Who in the world does not know you?

Chapter 35 The Scammers and Deceivers

The atmosphere between Yunluobai and Yezi suddenly became quiet, forming a stark contrast with the lively scene around them.

It was as if two strings of candied hawthorns had sealed their mouths shut. The companions remained silent. To avoid embarrassment, Yun Luobai looked around the street, trying to find something new.

The cheers and applause from the crowd mostly came from the energetic performances of street performers, but after seeing them so often, they always became rather uninteresting.

The variety shows are mostly things like throwing plates, playing with monkeys, and breathing fire; they're not anything new.

In addition, there was a magician performing "The Three Immortals Return to Their Cave," which attracted a group of children who watched with great interest and tried to guess which white porcelain bowl the red dumpling was in.

There are also people with martial arts skills who have fallen on hard times and end up on the streets. Their performances of pointing a spear at their throat and breaking a large stone on their chest are quite eye-catching. These people have all trained specially. Otherwise, if a few troublemakers in the crowd of onlookers were to run out and check the props used in the performance, trouble would inevitably arise.

Yun Luobai glanced at the various performance areas he had seen along the way, and then at the changes in Ye Zi's expression. He quickly realized that she, like him, had no interest in these things.

There are many kinds of street performances.

If you don't have the skills or the physical strength, then you can only rely on your words.

The most common type of storyteller is the one who sets up a table, strikes the gavel, and starts reciting familiar tales of the martial arts world like beans being poured out. To make the stories sound more exciting, he often adds embellishments.

The stories told by storytellers are mostly universal, because through oral transmission, so-called fresh tales of the martial arts world quickly spread throughout the country.

Those who tell good stories can be invited to teahouses and taverns to entertain guests, and they can always get some tips from the shopkeeper or the guests.

Ordinary people can only find a place with a decent number of people in the bustling city to set up a table. Because of the constant noise and commotion around them, they have to raise their voices to barely attract a few onlookers.

Even so, not everyone who passed by to watch the spectacle was willing to give a few coins as a reward, so the income was meager and barely enough to make ends meet.

Every storyteller in the Da Hui Dynasty, regardless of where they performed or how skilled they were with their tongues, always mentioned one particular name.

Even if the storyteller tells his story too many times and worries that the audience might get tired of it and switch to stories about other people, the expectant and waiting gazes that gather around him always leave the storyteller and the audience with a tacit understanding.

He was like the final, exquisite dish at a banquet; without him, the entire banquet would lose its luster.

He is none other than Li Zigui, the world's most famous swordsman, and the undisputed number one in the martial arts world rankings in the past.

As Li Zigui stopped at the back of the crowd, a series of questions came from all around him.

"Old man Lin, when are you going to start talking about Li Zigui?"

"If you don't tell, plenty of others will. Liu Mazi from West Street tells the same few stories every day without getting tired of it. We'll all be going to listen to him eventually!"

"Exactly, exactly. Don't you know who you're counting on to earn your living every day? Who wants to hear about those old, trivial matters?"

The old man behind the desk, known as Old Man Lin, grinned, a hint of embarrassment showing on his deeply lined, aged face.

He originally wanted to tell some stories of his past in the martial arts world that were different from others, so that he might attract the attention of some people who had never heard of them.

Judging from the fact that he was interrupted halfway through his speech, people don't seem to care about those things.

Yun Luobai then turned his gaze to Ye Zi, who seemed oblivious to everything and continued eating her candied hawthorn. If she hadn't caught a glimpse of him pausing, she probably would have already walked away.

"Last time we listened to the storyteller at the Honggu Restaurant tell the story of Li Zigui, you didn't seem very interested."

Upon hearing Yun Luobai's words, Ye Zi chuckled and looked up at the handsome young man beside her, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

"Aren't his past stories about the underworld just old, trivial matters?"

Yun Luobai was speechless for a moment, unable to utter any rebuttal.

Indeed, Li Zigui's carefree life in the martial world was twenty or thirty years ago, before Li Zigui was even born.

Seeing that Yun Luobai was speechless for a moment, Ye Zi roughly guessed that he couldn't find any words to refute her. So after chewing a few times, she swallowed the sweet and sour hawthorn wrapped in rock sugar, and then said something else.

"I don't understand why everyone is so interested in him. He's no longer in the martial arts world, and all sorts of martial arts gangs are springing up like mushrooms after rain. Tomorrow, Young Master Yun can also create a new gang. I've even thought of a name for you: the Scammers and Deceivers Gang."

As Ye Zi watched the storyteller, who had briefly paused to reflect amidst the crowd before recounting Li Zigui's past, she uttered some nonsensical remarks that seemed utterly absurd to anyone who heard them.

These are words that a woman who came from a brothel should never utter. At least based on her past experiences, there are few people in the world with a lower social status than her.

"I understand what you mean. You're trying to say that the world of martial arts is ever-changing, and people shouldn't just be nostalgic for Li Zigui, who has retired from the martial arts world. But you haven't considered what he means to this world of martial arts."

"What does it mean? Even if he was truly the best in the world before, it was just that his martial arts were better than others. Not to mention that he retired from the martial arts world because he lost all his skills, and now he can only stay in the Crane Return Tower in Xichuan Prefecture as a doctor who takes pulses and diagnoses patients. It seems that he will spend the rest of his life like this, so what else could it mean?"

"You've probably heard the saying, 'The imperial court and the martial arts world are completely separate.' The court turns a blind eye to the fights and conflicts between martial arts figures. Even though the Dali Temple has special cases involving martial arts figures to maintain a balance between the two, it's actually not very effective. As long as those so-called martial arts figures don't loot, plunder, or burn ordinary people, the government won't care about their lives."

"I know."

"But you should know better that according to the laws of the Great Hui Dynasty, murderers should be executed. The government is just too lazy to deal with such matters. If it really came down to it, even the prefect of Ningzhou Prefecture could send his constables to arrest these lawbreakers without having military power. However, most of these people are skilled in martial arts and difficult to deal with, and they fight each other endlessly. So the government would rather watch them fight like dogs and that's why they don't get involved."

"so what?"

Ye Zi didn't understand what Yun Luobai wanted to express.

Yun Luobai turned his head to look at the storyteller who was loudly recounting the final battle that had shaken the martial arts world.

That day, the first snow fell in the capital.

Li Zigui, the master swordsman of the world, entered the capital alone through the snow.