Eternal Thief

“Everyone, I’m going to summon the Ghost King’s hideout!”

“Pixy now!” Ace instantly gave Pixy the signal to use the Wealth Value Manipulation before he used force to crush the Yin Moon Crystal.

“Boom!”

A dense gray mist filled with icy spirit Qi instantly enveloped Ace’s figure and spread like a wildfire.

On the other hand, Pixy didn’t delay her part and used the Wealth Value Manipulation on the Tower Prison within the Space World Ring. Moreover, because the Tower Prison also contained the Heavenly Ghost Formation, the Wealth Value Manipulation would also affect it.

That’s why the cost of using the Wealth Value Manipulation was so high, and Ace didn’t want to suffer alone, not to mention he wasn’t confident in handling the Ghost King even if he threw him out, and that’s where the Evernight Council came in.

Within the World Space Ring, the entire space, excluding the sky, was covered within the barrier of the Heavenly Ghost Formation. The Ghost King was very patient, knowing that no one would be able to resist the wealth within the World Space and would eventually succumb to their greed.

It’s been less than four months since Ace had managed to flee his grasp. Still, for the Ghost King, who had been living for an unknown time, they were nothing, not to mention the Heavenly Ghost Formation, which was connected to the spirit nectar pond and could last for thousands of years if he had only used it to cast that restricted barrier.

Moreover, the Ghost King cannot utilize those treasures in his current state, and they cannot aid him in his recovery because his condition is unique, and only the souls of powerful beings can assist him in his recovery.

At this moment, the peaceful environment of the world space suddenly shifted subtly when all of a sudden a mystical law started to envelop the center area of the world ring where the tower prison stood.

At this moment, inside the top floor of the eight-story tower prison, which looked ghostly. The ceiling curved inward like a domed tomb, inlaid with runic lines that pulsed dully with an eerie, ashen light. The walls were lined with jagged fragments of unknown crystals that exuded a thin, bone-chilling mist, constantly feeding into a swirling gray vortex hovering at the very center of the chamber.

The air was thick, heavy with an oppressive cold that could probably freeze souls. Chains of tarnished silver and iron were coiled around the central vortex, inscribed with mystical sigils that moved like worms under the surface, endlessly binding the gray fog within.

At the heart of that vortex, like a corpse that refused to decay, floated the faint shape of a seated figure: a hooded phantom, its robe tattered and flowing like living smoke, its face seemed like a void except for two gray flames burning where eyes should be.

The phantom’s aura was ancient, cold, and steeped in the power of death—this was the slumbering Ghost King himself, melded with the Treasure Spirit of the Heavenly Ghost Formation.

At that moment, as stillness reigned within the top floor, a ripple coursed through the tower—an unknown, mystical law invades.

It was subtle at first, like the flutter of a dying candle, but then it surged forth, engulfing not just the walls and chains but seeping into the formation lines beneath the phantom’s seated form.

The burning gray flames in the Ghost King’s eye sockets flared wide in shock.

“W-what…?!” The Ghost King was bewildered for a moment before the ghostly flames in his eyes jumped in horror, “The Heavenly Ghost Formation is being affected?! Impossible… what is this strange aura…this strange Law…?!”

However, it was just the start of the Ghost King’s nightmare, as before he could react, he instantly sensed that the grade of the Heavenly Ghost Formation was plummeting at an alarming rate.

Furthermore, because the Ghost King was directly integrated with the treasure spirit, he sensed it even more closely as runes that once gleamed with the unshakable dignity of an Ascension Grade-9 treasure spirit began to flicker wildly, lines fracturing like cracked porcelain.

The Ghost King’s soul trembled with instinctive dread because his power was also decreasing with the formation’s spirit.

“W-who is affecting the spirit core of the formation and corroding it?!”

At this moment, outside the vortex, the swirling soul-mist wavered, and parts of the runic chains turned dull and brittle as if time had stolen their power in mere heartbeats.

Panic—an emotion the Ghost King hadn’t felt in ages—tightened around his ancient soul.

