Eternal Thief

Ace was moving on the trees without making any sound in that familiar soul signature's direction. 

In a minute, Ace arrived at an area filled with the smell of blood. 

What Ace greeted by, made even him feel like; little insects were crawling under his skin. 

Before Ace's eyes were many human limbs and severed heads floating over black water! 

It was hard to tell that this water was from the black water swamp or it was human blood. 

Ace's heart turn cold when he spotted one particular severed head, in the dark bloody water!

Although the severed head was completely covered in mud and dark water, Ace could recognize it anywhere.

'NOLA!'Ace's killing intent soar when he recognized the severed head. 

It was indeed Nola's severed head which also means she was dead! 

Almost a hundred severed heads were floating in the dark bloody water at this moment. 

Ace quickly scan through those severed heads, to see if there was another member of his former party in them but to his relief, there was only Nola's. 

Nonetheless, Ace didn't want to see this kind of end for cheerful Nola and grief wash over him. 

'If I was more powerful, I might've saved her instead of just abandoning them all to die.' Ace thought helplessly, 'I still can't save anyone! How pathetic.'

In his heart, Ace knew it was the survival of the fittest in this world but he still blames himself for being too weak. 

Ace forcefully suppress his sentiments while shifting his eyes towards a particular direction and the grief in his eyes instantly turned into deep killing intent! 

Twenty meters away from the bloodbath.

A group of six people was hiding on a tree while watching the hideous scene with great expectation in their eyes. 

A tall and skinny young man in lavishing blue robes was nonchalantly sitting on a tree branch while drinking some kind of liquor. 

"Young Marquess, how much longer do you think it will take for Bloodthirsty Earth Mantis to take the bait we prepare?" A pretty girl asked with a hint of excitement in her sweet voice. 

"Pretty soon. This place was meant to use by White Ghost, Leo but they seem to run into some trouble and end up losing their living baits. I heard even Prince Mark's party was with him." The Young Marquess faintly replied while drinking the liquor.

"Yes. From our scouts, we heard Price Mark and White Ghost, Leo ally! Furthermore, everyone in that alliance caught a Phantom Horn Lizard, and they were the ones who leave this damn place first just five days ago!" A black bulky boy spoke with a hint of longing in his voice.

"Well, no one saw it coming." The skinny boy chuckles lightly before proceeding, "Other nobles also seem to do quite well and only our group left. Since we were busy supplying everyone with living baits" 

"Hehe, Young Marquess, you are sounding like you regret taking that task and making a huge profit out of it." The girl giggles. 

"Hahaha, well I can't retort to that now, can I?" The skinny boy laughs with a smirk on his face. 

"Is that so?" At this moment an icy voice rang in the vacancy!

The skinny boy and his group felt their heart being gripped by grim ripper when they felt an intense killing intent bolted over them!

At this moment, only one thought came into their minds; RUN!

But it was too late and the very next moment expect the Young Marquess everyone else bodies loses their strength and like flies they fell from the tree before splashing in the dark water below. 

Those five didn't even know how they die!

The Young Marquess face turn ghastly pale seeing his peak fifth Qi gate retainers die so suddenly and he didn't even see the enemy! 

"W-who are you!!! You know who people you just kill?!" The Young Marquess yell like he wasn't afraid but his body was trembling in fear.

"Oh, aren't those five were your minions Young Marquess Finn?" At this moment Ryan's figure emerged on a tree before Finn!

This Finn was certainly the same person who order Crosby to lure Nola and the others in this forest and sold them to Leo!

Ace precisely picked his soul signature in the vacancy and that's why he came here to collect some debts but meet with that ghastly sight. 

Now that he knew this guy's party was also the reason for Nola's death and Ace would not go to spare anyone.     

He killed others with soul-piercing bullets and spare this Young Marquess for another reason. 

"Y-you… who are you?! If you leave now I'll forgive your crimes!" Finn's face was ashen, and he knew this ugly guy was too strange. 

That's why Finn wanted to escape from here as soon as possible because fighting with this kind of opponent who can kill five peaked fifth Qi gate cultivators without being seen was courting death!

"Sigh…" Ryan sighed and said with a mocking smile, "Still didn't lose your arrogance but don't worry I won't kill you now since I need your memories!"

It dumbfounded Finn when he heard this; he thought this guy was a madman and was going to offer his storage ring to haggle with his life. 

But to his astonishment, a strange black owl tattoo replaced the storage ring!

"S-Sk…" Finn finally remembered just where he saw this owl symbol before and he nearly faint from anxiety. 

How could he not know just what this owl symbol represents? 

It represented the infamous thief Sky Stealer! 

"Just die." Ryan coldly said and didn't let Finn complete his sentence.

Finn felt as if a hammer stuck on the back of his head before losing consciousness. 

Ace coldly looked at unconscious Finn before looking at the notification panel.

========

[Quick Report of Thieveries] 

[Successful Pick Pocket Count: 6]

[Low-Level Thieveries: 6]

[Total Rewards: 5,500TP]   

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[Thief Point(s): 32,030]

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[Low-Level Thievery: 35]

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Ace didn't forget about taking all of their storage rings before killing them and these rich goats gave him six low-level thieveries. 

'I should quickly get rid of this guy after saving his face and taking his memories.' Ace thought. 

He picked Finn and leave the area to find a place where he could use Soul Probing and use the hundred-face deception mask to save Finn's face before finishing him. 

Ace has been thinking over how he could move forward without drawing any attention to himself and he has long been planning to find another face to pass this test. 

Because if he passes this test with Ryan's face he would become famous in the Regal Kingdom and those noble families might also investigate the background of Ryan's face. 

If that happened they might also find this guy's real background and after that everyone would know the Ryan who passed the test didn't exist!

Which put Ace in very big trouble.

That's why he took this Young Marquess face since he belonged to a noble family of the capital city and no one would find it any suspicious if this guy passed the test! 

Nola's death just gives Ace the final resolution to kill this guy and take his face with no guilt whatsoever. 

If before Ace had any qualms in killing Finn and his retainers, now he had nothing but contempt for them since they were the ones who were supplying those other nobles with living baits! 

Ace quickly found a well-hidden place and started the process of taking Finn's face and memories! 

One thing that give Ace little relief was the martial sense was not present at this moment and he was hoping it would not show up until he was done with this guy. 

"System can I scan and save this face without removing my mask?" Ace grimly asked. He didn't want to reveal his actual face especially in presence of this many experts. 

"[Yes.]"

Ace has a sigh of relief, "Began the scanning of this body." He commands the system while disdainfully looking at Finn. 

The next moment a silver gem suddenly appeared on Ryan's glabella, it was the memory gem of the mask. The gem shone and just like before it shined for ten seconds. 

=====

[Face 4, has been successfully recorded in memory gem.]"

=====

After the notification, the gem on Ryan's glabella dissolved back. 

"Activate face 4 with his natural cultivation base." Ace commanded the system. 

The very next moment Ryan's face twisted and suddenly change into Finn! 

Ace carefully observed and after confirming everything was fine, he used heavenly sense to check the surrounding before using the soul probing.

A large amount of memories fragments entered his knowledge see but Ace didn't flinch and kept absorbing the memories fragments showing no sign of stopping. 

This time it takes only an hour to completely absorb Finn's 16 years' worth of memories! 

Ace finally open his closed eyes and a glint of killing intent flashed through his eyes. 

'Soul Piercing Bullet!'