The Village Chief Su Muzhe, Fearless of the Dark?!

"I am the wife of Dragon Inlay City's city lord!"

"Back then, I had only just given birth and was recovering in the manor."

"That old hag who deserves to be hacked to pieces—just to find a mouthful of milk for some bastard like you from who knows where, she dragged me out of the city lord's manor by force!"

The woman's voice was as shrill as fingernails scraping glass, making Hu Liena's heart pound with fright.

"She skinned a cow and sewed me inside it alive!"

"She made me eat grass on the ground like a beast for all these years, and I still had to feed you milk every day!"

"Thankfully, Heaven opened its eyes today and let me out!"

After she finished speaking, the woman's eyes locked onto Hu Liena standing nearby, then shifted to Qin Mu, whose face was blank with shock.

"You two little things let me out, so all of you can go die!"

"I'll peel off your skin and drink your blood dry to vent the hatred in my heart!"

With that, the woman sprang up from the ground like a mad she-wolf, spreading both hands as she lunged at Qin Mu and Hu Liena.

Although the woman had been tormented for years, she had clearly possessed some cultivation to begin with. Her pounce was extremely fast, carrying a vicious, desperate ferocity.

Hu Liena was so frightened she shut her eyes. She had no soul power right now and could not dodge at all.

Qin Mu also stood frozen in place, as if he still had not recovered from the shock of "the cow he had raised for years turning into a person."

Just as the woman was about to attack Qin Mu—

Whoosh!

A faint sound of something cutting through the air suddenly came from the village behind them.

Immediately after, a speck of cold light flashed through midair and vanished.

Pfft!

It was a gleaming bone needle. It shot straight into the back of the woman's head, then pierced out through the center of her brow, bringing with it a spray of tragic blood.

The woman's forward-pouncing motion instantly froze.

Her eyes bulged wide, the light in them rapidly scattering. Then her whole body was like a chunk of rotten wood as it slammed heavily onto the grass at Qin Mu's feet, never moving again.

The wind by the river blew past, sweeping up a thick stench of blood.

Tap, tap.

From the dirt road not far away came a familiar sound of footsteps.

Granny Si could be seen carrying a bamboo basket in her hand, limping over one step at a time.

The old woman did not even glance at the corpse on the ground. She only walked to Qin Mu's side, reached out, and patted the dust off his shoulder.

"Mu'er, Granny told you long ago."

"Women from outside are the best at deceiving people."

"Look. You let her out, and instead she wanted to kill you."

"All right, stop looking. It's just a stinking bag of flesh."

"Come back to the village with Granny. We still need to gather herbs today."

Looking at the gradually cooling corpse on the ground, a trace of confusion also flashed through Qin Mu's clear eyes.

However, he had grown up in this village since he was little and was used to the elders' swift, decisive ways, so he did not say anything more.

"Let's go, big sister."

Qin Mu turned his head and called out to Hu Liena, then obediently followed behind Granny Si and walked toward the village.

Hu Liena swallowed and quickly hurried after them.

She was truly afraid now.

Even a cow that ate grass every day could turn into a person. Was there anything normal in this village?

By the time they returned to the village, the sun had fully risen.

Village Chief was lying on a bamboo bed, basking in the sun.

Cripple was hammering away nearby, though no one knew what carpentry he was working on.

Everything looked just like an ordinary little countryside village, as if the bloody scene by the river had never happened at all.

Qin Mu put down the rope in his hand, ran to an open space in the courtyard, and began practicing punches and kicks with little grunts and shouts.

Hu Liena sat on a small wooden stool nearby, and her gaze was unconsciously drawn toward Qin Mu.

The little fellow looked only around ten years old, yet every punch he threw produced a deep, muffled sound of splitting air.

When the wind from his fists swept past, even the dust on the ground was stirred up and sent flying.

Hu Liena watched in a slight daze.

She asked herself whether she had seen countless geniuses in Spirit Hall, but there was definitely not a single person who, at ten years old and without relying on a martial soul, could unleash this kind of might with only the physical body.

When Qin Mu finished a set of punches and stopped to wipe his sweat, Hu Liena finally could not help but speak.

"Little brother, you're way too strong."

"That punch just now—I bet it could smash a rock weighing hundreds of pounds."

Hearing the pretty big sister's praise, Qin Mu proudly lifted his chin.

He patted his little chest and began boasting with utter confidence.

"Of course!"

"Village Chief Grandpa said I'm a one-in-ten-thousand Tyrant Body!"

