< Episode 559 > Fengyun Ghost Thief (風雲鬼盜).
The final day on which the Fengyun Ghost Thief was to appear.
As the sun gradually began to set, a presence was felt near Mt. Wudang.
Rustle—!
Someone was passing through the grass, moving quickly.
Wrapped in black garments from head to toe, a black mask covering his face, he moved at high speed.
If there was something slightly odd, it was that, perhaps because he was moving so fast, he seemed somehow frantic somewhere.
Tap—!
The figure, having moved for some time, landed on the ground and hid his body, as if he had arrived at his destination.
In front of him was a small compound, and Taoist priests of Wudang stood guard and maintained a four-sided perimeter as if to protect it.
Seeing this, the figure’s eyes gleamed.
That was the place.
The place that held the figure’s objective and target.
‘The place with the treasures.’
The place where the treasures of Huashan and Wudang were gathered together.
That place was exactly this place.
After the promised five days had passed, come tomorrow, the treasures would be returned to one another and Huashan and Wudang would part ways.
This was a method to keep them safe should any unforeseeable situation arise.
The figure shifted his gaze and looked at someone.
Among those guarding the compound, there was a woman possessing a graceful appearance.
A woman wearing a neatly pressed white martial robe beneath a light blue martial robe.
It was Soi, the Plum Blossom Sword Empress, who currently held the seat of the Sword Empress.
She too was personally standing guard to protect Huashan’s treasures.
Seeing that, the figure bit his lip.
‘Half a shichen from now.’
In half a shichen, the Sword Empress would leave her post.
It would be but a fleeting moment at best, but for the figure, that much was enough.
Time passed.
Just when exactly half a shichen had passed while he held his breath.
The Sword Empress, who had been standing guard silently, showed a reaction and began to move.
It was right now.
The moment he had been waiting for. The Sword Empress would be away from her post for no more than a few seconds.
The opportunity was only now.
The figure hid his cold sweat and raised his ‘qi’ throughout his body.
All he had to do was rush in and snatch the treasure.
Yes, that was all he needed.
Everything was for Wudang.
The moment the figure, thinking so, tried to hurl himself forward.
“Hello?”
Together with a voice heard right beside his ear.
Crack—!
“Kk…!?”
The sensation of his neck being grabbed, and simultaneously his vision twisted.
There was no time to assess the situation. His vision twisted, and a gust of wind brushed his body.
He tried to react and move somehow, but only then did the figure realize.
The raging wind right now was because his feet were lifting into the air.
It was the aftereffect of moving at high speed.
Just how fast were they moving for his body to receive such pressure?
Such fear flashed through his mind, but.
That too did not last long.
Thud—!
At some point the wind stopped, and with the sensation of being thrown, his body rolled across the ground.
He had to get up.
Survival instinct spoke those words, but.
Stomp—! As if pinning his rolling torso, something slammed down onto his chest.
“Kuk!”
He let out a groan at the abyssal pain.
He looked down at his chest.
Someone’s foot was trampling his chest.
Then.
“Could it be.”
The owner of the foot spoke to the figure. He raised his head following the voice.
And the figure had to feel pain.
Because when he tried to curl up, pain flared in his chest and wounded shoulder.
“You don’t remember what I said? Then I’d be a bit disappointed.”
He was speaking with a smile, yet in that voice was a dry, sharp edge.
The owner of the foot was someone completely unexpected.
Saaaah—!
Moonlight shone.
The figure’s appearance, hidden in darkness, was revealed.
Hair with a faint blue hue rippling over it, perhaps due to the moonlight.
Moreover, within his savage features, blue eyes shone brilliantly.
Though his irises had clearly been red until just that morning, for some reason the young man’s eyes now held a blue hue.
“I told you.”
The young man spoke.
“If you draw your sword, you die. Did you think I’d forgotten?”
That voice echoed in the figure’s ear.
Because it was something he had heard at the inn during the day.
Yes, the figure’s true identity was none other than Jicheol, the Uiryong Sword and second disciple of the Wudang Sect.
“…How… how….”
Jicheol spat out the words with difficulty.
Because it was a situation he could not comprehend at all.
How could this man be here?
Someone who should be in his quarters under Wudang’s protection right now.
