Eternal Thief

After moving a few miles according to the map, they were getting closer to the damaged ruin. But nothing changed in the scenery, it was still white as far as one could see, and they had to find the underground passage in this snow.

Ace was looking at the live fate map for any potential danger or any hidden pathways which weren’t visible to the eyes.

This expedition was very important to him because Alora was also a part of it, and he hoped that the golden opportunity will be in this ruin.

‘They’re here!’ Ace’s eyes narrowed when he saw red fate points moving in their directions, and they weren’t visible to naked eyes.

‘It seemed the ruin might be the territory of that barbaric demon tribe, and we have to fight our way into the ruin and for opportunities. The demon king has put some thought into this expedition.’ His lip curled up.

“The passage should be somewhere here.” Said Shepard while looking at the map.

Feng retorted as he grabbed the hilts of his swords, “We have more important things to worry about than the passage.”

Everyone became alert since they knew what he meant and took their fighting stances.

“Don’t tell me we really have to fight with those worms?” Thomas’s expression was bitter.

Feng said as he pointed his sword, “They’re five of them this time. When I signal, focus your attacks on that area.”

Thereupon, “Now!” Feng shouted as he performed the first sword draw move.

“Silver Cut!” Peter followed suit.

“Soul Phantasmagoria; Hallucination!”

They all use their skills on that spot, and it created a huge creator when all those skills landed on that spot. Only blood and body parts of those five demons were left. They didn’t even have time to cry before they were dead.

“Easy.” Gibson scoffed.

“Look, there’s a tunnel!” Brenna pointed a few meters away from that creator, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Hehe, it seemed we can finally start treasure hunting.” Carlee lightly elbowed Alora.

Alora rolled her eyes. “Money grubber!”

“Although we reached our destination, it’s not that easy to find treasures since this place might be crammed with these mindless demons. I want everyone to remain vigilant and not blinded by treasures. Life is more important than some worldly treasures.” Peter declared.

Feng nodded, “He’s right, look out for traps, don’t get blinded by greed. Shepard will still lead with Peter and I’ll be right behind you guys. Brenna and Gibson will take the rare while Thomas, Alora, and Carlee will remain in the center, so they could easily use their long-range skills.”

With this setting, they all enter the dark tunnel, which was filled with a potent smell and icy air.

Because of their cultivation, it wasn’t difficult to see in the dark, but it wasn’t as good as their actual vision. The tunnel was old and not made recently because there were some old supporting pillars.

No one could see the end, as they slowly moved with vigilance.

But Ace could feel those earthen trolls were following them from a hundred-meter distance, while he also felt the White Fire’s soul signature three hundred meters away.

‘It seemed this place is still dangerous since he started to follow us now. But didn’t they arrange this beforehand? Or they wanted to put us in danger to give us life and death experience?’ Ace mused as he opened the live fate map for a few moments.

He can’t always keep that map open because of the huge Qi exhaustion, so he would only open it for a moment or two to see the change before closing it.

This time he saw a web of tunnels around them, not just this one, but ten of them, and he frowned.

‘This is like a maze,’ Ace thought as two pathways appeared in front of them, and they all stopped.

Shepard’s expression also changed seeing this, and he said, “We didn’t have any map or detail about this? How should we choose our way?”

Thomas said in a grave voice, “I think we are in an underground maze, and we have to find a way to cross it without getting lost, which is quite impossible since we can’t check one passage after another.”

Gibson retorted, “How are you so sure we are in the maze and these two paths do not lead to two different ruin locations? Remembered we are in a damaged ruin on an expedition. We have to explore this place for opportunity, and it could be anywhere.”

Peter spoke completely agreed with Gibson, “He’s right, since Sir. White Fire didn’t give us the map of this place. This means this is the damaged ruin, and we have to explore it on our own accord.”

Alora couldn’t help but narrowed her eyes. “So, you’re suggesting we should split up? Don’t you remember those worms loitering around? What if one of these paths leads to their layer, then what?”

Carlee nodded in agreement.

Thereafter, they all started to argue about their view of those two paths and, in the end, they all looked at Feng, who hadn’t spoken all this time, and calmly looked at them.

Thomas pursed his lips. “Brother Feng, say something. Do you think we should split up or not?”

‘If I told them this is a maze, then it might look suspicious. I have already shown my unusual strength and perception. It would be bad if White Fire started to suspect something about me. I should just play along,’ Ace mused.

Feng said with uncertainty, “I agree with both sides’ points of view, but we have to keep moving. We already wasted over forty-five days to find this place, and time is not on our side. How about we vote to split or not?”

Everyone agreed with Feng and started to vote.

Thomas, Carlee, and Alora voted for not to split while Gibson, Peter, Brenna, and Shepard voted to split. In the end, only Feng’s vote remained.

“I vote for no separation. If we split now, what if we found more split pathways, and then we have to choose again? Will you split again until only one of you is left?” Feng sternly questioned.

Peter couldn’t help but retorted, “We still didn’t know if that’s the case and I still think we should search for our lucky opportunity and without danger, there would never be any reward.”

Thomas’s expression went vexed because Peter wasn’t thinking rashly right now, and he could tell the reason. It was all because he was shadowed by Feng during this entire trip, and he wanted to escape that shadow, and this was his chance.

Although Peter was well-behaved and had an outstanding personality, he was, in the end, still an ambitious and prideful person.

He had already seen Feng was more powerful than him by far, and he wanted to shorten that difference by finding something here. He wanted to do it himself without anyone’s help, especially Feng’s, or he’ll never leave that shadow.

But Thomas didn’t want to say it out loud since it would only create trouble for Feng, and he didn’t want this silent rivalry to turn into enmity.

Ace could also sense where those words were coming from, and he always thought highly of Peter. He would never want him to lose his self-esteem or his path, so if he tried to suppress him now, Peter might lose his fighting will and his nature.

Although having a talent was a good thing, it was also a double-edged sword at the same time because it was capricious.

Suppressing and crushing a talent, that was what you do to your enemies to destroy their fighting will.

While surpassing and proving your talent was something you do to someone you admire and respect, you don’t want them to stop chasing after you, even if you know they’ll never catch up with you.

Ace had very little interaction with his own generation, and he didn’t have many people he respects, so he cherished those who he does, and Peter was one of them.

He smiled and said, “Fine, you four can leave together, just don’t die on me.”

Peter smiled confidently. “Same to you. I still want to fight you after all this is over.”

With that, Peter, Brenna, Gibson, and Shepard took the right pathway.

“You did the right thing, but I still think we should’ve stuck together.” Alora gently said.

“Don’t worry, he won’t die. Besides, he’s right about opportunities coming with danger and if he can’t overcome this danger, he might never be able to advance.” Feng smile.

They took the left direction and move forward.

Ace smiled as he felt something. ‘Heh, White Fire followed in Peter’s direction just as I thought, while trolls are following us. It seemed they had prepared for this in advance. At least he won’t die now.’

Soon they move for a while before four pathways appeared.

Thomas couldn’t help but exclaimed, “Damn it, we are really in a maze!”