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Dang li ge dang! Li ge li dang!
“Ah! When storms rise in the jianghu, the three teachings and nine trades all take the stage. Warriors test fists and feet, scholars debate morality, and mystics display their arts, each vying without yielding…”
Dang li ge dang! Dang li ge li dang!
“Look here! Red Fist masters strike fast. Xingyi is fierce; Bagua is elusive. Dragons and snakes gather from all walks of life! The jianghu is dangerous, beware! The clapper beats carry far and wide, telling tales of the human world…”
At the Paifang Street crossroads, the crowd roared with noise. A storytelling performer was rattling his clappers at full speed.
In the jianghu, every creature, whether dragon, snake, rat, or ant, has its way of survival. A life-and-death duel might determine the fate of those involved, with interests entangled behind the scenes, but to common folk and wandering martial artists, it was nothing but a grand spectacle.
People had always loved excitement. Even public executions drew crowds, let alone a duel.
Thus, Paifang Street was livelier than any festival location. Ordinary folk came early after lunch to secure a spot. This was also an opportunity for jianghu drifters. Most weren’t troublemakers, but fought for any chance to earn scraps of silver.
Before dawn, some had already headed over to mark their spot. That meant drawing a circle in sand, claiming their space and keeping distance for performances.
However, the ones who headed over to save spots weren’t performers, but rather members of the Long Spring Association. At large gatherings, performers and vendors could easily clash over space. The association existed to manage exactly that. They would assign spots and maintain order. Of course, they would also collect fees, taking cuts from vendors and performers alike.
By noon, the intersection was packed with storytellers, musicians, traveling performers, and snack vendors. Even street charlatans set up stalls grinding fake rhinoceros horns, selling medicines, and performing stunts. They did anything to draw attention.
In the distance stood groups of porters. They were strong, muscular men, their legs thick as tree trunks.
All in all, the duel had stirred the calm waters of Xianyang’s jianghu.
***
“Why aren’t they here yet?”
“Are they even fighting?”
“Relax, it’s not time yet…”
As the crowd grew, impatience spread. Fortunately, the platform stood three zhang high. It was visible from anywhere. Nearby teahouses and taverns offered the best views, but those seats were reserved for notable figures.
On the east side sat Zhou Pan’s faction, including the elders, the Eight Vajras, and Zhou Bai himself.
Zhou Bai stared eagerly at the stage and he asked, “Should I go up first? We can’t just leave the platform empty, right?”
At the end of the day, he was still a youngster. Even though he frequently exchanged pointers with others, it was his first time facing such a crowd. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t excited.
A stern man rebuked him, “Sit down! Who cares if it’s empty?”
Zhou Peide, his father, continued to growl, “Do you think you’re a street performer? Sit down and meditate. Focus your mind properly for the battle ahead!”
Zhou Peide was the oldest among the Eight Vajras, and his strength ranked somewhere in the middle. However, he was Zhou Pan’s cousin, which allowed him to maintain quite a strong reputation among them. It was also why he had the authority to speak up in these situations.
Zhou Bai shrank back but remained defiant.
Seeing his reaction, Yuan Qu smiled. “No need to rush. He challenged you. It’s not a matter of who comes first. Since he’s the challenger, you should arrive after him. That shows your status.”
“I see.” Zhou Bai nodded while Zhou Peide frowned silently.
If Zhou Peide was being honest, he looked down on the likes of Zheng Heibei and Yuan Qu. They had done all sorts of evil using the name of the Zhou Family. Unfortunately for him, Zhou Pan needed to maintain order in the Divine Fist Association and needed people to do the dirty work. In order to use his connections in Chang’an, he needed money. That was where Zheng Heibei and Yuan Qu came in.
After the battle was over, he decided to tell his son to cut his interactions with these two…
On the west side sat Zhang Yuanshang and others. It was much quieter here than the east. .
Finally, someone couldn’t take the silence and asked, “Is this really worth it? You took charge of this yourself, which means you’re openly clashing with the old monkey. It’s not worth it…”
“My old bones matter less than the next generation,” Zhang Yuanshang replied calmly. “If the young succeed, even poor families rise. If they fail, even great houses fall. The Zhou family has only Zhou Bai. The rest are useless. If Zhou Bai loses, things will change.”
The others nodded. Strength mattered in the jianghu, but so did interests. Many were waiting for Zhou’s downfall.
Someone asked, “Can he win?”
“He has a twenty to thirty percent chance of victory.” Zhang Yuanshang exhaled. “That’s worth betting my reputation on.”
