Eternal Thief

The moment the new mirror persona formed, Ace acted immediately.

Within his knowledge sea, the newly created reflection of Dargoth Veyr’s Undead Soul awakened under his command. At the same time, the Undead Soul of Varcor that Ace had been using moments earlier was dismissed.

The transition was instantaneous as Varcor’s Undead Soul vanished from Ace’s control as the Abyssal Lord persona took its place.

But the moment the switch occurred, Varcor’s corpse vessel reacted violently. The pale corpse-veins running across the body began to twitch and stiffen as if rejecting the foreign soul inhabiting it.

The corpse Qi circulating within the vessel fluctuated wildly, the decay patterns on the skin destabilizing. The reason was simple, as Dargoth Veyr’s Undead Soul was fundamentally different from Varcor’s.

Not only had this soul never refined this corpse vessel before, but its power level was also vastly superior. The pressure radiating from a late-middle-stage Abyssal Lord soul was far beyond what Varcor’s vessel had been designed to contain.

Yet despite the rejection, the Undead Soul easily dominated the body because the difference in its Undead Soul’s strength was simply too great. The corpse vessel trembled under the pressure but still remained under control.

Ace felt the imbalance immediately. However, this outcome had already been expected, and without hesitation, the next moment, Varcor’s corpse vessel disappeared. It was instantly stored inside Ace’s Thief’s Space, for he had no intention of abandoning it yet.

Although the vessel was weaker compared to Dargoth’s, it was still a perfectly usable Abyssal Guardian corpse vessel of Varcor’s mirror persona and could prove useful later.

With the body gone, Dargoth’s Undead Soul was now fully exposed. A gray-black soul silhouette hovered silently within the shadows of the corridor outside the sealed cavern.

Yet Ace remained completely calm. By now, he had already absorbed Dargoth Veyr’s memories, and using those memories, he immediately activated a familiar soul fluctuation unique to Dargoth.

A faint pulse of corpse resonance spread outward from the Undead Soul before the sealed formation array reacted instantly, and the corpse-runes along the stone gate flickered once; thereafter, the cavern entrance silently opened.

Everything happened so quickly and quietly that not a single fluctuation escaped the corridor.

Even if someone had been watching nearby, they would have seen nothing unusual. From the perspective of the formation, its rightful owner had simply returned.

Now that Ace had taken Dargoth’s place, there was no longer any difference between them, and no one could tell this was an impostor.

Without hesitation, Ace drifted forward as his Undead Soul slipped through the entrance and into the cultivation cavern.

Inside, the vast chamber was exactly as he had sensed earlier. Dense Corpse Qi continued circulating through the corpse-rune formations carved along the walls. The massive bone altar in the center still pulsed faintly with energy.

Lastly, upon that altar lay Dargoth Veyr’s corpse vessel; the towering Abyssal Thunder Demon’s body now sat motionless, its corpse flames extinguished, its presence completely hollow. Without its Undead Soul, it had become nothing more than a powerful empty shell.

The next moment, Ace moved closer, and then, without any hesitation, he extended his Undead Soul toward it.

Just like before, gray-black soul tendrils spread outward and sank into the corpse vessel’s chest. The reaction was immediate as a powerful suction force pulled his soul inward as if the vessel itself recognized its former owner.

The next moment, Ace’s consciousness plunged into the body, bones locked into place, and corpse-veins ignited before faint violet lightning patterns along the demon corpse flickered to life once again, and finally, the corpse vessel’s eyes snapped open!

Dim violet corpse flames ignited inside the hollow sockets as Ace slowly inhaled, and cold air scraped through the massive dead lungs of the Abyssal Thunder Demon vessel.

The sensation was heavy, powerful, and strangely stable, and for a moment Ace simply sat there, feeling the body before his eyes, his gaze suddenly narrowing at something that surprised him.

A strong wave of power was coursing through his Undead Soul and spreading naturally into the corpse vessel. He could feel it clearly as the soul and the body were synchronizing.

Although not perfectly, far better than he had expected, as Ace had originally believed that controlling an Abyssal Lord corpse vessel should be nearly impossible for him.

After all, his true cultivation was still far below that level, yet to his astonishment, the connection was stabilizing, and the mirror persona’s power was compensating for the gap.

The spiritual signature, cultivation fluctuations, and corpse resonance had all been perfectly recreated. As far as the corpse vessel was concerned, its true master had returned.

Ace slowly flexed the massive fingers of the Thunder Demon corpse before violet corpse lightning flickered faintly across the knuckles.

“…Incredible,” He murmured quietly as once again, the Grand Mirror Phantom Scripture had exceeded his expectations.

Not only could he steal the identity of an Undead Race’s Abyssal Lord, but he could also wield the corpse vessel associated with that identity.

Ace’s eyes glinted faintly, and for a brief moment, a bold idea surfaced in his mind, ’If this works on an Abyssal Lord…what about a Quasi–Grand Abyssal Lord…? Or even… a true Grand Abyssal Lord?’

But the thought lingered for only a second before Ace immediately dismissed it because that would be reckless, as just taking over Dargoth Veyr had already pushed his luck.

An Abyssal Lord of Undead Race might be vulnerable during cultivation, but a Grand Abyssal Lord would be an entirely different existence. If anything went wrong, his cover would collapse instantly, and inside the Undead Boundary, his exposure meant certain death.

Ace exhaled slowly, as for now, Dargoth’s identity was more than enough.

In fact, abandoning Varcor’s identity was also beneficial because Belfast already knew Varcor had returned after abandoning his post. If the matter were investigated, that identity would quickly become problematic.

Dargoth, on the other hand, was an Abyssal Lord and a Corpse Captain of the Ninth Bone Legion, and his authority was far greater.

More importantly, his position allowed him to move far more freely. At that moment, Ace’s eyes darkened slightly as he began searching through Dargoth’s memories.

This was the entire reason he had risked targeting an Abyssal Lord; he needed information about the inner structure of the Undead Boundary, hidden treasuries, and, most importantly, he wanted information about possible locations where the formation core of the Undead Boundary might exist.

Fortunately, Dargoth’s memories did not disappoint as compared to Varcor; the difference in knowledge was enormous!