In the lavish hall of the Everlasting Endearment Palace, Ace was sitting with the House Members. Everyone was curious about what Ace wanted to discuss with them.
At this moment, Ace spoke, "The reason I invited you all here is that I want you all to know about our enemy, Heaven, and its minion, Heavenâs Advocate, whom I had a small encounter with just before entering the Abyss."
The expressions of House Members instantly changed as they looked at Ace with disbelief because it was their first time hearing about this matter, especially the name of Heavenâs Advocate.
"What is going on?" Eva asked as her eyes were filled with worry, and Alina and Noa were the same. While Freya and Winter were solemn, they wanted an explanation.
Now they finally understood why Ace didnât reveal this matter in front of the Thief Acolytes. It wasnât because Ace didnât trust them; they werenât qualified to know about this matter yet, at least not before they returned from this trip to the Abyss.
Ace could have also kept this information hidden from them until they were back in Heaven, but he decided to tell them right away because their enemies were making preparations against them, and he didnât want them to be caught off guard.
After all, Damien nearly succeeded in getting his hands on the Equilux Balance Ruler that was supposed to be used against Ace.
Thatâs why Ace told them everything about the Heavenâs Advocate and his last encounter with him in the PHW King Sect.
When the House Members heard Aceâs story, they were all shocked and even speechless by the tale, especially the part that involved an Ascension King.
What made their expression strange was the part when they heard how Ace tricked Damien with his Avatar and then pitted the Ascension King against Damien. They thought that Damien was quite pitiful while the Ascension King was a moron.
However, when they heard Damien using his ability to deal a grave blow to the Ascension King despite his cultivation realm only being in the Ascension Grand General Realm, they all gasped, and their expression turned slightly pale.
After all, even Ace wasnât confident in escaping an Ascension King, much less making one flee while gravely wounded.
"...in the end, I managed to pickpocket the Sect Master of the Prime Heavenly Wealth King Sect because he was distracted by the thought of getting his hands on the treasures of the Prosperity Matriarch before I was teleported here." Ace finally concluded his story, making the House Members look at him as if he were a lunatic.
They were lost for words, they heard the last part about Ace successfully pickpocketing the Sect Master of one of the big six king sects.
"Everything aside, from Leaderâs information, if we want to deal with this Heavenâs Advocate, I think your Avatar of Holy Twilight is the key because his most powerful ability that can even make an Ascension King flee in defeat, didnât seem to work on it, right?" Freya was the first one to give her input.
The other house members also agreed with Freya, as they looked at Ace with anticipation and felt envious of his luck in having a trump card like the Avatar of Holy Twilight in his arsenal.
Ace nodded in agreement with Freya, "I have the same thoughts. But itâs still too soon to reach any conclusion. Heâs not easy to kill because Heaven selects him, and heâs the Son of Heaven. He probably has life-saving trump cards like me.
"Besides, I canât face him with my true body unless I figure out a way to render his abilities ineffective against me, which Iâm sure is not something I can achieve. After all, the previous Heavenâs Stealers mightâve also thought about this, but in the end..."
Ace didnât speak any further, but the House Members knew what he was implying, and their expression became gloomy to extreme.
"Can he come here?" Noa suddenly asked, a hint of killing intent lacing her cold voice. She was clearly furious and wanted to stab a dagger in Damienâs heart personally.
Ace was uncertain as he replied, "I donât know. But since the Abyssal Beings are enemies of Heavenly Beings and vice versa, we can safely assume that the Heavens are at odds with the Abysses. Regarding the influence of the Heavens in the Abysses, we need to investigate this further before reaching an accurate conclusion.
"But if the Heavensâ influence in the Abyss is minimum, if the Heavenâs Advocate dares to come after us, I might be able to deal with him." Ace then looked towards the other house members as he continued confidently, "After all, I have you guys with me."
The House Members have various emotions when they sense Aceâs confidence in them. It would be a lie to say they werenât flattered and felt pleased by Aceâs comment.
