Star Luo City

"Buns for sale! Fresh out of the steamer, piping-hot buns!"

The morning mist had yet to disperse, but the stalls on both sides of the street were already set up. Bamboo steamers were stacked high, sending up plumes of white steam mixed with the scent of meat and sauce, tickling people's noses. A man selling pepper soup stirred his pot with a long-handled ladle, clanging it repeatedly against the iron rim. The stall next door displayed freshly baked flatbreads, thickly sprinkled with sesame seeds and roasted over charcoal until golden and puffed up. Farther along were sellers of cloth, medicine, and general goods. Handcarts crowded together, and the vendors' cries overlapped like water at a rolling boil.

A gray-haired boy of fourteen or fifteen sat beside a noodle stall, eating a bowl of hot noodle soup with a wooden expression. He wore a drab, coarse-cloth jacket and trousers, and his hair was tied back with an old strip of cloth. The broth was heavy with chili and aged vinegar, sour and spicy enough to bring sweat to the tip of his nose. It was Ning Buhui, who had changed his appearance with the Thousand-Transformation Illusory Mask.

He had stopped and started along the way, occasionally captivated by the scenery. He had traveled south from Spirit City, walked another three days after crossing the Star Luo Empire's border, and finally reached its principal city, Star Luo City, after twelve days on the road.

Star Luo City was much larger than Nuoding City and in no way inferior to Heaven Dou City. But the two cities had entirely different characters. Heaven Dou City leaned toward the style of a Chinese imperial palace, with sweeping eaves, glazed tiles, and colorful paintings. It was splendid and elegant, graceful and delicate, its orderly buildings giving off an air of propriety. Star Luo City was larger than any city he had ever seen.

When he first entered the city, he had looked up at its walls until his neck ached. The walls stood dozens of zhang high, so tall he had to tilt his head back to see the top. They were built entirely from massive blocks of granite, not fired bricks. Their rough surfaces were covered in blade marks and arrow dents left by old wars, and in some places broken arrows still jutted from the stone. They bore the murderous air of ages past, rather than the refined beauty of a decorative wall.

The city gate was enormous, its passage wide enough for more than a dozen carriages to pass abreast. The doors were made of great timbers bound in iron, and their hinges were as thick as an adult's arm. The broad top of the wall had ample space reserved for defensive positions, with Soul Tool defenses installed. A row of armored soldiers stood atop it, gripping long halberds, planted there like a row of stone statues. No wonder people called it the "Imperial Capital That Never Falls."

The main street inside the city was broad, its bluestone paving stretching more than ten zhang across, wide enough for eight carriages to travel abreast in both directions. But the farther in one went, the narrower the roads became, with branching alleys twisting and turning. Most houses on either side had stone foundations and wooden walls, with timber beams set on rough stone bases and thick, drab tiles weighing down their roofs. They had little carving, but they were practical.

Stone posts for tethering horses and stone platforms for sharpening blades were common at the corners of walls, covered in cut marks. Now and then, a few Soul Masters wearing sabers passed by, taking long strides with their backs straight. Their gazes were sharp when they swept over him.

After drinking the last mouthful of noodle soup, Ning Buhui was finally satisfied. He paid, then walked most of the way around the main street, getting a rough sense of the city's layout.

Star Luo City had inner and outer sections. The outer city was where ordinary people and Soul Masters lived, and shops, inns, and mercenary bases were all located there.

The inner city lay in the north, separated by another stone wall that rose higher than the outer one. The towering spires of stone halls were faintly visible inside. That was where the imperial palace and noble residences stood. Armored guards stood at the entrance, and ordinary people were not allowed near.

All kinds of people walked the streets: some wore leather armor, some carried sabers, some had Soul Tools on their backs, and quite a few were independent Soul Masters carrying bundles like him. Their eyes flicked toward the roadside noticeboards, which were covered with all kinds of recruitment notices: mercenary groups seeking members, shops hiring guards, and Soul Fighting Arenas recruiting resident fighters. The people of Star Luo favored martial prowess, and many wore sabers on the streets. If a passerby looked at them a moment too long, they would glare back, their ferocity running to the bone.

