Eternal Thief

With Ace leading them to who knows where. But they didn't dare offend him and silently followed since it was too late to turn around now.

In Ace's 'guidance' they all travel for who knows how long because they weren't any concept of day and night, but Ace was closely calculating the time because of every four hours' rest. 

'Five days pass, but we still didn't encounter a single golem or another living being, are we lost?!' Ace's heart sank to rock bottom because this wasn't a good sign for him.

While Ace was getting desperate, the others were also pessimistic about the situation. Although only five days passed in this gloomy and poisonous environment, it was like five months has passed. 

They all showed signs of agitation and even doubt Ace's actual intention as well as the authenticity of the 'treasure map' in Ace's possession. But they still did not take any action because they were still blind in this misty sea and Ace was their only compass. 

Every time, when Ace leave to replenish his Qi, they would debate what they should do next; if they still need to keep tailing him or just attacked him and take the map in one fell swoop. 

But the elders in the group, Lan and Old man Black, pacifist the youngsters every time they talk about assailing Ace. 

These old men have a very different perspective than others in their point of view, Ace was probably testing them and deliberately taking the long way toward the inheritance place. 

If they try to snatch the map, they might fail because in these five days they still weren't able to see through Ace's cultivation, and they also didn't discriminate the element Qi he was using or that strange Qi they were following all this time. 

Even a blind person would be wary of a person who possesses this many mysteries, this type of person always had one or two methods to preserve their life. 

That's why both old men just silently followed and observed for now, if they found even the slightest bit of liability from Ace they would take advantage of that very moment and struck him down! 

Ace was well aware of these 'secret discussions' about him and how those two old men supported him. But he wasn't the one who'll be thankful to them, since their motives were also not pure. 

So, Ace planned to leave them silently in two days, if he still wasn't able to locate any kind of activity or any beings. 

Because from his experience, he knew the elemental orb had a very powerful natural protective system around it, and it wasn't easy to find a loophole in it. 

The last time was pure luck since his Soul Qi threads could locate the Light elemental orb's location, but this time it wasn't working because he already tried. 

Now he could only speculate two possibilities.

One, there wasn't any elemental orb and there was some other completely different reason for this mist. As for the second, they were trapped in this seemingly infant emerald mist sea, like the gray tree forest. He mostly believed in the latter. 

One more day pass in walking haphazardly. 

Everyone was going crazy seeing the emerald mist every instant, it was mentally challenging to see only one shade all the time while keeping concentrating on their Qi to protect themselves. 

Ace wasn't any better than them, he was the one walking in the most front, and even he was hating the emerald color. 

Suddenly, Ace felt something wasn't right because he felt he didn't just step on the flat group at this moment, he abruptly halted and glanced down. 

His heart palpitated the moment, he saw the slope where his foot was, "What the…" 

Ace abruptly jump in shock and blemish to his right and landed five meters away. 

Everyone following him was bewildered by Ace's sudden action, and they also took their respective fighting stances because they thought it was some kind of enemy attack. 

"What happened?" Lan gravely asked as he looked around vigilantly.

"Why don't you guys come and see for yourselves." Ace said with a hint of shock in his voice. 

They all slowly walk where Ace just jumped and when they were five-meter close, they finally saw what was there and a chill run down everyone's spine. Because there was a two-square-meter slope in front of them. 

"I-I…is that a…grave?" Margaret's stuttering voice sounded as she guessed. She was living in middle-level lands for twenty years now and knew the horrible legends about this forest. 

Truth be told, no one believes that someone could dig their own grave and then buried themselves. 

But after seeing this slop in the mysterious circle, they all thought of the same legend and started to sweat profoundly. 

Even Ace was flabbergasted by this, if he wasn't feeling any kind of danger from the slope he would have run a long time ago. 

"I think we should leave this place as soon as possible!" The Damien King's resolve shook as he gravely looked at the slope while thinking about the legend. 

"Let's dig this place, it might not be a grave." Suggested old man Black, he wanted to know if the legends were true or this was just a false alarm. 

Damien King looked at old man Black in incredulity, his suggestion was denied without any discussion. 

'This old man is probably thinking about the treasures if they dig out a fallen expert's grave.' Damien King easily saw through old man Black's hidden connotations. 

"So, who wants to dig? Count me out." Ace also see through old man, Black's double meaning suggestion, and he also wanted to confirm if this was the grave of a fallen expert or just a sham of a legend. 

But he won't be digging himself no matter what, there might be a hidden danger in that grave or trap, so he back down with no hesitation. 

No one show any disapproval since Ace was their 'guide' and if anything happened to him, they all might be the next ones to dig their graves next. 

So, now the question was who's going to 'explore'. 

In the end, the unlucky one was none other than Damien King because he was lowest in ranks here and even those three Qi river realm juniors had higher status than him. 

Damien King gritted his teeth and, with resentment, he took small steps toward the slope. Everyone else distances themselves from 'grave' and 'gravedigger'. 

Ace was the furthest away, ready to run at any given moment. 

Damien King felt even more unsportsmanlike when he saw everyone leaving him alone and even encouraging him from a distance to dig. 

'Bunch of bullies!' Damien King's heart was filled with resentment and bitterness.

He was the glorious king of number one Kingdom of middle-level lands was forced to dig a grave by others if the news got out about it, he would become the laughingstock of entire middle-level lands!

"We're waiting!" Ace's impatient yet encouraging voice rang from afar. 

'Even a mere thief dares to order me, now!' Damien King pursed his lips and finally used his element Qi to 'dig'. 

The slope instantly blasted away and become flat again, but there wasn't any pit. 

Damien King was standing five meters away at this moment, he was escaped after 'digging'. 

"Attack again." Lan wasn't satisfied with just this and ordered. 

Damien King's face fell, but he merely nodded, since he can't just ignore Lan's order. 

'Bang…' 

Another loud explosion rang in the area, and this time Damien King used almost full power to blast the earth.

However, this time something appeared, a deep hole in the place where Damien King attacked! 

"It was a grave!" Rena's astonished yet fearful voice sounded. Even she didn't expect to witness this kind of cynical thing in this place. 

"What are you waiting for? See what's inside!" Black Reaper impatiently ordered Damien King like he was his underling. 

"Why me again?" Damien King pursed his lips, he was somehow standing ten meters away from the grave now. 

However, someone else was standing right at the mouth of the hole and to everyone's astonishment, this person was none other than the hooded thief, Sky Stealer! 

'Did he find something?' 

Everyone had this same question ringing in their minds right now.

On the other hand, Ace's heart was pounding wildly as his calm eyes were now filled with ecstasy while looking at the dark hole. 

The reason for Ace's sudden excitement and rushing here was the moment Damien King open the 'grave' he felt the dark void quiver for the slightest moment before returning to its dormant state as if nothing has happened. 

But Ace knew what this steep moment meant, and it wasn't just his illusion either, it was just like at that time; before he first encountered the light elemental orb! 

This was a sign, the sign of an elemental orb confirmed existence in the mysterious circle of earthen mist forest!