If just now it—or he—hadn’t stolen the Celestial Stone but had instead ambushed me, how many souls and spirits would I have left?

At this thought, cold sweat trickled down William Thompson’s back. Gathering his courage, he shouted loudly, “What expert is present here?” William Thompson imitated this ancient phrase quite convincingly, even copying the ancient gesture of cupping his hands in salute.

But after waiting for a long time without any response, William Thompson wondered if it was the work of a celestial beast.

If it was a celestial beast, why did it only steal the Celestial Stone and not attack me? Through his recent adventures, William Thompson had come to understand that none of the celestial beasts in this forest were benevolent. They wouldn’t let him off so easily.

Or perhaps it couldn’t defeat me? But then how did it manage to steal the Celestial Stone so silently? Such movement and skill were truly astonishing.

No matter how much he thought about it, William Thompson still couldn’t figure it out. But seeing that the celestial beast only took one Celestial Stone each time suggested that it was quite small in size; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to hide so thoroughly that even William Thompson couldn’t spot any trace.

His eyes flickered, and William Thompson let out a sly, lecherous laugh.

Since you like Celestial Stones so much, I’ll satisfy you. I want to see just who dares to pluck a tiger’s whiskers.

He took out another Celestial Stone from his ring to replace the missing one. This time, William Thompson didn’t rush to meditate. Instead, he picked up the other three Celestial Stones on the ground, put them down again, and then closed his eyes, pretending to meditate.

William Thompson formed a spiritual hand seal, half-squinting his eyes, carefully watching the Celestial Stone in front of him.

If the Celestial Envoy were here, he would surely recognize that William Thompson was forming the attack hand seal for the Flying Sword Cold Light technique.

Suddenly, a faint sound came from the outer edge of the alarm formation. If William Thompson hadn’t been paying such close attention to his surroundings, he might have missed it.

Before William Thompson could react, a gray shadow darted to his side, snatched up a Celestial Stone, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

“Damn!” William Thompson couldn’t help but curse.

The speed of that gray shadow was so fast that William Thompson didn’t even see it clearly. Even after it had grabbed the Celestial Stone and fled, his eyes still weren’t fully open.

What shocked William Thompson wasn’t the speed of the gray shadow, but the fact that it entered and exited the alarm formation he had set up without triggering it at all.

He had truly underestimated these celestial beasts.

Casually sweeping the remaining three Celestial Stones into his storage ring, William Thompson formed a hand seal and stepped onto the Cold Light, flying off in one direction.

Fortunately, he had cast a “Tracking Spell” on the four Celestial Stones earlier; otherwise, he’d have no idea where to look for that unknown thief.

With William Thompson’s current level, the “Tracking Spell” he cast could barely sense within a ten-li radius; any farther and the connection to his spiritual sense would be severed.

Although his speed riding the Cold Light wasn’t slow, the gray shadow fleeing ahead was even faster. William Thompson could clearly feel the Celestial Stone getting farther and farther away from him. It was as if the thief knew someone was chasing from behind, and just kept dashing forward.

Just as William Thompson felt the Tracking Spell on the Celestial Stone was about to slip out of his spiritual sense, the target suddenly stopped moving. William Thompson had been holding his breath until now, quickly cast a Swift Wind Spell on himself, and shot toward the target, determined to catch this flying thief and tear it to pieces.

Before long, an enormous tree came into William Thompson’s view.

Looking at the tree before him, which was at least several dozen meters thick and so tall he couldn’t see the top, William Thompson gasped. Compared to it, the other trees in the forest were like ants to an elephant; in front of it, they were nothing but its branches.

Ten meters above the ground, the giant tree had a tree hole. William Thompson sensed that the stolen Celestial Stone was inside that hole.

Just as William Thompson was marveling at the wonders of nature, the “Tracking Spell” was suddenly cut off. There are only two ways to break a Tracking Spell: one is to use powerful magic to disperse the spell, the other is to completely destroy the object under the spell.

At this point, even with his toes, William Thompson could figure out what had happened—the Celestial Stone must have ended up in the thief’s stomach.

Thinking of that little mouse spirit beast gnawing on a celestial core the other day, William Thompson finally understood what the gray shadow was. Even if it wasn’t the same kind of spirit beast, it was definitely closely related.

But the spirit beast he encountered that day didn’t have such freakish speed. He had subdued it with just a single Binding Spell, unlike today, where he’d run himself ragged and still hadn’t seen the thief’s true form.

Moreover, the large hole in the tree didn’t seem naturally formed, nor did it look man-made.

Could it have been made by the thief? Although he hadn’t seen the gray shadow clearly just now, it wasn’t very big. To dig such a huge tree hole, who knows how much time it would take.

William Thompson knew that with the speed of that gray shadow, he’d have to cultivate for decades to catch it. At his current mid-Nascent Soul stage, he wasn’t even qualified to eat its dust.

Looks like I’ll have to come up with another plan, William Thompson thought with a bitter frown.

Chapter Twelve: Helpless