The Forty Perilous Thieves Covet the Elixir of Immortality

Qin Yue pulled Luo Yu along, and the two of them slipped carefully into the garden right under the noses of the two Foundation Establishment cultivators. They crouched down just outside the formation protecting the Immortal Dew. The two cultivators had no inkling of their presence, chatting merrily and completely failing to suspect that two people with extraordinarily powerful spiritual senses were hiding not far away in some corner.

The next step was fraught with danger—they needed to activate a scanning array to reverse engineer the formation. Working in perfect tandem, Qin Yue took charge of masking the magical fluctuations caused by triggering the array, while Luo Yu hid himself and the cat, and extracted the data.

Yet everything proceeded smoothly. While the two cultivators leaned on each other, lost in friendly banter, Luo Yu swiftly completed the necessary steps. He then pulled Qin Yue outside the garden to begin cracking the formation. Their luck was remarkable: the author of this formation appeared to be the same as the creator of the great protective array, sharing similar habits, only this was much simpler. Luo Yu quickly wrote a decryption routine.

However, this array differed from the mountain-guarding formation in that it also included a function to disable spells within its bounds. To crack this feature, the core code had to be rewritten—but once this was done, the two cultivators inside would immediately sense it. Layers upon layers of protection indeed.

Night was falling fast; it was almost eleven. The time for the Immortal Dew to condense was at midnight, during the hour of the Rat. Luo Yu steeled himself, grasped Qin Yue’s hand, and wrote in her palm: I’ll go out and open the main array, let those people in to create a distraction. You stay here and don’t move—I’ll come find you soon.

Qin Yue wrote back: Be quick and be careful.

Luo Yu handed the cat to Qin Yue for safekeeping and slipped away alone.

Arriving beside the main array, he found the cultivators outside were nearly frantic. Several demon cultivators with inverse star plates were pouring all their power into the array, making its surface shimmer with flowing light. Others were bombarding the array with random spells, multicolored magic blossoming everywhere like fireworks—a veritable chaos.

Luo Yu tweaked his Trojan horse program, setting it to auto-execute after one minute and open the array gate for three minutes before deleting itself. With a wave, he injected it into the array, then hurried back to Qin Yue’s side to watch the show.

After a short wait, the crowd arrived in force.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators looked at each other in surprise. The younger one stepped out of the formation and sternly addressed the intruders: “You cultivators dare trespass in my Bamboo Grove Spirit Garden! Leave at once if you value your lives. I know the path of cultivation is hard, so I will not make things difficult for you. Persist in your folly, and you’ll have only yourselves to blame for what follows!”

The outsiders reacted in various ways to seeing the Foundation cultivators: some left in despair, others glared with unwillingness, but most hesitated and watched. An elderly human cultivator stepped forward, bowed, and pleaded, “Esteemed seniors, I reached the peak of Qi Refining thirty years ago and have searched for this Immortal Dew ever since, all in vain. Were I not desperate, I would never dare make trouble here. Please, pity my dwindling years—half a drop of Immortal Dew would suffice.”

His plea opened the floodgates; others rushed forward with their own misfortunes, begging for mercy.

The young cultivator sneered. “The Dao is merciless. Your allotted years are fate’s decree. You may lack compared to some, but you’re far better off than many. Besides, Immortal Dew is a sect treasure, not mine to give. Who among mortals does not long for immortality? But fate cannot be forced. You should leave.”

At these words, some in the crowd grew indignant. “Senior, why be so heartless? Help us a little, for us to even make it here is destiny!”

The young cultivator’s anger flared. “You trespass in my Bamboo Grove and still prattle about destiny? Who asked for your destiny?” With that, he sent one man flying with a palm strike—the hapless fellow tumbled several times before scrambling to his feet. The cultivator had clearly held back, merely teaching a lesson.

But this show of force only agitated the demon cultivators. Since pleading was useless and time was running short, why not simply seize what they wanted?

Chaos erupted. The young cultivator moved effortlessly among dozens of peak Qi Refining opponents, his movements graceful and unhurried, not even bothering to use his artifacts—it was clear he was just toying with them. A crowd against one, and none could even get close to the formation. Watching this, Luo Yu broke into a cold sweat. There was no way—his companion wasn’t even helping, nor did anyone come to see what the commotion was about. Clearly, the sect trusted the two could handle it.

Growing anxious, Luo Yu was suddenly assailed by a strange, heady fragrance. He turned to see the Immortal Dew glowing gently; the great mushroom cap had absorbed spiritual energy and moonlight, and now transparent dew began to bead on its surface. If he didn’t lure the other cultivator away now, all would be lost!

Damn it! Luo Yu gritted his teeth. Since he’d already gone this far, he might as well see it through!

