The Wind Shadow Wolf understood. Its form suddenly blurred, and two figures darted off in different directions. At the same time, A'Man roared and charged at the nearest lanky man, his bear paw sweeping through the air with a howl.
"Attack!"
Seeing this, the one-eyed man shouted without the slightest hesitation.
The battle erupted in an instant.
Xiao Qing didn't join the fight. He turned and ran—not to flee, but toward the Black Water Turtle by the pool.
The Black Water Turtle, sensing something was wrong, was about to retreat into its shell when a human child rushed up to it.
"Don't think you can get away!"
Xiao Qing took out a bottle of Rage Mushroom powder and dumped it all over the Black Water Turtle's head. With the Black Water Turtle joining the fight, the pressure on Xiao Feng and the others would ease a little!
At first, the Black Water Turtle didn't know what the powder Xiao Qing had poured on it was. Curious, it sniffed at it, and successfully inhaled the Rage Mushroom powder through its nose.
In the blink of an eye, the Black Water Turtle's eyes turned red. It stopped retreating into its shell, stretched out its head, and began wildly attacking the Soul Masters around it—including Xiao Qing, who was standing right beside it.
Fortunately, Xiao Qing reacted quickly and used A'Man's Soul Skill, "Rock Armor," successfully blocking the water column the Black Water Turtle shot at him.
"Rock Armor" increased Xiao Qing's defense by seventy percent, but reduced his speed by thirty percent.
To use "Rock Armor" normally, Xiao Qing had to rely on the speed boost from "Wind Shadow."
He turned to look at the battlefield. Xiao Feng and Phantom Shadow were tied up by three Soul Grandmasters, while A'Man was fighting the lanky Soul Elder alone and was holding his own for now.
But the one-eyed leader had already broken through the blockade and was charging straight at Xiao Qing.
"Kid, you can't get away!"
The one-eyed leader's third Soul Ring lit up. His right arm swelled to twice its size, and his skin took on a rocky gray hue.
This was his third Soul Skill, Rock Arm Heavy Strike. He had once shattered a Hundred-Year Soul Beast's skull with a single punch.
Xiao Qing didn't dodge. He used "Wind Shadow," making Phantom Shadow interfere with the one-eyed leader's movements and granting himself a five-minute speed boost.
With the remaining twenty percent increase, Xiao Qing could just barely hold his own against the one-eyed leader, but that wasn't what he wanted.
Xiao Qing controlled his movements, constantly leading the one-eyed leader toward the pool.
The instant Xiao Qing returned to the pool, its surface suddenly exploded.
A half-meter-wide water column shot into the sky, striking the one-eyed leader squarely in the chest. He let out a scream and flew backward, snapping two saplings before hitting the ground. His chest was visibly caved in.
This was the Black Water Turtle's Soul Skill, Water Cannon Impact. Earlier, Xiao Qing had feared it would use the move, so he had kept Xiao Feng and A'Man interrupting its charge-up.
The four mercenaries left standing froze, then turned in unison to look at the fallen one-eyed leader.
The one-eyed leader pushed himself up against a tree trunk and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. His aura immediately weakened.
Apart from defensive-type Soul Masters, ordinary Soul Masters had fragile bodies—especially after the Black Water Turtle had spent so long charging up its Water Cannon Impact.
"Hiss, kid, I underestimated you. I didn't think you'd actually get the Black Water Turtle to cooperate with you!"
The one-eyed leader wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and spoke to Xiao Qing in a tone of resignation.
Xiao Qing didn't answer. He continued facing off against the one-eyed leader. He'd taken a glance at the battle just now, and Xiao Feng and A'Man had the upper hand.
The Soul Masters had lost their rhythm after the one-eyed leader's distraction.
With the advantage now in their favor, Xiao Feng and its Phantom Shadow didn't stop. They pressed the attack, and A'Man charged as well.
The one-eyed leader knew that if the fight continued, he might lose one of his brothers here.
"Kid, we admit defeat! I'm willing to compensate you for your losses, as long as you let us go!"
So the one-eyed leader surrendered and showed weakness to Xiao Qing almost without hesitation.
