Chapter 952: I Want to Watch (6)

A clear, crystalline night.

It was the night of the full moon in late spring. The moonlight poured down so brightly the sky wasn’t black but a deep navy-blue, and the clouds in the night sky showed off their true whiteness.

A night this bright was exactly when a lake’s scenery shone at its most beautiful—timing blessed by heaven.

Under the bright moon, the quiet lake was like a rippling mirror. The reflected landscape wavered softly, clinging to the eye.

It was as if an infinite universe had unfolded beneath the water’s surface—an overwhelming view you could stare at until your mind went blank.

And, as it happened, there were two truly large and beautiful lakes here.

The Twin Lakes, a famous sight of Dangsan County—Azure Dragon Lake and Dragon-Spring Lake, said to be where an azure dragon once ascended to the heavens.

But Qing hadn’t come out to admire the night lakeside.

In the first place, nights in the Central Plain were basically curfew—by national law, you weren’t supposed to wander around except in entertainment districts approved by the government.

So why was she quietly walking the silent shore of Azure Dragon Lake, if not to enjoy the scenery?

Because it was Azure Dragon Lake.

Back in Qing’s homeland, a mountaineer had once said, “Because the mountain is there.” If Qing had to put it into words, she’d say: because the Azure Dragon Gate is here.

Azure Dragon Lake and Azure Dragon Gate.

In the Central Plain, there was an unspoken rule: the local top dog had the right to use the name of the local famous landmark.

Anyway.

Seomun Cheong was not a single thing.

Seomun Cheong was the righteous martial world’s rising sacred star, Heaven’s-Flower Sword—and in truth, the former princess and current imperial grandson Ju Sohal.

And sometimes she was the carnivore evangelist, the Wild Carnivore Woman; the top authority on mechanical formation cuisine, All-Summer; and a thousand other kinds of ransacking specialist.

Was that all? She was a martial artist and a carpenter, and also a medical woman—and on top of that?

The famous mysterious thief—

The Divine Thief (Apprentice)!

So, from now on, she could say bad things like: she’d act elegant on the surface while behind the scenes she’d happily cause every kind of mayhem.

But Qing’s mayhem was righteous mayhem—applied only to villains—so it was a heavenly mandate, a destiny permitted by heaven itself.

Which meant, of course, it was absolutely true that Qing did it because she wanted to.

And so, for righteous mayhem, Qing moved her feet today as well—feet that were, definitely, not unwilling...

[Heir Training Under Divine Thief Cheon Yuhak.]

Martial sects are, surprisingly, easy targets to loot.

A high-ranking official or a successful merchant, when building their manor, will stack up a wall at least fourteen cheok—two and a half adult men high—so the very act of entering is already a grueling ordeal.

But what about a martial sect?

A martial sect’s wall height is inversely proportional to that sect’s prestige.

Because the stronger the sect is, the less anyone would even try to vault the wall.

In that sense, if there were a number-one sect under heaven, they could probably just draw a rough line on the ground instead of building a wall, and no one would dare cross it.

So the greater a sect’s prestige, the lower its walls—and the easier they are to get over.

And that’s not all.

Their vigilance is sloppy beyond belief.

Not because of rules, but because of unavoidable human flaws—carelessness and complacency.

All sects do night patrols, but in peaceful times when it isn’t war, how could that possibly be done properly?

Even “doing a night patrol properly” is impressive. Even “not falling asleep somewhere out of sight and staying awake” is impressive. That’s the level the night patrol is at.

For all these reasons, sects are easier to loot.

Even if it’s a sect, it’s nothing special—so don’t be scared, disciple. Loot them boldly.

Qing moved through the Azure Dragon Gate’s interior.

Just as her teacher said, the night patrol was half-assed to an almost insulting degree—walking around with torches was nothing but a silent scream of Patrol squad here!

So, at this moment—

Qing felt infinite freedom.

Moving through the hush of a sleeping manor, it felt like the whole place belonged to her. Like she could do anything.

Thrilled, Qing headed for the heart of the Azure Dragon Gate.

On the way, she found the dining hall, stopped in, and shoved the night patrol squad’s midnight snack—sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves—into her carry bag, then even recited a poem.

Now the people will eat

the rice balls,

but I

have taken them.

I am

a very scary person.

While a night patrol passed by, she silently danced behind them, recreating a traditional dance from her homeland.

In the manor within the manor—the deepest inner grounds—she even fed the carp in the ornamental pond in a well-tended garden.

She happened to have those rice balls she’d taken earlier, so—wow, they eat really well. Is this why people raise carp?

You could say she was being way too careless, breaking into someone else’s sect like this.

But when she stepped back yesterday and asked around, hadn’t she heard that the Azure Dragon Gate sect leader—the Azure Dragon Sword, Pyeong Whoever—was only a late-stage Supreme Peak at best?

A sect head being such a low-tier guy felt almost too much, but the sect leader might feel wronged.

Qing just happened to keep running into monsters. Late-stage Supreme Peak was still a terrifying super-master anywhere else.

Just not to Qing.

And before she knew it, Qing was standing before the sect leader’s hall, at the Azure Dragon Gate’s center.

Come to think of it, the Priestess Order Temple was like that too, and even the old great sects—if you looked, their master hall was built rather plainly.

It was the small-to-mid sects that tended to build the sect leader’s hall the most lavishly.

Maybe because their sect authority was weak, they tried to inflate the sect leader’s authority instead?

Qing carefully pushed open the master hall’s door.

The technique of opening a door so slowly it looked like it wasn’t moving at all—that was the Divine Thief’s secret art: “Opening a Door Quietly.”

Countless thieves had despaired at un-oiled door panels and dreamed of this technique.

