Chapter 83: The Moonlight is Nice
“Ha ha ha! Wasn’t I right about everything?”
The laughter of the Divine Thief thundered across the vast Martial God Realm.
The other Martial Gods frowned.
“How disgraceful of you, making your disciple steal!”
The Sword Immortal suddenly shouted in anger.
He seemed to be losing again to the Noble Enchantress in a game of Go.
The Sword Immortal always had a way of dodging defeat like this.
The Divine Thief ignored him and said,
“My alias is the Divine Thief. What else would I teach my disciple?”
“Even so—”
“Besides, Seong-un isn’t even your disciple, Sword Immortal Elder. Why meddle in someone else’s disciple’s affairs, tsk.”
“……”
The Sword Immortal fell silent.
Unlike the other four Martial Gods, he alone had not formally taken Jin Seong-un as a disciple.
The reason was simple.
“Do you think I don’t want Seong-un as my disciple? But propriety and order must be upheld. If I took him as a disciple, the divisions would get hopelessly entangled.”
“What’s so important about these divisions? You sound like an old relic.”
The Divine Thief sharply rebuked him.
But the Sword Immortal had no intention of changing his mind.
There had been a few he had personally taught the sword to. That was a very long time ago.
Most of them went on to establish their own sects.
The problem was that those sects still existed.
“So, should Seong-un be given the same division as the Founders of the Wudang Sect and the Mount Hua Sect?”
“That sounds great! The Divine Thief’s disciple, ranked alongside Zhang Sanfeng and Hak Dae-tong!”
“……”
The Sword Immortal shook his head as if refusing to say more.
The Divine Thief laughed once more, then spoke in a slightly more serious tone.
“So, you said you would steal it tonight?”
“……Yes.”
Jin Seong-un answered reluctantly.
For days now, he had been living a double life: inn waiter by day, thief by night.
At least the end was in sight.
The Divine Thief nodded with satisfaction.
“Good. This time, he won’t be able to resist. He’ll take the bait for sure. Just trust me.”
Among the Martial Gods, he wore the proudest grin.
And why wouldn’t he?
With him stood the Sword Immortal, the Noble Enchantress who created the greatest heart method of all ages, the wealthy Merchant King, and the Blood Demon, feared as the worst demonic being in history.
Jin Seong-un was not only his disciple, but theirs as well.
And now, Seong-un was carrying on his will as a thief. How could that not bring him joy?
“Wahaha! So this is all Martial Gods amount to!”
The Divine Thief roared with laughter again. Unable to endure it, the Sword Immortal unleashed the Heaven-Escaping Sword using the Sword Levitation Technique.
That night.
Jin Seong-un donned his mask once more, hoping tonight would be the last time.
“……”
At first, wearing the mask had felt suffocating.
How often in life did one cover their face with something like this?
But the moment he put it on, an odd sense of calm brushed through him.
At the same time, the Divine Thief’s words echoed in his mind.
—The moment you truly become a thief, the mask will feel like your own skin!
Jin Seong-un considered taking the mask off again, but with a sigh, he left the inn.
…
The streets were teeming with martial artists, far more than on the first day.
He could hardly tell whether this was Yichang or the Murim Alliance headquarters in Wuhan.
“There he is!”
At someone’s shout, groups of prodigies and wanderers surged forward.
Of course, it was the direction where Jin Seong-un had thrown a pebble to mislead them.
Easily evading the pursuers, he leapt freely between walls.
‘The moonlight is nice.’
The only blessing of thieving at night was being able to run across rooftops under the bright moonlight.
“……”
He felt a subtle self-loathing at how much like a thief his thoughts sounded.
Just as he was heading toward his target—
Swiik—!
A sharp, subtle sound of air being torn pierced the night.
If not for his heightened senses, he would never have heard it.
He kicked off midair, twisting his body.
A dagger whistled past the spot he had just been.
He turned his head toward the source.
“You’re dead.”
It was Seo Yu-gyeom.
Born under the Heaven-Slaying Star, trained in Deathshroud, and now strengthened by the Ice Crystal, Seo Yu-gyeom.
Jin Seong-un felt a dull headache but pressed forward. He couldn’t bring himself to fight with his fellow disciple Seo.
But Seo Yu-gyeom gave chase, closing in fast.
When it came to movement arts, he had confidence.
Especially when darting between buildings—this was Seo Yu-gyeom’s specialty.
‘He’s fast.’
Seo thought inwardly, impressed.
The urge to catch him and rip off his mask burned within him.
“Tang So-yeon!”
At Seo’s shout, a dark green poisonous mist suddenly burst from beneath Seong-un’s feet like a spring.
He leapt high to escape it—
At the same time, dozens of Tang So-yeon’s hidden weapons rained toward him.
In midair, there was nowhere to dodge.
Even for a master, the most they could do was twist their body slightly while expelling energy.
But Jin Seong-un was no ordinary man.
He kicked against the air again and again, twisting his body as if invisible ground lay beneath him.
“Kunlun?”
Seo muttered.
Such a martial art existed only in the Kunlun Sect’s Cloud Dragon Great Eight Forms.
Of course, that was in modern times. If one traced back to the Sword Immortal’s era, even the Kunlun Sect had originated as just another offshoot from the same root.
Dodging the hidden weapons by a hair’s breadth, Jin Seong-un accelerated again. Yet Tang So-yeon and Seo Yu-gyeom chased with unyielding determination.
‘The two of them aren’t the problem.’
The real issue was the tightening net. With all the noise, every martial artist in Yichang was converging here.
Anyone else would have slipped away instantly. But with these two’s movement arts and the cluttered terrain, it was hard to shake them off in one go.