Hearing that the one-eyed leader was offering compensation, Xiao Qing didn't let his guard down. He gripped his long saber and kept his eyes moving across the Soul Masters before him.
Seeing Xiao Qing warily watching him, the one-eyed leader chuckled and had a burly man take a wooden box from their pack.
"Kid, there's a two-hundred-year-old Mountain Ginseng in this box. That's enough to buy the lives of all five of us, right?"
As he spoke, the one-eyed leader opened the box to show Xiao Qing.
"Do you have my wanted notice? I want to see my picture."
Xiao Qing didn't answer the one-eyed leader right away. Instead, he awkwardly changed the subject to the wanted notice.
But the one-eyed leader had dealt with people for years. He naturally understood that since Xiao Qing hadn't rejected him outright, he was already willing to consider the offer.
"Third Brother, you've got the booklet of wanted targets, right?"
The one-eyed leader stared at Xiao Qing and shouted to the men behind him.
Just then, a burly man ran over with a booklet he'd dug out of their pack and handed it to the one-eyed leader.
"Here you go, boss."
The one-eyed leader took the booklet, flipped to the page with Xiao Qing's wanted notice, and waved it at him.
"Kid, here's what you wanted!"
"Put the box and booklet on the ground. I'll watch you retreat."
Xiao Qing knew he wasn't strong enough to keep all of them here. They were offering him a way out and had even brought out decent compensation.
Rather than keep fighting to the death, he might as well take the offer. After all, neither side had made an irreconcilable enemy of the other.
"Do as this young friend says. We're retreating!"
The one-eyed leader politely set the box and booklet down in front of him, then told his men to fall back.
The men behind the one-eyed leader had no objections. They knew that if the fight continued, the one-eyed leader might survive, but they couldn't say the same for themselves.
They didn't believe Xiao Qing's two Soul Beasts knew anything about showing restraint.
Once the one-eyed leader and his men had completely disappeared from Xiao Qing's sight, he let out a quiet sigh of relief and quickly had Xiao Feng control its Phantom Shadow to go retrieve the booklet and box.
But to avoid being tracked if they turned back, Xiao Qing didn't return to the tree hollow right away.
Instead, he rode Xiao Feng through the forest with its Phantom Shadow, circling around several times. Once he was sure no one was following, he opened the box and took out the Mountain Ginseng.
He tossed the box aside, then returned to the tree hollow with the ginseng and booklet.
Back at the tree hollow, Xiao Qing took the booklet from the Cloth Bag and opened it. Each page listed a bounty, and each page showed a different face.
The farther he flipped, the higher the bounties became and the more lavish the rewards.
Xiao Qing soon found himself. His bounty was a fifth of the way through the booklet, and the only reward was Gold Soul Coins.
The wanted notice showed a portrait of a six- or seven-year-old child whose features bore an astonishing resemblance to Xiao Qing's.
If Xiao Qing hadn't spent so long in Star Dou Forest fighting Soul Beasts alongside Xiao Feng, adding a few traces of killing intent to his brow and eyes,
the portrait on the wanted notice would have looked even more like him. Still, it showed that Matthew had gone to great lengths over him. There was no one in Clear Spring Village who could draw.
A line of tiny writing beneath the portrait read: "The survivors of Clear Spring Village have pooled their money to offer a bounty of one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. We only ask that Xiao Qing be brought back alive."
Xiao Qing didn't close the booklet. He needed to find out what the later bounties offered and how they compared to his own.
The farther Xiao Qing flipped, the more staggering the rewards became: Storage Soul Tools, Thousand-Year Soul Bones, rare treasures, high rank and rich rewards...
These things were worth far more than one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. Some of them couldn't be bought with Gold Soul Coins at all.
"Looking at it this way, my hundred-thousand-Gold-Soul-Coin bounty isn't all that valuable. I'm just weak right now, so they think I'm an easy target and that the money will be easy to claim."
One hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins could certainly attract some desperate outlaws, but Xiao Qing wasn't helpless prey, either. With Xiao Feng and A'Man by his side, he was confident he could handle even a four-ring Soul Master!
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