The Strapped Speed Clan

The fat student from Lufeng Academy had barely said that no one would hire Dai Chengqian and his companion for soul hunting when someone came over to do just that.

He suddenly felt as though he had been slapped in the face.

He glanced at the girl and tried to dissuade her:

"Hey, you really believe these two can hunt a soul beast for you?

In the Star Dou Great Forest, hiring a soul-hunting team to kill even the weakest two-thousand-year soul beast costs thirty Gold Soul Coins.

His sign says twenty Gold Soul Coins for a two-thousand-year soul beast. There's obviously something fishy about that price.

Besides, there are only two of them. One look tells you they aren't professionals.

If you hire them, I reckon you'll end up with no soul beast and your Gold Soul Coins down the drain."

Hearing his words, the girl with the pink ponytail immediately looked hesitant.

Dai Chengqian stood up then and smiled at her.

"My friend, you're my first customer.

Let's call this a lucky start to my business, something to bring me good fortune.

Five Gold Soul Coins, and I'll take the job.

If the hunt fails, I won't keep a single coin. I'll refund all five."

Hearing Dai Chengqian's offer, the girl gritted her teeth, took out five Gold Soul Coins, and handed them to him.

"Here. I'm hiring you two for the hunt."

"Good advice can't save a ghost bent on dying," the fat student muttered before turning away.

The girl looked at him and sighed inwardly.

Of course she knew hiring Dai Chengqian and his companion was a little dubious, but she had no choice.

She simply had no money to spare for those professional soul-hunting teams.

As members of the Speed Clan, they had been living on a shoestring for years.

With Dai Chengqian promising a refund if the hunt failed, she wanted to take a gamble.

Dai Chengqian accepted the Gold Soul Coins, waved them at the students from Lufeng Academy, then smiled at the girl.

"Let's go. We'll help you hunt your soul beast right now.

Trust me, these five Gold Soul Coins will be money well spent."

Watching the three of them disappear into the distance, the fat student spat on the ground and cursed:

"Damn it, there really are idiots that stupid."

The sultry woman laughed.

"Maybe the little girl just took a fancy to that young fellow.

Sure, his mask hides his face, but with my experience of over a thousand men, I guarantee he's handsome."

The scrawny man beside her curled his lip. "Oh, please. I say an idiot met a swindler, and they hit it off."

On the way to the Star Dou Great Forest for their hunt.

The girl with the pink ponytail said to Dai Chengqian:

"Let me explain something first.

My martial soul is the Sharp-Tailed Swift, a pure speed-type martial soul.

The soul beast needs to match my martial soul's type as closely as possible, or their attributes could clash."

Sharp-Tailed Swift...

Isn't that the Speed Clan's martial soul?

Dai Chengqian looked at the girl and asked:

"You're from the Speed Clan? What's your name?"

"You know about our Speed Clan? My name is Bai Shuangshuang. You can call me Little Shuang."

Dai Chengqian smiled.

"One of the Four Great Single-Attribute Clans formerly affiliated with the Clear Sky Sect. Is it really surprising that I know?"

Hearing his words, Bai Shuangshuang sighed, a trace of desolation in her eyes as she spoke self-mockingly:

"Heh, that glory is all in the past.

We left the Clear Sky Sect long ago. Our clansmen are struggling now. We even have to pay people to help us obtain soul rings."

"It's all right. I'm sure things will get better for you again someday," Dai Chengqian comforted her.

Each of the four single-attribute clans had exceptionally outstanding abilities.

Bai Shuangshuang's Speed Clan, for instance, had a natural advantage in reconnaissance and intelligence gathering thanks to their pure speed-type martial souls.

The other three clans each had their own specialties as well.

Dai Chengqian felt that bringing them under his command in the future would greatly strengthen the Star Luo Empire.

These four clans had come from the Clear Sky Sect, yet were unwilling to approach Spirit Hall. None of them had fared well over the years.

If he made good use of that, he would have a chance to bring them into his fold.

There was no hurry, though. He could wait for an opportunity later.

Before long, the three entered the Star Dou Great Forest and began searching for soul beasts.

