Chapter 54: Kindness

A small stone killing a soul corpse was entirely within Yun Qing's expectations, yet caught the four people in the ancestral hall completely off guard.

Ye Mao, his face full of disbelief, exclaimed, “Dead? Yun Qing actually killed a soul corpse.”

Ye Xiaolang narrowed his eyes slightly. “Did any of you notice that the three soul corpses that started after her haven’t come back?”

Ye Wenjing said, “She’s thrown so many stones and arrows—where did she keep them all?”

Ye Xiaolang glanced at the three and said, “She might have a storage pouch, but that’s her business.”

The other three nodded repeatedly. “She’s our teammate, we wouldn’t have any issues just because of a storage pouch.”

“Ye Xiaolang’s favorability toward you +64.”

“Ye Xiaolang’s favorability has increased to Friendly.”

“Ye Wenjing’s favorability toward you +20.”

“Ye Mao’s favorability toward you +20.”

“Ye Hai’s favorability toward you +10.”

Killing a soul corpse, without managing to retrieve its body, but instead gaining a pile of favorability points.

Especially Ye Xiaolang, whose favorability toward her surged; he was the first to reach the Friendly level.

The people of Ye Family Village—including Sixth Aunt Ye, and Master Li from the blacksmith shop—had always treated her well, but there was always a certain distance to it.

Now, with over a hundred favorability points, Yun Qing rejoiced, “Liuliu, now I can do a ten-draw plus a five-draw.”

“Favorability isn’t easy to come by. Use it sparingly and cherish it. Try to save up more for the intermediate draws. The low-level stuff will soon be useless to you.”

Yun Qing: Bottomless pit!

Now wasn’t the right time for a draw. If she drew something good, she might not be able to resist checking the treasure vault and delay what needed to be done. She had to think about saving people first.

Throwing stones like this wasn’t a real solution—it was slow, draining, and exhausting. Glancing at the dwindling pile of stones in her system backpack, she decided she’d have to lure two more over.

Yun Qing shouted toward the ancestral hall, “Captain, Xiaolang, Sister Wenjing, Brother Hai—are you all alright?”

Her voice successfully attracted the attention of the soul corpses, and the four inside guessed what she intended.

They exchanged glances and nodded. Ye Xiaolang said, “I’ll go help her.”

Ye Mao said, “I’ll boost you up.”

Ye Wenjing said, “I’ll make some noise to keep some of them here. Xiaolang, be careful.”

“Alright!”

Ye Xiaolang shouted outside, “Little Yun Qing, I’m coming to help you!”

He stepped onto Ye Mao’s shoulders, used the momentum to jump up, grabbed onto the ancestral hall’s beam, lifted some tiles, and quickly appeared on the roof.

Ye Wenjing opened a window, making some noise to attract the soul corpses’ attention, covering for Ye Xiaolang as he left.

Yun Qing’s earlier shout had drawn some soul corpses, but they were immediately lured away by the commotion Ye Wenjing created.

Ye Xiaolang crept quietly to the other side of the hall, while a crowd of soul corpses swarmed toward Wenjing’s window.

Hearing Ye Xiaolang’s shout and seeing his figure appear on the roof, Yun Qing realized what he was planning.

She took out her remaining metal arrows, trying to attract the soul corpses’ attention, but whether with the arrows or her shouts, the soul corpses ignored her—the scent of a martial artist’s blood from inside the window had seized all their attention.

Ye Wenjing had long since shut the window. The frenzied soul corpses battered at the windows and walls, making the whole ancestral hall seem on the brink of collapse in Yun Qing’s eyes.

Worried, Yun Qing muttered, “Liuliu, if these soul corpses focus their strength and push, they’ll definitely bring down the ancestral hall.”

Liuliu replied with indifference, “You can’t expect too much from the intellectually deficient. If they weren’t, you wouldn’t have been able to kill so many of them.”

Just as Yun Qing was fretting over her inability to draw the soul corpses’ hatred, she saw Ye Xiaolang not far away, leading several soul corpses in a chase through the village.

He said he’d help her?

How?

“Do you have any good weapons in your storage pouch? Where do you need me to lure them?” Ye Xiaolang’s shout reached her in the midst of her confusion.

When did she ever say she had a storage pouch?

She’d thrown too many stones just now and given herself away.

Fine! Storage pouch it is—she neither admitted nor denied it.

Yun Qing replied, “I only have earth bricks and stones. Pick wherever is convenient.”

“Lead them just a bit farther, out of sight of the other soul corpses. The fifth house behind you—go there first, I’ll bring them over.”

“Alright!”

Following Ye Xiaolang’s directions, Yun Qing ran to the house he’d mentioned and quickly arrived. With one leap, she was on the wall.

She had a storage pouch, could jump this high in a single bound, and could purify food—her teammates knew all this now.

In truth, using these abilities would give her away no matter how carefully she tried to hide them.

Luckily, all these things fell within the range of what ordinary people could accomplish. To her teammates, they only sparked favorability, not suspicion or hostility.

Indeed, it was these very skills that earned her a real place in the team, so much so that Ye Xiaolang was willing to risk his life to help her.

Soon, Ye Xiaolang led five soul corpses over, taking several quick steps along the wall before springing up onto the rooftop.

The soul corpses behind him, imitating his movements, used the wall as leverage to try to leap up, and to Yun Qing’s surprise, they seemed just as capable of jumping onto the roof as Ye Xiaolang.

Just as one was midair, Ye Xiaolang spun, swept his spear back, and knocked the soul corpse out of the air before it could land.

Yun Qing felt a chill—she’d always thought soul corpses couldn’t jump that high, or if they did, they’d fall off from lack of balance. Turns out, it was just that she wasn’t attractive enough a target for them.

Five soul corpses gathered below the wall where Yun Qing and Ye Xiaolang stood—two agile, three clumsy.

“How many small stones do you have left? Give them to me, I’ll kill two first,” Ye Xiaolang said.

He could infuse internal energy into the stones, making them far more powerful.

“If I can trap some of them below for a short while, how confident are you in finishing them off?” Yun Qing asked.

“Are you sure you can trap them all at once?”

“I’ve never trapped so many before, but I can try. If it doesn’t work, I’ll pick up a few bricks.”

“Please do.”

Yun Qing extended her right hand and silently intoned, “Withdraw 400 stone bricks.”

A huge pile of stone bricks appeared out of thin air, crashing down and burying the five soul corpses.

-10;

“Battle experience +52;”

-6;

“Battle experience +22;”

-8;

“Battle experience +30.”

...

A flurry of damage numbers and experience points appeared. At this rate, she’d soon go from level 29 to 32. Combat level could only surpass character level by ten; beyond that, no more experience was earned. Gazing at the streaming experience, Yun Qing felt a pang of melancholy.

Ye Xiaolang was inwardly astonished—Yun Qing’s storage pouch was several times bigger than Ye Wenjing’s. With such a massive storage pouch, their team could rely on their own strength to break free, maybe even clear out all the soul corpses in the toxic wheat village.

“Ye Xiaolang’s favorability toward you +5.”

Watching the soul corpses writhing under the bricks, Ye Xiaolang laughed, “Leave the rest to me.”

He jumped down, kicked away two bricks from the squirming soul corpse, gathered his internal energy in his spear, and stabbed at the immobilized creature.

The trapped soul corpse’s health dropped by a quarter. Ye Xiaolang spun the spear in its head, and Yun Qing watched its health drop another large chunk. After a few more attacks, its health bar emptied.

On the other side, a more agile soul corpse had already poked its head out of the pile. A few concentrated strikes from Ye Xiaolang dispatched it with ease.