Player Reload
Chapter 393 - 362: Thief Saint

Chapter 393: Chapter 362: Thief Saint

The atmosphere of silence was as sticky as asphalt. Sikong Lan’s eyes gradually turned cold. When the moonlight outside the skylight was obscured by dark clouds and the treasury plunged into complete darkness,

he suddenly stepped on the ground with his toes, his whole body flipped backward, his black boots kicked the wall twice in succession, borrowing force to leap upward. His left hand grasped the beam like a monkey, while his right hand detached a small cloth bag from his waist, swiftly throwing it out.

Sikong Lan was unsure of the identity of the black-clothed person in front of him, but from the long breathing of the opponent, he could sense this person had deep inner strength. In a solo fight, being not good at weapons, he was definitely not an opponent.

Indeed, as he expected,

in the pitch-dark environment, Zhang Fuluan pinpointed Sikong Lan’s location accurately by the sound and air flow direction. His left hand supported the shelf,

while his right hand wielded a short sword, swiftly slicing towards Sikong Lan who was still climbing the beam and had not yet retracted his legs.

Snap.

At the critical moment, the cloth bag Sikong Lan threw spread out as the rope unraveled. The white lime inside sprinkled onto Zhang Fuluan.

Uh...using lime in a fight which is symbolic of royal power like the Jinyi Guard is quite unsightly, but this was how Sikong Lan learned since childhood.

These orphans from the Border Army Guard, having been exposed to the cold heat of the mortal world since childhood, were brought to the Capital by Emperor Yong’an, provided with food, clothing, and accommodation, taught to read and count (for future tax audits), and given martial arts secret manuals.

What Sikong Lan learned was a cultivation technique left by some Thief Saint a century ago, specializing in Qinggong, lock-picking, acupoint techniques, and some fist techniques, emphasizing self-preservation, avoiding direct confrontation, preferring stealth over robbery, covert attacks over upright battles, and always fleeing instead of fighting.

Lime floated and dispersed in the air, mixed with some peculiar smell—it contained chili powder, knock-out drugs, and strong laxatives.

Zhang Fuluan heard the sound of the cloth bag unravelling and closed his eyes without hesitation while exhaling sharply forward.

Dan Well meets Dragon Tiger Qi at night, Spring rises with Phoenix Feather in the jade sky.

Zhang Fuluan was apprenticed to the Zhengyi Sect of Dragon Tiger Mountain, where the current fifty-first generation Heavenly Master was his master.

Even through a layer of face-covering black cloth, his long breath still dispersed most of the lime like a long dragon, leaving only a few powder particles floating onto the mask.

However, during this brief moment with his eyes closed, Sikong Lan kicked out, right in the middle of the short sword blade.

Chhh—

The sword blade effortlessly pierced into the sturdy beam, making it difficult to pull out,

forcing Zhang Fuluan to abandon the sword. His speed suddenly increased, and he grabbed Sikong Lan’s ankle, who was about to leap onto the beam and escape through the skylight, pulling him down.

As they landed again, Sikong Lan had no choice but to fight. Immediately, fists shadowed and clashed, with dozens of dull pounding sounds. Eventually, Sikong Lan was hit in the pressure points by Zhang Fuluan, his hands twisted, and he knelt on the ground,

unable even to hit the shelf with his head to create a sound and call for the warehouse guards—his neck was also being choked.

"Chisu Fist?"

With his trachea squeezed, Sikong Lan’s eyes turned red, recognizing the origin of the fist technique, he said with difficulty, "You are Zhang Fuluan?"

Fear and amazement arose simultaneously, with the latter being even stronger.

Although Emperor Yong’an did not cultivate Taoism as a certain unnamed emperor, who "practiced to resemble a crane, not fearing maidens choking his neck,"

he had quite a good relationship with Dragon Tiger Mountain, often inviting Zhengyi Sect Daoist to the palace to lecture on scriptures, and occasionally sponsoring the construction of pavilions.

Being a disciple of the Heavenly Master, Zhang Fuluan had once followed his master to the palace for lessons, with a promising and bright future ahead of him. So why would he get involved with the Tu Family affair?