How could he be in front of him in such a situation?
Perhaps sensing Jicheol’s questions.
The blue-eyed young man, Ouyang Tian, showed a slight smile at those doubts.
And with that, he released the strength in his foot, freeing Jicheol.
Only then could Jicheol gasp out his blocked breath.
“Hurk… hah….”
As he barely exhaled, Ouyang Tian spoke to Jicheol.
“Seeing you so surprised, I suppose it’s strange that I’m here?”
At those words, Jicheol moved his hand.
He had tried to draw the sword at his waist, but.
“…!”
His hand grasped nothing.
Because the sword that should have been at his waist had vanished without a trace.
“Looking for this?”
Before such a Jicheol, Ouyang Tian shook something.
It was Jicheol’s sword.
“What use is a swordsman who keeps his sword so carelessly?”
“…When…!”
Crack—!
“Kuak!”
Jicheol, his chest struck, screamed and rolled across the ground a couple of times.
Afterward, the powerlessly rolling Jicheol barely grabbed the floor and rolled his eyes.
‘What on earth is going on?’
The pain he felt and Ouyang Tian’s incomprehensible appearance made no sense, but.
More than that, what came first was the question of the current situation.
‘How…?’
How could that man be here?
By now, surely.
‘Under the protection of surrounding guards….’
“You should be in your quarters.”
“…!”
As if reading Jicheol’s mind, Ouyang Tian approached him and continued.
“But, I absolutely can’t stand feeling stuffy. So I came out for a night walk.”
He uttered it nonchalantly, but it was something that made no sense.
The martial artists of Wudang would never have allowed such a thing.
However, Ouyang Tian simply continued his own words as if he didn’t care about such things.
“While leisurely strolling, whoops, what do you know? I just happened to pass by our master.”
“...”
“You don’t seem like the type to go out for a walk like me. What business brings you out dressed so secretly?”
How should he answer?
The deliberation was not long.
“I had some business there for a moment…. Kuk!?”
Crunch—!
As he tried to spew an excuse, Ouyang Tian outright grabbed Jicheol’s neck.
“That answer won’t do. I’m the only one who gets to lie in this conversation.”
“Gurk… guh….”
“Ah, but that seems a bit unfair. So I’ll tell you something you’re curious about too.”
Something he was curious about.
Saying so, Ouyang Tian showed his wrist.
“I left the Yeonuiseon behind. It’s a rather bothersome item.”
“…Kuk…?!”
At those words, Jicheol’s eyes widened.
He had left behind the Yeonuiseon.
It was something that made no sense.
If he had truly left it behind, it made no sense for Ouyang Tian to be here.
Perhaps finding Jicheol’s reaction amusing, Ouyang Tian raised the corner of his mouth.
“This is truly an interesting item. They say it lets you check the wearer’s movements.”
An item that allowed one to check the team members’ conditions more quickly when hunting demonic beasts or carrying out missions.
Ubaek had explained it as such, but.
“But they didn’t explain the most important thing?”
“…Kuk….”
“This thing sends a signal if you cut it, doesn’t it?”
“…!”
“Right?”
At Ouyang Tian’s words, Jicheol’s heart began to race.
It was exactly as he said.
The Yeonuiseon was also used to make each other aware of their situations, but.
If a problem occurred with the thread itself, it was designed to send a reaction to a high-ranking person.
The distance was quite limited, but within Wudang, it wouldn’t be difficult to ascertain.
In other words.
While checking the wearer’s condition simultaneously.
Abnormal behavior could be detected, and at close range, one’s movements could be known as well.
How did this man know of such aspects?
Furthermore.
‘How on earth did he get out?’
How had he come here while leaving the Yeonuiseon behind?
Questions filled Jicheol’s eyes.
To Ouyang Tian, that was truly amusing.
“Knowing that, you see. I felt something a bit strange.”
The fishy stench he had felt during the day.
Ouyang Tian had thought for a long time about what that fishy stench was.
And finally managed to vaguely recall the reason.
“Your side’s reaction, I mean. It’s like… you seem to be watching us, but you don’t do anything important?”
“Kuk….”
The moment he wondered what that meant.
“Not a single person. Doubted us.”
