Chapter 147: The East and the West

A large crowd had already gathered inside and outside the shop to watch the spectacle.

Word spread quickly that two well-known fools were fighting over a famous sword. Because neither of these fools was ordinary, everyone was eagerly anticipating whose hands the renowned blade would ultimately fall into.

At this moment, a middle-aged man resembling a bodyguard, who served as the valet to the wealthy fool, stepped forward.

"Your Excellency must be Mr. Yang Hao, the tier-six martial artist who has been making a rising name for himself recently, right? We are from the Liu family of the West District, and this is Young Master Liu Yunfei's deeply cherished cousin, the Sixth Young Master, Liu Yuntang," he asked, cupping his fists.

"It's me. I know Liu Yunfei; he's no better than I am. Since you recognize me, hurry up and get out of my way. Heaven has told me that this sword is my long-lost brother. Today, since my brother and I are reunited, I won't hold you guys accountable," said Yang Hao, who stood eight chi tall with a waistline of eight chi, speaking in a muffled, rumbling voice.

Just then, the precious sword gave a slight tremor.

Indeed, it possessed supernatural qualities! This was clearly the sign of a renowned sword choosing its master!

"You're talking nonsense! Clearly, it's my old man who died many years ago, coming back to find me," the opposite Liu Yuntang said upon seeing this, his eyes glowing as he wiped away a string of drool.

At this moment, the sword shook even more violently!

Hiss! The onlookers instantly drew a sharp breath. These two were famous fools in the city, yet listening to them right now, everything they said sounded almost true.

Does that mean Yang Hao's long-lost brother is actually Liu Yuntang's long-lost father? There had to be a story here.

Yang Hao looked to be over thirty, so having a brother in his forties wasn't strange. Liu Yuntang was not yet twenty; calculating it this way, the ages actually made sense.

No sooner did this thought cross the minds of the onlookers than they all dismissed it as absurd. These two fools were definitely spouting nonsense, forcibly linking things that were worlds apart.

Yet, coming to think of it, why would this precious sword react to their utter nonsense?

At this point, the shopkeeper—an elderly man dressed in a sleek suit—hurriedly seized the opportunity to speak up. "Gentlemen, since the divine sword has a spirit, let it choose its own master. Everything has nothing to do with this old man anymore."

Even as he said this, a lingering look of acute pain remained on his face.

He had never expected that he would actually experience the thrill of picking up a bargain. A broken sword he had fished out from a street stall turned out to possess such divine qualities and even attracted a battle between such powerful figures!

It was a pity his backing wasn't strong enough. He had picked up a bargain, but he had no way to maximize his profits. It was like slogging away for decades only to finally win the lottery, only to be told you had to split it with a thousand other people, leaving you with barely enough to buy a modest meal...

The onlookers deeply empathized with his mood. This was a world where martial artists reigned supreme!

Ordinary people who wanted to open a shop or start a business had to have a martial artist as their backer. Clearly, the backer behind this old man was no match for these two; a business transaction that could have yielded a massive fortune had to be abruptly and helplessly pushed away.

His heart must be bleeding. Otherwise, given the fortunes of these two men, the sword could easily have been sold for a sky-high price.

Just like many antiques that seemed utterly worthless and useless, they could sell for exorbitant prices simply because someone liked them and someone else was fighting for them.

"In that case, let the divine sword father choose for himself," Liu Yuntang said, taking a handkerchief handed to him by his valet and wiping away another stream of drool.

Yang Hao refused to yield an inch. "Humph, divine sword big brother will definitely choose me!"

Which one would it actually choose?

As the crowd waited in anticipation, Fan Bei was also in a difficult spot.

Both of them looked decent; if only there was a way to combine the two.

The moment this thought flashed through his mind, the scene shifted.

On the counter, the precious sword suddenly trembled all over, and the scabbard flew first into the arms of the wealthy fool, Yang Hao.

"Divine sword big brother really didn't abandon me!" Yang Hao cried out in ecstasy. "I won! I won!"

He threw his head back and laughed maniacally, wearing a completely vacant expression.

The man had gone crazy with joy; it really looked like his own big brother had returned. The onlookers shook their heads.

"Dammit, no way! Dad, ever since you left, I've burned incense for you every day, terrified that you'd be bullied in that world and have no one to rely on," Liu Yuntang blurted out, dropping straight to his knees before the precious sword on the counter. "Dad, you can't just abandon your son!"

