Chapter 142: Resource Gap, Camp Changes [Three-in-One]

"Leader, is it very difficult to break through to the Frost-Resistant level?"

"Leader, is it very difficult to break through to the Frost-Resistant level?"

Xia Chuan asked twice in a row before Xia Hong came back to his senses. Seeing the curious eyes of the crowd, he didn't hide anything and told them the method of breaking through to the Frost-Resistant level.

Of course, it was the normal method of using a small amount of cold beast blood, not being able to use a hundred jin at once like him. These people didn't have a system like him.

"Use a small amount, then Leader, you this..."

Hearing the method Xia Hong said, Luo Yuan immediately showed confusion and pointed to the large wooden barrel in the room.

The others also reacted, their expressions the same as his.

Xia Hong just said that one can only use a small amount of cold beast blood at a time. Once the amount is too large, a normal person simply cannot persist through the pain.

Then how does his use of over a hundred jin this time count?

Xia Hong didn't know how to explain it to the crowd. He couldn't tell them directly about the system. After thinking for a moment, he said: "My physique is different from ordinary people. When you reach the thirty-thousand-jin limit and try cold beast blood, you will know."

Although the crowd was full of confusion, seeing that Xia Hong clearly didn't want to say more, they didn't continue to ask.

Xia Hong's mind was still full of five thousand jin of beast blood, as well as the massive resource gap generated together, but in the end, he could only smile bitterly twice, sighing with helplessness in his heart.

He didn't know the blood content in other mid-level cold beasts.

But calculating based on the Snow-Mane hunted last night, one Snow-Mane yields sixty-some jin of blood. Five thousand jin of beast blood requires at least eighty mid-level cold beasts.

Eighty-some, mid-level cold beasts?

Using over a hundred jin of beast blood at a time consumes one hundred thousand units of wood, five thousand iron, and eight thousand coal. Calculating comprehensively like this, if the resource consumption each time doesn't change afterward, it means that for him to break through to the Frost-Resistant level, such resource consumption will have to come...

Fifty times?

"I thought that starting to break through would make people feel easier, but it turned out that a bigger resource gap appeared. This is simply..."

Xia Hong didn't know what to say. Looking at the bone-chilling cold sunlight outside the window, he couldn't stop shaking his head, full of helplessness.

The breakthrough to the Frost-Resistant level is much more difficult than he expected, and the time it takes is clearly a lot.

However...

Xia Hong clenched his fists tightly, his heart vibrating slightly. Looking at his fists, a look of brilliance gradually appeared in his eyes.

"Correspondingly, the improvement in base strength is also very terrifying!"

He turned his head slightly, saw Xia Chuan and the others at the door hadn't left yet, and were all looking at him curiously. His heart moved slightly. He walked to the side of the room, picked up the double-edged giant axe leaning against the wall with one hand lightly.

Picking up this giant axe with one hand is nothing. The base strength of Xia Chuan and the others is all over ten thousand jin. Picking it up with one hand is not difficult.

But the problem is, the double-edged giant axe weighing two thousand eight hundred jin felt as light as nothing in Xia Hong's hands. He not only picked it up with one hand but even grabbed the axe handle and waved it wantonly in the room.

Whew... whew... whew...

The whistling wind sound made by the axe blade rubbing against the air immediately filled the entire room. The powerful potential energy caused by the waving of the giant axe caused the wooden floor to shake violently.

Several times, when the axe blade was about to touch the floor, everyone couldn't help but hold their breath, fearing that if this axe went down, the third-floor floor would crack directly.

Although it was a one-handed axe swing, every hacking movement Xia Hong made erupted with powerful potential energy, which was enough to drive the airflow in the entire room to move wildly.

"The Leader's casual axe, I'm afraid I couldn't even catch it..."

Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and everyone else, hit on the cheeks by the airflow brought out by the giant axe, couldn't help but have this thought in their hearts.

After a long time, Xia Hong finally put down the giant axe and stopped.

After putting down the giant axe, he didn't even take a breath.

"The increase should be two thousand five hundred jin. This is only two percent progress. If the entire skin-membrane reshaping stage is completed, what level will my base strength rise to..."

