Eternal Thief

"How do you manage to ignore my soul brand?"

Ace's blood ran cold as he came out of his stealth and appeared in front of Winter in Feng's disguise. She was looking at him with her curious yet frightening eyes.

'So, she could trace me with that damn soul brand?! Why I didn't think of it!'

It was his first time getting intercepted while escaping, all because of something he didn't even know was possible.

He never thought the soul brand technique could be this dangerous, and now he was facing a wily fox who had just pulled the wool over the demons.

However, he knew if he didn't come up with anything good, he might suffer this time.

He pretended to be elated and then played dumb. "Mistress, I never received your command in that prison. But they suddenly opened, and I had no choice but to escape with the others. I did just as you ordered me to. They didn't suspect me."

Ace glanced at her with worry, and when he noticed she was still listening, he continued, "But then, suddenly, powerful Qi waves surged, and we all got separated. I was searching for them when I just stopped by, Mistress!"

Winter looked at the respectful demon with a hint of doubt, yet she couldn't help but feel he was telling the truth.

'Could it be that the Qi suppressing stone interfered with my soul brand signal? If that's the case, I have to be more careful.' She thought.

She bought Ace's lie because she also didn't think Feng could resist or break free from the soul brand unless he were far more powerful than her, which was clearly impossible.

Furthermore, she would instantly notice if someone would try to fiddle or use some means to resist her soul brand.

As for why she was still loitering here, she had indeed made her escape before the Council Minister could reach the peak after unsealing the corpse puppet, but she stopped to see demons in despair.

She couldn't bring herself to leave without witnessing the prowess of the monster hidden beneath that altar, and she had to admit it was far more terrifying than it was described, which made her even more regretful and resentful toward demons who foiled everything!

Ace just happened to escape in the same direction, and when he entered a one-mile radius of Winter, he got noticed, and she intercepted him out of curiosity.

'Boomm…boom…klelelee…'

Fighting sounds made Winter look at the sky, which was now filled with dark and gray.

'It's time to leave. They won't be able to contain those Corpse Acolytes with that Corpse King around. The more they fought, the more it'll recover and draw power from those Corpse Acolytes in the lake.

'It's a pity I won't be able to control that power anymore. But I still have the method to make my corpse army, which will only belong to me, and he will be my King!' She looked at Ace with bright eyes filled with malice.

Ace felt goosebumps when he noticed that peculiar glance. 'She's scheming against me!'

Winter coolly stated, "Alright, since you managed to escape, this also means you're far more capable than my useless children, so I'll take you with me and nurture you into an expert this world has never seen before!"

'This is definitely bad…' Ace cussed, but he showed a very excited expression. "I'm honored, Mistress. I'll put my life on the line to pay for this kindness."

Winter was pleased as she turned around and said, "Alright, let's go. You will slow us down, so this way will be faster."

First, Ace didn't understand what she meant just now, but the very next moment, he was cocooned into a pinkish barrier, without having the ability to move, and then dragged behind Winter as she moved!

Ace felt uncomfortable at first, but then he got somewhat got used to this feeling. He had to admit Winter's speed with hundreds of times faster than him. It was like riding the wind. But it was a pity he couldn't enjoy the feeling, for obvious reasons.

A few hours later, Ace noticed they were heading toward the Mighty Moon Province and he knew this wasn't good at all.

'She wanted to escape the continent while the demons are still busy with those things she released. This is bad. I can't go off the continent like this…'

He questioned in a respectful tone, "Umm… Mistress, are we going to leave the demon continent?"

Winter's ears perked slightly as she replied, "What are you unwilling? It's because of your bonds? Heh, forget about it, in this world bonds are nothing but tools, as long as they are useful others will keep them and the moment they become rusty or useless, they won't hesitate to replace them. You can only rely on yourself in this world." There was deep bitterness and hatred in her voice when she said that.

Ace knew this won't help like this. If he wanted to stop her, he had to tell her something which interest her and made her stay willingly.

Then he suddenly thought of something as his eyes brighten.

He said in a hesitant tone, "No, Mistress, I had no such ties after I met you. But what I mean to say was there's a treasure in the blade province and I never told anyone about it."

Winter remained uninterested. "I can give you more, so forget about it."

Ace smiled deviously at this moment, he said with assurance, "I knew it. How can some Demon Ancestor Treasure worthy of Mistress time?"

However, the moment those words left Feng's mouth, Winter's step came to an abrupt halt!

She used her Qi to throw Ace in front of her and asked with wide eyes, "What did you say? Tell me everything?!"

Ace suddenly felt the soul brand glowing in full power and he knew she had taken the bait!

He quickly replied, "When I was young, I had found a strange token and when I accidentally touched it with my blood, it suddenly got bonded with me and strange information appeared in my mind."

Winter's eyes shimmered with intrigue as she asked, "What kind of information?"

Feng replied, "It was information about some Demon Ancestor Treasure, and I can sense its general position through that token. It had also raised my talent…"

Before he could continue, Winter's eyes narrowed. "Where is that token? You don't have any storage ring?"

She has long noticed Feng didn't have any storage ring but was staying; he had this token.

This make her even more interested and eager to see if what Feng was saying was true or not.

Winter knew what kind of existence a demon ancestor was and she didn't doubt even for a second that Feng would've never known unless he had an extremely high status in the royal zone, which she knew was impossible.

That was why she quickly became interested in this treasure when he said Demon Ancestor. She was greedy, to begin with, and she thought this could be another tremendous opportunity for her!

But this also make her lower her guard and she didn't use her martial sense to scan Ace's words because she had a blind trust in her soul branding technique, which was far more reliable than martial sense or soul sense.

But this will also give Ace the chance to con her as well!

He said, "This token is merged with my martial space. It is all because of it I become so talented. But I can gladly give it to mistress."

With that, he placed his hand under his robe as Winter watched with expectancy.

"System, one house recruitment token, please." He ordered.

<strong>======</strong>

<strong>[One Thief House Recruitment Token has been delivered in the host's living thief's space.]</strong>

<strong>---</strong>

<strong>[Thief Point(s): 1,342,100]</strong>

<strong>======</strong>

Feng pull his hand out of his robe and this time it wasn't empty, but he had a dark token in his hand.

Winter clearly had no idea about the existence of the sky stealer or his thief symbol, so this gave Ace even more leverage over her, and used it to his own advantage.

Ace knew his only way out of this situation was if he could overpower Winter, which was impossible, so he chose the second-best option, which was to subdue her!

He suddenly felt glad that Thomas didn't agree to join the Thief House or he would be out of house recruitment token already and this situation might really turn worse.

However, now she had completely bought Feng's story because she thought she was in complete control and Feng can never do anything to harm her.

This created this perfect situation!

Winter suddenly turned into her charming, pitied self. She took the coin from Ace's hand with a hint of ecstasy in her eyes.

She looked at the dark, exquisite token and used her Qi to probe it, but found nothing special. If she hadn't seen Feng 'pulling out of it from his body, she would never believe it was special.

She looked at Feng and asked, "How should I use it?"