“The Plum Blossom Thief is ruthless and wicked, while the Third Scholar is generous and righteous.” The old storyteller glanced around and addressed the audience listening to his tales in the tavern: “Do you all know who these two people I’m talking about are?”

The storyteller’s granddaughter, a pretty girl with braids, immediately started clapping her eyes and said, “Who are these two? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them.”

The old storyteller smiled and said, “Then you are truly ignorant. Speaking of these two, they are indeed very famous. The Plum Blossom Thief has only appeared twice in decades, but the number of cases committed by thousands of heroes in the Two Rivers Green Forest Road does not equal the number committed by him alone.”

The girl with the braid chuckled and said, “Wow, that’s amazing… But who is that third-ranked scholar?”

“This man is a young master from a prominent family. His family has produced many outstanding officials for generations, making his family extremely distinguished. Seven people in three generations have passed the imperial examination, but unfortunately none of them have become the top scholar. In the generation of Li Tanhua, his two sons are even more talented and have extraordinary abilities. The old man has placed all his hopes on his two sons, hoping that they can become the top scholar to make up for his shortcomings.”

The girl with the braid laughed and said, “It’s already good enough to be the third-ranked scholar, why must one be the top scholar?”

“Who would have thought that the eldest Li would be the third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination again? Everyone was depressed and hoped that the young master Li could live up to their expectations. But fate is not in our control, and he was the third-ranked scholar again in the imperial examination. The old third-ranked scholar was disappointed and died less than two years later. Then, the eldest Li third-ranked scholar also contracted an incurable disease. The young Li third-ranked scholar was disheartened and simply resigned from his official position. He stayed at home and spent his money generously and entertained guests. His generosity and magnanimity were such that even if Meng Chang were reborn and Xinling were reincarnated, he probably could not compare to him.”

The old storyteller finished his tale in one breath and then took a few more sips of tea.

Ah Fei, who was sitting in the restaurant drinking tea, was extremely excited to hear that someone was praising Li Xunhuan. He was even happier to hear that it was more like a compliment to himself.

The old man continued, “This third-ranked scholar is not only highly talented, but also a master of both literature and martial arts. In his youth, he was taught extraordinary skills by a mysterious person.”

The girl with the braid said, “Is the story Grandpa is going to tell about the two of them today?”

The old man said, “That’s right.”

“Why is it always Li Xunhuan and the Plum Blossom Thief? Old Sun, you’ve been saying this for days. Can’t you come up with something new? Little Li Xunhuan is a decade-old old man, long past his prime, he’s lost his appeal. Can’t you come up with something fresh? For example, the recently incredibly famous and touted number one martial arts master Zhang Lingyu, or the three great villains of the Spring and Autumn Period. Aren’t those more interesting than the Plum Blossom Thief Li Xunhuan? Don’t you all agree?”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“No matter how powerful Li Xunhuan’s throwing knives are, they have nothing to do with us. But Zhang Lingyu is different. He’s one of the three great villains of the Spring and Autumn Period, a knife-selling expert with countless divine weapons. It’s said that any one of his weapons could easily rank among the top ten divine weapons in the martial arts world. Especially the newly released Cheng Ying Sword, which is an ancient divine weapon, an invisible sword with no shadow. If I had known that killing Tian Boguang would get me such a divine weapon, I would have chased after Tian Boguang long ago. I even drank and went to a brothel with him the month before last.”

…

A group of martial arts figures in the audience quickly started to jeer. Compared to the long-outdated Li Xunhuan, Zhang Lingyu, the newly popular young star, was naturally more talked about and more legendary.

Afei, new to the martial arts world, was naturally furious and about to explode, but he was quickly shocked by the deeds of the newly emerging martial arts legend Zhang Lingyu, especially by the Chengying Sword, which was recognized as the number one divine weapon in the world, leaving him dumbfounded.

Some of the martial arts practitioners present had already heard of the exploits of the Thirteen Bandits of the Northwest, while others were hearing about them for the first time. But they were clearly no small fry; they were the strongest bandit force in the Northwest, and even the authorities couldn’t do anything about them.

Each one of them is not very powerful. Apart from the leader being a fourth-rank expert and the third leader being a near-fourth-rank expert, several others are only sixth-rank. However, they are numerous, ruthless, and like to act together.

Gu Yunfei, the “Great Hero of Liaodong” who was previously recognized as having the strength of a third-rank hero, wanted to take action to destroy this bandit gang, but ended up being seriously injured and almost died at the hands of the Thirteen Great Bandits of the Northwest.

From then on, there were fewer and fewer chivalrous heroes who dared to uphold justice and eliminate evil. Many people even deliberately avoided these bandits, which led to the Thirteen Bandits of the Northwest committing all sorts of atrocities in the Northwest.

As a result, at the end of last month, they encountered Shangguan Haitang, the master of the number one manor in the world, who had just obtained the Chengying Sword, mastered the swordsmanship, and greatly increased his power.

Shangguan Haitang wielded the invisible sword Chengying, its sword energy crisscrossing. Before she had even finished a set of sword techniques, she had directly annihilated the infamous Thirteen Bandits of the Northwest.

Cheng Yingjian Shangguan Haitang quickly rose to fame, becoming one of the newly emerging Four Young Masters of the Martial World. He directly squeezed out Song Qingshu, the young master of Wudang, and surpassed Wu Hua, the monk who had no substantial achievements but was only praised as being unparalleled. He also made Zhang Lingyu, who was originally one of the Four Young Masters, quickly rise to become the number one young master of the martial world.

Ah Fei listened with great enthusiasm and was completely captivated, yearning for such a legendary tale of the martial arts world.

Although he himself didn’t care much about what weapon he used, as his own sword was just a sharp blade that looked like a piece of iron, he was still very interested in a supreme divine weapon like the Cheng Ying Sword.

“Old man Sun, does that Cheng Ying sword really have no blade?”

“The Cheng Ying Sword is actually a glass sword, made of glass, but it is different from ordinary glass. It is exceptionally hard and sharp, and pure and flawless. Under sunlight, it is almost invisible.”

At the same time, this sword has excellent conductivity for sword energy, internal force, and true qi. It can easily convert the internal force of martial arts masters into sword energy. Even if you have abundant internal force but have not mastered the use of sword energy, you can become a sword energy master by using this sword.

It is said that if this sword falls into the hands of a master of the Innate Realm, and is driven by their Innate True Qi, it can directly unleash a sword aura that only peerless swordsmen like the Innate Sword Grandmasters and the Five Great Sword Gods can wield. If an Innate Grandmaster possesses such a divine weapon, they could even rival the Innate Grandmasters who are considered legends in the martial arts world.