Douluo Continent: Sword Named Star, Slaying Gods to Prove the Dao

Fortunately, Ning Xingchen knew some of the plot details: Tang Hao and Tang Xiao would meet Ah Yin in a small mountain village.

Once you find these two people, you can find Ah Yin by following their trail.

Therefore, Ning Xingchen had been searching for Tang Hao and Tang Xiao's whereabouts all along the way.

To avoid worrying Ning Dingling, Ning Xingchen did not use the sect's intelligence network.

Once he uses the intelligence network of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, Ning Dingling will inevitably find out. If she lets them know that she is going to track down Tang Hao, she will definitely have all her concerns and worries.

Therefore, Ning Xingchen would collect useful intelligence on his own whenever he arrived in a city.

West Peak City!

The Kingdom of Silves is the closest city to the Kingdom of Barak.

After entering Xifeng City, Ning Xingchen first went to the mercenary tavern next to the mercenary guild in the city.

The mercenary tavern is frequented by Soul Masters, and Ning Xingchen can obtain some information he needs there.

After all, in the previous city, he had learned that Tang Hao and Tang Xiao had gone to Xifeng City.

The mercenary tavern was a bit noisy. Ning Xingchen sat down near the edge, ordered some food and drinks, and listened attentively to what the mercenary soul masters were saying while he ate.

With his current mental strength, he could hear everything clearly from every corner of the mercenary tavern.

He kept filtering the information he heard until he heard something useful from a group of people two tables away.

The Twin Stars of Haotian just came to the Mercenary Guild and accepted a mission that many mercenaries were unwilling to take.

He actually ran into them.

Ning Xingchen immediately got up, left the mercenary tavern, and entered the mercenary guild next door.

Prior to this, Ning Xingchen had already registered as a mercenary.

"Hello, I'd like to take on some missions," Ning Xingchen said, taking out his bronze-level mercenary badge.

Similar to the levels of Fighting Spirits, the levels of Mercenaries are also divided into three types: Bronze, Silver, and Gold, with each level further divided into three stars.

Although Ning Xingchen registered as a mercenary, he was only a one-star bronze-level mercenary who had not completed his mission.

The person who received Ning Xingchen was a middle-aged man. When he saw the one-star bronze badge on Ning Xingchen's hand, he seemed somewhat disdainful and said coldly, "At your level, the tasks you can do... well, not many!"

"Take a look at these few yourself, and take them if you can do them."

Ning Xingchen glanced at the tasks for a one-star bronze fighting spirit; they were all basic tasks.

For example, escort missions or protection missions, like protecting a level 10 Soul Master in their quest to find their first Soul Ring, but their purpose isn't to accept missions.

"I heard that Haotian Shuangxing just came to accept a mission. I wonder what kind of mission it is?" Ning Xingchen asked in a low voice.

As they spoke, Ning Xingchen handed over a bag.

The middle-aged man seemed to be used to it. He reached out and took it, weighed it in his hand, put it down, opened it and looked at it. Only after confirming that it was a gold soul coin did he take out a task sheet.

"Take a look at the third task inside, and give it to me when you're done."

Ning Xingchen opened the app and immediately found the mission details.

There are three villages 60 kilometers away from Xifeng City.

Recently, several people have gone missing in the three villages. Some villagers say they saw a giant bear and suspect that it was a spirit beast that ate the villagers.

Mission objective: Find the culprit behind the villagers' disappearance and kill them.

Looking at the reward for the mission, it was a paltry fifty gold soul coins, which was pitifully low!

"Sigh... these commoners can only offer such meager compensation; I guess they're the only ones who would take on such a task," the middle-aged man sighed.

Villagers, and the giant bear spirit beast?

Could they be the ones who met Ah Yin this time?

It's true what they say, timing is everything.

Tang Hao and his team had just received the mission, and there were still several hours until nightfall, so there was still time for everything.

"Thank you!"

After noting down the mission address, Ning Xingchen immediately left the Mercenary Guild!

Chapter 53: Changing the Plot, Driving Away Tang Xiao and Tang Hao

With a map in hand, Ning Xingchen traveled dozens of kilometers and arrived at a village called Songlin Village before dark.

As the mission briefing stated, three villages were attacked.

The three villages are on an arc, with Songlin Village in the middle being three to five kilometers away from the villages on either side.

According to Ning Xingchen's guess, if they were to come to solve the problem, they would definitely come to Songlin Village in the middle first. If there were any abnormalities in the villages on either side, they could rush to either side as quickly as possible.

"May I ask who you are?"

As soon as I arrived at the village entrance, a simply dressed middle-aged man came to greet me.

Seeing Ning Xingchen dressed in luxurious clothes, the middle-aged man's attitude was very good.

Ning Xingchen said, "I heard that you have been attacked by some soul beasts, so I came here to take a look."

Seeing that Ning Xingchen looked rather young, the middle-aged man said, "Thank you for your kindness, but... someone at the Mercenary Guild has already accepted the mission."

His meaning was clear: even if Ning Xingchen's arrival helped them drive away the ferocious soul beast, they had already paid their commission to the Mercenary Guild and were unable to pay commissions to others.

