Eternal Thief

After that, Noa told everything that transpired when she was doing her mission and about the details she collected from Buck, who was still unconscious. 

Ace was now frowning, as his brows were slightly interwoven together. He was quite astonished when he heard about All-Knowing Parrot in detail and finally understood why Noa had failed her mission.

'This All-Knowing Parrot is a syndicate leader; how could it be so easy to track him down, and Noa was not at fault here! It's me who underestimate the target and gave away a mission with little thought! 

'But even if this All-Knowing Parrot was a cautious and scheming person, it made little sense! How did he know Noa was hiding there waiting for the middleman and easily avoided her?

'There has to be someone or something close by that helps All-Knowing Parrot, and it even avoids Noa's detection. Well, welcome to Mighty Demon Continent, Ace!' Ace smiled in self-ridicule when he thought about all the possibilities, and he knew anything was possible here. 

Truth be told, Ace wanted to capture the All-Knowing Parrot and then assimilate his memories, so he could then easily form a dispensed secret information network with all the information sources of All-Knowing Parrot. 

Noa would be the creator and in charge of this secret organization in his place, while he'll remain hidden and continue to cultivate. However, this All-Knowing Parrot has greatly exceeded his expectation, and this character wasn't just a simple information broker at all. 

'This person is probably very resourceful and ingenious. It won't be easy to capture him, but one thing is certain: he's extremely cautious and cognition. But it also meant this person had very astonishing means to collect information and dispense them without being caught by anyone,' Ace mused. 

The more he thought about this All-Knowing Parrot, the more assured he became he can't catch him anytime soon and this person might not be in Iron Demon City at all, so he decided to forget about it for now and focus on the things on hand. 

Ace said with a deep sigh, "Miss Noa, it was my fault for giving you this impossible mission with brief consideration. Please forgive me!" 

Noa whiffed her head and said, "No, it wasn't the leader's fault at all. This All-Knowing Parrot is just to cleaver and prudence." 

She knew Ace was genuinely admitting his mistake and apologizing to her and this much was enough for her, and she was also at fault here since she didn't report her discoveries sooner and persist in acting on her own accord. 

"Let's set this matter regarding All-Knowing Parrot aside, for now, we'll capture him eventually since this kind of person is bound to make a mistake, or who knows he comes after us since he loves to collect information I don't believe he won't be interested in us in near future." Ace smiled ambiguously when he said the latter part. 

"Come after us?" Ace's words naturally baffled Noa since she didn't understand what her leader was implying. 

"Heh, you'll find out soon, but before that, I should deal with the 'guest' you bought here." Ace merely smile as he shifted his focus on the unconscious Buck, who was wrapped in a dark cloak by Noa so no one could identify him. 

She had gone through much trouble to bring him back, and only she knows just how difficult it was to move while carrying the son of the city lord! 

But she didn't complain since she knew Ace had confidence in her and that's why he gave her this mission in the first place. 

Noa quickly reported another thing, "Leader, I think the iron demon city guards are searching for him. When I was coming back to the city, that coachman was talking about the disappearance of one of the young masters of the Golden Iron Demon Clan, and the clan leader was madly searching for him. I even saw many guards on the streets on my way back here." 

"It's only natural since he's the clan leader's son and also the living proof of his fraudulent conduct. If someone gets their hands on this information and spread it, the Silver Iron Demon Clan and Bronze Iron Demon Clan would get the reason to band together and overthrow the Golden Iron Demon Clan from the city lord position." Ace sneered scornfully. 

He knew about the conflicts between the three founding clans of Iron Demon City and the Golden Iron Demon Clan was quite strong and had vast connections, so no one dare to easily target it. 

But once the news of the Golden Iron Demon Clan's dark business leaked, the other two founding clans would not let this opportunity slip by and attacked the Golden Iron Demon Clan under the pretext of justice mortality, and no one could help the Golden Iron Demon Clan at that time.   

Now, even Ocean Demon Duke will middle into this matter anymore, since it would only be akin to splashing dirty water on himself! 

That's why the Golden Iron Demon Clan's leader was madly searching for his son for months after he disappeared from the iron demon forest. But alas, how could he have found Buck so easily when Noa was constantly moving all over the Iron forest and her cultivation was only one or two small realms above him!

Ace finally made his move, as he used soul probing from his sitting position, and invisible heavenly soul Qi shot toward the unconscious Buck's head like an arrow. 

Noa also felt the inviable Qi and was astonished when she felt the potency of this Qi. She didn't know this Soul Qi because she never came into contact with it and was unfamiliar with its traits. 

Furthermore, Ace's soul Qi was heavenly, and it would be quite difficult to completely verify it. Only if he used the worldly soul Qi, then people could specify it. 

Noa only considered this was a special 'soul search' skill of Ace which he previously used on Pablo and this Qi was related to it, so she thought little of it and only observed. 

If she knew this was the Soul Qi not just Qi laced with some random skill, she will be scared out of her wits because she recognized Ace was a martial cultivator after traveling with him, and it was impossible for someone to possess both types of Qis, even gods might not able to do it! 

Ace coolly collected all the memories of Buck and as quickly assimilate them. After the sudden incident with Heaven's Stealer Dismantler Manual, his speed of assimilating and collecting the memories became even more astonishing. 

It was as if his knowledge sea received some kind of boost. He just doesn't know if it was all his assumptions or reality. Nevertheless, he was happy because it will only boost his strength further. 

After a few minutes, Ace finally stopped his soul probing because he got everything out of Buck. 

Ace's eyes shimmer with uncertainty when he saw Buck's memories about the All-Knowing Parrot and his deals with him. He was telling the truth when he said he never meet the real person and always deal with different middlemen. 

What caught Ace's attention was every middleman sent by All-Knowing Parrot was a demon with no cultivation. One could even say it was mortal!   

'What a cunning fellow, using mortal demons to do his bidding and even if they got caught, they'll be negligible and in the eyes of cultivators they were just insignificant bugs they might not even bother to suspect them.' Ace suddenly reached this conclusion and find this All-Knowing Parrot character even more interesting. 

Nevertheless, he didn't let these thoughts wander too long and said to Noa, "Throw him inside the fifth room through the window at the main resident of Silver Iron Demon Clan after destroying the slave contract make sure no one finds you, and he won't wake up too soon as well." 

Ace's lip curled into a mischief smile when he told Noa how to deal with Buck. He didn't save his face because, in his eyes, every slot was precious, and he didn't want to fill it with demons. 

Since he already had the face of Iron Demon Tribe's demon, he didn't want another and these demons' potential was low, to begin with. He can't raise their cultivation above their specie, or it would attract too much-unwanted attention. 

That's why he had long decided after taking Pablo's memories that he would only save faces of high-level bloodline demons or in case of emergencies. 

He only had a hundred slots, and he knew better than anyone that for a thief these were far from enough, and he didn't know when the system shop would upgrade as well, so it was better to be safe than sorry! 

Noa felt Ace's smile of one who wanted to sow discord after she heard his plan of dealing with Buck and couldn't help, but her eyes become bright with a hint of excitement. 

"I'll do it right away." She quickly agreed to this task!