Chapter 52: The Trapped One

After completing these tasks, Yun Qing found that only about ten slots remained occupied in her system backpack, all filled with essential weapons and items she would need. After tending to the farmland, she stepped out from her cave dwelling and transferred all the timber from her warehouse into the system backpack.

The high-intensity battles and desperate escapes over the past few hours had left her weary, her energy and spirit hovering barely above the passing mark. The rescue mission countdown showed 1 day, 5 hours, 46 minutes, and 53 seconds remaining.

There was still time. Yun Qing lay down on the simple wooden bed inside her cave’s cabin and fell asleep.

...

Shang Hairong and Shang Haiyi, brothers from the Ninth Merchant Association, found themselves in Ye Family Village of Yunquan Town when disaster struck. Fortunately, cultivators arrived in time, sparing them from tragedy.

Once the village gates reopened, the brothers bid farewell to the village chief and headed for Yunquan Town. Upon returning to the county seat of Lingcang, they reported the events of Ye Family Village to their superiors at the association, only to be told to wait.

Soon after, they met a cultivator from the Lingyun Sect, part of the Central State Cultivation Alliance. The cultivator questioned them thoroughly about the village, revealing that the alliance hadn’t managed to send help before the dark night ended.

The Cultivation Alliance instructed the brothers to keep the matter confidential for a while and sent investigators to Ye Family Village.

...

Ye Wei, who had reached the Innate Realm, led several martial artists through half a day’s trek, finally reaching Maidian Village, shrouded in poisonous fumes.

Confronted with a village overrun by soul corpses, the group dared not enter hastily. They paused outside to regroup and devise a better plan before risking their lives to venture in.

...

After more than an hour’s rest, Yun Qing felt her energy and spirit fully restored. There was another piece of good news: most of the charcoal had finished processing, pushing her crafting experience up to level 23.

Her character level, limited by her gathering proficiency, remained at 22.

At level 21, she could expand her farmland by ten plots and her homestead by ten square meters. Passive skills like Unyielding Will, Strength and Fitness, and Dexterous Mind could now be upgraded.

Unlocking a new plot of farmland or a new square meter of homestead required five taels of silver each; upgrading each passive skill demanded ten taels of silver and one skill point.

Everything required silver—a poor scholar, but a wealthy warrior. Luckily, she had scavenged some from corpses.

Yun Qing reluctantly spent silver to upgrade all three passive skills, expanded every available plot, and planted two trees and five muskmelons. In the blink of an eye, her silver was nearly gone.

As for the homestead, she would deal with it later.

---

Leaving the cave dwelling, Yun Qing saw no soul corpses outside the warehouse.

She continued to roam the village, searching for the villagers she needed to rescue and gathering useful resources along the way.

After scavenging a kitchen knife and a pickaxe from a villager’s house, she was surprised to find a pile of clay bricks ahead—not one she had made herself.

Within the brick pile was a pit bearing signs of combat, seemingly used to trap soul corpses. Unlike her own method—where she would take both the bricks and the corpse if she killed it, or leave both if not, with more bricks remaining—this was different.

“Liu Liu, besides me, someone else is using clay bricks to kill soul corpses.”

“The other party doesn’t have a system backpack.”

“A storage pouch works too. In Ye Family Village, Ye Wenjing has a storage pouch, and it’s not unusual for others to have them as well. It’s likely the work of trapped villagers. We can’t rule out the presence of others here, so we must act cautiously.”

“Yes, but it’s you who needs to be careful, not us.”

Yun Qing suspected the trapped villagers were responsible, given the rescue countdown implied they had managed to survive this long.

She searched for clues near the brick pile and quickly determined a direction, heading toward the next location.

Sure enough, not far away, she found further signs of battle.

Following the trail, she noticed something strange: she hadn’t seen a single soul corpse along the way.

After searching for about two miles, she heard the angry roars of soul corpses ahead.

Rounding a bend, she saw a horde of soul corpses surrounding a standalone house, which, judging by its architecture, appeared to be the village ancestral hall.

The soul corpses encircling the hall occasionally howled or crashed against the walls; all doors and windows were tightly barricaded, obscuring any view of the interior.

Judging from the fresh signs of battle outside, there had been a recent confrontation between humans and soul corpses.

This was likely the rescue site. At level 22, Yun Qing found it exceedingly difficult to rescue four villagers trapped inside the ancestral hall, besieged by soul corpses.

Based on the combat traces, those four villagers were probably martial artists themselves—perhaps they could cooperate from inside and out to find an escape.

Even her double-jump skill couldn’t penetrate a house whose doors and windows were locked tight, encircled by soul corpses.

First, she had to confirm there were people inside. Yun Qing leapt onto a nearby house and shouted toward the ancestral hall, “Is anyone there?”

Perhaps her voice was drowned out by the soul corpses’ roars, or perhaps the people inside didn’t expect anyone to come. After her first call, there was no response.

Yun Qing shouted again, “Is anyone inside the ancestral hall?”

Inside, Ye Xiaolang and Ye Mao guarded the doors and windows, while Ye Wenjing, long spear in hand, remained vigilant, ready for soul corpses to break in from any direction. Her bow was still with her, but her arrows had long since run out.

---

The three had minor scrapes, but nothing that impeded their movement or ability to fight. The one truly affected was Ye Hai.

He sat in meditation, using his internal force to expel the poison. When fleeing into the ancestral hall, his abdomen had been accidentally scratched by a soul corpse’s sharp claws. Thankfully, his organs weren’t damaged, but the poison had entered his meridians. If he forced himself to fight again, the best outcome would be transforming into a half-soul.

Ye Xiaolang’s wolf ears twitched beneath his hat. “Did you hear someone calling out? It sounded like Yun Qing’s voice.”

Ye Mao shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything. Don’t worry about her—she might have returned to the village yesterday.”

When Yun Qing called out a second time, Ye Xiaolang, Ye Mao, and Ye Wenjing all heard her.

Ye Mao exclaimed joyfully, “It’s really Yun Qing!”

Ye Wenjing said with delight, “Maybe Father sent someone to rescue us.”

She turned to Ye Hai, who was healing himself. “Brother Hai, we’re saved!”

It was likely Yun Qing had returned the previous day, failed to find them, and now came searching with the villagers.

Ye Xiaolang shouted, “Little Yun Qing, how many people came?”

His voice was loud, and Yun Qing, standing atop another high wall, heard him clearly.

She recognized Ye Xiaolang’s voice and was genuinely surprised—the four trapped villagers were her own squad members.

The system prompt confirmed her suspicion:

“Ye Xiaolang’s favorability +5.”

“Ye Wenjing’s favorability +5.”

“Ye Mao’s favorability +5.”

“Ye Hai’s favorability +10.”

Yun Qing felt a pang of regret. When she first accepted this mission, she hadn’t intended to enter the village, and even when she did, her focus was on scavenging resources rather than rescuing people.

“Liu Liu, the mission should have just said to rescue my squad members instead of ‘villagers’.”

“Ye Xiaolang and the others are currently registered as villagers! If their favorability increases a bit more, you can perform another five consecutive draws.”