Chapter 137: Attempting a Breakthrough, Dispute |
"Hiss………………"
"Such a huge Snow Mane, how could it be this big?"
"This is an intermediate-level Frost Beast!"
"Intermediate-level Frost Beast, they actually hunted an intermediate-level Frost Beast……"
"Why is the leader covered in blood and flesh?"
"He's injured, Zou Yuankai and Zhu Shun are also unconscious."
………………
At the Great Xia base, as soon as Xia Hong brought people back into the valley, it immediately caused continuous exclamations from those staying outside the valley.
Their shouts made people rush out from the wooden houses.
Both eyes of the Snow Mane had been shot blind. Although it was clearly motionless and completely dead, everyone still couldn't help feeling somewhat creeped out.
The two-to-three-meter-long tusks stained red with blood;
The body covered with knife wounds and holes;
And the riddled-with-holes head of the Snow Mane;
All demonstrated what a thrilling battle the hunting team had just experienced.
Most people knew the hunting team went looking for intermediate-level Frost Beasts tonight.
When they left, many in the camp were quite worried.
But then they thought, they were just going to look, not hunt, so it shouldn't be a big problem.
Who could have imagined they actually attempted to hunt an intermediate-level Frost Beast...
And succeeded!
Everyone's gaze shifted from the Snow Mane to the hunting team members, finally all focusing on Xia Hong at the front, their eyes filled with worship and admiration.
There was even a hint of fanaticism.
Of course, some also noticed the severely injured and unconscious Zhu Shun and Zou Yuankai, as well as leader Xia Hong whose face was badly burned by beast blood, looking somewhat frightening.
"Don't crowd around here. Carry Zhu Shun and Zou Yuankai inside and treat their injuries first; Xia Hong, take people to carry the prey up for processing; other hunting team members with injuries, go back quickly to rest; Mu Dong, quickly make a two-meter diameter wooden bucket and send it to my room."
As soon as Xia Hong finished speaking, he grabbed that bag of blood and rushed upstairs.
The others were still somewhat confused, only Xia Chuan and the hunting team members looked up at him with worried expressions.
Earlier in Redwood Ridge, the light was dim and they were in a hurry, so they didn't notice. Only after leaving Redwood Ridge did they see clearly the terrible state of Xia Hong's exposed skin burned by the Frost Beast blood.
"Will the leader be okay?" Luo Yuan couldn't help but ask quietly.
Xia Chuan thought for a moment and shook his head: "Probably not. If there was really a problem, he couldn't have held on for so long just now. Hurry and go bleed the prey. Big brother will probably try to break through to the Warmth Realm soon!"
The worry on Luo Yuan's face immediately disappeared, replaced by excitement.
The leader was going to break through to the Warmth Realm!
………………
"Hiss…………"
Third floor, back in his own room, Xia Hong.
As soon as he sat on the chair, he reached out to touch the skin on his face.
With just a light touch, intense pain immediately shot through his mind.
"The skin is completely burned off. Now I'm truly disfigured!"
Xia Hong walked to the small wooden bucket in his room and looked at his face in the water surface, his pupils immediately showing a horrified expression.
His face had large areas of burns with no good skin left, only flesh exposed, his facial features bare. If not stained red by blood, it would look several times more terrifying.
"Although it hurts, I can clearly feel my skin membrane continuously recovering, and the speed is increasing. But this burning sensation hasn't diminished at all and is getting worse…………"
Xia Hong looked down at the skin on his body, where a few small white spots had already appeared. Although slowly, the white spots were clearly spreading.
And as the white spots spread, he could clearly perceive his basic strength continuously increasing.
Xia Hong clenched his fists, feeling the increase in strength. Amidst the painful expression, a trace of excitement gradually appeared.
"Indeed, strength can still continue to increase. Luo Ming once said the standard for Warmth Realm is being able to be completely exposed to sunlight. 'Completely' probably refers to those four hours during daytime. That means breaking through to Warmth Realm isn't achieved overnight, but requires continuously reshaping the skin membrane with intermediate Frost Beast blood until completion.
And the standard for completion is being able to stay for the full four daytime hours!"
This wasn't Xia Hong's random guess. When he saw Yuwen Tao at Redwood Ridge earlier, this speculation had already emerged in his mind.
Now, feeling that his skin membrane reshaping process was still completely at the initial stage, he became even more certain of his speculation.
Yuwen Tao's basic strength should be above his, yet he was still hunting at night and hadn't broken through to Warmth Realm. This already explained the problem.
"This bag has about thirty jin of blood, plus that Snow Mane, there should be nearly a hundred jin of Frost Beast blood. I wonder how much it can reshape my skin membrane!"
