"They're all dead, completely wiped out. What are we going to do? All the village's labor force is gone..."
The person seemed to have been scared witless and wouldn't pose any threat to Ye Tiancheng. He probably had no inclination to do so either, given the magnitude of the disaster. Almost everyone he knew was dead, and surviving was a miracle in itself. Who would have the energy to scheme against Ye Tiancheng?
"Little Fatty, keep an eye on this guy. We'll find a place to rest first. I don't know where Liu Lanying is being held, but I can sense it shouldn't be too far."
"I actually don't know where Miss Liu is being held. I heard it was somewhere in the 'lake heart,' but I can't tell where that is right now. We'll have to search. Because it's the village chief's son's wedding, they're afraid outsiders might come looking, so they've locked up the bride-to-be. Only the clan leader knows her exact location."
Given the circumstances, Ye Tiancheng accepted this. "I understand. It seems to find the exact location, we'll have to ask the clan leader. We'll search first, and if we can't find it, we'll deal with it then."
"Brother Ye, that's for later. I'm thirsty and hungry. Let's take this outsider back to his home and get some food. I had some butter tea yesterday, and it was like water, it didn't do anything for me."
"Brother Fatty, those outsiders are very fierce. How can we dare to eat at their homes?"
"This village was researching these strong men, and now all of them have fallen, their lives uncertain. What can they do to us?"
Fatty didn't think these outsiders had any fighting capability left. The flying poisonous insects earlier had already solved their problem.
"Don't kill me, I can take you to my home to eat."
After this ordeal, the outsider became more sensible. Hearing Fatty's suggestion, he immediately complied, no longer seeing them as enemies. Now, whoever was stronger called the shots; everything else was nonsense.
Ye Tiancheng also thought for a moment before making a decision. This was actually quite good, at least they had a place to rest. After what they had been through, both mentally and physically, they were exhausted and needed rest.
"Don't play any tricks. Take us there now. I want to see what your home is like. How many surprises are there in this fierce-looking village that I don't know about?"
The group soon arrived at the survivor's home. The survivor had a wife, a stout woman who looked more like a man. She appeared quite strange and not like a kind person.
"What's going on? Explain it to me clearly, or we're not done!"
The survivor had been beaten, and Ye Tiancheng, Fatty, and Cui Cui remained silent, finding a place to sit and rest. After the couple's argument was resolved, the woman finally spoke.
"What's the deal with these three people you brought?"
"These three are my saviors. Wife, please help prepare some food. They are very tired and need to rest. Provide them with a place."
"This is too much trouble. Everyone else is dead, and you bring back three burdens like this. I don't know how we'll explain this to others. Now our entire clan is ruined, everyone is dead, what future do we have?"
Although the survivor's wife complained incessantly, she held up in the critical moment. Grumbling, she went to the kitchen to wash pots and cook. The survivor, with a bruise on his face from the beating, then told the three of them.
"Don't just sit here. You must be tired. I'll get the room ready. There's a large heated brick bed inside. I'll start a fire, and it will quickly become warm. You can rest on the bed. If you're sleepy, just sleep. You can eat when you wake up."
The group had rowed boats and escaped, and they were truly exhausted. Regardless of any other schemes or tricks, the most important thing now was to rest if they could. They had originally planned to have one person stay awake, but none of them could resist and they all fell asleep.
They woke up three hours later. Ye Tiancheng, having awakened first, was protected by his true qi, so he was naturally different from others. He could recover more energy by sleeping less.
As soon as Ye Tiancheng got up, he heard the wife yelling outside, "When are those three burdens you brought going to sleep? The food has been ready for a long time. If it gets cold, I'll have to reheat it for them. Treating me like a servant! Honestly, do they think they're so great? It's utterly shameless!"
"Oh, wife, keep your voice down. Those people are not ordinary folks. Be careful not to offend them, or we'll all suffer."
The couple was talking in hushed tones. Ye Tiancheng was too lazy to eavesdrop and quickly got up from the bed and went to the kitchen.
"Is the food ready?"
"It's ready, benefactor. Please eat quickly."
Ye Tiancheng saw many dishes laid out on the table. They looked delicious, all rustic country dishes, but they looked very appetizing. The main thing was that Ye Tiancheng was extremely hungry and urgently needed to eat something to replenish his energy, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to hold on.
"Cui Cui, Fatty, wake up quickly. Eat first, then sleep."
Ye Tiancheng didn't want to eat alone; he had to call his two companions. The two of them also woke up quickly. They gathered around the table. The dishes were all large portions, and they ate with great relish.
"Is it delicious?"
Ye Tiancheng finished eating first. He was being considerate to the only woman among the three and asked.
"It's quite delicious. It's enough to be full. It's good enough to have a place to tolerate me."
Cui Cui was now also homeless. She couldn't return to her home and could only stay in enemy territory.
