The Capital City was vast. Where there were grand mansions filled with music and song until dawn, there were also sparsely populated, muddy old streets.
Livestock Market Street, north of the West Market, was a livestock trading ground. Whenever it rained, filthy water flooded the street and gave off a foul stench. Most who walked here were lowly peddlers and laborers, and the surrounding houses were mostly home to poor families.
It was late at night, and the rain was growing heavier.
Deep in a side alley off Livestock Market Street, an oil lamp lit up, its dim yellow glow illuminating the window of an abandoned courtyard.
A lean figure wearing a bamboo hat placed the oil lamp on the windowsill, removed his hat, and carefully watched for movement outside. The light illuminated an utterly unremarkable face. He looked like any ordinary man living in the neighborhood.
The man's name was Guo Yuanlong, but no one in the martial world knew his real name. They generally called him by his underworld alias-the Wingless Owl.
Just as Shang Jianli had said, everyone had a story. The only difference was that some were known to all, while others remained unheard.
Guo Yuanlong's life, if told in full, was quite a colorful tale. Born into a wealthy family in Yanzhou, he had loved gambling since childhood. After squandering his family fortune, he had "found his way back from the wrong path" and begun supporting himself-by stealing.
Though he had rotten luck at the gambling table, Guo Yuanlong possessed exceptional talent for "thievery." By seventeen or eighteen, he had become a notorious local thief. His nimble movements caught the eye of a "senior" in the martial world, who took him as a disciple.
After that, Guo Yuanlong's luck began to soar. Having learned impressive lightness skills, he roamed the major sects of Yanzhou, stealing manuals, weapons, and rare treasures without ever once failing.
When he had risked sneaking into the Cloud-Cutting Palace on Yan Mountain, he had not actually intended to target Lu Jieyun, the overlord of Yanzhou. He had simply wanted to slip in and steal a couple of useful martial arts manuals.
Instead, his luck defied the heavens. By sheer chance, he stumbled upon Lu Jieyun's secluded dwelling while Lu Jieyun was away, and acquired a copy of Martial Arts Insights without lifting a finger.
Lu Jieyun's lightness skills and movement techniques were unrivaled under heaven. He was constantly trying to break through his own limits, jotting down whatever insights came to him and slowly pondering them. An ordinary person might not even understand the notes if they got hold of them.
Guo Yuanlong considered himself quite gifted, yet even now he had only thoroughly grasped thirty to fifty percent of what the notes contained. Even so, his lightness skills already stood out like a crane among chickens. He could lead ordinary martial artists around as easily as walking dogs. Thus his name spread through the martial world, and he became the renowned king of thieves of Yanzhou, the "Wingless Owl."
People in the martial world believed stealing Lu Jieyun's Martial Arts Insights was Guo Yuanlong's greatest feat. In truth, it was not.
Under the lamplight, Guo Yuanlong took an object from inside his robe and unfolded the black cloth wrapped around it. Inside lay a sheet of golden paper.
The golden paper was not made of gold. Even now, Guo Yuanlong did not know what its material was. He only knew it was extraordinarily tough: it could bend but not fold, feared neither water nor fire nor blades, and resisted every means of destruction.
The golden paper was about the size of a book page, with an image engraved upon it: a dragon turtle with a dragon's head and a turtle's body, bearing three towering mountains on its back. Beneath the dim yellow lamplight, the image shimmered with gold, dreamlike and illusory, its forms seeming alive.
Guo Yuanlong had found this golden paper in a hidden compartment in the Prince of Yan's study after sneaking into the Prince of Yan's Residence. At first, its indestructibility had led him to believe it was merely an unusual treasure. Yet after the theft, the Prince of Yan had made no stir whatsoever.
The Prince of Yan's reaction, coupled with the golden paper's peculiar nature, immediately led Guo Yuanlong to guess its true identity-the "Dragon-Mingling Diagram"!
The "Dragon-Mingling Diagram" had first been obtained by a founding monarch in history. Thus, since ancient times, there had been a saying: "Whoever obtains the Dragon-Mingling Diagram obtains all under heaven." Throughout successive dynasties, the "Dragon-Mingling Diagram" had been strictly forbidden. No one but the emperor dared keep it privately.
For a vassal prince to collect such an item was no different from secretly keeping an "imperial dragon robe and jade seal." No wonder the Prince of Yan had handled the loss so discreetly.
After acquiring this golden paper, Guo Yuanlong's ambitions changed completely. He no longer gave the mundane martial world a second glance. All he thought about were those three old monsters on the mountain, and the next step beyond them-"eternal youth and immortality, ascending to become an immortal."
According to rumors in the martial world, the "Dragon-Mingling Diagram" consisted of nine pages, each recording a supreme secret art. The previous dynasty had supposedly gathered more than half, but after its fall, rival warlords entered the capital to seize them. Great Wei's founding emperor recovered only one page; all the others were scattered among the common folk and the martial world.
After making inquiries far and wide, Guo Yuanlong learned that the page in his possession was the "Dragon-Elephant Diagram" of the "Dragon-Mingling Diagram." It was said that mastering it granted divine strength comparable to dragons and elephants.
Though the "Dragon-Elephant Diagram" was far less famous than divine treasures such as the "Eternal Life Diagram" and the "Flame-Rebirth Diagram," its overwhelming power to "shake immortals and buddhas with mortal strength" still surpassed every martial technique and manual of the mundane world.
