Stealing

Night fell like water, and the earth had already sunk into slumber.

In the stone grotto and kiln-cave district, the night breeze stirred. Apart from the occasional cry of an owl, the cold, deserted caves and kilns lay in utter silence.

When the hour before dawn arrived, an extra shadow appeared beneath the human-bone lamp post. It crept forward cautiously and stopped before the entrance to a stone cave.

The shadow felt around on the stone door. A tiny snake emerged from its fingertip, slipped into the keyhole, and unlocked the sealed door.

The shadow seemed extremely familiar with the surroundings. Though the room was pitch-black, it found the chest containing the valuables with ease. Just as it was about to open it, a voice drifted over.

"Brother Peng, why go this far?"

As the voice sounded, the oil lamp in the room lit up.

Su Jie stood quietly beside the bed, looking at the shadow that had appeared inside the kiln cave. He let out a sigh.

The shadow stiffly turned its head and gave two bitter laughs.

"You noticed me? I'd meant to do it without anyone knowing, but it seems this was your fate!"

"Brother Su, don't blame me. My leg's injured. If it isn't healed before the mountain patrol, I'll have no choice but death. I need money to treat my leg."

Knowing he could no longer hide it, the shadow pulled off its hood. It was Su Jie's neighbor, Peng Shiwen.

"Alas, even so, you didn't have to steal! If you'd just told me properly, I might have lent you the money."

Su Jie shook his head in anguish, as though he were watching a child stray down the wrong path.

"You'd lend me money? Then I'll borrow it from you right now—just twenty Blood Marrow Crystals."

Peng Shiwen froze, joy blooming across his face.

"No."

Yet the delight on Peng Shiwen's face lasted less than a second before Su Jie immediately refused.

"I thought it over carefully, and I've decided not to lend it to you after all."

Su Jie wore an expression of serious consideration. As for money, he absolutely wasn't lending it.

"We've been brothers for so long. Is there not even a little affection between us? You're really going to watch me jump into the fire pit?"

Peng Shiwen clearly hadn't expected that answer. He glared, angrily demanding an explanation.

Su Jie waved his hand. "That I can't do. I'm not that heartless. I won't stand by and watch you jump into the fire pit. I'll close my eyes."

Peng Shiwen: "..."

The next moment, Peng Shiwen flew into a rage. "Fine, fine, fine! I knew you were this kind of person. Since you're being heartless, don't blame me for being unjust. You'll hand over the money today whether you want to or not. A man who isn't ruthless shouldn't cultivate demonic arts—I'm going all out!"

He seemed never to have considered how dangerous it would become for Su Jie to enter the mountains without resources if he stole Su Jie's Blood Marrow Crystals.

"There's something I'm curious about. Why did you choose to steal from me? Because my strength is weak?"

Su Jie wasn't angry in the slightest. He continued looking at the other man calmly.

Peng Shiwen's gaze hardened. He said coldly, "What a stupid question. With aptitude as poor as yours, who else would I target?"

"Then you picked the wrong person!"

Su Jie smiled and crooked his finger.

Peng Shiwen's nose suddenly grew hot. Two streams of black blood gushed out, while a sharp pain tore through his internal organs.

"When did you poison me? This is... Five Viscera Black Blood Incense."

A trace of terror appeared in his eyes. Peng Shiwen abruptly looked behind Su Jie.

An incense stick had been lit there. Poisonous smoke drifted from it, invisible in the darkness of the room, and he had never noticed it.

"To wait for the poison smoke to take effect, I had no choice but to chat with you and stall for time. I didn't expect you to be able to endure this much."

Poisonous smoke coiled around them. As Su Jie spoke, a black-and-purple centipede shot from his waist and abdomen. A full one and a half meters long, it pounced at Peng Shiwen in an instant.

Bang!

Several venomous snakes as thick as chopsticks drilled from Peng Shiwen's fingertips. They lunged at the Thousand-Hand Centipede, biting and injecting poison. But they failed to pierce its chitinous shell and were instead swallowed whole by the Thousand-Hand Centipede.

A golden toad the size of a palm leaped onto Peng Shiwen's shoulder. Its long tongue shot out like a crossbow bolt, splitting into several strands in midair before stabbing toward Su Jie. This was Peng Shiwen's natal Gu worm.

