Eternal Thief

Afterward, the Evernight Demon King and Evernight Fiend King continued following the damaged trail, each carrying their own thoughts regarding the increasingly peculiar situation surrounding the forbidden region.

The deeper they went, the more obvious the signs became, as there were spatial fractures, scattered traces of corpse Qi, broken formations, and every trace suggested that an extremely violent pursuit had occurred only moments ago.

But the most bizarre part was that there was only Corpse Qi, not Abyssal Qi, which also suggests that the strife should be between the Corpse Clan and not some Abyssal Being such as Nomad.

Soon, they entered the ruined hall wrapped in countless corpse veins, and ten enormous Corpse Vessels stood in absolute silence along both sides of the hall.

Even the Evernight Fiend King halted as his eyes narrowed.

”Corpse Vessels...” His voice carried a hint of disdain.

The Evernight Demon King’s white eyes swept across every puppet in a single glance before calmly commenting, ”They’re dormant now.”

Her gaze lingered briefly. ”But they were activated recently, and their faint Corpse Qi residues also matched those we found scattered outside. Which means they were all chasing someone, but there are no clues about who. How intriguing!”

She slowly looked deeper into the hall as she stated, ”It seems we’re finally approaching the Corpse Governor, and only he can answer these questions. Now I’m looking forward to it.”

The Evernight Fiend King’s gaze slowly swept across the sealed chamber, and there were no visible entrances or doors, and nothing except endless corpse veins covering every surface.

Yet the atmosphere felt wrong, ancient, and hidden as though something deliberately refused to reveal itself.

He grinned, ”Should I simply tear this place apart?”

The Demon King chuckled softly before pointing toward one seemingly ordinary corpse vessel standing beside the wall.

”There! There’s something behind that one.”

Without another word, the Evernight Fiend King raised his enormous halberd.

’BOOOOOOOOOOM!!’

The Corpse Vessel was blasted aside like a discarded statue, and the wall behind it exploded apart as countless corpse veins snapped one after another.

Thereafter, an ancient concealment formation surfaced for only an instant before countless cracks rapidly spread across its surface.

At this point, its ancient formation had already become unstable, and without the Undead Boundary supporting it, it no longer possessed enough power to conceal anything, much less stop an Abyssal King.

’CRACK!’

The formation completely collapsed, and dust rolled outward as an enormous hidden passage gradually revealed itself.

The Evernight Fiend King raised an eyebrow, ”So there really was something hidden.”

The Evernight Demon King’s expression became thoughtful, ”This passage wasn’t meant to be discovered.”

She lightly brushed her fingers across the shattered formation, ”No, it was hastily sealed. Someone wanted to hide its existence after passing through here or simply because its original method of hiding was no longer usable.”

The Fiend King snorted, ”Then we’re going the right way.”

Without hesitation, both stepped into the newly exposed passage.

The corpse-veined tunnel stretched endlessly beneath the forbidden region. Unlike the outer labyrinth, this place possessed no defensive formations anymore, but only destruction remained.

Broken corpse veins hung from the walls, ancient runes had been ripped apart, and several sections had completely collapsed from overwhelming force.

The Evernight Demon King slowly examined every trace, ”...Interesting.”

She crouched beside one fractured rune, ”There is still one presence. The one who pursued. But no trace of the one who fled.”

The Evernight Fiend King looked ahead, ”So the Corpse Governor really fought someone? But that someone couldn’t be found?”

”It appears so.” She calmly stood. ”But whoever escaped did so with meticulous caution.”

Neither of them slowed their pace; instead, they accelerated, and the further they advanced, the stronger the lingering fluctuations became.

Until the tunnel finally opened into an enormous hollow chamber, and both Kings stopped.

Silence filled the cavern because nothing stood at its center, as the colossal sealing formation was gone, and the countless corpse runes surrounding the chamber had become meaningless fragments.

There were spatial anchors, formation pillars, and broken crystals that indicated that something unimaginably massive had once occupied this place. But now only an empty void remained.

The Evernight Fiend King’s expression darkened. ”Someone had destroyed whatever was there, and it seemed to be done recently!”

The Evernight Demon King’s eyes narrowed slightly as she slowly looked around. ”No, you are half right because it wasn’t destroyed, but removed completely. Maybe the traces we found are because of this empty place!”

But suddenly, her gaze froze because far ahead, upon the hollowed wall, a pitch-black mural quietly overlooked the chamber.

The Evernight Fiend King also noticed it, and when he followed the Evernight Demon King’s eyes and saw the mural, even he was startled and stunned.

The black mural was actually an enormous owl with its wings spread proudly, and two devilish horns curved upward from its head, and it seemed almost alive, watching them with a trace of mockery.

Moreover, both Evernight Kings instantly recognized that owl.

The Evernight Fiend King’s brows furrowed, ”Is that symbol...”

The Demon King’s expression gradually became solemn, ”What is going on in here?”

Without hesitation, she slowly approached, and her gaze moved toward the owl’s wings, and there were words inside seemingly deliberately carved into them.

The Fiend King unconsciously read them aloud without realizing she didn’t understand that language.

”...Sky...Stealer...!?” His voice became noticeably quieter.

The Demon King continued reading the message engraved across the opposite wing.

”Since you hate this thing so much...”

”I’ll be taking it off your hands.”

”...Oh, and no need to thank me.”

Absolute silence descended in the chamber as the two Evernight Kings stared at the mural, and neither spoke for several breaths. Because this was completely different from what they had expected.

The Evernight Demon King finally murmured, ”...So we were wrong.”

The Fiend King frowned, ”We assumed Sky Stealer belonged to the Corpse Clan since that owl appeared above the secret realm. It would’ve been the most reasonable explanation.”

The Demon King slowly shook her head, ”But if that were true, why would he leave this behind?”

Her white eyes remained fixed upon the mocking owl. ”Moreover, this wasn’t meant for us. It was left for the Corpse Clan, and the Corpse Governor most likely saw it.”

Her voice became quieter, ”And judging from these words, the Sky Stealer stole whatever had been sealed here. Moreover, it was important enough for the Corpse Governor to chase!”

The Fiend King’s expression finally turned grim. ”Wait a moment, according to the reports, the Undead Boundary started waning when that owl showed up in the sky. So, could it be the Undead Boundary’s sudden waning is related to this place as well?”