After everyone finished eating, something unexpected happened. The outsider who had been fine just moments ago suddenly collapsed, foaming at the mouth and rolling his eyes. His wife was almost scared to death.
"What's wrong with you? What happened?"
"I feel so uncomfortable. It feels like my whole body is burning. Save me quickly, I'm dying."
In fact, while Ye Tiancheng was sleeping, he had already developed symptoms. He had been bitten by poisonous insects twice, and he had been feeling cold all over with purplish lips. He had held on until he couldn't bear it any longer and collapsed to the ground, suffering immensely.
"Get out of the way, let me take a look."
If it weren't for the nap, Ye Tiancheng wouldn't have had the energy to save him. The true qi he had managed to accumulate was now completely used up.
Ye Tiancheng touched the outsider's hand and transferred his strength. Soon, his deep wound healed, and he spat out a mouthful of black liquid.
"What's wrong? Are you dying too? You can't die, what will I do if you die?"
"Stop making noise. The person is fine. Help him lie down and give him some hot water."
Ye Tiancheng spoke weakly. He had to be careful. After eating a few bites of food, he felt like he had eaten for nothing. At this moment, supported by Fatty to the dining table, he ate a couple more bites. After lying down, he felt nauseous and could only drink soup.
"Thank you, benefactor. You are so capable. Thank you for saving my husband."
The wife, who had been prejudiced against Ye Tiancheng earlier, now rushed over and knelt before him, expressing her gratitude. If Ye Tiancheng hadn't intervened in time, the man would have surely died.
"Alright, stop making noise. Let me rest quietly. Go take care of your husband."
Ye Tiancheng was tired of it all and didn't want to listen to lectures. Those touching words were unnecessary; as long as they didn't disturb him, it was fine.
After drinking a few sips of soup, Ye Tiancheng went back to sleep. Cui Cui asked Little Fatty with great curiosity.
"What's going on? Why does Brother Ye seem to have some kind of magical energy? I can't quite explain it, but I always feel he's not an ordinary person, perhaps a cultivator with special abilities."
"Don't inquire about Brother Ye's affairs. Trust me, Brother Ye is a good person, and a very kind one. That's all you need to know."
Cui Cui was obedient and stopped asking further questions. After eating, she began to clean up. Since the mistress of the house was busy taking care of her husband and had no time to clean, Cui Cui had to lend a hand. After all, she was a diligent woman and often tidied up at home.
As soon as they finished cleaning, they heard some commotion outside. It turned out that the villagers had heard that only one person had returned from a large group, so they had rushed over to demand their people back.
"Why did only you come back? Quickly return our family members!"
Those people were persistent, but the outsider, having just been saved by Ye Tiancheng, was now weak and lying on the heated bed recovering. When those people suddenly rushed in, they pressed him for answers, and he could only try his best to explain.
"All those people were killed by the poisonous insects. I was lucky to escape and was saved by this benefactor, otherwise, I would have died too."
But no matter what he said, the others didn't believe him and continued to demand their people. Ye Tiancheng couldn't manage them now; the person was lying there, unconscious. The only one who could speak now was Fatty. Fatty, being burly and imposing, looked quite intimidating, at least possessing some deterrent effect. He had to hold the situation together.
"We can discuss matters tomorrow. Everyone is resting now. You should all go back to your homes, Grandpa Fatty orders you. Don't cause trouble here."
Fatty wasn't actually that powerful, but he was trying his best to bluff, putting on a fierce demeanor to scare these people away and prevent them from lingering.
These people were indeed a bit afraid when they saw Fatty, but they said, "We'll be back first thing tomorrow morning. You'd better find a way to give us an explanation. Otherwise, with so many people dead, we will absolutely not let this go. If we remain in this stalemate, it won't be good for any of us."
The villagers eventually left. The main reason was that there was no one truly powerful among them. Now, everyone had lost important pillars of their families. The remaining were mostly the elderly, weak, women, and children, who could only resort to verbal arguments but couldn't do anything in reality.
"Brother Ye, the people are gone. You should go to sleep. We can discuss anything tomorrow."
Little Fatty had resolved the issue, and his heart was still pounding. He felt it was incredible that he could actually manage the situation.
"You should also rest early. I have a premonition that we'll have a tough battle tomorrow, so we must conserve our strength now and not let ourselves get tired."
After Ye Tiancheng finished speaking, he fell into a deep sleep. Soon, the next day arrived. The people came early in the morning, blocking the door as soon as it was dawn, wanting to demand their people from the survivor.
"What do you want? All the people are dead. I saw with my own eyes that some had turned to bone, some fell into the lake. In any case, they are unlikely to be alive. Don't harbor any more illusions."
"People don't drown in that lake. Go search the lake quickly. After so much time, there might still be survivors."