Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

A thousand meters west of the valley, a black city wall running north-south abruptly cut into the eastern edge of Redwood Ridge.

If someone were to survey the entire scene from the sky, they would discover that this city wall was not only terrifyingly long, encircling a large area on the western edge of the Great Xia Valley and extending more than two kilometers into Redwood Ridge, but also ridiculously thick, with each side measuring five meters, allowing a dozen people to stand in a row without feeling crowded; its height was even more astonishing, reaching fifteen meters, making people standing below appear extremely small.

On the west side of the city wall, there was a wide opening, about eight meters wide, with the top of the wall connected, clearly reserved as the city gate location.

Xia Hong stood on top of the city wall, with Xia Chuan and the six department heads behind him.

“Big brother, this city wall is too amazing. Not only can it automatically assemble and combine, but it can also be stacked and thickened. Yuwen Tao and I tried it, and even a large-scale charge of mid-level Frost Beasts can be blocked.”

Xia Chuan's eyes sparkled with excitement as he touched the city wall and spoke animatedly to Xia Hong.

Xia Hong smiled and nodded, looked around the city wall, and said to Zhu Yuan behind him, “Didn't you say half a month ago that the land behind might not be enough? This city wall has enclosed such a large piece of land, it should be enough, right?”

A smile appeared on Zhu Yuan's face, and he nodded, “More than enough. I estimate that even if the camp population exceeds 50,000 in the future, there will still be plenty of space.”

Xia Chuan also spoke at this time.

“The north and south city walls are each three kilometers long, and the west city wall is four kilometers long, covering an area of fifteen square kilometers. Adding the area within the valley, let alone 50,000 people, even 100,000 or more would be enough!”

Xia Hong nodded upon hearing this. An area of fifteen square kilometers, based on the current housing plan of ten by ten, even if some space is reserved for roads and other facilities, would be enough for 100,000 buildings. With one household per building, let alone 100,000, even three or four times that number would probably be enough.

“A total of ten kilometers of city wall, stacked five meters thick, can withstand even a mass charge of intermediate Frost Beasts. The key is that we have enclosed a large area of Redwood Ridge. Fortunately, there are only low and mid-level Frost Beasts here, otherwise, extending the city wall in would not have been so easy!”

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, everyone nodded slightly. For the past half month, Xia Hong had led them out every night to first clear all the Frost Beasts on the outer edge of Redwood Ridge before successfully laying out all ten kilometers of the city wall.

“Alright, with this city wall, you shouldn't have any safety issues for a long time to come. However, pay attention to the Frost Ruins Cauldron. If it attracts too strong Frost Beasts, immediately extinguish the fire and hide. Once this city gate is installed, plus the city gate at the valley entrance, with double defenses and your combined efforts, the probability of being breached shouldn't be too high.”

Everyone nodded slightly upon hearing Xia Hong's words.

Xia Chuan obviously realized something, and a reluctant expression appeared on his face.

“Has it already been arranged with Luo Ming? Is he waiting for me north of Jing Valley?”

Hearing Xia Hong's question, Yue Feng in the rear immediately stepped forward and replied, “Yesterday after nightfall was the first trading day. When I went to Jing Valley, I told him as the leader instructed.”

Xia Hong smiled and nodded, a smile appearing on his face as he thought about seeing an old friend again.

It was also a coincidence. Four months ago, someone from the Hive Camp came to Jing Valley again. However, unlike last time, this time they came to conduct material trade with Great Xia.

Moreover, among the three who came, there was actually Luo Ming.

The Hive Camp obviously knew about Luo Ming's relationship with Redwood Ridge, so they used him to pave the way. Coincidentally, Luo Ming also knew Yue Feng, so after Yue Feng reported to the camp and Xia Chuan personally agreed, the material trade between Great Xia and the Hive Camp began smoothly.

Xia Hong naturally wouldn't manage these trade matters. Even Xia Chuan would only inquire about them now and wouldn't handle them personally. The first three trades with the Hive Camp were all handled by Yue Feng, the Jing Valley garrison, so so far, he was the only one who had contact with Luo Ming.

Yue Feng thought of something and hesitantly said to Xia Hong,

“Leader, Luo Ming is very curious about our Great Xia. During the previous three trades, he repeatedly inquired about the situation, but I brushed him off. I guess he's not doing very well in the Hive Camp. If possible…”

Xia Hong raised his eyebrows slightly. He could naturally understand Yue Feng's subtext, which was to develop Luo Ming into Great Xia's inside agent in the Hive Camp.

“You can discuss these matters with Xia Chuan, I won't interfere. But pay attention to one thing, don't be deceived.”

Xia Chuan nodded lightly, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Alright, just send me here. You go back and prioritize installing the city gate. In the future, people should also be stationed at the city gate. The trees inside the city wall can all be cleared away. Remember to plan the space for transplantation and residence separately. When I come back next time, I can transplant all the vegetation in our jurisdiction.”

The only thing Xia Hong didn't do in this major building upgrade was create yellow earth.

The reason was very simple: there weren't enough resources.

