Master Thief
Awesome! That was awesome! In a split second, I can actually increase the power of my swords to such an astonishing stage. Was that part of the Evil Sword Technique?
In the small hut, he opened his eyes when he recovered slightly. He was slightly emotional.
As long as my heart contained uprightness, I would remain my evil self! Just thinking about the words itself was enough to make my blood boil. Now, I shall wait.
Su Yun muttered as his eyes blazed with passion
He took a deep a breath and continued to meditate. Although he had such a huge fight that lasted the entire day, he was not fatigued. He only felt weak and he needed to recover quickly so that he could head over to the martial grounds first thing tomorrow. He only had half a month, and time was ticking by. He had to learn whatever he could learn.
Dududu.
Just then, there came knocks from the door.
Su Yun was shocked. A flicker of doubt passed his eyes as he went ahead to grab his cape to cover his face before he head to the door.
There was a sturdy man in a leather armour standing outside.
The sturdy man smiled with a skeleton jug filled with wine as he said with his hoarse voice: “Do you mind if I come in, Su Yun?”
“It’s senior brother Tu!” Su Yun was slightly taken aback as he continued to ask: “Is there anything?”
“I’ve come to drink with you! Come, let’s talk inside!”
Su Yun hesitated before he nodded.
As the two of them headed in, Tu Bai Li took off the lid on the skeleton jug and poured it in his mouth. Then, he passed it to Su Yun.
Looking at the black jug and smelling the stench of evil wine, Su Yun frowned but he did not reject. Instead, he reached out and drank it all.
“Hahah, you’re swift!”
Tu Bai Li laughed as he took back back the wine Su Yun passed to him before he started drinking again. They passed to one another a couple of times and finished the wine.
“I’ve brought too few today. I’ll bring more tomorrow.”
Tu Bai Li wiped his mouth and stated.
Su Yun smiled: “You didn’t just come to me to drink, did you, senior brother Tu?”
“Of course not.”
Tu Bai Li stood up and answered: “I’m here to clarify on something.”
“About?”
“Your motive for heading to the martial grounds.” Tu Bai Li looked straight at him: “If I didn’t guess wrongly, you probably want to learn some of the Evil Sword Techniques right?”
Su Yun’s heart skipped a beat but he remained composed: “Why do you say that senior brother Tu? What kind of mystical technique is the Evil Sword Technique. How can I master them just in a few days at the martial grounds? If that’s the case, then wouldn’t the Evil Sword Technique be too easy?”
“Of course the Evil Sword Techniques are not easy.” Tu Bai Li shook his head and continued: “I only felt queer. Don’t judge me on my crude appearance. I’m meticulous in my thoughts and much more sensitive than others. In all honesty, you’re an outsider. When I sparred with my junior brother Ji, most of them came to join in the fun. Yet, you offered a challenge out of a sudden. I then thought, why would you want to fight with me? Your cultivation level is much lower than me, you can’t possibly win me. I made a judgement that you’re just purely in love with swords. In the end, I realised it’s not just so simple. Rascal, you like challenges much more!”
“Challenges?”
“Yeah! Challenges! After sparring with you, I realised there was a tinge of fierceness in each and every one of your moves and techniques. In addition, when I played the fourth move of the Evil Sword Technique, you seem to be enlightened by the chant. Although it was faint but it allowed you to maximise your sword’s power! You’re a genius!”
“What can that even prove?”
Su Yun remained calm.
“This means your talent is outrageous! Also, when I brandished my Evil Sword, I could capture the passion in your eyes. You desire to learn the Evil Sword Techniques right?”
Tu Bai Li said and smiled.
Su Yun hesitated and remained silent.
He did not expect Tu Bai Li to see through him so easily
“To be honest” Su Yun took a deep breath and replied: “I do want to learn the Evil Sword Techniques of your noble sword sect!”
“Then learn.” Tu Bai Li giggled.
“You’re teaching me?”
“Of course not. When I was cultivating the Evil Sword, I swore I will not teach outsiders unless I was commanded to.”
“Then why did you promise to let me enter the martial grounds for me to learn?”
“Haha, I don’t teach but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn. There are so many disciples cultivating the Evil Sword at the martial grounds. Watch and learn! I know that’s your only motive, but it’s useless just watching. I’ve estimated you probably would just touch the iceberg. To our sword sect, that is not much of a harm, so if you want to learn, go to the martial grounds, since I can’t teach you.”
“I see, senior brother Tu thinks that I can’t learn” Su Yun chucked.
“The Evil Sword Technique is not so simple. You’ll gain nothing from just looking at it. Without any guidance, you’ll be at a crossroad.”
“No matter what, I can learn something. It’d be great to even touch the iceberg of something so exquisite. It’d be beneficial for me.”
“Rascal, although you’re not part of the sword sect but if you really do learn, I’ll be happy for you. The sect is too strict and rigid almost as if they weren’t evil. Evil should mean madness. If you can bring glory to the Evil Sword Sect, that’s something incredible.’
