Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 287: Ancestor of the Thieves Sect

“Lord Mo, what has my shifu done this time to end up in prison? Did he refuse to pay for services at a brothel, stage a fake accident on the street claiming someone knocked him over, or was he secretly selling Size At Will (Localized Version) again?”

Despite the Taciturn Daoist Priest’s claiming he was innocent, Yun Zhi remained skeptical. Having known her shifu for nearly a millennium, she knew when his words could be trusted and when they couldn’t.

“Big Senior Sister, when can we believe Shifu’s words?” Lu Yang asked curiously.

“When he’s not speaking.”

“And when can’t we believe Shifu’s words?”

“When he’s speaking.”

Lu Yang, “...”

Hearing what she said, Xu Xin slapped his thigh in delight. Yun Zhi’s words had enlightened him. No wonder it’s said that her cultivation is so high. Her ability to summarize things is not something I can hope to match.

If I hadn’t believed that old Taciturn scoundrel’s nonsense, couldn’t all of this have been avoided? Had I heard this summary earlier, I wouldn’t be sharing a cell with him right now.

Mo Danxin shook his head. “It’s none of those. According to our investigation, the Taciturn Daoist Priest has been in Dayan Commandery for over ten days. During this period, he has been well-behaved. In the day, he would go to teahouses to tell stories from the Saga of the Dao-Seeking Sect, and every time, the teahouses would be packed to the brim. He would then end each session with the phrase “please stay tuned for the next installment,” drawing collective groans from the audience. When night came, he would brainstorm how to continue the story for the next day. He’s been living quite comfortably.”

Lu Yang was dumbfounded. Shifu, so you’ve been making up all those stories on the spot?

Despite priding himself on his ability to fabricate stories, which was no less impressive than Meng Jingzhou’s, he acknowledged that even he couldn’t compete with the Taciturn Daoist Priest’s talent in concocting a story in one night and delivering it the next day.

“So Saga of the Dao-Seeking Sect is your creation!” Xu Xin stared at the Taciturn Daoist Priest in astonishment.

Saga of the Dao-Seeking Sect was widely popular; even teahouses in the imperial capital told these stories.

Xu Xin had listened to them when he visited the teahouses out of boredom. However, when he heard the tales of the Dao-Seeking Nine, which included numerous embellishments glorifying the Taciturn Daoist Priest, he was extremely displeased and stopped listening.

It was the same for other officials in the capital. They had listened out of curiosity, but stopped once they realized how far the stories deviated from their reality.

On the other hand, the civilians listened with great enthusiasm. Though the Taciturn Daoist Priest’s stories were exaggerated and fantastical, they were still tales of cultivators and a top-tier sect. The vivid descriptions of the cultivators’ actions and the colorful narratives captivated them.

“Do you have no shame? Aside from the name, is there any semblance between the you in the stories and the you in real life?” Xu Xin shot the Taciturn Daoist Priest a disdainful look.

“This is called appropriate embellishment,” the Taciturn Daoist Priest replied without a hint of shame.

Mo Danxin continued, “Just three days ago, during the monthly cultivators’ bazaar, the Taciturn Daoist Priest set up a small stall in a corner and sold a cultivation technique for enhancing movement speed, claiming that the ‘Ancestor of the Thieves Sect’ had practiced this very technique.

“When people realized they had been deceived, they confronted him and demanded refunds, but he flatly denied the accusations, insisting that his cultivation technique was genuine.

“Since the arguments led nowhere, the people came to file a complaint. Upon reviewing the case, I determined that the cultivation technique was fraudulent and decided to impose ten days of administrative detention.” freёnovelkiss.com

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy had never heard of the title before. She tapped Lu Yang’s mental space to seek clarification. “Lu Yang, who is the Ancestor of the Thieves Sect?”

Lu Yang, the Everlasting Immortal Fairy’s golden finger cheat, proved to be as reliable as ever, ready to answer any of her questions. “Regarding the Ancestor of the Thieves Sect, I only know the gist of it. As you know, there are over three thousand unorthodox paths, and the Thieves Sect is one of them.”

