Eternal Thief



Ace was flabbergasted when he heard Freya's statement and couldn't help but think about his past encounter with Jessie when she had impersonated Jason. 

It was at this moment that he suddenly remembered that old map he got from Jason's storage ring, and he thought it was just some random treasure map and threw it with his other stash in his thief's space and completely forgot about it. 

"Don't tell that scroll you're talking about was a map?" Ace asked with a hint of trepidation since it was completely out of his expectation. 

Freya chuckled, "It seems you remembered after all. Indeed, that was the same map the Grim Ancestor had managed to steal from the demon temple that time." 

"If it was that precious, why in the world did he have handed it to this Jessie girl?" Eve couldn't help but question at this moment since this was quite strange. 

Because it was quite clear that the Grim Ancestor had the ability to keep that scroll to himself, but then why in the world did he hand it to Jessie?

Freya seemed to be ready for this question as she responded with a smile, "That's the thing actually, Jessie hadn't always been trustful of the Grim Ancestor, and he needed her to trust him so he could ready her for his rebirth. 

"That's why he had used the map under the pretext that map led to the ultimate treasure of the world, which also got him killed, and if she helped him avenge his death, he'd tell her how to reach its final destination.

"However, there was one truth in that sham as well, the Grim Ancestor had really needed one component, a sacrifice without Baleful Qi, and Leader met that requirement quite well, and that's why the Grim Ancestor made her approach Leader. 

"However, they both never expected that the Leader was so extraordinary, and he had played both of them like a fiddle, and not only he stole the map, he even confronted Jessie. 

"But even then, the Grim Ancestor had full confidence that he can found the Leader because he used a soul imprinting technique on the map, which made him sense its direction. 

"However, he soon found that even with that, he couldn't pinpoint the map's location, and we knew why that had been the case." 

"Because of this special space," Eva said matter-of-factly with a chuckle and couldn't help but gloat at the old snake's misfortune brought him by none other than her beloved. 

"Exactly. That's why the Grim Ancestor had no choice but to put the matter of retrieving that map on hold and focus on his rebirth. Afterward, it had been a smooth sailing journey for him, and he came here to collect the law source so he could return to peak state more quickly, and I don't need to tell you the rest." Freya snickered at the Grim Ancestor's pitiful fate. 

She knew better than anyone that dealing with Ace was far trickier than anyone could imagine. He can always talk his way out of the situation and even turn the entire thing around. She has personally experienced it. 

Now she has the Grim Ancestor memories, she has even more respect for Ace. Because, at that time, Ace was far weaker than when he had met with her. 

Ace was quite a spectacle about this situation, and he knew about the Baleful Qi since he acquired this information by threatening Jason and then more about it from the system. 

He had even paid the system to stop the dark void from absorbing the Baleful Qi so Jason won't find him anymore. 

"Why does he need a sacrifice without Baleful Qi for this map?" Ace questioned, as this was the most important thing and also the main reason he had come in contact with Jessie in the first place. 

Freya replied, "It was something conveyed to him by Albert in his final moment when that demon thought the Grim Ancestor was about to die anyway. He just tried to rub more salt, a typical demon nature. 

"He had told him that the scroll was useless for him or anyone unless he could offer a Pure Soul as a sacrifice before landing the final blow. The Grim Ancestor was also quite knowledgeable, so he instantly presumed that a Pure Soul could only appear without Baleful Qi since he was a practitioner of this nefarious Qi himself. 

"Yet at the same time, it was almost impossible, just as Albert said. That's why this map was also a piece of empty paper for him, and he used it to trick Jessie. But it all changed when he came in contact with the Leader. 

"He had even used this exact point as a temptation to pull the Beast Ancestor on his side and make him help him with his rebirth. Now they had been planning to go to the Azure Beast Continent to snatch Alina from the human's custody and then used her to draw him into their own trap!" 

Ace couldn't help but sneer coldly at both Grim Ancestor and the Beast Ancestor's schemes, and he didn't feel a sliver of remorse for what happened to him. 

Now he knew all the missing pieces of the puzzle of why the Grim Ancestor had wanted to capture him and the secret of that map. 

"Husband, where is that map? Show it to me!" Eva quickly asked passionately. 

Jessie's eyes spasmed when she heard Eva's intimate way of calling Ace, but she pretended as if she didn't hear it. But she also wanted the same as this map seemed to hide the biggest secret of how the other races appeared in the Golden Sky World. 

Or there was also a chance that this was nothing, and all Grim Ancestor's speculation and that map was actually something else. 

Nevertheless, since they already had that map, they won't lose anything by studying it. 

Ace couldn't help but bitterly reply, "I need to check my oldest items to search for the map, as I've completely forgotten about it. In the meanwhile, why don't you tell me about the way out of this place?"