Legend Management Bureau Chapter 207

[ … words ]

“You… let go of me right now!” Xiaonian’s delicate face flushed with anger. “Are you really going to hit someone right here in the street?”

“Hit someone?” the large man roared. “So what if I do? You’re allowed to scam people, but I’m not allowed to hit you?”

“Who’s scamming anyone? The rules are clearly written on the board, and you played willingly!” Xiaonian argued, standing her ground.

“I don’t care! You didn’t explain it clearly!”

Xiaonian kept trying to wrench her arm free from the large man’s grasp, but she simply lacked the strength to break loose.

“Let go of me! This is a crime! I’ll sue you!”

Du Yu froze when he heard those words.

‘A crime’? ‘Sue’?

Before he could wrap his head around it, two figures darted out from behind him, sprinting straight toward the large man.

Fan Wujiu, who usually looked incredibly frail, practically flew through the air and delivered a flying kick that sent the large man stumbling backward. Xie Bian executed a smooth roll and caught Xiaonian perfectly.

‘Holy crap!’ Du Yu was startled. ‘Weren’t these two just beggars? Since when do they know martial arts?’

After kicking the large man away, Fan Wujiu broke into a violent coughing fit. His sickly physique clearly didn’t match his impressive agility.

Xie Bian set Xiaonian down safely to the side before turning his gaze to the large man. “Do you not know whose business this is? Did you really think you could mess with the Black and White Beggars of the City God Temple?”

The large man struggled to his feet and spat onto the ground.

“Bah! The Black and White Beggars? You’re just two filthy vagrants! You think I’m afraid of you?”

Fan Wujiu wanted to step forward again, but Xie Bian held him back.

“Old Eighth, leave him to me. Just rest.”

Dragging his gaunt frame, Xie Bian slowly walked toward the large man.

“Stinking beggar! Go to hell!”

The large man swung a heavy fist at Xie Bian. Without even trying to dodge, Xie Bian simply raised a hand and effortlessly blocked the strike.

The large man’s expression shifted, and he immediately threw a kick. However, Xie Bian’s leg lashed out first, deflecting the attack.

With his leg knocked aside, the large man lost his balance. Just as he was about to fall, Xie Bian followed up with a sweeping kick, sending him crashing to the dirt.

Yet, that move clearly hadn’t done any real damage. The large man quickly scrambled back up and changed his tactics, lunging forward to wrap his arms tightly around Xie Bian from behind. Since he couldn’t win with technique, he decided to rely purely on brute strength.

Xie Bian’s expression remained unchanged. He let the large man bear hug him, then slowly raised his right leg and stomped viciously onto the man’s foot. The large man cried out in pain and instantly let go.

Xie Bian spun around, unleashing a rapid combination of punches that fell like a torrential storm. Three blows to the abdomen, two to the chest, and a final sweeping hook directly to the face.

Finally unable to withstand the beating, the large man slowly collapsed to the ground.

Du Yu stood off to the side, completely dumbfounded. Just what on earth was going on?

‘Didn’t the Seventh and Eighth Lords only learn their divine abilities after becoming immortals? Were they already this formidable back when they were just beggars?’

‘But why does his fighting style look less like traditional martial arts and more like modern kickboxing?’

To Du Yu’s surprise, the surrounding crowd of townsfolk didn’t panic when the large man was beaten down. Instead, they immediately burst into cheers and applause.

It seemed the large man wasn’t exactly a good person in his daily life, and today he had unluckily messed with the wrong people.

“Fellow townsfolk, we are absolutely not scammers!” Xie Bian declared. “Three of you have already won a hundred copper coins today, so you naturally know we aren’t lying. This man simply refused to accept his loss and insisted on causing trouble for us, so I had no choice but to fight back! If he reports this to the authorities and the county magistrate investigates, I hope you elders and neighbors will testify on my behalf!”

“Don’t worry, Bian!” someone in the crowd shouted. “We’ll vouch for you!”

Xie Bian cupped his hands in a respectful salute to the crowd, then turned back to check on Xiaonian. She seemed terribly frightened, but hadn’t suffered any injuries.

The group quickly discussed the situation and decided to pack up their stall for the day.

“Bian, will you guys be back tomorrow?” one of the locals asked.

“Tomorrow?”

Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu were stunned. They thought that after a full day of this “scam,” they would be lucky not to be spat upon by the entire town. But judging from the sound of it… they had actually become even more popular?

“Do you… want us to come back tomorrow?” Fan Wujiu asked.

“Of course!” a villager replied. “My luck was just bad today. Watch me win a hundred coppers from you tomorrow!”

“That… might not be a good idea…” Fan Wujiu forced a bitter smile. “Honestly, with this game… the chances of losing are much higher… and the chances of winning a hundred coppers are very small…”

The moment he said that, Xie Bian winced, thinking to himself, ‘Why did this blockhead just blurt out the truth?’

To their surprise, the locals acted as if they had known all along. “Well, obviously! If a hundred coppers were that easy to win, wouldn’t everyone have won by now?”

“That…”

Left with no other choice, Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu could only promise the crowd that they would return the next day.

The group packed up their bulging coin pouches, stopped by a streetside pharmacy to buy some wound medicine and gauze, and carefully tended to Brother Can Kui’s injuries before preparing to go out for a proper restaurant meal.

Watching Xiaonian earnestly bandage the Can Kui brothers’ wounds, Du Yu couldn’t help but steal a few extra glances at her. A very strange feeling welled up in his heart, though he couldn’t quite put it into words.

“By the way…” Du Yu turned to Xie Bian. “Seventh Lord, why are you two such good fighters?”

“Oh, there was an old beggar in the temple who once trained at Shaolin. We learned a set of Taizu Long Fist from him when we were kids.”

