Eternal Thief

When Ace thought to this point, a peculiar glint flashed past his eyes. 'Meeting him might not be a bad thing for me this time. I'm not that naïve little brat from that day anymore!'

He replied respectfully, "Senior Empty Dream, I indeed know your other soul piece, and I was even searching for you!" He lied through his teeth.

"My other soul… piece?" Patriarch Empty Dream's voice seemed confused, "Forgive me child… but my memories are not complete, and I just regain consciousness after I sense soul contract on you. Can… you tell me… more?"

Ace's eyes squinted when he heard this. 'He might be telling the truth, or demons would not let this happen. Besides, if I want to take advantage of this old ghost, this is the chance.'

A thievish smile flashed on Ace's face before he spoke, "Don't worry senior, I'll tell you everything about the outside world. We, after all, are partners. So, here's the thing, I encountered a soul piece like you in the Azure Wind Continent who told me…"

Ace didn't hide any information about the Azure Wind Continent, and he even added the information he was given by the Patriarch Empty Dream's other soul piece that day to make sure this soul piece will believe him completely. He even added some lies within the truth.

"… right now, I'm on the Demon Continent, and I was hunted down by the Demon Race because I was investigating your whereabouts and searching high and low for clues about your fourth soul pieces.

"But who would've thought I would find you in this awful place, of all places? Those hateful, abominable demons had made you into their defensive formation that will guard their front gates like a guard dog.

"As a human, my heart hurts when I think about how a pillar of our humanity was betrayed and now made someone else door guard…"

Ace lamented in a sad tone and almost shed some crocodile tears while he continued fanning the flame. He wanted to appear righteous and a loyal follower of Patriarch Empty Dream, who had come to the demon continent to rescue him and will do anything to ensure his resurrection.

"Good, very good. Devil Race, Demon Race, and that traitorous snake. Very good!" Patriarch Empty Dream's voice was filled with boundless rage and hatred as he seemed to remember some pieces of his past and completely believed Ace.

Ace's lips rose ever so slightly, but he didn't dare to be careless because Patriarch Empty Dream's soul pieces never even asked if he was a demon or human, which indicates he could see through his disguise.

He was playing with fire right now. If this old monster sensed he was lying and making things up, things might go awry.

If not for his years of experience in hiding his genuine emotions, he might not take any risk in fabricating lies in front of Empty Dream.

But now it seemed all those experiences had paid off.

However, he also had a clear understanding of Patriarch Empty Dream's soul pieces now as well.

'This guy was probably at the doorstep of that realm when he was attacked. Even these soul pieces can see through my disguise,' Ace mused.

Patriarch Empty Dream's furious voice rang again, "They went too far after not being able to acquire my clan's cultivation technique. They scattered my soul pieces around the world and used them as formation cores like an infinite power source!

"Child, don't worry. I can tell you have suffered so much just for the greater good of our human race. You are far better than that traitorous snake ever was. Once you completely revive me, I will definitely not mistreat you!"

Ace quickly bowed and humbly replied, "Senior, there's no need. I'm doing it for the greater good of humanity. The Dream Shatter King might have already handed the command of our race to devils in secret, which is not good news for us. Only you can change our fate."

This time Ace told a half-truth and half of his own assumption. He had heard from Winter that the Azure Wind Continent was at Devil Race's beck and call for thousands of years now.

He also found some historic records of this and suspected that humanity might have become the vessel of the Devil Race. But their relationship was still ambiguous since they never revealed its true nature.

However, Ace didn't care. He didn't have any attachments with the human race except for his mysterious parents and his grudge against Gordon's real body.

Ace had long decided that once he accumulated enough power, he will return to settle all this!

"Those bastards had shamed the heroes of the past who sacrificed themselves for freedom. Especially the Humane Sage Clavus!" Patriarch Empty Dream was completely exasperated.

For him, the azure wind continent was like his empire, which his ancestors built with blood and tears, and it was his birthright to rule that empire. But someone had backstabbed him, taken over this birthright, and even given it to the enemy on a silver platter.

How could he not resent and hate them?

"You're saying you had already gathered three of my soul wisps and searching for the fourth which is me?" Patriarch Empty Dream suddenly questioned.

Ace replied without any hesitation, "Indeed. I got clues about the involvement of Demon Race in the attack against you from your third soul wisp and came here for investigation. But demons are nothing like humans. They discovered me halfway through my search, and from then on, there are searching for me high and low.

"If I hadn't encountered a scion of the royal zone and acquired this information and ring, I might never dare to enter this place at all. But it seemed it was all paid out since you're here."

Ace pretended to be excited.

Patriarch Empty Dream could help but praise, "You're so young and daring. Not only do you care about our race's future, you even embarked on this path of no return valiantly. No wonder my other soul pieces entrusted you with this dangerous task. Don't take my words wrong, but where are my other soul wisps right now?"

'Hehe, he's still suspicious of me despite the soul contract. Or could it be that this soul contract was only valid between me and the first soul piece, and the other had nothing to do with it? Like Freya tried to trick me that day?

'This might really be the case. This old fox tricked me into signing that unfair contract, which might be because the other soul pieces can sense its presence on me and easily approach me like the soul brand.

'Once he revived, he can simply decide to go back on his words, and I would be completely helpless against this old monster. Now he wanted to make sure I'm telling the truth despite my performance, which mean he was extremely causation about these soul wisps of his. They might be some kind of indispensable keys for his revival.

'Or even worse, he might want to take over my body for this resurrection!'

If Ace hadn't experienced all those tricks himself, he would never even think of all this. But the more he thought, the more he found it possible and the more he became vigilant of Patriarch Empty Dream.

Although he knew the system would never let someone else take over its host, he didn't want to deliberately reach that point and put himself in danger just because he can.

After reaching this conclusion, Ace was now completely calm.

He replied to Patriarch Empty Dream's question or what he wanted to hear, "Senior, your soul wisps can't be stored in storage rings. So, I hid them somewhere in the Endless Sea when I was traveling here. To make sure I won't lose them while traveling."

Patriarch Empty Dream's voice paused for a moment before he rang again, "Very Good, you handle this well. Now, I'm more assured and believe you can complete this task. Here took my soul wisp as well and leave this place.

"Since I'm awake now, I can slightly influence this formation and send you to a safe location on the other side and also make those demons' lives miserable."

Before Ace could react, a translucent marble filled with milky smoke drifted toward Ace.

He knew what it was since he had one just like this laying in his thief's space for years.

It was another soul wisp of Patriarch Empty Dream soul piece, and now he had collected two of them despite not desiring them.

Still, he accepted it and put it in his pocket.

If the Patriarch was really planning to possess by using these soul wisps, he didn't mind holding on to them and even destroying them if necessary!

'Now's the chance.'

Ace bowed and said, "Senior, I'm now ready to inherit your soul search technique, which required imbuing a wisp of soul sense to infiltrate someone's knowledge sea!"