Although the pain was gradually diminishing, Xia Hong showed no joy on his face, even feeling somewhat empty inside.
Because along with the diminishing pain, the feeling of strength increase was also fading.
That exhilarating feeling, once experienced through cultivation, no one could resist.
"Leader, the blood has been drained, and the wooden bucket is ready."
"Come in!"
Xia Chuan and Mu Dong carried a large wooden bucket in together.
The bucket was two meters in diameter and over a meter tall, already filled more than halfway with deep red blood, obviously from the Snow Mane they just brought back.
Afraid of splashing blood from the bucket, they moved very gently and slowly, carefully carrying it to the center of the room before gently setting it down.
"Big brother, are you okay?"
Xia Chuan put down the bucket and turned to look at Xia Hong. Seeing his normal complexion, though somewhat relieved, he still couldn't help worrying.
"I'm fine. You all go attend to your own matters. These next few days, unless absolutely necessary, no one should come disturb me."
"Yes, leader!"
Xia Chuan nodded in agreement and withdrew with Mu Dong.
After they left, Xia Hong also carried the leather bag to the bucket side, opened it, and poured all thirty-plus jin of Magic Goat blood inside.
Xia Hong reached his hand into the bucket and immediately felt a burning sensation, but at the same time, the tingling numbness caused by skin membrane reshaping also emerged.
During this tingling numbness process, the increase in muscle strength was exceptionally obvious, even more intense than the improvement after consuming Frost Beast meat and exercising.
Xia Hong's somewhat pained face even showed an involuntary look of intoxication.
"This is probably what they call 'hurting yet happy.' About a hundred jin, let's see how much it can reshape my skin membrane!"
Muttering to himself, Xia Hong could no longer resist and directly stripped naked and jumped into the bucket.
"Ugh………… Ah………………"
Jumping into the bucket, the moment his body was immersed in blood, intense pain surged through his mind. Xia Hong felt like all the skin on his body was being cut open again and again with knives, veins immediately bulging.
From low growls to screams, to final convulsive roars.
His full-of-pain roars immediately resounded throughout the wooden house.
Xia Chuan, who had just gone down to the second floor and hadn't been there long, along with other hunting team members, heard the sounds. Their expressions changed dramatically, and they immediately rushed upstairs.
"Big brother, what's wrong?"
"Leader, are you okay? We're coming in!"
Xia Chuan only shouted once, preparing to break down the door.
But then Xia Hong's intermittent low growls came from inside.
"No... need... no need………… ugh………… ah... don't come in, I'm... fine………… ah…………"
The large group crowded outside the door immediately looked at each other in confusion.
"Don't... worry, I'm... fine, all go attend to your matters..."
Although Xia Hong's voice was much calmer than before, those outside including Xia Chuan could still hear the pain and suppression in his voice.
Everyone showed worry on their faces but didn't dare rush in recklessly, so they all turned their gaze to Xia Chuan at the front.
"If the leader says he's fine, then he's fine. Everyone go back to your duties. I'll stay here alone. If there's any situation, I'll notify you."
Xia Chuan dismissed the crowd but remained outside the door himself.
Although worried, everyone could only leave since they couldn't help.
"Ugh... ah………… hiss…………"
Xia Chuan remaining outside the door heard Xia Hong's painful roars inside. Although he understood he was trying to break through to Warmth Realm using Frost Beast blood, he still couldn't help worrying.
"No precedents to follow, no information about the correct way to use intermediate Frost Beast blood. Big brother attempting breakthrough so rashly is too risky. If not for that damned Mirror Immortal Camp…………"
Xia Chuan clenched his fists, hatred gradually appearing in his eyes.
If not for the sudden appearance of Mirror Immortal Camp making Xia Hong anxious to break through to Warmth Realm, he wouldn't be taking such risks.
With sufficient time, he could have gone to Honeycomb Camp first to find out the breakthrough method before attempting it.
Thinking this, Xia Chuan naturally had no good feelings toward that Mirror Immortal Camp.
But however much he hated them now, he could only wait for Xia Hong to finish.
"Hiss………… ah…………"
Although as time passed, Xia Hong's voice seemed to weaken and the frequency decrease, the painful suppressed low growls never stopped.
From nightfall to dawn, then again to nightfall.
Until Great Xia Year One, January 26th.
The continuous screaming that lasted two days finally stopped.
When the sounds stopped, Xia Chuan was initially somewhat worried.
But when he pressed his ear against the door and heard Xia Hong's rhythmic breathing inside, he immediately relaxed.
