Chapter 123: Rat Pack Movement, Crazy Bow-Making [Big Chapter]

The average natural lifespan of ordinary people in the Frozen Abyss World is just over forty.

Those in the Woodcutting Realm can live a bit longer, but basically not over fifty.

The lifespan of those in the Earth-Digging Realm, inferred from Luo Ming's father, Luo Feng, is probably over sixty. The specific limit is unclear.

If calculated according to the common sense of the previous life, the average lifespan of people with such strong basic strength and physical fitness couldn't be just this little.

But here, after all, is the Frozen Abyss World.

Xia Hong is only eighteen this year. Although he doesn't have longevity anxiety for the time being, who wouldn't want to live longer? He had also carefully thought about this problem before.

In his view, the lifespan of humans in the Frozen Abyss World is too short, and the biggest reasons are three:

First is the extreme cold climate;

Second is the dark environment;

Third is the human habit of being active at night and resting during the day, which is contrary to common sense, as well as seriously abnormal work and rest habits.

The harm of the extreme cold climate to the human body goes without saying; just the point of not seeing sunlight for a long time can have a major impact on lifespan.

As for the third point, it's not that humans themselves want to be like this, but they have no choice.

The light emitted by the sun in the Frozen Abyss World is extremely cold. When he was attacked by magic sheep on the dirt slope, Xia Hong experienced it personally once.

After breaking through to the Earth-Digging Realm, he tried it again, and it was the same.

Humans cannot see light at all until they reach the Cold-Resistant level.

Unable to see light, they can only choose to be active at night.

And the daytime in the Frozen Abyss World is only four hours long. Most of the day is night. According to Xia Hong's observation, the sleep time of the vast majority of people in the camp is just those four hours during the day.

They couldn't see light to begin with, their work and rest were reversed, and their sleep time was seriously insufficient. It's normal that their average lifespan couldn't be high.

Xia Hong couldn't solve the two problems of seeing light and reversed work and rest, including extending sleep time. After everyone had generally become accustomed to four hours of sleep, it was also very difficult for him to correct it.

Up to now, what Xia Hong could do and had done was to order children under six in the camp to sleep two more hours every day.

Even so, there were still many children who couldn't accept it.

Once it got dark, they would wake up naturally and then couldn't fall asleep.

Children were still like this, let alone adults.

A group habit that has lasted and been passed down for many years is very difficult to correct in a short time. Xia Hong knew this very well.

It's the same as the habit formed by humans in the previous life over thousands of years of reproduction—working at sunrise and resting at sunset—except that humans in the Frozen Abyss World are just the opposite.

If it can't be changed in a short time, then it can only be done slowly and imperceptibly.

Of course, the most thorough way to solve the problem of short lifespan is still cultivation.

While basic strength improves, physical fitness is also constantly leaping. This is the common understanding of everyone, including Xia Hong. This is also the biggest reason why they are so obsessed with cultivation and chasing strength.

With an increasingly strong body, lifespan will inevitably become longer and longer.

The threat of the Gnawing Rat pack is imminent, and the progress of bow-making must be accelerated. In the previous ten days, including Xia Hong, the seven Earth-Digging Realm cultivators basically only slept for two hours every day. This is also the reason why iron ore mining couldn't keep up with the progress of bow-making.

Clang... Clang... Clang... Clang...

Inside the mine, the chiseling sound of the seven people lasted from dawn until the second half of the night of the next day.

Xia Hong and the seven people excavated continuously for fifteen hours before finally stopping.

Corresponding to this was a pile of iron ore that had appeared at the feet of each of the seven people.

Xia Hong weighed his own and then turned to look at the others.

"How many jin did you mine? Report the approximate numbers!"

Xia Chuan: "I have about 520 jin."

Luo Yuan: "490."

Zhao Long: "130."

Zhao Hu: "I had some before, adding them up, it's 450 in total."

Zhao Bao: "I also had some before, adding them up, it's 430 in total."