No need to measure strength. Xia Hong clenched his fists slightly. By sensing the changes in qi-muscle, he could accurately know how much his base strength was.

"Xia Chuan fifteen thousand, Luo Yuan fourteen thousand, Zhao Long thirteen thousand..."

Not just himself, Xia Hong looked back at Xia Chuan and the others. Just by observing their qi-muscle movements slightly, he could accurately perceive how much their base strength was.

"After reshaping the skin-membrane, the perception ability has also been greatly improved, especially the perception of biological qi-muscle changes."

Discovering that reshaping the skin-membrane also has this help, Xia Hong was overjoyed.

This is not a useless function. Previously, when hunting, he could only confirm the strength of the prey by fighting. Now, there is no need to fight at all, just observe. This not only saves trouble but also avoids many risks.

Suddenly, thinking of something, Xia Hong looked at Xia Chuan and asked:

"By the way, the essence blood of that Snow-Mane..."

As soon as Xia Hong mentioned essence blood, Xia Chuan knew what he was going to ask. Before he could finish, he responded immediately.

"Leader, don't worry. When processing the prey three days ago, the essence blood had already been taken, and the Wooden Dummy had been used to record it. I had already instructed Tong Xinglong and the other three before that, from now on, any new species of prey brought back must be done like this."

Xia Hong nodded upon hearing this, and his heart felt relieved immediately.

No, it wasn't just relieved.

In Xia Hong's eyes, there were even a few traces of excitement.

Three days ago, when he brought back that Snow-Mane, he was anxious to try cold beast blood and forgot about the Wooden Dummy recording essence blood. Fortunately, Xia Chuan was now very familiar with the functions of camp buildings, so he could handle these things without his instruction.

The base strength of a mid-level Snow-Mane should be around ninety to one hundred thousand jin. Without ironware, there is absolutely no possibility for humans to hunt it with bare hands.

Judging from the progress of his own skin-membrane reshaping, the base strength of the Frost-Resistant level should be over one hundred thousand jin. Wanting to hunt mid-level cold beasts alone, it is estimated that only the Frost-Resistant level can

This meant that the wooden dummy, which could transform into a mid-level snow mane, could be used as a Frost-Resistant Realm expert within the radiation range of the iron-smelting furnace.

Setting aside his own breakthrough, the biggest gain from this hunt should be the change in the wooden dummy.

"Moreover, unlike cold beasts, the wooden dummy will not be exhausted as long as enough coal is provided. At the same time, it is a system building, so there is a high probability that it cannot be damaged. This means that..."

The Great Xia Camp had gained a mid-level snow mane that was hardworking, tireless, could not be damaged by external forces, and possessed strength comparable to a Frost-Resistant Realm expert!

Xia Hong's expression grew more excited, and he checked the description of the wooden dummy:

Wooden Dummy (Level 1): Cultivation tool. Activate by adding coal to significantly increase cultivation speed and increase martial arts insights.

Special Function 1: Can record cold beast breeds through essence blood, transform into any cold beast, and exert the strength of that cold beast in its adult stage.

Special Function 2: Can follow instructions and fight autonomously when activated within the radiation range of the iron-smelting furnace.

Consumption: 5 coal per hour.

Upgrade conditions: 3000 wood, 6000 iron.

Seeing the upgrade conditions for the wooden dummy at the very end, Xia Hong was immediately moved.

3000 wood was naturally nothing, and 6000 units of iron converted to iron ore was 60,000 jin. At the camp's current mining speed, it would only take about seven or eight days of full-effort mining to be nearly there.

"Upgrading the wooden dummy should bring quite a few surprises!"

Thinking of the huge improvement in functions after the small fire pit was upgraded to an iron-smelting furnace, Xia Hong felt a few more expectations for the upgrade of the wooden dummy.

In fact, if it hadn't been for the accident caused by this breakthrough, Xia Hong had intended to upgrade not just the wooden dummy, but also the medicine-decocting pot, the grinding stone, and the iron-smelting furnace—all three buildings.

Including the green bamboo fence, marker stone, and yellow land—the three buildings that could be unlocked with just wood, coal, and iron—he had been prepared to get them all.

"In the current situation, I have to do it. Looking at the functional changes after upgrading from a small fire pit to an iron-smelting furnace, at the very least, the wooden dummy must be the first to be upgraded!"

