I built a safe house in the eerie night.

Jiang Ning walked out of the village alone and came to a spot on the edge of the altar's territory, backed by a mountain wall.

This place is relatively secluded, far from the village houses, and within the protected territory.

He carefully selected two relatively flat locations not far apart as the sites for the "crematorium".

After selecting a location, Jiang Ning first took out a lucky bag pouch, since he had used up all his resources last night and could only use them now.

He then silently recited "activate," and a familiar purple light flashed, revealing the interface before his eyes:

[Successfully opened the low-level material lucky bag, received: 1000 Black Tai Sui, 300 Yin Wood]

"The probability of getting purple is...not bad."

Jiang Ning nodded slightly, behaving in a proper and conventional manner.

After putting away the materials, he brought up the [Heavenly Craftsman] interface and manipulated the virtual model of the "Corpse Incinerator" to project it onto the selected ground.

He carefully adjusted the furnace's orientation, angle, and even its distance from the reserved space next to it until it was in a state that he was completely satisfied with before issuing the construction order.

"Buzz—"

A furnace frame, about three meters tall and outlined with illusory lines, appeared in the first open space.

The materials, including the Black Tai Sui, Yin Wood, and Black Stone, which had just been stored in the warehouse, turned into wisps of black smoke and rose into the air.

It condenses from the void and begins to form a solid shape from the bottom of the furnace, like a 3D printing process, inch by inch, slowly creating a solid form. The casting process is accompanied by a strange rhythm.

Before long, a huge furnace, made entirely of dark stone and covered with twisted and strange patterns, appeared before Jiang Ning.

It is more than twice the height of Jiang Ning itself, almost reaching the height of the Bone Arrow Tower.

The front of the furnace features two huge, sharp, tooth-like openings that curve upwards like the mouths of ferocious beasts, occupying nearly a third of the front surface area, giving it a sinister and terrifying appearance.

Looking through the opening, one can see clusters of eerie green flames flickering at the bottom of the furnace. The flames are cold and not hot at all, yet they have the aura of burning away impurities.

At the rear of the furnace body, there is a relatively small square outlet for discharging the converted material.

The design appears somewhat primitive and rough, but its functionality should be sufficient to meet the needs.

Jiang Ning approached, intently examining the detailed information and upgrade path of this newly constructed building:

[Tier 1 "Incinerator" (Can incinerate 0/20 simultaneously)]

[Required for upgrading to Tier 2: 500 Black Tai Sui, 100 Yin Wood, 100 Black Stone, 1 Ghost Eye Crystal]

[Upgrade Effect: Increases the furnace volume, raising the maximum number of corpses that can be burned simultaneously, and during the conversion of resources, there is a small chance of additional rare or exotic resources being generated.]

"It can even produce extra rare treasures? Not bad, the upgrade conditions aren't too outrageous, I have them all now, except for this Mysterious Eye Crystal..."

Jiang Ning pondered this.

It seems that when buildings constructed within the territory are upgraded to higher levels, they all require the use of a special material called "mysterious eye crystal".

This is clearly a key material, but we still don't know how to obtain it.

However, it should be considered a beginner material, and it shouldn't be too difficult to obtain. It's just that we haven't encountered it or discovered the corresponding methods yet.

We need to explore and pay more attention.

Jiang Ning stopped dwelling on it.

He then followed the same method and brought out a second model of a "crematorium".

Carefully aim and adjust, then place it next to the first furnace body to ensure that the two furnaces stand side by side, neat and orderly.

The same construction order was issued, and familiar materials were used to produce black smoke, and the process of materialization was repeated.

In a short time, two grotesque crematoriums, emitting a cold, eerie green light, stood majestically on the open ground outside the village, nestled against the mountain.

With its gaping, menacing maw, it awaited the corpses to be thrown into the flames.

The two furnaces consumed 400 Black Tai Sui, 40 Yin Wood, and 40 Black Stone.

Jiang Ning did some mental calculations and found that the "corpse incinerator" and the "ghost viewing platform" had the same construction cost, and the resource consumption was within an acceptable range.

Furthermore, considering that it can solve the immediate problem of corpses, the cost-effectiveness is very high.

Jiang Ning then turned around, picked up two relatively intact and bizarre skeletons nearby, walked to the first crematorium, and forcefully threw them into the hideous giant mouth.

"laugh--!"

The moment the skeleton fell into the furnace, the eerie green flames seemed to be injected with vitality, leaping upwards and silently and greedily licking the bones.

