Red Mountain City! (Part 2)

After Ace moved, Eva also used her special skill and followed him closely. She was astonished by the fact that she had to use her full power to keep up with him.

Everyone saw those guards going towards the carriage and stopped moving. They didn't dare to enter the city without those guards' permission because it was a crime, and if they got caught, the punishment would be terrible. That's why those guards abandoned their posts because they knew no one would dare to break the rules.

But no one noticed two silhouettes sneak inside the city when everyone's attention was on that lavishing carriage.

'Succeed'. Ace thought joyfully.

He looked behind, saw Eva had traversed the gate with him, and grinned. He started to move in a random direction. He wanted to get far away from the city gate before stopping.

After they stopped moving, they saw lively streets covered with smooth bricks and full of pedestrians. Such a scene was clearly rare in a 2-star city like River-Flower City.

They quickly got rid of their black robes and moved around the city.

Ace had finally arrived in Red Mountain City. He curiously looked around. Before, he had thought that River-Flower City was quite big and lively, but now, he discovered he was a frog in a well. He did not know how vast this 1-star City was, but he knew it was many times larger than River-Flower City.

Ace saw many people gathering in front of a long wall.

"Let's go there and see what is happening." Eva walked toward the long wall. She was quite curious about this big city, and she wasn't as vigilant as Ace after crossing the city gate.

He followed her and went over the wall. They found that a lot of information had been put up on that wall. Some history, customs, and other information about the city were engraved there. On top of everything, there was also a map of the entire city indicating some inns, well-known stores, the city lord's mansion, and the cultivation families' information…

The map itself was very detailed, and Ace soon found where the important places were on the map. Another thing that caught Ace's attention was information regarding buying and selling items, looking for missing persons or items, and recruitment offers for various jobs. This was to help people who were new to Red Mountain City.

They swept through the myriad of information. Eva pointed in a specific direction on the map and said to Ace, "Let's go to this Inn; it's the best inn in the entire city!"

She wasn't reserved at all when she said that because she knew that Ace was rich after he robbed two of the most powerful families of a 2-star city, and he even got a storage ring. So, he can afford anything in this city.

"Let's go. I also want to see how grand a 1-Star city is." Ace smiled; he wasn't stingy, and since he had millions of Ruby Coins, he didn't mind spending some.

They followed the map's directions and quickly reached the city's grand inn. It was a big, ten-story lavish building. Ace was a little surprised by this. It really deserves its reputation as the best inn in the entire city.

They both entered the Inn, got two of the most luxurious rooms in the hotel for an entire month, and paid 20,000 ruby coins.

Since he had the money, he didn't feel much about this amount, but the people around him were clearly shocked by his wealth. Because he didn't look rich at all by the looks of his clothes, even the lady at the reception was stunned.

Ace didn't mind all this since he was already inside the city; no one would think he had snuck inside. None of these inns checked their customers' information since most of them were usually cultivators. They couldn't afford to offend them.

Ace headed toward his room with Eva; they both were staying on the same floor, and their rooms were also nearby. If something happens, they can easily find each other.

Entering his room, Ace saw all the luxurious items inside and big comfortable bedding. He couldn't help but feel the fatigue of all his missions, and this journey washed over him. He was sleeping on the floor for at least one and a half months. When he was in Grant's family, he didn't get to sleep comfortably.

But when he thought about something, he felt all the stress go away in smoke because now he was finally alone and could turn all those pills inside his thief's space into EXP! He hadn't done it before because he was in the wild with Eva all the time and didn't want to show her any more of his secrets.

Although she never asked him how he got all these mysterious abilities and knew about his background, that's why he didn't want to show her anymore. He still has his guard up against her a little. But he still hoped that she wasn't this kind of person, and it was all in his head.

Ace sat calmly and transmitted eagerly, "System convert all the lowest grade pills (white grade pills) into EXP!"

Other than white-grade pills, he wanted to keep those Green and Blue grade pills for an emergency.

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[System detects 756 Lowest-Grade pills in host Thief's Space!]

[Are you sure you want to convert all of them into EXP?]

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Ace became astonished by these numbers. He didn't expect that the Kelby family treasury would give him more white-grade pills than Rylan's storage ring. He didn't even check all the Kelby family treasures since he thought they were not as valuable as Rylan's. But now he was thinking of sorting them out after this.

"Yes." He answered without any hesitation.

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[System has converted 756 lowest-grade pills into 7560 EXP.]

[Congratulations, Host, on opening the 4th Gate of Heavenly Gate.]

[Host status has been updated.]

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Ace was very happy seeing all the EXP, but after hearing about opening the 4th gate, he became confused because he was clearly in the 3rd gate.

Before he could inquire about it, he felt his Heavenly Qi start to surge. His organs start to absorb the Heavenly Qi at a high pace. He quickly closed his eyes and started to cultivate the Heaven Stealer's Crystal Body technique.

After three hours, Ace opened his eyes and finally stabilized his cultivation at the 4th stage of Qi Gates.

'The gate of organs really has been opened!' It was a pleasant surprise.

"System, why was I able to break through directly into the 4th gate without encountering any bottleneck?" He was delighted by the fact since he had just broken through ten days ago, this kind of speed in cultivation was unheard of.

"[Host has already formed the Yellow-Wind Soul Core in soul cultivation, it is equal to Heavenly Foundation Building realm, that's why host didn't encounter any bottleneck.]" 

"Are you telling me I'm able to break through directly into Heavenly Foundation Building Realm as long as I have enough EXP? Then what about if my soul cultivation is equal to the Heavenly River realm?" He asked frantically.

"[Yes! The host's guess is right! As long as your soul or body cultivation is higher than others, you can directly break through into that same realm. Because the Heaven Stealer technique is basically one technique, and this is also the advantage of cultivating both soul and body at the same time.]"

The system confirmed it!

Ace took a deep breath of cold air. He finally understood why this technique was taboo and had too many advantages. 

But there was one disadvantage: when he reached the Foundation Building Realm, he would face the heavenly punishment, and he had to withstand both body and soul punishment simultaneously. He thought it was a very low price to pay for the technique. Although, he won't understand it until he faces it.

"Now I only need EXP to Build my Heavenly Foundation! It seems like I need to start my journey towards the most powerful city of the entire 4th level lands as soon as possible. I need to gather information tomorrow. First, I have to find out where that city is and how long it will take me to reach that city. I only have five years to complete my job mission." Ace muttered under his breath as he planned his next course of action.

He takes a look at his EXP status.

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[EXP: 4470/10,000]

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"System, if I convert all the pills inside my storage space, how much EXP will I get?" Since he could now break through to the next realm without any problem, he wanted to enter directly into the Heavenly Foundation Building realm as soon as possible.

"[Host can convert them into 4080 EXP.]"

'I still can't open the 5th Gate of Heavenly Gates even after I convert all of my pills.' He sighed, but a wicked smile crept on his face after a moment!