Yuan Cheng: "I'm the same as them, adding them up, it's 470 in total."

Mining efficiency is affected not only by tools but also by strength.

The greater the basic strength, the faster the progress of excavation will naturally be.

Before the four of them came to the mine, the Gnawing-Tooth Chisels were being used by Zhao Hu and the other three.

The three of them used ram-horn chisels for their later mining, estimated to have mined just over a hundred jin. However, added to what they had hoarded before, they each had over four hundred jin.

After he took Xia Chuan and the other two in, to improve mining speed, he took one of the three Gnawing-Tooth Chisels, and Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan were using the remaining two, so their mining volume was relatively large.

Zhao Long had always used a ram-horn chisel, so his volume was the least.

"Leader, how many jin did you mine?"

As soon as Luo Yuan asked, the other five all turned to look at Xia Hong's feet. Seeing that large pile of twenty or thirty pieces of iron ore, expressions of surprise immediately appeared in their eyes.

"I have about 840."

Each piece of iron ore weighed about forty or fifty jin. Seeing that pile, everyone had a rough idea in their hearts, but hearing Xia Hong report 840 jin, they still couldn't help but click their tongues, marveling in their hearts at Xia Hong's high mining efficiency.

"My basic strength is about twice yours, so mining efficiency is naturally faster than yours. When your basic strength catches up to mine, you can also do it."

Xia Hong didn't take it to heart. Fifteen hours of continuous mining, the seven people had basically reached their limit. A yield of over 3,300 jin was considered pretty good luck.

"We can forge eleven bows. Stop for a while. There are still nine hours until dawn. Everyone go back and rest for four hours. Later, go to the north slope of the mountain wall to see. We have to hunt Jiao tonight; the spine tendons are not enough!"

The six nodded, all put down their chisels, and followed Xia Hong out of the mine.

Mining is not an easy task. Although the seven are all in the Earth-Digging Realm, after fifteen hours, they were already exhausted and naturally needed to rest.

It was midnight outside. At the entrance of the wooden house, over a hundred Woodcutting Realm cultivators were still practicing archery heatedly. Xia Hong and the others had no heart to watch, greeted everyone, and all returned to the third floor to rest.

"Lord, the top ten of the competition have all come out, please take a look."

Just as Xia Chuan walked to the third floor, Shi Ping chased after him from behind and handed the list of the top ten in the competition to him.

Xia Chuan, who was exhausted, had no heart to look carefully either. He just scanned it roughly and saw that the top three were Xu Ning, Qiu Peng, and Shi Ping, who was standing in front of him. A smile immediately appeared on his face.

"You kid are not bad. Eh, your sister is also here?"

Xia Chuan actually saw Shi Lu's name at the back of the list.

A hint of shyness appeared on Shi Ping's face, and he nodded and said: "My sister's archery level isn't bad to begin with, and she has practiced very diligently during this period. Plus, her luck wasn't bad, so she got seventh place."

"In the future, the contribution value reward amount for the archery competition will remain unchanged for the time being. It will be held every ten days, and you and your father will be responsible for it. You can tell me the results directly."

Hearing that Xia Chuan wanted to hand over the task of the archery competition to him and his father, Shi Ping was immediately excited, nodded heavily, and said: "Lord, don't worry, Shi Ping will definitely handle it well."

Shi Ping wasn't old, even two years younger than Xia Chuan. With his vision, he couldn't see the great benefits after being responsible for this matter.

He was excited just because he simply felt that Xia Chuan could hand over such an important matter to him, which was an affirmation of his ability; and matters regarding archery were the interest of their father and son to begin with. If his father, Shi Qing, knew, he would definitely be even happier.

"By the way, has the matter of the Gnawing Rat pack been notified?"

Xia Chuan walked two steps, remembered something, and turned back to ask.

Hearing this, Shi Ping immediately nodded and replied: "Ten days ago, when the camp announced the start of large-scale archery practice, it had already been notified. Basically, everyone in the Woodcutting Realm knows."

