Eternal Thief

Ace's attention was finally drawn when he heard the 'Thief' word and couldn't help but asked with uncertainty, "No, I wasn't in the City for some time and I just returned, so I don't know about it. But this mad thief character seemed quite intriguing!" 

Pol click his tongue in understanding and said, "No wonder you didn't know about the Mad Thief. Let me tell you, this thief almost brought Iron Demon City on the verge of destruction one and half years ago…" 

Pol started to tell Ace about the mad thief from the start and how it terrorized the entire Iron Demon City. 

Ace, on the other hand, couldn't help but felt something was not right when he heard how this Mad Thief robbed rich people here and there, while the timing perfectly matched the time when Noa started to 'gain experience' as a thief. 

Ace was a hundred percent sure this mad thief was Noa, and he couldn't help but marvel at her way of theft by cutting off the hand, he even considered this was an excellent method! 

Ace smiled wryly and thought, 'She didn't even tell me about such a big event she had caused. I wonder if she was embarrassed or afraid of telling her deeds.' 

Anyhow, he was happy that his house member wasn't incompetent and even more darning than him when he first started stealing. 

Furthermore, Ace was sure that the execution was a fake event orchestrated by the founder clans of the Iron Demon City, so they could protect their own dignity and city economy. 

Because the thieveries were stopped at the same time when Noa returned and start resting her foundation, and it never happened again because she wasn't gone out for the entire year. 

Or why did the City Lord still let those powerful guards keep patrolling even after the mad thief was dead? He was clearly afraid of something, and it was not just the fear or care about the mere city protection.

However, one thing Ace had admitted was these demons react too quickly, and they were much more ruthless than humans since they kill many suspicious demons when they were still searching for the mad thief. 

Just like that, the sun started to set and Brother Pol was completely drunk while Ace was a little intoxicated. If he circulated the HD-Qi, this will be instantly resolved, but he didn't since he wanted to enjoy this feeling for a lit while. 

Ace paid a million and a half high-level Qi stones for all the drinks, which made the shop owner sure that Ace was an aristocrat of the silver-iron demon clan, and he was very polite to him.

Brother Pol also became somewhat sober after a while, since he was a peak Qi river realm cultivator and his recovery speed was quite good. He thanked Ace for paying and promised to pay next time and leave while bidding farewell. 

Ace didn't mind paying since he had billions of Qi stones even after recycling, after sorting out the storage rings, just the treasure mountain had given him over five hundred million peak level Qi stones and over three billion high-level Qi stones don't ever talk about his previously accumulated Qi stones. Money was really just a number for him now. 

However, he still wasn't satisfied with this because he knew on the mighty demon continent there were grade Qi stones, and they were far more precious than peak level grade stones. 

If he wanted to exchange a Low-Grade-1 Qi stone with a peak level Qi stone, first, no one with a right mind would have made this exchange, and even if they did, they would exchange 10,000 Peak Level Qi stones for just One low grade one Qi stone! 

Qi stones were also divided into eight grades with different four levels named low, middle, high, and peak respectively, and below grade-level Qi-stone levels were the same as the lower lands of humans. 

However, fragment Qi stones, low Qi stones, and middle Qi stones were only used in outer provinces, while inner provinces only High-level Qi Stones were acceptable all the way to the peak Grade 1 Qi stones which were mostly in the hands of Demon Duke and Demon King level existences. 

As for core provinces only, grade stones were acceptable there and no one know about the royal zone! 

That's why Ace wasn't as rich as he seemed and was only slightly richer than a Demon Barron, which was nothing to brag about. 

Ace didn't wander around the city after nightfall, since there were even more security guards this time around, and they have the authority to check your belonging. 

Brother Pol even said, those guards been taking advantage of this authority for a while now, and they rob anyone they want in the pretext of City Lord Order or you won't comply they'll just call you a troublemaker and through you in the dungeon, so Pol told Ace to be careful at night. 

However, Ace wasn't worried about those guards at all since they were just small fries and quickly tour around the market and remembered every large shop related to alchemy, treasures, books, and… alcohol! 

He was going to cause a tremendous storm and make a thunderous announcement of Sky Stealer's arrival!

--- 

Deep in the night, every shop in the market district was closed. If this was a year ago, these shops would be open all day and night. However, after the incident of the mad thief, it was a rule to close shops after middle night. The iconoclast will be harshly punished. 

Even though this action would harm the business of many, this was all for their own good, so they had no reason to not cooperate. 

However, Elian never would even imagine that this action of his will greatly benefit Ace, who wants nothing more than unprotected treasures which were guarded by only locks and arrays! 

Although, anyone would say these shops were deeply protected and not even a flea can't enter these guarded shops without alerting the arrays, a thief like Ace who had soul-shattering eyes and the lock eraser king technique these shops were nothing less than open shops which were just begging for him to steal away everything! 

Right at this moment, Ace's hooded figure appeared right outside the Hell's Liquor shop, which was also close, and only dim light could be seen, which meant someone was still inside. 

However, Ace wasn't fazed by it in the least bit because he had expected this much since the shop owner will be a fool to leave all those expensive wines unguarded and Ace was counting on it. 

With a smirk, Ace again entered pulseless stealth while constantly using his soul-shattering eyes. He didn't go through the front door and go toward the back of the building. There was a door used by staff members.

Ace quickly notice an array lock with a small alarm array on this door and sneered as he used his treasure-opening hands technique to carefully open the door and successfully entered the back of the shop. 

With extreme care, he closes the door, making no sound because he could sense a soul signature of a peak Qi river realm just ten meters away from this place.   

After making sure he was entered unnoticed, he observed he was in a small lodge and there was a stair going upward while a door beside the stair which was probably opened inside the interior of the shop.

The person was right on the other side of the door, while the upstairs door was completely unguarded. So, he checked the upper floor first. 

Just like he entered, he quickly opened the door upstairs and enter a dark room. 

Ace observed from this room he could clearly see the ground floor and shop interior on the other side, and he also found the demon who was sitting inside the shop. 

He was definitely a guard since he was completely clad in black armor and there was a long spear resting beside him.

However, this demon was currently holding an alcohol bottle and drinking with a blissful expression on his red ugly face, and he was almost drunk. One could easily tell by his intoxicated expression and almost closed eyelids. 

Ace couldn't help but smile coldly, 'Just sleep tightly. You'll become sleepless very soon.' 

Ace stop paying attention to that idiot drunkard and again observed the room where he was. There was only a desk and a few chairs, nothing else. However, Ace wasn't looking with naked eyes.

He soon discovered there was something underneath that desk and when he crouched down, he smiled widely because it was a low-grade one illusion array, and beneath it was a low-grade one lock array which was clearly guarding something precious! 

However, at this moment, Ace's expression greatly changed when he detected two very strong soul signatures approaching the shop's back door. 

"Bang… Bang… Bang…" 

Three loud bangs rang on the back door and Ace was stopped in his tracks!