Chapter 132: A New Discovery Deeper into Redwood Ridge |
The Ice Abyss world was always shrouded in wind and snow.
This kind of snowstorm was unlike ordinary winter—it came with endless cold that relentlessly stripped every bit of life from the ground.
Looking from within Redwood Ridge, the entire land was nothing but snow after snow.
Only the colossal trees, their trunks and branches cloaked in white, stood motionless among it all, from a distance resembling white spires draped with countless icicles.
Trees are, after all, a form of life, and thinking about why the trees of the Ice Abyss were so massive becomes understandable from another angle.
If your vitality wasn’t strong, how could you survive in this winter world?
On the north side of Redwood Ridge, within the old territory of Lushang Camp, Xia Hong felt a bit lighter after he and fifteen others completed a one-kilometer perimeter patrol.
“Good—no other people found, no signs of activity. The Mirror Immortal Camp people probably haven’t crossed over yet.”
Everyone nodded, their expressions visibly more relaxed.
“The distribution of Frost Beasts within this kilometer outside of Lushang Camp is similar to our side. Within five hundred meters there are a few Snow Manes, Frost Wolves, and Golden Sheep. Beyond five hundred meters there are only two Cloud Pythons, all low-tier Frost Beasts. It looks like if we want medium-tier Frost Beasts, we’ll have to go deeper.”
Xia Chuan summarized their patrol findings and then suggested pressing forward.
At his words, everyone immediately turned their gaze to Xia Hong at the front.
“For the prey outside the perimeter, you can hunt them yourselves when you have time. Let’s go in!”
Xia Hong didn’t hesitate. Tonight’s objective was clear: medium-tier Frost Beasts. The prey outside the perimeter weren’t worth his time.
Since this was their first time venturing beyond the one-kilometer mark, they noticed the environment gradually becoming unfamiliar and so slowed their pace, minimizing sound and growing more alert to their surroundings.
Without measuring tools, they had originally only been estimating distance by feel, but once they actually entered deeper, they realized no feeling was necessary—just looking would tell them.
The deeper into Redwood Ridge they went, the thicker the trees became. Because the trunks were so massive, the roots beneath formed all kinds of strange shapes, some even protruding above the surface, and what had been a flat, unbroken terrain quickly turned complex.
“The trees with diameters over ten meters at the perimeter already counted as large. I didn’t expect things to get crazier inside—this tree’s diameter’s almost twenty meters, right?”
Luo Yuan couldn’t help but exclaim, drawing everyone’s attention to the tree he pointed out, including Xia Hong.
Seeing that tree, they all clicked tongues and shook their heads.
That tree was truly enormous!
A twenty-meter diameter tree is hard for ordinary people to imagine.
But described plainly: hollow out its center and it would be a high-rise building, easily holding hundreds or thousands of people.
Even from over a hundred meters away, the sixteen of them looked minuscule before that tree. Fortunately, they were all familiar visitors to Redwood Ridge and had seen many large trees at the perimeter; otherwise, this tree alone might have triggered a deep-seated fear of gigantic things.
“Too bad it’s just an ordinary vermilion frost tree. Maybe we still haven’t gone far enough. So far the trees we’ve seen are the usual ones. Leader, should we go deeper?”
When Luo Yuan suggested this, Xia Hong withdrew his gaze, scanned the surrounding trees, and nodded slightly.
Their main task was hunting, but they paid attention to tree species along the way. If they encountered a new or valuable tree, they would record and mark it.
These tasks technically belonged to the gathering team, but since they were the first group to penetrate inward, it made sense to log and mark anything useful so the lumberjack team could complete the work more easily later.
Xia Hong led them another hundred meters inward. After roughly estimating they’d moved about 1,300 meters in, he halted them and began prospecting toward both south and north.
Soon they had a new discovery.
“Whoa… what a huge Crystal Fruit Tree!”
Over a hundred meters to their north stood a Crystal Fruit Tree laden with transparent crystal fruits, solemnly towering above the ground.
That Crystal Fruit Tree’s diameter was around seventeen to eighteen meters, its countless crystal fruits impossible to tally at a glance—roughly estimated at thirty to forty thousand fruits, which converts to about ten to twenty thousand jin in weight.
“Mark this down. It’s the first time I’ve seen such a huge Crystal Fruit Tree.”
Xia Hong led the group north. Getting closer, they realized this tree wasn’t just large in shape: its fruits were noticeably larger than those of ordinary Crystal Fruit Trees.
Beneath that tree was a wide marshy area roughly fifty to sixty meters across, matching the crown’s spread. It exuded a fermented scent—obviously formed from crystal fruits dropping and rotting there for years.
“This isn’t exactly a marsh!”
From a distance it looked marshy because this patch hadn’t been covered by snow and showed a faint golden, fluid-like surface.
But when Xia Hong stepped onto it, he discovered that although the ground appeared fluid and much softer than surrounding terrain, stepping on it produced a distinct tread feeling.
“This is my first time stepping on such soft ground. Does decomposed Crystal Fruit really seep into and alter the soil like this?”