“Absolutely impossible… something that is capable of targeting the very essence of the formation, rewriting the measure of its worth, even an Ascension King can’t wield such a power…and if this continues… even the foundation binding my soul might collapse!”

His phantom form shuddered, flickering as it drew in more and more of the fading spirit Qi, desperate to resist. But the Law’s effect was swift and inexorable, as if the wealth bound within the prison tower itself had been re-evaluated and found wanting.

Lastly, through that collapsing value, the prison tower’s defenses weakened moment by moment, links snapping in the invisible chain between the Heavenly Ghost Formation and the core of the World Space. The spirit Qi that the formation can absorb also plummeted further as there was a vast difference between an Ascension Grade-9 formation and lower-grade ones.

“Damn it! Who dares?! Is it that human from before?! How—”

The Ghost King’s soul flame flared furiously. With a ghastly roar that made even the dead walls tremble, he tried to activate the remaining power of the Heavenly Ghost Formation to anchor himself—yet the law continued its inexorable devouring, unraveling the very roots that kept his soul bound to this hidden sanctuary.

Within ten seconds, the grade of the Heavenly Ghost Formation and the Tower Prison plummeted to Ascension Grade-6, and Ascension Grade-5…Ascension Grade-4…Ascension Grade-3…

At that instant, while the Ghost King’s ancient soul surged to resist, the foreign law intensified—unseen yet absolute—like the judgment of an unbreakable scale.

The runic veins across the tower prison’s walls turned black, then cracked, as if robbed of their very meaning. The swirling gray vortex at the top floor quaked, and a horrifying creak echoed through the entire tower as centuries-old bindings buckled.

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The Ghost King’s howl rattled the iron chains; his phantom form flared with desperate ghostly flames as he attempted to root himself deeper into the World Space’s fabric.

But the Wealth Value Manipulation, driven by Pixy’s power and Ace’s thief points, downgraded the very grade of the Heavenly Ghost Formation itself, pulling it below the threshold needed to stay anchored.

At that fatal moment, in the secret realm’s massive basin, everyone was closely watching when all of a sudden, runes blazed alive as the Lure Formation seemed to sense something.

“Now!” Ace’s nervous yet excited voice reverberated in the vicinity.

Within the World Space Ring, the space itself quivered as an invisible spatial ripple burst forth from the World Space Ring under Ace’s will.

The entire tower prison, once seamlessly fused into the World Space, suddenly shook. The foundation beneath the cages cracked; dust and ghostly mist billowed as the floor itself split apart from the rest of the World Space’s ground.

“Just which insolent wretch dare—!”

The Ghost King’s furious voice echoed through every floor of the prison tower. Yet his words were lost in the thunderous howl of tearing space.

In a single heartbeat, the tower’s massive bulk was enveloped by a spiraling, pitch-black vortex—like a phantom maw swallowing the ancient structure whole.

Chains snapped, runes imploded into motes of dying ghost light, and the foundation of the tower prison—built into the World Space Ring itself—was ripped out, leaving behind a ragged, gaping void where it had stood.

At the exact moment, the runes on the colossal Lure Formation ignited into a blinding brilliance of violet fire mixed with cold silver. The abyssal air quivered, and the surrounding cloaked figures braced themselves, their cloaks flaring as the spatial pressure skyrocketed.

Suddenly…

BOOM!!!

A towering black mass materialized in the very heart of the basin. The prison tower, ancient and cracked, slammed into reality with an earth-shaking quake that rattled the jagged cliffs and made the abyssal mist churn into a maelstrom.

Lightning danced across the blackened stone, and dying ghost runes sputtered weakly across its surface. The air stank of burned spirit Qi and decay, as if the tower had been wrenched from death itself.

On the other hand, Ace’s figure automatically flashed at the edge of the lure formation the moment the real target was locked in its clutches. The council also arranged this safety measure since they didn’t want anything to happen to Ace.

Ace’s eyes shone with brilliance as his heart raced with ecstasy when he saw the towering Prison Tower, which looked nothing like its previous grand self.

At this moment, Ace quickly said in his mind, “Stop using the Wealth Value Manipulation and good work, Pixy!”