The Celestial Thief's Contest — Art of the Phantom Thief
Where Yi Yeok came to ground, a spirit herb swayed in the wind, seven leaves shining in seven colors. He watched that uncanny light for a moment and smiled, well pleased. Seven-Hued Ginseng. A treasure of this grade was a rare spirit plant that anyone in the celestial realm would have coveted.
He took his time looking over the ground around him. Not far off, the desperate battle between the Black Phoenix Hall and the demonic beasts reached him only as a thin, distant roar. Sharp screams, the crash of blows, and the bellowing of beasts tangled through the chaotic air. Yet here, in the heart of the ravine where the Seven-Hued Ginseng grew, it was unnaturally still, as if this one pocket of earth had slipped free of the fight's vortex.
Truly beautiful.
Smiling, Yi Yeok bent before the Seven-Hued Ginseng. He liked moments like this best—while everyone else staked their lives on a fight, he took the treasure where their eyes could not reach.
He drew Yojiyu. Working gently around the herb, he pared the soil away with care, then lifted the whole clod and slipped it into the Qiankun Ring. His fingertips did not err by a hair. It was a practiced hand in which no mistake could be found.
"You all keep fighting. I'll be going on ahead."
A faint sneer touched his mouth as he glanced once toward the clash of hall and beast. How much longer they fought, and who won in the end, meant nothing to him. What mattered was already in his hands.
Yi Yeok launched himself and was gone in an instant. His figure melted into the wind, and he made his unhurried way deeper into the Heaven-Center Immortal Realm.
Using the Black Phoenix Hall as his bearing, Yi Yeok began to hunt for the way to the Nokhyeon Sect.
The tangled terrain of the Heaven-Center Immortal Realm kept turning him around, and in mountains this deep anyone who did not know the land was liable to lose the path.
After wandering for several hours, he finally caught the direction that led toward the Nokhyeon Sect.
Just then he spotted two figures cutting across the empty sky.
Their eyes met in midair. The one in the lead was a youth so handsome it was hard to believe.
Yi Yeok narrowed his eyes and muttered inwardly.
Handsomer than me? No such man exists in this world.
The pair soon descended some forty or fifty feet from him.
The youth frowned faintly as he looked Yi Yeok over. Something about the face seemed familiar.
Yi Yeok studied him in turn and caught one thing at once. Clothes, ornaments—the whole of him said young master of a rich house, and no mistake.
His brow twitched at the jade pendant hanging at the youth's waist. If his eyes were not deceiving him, it was a very ancient dragon jade.
The corner of Yi Yeok's mouth lifted. He closed the distance at once.
"A moment, if I may. You really are a beauty. Has your marriage been settled? I happen to have a very fine bride in mind... or would it be a groom?"
Up close, the face refused to declare itself man or woman. The clothes were a man's, but the features were as finely drawn as a woman's.
At the sound of Yi Yeok's voice the youth's expression hardened. That voice... he had heard it somewhere before!
An attendant at his side stepped swiftly in front of him and said, cold as iron,
"Not interested. Get lost."
Yi Yeok bent a little at the waist and forced a smile.
"My apologies. I was rude."
He turned on his heel, brushed past the two of them, and vanished in a flash.
Only after Yi Yeok was entirely gone did the youth come back to himself and shout, sharp as a blade.
"The carriage thief!"
The attendant beside him grimaced.
"The carriage thief...? Don't tell me that was the one you spoke of before?"
It was the very youth whose carriage Yi Yeok had stolen on the day he took An Eun-chae's commission, passing himself off as a tavern boy. The youth ground his teeth and cried out.
"I will not let him live!"
The attendant hurried to settle him.
"Young lady, please compose yourself. The mission matters more just now."
She hesitated, then swept a hand across her waist without thinking—and her face went deathly pale.
"My Blood Jade Dragon Soul... it's gone!"
The attendant's eyes went wide.
"It can't be... When did you last confirm it was there?"
"It was there a moment ago! That thief... how dare he...! Twice now. I will kill him. He will not die cleanly!"
