The moon was dark, the wind high; night lay deep and still.
A shadow leaped into the air and landed atop the inn's rear wall. With a light tap of his toes against the wall's crest, he borrowed the force to sweep onto the lofty roof, landing soundlessly upon the tiles.
He crouched low, and beneath the black cloth covering his face, only a pair of sharply gleaming eyes could be seen.
The man in black drew a dagger and gently inserted it into the gap between the roof tiles.
"Scram!"
At that very moment, a voice abruptly rang in his ears.
The man in black was struck as though by lightning. He nearly tumbled from the roof, his chest tight as a mouthful of old blood clogged his throat, unable to be spat out.
In his panic, he forcibly gathered his true qi and sprang into the air, pouncing away like a great bird.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished into the dark alley behind the inn.
Inside the guest room, Wang Chen, seated cross-legged on the cushioned couch, closed his eyes again and continued cultivating the Five Elements Technique.
No matter how nimble the Night Walker who had just appeared was, he was still merely mortal.
Let alone such a large person—even a single feather drifting onto the roof would never escape Wang Chen's spiritual senses.
Wang Chen simply could not be bothered to haggle with this sort of sneak thief, so he drove him away with a shout.
That way, he would not disturb his state of mind for cultivation.
A moment later, he once again entered a realm where self and surroundings were forgotten, steadily accumulating his strength bit by bit.
At dawn the next morning, while the sky was only just beginning to