I built a safe house in the eerie night.

The long night has finally passed.

The dark sky was gradually torn apart, and the dawn shone once more on this land of suffering.

Jiang Ning was awakened by a few cheers and noises outside.

He opened his eyes and patted his throbbing, dizzy head.

My thoughts were in turmoil last night, and I barely managed to close my eyes for a short while before dawn. Now I feel my mind is blank and my muscles are aching all over.

The intense mental strain of several days, coupled with the physical exertion of clearing land in the mountains, left his already weak body utterly exhausted.

But he cannot give up now.

Jiang Ning rubbed his sore temples and sat up, supporting himself on the cold, hard bed.

Wang Fu, who had been standing by, quickly stepped forward, gently helped her up, and whispered:

"Young Master, it's dawn again."

"Mm." Jiang Ning nodded, his voice slightly hoarse.

He put on his shoes and pushed open the door.

As the morning light flooded my eyes, the rising sun slanted down from behind the distant mountains, carrying a cool yet warm feeling.

Jiang Ning raised his hand to slightly block the light, and his vision became clearer.

The first thing you see is the eerie pile of corpses outside the village, almost filling your field of vision.

In the morning light, the twisted, broken limbs and tumor-like heads stained with black blood formed a shocking picture of hell.

Then he saw the villagers standing in the open space in the village, excitedly celebrating the night they had spent together and embracing each other.

Their faces were beaming with joy and long-lost smiles of contentment.

For those who have struggled on the brink of death for so long, being able to get through a night peacefully and sleep relatively well is an extremely rare privilege, worthy of pure celebration.

As soon as Jiang Ning walked out, all the villagers fell silent and turned their eyes to him.

His eyes were filled with reverence, and even more so with almost blind trust.

Jiang Ning raised his hand to silence the commotion.

He cleared his throat, sounding tired but deliberately raising his voice.

"A new day is a new beginning. Everyone has their assigned tasks, so let's get to work!"

He paused, glanced at everyone, and emphasized his words:

"Tonight, or rather every night, we may face even greater challenges, and we cannot let our guard down."

"Yes, young master!"

The villagers answered in unison, their voices firm and resolute.

After witnessing it firsthand these past few days and nights, they are completely awestruck by Jiangning's abilities.

They believed that as long as Young Master Jiang Ning was there, they would definitely be able to survive in this cannibalistic mountain and see a new hope.

Belief is the source of their smiles and the driving force that sustains them.

Only the observant Xiong Meng noticed the weariness in Jiang Ning's tone and the same solemn expression between his brows that remained unchanged from the previous night.

But Xiong Meng didn't ask what it was. He knew very well that he was just a country bumpkin, and even if the young master really encountered a huge problem, he might not be able to help.

After arranging the team to go out and collect the gray jujube, he whispered a few words to his wife, Madam Du, before walking over to Jiang Ning and saying tenderly:

"Young master, why don't you rest in the village today? Brother Wang and I will keep an eye on things outside, and A Niu and Hu Zi can take people to clean up the village. You must not have been sleeping well lately, so why don't you go back to your room and lie down to rest?"

Wang Fu, standing nearby, quickly chimed in, "Yes, young master, your health is the most important thing. The village is stable for now, so you don't need to worry about everything during the day. You were always weak back in the clan, and you haven't been eating or sleeping well since we came to the mountains. I'm really worried about you..."

Listening to their concerned advice, Jiang Ning stretched his stiff neck and forced a smile:

"It's nothing, I feel much better after a nap. It's just that the smell of these ghostly things is really unpleasant, and I might have caught a bit of a chill last night. It's alright, I'll be fine after some sunshine."

As he spoke, without waiting for the two to persuade him further, he clapped his hands vigorously, strode towards the open space in the village, and loudly addressed the busy villagers:

"It's a beautiful day, let's get moving and get to work!"

Watching Jiang Ning force himself to appear relaxed as he walked away, Xiong Meng and Wang Fu stood there, exchanging a glance, both seeing the helplessness and heartache in each other's eyes.

They knew their young master was putting on a brave face, but his resilience and sense of responsibility made them even more respectful and also made them feel a pang of helplessness.

Ultimately, there's very little they can do.