Ning Buhui drew little attention, keeping his head down as he went on his way. He had carefully considered this appearance: young and wooden, with a malnourished look, plainly a half-grown boy fresh from the countryside and looking for work. Star Luo City was full of people like that. Toss one into a crowd, and he would not even make a splash.

Once he had seen enough, he went straight to the Mercenary Guild.

The Mercenary Guild occupied a three-story stone building on the eastern side of the outer city. Its facade was not particularly imposing, but more people came and went than at any shop. An iron sign hung over the entrance, engraved with two crossed swords and the large words "Mercenary Guild" beneath them, dulled by wind and rain.

Ning Buhui pushed the door open and entered. The first floor was an enormous hall, with wooden boards nailed to all four walls. They were densely covered with task notices, distinguished by different paper colors according to difficulty. Seven or eight long tables stood in the middle of the hall, packed with Soul Masters of all kinds. Some were looking at notices, some negotiating prices, and others huddling together to discuss routes. The counter was at the back, where several people in guild uniforms were busy registering assignments and settling accounts.

Ning Buhui did not hurry to the counter. He first looked over the task walls. The notices covered everything from hunting Soul Beasts to gathering medicinal herbs, escorting merchant caravans to investigating ruins. He scanned them one by one until his gaze stopped on the mercenary recruitment section. Dozens of notices were posted there, most from mercenary groups seeking members. Some wanted the Power Attack System, some the Agility Attack System, and there was plenty of demand for the Control System too. The greatest number, however, wanted the Auxiliary System.

As he was looking, someone suddenly spoke behind him. "Looking for work?"

Ning Buhui turned around. The speaker was a burly man in his thirties, bald, with an old scar running across his face from his left eyebrow to the base of his right ear. Three people stood behind him: a short-haired woman with two curved blades tucked at her waist, and two young men in their early twenties, one carrying a short spear on his back and the other wearing a longsword at his waist.

"Yeah." Ning Buhui nodded.

The bald man looked him up and down. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Level?"

"Level 28 Control-Type Battle Spirit Master."

Ning Buhui raised his hand, and the Nine Hell Soul-Suppressing Pagoda appeared in his palm. Two yellow Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet. He deliberately suppressed the rings until they were hazy and pale, making them look like two ordinary Hundred-Year Soul Rings. The bald man stared at him for two breaths, then turned and jerked his chin at the short-haired woman beside him.

The woman stepped forward and walked halfway around Ning Buhui, then suddenly reached out and patted his shoulder. The strike was not heavy, but it carried Soul Power, seemingly testing his foundation. Ning Buhui remained motionless and took it head-on, his shoulder not shifting in the slightest.

The woman turned and nodded at the bald man.

"Control System?" the bald man asked.

"Yeah."

"What sort of effects do your Soul Skills have?"

Ning Buhui gave him a general account of the control effects of his first and second Soul Rings.

The bald man gestured with his chin toward a corner of the hall, where a practice dummy was tied to a pillar. Ning Buhui walked over and stopped. His Second Soul Ring glimmered faintly. Vine Locks the Nine Nether Regions. A pitch-black chain shot from the pagoda and wrapped around one of the dummy's legs. The chain tightened, pulling the straw dummy over to one side. Then it loosened and withdrew into the pagoda.

The whole process was extremely quick. After watching, the bald man's lips twitched, and he seemed reasonably satisfied.

"Your level isn't high, but you're skilled with your Soul Skills, and your control is decent," the bald man said. "Our group needs someone to control the field. Will you join us?"

"How's the pay divided?"

"We're hunting a pack of thousand-year Rock Wolves on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest. Once we succeed, we divide the proceeds according to how much work each person put in. You control the situation, and we kill the wolves. If you do well, you get two tenths when it's done."

