What Jun was expecting was an epic movie sequence. They would meld into shadows and cross the plane of darkness, phasing through the various obstacles in their way. Then, like ninjas, they would grapple up the building and peer in, observing ancient satanic rituals which the world had never seen before.
Instead, their “grand plan” was to make Chen Hao walk up to the building while making sure no one else was watching. Then, the boy would peer into the house through the windows and memorise all the details he could.
“I’m so disappointed. What the hell? Why do none of them have curtains? Are there no cultivator perverts to peer into young maidens’ windows?”
The only thing that prevented them from being more brazen was that the mysterious cultivator had a decently high cultivation base—either the fifth or sixth stage. According to He Ming, most cultivators had a sharp sixth sense that helped them sense danger ahead of time.
But, why would the sixth sense help against a friendly neighbour just trying to see if there were any unattended dogs left alone by a negligent cultivator? Chen Hao had a noble heart and a righteous mission.
Regardless, the plan went off without a hitch. When the boy returned from his noble task and went to Jun’s side, He Ming quite literally appeared from the shadows as if taking off a cloak of invisibility.
“Whoa! We do have a ninja!”
The surprise turned into excitement as Jun curiously sniffed He Ming, trying to determine how he was able to get rid of his scent during his concealment. The two animatedly discussed the interior of the house, and it didn’t take long for them to return to the quiet inn. Once in the kitchen, the ninja brought out a basin and filled it with water.
The Water Mirror Technique reflected a fairly spartan living place. An originally colourful rug was now a sad shade of grey. The kitchen and the dining table hadn’t been used for years, much less any cutlery. The walls were begging for a painting of any sort to fill in the empty space, and the chequered stone tiles that made up the floor screamed boring. Despite an elementary formation keeping this place clean, this was the epitome of a lonely male living space.
There were rooms adjacent to this one, but the viewpoint of the window hadn’t allowed Chen Hao to peer into them. Even this overhead view from the ceiling was not ideal for fully exploring the house. The next few usages of the Water Mirror Technique helped Chen Hao shift the viewpoint slowly but surely.
‘This is like using Google Maps, except each click takes ten minutes and brings you a fraction of a step forward.’ The comparison made Jun dejected at their low cultivation. Surely there had to be more exciting stuff that technology couldn’t match.
He quickly shook his head at the idea. The “exciting” stuff novels talked about was accidentally wiping out half the continent with one move. Wouldn’t that be fun?
They had to give up for the night because Chen Hao had to wake up early. Then, the next evening, they continued with their investigation. Most of the rooms were much like the dining area they had seen earlier, and soon enough, the house was mostly mapped. When they saw the final room, well, that’s when they ran into their first problem.
The cultivator, a man no older than twenty, was sitting in an incredibly stuffed room. The entirety of the floor beneath him was covered in complicated runes which made Jun’s head spin just by seeing them. A collection of ancient swords and armours lined the walls, alongside a massive map that had frantic notes attached all over it. Notes marking potential ruins, locations of fallen sects, ancient inheritances, and the like. Most referenced some obscure books or folk tales, far from credible, but there were certain spots more circled than others.
Of note were the “Sword Grave,” “Ruin of the Mad Immortal”, and “Four Demonic General Inheritances,” all in bright red. The last one, in particular, stood out to Jun as it was located within the Demon Prince’s Ravine, which was the reason the other three sects had sent their delegations here. The ravine was located inside a jungle and marked the border between two zones. One was named the “Ancient Phoenix Region,” which included the four regional sects and numerous mortal kingdoms. The other zone was called the Realm of Devils, and was marked with such red that it was hard to see anything else.
Various trinkets collected from historical remains stood on shelves and tables. Weird clay statues, misshapen obsidian masks, and other ornaments littered the place, but none stood out as much as a massive copper bell, parts of it corroded green. Larger than even the table, it sat against the ground so heavily that it seemed impossible to even budge. On it was a scene of ancient humans, dressed in animal furs, pointing their spears to the moon. Except, instead of the three moons there usually were, this one had a smile and eyes that leaked blood.
‘Let’s play a game called guess the magical artifact. I wonder which item it could be... Oh, I know, it’s the huge fucking bell with horrifying creepy moon. How the fuck are they going to steal that?’
These were Jun’s first thoughts upon seeing the bell a few days later. See, the problem was that this was a cultivator’s private room. And what did cultivators love to do? They loved to cultivate. That meant that the history-obsessed man was constantly in the room and that any attempts to observe this place with him there would end incredibly badly. Only when He Ming gathered information on the man’s routine, making sure he was properly gone, did they take in the whole room.
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Of course, this took days and days of preparation, and even after they scanned the house from top to bottom for any hidden formations, it would still take many more days. Jun’s robbery of the meat shop seemed to be a child’s play in comparison to the preparations He Ming was making.