Jiang Ning walked to the vicinity of the Juma defense line.

The young men in the village are already working hard to clear the mountains of corpses.

Led by Yu Niu and Er Hu, these two lads, even after guarding the place all night, were still full of energy, shirtless, and struggling to drag the corpse in the morning light, working extremely hard.

Zhou Lei was already standing guard beside the two crematoriums, carefully lighting the fires according to the method Jiang Ning had taught him yesterday, and began to put the nearest corpses into the furnaces.

The entire village, like a machine wound up again, started operating collectively.

Jiang Ning manipulated the interface and moved several sections of the bone fence barricade aside.

The piled-up corpses slid down with a clatter, and the young men in the cleanup team stepped forward and quickly moved them aside, clearing a path out of the village for the team that was about to go out to collect materials.

The team responsible for collecting black oysters all carried their tools and filed out to the Xishan mountain valley.

In the village, the young and strong who stayed behind focused on the cleanup and burning work.

The atmosphere was full of energy. Compared to their previous listless and lifeless state, they now had more genuine smiles on their faces and were communicating with each other more.

This subtle change brought comfort to Jiang Ning.

Even the teenagers were running around the village, helping to deliver tools and pick up small items as much as they could, their little faces full of eagerness to contribute to the village.

Everything is moving in a positive direction.

Hope, like the blazing sun, shines into everyone's heart.

They even began to believe that even without the protection of the altar, as long as they stayed close to Young Master Jiang Ning, the village would be safe and sound.

Jiang Ning climbed the observation platform again, approached the observation device, and looked towards the mountain area where the "belly-walking ghost" had died the night before.

With clear daylight, he could see that all that remained was a pool of dried, blackened blood.

Strangely, the corpse left no trace, not even bones, nor even the most basic "gray scorpion," as if it had completely evaporated.

Only in the center of the bloodstain, a faint white light flickered quietly.

It was the strange treasure that Jiang Ning saw fall last night.

Jiang Ning pondered for a moment, then shouted down to the Yu ox, who was struggling to move the corpse:

"Ah Niu! Go over there and retrieve that glowing thing for me!"

"Yes, young master!"

Yu Niu responded and, without saying another word, charged off like a tireless bull towards the mountains and fields.

Jiang Ning's gaze followed Yu Niu, then unconsciously shifted slowly towards the "child in the red bib" from last night, which flashed by as if it were just a hallucination in the direction of the dense forest. He only glanced at it once, but felt a slight tightness in his heart.

His gaze finally swept to the distant, towering tree that blocked out the sun. He gazed at it calmly for a moment before turning his attention back to the center of the village.

Look at that "altar".

The already faint protective aura at the top of the altar finally vanished completely in the morning light, leaving no trace.

This means that Baiye Village, having lost the protection of the altar, is now completely exposed to the eerie environment of Changyin Mountain.

Tonight, countless eyes in the darkness will have no more scruples.

Jiang Ning's eyelids twitched, and he quickly stepped down from the viewing platform and hurried to the altar.

Sure enough, the altar stone, which originally had a slightly warm and lustrous sheen, now appeared a desolate gray color, devoid of any vitality or spirituality.

View via the interface:

The altar (now extinguished)

[Status: The power of protection is exhausted; it requires the infusion of "Holy Blood" to be reignited.]

"No...shouldn't it be tonight too?"

Jiang Ning frowned, somewhat puzzled. "Is it the last bit of Holy Blood reserve that won't even last until daytime?"

He finally sighed softly and shook his head helplessly.

"Forget it, we'll have to face it sooner or later. It's better to destroy it. After all, it's just an external thing and we can't rely on it for long."

The meager protection they provided before was enough to allow the supernatural to break into the village, though they couldn't directly damage houses or harm villagers.

Now that even this small barrier is gone, it simply means those things can act even more recklessly.

From this moment on, we can only rely on ourselves and the village defenses we built ourselves!

We must keep these evil things out of the village at all costs and give them the most devastating blow.

Jiang Ning exhaled and turned around, facing the rising warm sun in the east, and then slowly inhaled.

Sunlight fell on his face, illuminating the fighting spirit in his eyes.

"Then let's go—"