The Terrifying Village Chief!

Just as Hu Liena was staring at the ancient book, a little lost in thought...

"Tap."

A long, slender bamboo staff suddenly reached over without warning and gently rested on the cover of the ancient book.

Hu Liena jumped in fright and hurriedly looked up.

An old man in a worn gray robe had appeared at her side at some unknown time.

The old man wore a strip of cloth over his face, covering his eyes. He was clearly a blind man who had lost sight in both eyes.

Yet the bamboo staff in his hand pointed unerringly at the pattern on the page.

"Girl, ancient books from the Great Ruins aren't something just any outsider can understand."

Though Blind Man could not see, and though a black strip of cloth covered his eyes tightly, the bamboo staff in his hand was remarkably steady.

With that bamboo staff pointing at her, Hu Liena's heart jolted, and she did not dare move at all.

"Senior, I... I was just looking casually."

Hu Liena explained somewhat haltingly, her hands unconsciously clenching the hem of her clothes.

Before these monsters who could casually insta-kill Title Douluos and sketch out four-life martial souls with a wave of the hand, she, the holy maiden of Spirit Hall, truly could not summon even the slightest bit of pride.

Blind Man did not make things difficult for her. He merely turned his head slightly, and through that black strip of cloth, seemed to glance at the empty space beside him.

At this moment, Pharmacist was slowly pushing over a wooden wheelchair.

Sitting in the wheelchair was none other than the limbless village chief.

"Blind Man, what did you make of it?"

The village chief leaned against the back of the wooden wheelchair, his clear gaze falling on Hu Liena as he asked gently.

Blind Man drew back his bamboo staff and lightly tapped it against the ground.

"Village Chief, the structure of the divine treasury in this girl's body is different from ours. Her path has gone completely crooked."

"But the bloodline in her body is rather interesting. It seems able to resonate with some kind of fox-type spirit body. It looks a bit like certain demon cultivators over in Yankang, yet it's also somewhat different."

Hearing Blind Man's evaluation, Hu Liena sat to the side and lowered her head awkwardly.

At this moment, however, outside the screen, the entire Douluo Continent had once again fallen into heated discussion because the village chief had previously mentioned the two words "Tyrant Body."

On the sports field of Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang was gripping the little notebook he used for taking notes, his eyes frighteningly bright.

"Tyrant Body... so it's called the Tyrant Body!"

Yu Xiaogang's breathing grew especially heavy. He looked up at the heavenly screen, muttering rapidly.

"No wonder that child called Qin Mu could possess such terrifying strength while still in the first major realm, the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury."

"Splitting open a thousand-zhang mountain with one claw—that's simply not something an ordinary soul master could do."

"This proves that he possesses a supreme physique far surpassing any genius on our Douluo Continent!"

Hearing Grandmaster's words, Tang San, at the side, also clenched his fists, a grave look flashing in his eyes.

"Teacher, then what does the Mortal Body they mentioned mean?"

Tang San could not help asking.

Yu Xiaogang waved his hand somewhat excitedly and began analyzing with certainty.

"Mortal Body, as the name implies, means the most ordinary body of a mortal."

"In that world, an ordinary person cultivating for an entire lifetime might not amount to even one ten-thousandth of these special physiques."

"That village chief said just now that Qin Mu was born with the Tyrant Body, which is why his Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury could be tempered more solidly than anyone else's."

"This is just like innate full soul power in our soul master world—no, it's even countless times rarer than innate full soul power!"

The more Yu Xiaogang spoke, the more certain he became that his deduction was correct, his eyes filled with fanaticism.

"Although the Great Ruins are dangerous, as long as we can figure out the cultivation method of this Tyrant Body, the strength of our Douluo Continent will absolutely multiply several times over!"

And it was not only Shrek Academy.

Inside Spirit Hall's Supreme Pontiff Palace, Bibi Dong had also seated herself back on her throne, her beautiful eyes filled with a complicated look.

"Tyrant Body..."

Bibi Dong's fingers lightly tapped her scepter as she could not help murmuring in a low voice:

"Since Nana has already entered that Crippled Old Village, as long as she can be clever enough to draw out the secret of this Tyrant Body from that boy called Qin Mu, even if it's only the barest hint, it will be enough for my Spirit Hall to benefit endlessly."

For a time, all the powerful figures across the entire Douluo Continent treated the two words "Tyrant Body" as though they were the existence of a god.

And at this moment, in the image on the heavenly screen.

The hot, pitch-black night of the Great Ruins was still roiling endlessly. From the boundless darkness outside the village, the low roars of enormous dark figures moving about could be heard faintly.

