Eternal Thief

Three months after the Imperial Demon Domain's foray, on a colossal mountain peak filled with azure winds.

A figure kneeled in front of a small adobe at this strange mountain peak.

A mild voice rang behind that door, "What is it?"

The hunchback old man in white robes, who looked like a wilted tree branch, respectfully replied, "We received an unbelievable rumor from our destination."

"If it's an unbelievable rumor, then why are you disturbing me?" The mild voice coolly asked without any hint of anger.

"Prime One, rumor is about the Thief, Sky Stealer!" The old man replied.

"Oh? Did he get captured?" The nonchalant voice suddenly showed a great interest, even anticipation.

The old man had this unexplainable expression as he hesitantly replied, "No. On the contrary, he stuck again, and this time he stole something from… Demon Temple!"

"What!" Prime One's voice rang in astonishment.

"That's why I said it was an unbelievable rumor. But it might not be so baseless since we received the reports of the demon race's strange, tyrannical behavior in these past months.

"No one knows who spread this rumor, but it had already spread through the entire continent, and other races might also know about it. Furthermore, I don't think Demons would welcome our visit anymore if they knew we had something on that thief.

"If there is even an iota of truth in this news, they might try to snatch the Icy Sword Fairy to threaten that thief to come out or even go beyond that. That thief is too important for our race's rise!" The old man stiffly stated.

At first, he didn't believe it, but he still came here to report it and state his concern.

"Hmm, this is indeed troublesome. If this concerns the Demon Temple, I'm afraid Dream Shatter won't be enough. Contact him and tell him to head toward the Blood Continent instead. He should be close at this juncture of time." Prime One's coolly commanded.

The hunchback old man's eyes widened slightly, "Are we returning the Ice Sword Fairy?"

"Heh, just give my command to Dream Shatter, and he'll know my will." Prime One merely chuckled.

"As your command Prime One!" The Hunchback Old Man respectfully bowed and then faded from his place.

The azure winds around the mountain suddenly formed an azure vortex right above the adobe.

Prime One's voice rang again, but this time it was filled with terrifying killing intent, "You can't escape. One way or another, you have to die … Contamination!"

---

Deep within the Black Mountain Range,

With a frown, Ace was looking at the black ravine hundreds of meters below. The sound of raging black water reverberated in the vicinity.

If Ace wanted to cross the Black Mountain Range, he needed to travel to the other side of the ravine, but he didn't dare to because the fate map ahead was Black!

In this past month, with the help of the fate map, he had avoided terrifying demonic beasts residing in black mountains, and he finally understood why this place was a red fate location.

If someone without the Eternal Thief Fate Compass like treasure dared to tread into these mountains, they would eventually stumble upon one of those beasts' territories.

Only a Manifestation Realm Cultivator could move unhindered.

However, now that he saw the other side of the ravine, Ace thought otherwise. Manifestation Realm might not be enough after all.

Even after searching for another path forward or finding a red fate location instead of black, he failed. No matter what, it appeared he had to cross that black area where his life might be threatened. The black river below also wasn't exempt from this black fate location.

'Should I break through here and then move forward? Once I break through, the compass rank will also increase, and there are also stagnate skills. I need to break through eventually, and I might draw some terrifying existence on the other side with the punishment commotion.

'This place is far away from the royal demon nation, and most of the beasts here are soul realm… I can't put this off anymore. Besides, I want to try this new theory to deal with the heavenly punishment, and the Epiphany Pill came at the right time.' Ace's lips suddenly curled up as he looked at the sunny sky.

After making his decision, he turned around and left to find a suitable place for calling the heavenly punishment and breakthrough.

It was a rare chance for Ace to prepare before starting the heavenly punishment since, in his last two breakthroughs, he had no choice but to activate the punishment to save his life while putting it in an even more dangerous situation.

However, now, he wasn't in any danger, and he had been planning this for a long time. From the day he found out that his bloodline was sealed by someone and he needed to endure heavenly punishment to unseal it, he was not going to hide behind Page-09 anymore.

The Epiphany Pill was a miraculous pill that could let him enter the state of Epiphany, which was called the fabled State of Wonders in some books. He never thought the system had such a thing for reward as well.

He wanted to use the power of the Epiphany Pill to enter the state of Epiphany and wanted to see if he could create some wonder with it.

Ace found a secluded mountain, created a large hole just big enough to hold a demon, and then set up multiple formations around it.

Afterward, he sat cross-legged, cleared his mind, and recovered for an hour.

At this moment, Ace flipped his hand, and an ethereal white pill appeared, just staring at it made Ace somewhat dazzle. Furthermore, he couldn't feel the pill or its scent. It was like he wasn't holding anything.

It was the Low-Grade Epiphany Pill!

Ace took a deep breath before he threw the pill into his mouth, and it instantly melted into a white wisp.

Ace felt his mind being pulled into a strange state as the connection to his surrounding completely cut off. It was like taking an insight pill, but he was feeling… free this time.

While talking insight pill, he could only think of the skill he wanted to increase its rank, but the Epiphany Pill was completely different. He could mull over anything!

Not only that, but he felt some strange power was helping him understand problems he was never able to.

Ace felt if he could enter this state for a long time, he might cultivate all his skills and even laws to a terrifying degree!

All kinds of notions started coming to him, but he focused on three things.

First, the Law of [Despair]. Second, the first level of Sky Sword, the Sky Sword Core Creation, and third, the Black Lightning God Manual, which was the cultivation technique of the Black Lightning Imperial Demon Family.

These three things covered almost all the aspects Ace had, and the cultivation art he wanted to create, which could help him against the heavenly punishment lightning could only be created with these three things.

After taking the Epiphany Pill, it became apparent!

Although he only remembered the Sky Sword Core Creation to its Early Stage, it was still as complex as his Dual Shadow Swords Basic Technique.

Time pass at a breakneck pace for Ace in that magical state. Minute by minute, Ace was having all kinds of simulations within his mind.

An hour passed, but Ace still hadn't awakened from the Epiphany despite the fact that the pill's effect got exhausted. Somehow Ace fell into an even deeper state of Epiphany!

Epiphany was a very mysterious state, sometime it would only take a moment to fall into such a state unknowingly, and sometimes, even a lifetime won't be enough.

Although the Epiphany Pill only works for an hour, the time could be increased if the pill consumer had a heaven-defying talent or simply too profound of an inspiration. Ace was a both!

At this moment, he had completely forgotten about himself and anything around him. His whole mind was focused on creating that imaginary cultivation art that could help him cross the heavenly punishment.

Just like that, without even Ace realizing it, a week passed, then a month, as he remained stoic like a statue.

2 months… 3 months… 5 months…

Today a strange dark mist oozed from Ace as it gave the feeling of sharp despair, it was like despair had manifested upon Ace's body, but his expression remained stoic.

The black mist also didn't seem to harm him. On the contrary, the dark mist suddenly started to seep from the black mountain where Ace was sitting, and that dark mist somehow got annexed within the mist oozing from his body, and it started to grow!

Soon, more mist drew from the black mountains and ignored the formations. They started to become part of the growing mist around Ace.

One month passed since the black mist started to gather around Ace, and the small mountain was now wholly enshrouded in that mist!