Sword Among Us

The desert palace did indeed live up to its name.

This was a thought that had circulated in Happy’s mind multiple times.

The black sandstorm happened once every fifty years. It managed to change the weather, but it could only open the tunnel to the desert palace.

The tunnel was hundreds of feet long. Even though it was narrow, it had managed to kill more than one hundred Myth Realm elites.

The fatal trap that promised only one sliver of a chance to survive within ten steps, the ingenious sand waterfall, the ancient mutated Black Sandstorm Scorpions, and the precious metal that could be used to create divine weapons.

All this were just rewards that were placed outside the desert palace.

Right now, they discovered another extraordinary reward in the hall.

It was a longsword which had been corroded by time for hundreds of years. It lasted through a long period of time quietly in the hall, but it still retained its sword will and imposing presence. There was no need for anyone to mention it, they knew that this was definitely a divine weapon, and it was a high-grade divine weapon that was of extraordinary quality.

Happy was not the only one who felt a desire for the sword. He quickly looked toward the other dozens of large pits in the hall. The sect masters around him held their breaths, and their gazes became intense.

“Master…”

Thousand-faced Human Fox could not suppress the desire and urge in his heart. He could not stop gulping and wiping off the sweat on his palms as he sent a private message to Happy.

“The longsword in the cave is definitely a high-grade divine weapon, and it’ll be worth cities. I don’t know which royal family created such a huge formation, and you can even find high-grade divine weapons in random holes. There are forty-nine pits in the hall, and wouldn’t that mean that there are forty-nine high-grade divine weapons in total?! Tsk tsk, instead of wandering around the lands for ten years, it’s better to just explore the area outside the desert palace.”

“Don’t be reckless.”

Happy knew that with Thousand-faced Human Fox’s reputation as a divine thief in the Chinese plains, he was definitely feeling a great urge to steal. He quickly sent a private message to warn him. “There are plenty of elites in the dao of heaven watching. If you don’t want to die, suppress that urge.”

In truth, quite a number of elites in the area had the urge to go down and grab the high-grade divine weapon, because even sect masters might not have a good quality weapon they could use at ease. Right now, there was a sword without a master before them, and there was no way they would not be tempted.

But there were eight elites in the dao of heaven in the area, and one of them was the mysterious man in the fanged mask, who would kill at a whim. No one could be certain as to whether they could come out alive after they went down.

In comparison, the elites in the dao of heaven were much calmer.

The martial paragon frowned slightly and spoke, “This longsword might be a key to a mechanism in the hall.”

“…Yes.”

The group nodded.

The Myth Realm elites in the area had their expressions become stern. When they stared at the high-grade divine weapon, their gazes were no longer as fervent as before.

Evil King said, “That’s not right. There are forty-nine such pits in the hall, and yet the one we picked at random happens to have a divine weapon. It will be too early for us to form that conclusion now.”

Ye Gucheng, Bi Xuan, the old zither player and the others nodded.

“That’s right.”

“It won’t be convenient for me to take action. I’m afraid I will have to trouble all of you to get the sand out of the remaining forty-eight pits.” Dongfang Bubai covered his mouth slightly. He tried his best to speak with a coquettish voice. Many of them felt goosebumps all over their skin when they saw this, but they did not dare to show their emotions.

“Ahem.”

Ye Gucheng coughed intentionally and was able to attract everyone’s attention back on him. He said, “Since Dongfang isn’t willing to take action, we shouldn’t force him. Let’s take care of seven each, and once we get the yellow sand out, we can check whether each of them contains a divine weapon and whether they have a connection to this formation.

“Alright!”

“I’ll go do it now.”

“I’ll handle this side.”

The old zither player and Ye Gucheng were the first to take action. Then, the mysterious man in the fanged mask and Evil King slowly turned around.

Bi Xuan cast a cold glance at Evil Kill and Empress Yin before his eyes fell on Osaya. He said nothing and just left.

Evil King and Empress Yin worked together, and in the blink of an eye, they cleared on hole.

It was just as everyone expected.

There was indeed a sword stuck deep in each of the pits. When the sand from all forty-nine pits were moved into the hall, the expressions of the people in the hall became much more stern.

Because at the same time they discovered the divine weapons, the sword wills that remained on each sword seemed to have created some sort of strange echo with each other in the hall.

Buzz…

The divine weapons were rumbling!

The forty-nine divine weapons trembled together faintly to form a great sword will in the air in the hall. Everyone could feel a powerful sword will being targeted at them.

This feeling of being targeted caused everyone to forget that there were forty-nine high-grade divine weapons by their feet, and they could get them at any time they wanted!

“What is this formation?!”

“No one is controlling it, and it has existed for hundreds of years, but it’s still so powerful!” When the old zither player spoke, the sound of metal scratching against each other rose, and it was incredibly piercing to the ears.

One among the eight elites in the dao of heaven practiced the dao of swords—Ye Gucheng!

Ye Gucheng was the one who was the most sensitive to the rune in the crowd.

“A sword formation! This is a sword formation!”

‘Well duh, you’d know just by looking at it…’ Naturally, Happy did not dare to say it in Ye Gucheng’s face. He only dared to make a sarcastic quip in his heart.

Fortunately, he had Thousand-faced Human Fox by his side, who was a professional trap master and had come to understand everything after reading through the Amazing Log of the Sea and Mountains. When he noticed the second divine weapon, he started mumbling behind him, as if he had thought of something.

“Master, this is bad.”

“What is it?”

