Chapter 123 - 116: Divine Stealer Ghost Eye

Chapter 123: Chapter 116: Divine Stealer Ghost EyeZhou Xuan gently tapped the gavel. "Snap." The man in the long robe shuddered, his right index and middle fingers slipped into Zhou Xuan’s pocket and pinched a money pouch, then turned around, covering his act with his sleeve cuff as he walked in another direction. The entire set of movements was like flowing clouds and water, clearly the work of a habitual offender. But he was within the dream realm created by Zhou Xuan. The man in the long robe, in fact, hadn’t stolen anything—his right hand and middle finger had pinched only "empty air." "Snap." Right after the long robe man had "finished pinching the pouch," Zhou Xuan struck the gavel again, dissolving the dream realm. Generating and dissolving dreams happened in just a couple of breaths. "Indeed, no matter the era, there are always plenty of pickpockets at train stations." Zhou Xuan didn’t care much, but Lv Mingkun thought about giving chase. "What he stole was my dream. Why chase after him?" Carrying his suitcase, Zhou Xuan walked toward the exit. He hadn’t gone ten meters when the pickpocket came back. Not only him, but he was also accompanied by two young men in long gowns and an old man in a black jacket. The old man wore sunglasses and had very long sleeves that not only covered his hands but also extended quite a bit further, looking rather comical. "Yo, didn’t manage to steal anything and called for reinforcements for a blatant robbery?" Zhou Xuan set down his suitcase. The saying "even a mighty dragon cannot suppress a local snake" ultimately means that if the dragon isn’t strong enough, it will be overwhelmed by the snake. "Hold off on getting physical for now, let’s find a less crowded place," Zhou Xuan instructed Lv Mingkun. Too many people in the train station—if a fight broke out, they might attract the attention of those lying in wait. Especially since, according to the Blood Well Society’s information, kidnappers had planted many disciples in the station to capture Blood Well Spiritualists aggressively. Lv Mingkun’s Bamboo Leaf Blade was already in his hand, responding to Zhou Xuan: "Little junior brother, you’re a big target. If things get desperate later on and we might spill some blood in the station, let me handle it. You and Little Fuzi go ahead, I’m confident." Before Zhou Xuan could nod, the four men had already surrounded them. The pickpocket who had tried to steal from Zhou Xuan was averting his gaze, pointing at Zhou Xuan, and saying, "Master Liu, the bag I pinched just now was his." "Hmm." The old man in sunglasses clearly responded and then introduced himself to Zhou Xuan: "My name is Liu Qingguang. People on the streets show me respect by calling me Master Liu. My disciple has offended you just now, and I am here to apologize to you on his behalf." "Fair enough," Zhou Xuan didn’t expect the other party to be so polite and seemed sincere, but he guessed that it was the "courtesy before force" tactic. "Looking at the young master’s attire, you seem to be a person of respect. Could we find a less crowded place to have a word?" Liu Qingguang made a welcoming gesture. Find an empty place to rob? "Sure, it suits me fine," Zhou Xuan agreed. Seeing Zhou Xuan’s consent, Liu Qingguang gestured to a disciple to lead the way. The group left the train station and walked towards the dry bridge near the station. Many shifty-eyed thieves lined the path, some eyeing the suitcases carried by Zhou Xuan and Lv Mingkun. As they reluctantly shifted their longing gazes from the suitcases and saw Zhou Xuan following Liu Qingguang, their expressions instantly turned clear and bright. "Stop fantasizing, you dare to covet what Master Liu has set his sights on? Watch out for your hands." "Master Liu never sets traps in the train station. What’s going on today?" Liu Qingguang had quite the reputation among the thieves. Finally, The group stopped on the dry bridge to the right of the train station—sheltered by the bridge, the riverbed below was dry and undeveloped, scarcely a soul in sight. It was a favorite spot for scammers in the station to team up and bring naive travelers here, then strip their clothes and rob them of their luggage. Liu Qingguang stopped and Lv Mingkun looked towards Zhou Xuan, waiting for a signal from the young master to chop up the gang of thieves into pieces. Zhou Xuan waved his right hand behind his back, then pointed downwards, signaling to wait and see. Until now, he still hadn’t felt any hostility from Liu Qingguang and the others. Indeed, Liu Qingguang first extended his hand in front of his disciple, beckoning with his fingers. "Master, I didn’t pinch his pouch." "If you didn’t pinch it, use your own money." The long-gown thief’s face turned sour, but he dared not disobey his master and reluctantly pulled out his wallet, placing it into Liu Qingguang’s hand. Liu Qingguang wrapped his sleeves around his hand, holding the wallet without showing his hands. He slowly approached Zhou Xuan and said, "My disciple was careless and reached into your pocket, for that we truly apologize." "The wallet in your hand isn’t mine, your disciple indeed didn’t steal my money." "It’s his lack of skill that he didn’t, but I must still make amends," Liu Qingguang extended his arm, offering the wallet to Zhou Xuan’s chest. But Zhou Xuan refused it, saying, "To be honest, since you’re all thieves, I don’t trust your conscience. Although you are giving me money voluntarily, without a reasonable explanation, how can I accept it?" "Of course, there’s a reason. You called us thieves, that’s correct, we engage in the despicable deeds of stealing money, and yes, we do have some principles. We generally don’t steal from the poor, pregnant women, the seriously ill, or the elderly, but principles don’t put food on the table. When we’re starving, we can’t be choosy, and money is like our parents, we hold onto it tight when we see it, but no matter what, there is one kind of person we never steal from." "The kind of person you’re talking about is me, right?" Zhou Xuan poked at his own nose, saying, "You mean, I’m even less than those seriously ill or elderly?" "With your attire, you seem to have some wealth to your name, how could you be less than them? To tell you the truth, it’s not that we pitied you and didn’t steal, but that we didn’t dare to steal. We