Chapter 7: A Friendly Greeting

Fang Yue's attributes are high, but the problem is… the Gui's speed is too fast.

When facing Xiao Guiyi, he basically just stood there passively, swinging wildly.

Later, after deflecting the force, he seized the moment when Xiao Guiyi was stunned and unleashed a barrage of attacks—only then did he kill it; otherwise, his life and death would have been uncertain.

After calming his emotions, Fang Yue began to ponder a question.

"What should I do now?"

This damn game doesn't even have a tutorial… wait, it does—the two Gui really gave Fang Yue a harsh lesson.

But is this how a tutorial is supposed to work? If not for his luck, he'd already be dead!

The only thing Fang Yue knows now is that killing 【Gui】 increases his attributes; everything else is completely unknown—he's in total darkness.

After thinking calmly, Fang Yue first inspected the ruined temple.

The ruined temple was small; he finished checking it in a few minutes.

A worn, old oil-paper umbrella.

Some firewood.

That's all.

He rubbed his hands together; whether because more holes had opened in the temple or because the wind blew harder, Fang Yue felt it had grown much colder.

"This won't do—I need to start a fire."

"But how do I start a fire?"

The answer: friction fire.

Especially the oil-paper umbrella—it's excellent fuel.

He brought over the firewood, piled it together, and placed the oil-paper umbrella beside it.

Fang Yue laid one piece of firewood on the ground, picked up another, and tried to violently strip its end into a sharp point with his hands.

After killing 【Chu Sheng Gui】, Fang Yue's attributes increased slightly again.

With an attribute of 32 points in Control Power, he instantly crushed the firewood.

He tried several more pieces before finally managing a barely passable result.

The firewood was still firewood, but its end was irregularly pitted and uneven, like it had been gnawed by rats—this was Fang Yue's masterpiece.

He placed both hands on the "masterpiece" and rubbed it rapidly.

Crack.

The firewood on the ground snapped in half.

Fang Yue tried a few more times, until all the firewood had been reduced to a pile of uneven shards.

He seemed to have no talent for this.

"Strange—I've seen people start friction fires on TV so easily. Why can't I make it work even with brute force?"

Fang Yue didn't give up; his gaze turned to the temple's round support pillars—they were also wood.

"Brute force… out of miracle?"

A dangerous idea popped into his head, but he quickly suppressed it.

"Forget it, forget it—what if the temple collapses?"

He sighed and looked outside the ruined temple; the Heavy Rain seemed to have eased slightly.

After thinking for a moment, Fang Yue stood up and walked outside.

As soon as he rose, his legs went numb, and he nearly fell.

No, it wasn't just numbness—it was also stiff.

Like the stiffness of frozen meat taken straight from cold storage.

After moving around a bit, he relieved the stiffness, but he clearly felt the temple's temperature had dropped further.

"I can't stay here any longer."

Fang Yue suspected that if he slept in the ruined temple tonight, he'd freeze to death by morning.

He stood up and decided to explore the surroundings.

Leaving the ruined temple, Fang Yue naturally stepped into the Heavy Rain with both feet.

The next instant, his expression changed, and his body froze.

Whoosh!

Heavy Rain pounded violently against Fang Yue's body.

Simultaneously, numbers rapidly appeared on his body.

1!

1!

1!

1!

1!

Fang Yue:???

He could lose HP just from rain? Fang Yue was stunned.

Fortunately, 【Night Breathing】 was effective—his HP dropped fast but recovered just as quickly, rising and falling like a rollercoaster.

Fang Yue checked: in the Heavy Rain, his HP plunged to around 70, then surged back to nearly 97 through 【Night Breathing】, only to drop and recover again rapidly.

Fang Yue quickly understood.

The Heavy Rain wasn't falling at a constant rate—his exposed surface area fluctuated.

Sometimes he lost more HP, sometimes less, but he always recovered it through 【Night Breathing】; still, his overall HP was gradually decreasing.

In just this short time, his HP had only recovered to about 88 points, and the rollercoaster-like fluctuations left Fang Yue feeling weak.

He stepped back two paces and retreated into the ruined temple.

His HP instantly surged back to 100 points.

"If only I had something to shield me from the rain for a while, I could explore outside using the 【Breath Recovery Technique】."

Fang Yue looked at the old oil-paper umbrella he had thrown on the ground, intending to use it as fuel.

