Chapter 154: Chapter 122: "Hold On
Zheng Xiu thought about it and figured that made sense.
If Ruchen’s master didn’t know what was good for him... ahem, or rather, if he was inflexible, well, Zheng Xiu wasn’t a stick-in-the-mud either.
To be able to secretly steal the waist token from Feng Bei’s hip twice in a row, this Chu Susu really had some skill.
"I’m sorry, Sister Feng Bei, I..."
Chu Susu returned the "Upper Three" waist token to Feng Bei, about to offer a polite apology.
But Feng Bei just smiled and extended a palm.
The wind from her palm whistled as it struck the low wall.
CRUMBLE—
Where the palm wind passed, it was like an invisible blade, instantly carving the hole Zheng Xiu had kicked in the wall into a perfectly square and smooth doorframe.
"It’s fine. This time, I forgive you." Feng Bei slowly hung the waist token back on her hip and nodded emphatically.
The implication was clear: don’t let there be a next time.
Or else you’d end up like that doorway.
Zheng Xiu fell silent and turned to look.
All the children were terrified by Feng Bei’s "forgiveness," frozen in place like statues.
Zheng Xiu whispered to Chu Susu, "Don’t steal from her again next time, got it?"
Chu Susu nodded her head like a chick pecking at rice, showing she would never dare to do it again.
’I really won’t dare.’
Zheng Xiu decided to take Chu Susu with them to Yunliu Temple.
Ruchen hesitated, feeling that this would be letting his master down.
But Zheng Xiu said, "Master Ruchen, rest assured, we are all people of principle. Even if I take the painting, I will send someone later to leave behind enough silver to express my apologies. We’ll just consider it a purchase by my Zheng Clan. That way, it doesn’t count as stealing, right?"
Hearing this, the Monk Ruchen was utterly dumbfounded, but he didn’t know how to refute it. No matter how he thought about it, from every possible angle, it seemed to make a tiny bit of sense.
"Let’s go, let’s go. Uncle will take you to see the world."
With a warm and gentle smile, Uncle Zheng took Chu Susu by the hand and led her away.
As they walked, he lectured her, "Don’t go around committing petty theft anymore."
Chu Susu was taken aback.
Zheng Xiu continued, "You’re a Miracle Master now. If you’re going to do something, you have to think bigger. Pull off major heists. If you leave money after you steal, it doesn’t count as stealing."
"Is... is that okay?"
Chu Susu was highly skeptical.
Along the way, Zheng Xiu gave Chu Susu a simple explanation of the mysteries of the "Path Mystic Skill."
Even though he himself was just a dabbler.
’But he couldn’t afford to look like he didn’t know what he was talking about.’
Beside them, Feng Bei listened and nodded repeatedly, thinking to herself, ’As expected of Senior Zheng Shan. He explains things so clearly and logically.’
Only then did Chu Susu understand that her "Broken Hand Stealing Skill" wasn’t a disease but a "Miracle Technique." Her coolness factor shot up in an instant, and with her deepest worries gone, she was so excited she could barely contain herself.
As the moon rose above the treetops, the group began their ascent up the mountain.
Although the moonlight was dim and it was pitch-black in the forest, the Monk Ruchen was from the temple. He could remember the path up the mountain clearly even if blindfolded, so their journey was smooth and uneventful.
By now, Chu Susu completely believed in Zheng Xiu’s "Hidden World senior" persona, so she began to show off her "Broken Hand Stealing Skill" for him.
Her Broken Hand Stealing Skill was a type of Miracle Technique from the [Thief Sect], and its rule was, naturally, to "steal."
The question was, how to steal?
Chu Susu said, "First, I have to hide this hand."
As she spoke, she hid the "hand" she used for Casting in her robes.
"To succeed, I first have to see the person I’m stealing from with my own eyes."
"That’s a must." After hiding her hand, Chu Susu smiled. "But I call this method Blind Stealing."
Soon, Zheng Xiu felt a hand sneakily fumbling around inside his robes.
But the sensation didn’t last long. Chu Susu quickly revealed her hidden hand, and as if by magic, a piece of silver lay in her palm. "This is ’Blind Stealing’."
The silver was what Zheng Xiu had hidden in his robes beforehand.
Chu Susu was afraid of angering Feng Bei, so she hadn’t dared to touch her waist token again.
"Teleporting objects?"
Zheng Xiu’s eyes lit up. ’I’ve actually struck gold in this backwater mountain!’ he thought. ’This Chu Susu is a real talent. Isn’t this bizarre Stealing Skill much better than whatever that Master Rong Si from some godforsaken corner has to offer?’
As the Richest Person, Zheng Xiu immediately had the idea of poaching her.
He began thinking about how he could recruit Chu Susu into his Zheng Group once this was all over.
For the Zheng Family to continue to grow bigger and stronger, it needed all kinds of talent.
’Talent is the key to prosperity. The ancients were not wrong.’
The young Chu Susu had no idea that she had already been targeted by the great tycoon from the north. She continued to demonstrate her Stealing Skill with great enthusiasm.
"Besides Blind Stealing, Susu’s second type of Stealing Skill is what I call ’Open Stealing’."
"To perform Open Stealing, besides seeing the person I’m stealing from, I also need to have seen, smelled, and preferably touched the target object." Chu Susu closed her eyes. "I must know its smell, know what it looks like, and know what it feels like. The more I know, the easier it is to succeed, but I have to have at least seen it with my own eyes."
Chu Susu pressed the piece of silver into Zheng Xiu’s palm and began to imagine its shape, smell, size, and texture in her mind.
Zheng Xiu’s eyes widened as he stared intently at the piece of silver in his palm.
It wasn’t just Zheng Xiu; even Feng Bei and the Monk stopped walking to look at the piece of silver in Zheng Xiu’s palm.
Suddenly.
A gray, palm-sized "mirror surface" bizarrely appeared above the silver.
It flashed and vanished in an instant, imperceptible to the naked eye.
A pale hand silently emerged from the "mirror surface," its fingers nimbly reaching for the piece of silver, like someone snatching chestnuts from a fire.
"Darkness?"
Feng Bei, having keenly sensed a subtle change in the aura, frowned and let out a soft cry.
Chu Susu’s breathing faltered. The palm-sized mirror surface trembled before dissipating into wisps of black smoke, and the hand shot back. Susu cried out in pain, her face blushing as she stuck out her tongue. "Oops, I messed up."