Xia Chuan’s offhand comment froze everyone in place; their expressions changed, and Xia Hong suddenly looked up, his face filling with excitement.
Seeing his companions’ reactions, Xia Chuan realized why. If Crystal Fruit really had that property, they could exploit it to soften valley ground and transplant trees.
“Not so fast. Don’t get excited yet. If Crystal Fruit had this effect, why didn’t predecessors discover it long ago? Wait—I’ll check the ground.”
Xia Hong quickly calmed himself, crouched, and tried to grab a handful of the surface soil.
“Grab” wasn’t quite right—he dug his fingers in. He dug several times, but couldn’t pull out even a small clump of that seemingly fluid, much softer-than-normal soil.
Xia Hong’s brow tightened. He immediately grew uneasy.
His baseline strength had reached its three ten-thousand jin limit. Even a chunk of ordinary soil he could dig out easily.
But this seemingly soft ground resisted being dug.
Xia Hong shook his head. That one characteristic alone extinguished the hope that had blossomed among them a moment ago.
It looked soft but was actually so hard—how could they transplant anything here?
“Forget it. Just mark the location. Don’t worry about it for now—let’s keep moving north!”
With transplanting out of the question, their interest waned. After marking the spot, they continued searching north along the 1,300-meter boundary.
They found four Frost Beasts later on, but three were Cloud Pythons and one was an awakened Blue Moon Spirit—low-tier Frost Beasts all.
Cloud Pythons are tricky to hunt, so Xia Hong didn’t bother. The awakened Blue Moon Spirit, maybe driven by hunger, leapt down and tried to ambush the sixteen as they passed beneath its perch.
They’d searched so long without glimpsing a medium-tier Frost Beast that tempers were frayed. A low-tier beast arriving and trying to vent their frustration wouldn’t get a warm reception.
The Blue Moon Spirit was small—just over a meter long—with snow-white fur. In strength it was the weakest Xia Hong had encountered, even weaker than a Gnawer Rat, yet it was faster than a Gnawer Rat.
Its small size, combined with explosive speed and fur that blended seamlessly with the snowy ground, made it hard to spot. If Xia Hong’s baseline strength hadn’t yet reached the three ten-thousand jin limit earlier, that ambush might have worked.
But this was the current Xia Hong.
Everyone was already on high alert tonight. The timing of its ambush couldn’t have been worse.
Before Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, or the others needed to act, Xia Hong drew his blade and in fewer than three moves finished the Blue Moon Spirit.
“This Blue Moon Spirit probably has a natural talent ability like other Frost Beasts, but it encountered the leader and never even had a chance to use it!”
Zhu Shun buried the Blue Moon Spirit in the snow and marked the spot, sighing as he spoke.
The others nodded. Thinking of Xia Hong’s three clean slashes, they looked at him with admiration on their faces.
Xia Hong, who had been reflecting with his head down, heard Zhu Shun and remembered that most of the group were seeing a Blue Moon Spirit for the first time and might not know its traits. He explained:
“The legs—the Blue Moon Spirit can burst its leg strength to over five times its normal output for a short moment. That’s likely its natural gift. Our fight was too fast for you to notice, but remember that next time.”
Everyone finally understood and nodded.
Xia Hong was also encountering a Blue Moon Spirit for the first time, but he had seen Luo Ming’s Frost Beast records. The Blue Moon Spirit’s trait was noted there, and in their scuffle its leg power had indeed surged briefly—almost more than he could handle.
“On this sweep we found four Frost Beasts, three Crystal Fruit Trees, two Blue Jade Trees, and several unknown plants. Tonight’s haul is about as much as we can expect.”
Looking back at Xia Chuan’s pack of over eighty Blue Condense Grass plants and the other unidentified specimens, Xia Hong felt inclined to return.
“Leader, if we go a bit deeper we’ll definitely find more.”
“We’ve only been out half the night. With so many of us and such thorough preparation, bringing back only this Blue Moon Spirit and these dozen or so Blue Condense Grass feels like a waste.”
“Yeah, I say we push farther in. At least let’s see what a medium-tier Frost Beast looks like.”
Others could clearly see his thoughts and began to urge him on.
“All right. Stash what you’re carrying, then go in another two hundred meters to have a look. If we still find nothing, we’ll come back tomorrow!”
With everyone in agreement, Xia Hong nodded and accepted the plan.
They agreed to go another two hundred meters inward.
After hiding their prey, the Blue Condense Grass, and other plants and marking the spot, Xia Hong led them directly west, deeper into Redwood Ridge.
The places where medium-tier Frost Beasts nested were clearly much deeper than they’d expected.
They searched for more than an hour and still found nothing.
Xia Hong, at the front, stopped and turned back to look at the group:
“All right, that’s it for tonight. Let’s head back, prepare, and tomorrow expand the search—go two kilometers in. I don’t believe—”
“Leader, look over there!”
“Leader, quick—look…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan, who were closest to him, had already spotted something and pointed to the west, cutting him off.
Xia Hong followed their fingers and glanced westward. His expression froze.