Chapter 10: The Last Guardian of the Village

Three months later, in the village of Qiuyu

News of Dan City’s fall spread rapidly, and fear began to seep through the small village, growing deeper with each passing day. More and more people chose to leave Qiuyu, for the iron cavalry of the Yan Kingdom could descend upon them at any moment. To survive, they had no choice but to abandon their homes, forsaking the land where they had spent so many years of their lives.

Just yesterday, the village chief had left. Today, Aunt Sun, who lived next door to Song Ye, was preparing to depart as well.

Song Ye helped her load her belongings onto the donkey cart.

Before she left, Aunt Sun couldn’t help but advise him, “Ye, you should leave soon too. You’ve only been in Qiuyu for less than a year, and you don’t have many ties here. It’s best to seek a new life elsewhere while you still can.”

As she spoke, she glanced at the now-empty village. “Once we leave this time, who knows if we’ll ever come back…”

Her eyes were already brimming with tears.

She knew that once she left, she might never return. And even if she did, Qiuyu would be utterly changed, no longer the village she once knew.

…

Another half month passed, and Song Ye finally became the last guardian of the village.

There was no one left but him—not even livestock remained. The village was utterly deserted; silence hung heavy in the air, and even the wind seemed to carry a note of sorrow.

Yet, as always, Song Ye set up his tea stall, though there was no hope anyone would come to drink tea now. He sat alone at an empty table and poured himself a cup.

The game system, it seemed, had also detected the absence of any villagers, for the newly triggered novice task was simple:

[Guard the Village]: Sit at the village entrance for one hour.

For the past half month, the same task had appeared day after day. The system, too, understood that he had become the solitary guardian of Qiuyu.

But today, a familiar face appeared on the road outside the village.

Song Ye was surprised to see him. “Constable Zhao, you haven’t left yet?”

“I’m an officer of the county yamen. Naturally, I must be the last to go,” Constable Zhao replied. “But I’m leaving today, accompanying the magistrate to the capital, Luocheng.”

He looked around the empty village and asked, “Everyone’s gone, haven’t they?”

Song Ye nodded, “Everyone’s gone.”

“You’re the only one left?”

Song Ye smiled. “Yes, just me.”

“You know staying here means certain death, yet you really don’t intend to leave?”

Song Ye gave the same answer as always. “No, I’m not leaving.”

Zhao Zhigao sighed, for he knew that no amount of persuasion could change Song Ye’s mind. All he wished to say was contained in that single sigh.

In Zhao Zhigao’s eyes, Song Ye stayed behind for one reason only: to wait for Qin Xiyi’s return. He was willing to risk death just to see her again.

Zhao Zhigao had long thought Song Ye was hopelessly, irredeemably devoted.

Though rough around the edges, even Zhao Zhigao understood that love was a mire—once someone was trapped in it, it was almost impossible for others to pull them free.

“When I finish this cup of tea, I truly must go.”

He lifted the cup before him and drained it in one gulp.

“Shall I pour you another?” Song Ye asked.

Zhao Zhigao placed the lid over his cup. “Let’s save that refill for the next time we meet.”

With that, he turned and left.

At the village entrance, he suddenly looked back and called out, “Ye, when I return from the capital, I’ll come see you!”

“If you’re still alive,” he thought, but left the words unsaid.

After Zhao Zhigao departed, Song Ye carried a stool to the village entrance and sat there, passing an hour to complete his daily [Guard the Village] task.

An hour was a full two hours. Bored, Song Ye opened the built-in [Player’s Home] feature of the game to while away the time.

[Player’s Home] was a space that existed within the player’s mind. Song Ye only needed to focus his consciousness to enter and roam freely inside.

Within this space stood a wooden training dummy, used by players to test their damage and strength. After all, players needed a clear understanding of their own capabilities.

Beside the dummy was a damage chart, displaying the baseline damage values that cultivators of various ranks could inflict with a full-force strike.

Although Song Ye could not cultivate in the usual sense, the game’s interface and materials had given him some understanding of the cultivation ranks on the Xuanying Continent.

There were two main cultivation paths on Xuanying: Immortal cultivation and Demonic cultivation. Body cultivation and sword cultivation were considered sub-branches of these two main paths.

Each path had its own nine realms.

For Immortal cultivation, the first six realms were:

Body Tempering, Foundation Establishment, Bone Forging, Profound Comprehension, Void Spirit, and Skybreaking.

The final three, collectively called the “Three Supreme Realms of Immortality,” were:

Undying, Holy Origin, and Imperial Soul.

Correspondingly, the first six realms of Demonic cultivation were:

Body Erosion, Soul Refinement, Spirit Dominion, Dark Profundity, Demon Origin, and Demon Transformation.

The last three, known as the “Three Supreme Realms of Demonic Lords,” were:

Primordial God-Demon, Mystic Lord-Heavenly Demon, and Imperial Lord-Primordial Demon.

Through steadily increasing his vitality by allocating attribute points, Song Ye was technically at the “Body Tempering” stage of Immortal cultivation, where the focus was on refining the body and forging one’s foundation.

He had now reached level 43. His attributes were as follows:

[Vitality]: 435
[Essence]: 50

Naturally, he wanted to test the extent of his strength.

He drew his novice iron sword and used his only skill, [Heaven-Shattering Slash], against the wooden dummy.

A damage value of seventy-five thousand appeared.

Song Ye checked the damage chart: the baseline for the Profound Comprehension realm of Immortal cultivation was seventy thousand.

In other words, an Immortal cultivator at Profound Comprehension could inflict seventy thousand damage on the dummy with a full-strength attack—considered the standard for that realm.

Song Ye’s attack had reached seventy-five thousand, meaning his power was already on par with a Profound Comprehension cultivator.

He owed his current strength to sheer persistence. For over nine months, he had completed three daily tasks without fail, steadily accumulating attribute points.

Of course, he also had Qin Xiyi to thank for the three high-level monster beasts she had given him. Without the experience gained from them, he would never have reached level 43.