Multi-handed Idol, and Nobody

The mountain forest lay silent as Shi Tiexin arrived before the shrine.

Dark clouds covered the moon. Beneath the murky night sky, the shrine seemed incomparably quiet, yet carried an inexplicable strangeness.

Thick sacred ropes and vermilion torii gates ought to have exuded a holiness that inspired reverence. Yet now, something demonic had seeped into them. Blended with that sacredness, it only made the chilling gloom stand out all the more.

The shrine was quiet, pitch-black, without the faintest human sound.

Shi Tiexin was enveloped in Formless Power, as though he had been pulled out of the world itself. His presence had dropped to almost nothing. Combined with his night clothes, he was especially inconspicuous in the black-as-ink night. Despite his massive build, he was indeed well suited to sneak in first and scout the situation.

He lifted a foot and walked inside.

Beyond the gate lay the front courtyard. It was not small, its ground paved with white stones. It was said that Japan's daimyo used to favor white pebbles in their courtyards to guard against assassinations in the night. There was nowhere to set foot in the vast courtyard. Anyone stepping on the white stones would naturally make noise, and would have nowhere to hide amid that boundless whiteness.

It was the oldest and most straightforward physical anti-theft method, yet it seemed quite effective. An ordinary petty thief really would not know what to do here.

But Shi Tiexin took two steps back for a short run-up, then shot into the air with a whoosh. The sound of his clothes cutting through the air was jointly suppressed by the Formless Wind and the Windchaser +3 attribute, so faint it was like a bird flapping its wings across the sky. This enormous bird crossed eight meters in a single