After finalizing their plan of action, Krune completed his discussion with the village head and returned home, bringing with him a packet of milk and some food.

Upon returning home, he noticed Wang Hao looking guilty for having finished all the food on his own. Smiling, he patted the child's head, saying, "There's more food to eat now."

Upon seeing his grandpa return with more food, Wang Hao teared up, expressing his relief. It showed just how much stress a child like him had endured the past month.

The two then ate a hearty meal and drank the milk. Krune then urged Wang Hao to continue studying, casually giving him some pointers that allowed him to learn through things better.

Thanks to Su Zixin's memories, Krune was knowledgeable about a lot of things. After all, being an Imperial Meister was no joke. The amount of knowledge and experience one would need to amass was too much for a regular mortal to bear.

Only with that would such existences revered by everyone be created.

Now that he had eaten his fill, Krune felt like he was able to move somewhat better. Of course, it was the food in his stomach talking. Sometime later, he arrived at the rocky patch of land that was now his, calmly finding a boulder to be seated upon.

He then looked around, watching a couple of farmers moving about in the fields to work while the rest returned to their homes, having no hope. Even the ones going to work were only doing so to prevent themselves from going crazy and doing something unspeakable.

There was despair in everyone. Hope was lost.

'At this rate, a Nightmare would form within a couple of months. If the deaths in the village piled up in the meantime, the creation of the Nightmare would only speed up.' He sighed, thinking of something as the Cloud Whale stealthily flew out of the house.

As Wang Hao was busy studying, it was able to sneak out of its hiding place, arriving at the spot Krune had determined to be the location of water as it began to suck in the air. Soon after

Air Needle!

As even the closest villager was situated far away, they didn't hear the sound of air cutting into the ground. Once the gust of air finished flowing out, the Cloud Whale began to suck in air once again, unleashing a second Air Needle.

In the meantime, Krune grabbed hold of the metal slab, summoning his Soul Needle as he gently pressed the tip on one end, watching the slab of metal slowly heat up.

As the Soul Needle was constantly absorbing the sunlight, it didn't dim and continued to generate heat, allowing him to slowly make a small carving pattern. Even though the slab of metal slightly got hotter, as the wind was blowing, it cooled off rapidly.

He could casually hold the metal slab with his bare hands and work on it, slowly carving it little by little, beginning to make a bizarre design.

Even though he was working slowly to not overexert himself, he still became tired soon enough, unable to remain seated in the same place. "Being old sucks."

Pocketing the metal slab, he retracted the Soul Needle, waving his sleeve for the Cloud Whale to slip into. Working nonstop hurt his head too much. As he was old and malnourished, he didn't have enough strength to keep up with the heavy work.

Even though the Cloud Whale was doing all the work, he was the one controlling it. As a cultivator, it came to him as second nature. But right now, he was exhausted from the mental strain he had to bear.

So, he planned to take a stroll and relax himself a little bit. Maybe walking would improve his health by a little.

Their village was located on a rocky plateau, with little soil covering it and mostly rocks. So, not much grew in the rocky places while their village was situated on the sole large patch of soil.

Therefore, the total farming land they had was pretty small. Even on years with a bountiful harvest, it was barely enough to stock up on some seeds for the next season.

So, it wasn't like their condition deteriorated only after the bandit raid. It had been in the red even before then.

The villagers were afraid of the bandits, but Krune wasn't. He planned to deal with a couple of them first and use them to satiate the Yin Beast.

That way, they'll get more time before the lives of Old Stem and Old Root had to be sacrificed. These two elderlies lived alone. In fact, they were the oldest in the village, looking like someone that would die any day.

The only reason they had survived despite the poor condition of the village was thanks to their way of life, which was to consume grass. Or rather, that was their diet, one that had been forced to make, cooking various amounts of grass for food.

It was pretty much ridiculed in the village, though, as eating grass was never fulfilling. Nevertheless, the two elderlies had eaten the same for almost a decade now and still managed to live.

'Hmmgrass,' Krune thought. 'That might solve some of our immediate food needs. Plus, their knowledge might prove useful since grass can grow quickly. Having grown it for a decade, they should know enough about them.'

Krune continued to walk until he reached the end of the village, soon crossing it as he began to slowly stroll through the rocky path, at times resting upon the rocks to catch his breath.

After some time passed, he finally caught his breath, taking in deep exhales before exhaling them abruptly, producing a sharp sound, one that was barely audible but was painful to the ear.

He then closed his eyes, sensing the reflections of the sound wave he emitted. Soon, he got a blurry sense of his surroundings before his eyes lit up, muttering, "Now it makes sense.. There are indeed two sentries posted here."