And dressed in unseen black clothes.

Upon being named, Zhang Fuluan’s expression remained unchanged. He looked up at the dark shelf and lowered his voice, saying, "Sir of the Ant Palace, you’ve been watching for so long, you should come out now."

Dragon Tiger Mountain has a long heritage, with a full range of cultivation techniques, and some mysterious manuals for reference.

Zhang Fuluan could feel the presence of the two figures standing silently in the darkness.

After a brief silence, Gray Rain’s light laughter sounded.

"Are you searching for the Ant? Or the Life-Sacrificing Gambler? Or the CEO of Star-casting Anvil? You just need to know he is an Lv20 new human, an all-around ACE, versatile top, absolute core, leading C position, singing and dancing, soft and tasty Haki Ant—dong!"

After a crisp flick on the forehead, Li Cheng walked out from behind the shelf, casually removed the mask, revealing his face, and nonchalantly said, "How did you know it was me?"

He could identify Zhang Fuluan because he had information integration glasses that could directly activate box weapons.

It was somewhat strange that Zhang Fuluan could guess his identity—was this a proper wuxia universe?

Sikong Lan widened his eyes, he could never have imagined the room had a third person who arrived earlier than himself?!

"Your aura is ambiguous, difficult to distinguish between clear and muddy, hard to trace, no roots, not belonging to this world. Why involve yourself in this muddy situation."

As Zhang Fuluan spoke, he used the sound collection skill, ensuring his voice only propagated forward, not heard outside the treasury.

Seeing Li Cheng remain unmoved, showing no signs of shock,

he pursed his lips slightly, took out a wrinkled four-foot drawing from his chest, gently unfolded and threw it out, "When I descended the mountain, my master handed me this painting, urging me that the fate of the country and the common people depends on my actions during this mission..."

As the scroll opened, it surprisingly depicted four blurry figures confronting each other under the moonlight, with the Tu Family treasury and open skylight,

as if it had foreseen this scene in advance and painted it ahead of time.

As the paper fluttered, Zhang Fuluan pulled out the short sword stabbed into the beam, stomped on the ground, and thrust at Li Cheng with the One Crane Soaring Heaven Sword Technique.

The Innate Martial Artist’s constitution, combined with Zhengyi Sect swordsmanship, this strike was swift like a thunderbolt, heavy as a thousand pounds, indeed resembling:

Zhuan Zhu’s assassination of Wang Liao, like a comet striking the moon; Nie Zheng’s assassination of Han Kui, like a white rainbow against the sun; Shanshang Terya assassinating Abe, JK falling dead...

Oh, in this era there isn’t Abe yet, so never mind.

Li Cheng didn’t move a single step, casually picked up two wooden paperweights from the shelf nearby.

[Knight Never Dies Unarmed] skill activated, the shape, weight, density, and material of the paperweights appeared in his mind, muscle memory instantly formed.

Snap!

The two paperweights clenched together, firmly trapping the short sword blade. Meanwhile, Li Cheng’s gaze remained fixed on the slowly falling painting.

The paper had been wetted before, causing minor ink smudges. Zhang Fuluan couldn’t see it, but with the information integration glasses, Li Cheng could see through the smudges that,

the clock on the shelf, a gift from a Dutch merchant, pointed to 02:56:00.

Current time, 02:55:57.

Three, two, one.

As the second hand reached zero, the giant scale on Sikong Lan’s back suddenly generated an immense suction force. He could not even shout before being sucked into the scale.

The scale fell to the ground, its terrifying suction power continued targeting the unprepared Zhang Fuluan, who thrust his sword into the ground,

his hair, clothing, and limbs behind him glowing with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet spectral ripples.

He was stretched thin like noodles, pulled into the scale.

This suction power targeted living beings only, leaving the warehouse calm with all treasures stable on the shelves.

Li Cheng glanced at his spectral afterimages being dragged out, his skill bar showed [Rooting in Stone Technique] was ineffective, and the [Demon Exchange] icon was lit but had not activated.

With a sudden realization, he quickly turned his head and shouted two words at Gray Rain, then stopped resisting, allowing himself to fall into the scale.