A slight hissing sound, like burning grease, rang out, and the skeleton began to turn black and carbonize at a visible speed.

Jiang Ning stood in front of the furnace, carefully sensing its workings.

Indeed, I didn't smell any burning odor or other strange smells, nor did I smell any smoke or heat from an open flame.

The entire incineration process is quiet, cold, and highly efficient.

"This setting is pretty good." Jiang Ning rested his chin on his hand and nodded to himself.

"It can be safely placed on the edge of the territory without fear of attracting trouble due to strange smells. Unless a large-scale surge of strange tides causes it to be directly destroyed in the chaos, ordinary strange creatures should not deliberately destroy it."

Jiang Ning turned around, preparing to expend more effort to move a few more skeletons into the furnace to test how long it would take to burn a furnace with a capacity of "20 skeletons".

But as soon as he bent down, he heard a series of rapid footsteps behind him.

Looking up, I saw that almost all the able-bodied young men in the village had poured out.

Yu Niu took the lead, carrying two skeletons as he ran to the front.

"Young Master, why are you working on your own without calling us? Are you going to throw all these bones into this... furnace?"

Seeing everyone's concerned and positive attitude, Jiang Ning felt a warmth in his heart and smiled.

"Yes, this is called a crematorium. You throw the remains of these ghostly things in and burn them to clean up the area. The contents of the cremation can also be used for arrow towers."

"These damned things, they harm us when they're alive, but once they're dead, we have to make full use of them and not waste a single bit of them."

"I see!" Everyone suddenly realized, and their enthusiasm immediately increased.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's all lend a hand!"

"Quickly, burn all these monstrous things!"

They acted spontaneously without needing further instructions.

They transported the strange corpses piled up nearby to the incinerator and then threw them into the eerie green maw.

The first crematorium was quickly filled to its maximum capacity of 20 bodies, and the eerie green flames inside grew stronger, burning silently.

Immediately afterwards, the second furnace was also quickly filled.

The two crematoriums were burning at full power, their eerie green light blazing inside, shining through their hideous maws and staining the surrounding ground with a strange green hue.

The bones rapidly dissolved and transformed within it.

Those present stared wide-eyed, finding the scene both terrifying and strangely satisfying, secretly pleased with themselves.

Not only must we kill these monstrous things, but we must also burn them all and use them up completely.

Only in this way can the hatred and fear that have accumulated in their hearts be somewhat quelled.

At this moment, Jiang Ning clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention and said loudly:

"From now on, cremation will be a routine task. Two people will be needed to guard the cremation, add the cremated remains, and collect the ashes. Who would like to volunteer for this job?"

The crowd stirred, and many people were eager to try.

But a hoarse but loud voice preemptively overwhelmed everyone else:

"Young Master, I'll do it! I can manage on my own!"

The crowd looked in the direction of the voice and saw a very thin boy, whose ribs were clearly visible, raising his hand high at the back of the crowd.

His face was full of excitement, but deep in his eyes lay cowardice and inferiority.

Shouting these words seemed to have exhausted all his courage. After shouting, he lowered his head again, not daring to look at the reactions of those around him.

Jiang Ning's gaze fell on him, and she waved her hand: "Alright! You, come here."

The boy trembled slightly, then lowered his head and awkwardly squeezed out of the crowd to stand in front of Jiang Ning.

He was indeed too thin, pale and emaciated, with high cheekbones and an unhealthy yellowish-white skin, a stark contrast to the dark-skinned young men around him who had worked year-round.

"What's your name?" Jiang Ning asked calmly.

"Young...Young Master, my name is Zhou Lei, San Shi Lei." The boy's voice was low, and he was trying hard to keep it clear.

"I...I am an orphan."

Jiang Ning nodded, not pressing for further questions, but simply repeated what he had just said:

"You mean you can manage all by yourself?"

Zhou Lei nodded vigorously. This time, he raised his head slightly, but dared not look directly at Jiang Ning, and only stared at his toes.

"Yes, young master, I... I can do it. I promise I'll complete the task every day without fail!"

Jiang Ning looked at him, stepped forward, and gently patted Zhou Lei's thin, tense shoulder.

"Alright, Lei Zi," Jiang Ning said firmly, "I'm entrusting this important task to you."

Zhou Lei raised his head, his eyes brimming with excitement, his lips trembling, and he said repeatedly:

"Yes, young master, thank you. I... I've burned corpses before, so I'm sure I can burn all these ghostly things properly. Don't worry!"

He was somewhat incoherent, but his chest unconsciously straightened a little.