The Martial Soul Skeleton, in Douluo Continent's Bone-Changing Susanoo

Chapter 23 Three Years Later

"Our Speedrun Mercenary Group's advantage over other mercenary groups lies in finding the required soul beasts for our clients as quickly as possible and completing the mission in the shortest time. This advantage requires a large amount of ghost fire to increase the efficiency of finding soul beasts."

Teacher Mo smiled at Xia Liang and said, "Ah Liang, you are the core of our Speedy Mercenary Group and a selling point that attracts employers. In the future, I will give you an extra 10% of the rewards you get from completing missions."

"Isn't this inappropriate?" Xia Liang glanced at the two women beside him.

One of the women, with long black hair, smiled slightly. "Ah Liang, don't be so polite with Aunt Liu. Anyway, Lao Mo, my sister, and I are all family. It doesn't matter how much you take. The main thing is that we can't treat you unfairly."

"Yes, yes. Brother Liang, you've been working your butt off with us, you should at least get something out of it, right? It's settled then!" The oval-faced girl standing next to the long-haired woman said cheerfully.

She is Teacher Mo's sister-in-law, named Liu Shu, 28 years old, with the martial soul Lightning Rabbit, a level 31 agility-attack type battle soul master, and her soul ring configuration is one white and two yellow.

The long-haired woman who called herself Aunt Liu was Teacher Mo's wife. She was 35 years old, a level 35 auxiliary-type spirit master, with three yellow spirit rings and a five-ringed Thunder Spirit that could only be equipped with five spirit rings.

When Xia Liang was a freshman at Notting College, he had visited Teacher Mo's home and had already met Aunt Liu.

Liu Shu was also there at the time. This older single woman even praised Xia Liang for his good looks and cooking skills, saying that he would definitely be her ideal type when he grew up.

The members of the Suda Mercenary Group were all acquaintances, which is why Xia Liang dared to ask Teacher Mo for help in obtaining his first soul ring, and thus had the idea of ​​joining the mercenary group.

This first gathering was anything but awkward; instead, it felt like a party, and the four of them got along very well.

"Alright. Everyone has received their warrants. Now, let's begin our work as members of the Speedy Mercenary Group. I received my first employer's request yesterday."

As he spoke, Teacher Mo hailed a carriage at the city gate and introduced the city to everyone, saying, "The city we're going to later is Soto City, located within the Kingdom of Barak. The employer is a wealthy merchant, and the task is simply to help his son obtain the coveted first soul ring of the century. The reward is one thousand gold soul coins."

"Without a specific age limit for spirit rings, most spirit masters obtain their first spirit ring after a hundred years from spirit beasts with two to three hundred years of cultivation. This shouldn't be difficult for a team of three spirit masters and one spirit master like us. Our Speedy Mercenary Group is newly established, and we still need to work on our teamwork. This mission is a good opportunity to practice. Let's go, get in the car first."

Xia Liang, Aunt Liu, and the others got into the car and continued their conversation about the mission.

Much later.

With the basic details of the mission finalized, Teacher Mo, Aunt Liu, and Liu Shu began chatting about everyday matters. Xia Liang, having nothing else to do, lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked outside.

Make the most of your time and experience with the Speedy Mercenary Group over the past few years, learn all kinds of knowledge, and hone all kinds of combat skills.

Once you've survived to obtain your second spirit ring, gaining sufficient combat experience and a certain level of self-protection, then you can try to acquire rare herbs to enhance the strength and quality of your spirit.

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Three years later.

Within the territory of the Heavenly Dou Empire.

Outside the city of Silvis in the Kingdom of Silvis.

In a forest devoid of spirit beasts, the four members of the Speedy Mercenary Group were camping out.

Outside the tent, Xia Liang, wearing a floral apron, was standing in front of the stove preparing breakfast.

Working in a mercenary group, they eat the meat of soul beasts they hunt for their employers, and with regular training, their bodies are well-nourished, and their development speed is faster than that of their peers.

Although he is only eleven years old, Xia Liang is already 1.78 meters tall and looks more like an eighteen-year-old youth in the prime of his life.

However, being a living dead, he lacked the vitality of a young person due to the influence of his undead nature. Both his appearance and demeanor gave off a lifeless and unmotivated feeling.

Light the fire and heat the pan with oil.

The sizzling sound of boiling oil echoed throughout the forest.

Besides the mission of finding soul beasts, Xia Liang also worked part-time as a cook in the Speedy Mercenary Group, so he received the most reward among the four after helping his employer hunt soul beasts.

It has to be said that working in a mercenary group is indeed lucrative; in three years, he has already saved 15,000 gold soul coins.

Today is the mercenary group's day off; tomorrow they'll be on a new mission.

Teacher Mo has already gone to the nearby city of Sylvester to find a new employer, while Aunt Liu is still sleeping in the tent.

Last night, Liu Shu was on night watch. She was only awakened from her reverie when the sound of oil sizzling in the pan rang out. "It smells so good!"

Just as Xia Liang placed a piece of chicken breast coated in flour into the oil, he looked at the startled Liu Shu and teased, "Sister Shu, it's a good thing there are no spirit beasts in the forest, otherwise, if you had kept watch like this last night, we would have become spirit beasts' midnight snack sooner or later."

Liu Shu glared at Xia Liang angrily. "You still have the nerve to talk back. Who told you to grow so fast? You're making me nervous. Ah Liang, are you really a level 5 innate soul power? You cultivated to level 10 soul power in two years, and now in just three years, you've gone from level 13 to level 23. Ten levels in three years! Is this the cultivation speed that level 5 innate soul power should have?"

"At this rate, won't you reach level 33 soul power in a few years?"

After listening to Liu Shu's explanation, Xia Liang retorted seriously, "How can you calculate it like that? In these three years, I have only increased my soul power by seven levels. The other three levels of soul power were the benefits of absorbing the second soul ring from nine hundred years ago."

"All things considered, my soul power only increases by two levels a year. The older a soul master gets, the more difficult it becomes to cultivate. I'm already eleven years old. My cultivation speed is clearly not as fast as before."

At this point, Xia Liang shook his head helplessly, feigning disappointment, and said, "Moreover, Master Su Yuntao said that my Skeleton Martial Soul is a crippled Martial Soul. Do you understand? A crippled Martial Soul is one that is congenitally incomplete. I might end up like Master Yu Xiaogang from Notting Academy, unable to break through the level 30 bottleneck in my entire life. A three-ring Soul Master... perhaps I will never reach that level."

Seeing Xia Liang looking dejected while frying chicken, Liu Shu walked behind him and massaged his shoulders, comforting him in a gentle yet not seductive voice, "Look at what you're saying. You and I both have innate level 5 soul power, and I was able to break through the level 30 bottleneck before I turned 30. Your soul ring configuration is so much better than mine, you can definitely do it too, don't worry too much."

"Let's talk about your second soul skill. Why did you choose another amplification-type soul skill? Did you see how powerful the combined amplification of my first and second soul skills was and wanted to learn it too?"

"That's part of the reason. However, the main reason is that we just happened to come across a suitable soul beast."

Looking back on his experience of hunting spirit beasts and absorbing spirit rings a few days ago, Xia Liang's eyes revealed a thoughtful look.

"Ironback Demon Scorpion: This type of scorpion spirit beast abandons the scorpion's venomous attributes and focuses on cultivating its physique. Not only does it possess astonishing iron armor defense, but its pincers are also incredibly strong."

(End of this chapter)