: The Master Thieves! (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

"How about it? My infiltration plan is pretty good, right?" Sun Lingtong transmitted his voice to Yang Chanyu.

Yang Chanyu chuckled. "I overestimated these cloud merchants' inspection skills. I didn't expect them to be so careless."

Since Sun Lingtong wanted to steal, he had naturally discussed it with Ning Zhuo beforehand. The two conspired and came up with a plan: sneak in using the Mechanical Blaze Monkeys. These monkeys already had storage arrays, but they could only store items, not living beings. So, Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu modified one of the Blaze Monkeys, improving its array to allow them to temporarily hide inside. They also worked together to add appropriate camouflage on the array's surface.

Thus, Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu quietly arrived inside the spiritual beast, the Cloud Whale, via the Mechanical Blaze Monkeys. Currently, both were invisible, only causing slight air disturbances when they moved.

"Where's the door here?" Yang Chanyu looked around, marveling at the warehouse's vast space while feeling puzzled.

Sun Lingtong knew more. "Follow me! The Feiyun Kingdom people usually place the control array on the right side after entering." He led Yang Chanyu to the key location where the cloud merchant cultivators had operated earlier.

Sun Lingtong channeled magic power into his hand and stroked the cloud-like wall. After feeling around for a while, his expression shifted, revealing joy. "It's right here." He then infused magic power into the cloud wall beneath his hand, immediately causing yellow array patterns to appear. However, lacking an identity token, the yellow light only appeared briefly before disappearing completely.

But that was enough! Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu were thrilled because they had found the key to breaking through.

"Making a fake identity token is simple. Watch me!" Yang Chanyu volunteered. After some tinkering, she produced a counterfeit token. She inserted it into the slot, and the yellow array patterns reappeared. The previous scene repeated: the doors of the compartments on the shelves dissipated like mist, revealing the Mechanical Blaze Monkeys stored inside each.

Sun Lingtong casually collected some with a wave of his hand. The storage bracelet on his wrist, though only a magic tool, had excellent storage capacity. They stole the Blaze Monkeys to avoid raising suspicion. After all, they planned to steal much more. If the cloud merchants discovered only the Blaze Monkeys were untouched, they would inevitably focus their attention and suspicion on Ning Zhuo.

After Sun Lingtong collected the Blaze Monkeys, the yellow array patterns on the wall converged in two places, each outlining a door shape on the wall: one large door and one small door. Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu communicated via voice transmission and unanimously chose the small door. Clearly, the large door led to the main passage, where there would likely be more cloud merchants and greater security measures.

The fake identity token, being inferior to the genuine one, couldn't directly open the small door. Yang Chanyu and Sun Lingtong stood before it, pondering and studying. Yang Chanyu frowned slightly. The Feiyun Kingdom's array style was unfamiliar and uncomfortable for her. After ten breaths, she had only grasped a little. This was too slow! Such efficiency was unacceptable.

Just as she grew anxious, Sun Lingtong suddenly said, "I understand." He then took out various small tools for theft from his storage bag and went to work on the door. His skill was so proficient, his tools so comprehensive, that even Yang Chanyu, a Golden Core true disciple of the Bukong Sect, was dazzled. In just five or six breaths, Sun Lingtong swiftly stepped back, retracting all his tools. The small door before him dissipated like mist, revealing an opening.

"You're quite capable," Yang Chanyu said, viewing Sun Lingtong in a new light.

Sun Lingtong giggled without explaining. Unlike Yang Chanyu, he was quite familiar with the Feiyun Kingdom's array-setting philosophy and style. Early on, Ning Zhuo had shared his mother's留下的 (left behind) mechanical texts with Sun Lingtong. Mechanical studies are a miscellaneous field; besides mechanics itself, various other cultivation arts are reflected in mechanisms. Conversely, mechanical texts touch upon many cultivation arts. Sun Lingtong had studied Ning Zhuo's mother's mechanical texts deeply, leading to his broad exposure to the Feiyun Kingdom's cultivation arts. He was very familiar with their various array-setting techniques and styles.

"Alright, let's hurry. The longer we delay, the greater the chance of discovery," Sun Lingtong said, quickly checking behind the door for traps before rushing ahead.

"Wait for me, be careful of guards," Yang Chanyu hurriedly followed.

