Eternal Thief

Ace stepped toward the wall, and the moment his foot crossed an invisible boundary, the world shifted!

The stone surface before him rippled like water, silently parting as his body passed through. There was no resistance, no spatial distortion, only the sensation of slipping through a thin veil.

Ace emerged into a hidden corridor, and behind him, the canyon wall sealed itself perfectly, leaving no trace that anything had ever been there.

Ace was astounded because he expected some kind of resistance rather than simply passing through the barrier, which went against common sense.

Nonetheless, he didn’t have time to mull over this small anomaly because the passage ahead was narrow and slanted downward, its walls smoother than the ravine outside, marked with faint, ancient grooves that resembled claw marks and skeletal imprints.

The miasma here was even denser, yet strangely more stable, as if deliberately contained, which means someone or someone might be living here or at least passed through this place.

—

“Absurd?!”

The Evernight Fiend King exclaimed in disbelief as he tilted his fiendish body abruptly, and a heat wave from his body intensified while his flames crawled across his throne, set ablaze as if mirroring its master’s shock.

It wasn’t just the Evernight Fiend King who seemed to react in this way, but the Evernight Devil King and Evernight Demon King seemed to be equally astounded as their eyes were affixed on the projection, which just displayed ’Nomad’ passing through the invisible barrier hidden within the canyon.

“How did he pass the ’Undead Boundary’?” The Evernight Devil King questioned as the mist around him seemed to solidify.

At this moment, the Evernight Demon King’s tone sharpened as she looked at the Evernight Fiend King and said matter-of-factly, “Heh, Eldest Senior Brother, do you still believe that boy is ordinary?”

The Evernight Fiend King’s infernal eyes seemed to pulse like a boiling inferno as he retorted, “Even if by some luck he passed through the Undead Boundary, it still won’t change the fact he’s just some lucky wannabee!”

“First Brother, no matter how much you hate the Moonless Wandering King, let’s not let it cloud your rationality…” At this moment, the Evernight Devil King spoke solemnly as the mist on his body churned, “…the Undead Boundary of the Undead Race has already been the biggest barrier in our Evernight Council’s way to completely conquer the Undead Secret Realm. It serves as a protection shield that only allows the members of ’Undead Race’ pass while stopping every ’living being’ in their tracks!”

Suddenly, the Evernight Demon King chimed in playfully, “All ’living beings’ included ’us’, the mighty ’Evernight Kings!”

The Evernight Fiend King’s expression turned uglier as he was aware of these facts about the Undead Secret Realm. After all, he was the one who refused to give up and kept bombarding the ’Undead Boundary’ continuously for ten nights straight to the point of madness, yet he failed to even put a crack in it!

That’s why just now, the Evernight Fiend King was the one who reacted the most violently when he saw ’Nomad’ easily pass through the Undead Boundary, which was like an iron wall in the way of the Evernight Council that kept them from conquering the Undead Secret Realm.

Although it was without a doubt that the Evernight Council was extremely terrifying and strong enough to conquer the Undead Secret Realm, they still failed when they encountered that mysterious ’Undead Boundary’.

Nonetheless, despite the Undead Boundary, it couldn’t stop the Evernight Council from claiming the Undead Secret Realm and turning it into their training grounds of Evernight Sanctuary.

But the Undead Race was still a thorn that they could neither touch nor cut off for good.

At this moment, the Evernight Fiend King went silent for a moment before his infernal eyes flickered with sharpness as he looked at the Evernight Demon King coldly.

“Even if I believe for a moment that somehow the Evernight Evaluation Platform has been tricked. But how can you explain that the ’Evernight Stele’ allowed anyone with even a trace of ’Undead Origin’ within them pass through the Evernight Gate?

“Because apparently, only an ’Undead Race’ member can pass through the Undead Boundary, and it’s an already proven fact by none other than you, third sister. Or are you now telling me that you have not only mistaken but also have started to doubt our very source of power?” He questioned without missing a single beat.

For the first time, the vague smile on Evernight Demon King’s childlike face vanished, and she turned expressionless while her white eyes seemed to be rippling like a chaotic lake.

“I never said that he’s an Undead Race member or doubt the Evernight Stele for even a moment.” She impassively spoke, “Furthermore, you are only trying to solve this problem within the boundary of your knowledge.”

“What’s your point, third sister?” The Evernight Devil King asked without hiding his curiosity.

“What I’m trying to say from the start is, if the Evernight Evaluation Platform had evaluated him as ’ordinary’ or the Evernight Stele hadn’t discovered any traces of Undead Origin.

“Therefore, this could only mean one thing: Nomad’s bloodline or something about his talent is so extraordinary that even the Evernight Evaluation Platform can’t evaluate him!”

“This…” The Evernight Devil King was startled as he hadn’t even thought of this possibility because this had never happened before.

“Impossible! He’s just an Ash-flame Fiend! A Grade-7 Abyssal Bloodline!” The Evernight Fiend King refused to admit it.

“That he may be, but what if he really isn’t? Are you still going to deny everything right in front of your eyes, Frist Brother?” This time, it was the Evernight Devil King who spoke with a solemn tone, no longer suppressing his own doubts.

The Evernight Fiend King was stumped as he gritted his teeth, “What do you suggest then!? We can’t monitor that brat while he’s within the Undead Boundary. Furthermore, the entire trial will be ruined if he stays inside, and he could easily pass it since his location won’t show. We’ll become a laughingstock!”

At this moment, the Evernight Demon King looked at the projection of the empty canyon where Ace had been standing a few moments ago, but they couldn’t see past it because of the Undead Boundary.

“How did he discover the Undead Race’s traces so quickly and then find the Undead Boundary, which has already been hidden so easily?” She suddenly stated, “Eldest Senior Brother, I think you are worried about the wrong thing here.

“The question isn’t about whether he can stay there and pass the trial easily. But what we should be worried about is whether he can survive behind the Undead Boundary since no one has ever able to find anything about it.

“Even the puppets we had been sending inside would lose their spiritual connection instantly!”