"Alright, you go down first, I'm going to rest. I'll go to the north slope of the mountain wall with the leader later, and we have to hunt Jiao tonight."

"Lord, you go rest first, I'll withdraw!"

Shi Ping watched Xia Chuan leave, his eyes full of reverence and envy.

The reverence stemmed from his knowledge that Xia Chuan and the others were so tired because they had mined for over ten hours in the mine. The purpose of mining was to make enough bows and arrows for them, the Woodcutting Realm cultivators, to deal with the Gnawing Rat pack on the north slope of the mountain wall. In the final analysis, it was for the safety of the camp.

The envy came from Xia Chuan's last sentence, being able to go out with the leader.

It could be said that now, among everyone in the camp who had broken through to the Woodcutting Realm, there wasn't one who didn't want to join the hunting team and go out with Xia Hong, including him.

When the hunting team brought back Teng Jiao prey last time, it had already spread. One prey was hundreds of contribution points. Let alone exchanging for cold beast meat, it was almost enough to exchange for two sets of clothes.

Of course, contribution points were only one aspect. With Xia Hong's high status in the hearts of everyone in the camp now, being able to go out with him was in itself a matter of great honor.

"The hunting team is no longer recruiting Woodcutting Realm cultivators. To get in, one must break through to the Earth-Digging Realm. I still have to seize the time to cultivate!"

Shi Ping secretly cheered himself up, walked downstairs quickly, and followed everyone to continue practicing archery.

"We don't need too many people. Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan just come with me. You four stay here, and we'll see if there's a situation."

Four hours later, not far from the north slope of the mountain wall.

Xia Hong signaled Zhao Long and the other four to stay where they were, put down the great axe on his back, and only took a bow and a quiver of arrows. He took Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan, who were dressed in the same attire, and the three of them carefully touched toward the north slope.

The three of them climbed up the slope on tiptoe and at the same time stretched their heads to look toward the top of the north slope.

At this look, the faces of the three all changed slightly.

"Moved?"

"It moved. It wasn't certain when we came to see last time, but this time it can be confirmed. It moved toward the mountain on the south side, probably by about a hundred meters. Look at that patch of grass on the north side. When we came before, it was covered by the Gnawing Rat pack, and we couldn't see it."

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, Xia Hong looked toward the grass patch and confirmed that the position occupied by the Gnawing Rat pack had really moved south by over a hundred meters. His expression immediately became a bit ugly.

In the previous ten days, he had already brought people here three times.

The purpose of coming here was naturally not just to get a few more Gnawing-Tooth Chisels. More importantly, it was to see if the Gnawing Rat pack had any movement.

He didn't pin his hopes on the Gnawing Rat pack leaving on its own, only hoping that the Gnawing Rat pack could remain motionless before he forged enough bows and arrows.

But now, this hope was also gone.

The valley was almost two kilometers away from here. The Gnawing Rat pack only moved this mere hundred meters, which naturally didn't count for much. What really made Xia Hong worry was the appearance of signs of such movement, which meant there were more unpredictable risks.

Why did they move? Did something go wrong?

Will they continue? Will the next move continue to the top of the mountain on the south side?

Today a hundred meters, will they move a kilometer tomorrow, or even two kilometers?

Did they move at night or during the day?

If this pack of Gnawing Rats discovered the valley during the day, even if they prepared a thousand bows and arrows, it would still be a dead end.

=9+Book_Bar

Several questions popped up in Xia Hong's mind, his expression changing repeatedly. He hurriedly interrupted his thoughts, and his heart immediately became much more urgent.

"Big brother, look over there!"

But before he could think clearly, Xia Chuan on the other side seemed to have seen something, his tone suddenly became incomparably heavy, signaling Xia Hong to look quickly.

Xia Hong hurriedly turned his head and looked in the direction he pointed.

At this look, his face immediately darkened to the extreme.

On one side of the north slope of the mountain wall, which was the direction Xia Chuan pointed, there were actually forty or fifty Gnawing Rats of various sizes.

