Beneath the blazing sun a man and a woman stood atop a roof, the woman looked away from the man as he stood shirtless. The locals were perplexed at the two, just what were they doing?
Feng Zhiming took a bite from an icy desert he had taken to go from the restaurant.
They had been sitting atop the building waiting for Feng Zhiming's bloody robe which they had washed, to dry, as it turns out walking around the city in a bloody robe had been drawing some unwanted attention.
After that spectacle at the restaurant Feng Zhiming quickly obtained the information he needed from the bald man before heading out.
"Is it really a good idea to spread that…Heathen's name?" Anissa said while trying to restrain her killing intent.
Feng Zhiming was back in his usual jolly mood, it turns out all he needed was some stress relief and the man had acted as a good outlet for his pent up anger.
"Better to have them point their blades at one another, gives us time to work" he spoke as he put his robe back.
They had been attacked twice by some nobodies thinking that the bloody robe meant that Feng Zhiming was injured.
Unfortunately for them they hadn't even been able to touch him before Anissa dismantled them.
"More importantly, let's go look for this spiritual inscriber Wu."
The bald man had told him that this man named Wu was offering to help people locate the creature in exchange for something.
In a small workshop within the city a man who looked to be in his fifties, and wearing only his inner robes was carefully gliding his pen over a scarf.
His arms were lined with burn scars and even his face was completely burnt on the left side. Only the right side of his face seemed to be normal with features that would be considered handsome.
The pen he wielded was emitted a great heat, powerful enough to burn Foundation Establishment cultivators to death.
He had been sweating intensely, however none of the beads of sweat ever fell to the ground, the moment they fell from his face they simply evaporated.
As the pattern he was drawing finally looked to be completed he stopped channeling energy into the pen and took a deep breath out before placing the pen in a specialized container and taking a seat.
"The seventeenth robe today, that bastard merchant is really a slave driver." he said out loud as he took large gulps of water.
*DING DING*
A chime sounded as the front door swung open, the old man left the room and arrived at the front of his shop to find a beautiful woman with light blue hair accompanied by a handsome young man with red eyes.
"Are you the Inscriber Wu?" Feng Zhiming asked as he looked around the shop, while offering his hand for a handshake.
It was relatively small and had about only twenty items on display, it ranged from things like shoes to swords.
Anissa walked around the shop and actually began to inspect the items, clearly fascinated by the work.
"That is me, are you here to buy?" The old man shook his hand before taking a seat at the front counter, and replied in an indifferent tone.
Feng Zhiming took a seat opposite to him as Anissa continued to inspect some of the swords the man had on display.
"I am here to buy, but information, not items."
The old man stood up and went over to the door of his shop before flipping the sign to not open instead of open for business.
Additionally he also activated an array that had been set up, it actually had the capability to prevent attacks at the level of the Condensed stage of the Ethereal Core.
He then walked to the room he had been working in before and gestured for the two of them to follow.
Feng Zhiming and Anissa entered the room and were immediately hit by the residual heat from the inscription the man had just done, it was clear that becoming an inscriber was not for the weak of heart.
The man turned towards them and began to speak.
"I have a device that can track the creature."
He held up something that looked like a compass, it pointed in the direction Feng Zhiming was standing, south.
"Price?" Feng Zhiming spoke in a voice that became deathly serious after witnessing the compass. With the current bounty on the creature it was clear that this compass was by far the most important item, maybe on this whole continent.
Of course only participants knew the creature's true worth, others merely wanted to hunt it for glory.
"It isn't that simple." the old man sat down once again.
Anissa placed a hand on Feng Zhiming's shoulder, grasping it tightly.
"Hear him out, Do you really want to stand in the sun to dry your robes again." she sent a mental transmission.
Feng Zhiming withheld his urge to simply take the compass, he really didn't want to clean his robe again either.
"Long ago I was a handsome young man, an up and coming inscriber from the middle of nowhere."