Even feeling that Xia Hong's breathing was deeper and more stable than before, his face showed some expectation.
Unfortunately, Xia Hong didn't come out immediately.
Xia Chuan could only continue guarding the door.
………………
North of Arrow Bamboo Forest was generally an endless large plain.
But on the eastern side of the plain, there was an oval-shaped basin recessed inward.
The basin was about five or six li in radius, with the deepest drop from ground level about over ten meters. A circle of densely transplanted arrow bamboo surrounded it, making the entire basin completely sealed.
Both front and back sides of the basin had roads built leading directly to the ground, only slightly over two meters wide. Arrow bamboo also surrounded both sides of the roads, allowing at most two or three people to walk side by side.
Clearly, this basin had a human settlement.
This was indeed the case. Inside the basin, dozens of houses built from mixed green bamboo and logs stood in order.
The houses were divided into left and right sides, four rows each, with five buildings per row. Roads had been built around every five buildings, front, back, left, and right, in an orderly manner.
People moved in and out of the wooden houses, talking and laughing. There were quite a number of people.
Right in the middle of these wooden houses stood a giant bamboo building about over twenty meters tall. Different from the green bamboo used in other wooden houses, this building used snow-white bamboo.
Snow-white bamboo sounded somewhat eerie.
Just from the external structure of this bamboo building, it indeed was.
These bamboo poles were about one to two meters in diameter, not only snow-white in color but also densely covered with a layer of over ten-centimeter fine sharp spikes. They just weren't very obvious due to the thick snow covering them.
The bamboo building was about over ten meters wide, divided into three floors. A giant iron pillar over three meters in diameter was inserted in the center, running from the bottom straight to the rooftop.
The bottom of the iron pillar had opening slots, with coal stones burning fiercely inside, providing continuous heat to the entire bamboo building interior through the iron pillar.
The bamboo building also had excellent sealing, with no warmth leaking out. Although covered with thick white snow outside, the interior was warm like spring, not cold at all.
The third-floor hall of the bamboo building was currently packed with over a hundred people.
After Yuwen Tao's group returning from Redwood Ridge finished explaining everything that just happened, several people nearby immediately stood up indignantly.
"Second leader, since Xia Hong is so arrogant, should we still tolerate this?"
"A mere Digging Realm practitioner daring to be so disrespectful to our Mirror Immortal Camp - this is unbearable! Their base should be east of Redwood Ridge. What are we waiting for?"
"Young Master Tao also said Xia Hong already had killing intent. If we still show restraint like this, it's simply cowardly!"
"That Great Xia is at most a large camp. In my opinion, no need to say so much - just go directly, kill that Xia Hong, and take in their remaining population."
"The great leader already said we need to continuously expand the camp and increase population. Just after passing through Arrow Bamboo Forest we encounter this Great Xia Camp - means heaven favors us. Second leader, opportunity shouldn't be missed, as it may never come again!"
………………
"Enough, shut up first. Your tempers have been getting worse recently!"
At the very front of the hall were two large snow-white bamboo chairs.
The center one was currently empty, while the one slightly lower on the left side was occupied by a middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man had thick eyebrows and a broad face, with a calm demeanor. He also wore black clothes and even had a giant broadsword placed beside him. He looked seventy percent similar to Yuwen Tao.
From his appearance and his behavior of telling everyone to shut up, it was clear he was Yuwen Tao's father, the second leader of Mirror Immortal Camp that people mentioned, Yuwen Hu.
Yuwen Hu scanned the emotionally charged crowd below, specifically looking at He Meng at the front. His eyebrows slightly furrowed first, then he looked at his son Yuwen Tao. After pondering for a moment, he spoke quietly:
"Are you sure Xia Hong's strength is even inferior to yours?"
Yuwen Tao thought for a moment, then nodded: "Although I was injured at the time and perception might not be accurate, his muscle energy movements were indeed inferior to my peak condition, at most just past the thirty-thousand-jin limit.
When I later gave half the Frost Beast blood, he immediately accepted. This behavior is enough to prove he should still be in the skin membrane reshaping stage, probably less advanced than me!"
Yuwen Hu shook his head, showing a puzzled expression: "Digging Realm limit, just starting skin membrane reshaping? With such little strength, he dared to have you bring back the message about well water not interfering with river water with our Mirror Immortal Camp?"
Hearing this, Yuwen Tao also looked somewhat puzzled and said speculatively:
"Maybe he doesn't understand our Mirror Immortal Camp's strength?"
