Eternal Thief

Ace's pupils contorted when he felt the abrupt change in Riana's aura. It was like she was an entirely different person. Furthermore, the white glimmer around her gave him the same feeling as the Star Compass.

"Humph!" Ace coldly scoffed, completely unfazed by her beastly attack, and activated his ability before she could reach him, 'Thieving Switch!'

Ace had long marked her with a Thief Mark, and the moment he activated the thieving switch, their position instantly changed.

Riana, who seemed to be under some spell, couldn't touch Ace. She landed directly on the chair and blasted it apart.

Ace didn't give her any chance to retaliate further, and a dark streak shot out from his sleeve. Like a snake, that dark streak coiled around her voluptuous body and instantly issued another command with a thought.

'Soul Restrain! Soul Binding! Soul Shackle!'

The dark, thievish soul cord instantly shimmered in a dark, ethereal glow before Riana's squirming figure completely stopped. Her white eyes turned back to normal and listless, like a corpse.

Ace mused with a grave expression, 'Was that some kind of trigger that Holy Mother left within her? The moment she thought about going against her, it was triggered, and she directly attacked me. Just as I thought, these 'helpers' are nothing but conmen who only have their own interests in their minds.

'Well, I wanted to recruit her Eva to elevate her depressed mood, and she's also a glittering silver fate point, so keeping her wasn't a bad idea. Especially with these Karmic Scissors on her, which might be what this Holy Mother wants…

'Sigh… it won't be so simple now with this strange restraint on her. I had already used the cord to immobilize her, but what would happen once I freed her? Should I just get rid of her or send her to the thief's space?

'I can't have the cord immobilized, a Grade-9 treasure, when I'm about to start the mission. The thief's space should be able to keep her in check, and Eva might not lose to this Holy Mother's wisp of power anymore…'

Ace felt slight pity for Riana because of her past, and he also found it a waste to kill a fantastic physique holder like that. So, in the end, he sent her directly to Eva's house and told her about what had just happened.

Eva has been in a gloomy mood since Ace told her about the system warning, and she really feared she would be sent to the abyss despite not showing it. Ace was worried about her, but he knew he couldn't do anything at this moment.

When Eva saw Riana's dark-clad figure and heard about her story from Ace, she was shocked before her eyes lit up.

"Don't worry, as long as this Holy Mother isn't above laws, I can take care of her." She confidently declared before she suspiciously narrowed her eyes, "But do you really capture her just for those words that I told you in the past?"

Ace smiled wryly, "You still have the mood to crack jokes?"

Still, he was secretly relieved seeing her reacting like her normal self.

She became depressed and gloomily replied, "Hmph, you've already promised me that if you sense danger to your life, you'll let me go, or I'll never forgive you!"

Ace didn't reply this time for a while before finally sighing, "Just trust me, I'll extend the time for now and then curb this problem for good. Oh, if I get the chance, I'll send you Sofia as well."

Eva couldn't help but feel warmth in her heart, but she was also worried. Yet she still pretended to pout displeasingly, "Just admit it. You want all these women to yourself."

"As long as you approve of those women," Ace cackled jokingly before he turned his focus back, and his smile vanished.

'I really had my hopes up this time around. I guess I have to go with the usual plan.' Ace's eyes shimmered with resolution before he cleared the scene and then vanished into the pathway that leads to the space treasury.

Thereupon, he appeared in the familiar vast space with the white ethereal waterfall and golden heavenly Qi mist on the horizon. But this time, he didn't head towards the waterfall; instantly, he turned right.

Soon, Ace appeared in front of black space miles away from the entrance. Without hesitation, he waved his sleeve as dark Dismantle Qi gushed out of his hand and started to cover the surrounding area.

The Dismantle Qi suddenly began to rise above ground as if something tangible appeared in its path. Soon, the Dismantle Qi covered the empty space, shaped like a twenty-meter arced door.

'Let's get rid of everything in one go!' Ace decisively activated the runic principles, and the Dismantle Qi began to churn under his command.

After a few minutes, the Dismantle Qi began to shrink before turning into a huge inky glob. Subsequently, grade-9 materials began to fall from the glob like rainfall, and the glob started to compress further.

Soon, the glob was gone, replaced with a mountain of materials emitting powerful Qi. Now, in front of Ace, a hole appeared in the space—it was the space treasury!

Ace first pocketed all those materials and then approached the space treasury. He halted right in front of the hole, and now he could see a huge amount of treasures, mountains of Qi stones, and Soul Crystals inside.

He remained indifferent at such sight and coldly commanded the system, "System, assimilate this space treasury and start the final thief's space upgrade scheme!"

The system didn't delay, and an interface appeared before his eyes.

[The conditions for Living Thief's Space final scheme (3X-Time Acceleration Function) have been met!]

-One Grade-9 Storage Space Treasure: Present

-One Grade-9 Time Treasure: Present

-100 Million Thief Points: Present

[Do you want to update the Living Thief's Space?]

[Proceed/Not Now]

"Proceed!" Ace ordered without hesitation!

[Thievish Soul Cord: Grade-9 Soul Weapon]

-Ability(s):

1. Flexible & Inflexible (Depend on Heavenly Soul Qi)

2. Size Increase & Decrease (Depend on Heavenly Soul Qi)

3. Soul Restrain

-Description: Directly restrain the Soul of anything under Mortal Sky Heaven, and completely seal off the ability to utilize Qi (Martial & Soul)!

4. Concealment

-Description: Completely concealed from the detection of any probing under the Mortal Sky Heaven!

5. Soul Binding

-Description: Can bind a Soul of a Being without any physical body!

6. Soul Shackle

-Description: You can place a Soul Shackle on Martial Space or Space Soul, and without the Owner's command, the victim will not be able to break through to a higher stage of cultivation!

-Limit of Soul Shackles: 1/100

7. Soul Capture

-Description: Soul Cord can capture a soul and seal it inside forever until the Owner decides to free it!

-Limit of Seal Souls: 0/100

8. Soul Kill

-Description: Soul Cord can bypass all defenses and can directly obliterate a soul under Mortal Sky Heaven!

9. Heavenly Soul Recovery (AN: He unlocked this ability after upgrading the soul cord to Grade-9. The upgrade wasn't discussed in s.)

-Description: If the Soul Cord is destroyed, it can be fully recovered by feeding on Powerful Souls.

[NOTE: The higher the Grade of Soul Cord, the more powerful souls are required for recovery! It can't be used during the [Destroyed State]!]