I built a safe house in the eerie night.

As dusk approached, even though the sky was partially obscured by clouds, the setting sun still painted the horizon red and yellow.

There was still about an hour before it was completely dark.

Jiang Ning halted the clearing team in the dead forest and told them to rest first.

At the same time, the team that went out to mine for Tai Sui in the Xishan mountain valley also returned safely.

Jiang Ning immediately found Xing Feng, whom Yu Niu had mentioned, a man who looked somewhat unkempt with a stubble beard.

Jiang Ning took him to the forging workshop and briefly explained the forging process and the special materials required.

Xing Feng was somewhat at a loss regarding this sudden and heavy responsibility, but when Jiang Ning asked directly:

"Uncle Xing, can you fire these two bone spears before dark?"

He composed himself, thought carefully, and cautiously said:

"Young master, we need two helpers, and besides, your workshop has these materials..."

Standing inside the workshop, he could feel the stark contrast between this place and the simple blacksmith shops outside the mountains in his memory.

Not to mention that the materials are not ordinary iron, but strange Tai Sui, huge skeletons, and even crystals that emit a ghostly light.

This is less about blacksmithing and more about some kind of secret refining technique.

"Can this really... produce the thing in the picture?" Xing Feng was really unsure.

He did have some blacksmithing experience in his early years, but he had become rusty, let alone dealing with such bizarre things.

Jiang Ning seemed to trust him completely, "Uncle Xing, just follow the steps in this illustrated guide, one by one, and you won't make any mistakes, don't worry."

After all, the products of celestial craftsmen have their own logic in the process.

Feeling Jiang Ning's trust, Xing Feng took a deep breath and nodded vigorously:

"Alright! Young Master, I'll do my best. I'll definitely finish before dark!"

"If you need help, just call on anyone in the village. Have Leizi bring in those three large skeletons outside the village. Use the gray Tai Sui outside the warehouse. Also, here are two crystals."

Jiang Ning took out two Mysterious Eye Crystals and handed them over.

Since both black and gray Tai Sui are acceptable, it is natural to prioritize consuming gray Tai Sui, which has relatively less use.

Xing Feng solemnly accepted the document and said in a deep voice, "Understood, young master. I will do my best to accomplish it!"

He simply took off his coat, revealing his still firm and well-defined muscles. Although he was getting on in years, his physique was still quite impressive.

After donning the coarse hemp apron provided in the workshop, his entire demeanor finally changed, and he adopted the composed air of a professional blacksmith.

Seeing that he was in the zone, Jiang Ning felt relieved and then turned and left the workshop.

He found Wang Fu and Xiong Meng.

These two are considered to be the representatives in the village who have ideas and can make some decisions.

Jiang Ning also understood that although he had the help of the divine, he was not omniscient or omnipotent, much less a saint, and there might be times when he made mistakes in judgment or acted impulsively.

The operation and decision-making of the village cannot be decided by him alone, nor can he stick to his own opinions. We need to pool our wisdom and build consensus.

He also wanted to hear their opinions on the aid to Yaojia Village.

After careful consideration, Wang Fu said, "Young Master, since Yao Chengzhou personally promised to give up a portion of the Holy Blood, he shouldn't go back on his word."

"But we have to think about it. Nobody knows how long this situation in the mountains will last. What if... they realize something's wrong, or they change their minds and demand compensation from us..."

Jiang Ning pondered for a moment and nodded: "We'll remember this debt of gratitude. If Yaojia Village ever needs anything in the future, we'll do our best to repay this favor."

"I'm worried that they might change their minds tonight and not be able to produce the Holy Blood tomorrow. Of course, that's understandable. They're not related by blood; helping is a favor, and not helping is their right."

Xiong Meng thought for a moment and said in a low voice, "Since they have agreed, they are unlikely to go back on their word at the last minute. If it really comes to that... Young Master, you don't need to get involved. I will cross Dongshan and go there myself to ask."

Jiang Ning remained silent for a moment, then slowly nodded:

"It would be best to have the holy blood to maintain the altar, of course, but in the end, it is better to rely on oneself than on others. At present, strange phenomena are occurring frequently in the mountains, and things will probably get even more chaotic in the future. The village's defenses are far from sufficient and more resources are needed to build them up."

He then asked, "How was the harvest from the Tai Sui today?"

Wang Fu's face showed a hint of relief: "We exceeded our target today, harvesting more than 200 jin in total. The Tai Sui Cave has a lot of reserves, unlike before when it was so difficult to harvest. We can harvest even more tomorrow."

"200 jin..." Jiang Ning calculated silently in his mind.

This quantity is the limit for manual harvesting, but it is still too little relative to the demand, so we can only maintain the basic daily level for now.

He then looked at Xiong Meng: "Uncle Meng, have you discovered anything about the thing I asked you to pay special attention to?"

Xiong Meng shook his head: "My brothers and I made a point of circling around the outer perimeter of West Mountain several times, but we didn't find the kind of eerie cave you described, young master. They were all ordinary cave entrances that we had explored before and had long been abandoned."

"Okay, I understand." Jiang Ning said thoughtfully.