Just creating these 50,000 meters of city wall had exhausted the resources. There weren't enough to exchange for large-scale yellow earth, so Xia Hong simply didn't exchange it and waited until the next time he returned to the camp.

“You can also try burning coal to soften the soil and transplant some medicinal vegetation to see if it works. It should be completely fine.”

Xia Chuan nodded, thought of something, and signaled to Mu Dong, the head of the Craftsman Department behind him.

Mu Dong understood and took off the two long wooden boxes he was carrying on his back and sent them to Xia Hong's front.

“What are these, weapons?”

One wooden box was almost two meters long, and the other was only a little over one meter.

Seeing the shape of the wooden boxes, Xia Hong could basically guess what they were.

Xia Chuan nodded and stepped forward to open the almost two-meter-long wooden box.

A narrow long saber with a blade length of one and a half meters and a width of only two fingers came into Xia Hong's view, causing a hint of surprise to rise on his face.

“Ceremonial saber, this…”

An ordinary ceremonial saber wouldn't arouse Xia Hong's surprise.

The key was that the blade of this ceremonial saber had densely packed patterns, numbering in the thousands.

Xia Hong directly took out the ceremonial saber, held it in his hand, and felt the weight of up to sixty to seventy thousand pounds, and a hint of brilliance immediately rose in his eyes.

“Thousand-forged ceremonial saber, did you forge this during this time?”

Xia Chuan smiled and nodded, and Mu Dong beside him replied, “The leader is going out, so it wouldn't be right not to have a handy weapon. More than three months ago, we selected some Earth Piercing Realm cultivators and started forging in shifts, non-stop, for more than a hundred days and nights, and finally forged this thousand-forged ceremonial saber.”

The division of weapons into ten-forged, hundred-forged, thousand-forged, and even ten-thousand-forged later on, was actually not that complicated. It was simply about forging patterns on the formed iron ore.

When ordinary iron ore is forged into ten-forged, the weight will not change, but if you want to forge more patterns, you must add new iron ore and constantly compress the density through hammering.

A normal ten-forged knife weighs about six hundred pounds; a hundred-forged knife weighs six thousand pounds; and a thousand-forged knife weighs more than sixty thousand pounds.

Although the ceremonial saber used by Xia Hong had a narrow blade, its length far exceeded that of ordinary broadswords, so the weight was not much different from ordinary broadswords.

“Leader, open this box and take a look!”

At this time, Mu Dong took out the second, shorter wooden box, placed it in front of Xia Hong, and gestured for him to open it with a slightly mysterious expression.

A hint of curiosity also rose on Xia Hong's face, and his eyes lit up after opening the box.

In the wooden box, a horizontal saber lay quietly, with the blade part only eighty centimeters long, and only a little over one meter including the handle.

Four types of Xia sabers: ceremonial, horizontal, shield, and stranger. Now all the saber weapons in the camp are customized according to these four types. An ordinary horizontal saber would naturally not make Xia Hong's eyes so bright.

The problem was that the blade of this broadsword was as red as blood.

No, it wasn't ordinary blood color, but a color closer to blood jade, even more precious and beautiful, making people unable to help but feel happy at first glance.

“Half a month ago, Xiang Liang from the He Feng camp who came from Wuyuan offered five pieces of Frost Marrow Iron to the leader. We took four of them and forged this horizontal saber. Leader, please take a closer look at the forging patterns on the blade.”

Hearing Mu Dong's words, Xia Hong reached out and took out the horizontal saber. After feeling the weight, a hint of surprise immediately rose in his eyes, and then he saw the thousands of densely packed forging patterns on the blade, and his gaze slightly condensed.

“The weight hasn't changed, but you can forge so many forging patterns, what's going on?”

Xia Hong had already personally seen the five pieces of Frost Marrow Iron, and he knew that each one averaged only about a hundred pounds. This horizontal saber was made from four pieces, so the weight of four hundred pounds was no problem.

But how could there be thousands of forging patterns?

Special material!

Sure enough, as soon as this guess popped up in Xia Hong's mind, he immediately received Mu Dong's personal confirmation.

“This Frost Marrow Iron should be a special material. When we forged the saber blank, after forging ten forging patterns, we tried to continue hammering, but we didn't expect to be able to forge new forging patterns. So we divided people into groups and forged at the same time. We didn't expect to actually forge a thousand forging patterns, which can be considered an unexpected surprise.”

The most ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ in ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥ ⊥ book ⊥ ⊥ bar ⊥ ⊥ first ⊥ hair!

Looking at the two wooden boxes, which were also specially equipped with inconspicuous wooden scabbards, Xia Hong felt a warmth in his heart, turned to look at Xia Chuan and Mu Dong and others, and said softly, “You have put your heart into this!”

Even though Great Xia now has a large number of Earth Piercing Realm cultivators, being able to forge two thousand-forged weapons in such a short period of time, without thinking, it is known that the process must not be easy, and Xia Hong is naturally moved in his heart.

“Chief, please don't say that. It's the least we can do. If we can't even make you a handy weapon after all this time, then we, the artisans, are truly useless.”