But under the protection of the pale golden barrier radiating from the four stone statues, Crippled Old Village was peaceful.

The routine after dinner seemed very calm.

Qin Mu had already put away the yellowed ancient book and was lying on his stomach beside a whetstone in the courtyard, watching Butcher wipe his butcher's knife with a rag.

"Grandpa Butcher, why do you wipe your knife every day?"

Qin Mu propped his cheeks in both hands and asked curiously.

Butcher, who had only his upper body left, chuckled. The broad butcher's knife in his hand spun through the air in a flourish.

"This knife is as good as my life. If I don't wipe it clean, how am I supposed to go down to the river tomorrow and chop up those blind beasts?"

As he spoke, Butcher cast a sidelong glance at Hu Liena, who had been standing obediently in the corner the whole time, and shouted in his rough voice.

"Hey, you outsider little girl with the head of blond hair. Tomorrow, follow Pharmacist to the back and gather herbs. Don't wander around the village. It annoys me just looking at you."

Hearing Butcher's order, how could Hu Liena dare say no? She quickly nodded again and again in agreement.

The night deepened.

The everyday plot of Crippled Old Village moved forward at a slow pace, feeling especially full of ordinary warmth.

In this strange and terrifying world, Hu Liena finally managed to make it through her first night.

Early the next morning.

Night in the Great Ruins receded extremely quickly. When the first ray of sunlight pierced the clouds and fell on the yellow dirt road of Crippled Old Village, the pale golden barrier over the four stone statues at the village entrance also faded away.

Hu Liena got up early.

Although she had not slept soundly the night before, the thought of facing Pharmacist today—the man who wore a malicious ghost mask and wanted to boil a Titled Douluo into soup—made her heart go weak.

However, when she reached the center of the village, she discovered that several people had gathered at the village entrance.

Qin Mu was tugging on the reins of his family's big blue ox, his face full of helplessness.

And that big blue ox, which was normally lazy, seemed especially abnormal today.

Not only had the blue ox washed its hide by the river until it gleamed with oil, even the two horns on its head had been sharpened until they shone.

At that moment, the blue ox was raising its voice and letting out cries like it was in heat toward a certain direction at the edge of the Great Ruins.

"Moo, moo—"

The sound rose and fell in a drawn-out, winding way, and there was an indescribably strange, lewd quality to it.

Seeing Hu Liena walk over, Qin Mu let go of the ox rope somewhat embarrassedly and scratched the back of his head.

"Big sister, you're up so early."

Qin Mu sighed, pointed at the blue ox beside him that had been sticking its rear up the whole time, and said rather dispiritedly.

"I don't know what's gotten into Niu Niu today. Before dawn, it kept insisting on running out of the village."

The big blue ox was lying on the ground now, and its huge bovine eyes were actually brimming with tears that pattered down.

It whimpered softly while constantly rubbing its big head against Qin Mu's trouser leg, looking especially pitiful.

Not only that, but the big blue ox deliberately stretched its neck forward and used one hoof to lightly scrape at a spot beneath its neck.

Qin Mu lowered his head in confusion and carefully looked in the direction the blue ox was scraping.

Beneath that glossy blue hide, there was actually a faint dark-red seam hidden there.

The end of the thread had come a little loose, revealing a small knot the size of a fingernail beneath the cover of the ox hair.

Just as Qin Mu was about to reach out and touch it, the big blue ox suddenly opened its mouth.

"Mu'er..."

A woman's voice, hoarse and filled with an indescribable grievance, came straight out of the ox's mouth.

"I fed you milk for several years, at least. Are you really going to stand by and watch me die? Help me pull this thread open. I feel awful."

The moment that voice sounded, Hu Liena, who was standing to the side, felt her scalp go numb, and her whole body retreated two steps out of her control.

A talking ox!

At the same time, outside the sky screen.

On the training field of Shrek Academy, the students who had still been a little sleepy a moment ago were all shocked wide awake by that sudden human voice.

"It talked! A hundred-thousand-year soul beast!"

Ma Hongjun was so excited that he slapped his thigh, the fat on his face trembling.

According to the ironclad rule of Douluo Continent, only soul beasts whose cultivation reached a hundred thousand years could shed the transverse bone and speak human words.

Yu Xiaogang's eyes also lit up. He hurriedly picked up the little notebook that had fallen to the ground and straightened his chest.

"Just as I expected."

Yu Xiaogang stroked his chin and began analyzing in an extremely certain tone.

"This Crippled Old Village has such deep foundations. Even the mount used as a wet nurse for a child is actually a hundred-thousand-year-level soul beast."

"Listen to what that cow is saying. It's playing the emotional card to bargain with its little master."

