Eternal Thief

"This is a Light Silver fate map?!" He asked with rapture.

Moira replied, "Yes. It seemed your luck is quite good, Sir. Ace."

"Heh, it seemed that way. But since this is a map-type opportunity, didn't this mean I have to find it and there might be powerful beings protecting the treasure like those demons?" Ace presumed.

"Indeed, you have to be careful," Moira replied with a hint of worry.

Ace merely smile and started to paddle toward the surface slowly. He didn't create any ripple in the water, since for some reason his soul sense was blocked by that gray water, and he wasn't able to sense the outside while inside.

But the live mapping was completely unaffected, and he could see two red fate points on the surface, and he carefully moved as far from them as possible.

When Ace was close to the surface, he heard a voice, but the language wasn't the demon language which shocked him, but he could understand it clearly!

"Why did you stop the formation? Do you think all the intruders have been captured?"

In answer to this heavy voice, another feminine voice range,

"I don't know, but we can't waste this Soul Suppressing Lake freely. It has already lost more than half of its potency in all these years. According to the ancestor, if this lake lost its effect completely, the barrier protecting our clan all these years will also lose its power source and be demolished."

"Then why are we using the lake to capture those intruders? Why don't we just kill them?" the voice asked again with uncertainty.

"I don't know, but the patriarch said its ancestor's order. Don't worry, those Ghost Worms are born from this lake, and they're invincible in it. They might've already captured them and are on their way back. There's no need to waste any more lake water." The feminine voice assured with certainty.

Ace couldn't help but grimace after hearing these two mysterious voices, 'They're calling those mindless demons ghost worms? And they're ordered to capture us by this mysterious ancestor, then this means they could track us easily.'

Ace became extremely vigilant as he drifted toward the surface and kept as much distance as he could from those two red fate points.

After making sure it was safe, his head surfaced as he finally has a clear look at the outside.

The first thing he noticed was an icy grassland on the other side of the shore with towering palm trees, but these palm trees' bark was completely white while their crown was icy blue as if it was made of ice.

Then he noticed the gray lake which was tens of miles in size and on the far edge he could vaguely see a translucent blue layer while the sky was also covered in blue without any clouds or sun, but it was still lit.

'This should be that barrier they were talking about, but this kind of formation has to be a seven grade at least,' Ace mused as he looked in the direction of those voices, and what he saw left him in astonishment and incredulity!

Ace felt his eyes were playing tricks on him because the owners of those voices were not demons nor humans, but two beautiful foxes.

They were two meters in size, covered in jade-like white fur with a small patch of crystal pink between their eyes, and they had twin tails. They looked extremely exquisite while calming sitting on that shore, just like a painting.

However, Ace didn't have time to admire them as his mind was filled with all kinds of speculation and only one thing can describe their existence, which he read in the library of the royal library in blade castle.

'Beast that can communicate and had this beastly aura can only be from the ancient beast race of beast continent! But how did they appear on the demon continent, and it seemed they're hidden for a very long time.' Ace thought as he looked at those two foxes with bewilderment.

The ancient beast race was the fifth hegemony of the golden sky world and the very first race ever to live in this world before the other races appeared.

Although they were forced to share this land with others and beaten down to fifth place by the others, this didn't mean they were weak. They were also intelligent life forms with the ability to learn and speak the language, as well as the royal beast bloodline, which can turn into humanoid forms as well.

Nevertheless, the ancient beast race only existed in the beast continent, but this was the demon continent, and they hate the ancient beast race as much as the latter hate them.

So, it was astounding that this fox clan was hidden here and survived all this time right in the middle of the demon continent, under demons' noses, and if this news spread, it would be a huge blow to their reputation, and it was far more serious than Ace infiltration.

Because the Devil, Demon, Hunter, and Humans could be said to be the arch enemies with the Beasts, while it was the same case with the latter as well.

The biggest reason for this kind of enmity was ancient beasts fed on anything, including their own race, to become strong and this was the biggest reason to suppress them!

Ace knew this time he had stumbled upon something grave and this place was also a light sliver map, so he was in a dilemma to leave or continue.

However, Ace suddenly sense something as he quickly left the gray lake without alerting those two foxes.

Thereupon, the two foxes suddenly stood tall with fierce expressions, as the lake rippled before those ghost worms started to surface.

Some of them were caring ice sculptures as they landed, carrying them to shore.

Ace's eyes dilated because those sculptures were the entire expedition team except him, and there were even eight earthen trolls and only white fire was missing!

'It seemed he managed to escape,' Ace concluded, but it wasn't a good thing because the others were captured, and their life might be in grave danger.

He only cared about Thomas in that group, but he knew if he made a move, he might alert the other powerful beasts in this place. He still didn't know the full extent of their strength, so he remained calm and observed.

At that moment, one wolf's pinkish beastly eyes suddenly glow as it released a pink misty Qi, covering a ghost worm of golden soul realm before a strange symbol which looked like a fox face appeared on its head.

"Did anyone manage to escape?" She asked.

The ghost worm started to mutter strangely in an uncomprehended voice.

She suddenly growled, "What do you mean, one went missing in thin air and one managed to escape with injuries?! Die!"

Just as her voice trailed off, the fox symbol on this ghost worm shone in a ghastly light before its body explode into bits!

Ace's eyes narrowed with fear and shock. 'So, that's how they could control those mindless demons, and that mark should be the Soul Brand of a powerful being. These fox beasts aren't simple. She killed it without batting an eye, like a disposable pawn.'

The Soul Brand was a secret technique that can be used by both martial and soul cultivators.

It was quite complex to cultivate because one has to forge their own soul brand with different materials first and then after this soul brand was forged, it can be used to enslave the others forcefully as long as they were weaker than the soul brand's owner.

It was far more overbearing than any slave contract. Because the soul brand was inherited and anyone from the soul brand owner's bloodline can use the soul brand as long as they had the corresponding method.

That was why this technique was so fearful!

However, this technique was considered destroyed in ancient times and if Ace hadn't read about it in the royal council library, he wouldn't know this fox clan has such a technique at their disposal!

This made him even more aggravated about this palace, especially, this ancestor who was controlling this place from the shadows.

The male fox unhappily snarled at this moment, "Hey, Hailee! I want to pop them too!"

"Shut up. It's not a game. It was their punishment!" She berated sternly and looked at those ghost worms again with killing intent, making them quiver.

Hailee yapped, showing her vicious teeth, "If you make such a mistake again, I'll eat your children in front of you before killing you! Now carry them back to the colony."

She then looked at the male fox and ordered, "Jairo, led them. I'm going to close the door and then report to the patriarch about these two escapees."

Jairo's eyes were filled with unwillingness, but still nodded obediently and led those ghost worms toward the icy grassland.

Hailee's right claw suddenly shone in pink light, but there was the same fox symbol within the light, and she put the shimmering claw gently on the gray lake!