Three people, a man and two women, were waiting in the woods for Wang Yun and Li Ping.
Then the two of them flew over together, riding a single sword. The three of them happily crowded around.
"When did you learn sword flight?" Du Ju asked.
As it turned out, while the two of them were in confinement, they had seen Huicong beaten black and blue. When they kindly asked him why, they learned that Huicong had been acting as a sword target for Yang Chun, sparring with him. Later, when Huicong was cut by a sword and refused to continue, Yang Chun beat him up. Huicong had often seen Wang Yun and his five friends practicing swords and hanging out together, and he expressed a desire to join them, so he gave the two of them the fourth stage of the Tongshen Sutra. Li Ping had been dismissive of it, believing the scripture was only good for putting people to sleep.
"Li Ping, don't look down on this scripture. Young Master Li once solemnly told me that this scripture is the fastest and most powerful Cultivation Formula among all the cultivation sects in the world. It's just that you don't understand its meaning, which is why you fall asleep the moment you hear it."
The two of them practiced in the confinement room for three days, and Wang Yun suddenly advanced a realm. Remembering that Li Gewen had once taught him how to fly a sword, he immediately used Li Ping's own sword and took flight.
"I'll teach you when I have time. For now, the three of you will follow the old rules and head down the mountain to steal books from the bookstores. Once we finish our business, we'll rendezvous with you," Li Ping instructed.
Wang Yun carried Li Ping on his flying sword as they asked, "Where are we going?"
"That Lei Yunshen always likes to give private lessons to his prized disciple. I just want to go take a look."
"You're going to steal his techniques?"
"Why can't I?"
"That suits me just fine. I've been locked in confinement for over a year, reading more than five hundred pulp novels and biographical accounts. The protagonists in all of them are born into aristocratic families with extraordinary innate talent, or they encounter heaven-defying fortuitous events—not a single one of them is an ordinary person. I think the reason nobody writes about ordinary people as protagonists is simply that they never get the chance. I've wanted to learn the fourth stage of the Tongshen Sutra for a long time, but that Lei Yunshen acts like he has a personal grudge against me, and absolutely refuses to teach it. Without learning the fourth stage, you can't even truly be considered an immortal cultivator. Young Master Li once told me that this fourth stage is a chasm between ordinary people and cultivators."
"You're the fool here, and yet you have the nerve to boast about reading five hundred books. I've read a hundred, and I understand most of the principles of the world. Why do we have to steal these techniques? Because we have nothing. If we were like those favored disciples who have money at home to offer tributes to Lei Yunshen, we wouldn't have to resort to stealing them."
Lei Yunshen was currently in the courtyard teaching Yang Chun the Innocent Sword Technique. The two of them crouched on the rooftop, watching Lei Yunshen patiently teach Yang Chun over and over again. Soon, someone came looking for Lei Yunshen, leaving Yang Chun to practice on his own.
"He really has so much patience. When he couldn't remember teaching me a second time, he'd just kick me straight out. Of course, that was five or six years ago. Now, whenever he runs into you, he just looks for trouble," Wang Yun said.
"The world is always unfair; there's no need to care. Do you know who said those words?"
"It's the White-Scarf Swordsman, Liu Yikong."
"You certainly remember the characters from Du Zhuan's novels quite well."
Wang Yun pointed a finger down. "He isn't practicing this Innocent Sword Technique right. Young Master Li said that this sword technique focuses on turning the complex into the simple, and discarding the false to preserve the true. When you first start practicing, there are many moves, and you must slowly simplify them. Moreover, this sword technique must be practiced in conjunction with the sword chant. Watching from here, we can only see the sword forms, which is useless."
"Young Master Li means that the sword chant is more important than the sword forms."
Wang Yun nodded.
Du Ju led the two of them down the mountain to Yunxia City, stopping in front of Moxiang Pavilion.
"This is the last one. We haven't finished stealing from here yet, so be careful when we go inside."
Zhang Zhong and Zhu Heng both nodded cautiously. Even though the two of them had been doing this for three years, every time they still felt as if it were their first.
The three entered the pavilion and split up. Zhu Heng walked further inside, where a shop assistant caught sight of him. The assistant cast a disdainful glance at Zhu Heng and headed toward the inner hall, where a man in his forties was reading a book.
"Boss, it's these three disciples from the Peak of Yunxiao. Every time they come, they don't buy anything, but they insist on reading and touching every single book."
Mo Qiu raised his head and glanced at Zhu Heng, who was closest to him, but Zhu Heng's hurried attempt to wipe away his sweat didn't escape Mo Qiu's sharp eyes. Just as Zhu Heng pulled a booklet from his sleeve and cast a spell over a stack of books, Mo Qiu grabbed him firmly by the shoulder.
"This is my first time seeing this kind of theft." Mo Qiu snatched the booklet away. "Stealing books without calling it stealing—a refined thief, aren't you?"
Mo Qiu examined the booklet closely. "A fine Dharma Treasure. I'll be keeping this."
"No, you can't! It took me a long time to forge this."
"Would you rather I report your book-theft to your sect master? You'll be expelled from the Peak of Yunxiao."
"No, no, absolutely not." Zhu Heng was so flustered for a moment that he couldn't say another word.
Du Ju and Zhang Zhong heard the commotion and hurried over, but neither of them knew what to say and simply stood there foolishly.
Mo Qiu looked the two of them over. "How about I give you fifty taels? Consider it sold to me."
"Fifty taels? Good, good, good!"
The three of them gathered in an alley.
"Zhu Heng, I really have to hand it to you. Fifty taels and you folded just like that? Couldn't you have asked him for a bit more?" Du Ju said angrily.
"Fifty taels means exactly ten taels for each of us," Zhu Heng said with a silly grin.
"This isn't about whether it divides evenly!"
"Forget it, no need to dwell on it. We worked hard practicing for two years, and selling it for fifty taels is pretty good. When we go back, we can just take the time to forge another one, right? I've been looking for an opportunity to sell mine, too," Zhang Zhong said.
Wang Yun and Li Ping arrived, and the five of them went to a roadside food stall to eat noodles.
"Shouldn't we drink to celebrate something like this? Zhu Heng is truly the most impressive, making fifty taels just like that," Wang Yun said with a smile.
"Is this really okay?" Du Ju asked.
"The nature of this Dharma Treasure is that it can be infinitely duplicated anyway. Besides, there are still many flaws in how it was crafted. Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken us a full three years to finish stealing from the twenty-some bookstores in Yunxia City—that was simply too slow."
"Is stealing so many books really useful?" Zhang Zhong asked.
"Of course it's useful. I've read the entire life story of the White-Scarf Swordsman," Wang Yun said.
"You made us steal for three years just to read pulp novels?" Du Ju asked angrily.
"At first, Wang Yun just wanted to practice this Dharma Treasure, but later we realized that reading more is actually quite useful. Still, out of so many books, there isn't a single Cultivation Formula. This is completely different from what the novels say," Li Ping remarked.
"Li Ping, so you actually believe in fortuitous encounters after all?" Wang Yun burst out laughing, and the others joined in.