Chapter 37: Picking Up Pebbles

In battle, it wasn’t only the soul corpses that perished. One martial artist, who had not rested for two consecutive days, was assaulted by the soul corpse’s sonic roar until his head spun and his reactions slowed, and was unfortunate enough to be slain when a soul corpse’s claw tore open his chest. Many other martial artists suffered varying degrees of injury, and regardless of the severity, without exception, all were afflicted by the poison carried by the soul corpses.

After the battle, the martial artists entered the village, sitting down where they were to heal, using their internal energy to expel the poison from their bodies. Those who remained unscathed, led by Ye Wei, gathered all the soul corpses and the fallen martial artists for cremation and burial. Whether soul corpse or deceased martial artist, they had all once been villagers of Ye Family Village.

Many bereaved families held simple funerals for their lost loved ones outside the village. Despite the intervention of the “Immortal,” dozens of people still died when darkness fell upon Ye Family Village, leaving Yun Qing with a heavy heart.

Within her squad, Ye Wenjing and Ye Hai had finished healing, successfully expelling the poison from their bodies. But Ye Tao, who had been sprayed in the face with soul corpse poison, wasn’t so fortunate. A large amount of soul corpse toxin invaded his body through the delicate mucous membranes of his eyes and nose.

Yun Qing was worried about Ye Tao, yet she no longer had the pills she’d found in the instance world, and could only watch anxiously as Ye Tao sweated black while healing himself.

Her purification skill could only be used on the dead, not the living.

Several severely injured members continued to heal, while many martial artists, exhausted beyond measure, had already fallen asleep where they sat.

Yun Qing lingered at the village gate for quite some time, but the clearing squad received no new tasks. The mortal fire used to burn the corpses was much slower than expected; likely, only after the funerals were complete, the martial artists finished healing, and had rested a bit, would the next task begin.

The villagers who had clamored yesterday to open the gates for their kin had fallen silent, for their loved ones had “returned.”

Checking her cave manor with her mind, Yun Qing discovered her saplings had matured.

She found a secluded spot, entered her fields, and harvested two trees, yielding twelve logs. Gritting her teeth, she spent ten taels of silver to buy two more saplings and planted them in the field, leaving herself with only two taels.

Six floorboards had already been laid on the foundation; Yun Qing chose to craft three more. In the production queue of the low-level crafting machine, she selected wooden walls—each requiring five logs. She could only afford to craft one wall, reserving the remaining log.

After all these operations, Yun Qing thought about the accumulated hatred value; once it reached a certain threshold, monsters would besiege the cave manor.

Though Liu Liu said the lowest tier of monster siege was manageable for her, Yun Qing still wanted to be better prepared.

A monster siege, after all, meant a horde of monsters. Her current arsenal consisted of twenty-four stones, eighty bamboo arrows, five metal arrows, a bamboo bow, and a refined iron bow.

Yun Qing was accustomed to using stones, but her system backpack was running low, so she needed to collect more.

Leaving the cave manor, Yun Qing walked toward the village gate, collecting stones as she went.

As she entered more crowded areas, she picked up a stone and saw a system prompt:

"Ye Qiu Yue’s hatred toward you +80."
"Ye Qiu Yue’s hatred has risen to ‘loathing.’"

Clutching the stone she had just picked up, Yun Qing was puzzled. Could picking up a stone confirm for Ye Qiu Yue that she was the one who threw the first stone?

Well, suspicion only needs conviction in one’s heart, not proof. Besides, Ye Qiu Yue had always been wary of her.

The incident where Yun Qing threw stones at Ye Qiu Yue would be discovered sooner or later; Ye Qiu Yue’s hatred was within her expectations. She just wondered if Ye Qiu Yue would also hate Ye Xiao Lang, Ye Wei, Ye Wenjing, and the others.

Speaking of which, Yun Qing couldn’t spot Ye Qiu Yue in the crowd; she must have turned red-named by now!

“Liu Liu, a hatred value of 100 can alter the degree of hatred. So far, not a single person’s favor toward me has reached 100 to become friendly, but hatred rises so quickly.”

System prompt: "Hatred value full. Monster siege of cave manor will begin in three hours. Please prepare accordingly."

Seeing this prompt, Yun Qing was speechless. The hatred value had only just appeared, and already a monster siege was imminent.

She checked her cave manor mentally. Two new saplings had just been planted, six floorboards on the homestead, two machines, and over nine hundred units of level-one energy remained.

All this had been hard-won; she hoped Ye Qiu Yue’s hatred wouldn’t destroy it all.

“Liu Liu, I’m a little worried about the monster siege.”

“It’s rare to see you like this. Relax, as long as there’s enough meat, the monster siege is well within your capabilities.”

“Liu Liu, are you saying that if I give you more meat, you can make the monster siege easier?”

“It’s already the lowest tier—there’s nothing simpler. Yun Qing, don’t say you can’t handle even the lowest level monsters.”

“Well, I’ve never experienced it, and the unknown always breeds anxiety.”

Better collect more stones then! With only two taels of silver, she couldn’t afford any weapons.

Stones were everywhere. Yun Qing walked up to one of suitable size and bent down to pick it up.

"Ye Qiu Yue’s hatred toward you +1."

Yun Qing: Huh? Did Ye Qiu Yue see her picking up stones again?

She straightened up, walked to the next smooth stone, bent down, and picked it up.

"Ye Qiu Yue’s hatred toward you +1."

Looking at the stone in her hand, Yun Qing nearly laughed aloud. Every stone she picked up increased Ye Qiu Yue’s hatred by one.

It was said that hatred often came with anger, and anger harmed the liver!

Yun Qing mused: Little Qiu Yue, take care of your liver.

Despite these thoughts, Yun Qing didn’t stop picking up stones; instead, she sped up.

Ye Qiu Yue’s reaction was impressive: every stone Yun Qing picked up triggered a system prompt—Ye Qiu Yue’s hatred toward you +1.

She couldn’t see Ye Qiu Yue in the crowd; surely, she was hiding somewhere, gnashing her teeth as she watched.

Yun Qing kept collecting stones.

“Liu Liu, hatred value is much easier to farm than favor.”

“That’s right. You humans, regardless of original favor, can turn to hatred in an instant if something goes wrong.”

“Yes, we humans are indeed like that. Even couples who’ve loved for decades can turn against each other. You dogs don’t do that, right?”

“I’m not a dog; I’m a system sprite.”

Yun Qing: …

Soon, her hands were full, and with so many eyes on her, and Ye Qiu Yue’s surveillance from the shadows, she didn’t dare sneak the stones into her system backpack.

She tucked the stones into her sleeve and kept collecting.

Ye Qiu Yue, like an automatic machine, continued: every stone Yun Qing picked up, hatred value increased by one.

“Yun Qing, she’s just lost her father, and you provoke her like this. Won’t she go berserk?” Liu Liu worried that a red-named monster, once rage was full, would become violent and double its combat power.