Eternal Thief

"So, where are the rest of you guys?" Ace asked with a hint of fatigue in his voice. 

The second skill of Dual Sword Mirage Art took too much strain on his body because of the huge amount of martial Qi necessity. He needed some time to recover now or if a second Puppet Golem materialized, he won't be able to retaliate. 

Old Man Black finally remembered about the others and said gravely, "That monster cause too much commotion and because of that strange skill they all scattered in different directions." 

"We should wait, someone might come back," said Ace, he required some time to recover, and it would be foolish to move further along. 

After the old man, Black showed his worth, Ace knew he required a powerful backup, or he didn't stand a chance in finding the elemental orb alone. That's why he was willing to wait for others. 

Old man Black also nodded in agreement, he had the same thought as Ace, this mysterious circle was just too dreadful to tend alone. Although he used little of his real prowess on Puppet Golem, the confrontation was enough to make him feel the danger to end his life. 

Just as Ace said, after they wait for some time, someone found their way back. It was none other than Marc and his two sword maids. They were lucky to have that treasure compass, or they might not be able to come back without getting lost. 

Marc wasn't feeling any good at this moment because he was the crown prince of an empire was constantly escaping for his life in this kind of place. He only wanted to capture Ace first, but after hearing about the soul inheritance, he changed his mind. 

He wanted to use Ace to get the inheritance for himself and then also capture him thereafter in one fell swoop, but he never thought this forest would be so treacherous. 

Now, he was trapped here, and he was even regretted coming here because of the temptation of soul inheritance! 

However, Marc's eyes shimmer with sharp light as he saw Ace was now alone and the other person beside him was none other than the old man, Black. His sulky mood instantly lighten up as he contemplated this, a hard-to-miss chance. 

'If I got the map of soul inheritance, I don't need this thief anymore. Now that we're alone, I can do whatever I want with him, I had enough of his snobbish attitude!' In that instant, Marc struck while he still had the chance. 

They all followed Ace for days and after this recent ordeal, Marc deemed Ace as a weakling who was relying on their power to pave the way for himself. Even if Ace had some hidden life-saving measure, Marc didn't think Ace can harm him. 

"Get ready." Marc's voice was only loud enough to hear by his two sword maids. 

Rina and Leana instantly understood the hidden meaning behind Marc's words, and they also felt it was time to teach that complacent thief a painful lesson. They also had enough of his pomposity.

Marc with Rina and Leana heeling slowly moved toward old man Black since Ace was distant away from him. Marc requires the old man if he wanted to subdue Ace with no complication, and they had to do it quickly before Ace could respond.

It elated old man Black when he saw Marc was fine and even came back, but this elation turned into stupefaction when Marc quickly explain his plan of attacking and subduing Ace. 

Truth to be told, old man Black also had the same thoughts as Marc, but he wasn't too sure after witnessing that powerful skill Ace used to defeat the Puppet Golem. He wasn't too sure if he could escape that skill without getting heavily injured. 

But Marc's words also hold some credibility because they were here to capture the thief, not to help him, and they just need to do what they were supposed to. They can search for the soul inheritance themselves after snatching the map for Ace. 

"What if he fled?" Old man Black told his biggest concern in a serene voice.   

Marc was silent for a moment, he also knew if they let the thief escape they would be digging their own grave, literally. 

"How about we use the formation barrier to lock the area," Rina suggested. 

"Too risky, it would need a minute if he had a method to escape us, then he used it before the formation barrier formed completely." Leana refute.

"No, we can keep him for a minute or two." Marc finds Rina's suggestion feasible, "Rina used the formation barrier when you receive my signal. Let's see how that little thief runs!"   

However, when they all turned around to act, they were startled because Ace had disappeared from his position! 

"Where did he go?" Marc suddenly had a bad feeling about this. 

"I-I don't know…he was here just a moment ago!" Leana's voice was filled with incredulity. 

"M…may…maybe he heard us?" Leana spoke with uncertainty. 

"That's impossible!" Marc instantly rejected this notion, "We were at least ten meters away from him, and we were secretly using a sound-prof barrier he can't hear us even if he wanted to!" 

"Then where did he go?" Old man Black voice was filled with bitterness and terror. If that thief left them, they would be trapped in this place. 

"Maybe he'll come back, just like he always does." Rina tried to appease everyone, or she was consoling herself. 

"Use the compass!" Marc's voice was bitter, "I just had this bad feeling…he won't be coming back this time!" 

---

Ace was already hundreds of meters away when Marc and his companions realized he was gone. 

"Hmph… they think I can't hear them, naïve!" Ace sneered disdainfully. 

He was already aware of Marc's arrival, but he just pretended to recover while sneakily using his heavenly sense when no they were busy planning how to attack him. 

The moment they were about to act, he simply used his stealth and movement skills and escaped. He didn't want to face old man Black, especially that Qi river realm cultivator, who gave him the chills. 

Ace sighed regretfully, he wanted to work together with them, but they just had to ruin everything, and he had to tend alone now. 

'Well, I can always use the explosion to draw them toward me once I find the elemental orb position.' Ace mused and nodded, he thought this was the only way to work 'together' with those people. 

Now that he was fully recovered, he again moved deeper, or that's why he thought where he was going. 

The mysterious circle was with no trees or even grass, the dirt ground was flat, Ace would come across some pebbles now and then. 

Albeit he found it very strange, he still kept moving, but after an hour or so he saw an arrow made with fragment Qi stones. He was the one who made it, so others would follow him, but it seemed he was just moving in circles. 

'This is the last thing I need right now!' Ace was frustrated, but there wasn't anything he could do, so he calmed himself down and took out a small, exquisite flask. 

He gulped a large mouthful before sighing in satisfaction, "This jade wine never gets old no matter how much I drink." 

Although this flash was made to contain tones of water yet, Ace has filled it with stolen jade wine because he had three of them. Every time he would feel like it, he would simply drink jade wine like water. It didn't have any effect on him, but he enjoyed the intoxicating taste. 

After drinking like an old drunkard, he moved again, but this time he chose a different direction. 

He started to draw Qi stones arrows every mile, as for wasting fragment Qi stones, he had millions of them and all of them were useless to him, so it didn't pain him using them as markers in the slightest.

This time he didn't encounter any of his previous left markers, even after moving for a few hours. Which mean he was going somewhere at least. 

However, his lightning-like footsteps come to an abrupt halt because fifty meters ahead of him were five graves neatly arranged in a line, just like the one he encountered early in the day!

Ace's expression sank as he used the soul barrier to its fullest with breathless stealth. He had no intention of bothering the dead. He took a detour and circle around the five graves. 

To his relief, nothing happened, 'It seemed if I don't dig those graves I'll be fine!' Ace mused. 

However, his previous elation didn't last for long because as he kept moving on the same path, he encountered more graves methodically arranged like they were in a cemetery.

Ace didn't even dare to breathe out loud because if those graves each had a puppet golem then he was doomed!