The elderly shopkeeper hurriedly stepped aside; he could not bear to receive such a grand kowtow from this young master.

At that moment, the precious sword shot through the air and landed right in front of Liu Yuntang!

He grabbed it and hugged it tightly to his chest, not even caring that his expensive suit had been torn in several places.

"As expected, Dad still loves me! He's still partial to me after all!" he shouted in pleasant surprise.

"No, no, this is impossible!" Yang Hao's eyes widened as he stared at the empty scabbard in his hands. He had thought that since the scabbard had arrived, the sword itself couldn't be far behind.

He never expected such a turn of events!

"Why is it impossible?" The bodyguard behind Liu Yuntang quickly stepped forward and said, "The facts are right here. Since Lord Sword gave you the scabbard, it means you're still material worth molding. From now on, you'll follow the young master as a bodyguard—no, as a sword-bearing page!"

Liu Yuntang nodded at the tactful bodyguard, looking thoroughly satisfied. "Old Gu speaks well. When we get back, the young master will reward you. By the way, Old Yang, since my dad has taken a fancy to you, you can be my sword-bearing page. Though you look a bit too old, you can be the sword-bearing old man instead."

Yang Hao's face flushed red, but given his taciturn nature, he truly could not come up with any retort.

For a moment, he muttered to himself while staring at the bright red scabbard: "What is going on? Big brother, do you really want me to follow this fool?"

Watching the commotion wind down without a proper fight, the onlookers could not help feeling disappointed.

"What's going on? Are the two of them just going to accept this?"

"What else can they do? They agreed to let the sword choose for itself, and now the result is out."

"One got the blade and the other got the scabbard. What on earth is this supposed to mean? It can't possibly be that these two are actually brothers and fathers, trying to reunite an uncle and nephew?" someone asked cluelessly.

"Bulls***! This is clearly the idiom of eating at the east house and sleeping at the west..." a clever person sneered with a cold laugh.

"So that's how it is. It seems this divine sword is quite snobbish as well."

"No one in this world is different. This is a world that looks at power and wealth; what reason is there to speak of?" the clever person shook his head and said.

The crowd suddenly felt a sense of dull insipidity. Weren't the facts precisely like this?

Two fools fighting over a precious sword, with a bunch of fools watching the show.

Soon, the crowd slowly dispersed.

From behind came the shopkeeper's shout.

"Young Master Liu, I'll have someone send the bill to your estate later."

"Rest assured, your share won't be shorted. Sword-bearing old man, walk faster, stop dragging your feet." Liu Yuntang walked ahead with his hands behind his back.

Yang Hao walked behind with a bitter expression, cradling the sword.

If it were a clever person, he would have grabbed the sword and run away by now, completely ignoring the previous agreement. But right now, he was honestly playing the role of his sword-bearing page...

The crowd, which had not yet fully dispersed, smiled mockingly at the sight.

"Ridiculous. Clearly possessing such strong strength, yet willingly bowing his head to a fool. If he had just used force to snatch it openly, wouldn't that divine sword have belonged to him?"

"Maybe he's afraid of the Liu family's influence?"

"Foolish. The Liu family is the Liu family, but anyone with eyes can tell that this fool Liu Yuntang is just a mascot pushed out by Liu Yunfei to show 'brotherly affection.' There's no way they would offend a peer-level expert over him. You must know, this Yang Hao is a tier-six martial artist, while Liu Yunfei is only at the peak of tier-six. If he snatched it and ran, would they really dispatch people to hunt him down?" someone hiding in the crowd muttered in a low voice.

Passersby shook their heads and gossiped; after all, they loved to watch a big spectacle without fearing the fallout.

Of course, this was only because the center of attention happened to be these two individuals. If it had been any other martial artist, they wouldn't have dared to utter a single word and would have fled far away instead.

Seeing this scene, Fan Bei could not help but admire the sword's artificial intelligence. To be able to come up with such a win-win solution, he had to tip his hat to it.

Right now, it seemed that the seed he had planted had taken root and sprouted quite nicely—far better than Fat Hou's opening act.

However, a sudden thought crossed his mind, causing his brow to furrow.

Why were the two worlds he had arranged for the system so similar to Earth?

There might be many Earth-like planets in the universe, but they certainly wouldn't develop the exact same language and cultural environment.

He logged this question in his private journal page, leaving it to be resolved at a later date.