Ning Xingchen smiled and said, "I'll help you deal with that soul beast, and you don't need to pay any commission. Your three villages are struggling to survive, so you can cancel the mission and have the Mercenary Guild refund the gold soul coins."

Don't be fooled by the fact that this mission only rewards fifty gold soul coins. The three villages paid far more than fifty gold soul coins, with a portion of them being taken by the Mercenary Guild.

You can also cancel a mission at the Mercenary Guild, but a cancellation fee of 20% of the total commission will be deducted.

Ning Xingchen had already inquired about the situation before he arrived. He knew that the taxes in the Kingdom of Silves were quite heavy, more than double those of the provinces directly under the Heaven Dou Empire.

In addition to the taxes levied by Xifeng City, it was already extremely difficult for these three villages to raise enough gold soul coins to hire a soul master.

"Okay, okay, I'll go and inform the village chief right away." The middle-aged man was overjoyed.

"My esteemed Soul Master, please follow me."

Upon entering the village, Ning Xingchen immediately spotted two middle-aged men resting there.

Ning Xingchen had seen Tang Xiao and Tang Chen a few years ago and recognized them at a glance.

They may have seen Ning Xingchen, but Ning Xingchen was only six years old at that time, and eight years have passed now. Even if they had seen her, they might not recognize her.

Ning Xingchen was taken to a small courtyard in the village.

"Village chief, village chief, this Soul Master said he can help us deal with the Soul Beasts that attacked us for free."

"free?"

As they were talking, an elderly man who looked to be around seventy years old came out of the room.

After looking Ning Xingchen up and down, he said, "Young man, thank you for your kindness, but you should go back now. Don't throw your life away in vain."

Anyone with a discerning eye could easily tell Ning Xingchen's approximate age.

Too young, only ten years old.

As the village chief, he was quite familiar with the profession of Soul Master, after all, he had spent a long time in Xifeng City before becoming the village chief.

At this age, it's already quite an achievement for a Soul Master to become one; at most, they'd be a Great Soul Master.

Looking at the people who came to accept missions from the mercenary guild, one was in his forties or fifties, and the other was in his thirties. They were clearly stronger than the young man in front of him.

As the saying goes, "A young man with no beard is unreliable."

Ning Xingchen's plan was to take advantage of the villagers' desire to save their gold soul coins to drive Tang Hao and Tang Xiao away.

But the village chief simply didn't believe he could defeat the spirit beasts that had invaded the village.

Knowing the plot, Ning Xingchen naturally knew that they didn't actually need to take action; Ah Yin would appear at the crucial moment to stop the giant bear soul beast.

"Old village chief, don't you believe in my abilities?" Ning Xingchen asked.

The old village chief said, "When we went to the Mercenary Guild, we described the soul beast that the villagers had seen to them. They said that this soul beast was close to ten thousand years old and that only a Soul Master or higher could have a chance of defeating it."

“When I was young, I worked for a few months at the intermediate soul master academy in Xifeng City. Most kids your age are only level 10 or 12, and they are no match for a ten-thousand-year soul beast.”

“Old village chief, how about we make a bet? Here are five hundred gold soul coins. Let me handle the soul beast that attacked the village.”

“If the problem isn’t solved, these 500 gold soul coins are yours. You can use them to post missions at the Mercenary Guild, which will definitely attract Soul Masters with higher Soul Power,” Ning Xingchen said.

The bag, containing 500 gold soul coins, was heavy, and the middle-aged man next to him glanced at it with his eyes shining.

Even if all three villages combined, they couldn't raise that many gold soul coins in five or ten years.

In the Douluo Continent, one gold soul coin is enough to support an average family of three for three months.

However, for impoverished mountain families burdened with heavy taxes, a single gold soul coin could be enough to cover six months' or even a year's expenses.

The three villages had already exhausted all their resources to raise enough gold soul coins to summon a soul master.

The old village chief looked at the bag of gold soul coins, and it would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted.

"Can you really deal with that soul beast?" The old village chief looked up at Ning Xingchen.

"Of course!"

"However, these gold soul coins are just a deposit with you. You must return them to me after I deal with this soul beast. As for your gold soul coins, I can help you get them back from the Mercenary Guild."

"If anyone in your village dies because of me, I'll give you 100 gold soul coins as compensation for each death, how about that?"

call……

The middle-aged villagers nearby gasped for breath; this young man had given them far too much.

“Village Chief, we’ve managed to gather a hundred gold soul coins this time. Many families can’t even pay next month’s West Peak City tax. Even if we deduct twenty gold soul coins, we can still get eighty gold soul coins back. Otherwise, we would suffer the same fate if we couldn’t pay the tax.”

The old village chief looked fearful as he thought of the tax collectors in Xifeng City.

"Hey……"

The old village chief sighed and said, "Young man, I don't know why you want to do this, but I don't seem to have a reason to refuse you."

Taking the bag of gold soul coins from Ning Xingchen, he then said to the middle-aged man, "Erwa, go and tell those two Soul Masters that we are canceling this mission. We've troubled them to make the trip. Remember, be sure to be polite."

"Village chief, I understand!"