Then Qing crossed the corridor.

Light, brisk steps without hesitation—yet no sound, no presence at all.

She looked exactly like an elegant cat.

Qing wandered the corridor, tapping—tap, tap—at doors and peeking inside.

Let’s see, this is a receiving room, and—oh. Found the dine-and-dash criminal. Hm. He’s not alone.

This smell... in the meantime, he’s already rolling around with a woman. Seriously. Hm. Lucky bastard...

Then should I drop in for a moment?

Quietly opening the door, Qing headed for Pyeong Goun’s bed.

Looking down at Pyeong Goun, who was sleeping like a log even with an intruder right there, gave her a strangely subtle thrill.

In truth, up to now, Qing hadn’t been able to sympathize with the Divine Thief’s spirit of “benefit the world through theft.”

Because if you kill bad people, that benefits the world. Isn’t slaughter the best means of benefiting the world?

Still, she owed him a debt of gratitude, so as the Divine Thief, she’d planned to simply find an exceptional disciple and diligently keep the lineage alive.

And, while she was at it, pass down that “favor” she’d received from Cheon Yuhak.

But now that she thought about it?

Theft... didn’t seem so bad either?

Then her teacher’s face flashed through her mind.

Qing’s heart lurched.

No—no. What am I thinking.

No matter what, a martial artist doesn’t steal.

Slaughter, maybe—but stealing? Born a great man—(even if she’d ended up in a woman’s body)—would she really do something as petty as theft?

Absolutely not.

So, not theft. It’s just... how do you put it—yeah. It’s just picking things up.

Just picking up things that fell on the ground.

Look. Here’s a sword someone dropped. Who’s so careless they left a blade toppled beside the bed?

Picking up something someone dropped isn’t theft, right?

Qing picked up Pyeong Goun’s sword, which had fallen beside the bed.

This bastard—throwing his sword around like this. Didn’t he learn that a weapon is [N O V E L I G H T] a martial artist’s companion, and you should never let it leave your body whether asleep or awake? That’s swordsmanship basics.

Really. Rolling around with a woman so hard the sword falls to the floor and goes cold, and he doesn’t even know—

Well. Still. Mating can’t be helped. Mating is a very grave matter...

But who left a sword here?

I should find the owner later.

Qing picked up the fallen sword.

Then she returned to the corridor, and finally seeped into the sect leader’s room.

At least the sect leader was the sect leader—unlike Pyeong Goun, he’d placed his sword right by his head, so that if an enemy suddenly invaded, he could draw it immediately.

But what good was keeping a sword close?

If an enemy invaded and he didn’t even realize it, and he just snored away, then placing a sword there was simply preparing a weapon for the enemy.

Of course, blind paternal love and the resulting failure in childrearing wasn’t a sin worthy of death, so Qing had no intention of taking his head.

Still—who left a sword here?

This one too. I should find the owner later.

Qing carefully slid the sword out.

Now Qing held two swords whose owner was... unknown.

All that was left was to escape.

But before that—

Qing drew in a huge breath—

“Can you sleep at that realm?! Huh?! Supreme Peak?! If it were me, I’d be too ashamed to sleep!! If your realm is lacking, then WORK HAAAAARD!!! WOOOOORK HAAAAAAARD!!!!!”

“Huh—!” “Kyaaaah!!”

The sect leader sprang up and flung his hand out.

But only the feel of bedding near the pillow brushed his fingertips, soft and empty—because the sword that had been there was already “picked up” by Qing.

Even so, he didn’t panic. He grabbed his wife and vaulted over the bed, moving fast—apparently he wasn’t the kind of sect leader you could measure by gambling.

“W-who are you?!”

“It’s me! And look at this!”

Ta-da—Qing thrust the sword forward.

In the bright moonlight, as the sect leader’s eyes filled with shock at the sight of his beloved weapon displayed brazenly by the black-clad intruder—

Suddenly, the sect leader felt a powerful sense of déjà vu.

No matter how much she wore black night clothes—no, rather, because night clothes were designed to cling tightly to the body to reduce the sound of fabric brushing—

There was an incredible body line that could not be hidden. A ferocious figure that made a man both angry and, despite himself, swallow hard.

And that explosive shape was painfully familiar—because if you were a man, how could you forget seeing that?

“Y-you bitch! Do you know where you are and still dare—!”

“The security’s kind of sloppy. But are you just going to try to chase me off with words? Then you live here. I’m going home.”

At the same time, Qing stomped—

BANG!

As the expensive wooden floorboards exploded into splinters, the black-clad intruder’s pitch-black shadow stretched long.

A beat later, the sect leader’s shout detonated.

“Hey! What are you all doing?! Catch her, right now!!”

Who knew where he was even shouting about someone being in the sect leader’s hall.

Qing dashed out with two swords at her waist.

In Qing’s mind, she’d pictured countless Azure Dragon Gate disciples bursting through doors on both sides, smashing panels as they surged out, chasing her in a chaotic stampede—

But the disciples were wandering in dreamland.

And the night patrol squad—the few who were awake—were in the middle of their one joy on duty, the Azure Dragon Gate’s famous midnight snack rice balls... except they’d lost them and were now sitting there stunned and miserable.

Even if an alarm had been raised and everyone was awake, it would’ve been hard to catch Qing—so like this, wouldn’t it be hard to catch even a petty thief, let alone a Divine Thief?

So by the time the sharp emergency bell clanged—

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

—and the signal whistle blared—

FWEEP! FWEEP! FWEEP!

—Qing had already left the Azure Dragon Gate behind and was sprinting along the wide lakeshore.

Qing’s first Divine Thief run: successful.