"You've all worked hard. Let everyone relax and get some rest. Don't worry too much about tonight, I'm here."

Wang Fu and Xiong Meng exchanged a glance and nodded solemnly.

The village was inevitably unsettled because the altar had been extinguished, but the villagers managed to keep quiet and didn't show it.

Jiang Ning's words were like a reassuring pill.

As long as Jiang Ning is there, they believe that the village can get through this peacefully, just like the previous nights.

Watching the two go back to rest, Jiang Ning looked again at the village's outer defense line and the newly cleared open space.

My brain was working, analyzing the possible scenarios I might face tonight and figuring out how to make the most of the available resources.

The village's main line of defense is currently a row of 25-meter-long bone fences.

The main firepower consists of four Tier 1 Bone Arrow Towers and three more Tier 2 Bone Arrow Towers.

The configuration was sufficient for the previous few nights.

But tonight, the scale and intensity of the strange tide will be unprecedented, and it may even continue to impact the entire night.

Having firepower alone is not enough; the defensive line itself must also be strong enough and have depth.

Otherwise, if the number of strange creatures accumulates, some will eventually slip through and threaten the village.

"We must make the best use of every single resource..."

Jiang Ning murmured to himself, then took out the last three leather lucky bags he had on him.

"Let's see how much they can give us first."

Jiang Ning just brooded over it, already too lazy to pray for any luck or beg anyone. It was all about probability; you couldn't force it.

Without hesitation, he chose to open all three lucky bags at the same time.

The light flashed one after another.

The first ray was a beautiful golden light.

[Successfully opened the low-level material lucky bag, receiving: 2500 Black Tai Sui, 500 Yin Wood, and 500 Black Stone.]

Upon seeing this, Jiang Ning's lips curled up.

"Those purple mats weren't a waste after all... finally, we see gold again!"

However, he remembered that the last golden lucky bag also gave 50 low-grade spirit stones.

Has it been automatically replaced by the more urgently needed Black Tai Sui this time?

It doesn't matter, the more Tai Sui the better.

Immediately afterwards, a second beam of light flashed, as if luck had suddenly struck.

It's gold quality again.

The same yielded 2500 Black Tai Sui and 500 Yin Wood Black Stones.

The third lucky bag was a relatively ordinary purple one, which Jiang Ning was quite satisfied with.

Last night, I was on tenterhooks all night, but the reward was quite substantial. It was well worth the hard work and the effort I put into building the overall defense.

Four lucky bags were opened in one night, yielding a total of over 7000 kilograms of usable Black Tai Sui.

But the joy was fleeting; Jiang Ning quickly calmed down. His luck certainly wouldn't last forever.

Over the past few days, most of the lucky bags have been of purple quality.

Jiang Ning also had a vague feeling that as time went on, even if more monsters were killed, the output of this kind of drops would probably reach its limit.

Relying on this method of acquiring resources based entirely on probability ultimately makes people feel uneasy.

If one day the lucky bags and rare treasures stop dropping, but the strange tides continue... then the situation will become even more difficult.

For stable and sustainable resource production channels to ensure secure development, this is the only long-term solution.

While I was pondering this, a prompt popped up on the screen:

[The territory's warehouse inventory has reached its limit. Should we temporarily materialize any excess resources acquired this time to a designated area outside the territory?]

[Note: Resources obtained through special means such as lucky bags may slowly dissipate if left outside the territory for an extended period.]

"Here we go again..."

Jiang Ning was having a bit of a headache about this setup.

If the Tiangong interface had a storage space, it would be so convenient to use it immediately. Unlike now, you have to store it in the warehouse to count it.

It's frustrating, I just wish I could get some kind of storage item someday.

"Never mind, let's just leave them outside for now. We'll be using them soon anyway."

Jiang Ning made a choice.

Immediately afterwards, plumes of black smoke appeared out of nowhere and began to gather at the edge of the open area outside the village.

In the blink of an eye, several small mountains of Tai Sui meat piled up, and piles of dark wood and black stones also appeared, creating a spectacular scene.

Looking at the building materials scattered all over the ground, Jiang Ning was itching to get started.

The village is currently in dire need of Tai Sui (a type of rare plant). Although Yin Wood and Black Stone have been used up in the past two days, a considerable amount has been accumulated.

"If we could choose the types of resources when opening lucky bags, we could choose Tai Sui for all of them."

Putting aside distractions, Jiang Ning pulled up the Tiangong interface, and the defense blueprint he had conceived in his mind became clear.

First, expand the depth.

The existing row of barricades can be moved forward towards the dead forest, expanding from a length of 25 meters to 35 meters.

Secondly, a row of single-tiered wooden walls was added to the original 25-meter-wide area to create a double barrier.

In this way, even if something strange manages to cross the outermost barricade, it will be blocked by the wooden wall and unable to enter the village.

Even better, two new arrow towers can be built in the area between the barricades and the wooden wall to further enhance crossfire.

Having conceived the plan, Jiang Ning no longer hesitated. He immediately manipulated the entire row of barricades on the virtual interface to move them outwards. Then, he selected to build another 10-meter-long skeleton barricade, consumed resources, and decisively issued the construction command.