nameless swordsman from the desert.” He closed his folding fan, and his tone was firm when he spoke next. “Instead of continuing as this incompetent master, why don’t I just disband the entire tower!”
The two people’s expressions changed drastically.
“Master!”
“Big brother!”
They quickly rushed up to the dejected middle-aged man.
“Big brother, you weren’t like this before!” The person to the left was a typical man from the north. He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his voice was loud.
“Isn’t he just a swordsman from the desert? Is there a need for you to be so disappointed and undervalue yourself do much? Think about it! Over the course of history, which sect has never become stronger through trials and setbacks?”
“Young Lou is right!”
The man to the right was elegant and had a handsome face. When he walked forward, his wise eyes were fixed on the middle-aged man.
“Yesterday, our headquarters were destroyed. Wind and Rain and the others were injured badly, and our brothers are indeed very angry, but, tower master… no one has given up!”
“Ah…”
The middle-aged man let out a long sigh toward the sky. It looked as if he had not heard it.
But that was not surprising.
In Beijing, if anyone were to point out the strongest sect, they would definitely point toward Wind and Rain Tower, which had its headquarters in a mansion in the district of the rich.
They were the first to build their sect, the first to obtain more than ten Blessed Realm players, the first to set up branches at the four city gates so that their sect members could stay there and deliver all sorts of information.
The tower master of Wind and Rain Tower was named Tower Rain, and with extraordinary methods fueled by his ambition, he gathered together the famous players in Beijing and turned Wind and Rain Tower into the greatest sect set up by players in terms of economics and power step by step.
This sort of accomplishment made many people believe that Wind and Rain Tower was surely to become the first sect to turn into a super sect that would have its name spread out of Beijing and which would shock all of China.
However, in the quest earlier, Wind and Rain Tower had ran into a great danger, even though they had performed extraordinarily.
The swordsman from the imperial court of the desert had brought with him thirteen well-built men from beyond the Great Wall[4]. They protected their tribute of the imperial court of the Turkic people[5] all the way until they were thirty-one miles away from Beijing.
The swordsman from the desert was known as North Placating Duke, but his name as a wanderer was Soul Severing Guest.
The journey from the imperial court of the desert to Beijing was long, and more than one thousand players had died in the hands of North Placating Duke and his party!
The closer they drew to Beijing, the more people they ran into, and they were practically constantly fighting.
However, North Placating Duke had no fear. With his broken saber that was less than two feet long, he killed dozens of Blessed Realm players, and among them were even a few chiefs from Wind and Rain Tower.
Then, a few leaders brought with them more than ten chiefs as well as thirty or so Blessed Realm players and blocked off North Placating Duke’s path again.
The prelude for that entire matter began because of that action.
The lineup of thirty or so Blessed Realm players was a rather splendid one.
Even if North Placating Duke and his party had all reached Blessed Realm, it was impossible for each of them to fight against three people alone.
In the end, even though North Placating Duke and his party gained the upper hand in all their battles prior to this, in that battle, eight of the thirteen horsemen who followed North Placating Duke died.
For this, Wind and Rain Tower only gave up three lives…
Soon all four of the Blessed Realm players protecting North Placating Duke died!
Once he noticed that all his companions had died, North Placating Duke went absolutely berserk! He rushed into the crowd, and his broken saber let out an astonishing combat ability. With a fighting style that guaranteed both sides would suffer dearly, he defeated all the remaining Wind and Rain Tower players with his injured body.
Aside from that, North Placating Duke resolutely gave up on protecting the carriage with the tribute. He charged into Beijing and searched for Wind and Rain Tower’s headquarters, cut off the flag placed outside the mansion, and challenged the sect by himself.
Even though Wind and Rain Tower was personally watched over by Tower Rain and he had around ten powerful players and more than one hundred sect members by his side, they could not block North Placating Duke, who had his broken saber tied to himself with a gold chain.
With only himself and his blade, not only did North Placating Duke turn Wind and Rain Tower into a hell on earth, even Tower Rain and the headquarters could not survive the attack. All of them perished.
The matter swiftly spread all over the net!
It became the major news that stunned all the gamers after what had happened to Mountain Range Sect.
“Soul Severing Guest” North Placating Duke also became a presence who was as dazzling as Quicksword Xiao Shan!
While it was true that Wind and Rain Tower could be rebuilt, Tower Rain realized the difference between a true powerful player and a normal powerful player from this matter.
He raised his hand and interrupted the duo from trying to dissuade him from his decision, and with a gaze that allowed no disagreement, Tower Rain looked at the duo.
“Don’t think about persuading me anymore. From now on, I will let the two of you manage Wind and Rain Tower.”
“What about you?”
“The world of martial artists is a world where only the truly powerful can shine! A truly powerful martial artist cannot be missing from a sect!” Once he finished saying this, Tower Rain left on light footsteps.
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS
Mogumoguchan Mogumoguchan
Translator’s Note:

[1] Liu Jin: a powerful Chinese eunuch during the Ming Dynasty, the reign of Zhengde Emperor.

[2] Sunflower Manual: From Jin Yong’s The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. Practiced by Dongfang Bubai.

[3] Embroidered Uniform Guards: The imperial secret police who served the emperor during the Ming Dynasty.

[4] Great Wall: Great Wall of China, specifically, north of the Great Wall.

[5] Turkic people: are a collection of ethno-linguistic groups of Central, Eastern, Northern and Western Asia as well as parts of Europe and North Africa. Among them are the Turkish.