Chapter 564: The Skill of Thievery

When it came to thievery, Su Che’s earlier answer was indeed not an exaggeration. To be precise, it wasn’t that Su Che had any special ability in this regard—it was rather that his shadow was like a super thief, capable of infiltrating almost any place in the world.
Any place with light and shadow posed no challenge to him. Moreover, he possessed a special storage space that could instantly accommodate even a seven- or eight-zhang-long amethyst sword.
Thus, Su Che was quite confident in this area: The Master of Shadows—this task was meant for him!
The reason he wanted to play a thievery game with this little girl wasn’t out of idle mischief. Instead, he felt it might be a good opportunity to learn something about the Tang Dynasty palace through her. She claimed to be a princess, so her status should be sufficient.
At that moment, the little girl took off an exquisite emerald hairpin from her head. It was clearly more than just an ornament—it was also a special protective talisman.
Su Che guessed it was a one-time-use amulet. Though not a Dao artifact, it could create a defensive barrier as strong as top-tier Dao artifacts in a short time.
Her cultivation level was too low to control even lower-grade Dao artifacts, so she could only use such special talismans.
The little girl placed the hairpin on the chair behind her, using her body to block Su Che’s view, and said, “If you can steal this hairpin under our supervision, it will prove your thievery skills. But let’s make it clear upfront—you can’t use techniques like energy-based grabbing. That wouldn’t be thievery; that would be outright robbery.”
“I understand,” Su Che replied with a smile. “Alright, give me a dozen breaths to think it over.”
“No problem,” the little girl said, nodding as if to show her boldness.
She was right. At such close range, Su Che could easily obtain the hairpin using energy-based grabbing techniques. But such an action couldn’t be hidden from those five people. Even if he got it, it wouldn’t be considered thievery—it would be forced seizure.

It may seem like just a small hairpin, but under such close supervision, stealing it would be extremely difficult. After all, those four Body Transformation Phase bodyguards weren’t blind. Even when it came to combat strength, together they weren’t a match for Su Che in a single move. Yet, concealing one’s consciousness and stealing the hairpin right in front of them without detection was truly very hard.

Since it was theft rather than robbery, it required the thief to act undetected—true skill lay in that.

“Alright.”

In less than ten breaths, Su Che raised his head and said, “I’ve made up my mind.”

“Then let’s start. I’m waiting,” the girl replied with enthusiasm.

In fact, her consciousness had already been highly focused on the hairpin behind her. Any slightest change should not have escaped her keen senses.

But then, Su Che slowly raised his hand, opened his palm, and there, right in his palm, was the emerald bead hairpin.

“Huh?”

The girl quickly turned around to look at the chair behind her and saw that her hairpin was still there—unstolen.

So, what was the hairpin in Su Che’s hand?

“Could it be that he happens to have an identical one?”

The girl first had this thought instinctively, but immediately dismissed it, as this hairpin had been crafted by her great-grandfather himself—there was only one in the world, so there couldn’t possibly be another identical one.

So, she stretched out her small hand to grab the hairpin on the chair, but just a few inches away, it vanished as if a soap bubble burst with a pop.

“Fake!”

The girl immediately realized that the hairpin she had hidden behind her was just an illusion—the real one was already in that thief’s hands.

Not only was she surprised, but even the four Body Transformation Phase bodyguards beside her paled in shock, thinking to themselves: Such a sophisticated deception—our consciousnesses couldn’t detect it at all! If this person wanted to harm the young princess, there’s no way we could stop him…

As competent bodyguards, their thoughts were certainly different from those of the young princess. They weren’t thinking about how fun or interesting it was, but rather how dangerous and terrifying it was.

Thus, the four bodyguards wished they could take the young princess back to the Prime Minister’s mansion immediately, the farther from this man the better. Yet they knew full well that the young princess would never agree, so they could only stay alert, maintaining utmost vigilance against Su Che.

“How did you do it?”

