As Qin Xiao finished speaking, Devis's face twisted, and he stammered.

"My lord, we are from a small place and really don't have anything worth mentioning. But if you need something, we do have some food and cloth that we can give you."

As the other person spoke, the fat on their face twitched, and their eyes cautiously glanced at Qin Xiao.

Qin Xiao wasn't angry. "If you don't have anything valuable, then you're in for a world of hurt. Believe me, nothing in this city can stop me."

After speaking, Ilya's spiritual energy surged, and a powerful aura spread out.

Devis looked at Ilya with a mixture of envy and fear, his eyes darting around.

"My lord, the town really doesn't have any valuable treasures. The only valuable thing is the essence offered as tribute."

Qin Xiao raised an eyebrow. Essence?

What the heck?

"Let me see it," Qin Xiao said casually.

Devis gave a wink to the servant beside him, who immediately walked outside.

Soon, the servant ran back quickly and carefully placed the box on the small table in front of him.

Devis stepped forward, opened the box, and revealed its contents.

These are three transparent crystals of different sizes, with irregular shapes, somewhat resembling candy beans.

Slovich's voice echoed in his mind, "Master, this is the crystallization of faith!"

Qin Xiao was somewhat surprised, "What is a faith crystal?"

"It is the product of a large amount of faith being purified and solidified with spiritual energy. If the master's faith spreads, I can also create it."

This crystallization of faith is like a high-efficiency battery for both the believers who spread the faith and those who hold this belief.

So this thing is the crystallization of the mother's faith?

Qin Xiao thought for a moment and then asked, "Where did you get this? What's its purpose?"

Devis's small eyes darted around as he spoke ingratiatingly.

"My lord, this is a treasure bestowed upon us as a sacrifice and offering to our mother. It can enhance our cultivation and increase our power!"

Church members usually come here once a year to collect it; this is something I've painstakingly saved up over the years.

Qin Xiao remained noncommittal. This fat man was definitely not telling the truth, but there was no rush.

Qin Xiao put the box away and spoke again, "Do you think this little bit is enough to buy your life?"

Devis was taken aback, not expecting Qin Xiao to suddenly ask such a question.

"My lord, it's...it's really all gone..."

"Well, it's your own fault for not being honest. It's not that I have a problem. Since you're not cooperating, I have no choice but to resort to violence."

Qin Xiao spoke softly, instructing Slovic to glean some information about the other party's thoughts.

Slovich chuckled softly, "Master, you're so naughty!"

Slipping into the other party's current immense psychological trauma, Slovic's response came quickly.

“Master, this fatso really lied to us. He has a lot of this stuff, and they can’t take it.”

Absorbing it like this is highly corrosive and toxic; it will either drive you insane and cause you to lose yourself, or it will deform you into a monster!

Qin Xiao smiled. "Lord City Lord, you haven't explained these things clearly! Now, this is your last chance, hand over everything!"

Slovic's voice wasn't hidden from anyone; it seemed to come from nowhere. Deves's expression remained calm against his dark skin.

"Sir... Zhenzhen... I gave it all to you, now the church won't be able to pay its taxes next year..."

"If you don't give it to me now, you won't have to worry about the church's revenue next year, because you definitely won't be the city lord then!"

Qin Xiao spoke slowly, and Ilya cooperated by holding a spear, her lightning-fast movements putting immense psychological pressure on him.

Seemingly sensing Qin Xiao's indifference and killing intent, Devis shuddered.

"Please wait a moment, sir. I'll give it to you, I'll give it to you, okay?"

Ten minutes later, a small box was dragged up.

This thing is certainly very precious, but for these cave dwellers, it's really nothing special.

The main problem is that they simply have no way of utilizing this kind of thing.

Qin Xiao counted; the small box was almost full of these faith crystals, roughly a hundred or so.

Finally, aside from some money, there was almost nothing of value left, so Qin Xiao let the exhausted fat man go.

He still has his bottom line; he said that if he wants money, he won't kill anyone.

There's no benefit in killing them, so I'm too lazy to do it.

Besides, if these crystallized beliefs can be put to good use, these places are excellent fields for harvesting crops, so we can't afford to ruin them.

Holding the map of nearby cities given to him, Qin Xiao rode Ilya away from the town in a swagger.

As for the pursuit, regardless of whether the cave dwellers have the ability to hunt him down, in such a large area, it would be difficult to find him even if they wanted to.

Just then, in the demon realm space, the Jianmu tree, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly had an idea.

Jianmu: "Master, I want that thing."

Following the other person's train of thought, Qin Xiao found something and his heart skipped a beat: a crystallization of faith?

"What do you need this for?" Qin Xiao asked curiously.

"It tastes good, and it's easily absorbed!"

Tsk tsk, Jianmu actively expresses its needs, it seems it's always about food, or it's about needing nutrients to cultivate things.

What a truly selfless person! No wonder it's such a good Jianmu tree for its owner!

Qin Xiao was delighted and threw the small box of faith crystals directly into the demon realm space of Jianmu.

Countless roots immediately enveloped the crystals and then rapidly absorbed them.

In just half an hour, two flower buds appeared in the tree canopy, and the information surfaced in Qin Xiao's mind.

Divine Essence Fruit?

Are you kidding me? This is what the purified faith crystal looks like?

Isn't this something produced by believers? It's not a creation of God, so how can it have divine essence?

I don't understand, is this thing really so deeply connected to faith and divinity?

Or do these beliefs influence or even directly shape the divinity of gods?

However, putting aside these issues that were still too far away for him, Qin Xiao immediately thought of those ten cult members from back then.

No wonder we were able to extract and refine the divine essence from those people; the root of the problem lies here.

So those orcs all found a way to use the crystals of faith?

Judging from their physical and mental condition, it doesn't seem like there's a big problem; they clearly still have self-awareness.

But aren't those guys followers of the Crimson Lord? Why can they use the Ash Speakers' crystallized faith?

Could it be that this is a currency between gods, seamlessly integrated?

Tsk, there are too many questions. The more I get involved, the less I understand. Maybe it's not that complicated. There are just some things I haven't figured out yet.

However, Qin Xiao was certain of one thing: he was about to become rich!