Heaven Dou City, Mercenary Guild.
Liu Erlong set her herb basket on the counter.
Dragon Breath Grass, ten stalks. The client was surnamed Wei and worked for an alchemy shop.
The manager flipped through the ledger to check, then nodded. "Fifty Gold Soul Coins—"
"Wait." Liu Erlong pressed down on the ledger. "The commission says fifty. That's the base price. Dragon Breath Grass only grows on the edges of territories belonging to dragon-type Soul Beasts. There was at least one dragon beast over a thousand years old in the gathering area. By Guild rules, this kind of job gets a danger surcharge."
The manager pushed up his glasses and said flatly, "The client has to approve the surcharge."
"Then get him to approve it." Liu Erlong stared him down, each word deliberate. "I nearly got crushed to death at the bottom of a cliff by an eight-thousand-year-old Red Flame Earth Dragon. You took this commission. You know better than I do how dangerous it really was."
A sheen of sweat appeared on the manager's forehead.
He'd handed the job to this twelve-year-old girl because no one else dared take it, betting she didn't know the going rates.
He lowered his head and recalculated. The final figure: one thousand Gold Soul Coins.
Liu Erlong tucked the heavy purse into her clothes and turned to leave.
"Hey, isn't that the bastard?"
At a wine table in the corner, a hulking mercenary turned around with a cup in hand.
Ma San, a thirty-first-level Soul Elder, had spent seven or eight years hanging around the Guild. His mouth was infamous for its foulness, and his strength was just as infamous for being all show.
He'd run into Liu Erlong outside the Guild a few times before, and every time he'd made some nasty remark. But he hadn't been drunk enough to do more than mutter under his breath.
Today, he was drunk enough to make his voice carry across half the hall.
"A little girl, an unwanted bastard, and she still dares to slap the counter around at the Guild?"
He got to his feet, built like a bear, and staggered over to Liu Erlong, his breath washing over her face with the stench of alcohol.
"You're a pretty little thing, and you've got a fiery temper too—but you're a stray girl with no father or mother. You think you can just walk off with a thousand Gold Soul Coins?"
He belched, then pressed closer, pointing at her chest. "A bastard daughter like you dares to—"
He never finished.
Liu Erlong grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed him down.
Ma San's face plunged into the oak table. The tabletop exploded into splinters, sending wood, cups, and bowls flying everywhere.
His nose twisted to one side. Blood ran through the cracks in the table, and he passed out on the spot.
The entire Guild hall fell silent.
Ma San, a thirty-first-level Soul Elder, had been slammed into a table by a twelve-year-old girl with one hand. He hadn't even had time to summon his Martial Soul.
The three mercenaries sharing his table sprang to their feet and activated Martial Soul Possession—two wolves and a bear.
Soul Rings lit up around them: two had three rings, and one had two, with an unimpressive mix of colors.
"You little bitch—" the wolf Martial Soul's leader began.
A phantom dragon claw wreathed in flames appeared behind Liu Erlong.
Crimson, slit-pupiled eyes. A top-tier Fire Dragon Martial Soul.
Three Soul Rings rose from beneath her feet—two yellow, one purple. The third purple ring shimmered brightly: a genuine Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
Her Soul Power held steady at level thirty-three.
A three-ring Soul Elder.
A twelve-year-old Soul Elder.
The three mercenaries froze like statues.
Every Soul Master in the hall stared in shock.
A bald veteran mercenary's cup clattered onto the table. Wine soaked his trousers, but he didn't even notice.
She lunged at the wolf Martial Soul's leader and drove a punch into his chest, putting all her strength into it.
His protective Soul Power ripped apart like paper. His breastbone cracked sharply, and he flew back into the wall.
The other two started to move. She turned aside from the bear Martial Soul's frontal strike,
then caught his wrist and yanked it outward—crack. His wrist popped out of joint.
She planted her foot behind his knee. The sound of bone slipping out of place made everyone suck in a breath.
His scream had barely begun when her knee drove into his chin, cutting it off.
The last man turned to run.
Liu Erlong grabbed him by the collar, yanked him back, and threw him to the ground. She planted a foot on his chest and bent over him.
"You had a part in harassing me just now, didn't you?"
"I... I..."
"Did you or didn't you?"
"I did, I did—"
She pressed down ever so slightly with her foot. Another rib snapped.
All four men lay sprawled across the floor, blood pooling beneath them as groans rose one after another.
Liu Erlong straightened and swept the loose hair from her forehead. Her breathing was as steady as if she hadn't lifted a finger.
Her gaze swept across the hall, across every stunned face.
"If anyone else thinks I'm a bastard, step forward. I'll take you all on."
No one said a word.
More than forty mercenaries sat as quietly as quails in a room.
"If no one does," she paused, her voice turning icy, "then anyone who spews filth in the Guild again will find these four set up as an example."
She turned and strode toward the door.
Someone came down from the second floor of the Guild.
A steward, with the Guild's insignia on his sleeve.
He glanced at the four men sprawled on the ground, frowned, and hurried after her.
"Miss, beating people like this in the Guild isn't in keeping with the rules, is it?"
Liu Erlong stopped.
She turned around.
Her crimson, slit-pupiled eyes fixed on the steward's. A chill ran down his back, and he instinctively took half a step back.
"The rules?"
"Where the hell were you when these animals were harassing me? There were dozens of people in this hall, and not one of them stood up to say a damn thing. Now that I've beaten them, you come out to lecture me about the rules?"
"Miss, you've misunderstood. I was handling Guild business upstairs and didn't know what was happening—"
"You're a Guild steward. This hall is your turf. If you don't know what's happening on your own turf, what the hell are you doing in that position?"
The steward opened his mouth, then shut it again.
She was right.
And a girl had been harassed by these mercenaries.
How could she not be angry?
For a moment, he even found himself resenting the mercenaries.
Of all people, why had they picked on this Fire Dragon?
Liu Erlong didn't give him a chance to compose himself. She turned toward the men groaning on the floor, then back to him, the corner of her mouth curling.
"If you think this isn't over, get every mercenary outside to come at me together. Let's see how many healers you've got to spare."
The mercenaries' faces all changed at her words. Not one of them doubted her.
They'd just watched her beat four powerful mercenaries senseless with her bare hands, every punch landing on bone, every move merciless.
This woman had no concept of holding back.
The steward opened and closed his mouth several times, but couldn't force out a single word.
Liu Erlong looked away and didn't spare him another glance.
She turned and strode out the door.
Her black, close-fitting outfit outlined the girl's straight, athletic figure. Her footsteps gradually faded along the stone-paved street.
The hall remained silent for a long time.
Only when people began scrambling to help the wounded did the rustling sounds start up again.
Jiang Ce's voice drifted in only after she'd walked fifty paces from the Guild entrance.
"Crazy woman."
"Feel good?"
Liu Erlong froze, then the corners of her mouth lifted of their own accord.
It was the first time she'd truly smiled since her mother died.
"...Yeah."
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