Right now, Happy did not want to hear these words the most, but he could only resist his urge to smack the thief. Instead, he asked for the reason why he said those words.

“The Forty-nine Sky Force Formation does indeed contain extraordinary power, but the quality of the formation flags are the ones that determine the power of the formation.” After Thousand-faced Human Fox noticed the astonishing sword will in the air, his complexion turned incredibly bad, and he explained with a quiver in his voice, “If normal elites controlled the Great Sky Force Formation, they will be able to fight against even elites in the dao of heaven. But it will still contain weaknesses. But if the formation flags are made of forty-nine divine weapons which can serve as mediums to communicate with the other world…”

When he said this, Thousand-faced Human Fox sucked in a sharp breath.

Happy felt his heart leap to his throat.

“What will happen?”

Thousand-faced Human Fox turned his face to Happy with great difficulty, and his tone was strange. He spoke clearly, “The Great Sky Force Formation will become indestructible, and it will no longer contain any weaknesses!”

“What sort of threat could a formation not controlled by anyone possess?” Happy knew that Thousand-faced Human Fox would not say empty words to scare him, but he still could not believe that forty-nine swords could kill these elites in the dao of heaven, so he replied stubbornly.

Right when he said those words, just as he expected, Thousand-faced Human Fox smiled wanly.

“My dear master, those were my original thoughts. I thought that there must be someone who must control this large formation, but what do you think I saw…?”

“…”

When he saw that Happy’s complexion was rather sour, Thousand-faced Human Fox spoke faster to offer an explanation. “Great Sky Force Formation can be controlled by the magnetic field from Earth’s core.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“There is a paragraph in the Amazing Log of the Seas and Mountains that states that there is a strange power in the magnetic field from Earth’s core. They attract each other, and all the divine weapons with Earth’s magnetic field attached to them will deliver an attack that can rival a full-powered strike from a Myth Realm elite when they come into contact with other magnetic fields from Earth’s core.”

When he heard this, Happy’s expression instantly turned unpleasant. His gaze swept by the area below his feet. “…Are you saying…?”

“The entire hall is structured based on the magnetic field from Earth’s core,” Thousand-faced Human Fox mentioned the news that Happy did not want to hear the most. “The royal family in power at that time had a lot of money, and he actually inserted the magnetic field from Earth’s core into such a large palace in the desert.”

“But how is the sword formation supposed to operate? How is it supposed to be activated when there is no living being controlling it?”

“That’s a good question…”

Thousand-faced Human Fox stared at Happy and spoke with a strange tone.

Happy’s expression changed. He then pointed at himself and said with great difficulty, “Are you saying… we activated this formation, and the ones controlling it is us?”

Thousand-faced Human Fox nodded and gave a bitter smile. “Whoever designed this hall has clearly made perfect calculations as to how the magnetic field from Earth’s core will attract each other, and he or she has deliberately created a mechanism that can only be activated when living beings come here. If my guess is correct, we can only leave the hall if we break this Great Sky Force Formation and find the real desert palace! If we can’t find it, we will either be killed by the formation or be trapped here to the moment we die.”

As if to respond to Thousand-faced Human Fox’s explanation, the longswords in the forty-nine pits released an even clearer and pleasant sword whine.

In an instant, the sword will in the air became sharper and intimidating. The people in the hall instantly became nervous. They watched the divine weapons sway and shudder violently before they slowly removed themselves from the pits. The people’s expressions turned stern, and they drew their weapons…

“This is bad!”

“This is actually a sword formation which can be controlled without anyone manning it. We’re in huge trouble now…” Ye Gucheng’s expression was dark, and he quickly said, “We can act according to the situation and deal with the formation for now while we see whether there’s a way for us to leave the hall!”

Right after he finished speaking, forty-nine dazzling lights shot out of the pits, and they were astonishingly fast!

“They’re fast!”

“This speed is the same as a full-powered strike from an elite in the later stage of Myth Realm! It won’t be easy dealing with them!”

“Everyone, be careful!”

Martial Paragon Bi Xuan, Ye Gucheng, Dongfang Bubai, and the other elites in the dao of heaven had their expressions turn much more solemn.

Happy and Osaya had just received a warning from Thousand-faced Human Fox, and they did not dare to be inattentive of the situation. They resolutely left the crowd and formed a triangle, which each guarding a direction of their own.

Shick…

Shick!

After the sword formation was activated in the hall, it did not immediately attack them.

The forty-nine sword glares shot to all sorts of directions at lightning speed once they left the pits.

As Happy paid attention to them with his spirit sense, he noticed that the divine weapons were wandering about the smooth walls closely, and sparks flew out of them to release piercing sounds.

As the divine weapons wandered about quickly on the walls of the dome-shaped hall, they were like fire snakes moving about in a slithering motion on the motions, and they looked incredibly magnificent but strange at the same time.

This scene caused the people in the hall to be ready for battle. They held their breaths.

“The person who designed this formation must be a sadist!” Thousand-faced Human Fox grumbled quietly to Happy and Osaya.

“What’s wrong?” Osaya was stunned.

But Happy managed to figure out something based on Thousand-faced Human Fox’s words. He frowned and quickly asked, “Did you notice something?”

“The person who built this sword formation might have guessed that the palace will be buried for a long time, and the first step he set for the sword formation is to actually polish the swords. Did you see that? The rust is slowly disappearing.” Thousand-faced Human Fox smiled wanly. “At the moment they recover their past glory, the sword formation will be truly activated!”