Chapter 21: The Copy

Yun Qing gazed solemnly at the ore in the storeroom, shrouded in tendrils of black mist. With ordinary villagers lacking inner strength tasked with transporting it, she feared the state of the protective array was anything but optimistic.

Though she had lived in this world for some time, she had never encountered anything wrapped in black aura. Earlier today, as she ran from outside into the village, she had brushed against air thick with black mist, yet felt no discomfort. She surmised that moving the ore posed little risk.

She possessed physical strength and could lift the ore herself. In truth, her system’s backpack allowed her to transport a great deal at once. If carrying a single piece of ore could help the village survive the night, Yun Qing was willing to reveal her system’s storage ability. After all, this world had storage bags—she had seen Ye Wenjing use one before, though hers was much smaller and couldn’t hold much weight.

Yet Yun Qing lacked the power to purify the ore; even if she moved it to the edge of the array, it would make little difference.

Guards directed villagers as they moved the ore, each person methodically lifting, pushing, or carrying the pieces to their designated spots.

Perhaps due to the density of the tainted black-iron ore, Yun Qing could only carry a chunk the size of a large bowl.

She followed the crowd, placing her ore at the Qian position in the protective array.

Looking around, she saw people anxiously and methodically transporting resources to all eight directions—Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui.

At each position stood several individuals whose rank was difficult to discern. They used spiritual power or inner strength to purify the ore. Yun Qing recognized most of them: members of the guards and hunting teams.

There were also people from the merchant caravan. It had been over a month since their last visit to Ye Family Village; their luck, it seemed, was not favorable.

After the martial artists’ intervention, the ore was no longer surrounded by black mist. Concentrating, Yun Qing saw the ore had transformed into “black-iron ore.”

She placed her piece near the postnatal martial artists—this was the control point of the array.

Within the array, numerous resources had been placed. These resources diminished at a visibly rapid rate, transforming into threads of spiritual energy to maintain the protective array, sustaining the translucent, radiant shield above Ye Family Village as it resisted the night.

Yet the speed at which the martial artists purified resources lagged behind the array’s consumption.

“When will the night’s assault end?”

“If this continues, the array may not last much longer.”

Those purifying resources rotated in and out, but sadly, few in the village could cleanse tainted materials. Exhaustion was etched on every face, including the two merchants.

As time passed, the control center of the array had run out of purified resources; now, only freshly purified materials were fed directly into the array.

Everyone’s purification efforts could not keep pace with the array’s demands; its collapse was imminent.

This situation weighed heavily on Yun Qing’s mind. She scrutinized her system’s functions, seeking a way to help Ye Family Village.

Aunt Liu Ye had just finished purifying a medicinal herb when she spat blood and collapsed, unconscious.

Ye Wenjing hurried to take up her purification duties, but she herself was nearly spent. She said anxiously, “Father, I really can’t purify any more. At this point, should we just put the resources directly into the array?”

Other martial artists echoed her suggestion. The elderly village chief of Ye Family, his temples streaked with gray, sighed, “Everyone, put the resources directly into the array. Each direction should have only five people remaining; the others, return to your homes.”

“Yes!” Following the chief’s instructions, the villagers acted accordingly, Yun Qing among them, sent back to her quarters.

The chief nodded to Ye Wei, saying, “Thank you for your hard work, Captain.”

Ye Wei gripped his spear tightly, his gaze grave. He signaled his team; some patrolled the village, others worked in pairs to secure the array’s control points against disturbances.

“Resources laced with toxic energy contain highly unstable power. Once introduced into the array, it’s as if cracks are opened, letting the night’s poisonous mists seep into the village.”

“Weaker folks likely won’t withstand it—they’ll be poisoned, perhaps turned into soul corpses.”

“Still, it’s better than letting the array fail outright and the entire village be devoured by the night.”

...

On her way back, Yun Qing overheard villagers’ conversations explaining the consequences of feeding tainted resources directly into the array.

She guessed the guards’ task would be to swiftly identify and eliminate villagers who became soul corpses, even if those victims were once friends or family.

Though the villagers did not speak of what would come next, Yun Qing understood.

Now, as tainted resources entered the array, she looked up and saw black threads forming on the translucent shield overhead, like sinister veins.

Black mist seeped through these veins into the array. At this stage, the threads were thin, and if one didn’t look closely, the black aura entering the array was barely visible.

Yet as more polluted resources were fed in, the threads thickened, and the black mist entering the array grew larger—now easily seen.

Back in her room, Yun Qing peered through the window at the sky. In the darkness, the sky demons seemed to have noticed the change, slamming against the shield with renewed force, making it shudder repeatedly.

Yun Qing felt as if she were inside a giant heart, its surface crisscrossed with veins, pulsing again and again. Her life depended on this heart; should it stop beating, her own life would end.

The village was silent—no villagers stirred. Guards patrolled everywhere. From the occasional hoarse roars she heard, Yun Qing surmised the situation was dire.

The guards would have to deal with those turned into soul corpses quickly. If their numbers grew, they would become unmanageable, and even if Ye Family Village endured until the night’s end, the array might contain nothing but soul corpses.

As time wore on, the outlook grew ever bleaker.

Suddenly, something in her system’s backpack began to glow.

Yun Qing opened the pack. The source was a scroll she had won in a free lottery a month ago—a trial scroll.

Could it be used now? Yun Qing did not know what connection the scroll had to her circumstances, but worry was pointless. She might as well see if the scroll could make her a postnatal martial artist at once.

Yun Qing silently invoked, “Use trial scroll!”

A mechanical voice sounded: “Please select difficulty.”

The options were Simple, Normal, Adventurous, Hero, King, Hell. Yun Qing, at level seventeen, replied without hesitation, “Simple!”

A playful voice teased, “I knew you’d pick the artificial idiot mode.”

Yun Qing retorted, “Isn’t simple supposed to be easy? Artificial idiot mode should be a breeze.”

The voice answered, “Where you’re headed is dangerous. I won’t be going with you.”

Yun Qing: …