"That's right, it's the Cleansing Spider," the middle-aged man glanced around before answering in a low voice, "the Ascension Nightmare Spider. If Uncle Sam hadn't participated in the Battle of Homeland Defense, he wouldn't have been able to confirm it in the end."

"How could such a strategic resource end up in the hands of an individual?" David Clark gasped. The Ascension Nightmare Spider was truly famous in the Immortal Realm, but those who had actually seen it were extremely rare.

Chapter 4: The First Mission

The Ascension Nightmare Spider, as the name suggests, is a spider that brings nightmares to ascenders.

No one can say for sure where this spider comes from. It doesn't exist in the Immortal Realm, nor in the lower realms. It only lives in the Ascension Passage, growing by devouring the blood essence of ascenders.

This spider can be called the public enemy of the Immortal Realm. There are people in the Immortal Realm who reproduce and form large families, but generally speaking, ascenders are an important source of new strength for the Immortal Realm, and those who can ascend are never lacking in talent.

There are countless sects and families whose foundations are rooted in the lower realms, so absorbing fresh blood is extremely important.

This spider wreaks havoc in the Ascension Space, causing countless ascenders to die with regret.

What’s even more hateful is that those who can ascend from the lower realms are mostly at the first level of Wandering Immortal; second-levels are very rare—only with the focused cultivation of an established immortal family is there even a slight chance.

As for third-level Wandering Immortals, among a thousand ascenders, there might not even be one. Resources are important, but personal talent is even more crucial.

And the Ascension Nightmare Spider is a level-five wild beast.

The Immortal Realm pays great attention to eradicating this public enemy, but generally speaking, ascenders are no match for the Nightmare Spider.

Because of this, although this creature is famous in the Immortal Realm and not of the highest rank, very few people have actually seen it with their own eyes.

For The Clark Family uncle and nephew to come across this creature by chance in a pawnshop in Qingshi City was truly a matter of luck and timing.

David Clark pondered for a long time before replying in a low voice, "The person who just left, his level wasn't high... What level was he?"

"First-level Wandering Immortal," the middle-aged man answered in a deep voice. He hadn't caught up with that person, and to avoid arousing the shopkeeper's suspicion, he hadn't made any big moves, but he had still noticed the other party's cultivation.

"So... are we waiting for him to come back and redeem it?" David Clark asked in a low voice. The Clark Family actually didn't care about such a small amount of money. He had only pawned the Spirit-Binding Ring because he was short on funds for the moment, and a mere Ascension Nightmare Spider didn't have much practical combat value.

Only in large-scale battles does the importance of spatial materials become apparent, and at that time, what’s needed is a massive amount of resources.

But the key issue is... it involves merit. If nothing else, just for the sake of merit, it's worth making a strong purchase.

Andrew Brooks naturally had no idea that the origin of what he sold had already been figured out. Holding two spirit stones in his hand, tossing them up and down, he arrived at the mission compound.

"I'll take mission number 667, category C," he handed over the two spirit stones, "I want the information on the Fiery Sun Fruit provided by the issuer. This is the deposit."

The person receiving him wasn't the same staff member as before, but this one was also very familiar with these matters, so he asked, "Don't you want a recording stone? Two spirit stones as deposit."

"If I fail, I don't want these two spirit stones back," Andrew Brooks replied carelessly—after all, he still had plenty of spider silk in his Sumeru Ring. He was used to living large; although his cultivation was very low now, after a whole day of frustration, he needed to find some balance. "It's not a big deal, just a bit tight on cash. I just found a way to make some money."

"Suit yourself," the staff member didn't say much more—talking too much only causes trouble. After Andrew Brooks disappeared from view, he sighed quietly, "First-level Wandering Immortal, huh... does he really think this mission is that easy?"

Andrew Brooks didn't hear his muttering. He took a jade slip with a simple route map, turned, and left. But not long after leaving the city, he realized that the difficulty of the mission seemed off.

First, he encountered a fire-breathing rabbit, then a lightning-shooting bat, and then a group of earthworms capable of mental attacks—each earthworm was over a meter long.

The rabbit and bat were manageable, but the earthworm swarm was a real headache. These guys kept their distance and attacked directly with mental assaults, and his own aura wasn't strong enough to suppress them, so he had to get close and fight hand-to-hand.

But these things had earth-burrowing abilities, were covered in mud, and were slippery as eels. When he punched them, the force was completely absorbed—after a long fight, he only managed to knock one earthworm unconscious.

So he pulled out a big machete from his Sumeru Ring. Before ascending, he had stuffed all sorts of odds and ends into the ring—even stole over twenty nuclear bombs—just in case, since who knew what the Immortal Realm would be like? Better safe than sorry.

But the machete was useless too, made of ordinary iron, it couldn't even break their defenses, and was less effective than his fists.

And the earthworm swarm held a grudge, chasing after him with mental attacks.

Andrew Brooks had no interest in tangling with them. He remembered most of the wanted information, and there was nothing about earthworms—he could kill them, but there was no profit in it.

He could go without food in the mortal world, but after arriving in the Immortal Realm, he clearly felt hunger, and the feeling grew stronger as he expended energy—his stamina was limited, so he had to use it sparingly.