The former was like trying to filter out all the commonly used words from a thick dictionary, while the latter was like directly looking up the specific words he wanted to know.
What Su Ze cared about most was, of course, the origin of the third puzzle piece, and whether Pulamon had ever explored the mysterious inheritance.
He quickly found the answers in Pulamon’s memories.
About twenty-some years ago, a young thief rose to prominence on the Flame Emperor Continent. He was originally a street urchin who survived by stealing. It was said that through theft, he obtained a Tier-1 extract and thus embarked on the path of evolution.
After becoming an Evolver, he didn’t stop. Instead of using his status and strength as an Evolver to make a living, he continued to steal. His nerve grew, and he even began stealing from the homes of official bigwigs on the Flame Emperor Continent.
Through his thievery, he acquired a vast amount of resources. Coupled with his considerable talent, his path of evolution was smooth sailing.
In the process, he made many enemies. Wanted posters for him were plastered all over the Flame Emperor Continent, and the major assassin organizations and mercenary associations had a perennial bounty on his head.
Even so, no one could ever claim the bounty.
Once he reached the Butterfly Stage, he even began frequenting the homes of some Overlord-level powerhouses. No matter how tight the security, he could come and go as he pleased.
This caused his fame to grow, and he earned the title of "Shadowless Divine Thief."
For a time, everyone lived in fear. The powerful figures of the Flame Emperor Continent could only carry their valuables with them in storage items at all times, not daring to leave them at home.
Later, several Overlords on the Flame Emperor Continent set a trap, using a Tier-4 extract and many high-level Evolution Items as bait to lure out the Shadowless Divine Thief.
As it turned out, the Shadowless Divine Thief actually went for it. He stole the treasures and escaped unscathed; the Overlords couldn’t even stop him.
This made the Shadowless Divine Thief’s fame explode, spreading throughout the entire Flame Emperor Continent.
And because of this, the Filth Earth Organization set its sights on the Shadowless Divine Thief.
The Filth Earth Organization had always been collecting information on geniuses from the three major continents. Anyone with precious skills was a target for their hunts.
The Shadowless Divine Thief clearly possessed an incredibly powerful escape skill, allowing him, at the Butterfly Stage, to escape unscathed from the encirclement of numerous Overlord-level powerhouses.
Therefore, the Shadowless Divine Thief naturally became a target for the Filth Earth Organization.
And Pulamon, as the Filth Earth Organization’s person in charge of the Flame Emperor Continent at the time, personally formulated the plan to hunt the Shadowless Divine Thief.
However, the plan did not go smoothly. The Shadowless Divine Thief’s escape abilities were even stronger than they had imagined. Even with a Venerable Powerhouse like Pulamon making a move, the thief still managed to break out of their encirclement.
According to Pulamon’s memories, Su Ze knew that the Shadowless Divine Thief had used the "Void" skill to successfully break through.
Pulamon pursued the Shadowless Divine Thief all by himself.
He, a Venerable Powerhouse, chased a mere Butterfly Stage cultivator all the way from the Flame Emperor Continent to the vicinity of the Lin Hua Continent, only catching him when the thief finally ran out of energy.
Pulamon had intended to kill the Shadowless Divine Thief and harvest the extract, but the thief claimed he had a secret to tell him.
The secret the Shadowless Divine Thief revealed was none other than the mysterious inheritance!
Pulamon didn’t quite believe it at first, but the Shadowless Divine Thief spoke with such vivid detail, clearly explaining everything, even describing the location of the inheritance. He even took out a puzzle piece, claiming it was the key to open the inheritance, and offered to take Pulamon to verify it immediately.
Just from the information revealed by the Shadowless Divine Thief, Pulamon realized how precious that inheritance was.
Just as he was about to take the Shadowless Divine Thief to investigate, the thief vanished right under his nose again.
It turned out that the Shadowless Divine Thief’s long speech was just a stalling tactic, intended to wait for his "Void" skill to cool down.
Having learned of the mysterious inheritance’s existence, Pulamon was even more determined not to let the Shadowless Divine Thief go, and he hunted for his trail everywhere.
Following some faint clues, he tracked him all the way to the outskirts of the Lin Hua Continent, where he finally found the Shadowless Divine Thief once more.
The moment they met again, Pulamon went straight for the kill without a word. The Shadowless Divine Thief’s defensive ability was also astonishing; he actually survived a blow from a Venerable Powerhouse and managed to flee, dragging his heavily injured body.
