Rule of the Deceitful Realm: Toil begets reward. This is civilization!

In other words, labor must be rewarded.

’If the Giant Village Chief can’t pay the reward, what will happen?’

The Giant Village Chief sat there, seeming to freeze up for a moment. A sinister green light flashed across his face, and his already bulging muscles swelled another size.

He looked like a savage Fierce Beast forced into human clothes. Despite his feigned friendliness, he couldn’t hide his ferocious nature!

Aunt Zhou jumped in fright and couldn’t help but grip Song Ciwan’s hand tightly.

Song Ciwan squeezed her hand back. Seeing the Giant Village Chief’s reaction, she felt a flicker of delight.

The Giant Village Chief’s bulging eyes stared intently at Song Ciwan. He asked in a booming voice, "You’re looking for someone? You don’t want to trade for food? Have you thought this through? Aren’t you afraid of starving?"

Song Ciwan said, "My uncle is my dearest relative. How can a moment’s craving compare to finding him? If I don’t eat, I’ll just be a little hungry, that’s all."

The Giant Village Chief lifted his gnarled, muscular hands from his sides and placed them on the square table. His voice turned cold. "If you don’t eat, you’ll starve to death. Even so, you still don’t want food? You want to find this Yufu Village?"

Song Ciwan said, "You keep questioning me, Village Chief, but you refuse to tell me the way to Yufu Village. Could it be that the Village Chief is reluctant to give out the reward? Third time’s the limit, Village Chief. Since that’s the case..."

Before Song Ciwan could finish her sentence, another green light flashed across the Giant Village Chief’s face.

And at that very moment, Song Ciwan clearly sensed the Giant Village Chief’s aura weaken!

’Why?’

’Was it because of her words, "Third time’s the limit"? Or because Song Ciwan had accused him of being "reluctant to give out the reward"?’

At the same time, a strand of formless, yet seemingly tangible, green qi separated from the Giant Village Chief’s body and drifted toward Song Ciwan!

Strangely, this strand of qi wasn’t being collected by the Heaven and Earth Scale. It was more as if Song Ciwan was siphoning it directly from the Giant Village Chief. But Song Ciwan didn’t originally have such an ability—

In a flash, the rule she’d received earlier flashed through her mind once more: Qi Eater Divine Being!

She understood the rules of this Deceitful Realm. ’Eating meat is the worst option, a form of slow suicide. Eating plants is neutral, perhaps enough to survive. But eating nothing at all... under the right circumstances, it might allow one to siphon the strange ’qi’ from the village’s inhabitants. Eating qi... that must be the key to breaking this stalemate!’

Seeing the strand of green qi about to land on Song Ciwan, the Giant Village Chief, who had been sitting at the table, could no longer contain himself.

He suddenly roared, his fury erupting. "To hell with your reward! You little thief, give me back my Essence Qi!"

As he shot up, the Giant Village Chief seemed to transform into a savage, giant beast. His speed was like lightning, on a completely different level from the green-clothed villagers before.

His power was even more terrifying. With just a pounce, before he even reached her, an icy blast of wind carrying a bone-deep chill swept down toward Song Ciwan’s head.

Normally, the spirits in Wealth Village couldn’t proactively attack a living being who hadn’t broken the rules, or they would be punished by the rules themselves.

However, the Giant Village Chief was simply too fast. The punishment had yet to arrive—and Song Ciwan couldn’t bet on it. She couldn’t be sure the punishment would definitely come, nor could she be sure it would arrive faster than the Giant Village Chief’s Attack.

In a flash, she was a hair’s breadth from death.

Song Ciwan shoved Aunt Zhou aside with one hand and raised the other high, her palm a blade.

The Basic Divine Communication Technique, Infinite Power, surged through her. Her True Qi, while not abundant, rushed through her meridians, massively amplifying her strength in that instant.

Her frame looked slender, the complete opposite of the tall, brawny Giant Village Chief. Yet, as her hand chopped down, it tore through the air with a sharp whistle.

Shoved away, Aunt Zhou stumbled back several steps.

BANG!

The next moment, Song Ciwan’s hand-blade collided with the Giant Village Chief’s beast-like body.

"ARGH!" the Giant Village Chief shrieked in rage.

When they collided, the one who cried out in pain was, surprisingly, the incredibly strong-looking Giant Village Chief.

Song Ciwan’s hand-blade was clutching a wisp of qi—the very same wisp of green qi that had floated off the Giant Village Chief!

Holding this wisp of qi was like wielding a Divine Artifact specifically designed to counter the Giant Village Chief. She already possessed the Infinite Power Divine Technique, and with the boost from this qi, her strength was amplified more than tenfold on top of her Divine Communication Technique’s base power.

Her Basic Divine Communication Technique already increased her strength tenfold. What did another tenfold on top of that even mean?

This wasn’t a simple case of ten plus ten, or even ten times ten.

Her power had increased to a terrifying degree. Song Ciwan had never tried such a brutal, flesh-on-flesh style of combat. After all, she cultivated Immortal Daoist Technique and had always prided herself on being a long-range fighter...

But here she was, using her fists and palm-blade to dominate a brute more than twice her height, beating him until he howled in pain, his head covered in lumps.

The Giant Village Chief tried to fight back again and again, but as the saying goes, brute force trumps all skill!

When power reaches a certain level, all combat techniques and Daoist Magic become nothing more than paper tigers.

The Giant Village Chief screamed. THUD! THUD! THUD!

The impact of fist on flesh created a series of sonic booms.

Above Wealth Village, the green sky itself seemed to tremble.

At the table, the few "fat pigs" that had been趴伏 on the ground, snorting and gobbling, had long since been caught up in the battle. Their food troughs were knocked over by the shockwaves of the fight between Song Ciwan and the Giant Village Chief, and the "fat pigs" squealed as they rolled to one side.

More "fat pigs" were startled, knocking over their troughs and scattering in all directions.

The villagers of Wealth Village also rose from their tables, their pale faces showing various expressions of shock.

They paid no mind to the fleeing "fat pigs," instead huddling together and forming a loose circle as they converged on the battle between Song Ciwan and the Giant Village Chief.

The sky trembled even more violently. The more Song Ciwan fought, the more energized she became. Her True Qi churned within her, and a novel sense of excitement rose up from deep inside her body.

As her fists met flesh, the Heaven and Earth Scale collected the Giant Village Chief’s emotions several times.

[Village-Level Mysterious Ghost Spirit. Hate, hate, hate. Two jin and six taels.]

[Village-Level Mysterious Ghost Spirit. Resentment, resentment, resentment. Two jin and seven taels.]

[Village-Level Mysterious Ghost Spirit. Grief, grief, grief. Two jin and eight taels.]

The Giant Village Chief had thick skin and was extremely durable. But even so, he was eventually beaten to a pulp. His arm was broken, his leg was shattered, his torso was ripped open, and his head was knocked askew.

But unlike an ordinary person, though the Giant Village Chief was gravely injured, his recovery speed was also incredibly fast.

One moment his arm was broken, the next it had regrown. One moment his head was askew, the next he was righting it himself...

As he righted his head, green clouds gathered in the sky. The Giant Village Chief roared, "I will not submit! I will not submit! The heavens are unjust! I will not submit!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

In the heavens above, the green clouds churned and roared, as if shot through with lightning.