Dai Chengqian scouted ahead. After walking for a while, he turned to Ye Lingling and said:

"We're getting close to an area with plenty of thousand-year soul beasts. Are you ready?"

Ye Lingling nodded earnestly.

"Don't worry. I won't hold you back."

With that, she took Bai Shuangshuang's hand and retreated a hundred meters.

Then she explained to Bai Shuangshuang:

"I'm a support-type Soul Master, and you're a pure speed-type Soul Master.

Neither of us can help him much in a head-on fight, so we should stay farther away and avoid interfering."

At this distance, she could ensure that she healed Dai Chengqian immediately while keeping herself safe.

Dai Chengqian was somewhat surprised by Ye Lingling's actions.

She was usually so cold and aloof that she seemed determined to let her words out one at a time.

He had not expected her to become more talkative once there was serious work to do.

The contrast struck him as rather amusing.

They continued exploring while maintaining that distance.

At last, they encountered their first soul beast.

Unfortunately, it was only an eight-hundred-year Crimson Flame Rat.

Dai Chengqian casually fired a bolt of purple lightning and sent it flying.

They continued searching. An hour later, Dai Chengqian finally found a Silver-Winged Flying Leopard just over thirteen hundred years old.

Silver-Winged Flying Leopards were among the stronger thousand-year soul beasts.

This one's age was just right for Bai Shuangshuang.

Dai Chengqian did not underestimate his opponent. His three soul rings unfolded: yellow, yellow, and black.

The Silver-Winged Flying Leopard prowled around him, still trying to gauge his strength.

Without the slightest hesitation, Dai Chengqian used Thousand-Flash Thunder Shadow, instantly flashing in front of the leopard.

Before the Silver-Winged Flying Leopard could react, his second soul skill, White Tiger Light-Splitting Wave, struck its forehead.

It all happened so quickly that less than three seconds had passed.

Pinning the Silver-Winged Flying Leopard firmly to the ground, Dai Chengqian looked up at Bai Shuangshuang and said:

"Come finish it off and get ready to absorb the soul ring."

Bai Shuangshuang had yet to recover from her shock.

The sight of Dai Chengqian's black soul ring had already stunned her.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he had effortlessly subdued this seemingly ferocious Silver-Winged Flying Leopard.

A Silver-Winged Flying Leopard's speed ranked among the best of all thousand-year soul beasts.

For an ordinary soul-hunting team to kill a speed-type soul beast like this, they needed either a powerful control-type Soul Master on their team,

or traps set in advance for an ambush. In a chance encounter like today's, the leopard would escape eight times out of ten.

For a moment, Bai Shuangshuang wondered whether she was dreaming.

Only when she heard Dai Chengqian call her did she come back to her senses.

"Oh, right."

She killed the soul beast with a single stab, and a purple soul ring slowly rose above its corpse.

Bai Shuangshuang drew a deep breath, sat cross-legged on the ground, and began absorbing the soul ring.

Ye Lingling walked over to Dai Chengqian then, looked at him, and said earnestly:

"Captain, you killed it so quickly and didn't even get hurt. I can't get any training this way."

Seeing her earnest expression, Dai Chengqian smiled and spread his hands.

"Ah, you can only blame your captain for being too strong. There's nothing I can do.

I can't deliberately injure myself just to give you something to heal.

Don't worry. When you go soul hunting with the others, you'll have plenty of opportunities."

"All right."

With the hunt over, Ye Lingling returned to her cold, aloof self.

After a while, Bai Shuangshuang finished absorbing the soul ring.

The three returned to town together.

They had just reached the town entrance.

Dai Chengqian suddenly spotted several familiar figures.

They were the students from Lufeng Academy.

As he looked their way, they also spotted his group.

The fat student who had called Dai Chengqian a swindler pointed at the three of them and said to his classmates behind him with a grin:

"Look, that's the swindler I told you about."

Then he walked toward Bai Shuangshuang and asked:

"Little sister, did the swindler cheat you?"

He glanced at Dai Chengqian and continued:

"Have they returned your Gold Soul Coins? If not, your big brother here can help you get them back.

We at Lufeng Academy love helping people."