Chapter 185

Although at night, myself, armed with martial arts, slaughters Sheep Ghosts with brutal violence, killing them like chickens.

But the attributes granted are so meager, it's still a bit depressing.

Open attributes.

"Name: Yese Liming."

"Cultivation: Postheaven Third-Rate."

"Status: Curse 【Back of Hand / Deepened】."

"Health: 200/200."

"Internal Energy: 50/300."

"Control Power: 78.7 【Base: 58.7】 【Status/Bonus: +20】."

"Dissipation Power: 94.4 【Base: 74.4】 【Status/Bonus: +20】."

"Talent: Night's Breath 【Human-Class Upper Rank】."

"Skills: Analysis Pupil 【Human-Class Lower Rank】, Starfire Blade Technique Level 1 【Postheaven Third-Rate】, Water-Sky Blade Technique Level 1 【Crude Martial Art】, Starfire Heart Method Level 3 【Postheaven Third-Rate / Maxed】."

"Lifespan: 1 month 20 days."

My lifespan increased significantly, but Starfire Blade Technique's consumption is also heavy, and the gains aren't that great.

Wait—status bar…

Fang Yue's heart skipped a beat.

"Status: Curse 【Back of Hand / Deepened】."

"Name: Curse 【Back of Hand / Deepened】."

"Effect: The range of scent dispersion is larger; special ghosts will detect and come seeking the scent. Hatred deepens; killing specific ghosts will gradually stop granting rewards, even reducing attributes."

"Description: You have slain more special ghosts, planting seeds of hatred between both sides."

"Duration: Thirteen days."

"Note: Put on a cloak, carry a greatsword, sever one hand—you too can be a Black-Cloaked Swordsman!"

Oh no…

Fang Yue's face darkened.

Originally, he thought the description—drawing more Sheep Ghosts—wasn't so bad.

After all, he could now use Starfire Blade Technique by day; kill one when it appears, treat it like attribute points.

But every Sheep Ghost he killed deepened the Curse, creating a vicious cycle—and worst of all, killing too many actually reduced his attributes!

What's the point of killing anymore? It's getting more disgusting the more he kills!

No wonder even Heavy Ghosts avoid this thing—it's like sticky candy; once stuck, you're just unlucky.

"Ye Ge!"

"Yeye!"

"Deputy Captain Ye!"

At this moment, An Shenyi and the others had gathered around.

Fang Yue told them to return to the village first and spread the good news to stabilize morale.

Then he picked up all the Black Ember dropped by the Sheep Ghosts.

"System Prompt: Congratulations, you have obtained 180g of Black Ember."

When Fang Yue collected all the Black Ember, he nearly grinned from ear to ear.

Although the attribute rewards from killing Sheep Ghosts had shrunk, the Black Ember rewards were genuinely abundant.

He didn't know if this was simply how Sheep Ghosts rewarded Black Ember.

Or if the Black Ember rewards only kicked in after the Curse's attribute rewards turned negative.

Adding the 55g of Black Ember he had saved earlier, Fang Yue now had a full 235g of Black Ember—this was definitely a fortune!

Joyfully pulling out all the Black Ember, he noticed it was slowly fusing, converging into two stones, each the same length and width as Silver Stone, the same palm-sized, but black in color.

"System Prompt: Congratulations, you have obtained 2 Black Stones."

He weighed them in his hand—they were surprisingly heavy.

The remaining 35g of Black Ember remained unchanged in form.

Two Black Stones!

Fang Yue felt excited; he had been worried about having no money to buy things in Mo Cun, but now with two Black Stones, he felt much more secure.

Even if the caravan merchants were greedy, they couldn't set prices too outrageous—after all, this was a remote backwater, everyone did small business; if prices were too high, no one could afford them.

"Deputy Captain Ye."

Hearing someone call him at the village gate, Fang Yue suppressed his excitement.

Returning to Chaoyue Village, Fang Yue found a crowd already gathered.

Besides his own escort team, everyone else were residents of Chaoyue Village.

The escort team needed no explanation, but the Chaoyue Village people were all clustered around Captain Shan.

Captain Shan wore a cold expression, as if being respected didn't please her at all.

Only when she saw Fang Yue did she smile and walk over.

"Deputy Captain Ye, it's settled—we can rest in Chaoyue Village for one night."

"So fast?"

Fang Yue was surprised when a man, rubbing his hands, bowing slightly, wearing a servile smile, stepped forward from the Chaoyue Village Guard Team.

"Captain Shan, not just one night—you can stay as long as you like, we don't mind at all!"

"Who is this…?"

"This one's name is Jia Kong. Just a few minutes ago I was Chaoyue Village's Deputy Captain, but now I'm acting as Captain, so if the two of you need anything just let me know, this one will definitely cooperate."

Fang Yue: "... So you profited off a dead man's wealth and got yourself a promotion."

Although this dead man's wealth did have his own share of credit...

Fang Yue felt a little awkward. Besides... this fellow was, after all, holding the rank of Captain—why was his posture so low? Could it be that he'd witnessed his heroic performance and become his fan?

That was what Fang Yue was thinking, but he soon noticed that the man kept stealing cautious glances at Captain Shan, as if trying to gauge her thoughts, nervously watching every shift in her expression.

That manner... was as if his own rank was a notch below, and Captain Shan was his superior officer.

"Alright, alright, there's nothing else for us here. Arrange lodging for us; we'll rest one night and leave tomorrow."

Captain Shan waved her hand impatiently. Only then did the man release a long breath of relief, give Fang Yue an ingratiating smile, and withdraw.

"What's with him..." Fang Yue asked, puzzled.

"It seems Deputy Captain Ye doesn't know much about Chaoyue Village."

Captain Shan stepped a little closer to Fang Yue, and a faint, subtle fragrance drifted over.

"Chaoyue Village is just a small village—in a certain sense, it doesn't even qualify as a village."

"If you look closely at the buildings in the village, you'll see it. Many of the houses were thrown up on the spot, using the simplest construction methods and the cheapest materials—the whole point is value for money. Look at those houses."

Fang Yue followed the hand Captain Shan raised, looking toward the cluster of houses she was pointing at, and sure enough, something felt off.

Unlike the sturdy stone-built houses of Gu Yue Cun, the houses in Chaoyue Village were mostly timber-framed, with simple structures—small and neat. A few large logs served as foundations, sunk into the ground, a big sheet of cloth was stretched over them, and that was the basic construction done. The finer details varied, but they were all fairly simple.

A small portion of the relatively larger wooden houses had somewhat sturdier construction.

And finally came the stone houses, the fewest in number in Chaoyue Village.

These houses looked extremely old, mottled with moss, dilapidated, as if no one had lived in them for over a decade.

But that wasn't actually the case. Peering through the various gaps in these stone houses, one could see all sorts of household goods inside—people did live there. They just looked rather shabby, with no privacy to speak of.

Basically any passerby could see straight into the stone houses.

For some reason, the people of Chaoyue Village never bothered to repair or patch up these houses.

"Deputy Captain Ye, are you thinking Chaoyue Village's houses are all broken down? Actually, there's a reason they do it this way."

(End of chapter)