Eternal Thief

Before everything went down in the eight provinces,

The next day after, Ace secretly contacted Freya.

Two ghost worms appeared with the soul realm aura, and they released everyone from their ice sculpture states, and they all slowly regain their consciousness.

Furthermore, those ghost worms also took their belongings, including Feng's, before they left.

The demons were the first to gain their senses. But the moment they did, their first reaction was apprehension as they try to break those cages, but failed miserably since they can't tap into their Qi reserves nor feel it and their physical strength wasn't enough either.

After things started to calm down, they finally spoke.

"Who else is here? Peter, are you ok?" This voice belonged to Brenna.

The prisons were at some distance from each other, so it was hard to know just how many were captured and who else was there.

"I'm fine. I'm more glad you're fine, though." Peter's relief voice sounded.

Everyone started to reply one after another and when they found out everyone got captured, they were shocked.

"Where's brother Feng?" Thomas noticed Feng hasn't spoken yet, and everyone noticed.

Feng's perplexed voice sounded. "Yes, I've been captured as well."

"Hahaha… why do I feel you are more ashamed than worried about this situation?" Thomas teased, but there was clear relief in his voice.

"Don't you?" Feng's vexed voice rang, "We were captured by some mindless worms, and we don't even know how we get here or where we are!"

Gibson's miffed voice rang. "It was all because of that damn water. If my Qi wasn't suppressed by that strange water… humph!"

Carlee snorted with disdain, "You won't be able to do anything either. There were probably soul realm worms within the enemy ranks. Don't you notice, Sir, White Fire isn't with us? Which could only mean he escaped or was entrapped by the enemy, so he didn't have time to save us."

At this time an aged voice rang, "Young Lady, is indeed right. Commander Fire was suppressed by that water as well, and he had no choice but to escape. It's also a good thing since help could be on its way as we speak."

"Who might you be?" questioned Shepard.

Peter answered instead, "He's an elder of Earthen Troll Clan, Yadiel, a diamond river core cultivator. He was probably following us with Sir White Fire and other Earthen Troll, but it seemed they also got captured."

Yadiel's apologetic voice sounded again, "I'm ashamed, your highness, we weren't able to protect you and let His Majesty down."

"Don't worry, old man, it's not your fault. But can you help us escape?" Thomas inquired.

Everyone knew the earthen troll race was quite agile on earth, and they can dig tunnels to escape, so this aroused everyone's hope.

Yadiel replied with bitterness, "No milord, this entire cell or probably the entire prison is made with special material to suppress our Qi, and I can't penetrate it with my hands, either. I'm afraid we are now hostages."

The prison fell into hopeless silence.

"Did anyone know how those mindless demons were controlled? I heard even salve marks can't make them obedient. Which means whoever is behind them won't just want some ransom, and our lives might be in danger." Alora's voice broke the silence.

"Our guess is as good as yours. But I won't be going out without a fight!" Gibson sneered, but there was a hint of nervousness in his voice.

They all knew the situation they were in wasn't optimal for anyone, and it was unknown why they were kept alive.

But they didn't have any way to know, so they didn't waste their energy and calmed down and wait for someone to approach them.

Ace thought, 'What does that fox want? I hope Freya would move fast or things might get out of hand.'

Days pass by and no one came to them as prison remained dark.

However, on this day, they heard the creaking sound of an old door being opened.

Everyone's eyes tightened with brightness when they saw the light.

"Bastard, who are you, and what did you guys want?!" this was another troll speaking who regain his sense a few hours after Yadiel.

However, they were shocked when they saw the visitors were ghost worms and 17 of them, the same numbers as them.

They knew they can't communicate with them, so they wondered why they were there.

Except for one person, Ace!

'So, the torture is about to begin!' Ace grimace.

Although he was confident in resisting whatever they threw at him, he wasn't sure about the others.

He also doesn't know why they were being tortured in the first place and what the end goal was in doing all this.

"Esteemed Guests, I know it's hard to live in those small cells, but you have to bear with it. In the meantime, we are here to entertain you. I hope you all enjoy our hospitality." This imposing voice came as a surprise since they didn't know who was talking, and they thought it was a ghost worm.

But Ace recognized the voice. 'Gage!'

It was indeed the fox patriarch, but he didn't show himself and remained outside so no one could see him.

"Motherfucker, show yourself!" Thomas condemned, but no one replied.

"Do you know who I am? As long as you let us go, I'll promise we won't pursue this matter and my father might reward you with riches you could never imagine!" Peter declared with hope.

Although he didn't like using his status to get what he wanted, in this situation, it can't help, though.

However, no one seemed to hear them.

They all started to back down when they saw those ghost worms starting to appear in front of their cages one by one.

"Start." Gage's harsh voice rang again.

The very next moment thereafter, those ghost worms opened their round mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth and suddenly a white sharp limb shot out from their mouth like a whip.

The edge of this slimy limb was like a long thick needle and before anyone could react, those needles directly penetrate their hearts!

But what happened next made everyone shrill with madness, from those white limbs they felt a strange liquid start to pump into their veins like liquid nitrogen, and they felt icy chillness starting to creep on every part of their bodies.

Even their meridians were penetrated!

This can be considered the cruelest torture in the cultivation world, to inflict pain on someone's meridians. It was like cutting their limbs piece by piece, or even worse!

If those ghost worms didn't control their strengths and burst their meridian channels, they will lose their ability to cultivate or worse, die!

But Winter didn't want that.

However, Ace, on the hand, was completely fine. On the contrary, he felt quite cozy as that chillness raging through his meridians.

'Could it be because of meridians of darkness I'm immune to this kind of thing, or they are just not strong enough to hurt me?' He reckoned while keep pretending in extreme pain.

Ace never heard of someone having special meridians, so it's only natural he has no clue about any of this. Nonetheless, as long as he was fine, it didn't matter.

However, it can't be said for others, since they were experiencing torture worse than death while having no way of stopping it. Those whip-like limbs were like stone pillars, they just refused to budge no matter how much strength they used to take them out of their body.

But the question remained, why Winter was doing it?

On the mountain top,

The crystal white altar under Winter flashed as her eyes were closed.

She suddenly opened her eyes as the altar stop shimmering and there was a hint of satisfaction in her eyes. "They will be ready in two months!"

Suddenly, the altar beneath her trembled slightly, and her lips curled upward. 'Hmph, you just won't give up, do you? But I don't have to endure it for long. The moment I merge with this altar, I'll be able to use that secret technique I found with that ancient inheritance and get reborn completely. As much as I wanted to release you on demons, I can't since you are a perfect match for my soul…'

She suddenly waved her sleeve, and the next moment, a translucent projection materialized.

It was completely gray, and if Ace were here, he would instantly recognize this image. It was the frozen gray lake.

However, this wasn't the surface of the gray lake but the bottom, and the scene could send chills to anyone's spine if they saw it.

In the projection, they were tens of thousands of Demon Skeletons standing like listless puppets, some of these demons had decayed skin while some parts were completely peeled off, showing their bones. They were not as old as those complete skeletons.

Winter's eyes turned extremely sinister as she looked at the projection, 'This is all going to end very soon…!'