The shopkeeper was no longer surprised; after all, he couldn’t afford to offend the Blood Sand Marquis. Since the man was only observing, he couldn’t be bothered to meddle. Still, thinking of how aggravating that young man had been yesterday, he couldn’t help but mutter, “Alright, no need to wait any longer. Someone already redeemed it.”

　　“What did you say?” A middle-aged man with a dark face and long beard spun around, his eyes widening as his aura surged out uncontrollably.

　　“This is my Tianxia Pawnshop. Please show some respect,” the shopkeeper’s face darkened. The Tianxia Merchant Alliance was no pushover to be bullied.

　　“Enough, Thomas Wright.” Another man patted the dark-faced man’s shoulder, then looked at the shopkeeper with a hostile expression. “Are you saying the spider silk was redeemed by someone?”

　　“That’s right,” the shopkeeper nodded indifferently. “It was redeemed yesterday.”

　　“Damn it,” the dark-faced man exploded, stepping forward as if to grab the shopkeeper by the collar. The two of them had been waiting here for nearly a month, and now they were being told that the spider silk had been redeemed just yesterday. He was furious—was this guy messing with them?

　　But halfway through reaching out, he forcibly restrained himself, only gritting his teeth as he demanded, “Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”

　　The shopkeeper just smiled silently. Was there any need to explain? The Tianxia Pawnshop dealt in goods, not information.

　　“Thomas Wright,” the other middle-aged man stopped his companion again, then looked at the shopkeeper and asked calmly, “I trust you still remember what that person looked like?”

　　“So what if I do, and what if I don’t?” The shopkeeper’s face remained expressionless.

　　“If you do remember, and are willing to tell us, the The Clark Family will show our appreciation,” the man cupped his hands in a polite gesture.

　　“Unfortunately, I really don’t remember,” the shopkeeper sighed, though his eyes darted slyly.

　　“You—” The dark-faced man could tell the shopkeeper was deliberately toying with them, and his anger flared.

　　But the shopkeeper wasn’t fazed, speaking at his own pace, “The Tianxia Merchant Alliance does business based on integrity. We never disclose any information about our partners.”

　　“Do you believe I could beat you up and the Tianxia Merchant Alliance wouldn’t stand up for you?” The dark-faced man finally lost his patience.

　　“Shut up!” His companion had finally had enough as well, barking sharply before asking again, “I trust a penniless, down-and-out itinerant cultivator wouldn’t be a partner of the Tianxia Merchant Alliance. Is that what you mean, shopkeeper?”

　　The shopkeeper only smiled, not answering.

　　“Ten spirit stones for the owner’s information,” the man was straightforward, slapping his storage pouch and laying out ten spirit stones on the counter—since you won’t act without seeing the reward, I’ll just put it out there.

　　Seeing this, the shopkeeper stopped being coy and instead smiled as he countered, “A clue about the Ascension Nightmare Spider… ten spirit stones is a bit too little, don’t you think?”

　　“How much do you want?” The man’s face darkened. He’d expected the Nightmare Spider to be recognized, but for the shopkeeper to point it out so blatantly meant this was going to be tricky.

　　“Twenty spirit stones,” the shopkeeper wasn’t being greedy—he knew the The Clark Family wasn’t to be trifled with. The Tianxia Merchant Alliance wasn’t afraid of the Blood Sand Marquis, but as a mere shopkeeper, he didn’t have that kind of courage. Earning an extra ten spirit stones was enough for him.

　　“Deal.” The man nodded and produced another ten spirit stones. “Go ahead, what did that person look like…”

　　After listening, the dark-faced man narrowed his eyes and said coldly, “We’ve been watching everyone coming in and out of the pawnshop lately, and haven’t seen anyone matching your description… Twenty spirit stones isn’t much, but if you’ve deceived the The Clark Family, you’d better hope you live to spend them.”

　　“Making someone disappear is actually quite simple,” his companion chimed in.

　　The two had worked together for a long time, always playing good cop and bad cop.

　　“That person is already a level three itinerant cultivator. In one month, he went from level one to level three,” the shopkeeper replied lazily. “You were only watching level one and two itinerant cultivators, so of course you didn’t notice him… If I were you, I’d pay more attention to the owner.”

　　In just one month, from level one to level three? The two exchanged glances, each seeing disbelief in the other’s eyes.

　　In fact, they had considered the possibility that the person might have broken through, so they’d been watching not just level one, but also level two itinerant cultivators. But to say someone advanced two levels in a single month… what a joke!

　　“You didn’t kill him and try to keep the goods for yourself, did you?” The dark-faced man was the one to voice such an offensive suspicion, eyeing the shopkeeper suspiciously.

　　The shopkeeper just smiled and said nothing more.

　　“Let’s go,” the other man tugged at the dark-faced man—getting hung up on such trivial matters now would only embarrass the Blood Sand Marquis’s people.

Chapter 11: Boldness and Patience

　　The The Clark Family was a family from the Northern Region. Their influence in Bluestone City wasn’t great, but the Blood Sand Marquis’s notorious reputation preceded him. After throwing around some spirit stones, they quickly narrowed down a dozen or so suspects and obtained the relevant identity jade token information from Bluestone City.

　　The next day, David Clark was summoned from out of town. After looking at the information in the jade tokens, he unhesitatingly pointed at the three characters “Andrew Brooks.” “It’s this person.”

　　And so, a new task appeared in the mission compound—“Where did Andrew go?”