Soul Master Mercenaries of the Heaven Dou Empire, a Beautiful Girl's Gaze

"That beautiful girl is way too pretty. Seriously, I've never seen such a beautiful girl before. She's as pretty as a doll—so beautiful, and her skin looks so nice too."

A man in the tavern who looked like a mercenary said this. He had a greatsword strapped to his back, though it was unclear whether it was a Soul Tool.

The Heaven Dou Empire had Soul Master mercenaries.

Not only did the Heaven Dou Empire possess a well-developed mercenary system, it also had specialized professions such as "mercenary groups" and "bounty hunters," along with dedicated "mercenary guilds" to manage related affairs.

These mercenary groups accepted civilian commissions, such as helping people enter the Soul Hunting Forest to kill soul beasts and obtain soul rings, or escorting merchant caravans.

The original work mentioned several mercenary groups active in the Heaven Dou Empire:

Mighty Dragon Soul Hunting Group:

The strongest local soul hunting group in Mysterious Wind City. Its leader possessed the cultivation of a Soul King.

Blood Wolf Mercenary Group:

The mercenary group Huo Yuhao had once joined in his early years, participating in a mission escorting the Dingyi Merchant Association.

Heavenly Wolf Mercenary Group:

A mercenary group responsible for guarding merchant caravans. It had suffered heavy casualties while resisting an attack by evil Soul Masters.

Black Thorn Mercenary Group:

On the surface, it was an ordinary mercenary group. In reality, it secretly colluded with evil Soul Masters and operated near the border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Sun Moon Empire.

Soul Master mercenaries in the Heaven Dou Empire had to be judged on a case-by-case basis. Some were decent, while others were terrible. Soul Master mercenaries and soul hunting groups in and around the Heaven Dou Empire were generally a mixed bag of rough-and-ready outlaws. Their standards were usually lower than those of academies and righteous sects, but that did not mean every one of them was evil. They could not be judged as a whole and had to be categorized.

First, overall quality: practical fighters, but a mixed lot.

Combat strength: Formal soul hunting groups generally had Soul Ancestors or Soul Kings in charge. For example, the leader of Mysterious Wind City's Mighty Dragon Soul Hunting Group was a Soul King. They took on dirty and exhausting jobs such as hunting soul rings, escorting caravans, and exploring ruins. Their practical combat experience surpassed that of academy students their age, but their systematic training, team discipline, and intelligence protocols were far inferior to Shrek, Just Sky Academy, or the Body Sect.

Moral character: Most of them believed in "do the job for the money, and staying alive comes first." Those with principles honored their commission contracts and did not indiscriminately kill civilians. Those without bottom lines would betray others for profit, prey on fellow criminals, or even make deals with evil Soul Masters and the Holy Spirit Cult. The old case of the Insect God Mercenary Group made one thing clear: even mercenaries with ordinary martial souls could fall into evil Soul Mastery because of greed, such as Blood Mad Tu.

Second, by category, based on examples that had appeared within the Heaven Dou Empire.

(1) Relatively reliable, with professional ethics.

The Blood Wolf Mercenary Group that Huo Yuhao had run with in his early years, during the escort mission for the Dingyi Merchant Association: it had seniority rules within the group. Though they were calculating when taking on escort missions, they had not actively cheated their clients, nor had they tried to kill Huo Yuhao, a "nominal teenage Soul Master," and rob him.

Mysterious Wind City's Mighty Dragon Soul Hunting Group: the strongest local soul hunting group, with a Soul King leader holding the fort. It helped people enter the forest to hunt soul beasts and divided the gains according to industry rules. It was one of the established, reputable professional groups among the common folk of the Heaven Dou Empire.

(2) Mediocre, selfish, and opportunistic.

Ordinary small mercenary groups: they easily collapsed when facing powerful enemies. While escorting merchant caravans, a charge from evil Soul Masters or Sun Moon scouts would scatter them. They talked about brotherhood in ordinary times, but when it came to dividing loot or saving their own lives, they would sell out their teammates first. The Heavenly Wolf Mercenary Group had suffered heavy casualties while resisting an evil Soul Master attack; it also belonged to the type that had some backbone but a limited ceiling.

