"Monk, why did you seek me out?"

"I need your help with something."

"Help?"

"Yes..."

This was three days ago, on the pagoda of Jinshan Temple. The monk's eyes were lowered, but it was clear that there was a rare hint of anger and self-blame in his peaceful expression. He said, "That Benefactor Xu has passed away..."

The great thief was so shocked that he almost spat out a mouthful of wine, coughing repeatedly.

"Huh? What..."

"What happened?"

The monk said, "That day, I gave him realgar wine, intending to reveal the snake demon's true form, to dissuade him and to banish the snake demon from Lin'an Prefecture, but who knew..."

The great thief frowned, "Too timid, scared to death by the snake demon's true form?"

The monk shook his head, "No, he already knew the special nature of his wife, how could he be scared to death?"

"This humble monk examined the body. After the marriage, he was attracted by her beauty, and living together day after day, the demonic aura had actually invaded his bones. He suffered a sudden palpitation, and the demonic aura coiled around his heart and lungs like a snake, causing his death. But because of these demonic auras, his life force was also locked in his heart."

The monk stood up and bowed deeply to the great thief.

This time, the great thief was truly almost choked to death.

He dodged to the side, saying, "Hey, hey, you are going to be a patriarch figure, maybe a Bodhisattva or Arhat in some Buddhist scripture in the future. Others worship Buddha, don't you, a Buddha, worship me at every turn."

The monk lowered his eyes and said, "This matter also has the karma of this humble monk. I didn't think of this at the time."

"I beg Benefactor to save that Benefactor Xu."

The great thief said, "The man is dead, how can he be saved?"

The monk said, "This humble monk knows of a herb that can precisely address this situation, but the mountain is steep, and only your leg strength can make a round trip within ten days."

The great thief looked at the monk and said, "What about you?"

The monk said calmly, "This humble monk went to Lin'an Prefecture and found that many people were invaded by the demon's aura. Perhaps the demon has no intention of harming people, but the demonic aura is like a person's breath, something that is naturally emitted. At best, it diminishes fortune, and at worst, it shortens lifespan. This humble monk must remove the demonic aura from these people."

The great thief said, "I want to see what kind of person this doctor is first."

He went to Lin'an Prefecture and asked the profligate sons he knew, and the answer he got was a young doctor with a beautiful wife. He asked the common people by the roadside, and the answer was that he was one of the good doctors in Lin'an Prefecture, but still much worse than his teacher.

But when he asked those families who couldn't afford oil lamps, the answer he got was that he was the best doctor in the world.

"He often comes for free clinics and doesn't charge for medicine."

"My mother's illness was cured by Doctor Xu. I heard he's sick, I hope he gets well soon."

Finally, the great thief returned to Jinshan Temple.

The monk's aura was no longer as strong as before.

It was caused by consuming his own cultivation and Buddhist Dharma to offset the demonic aura for the people of Lin'an Prefecture. Repeatedly doing so would inevitably shake his own foundation. The great thief looked at him with pity and said, "Your cultivation has decreased. If you could have become a Bodhisattva before, now you are at most a Vajra."

"Then, Fahai, where is the Buddhist Dharma?"

The monk put his hands together and lowered his eyes, "Buddhist Dharma is in forbearance."

Demons endure their demonic nature.

Humans endure their human nature.

The great thief laughed, picked up the wine pot, and drank it all in one gulp, saying, "I'll take on this matter."

"In this vast Jiangnan, who else but me can do this? And who else but me can save Xu Xian's life?"

The great thief laughed heroically.

Then he leaped away, the great thief of Jiangnan, the Jiangnan of the great thief.

He had originally planned to spend a day picking the herb and a day returning, and on the third day, he could tell his heroic deeds to the red-clothed constable. But he didn't expect that the Yao herb grew far and with difficulty, and there was also a ferocious beast.

Even with his skills, it took him a lot of effort to solve the beast and get the herb. When he rushed back, it was already past the agreed-upon three days. He wanted to explain immediately, but lives were at stake, so he had to follow the monk's instructions and flew into the Xu family.

Seeing the beautiful woman with red eyes and extreme grief, so withered in just a few days, the great thief sighed inwardly. When he flipped in, he was indeed detected, after all, she was a white snake with thousands of years of cultivation.

The great thief sat cross-legged on the windowsill, ready to flee at any time, and took out the Yao herb from his arms.

He threw it to the great demon, "Here, this herb should be able to relieve your husband's suspended animation."

The white snake demon recognized the herb. In a mix of grief and joy, she immediately knelt down and performed a great salute.

"Thank you, benefactor..."

The great thief swayed to avoid it, scratching his head and sighing, "Why do you always like this kind of thing?"

"Buddha bows to thieves, demons bow to humans, there must be something wrong with you."

When he was about to leave, he suddenly thought of something.

He turned around and said seriously:

"By the way, I'm not giving this herb away for free, I have to charge money."

The woman in white, who had both the innocence of a maiden and the gentle temperament of a married woman, immediately took out all her wealth, even beautiful Kunlun jade and gold pearls of excellent quality. But the great thief only reached out and took a piece of broken silver.