They arrived at another warehouse, as spacious as the previous one. Following the same steps, Yang Chanyu crafted another fake identity token. They placed it in the array slot. Through the array, they made the shelf doors dissipate, revealing the goods stored in the compartments. Each compartment contained a mass of mist, within which an orchid faintly appeared.

Yang Chanyu frowned slightly. "This is..." She searched her memory. This peculiar flower felt familiar, probably something she had seen in her sect's texts before.

But Sun Lingtong blurted out, "It's Mist Embroidery Orchid."

"It's an orchid that only grows in dense mist environments. The flower color is white, as you see, so it's easily overlooked by herb gatherers. This orchid is often used to make disguise talismans or pills that conceal one's aura."

Yang Chanyu immediately nodded. "Right, that's it." She viewed him with renewed respect, praising, "I didn't expect you to be quite knowledgeable about various things too."

Sun Lingtong waved his hand, chuckled, and continued forward. Along the way, they collected many Mist Embroidery Orchids. Even if they couldn't use them themselves, they could sell them as Feiyun Kingdom specialties; there would be no shortage of buyers in Nandou Kingdom.

They opened the small door and entered another warehouse, still vast. This time, after opening the compartment doors, they found each contained dormant beetles. These beetles were asleep, small ones the size of millstones, large ones like carriages. Their carapaces were extremely hard, with faint electric sparks flickering on the surface.

"These are Heavy Thunder Beetles," Yang Chanyu identified immediately this time.

"They're a specialty of the Thundering Kingdom. These beetles are very heavy and move quite slowly. Their carapaces are extremely hard and can be used to make many thunder-attribute magical tools, especially defensive ones." The Thundering Kingdom lies between Nandou Kingdom and Feiyun Kingdom. Presumably, these cloud merchants passed through there and conducted business, acquiring large quantities of local specialties.

They collected several Thunder Cloud Beetles and continued. This time, the warehouse they entered through the small door was nearly half the size of the previous ones. They activated the array, making the shelves appear, and opened all the compartment doors. These compartments were very small, each containing only a slender-necked bottle filled with dew.

Yang Chanyu took one bottle, poured out some dew, examined it, and smiled. She recognized the dew's raw material. She looked at Sun Lingtong. "Do you recognize it?"

Sun Lingtong waved his hand. "It's just Sky Dew. Alright, our time is limited. Let's not waste time on unnecessary chatter."

Sky Dew isn't a specialty of any single country or region; it appears widely in the sky. It condenses in the clouds at dawn, crystal clear, but exists only briefly before being scattered by wind or evaporated by sunlight. For cultivators to collect it, they must stake out in advance, set up arrays high in the sky, and have a chance to gather it before it dissipates. Ordinary cultivators find it difficult because the clouds where Sky Dew forms are often at high altitudes. However, for Feiyun Kingdom's cloud merchants, it's easy. Their spiritual beasts fly at high altitudes, making Sky Dew collection a fixed daily activity at dawn for their trade caravans.

Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu collected some Sky Dew and moved on. This time, when they opened the small door, a mechanical puppet stood before them.

Yang Chanyu was startled and was about to strike, but Sun Lingtong stopped her in time. "Wait!"

The puppet showed no signs of attacking. After stopping Yang Chanyu, Sun Lingtong carefully examined it. The puppet also looked them over and chuckled. "Who are you two? Thieves?"

Yang Chanyu was shocked again, her killing intent quickly spreading.

Sun Lingtong was also surprised, but he had encountered talking puppets before. Yuan Dasheng by Ning Zhuo's side was one such example. Sun Lingtong's eyes darted, and he said to the puppet, "Of course we're not thieves! We're on the same side. Look, our token is right there on the wall." He jerked his thumb back, indicating the fake identity token in the wall slot.

Before the puppet could inspect it closely, Sun Lingtong quickly changed the subject. "Can you move aside? We need to conduct an inspection. It's our job to check the quality of the goods, see if anything is damaged. We're inspectors arranged by Lord Song Fuli."

"By the way, what's your name? What level of sentience have you reached? Can you do math? What's eight times eight?"

The puppet opened its big eyes, looked at the two, scanned them from head to toe, and said in a soft voice, "My name is Rudie Niang. Since I can talk to you, I've naturally reached the sentient stage. Eight times eight... um... equals sixty-six?"

(End of )