Seeing Ian Song hand over the immortal stones, Tyler Huang felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
The village chief took the Storage Ring and looked inside. Sure enough, there were more than seventy million immortal stones. He gave Ian an apologetic smile. "Ian, everyone will remember what you've done!"
Seeing Ethan Changsun’s fake display, Ian secretly sneered. When it came to forcing him to hand over the immortal stones, Ethan had definitely helped push things along. Ian’s reputation in the village was too high, threatening Ethan’s position as chief. He’d never had a chance to target Ian before, but now, faced with an opportunity, he didn’t hesitate.
"We're still short more than twenty million immortal stones. I hope everyone can chip in!"
Toren Tong spoke up, "On behalf of our hunting squad, we'll contribute one and a half million immortal stones!"
That one and a half million immortal stones was basically all their savings.
Then he looked at Tyler Huang. "Tyler, you were yelling the loudest just now. How many immortal stones are you putting in?"
"Our hunting squad will donate five hundred thousand!"
"Five hundred thousand? You’re not ashamed to offer that?" Toren sneered.
Tyler retorted confidently, "Hmph! We didn’t follow Ian to hunt immortal beasts at the start. Five hundred thousand immortal stones is already our limit!"
"You—"
Toren was so angry he was speechless.
"Brother Toren, calm down!" Ian advised.
Soon, the hundred million immortal stones were gathered. Ethan Changsun returned to the village gate.
"Chiefs, the hundred million immortal stones are ready. I hope you’ll keep your word!"
Hearing this, the three chiefs’ eyes lit up, greed flashing across their faces.
Aoki Wolf immediately burst out laughing. "Haha, don’t worry! Silver Wolf Stronghold still has some credibility. Hurry up and hand over the immortal stones!"
Ethan hurriedly tossed out the Storage Ring.
Aoki Wolf grabbed the ring and looked inside. His eyes narrowed into slits. With a casual motion, he pocketed the ring and said darkly, "You gathered a hundred million immortal stones so quickly. Looks like Giantwild Village is pretty rich, huh?"
"What do you mean by that, Chief?"
Ethan Changsun's face changed dramatically, a bad premonition rising in his heart.
Aoki Wolf's face twisted with cruelty: "What do I mean? Produce another fifty million immortal stones, and I'll let you go. Otherwise, not even chickens and dogs will be spared!"
"Chief, you're breaking your word!"
Ethan Changsun's face was ugly as he spoke, feeling even more regret—if he'd known, he would have listened to Ian Song.
Aoki Wolf laughed scornfully: "Haha! We're mountain bandits, and you expect us to honor our word? What use are our knives, then? But don't worry, as long as you produce another fifty million immortal stones, this time we'll really let you go!"
"You won't trick me again, will you, Chief?" Ethan asked.
"Relax, I always keep my word. I won't trick you!" Aoki Wolf replied, smiling.
"Fine, I'll go back and try to gather more!"
Ethan Changsun returned to the square, looking utterly helpless.
"Chief, you don't really believe Aoki Wolf's nonsense, do you?"
Toren Tong asked, clearly annoyed.
Ethan Changsun said with a guilty face, "What choice do we have? People under eaves must bow. Everyone, let's try to gather another fifty million immortal stones—maybe then they'll let us go!"
This time, all the villagers exploded in anger.
Earlier, Ian Song contributed most of the hundred million immortal stones, and the rest came from the hunting squads. Now, with the burden on the villagers themselves, everyone was extremely dissatisfied—some even shouted that they should fight back.
Seeing this, Ian Song silently shook his head: "Human nature is ugly!"
He'd known all along that Silver Wolf Stronghold wouldn't just let things go, so he'd considered saving these people. But they didn't appreciate it—instead, they thought he was selfish for not wanting to hand over his immortal stones.
Even now, he still had the ability to turn the tide, but he didn't want to help them anymore—because they were just a pack of ingrates. If he helped them now, they'd probably betray him again next time their interests were threatened.
After a noisy uproar.
In the end, they managed to scrape together just over ten million immortal stones—far short of fifty million.
Ethan Changsun had no choice but to go to the village gate: "Chiefs, we've managed to gather just over ten million immortal stones. We really can't come up with any more—please spare us!"
"Hand it over!"
Aoki Wolf reached out his hand.
Ethan Changsun hurriedly handed over another Storage Ring and said gratefully, "Thank you, Chief!"
Aoki Wolf took the Storage Ring and grinned viciously: "I never promised to spare you. You didn't manage to gather fifty million immortal stones."
Hearing this, Ethan Changsun's face turned deathly pale.
"Chief, please have mercy on Giantwild Village!"
"Heh heh!"
Aoki Wolf sneered, "Ethan Changsun, right? This time it's not me breaking my word—it's you who failed to gather fifty million immortal stones. Here's my proposal: hand over ten thousand people as slaves, and I'll spare your village!"
"What...?"
Ethan hesitated, knowing that the fate of slaves was worse than death—lifelong mining or being reduced to playthings for others.
Just then, a figure suddenly slipped through the formation and knelt before Aoki Wolf and the others: "Chief, I'm Tyler Huang, and I'm willing to lead my men to join you. Please accept me!"
"Why should I accept you?"
Aoki Wolf said playfully.
The others were stunned—no one expected Tyler Huang to defect at this moment.
"I know a secret!" Tyler Huang said obsequiously.
"Oh? Let's hear it. If your secret is valuable, I'll accept you!"
"Thank you, Chief!" Tyler Huang kowtowed quickly.
"Enough—out with it!" Aoki Wolf urged impatiently.
Tyler Huang continued, "Hasn't it ever occurred to you how our ordinary village managed to hunt so many immortal beasts?"
"Hmm!" Aoki Wolf's eyes lit up. "Go on!"
Tyler Huang continued, "A few months ago, an immortal named Ian Song came to our village. He's a formation master, and with his help, we were able to hunt so many immortal beasts. If you capture him and make him help you, you'll be able to hunt millions of immortal beasts too!"
Hearing this, Aoki Wolf was tempted and shouted, "Who's Ian Song? Come out!"
"Despicable rat!"
Seeing Tyler Huang betray Ian Song, Toren Tong and the others wished they could tear him apart.
"Don't be angry, Toren. Watch me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ian Song flashed through the formation and appeared outside, his face calm. "I'm Ian Song," he said.
"I hear you're a formation expert?" Aoki Wolf asked.
"That's right," Ian Song nodded.
"Join Silver Wolf Stronghold, or die!"
"I'll join, but on one condition!" Ian Song looked at Tyler Huang. "Kill him, and I'll join you!"
Tyler Huang, who'd been feeling pleased with himself, suddenly looked miserable at Ian Song's words.