Chapter 7: The Divine Thief

  What's even more astonishing is that when the seven-series sword moves are used, the spiritual energy entering the body seems to be different as well. For example, if a fire-series sword move is used, the clear stream entering the body is relatively active and somewhat scorching hot; if it's a yin-series move, one would feel a bit icy cold and chilly; while yang-series moves make one feel warm and cozy all over, an indescribable comfort.

  It's just that after the spiritual energy entered the dantian, it was indeed as Changming said. Once the sword moves stopped, the spiritual energy slowly dissipated from the dantian and flowed into the four limbs and hundred bones, and finally disappeared. This made Suifeng regretful, if all this spiritual energy could be converted into internal power for his own use, then his internal skill cultivation would surely progress by leaps and bounds.

  "This sword technique is exquisite and divine, but it's not complete. If I'm not mistaken, there must be a set of internal skills that match with the sword technique. It can retain the spiritual energy brought by the sword technique in the body and use it for oneself. Unfortunately, I don't know what this sword technique is called, nor where the matching internal skill is."

  The sword movement rose and fell, the Seven-System Sword Technique had been practiced to completion. Although it was already largely learned, the style of use still felt very unfamiliar. Just as the Wind-Sword Movement was about to stop when it was retracted, a sudden creaking sound came from the door. The sound was small, but in this quiet night where a falling needle could be heard, it seemed especially abrupt. It startled Shui Feng so much that the sword in his hand almost fell to the ground.

  She tightened the sword in her hand, looked up and found it strange that there was no unusual place. The Taoist temple was still empty all around, and there was no sign of anyone entering from the door. Her heart was pounding, and she had not yet caught her breath. "Did I hear wrong?" Xiang Feng suddenly became a little unbelieving, and suddenly her eyes lit up sharply. "No, I absolutely didn't hear wrong. There must be something that came in from the door."

  With the wind, he didn't dare to be careless, and drew a sword flower to protect himself. He carefully checked every place.

  "Good swordsmanship!" A clear voice came from the beam of the house.

  It was as if the sound came from afar, but it was like the Yellow Bell and Da Lü sounding in his ears. His heart suddenly tightened, almost jumping out. There was no time to think, he drew his sword and slashed towards the source of the sound. At this moment, he didn't care whether his sword would hit the beam or who made that sound. Fear had overcome all reason and thinking.

  Unexpectedly, the sword did not go to waste. A faint aura of the sword emanated from the sliding of the pure sword, shooting out from the tip and hitting the beam. With a muffled thud, a sword mark over an inch deep was cut into the beam. Before Ran Feng could even think about what had just happened, a young man suddenly appeared sitting on top of the beam.

  A young man with a headscarf on his head, wearing a night-traveling outfit, had a somewhat pale complexion. At this moment, he was staring at the sword mark on the beam of the house in shock. "Sword energy!? No way, is this really the legendary sword energy?" The young man's tone was somewhat exaggerated and comical, his originally lively and playful face filled with an expression of incredulity.

  Seeing that the newcomer was a young man about his own age, he secretly let out a breath of relief. Although still very vigilant and suspicious, who exactly was this enigmatic youth? Why was he here? And how did he get in?

  Just as the wind was at a loss, the young man on the beam suddenly flashed and saw that the shadow was blurred for a moment, and he had lost his trace. The next moment, he appeared in front of the wind again.

  As if seeing a ghost, he retreated three steps back, "Who... are you? And how did you get in?"

  The young man smiled and asked in return: "And who are you? Why are you here?"

  Dazed by the wind, I suddenly didn't know what to say and stood there in a daze.

  "Alright, tease you then. Hehe." The young man leaned in, still with a bright smile on his face, "Looking at you like this makes it seem like you have a belly full of secrets, making people unable to help but want to dig them out and take a look. In the future, you must be more careful."

  With the wind, he was stunned again. His greatest secret was nothing more than his family feud and this pure sword in his hand. Fortunately, Changming had told him not to worry about this point, as there were only a handful of people in the world who recognized the pure sword. So he didn't need to avoid mentioning it when traveling through Jianghu. As for the family feud, as long as he didn't run into someone from the Liu family, even if it was revealed, it wouldn't be important.

  The young man looked at Su Feng without saying a word, nor did he pressure him. Instead, he stared at the sword in Su Feng's hand and said: "Tsk tsk tsk, such a precious sword is indeed rare in the world." Just this one sentence made Su Feng's heart surge like a stormy sea, could it be that this young man actually recognized the ancient divine sword, Chun Jun?

