"Got it!" In a hidden alley, a man watched Wen Shuangbai and her group stomping in frustration after being robbed, smirking. "So much for the disciples of Qingling Mountain!"
"Brother Qiang, look at them—their faces are twisted with rage! But then again, they just bought that storage pouch, and now it's ours. Serves them right!"
"Hahaha! Brother Qiang, you’re truly the number one thief of Hidden Moon Tower!" His lackeys chimed in. "If you competed in the Mystic Heaven Grand Tournament, those guys wouldn’t stand a chance! First place would belong to Hidden Moon Tower!"
"You’re damn right about that," Brother Qiang said smugly as he deftly cracked open the stolen storage pouch. Peering inside, he found no spirit stones—only two dozen dazzling golden beads shimmering with an otherworldly glow.
"Brother Qiang, what are these?" The thieves had pilfered countless treasures over the years, but none had ever seen anything like this.
"No idea," Brother Qiang muttered, puzzled. He plucked one out. The golden bead was surprisingly heavy, its weight substantial in his palm, and it pulsed with an unusual energy. "Whatever it is, it’s no ordinary trinket. We’ll take it back to Hidden Moon Tower and let the Tower Master examine it!"
Nodding in agreement, the group continued their work with practiced stealth, their footwork and concealment skills allowing them to move unseen. They operated with arrogant professionalism until the streets emptied late at night, finally returning with their haul.
Meanwhile, Wen Shuangbai and her five companions had pretended to return to Qingling Mountain’s compound but doubled back, lurking in the shadows to tail the thieves.
But they lost them almost immediately.
"Damn it!" Li Zhuohua growled, scouring the dimly lit dead-end alley. "I saw them enter with my own eyes, and then—poof! Gone!"
"Hmm…" Yin Xuan leaned lazily against the wall at the alley’s end, sensing the air. "No spiritual energy fluctuations here. It’s like they vanished into thin air."
Shen Hefeng frowned at his divination tools, the results blank. "As expected—they’re shielded from scrying. Their location is hidden from divination."
Lu Jiayao paced beside his senior sister, muttering, "No wonder everyone says these thieves are impossible to catch! They disappear the second they enter an alley, and even divination can’t find them. What kind of bizarre technique is this? I’ve never heard of anything like it!"
He glanced at Wen Shuangbai, who was crouched beside Xie Ziyin as he awakened a tracking butterfly. "Shuangbai, can we even get our storage pouch back? Did we just throw away fifty thousand spirit stones?"
"Not a chance!" Wen Shuangbai cut him off, her eyes gleaming with determination. "Why do you think I borrowed Elder Ye’s tracking butterfly?"
Last night, after hatching her plan in the fields, Wen Shuangbai had scoured the Mystic Heaven Mirror for information about the notorious thieves plaguing the imperial capital.
This gang had been active for years, yet they remained untouched for three key reasons.
First, their thieving skills were unparalleled. If Wen Shuangbai hadn’t been anticipating the theft, she wouldn’t have noticed the faint gust of wind concealing a person—the very gust that had snatched her storage pouch without a trace.
Second, even if you spotted them, the moment they slipped into an alley and vanished from sight, they disappeared completely. The labyrinthine streets where they operated were no accident.
Third, their hideout was shielded from divination—even the most skilled fortune-tellers couldn’t locate them.
This had struck Wen Shuangbai as odd. How could a gang of low-level thieves evade detection from cultivators far stronger than them?
What was hidden in those alleys?
What kind of thing could lurk in the shadows, whisking them away while evading even the most powerful divination?
Wen Shuangbai recalled Qingling Mountain’s sect treasure—the Endless House, a time-manipulating artifact.
If such a thing existed, could there also be something like a moving fortress?
She knew of many legendary artifacts across the Mystic Heaven Continent, but none matched this description.
Yet the world was vast, filled with secret realms and relics left behind by reclusive masters.
What if these thieves descended from tomb raiders who had stumbled upon an ancient treasure, birthing a dynasty of thieves?
The Endless House also had anti-divination properties, and Pavilion Master Xu and Cao Xing had brought it to the capital with Elder Ye’s tracking butterfly as a safeguard against theft.
If her hunch was right, tonight would be their payday.
Wen Shuangbai watched eagerly as Xie Ziyin sat cross-legged, channeling his medical arts to awaken the tracking butterfly.
Its translucent wings unfurled under a soft green glow, delicate as gossamer.
The butterfly stirred to life, fluttering like a spirit of the night, dancing gracefully around the two of them.
Xie Ziyin opened his eyes—and locked gazes with Wen Shuangbai.
For a moment, she froze.
"Such a beautiful butterfly!" Lu Jiayao crouched beside them, chin in hands, mesmerized. "No wonder Elder Ye treats them like his children. It’s breathtaking!"
"Elder Ye bought this little thing at an auction ten years ago for a million spirit stones," Shen Hefeng mused, stroking his chin. "The man’s loaded. Hey, Xie Ziyin, after we’re done, lend it to me for a couple of days. I’ll return it to Elder Ye afterward."
The butterfly flitted in a circle before alighting on Xie Ziyin’s shoulder.
Wen Shuangbai averted her gaze, standing up as if nothing had happened. "In your dreams. If you break it, none of us can afford to replace it."
"Did I ask you?" Shen Hefeng sneered. "I was talking to Xie Ziyin!"
Wen Shuangbai: "..."
"Then keep dreaming," Xie Ziyin said flatly, tapping the butterfly with a flick of spiritual energy.
