Eternal Thief

Ace's eyes shone when he heard this and couldn't help but become curious about this caravan because he heard from Noa that Dark Cloud Demon Clan was the chef clan of Cloud Demon Tribe.

Furthermore, this Cloud Demon Tribe had a special status in Ocean Demon Duchy, because this tribe was a branch tribe of the Ocean Demon Tribe. That's why very few demons dare to offend them!

"The back four carriages are filled with peak Qi river realm cultivators, ten in each carriage, while the front four had silver Qi river core cultivators, three in each. The carriage right in the middle is very special, there are only two demons, and both of them are at the peak of the Qi river realm." Ace said with an ambiguous look on his face.Â

Noa suddenly said, "It seemed they're escorting those two demons in the middle carriage, and they might have a superior status in Dark Cloud Clan."

Ace nodded, "Yes, it's obvious they're going somewhere, and this road only leads to the Ocean Demon City. I wonder why such an entourage was going toward Ocean Demon City?"

"It seemed we missed something…" Noa mumbled, even though she found this entourage strange.

"Heh, don't worry. We're going to get all the information we need very soon." Ace chuckled mysteriously.

Noa become confused at first, then suddenly a flash of understanding shone in her eyes. She clearly remembered Ace's 'soul search', which was quite sneaky, and the other party won't even know what happened.

But she didn't know he can use it while the other party was still conscious and from this distance. Nonetheless, she remained silent and watched.

Ace was planning to use his soul probe on one of the demons in the middle carriage. He knew if these demons were important, then they might have some inside information he needed.

Furthermore, none of these demons can detect his soul Qi, that's why he was fearless.

Ace waited for the carriages to enter his soul sense range and when they were two hundred meters away, he used his soul probe!

An invisible soul force shot toward the carriage in the middle with Ace's extreme control and invaded one demon sitting inside the carriage's mind.

The demon affected by the soul probe had no idea that his memories were being read by someone, as he was chatting with the other demon happily.

'Pick-pocket!' Ace suddenly tried to activate the pick-pocket with his soul probe. He wanted to see if he could rob someone's memory with it.

He didn't forget about this job mission, which was as easy as it was difficult.

However, he was disappointed when it didn't work. How could it be so easy to steal a memory?

Smile bitterly, he just focused on refining the memories he was getting for now. He knew he had time, so there was no need to rush this thing.

Within five minutes, Ace had already got all the memories of the other demon, and he was shocked to find out that this demon was the youngest son of the Dark Cloud Demon Clan's Leader, Miler Dark Cloud.

But what shocked Ace was the finding of the Demon Gate Trail in 24 months, a chance to enter the royal zone!

However, Ace thought about something else entirely. 'This announcement was too timely, just three or four days before the annihilation of Iron Demon City. Could it be someone from the royal zone did all this?'

Ace couldn't help but feel this way, and this will also explain the appearance of the extremely powerful formation. He couldn't think of another power that could take out such a formation beside the royal zone.

This also made Ace even more vigilant because if he was targeted by someone from the royal zone and that person was even willing to annihilate an entire city and millions of demons just to make sure he won't escape alive.

Then he had to plan his thieveries from now on and only after making sure that he could escape will he act, or he might find himself in a terrible situation.Â

"Let's go. We're not going to the cloud demon city anymore." Ace told Noa about his abrupt change in plan, and they both vanished deep into the forest.

"Leader, what happened?" Noa finally asked after they were far away from the caravan. She didn't know why Ace change their route, but she knew it had to do with the 'soul search'.

Ace finally stopped and said deeply, "I think the person who wiped out the Iron Demon City is from the royal zone."

Noa's eyes went wide, and she couldn't help but retort strongly, "How could that be possible? Royal Zone won't involve itself in the matter of common provinces, much less they will destroy the iron demon city themselves when they can just give the command!"

Ace sighed, "I also think the same, but I'm quite sure it was them. Only the royal zone will dare to use such formation so openly, and they won't easily let those Demon Kings have it. Just think about it, if a demon king possessed a formation capable of incinerating a large city like Iron Demon City, then I don't think there's any need for all those rules.

"Besides, Henrik was also killed, which I don't think a demon king dare to do since he was a soul realm demon, an asset. Only those from the royal zone will kill a soul realm demon without batting an eye and without fearing a demon king's wrath afterward."

Ace told how Henrik's Qi mark vanished with all the other storage rings he stole from the dark gibbon tribe's higher-ups.

Noa was astonished when she heard Henrik was dead because she had a very deep enmity with the ocean demon tribe, and Henrik was one of the strongest pillars of the ocean demon tribe. She also knew the relationship between Blade Demon King and Old Ocean Demon Duke.

Furthermore, Blade Demon King was very famous for his upright and fearless character, so there weren't many who dare to provoke him by killing a soul realm demon with the demon marquis title from his fief.

"But why would they come after the iron demon tribe?" Noa couldn't help but question.

Ace smiled wryly and said, "They're not after them. If I'm correct, they're after me. If you think carefully, I stole from a demon marquis and then disrupt an active noble tribe title war challenge and even managed to escape while humiliating the ocean demon tribe. If the ocean demon tribe has retaliated, I wouldn't be shocked. But I don't think this was enough reason for the royal zone to look this way. There's still something missing that I don't know of. Furthermore, this announcement was too timely made as well."

"What announcement?" Noa narrowed her eyes.

She was now feeling quite vexed when she thought they had drawn the royal zone's attention without even knowing why. Being a demon herself, she knew just how terrifying powers lived in the royal zone!

"Oh, I almost forget to tell you about it. They made a big announcement just days before the iron demon city's demise, which came directly from the royal zone, and that's why I thought of them.

"They're holding 'Demon Gate Trial' on the outskirts of the royal zone twenty-four months from now. Any demon with a soul realm potential bloodline, age below 100, and cultivation below the River Core Realm is eligible for participating in this trail. After passing this trial, they can directly take part in the actual trials of three Demon Institutes of the Royal Zone.

"Those cloud demons were going toward the ocean demon city because Ocean Demon Tribe invite every youth who was qualified for these trials in the city, so they could form the Ocean Demon Duchy's Team.

"Then Livy himself will take them toward King Domain. Blade Demon King has given his decree that every eligible youth will go through eighteen-month training in his King Domain before he'll take everyone toward the trail grounds himself. Currently, such movements were happening in every province outside the royal zone."

Noa's eyes shimmered with disbelief. "They're letting anyone inside the royal zone as long as pass the trial?"

She couldn't help but asked because she never heard of the royal zone opening before for outer provinces and this made her very emotional.

"Yes, anyone, those large clans are even recruiting young demons from those wild tribes. I think as long as they manage to have someone close to them enter the royal zone, they'll get enormous benefits. That's why no one wanted to miss this chance."

Ace knew from the memories of Miler just how big of a reaction the dark cloud demon clan had when they got this news, so he was very clear about what this event represented for a demon.

At this moment, Ace heard the system's voice, and he nearly fell from trepidation.

"[A Main Mission has been issued!]"