Chapter 67: Cooperation

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Ye Xiaolang had an instinctive feeling that this illusionary formation was likely set up by the ancestors of his race, intended for him to break through to the innate stage. Another peculiarity was that the soul corpses here seemed much weaker than those outside, their strength only at the acquired stage.

Yun Qing, worried that Ye Xiaolang might suspect her of something strange, spoke first: “This place is odd—after killing a soul corpse, not even a body is left behind.”

Ye Xiaolang thought to himself: Perhaps their essence is absorbed as power.

Yun Qing’s health bar had not decreased, and Ye Xiaolang’s remained at 200/200, though his mana bar had dropped to 35/50.

He could still fight for a while. Looking at the map’s path ahead, there must be firewood. Yun Qing prompted, “Move forward, there should be more soul corpses.”

More soul corpses meant more life force to absorb.

Ye Xiaolang suspected this was an illusionary formation activated by his bloodline power, but he could not be certain if it was related to Yun Qing.

Reflecting on the month he’d known Yun Qing, he’d witnessed her effort and progress firsthand. If Yun Qing had always worked so hard and improved so much, even without spiritual roots, her strength would surely surpass the innate stage by now.

Perhaps this was not his opportunity, but hers.

“I sense that attacking soul corpses rewards us with life force. This formation is a rare chance; you should try to attack some soul corpses as much as you safely can.”

So, experience was called life force. Yun Qing hadn’t expected Ye Xiaolang to want her to benefit, rather than compete for kills.

Yun Qing only hoped to hit each creature once to get the dropped silver coins, not to seize all the kills. Of course, if she could break through to the acquired stage, that would be even better. She smiled, “Soul corpses are too strong for me. You don’t need to slow down just so I can hit them.”

Ye Xiaolang hadn’t expected her to think this way. He nodded, “Alright!”

“Ye Xiaolang’s favorability towards you +10.”

He walked ahead, and soon he spotted a pile of firewood. Yun Qing saw the prompt: “Light the campfire to dispel the fog.”

This time, without Yun Qing’s hint, Ye Xiaolang went over and lit the firewood.

As the mist dispersed, the map revealed a deeper path, with red dots marking the way.

“Soul corpses!” Ye Xiaolang called out to Yun Qing, then rushed forward.

Yun Qing conjured a stone in her hand and threw it at the soul corpse with force.

-4;

“Combat experience +1!”

She tried again, switching to another target.

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Rarely given a chance to reach the innate stage, Ye Xiaolang naturally wanted as much life force as possible. He focused all his energy, killing soul corpse after soul corpse. Fortunately, these soul corpses were weaker than those outside and showed no sign of desperation or sudden outbursts.

Ye Xiaolang eagerly slew one after another, while Yun Qing happily followed behind, collecting heaps of coins and loot.

After nearly twenty soul corpses had been defeated, the mist around them was gone, and they entered the village, finally seeing rows of small earthen houses.

The village was filled with these houses, and everywhere soul corpses wandered, with occasional piles of unlit firewood scattered about.

They had no idea where the villagers needing rescue were, or how much was required for the task to be considered complete.

By the time Ye Xiaolang reached the village, his mana bar was empty.

He called to Yun Qing, “I’ll meditate a moment to restore my internal energy.”

Seeing Ye Xiaolang sit down cross-legged to recover, Yun Qing grew anxious. By the time they reached the village, half an hour had already passed; only two and a half hours remained for the dungeon.

If Ye Xiaolang spent a full cycle meditating, two hours would pass and they’d surely fail the quest.

They hadn’t rescued a single person yet, and it would be a rush to save them all in time.

Yun Qing hurriedly said, “Xiaolang, do you think this illusionary formation has a time limit? Perhaps it must be completed before dawn, or something bad will happen.”

Ye Xiaolang, who had just closed his eyes to meditate, opened them. “You’re absolutely right; I was too shortsighted.”

Such a rare opportunity—he could not waste time recovering energy. He slapped his storage pouch and took out a Qi-replenishing pill, placing it in his mouth.

Yun Qing watched as Ye Xiaolang swallowed the pill, instantly restoring his mana bar to full.

A pill!

She resolved to build an alchemy room in her cave, collect pill recipes, gather materials, and automate the pill-making process. Once she could sell pills, she would no longer worry about spending silver—or rather, spirit stones.

Yun Qing’s eyes burned with longing, but Ye Xiaolang couldn’t bear to give her any of his precious pills. Besides, pills for acquired martial artists would do nothing for Yun Qing.

He coughed, diverting her attention: “Ahem! Let’s search the village for soul corpses to kill!”

Ye Xiaolang dashed toward a soul corpse a hundred meters away. Yun Qing didn’t follow to throw stones—two and a half hours to clear the village’s soul corpses was not enough.

She needed a faster way to finish the quest. There was no mist here, but plenty of firewood piles, which must serve a purpose.

Yun Qing approached a pile of firewood, and a different prompt appeared: “Light the campfire to reveal the locations of villagers needing help.”

So simple!

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Ye Xiaolang was already locked in combat with a soul corpse. Yun Qing, thinking quickly, took out a flint and lit the firewood.

As soon as the firewood was lit, four small icons appeared in the upper right corner of Yun Qing’s map, some near, some far; the closest was in an earthen house twenty meters ahead of Ye Xiaolang.

Yun Qing silently complained: So this dungeon wasn’t generated based on Wheatfield Village; the four people to be rescued weren’t together, and they’d have to run to four different locations—poor design.

In the midst of battle, Ye Xiaolang’s ears twitched under his hat, and he took a deep breath through his nose, sensing something unusual.

Yun Qing, stone in hand, managed to land the final blow before Ye Xiaolang killed the soul corpse, and a pile of silver coins was left behind.

“Yun Qing, I think I hear someone breathing and smell human scent. There should be survivors in this village.”

Yun Qing was slightly amazed—his ears and nose were astonishingly sharp. Even at twenty meters, he could hear breathing, whereas she could neither hear nor smell anything. But she had the game’s mini-map.

She suggested, “Let’s go to where you sensed the presence and investigate.”

Ye Xiaolang nodded, gripping his spear tightly, and walked straight to the location marked on Yun Qing’s map.

“Careful on the right!” Yun Qing warned, spotting a red label at the corner of the earthen house.

As soon as she spoke, Ye Xiaolang crouched, spear raised forward. A soul corpse lunged from around the corner.

Ye Xiaolang rolled forward, his spear slashing from the soul corpse’s chest down to its legs, leaving a long, deep wound.

The soul corpse’s health bar dropped by a third, and black venom oozed onto the ground.

Yun Qing hurled her stone, striking the wound.

-4;

“Combat experience +1!”

The same damage and experience made her lose patience; only when she used metal arrows or a long blade did she deal more damage and gain more experience.

Remember 114 Chinese...

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