  "It's really strange, a treasured sword that can emit sword energy when infused with inner power, it's unheard of, and calling it a divine sword wouldn't be an exaggeration. In the Jianghu world, it would definitely be a treasure worth fighting over. But why is it that I'm familiar with all the treasures and divine artifacts in the world, yet none of them match this sword's conditions? Could it be newly forged? But looking at the patterns on the sword body, they clearly have the marks of many years of tempering, so how could it be from an unknown origin? It's incomprehensible, incomprehensible."

  "What kind of person are you, to boast that you can recognize all the treasures in the world?" Although Xun Feng had already believed seven or eight parts of it in his heart, he was still extremely cautious before figuring out his origin and identity. So he left a little room for maneuver, slightly using the method of provocation.

  The young man smiled and said, "Forget it, I know you're intentionally provoking me. Fortunately, you're not from the Six Panels Gate, so it doesn't matter if I tell you. I am indeed the Jianghu's renowned 'Thieving Master' - Liang San'er."

  "Liáng Tōu ér! It's actually you, and yet so young!" Zhuī Fēng was shocked, as he had spent the past few years drifting around the outside world and naturally heard many rumors about the Jianghu. Two years ago, a mysterious thief suddenly appeared in the Jianghu, calling himself Liáng Tōu ér. He stole treasures from all over, and it was said that nothing could escape his grasp once he set his sights on it. From the imperial seal of the prince to the emperor's snuff bottle, even some sects' tokens, everything was fair game. Wherever he had stolen, he would leave behind three characters "Liáng Tōu ér" carved into the edge of the house beam. The powers that had been stolen from were furious with him, but strangely, he had never been caught. From then on, his name spread far and wide, known as the divine hand that shook the world.

  Liang Ze smiled slyly and said, "Now that you know what you wanted to know, may I also ask for your esteemed name?"

  Nodding slightly in the wind, he still felt a little dizzy. For some reason, he felt that the crisis had not been lifted, as if something unexpected would pop out at any moment.

  "I am... I'm just Yangzhou's Random Wind, a small fry who has just entered the Jianghu. "Random Wind" himself didn't know what position he was in, and at the same age, compared to Liang Ze, he really wasn't worth mentioning.

  Liang Ze's son suddenly took another step forward, and his footsteps were completely invisible in the wind. He felt a pat on his shoulder, turned his head and saw Liang Ze's hand patted on his own shoulder.

  Liang Ze's eyes sparkled as he patted the table a few more times, saying with some provocation: "The Su family of Yangzhou was massacred just a few years ago, and the killer has yet to be caught. You wouldn't happen to be a descendant of the Su family, would you?"

  Startled by the wind, he tried his best to put on a calm face and said: "How is it possible? The Su family is a big family in Yangzhou. How dare you, a young man, climb so high?"

  Liang Ze's smile was noncommittal, but his eyes still showed some doubt. He said, "Whether it is or not isn't that important. However, I happen to be going to Yangzhou and didn't expect to run into a big rain halfway there, what bad luck."

  His heart tightened at the mention of the wind, and he vaguely felt that Liang's trip to Yangzhou was likely related to the Su family. He tentatively asked: "Are you going to Yangzhou to steal some treasure?"

  "Heh heh" Liang Tou'er smiled slyly and said, "I'll tell you, can you tell me what's going on with that sword energy?"

  "Qi of the sword?!" Feng was somewhat dazed, "To be honest, I'm not clear either. At that time, I was completely frightened and just swung out a sword casually. How could there be qi of the sword...?"

  Liang Tou'er thought it was the magical Pure Jun Sword, but Sui Feng didn't think so. The Pure Jun Sword was indeed unmatched in its deadliness, but it was also impossible for it to spontaneously produce sword energy, which went against all reason. In his opinion, it was probably related to the mysterious sword technique that Chang Ming had given him.

  Liang thought he was just afraid of him coveting his divine sword, so he deliberately dodged and didn't say anything. He smiled and said: "I'm going to Yangzhou, it's a crisis-ridden place, I have to steal the name list of Liu family's core disciples. The Liu family has been low-key for years since the destruction of the Su family, except for taking over the Su family's property at the beginning, there hasn't been any other major movement. Don't you think it's suspicious? The only explanation is that the Liu family is secretly accumulating power and cultivating their elite. Once they take action, it will be a thunderbolt, and the entire Jianghu will be in turmoil. How can we not investigate this clearly?"

