Ace looked at the giant scorpion, the Sun Seeker to be precise, a few meters away from his position, with a perplexed look.
'How am I supposed to kill that thing with this mortal body in a haggard state? It's probably at the Empty River Realm. Just who created this impossible trial?' Ace thought while he stepped back. He wants to create some distance between them.
However, the Sun Seeker wasn't some dumb beast as it instantly moved toward Ace while straightening his vicious tail.
Ace's heart sank as he was no match for the Sun Seeker's massive legs, but it didn't mean he would go down that easily. Although he had lost his Qi, it didn't mean he had lost all the experience he had accumulated for fifteen years. Especially the experience with his thievish skills, which were his bread and butter.
'Every being has Qi in their body even without cultivation. Cultivation is meant to increase the Qi capacity and make the Qi more refine…' Ace remembered the basics before his crude steps suddenly became orderly.
The next moment, the sound of his movements vanished, and Ace's small figure nimbly evaded the Sun Seeker's charge. He was using the Silent Steps, the very first-moment skill he ever learned!
But he just barely evaded it as he was simply too small, and he needed to preserve the limited amount of Qi in this haggard body.
However, Ace suddenly discovered something the moment he performed the Silent Steps, 'Why didn't I feel any Qi circulation or Qi exemption when I just performed the Silent Steps? It's like… like that Qi just came directly from the surrounding environment?'
Ace couldn't help but think this way as he was too familiar with how Qi would circulate in his meridian and then diffuse through his body pours at his will. However, this wasn't the case with this body at all when he used the Silent Steps.
But it might also be just his imagination, so he needed to test it further.
The Sun Seeker swung its pointy tail menacingly when it saw its prey has been escaped.
Without hesitation, Ace used the Silent Steps again, and this time, he even tried to use the Basic Stealth with it.
The moment he did, his small stature camouflaged with the surroundings as he vanished, and the silent step again was able to evade that lighting-fast tail. It was also because of Ace's terrifying reflexes that he was able to evade those attacks from the Sun Seeker, which was clearly far stronger than him.
'What is this? I can really use these skills without refining the Qi in my body first. Instead, I can draw Qi directly from the environment and then use it at the moment noticed! Didn't this mean I could use as much Qi as I wanted without worrying about Qi consumption?! Don't tell me this body is some rare fantastic physique?' The more Ace thought about it, the more alarmed he became because it was the only explanation he could think of.
Furthermore, with this absurd trial, it was only natural that he would also be given someone kind of advantage to at least have a fighting chance.
If this strange ability of this body were his advantage, then Ace didn't mind having such a body at all!
Furthermore, Ace also noticed that since the moment he started to come in contact with Qi, this body fatigue was slowly going fading, which was even more strange and alarming.
Nevertheless, this was all to his advantage, so he didn't mind.
Since he can now use his skills without needing to worry about Qi consumption, Ace didn't need to run or be on the defensive.
After evading the tail, his eyes went ruthless before Qi started to materialize in his hand, it was pure golden Qi, and it started to turn into a sword blade.
The next moment, Ace directly slashed that Golden Qi blade on the Sun Seeker's massive leg.
However, the moment that Qi blade touched the Sun Seeker's armor-like skin, it instantly shattered like glass which made Ace alarmed. The fine hair on his back stood, and without hesitation, he used lighting steps while ducking his head and lunged towards the side.
Thereafter, the sharp tail stabbed right at the stop where Ace was just standing a moment ago. If he were even a second late, he would've been skewered.
Ace pants with rigid breathing after almost getting killed. Furthermore, after he used Qi skills for foundation building and river realm cultivators, he found his body started to get exhausted again, and this time, this feeling was far worse than before he started using Qi.
'How can a mortal body handle performing such high-level skills, especially the Lighting Steps, which is based on the Heavenly Qi? I'm just barely able to imitate it. However, I should be more concerned about that thing easily shattering my Qi bald without me even leaving a scratch…' Ace was now feeling depressed as that happiness came from discovering the special trait of this body was short-lived.
Although he seemed to be able to use high-level skills and draw that much Qi as well, however, there were consequences of performing Qi skills with a mortal body despite the ability to have virtually infinite Qi.
Nevertheless, Ace was more concerned that his Qi blade didn't damage the Sun Seeker, which should be more than enough to behead a Qi river cultivator easily.
Furthermore, his basic stealth also seemed to be quite useless against Sun Seeker, so he stopped using it entirely to lower the strain on this body.
The Sun Seeker didn't have any intention to give Ace a chance to breathe as it moved its leg, wanting to squish him, followed by its vicious tail in the mix.
Ace didn't dare to use any defensive skill as he wasn't sure if it would crumble under the Sun Seeker's attacks like his Qi blade.
So, he again used the crude imitation of the lighting steps since it was his only movement skill that seemed fast enough to evade the Sun Seeker's incoming attack.
Ace also noticed another thing which was the Sun Seeker didn't seem to be using Qi at all as it was purely using its physical prowess, which could be another advantage for the trial taken who was given a mortal body.
'Now, I understand just how powerful the Heavenly Qi is and the skills driven by it!' From the start, Ace was used to using the Heavenly Qi and never really had the experience of not having it. He just knew it was the Qi originating from Heaven.
However, now, he finally understood just why this Qi was the acronym of perfection and why the one who stole it was called the Eternal Enemy of Heaven!
This was akin to having the same prowess as the Heaven itself, and that's why the Heaven's Stealer would have to die before it could challenge the Heaven!
Even this physique was not enough to make Ace give up the Heavenly Qi or the System, which was probably the sole reason he could refine the Heavenly Qi with the Heaven Stealer Technique and cultivate in both paths.
So, with that thought in mind, Ace stopped caring about this body condition since it wasn't his, and this was just a trial.
The next moment, white Qi started to shimmer over Ace's small body before it turned black. However, the moment that black smock rose from Ace's small body, his skin started to crack as blood gushed out.
Yet, Ace was calm as he looked at the Sun Seeker, who was going to launch another attack as if it was a dead beast.
The very next moment, the black smock suddenly rose, taking the shape of a three-meter-long pitch-black blade, while blood was now streaming from his eyes and ears as well.
'Eternal Thief's Sword Style: Marital Shadow Slash!'