Good thing I didn't burn it…

Fang Yue felt a flicker of relief.

Originally, he had planned to wait until the rain stopped before venturing outside.

But he hadn't even succeeded in starting a fire by rubbing wood together, and the ruined temple was freezing cold—he had to find another solution.

The umbrella's canopy had a large hole, its surface caked with thick, black, greasy grime, emitting a foul stench that made him nauseous.

He opened the umbrella, held it over his head, and stepped into the Heavy Rain.

Whoosh—

The Heavy Rain pounded against the oil-paper umbrella; through the hole, much of the water splashed onto Fang Yue, drenching him instantly.

At the same time, his HP began draining rapidly from his head.

1!

1!

1!

But this rate of HP loss was nothing compared to before—【Night's Breath】 immediately restored him to full.

Relieved, Fang Yue walked out through the temple's broken gate.

After walking only a short distance, he saw a winding stone path sloping downward.

Fang Yue bent down and picked up a pebble; the stones scattered on the ground were pale white, hard, and unidentifiable.

Beside the stone path stood a wooden sign.

On the sign, three large vertical characters were written—Guyue Miao.

Beside "Guyue Miao," three smaller characters were written—Gu Yue Cun.

Village!

Fang Yue's spirits lifted, and he peered down the stone path.

Unfortunately, below was pitch black—he couldn't see anything…

Boom!

Thunder cracked, illuminating the path.

Fang Yue saw clearly in an instant.

Following this stone path down the mountain, a short distance ahead, there was indeed a village.

But the village had no fires lit, which was why it was invisible in the darkness.

The thunder faded, and darkness returned.

Fang Yue began walking down the pebble path.

On both sides of the pebble path stood tall willow trees.

The willow leaves blocked part of the moonlight, casting the surroundings in a gloomy, pitch-black haze.

Walking down the pebble path felt like stepping into darkness itself.

Fang Yue gritted his teeth and kept walking; he felt colder and colder, his legs heavy as if filled with lead.

Fang Yue finally realized something was wrong.

The growing cold wasn't from the ruined temple—it was coming from within himself.

My body is losing heat.

And for some reason, Fang Yue felt his feet were greasy.

He reached down and touched his feet, then looked at his hand—and froze.

His right hand was coated in thick, greasy, black, viscous fluid.

Boom!

Thunder cracked again at that moment.

Fang Yue looked down and saw that from his knees downward, his legs were completely covered in the unknown black sludge.

As if startled by the thunder, the black sludge suddenly surged rapidly up his legs—he stomped his foot in terror.

Thud-thud-thud!

The pebble path beneath his feet shattered outright; the black sludge was shaken loose and fell to the ground, slowly writhing as it reassembled.

What the hell is this?!

Fang Yue's face darkened; ignoring the remaining black sludge on his feet, he broke into a full sprint.

As he moved, the black sludge was flung off one by one.

But the wind from his sprint was too strong—it tore the oil-paper umbrella apart.

This frustrated Fang Yue; he could only run a stretch, then duck under a tree to shelter from the rain and recover HP, then run again.

Fortunately, the Heavy Rain gradually weakened.

When Fang Yue, head down, finally reached the village's edge,

the Heavy Rain had dwindled to a heavy downpour.

The village was an ordinary hamlet.

Around it, mud walls formed a boundary.

Outside the village gate stood a large shed.

The shed seemed converted from a pigpen—crude, but still able to shield from wind and rain.

Inside, a heap of people lay haphazardly, dressed in tattered clothes, yellow-skinned and emaciated, huddling around a single small flame for warmth, shivering uncontrollably; they all appeared to be refugees.

Some had simply fallen into dead sleep, utterly still.

At the village gate, a group of people could be seen holding torches without flame in their left hands and umbrellas in their right, dressed reasonably well, pacing and patrolling the entrance.

"Fuck! Finally saw some living people!"

Fang Yue, overcome with emotion, sprinted through the rain toward the village.

The patrol at the village gate also spotted Fang Yue—and froze in unison.

When they regained their wits, their faces turned as white as paper, filled with utter despair and terror.

They dropped their torches and scrambled backward in frantic panic.

"Close the gate! Close the gate! Great danger!"

"Great danger!!"

"Rain-level anomaly! Rain-level anomaly!! Great danger!!!"

"Great danger! Summon Lord Han! Summon Lord Han!!"

(End of chapter)