"There are all kinds of physiques under heaven, but only my Tyrant Body is the strongest!"

"As long as I cultivate my Spirit Fetus properly, no matter what big bug I run into in the future, I'll flatten it with one punch!"

Qin Mu said this with perfect righteousness, his little face full of pride.

Hu Liena was left listening in a daze.

Although she did not understand exactly what level of physique the Tyrant Body was, seeing Qin Mu's sworn certainty, she could not help believing it deep down.

At the same time, outside the Sky Screen.

After hearing Qin Mu personally confirm that he was a "Tyrant Body," the soul masters across the entire Douluo Continent erupted once again.

On the training grounds of Shrek Academy.

The quill in Yu Xiaogang's hand flew across his little notebook as he kept muttering under his breath.

"Tyrant Body... it really is the Tyrant Body!"

"One in ten thousand, the strongest physique!"

"So in this higher-dimensional world, they don't look at martial souls, but physiques!"

Beside him, Tang San's eyes were burning as well, and he began calculating inwardly.

If he could figure out the cultivation method for this Tyrant Body and combine it with the Mysterious Heaven Skill of their Tang Sect, wouldn't that make him invincible under heaven?

And it was not just them. Ning Fengzhi of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and Yu Yuanzhen of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect were also watching with their eyes shining.

Who wouldn't want a few more Tyrant Body geniuses in their sect, the kind who could smash a boulder with one punch?

Great Ruins, Crippled Old Village.

Hu Liena casually handed Qin Mu a bowl of clear water and watched him gulp it down before finally testing the question she had been holding back all this time.

"Little brother, your Village Chief Grandpa really knows a lot."

Hu Liena looked at the moss-covered stone statues at the village entrance, then at the bright sunlight outside.

"Right, last night really scared me to death."

"Why does the sky outside this village turn dark so quickly?"

"And... what exactly is in that darkness? Why would even such a powerful monster be eaten by the darkness?"

As soon as Hu Liena threw out these questions, the people of Douluo outside the light screen instantly fell silent.

Great Emperor Xue Ye in Heaven Dou Imperial City and Bibi Dong in Spirit Hall all held their breath at the same time and pricked up their ears.

This was the most terrifying secret of the Great Ruins!

So many soul masters had died earlier, and all of them had fallen when darkness arrived.

Now that someone had finally asked the real question, who wouldn't want to know the truth behind it?

In the image on the Sky Screen, Qin Mu set down the water bowl and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

He followed Hu Liena's gaze toward the stone statues at the village entrance, and his little face, which had still been grinning moments ago, rarely gained a bit of seriousness.

"Big sister, you asked the right person."

Qin Mu leaned a little closer and lowered his voice, as if sharing some enormous secret.

"Blind Man Grandpa and Village Chief Grandpa told me stories before about nightfall in the Great Ruins."

"They said that once night comes, this Great Ruins is no longer the territory of us living people."

Hearing this, Hu Liena's heart tightened sharply, and she hurriedly pressed him.

"Then whose territory is it?"

Qin Mu took a deep breath, stretched out one soft white finger, pointed at the sky above, then at the distant black forest.

"Blind Man Grandpa said that as soon as the sun sets..."

"Some things in the Great Ruins come alive."

Qin Mu lowered his voice, a hint of mystery on his delicate little face.

"Grandpa Blind Man told me that once night falls, the pitch-black darkness outside is full of monsters and old ghosts that crawl up from underground."

"If any living person who's still breathing dares to go outside after dark, even the bits of their bones will be gnawed clean."

Listening to Qin Mu's deliberately teasing, offhand description, Hu Liena could not help shivering.

She thought back to the two ten-thousand-year beasts that had been swallowed by the darkness in an instant last night, and a layer of cold sweat rose uncontrollably across her back.

"Th-then how are we supposed to survive?"

Hu Liena swallowed and hurriedly pressed him.

"See? By relying on those."

Qin Mu reached out and pointed at the few old, broken stone statues covered in moss at the village entrance.

"Grandpa Village Chief said these stone people are treasures left behind a long, long time ago."

"As soon as it gets dark, they start glowing. Wherever their light reaches, the things in the darkness can't get in."

"If you accidentally lose your way outside, as long as you find one of these glowing stone statues before the sun sets and hide beside it without running around, you can keep your little life."

Qin Mu said all this very casually, as if he were teaching her something as simple as how to take shelter from the rain in the mountains.

Yet the moment these words were heard, the Douluo Continent outside the light screen instantly erupted.