As for Chen Hao, his mastery of the technique progressed every day, and he enjoyed listening to He Ming explain the various “thief tricks” of how to spot any traps, preset techniques, hidden formations, and the like even if he never planned on robbing anyone’s house. The expert thief plotted a route including various backup plans, distractions, and a few hidden traps throughout the city where he could buy time in case he was pursued. Jun diligently took notes.
Jun’s personal project involved intently memorising the runes of the formation in the cultivator’s room. He Ming had identified it as the Golden Yang Qi Gathering Formation, which was apparently incredibly expensive to set up and massively improved one’s cultivation speed by gathering, well, yang qi. Incredibly obvious when you think about it.
When Chen Hao asked how he identified it, He Ming mentioned something called the “Grand Book of Formations,” which was passed down in the Lu family. Although he never mentioned any explicit details of what was in it, Jun went batshit crazy just thinking about the knowledge. Oh, how he desired it. Give a dog a bone, and you feed him for a day. Teach a dog how to make formations, and you feed him for a lifetime.
‘That doesn’t even make sense. Whatever. Give me the damn book or I’ll piss in your boots.’
The plan officially began after a week of preparations.
“Watch the bell. You’ll see how easy it is for things to vanish if you don’t take precautions.”
Those were the words He Ming left behind before he disappeared into the darkness. It was early evening, and the sun had barely set, but as Chen Hao and Jun settled in the kitchen and watched the water basin, they saw nothing but the empty room, the same as it had been for days prior.
If Jun could see from another’s perspective, then perhaps this theft would be thrilling and blood-curdling and all that. Adrenaline running through the veins, the calming of nerves before a job that could cost you your life. That would be the theme of this adventure. Unfortunately, he was but a mere dog, and He Ming was a damn good thief. Ten minutes from his departure, they saw a brief flicker of a shadow in the shape of a hand wrap around the copper bell. A dull light shone from the hand’s ring finger and the bell was gone. Just like that. The room remained deadly silent. Nothing else stirred.
Chen Hao recast the technique, now looking above the house, trying to spot anyone or anything. The only thing he saw was an annoying cat a street over, who lifted its leg and peed in their direction.
Another ten minutes passed before He Ming materialised inside the kitchen, handing a dilapidated stone ring to Liu Wei.
‘A storage ring. How could I have forgotten?’ Jun slapped himself on the forehead.
“It was sloppy. These two shouldn’t have been able to see anything. You let go of the Serpent’s Twilight when you performed simultaneous actions. Also, you forgot to cloak the ring’s light, too preoccupied with your escape plan.” The chef berated He Ming, who suddenly looked meek despite a job well done.
“I will fix it,” was all that he said.
‘God. Serpent’s Twilight. Why does his technique sound so cool and ours so lame? Is it because everyone with a shadow spirit root likes to pretend they are cool and mysterious?’
Now that Jun thought about it, if he could vanish into shadows and move unnoticed, he would develop some very unhealthy anime-like qualities. Perhaps he would even shout out his techniques when performing them.
‘Wait. I’ve never seen a proper fight between young masters. Maybe people here do that.’
He Ming immediately got back to work. They could only grab a hold of him after another hour, at which point he dropped a small pouch on their table. The melodic sound of crystals hitting each other immediately drew heated gazes.
“There. Your cut. It’s three hundred spirit stones.”
“THREE HUNDRED?”
“How much?”
Jun yelled in surprise, unable to control himself. His eyes practically turned into dollar signs. Chen Hao was flabbergasted, his mouth hanging open. His brain shut off for a solid ten seconds.
Upon seeing their reactions, He Ming began laughing and laughing. Every time he was about to stop, he glanced at Chen Hao’s bulging eyes and started again.
“It’s really not a lot,” he breathlessly said, taking deep breaths to calm himself.
“You know, a single cultivation pill for a sixth-stage disciple costs 400 spirit stones. If we had directly sold the bell, you would have received thousands. We received less because this was a contract from the Lu family, which involves a lot of things I can’t divulge.”
He Ming could have been explaining the world’s deepest mysteries and Jun would still not be listening. During the twelve months of being new disciples, they would only receive 120 spirit stones. In just a few days, they had earned much, much more. And it didn’t even take that much effort from Chen Hao.
“Stop gaping like dead fish. Your dog must have inherited the same poorness from you. Look at how excited it is.” Jun stopped as if frozen and tried to play dumb.
‘Wait a minute. It?”
By the time Jun got properly angry, He Ming had already turned away, and Chen Hao was in no mood to pay attention to him.
“I’ll finish up and then guide you to the undersect. If you’re this excited about some spirit stones, then you’ll be on the moon when you see the auctions, treasure houses, and the various markets.” He Ming said, smirking at the two poor peasants.
‘Holy shit. I’ve been waiting for this day for so long. This is what a sect should be like! Let’s go rob an auction house!’