Eternal Thief

A sudden realization dawned on Ace when he looked at the black land outside. He suddenly checked his thief's space and when he inspected his newly stolen storage ring collection, he was shocked because they were all opened, even Henrik's!

'This could only mean two things, first, the owners of these storage rings' willingly remove their Qi marks, so they could escape the sudden backlash, or everyone is dead… and I think the probability of the latter happening is quite high which would also explain the black wasteland outside. But can these demons really kill a soul realm demon?'

Ace was very confused about this as well as horrified because if all of this was true, then this meant someone with a very high authority has made a move if Henrik was really dead.

But what he didn't understand was would they kill a soul realm demon?

'Is it because of the Thief Farewell Note I left on his face? Well, it's also possible that Livy might get extremely enraged and killed Henrik and everyone here? It is possible for someone like him, but turning the entire city into a black wasteland, I don't think he had such means…' Ace mused with a grim expression.

'I should leave this place as soon as possible.' Ace finally decided as he stood up.

Noa was currently moving in a strange pattern on the other corner of the room, stopped when she saw Ace move. She was practicing the movement skill 'Thief Assassin's Soul Steps' for three weeks, but still hasn't achieved any breakthrough.

She mused it was because the practicing space was too little, but Ace didn't let her go outside because of obvious reasons, so she could only make the best of what she had.

Ace also saw Noa coming toward and said, "Wait here, something happened outside, and I'm going to check if it's safe to leave this place or not. If I came back in a day, then we'll leave this place and if I don't, then you have to stay put."

Noa wanted to inquire about what has made Ace serious, but seeing his grave expression, she nodded and said, "I understand. Be careful."

She knew she can't be any of help to Ace in her current cultivation realm, and she'll only get in his way, so she could only comply to remain idle while feeling extremely perplexed.

With a nod, Ace moved toward the exit and slowly opened the small door, and black soil fell onto the stairs.

He carefully exited with his stealth active and close the door and cover it with black soil and removed his trace. After he was done, he dashed toward the exit of the Silver Iron Demon Clan's territory.

He hoped that this black land was only this area, but he was soon flabbergasted because he didn't see any kind of buildings in silver-iron demon territory, only black lands.

It was as if the entire silver-iron demon estate had turned into black flat lands. There weren't even ruins left. Only black soil was drifting everywhere with the chilly wind of winter.

As Ace moved further toward the city gates, he found nothing but the same black lands, not even the tall city walls were there anymore, nor were any living beings or buildings. It was as if he was in a black wasteland.

'Just what kind of formation is capable of turning an entire city into such condition? Or just what kind of existence is capable enough to take out this formation? A Demon King?' Ace's heart was heavy as he thought about all the possibilities, but he can't get an accurate answer because of his limited knowledge about the demon race.

However, this time he wasn't at fault because even those demons living outside the royal zone can't fathom just what has happened here. After all, it was related to the royal zone and that place was akin to a mystery for common provinces.

Ace finally reached the place where the city gate was supposed to be, and his eyes suddenly dilated when he saw pitch black soil, which differed completely from the other black land.

He couldn't help but touch it, and it wasn't like soil. It was more like a soft powder, and Ace's heart sank when he thought of something after touching this pitch-black soil.

'Ashes?' Ace could only think about this because this left a black, inky impression on his finger.

'These ashes are completely covering a large area and those demons won't burn wood and wood ashes are gray, which means these ashes belong to something else… those demons!'

Ace couldn't help but think this way because when he remembered all those Qi marks vanished suddenly and this ash will completely explain the reason behind them as well!

'They killed everyone?' Ace's heart turn cold when he thought about this possibility, and he knew this was really the case, 'Really worthy of being the demon race, massacring with no remorse even their own people, and this had to be done by an extremely influential demon who see everyone as ant…'

With a heavy expression, Ace make sure there wasn't any trap or surveillance. It seemed the other party was quite sure he wasn't here anymore after that formation had done its work and deemed it was useless to skim through this waste-city anymore and left.

But he knew whoever it was they'll come back if he appeared again, and he had to be extremely careful from now.

Ace quickly returned to the underground chamber, which was probably the only thing left of Iron Demon City. He fetched Noa, so they could leave this place as soon as possible.

When Noa come out, she was even more shocked than Ace when she saw the black lands with no life or any structures.

Ace quickly express his thoughts and Noa also nodded in agreement with him. She also felt this was the work of a very terrifying existence, but even she didn't think of the royal zone and only suspect a demon king, just like Ace.

After hiding in the secret chamber completely, both of them left in stealth. As for their destination, it was Cloud Demon City, the third-largest city of Ocean Demon Duchy, or now second after Iron Demon City's fall.

As for why they go toward this city, it was because first; it wasn't far from Iron Demon City, and second, Ace was still feeling uneasy, and he wanted to collect some information about what has happened to the Iron Demon City.

He extinguished the thought of going toward the Ocean Demon City right now because that was the city under a demon duke and the person who massacred the Iron Demon City might be there. So, the Cloud Demon City was their best choice right now.

After they left the periphery of the former Iron Demon City, they finally saw greenery again, but they were still shocked because the area that has turned black wasteland was far bigger than Iron Demon City, which gave Ace the chills just thinking about how powerful that formation might be.

Now the iron demon city and the ten-kilometer area around it have completely turned into the land of no life!

Ace suddenly mumbled, "I think I need a new face now."

He was currently in Pablo's face and wearing his trainee's hood, completely counseling his face. But he knew wearing an Iron Demon Tribe's Demon Face was nothing but a disaster right now and Henrik had clearly seen it as well, so he can't use Pablo's face right now.

"Yes, I was also thinking the same." Noa's voice sounded in agreement. She spoke little after she saw what happened to the Iron Demon City, and couldn't help but think of her own tribe.

Ace could feel Noa's complicated emotions, but he didn't say anything. He just didn't know what to say.

After they travel for a full day and night, they stopped for rest since Noa was a soul foundation realm cultivator. She can't move continually like Ace and needed rest and eat as well.

But Ace had all it covered since he was foody himself. He also found out that Noa has never eaten something cooked before, and he was shocked to find out that the demons eat raw meat, which left him somewhat disgusted, but he said nothing.

Noa naturally eats in her tent without showing her face and even praised Ace's cooking skills afterward. She never thought 'burning' meat will taste so good.

Ace naturally had excellent cooking skills because he learned them from his grandma and he work at a restaurant from a young age, so he picked a few things despite just being a dishwasher.

They start their journey again, and the Cloud Demon City was only a day's worth of travel away.

At this moment, Ace suddenly single Noa to stop, and they quickly find a large tree to hide behind.

After a few moments, a caravan of carriages came into their view.

There was a black cloud-like emblem on it and Noa suddenly said, "Those carriages belong to the Dark Cloud Demon Clan!"