Chapter 1213: Haunted?

"Master, since you're so wealthy, why did you join the Way of Thieves?" Fang Ning asked, puzzled. "Is it just a hobby?"

Fang Ning had never been rich, but he had heard that wealthy people, when bored, often did things incomprehensible to ordinary folk.

The King of Thieves sighed. "A hobby? Nonsense. I became the King of Thieves first, and only later was I forced to become the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce."

"What do you mean?" Fang Ning didn't understand.

"You've probably heard many legends about your master. I won't bore you with the details of my early life."

"Right, right." As members of the Way of Thieves, everyone had heard tales of the King of Thieves.

Legends like "Night Raid on the Imperial Palace," "Stealing Heaven and Replacing the Sun," and "The Vanishing Seal" were countless. However, ever since the King of Thieves announced his intention to steal from the headquarters of the Golden Coin Chamber of Commerce, he had vanished without a trace, and nothing more had been heard of him.

"At that time, I had entered the Tribulation Transcending stage. I was arrogant and believed there was no place I couldn't go, no object I couldn't steal, in this vast world."

"Especially after successfully infiltrating and escaping the Great Xia Imperial Palace, I regarded no one with respect. I even announced my targets before stealing, and even with strict precautions, those powers were helpless, watching as I took their possessions."

"There's a rule in the ancestral teachings of the Way of Thieves: members are forbidden from acting against the Golden Coin Chamber of Commerce."

"By then, I was already the world's greatest thief and paid no heed to the ancestral teachings."

"Then I infiltrated the Golden Coin Chamber of Commerce to steal something and ran into the old man."

"Who was the old man?"

At this, the King of Thieves couldn't help but cover his face; it was probably the most embarrassing and unlucky moment of his life. "The Ancestor of Thieves."

"After he earned the title 'Ancestor of Thieves,' he washed his hands of his past life and established the Golden Coin Chamber of Commerce."

"If I had known the Golden Coin Chamber of Commerce was his, I would have been out of my mind to try to steal from there!"

Fang Ning: "..."

He could imagine his master's feelings.

Everything his master knew was merely what the Ancestor of Thieves had mastered and moved beyond. Trying to steal under the Ancestor's nose was like trying to show off carpentry skills to a master carpenter.

No wonder the ancestral teachings of the Way of Thieves forbade targeting the Golden Coin Chamber of Commerce; it turned out to be a rule left by the Ancestor of Thieves himself.

"The Ancestor of Thieves saw that I had potential, so he made me the chairman to manage the Chamber of Commerce for him."

"So that's how it is... Wait, Master, wasn't the Ancestor of Thieves a figure from sixty thousand years ago? How is he still alive?"

"Can someone in the Tribulation Transcending stage live that long?"

"Of course, someone in the Tribulation Transcending stage can't live that long. The thing is, he's a half-immortal, and he even mastered the nascent form of the Dao Fruit of Speed."

Whenever the King of Thieves thought about the Ancestor of Thieves mastering the nascent Dao Fruit of Speed, he felt like hitting a wall.

It was true that he was skilled in speed, but no matter how skilled he was, could he be as fast as someone with the nascent Dao Fruit of Speed?

His own extreme speed was no different from slow motion in front of the Ancestor of Thieves.

"What is a nascent Dao Fruit?"

"I've told you too much already. Your current cultivation level isn't high enough, and discussing it further might lead you to bite off more than you can chew. First, diligently master my skills."

"We've been constables for a month now. By my calculations, it's about time for ghosts to appear, right?" Meng Jingzhou was diligently on patrol in Quyi County.

Although the two constables had followed Mang Gu and been promoted to the county level, they hadn't forgotten their original purpose and continued to patrol the streets.

"Do you think it's possible that the ghosts were originally in the graveyard and then were eaten by Nuba as snacks?" Lu Yang speculated.

"No way. Do zombies have a habit of eating imps?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you. I don't know anything about zombies either."

"How about we ask Nuba at the Corpse Herding Sect after work?"

"Sounds good."

As the two were talking, Lu Yang suddenly made a gesture. Meng Jingzhou, understanding, fell silent and switched to divine sense transmission.

"What's wrong?"

Lu Yang pointed to the street ahead. "Something's happening."

The street was deserted in the dead of night, but a few blurry figures stood in small groups, talking, not far from them.

Meng Jingzhou was startled, his expression puzzled as he looked at the figures.

"Are they ghosts? No, that's not right. If they were ghosts, I should be able to sense their Yin energy. Why do I feel nothing?"

Meng Jingzhou was most sensitive to Yin and Yang energy, yet he couldn't detect any aura from those figures.

Could it be that they were neither human nor ghost?

Sensing that something was amiss, the two put away their playful demeanor, concealed their presences, and quietly approached the figures.

"The ritual is almost complete. Don't mess things up at this crucial moment."

"Don't worry, my lord. Haven't we always handled things reliably? There will definitely be no problems."

"Good."

Lu Yang and his companion were puzzled by what they heard. What ritual?

"Who are you?" Lu Yang and his companion dropped their concealment spells and frowned, questioning the figures.

But the figures seemed completely oblivious to Lu Yang and his companion, continuing their own conversation.

Lu Yang reached out to touch them, but his arm passed directly through them. They were visible but intangible.

"What's going on? Illusions?" Meng Jingzhou frowned. He had traveled extensively for many years, but this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

Lu Yang shook his head. "No, remember what my cultivation method is. Illusions can't deceive me."

Even so, Lu Yang had no idea what was happening.

It was as if these people weren't truly present.

"Immortal Fairy, what's going on?" Lu Yang had no choice but to admit his limited knowledge and sought help from the Immortal Fairy.

"Ah, this is a spatial projection," the Immortal Fairy confirmed, indeed knowing the reason.

"Spatial projection?"

"It's when a crack appears in space, and people standing exactly at that crack will have a part of their image projected."

"The real bodies of these people are in another space, so of course you can't touch them."

"Are spatial projections rare?" Lu Yang considered how many secret realms he had explored and how many spaces he had seen. His own Azure Edge Sword even had a built-in small space, yet he had never encountered a spatial projection.

The Immortal Fairy nodded. "Very rare. Even I have only seen it a few times."

Lu Yang was surprised; it truly was rare.

"Mainly, spatial projections only occur in unstable spaces with cracks. The reason for the instability is that the cultivator who created the space isn't skilled enough."

"Typically, cultivators know their own limits and whether they are skilled in the Way of Space. Those who are skilled create spaces; those who aren't, don't."

"It's rare to find someone who's unclear about their own abilities yet dares to haphazardly create a space like this."

"The haunting the barbarian boy mentioned is probably a spatial projection, right? It's been appearing for four months now."

"After four months, the master of the space still doesn't know there's a spatial crack. You can imagine his level of skill."

The figures in the spatial projection were still talking.

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems with the formal ritual. We've simulated the ritual every month, four times now, and each time has been successful, hasn't it?"

Lu Yang: "..."

He thought, *I don't think your simulations have been very successful.*