Chapter 156 — A Dangerous Notion Stirs

" Shen Mu's expression turned strange; the latter possibility was very small, but not impossible. He could not help showing dismay — around that lower half upon the altar there were also seals and wards, and to reach out a hand would surely leave him devoured by the little figures in those cubes, not a splinter of bone left. If the Basha Libationer were here, he could simply smash these seals and wards by brute force, but Shen Mu had no such power.

"The Heaven-Stealing Hand that Grandpa Lame taught me — I have never once used it.

Can it pass through the wards and take that half-body?

" His heart beat with unease; suddenly he broke into a run through the vault, urging on the Heaven-Stealing Leg Art the Lame Elder had taught him, his speed like a fleeting gleam, so fast the eye could scarcely catch it. As Shen Mu ran, he also worked the Heaven-Stealing Hand, his hands growing faster and faster, like light, like lightning.

The Lame Elder's whole art lay in his legs and his hands: his legs ran fast so that he might flee with his life when a theft was discovered, and his hands moved fast for the sake of stealing. The Heaven-Stealing Leg Art Shen Mu had long practiced with diligence, but the Heaven-Stealing Hand he had practiced less; now he grasped at any hope, praying he might comprehend more of its mysteries.

As he worked the Heaven-Stealing Leg Art and the Heaven-Stealing Hand at once, Shen Mu at once sensed something wondrous, and with a startled cry he hastily stopped. In working the two different arts at the same time, he actually felt that the two were one, and that the Lame Elder had merely split a single art in two and taught him each half.

He had already felt the Heaven-Stealing Leg Art flow with great smoothness, but now, with the Leg Art and the Heaven-Stealing Hand worked together, the speed of his vital essence's circulation leapt severalfold at once!

A circulation several times faster meant his kicking speed and his hand speed could rise severalfold as well! Shen Mu steadied himself and looked ahead.

The interior of the golden hall's vault was exceedingly spacious, with room enough for him to run; suddenly he surged forward, his feet flying as he raced on. The air in the hall gave out a tearing shriek; then came a great thud, and Shen Mu slammed hard into the golden wall of the palace over a hundred zhang from where he had started, then toppled straight backward.

Around his body a ring of white vapor curled and dispersed.

After a moment Shen Mu rose, shook his head, and once more surged into a run. Again a great thud, and white vapor burst out around him — but this time he did not strike the wall; instead he ran up its surface and sped across it, then ran up onto the hall's ceiling and raced along it with a shriek.

The tearing shriek went on without cease; Shen Mu raced through the air of the vault, treading upon emptiness, and in the blink of an eye came shrieking back. Suddenly, mid-run, he reached out and plucked: an altar stood empty, and in Shen Mu's hand there appeared a bowl refined from a skullcap.

Clang.

The bowl clattered to the ground. Shen Mu laughed aloud, and as he ran with wild abandon he reached out toward the altars that flashed past him like streaming light; one after another the altars went empty, and the treasures were flung everywhere across the floor. After a moment every golden altar had been swept clean, and Shen Mu, clutching a pair of legs, swept past one altar.

His figure came to an abrupt halt, and he set down the golden-glowing lower half.

"No wonder Grandpa Lame always loved stealing — stealing is this exhilarating!

" The youth of Yincan Village breathed out a foul breath, looked back at the treasures strewn across the ground, felt fresh and clear in spirit, and praised: "Even if a leg were cut off for this, it would be worth it!

"