(3) Rotten to the core.

Black Thorn Mercenary Group: it accepted jobs openly while secretly colluding with evil Soul Masters, carrying out shady work along the border between three nations, selling intelligence, and killing with borrowed knives. It was the quintessential "mercenary shell, wicked heart."

The old Insect God Mercenary Group case, involving Blood Mad Tu: former comrades, driven by lust and greed for merit, had stabbed their teammates in the back, assassinated them, and drained away their Soul Power. They had directly fallen into evil Soul Mastery—proof that the mercenary world was one of the major breeding grounds for evil Soul Masters.

Third, compared to "righteous Soul Masters."

Just Sky Academy and the Body Sect: Soul Masters valued honor, their assessments had bottom lines, and fighting evil Soul Masters was politically correct.

Soul Master mercenaries: they spoke of survival and payment, living in the gray areas during troubled times. The Heaven Dou Empire's regular army, such as the Fourth Soul Master Legion that defended the Heaven Dou Empire, was loyal to the imperial family and more reliable than mercenaries. But in border regions beyond the Empire's control and around the outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest, mercenaries were the main service providers. Their character depended entirely on the leader's conscience and the employer's offer.

Simply put, the Heaven Dou Empire's Soul Master mercenaries were neither gentlemen nor saints. Their skills were formidable, but their morals were unpredictable. If you hired them, you had to guard against being robbed by them—but they were still safer than running into remnants of the Holy Spirit Cult. The latter were an evil cult, while the former were merely rough folk who might turn bad.

"Little sister, want a drink? Big brother can buy you one!" the Soul Master mercenary said. The problem was that this sort of thing had already appeared in many Western fantasy novels. Many mercenaries pretended to offer women drinks when they actually intended to drug them, knock them out, then take them to a room and sleep with them for the night.

Looks like mercenaries had terrible standards in both magical worlds and fantasy worlds.

Xiao Changge thought this.

The beautiful girl did not speak. She simply walked into the tavern and took out a silver coin.

"Please bring me a bottle of milk."

"Hahaha!"

"Did this little beauty come to the wrong place? You can drink milk here, sure, but won't people laugh at you? Only children drink milk. She really is just a child, I guess. She probably came to a tavern to experience something new."

"Little sister, taverns are for drinking alcohol. If you came here for milk, you might as well buy a bottle from a shop. You're really pretty funny."

Most people: (´｡･v･｡｀)

"Alright, everyone. She's just a little girl having a drink. What does that have to do with you? She hasn't broken any laws or committed any crimes, so why are you picking on her?" Xiao Changge stepped in to defuse the situation for the beautiful girl.

Xiao Changge looked at the beautiful girl, who was even shorter than he was, and felt that she was probably a minor as well. Although Xiao Changge's soul was already of age, his physical body was not.

"Thank you, big brother," the beautiful girl said.

Soon afterward, Xiao Changge had stayed long enough and continued on his journey.

After leaving, he went to buy food, water, and other supplies. That way, he could continue traveling toward the Sun Moon Empire while having something to eat along the way.

In the end, he visited many shops throughout the Heaven Dou Empire. Some sold beverages from the Sun Moon Empire, so he bought some drinks, along with fruit and dry rations. He even bought some clothes so he would have changes of clothing. They would also come in handy if it rained.

He also bought an umbrella, just in case.

Once Xiao Changge had finished preparing, he was ready to set off. Yet just as he was about to leave the small town, he passed a corner and discovered that the beautiful girl from earlier seemed to be getting threatened.

"Come on!" A woman who looked like a delinquent held out a cigar to the beautiful girl.

Forcing a beautiful girl to smoke a cigar—that's a crime, isn't it?!

Xiao Changge was a man who had lived in modern society. How could he possibly allow a minor to smoke a cigar? That was wrong. Minors were not allowed to smoke!

Especially in this situation, where a delinquent woman was forcing a beautiful girl to smoke a cigar. That was even more outrageous.