Prologue

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“Shadowless, I, Jin Yiren, have come to pay you a visit. Please reveal yourself,” a deep, magnetic baritone echoed through a dark passageway.

The speaker’s features were handsome and distinguished, his gaze as sharp as a shooting star, his nose aquiline. Clad in a golden cultivator’s robe, he exuded an air of dashing elegance.

Indeed, this was Jin Yiren, the master of the Five Elements Sect.

“Master Jin, we’re all rather busy. If you have something to say, please be direct. I’m all ears,” came a teasing voice from a stone chamber at the end of the passage, which opened into a grand hall.

The man inside the stone chamber was truly named Shadowless, and he was, in fact, quite occupied—busy stealing from the chamber itself.

The Five Elements Sect was once a leading immortal sect on Blue Moon Star, and this stone chamber was its main vault. One could only imagine the treasures within.

“Today is my five-thousandth birthday. You have traveled far to pay your respects, and I am deeply honored. Would you join me outside for a drink or two?” Jin Yiren struggled to suppress his fury.

He could not help but be angry.

Today was his grand celebration; tens of thousands of guests were gathered at the Five Elements Sect, filling it with festivity. Yet Shadowless, shamelessly, had taken the opportunity to slip into the sect’s vault!

“Haha! With all the years between us, let’s not pretend with childish excuses,” laughter rang from within the chamber, and a dark figure emerged at the doorway.

Of average height, with a pale, beardless face, and dressed in fitted black, he cut a crisp, capable figure.

This was Shadowless, the infamous thief known to all of Blue Moon Star!

He held a large handful of storage rings, gesturing at the two glowing barriers between the hall and the passage. “If you have the skill, break through and catch me. If not, save your breath—I haven’t the time for you.”

Jin Yiren was livid, yet he knew himself powerless; those two barriers were formation shields, and Shadowless had altered them!

Not only was Shadowless famed for his stealth across Blue Moon Star, his mastery of formation arts was formidable. Formations laid by his hands were not easily undone by others.

Just as Shadowless finished speaking, a silvery peal of laughter, clear as a bell, drifted from within the chamber.

Jin Yiren sighed inwardly, recognizing the voice of his talented niece, Jin Daizi of the Five Elements Sect—likely the mastermind behind this heist!

“Outrageous!” Beside Jin Yiren stood a white-haired elder. Seeing Shadowless uncooperative, he switched tactics and shouted toward the stone chamber, “Daizi, come out at once!”

“Why should I come out? So you can chop off my head?” From the chamber stepped a striking young woman, hands clasped before her, with an innocent expression.

Though she looked very young, with delicate features and a fresh air, draped in a simple white gown that accentuated her graceful figure, among the beauties of Blue Moon Star, she surely ranked near the top.

This was Jin Daizi, the first beauty of the Five Elements Sect!

“You’re young and ignorant, led astray by that cunning Shadowless. I’ll speak on your behalf to the master—he will be lenient,” the elder’s tone softened at once upon seeing her.

“Please, hundreds of years old and still ‘young and ignorant’?” Shadowless handed the rings to Jin Daizi and turned back to the chamber.

Everyone present was a cultivator, and none of low rank.

Jin Daizi might appear young, but she was over eight hundred years old—hardly “young and ignorant,” which was almost laughable.

“You’re impossible!” Jin Daizi spat playfully at Shadowless, then turned to the elder. “Uncle, please help me. Shadowless has poisoned me. I don’t want to die.”

With a thud, Shadowless, just turning away, almost collapsed at her words.

“Come out first, and I’ll find someone to cure you,” Jin Yiren replied, though he did not believe her.

He knew his niece’s nature well; though she seemed sweet, she was clever and mischievous, easily deceiving or toying with the unwary.

“I dare not come out.” Jin Daizi hugged her arms tightly. “Shadowless is the only one who can cure the poison. He wants me to marry him. Uncle, I actually rather like you. In this life, fate keeps us apart, but in the next, I’ll be yours.”

Shadowless, barely recovering, dropped to his knees once more with a thud.

He felt that being with this girl had truly upended his outlook on life.

“How clumsy! Over a thousand years old and still can’t walk straight.” Jin Daizi smiled, taking his arm and helping him up.

The two slowly walked back into the stone chamber, vanishing from sight.

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Watching their close rapport, Jin Yiren felt a green light flashing above his head, his anger surging uncontrollably.

Yet no matter how furious, he was helpless; the two light barriers before him were like an unbridgeable chasm.

“Please, just keep your mouth shut, will you?” As soon as they reentered the chamber, Shadowless looked at Jin Daizi with a plaintive gaze, nearly begging. “I’d really like to live a few years longer.”

Jin Daizi jerked her chin toward the rows of shelves. “Told you you’re slow. Get searching—I’m buying you time.”