It took flight, leading them through the night, farther and farther from the city.
By the dead of night, the butterfly halted over a patch of grassland, hovering motionless.
Xie Ziyin retrieved it and turned to Wen Shuangbai. "They’re nearby."
"Good." She carefully withdrew a talisman, glancing at her team. "Ready?"
Li Zhuohua gripped his sword, fired up. "Born ready!"
Yin Xuan nodded.
Shen Hefeng grumbled, "Hurry up and deal with these pests so I can go back to sleep and dream properly!"
Wen Shuangbai shrugged. "Fine, then—"
"Wait!" Lu Jiayao pulled out his flute, took a deep breath, and psyched himself up. "Okay, now!"
With that, Wen Shuangbai ignited the talisman in a surge of spiritual energy.
A split second later—BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of deafening explosions erupted around them, shaking the earth like thunder.
The night remained thick around them, but amidst the shadowy forest, a seven-story pagoda flickered in and out of view like a mirage, emerging with the sound of an explosion.
"Now! Go now!" At Wen Shuangbai’s command, the five of them dashed at full speed toward the trembling, half-illusory tower.
……
The moment they entered, the chirping of insects and the whisper of wind vanished, replaced by a cacophony of noise.
"What the—why is there thunder inside the tower?!"
"Run! The tower’s shaking—it’s going to collapse!"
"I told you this line of work would get us struck by lightning!"
"Shut up! Are you out of your mind? How could lightning strike inside our Hidden Moon Tower?!"
"……"
Guarding the entrance was a group of bewildered sentinels, exchanging confused glances as they tried to make sense of the sudden disturbance. Before they could decide on a course of action, the five intruders materialized before them.
"Who dares trespass—"
Wen Shuangbai wasted no time. Without even surveying her surroundings, she lashed out with her Flaming Phoenix Whip, striking with full force and no hesitation.
The crimson whip coiled like a serpent, lightning-fast, wrapping around a man’s throat and choking him unconscious before he could finish his sentence. As soon as one fell, the whip darted to the next, while razor-edged Thousand-Leaf Blades laced with poison swept through the enemy ranks.
After being relentlessly battered by ghosts, bone-eating spiders, and thousand-year-old demon trees in the Sacred Tower, Wen Shuangbai stared in shock at the guards collapsing like wheat before a scythe.
What’s going on? This is too easy.
Am I… actually this strong???
Even as she questioned herself, her enemies, and life itself, her movements only grew faster.
Meanwhile, Li Zhuohua refused to be outdone.
The instant her feet touched the ground, her Radiant Rainbow Sword shot forward, its hilt smashing into a man’s forehead and knocking him out cold. The blade flipped midair, flattening horizontally before slamming down like a mountain onto the next skull.
The two moved so swiftly and ruthlessly that their opponents stood frozen for a long moment before finally snapping to their senses, screaming:
"Enemy attack! Enemy atta—"
"Intruders! It’s—"
"Help—"
Their cries were abruptly cut short.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Out of the corner of her eye, Li Zhuohua saw Wen Shuangbai’s whip and blades dropping one guard after another, the floor already littered with unconscious bodies.
Fearing the "harvest" would run out, Li Zhuohua moved even faster, competing fiercely with her junior sister for every last target.
Mine, mine, all mine!
Behind them, Xie Ziyin, Shen Hefeng, and Lu Jiayao exchanged glances.
"……"
Never mind.
Xie Ziyin simply pulled out a thick tome of the Nine Provinces’ Legal Code, flipping to his previous page and continuing his reading.
Lu Jiayao fiddled with his flute, hesitating. "Zhuohua and Shuangbai… don’t seem to need our help, do they?"
"So this is what the divination meant?" Shen Hefeng had cast a fortune before their departure, the tortoise shell revealing an image of reaping wheat. He’d assumed it meant they’d have to struggle through a hard-fought battle to claim their prize. But now, it seemed more like, "As easy as harvesting grain?"
Hearing the commotion, more people came rushing downstairs, only to freeze in terror at the sight of the unstoppable five.
"Qingling Mountain disciples! They’ve tracked us down!"
"I told you to lay low! Stop stealing from the Seven Great Sects! But no, you wouldn’t listen! Look where that got us!"
"But no one’s ever broken into the tower before! Even the Violet Flame Realm couldn’t touch us!"
"Quick—someone alert the Tower Master and the Three Elders! Only they can stand against them!"
Unfortunately for them, they didn’t yet know.
Their Tower Master and Three Elders had been knocked unconscious—blown up while studying Wen Shuangbai’s strange golden orb.
Brother Qiang had sensed something wrong the moment he heard the explosion. Leading his men to the seventh floor, he found the four strongest fighters of Hidden Moon Tower already half-dead.
"Brother Qiang, what do we do?!" his underlings whimpered. They were thieves, runners, hiders—not fighters. If they were any good at combat, wouldn’t they have joined the Seven Great Sects instead?
"I know another way out from here. Let’s move!" Brother Qiang acted fast, snatching a handful of valuables from the floor and stuffing them into his robes before stepping over their elders’ mangled limbs and fleeing through a hidden exit.
Outside, the night was dark and the wind howled.
The darkness comforted them—until a silver-haired man leaning on his sword blocked their path, asking politely, "Good evening. Will you return on your own, or shall I escort you back?"
The group exchanged panicked looks.
Brother Qiang, sensing no killing intent, dropped to his knees instantly, grinning nervously. "Good evening! We’ll go back ourselves!"
Yin Xuan smiled gently. "Good."
Saved him the trouble.