Zhang Shitong called out suddenly. “Father, they’re here!”
The crowd parted as a sharp-eyed young man strode forward. He wore rough clothes that villages outside the city would wear, but he stood tall and composed. Despite his clothes, he was exceptionally eye-catching in the crowd.
Wang Daoxuan and Sha Lifei followed him.
“Is that really Li Hu’s son?” An elder laughed as he examined Li Yan while sitting in a teahouse nearby. “Doesn’t look like it at all! Li Hu’s skin was tanned bronze from his years of adventuring. His kid looks more like a skinny monkey than anything else. He would be more suitable to learn the arts...”
Laughter followed as everyone shook their heads in amusement.
The man who had laughed was Luo Shihai, an elder of the Eight Trigram Palm in Xianyang. He was also the head of the Longsheng Opera Troupe. He was a man utterly obsessed with the opera. If not for the fact that a promising young female disciple of his had been violated by a younger member of the Zhou Family and later hanged herself in despair, forming an irreconcilable blood feud, he would never have become involved in Jianghu conflicts or chosen a side.
While everyone harbored different thoughts, Li Yan walked up to the crossroads, ignoring the gazes around him as he focused entirely on the platform.
The moment he saw the platform, his eyes narrowed slightly.
Beside him, Sha Lifei let out a mocking laugh. “The Zhou Family really likes to play their dirty tricks.”
The platform had been built in a strange manner. A normal platform, even if it didn’t have proper supports, would at least have stacked wooden frames or ladders so that the contestant could climb up.
But the Zhou family’s arena had been sealed smooth on all four sides with wooden planks, leaving nowhere to find a proper foothold. Under the sunlight, it even gleamed with a glossy sheen. It had obviously been coated with oil.
That was clearly a way to make Li Yan embarrass himself. With so many people watching, if Li Yan could not even get onto the stage, he would embarrass himself before his opponent even appeared. There would be no need for the fight to continue.
Li Yan gave it a casual glance before looking around. “No matter. Just a petty trick…”
Several arm-thick hemp ropes were used to stabilize the central pillars of the platform around the arena. They were all tied tightly to iron stakes that had been hammered into the ground.
Without another word, Li Yan walked toward one of the ropes.
The eyes of those standing around widened in shock. The ropes were thick, but the angle was steep. Moreover, it only reached halfway up the platform.
Is he really going to climb up the rope?
While it would not be difficult for a trained martial artist, it would hardly look impressive. He would look like a joke in the face of others. Yet to everyone’s surprise, Li Yan did not use his hands at all. Instead, he stepped directly onto the rope, and walked steadily up to the platform.
“Nice!”
The surrounding commoners immediately burst into applause.
“What’s so impressive about that?!”
But there were plenty of gang members from the Iron Blade Gang and the White Ape Gang in the crowd. They sneered when they saw what he was doing.
“Isn’t that just rope-walking from the acrobat guild? Was this kid some street performer before?”
“What do you know?” An old man nearby immediately snorted coldly. “Rope-walking uses soft ropes and specific techniques. This young man is relying purely on his lower body to walk on the ropes. If you don’t understand, then stop talking nonsense.”
Those gang members instantly flushed with humiliation and fury. Cursing loudly, they moved forward as if to gang up on the old man.
“You old bastard…”
But before they could finish speaking, their heads tilted sideways and they collapsed. There were quite a few young men hidden among the crowd who had secretly struck, knocking every one of the thugs unconscious before viciously kicking them in the ribs a few more times.
The gangsters truly had rotten luck. The old man they had provoked just so happened to be a senior figure of the Acrobat Guild.
Below the stage, the crowd was in an uproar, but Li Yan’s expression never changed. He walked along the rope halfway up the platform and suddenly paused. He borrowed the force from the rebound of the rope beneath his feet, and leaped into the air. His right hand caught the edge of the platform as he did a beautiful flip and landed on top of it.
The second his legs touched the platform, another round of cheers erupted below.
Li Yan cupped his fists toward the surrounding crowd, then casually glanced around the platform, measuring its size and checking whether there were any overly slick or uneven areas.
Across from him, Zhou Bai could no longer restrain himself. The moment Li Yan landed on the arena, Zhou Bai leaped directly out from the second-floor window of the restaurant.
He rolled forward to disperse the impact and arrived at the base of the platform. When faced with the slick wooden wall, he merely reached out and clawed at it. His five fingers pierced deep into the wood. Then, like a gecko scaling a wall, he rapidly climbed onto the arena in a few swift motions…
