Chapter Eleven: Catching the Thief

Just as Li Chengzhu was focusing his mind within his nascent soul to restore his spiritual energy, the flow of spiritual power from the outside world suddenly halted, then slowed to a crawl. It felt, to put it crudely, as if someone had pinched him in the middle of relieving himself—an infuriating sensation that made him extremely uncomfortable. Opening his eyes in vexation, Li Chengzhu wanted to know what had interrupted his cultivation.

The alarm formation was intact; nothing had breached it.

Looking down, the truth dawned on him. The Celestial Stone placed in the Kan position had, at some point, been completely drained by him—there wasn’t even a scrap left. Yet the other three Celestial Stones in the remaining positions stood unchanged, their size and appearance barely altered.

Scratching his head, Li Chengzhu wondered if there were counterfeit Celestial Stones. How could stones of the same kind differ so much in effect? After much searching, he found nothing amiss, so he fished another Celestial Stone out of his storage ring, replaced the one in the Kan position, and resumed his great work of absorption.

But this pleasant state didn’t last long. As the absorption rate again slowed, Li Chengzhu’s anger flared. Opening his eyes, he saw that the Celestial Stone in the Qian position had vanished this time.

Even if he were the dullest fool, Li Chengzhu now realized the stones weren’t being absorbed, but stolen by some unknown entity—either an immortal or a spirit beast.

To be able to steal his Celestial Stones right under his nose without triggering the formation, this person or beast’s cultivation was far superior to his own. If, instead of stealing the stones, it had chosen to attack him, how many souls and spirits would he have left?

At this thought, cold sweat trickled down his back. Mustering his courage, he shouted, “What mighty expert lurks here?” He even mimicked the ancient gesture of clasped fists in salute, as he’d seen in old texts.

But no response came, no matter how long he waited. Could it have been a spirit beast?

If it was, why had it only stolen the Celestial Stones and not attacked him? His recent forays had taught Li Chengzhu that the spirit beasts in this forest were anything but benevolent; they would hardly let him off so easily.

Or perhaps it couldn’t defeat him? But then how had it managed to steal the stone so stealthily? Such skill and agility were truly terrifying.

After much pondering, Li Chengzhu was still at a loss. Yet since the spirit beast only ever took one Celestial Stone at a time, it suggested that its body was quite small—otherwise, it couldn’t have concealed itself so well.

His eyes gleamed with a sly grin. Since you’re so fond of Celestial Stones, I’ll oblige you. Let’s see who dares pluck the tiger’s whiskers.

He took out another Celestial Stone from his ring to replace the missing one. This time, though, he didn’t immediately enter meditation. Instead, he picked up the other three stones, set them down again, and only then closed his eyes, feigning deep concentration.

Forming a hand seal, Li Chengzhu half-closed his eyes, carefully watching the Celestial Stone before him.

If the Celestial Envoy had been present, he would have recognized the attack incantation for the Flying Sword of Cold Light that Li Chengzhu was preparing.

Suddenly, a faint noise came from the edge of the alarm formation. Had Li Chengzhu not been so intently focused, he might have missed it.

Before he could react, a gray shadow darted to his side, snatched a Celestial Stone, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

“Damn it!” Li Chengzhu blurted out.

The gray blur had moved so quickly that he hadn’t even seen it clearly; his eyes were barely open when the stone was snatched and the thief escaped.

What shocked Li Chengzhu wasn’t just the speed of the shadow, but that it had entered and exited his alarm formation without triggering any response.

He had truly underestimated these spirit beasts.

With a sweep of his hand, he collected the remaining three Celestial Stones into his storage ring, formed a hand seal, and stepped onto his Cold Light sword, flying off in pursuit.

Luckily, he had cast a “Tracking Spell” on all four stones earlier, or he would have no idea where to look for the thief.

With his current abilities, Li Chengzhu could sense the Tracking Spell within a radius of ten miles; any farther, and the connection would be severed.

Though his speed on the Cold Light wasn’t slow, the gray shadow was even faster. Li Chengzhu could feel the Celestial Stone getting further away. It was as if the thief knew he was being chased and fled with all its might.

Just as Li Chengzhu sensed the Tracking Spell about to slip from his consciousness, the target stopped moving. Holding his breath, he invoked the Gale Incantation, shooting toward the target, vowing to catch this flying thief and tear it to pieces.

Soon, a gargantuan tree appeared before his eyes.

This tree was at least several dozen meters thick, its top lost in the clouds. Compared to it, the other trees in the forest were mere ants before an elephant, mere branches beside its trunk.

About ten meters above the ground was a hollow in the tree. Li Chengzhu sensed the stolen Celestial Stone was inside that hollow.

As he marveled at the grandeur of nature, the Tracking Spell abruptly snapped. There were only two ways to break such a spell: either disperse the incantation with overwhelming power, or completely destroy the marked object.

Li Chengzhu could easily guess what had happened—the Celestial Stone had surely ended up in the thief’s belly.

Thinking back to the little spirit mouse gnawing on a celestial core, Li Chengzhu finally realized what the gray blur was. Even if it wasn’t the same kind of spirit beast, they must be closely related.

But the spirit beast he’d encountered before wasn’t nearly as freakishly fast—it had been subdued with a single Binding Incantation, nothing like today’s exhausting chase where he never even glimpsed its form.

Moreover, the giant tree’s hollow seemed not to have formed naturally, nor did it look man-made.

Could it have been the work of the thief? Though he hadn’t clearly seen the gray shadow, it wasn’t large. Yet to hollow out such a massive space would have taken an unimaginable amount of time.

Li Chengzhu realized that, at the shadow’s speed, he would need to cultivate for decades before he could hope to catch up. With his current mid-stage nascent soul cultivation, he wasn’t even qualified to eat the creature’s dust.

Clearly, he needed to think of another way. With a furrowed brow, Li Chengzhu fell into deep thought.