The original, real Plum Blossom Thief was said to have terrorized wulin about forty years before the time of SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN, RUTHLESS SWORD.

Wouldn't have put the Plum Blossom Thief in the time period when Shum Long and Wong Lin Fa reigned supreme in wulin?

With those two stalwarts around, it's a wonder that the Plum Blossom Thief never got into an altercation with either of them.