Chapter 70
Chapter 70
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Eternal Divine Thief (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Eternal Divine Thief's method of attack was exceedingly simple.
He unleashed the supreme lightness skill that no one could possibly follow, the Formless Phantom Step Across Miles.
At the same time, he dazzled the target's eyes with the multiple afterimages of the Formless Phantom Step Across Miles.
Then, toward the target who was completely entranced and had lost all sense of his blinding speed, he swung his twin daggers laced with deadly poison.
At first glance, this attack method seemed so simple it bordered on monotonous, yet it worked flawlessly even against peak Entry to Divinity realm masters—no, even Absolute Realm masters.
Simplicity meant it worked against anyone, after all.
'Do you know why no Eternal Divine Thief in history has ever been caught? Even if one was caught, he killed everyone who caught him and vanished!'
The current Eternal Divine Thief harbored such thoughts as he poured all his strength into swinging his Twin Poison Daggers.
To the swing of his pair of daggers, he even added the ultimate technique from the Invincible Twin Extreme Dagger Art, a martial art he had stolen from a renowned orthodox sect in the past.
Extreme Edge Cross Slash!
A razor-sharp technique that crosses the twin daggers like scissors to slice through.
This technique was a sharp and vicious move that cut like scissors crossing with both daggers.
Given the nature of the Twin Poison Daggers, even a graze would immediately paralyze the victim, plunging them into a deep slumber. It was a terrifying attack.
Whoosh!
With his exquisite lightness skill combined with proficient dagger arts, not only Entry to Divinity masters but even those in the Absolute Realm were left utterly helpless, falling prey without resistance.
However, his opponent was none other than the First Heavenly Demon.
Bam!
The Eternal Divine Thief's attack, faster than even the Heavenly Demon's feet, flew true and struck the Heavenly Demon's body squarely.
Yet something was off.
"Thud...? Thud?!"
He had executed a razor-sharp dagger technique, but instead of the expected slicing sound, there came a dull thud of colliding with something solid. The Eternal Divine Thief felt a pang of doubt.
Opening his eyes in panic, he couldn't believe it.
"Got you."
The Eternal Divine Thief's daggers were clamped firmly between the Heavenly Demon's armpits, trapped immovably.
"What the hell!"
Realizing too late that his attack had been neutralized and his arms seized, the Eternal Divine Thief blurted out a vulgar curse in sheer astonishment.
Moreover, before getting wedged in the armpits, the sharp daggers had clearly scraped the Heavenly Demon's skin.
Yet, inexplicably, the Heavenly Demon neither fell asleep nor was paralyzed. Not even a scratch marred his skin, leaving the Eternal Divine Thief questioning his own eyes.
'What in the world is going on?'
Unable to accept the situation, confusion filled the Eternal Divine Thief's hollow eyes.
"I'll tell you two things. First, that level of poison can't hope to afflict me. And second."
The Heavenly Demon continued with a bright smile.
"Anyone faster than me can be grabbed like this so they can't escape, then beaten."
There was one thing the Eternal Divine Thief had overlooked.
Despite his youthful appearance, the Heavenly Demon possessed combat experience several times greater than the combined total of all previous Eternal Divine Thieves.
Naturally, he had clashed with foes faster than himself—masters of the world's supreme movement techniques and lightness skills.
He had even pursued the Eternal Divine Thief from 200 years ago.
'The one lesson from chasing that Eternal Divine Thief 200 years ago.'
If pursuit was impossible, create a situation where escape was impossible.
Thus, the Heavenly Demon had lured him into the indoor secret vault and succeeded in trapping both of the Eternal Divine Thief's arms under his armpits, preventing him from circling endlessly inside.
"Now, let's get to the beating."
The Heavenly Demon reached out toward the Eternal Divine Thief who had dared to attempt his murder.
He refrained from drawing the Heavenly Lord Demon Dragon Sword because he intended to spare his life, not kill him.
Killing him here would mean failing to recover the Demonic Cult's treasure stolen by the previous Eternal Divine Thief.
Heaven-Splitting Earth-Cleaving Palm!