“Huh?” Du Yu thought about it for a second. “That doesn’t sound right. I know about Taizu Long Fist. It’s mentioned all the time in martial arts novels. Isn’t that just the most basic foundational martial art? It’s basically like the military calisthenics we had to do as kids…”

“I didn’t quite catch all that,” Xie Bian said. “But Little Du, you are right about one thing. Taizu Long Fist is indeed the most basic martial art, which is why our hand-to-hand combat skills really aren’t that impressive.”

“Isn’t that a humblebrag? Your martial arts aren’t impressive?” Du Yu frowned. “What kind of normal person can effortlessly beat down a massive guy like that?”

“Hm?” Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu looked completely bewildered. “Are you saying our martial arts are actually good? Stop joking around. We’ve only ever practiced Taizu Long Fist, so how could we possibly be strong? It’s just that the big guy was too weak.”

Du Yu carefully studied their expressions and realized they weren’t lying. They genuinely believed they weren’t anything special. It seemed these two were natural-born martial arts prodigies with incredibly rare physiques suited for cultivation. No wonder Empress Houtu had personally recruited them to become Underworld Immortals.

“But the moves I saw you use earlier…” Du Yu threw a few punches, mimicking the kickboxing combo Xie Bian had used. “Was that also Taizu Long Fist?”

“Oh, that wasn’t. Xiaonian taught me those moves when we were bored and messing around,” Xie Bian said with a smile. “She said it was more effective at close range, and that a lot of people back in her hometown fight like that.”

“Oh?”

Du Yu frowned and glanced at Xiaonian. He seemed to have finally found the source of that strange sense of incongruity.

The group arrived at a restaurant, and Du Yu walked in first. When the waiter at the door saw a bunch of people in tattered rags entering the establishment, he immediately moved to block them. However, Du Yu simply flicked a copper coin directly to him.

“Save your breath. This is a tip. There’s more where that came from if you serve us well.”

The waiter had never seen anything like this before. He had worked here for ten years and this was the very first time he had ever received a “tip.”

“Yes, yes, absolutely! Right this way, you six esteemed guests!”

“Not bad. You learn fast.” Du Yu tossed him another copper.

“Little Du… what are you doing?”

Xie Bian winced, feeling a pang of heartache. After all, back in the day, they would have to beg for a whole day just to get a single copper coin. Yet Du Yu had just carelessly thrown away two coppers in the blink of an eye.

“Even if we have money now, we can’t just spend it like this.”

“I’m in a good mood today, so I’m spending a bit more.”

Du Yu led the group to a clean table and sat down, then unceremoniously dropped the heavy bag of coins onto the tabletop. There were a full three thousand coppers inside.

“Seventh Lord, Eighth Lord, you two take this money,” Du Yu said while pouring himself a cup of water.

“Huh?!” The two were taken aback. “Brother, what do you mean by this?”

“What do I mean?” Du Yu asked, genuinely confused. “I don’t mean anything by it. With this money, you guys won’t have to go hungry anymore.”

“How can we accept that?” Xie Bian shook his head repeatedly. “Little Du, you’ve been working hard with us all day, how can just the two of us take this money? You need to eat, sleep, and buy clothes too, right? Furthermore, brothers Ah Can and Ah Kui are both injured. You need this money far more than we do.”

Hearing Xie Bian’s words, Ah Can and Ah Kui turned their heads to look at Du Yu.

“Ah Can and Ah Kui are my brothers, so I will definitely take care of them,” Du Yu said seriously. “As long as I have a bite to eat, they won’t go hungry. Besides, I managed to earn this money today, which means I can earn more in the future. So just take it for now and stop refusing.”

Leaving them no room to refuse, Du Yu shoved the coin pouch toward them.

Staring at the bulging bag of coins, the two couldn’t help but feel their hearts race.

Was it truly possible for a mortal to be this wealthy? This was a whole three thousand copper coins!

“We’ve been waiting here forever, why hasn’t anyone brought over a menu yet?” Du Yu grumbled in confusion.

At that, Xiaonian burst out laughing again.

“What are you… laughing at now?” Du Yu asked.

“Never mind Xiaonian, even I want to laugh,” Xie Bian chimed in. “Little Du, you’re always spouting nonsense. What on earth is a ‘menu’?”

“A menu?” Du Yu thought for a moment. “It’s a list that shows all the dishes they make so we know what to order.”

“There’s no such thing,” Xie Bian said, exasperated. “Even though I’ve never been to a restaurant before, I’ve heard the seniors at the City God Temple talk about them. In a ‘restaurant,’ you just yell out whatever you want to eat, and someone will quickly bring it to you.”

“Oh…” Du Yu nodded slowly. “So that’s how it works. But this setup is a little too arrogant, isn’t it? If I just started rattling off a massive list of fancy banquet dishes, what would they even do?”

The group promptly called the waiter over, but none of them actually knew what good food to order at a restaurant. Xiaonian thought about it for a long time before imitating the characters in TV shows, telling the waiter, “Just bring us whatever your best dishes are.”

Knowing these people were high-paying customers, the waiter didn’t dare slack off and hurried to get things ready.

From the corner of his eye, Du Yu glanced at Xiaonian again. He decided he was going to get to the bottom of his suspicions right then and there.

“Sigh… it’s so boring.” Du Yu stretched out his arms. “It’s exhausting being busy all day.”

Xie Bian nodded in agreement. “Yeah, this work might not be physically taxing, but nobody can stand a whole day of this noisy chaos.”

“Exactly, exactly.” Du Yu casually turned his head toward Xiaonian without changing his expression. “By the way, Xiaonian, does your phone still have battery?”

“Oh, my phone…” Xiaonian froze for a long moment before she stammered, awkwardly changing her tune, “W-what is a phone?”