  Sui Feng was left somewhat bewildered by his words and almost laughed out loud. "Aren't you thieves? When did you start caring about these martial arts secrets?"

  "Ah!" Liang Tou'er suddenly jumped up, "Do you understand or not? In this world, everything seems calm on the surface, but all large-scale struggles are hidden underground. What's most valuable? Of course, it's intelligence."

  Liáng Tuōér looked at Suī Fēng, who had a confused expression, and continued: "Forget it, I'll explain it to you. If I get my hands on the Liu family's core secret list of disciples and figure out their true strength, I can sell this information to the Wind and Moon Building, which would be an astronomical fortune. Moreover, as everyone knows, Suī Tiān Dà Xiá is a renowned hero in the Jianghu, and his friends are all influential figures in various factions. If we can investigate the reason behind the destruction of the Suī family through this, wouldn't that be a huge favor?"

  Suī fēng zhè cái huǎng rán dà wù, "kě shì liú jiā nèi bù gāo shǒu rú yún, hé xīn dì zǐ míng dān rúcǐ zhòng yào de dōng xiāo jué bù shì hěn róng yì jiù dé dào de. Shuō bu dìng hái yǒu shén me wèi zhī de àn qì gōng jiàn, kě wèi shì wēi jī chóng chóng, nǐ hái shì zài kǎo lǜ kǎo lǜ ba."

  Liáng Tuōér smiled slyly, looking very pleased with himself, and said: "I've been to more dangerous places than the Liu residence, and I've never once lost my hand. You should worry about yourself instead. With this divine artifact in hand, even someone like me who's never stolen a military weapon before can't help but feel tempted. If word gets out that you have a divine sword that can unleash sword energy, I'm afraid there won't be anywhere in the world where you can go...

  The two were originally of similar age, and both were young adventurers who had been on their own for a long time. They got along extremely well, chatting enthusiastically without noticing the faint sound of bubbles rising from what seemed to be a pool in the pitch-black darkness.

  Suī fēng yǔ Liáng tōu ér jūn shì chòng zhe bì yǔ ér lái, zhěng gè luò yún guān tāmen zhǐ jiàn le qián yī miàn, ér bèi yī de miàn, yějiù shì dào guān de hòu yuàn tāmen dōu méi yǒu shè zú. Qí shí yě méi shén me tè bié de dì fang, zhǐ guò yī fāng tíng yuàn, tíng yuàn zhōu wéi shì jǐ jiān xiāng fáng, xiǎng lái jiù shì zhēn céng zài zhè lǐ xiū xíng de dào shì de jū suǒ. Wéi yī yǒu diǎn bù xún cháng de shì tíng yuàn lǐ běn lái shì huā tán de wèi zhì kōng kōng dàng dàng, qǔ ér dài zhī de shì yī fāng shuǐ táng.

  The pond was pitch black under the moonlight, and the originally bright moonlight was reflected on the water's surface with a somewhat eerie quietness. The pond occasionally rippled with bubbles, initially at long intervals and not many in number. As time gradually passed, one bubble after another emerged like a string of pearls. Finally, it was a vast expanse of white, with continuous sounds of water. It seemed as if something had emerged from the water, and in this quiet night, it was extremely jarring to the ears. However, two people were chatting happily in the wind, and they were separated by a thick earthen wall, plus the strong wind and rain outside, even if Liang Ze's internal strength was not ordinary, he could be considered a young master, but he still didn't hear the strange noise from the backyard.

  As the wind chatted with Liang Tuo, his heart couldn't help but feel suspicious. Earlier, the divination clearly showed that staying here would bring disaster, so why was it so peaceful now? What exactly did that so-called "disaster" refer to?

  The pond in the backyard continued to be turbulent, with ripples that never stopped. Finally, the waves parted from both sides, and a pale face floated up. It was the face of a young girl, about 28 years old, who looked like she had been blessed with a beautiful complexion. However, it was clear that she had been dead for some time, and what was even more terrifying were her eyes, which were wide open, with no pupils, only a creepy white stare. On her forehead, there was still a yellow paper talisman stuck to it, seemingly a charm to ward off evil spirits.

  "Ah——" Suddenly, the female corpse let out a hoarse cry. Had she come back to life? But after that one hoarse cry, there was no other movement. Then, for some reason, the just-floated female corpse slowly sank again. The pond, except for the ripples caused by the raindrops falling on it, returned to calmness, as if nothing had happened.