After leaving the shop, Ace found a dark alley before changing his appearance. After all, he knew the Raveneye was watching, and since he wanted to break through, he didn't want anyone to see it, especially the Nightfall Ravenhood.
He disguised another human appearance saved in his mask from his days in the Azure Wind Continent. After adjusting his cultivation realm, Ace used lawless darkness to sneak away and only stopped when he was a few miles away from the inner-city entrance.
Ace then showed the token to the guards, and they let him pass without any inquiry since leaving was an easier matter than entering this place.
Once he was in the outer city, Ace took the same way he entered with Eleanor, but this time, he didn't go to the docks; instead, he headed straight towards the main city entrance and exited the Runic Forge City.
It was his first time outside the Runic Forge City, and the outside was lush and magnificent as a Great Domain; the Great Crown Domain was filled with liveness, which was something Ace didn't want at this moment.
So, Ace had to travel towards the east, where an extremely dangerous region of the Great Crown Domain was located, the Vindictive Ridged Valley. This valley was filled with demonic beasts and all kinds of poisonous flora.
Furthermore, there were also many special types of herbs and materials in the valley, which drew many fortune-seeking adventures, and even the Runic King Crown Palace sent some top cultivators to harvest them.
However, only Ascension Masters could survive in this valley, and even then, it was extremely dangerous because this place was unpredictable, and many died there because of a single mistake or their own ignorance.
Ace chose this place because it was relatively remote and far away from the three sect cities of the Runic King Crown Palace.
It took Ace almost two weeks at full speed to enter the region of the Vindictive Ridged Valley, and as he approached it, the terranes began to change into a jungle filled with towering trees and vines.
However, Ace could sense the faint scent in the air, which was poisonous, and despite not being overly harmful to a law state cultivator, it should be fatal for any elemental state cultivator.
In the live fate map, Ace even saw many hidden demonic beasts and avoided them carefully; the weakest of them was at Law Awareness Realm!
After carefully traveling for three more days, Ace finally saw the entrance, and behind it was a natural heaven filled with colorful flowers and trees, looking completely harmless and exotic.
But Ace knew it was just a façade, and anyone swayed by this scenery would be walking to their own doom because it was an illusion to draw in prey, and behind it were hidden countless predators!
Ace even wanted to undergo his breakthrough around here and didn't want to go in, but when he arrived, he instantly fate points of different people hidden around this area, and he was startled.
'What are they doing here? Don't tell me there is something I'm missing. But from the memories I probed, there shouldn't be too many people around this time of the year here. Furthermore, what are they doing here at the entrance instead of going in?' Ace became vigilant as the closer he got to the entrance, the more fate points there were.
They were all colored in red, which meant they would turn hostile if they saw him. However, at this moment, among these fate points, Ace saw something unexpected: a Bright Golden Fate Point inside the valley!
'It's been a while since I saw a golden fate point…' Ace was astounded and became curious about this fate point since the golden color was not something he could ignore carelessly.
Furthermore, he was already curious about the crowd here. Since he planned to undergo heavenly punishment here, he needed to be careful, especially after seeing his fate path.
'Well, I should avoid this place, but I've been traveling for so long. Should I check what this is about?' Ace thought before he used lawless darkness to sneak into the valley, avoiding any law sense or formations spread by those hidden experts.
He was heading directly toward the Golden Fate Point, which was over a hundred miles away from the entrance. With lawless darkness, he didn't need to worry about those predatory plants since no one could sense him in this state.
As Ace went deeper into the valley and closer to his target, he was surprised. His footsteps halted because he spotted camps and the encirclement of guards, and the golden fate was in one of those camps, which seemed quite luxurious.
However, what shocked Ace the most were the robes of these guards and the symbols in the camps, and his expression became solemn.
'A white cauldron with a golden crown etched on its body? These people are from the Runic Alchemy City!' Ace instantly recognized the symbol of the Runic Alchemy City, one of the three sect cities of the Runic King Crown Palace, like the Runic Forge City!
Furthermore, those guards' cultivation was at least Ascension Master Realm while those in the camps were probably Ascension Grandmasters and even Ascension Guardians; he even saw two black fate points in tow of the camps around the golden fate point.
Furthermore, the golden fate point itself was colored bright red, which means it should be at least an Ascension Grandmaster. After he cultivates his force, Ace can now easily fight with those in the 1-Star Ascension Grandmaster Realm and even escape.
But he still might not be able to win or kill one because the gap was too huge while the Ascension Guardians were still fatal to him. So, he should be escaping by now since there was probably a quasi-lord present in this place.
However, thinking about all those hidden people at the entrance of the valley and this camp of the Runic Alchemy City, with the Golden Fate Point presence, Ace was sure that there was some kind of treasure here that had drawn all these people, especially a force like the Runic Alchemy City.
As a thief, he can't ignore that, and he wanted to see what this was all about and how this was relevant to his benefit. In the end, Ace decided to observe secretly with the fate map from far away.
If he gets the chance, he could fish in troubled waters, and if worse comes to worst, he'll just trigger his breakthrough and let these guys have a taste of Heavenly Punishment.
It wasn't like he hadn't done this in the past!