Having studied for a hundred years, why do you call me the Martial Saint?

The third day of the competition, early morning.

A patrolling disciple walked past Suishan Hall, yawning. His cotton shoes crunched on the snow. He was thinking about when he could have a bowl of hot soup to warm himself up. His cultivation level was not high, so he could not withstand much of the cold.

It's really unreasonable for the sect to schedule the grand competition in winter, but even without the competition, they would still be patrolling.

He thought about it casually.

He glanced up unintentionally, and his steps suddenly froze.

On the stone platform at the main gate of Suishan Temple, a line of words has appeared at some point.

I don't know what it was engraved with; the handwriting is messy and crooked.

"Yan San was here".

There was a line of smaller print at the end: "The treasure trove is quite large, and there are many things. I'll come again next time."

The patrolling disciple's face turned pale instantly.

He turned and ran, shouting as he ran, "Help! Help! Someone's trespassing!"

The news spread like wildfire across the mountains.

In less than half an hour, the news had spread throughout Suishan that thieves had sneaked into Suishan Palace last night and arrogantly carved words in front of the palace.

Even before the fighting began on the arena in the training ground, the martial arts practitioners were already buzzing with discussion.

"Yan San? Which Yan San? There are plenty of people in the world with that name." A swordsman said, puzzled.

"Who else in the world dares to call themselves that? Yan San, the Shadowless God of Legs!" the old hand explained.

"Divine Legs Without a Shadow? What's their background?"

"A renowned thief in the martial arts world, possessing unparalleled lightness skills, appearing and disappearing without a trace, he particularly enjoys targeting major sects!"

"He even dared to steal from Suishan, is he insane?"

"So what? That Yan San even went to the Netherworld Sect! Do you know what kind of place that is? A demonic sect! A slight mistake could lead to utter destruction. But Yan San not only went in, he also stole a lot of treasures. The Netherworld Sect has been hunting him for years, but they haven't found a trace of him!"

A collective gasp filled the air; this winter felt even colder.

"Then, what did Yan San steal in Suishan?"

"I heard that a lot of good things are missing from Suishan's storeroom, but the inner disciples are very tight-lipped about what exactly is missing, and I can't find out..."

"What's missing isn't important; the important thing is that we didn't even catch the person!" someone sneered.

"Hey buddy, you seem to be implying something?"

"What veiled meaning? Isn't it obvious? The sect of the Sword Master, a prestigious sect, allowed a thief to sneak into the main hall, leave a message in front of it, and then escape! Is this acceptable?"

The person did not continue speaking.

But those around them looked at each other in bewilderment.

How renowned was the Sword Master?

Yan San only stole something from the Netherworld Sect, yet he was hunted down by them. However, the Sword Master had killed the Right Envoy of the Netherworld Sect, so the Netherworld Sect didn't dare utter a single word.

These two are not comparable at all, but now Yan San has swaggered into Suishan Palace and stolen things. How is this any different from slapping the Sword Master in the face?

"Didn't they say the Sword Master is in seclusion?" someone muttered quietly.

"Even in seclusion, no one can get near the palace. The defenses at Suishan are far too lax!"

"Heh, don't you see how chaotic this mountain is? How many ill-intentioned people are trying to take advantage of the situation? How can you possibly guard against them all?"

"However, after this incident, Yan San's reputation will likely grow even stronger; that thief is truly formidable!"

"No matter how powerful he is, can he surpass the Sword Master? I think the Sword Master might be..."

People from all walks of life have different ways of thinking. Some think positively, while others think about the worst-case scenario. With various opinions intertwined, it is easy for rumors to arise that Sui Shan does not want to hear.

……

The servants' quarters, house number 9, section A.

Gu Shuxian was tinkering with a mechanical wooden kite.

Unlike his own wooden kite, this one could fly, which made perfect sense, and he wasn't afraid of being seen by others.

Even seeing it is a good thing. If someone accidentally discovers that your wooden kite can fly in the future, you can use this as an excuse and say it's a mechanical trick.

"So that's how it is. These gears mesh quite cleverly, but unfortunately, they're ultimately too rigid..."

Gu Shuxian murmured.

He had conducted many experiments over the past few days, thinking that the mechanical bird and the wooden puppet technique would complement each other perfectly, but they ended up hindering each other and easily getting stuck.

However, it wasn't without its benefits. Studying this thing undoubtedly improved his woodworking skills, and now he has more inspiration.

"Junior Brother Gu, something terrible has happened!"

Qian Le burst in, breathless, clearly in a hurry.

So urgent?

Gu Shuxian had a guess: "Have the prices of medicines gone up down the mountain?"

"Hey, that's good!" Qian Le plopped down opposite him and lowered his voice, "Last night a thief sneaked into our Suishan and left a note! Apparently, it was something like 'Yan San was here!'"

"Yan San? Who?"

"Hehe, I don't know either, but it's said that he has some kind of 'Shadowless Legs' and is a master thief. It's even said that he's stolen from the Demonic Sect!" Qian Le couldn't help but gossip.

"But this guy is incredibly audacious, daring to steal from our Sui Mountain. I heard from the outer sect brothers that the Sword Master is in seclusion, which gave this kid an opportunity. Once the Sword Master comes out of seclusion, this little thief will definitely have to come and apologize..."

Listening to Qian Le's explanation, Gu Shuxian frowned.

The thief's surname was Yan, and he remembered Yan Xiaoshuang, whom he had met before.

She once said that her grandmaster had stolen things from the Star-Picking Pavilion. What is the relationship between Yan San and her? Could he be her grandmaster?

If it's someone like that, it's normal that he wouldn't be discovered stealing from Suishan.

"How old is Yan San?"

"I don't know, his name is 'Shadowless Leg'! How many people have actually seen his face? He might be a young man, or an old man, or even a woman," Qian Le said casually.

Gu Shuxian nodded, too lazy to delve into it further.

Let the sect leaders worry about the sect's affairs; he's busy playing with the wooden bird right now.

……

Inside the gate, in a certain hall.

Qin Zhongyu's face was ashen, and his eyes were practically spitting fire.

"Yan San! I will definitely kill you!"

The other fellow disciples in the hall also looked very grim, filled with anger and anxiety.

"Senior brother, what do we do now?" a younger junior brother asked in a low voice. "People started talking about it when we came down the mountain today, saying that something might have happened to Master. The people from Chijin Mountain have come to ask about it several times..."

"What's the panic!" Qin Zhongyu calmed down and said with a gloomy face, "Yan San's lightness skill is unparalleled in the world. The fact that he came to Suishan and escaped unscathed only shows that his lightness skill is superb, not that something happened to my master."

Instead of calming down after hearing this, the crowd started chattering amongst themselves.

"The problem is, these people don't think that way..."

"But the more we explained, the more guilty we felt."

"Are we just going to leave it like this?"

As they were discussing, everyone suddenly fell silent.

After a while, there was a knock on the door.

After receiving permission, a disciple hurried over and said, "Sect Leader, Master Lu from Chijin Mountain requests an audience."