The young princess was filled with surprise and excitement, completely forgetting to pretend to be mature, her eyes brimming with curiosity.
“A trivial trick, not worth mentioning,” Su Che said modestly. In truth, he himself didn’t know how his shadow had done it.
Just moments ago, Su Che pretended to be thinking about ways to steal the hairpin, but in reality, his shadow had already slipped into the girl’s shadow, stole the hairpin, and used a minor illusion to deceive the five people opposite them.
To put it simply, he was taking advantage of their weak cultivation levels; if a cultivator at the Tribulation stage were present, it would likely be impossible to deceive him.
Although the girl was extremely curious about Su Che’s stealing skills, her playful and mischievous nature meant she wasn’t truly interested in such abilities, nor did she press him to teach her.
After a short while, she blinked her lively, clear eyes, thought for a moment, then sent a message: “I want you to steal something from the Prime Minister’s private residence and give it to me. I wonder if you can do it?”
“I should be able to,” Su Che replied confidently, nodding. “If you’re willing to cooperate with me, the chances of success could be almost 100%.”
“Great!”
The girl nodded firmly but added, “But let’s agree beforehand—no stealing other things from my family. If you want a reward, just tell me directly. I can give it to you, but no stealing!”
“She asks me to steal something but doesn’t allow me to steal more…” Su Che thought to himself with a smile. “This girl is quite interesting!”
Yet he said aloud, “As I’ve said before, I have no such intentions or plans. What happened today was just a coincidence. Believe it or not, I must say I’m not a thief.”
The girl stared into Su Che’s eyes for a few moments before lifting her chin proudly and saying, “Fine, I believe you. Because this princess has an innate discerning eye—she won’t mistake anyone!”
An innate discerning eye!
Su Che knew this wasn’t a joke or just a figure of speech. In this vast world, anything is possible; indeed, some people are born with extraordinary talents and special abilities.
“Discerning eye” was just a general term; he still didn’t know what specific abilities her innate talent entailed.
“I need you to steal a mirror and place it on the dressing table in one of the women’s bedrooms in the Prime Minister’s residence…”

The young girl transmitted her voice, saying, “Of course. It’s definitely not an ordinary mirror—it’s also a special magical artifact. When you retrieve it, remember very well: under no circumstances let it reflect your face. Otherwise, not only will this mission fail, but you might even lose your life on the spot…” She described the mirror in great detail. Then, she took out a jade slip, intending to record the exact route as a mental image, but Su Che stopped her with a message: “There’s no need for such trouble. All you need to do is this…” As he spoke, Su Che took out a tiny stone from the Immortal Prison—a completely ordinary stone with no discernible special qualities. He lifted the stone with the power of his true vital energy and handed it to the young girl, saying, “In a while, after you return to the Prime Minister’s residence, just throw this thing in front of that woman’s bedroom door. That way, I can find it.” “Just this?” The young girl gently picked up the small stone with her delicate fingers, asking in confusion and curiosity, “What is this? It looks like just a stone.” Su Che smiled faintly, pretending to be mysterious. In truth, he knew better than anyone that it was indeed just an ordinary stone with no use at all. The stone was merely a decoy. In reality, his shadow would slip into hers, follow her into the Prime Minister’s residence, and head straight to that woman’s bedroom door. As for how to steal the mirror afterward, it would depend on the shadow’s abilities. The more ordinary the stone seemed, the more mysterious it appeared, making it hard to guess its true purpose. The young girl kept the stone, half-believing it, and then asked, “If I return to the Prime Minister’s residence now, when do you plan to act?” “At any time. Tomorrow at noon, you can come to this tavern and meet me again. I think I’ll have good news by then.” Su Che’s expression was calm, but his words carried an inexplicable confidence. Even so, the young girl wouldn’t easily trust such a stranger. She ordered her two bodyguards, “Jing San, Jing Si, follow him. Keep an eye on him. Don’t let him find an excuse to escape.” “Yes, Young Princess!” The two bodyguards bowed in response, but both felt frustrated inwardly: Such an extraordinary person must surely have a cultivation level far beyond ours. If he really wants to leave, can we stop him?

But no matter how one thought about it, whatever orders the young princess gave, no matter how difficult, they had to do their best to carry them out. These bodyguards were elite warriors trained by the Prime Minister’s household from a young age using special methods; it was not merely an ordinary employment relationship… Before leaving, the girl stared intently at Su Che, using the most fierce expression she could muster to threaten him, “Never lie to me, never disappoint me, or I will make you regret it!” Although Su Che found it somewhat amusing, he understood that at first she had regarded this as a casual game, a little fun. But after seeing his quite skillful stealing abilities, she truly hoped to steal that mirror. In fact, Su Che could even guess that she didn’t want to keep the mirror for herself but merely hoped to deal a small blow to that woman through this. “Could that woman be her stepmother…?” Su Che used his imagination fully, forming various guesses in his mind.