Eternal Thief

Standing under the rain of golden arrows, Ace didn't appear to panic despite feeling a terrifying aura that was clearly far above the soul manifestation realm. 

Suddenly, something invisible shot out from his sleeve. It was the thievish soul cord! Following Ace's thought, the thievish soul cord turned into a whip and clashed with the arrows coming in his way. 

'Bang…' 

The thievish soul cord flung in the sky like lightning bolts, and those intent arrows shattered in blasts in front of Ace's first grade-8 treasure! 

Now that Ace has mastered the thievish soul cord control to perfection, the cord is now like his limb, and he can move it as he wishes without any restraints. As long as he has soul Qi, he can increase its size infinitely.

Furthermore, the cord also has many useful abilities that Ace wasn't using before because he focused too much on his sword. Only after mastering the secret skill did he understand just how wide the scoop of the thievish soul cord was and how he had been neglecting it all this time. 

After destroying the golden arrows, Ace looked at the sky with a mocking smile before the cord instantly followed his will and bolted in the same direction. 

'Clash…' 

A sharp metallic voice of steel hitting together rang in the empty purple sky, and the next moment, a black-clad woman standing on top of a sword appeared with a small golden bow in her hand. 

She seemed to be struggling by using her Qi to stop the invisible cord coiling around her body. 

"What kind of skill is this!" She was quite alarmed as she shouted in panic when she found no matter what skill or how much Qi she used, she couldn't seem to destroy that mysterious skill that wanted to grab her. 

Furthermore, she could feel a threatening feeling as if she would never be able to live if she was grabbed by this invisible rope. 

"Useless." Ace sneered, 'Soul Binding!' 

The woman who wanted to flee suddenly felt her mind jumbled as a terrifying pain struck her very soul. 

'Impossible! Why isn't my soul protective treasure working?!' She was now really terrified as not only her almost law awareness rank soul but a grade-7 soul protective treasure was being affected by this powerful soul attack. 

'She's indeed a quasi-law awareness realm cultivator. She's still resisting the thievish soul cord.' Ace was slightly impressed as he glanced at the fate map before his lips curled up in an icy smile, 'I don't have time to play.' 

Ace turned into dark winds and instantly vanished into one of the passages, and the thievish soul cord retracted back before vanishing again in his sleeve. 

'C-Crazy…' 

The woman with a golden bow panted like crazy and felt massive relief wash over her when she found the soul attack was finally over. 

Shortly after Ace vanished, ten more flying swords approached the woman at a terrifying speed. Furthermore, all of these newcomers were women, and leading them were none other than golden hunter Delma! 

"Where is the heretic? Did you put you in such a sorry state?" Delma questioned curiously. 

"H-he's gone! He's too powerful and strange. I didn't even know how he was able to attack me from 400 meters away without even moving a muscle, and he deflected my attack too easily. His soul is simply too terrifying." She explained what she had experienced. 

"Really? It was the heretic, not the legendary creature?" A devil asked with disbelief. 

"I didn't see any creature with him at all. F-furthermore, he was able to see through my grade-7 concealment talisman quite easily, which should only be possible for an intermediate Law Awareness Realm cultivator. But we were told he's around the level of mid to early Soul Manifestation Realm." 

Delma showed a faint frown before he said, "Maybe he was using one of those formations? But it's quite strange that since he was winning, why didn't he finish you off and retreat while spearing you?" 

"It's because he knew you guys were approaching fast." The God Envoy's imposing voice rang with a hint of frustration. 

"Did he have such treasure?" Delma asked respectfully. 

No one was surprised to hear God Envoy's voice since they were too used to it now, and he was the one who was commanding them in arranging ambushes. Alerting them of Ace's arrival and also providing them with the shortest route. 

"This I don't know if he has a treasure or some strange ability. But I do know that he has a way of detecting danger and navigating like he can see everything in the Moon Secret Realm, just like me.

"That's why I told you all not to underestimate him. I have yet to see him act myself, and he was cultivating for 129 days before coming here like he was being ready for something huge. 

"Just now, he used an unknown grade-8 treasure, probably of a high grade as well, to deal with your companion. So, now it would be safer to assume he has more grade-8 treasures than I'd anticipated, and he's no normal being. 

"Right now, he's heading straight towards the final cathedral and team 4. But they won't be able to handle him, so I've decided to change our plan a little. It's far better than exhausting yourself while he hadn't even shown his pet. 

"Retreat back to the cathedral. I'll contact everyone else." The God Envoy sternly commanded before his voice went dormant. 

Delma sighed ruefully, "What a mess. Let's go back; it's either going to be a very, very long confrontation, or it might end in jiffy." 

Ace moved using the apparition wind walk between the unmeasurable amount of demonic beasts. As he looked at the map, his eyes shimmered with astonishment. 

'Why is everyone retreating back? Now, what is this bastard planning?' Ace thought with scrutiny. 

But he knew since everyone was going toward the guardian zone, it was the God Envoy's doing. Yet he can do nothing but brace himself for what is to come. From the start, he wasn't the one controlling the stage. All he could do was to prepare and continue to move forward. 

'Well, since those guys are no longer coming. I should take my time while trying that archery style.' Ace thought as he suddenly flew up with his sword and stopped using soul Qi, canceling the art. 

The next moment, the aerial beasts lunged toward him in madness.

The thievish soul cord suddenly moved out and arced, turning into a simple translucent blow. 

'Let's see. Qi arrow imbued with element law intent just like my Qi swords…' 

Pulling the string back, a dark arrow with lightning started to materialize, and a powerful lighting aura spread. 

Ace couldn't help but be astounded when the arrow was condensed, and he tried to incorporate lighting intent, and it increased the Qi arrow might 10-fold despite the fact that he was only able to imbue a faint trace of lighting intent in it. 

Nevertheless, Ace felt a new door like the sword path had opened to him, and he arced his bow before releasing the arrow! 

'Rumble…' 

Dark lighting crackled in the sky as the bolted arrow turned everything in its path into bloody mist!