However, they were also worried about Heaven, since just its minion, Heavenâs Advocate, was so hard to deal with, they couldnât imagine what their true enemy was capable of.
At this moment, Eva suddenly smiled and confidently said, "I think Heaven canât influence the Abyss because the concept of Heavenly Law Tribulation doesnât exist in it!"
"What?!" Ace was startled by this sudden revelation, and so were the house members, who looked at Eva with incredulity.
After all, they knew the concept of Heavenly Law Tribulation was a norm in the Mortal Ascension Heaven, not to mention the Heavenly Ascension Tribulation, an Elemental State Cultivator needed to undergo before becoming a Law State.
Eva flashed a smile before she nodded, "You didnât hear it wrong. There is no Heavenly Law Tribulation in the Abyss. I forgot to mention it, but I only remembered now that you brought up the matter regarding the influxes of Heaven in the Abyss.
"However, just like the Heaven test the Heavenly Beings, the Abyss also tests the Abyssal Beings. But instead of Heavenly Tribulations, there are Abyssal Ordeals. But unlike the Heavenly Tribulation, which brings out Heavenly Thunder, the Abyssal Ordeals have various variations. It is simply unpredictable.
"The most infamous Abyssal Ordeals include teleporting the Abyssal Beings directly into the heart of dangerous zones, teeming with terrifying Wandering Souls, or Abyssal Beasts. Not only that, but Abyssal Ordeal can also seal the abilities and powers of the Abyssal Beings to put them in dangerous situations.
"Then there are also Abyssal Ordeals of Souls, which involve dragging souls into terrifying soul dungeons, and then the Abyssal Beings have to escape those dungeons filled with things that can annihilate souls.
"Iâve even seen a record of a Half-Abyssal King manifestation, an ancient Abyssal King in his Abyssal King Ordeal, and then dying with a single attack of that ancient Abyssal King." Evaâs words shocked everyone as they wore incredulous expressions on their faces.
But no one doubted her words since she had been in the Abyss of Wandering Souls for years now, and she was also a high-ranking member of the Evernight Council.
Nonetheless, they all were thinking about the mysterious Abyssal Ordeals and how unpredictable they were compared to the straightforward Heavenly Tribulations.
"What about you? What kind of Abyssal Ordeal did you encounter? Moreover, since most of us are Heavenly Beings, what will happen to us?" Zaria suddenly raised a keen question with a solemn look. She was about to recultivate, and she didnât want any surprises, especially not surprises like those Abyssal Ordeals.
Eva pulled with a peculiar simile before she replied, "Well, thatâs the thing actually, I didnât encounter an Abyssal Ordeal at Abyssal Grand General Rank, and directly become an Abyssal Master. This was an unexpected phenomenon that I couldnât comprehend.
"But you know what even bizarre is? Itâs when my thief acolytes become Law State Abyssal Beings; they also didnât encounter any Abyssal Ascension Ordeals. The only conclusion that I reached about it was..." Eva suddenly looked at Ace tenderly.
Aceâs eyes widened as he instantly guessed what Eva was implying, and the house members werenât fools either.
"Are you telling us that this has something to do with Thief House?" Winter blurted out, seeking Evaâs confirmation.
Eva nodded without hesitation, "Thatâs the only explanation I could think of. After all, I didnât find anything similar in any records of the Evernight Council. Furthermore, the corruption of Abyssal Spirit Qi has no effect on us either, and the thief acolytesâ cultivation techniques can absorb both the Abyssal Spirit Qi of Abyss and the Spirit Qi inside the Thiefâs House.
"Moreover, donât forget, we donât need to undergo either Heavenly Tribulation or Abyssal Ordeals within the Thiefâs House! Last time when I broke through into Law State, I shouldâve encountered an Abyssal Ascension Ordeal, but I succeeded without experiencing any difficulty.
"Thatâs why I also didnât know about Abyssal Ordeal, and my inheritance memories remained dormant until I entered the Abyss of Wandering Souls. Now, we all can enter Abysses while the Heavenly Beings or even the rulers of Heaven canât, donât you guys think itâs eerily coincidental?"