Tu Bai Li laughed as he brought out a bottle of pills from his storage ring and left it on Su Yun’s table before he left.
“Work hard, rascal. You’re much better than most of my junior brothers.”
With that, he was already long gone.
He came quickly, drank swiftly, spoke hastily and was gone before he knew it.
Su Yun looked at the bottle, sucked in a deep breath and opened it to see, only to see there were all sorts of inexpensive recovery pills.
On the second morning, Su Yun headed over to the martial grounds quickly.
During the fight, the Thousand Deep Sword had obtained several scars. He placed it in the Sword Sheath to recover. Without a span of ten over days in recovery, it obviously could not be used.
The martial grounds of the Evil Sword Sect looked just like a cemetery. With its unkempt floor and the eerie atmosphere, the air was reeking of a rotting corpse stench.
But, compared to the stench, there was much more Sword Qi, the amount of Sword Qi was countless.
After yesterday’s bitter training, most of the disciples were recovering their powers in their own rooms. There were very few people at the martial grounds. The black cape had already become Su Yun’s trademark. After yesterday’s fight with Tu Bai Li, several people at the martial grounds knew who he was but no one cared as they continued to cultivate.
Su Yun walked over to an empty place and started cultivating his Fallen Leaves Sword Technique.
Of course, he was distracted because from the moment he stepped into this martial ground, his gaze had always been placed on the Evil Sword Sect’s disciples or on their swords.
He looked very focused, and with the cape covering his expression, they would think that he was just cultivating, and would not know that he was observing them.
Then, these people would have their guard down. Like what Tu Bai Li said, if he could just learn by watching, then the Evil Sword Technique would be too simple. Would it still be worth learning?
But, if he could just learn a tad, Su Yun would be comforted. With such a magical divine sword technique, if he did not learn something about it, it would be a waste.
“Judging by the way they use their Qi, it seems like the Evil Spirit Qi is overriding their channels?”
“How does the tracks of your Sword Qi work?”
Su Yun muttered. There were questions in his head. Originally, his actions were practicing the Fallen Leaves Sword Technique but slowly, he started mimicking the disciples. When he came back to reality, he broke out in a cold sweat as his eyes darted around. Lucky, everyone around him were focused on cultivating their own swords and no one was observing him.
Su Yun took a deep breath and continued to brandish his sword aimlessly. As the brain followed through their movements, he made a note not to move his body too.
Time started to pass and the people on the martial grounds increased. When they noticed the man in the black cape was here to practice, they started their own discussion. But no one dared to offend him. Tu Bai Li had already proven Su Yun’s power. He was not a simple man to challenge an expert that was seven levels higher than him.
Su Yun was peaceful as he continued to observe the people around him.
After a whole day of observation, Su Yun had a base. He knew whose foundations were strong, whose were just mediocre.
The day passed by quickly. The people who were cultivating at the martial ground were exhausted and they started taking their leave.
Su Yun had enough of observations. His neck was sore from all the watching. Quickly, he went back to his own room.
Back in his hut, he took out a set of cultivation paper and spiritual pen from his storage ring and started to draw the sequences.
As he recalled, he started drawing on the piece of cultivation paper. Very quickly, a messy yet alive miniature beings started appearing.
“This is just the rough idea, don’t be proud. Or else you’ll just touch the tip of the iceberg.”
Su Yun thought to himself.
But he was not frustrated either. Afterall, he was a master thief. He would leave everything to fate. To clear his doubts, he still needed some guidance from the Evil Sword Sect, but if he eavesdropped the lectures, then the situation would change. If he got caught, Su Yun would have to bear the worst consequence. He could not ensure that he could avoid the commander catching him eavesdropping on the lectures.
But, there was always a way out. Just as Su Yun was ‘master thieving’ on the third day, a teacher visited the martial grounds
This evil realm person was about to become the new commander. Before the lecture, he lectured a few of the evil disciple’s Evil Sword Techniques.
Su Yun looked at the man walking into the martial grounds as though he was dreaming.
“From today onwards, I’ll be lecturing here for three days. After that, I’ll officially be teaching the Evil Sword Technique for the beginners. Once I’m the commander, you will have ample time to ask me anything about the Evil Sword Techniques. So grab this chance. If there’s anything you don’t know, ask me.”
“Yes.”
The evil people cheered.
Su Yun’s eyes opened wide as he heard this piece of news.
The teacher left in the evening. Although there was no daylight or nightime in the Evil Realm, the evil people still had their own concept of time.
This time, when Su Yun left the martial grounds, he did not return to the hut anxiously. Instead, he ordered his servants to call Hun San for some ingredients.
When the ingredients arrived, he went back into his hut and combined these ingredients together. Finally, he molded it into an object that looked like serbian wood. Then, he started carving mini arrays with the spiritual needles.
Once it was done, Su Yun stuffed it into his ears. The markings on the serbian wood glowed.
As he carried his Engraved Dragon Blade, he left the house and went to an abandoned land behind the Evil Sword Sect. Then, he started cultivating everything he had witnessed and heard about the ‘Evil Sword Technique’.