Eternal Thief

The Azure Flow Basin was a sprawling, mystical wetland in the western regions of the Great Prosperity Domain. It was a place where glistening rivers snake through fertile lands, deep marshes, and crystalline lakes teeming with spirit fish and rare aquatic herbs.

But the Southeast Outskirts of this otherwise prosperous region paint a different picture—a land where civilization fades and nature begins to rot under a creeping shadow.

The rivers here run slower, muddier, and tainted with an eerie blue mist that never seems to lift. The trees are twisted and covered in hanging moss, while the marshes reek of damp decay. Strange sounds echo through the reeds—cries of demonic beasts, or worse, the howls of strange ghostly phantoms.

Merchants and cultivators traveling through this area speak of illusions forming in the fog, and of comrades suddenly vanishing mid-step, only to reappear as drained corpses days later.

Amid the reed-choked wetlands lies a rarely trodden trail known as the Mud Serpent's Spine. This trail coils through deceptively shallow marshes and under eerie canopies of bone-white trees. The path was almost invisible unless viewed with special detection arrays, as it's laced with dozens of spirit-distorting formations.

At the heart of this hidden route lies a natural depression: a dark glade cloaked perpetually in mist and gloom, known as the Shadowed Glade.

There, ancient rocks covered in moss form a crescent around a blackened tree said to have once been a tree spirit corrupted by an Evil Cultivator. Its roots now serve as the foundation for a notorious bandit gang, the Bone Shade Gang's hidden den—a lair of winding tunnels and interconnected hideouts dug beneath the glade, reinforced with stolen materials and sinister talismans.

The Bone Shade Gang gained this infamy because of their leader, Bone Shade, who was cunning and ruthless, and he was also the only one who knew the Mud Serpent's Spine's ins and outs.

Bone Shade, the cunning bandit known for wearing a mask crafted from the skull of a Demonic Beast. His cultivation was rumored to be at the Ascension Warrior Realm, with a hint of corrupted spirit Qi, suggesting he was a cultivator on the evil path.

But the true reason for his infamy and other powerful cultivators' helplessness against Bone Shade was that he seemed to have gained control over the Mud Serpent's Spine and, using it, he could easily flee, rendering his pursuer helpless.

Only the Ascension Grand Master should be able to tread into the Mud Serpent's Spine without getting lost or, worse, end up in some terrifying demonic spirit beast territory.

Moreover, the Shadowed Glade itself was a naturally hidden hideout with natural defenses. Even if someone reached this place, they would have to pass through the corrupted tree spirit first, which would instantly alert the bandit gang.

There were rumors that said that Bone Shade was also in possession of an Evil Treasure—that absorbs the vitality of his victims and shrouds him in illusion. His crew numbers around forty, a mix of rogue cultivators and deserters from minor sects. They are organized into groups:

The Reavers, who were skilled in hit-and-run tactics on caravans. The Cursers, rogue talisman users, and poison experts. Finally, the Trackers are akin to silent assassins who eliminate stragglers or tail survivors.

These bandits were infamous for ambushing merchant convoys. Intercepting lone cultivators near resource sites. Trafficking spirit herbs, slaves, and stolen cultivation materials. Stripping corpses clean, leaving only their bones—hence their name as well.

Their recent attacks have drawn attention due to a drastic increase in brutality—they no longer leave any survivors, and stolen goods often vanish from black markets, suggesting a deeper connection with an Evil Sect as well.

However, unbeknownst to the Bone Shade crew, they are not alone in their glade, at least for a few days now.

High above, hidden among the warped branches of the corrupted spirit tree, lies a single figure wrapped in a cloak as dark as shadow. He wears no armor, only a fitted black garb with subtle runic weavings, and a faint shimmer that dances across his fingertips as he caresses the surface of a runic plate.

This stalker has been tracking the Bone Shade for over a month now. He never leaves a trace, never steps on twigs, and even the spirit insects scatter in fear when he draws near.

After all his effort, he not only found their hidden layer, but he also managed to infiltrate it. Furthermore, the corrupted spirit tree couldn't sense his presence at all despite hiding within its branches, which was extremely strange.

The stalker's dark blue eyes gleam faintly as a soft smile curls on his lips as he watches the bandits laugh around their bonfire, unaware of his presence. If they knew someone like 'him' was watching them, they wouldn't be celebrating right now.

This silent watcher is no bounty hunter, nor did the Bone Shade have any enmity with or have ever antagonized. Instead, it was Ace, who was given the mission by the Evil Slaying Division of the PHW King Sect to eliminate Bone Shade as a trial by fire to prove himself worthy.

'The information network of the Evil Slaying Division is either only for show or they're simply sending me to my death. Granted, I only needed to hunt Bone Shade, but they didn't mention anything about his bandit gang of 37 law state cultivators, with 11 of them being Ascension Warriors themselves.

'Furthermore, Bone Shade has long been an Ascension General; that bandit bastard is hiding too well, and this information couldn't be leaked because anyone who meets him never lives to tell the tale.

'But I still can't believe the PHW King could've missed something like this. It might be some kind of test to fully measure my abilities, which also means that someone is monitoring my every action.

'That's why I can't simply upgrade my cultivation rank. If I suddenly became a peak Grand General, I'll be under lots of heat and scrutiny and not in a good way as well, much less if I jumped to the peak of the Ascension Master Realm…'

Ace smiled wryly as he thought, 'Or I can simply retrieve my avatar since it'll be extremely useful in the Abyss. But I also want to have eyes in the Mortal Ascension Heaven.

'Furthermore, I still don't know if the system would even allow the Avatar of Holy Twilight to stay here since I can simply use my ability to retrieve my body with all the house members from the Abyss, which would be a massive loophole in the Abyss Mission Series.

'Only 22 hours left before the teleportation, let's see what happened. If I can really keep my avatar here, I'll take care of this group of bandits, if not, I lose nothing but a huge advantage…'

As Ace waits in silence while stalking the Bone Shade Gang in the Shadowed Glade, something strange is happening back in the PHW King Sect!