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy nodded, signaling for Lu Yang to continue.

“There was once a legendary thief from the Thieves Sect. His unparalleled speed surpassed even his predecessors, and he was one leg ahead of the world. With him around, the Thieves Sect was completely redefined, making the Thieves Sect before and after he joined seem like different entities. Hence, the members of the Thieves Sect revered him as the Ancestor of the Thieves Sect, and the world commonly referred to him as the Thief Ancestor.

“The Thief Ancestor’s speed was so incredible that he could come and go from the imperial palace as he pleased, stealing numerous spirit stones and magical treasures. The most outrageous incident was when he stole the palace gates. The court was livid, but they could do nothing about him.”

“What happened to the Thief Ancestor in the end?” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy was excited. She had never faced a cultivator known for speed and was eager to engage one in battle to test her skills.

Lu Yang shook his head. “This is a mystery; no one knows what ultimately became of the Thief Ancestor. Some say he passed away in a seated posture, while others say he grew weary of worldly conflicts and retreated into an isolated life. There are also those who claim he failed in his attempt to ascend to an immortal and perished.”

Speaking of the Thief Ancestor, Lu Yang couldn’t help but be reminded of another figure, the second speedster after the Thief Ancestor—the Thief King.

The Thief King’s speed had reached heights where he was capable of going anywhere in the world. Thus, he defied the Thieves Sect’s ancestral teachings and stole from the Luodi Merchant Guild, subsequently vanishing without a trace.

In the real world, the Taciturn Daoist Priest continued to insist that he was falsely accused and declared earnestly, “It’s true! Practicing this cultivation technique I sold will absolutely allow you to match the Thief Ancestor’s unparalleled speed and be one leg ahead of the world!”

Yun Zhi fell silent for a moment, seeming to have recalled something. “Lord Mo, could I take a look at the cultivation technique my shifu was selling?”

“Of course, you can.” Mo Danxin summoned a subordinate and instructed him to retrieve the confiscated evidence from the yamen.

Not long after, the subordinate returned, panting and with a book in hand. The book was very thin and old; it didn’t even bear a title or an author’s name. It looked like those cultivation technique manuals that were stolen from a tomb and brought back into the light of day. It was no wonder that some cultivators were duped into purchasing it, given how convincing the book appeared.

Mo Danxin added, “The Taciturn Daoist Priest sold ten copies of this cultivation technique altogether. All ten of them were identical, and all of them were confiscated. This is one of them.”

Yun Zhi flipped to the first page, and Lu Yang also curiously leaned over to look.

The first page of the ancient book read: Those who wish to practice this technique should first sever one leg.

The Taciturn Daoist Priest threw up his hands. “See? I told you I wasn’t lying. Practice this technique, and I guarantee you’ll be like the Thief Ancestor in having one leg ahead of the world!”[1]

Lu Yang, “...”

Lord Mo, you certainly weren’t wrong to lock Shifu up!

And he still claims he’s falsely accused? Locking him up for a year or two wouldn’t even be enough!

Lu Yang began to understand why his master was the strongest below the Transcendent Tribulation Stage.

If his cultivation was even a tad bit weaker, he would have been beaten to death long ago.

Yun Zhi’s expression turned peculiar. “The Thief Ancestor did only have one leg, which is why no one refuted his claim of being one leg ahead of the world.”

“Indeed, I’ve heard of this as well.” Xu Xin nodded.

There was one more thing Yun Zhi didn’t mention. When she flipped through the manual and performed some simple calculations, she realized that practicing this cultivation technique might actually allow one to achieve the fastest speed among their peers at the same cultivation stage.

So this is really the cultivation technique the Thief Ancestor practiced?

1. This was really hard to translate into English. The original idiom translates literally to something like “walking the world on one leg,” but its meaning is just being unparalleled and surpassing the masses. When readers first see the idiom, the literal meaning probably wouldn’t immediately come to mind, but here, the Taciturn Daoist Priest takes the literal meaning. ☜