Chapter 1226: Instigator
“You lost the spirit fruit?” Lu Yang asked.
Ji Zhong nodded.
Why are there so many things happening in one night? First, we arrested a bunch of robbers, and now we have a theft case?
We’d come to catch ghosts. Where are they?
Normally, a report would require a statement, but taking one now would waste time and let the thief escape. They could only catch the culprit and fill out the paperwork later.
“Walk us through it. When do you think you lost it?”
“Someone bumped into me before I reached the inn...” Ji Zhong shared his suspicion.
After hearing him out, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had a general picture. They rose and packed up.
“Alright. Wait here while we catch them.”
Ji Zhong opened his mouth. He looked at the room full of bound prodigies and was terrified. With Meng Jingzhou around, these people would behave. But if both Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou left, the ropes alone might not keep them restrained.
Lu Yang understood his concern. He swept his gaze over the prodigies and coldly commanded, “No one may move.”
When an intangible rule was established, these prodigies felt something beyond the ropes binding them. No matter how much power they mustered, they couldn’t budge. They panicked. They had only encountered such power from their sect elders.
This is the power of Rules! To establish a rule so casually and suppress us, he’s even more terrifying than our elders! Who are these constables?! Don’t they say that experts like to disguise themselves as beggars on the streets? Why have they switched to posing as constables now?
~~~
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou leaped out of a window and flew above Quyi County. At the same time, they expanded their spiritual consciousness to cover the entire county, searching for any suspicious cultivator.
They locked onto a figure blending perfectly into the night, leisurely strolling through the streets. Several cultivators brushed past him without noticing, a testament to his excellent concealment technique.
“Found him!”
The figure walked slowly, humming as he tossed the fruit. Even after spotting two patrolling constables ahead, he paid them no mind.
But as he passed them, both constables struck simultaneously, pinning him to the ground.
“Y-You can see me?!” The figure was dumbstruck. This is impossible!
“A Nascent Soul cultivator stealing from a Divine Transfiguration cultivator? You’ve got quite the skills.” Lu Yang joked.
Ji Zhong couldn’t have secured the spirit fruit in the Four Repositories Secret Domain through luck alone. His skills placed him among the cream of the crop even at the Divine Transfiguration Stage. Yet this little thief had stolen from Ji Zhong at just the Nascent Soul Stage, demonstrating exceptional abilities.
We must keep him under strict watch.
Meng Jingzhou snatched the spirit fruit, scaring the thief into silence.
The thief was well-versed in spatial arts and capable of teleportation. But when he secretly tried to activate his spatial arts, he found the space around him completely locked down. There was no escape!
And they weren’t even deliberately confining the space. It’s because they’re so powerful that their presence has unconsciously warped space!
Did I not check the almanac when I went out? Where did these two powerhouses pop up from?
“Learning all the bad things. You only know how to steal,” Meng Jingzhou chided, rapping the thief’s head after confirming the spirit fruit was real.
“What’s your name?”
“Fang Ning. Your Excellencies, this is really my first offense. Please let me go. I’ll never do it again!” Fang Ning burst into tears, snot and tears streaming down his face.
It was a pitiful fight, but Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were unmoved. Fooling others is one thing, but this performance is too fake to deceive us.
Furthermore, the thief had achieved such mastery of thieving skills at the Nascent Soul Stage. It was clearly not his first time. Considering his abilities, local constables must have struggled to catch him before.
“Search him.”
Meng Jingzhou gripped Fang Ning’s wrist while Lu Yang searched him, soon finding a storage ring that looked expensive.
“Did you steal this?”
“No, this is mine.”
“Open it then.”
Fang Ning stammered. Lu Yang immediately ascertained that Fang Ning had stolen the storage ring.
It had been days since Fang Ning stole it, but the seal was too complex to break. He had spent all these days trying to crack it.
“The seal is pretty complicated,” Lu Yang remarked in admiration. He casually unleashed a sword qi to force it open.
There were only a few items inside. The owner didn’t seem to use this storage ring often.
A book caught Lu Yang’s attention. “Conduct Records of All Officials?”
Although he didn’t know its contents, the title clearly had nothing to do with Fang Ning.
“Where’s your proof of identification?” Lu Yang suspected even the name Fang Ning was fake.
“Didn’t bring it,” Fang Ning replied meekly.
“Where is it? Take us there.”
“In Yun Province,” Fang Ning purposely named a faraway place.
Lu Yang was unbothered. “No problem. We can take a work trip there.”
Fang Ning was on the verge of tears. This was his first time suffering such a setback.
A steady voice came from the end of the street. A middle-aged man in black robes and a black hat walked toward them.
“Hehe, my little disciple was simply completing a test I set. Could you two young friends let him go for my sake?”
“Shifu!” Fang Ning cried out, deeply moved. So Shifu has been watching me from the shadows all this time?
The moment the middle-aged man appeared, the air seemed to freeze. His aura was like that of a fearsome primordial beast, sending chills down one’s spine and freezing even one’s blood.
“You taught someone to steal, yet you think you’re justified? Arrest him!”
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou attacked simultaneously. Startled, the middle-aged man withdrew his aura and dodged. Why did they resort to violence without a single word?
We're all Transcendent Tribulation cultivators. Can’t we talk it out?
Just as they were about to touch him, the middle-aged man appeared ten zhang away.
“Spatial arts? No, it’s just raw speed.” Lu Yang raised an eyebrow. A Transcendent Tribulation cultivator with such speed is rare. It rivals even the Black Feather Venerable Lord of the Kunpeng Tribe.
The middle-aged man was inwardly shocked. Most who fought him on their first encounter mistook his speed for spatial arts. Who are these two? How did they see through it at a glance?
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou could naturally see through it. The Vast Sea Daoist Lord often used his Space Incipient Dao Fruit before them. They couldn’t be any more familiar with spatial techniques.
“Few human Transcendent Tribulation cultivators can achieve this speed. Are you the Thief Ancestor?
“Wait, no. The Thief Ancestor has only one leg, which is why no one challenges his claim of dominating the world with his speed on one leg.
“Then you must be the Thief King!”
“Ah? Shifu, you’re the Thief King?” Fang Ning was astonished. His master had never revealed his true identity.
The middle-aged man fell silent. Just one exchange, and they’ve nearly dug up my entire past.