Chapter 23: Fire Blade Soul Hunters
Hiring is a common method of Soul hunting on the Douluo Continent, and it's also the method many independent Soul Masters, not affiliated with a sect, use to obtain Spirit Rings. It involves spending gold Soul coins, and as long as both parties are willing and able to afford it, it can be considered a successful Soul hunt.
As long as the demands aren't too outrageous and the price is reasonable, one can always obtain the desired Spirit Ring.
Seal Sun Qi is currently in Heaven Dou City, the core city of the entire Heaven Dou Empire. A hundred miles east of Heaven Dou City lies the Sunset Forest, a considerable distance.
Given this situation, there are actually quite a few Soul hunting teams within Heaven Dou City. However, because it's the political center of Heaven Dou City and home to many nobles, these teams often remain hidden.
Sun Qi had inquired about this and made his way to a manor in the suburbs.
Outside the manor, a young man lay in the shade, his eyes half closed, seemingly dozing. As Sun Qi approached, the young man suddenly woke up, opened his eyes, and looked at Sun Qi, his gaze blazing, unlike someone who had just woken.
"Kid? Who are you? What are you doing with my Fire Blade Soul Hunters?"
Sun Qi asked, "I need to hunt Souls. You should be taking orders for tenth-level Soul Masters, right?" A tenth-level Soul Master only needs a Spirit Ring of four hundred years, and as long as a Soul Elder is in charge within the Soul Hunters, this can usually be completed safely.
In reality, most Soul Masters rarely even reach a hundred-year Spirit Ring in their first ring.
Even if they approach a Soul Hunters, the age of the Spirit Ring depends on the price they pay.
Often, a ten-year Spirit Ring costs several gold Soul coins, and the service isn't good. They often have to wait for multiple orders to raise enough money before they can set off. Furthermore, if they encounter a Soul Beast of the right age along the way, the Soul Hunters will subdue it, and that often means the mission is complete.
For a good experience, you'll have to pay more than ten gold Soul coins.
For ten gold Soul coins or more, you can choose your own Soul Beast, and choosing a Soul Beast with the Soul Hunters offers better service.
Going up a bit further, for around twenty gold Soul coins, you can consider hunting any hundred-year Soul Beasts you happen to encounter along the way.
For around thirty gold Soul coins, you can shift your focus from ten-year Soul Beasts to only hundred-year Soul Beasts.
Fifty gold Soul coins is basically the top-tier first Spirit Ring, and even if you spend three months wandering around the Soul Hunting Forest, the Soul Hunting Group won't complain.
Is fifty gold Soul coins expensive?
Absolutely expensive, and incredibly expensive!
However, if you can absorb even a Spirit Ring from a common ten-year Soul Beast, you'll become a Soul Master and receive a monthly subsidy of one gold Soul coin from the Spirit Hall, which adds up to twelve gold Soul coins per year.
Therefore, the price is still within the reach of most Soul Masters.
If you truly can't afford the corresponding gold Soul coins, then accept your fate and acquire a random white ten-year Spirit Ring for a few gold Soul coins, becoming an ordinary Soul Master.
Aspirations too high often lead to a heavy fall.
This price is generally accepted by reputable Soul hunting groups.
The Fire Blade Soul Hunting Group, which Sun Qi approached, has a good reputation; he even had the Armor Body investigate and found it trustworthy.
The Fire Blade Soul Hunting Group's leader is a Soul King, with two deputy leaders who are high-level Soul Elders. Below them are five captains who are all Soul Elders, more than ten Soul Masters, and thirty Great Soul Masters.
This is a fairly large Soul hunting group with a wide range of services, including first Spirit Ring hunting services, a task that usually requires two or three Great Soul Masters.
"Soul hunting?"
The young gatekeeper glanced at Sun Qi in surprise, having never expected Sun Qi to be level ten at such a young age.
"Come in with me,"
he asked Sun Qi after leading him into the manor.
"Have you brought enough gold Soul coins? You can rest assured about the reputation of our Soul Hunting Group, but the premise is that you can afford the gold Soul coins."
Sun Qi nodded and said, "I want the highest standard of Soul hunting, fifty gold Soul coins."
The young man glanced at Sun Qi, full of surprise.
Without asking any more questions, he changed the direction with Sun Qi and came to a separate courtyard.
"Lao Lie, business is coming."
The man called Lao Lie by the young man was a middle-aged man with a scar on his face. He was fat and looked not to be messed with.
There were three other middle-aged men drinking and eating meat with him in the same room.
The young man turned around and introduced to Sun Qi, "This is Lao Lie, and the three next to him are members of his team. Lao Lie's Spirit is the Fiery Bear, and his Soul Power is as high as level 37. Two of his three team members have Soul Power level 29, and one has Soul Power level 27."
Sun Qi nodded after hearing this, very satisfied.
With this configuration, hunting a thousand-year Soul Beast is certainly impossible, but hunting a hundred-year Soul Beast is a sure thing.
Not every Great Soul Master is Yu Xiaogang.
Luo Sanpao's two ridiculous Soul skills are quite abstract. Furthermore, Yu Xiaogang's decision to lead Tang San, a disciple with innate Soul Power, alone on a Soul hunt is even more complex.
The Spirits of all Soul Hunters are perfectly suited to Soul hunting. Even if they lack combat capabilities, they are excellent support.
All three members of Lao Lie's team, none of them support, are combat Soul Masters. The level 27 Spirit is Fire Wolf, and the two level 29 Spirits are Wind Blade and Fiery Sunflower.
Each of these three Great Soul Masters, individually, can defeat a three-hundred-year-old, hundred-year Soul Beast.
Of course, if they encounter a Mandragora Snake, they can't guarantee victory, but they aren't acting alone. The three of them working together are more than enough to secure a victory.
After explaining Lao Lie's team configuration to Sun Qi, the young man turned to Lao Lie and said, "Lao Lie, this is a big client, a fifty-gold Soul coin order. Please pay attention."
Upon hearing this, Lao Lie also looked at Sun Qi.
However, he was only surprised for a moment before regaining his composure.
Fifty gold Soul coins actually didn't mean much to him.
The monthly allowance for a Soul Elder was already one hundred gold Soul coins.
Lao Lie looked at Sun Qi and casually asked, "Do you want me to help? Your order is for the three of them to take action. If you feel it's not safe enough, you can pay me extra to help."
He was a Soul Elder, so of course his price would be different.
Sun Qi thought about it and asked about the price.
When he learned that Lao Lie's price started at three hundred gold Soul coins, he decisively gave up.
This was the starting price, which meant that Lao Lie would have to provide him with more strict protection, allowing him to choose Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest, and the price would only go up.
Although Sun Qi had a sum of gold Soul coins, he wasn't at the point of investing his entire fortune for a single Spirit Ring.
Soul Elders were not equipped to help hunt for first Spirit Rings; they were often the main force in hunting thousand-year Spirit Rings.
When someone like Lao Lie takes action, it's usually when some noble son of Heaven Dou City needs to hunt Souls and their team is shorthanded. In such cases, they'll pay to hire two or three Soul Elders from the Soul Hunting Group to join them.
Compared to hiring Lao Lie, even if Sun Qi feels the manpower is insufficient and his own safety is at risk, he can at most pay more and hire three more Great Soul Masters, which would cost at most an additional fifty gold Soul coins.
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[end of the chapter]