Heaven Dou Imperial City, inside the main court hall.

Great Emperor Xue Ye shot up from his dragon throne. Because the movement was too forceful, the beads of his crown swayed and clattered loudly.

"Write it down! Hurry and write it down for Us!"

Great Emperor Xue Ye pointed at the historian beside him, his voice cracking slightly from excitement.

"Find the stone statues! Hide where it's glowing!"

"This is an iron law for surviving in the Great Ruins!"

Below, the assembled civil and military officials all showed looks of delight, letting out long breaths of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

During the previous Sky Screen broadcasts, the greatest source of fear had been that unknown darkness.

Once night fell, no matter how strong you were, everything went black before your eyes, and you would not even know how you died.

But now, this little cowherd's light, casual sentence had directly revealed the survival rule for nights in the Great Ruins!

On the training field of Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang held a quill and solemnly wrote the four words "stone statue refuge" in his small notebook, even drawing a heavy circle beside them.

"So that's it. So that's how it is."

Yu Xiaogang's face was flushed as he paced back and forth in excitement.

"All things generate and counteract each other. Since there is a night that devours everything, there must naturally be a method to restrain it."

"As long as we grasp this rule, if we're teleported to the Great Ruins in the future, then as long as we calculate the time during the day and find one of these stone statue camps in advance..."

"Not only will we not need to fear the night, we can even make use of the stone statues' light to cultivate and hunt for treasures there in peace!"

Tang San, standing to the side, also nodded to himself.

He felt that his teacher's analysis made a lot of sense. As long as they figured out the rules, that terrifying higher-dimensional world would actually become a treasure trove that could be explored again and again.

However, inside the Sky Screen, Qin Mu picked up his bowl of water and took a sip, then immediately added another sentence.

"But, well, that rule is mainly for us kids."

Qin Mu wiped his mouth, looked at the few old people in the village who were busy with their own tasks, and muttered quietly.

"From what I've seen, Grandpa Butcher and the others don't seem afraid of the darkness outside at all."

Hu Liena froze, not quite processing it. "Not afraid? What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly that."

Qin Mu tilted his head and thought back for a moment.

"One night, I got up in the middle of the night to use the latrine, and I happened to see Grandpa Butcher carrying two pig-slaughtering knives, bare-chested, standing right at the edge of the light circle by the village entrance."

"He was drinking wine while pointing at the darkness outside and cursing at the top of his lungs, saying that if the old things hiding inside had any guts, they should get out here and fight him one-on-one."

"Guess what happened?"

Qin Mu blinked and grinned.

"It was pitch-black outside, and those monsters that usually howled so fiercely were cursed out by Grandpa Butcher for half an hour, yet not one of them dared make a sound."

"And Grandpa Village Chief too. I heard from Grandpa Blind Man that if Village Chief really gets angry, even the night of the Great Ruins has to make way for him."

The moment Qin Mu said this...

Hu Liena's breathing instantly stopped.

Outside the light screen, Yu Xiaogang and the others, who had just been smug about finding a survival rule, also had the smiles on their faces freeze instantly.

Only the weak feared the dark night.

Yet these old cripples of Crippled Old Village could actually point at that darkness that devoured ten-thousand-year soul beasts and curse at it in the street, even forcing the monsters inside not to make a sound?

Just what level of immortals were these people?!

Hu Liena only felt her mouth go dry. She glanced at Mute, who was forging iron in the distance, then looked at Village Chief, who was lying on a bamboo bed basking in the sun.

She really could not hold back the curiosity in her heart, so she leaned closer to Qin Mu and asked in a low voice.

"Little brother, then in your village... who exactly is the strongest?"

When Qin Mu heard this question, he scratched his hair in some distress.

"Well, I really don't know."

Qin Mu counted on his fingers, somewhat troubled.

"Grandpa Butcher says his saber technique is number one under heaven, and Grandpa Blind Man says his eyesight is rarely matched in the world."

"Grandpa Deaf says his paintings can connect with the gods, and Grandpa Mute says the iron he forges can even hammer through the heavens."

"Every one of them says they're the strongest. Whenever they meet, they like to argue, so I can't tell who's actually a little stronger."

Hu Liena felt her scalp go numb as she listened.

They were all number one under heaven?

Among this group of monsters, they actually could not even make a ranking?

Just as Hu Liena was so shocked that she did not know what to say, Qin Mu suddenly lowered his hand.

As if he had thought of something fun, his eyes instantly lit up.