That batch of Gnawing Rats was clearly much smaller in physique than the others. The largest was half a meter long, the hair on its body was sparse, and the barbs on its tail were also very short; the smallest was only twenty or thirty centimeters long. Because it was too far away, it wasn't very clear, and one could only see that they were flesh-colored, huddled together, extremely disgusting.

"These are Gnawing Rat cubs. It's been less than a month since we came over, and they actually started to breed, and the number, so many at once..."

This batch of Gnawing Rats totaled only three or four hundred. In just over a month, forty or fifty were born, and looking at their physique, they were growing quite fast. If this continued to breed, what would happen?

Luo Yuan's words made Xia Hong frown, and he even felt a bit horrified in his heart.

He knew the reproductive ability of rats.

"Let's go, there's no chance tonight. Let's go hunt Jiao first, the progress must be accelerated!"

There were no lone Gnawing Rats, so Xia Hong didn't waste any more time. After observing for a while, he took Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan down the north slope, then found Zhao Long and the other four, and together they ran quickly toward Red Wood Ridge.

The Gnawing Rat pack not only moved more than a hundred meters to the south.

Moreover, they had started to breed!

In Xia Hong's mind, there was only this thought.

The sense of urgency in his heart instantly rose to the extreme.

Originally, he had some sense of achievement for forging thirty-six iron-fetal bows in ten days, but after seeing the Gnawing Rat pack tonight, it was instantly shattered.

Not fast enough, still not fast enough.

The efficiency of bow-making must be improved again.

If they didn't solve this pack of Gnawing Rats quickly, if anything went wrong, it would be them coming to solve the Does Da Xia camp.

Xia Hong wasn't the only one who knew the seriousness of the situation.

Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and Zhao Long and the other four who learned the situation from the two of them all became nervous instantly.

"Search with all your might tonight. Hunt as many as you can. Try to get all the spine tendons we need in one go. After returning to the camp, we must improve the speed of bow-making. The situation is critical. During this period, the seven of us should try to rest as little as possible. We must forge the bows as quickly as possible. We must act in advance."

"Yes, leader!"

The six people who knew the seriousness of the situation hurriedly nodded and obeyed, their expressions full of solemnity and gravity, just like Xia Hong's.

The most difficult thing to deal with about Teng Jiao was the poisonous mist they sprayed. Because one could only hold on for half an hour after covering with a wet cloth, the hunting time had to be controlled within half an hour, and even to leave enough time for escape, it had to be as short as possible.

The time used had to be very short, which was the only difficulty.

After Xia Hong discovered that Teng Jiao saliva could alleviate the poisonous mist, there was basically no difficulty for the seven people to join forces to hunt Teng Jiao.

Xia Hong took the six people and searched crazily within a thousand-meter range. They hunted three Teng Jiao in a row and calculated that they could harvest over a hundred meters of spine tendons. He was still not satisfied and chose to take the six people to continue searching.

"We still have to leave enough time for mining. We probably won't have time to come out to hunt Jiao later. Try to do it once and for all. Find one more, kill it, and go back."

The six had no objections and followed Xia Hong to continue searching together.

Soon, two hours later, another Teng Jiao fell to the ground with a boom.

Xia Hong and the seven people successfully completed the task for tonight.

"Four Teng Jiao, according to the body length, can at least produce over 130 meters of spine tendons. The bowstring materials are already enough. The next task is to go all out for mining and bow-making."

Hearing Xia Hong's words, the six people who had fought all night immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, pack up, go to the position just now, bring the corpses of those three Teng Jiao, and let's go back."

Xia Hong signaled the six to pack up the prey, while he started to search carefully on the tree where the Teng Jiao had just occupied.

Soon, Xia Hong found a clump of saliva in the middle of the tree.

He used a leather bag to pack all the saliva. After weighing it, a smile immediately appeared on Xia Hong's face.

"Not bad, luck is good, there's over ten jin."