At the same time, more than a dozen small snakes crawled from beneath Peng Shiwen's trouser leg and swiftly slithered toward Su Jie.

This was Peng Shiwen's Gu worm technique: first using his natal Gu worm's toad tongue to bind the enemy, then releasing the small snakes to bite and inject them with deadly venom.

Su Jie knew his opponent's moves. His body remained still, but the flesh beneath his ribs writhed.

Several pale arms drilled out from his flesh, each gripping one of the forked tongues tightly.

Su Jie then swept out his sleeve. A great swarm of Silver-winged Golden Cicadas and Yin Fire Blood Bees roared as they beat their wings.

The former flew with blinding speed and severed the tongues. The latter raised their tails high and sprayed lines of fire at the snakes on the ground, roasting the mass of little serpents until the fragrance of cooked flesh filled the air.

These were merely clashes between unranked Gu worms. The greatest threat was still the Thousand-Hand Centipede, which charged forward with startling speed, completely ignoring every attack.

"A low-grade Gu worm, with the spiritual power of the third Spirit Accumulation layer. You've hidden yourself well."

Peng Shiwen's pupils contracted violently as he sensed the threat of death. He reached out and pressed down on the golden toad's shoulder.

Using some unknown method, he caused the golden toad's body to suddenly swell by a full circle. Then it turned and fled without hesitation, abandoning its master's natal Gu worm.

Peng Shiwen knew perfectly well that no matter how powerful the golden toad was, it could never defeat a low-grade Gu worm like the Thousand-Hand Centipede. They were separated by several major realms.

The golden toad puffed out its belly, its croak rumbling like thunder.

"Ribbit!"

Dozens of forked tongues shot out, their number several times greater than before.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede didn't even look at them. Pale human hands beneath its abdomen tore apart the restraining tongues, and it caught up with Peng Shiwen amid a howl of rushing air.

Peng Shiwen's left leg was injured, and he had inhaled Su Jie's poisonous smoke. How fast could he possibly run?

Before he could leave the kiln cave, the Thousand-Hand Centipede pounced on him, winding around him again and again until his upper body was wrapped like a zongzi.

"Spare... spare my life..."

Terror filled Peng Shiwen's face as he tried to beg for mercy.

"If you'd known this would happen, why do it in the first place? Brother Peng, you were the one who taught me: a man who isn't ruthless shouldn't cultivate demonic arts. So I can only ask you to obediently go die."

The moment his words fell, the Thousand-Hand Centipede released its killing coils and crawled back to Su Jie's feet, waving its feelers as though asking for praise.

As for Peng Shiwen, blue handprints covered his entire body. The poison had long since entered his system. Blood flowed from his seven orifices, and he no longer breathed.

"Nicely done. I'll reward you with something tasty."

After patting the Thousand-Hand Centipede's head plate, Su Jie used a pale hand to seize Peng Shiwen's natal Gu worm—the golden toad—and fed it to the centipede. Though it was unranked, Peng Shiwen had cultivated it for half a year, and the Thousand-Hand Centipede devoured it with gusto.

After feeding the meritorious Thousand-Hand Centipede, Su Jie returned it to coil around his waist and chest.

Su Jie thought for a moment, then deliberately splashed some of Peng Shiwen's blood over various parts of his body. He rubbed his cheeks as well, making his complexion look wan and pale, like someone who had suffered severe injuries.

Only after doing all this did Su Jie drag Peng Shiwen's corpse out of the kiln cave.

By then, the commotion from the battle had already awakened quite a few people. Probing gazes peered over from one kiln cave after another.

Fighting among fellow disciples was common in Ghost Ridge Palace. After all, they were demonic cultivators. But the victor being Su Jie surprised quite a few people.

Then everyone saw Su Jie's "miserable" appearance and immediately understood. It seemed he had merely achieved a tragic victory in which both sides suffered heavy losses. Peng Shiwen was no impressive figure, so no one paid it much mind.

Su Jie stood where he was and waited, because he knew someone would come to deal with the matter.

Su Jie didn't have to wait long. Two members of the enforcement team approached, dressed in red uniforms and making no attempt to conceal their strength at the seventh Spirit Accumulation layer.

The enforcement team was a special force belonging to the sect. It served the Sect Master alone and was distinct from ordinary disciples.