If this were enemy territory, it would be fine.
Kill the two first, then slaughter everyone else who came.
But this was Yichang.
And they were his friends.
“……”
He hesitated briefly.
The decision came quickly.
He abruptly turned around.
Heading in the exact opposite direction.
“Wha—”
Seo Yu-gyeom sounded bewildered.
Tang So-yeon was so shocked her mouth hung open.
Their running momentum combined with Seong-un’s sudden charge—
And in the blink of an eye, the three collided.
Thud—!
The two lay sprawled on the street.
Seong-un stared down at them for a moment.
It was almost summer, yet the night air was chilly.
Just in case, Jin Seong-un pulled a tarp from a nearby stall and covered them with it.
“……”
It looked too much like a corpse, so he pulled the tarp back off.
Then, Jin Seong-un quietly left the place.
Having shaken off all the martial artists, Jin Seong-un ran straight toward Dangyang.
He didn’t intend to leave Yichang entirely.
After running for a while, the buildings and people gradually disappeared, and at last, he arrived at the border of Yichang.
He stood still, staring at something massive.
Yiling Prefecture, Yichang County.
Yes.
It was the stone stele marking the border of Yichang, standing tall like a monument, carved to say, “From here on, this is Yichang.”
Jin Seong-un intended to steal the stele.
It was taller than he was, and so thick that even three men the size of Seomun Ak couldn’t wrap their arms around it.
He stared at the stele for a moment, then gripped it firmly with both hands.
As he gathered his inner energy and began applying force, the ground trembled.
That was when—
Swaeek—!
Something came rushing fiercely from behind.
He let go of the stele and leapt lightly aside. A wooden club slammed into the stele and bounced off.
A figure emerged.
“Heh heh heh, three hundred nyang!”
It was Elder Byeok of the Beggars’ Union.
She approached with a fearsome aura, far more overwhelming than what she had shown at the inn, her vicious qi shaking the air itself.
“……”
Jin Seong-un stood still and looked at her. She tilted her head.
“Why aren’t you running? I heard you’ve been scurrying all over the place.”
Of course, he couldn’t answer.
She knew his voice.
He already knew Elder Byeok was a persistent woman. And she must have realized he was trying to steal the stele.
There was only one way left.
Jin Seong-un began walking toward her.
The distance between them closed at a steady pace.
A sticky grin spread across her face. It seemed she had plenty of pent-up anger.
“Good! Very good!”
A massive yellow energy gathered in her hands.
It was a force that could shatter even the stele, and rip apart masters trained to the peak of outer arts.
Jin Seong-un, by contrast, had nothing.
No blade, no qi gathering on his body.
He was merely thinking.
If he fought head-on, the Blood Demon Palm would be best.
The problem was—she was an elder of the Beggars’ Union.
If by any chance she recognized it as the Blood Demon’s martial art, things would get very troublesome.
Perhaps not just prodigies, but even the top masters of the Beggars’ Union would converge on Yichang.
‘That would be the worst.’
He made up his mind.
He would use palm arts. But not the Blood Demon Palm.
The method was simple.
He would use the essence of the Blood Demon Palm—
—but through the Noble Enchantress’s Women’s Moon Heart Method.
White qi began to gather in his dangling hands.
Elder Byeok’s eyes flickered slightly.
“So you weren’t just an ordinary thief after all.”
Qi projection—symbol of a peak-level master.
Meaning this thief was at such a lofty realm, yet still went around stealing.
No wonder the prodigies had struggled.
Of course.
She suddenly shot forward.
It didn’t matter if her opponent wielded qi projection or was a peak master.
She wasn’t the type to back down.
The distance closed instantly.
The Kang Dragon Palm surged toward Jin Seong-un.
He didn’t dodge or deflect. He extended his own palm to meet it. It had no name, though if he were to give one, it would be the Leftover Moon Palm.
Kkaaaaanng—!!
White and yellow energy collided head-on.
The tremendous blast swallowed the surroundings whole.
When the explosion subsided—
“……”
Elder Byeok lay on the ground, bruises blotching her face.
Even so, she had minimized the damage by using protective qi.
Of course, Jin Seong-un hadn’t meant to go all out either. He hadn’t intended to fight her to the death.
But at the last moment, she realized the overwhelming difference and hastily wrapped herself in protective qi.
Because of that, he had been forced to release more energy than he had planned. Either way, his goal was to knock her out.
He checked her breathing with a finger under her nose. Fortunately, she was alive.
It seemed he wouldn’t need to take those three hundred nyang after all.
Dark rumors spread through Yichang.
—The Beggars’ Union Elder Byeok was defeated by the thief.
—That huge stele was stolen in its entirety.
—…This is beyond us. We can’t handle it.
Most prodigies lost all will to fight. Even though an elder of the Nine Sects and One Gang had stepped in, she was defeated.
The thief had transformed—from a nimble rogue skilled in movement and stealth into a master who could beat an elder of the Beggars’ Union.
Jin Seong-un ignored the rumors and tended the inn as usual.
Suddenly, a woman entered, her face covered in bruises.
“Jin Seong-un!”
Of course, it was Elder Byeok.
Her angry shout made the martial artists eating inside scatter in fright.
It was best not to get involved with the Mad Rooster.
Jin Seong-un stared at her blankly.
His expression was calm, but inwardly, he felt uneasy.
Thankfully, in the morning he had checked—Seo Yu-gyeom and Tang So-yeon hadn’t suspected anything. But an elder of the Beggars’ Union might be another story.
She walked forward.
Perhaps because of his earlier comment, the foul stench was gone.
She drew close, looked him up and down carefully, then finally spoke.