Ultimate technique of the Heaven-Earth Winds and Clouds Palm Method.
That said, given the crimes and karma the Eternal Divine Thief had amassed, a mere flick on the forehead or knuckle rap wouldn't suffice.
The Heavenly Demon lightly gathered his qi and unleashed the ultimate technique of the Heaven-Earth Winds and Clouds Palm Method.
"Gah?! Gaaah!"
From the Eternal Divine Thief's perspective, it felt as if the heavens and earth were splitting open, waves of immense palm wind crashing down, causing him to cry out in terror.
'Spare me! Spare me! This isn't human strength!'
The bravado of acting like someone who had lived 300 years before the Heavenly Demon vanished completely, leaving only the pathetic struggles of a man desperate to survive.
His body trembled!
The Eternal Divine Thief desperately tried to wrench his trapped arms free to evade the mad waves of palm wind, but they were as immovable as if crushed under a massive boulder.
It wasn't just that he couldn't pull free—movement itself was impossible.
Moreover, the Heavenly Demon's armpits were tightening, threatening to snap his arms outright, driving him to the brink of madness.
"Arrrgh!"
In the end, with both arms pinned, the Eternal Divine Thief leaped his lower body into the air, barely dodging the Heavenly Demon's attack.
Of course, "dodging" was a stretch.
The Heavenly Demon held both of the Eternal Divine Thief's arms clamped under one armpit and raised his free arm again.
Bam!
This time, he solidly struck the abdomen.
"Kuhuk! Kuhaaa!"
The moment the blow landed, excruciating pain as if his five viscera and six bowels were rupturing exploded, stars bursting before his eyes.
This wasn't a battle between martial artists at all—it was akin to an adult fighting a child.
'This excruciating agony! What internal energy is he using to strike me like this?'
It felt as if chunks of flesh were being carved away and his joints pierced by thousands of sharp needles—a maddening torment that threatened to scatter his soul.
Contemporary Eternal Divine Thieves trained not only in exceptional lightness skills and disguise but also in glib tongues and eloquence to escape any situation, plus torture resistance to endure harsh interrogations.
Thus, the Eternal Divine Thief could withstand ordinary torture with numb indifference, yet this was unbelievable.
The Heavenly Demon's strikes didn't merely batter the flesh—they separated body and soul, wounding the soul itself.
"Now, don't you think it's time to tell me where you've hidden the Clarity Pearl?"
Another reason the Heavenly Demon spared the Eternal Divine Thief's life instead of killing him outright.
It was to recover the Clarity Pearl from him, lest he hide or relocate it the moment things turned dark.
The Eternal Divine Thief's original plan had been to defiantly shout, You think I'll tell you?!
Then, through back-and-forth, secure his safety before leaving the Clarity Manor and releasing the Clarity Pearl.
But the plan had gone completely awry.
"Heh, heh heh. As if I'd...!"
Bam!
As he tried to stick to the plan, another abdominal strike from the Heavenly Demon nearly knocked him out cold.
"I hate repeating myself. I hate torture too. Hate it so much that I'd rather just kill you than keep torturing."
"Y-Yes?!"
The words seemed contradictory yet perfectly logical, leaving the Eternal Divine Thief unable to regain his senses.
One thing was clear, though...
'If I stay with this guy much longer, I won't die a natural death.'
It would cut his life short.
By rule, contemporary Eternal Divine Thieves prepared for contingencies by grooming successors—seeds for the next generation.
However, this Eternal Divine Thief was relatively young and hadn't had time since inheriting from the previous one to raise a successor.
In other words, if he fell to the Heavenly Demon, the line of Eternal Divine Thieves would end forever.
"Did I ask for your lightness skill? I just asked where the Clarity Manor Lord is. Clamming up is a problem."
If the Heavenly Demon felt inconvenienced, lethal moves might slip out unintentionally, possibly killing him by accident.
"I-I..."
As an Eternal Divine Thief, he tried to hold out to preserve his dignity and honor, but then...
Swish!
The Heavenly Demon clenched his fist and shook it lightly, shattering his resolve.
"I surrender."
