Eternal Thief

The moment they stepped into this maze-like cavern, Ace felt extremely uncomfortable. Furthermore, the bioluminescent plants and the fish, like heavenly beasts in water, seemed alert by their presence, but because of the token of passage, they didn't react.

'I should quickly head towards the portal; the longer I stay here, the more danger I'll be in of exposing myself. After all, this is the domain of heavenly will, so my disguise might not work.'

"I'll lead from here. If we step into the wrong passage, we'll meet a tragic end," He sternly stated to Sofia, who was admiring this place with stars in her eyes.

Ace then followed the fate map, took a path with a turbulent stream, and went inside. As they entered this passage, the bioluminescent plants, which were small in the outer skirts, started appearing big until they were as large as trees.

Soon, the entire passage was filled with those bioluminescent trees, and there was only a small way for a single person to walk. Furthermore, Sofia mightn't have sensed it, but Ace was sure that those trees would've attacked them if he didn't have this token of passage.

But it was just the start. As they went deeper, the cavern suddenly turned into a gigantic tree forest. This was the power of the Forbidden Heavenly Space Maze Array and Forbidden Heavenly Sanctify Array.

The Forbidden Heavenly Space Maze can easily lead someone to their death if they don't know the way or have permission to enter this place.

As they approached the temple portal, Ace suddenly flipped his hand, and a slightly broken star-shaped pendant appeared in his hand. This was the Talisman of Heaven's Approval.

He handed it to startled Sofia and said, "Here, wear this pendant. This is another piece of the puzzle. Without it, we can't enter the temple."

Sofia was surprised to receive the pendant before wearing it and asked, "Father, don't we need the ascension altar to ascend? I didn't know we could enter the temple since I've heard from the master that it's a forbidden zone that our clan has been entrusted to protect by the supreme deity."

"This is indeed the case, but it's not completely true as well. You see, our family has also bestowed three chances to use the ascension temple directly. If we use these chances to ascend, then we'll get the help of the deity in ascension, and the chance of succession will greatly increase."

Antonio smiled bitterly, "You should know my aptitude is not so great, so I'm going to waste this chance. I hope you won't think little of me."

"I won't dare." A Realization dawned on Sofia. 'So that's why he's so confident about ascending? But if that's the case, why did the others leave this chance to others?' she thought with uncertainty.

After all, she knew every mortal emperor longed for ascension, and if they had known about this opportunity, they would've never missed it or left it for the next generation. Doubts started to arouse in her heart, and she finally noticed something.

She looked at Antonio and hesitantly asked, "Father, then how would Mother and others follow us without this token and pendant?"

'She's not a complete idiot after all.' Ace though as he had already prepared explanation for his question and replied, "You don't need to worry about it, you see once this pendant is used the pathway would be safe for others to enter for an entire day. They will be able to reach us in time."

'Was it thinking too much?' Sofia thought. She didn't have much information about this place, so she could only believe Antonio.

"Besides, after I used this pendant, a final use would still be left. I've entrusted it to you to make a sound judgment. If you are confident that you can ascend without it, don't waste it and leave it in the treasury.

"But you can't tell others about it. If someone like me appeared who stumbled upon it by chance, they could use it. This is a custom of our family, and this is also the reason that this pedant still exists to this day." Ace directly told her a story that he had made up, and Sofia's doubt finally cleared.

Soon, they both crossed the vast forest and appeared at the foot of an ethereal golden mountain that seemed to exist between illusion and reality. If someone tried to climb it, they would pass through it.

But at this moment, when Antonio and Sofia appeared, the Talisman of Heaven's Approval on Sofia's neck suddenly trembled, releasing faint hums. The next moment, a crystal engraved in the pendant suddenly lit up in golden light, and a fine ray of golden light shot from it into the token of passage in Sofia's hand.

Sofia was startled as she felt someone within her blood suddenly stir when the Talisman of Heaven's Approval was suddenly activated.

However, she didn't have time to pay any attention because the very next moment, the ethereal golden mountain released a blinding white light.

When that light vanished, a beautiful ancient staircase leading towards the peak of this mountain appeared right in front of them. Even from this distance, they could see a golden vortex swirling at the end of this staircase, giving off a profound aura that made others want to kneel before it.

Furthermore, Ace felt an extremely familiar aura and pressure descending in the vicinity the moment this passage appeared.

'This is the aura of the heavenly punishment!' Ace's heart raced with ecstasy as he looked at the golden vortex, 'The Void Lock Array has been unlocked, and that has to be the portal that leads to the ascension temple!

'This also seems like the final test for whoever wants to ascend through the ascension temple. This heavenly punishment pressure is five times greater than the seventh heavenly punishment; no mortal would be able to climb under this pressure even if they are at the peak of the eighth realm. Tsk, and here I thought heaven was being generous for once…'

"W-what is this?" Sofia asked, finding it hard to breathe. Her cultivation wasn't at the level where she could withstand this pressure, and the heavenly punishment aura was giving her chills.

Ace looked at Sofia and smiled coldly, "Since you helped me reach this place, I consider your debt to me voided, and I hope you'll cherish this opportunity that I'm about to give you…"

Sofia was startled as she didn't understand what Antonio was suddenly saying, but she knew something was wrong.

But before she could react, Ace's used soul words, "Sleep!"

Sofia was already under the ghastly pressure of the heavenly punishment, and her soul was weaker than Ace's, so she instantly fell asleep under Ace's soul words.

Ace didn't tarry and quickly grabbed the activated pedant and the token before sending Sofia to Eva in his thief's space.

The next moment, black, inky Qi suddenly gushed out of Ace's hands and started to cover his body before it turned completely pitch black, like a dark silhouette. He was using the Dismantle Qi to cover himself so he could avoid attracting heaven's attention.

Ace thought of this method when he was researching the forbidden runes. He remembered that the system was using it to avoid attracting the attention of heaven. He knew there was something about the Dismantle Qi that could avoid heaven's detection and even dismantle forbidden runes.

So, he knew this method was the only way to avoid detection and infiltrate the Ascension Temple! But there was just a single drawback: He couldn't use his heavenly Qi for skills on top of the Dismantle Qi. This means he can't use stealth or any abilities or skills that require Qi.

That's why he prepared something to at least hide his pitch-

black silhouette; a heavenly talisman appeared in his hand, and he activated it without hesitation, and soon, his black figure vanished.

After he was done preparing, Ace took a deep breath and stepped on the first staircase that led toward the temple portal!