Jicheol could grasp the meaning Ouyang Tian was trying to convey.
“Isn’t it fascinating? That the Fengyun Ghost Thief appears after decades to steal Wudang’s treasures, yet you guard outsiders without really suspecting them.”
At first, he had thought they made them wear the Yeonuiseon to avoid confusion with the Fengyun Ghost Thief who had hidden his appearance and infiltrated.
He had judged there was also intent to monitor them, but.
It felt somehow iffy and fishy.
‘I’ve never even heard tales of the Fengyun Ghost Thief reappearing in a previous life.’
He wondered if something had twisted because he caused too much trouble wherever he went, but.
Since this dog-like intuition was never wrong, he felt there must be something.
So he thought about it.
“And then suddenly.”
He felt like he knew something.
However….
“It wasn’t certainty.”
The point was that it wasn’t certainty.
What should one do when it wasn’t certain? The answer was far too simple.
“So I thought I’d ask?”
One just had to ask.
What was going on.
That he should ask kindly(?) and gently(?).
Happily, he had given a ‘gift’ to a good candidate for asking. So he thought he’d check at this opportunity.
But.
“Something seemed off.”
He moved.
At such high speed in the dead of night.
It was strange to say he was training.
It was also odd to say he was chasing someone.
It didn’t fit to say he was going somewhere.
Because the destination was visible, yet he had taken such a bizarre path.
As if.
“As if trying to blur his presence.”
“Kuk…!”
“It wouldn’t be easy for someone in poor health to do that.”
Jicheol had one shoulder completely shattered. And that too was from today.
Given his cultivation realm, it wouldn’t be impossible to fully heal, but moving at such speed in the deep night was indeed a strange thing.
Flinched.
At Ouyang Tian’s words, Jicheol’s body trembled greatly.
Seeing that reaction, Ouyang Tian continued.
“So I wanted to ask.”
And so he caught him.
That was not a very difficult task for Ouyang Tian.
Because when he had shattered the bastard’s shoulder, he had taken the opportunity to plant his energy in him.
Energy that he himself would never lose track of.
Squirm.
“Kuuurk…!?”
Jicheol felt something squirming inside his body.
In his dantian, somewhere deep within.
Something unknown was slowly stirring from there.
At the same time, Ouyang Tian’s blue eyes shone even more brilliantly.
Along with the light, his presence gradually grew and began to envelop Jicheol’s entire body.
The strength gripping his neck loosened slightly.
Just enough for him to speak.
“You know.”
Ouyang Tian asked Jicheol.
“Are you the Fengyun Ghost Thief?”
“...!”
At the question, Jicheol felt his heart drop.
But.
“Or.”
It didn’t end there.
“Are you playing the ‘role’ of the Fengyun Ghost Thief?”
Tremble tremble tremble.
Jicheol shook beyond his control.
But Jicheol bit his lip forcefully and resolved.
He must not let anything out.
No matter how much fear surged, no matter what torture he endured. He had resolved that at least that much he could not spit out.
“Answer.”
“…It… is…?”
At the command heard, Jicheol’s mouth spewed an answer of its own accord.
Jicheol made an expression as if he couldn’t believe it.
Because it was not his own will.
Regarding this.
“Yes.”
Ouyang Tian only smiled as if satisfied.
In that smile, satisfaction at finding the answer to a frustrating matter was clearly lingering.
As if to show he wouldn’t hide it, Ouyang Tian laughed louder.
“That’s a relief.”
Truly a relief.
“Because Wudang is more of a dumbass than I thought.”
Thanks to that, it seemed he could take advantage of the situation.
And in a very good mood, at that.
******************
The next morning.
On the rear mountain of Wudang, Jicheol, the Uiryong Sword and second disciple of Wudang, was discovered dead.
Circumstantially, it appeared he had taken his own life by cutting his throat.
And, as if proving this, a suicide note was found fallen on the ground.
Just as foretold in the letter sent five days prior.
The Fengyun Ghost Thief had succeeded in stealing the treasures.
However.
For some reason, leaving behind Huashan’s treasures that had been kept together, only Wudang’s treasures were stolen and disappeared.
Perhaps because of that.
Wudang’s atmosphere was completely overturned from that morning onward.