Even the renowned Eternal Divine Thief was helpless before the First Heavenly Demon.
"Good. Value your life. I nearly killed you there."
Had he slain the Eternal Divine Thief in anger, one of the Demonic Cult's three great treasures would have been lost for good.
The Eternal Divine Thief's choice to surrender and submit brought multiple gains.
"The Clarity Manor Lord is..."
Realizing the Eternal Divine Thief was mentally broken, the Heavenly Demon eased the pressure slightly.
Thankfully, he didn't foolishly attempt to flee or counterattack.
Instead, he revealed a shocking truth.
"Being held by my twin brother, the other Eternal Divine Thief."
"What? Another Eternal Divine Thief? Twin brother?"
The Heavenly Demon asked in surprise at this unforeseen background.
Even the lord of the world, the First Heavenly Demon, had never dreamed there could be two Eternal Divine Thieves.
"Yes. When 'I,' the Eternal Divine Thief, triggered the blackout... I, specialized in disguise techniques like Face Alteration and Bone Shrinkage, infiltrated as the Clarity Manor Lord, while my brother, specialized in lightness skills, took the real Clarity Manor Lord skyward and imprisoned him in Clarity Manor's hidden chamber."
At this point, Yi Shin—the twin brother and elder Eternal Divine Thief—spilled every detail.
"Why didn't I predict it sooner? That the Eternal Divine Thief isn't one person but a duo!"
The Heavenly Demon slapped his knee as everything suddenly made perfect sense.
No matter how skilled a single Eternal Divine Thief, stealing the Clarity Pearl guarded by an Entry to Divinity master was exceedingly difficult.
'But two changes everything.'
One infiltrates while the other hides and escapes with the Clarity Pearl—even in a brief window, success was guaranteed.
"Hard to believe. Not that you're lying, but that twins could share the secrets of the single-succession technique, Eternal Divine Thief."
The Heavenly Demon nodded repeatedly in admiration.
"It's not that impressive. It all stems from... the incompetence of us twin brothers."
Yi Shin closed his eyes, lost in memories as he spoke.
-How tragic.
His master, the previous Eternal Divine Thief, had lamented greatly while training them.
Yi Shin was a genius in disguise, Yi Yeong in lightness skills. Combined, they could have been the greatest Eternal Divine Thief ever.
But the supreme talents required for Eternal Divine Thief were split between the twins.
The Eternal Divine Thief's abilities were a secret art passed to only one person.
He had considered passing it to whichever survived, but only briefly.
-The ultimate goal of all Eternal Divine Thief abilities is singular.
Perfect theft.
Having two instead of one offered unparalleled advantage in striking when least expected and completing missions!
Thus, for the first time in history, the current Eternal Divine Thief would be twin brothers—two people!
Reflecting on it, the master believed exploiting the preconception that there was only one would enable perfect crimes repeatedly.
In fact, they had excelled unprecedentedly, everything going smoothly, the master's foresight spot-on—until who could have foreseen encountering the First Heavenly Demon?
"Eternal Divine Thief—no, half of one?"
"Call me Yi Shin."
"Right, Yi Shin. Do you want to live?"
"Of course."
More than death, he wanted to prevent his generation's Eternal Divine Thief legacy from ending.
"Then you have two things to do."
"One is returning the Clarity Manor Lord, and the other... surely you don't mean handing over the Eternal Divine Thief's vault to you?!"
Yi Shin leaped back in horror.
Anything but publicizing or surrendering the Eternal Divine Thief's collection to an individual—that was worse than death.
As he prepared to refuse vehemently...
"I have no interest in your other trinkets. There's only one thing I want: one of the three great treasures the previous Eternal Divine Thief stole from the Demonic Cult's Heavenly Mountain 200 years ago."
"Why should I give you something so precious?"
Yi Shin protested, feeling somewhat wronged.
It was unexpected that he didn't covet the entire collection, but that item—one of the Demonic Cult's three great treasures—was among the top five in the Eternal Divine Thief's prized possessions.
"Because I am the Demonic Cult's Cult Leader, the Heavenly Demon."