Chapter 132: The Wooden Box

Yun Qing could not spare a moment to reapply her poison. Abandoning the boss she had been fighting, she channeled her internal energy into her feet and sprinted toward the nearest wild boar, swapping her Queen Mosquito Poison Claw for a flyswatter.

Pressing the sticky button and the internal energy button simultaneously, she delivered a heavy blow to the back of the mutant wild boar just as it neared the fence.

"Smack!"

Critical hit -200;
Combat experience +70;

The mutant boar wore no armor, and the strike landed directly on its flesh. Whether it was due to Yun Qing’s high level, her unique internal energy, or the superior quality of the spider silk used in the swatter, she luckily killed the boar instantly.

Upon death, the mutant boar’s carcass did not dissipate into ashes like the mosquitoes; instead, it stuck to her swatter. When Yun Qing released the sticky button, the body fell to the ground and vanished, leaving behind a pile of loot.

Yun Qing did not stop to look. She stomped hard, channeling her energy to make her body feel light, leaping two meters with every stride. After a few bounds, she caught up to another boar nearing the fence and dispatched it before its tusks could strike the barrier.

Critical hit -200;
Combat experience +70;

The Soul-Deprived Warrior did not take the opportunity to attack the fence but instead hopped along behind her, occasionally using a crushing overhead strike or a heavy axe swing, all of which Yun Qing dodged.

Obtained: Plum Blossom Pork *1;

"Yun Qing, go for it!" As the next boar’s tusks grazed the fence, causing the barrier's defense to drop from 10/10 to 9/10, Yun Qing heard Liu Liu’s excited voice in her mind.

A glance at the notification told her that Liu Liu was only excited because the dead boar had dropped high-quality meat—a heartless, gluttonous dog.

By the time the mutant boar landed its second hit on the fence, Yun Qing had already converted it into experience and loot, though the flyswatter’s durability dropped by one.

Critical hit -200;
Combat experience +70;

Yun Qing had no time to check these stats; her eyes were fixed on the remaining six mutant boars gnawing at the fence.

The mutant boars on one side of the villa were quickly cleared, but four remained on the other side. With the boss tailing her, she dared not take a shortcut across the farmland to reach them, fearing the boss would follow. She had to take the long way, sprinting along the fence to hunt them down.

By the time she killed the last boar, it had already breached the fence, nearly reaching the villa area.

After killing it, Yun Qing lured the giant boss away from the gap, only to be astonished to find that in just that short time, the first layer of the boss’s health bar had fully recovered, and the second layer was nearly half-full. Its regeneration speed was terrifying.

***

Swapping back to the Queen Mosquito Poison Claw, Yun Qing continued to circle the boss. Whenever its health bar dropped significantly, it would summon minions—mutant boars, mutant goats, or mutant wolves—ranging from level 35 to 38.

By the time Yun Qing finished off the summoned minions, the boss’s health bar would have recovered substantially. After two hours of maneuvering, the boss’s health was finally down to its last ten percent.

The villa’s perimeter fence was in ruins, and several large holes had appeared in the villa itself. Their battleground had expanded from the designated combat zone into the undeveloped foundation area, where the shockwaves of the boss’s attacks caused the wooden wall’s defense to slowly tick away.

Fortunately, she had protected the Soul-Driving Tree, and it remained unscathed.

Liu Liu was ecstatic, watching the boss with sparkling eyes, hoping it would summon more minions.

Excluding the gold and silver picked up, it had collected rib meat, plum blossom pork, pork belly, tenderloin, and lean meat. Each type had a different texture—some tender, some sinewy, some fatty.

Thinking of those diverse flavors, several of which it had never tasted, Liu Liu swallowed its saliva. If not for the dark, tearful aura radiating from Yun Qing, it would have shared its joy with her.

Yun Qing’s palms were cracked, blood staining the Queen Mosquito Poison Claw. She had consumed two bottles of Qi-Replenishing Pills, yet her meridians throbbed with pain. From overusing her internal energy, her footwork had become erratic, and her qinggong felt instinctive yet shaky. Her overused spiritual sense caused her head to pulse, and her own health bar had dropped below 100. In short, she was battered and in agony.

She had earned over half the experience needed for level 40. If the boss only regenerated health without summoning minions, she would have been happy to keep circling it to farm combat experience.

But the constant summoning of minions, which destroyed cabinets and compromised defenses, meant she had to kill it as quickly as possible.

Staring at the boss’s remaining 10% health, Yun Qing tightened her grip on the Queen Mosquito Poison Claw. This time, she would kill it.

She rolled to the left to dodge a descending giant axe and activated her stealth skill. The monster lost her scent and didn't know how to defend or attack. Having lost its target, it shifted its aggression toward the fragile wooden box ahead, turning and leaping toward the villa with its axe raised.

Yes, in the eyes of the giant, Yun Qing’s grand villa was nothing more than a wooden box.

Yun Qing had already snuck to the boss’s legs, thrusting the Queen Mosquito Poison Claw into its wound.

Heavy hit -80;
Combat experience +240;
Boss poisoned.
-30;
Combat experience +90;

The moment she landed the heavy hit, her stealth wore off.

Although Yun Qing was exposed and had dealt damage, the boss did not change its target. It raised its axe and brought it down on the roof of the "wooden box." Yun Qing continued to strike the boss’s wounded leg.

***

Heavy hit -100;
Combat experience +300;

A "-10" floated above the roof. Under the monster's axe, the durability of a wooden roof tile dropped from 10/10 to 0/10. The tile vanished, leaving a gaping hole in Yun Qing’s roof.

With the roof destroyed, the next target would surely be her cabinets!

Liu Liu had mentioned that items inside the villa could be repaired with energy or remade if destroyed. However, if more than ten cabinets were destroyed, the defense would be considered a failure. If the defense failed, the boss might disappear, or worse, continue to wreak havoc on the villa and its contents.

Failure meant missing the final reward, but protecting the Soul-Driving Tree was the bottom line. She could handle failure; fortunately, her valuables had already been moved from the cabinets.

Even if the defense failed, she would fight for every bit of experience she could get. Yun Qing attacked the monster’s calf with the fastest speed she could muster.

Heavy hit -100;
Combat experience +300;

The target remained unchanged. The Soul-Deprived Warrior continued to raise its axe, smashing into another roof tile.

Seeing that its target was not the cabinets, a glimmer of hope sparked in Yun Qing’s heart.

After fighting for over two hours, exhausted to the point of collapse, she truly didn't want to fail.

Whether the boss was obsessive-compulsive or not, it was systematically dismantling the roof, one axe strike at a time. Yun Qing attacked the boss’s wounds with all her might.

Watching the boss’s health bar dwindle further, hope for victory ignited in Yun Qing’s eyes. She was grateful now that she had built the villa so large and that there were so many roof tiles to spare.

Through the holes in the wooden walls, she could see that some cabinets inside had already been destroyed by the minions.