After saying this, he turned to look at the furious He Meng and continued: "Didn't He Meng say last time that Great Xia Camp has over a hundred Lumberjack Realm members, and everyone is equipped with bows and arrows? Perhaps their Great Xia Camp has sufficient iron equipment, and quite a few Digging Realm and Lumberjack Realm members."
…………
Yuwen Hu immediately shook his head upon hearing this.
More Lumberjack Realm and Digging Realm members? Could they compare to Mirror Immortal Camp?
He Meng on the other side couldn't help but sneer as he spoke:
"Young Master Tao, you're overestimating others too much. With Great Xia's meager strength, how can they compare to our Mirror Immortal? Even if they had a hundred Digging Realm members, they'd just be crumbling tiles and broken pottery before our Mirror Immortal Camp."
"In my opinion, he's just a fool who got a bit ambitious, lacks insight, and can't recognize his own limitations. Didn't Lushang say that east of Redwood Ridge, there was originally only one medium-sized camp called Rogge? Great Xia was initially just a small camp.
Probably during the previous Wood Puppet Abomination incident, Xia Hong contributed and took advantage of Rogge Camp's heavy losses to annex them, allowing Great Xia to suddenly gain power east of Redwood Ridge.
Xia Hong gaining power overnight, it's normal for him to become somewhat arrogant and fail to recognize his limitations!"
The one speaking after He Meng was called He Gang, also one of the fifteen who crossed Arrow Bamboo Forest with him last time.
After he said this, many immediately nodded.
This speculation seemed the most reasonable.
Even Yuwen Hu couldn't help but somewhat agree.
Only Yuwen Tao, after listening, directly shook his head. Looking at his father, he said:
"Father, that Xia Hong is thorough in his actions, extremely cautious in personality, and not arrogant at all. He's definitely not the kind of person He Gang described!"
He Gang showed anger on his face upon hearing this and wanted to refute, but unexpectedly Yuwen Tao added:
"Moreover, in my opinion, Leader Xia Hong is definitely not some arrogant and domineering person either. He deliberately explained to me that the Gnawer Rat swarm incident was a misunderstanding, so Captain He's words last time should also be biased!"
At this, He Meng could no longer remain seated.
"Young Master Tao, Xia Hong almost killed you tonight. I'm speaking for you, and you're actually defending that Xia Hong like this? Did you receive some benefits from Great Xia Camp?"
He Gang's eyes lit up upon hearing this and he immediately followed up, sneering coldly:
"No wonder Young Master Tao went out hunting privately in the middle of the night without notifying the leader. So there were ulterior motives?"
…………
After hearing He Gang and He Meng's words, the originally calm Yuwen Tao immediately changed expression. He turned to look at them, suppressing anger, and said in a deep voice:
"I went out hunting because I didn't want to take more than my share of the camp's Frost Beast blood allocation, avoiding your sarcastic comments about me relying on my father for everything;
Whether I received benefits from Great Xia Camp - ask the people who went hunting with me. There are your people among them too.
Oh right, since you're already framing me, naturally you won't ask!"
After saying those last words with slight sarcasm, Yuwen Tao walked to He Meng and his brother's side. Regardless of the injury on his shoulder, he lifted his broadsword and directly pointed at them, angrily saying:
"Also, I warn you - from now on, call me by my name. No matter who dares to call me 'Young Master Tao' again, even if the great leader is present, I will definitely drag them onto the arena to settle life and death!"
"Young Master Tao" was not some elegant title - it was a nickname He Meng deliberately gave Yuwen Tao, mocking him for always relying on his father Yuwen Hu for everything.
Initially this nickname was only used privately. Although Yuwen Tao didn't like it, he couldn't do much. But tonight He Meng and others actually called him that openly. How could he tolerate this?
Yuwen Tao's voice was loud, containing even greater anger. Anyone who dared to call him that nickname again would truly be dragged onto the arena according to camp rules to settle life and death. No one present doubted this.
Normally, when a proper discussion reached such an impasse, even if not intimidated by Yuwen Tao's anger, He Meng shouldn't have said more.
But not only did he not shut up, he fiercely met Yuwen Tao's anger head-on, not yielding an inch: "You think I'm afraid of the arena? Yuwen Tao, who are you trying to scare? How about we go to the arena right now?"
Though saying he wasn't afraid, He Meng still didn't dare to say those three words "Young Master Tao" again. But his confrontational attitude made Yuwen Tao instinctively step forward.
Just as he was about to speak and agree to He Meng's arena proposal, Yuwen Tao glanced sideways and saw his father above gently shaking his head at him. He immediately calmed down, thought for a moment, and finally didn't speak, taking a step back.