Signaling to Qin Yue, he slipped away once more.

This time his target was the mountain-guarding array. To create a big enough disturbance, he needed to make it seem like a real threat so the other cultivator would leave the garden.

He chose a spot close to the spirit garden and swiftly implanted a virus-like program. Once inside the array, it would self-replicate, clogging the rune circuits and causing localized breaches in the barrier. It would then trigger an attack routine, releasing spells inside the array, making it appear as if someone had broken in and was causing havoc within the sect. The disruption would last five minutes before self-deleting.

This virus was something Luo Yu had developed at home, more out of a mischievous coder’s curiosity than any malicious intent. He’d only meant to test and refine his understanding of array programming, never expecting it would one day prove so useful.

After setting the virus to activate in thirty seconds, Luo Yu slipped back.

By now, droplets of dew had formed on the Immortal Dew mushroom, some rolling down to the center and merging into a large bead, others still joining in. When the central bead grew too large to hold, it would inevitably drop.

Inside the formation, the Foundation cultivator casually produced a jade vial and set it beneath the mushroom to catch the dew, glancing back at the ongoing scuffle. Just as he turned away, the virus triggered, and chaotic magical fluctuations erupted from all sides.

Both cultivators were startled; the outsiders, encouraged, redoubled their efforts, catching the young cultivator off guard.

The cultivator within the formation could not tarry any longer. Seeing the dew already falling into the vial and the situation seemingly under control, he exchanged a glance with his companion and left. Drawing a flying sword, he tossed it into the air, leapt onto it, and sped away.

Seizing the moment, Luo Yu and Qin Yue worked in perfect harmony—one providing cover, the other acting. In less than two seconds they opened a small hole in the formation. Luo Yu considered the ban on spellcasting inside the array—if he rushed in, he’d be exposed. He was just plotting a route to crawl over and snatch the prize before the cultivator returned, when suddenly a flash of red darted along the ground like lightning. In the blink of an eye, it zipped back, a jade vial clamped in its mouth—Luo Li had done it! Luo Li was possessed by the spirit of thunder! Overjoyed, Luo Yu handed the vial to Qin Yue for safekeeping, scooped up Luo Li, and then heard the young cultivator roar: “Who dares steal the Immortal Dew!”

The three little thieves all trembled, thinking they’d been discovered, and nervously looked toward the cultivator. His face was livid with rage, his eyes roving everywhere but unable to find the culprit, his fury mounting. The cultivators he had been fighting were in for a bad time—he knocked them all out in a few moves, leaving them sprawled and motionless.

None of the three dared move, knowing the cultivator was now scouring the area with his spiritual sense. They silently thanked their stars that their own senses were stronger than a Foundation cultivator’s. Luo Yu had set up a barrier inside, Qin Yue another outside—double protection. If the cultivator only used spiritual sense, he wouldn’t detect them; only a physical search would expose them.

Fortunately, cultivators seemed unaccustomed to physical searches. Finding no one here, the cultivator, eyes still blazing, stormed off to search the other gardens.

The three let out a collective sigh of relief and hurried off in the direction opposite the breach in the array. Qin Yue gripped Luo Yu tightly, not daring to let go. Along the way they brushed past several Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment disciples, making their hearts pound with anxiety. Qin Yue soon realized this route was too dangerous—if they ran into a Golden Core master head-on, escape would be impossible.

Without hesitation, Qin Yue dragged Luo Yu aside, sneaking to the edge of the main array, opening a back door, and slipping out.

Once clear of the array, they breathed deeply in relief. Scanning their surroundings, they chose a quiet direction and made their escape.

Only after reaching a safe distance did they reveal themselves, ready to leave the Bamboo Grove and head home. But they had not gone far before a booming voice halted them: “Who goes there! How dare you trespass in our sect’s forbidden rear mountain!”

In a flash, three Foundation Establishment cultivators appeared in front of them, clad in scholar’s robes and standing imposingly on their flying swords, forming a triangle to surround them.

Luo Yu cursed inwardly. What rotten luck! How had he managed to stumble into the legendary “forbidden rear mountain”?

“This is all a misunderstanding!” Luo Yu protested.

The three Foundation cultivators sized them up: one tall, handsome, and aloof; the other charming, petite, and full of life. Neither seemed particularly powerful—surely they hadn’t come for the forbidden grounds. But to be found in the Bamboo Grove at this hour, their motives were obvious. With an excuse, perhaps they could be let off, but caught red-handed? Dream on.

Without further ado, the three ignored all explanations, tossed out a binding rope, and trussed up the two and their cat like a string of grasshoppers before hauling them away.

—End of Chapter 40: Daring Theft of the Immortal Dew, from “Tales of Cultivating Friends”