The three men all looked to be over forty years old. The one who spoke was a slightly fat, bald middle-aged man with a beer belly. His face was covered in acne scars, and his skin had a dark yellow complexion.
The man on the right was tall and thin with a gaunt face. His mouth was crooked, his shoulders swayed, and a large cigar as thick as a cucumber was stuck in the corner of his mouth.
The middle-aged man on the left had the best appearance of the three and was also the tallest. It was just a pity that one of his eyes was blind, and he wore an eyepatch over his left eye.
A faint wave of soul power emanated from the three of them; it was obvious they were all soul masters.
Baldy, Crooked Mouth, One-Eye...
Ai Xi couldn't help but frown as she looked at the three men.
Suddenly, a cold glint flashed in her eyes, and she slowly uttered four words, "The Three Freaks of the Huang Family!"
In the wild forests, danger came not only from soul beasts but, more often, from other soul masters.
Hitting someone when they're down.
Killing people to steal their treasures.
These were all too common.
And the Three Freaks of the Huang Family were the notoriously infamous robber soul masters of this area.
The Three Freaks of the Huang Family were not blood brothers, they just shared the same surname. They often roamed the outskirts of the forest, making a living by robbing other soul masters.
Sometimes, even if a soul master team was willing to pay to avoid disaster, the Three Freaks of the Huang Family would not let them go. The men would be killed directly, and as for the female soul masters... their fate was often extremely tragic.
They would not provoke people from large powers, specializing in preying on commoner soul masters. In the surrounding spirit hunting markets, they were universally despised.
The Three Freaks of the Huang Family were powerful. The leader, called Huang Da, the bald soul master, had even reached the cultivation of a Soul Ancestor.
The nearby soul master organizations had organized several roundups, but none had succeeded in capturing them. The last time the Three Freaks of the Huang Family had made a move was half a year ago. Everyone thought they had been beaten to death by someone.
"Yo ho, you actually know of us brothers," the bald middle-aged man said mockingly.
The one-eyed soul master took a step forward and shouted, "Hmph, in the wild forests, whichever team spots a soul beast first, it belongs to them. You people actually broke the rules and stole our soul beast!"
Hearing this, the team was stunned for a moment.
This Scale Armored Beast was their prey?
Their side had fought the Scale Armored Beast for a full thirty minutes. For such a long time, could the other party have been hiding in the shadows, just watching?
At this moment, the bald soul master spoke, "Take a look at that thousand-year-old Scale Armored Beast's chin. Are there three claw marks on it? Our brothers went to great lengths to catch it, but you ended up intercepting it. Now, what do you say we do about this?"
"Pay up! If you can't satisfy us brothers, don't even think about absorbing this soul ring!" the crooked-mouth soul master said arrogantly, a hint of triumph in his eyes.
"Big Sis Leader, what should we do?" Man Sandao asked in a low voice.
Gulas had already smashed the Scale Armored Beast's head open. How could any claw marks still be visible? In Man Sandao's opinion, the Three Freaks of the Huang Family were just here to make trouble!
According to his temper, he didn't care what three freaks or four freaks they were; he would just charge in with his greatsword and be done with it.
Their side had five people, including an auxiliary system soul master. Were they supposed to be afraid of the other side?
Ai Xi shook her head. She silently assessed her own soul power; less than half remained. The situation for the other members of the team was probably similar.
A direct confrontation would be unwise.
But fortunately, the other party only wanted money.
"How much do you want?" Ai Xi said in a deep voice.
"Hmph, hmph, in order to hunt this soul beast, our brothers have been in the forest for a full half a year."
As he spoke, Huang Da held up one finger. "One thousand Gold Soul Coins, not a single one less!"
Ai Xi looked at Huang Da quietly, her eyes incomparably grim.
Hunting a soul beast?
Hmph, more like you were being hunted and hid in the forest for half a year!
"We don't have one thousand Gold Soul Coins. Three hundred at most," Ai Xi said coldly.
Before the three could retort, Ai Xi summoned her ice bow and plucked the string. "If you think that's too little, then there's no need to talk. Let's just fight."
"Brother Tang Er, you've been put in a tough spot on this trip. Just use your support skills and then run. Gulas, Man Sandao, Yali, concentrate your strength and chop up Huang San for me first!" Ai Xi said coldly.
"Yes!" the team members said in a deep voice, then immediately fixed their gazes on the crooked-mouth soul master.
"B-Big Brother," the crooked-mouth soul master shivered, his voice trembling.
Huang Da stared intently at Ai Xi, his face gloomy.
His brothers had been in this business for many years, but this was the first time they had encountered such a ruthless woman. Did she not even care about her own life?
"Alright! Three hundred it is. Our brothers haven't been out of the mountains for a long time. We didn't know a heroine had arrived in the spirit hunting town," Huang Da sized up Ai Xi, a greedy glint flashing in his eyes.
"Man Sandao, give them the money," Ai Xi said coolly.
Man Sandao took out three small bags from his package. With a surge of soul power, he threw them directly at Huang San!
Whoosh!
The money bags shot out, creating a sound of breaking air!
Huang Da roared angrily. He circulated the soul power in his body, leaped up, and caught the money bags directly with his palm.
"Hmph, let's go!"
Huang Da weighed the bags in his hand, then led the other two and walked into the forest.
After the three figures had completely disappeared, Gulas let out a heavy sigh of relief. Then, he turned to Ai Xi and smiled, "Big Sis Leader is mighty! Even the notorious Three Freaks of the Huang Family couldn't get the upper hand."
An ordinary team, even if they had the strength to resist the Three Freaks of the Huang Family, would choose to back down out of fear of getting injured.
Three hundred Gold Soul Coins was already the smallest possible loss.
"When you meet a villain, you have to be even more ruthless than them. Being timid will only make the other party push their luck."
Ai Xi crossed her arms and said with a cold smile, "If not for our lack of soul power, we might have been able to eliminate a pest for the people this time. The next time we meet them, we'll focus all our strength on Huang San first. Watch me pierce him with an arrow."
"Hahaha, who doesn't know that your arrows never miss, Big Sis," Gulas laughed loudly.
"Hmph, three hundred Gold Soul Coins is also my allowance for three months. Fatty, I'm definitely making you treat me to a big meal when we get back. Hurry up and absorb the soul ring," Man Sandao said with a chiding smile.
Gulas scratched his butt and said, "Alright, alright. Don't just talk about treating you to a meal; I'll even sleep with you. I just don't know if Big Sis Leader will get jealous if she sees."
"Get lost, get lost, you damn gay!" Man Sandao waved his hand in disgust.
"Hahaha," everyone else burst into laughter.
Gulas delayed no longer. He walked to the side of the Scale Armored Beast's corpse, sat down cross-legged, and guided the soul ring to the top of his head.
The others scattered around to guard him.
It was very dangerous for a soul master to be absorbing a soul ring. If attacked, a light injury would be broken meridians and a regression in cultivation; a heavy one would be a rampage of soul power within the body, leading to death by bleeding from all seven orifices.
However, not long after Gulas began to absorb the soul ring, three lewd and sneaky figures emerged from the jungle again.
"Haha, Third Brother, you're still the smart one. Three against four, and there's a noob support on their side. It's been a long time since we brothers had some fun!"