"Two tenths," Ning Buhui repeated.

"Not enough?" The bald man narrowed his eyes.

"It's enough," Ning Buhui said. "But I have one condition."

"Go on."

"I need a wolf pelt and wolf fangs."

The bald man and the woman exchanged a glance. The woman raised an eyebrow, seeming to find the boy a little interesting. The bald man thought for a moment, then nodded. "All right. Meet at the guild entrance at daybreak tomorrow."

Ning Buhui agreed. The bald man asked, "Kid, what's your name?"

He paused.

"A Hui," he said.

After registering his temporary mercenary information, Ning Buhui did not hurry to leave. He found a corner and sat down to listen to the mercenaries' conversations, hoping to pick up information that might be useful.

The hall was noisy, dozens of people talking about their own affairs in a constant buzz. He closed his eyes, caught the scattered remarks one sentence at a time, and sorted them into categories in his mind.

Four young mercenaries who looked to be in their early twenties sat at the table to his right. They were the loudest, arguing over which Soul Fighting Arena was more worthwhile. A thin-faced man counted on his fingers. "In the Silver Tiger Soul Fighting Arena's solo matches, ten consecutive wins get you information on a Thousand-Year Soul Beast, thirty get you a customized Soul Tool, and fifty get you a Thousand-Year Soul Bone. I say we go to Silver Tiger first and grind the solo matches, then go to the Great Soul Arena for the higher-level challenges once we've had enough. Benefits from both sides."

A dark-faced man sitting opposite him scoffed. "You think it's that easy to make it in Silver Tiger's arena? The Hundred-Victory Gold Token's been offered for twenty years, and only three have ever been handed out. The last one was five years ago. That fellow was called Bloody Hand Du Lei. He won eighty-seven matches in a row, and what happened? Someone found him dead in a ditch outside the city, and the gold token was gone too."

"Wasn't it an enemy taking revenge?"

"An enemy?" The dark-faced man lowered his voice. "I heard Boss Dai, Silver Tiger's arena owner, never intended to let anyone get the gold token in the first place. That Soul Bone he keeps as his trump card is worth a city. Once someone's winning streak reaches the eighties, the arena arranges for someone to make a move. Before Du Lei died, word had already gotten out that he was going up against a level 70 Soul Saint in his next match. Guess what? He was gone before that match ever came."

The thin-faced man drew in his neck and said nothing more.

Ning Buhui committed this to memory. The Silver Tiger Soul Fighting Arena was the largest underground Soul Fighting Arena in the outer city. Its owner was surnamed Dai, a distant relative of the imperial family with backing behind him. The Hundred-Victory Gold Token's rewards were a valuable Soul Bone and a thirty-percent discount at imperial shops. They sounded tempting, but to get them, one first had to stay alive. The fear was that one might live to get them, but not to spend them.

Several veteran mercenaries sat at the table to his left, all at least thirty-five. They spoke slowly and deliberately, discussing serious business. A man in a leather cap held a tea bowl and said quietly, "The Star Luo Great Soul Arena has added another higher-level challenge match next month, on top of the ones on the first and fifteenth. I hear this time it's a branch-family member from a major clan over in Heaven Dou, a level 40 Soul Ancestor with a mutated Ice Wolf Martial Soul. He's put out word that he'll fight his way through every challenger of the same level in Star Luo City."

"Level 40? Who's taking him on?" his companion opposite asked.

"Someone already has. 'Iron Wall Zheng Hu,' a local from Star Luo City, a level 43 Defense System Soul Ancestor. The two of them are settling it at the Great Soul Arena, and the place sold out three days in advance. There are four or five outside betting pools, and the odds are close." The man in the leather cap popped a peanut into his mouth. "But that's got nothing to do with us. We're not strong enough to measure up. If we went in, we'd just be stepping stones for someone else."

