While listening to their murmurs, Ace moved silently among them beneath his black cloak, his aura restrained and unremarkable.

Unlike before, when he carried himself with the mysterious prestige of Nomad, now he looked like just another wandering Abyssal Master trying to gamble his life on the Sanctuary.

But beneath the hood, his eyes were cold and calculating.

’The Evernight Council will definitely search for Nomad through the Ring of Lone Hunter, but as long as it’s inside the Thief’s Space, I don’t need to worry about it for now.

’Even if the identity of Nomad is salvageable, using it again after entering the Undead Boundary, and then mysteriously surviving that place would only attract scrutiny.’

Ace glanced toward the distant Gate meaningfully, ’But I can’t enter like this either, so before entering again... I need another face, and fortunately, in this chaos, identities are easier to steal than ever, especially from all these independent cultivators!’

Ace’s sharp gaze swept across the sky until suddenly his eyes narrowed slightly as he spotted something. Far above a canyon ridge, a solitary flying ship cut through the darkness.

It wasn’t large, roughly three hundred meters long, forged from dark crimson metal with weathered abyssal carvings running along its hull. Six black sails fluttered beneath streams of abyssal wind while formation runes glowed dimly beneath the vessel.

Ace instantly deduced that the flying ship was probably an Upper Abyssal Grade-6 flying vessel. Not weak enough to be insignificant, but not strong enough to attract major attention, which was perfect.

Most importantly, Ace sensed only one dominant aura aboard the vessel, which should be an independent Abyssal Grandmaster.

Ace’s lips curled faintly beneath the hood as he knew independent abyssal cultivators were ideal targets.

They usually possessed decent wealth, hidden methods, flexible identities, and most importantly, few people who would investigate their disappearance deeply during such chaotic times.

Without hesitation, Ace altered course and silently vanished into the darkness, his figure blurring through the abyssal winds like a ghost.

As he approached closer, Ace decided to test the new spell he had just gotten, which had already reached the initial proficiency.

The Eyes of Hollow Thief, the moment the forbidden spell was activated, the world before Ace changed completely.

A cold sensation spread from his pupils as faint hollow-gray ripples surfaced within his eyes. Instantly, layers of reality peeled apart. The flying vessel no longer appeared as a simple crimson warship.

Countless formation lines flowed beneath its hull like luminous veins. Defensive barriers overlapped one another in rotating geometric structures, while hidden compartments glimmered with sealing arrays and concealed treasures.

Ace could even see weak spatial seams where the vessel’s formations connected imperfectly.

’Interesting...’

The Eyes of the Hollow Thief truly deserved the title of a forbidden infiltration spell. Not only could it perceive concealments, but it could also identify ownership threads attached to treasures and hidden disguises woven through laws and Qi fluctuations.

Ace’s gaze shifted deeper into the vessel, and then his eyes narrowed.

Inside the main cabin stood a burly winged demon nearly three meters tall. Dark-red skin, massive arms, abyssal wings folded behind his back, and a savage demonic sword attached directly to his wrist through flesh-binding chains.

He wore the robes of the Weaponized Mystic Haven, and his aura radiated the stable pressure of an Abyssal Grandmaster.

At first glance, nothing appeared unusual, but instantly, under the Eyes of the Hollow Thief, layers began peeling away from the Abyssal Winged Demon, which shocked Ace.

The demon’s appearance distorted like melting wax before another figure emerged beneath it.

Ace’s pupils contracted sharply because hidden beneath that demon’s skin was a completely different entity, which means the demon was also a disguise worn by someone!

Its body was lean and pale-black, with elongated fingers and strange abyssal markings crawling across its temples. Most striking of all was the vertical crimson eye sealed shut in the center of its forehead.

’It’s a Three-Eyed Devil!’ Ace instantly recognized the race.

Among the devil races, Three-Eyed Devils were infamous for their terrifying mental arts, soul attacks, illusion techniques, and assassination methods. They were natural infiltrators.

As far as Ace knew, the Three-Eyed Devil Race operated directly under the Evernight Council, and their main headquarters supposedly existed somewhere within the Nightfall Kingdom.

They specialized in all sorts of covert operations, assassinations, information gathering, and dirty work.

Yet now, one of them was disguised as a disciple of the Weaponized Mystic Haven, and Ace could guess what had happened.

’The original owner is most likely already dead...’

A strange expression appeared beneath his hood, and then he smiled wryly because this was honestly the first time he had encountered such a situation when his target had already been someone else’s target, which was quite amusing.

But Ace certainly wasn’t bothered; on the contrary, this made things even easier. After all, if a Three-Eyed Devil had already stolen this identity, then many hidden details and possible investigations had likely already been dealt with.

Without hesitation, Ace’s figure silently blurred into darkness, and the abyssal winds swallowed his presence completely.

The ship’s formations never reacted as the Eyes of the Hollow Thief had already exposed every blind spot within the vessel. Ace slipped through one of the spatial weaknesses silently like a shadow entering water.

Inside the cabin, the disguised Three-Eyed Devil stood calmly before a mirror, seemingly adjusting the demonic appearance. It never noticed the darkness behind it ripple faintly.

At that moment, Ace’s silver pupils surfaced instantly, and the Grand Mirror Phantom Scripture activated!

A faint translucent ripple, invisible and unavoidable, shot from Ace’s gaze, and the Three-Eyed Devil suddenly stiffened.

Its hidden third eye snapped open violently in the soul layer, releasing terrifying soul fluctuations as if sensing mortal danger, but it was too late.

The ripple pierced directly through every disguise, flesh vessel, and soul concealment before invading the creature’s Inner Soul World.

’BOOM!’

Chaos erupted internally as the Three-Eyed Devil’s soul screeched in horror as an invisible force seized it completely.

Unlike ordinary cultivators, this creature’s soul defenses were extraordinarily powerful. Countless illusory blades, soul curses, and mental spikes exploded outward in retaliation.

Yet the moment they touched Ace’s darkness force, they collapsed instantly, and the darkness force devoured them like a natural predator.

Ace’s eyes flickered slightly, ’As expected... darkness force also suppresses soul-type abilities extremely well.’

At that moment, the Mirror Embryo trembled within his Knowledge Sea as the struggling soul was dragged directly inside.

However, Ace suddenly noticed something unexpected deep within the Three-Eyed Devil’s Inner Soul World: another sealed soul, and he instantly realized it was the soul of the original disciple of the Weaponized Mystic Haven!