She shook with rage, teeth grinding. The attendant sighed.
"Young lady, he is more capable than he looks. And finding him in mountains this rough will not be easy. Better to see to the mission first."
Only after she had panted for a long while did she calm a little.
"Yes. You're right. What matters now is the Black Phoenix Hall. They've been underestimated, but they are no easy mark. If I can take them as my subordinates, they'll be a great help."
"Indeed. They would be most useful in breaking the Eldest Young Master's momentum."
Two hours later, the pair followed the map to the Black Phoenix Hall's stronghold.
They arrived just as Sama Sa-cheol returned at the head of his wounded hall members. The young lady's eyes lit, and she stepped forward.
"Would the one before me be Hall Master Sama?"
Sama Sa-cheol raised a hand to halt his people and barked,
"Who are you?"
The young lady's attendant said, low and level,
"Mind your courtesy. We come from the Sacred Hall."
Sama Sa-cheol's face twisted as rage surged up in him. Fierce hatred gathered in his eyes.
"The Sacred Hall? Perfect... so the Sacred Hall has come again!"
The attendant arched a brow.
"Hall Master Sama, what manner of attitude is this?"
Sama Sa-cheol roared as if he had lost all restraint.
"Do I look like a joke to you? You swept our main hall's spirit stones clean and even took the Seven-Hued Ginseng, and now you say you've come from the Sacred Hall?"
He bellowed at his men, venting the whole of his fury.
"Tear them to pieces! Now!"
In the forest, Yi Yeok walked lightly, humming to himself.
Even an immortal couldn't be as free as I.
Hungry, and a rice cake finds its way to me;
poor, and a piece of jade is mine for the taking.
Ease sat easy on his face. Then, all at once, he stopped, dropped low, and sprang back.
In that instant a shadow as lithe as a leopard flashed through the place where he had been standing.
Yi Yeok tucked the Blood Jade Dragon Soul he was holding into the Qiankun Ring, then fixed his eyes on the one who had appeared so suddenly. A figure in a black cloak, the whole body wrapped in black, with nothing showing but a sharp pair of eyes. The fingers were slender and fine—at a glance, almost a woman's hands.
But Yi Yeok knew at once that this was a man, and a phantom thief besides. To a phantom thief, the hands were the most important tools of all.
"The Heavenly Origin Immortal Soul Pill."
The other spoke in a cold voice. Yi Yeok narrowed his eyes.
"And what's that?"
The man in the black cloak answered, perfectly calm.
"I already know. That thing is in your hands."
"You with the Dark Shadow Alliance?"
"Yes. Hand it over. And cut off both your hands. Then I'll spare your life."
"And if I've already swallowed it?"
"Do you think someone of your level could withstand that immortal pill?"
Yi Yeok shrugged.
"Do thieves really need to spill each other's blood? We could negotiate, couldn't we?"
He offered it as if it were nothing. The cloaked man stayed cold.
"I'll give you a chance. We'll settle it the phantom thieves' way. Lose, and you give me both hands and the item."
"And if you lose?"
"I will never touch you again."
"That's all? There are other Dark Shadow Alliance dogs who'll come running besides you."
"So? What is it you want?"
"Call off the mission. Simple."
"Ha! You can dream, I suppose."
Yi Yeok shrugged and laughed.
"Then it can't be helped."
"Stop playing. You know as well as I do that this is the best you'll get."
"Fine. Then let's do it this way. If I win, you tell me who lost this Heavenly Origin Immortal Soul Pill. How about it?"
The other hesitated, then nodded.
"Agreed."
Yi Yeok grinned.
"So how do we decide the winner?"
"The art of the phantom thief, of course. Who is faster, and who is more precise."
Yi Yeok flicked a glance at the other's fingers. Every delicate movement was anything but ordinary. A fight between phantom thieves was not decided at the edge of a blade, but at the tips of the fingers.
Not bad at all. This should be fun.
Catching that look, the other narrowed his eyes as if smiling.
"Ready?"