“Big Brother Shen, look! It’s a mercenary guild branch. Let’s sign up there!”

Xue’er pulled Shen towards the building quickly. There were many people entering and exiting the guild. It was a very lively place.

There was a very wide board filled with many pieces of paper on the left as they walked into a large hall. At the right side were counters staffed with people wearing identical clothing.

“Let’s register Big Brother Shen.” Xue’er and Shen lined up behind a counter. The inside of the hall was bustling. The majority of people were looking at the large board. Once in a while, someone would take a piece of paper and take it to a counter.

Soon, it was the couple’s turn.

“We would like to sign up to be mercenaries.” Xue’er said straight forwardly.

The employee seemed very familiar to this as he handed over two iron badges.

“Insert your spiritual power and divine sense into it. It will bind to your signature. This one is free but replacement costs spirit stones.”

Shen and Xue’er did as they were told. The employee then noted down the numbers that were generated on the badges.

“These numbers are your ID in the mercenary guild. We don’t ask your name here. Every mission you take will be recorded under your number. Now you may take a look at the mission board or submit your own mission here.”

Shen and Xue’er thanked the man and left to look at the missions.

The mission board was filled with all sorts of requests. The most common were requests to buy a certain monster and magical beast materials and cores. There were also escort missions and purchasing rare spirit herbs.

“Xue’er, what kind of mission should we take?”

Xue’er looked at the mission slips for a while. “Let’s go with a magical beast core request. We should be able to find one in the mountains!”

Xue’er grabbed a request that was for buying the core of a Nascent Soul or Soul Formation stage earth element beast.

Shen did not really know much about how most cultivators and beasts spiritual power being of a certain element. Long Tian had forgotten to mention this back in the forest.

“Earth element type beast?”

“Hmm, ah! I forgot Big Brother Shen doesn’t know about the elements.”

Xue’er proceeded to explain about the basic five elements as well as variations. It turned out that fire, water, earth, wood and metal were the basic affinities that most people were born with. There were also variations such as lightning element that Thunder Spear young master was able to use from birth.

“Ah, ok. So, we can hunt any earth element magical beast and obtain its core to complete the mission. What is the reward?”

“It says that the requester will pay 300 mid-grade spirit stones for a Nascent Soul beast core. It is probably cheaper than buying from a store. It doesn’t mention a price for the higher stage cores.”

“Ok, let’s go to a counter!”

Shen and Xue’er had set it so that they would operate as a group. They had also registered the mission under their group’s number. A length of time was given to complete the mission depending on the difficulty of the mission.

“This is a very odd and free system. No rankings or anything, anyone can take a mission. No one cares about how it is completed, only the result. What a cruel world.” Shen muttered as they walked out of the mercenary guild.

“Xue’er, let’s go to our cave mansion first. We’ll head into the mountains tomorrow.”

The next day.

Shen and Xue’er looked towards the mountains. They were currently taking a pleasant walk just outside the north city gate towards the mountain. The mission had a time period of six weeks for completion, therefore the couple was not in any hurry.

The people around gave the two odd looks. Everyone else was flying about. It looked odd for two people to be taking a slow walk outside the city.

“Well I guess we should head to the mountains for now. Let’s go Xue’er.”

The two flew up on their flying swords. Shen was now using a low-grade spirit tool rank flying sword. The one he used in the battle against the flying beast horde had become unusable due to the cracks all over.

The mountain foot from the north city gate was not far. It took a mere hour of flying to arrive.

“What a nice place.” Shen commented as they landed at the mountain foot. One could see a lush green forest going half way up mountain.

“Let’s walk inside, Xue’er. We might find some spirit herbs on the way.”

Just as they proceeded to walk inside, roars could be heard a distance away and were getting louder and approaching their direction.

Shortly after, two shadows flew out from within the trees. Shen stared at the two forms and realised that they were a man and a woman. They seemed to be escaping from something as they were in a hurry.

“Friend, run quickly! There’s a Soul Formation beast chasing us!” The man shouted as he passed by Shen and Xue’er.

Shen and Xue’er looked at each other. Soon a large panther clad in lightning appeared in their sight. “Oh? A variation magical beast.” Xue’er looked at the mid Soul Formation magical beast with interest.

The panther was adamant on chasing the escaping couple. It was much faster than the two humans who were only at the Nascent Soul stage.

At this time, Xue’er who was only watching spoke up.

“You there. Why are you chasing those two?” Xue’er released her aura of the Gold Dragon at the same time. All beasts within the ten-mile radius trembled no matter what cultivation they achieved.

The panther froze in its tracks. The man and woman also stopped and looked on with vigilance after finding that Xue’er was possibly more powerful than the panther.

“They took a thunder fruit that I was waiting for to ripen! I waited over four years since I found the tree!” The panther was inwardly scared but it still shouted out since it was rather angry over the theft.

“Wait! The tree was in the forest! Not like it had your name on it. The better hunter gets the prey at the end, right?!” The man shouted out. They were close to escaping, the panther would not chase them all the way to the city after all.

Shen chuckled. There was really no right or wrong here.

Xue’er looked troubled. She was a half magical beast and had been around magical beasts all her life. Therefore, she would rather side with the panther. However, the duo also not completely in the wrong.

“Why do you want the thunder fruit tree?” Xue’er asked towards the man.

“That…” The man hesitated for a bit.

“It’s for my sister-in-law, my brother’s wife. She’s ill and we need to buy spirit pills to treat her. So, we took this high paying mission from the guild. We waited over three months for the panther to let its guard down too.”

The woman answered this time.

“Hmm, so you just need the spirit stones to pay for the spirit pills correct?”

“Ah…Yes…”

“Big Brother Shen…”

“Xue’er, you’re far too kind.” Shen looked at Xue’er with an admiring gaze. He naturally understood what Xue’er meant.

“How many spirit stones do you need?” Shen asked the couple.

“Huh?” The man let out a stupid voice as he did not know what Shen was trying to do.

“We’ll give you the spirit stones, give the thunder fruit tree back to him.” Shen pointed at the panther.

The man and woman looked at each other in shock for quite a while. After a few minutes, they both let out a sigh. The most powerful person on the scene, Xue’er, seemed to be siding with the panther and they won’t be able to escape from two Soul Formation stage cultivator and magical beast.