"Heh…………"
Yuwen Tao's posture seemed like admitting defeat to He Meng and others. He immediately sneered with satisfaction.
"Enough, both say less!"
Yuwen Hu above spoke to end the argument, then continued:
"Regardless of what trump cards Great Xia Camp and that Xia Hong have, wanting to occupy Redwood Ridge without reason is impossible.
Since we've already made contact, we'll speak with strength.
Regardless of what connections or agreements existed between Rogge and Great Xia, Lushang Camp's territory unquestionably belongs to our Mirror Immortal Camp.
All hunting activities proceed normally. We'll continue entering Redwood Ridge as usual.
If you encounter Xia Hong again, just bring him these words. Tell him if he truly wants to occupy Redwood Ridge alone, then speak with strength!"
Hearing these words, He Meng's face immediately showed a smile.
Speaking with strength originally aligned with his intentions.
Thinking of something, He Meng showed a fierce expression and stepped forward to ask:
"Second leader, Great Xia has quite a population. The great leader previously said we need to quickly expand population. Why not directly kill that Xia Hong and incorporate all of Great Xia Camp's people into our Mirror Immortal Camp?"
Hearing this, Yuwen Hu didn't answer immediately, but first turned to look behind the bamboo building, his face immediately flashing with hesitation.
"No need to kill directly. Persuade first. Have Xia Hong proactively bring his people to merge into our Mirror Immortal Camp. That would be best……"
Before Yuwen Hu finished, He Meng interrupted him and continued asking:
"If persuasion doesn't work?"
Yuwen Hu looked at He Meng, frowning. He certainly knew what answer He Meng wanted to hear, but this didn't align with his principles, so he didn't answer.
Seeing Yuwen Hu not answering for a long time, He Meng grew increasingly impatient and was about to speak.
Just then, a voice as warm as jade came from behind the bamboo building.
"Young Tao did well tonight - leading the team to hunt two intermediate Frost Beasts, still able to deal with people despite severe injuries, successfully bringing back both prey. Courageous and resourceful - second brother, you've raised a good son!"
Everyone in the hall respectfully knelt upon hearing this voice.
"Thank you for the praise, leader!"
Facing the praise from behind the bamboo building, Yuwen Tao quickly bowed in response, calm-faced without any change in expression.
Meanwhile, He Meng beside him clenched his fists, face full of jealousy.
Yuwen Hu sitting at the very front also immediately stood up, slightly bowing toward the direction of the voice.
"The leader praises too much!"
The voice from behind the bamboo building fell silent for a moment, then spoke again.
"From today onward, the camp adds another intermediate hunting team, to be commanded by Yuwen Tao, tasked with hunting intermediate Frost Beasts."
Upon hearing this, the hall immediately erupted with discussion.
Mirror Immortal Camp's hunting teams were divided into high, intermediate, and low levels.
As the names suggested, each level dealt with corresponding level Frost Beasts.
The low level needn't be mentioned - Mirror Immortal Camp had quite a few low-level hunting teams.
There was currently only one high-level team with twelve members, personally commanded by the leader and second leader, both Warmth Realm experts. The other ten were Mirror Immortal Camp's strongest ten Digging Realm experts.
There were previously only two intermediate teams. Those who could join were also among the camp's stronger Digging Realm experts.
He Meng was captain of one of these hunting teams.
And now, another new team was being established, personally commanded by Yuwen Tao.
Though seemingly just an intermediate hunting team captain, the increased authority, the leader's regard, and even improvements in treatment - these three things were what all Digging Realm members in the camp dreamed of.
With the leader's single sentence, Yuwen Tao had them all!
Everyone turned to look at Yuwen Tao, unable to hide envy in their eyes.
He Meng, already full of jealousy, now had an even more twisted expression.
Yuwen Tao clearly hadn't expected leader He Yuanhun to value him so highly, his expression immediately somewhat stunned.
"Killing is fine, persuasion is fine too - that Great Xia Camp, I don't care what method you use, just incorporate all their members into our Mirror Immortal Camp. Second brother, I'll trouble you to put more effort into this matter!"
After saying these final words, without waiting for Yuwen Hu's response, the area behind the bamboo building clearly felt like it had quieted down.
"Yes, leader!"
Yuwen Hu bowed in response. Everyone also respectfully saluted. After a long time, realizing the leader was no longer paying attention to the hall, everyone slowly raised their heads.
"Alright, you both understand the leader's meaning now?"
Hearing Yuwen Hu's question, He Meng and Yuwen Tao simultaneously nodded.
They glanced sideways at each other, eyes filled with intense tension.