"I inquired, the medicine picked by ordinary people in three days is about this amount."

The beautiful woman was about to speak, but the great thief put his finger to his lips, smiled, and whispered:

"Business is business."

"Take care of your husband."

Then he flipped backward and disappeared without a trace.

……………………

"Did you send the Yao herb?"

The monk's temperament became even more ancient and clumsy, and his cultivation dropped another level.

The great thief pillowed his arms, "Of course, but I also charged money."

"Charged money?"

"Yes, one qian of silver." (qian = a traditional unit of currency)

The great thief spread his hands, "I'm just such a vulgar person."

"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda."

"You can have the pagoda, I'll take the silver."

"Enough, Fahai, what are you going to do next?"

"Bring Benefactor Xu to Jinshan Temple and use Buddhist Dharma to cleanse the demonic aura in his bones, so as to prevent his lifespan from being shortened too much."

"Okay, whatever you want. I have other things to do."

The great thief carefully put away the one qian of silver and then jumped off the pagoda.

………………

The young constable lit the candle and quietly read poetry.

It was the *Book of Songs*, and she happened to be reading the chapter "Zi Jin."

*Green is your collar,*

*Long, long is my longing.*

*Though I do not go, *

*Will you not send a message?*

*Green are your jade ornaments,*

*Long, long I think of you.*

*Though I do not go,*

*Will you not come?*

The window suddenly made a few soft sounds. The young constable ignored it, but the person knocking on the window didn't give up, knocking incessantly. Annoyed, the young constable pushed open the window with her sword and saw the great thief sitting cross-legged outside the window, upright and handsome, bathed in moonlight, smiling and waving.

*Pa!*

Before he could raise his hand, the young constable closed the window at an even faster speed. The great thief quickly reached out to block the window, "No, no, Miss Jue, listen to my explanation. I went to save someone. I didn't expect it to take so long. I thought I could come back sooner."

It was not easy to prevent the young constable from smashing his dog's head with the window.

The great thief was still afraid, and then explained carefully.

The young constable raised her eyebrows, looking like she didn't know how much she believed. The great thief scratched his head and smiled, "However, although I was late, I caught the stars in the sky and brought them back. Shall we go see them together?"

The young constable was still hesitant, but the great thief grabbed her sleeve with one hand.

The great thief stepped on the windowsill, leaned his body backward, and pulled the fiery red-clothed figure into a pool of moonlight.

…………

The young constable had no choice but to follow him, but when she arrived, she found that it was still a dark and silent place. While she was curious, the great thief smiled and put his finger to his lips, then made a sharp whistle.

The whistle sound spread far away.

Then, the entire silent and peaceful night came alive.

Little by little, lights lit up from here. She saw that every household opened their paper-covered windows, and inside were ordinary people, carefully lighting the oil lamps that they usually couldn't bear to light. Then one household lit up, and then the light spread from here to the distant end.

And some children in short clothes hid in a corner, looking at each other, their lips opening and closing to say the password, and finally opened the pockets in their hands, and handfuls of fireflies took flight, flying from here to there, in this dark and silent place, as if starlight rose from the ground.

So many ordinary people formed the vast Milky Way of the mortal world.

The mortal world of red dust.

The great thief spread his arms and smiled at her, his dark eyes shining brightly:

"This is my starry sky."

"This is my Jiangnan."

"The prosperity here was originally no less than that of the heavens."

He took two steps back and fell backward.

The young constable subconsciously reached out to catch him.

She took a step forward and saw that the great thief used some means to lie in the air.

In a trance, it was as if he was floating above the starry sky, starlight, red dust, towering heights, drunk and unaware that the sky was in the water, a boat full of clear dreams pressing down on the Milky Way. The great thief spread his hands, with a smile on his lips, and shouted loudly:

"Hey, Miss Jue."

"This place is a scenic spot in the southeast. Even if it's not the Qiqiao Festival, there are many temple fairs and acrobatics. You have a day off in five days. How about we go to the temple fair together?"

The young constable was lost in this mortal galaxy and subconsciously said, "Okay..."

Then she reacted, her face flushed, and she stomped her foot:

"Libertine!"

But the great thief had already fallen to the ground in a daze, but laughed loudly, "Okay, okay, I don't care. A word is said and cannot be taken back. Miss Jue, I'll be waiting for you at the temple fair in five days. I'll give you a gift then!"

His tone was light.

Seeing the young constable stomp her feet and leave, he laughed even more happily.

No matter how ignorant he was.

He also knew that this was different from before.

During these five days, he changed into his best clothes, carried his sword, and then went to Lin'an Prefecture with the hairpin he had bought with the money from picking herbs. And it was on this day before that the doctor Xu Xian recovered, and the monk Fahai took Xu Xian to Jinshan Temple...

The sky, for some reason, became very bad.

The entire sky was pressed down by tumbling ink-colored clouds, and the moisture in the air increased.

ps: Today's first update... 3000 words

The next chapter will end this little story.