Eternal Thief

This time after the explosion, the cultivators in the Qi river core realm were the fastest ones to reach the location. 

Lan, Alvin, Ridge were the first ones and when they were about to examine the place, they sense something out of ordinary. 

"Hmph, sneaky rats, come out!" Lan snorted and a powerful pressure descend in a fifty-meter area.

However, before the pressure reached its limit, those hiding in the cover of mist dashed out and escape successfully!

"Damn Ghosts!" Lan cursed in contempt because he knew only nightmare ghosts' Qi river core cultivators had this kind of abilities. If he wasn't using a treasure to increase his martial sense, even he might've not sensed them. 

"They reached here much earlier than we expected!" said Ridge with a frown.

"Someone must have leaked the news from inside!" Alvin pulled an ugly face.

Lan also scowled before saying, "It doesn't matter anymore. We just need to prepare for confrontation, we can't afford to lose this time. They have three Qi river core cultivators, meaning black-level assassins. Just watch out for a sneak attack and those sneaky rats lose their advantages!" 

Alvin and Ridge both nodded in agreement. 

More and more people began to show and after seeing the trio empty-handed they knew that bastard has escaped again.

Some unlucky low-level assassins drew here like the last group, but they didn't have the skills to escape Lan and others. In the end, Alvin killed mercilessly all five of them. 

A few miles away from Alvin's group, the nightmare ghosts' trio of Qi river core cultivators emerged. 

"We lose three blue and two purple assassins!" Black Reaper's angry voice sounded. 

"What can we do then? If we fight, it would only benefit them, don't forget they had one more Qi river core cultivator, Damien King, on their side!" An aged voice rang from one of three figures. 

"But we have Crown Prince!" The woman in the trio retorted.

"No, we can't let them know about Crown Prince, not if it's necessary." Black Reaper's rebuke. 

"Black Reaper is right." The old man also had the same thoughts as Black Reaper's, "What do you think, the Crown Prince wasn't there? He was actually there, but he didn't show himself, and Lan of Pill Flame also didn't find him. If not for the prince signal, even I couldn't find him!" 

"Just keep searching for that thief and order our reaming men to be more careful, we can't afford to lose more!" Black Reaper's stiff voice sounded.

A few miles deeper inside the outer circle, Marc's group also appeared wearing black capes. 

"We nearly exposed ourselves. This is annoying!" One of the sword maids complained.

Marc chuckles, "Don't worry, they can't sense us with these capes if they weren't in the middle stages of the Qi river core realm. But that thief is something each time he escaped, and there is something wrong with these explosions as well." 

He wasn't a fool, and after he first examines the area of the explosion; he didn't find any trace of Qi, and that was what aroused his suspicion. But after the second explosion, his suspicion becomes more substantial. 

But what Marc didn't understand was how could someone cause this kind of racket without using Qi.

"Is your majesty saying, he's deliberately luring us here?" The sword maid with a big chest guessed what Marc was trying to imply. 

"Just as sharp as ever, Rina." Marc praise Rina as he nodded, "Yes, don't you find it strange even after knowing this many people came here that thief still didn't escape, and even you could tell now, he has the ability.

"But not only he didn't escape, he even caused those strange explosions like he was declaring his position to all of us. My guess is he's luring us deeper inside the forest for some reason."

"I think he's trying to weaken us with this mist!" Rina quickly stated. 

"Yes, this mist is really dangerous even for me and if we go deeper, it will affect us." Marc pulled a grave face since he also had some thought as Rina, "But that thief also in the same situation as us. Let's play along, for now, it's not easy to scheme against me!" 

A malicious smile appeared on Marc's handsome face!

---   

While Marc has somewhat seen through Ace's plot, Ace was on the end of the outer circle and just a few miles away from the inner circle! 

After he caused the last explosion, he used no more explosives because this would stimulate too much suspicion and the hunting group might give up and leave the earthen mist forest. 

Especially, if he wanted all of them to enter the inner circle of the earthen mist forest because this area was even dangerous for peak Qi river cultivators. 

So, he will use one bigger explosive to lure everyone into the inner circle and then use some other method to lure them further inside. 

At this moment, Ace abruptly stopped right outside the inner circle's boundary. 

'This feeling!' Ace suddenly felt dread from the mist of the inner circle.

Ace slowly extended his hand toward the thick emerald mist to test if it was harmful to him. Just as he touched the mist, he felt a sudden tingle of pain on his skin! 

Ace quickly put a membrane of HD-Qi and the painful sensation stopped. He frowned and mused, 'It didn't affect me mentally but physically, is it because my soul cultivation is much higher than my martial cultivation?' 

This was the only likely explanation he could though of because the soul represented cognitive strength and Ace knew his strength too well. 

But this was also bad news for him even if this mist only affected him physically this meant if this mist becomes more potent; it can also affect him mentally. 

This also means he had to use more martial Qi or soul Qi with martial Qi to protect his mind and body. He can also use only one type of Qi, but it would cause a massive amount of Qi consumption, whether it's the soul Qi or martial Qi. 

At this juncture, he was using an inconsiderable amount of HD-Qi which implies this mist was not strong enough, yet. 

'I thought, it would be easy since this mist didn't influence me, but I never thought the mist outside just wasn't strong enough. Heh, it's also meant I'm not completely immune to poisons, or it's just my body that isn't strong enough yet.' Ace thought in self-mockery.

But it was also a good thing since he now knows he wasn't completely invulnerable!

'Sigh… I can also come back after reaching higher realms, but I have no idea where I would find another elemental orb. Even if I found one, this doesn't mean I would be not as dangerous or even worse than this place.'

After mulling over it for a while, Ace's shone with decisiveness, 'Let's just confirm first if there is an orb here or not!' 

After putting a membrane of HD-Qi around his body, he entered the inner circle with no delay. 

However, before moving too far inside, he took two dark-yellow bombs and just like before throw them toward the sky after lit them up. He never threw them on the group because doing so would leave evidence behind.

After ten seconds, two resounding explosions rang on the boundary between outer and inner circles. These explosions were loud enough to draw everyone's attention, and it would probably give Ace half an hour before Qi river core cultivators reached this place.

Ace was now ten miles inside the inner circle. He was constantly using his HD-Qi to protect himself from the emerald mist, which was quite thick. He could only see ten meters around him with his eyes. 

The only satisfying thing was, this mist didn't seem to affect his Qi recovery nor did it hinder his soul sense. Just these two things were enough to render the poisonous effect on his physique nugatory!

He continued to move deeper toward the mysterious circle where the elemental orb should be if it was here. 

Abruptly, just when Ace's passed a tree, his fine hairs stand, and he felt goosebumps all over his body because something very powerful has locked on to him, and it was already attacking!

In an instant, Black Blade Swords appeared in his hands as his HD-Qi surged. He crossed the sword before him and used his full power to form a dark barrier with his manifest Qi! 

'BANG…'

Something directly charged in his barrier, and its impact was enough to send Ace flying like a broken kite!

Ace quickly used his full power to reduce the impact and stabilize himself. He glanced at the enemy and his eyes narrowed because it wasn't a human nor did it seem a demonic beast. 

It was 3-meter tall, green color being and its body was humanoid, and it seemed like it was made of the mire.. It had two emerald gemstones in the place of its eyes. Moreover, it was emitting the aura of Empty River Realm!