Including the previous three and the four tonight, Xia Hong had already hunted seven Teng Jiao, and he had basically figured out the pattern of Teng Jiao saliva production.

Although saliva is a secretion of Teng Jiao, there wouldn't be more than ten jin in its body. Xia Hong speculated that it should be that after a certain amount, the Teng Jiao would spit it out, and after spitting it out, it might evaporate very quickly.

Whether there is Teng Jiao saliva on the tree depends on luck. To be precise, it depends on whether the Teng Jiao that was hunted had secreted it recently.

Luck was pretty good tonight. Among the four Teng Jiao hunted, saliva was found on the trees occupied by two of them, totaling an estimated thirty-plus jin.

Adding the ones inside the four Teng Jiao's bodies, it should be about sixty jin in total.

"There's something!"

After Xia Hong collected the saliva, he searched carefully on the tree again and unexpectedly made a new discovery at the top of the tree.

At the top of the tree, there was actually a fruit the size of a fist.

Moreover, the smell of that fruit was extremely similar to Teng Jiao saliva.

"By the way, this tree doesn't seem to be an ordinary variety either."

Xia Hong took out a small knife to cut open the cold crystal outside the bark. As expected, the bark was actually green.

"Zhu Shuang, Jin Lin, Bing Shuo, Lan Yu, plus this one, five varieties of trees have already been discovered. Cut a piece and take it back to Cheng Feng, and let the gathering team pay attention."

Exploring tree varieties is supposed to be the business of the gathering team, but they are all Woodcutting Realm cultivators at present and cannot go deep into the inner perimeter. They can only find some precious vegetation outside, and there have been no new discoveries in tree varieties.

Having finally discovered a new variety of tree, Xia Hong naturally kept it in mind.

Of course, the fruit growing on the tree was the most important.

Xia Hong picked the fruit and put it into the leather bag. When he came down, Xia Chuan and the others had already brought the other three Teng Jiao prey over.

"Alright, let's set off and go back!"

The seven people soon returned to the camp with the four Teng Jiao.

Bringing back four Teng Jiao in one go, the shock of everyone in the camp could be imagined.

But soon, after Xia Hong told everyone about the movement of the Gnawing Rat pack on the north slope of the mountain wall, everyone immediately understood the purpose of Xia Hong's crazy Teng Jiao hunting.

It certainly wouldn't work for just the seven of them in the Earth-Digging Realm to become urgent.

Dealing with the Gnawing Rat pack couldn't just rely on the seven of them. Making so many bows was to let these Woodcutting Realm cultivators in the camp play a role.

Since that was the case, Xia Hong naturally didn't hide it from them.

"During this period, the seven of us will accelerate the progress of bow-making.

You can't help with hunting Jiao, mining, or making bows, so just go all out to improve your archery.

Pay attention yourselves, there isn't much time left. Once the number of bows and arrows is sufficient, I will take you to deal with the Gnawing Rat pack. I'll remind you in advance, if you don't practice hard now, when problems arise, it will be your own lives you lose. Do you all understand?"

"Understood, leader!"

Hearing Xia Hong's words, all one hundred-plus Woodcutting Realm cultivators in the camp answered in unison with solemn expressions.

"Alright, go and do your own things. Zhao Hu, Zhao Bao, and Yuan Cheng continue mining. Xia Chuan and the other two come with me to the smithy to make bows. Mu Dong, lead the people from the artisan workshop and stand by at any time.

In the next few days, anyone who participates in bow-making can only take turns resting. In short, people can rest, but bow-making cannot stop, unless the progress of mining cannot keep up. Do you all understand?"

"Understood, leader!"

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the other six, including Mu Dong and others who participated in bow-making, all answered in unison.

Seeing that everyone was full of drive, Xia Hong nodded with satisfaction and didn't talk nonsense anymore, directly taking the lead to go to the smithy on the second floor first.

Seeing this, the others went to mine if they were mining, went to practice bows if they were practicing bows, and those making bows also started to stand by...

Everyone quickly entered the state.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 124 =====