But while the "Dragon-Mingling Diagram" had formidable effects, its threshold was equally high. Since it was entirely unlike ordinary martial arts manuals, Guo Yuanlong had spent years studying it and only scratched the surface. Even now, he had yet to cross the threshold into true mastery.
The "Dragon-Mingling Diagram" contained secret methods for ascending to immortality, so slow progress was inevitable. Guo Yuanlong did not rush it. While studying, he also searched for the whereabouts of the other "Dragon-Mingling Diagram" pages.
Over the years, Guo Yuanlong had combed through the studies and inner residences of great aristocratic families. He had even risked searching the sword pavilion of the Watercloud Sword Pool. Unfortunately, he found nothing.
With no leads left, Guo Yuanlong finally came to the Capital City, hoping to search historical records in the Censorate Pavilion for clues. He also wanted to see whether he might find a chance to slip into the inner palace of the Imperial City and search for the "Jade-Bone Qilin Diagram," treasured by Great Wei's imperial family-the only page in the world whose whereabouts were known.
Night was a "thief's" working time, so he generally did not sleep.
But today, Guo Yuanlong had heard the strange rumor that "the Wingless Owl's deft hands steal little willies" and sensed that something was wrong.
He had followed them all afternoon, but had yet to uncover the background of that pair of "male and female petty thieves." For safety's sake, he had not gone out to work. Instead, he temporarily changed hiding places and, amid the quiet of the rainy night, carefully studied the "Dragon-Elephant Diagram" in his hands.
But Guo Yuanlong had barely begun pondering when his ears twitched. From a nearby alley came a faint sound:
Whoosh-
The sound of a mechanism triggering and a silver needle slicing through the air!
Rumble-
A low peal of thunder echoed across the towering city beneath the curtain of rain.
Raindrops as large as soybeans struck the old roof tiles with a sharp, crackling patter.
Holding a saber, Ye Jingtang hugged the alley wall and slowly crept toward the abandoned courtyard deep within.
Luo Ning walked ahead. She had removed her veiled hat to avoid bumping it against anything and alerting their prey.
This place was not as deserted as Twin Osmanthus Alley, but it was safer.
A butcher selling dog meat lived in the alley, keeping more than a dozen dogs awaiting slaughter in his courtyard. The slightest disturbance could set them barking, so even Niao Niao had been left at the alley entrance.
Using the rain to conceal every sound, the two slowly made their way toward their target. As they approached the abandoned courtyard, they faintly discerned a barely perceptible light in the pitch-black night.
Her gaze intent, Luo Ning gently raised her slender hand and indicated the alley beside the courtyard.
Seeing this, Ye Jingtang held his breath and turned toward the side of the courtyard, splitting off to surround their target and prevent him from fleeing.
But cautious as they were, they had still underestimated the Wingless Owl's vigilance.
Even though he was only staying here temporarily, the surroundings of the abandoned residence had already been meticulously arranged, accounting for every route an enemy might take to approach.
Hugging the wall as he turned into the side alley, Ye Jingtang noticed a wooden stick leaning there. From slight disturbances in the falling rain, he detected a fine thread-clearly a trap.
After carefully examining it, Ye Jingtang kept his eye on the wooden stick and tried to circle around the trap. Yet the moment he moved his foot, he heard a sound from below:
"Snap~"
The sound of a cord breaking under tension!
!
Ye Jingtang had not expected his opponent to set one visible mechanism and another hidden one. His heart sank, and without hesitation, he leaped outward.
But the Wingless Owl was an old hand in the martial world. Having arranged his concealed weapons to suit the surroundings, he knew exactly how an intruder would dodge.
The instant the thread snapped, several flying needles shot out from the shadows.
Swish, swish, swish-
The concealed weapons were not aimed at Ye Jingtang's current position, but several steps ahead and behind-the places he might move to evade them.
The instant Luo Ning heard the disturbance, she inwardly knew things had gone wrong. Her flexible sword slid into her hand, and she moved directly behind Ye Jingtang. Her sword swept like the wind, cutting down the silver needles shooting through the rain.
Clink, clink-
As Ye Jingtang heard the silver needles slicing through the air, his saber was already out of its sheath. Locating them by sound, he swept his blade twice, clearly knocking down every incoming concealed weapon.
Yet through the shattered raindrops, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. An object had already reached him, utterly silent, without the slightest disturbance.
Horror seized Ye Jingtang. It was too late to bring his saber back. All he could do was try his hardest to twist away and protect his vital points.
But before he could move, a slender arm pressed against his shoulder and hauled him violently sideways, wrenching him clear of the concealed weapon already upon him.
Luo Ning's experience in the martial world was greater, after all. Her flexible sword spread like a peacock's tail, guarding the space before her so tightly that not a drop could slip through. When it met a silent black needle that even she had failed to detect, she knew the shameless little thief, still inexperienced in the martial world, would not be able to defend against it.
Though she deeply resented Ye Jingtang taking liberties with her at every opportunity, with life and death at stake, Luo Ning did not hesitate for an instant. She pulled Ye Jingtang aside with all her strength and swept her three-foot sword across the shadowless black needles shooting from the darkness.
Swish, swish-
Clink-
Amid the haste, a faint stab of pain came from her shoulder.
Luo Ning ignored it. Her fingers tapped her left shoulder to seal the qi point, and she leaped over the courtyard wall with her sword in hand...
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