"When a soul beast reaches this level, its intelligence is already no different from a human's."

Hearing Grandmaster's analysis, Tang San also nodded in deep agreement.

"Teacher is right. This hundred-thousand-year green ox has clearly been locked down by some kind of seal, and now it's begging Qin Mu to help undo it."

Everyone felt Grandmaster's deduction was very reasonable, and they secretly envied him as well.

Even a random cart-pulling ox was a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. The resources of these Great Ruins were simply enough to make anyone jealous.

Within the sky screen.

When Qin Mu heard the green ox speak, he did not seem too surprised. He only frowned slightly.

He was a sensible child who knew gratitude. This ox really had fed him as he grew up, and it had always worked hard without complaint.

"Niu Niu, don't cry."

Qin Mu reached out and stroked the ox's nose a couple of times, comforting it.

"Granny is still sleeping in the house. Let's go to the riverside outside the village to eat some good grass first, and then I'll slowly help you look at the thread under your neck, all right?"

When the green ox heard this, a hint of urgency flashed through its tearful bovine eyes, but it still nodded meekly and slowly climbed up from the ground.

"Big sister, let's go. We're going outside to graze the ox."

Qin Mu turned his head and waved at Hu Liena, then led the ox rope and walked out of the village.

Hu Liena hesitated for a moment, glanced at the quiet thatched cottages in the village, then gritted her teeth and followed.

Staying beside a ten-year-old child was still better than facing those terrifying old cripples alone.

In the early morning Great Ruins, the air carried a damp, earthy, fishy smell.

Qin Mu led the ox all the way to the wide river outside the village.

The river water rolled and flowed, and the bank was covered in fresh grass half as tall as a person.

When the big green ox reached the riverside, it did not even glance at the grass.

It knelt directly in front of Qin Mu, its enormous body trembling slightly, its tears flowing even harder.

"Mu'er, I'm begging you, hurry and pull it open for me. It's too stuffy inside. I can't breathe..."

The woman's voice came from the ox's mouth again, carrying an almost desperate plea.

Qin Mu was ultimately a softhearted child. Seeing his family's big green ox in such a miserable state, he sighed and crouched down.

"All right, then bear with the pain."

Qin Mu stretched out two pale, tender fingers and pinched the dark-red thread beneath the ox's neck.

Hu Liena stood not far away, holding her breath now, her foxlike eyes fixed tightly on Qin Mu's hand.

She was also very curious what this hundred-thousand-year soul beast would look like after its seal was undone.

"Riiip—"

With a slight exertion of Qin Mu's fingers, that glossy green oxhide split open from the neck all the way down to below the belly, like a thick overcoat being unzipped.

In an instant, a thick stench of blood spread out at once.

Hu Liena covered her nose and subconsciously looked over.

But in the next second, her eyes immediately went round.

It was as if a huge chunk of ice had lodged in her throat, and she could not make even the slightest sound.

Inside that split-open oxhide, there was no true body of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast at all.

A pale human hand, covered in sticky bodily fluid and half-dried bloodstains, reached out from the split in the oxhide and grabbed the grass outside.

Immediately afterward, a woman with not a stitch on her body, her skin as pale as paper, also crawled out of that oxhide with great difficulty.

Although the woman was covered in filth and her hair was tangled into a clump of wild grass, one could still tell that her original features were extremely delicate. She was clearly a noblewoman who had lived in luxury.

Only, her expression at this moment appeared especially hideous because of long torment and hatred.

At the same time, outside the light screen.

Douluo Continent.

Yu Xiaogang, who had just been expounding on soul beast theory, froze on the spot.

The notebook in his hand fell to the ground again, and his mouth hung open wide enough to fit a fist.

"A person... It was actually a person?"

On the field of Shrek Academy, everyone was sucking in cold breaths.

Ma Hongjun was so frightened he plopped down onto the ground, the fat all over his body trembling.

"My God, what was inside that cowhide wasn't a soul beast—it was a living person!"

The act of sewing a person alive into a cowhide utterly shattered the psychological defenses of everyone in Douluo.

They never could have imagined that the truth behind a talking cow would be such a horrifying, inhuman scene.

In the scene on the sky screen.

Qin Mu stared at the woman crawling out of the cowhide, his clear, wide eyes filled with shock.

"You... you're not my Niu Niu..."

Qin Mu took a step back, his little face full of confusion.

The woman lay sprawled on the grass, gasping in great mouthfuls of fresh air. Then she suddenly raised her head and fixed Qin Mu with a venomous glare.

"Hahaha... Niu Niu?"

"You little bastard, open your damn eyes and look properly!"