Inside the chamber, shelves upon shelves were lined with storage rings.

“No need.” Shadowless gently nudged her aside. “I’ve altered the formation; no one’s getting in here any time soon.”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Jin Daizi snapped, then dashed outside.

In the hall, her voice rang out shrilly: “Jin Yiren, you heartless scoundrel, you murdered your brother and usurped his place—you’ll die a miserable death!”

“Uncle, kill him for me and I’ll name you the new master of the Five Elements Sect!”

“Jin Yiren, remember this—one day, I’ll tear you to pieces!”

…

Shadowless could only roll his eyes and resume quickly cracking open the rings.

After a while, he let out a triumphant cry: “The Five Elements Arts! The Five Elements Escape! Ha, finally found them!”

“Let me see!” Jin Daizi hurried back, equally overjoyed.

Shadowless smiled, holding up two jade slips.

“Copy them for me, and your unbeatable stealth technique, too,” Jin Daizi exclaimed, her bright eyes shining like stars.

Obliging, Shadowless copied the slips, then produced another jade slip from his ring and handed all three to her.

“Is this the stealth technique?” Jin Daizi eagerly examined them.

Shadowless nodded.

He might be a thief, but he was a thief of his word.

Their deal had been clear: they would share the Five Elements Arts and Escape, and in exchange, Shadowless would hand over his stealth technique to Jin Daizi.

There was also an immortal sword in the vault—this would go to Shadowless, while the rest of the treasures would belong to Jin Daizi.

In truth, he had gotten the better of the bargain. The stealth technique was powerful, but so was the Five Elements Escape, and the Five Elements Arts was a divine-level manual—a rarity even on Blue Moon Star.

On Blue Moon Star, foundational cultivation arts were ranked from top to bottom as Heaven-grade, Earth-grade, and Mortal-grade. Manuals above Heaven-grade, the so-called Divine-grade, were legendary and unclassified, as no one had ever seen one.

Having no interest in the remaining rings, Shadowless tossed them all to Jin Daizi.

Then, he approached a sword embedded in the floor, its blade shimmering with rainbow light, and drew it forth.

At once, the sword sang with a dragon’s cry and blazed with light.

“Immortal sword, ha!” Shadowless beamed, gazing raptly at the sword.

“Enough! You can admire it later—leaving is more important,” Jin Daizi urged impatiently.

“Understood!” Shadowless strapped the sword to his back, took out a heap of materials, and began crafting flags to set up a teleportation array.

He was no stranger to such endeavors: first, infiltrate using his formidable stealth technique; then, alter the protective formations, steal the treasures, and finally, arrange a teleportation array for escape.

This was a routine he executed with practiced ease.

Outside, the others had no idea what was happening within; the chamber was shielded against divine sense, so they could not perceive the activities inside.

Suddenly—

The light barriers in the hall began to tremble gently.

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Shadowless, busy crafting formation flags, narrowed his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Jin Daizi asked, puzzled.

Shadowless frowned, not answering immediately.

“Are they trying to break in from outside?” she pressed.

“No,” he shook his head. “Breaking in wouldn’t cause this.”

He took the unfinished flag and strode quickly to the doorway.

Inside the hall, the spiritual energy was in chaos. In the air, countless vortices of varying size spun rapidly, merging into greater and stronger streams, filling the atmosphere with violent power.

“This is bad! It’s about to explode!” Shadowless shouted.

“What?” Jin Daizi blanched and rushed to his side.

“Fall back!” The Five Elements Sect members in the passage seemed to understand as well, and Jin Yiren shouted urgently.

A hundred figures scrambled to retreat.

The passage was narrow, barely two meters high. Over a hundred people pressed together, fleeing at full speed.

But their cultivation levels varied. Jin Yiren and the other elites were deeper inside; ordinary disciples, weaker, were closer to the exit.

No matter how hard the disciples tried, they could not match Jin Yiren’s speed. As the leaders retreated, they inevitably crashed into the less skilled disciples ahead.

Thuds and bangs echoed relentlessly.

“Ow!”

“Ah!”

“Damn it!”

“Who the hell bumped into your grandpa? That hurt like hell!”

“Out of my way, good dogs don’t block the road!”

…

Cries and shouts filled the air.

Jin Daizi gazed woodenly at the chaos in the passage, managing a bitter smile. “Who would have thought I’d die with you.”

She had considered running, but with Jin Yiren and the others in the passage, falling into their hands might have meant a worse death.

Whirling and surging, the spiritual vortices in the hall merged into one, forming a colossal maelstrom that filled the entire chamber.

A shadow of sorrow crossed Shadowless’s eyes. He waved to Jin Daizi. “Farewell, forever.”

Tears brimmed in Jin Daizi’s eyes. “Goodbye, my friend!”

At last, she threw a blue bead from her ring and formed seals with trembling hands. “You are my only friend!”