were afraid of the karma associated with you, which might displease someone behind you. I’m apologizing not just to you, but to her as well." "Behind me?" Zhou Xuan glanced behind him, Behind him was Little Fuzi. Is Little Fuzi’s face so prestigious? "Don’t look anymore, you can’t see her, but I can." Liu Qingguang pushed his wallet forward again and said, "Young Master, take the money." "Who exactly is the person you’re talking about?" "The empress you’re carrying on your back." Liu Qingguang’s words stunned Zhou Xuan. He really was carrying a woman on his back, but not in reality, it was in the Secret Realm. Could it be, Liu Qingguang could see someone else’s appearance in their Secret Realm? Even his master couldn’t do that. "I’ll take the money, but you have to tell me, what does this empress look like?" Zhou Xuan pretended to be clueless and asked Liu Qingguang. Liu Qingguang shook his head: "I only know she’s very astute, but I don’t know where she’s from... Young Master, don’t inquire anymore, just take the money." Zhou Xuan accepted the wallet. Liu Qingguang clasped his hands together in a fist and said, "We, the Qimen, have methods at hand, but we never bite into the wealth of the underworld! Young brother, we shall meet again." After speaking, Liu Qingguang watched as Zhou Xuan and the other two left. Only after they were far away did he take off his sunglasses, his both eyes bright, but the right eye—with two pupils. One pupil was big, the other small, squeezing together like a gourd. Liu Qingguang released his Perception, causing that gourd eye to turn blood red. He stared at the receding Zhou Xuan, only to see a woman in a bridal dress, carrying a White Lantern, crouching on Zhou Xuan’s back, her head drooping. Only then did Liu Qingguang heave a sigh of relief. "Master, who exactly is the person behind that man?" "I can’t recognize her, but that young master has the fortune of noble birth, I always feel like he has been initiated into the Tangkou, but I just can’t figure out how many incense offerings he has! He might have a very high level of practice, the person following beside him, is a Four Pillars." When Zhou Xuan used Dream Generation at the train station, the range of the dream was limited. Plus, the interval between generating and unraveling the dream was very short. At that time, Liu Qingguang was far away, and with his visual ability, he couldn’t discern the intricacies. "With a Four Pillars person following him, and he himself has the fortune of noble birth, and the empress still dares to crawl on his back, obviously she has quite the background." Liu Qingguang finished speaking and looked up at the sky, which was clear but seemed to have a layer of faint mist. "Blue Eyes, come here." Liu Qingguang called for his disciple. The pickpocket who stole from Zhou Xuan approached, trembling, not even daring to breathe heavily. "I asked you to collect some incense offerings in the train station to advance to two incense, but you almost brought me big trouble. The bride was originally looking down, but after you stole that young master’s wallet, the bride raised her head, although she had a veil on, but I felt she was watching us. Fortunately, I apologized in time, otherwise I don’t know what trouble it would have caused! As a thief, the gaze beneath those eyebrows must shine bright. If it doesn’t shine, what use is it!?" Liu Qingguang turned his head, his hand extending from the sleeve. His five fingers were twice as long as the average person’s, his middle and index fingers, swift as lightning, with a stretch and a pull, pinched a bloody eyeball between their tips. "If you fail to see clearly again, don’t keep the other eye either." Liu Qingguang tossed the eyeball onto the ground and crushed it with his foot, striding away, leaving his disciple Blue Eyes rolling on the ground, wailing in pain... ... After leaving the dry bridge, there was a road where one could hail a rickshaw, but Zhou Xuan didn’t hail one. While on the train, Zhou Xuan had checked the map of Mingjiang Prefecture, and East Market Street was next to Mingjiang. To go from the train station to East Market Street, they had to cross almost half of Mingdong District. The distance was so far, calling for a rickshaw would require several rickshaw pullers to relay, which was a waste of time. Fortunately, near the train station, there was a "Yangsheng Car Rental," where they could rent cars, but the price was expensive, with a cost of twelve yuan per hour, which ordinary people could not afford. But Zhou Xuan had six thousand yuan in his pocket, and Liu Qingtian’s wallet had contributed more than four hundred. He didn’t care about such a small amount of money, so he took Lv Mingkun and Little Fuzi to the rental agency and rented a car. The driver from the rental agency was very professional. After getting into the car, he first took out a timekeeping slip for Zhou Xuan to fill in the departure time. After confirming it, he took out a watch and compared it with Zhou Xuan’s Pocket Watch before setting off. In the car, Zhou Xuan was lost in thought. "Young Junior Brother, what are you thinking about?" Lv Mingkun sat close to Zhou Xuan, whispering, with a very soft voice. There was a driver in the car, Lv Mingkun was afraid of eavesdropping. Fortunately, Zhou Xuan’s ears were especially sensitive now, even whispers as small as a mosquito’s buzz were clear to him. "Thinking about Liu Qingguang. Liu Qingguang apologized to me because stealing my wallet he feared attracting karma, but that’s just his excuse. A thief, even stealing from the dead, would he be afraid of karma?" Zhou Xuan said, "I guess he took the initiative to apologize because there must’ve been some movement from the bride behind me, which scared him." "You’re right, I hadn’t thought about it that deep." Lv Mingkun felt somewhat enlightened as he said. "Moreover, ever since I entered the territory of Mingjiang Prefecture, I have had a very strange feeling." Zhou Xuan stated. "What kind of feeling?" "A very inexplicable sense of familiarity... as if... as if this place is my hometown." Zhou Xuan looked out the car window at the street. Whether it was the houses or shops, he just felt familiar, without any alienation a stranger would feel upon entering unfamiliar territory. "Or maybe... the bride in the Secret Realm was originally from Mingjiang Prefecture?"