"True enough." His companion set down his bowl. "I did hear the black-market Soul Fighting people are recruiting lately, though. Down in South Alley, the kind where you sign a life-and-death contract. One win pays five times what a legitimate arena does. The risk is high, though. A Soul Elder won seven matches a while back, then got set up in the eighth. Nobody knows whether he's alive or dead."

"You'd dare get involved in black-market Soul Fighting?" The man in the leather cap glared at him. "It's easy to get into that place and hard to get out. Win, and people get jealous. Lose, and you lose your life. Take my advice and put that thought out of your head now."

Ning Buhui went over the information. He had no interest in black-market Soul Fighting; the risk was too great, and the rewards were not worth it. The higher-level challenges at the Star Luo Great Soul Arena sounded somewhat interesting, though. He could go take a look when he had time.

At that moment, someone at the table by the door spoke. The voice was not loud, but Ning Buhui sat close enough to hear clearly. The speaker was a female Soul Master in her thirties, with short hair and an ordinary face. The bronze badge at her waist showed that she was an official mercenary of a fairly high rank. Her companion across the table was a tall, thin man who was looking through an old notice.

"The guild posted a new batch of tasks today. I didn't have time to look at Section A, but there were a few decent ones in Section B," the female Soul Master said. "A third of them are for hunting Thousand-Year Soul Beasts on the outskirts of Star Dou. There've been more Soul Beasts in the forest lately. I hear something in the inner region is driving them outward."

"Driving them outward?" The tall, thin man looked up.

"Yeah. Last month, a team of five came back from Star Dou, all of them Soul Ancestors. They ran into a huge pack of Rock Wolves on the outskirts. The alpha was at least four thousand years old, with more than a dozen smaller ones. It chased them for twenty li, and they only shook it off after running into a swamp. The team said the pack looked like it had been driven out of the inner region by something. It was in disarray, chasing whoever it came across."

"A four-thousand-year-old alpha with a pack of smaller ones? That's far too many." The tall, thin man frowned.

"That's why the prices for Star Dou assignments have been going up lately. There are a few in Section A for hunting thousand-year Rock Wolves, with rewards nearly twice the usual amount. The guild says something's wrong in the forest right now. Soul Beasts are crowding outward, and the outskirts are fiercer than usual. Fewer teams are taking the assignments, so the prices have gone up."

When Ning Buhui heard the words "Rock Wolves," his eyelids twitched slightly. Rock Wolves were precisely what he was going to hunt with the bald man and his group on the outskirts of Star Dou tomorrow. If that forest was really as the female Soul Master had described, with more Soul Beasts than usual, then tomorrow's task might be trickier than he had thought.

He sat for another quarter of an hour, roughly sifting through the information in the hall. Only a few things were useful: winning streaks at the Silver Tiger Soul Fighting Arena brought rewards but great risk; there would be a spectacle at the Star Luo Great Soul Arena's higher-level challenge match next month; black-market Soul Fighting was not to be touched; and the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest had been unsettled lately. The last was the most useful to him.

He opened his eyes, rose, and left the Mercenary Guild. It was already dark outside. Shops on both sides of the street were lighting their lamps one after another, casting patches of dim yellow light on the drab stone walls. Ning Buhui retraced his route, making plans as he walked. Once he entered Star Dou tomorrow, he would have to be extra careful. The bald man's group looked experienced, but even veterans could capsize. He could not reveal all his strength, but if something unexpected really happened, staying alive came first. He would act according to the situation.

He turned into a narrow alley with an inn a short distance away. The butcher shop at the alley entrance was still chopping bones, dull thuds coming from inside. Ning Buhui stepped aside to let a loaded handcart pass, then entered the inn and booked a standard room. Its furnishings were simple: a bed and a table, with a window facing the back alley. He shut the door and entered the third floor of the pagoda.

Tomorrow, he would finally see the famous Star Dou Great Forest for himself.