Hearing Mu Dong's words, everyone couldn't help but chuckle.

Mu Dong thought of something and continued, “By the way, Chief, these two blades don't have names yet. Why don't you name them!”

Xia Hong took out the ceremonial sword, sheathed it, and tied it directly to his back. Then, after sheathing the horizontal blade, he hung it on his waist. After pondering for a moment, he spoke directly:

“Dragon Sparrow, Frost Blood.”

Great Xia Dragon Sparrow, Great Xia Frost Blood!

Frost Blood, as the name suggests, implies drinking the blood of icy abyss cold beasts, which not only fits the properties of Frost Marrow Iron, but also endows this horizontal blade with the destiny to slay cold beasts.

As for the former, although they didn't understand the meaning of the words 'Dragon Sparrow', after silently reciting them a few times, they found that these four words were not only particularly smooth to say, but also carried a sense of inexplicable domineering.

Xia Hong, after taking the two blades, took out a crimson inner-layer mask from his chest. After placing the crimson side on his face, he instantly transformed into an ordinary young man in his late twenties. Coupled with the black animal skin cloak he specially wore today, standing in front of Xia Chuan and the others, he immediately became unremarkable.

“Alright, give me the luggage. You can see me off here. Yue Feng, come with me to Jing Valley, and then take me to meet Luo Ming. The date of my return is uncertain this time. Remember to take good care of the camp. After I infiltrate the Hive Camp, I will leave contact information there. If there is a real emergency, you can ask Luo Ming to send a message to me.”

Xia Chuan took a large bundle from behind and handed it to Xia Hong.

The bundle contained many bottles and jars, obviously preparing a lot of things.

“Alright, go back, everyone. Yue Feng, let's go!”

Seeing the reluctance in everyone's eyes, Xia Hong shook his head slightly, called out to Yue Feng, and jumped off the city gate, heading north. Yue Feng quickly followed behind him.

… … … … … …

Ten miles north of Jing Valley, which is the southeastern part of Pingxi Plain.

In the middle section of a large tree with a diameter of seven or eight meters, there is a faint glow of fire. Listening carefully, there are even voices of conversation coming from inside.

If someone were to look inside from the outside, they would find that the middle section of this large tree is completely hollow, with a tree hole space three or four meters wide, accommodating three to five people without any problem.

In the tree hole, two people are sitting opposite each other around a small fire, and judging from the way they twist their bodies from time to time, they have obviously been sitting for a long time.

The two people sitting here are none other than Luo Ming and Shang Ping, who left Redwood Ridge almost two years ago.

Compared to two years ago, both of them look much more weathered, with faint streaks of white hair at their temples, obviously not living so comfortably.

“Old Shang, what do you think, if we propose to return to Redwood Ridge, would Chief Xia Hong and the others agree?”

Shang Ping, sitting opposite the fire, heard Luo Ming's question and hesitated, “Agree, they would certainly agree, but our situation after returning might be a bit awkward, and how would Luo Yuan and the others see us…”

Hearing this answer, a bitter look immediately appeared on Luo Ming's face.

That's right, he initially led all the Earth Burrowing Realm cultivators and abandoned the camp's two hundred plus people to Xia Hong, leaving Redwood Ridge.

Now he wants to go back. Not to mention what Xia Hong would think of him, even Luo Yuan and his group would probably feel uncomfortable in their hearts!

Thinking of the situation of the previous three transactions with the Great Xia camp, Luo Ming's expression became lost.

Luo Ming is not stupid. Although Yue Feng had evaded and avoided answering his inquiries about the current situation of Great Xia during the three times, he could imagine that Great Xia's current strength was no longer what it used to be, just through the transaction situation and the parts he saw.

Not to mention the massive amounts of bamboo silk, beast meat, brocade silk, and well-crafted weapons that Great Xia took out during the three transactions… just from Yue Feng's own strength, and the strength of the few people he brought each time, it was enough to get a glimpse of the big picture.

“Two years ago, not even two years ago, Yue Feng was only at the Lumbering Realm, but now he is almost as strong as me. The growth of the Great Xia camp in the past two years is probably far beyond our imagination!”

Hearing Luo Ming's words, Shang Ping shook his head and said, “That's nothing. The chief's evasive attitude every time he talks about Xia Hong makes me even more curious. Even the Mirror Immortal camp has merged into Great Xia. What level has Chief Xia Hong's strength reached? I'm afraid only the Great Chief, the Second Chief, and Commander Chen are clear about it.”

“If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have taken you away…”

Before he could finish speaking, Luo Ming fell silent.

Shang Ping naturally knew what he wanted to say next, but after thinking about it, he ultimately said nothing and fell silent along with him.

“Forget it, let's not talk about this. Yue Feng finally took the initiative to let us help. Let's handle this matter beautifully. Maybe in the future…”

Doo… Doo… Doo… … …

Before Luo Ming could finish speaking, three long bone whistle sounds came from not far away.

He and Shang Ping immediately stood up upon hearing the sound.

“They're here.”

“Let's go, go out and meet them.”