Eternal Thief

With a cold, devilish smile that showcased his sharp fangs, Edward continued, "In that fight, before she fled, I left a curse mark on her. Unless she died or had become stronger than me or someone else stronger than me helped her, that curse mark was impossible to remove. 

"With my curse mark, I can sense her general direction no matter the distance. Furthermore, her cultivation won't recover easily because of the curse mark. So, once she fled, I summoned leaders of ten clans and gave them a piece of my mind by crippling them. 

"Thereafter, I transfer the tracking curse mark to my right-hand man and let him search for the harlot and bring her alive or dead. But who could've thought it would take almost fifteen years to find her? 

"Because somehow she was teleported to the Azure Wind Continent of all places. So, I used Dream Shatter to track her traces, and he wasn't disappointed like always. That fucking snake." Edward cussed in anger, just remembering how Dream Shatter tricked them all, and now he behaves haughtily in front of him after the Union Lord took over the world. 

"Sigh… we should've killed him while we had the chance." Albert ruefully sighed, and Margret nodded in agreement. 

Edward merely scoffed and didn't comment on the topic since he knew more than those two about Dream Shatter and how slippery that bastard was. 

So, he continued on the subject, "After that fucking snake helped us find her trace, that led back to their sealed grounds. It wasn't hard to find that harlot once she got closer to the curse mark owner. 

"But my men met with another surprise. It turned out that the harlot ended up in the territory of the Soul Flame Sect and was attacked by the humans because of her unique aura. However, she ended up saved by the youngest son of the Soul Flame Sect Leader.

"And the most ridiculous part was that idiot was completely enchanted by her beauty and decided to elope with her, leaving behind his entire sect legacy. The Soul Flame Sect were also searching for the traitor, so Dream Shatter asked me to let them tag along, and I said why not. 

"They tracked them down in the most barren part of their sealed lands, and they were playing family there and even had a halfling abomination." Killing intent swirls in Edward's ruthless eyes, "I ordered to kill. But that harlot used some strange skill to sacrifice herself for that idiot and the abomination. 

"I think three of them died, and two were barely able to retreat. But the harlot was dead, so the curse mark was also gone with both the idiot and the abomination in the wind. 

"They continued their search for six months but found nothing. From what I've heard, the idiot was gravely wounded, and he should've been dead while the little abomination won't be able to survive alone, so the search was called off. 

"This is how the notorious Shadow Devil Thief met her doom." Edward sneered towards the end with a hint of deep satisfaction. 

Margret couldn't help but jeer, "So all that fuss and resources to track down a single woman. I never thought you had it in you, dear Edward. Was it because she hurt your pride or because she was too beautiful to let go? Don't tell me she managed to pull the strings in your stony heart since I never heard you talk about a woman so passionately, much less remember her name." 

Edward glared at her in annoyance, "I did what I did for the race. I can't just let a thief walk all over my descendants and me, right? You would've done the same. But oh wait, that thief has already done that with your little pet project, if I'm not wrong, and you're now helpless!" 

Margret eyes suddenly shone with purple lightning, "Try saying that again." 

Edward's lips curled up as his sharp fangs were revealed, and a bloodthirsty aura suddenly oozed from him. 

Albert, at this moment, suddenly yelled in bewilderment, "Key!" and he drew both of their attention. 

"What?" Edward asked as he saw Albert's almost hysteric expression. 

"The key! I finally sense the key! That bastard finally takes it out!" Albert roared with mirth. 

"What, where?" Margret forgot about what was about to happen and quickly asked with a grave expression. 

The keys were connected to their souls so they could sense their general direction, and that's why it was impossible to steal them. Furthermore, no kind of storage ring or formation could hide them unless they exceed the world's criteria. 

But for some reason, the Sky Stealer proved them wrong when he stole Albert's key. No matter how much Albert tried, he couldn't sense its direction, as it had vanished from the face of this world. 

That's why Albert had given up and made peace with his impending death, and the breaking through was his only option now. 

Yet, suddenly, Albert felt the key, which could only mean the thief had taken it out from the restriction, which was nothing but good news for them. They can hunt the elusive thief down. 

But before Albert could calm down from his excitement, his expression suddenly contorted and went ghastly pale as he screamed, "NO….no…nooooooo!" 

Edward frowned and asked while amiss, seeing Albert having a mental breakdown all of a sudden, "What happened now?" 

Albert muttered with an ashen expression as if someone had lost his soul, "I-it's gone again! It's fucking gone!" 

The cruelest thing in this world was to give a dying man hope to live again before taking it away right in that instant. The same thing was happening with Albert right now. Just when he accepted his impending doom, he saw a ray of hope before it snuffed away just like that. 

'I thought so…' Edward didn't say it out loud and calmed Albert down, "Which direction was it?" 

No matter the despair, Albert was still an old demon, so he was quickly able to collect himself and hoarsely replied, "Southeast." 

Margret squinted her eyes as she muttered, "Isn't that where the Azure Wind Continent is?" 

"What in the world is that sly bastard up to now, and why did he take out that key for a moment?" Edward couldn't help but feel extreme perturbation!