Pulamon knew the Shadowless Divine Thief couldn’t have gone far with such severe injuries, so he searched the surrounding area constantly.
But he never expected that the Shadowless Divine Thief had stumbled into the Mystical Mushroom Forest. While severely injured, he was attacked by a Mutated Fungus and died there, his body even torn in two.
Su Ze had already learned what happened next from Draco. Pulamon eventually found Draco and bought the third puzzle piece from him.
After getting the puzzle piece, Pulamon also tried to explore the mysterious inheritance. Based on the information the Shadowless Divine Thief had given him before he died, he found the location of the external inheritance.
But to Su Ze’s surprise, Pulamon had actually failed the external inheritance’s trial!
’From what I know, the external inheritance mainly assesses things like talent and potential. Pulamon became a Legend in his eighties, so his talent and potential were definitely not lacking. He shouldn’t have failed the trial.’
’Could it be because he’s a Corrupted One?’
Su Ze thought it was highly possible.
’It seems King Mu wasn’t lying. Corrupted Ones are reviled everywhere, even throughout the universe. The external inheritance could be passed by an outsider like King Mu, yet a Corrupted One was denied entry.’
But even so, Pulamon still chose to hide the information about the inheritance and didn’t report it to the Filth Earth Organization.
Pulamon had failed the external inheritance’s trial. Even with the puzzle piece, he couldn’t enter the internal Inheritance Space, so naturally, he had no idea what was inside.
Afterward, he even captured two young members from within the Filth Earth Organization to undergo the trial, but they both failed as well.
Of course, he silenced both of those young people afterward.
The successive failures led Pulamon to temporarily give up on exploring the inheritance. He planned to try again after becoming a Legend, but before he had the chance, he was sent to the Ancient An Country, ultimately falling into Su Ze’s hands and becoming his puppet.
Su Ze pondered for a moment, analyzing the valuable information within Pulamon’s memories.
’The external inheritance rejects Corrupted Ones, that much should be correct. What worries me is that I still have some of that foul taint in my body that hasn’t been completely purged. I wonder if it will affect my ability to take the external inheritance’s trial.’
’Another point worth noting is when the Shadowless Divine Thief obtained the puzzle piece.’
’Everything about how he got it comes from his own account, so there’s no way to confirm if it’s true or false.’
’It’s even impossible to determine if he obtained his "Void" skill and the puzzle piece from the inheritance himself.’
’It’s very possible that, like Mr. Ya and me, he never entered the inheritance himself but acquired them through someone else. After all, he’s a master thief; it’s possible he just stole them.’
’However, considering the Shadowless Divine Thief became famous over twenty years ago, it’s highly likely he had already mastered the "Void" skill by then.’
’Over twenty years ago... at that time, King Mu hadn’t yet explored the mysterious inheritance and hadn’t obtained his puzzle piece.’
’Therefore, the Shadowless Divine Thief’s puzzle piece appeared before King Mu’s.’
’In other words, the already-opened Inheritance Treasure Vault that King Mu discovered when he explored the internal inheritance back then was the very one that held "Void."’
’Lin Hua’s Legend obtained the first puzzle piece, which we can call "Puzzle Piece No. 1," but he didn’t open an Inheritance Treasure Vault.’
’The Shadowless Divine Thief obtained "Puzzle Piece No. 2." This piece opened the first Inheritance Treasure Vault, yielding the Golden Bloodline Crystal with the "Void" skill.’
’King Mu obtained "Puzzle Piece No. 3" and opened the second Inheritance Treasure Vault, obtaining the Golden Bloodline Crystal with the "Divine Grace of Evolution" skill.’
’And when King Mu explored the internal inheritance over a decade ago, he saw that there were still two unopened treasure vaults.’
’This means that, at least back then, "Puzzle Piece No. 4" had probably not yet appeared.’
Su Ze’s thoughts immediately cleared up.
This also gave him a direction for his future search for "Puzzle Piece No. 4."
Su Ze mentally organized his thoughts about the origins of the three puzzle pieces he now possessed. He could now be almost certain that each external inheritance only produced one puzzle piece.
The fourth puzzle piece, then, must be in a still-undiscovered external inheritance.
He pictured the map of Blue Star in his mind, marking the locations of the three external inheritances, and suddenly made a discovery...