What was imminent right now was the unpredictable risk brought by the Mirror Immortal Camp.

Although he had let Director Yu Wen Tao go, Xia Hong's guard against this Mirror Immortal Camp had not relaxed at all. Whether Director Yu Wen Tao's words were true or false remained to be seen; the biggest reason Xia Hong let him go was that he did not want to have a major conflict with the Mirror Immortal Camp.

After all, the Mirror Immortal was a giant camp with over ten thousand people, presided over by Frost-Resistant Realm experts. Although Xia Hong had spoken harsh words to Director Yu Wen Tao, he knew in his heart that the effect of those words would certainly be minimal.

In a world like the Frozen Abyss, it was destined that no matter where one was, the principle of "the strong are respected" would be practiced. It was like this between people, and it must be the same between two camps.

But he couldn't *not* speak harshly either. From the behavior of He Meng's group actively testing them during their first encounter in the Arrow Bamboo Forest, and that arrogant and domineering posture, it could be seen that if Xia Hong had yielded or shown even a hint of cowardice, the final outcome would definitely have been miserable.

Xia Hong, who had the system, was destined never to be able to lead the people of Great Xia to merge into other camps, no matter what.

Thinking about it this way, it was better to be tough and keep the other party guessing, so as to buy more time. That was why Xia Hong had let Director Yu Wen Tao go and told him to take a message back.

Buying time then was for the sake of the breakthrough.

Xia Hong had originally anticipated that as long as he broke through to the Frost-Resistant Realm, coupled with the functions of the system buildings, the threat of the Mirror Immortal Camp would naturally be solved.

It was just a pity he hadn't expected that the process of breaking through to the Frost-Resistant Realm would be so cumbersome.

Not only was the process cumbersome, but the resources required were also astronomical.

A breakthrough in a short period of time was certainly impossible.

Since that was the case, he could only pin his hopes on the system buildings.

Previously, resources were severely insufficient, and coupled with the pressure of the gnawing rat swarm, almost all the camp's coal and iron had been poured into that.

But now it was different. Even without counting Xia Hong, with fifteen Earth-Digging Realm members, if they mined at full capacity, they could get 12,000 coal and 6,000 iron a day. As long as they saved up for a period of time, they could upgrade all the buildings.

"Upgrade the wooden dummy first. If that doesn't work, there are other buildings. Solving the threat brought by the Mirror Immortal Camp shouldn't be difficult. Resources must continue to be mined, and hunting mid-level cold beasts cannot stop!"

In fact, the wooden dummy, which could transform into a mid-level snow mane, could already be considered a disguised solution to the threat brought by the Mirror Immortal Camp.

If it were true, as Director Yu Wen Tao said, that the Mirror Immortal Camp had two Frost-Resistant Realm experts, even if they really found the Great Xia base, the wooden dummy would likely be enough to give them a hard time, not to mention that the camp had so many people and so many iron tools. "They wouldn't bring everyone from the Mirror Immortal Camp across the Arrow Bamboo Forest to the Red Wood Ridge side to attack the Great Xia base, would they?"

Thinking of this, Xia Hong shook his head slightly and immediately ruled out this possibility.

In the Frozen Abyss world, moving a large number of people was not a wise move, let alone going to an unfamiliar area. At the very least, the strength of this Mirror Immortal Camp was not enough to make them do so.

This could be seen from the two experiences of dealing with them.

He Meng's group had fifteen people in total, who originally should have only been active in the Arrow Bamboo Forest; they only came out after being startled by the gnawing rat swarm.

Director Yu Wen Tao's group had a few more, over twenty, but the problem was that they had lost quite a few people in order to hunt that demon sheep.

From these two times, it could be seen that the Mirror Immortal Camp was very unfamiliar with the situation on the Red Wood Ridge side, so the number of people they sent out each time was very small, and they were all elites from the Earth-Digging Realm hunting teams.

Moreover, the two sides didn't have any deep hatred. The gnawing rat swarm incident was clearly He Meng looking for trouble. The only dispute currently existing was the ownership of the territory of Lu Shang's camp.

"The best case is that the harsh words I had Director Yu Wen Tao take back worked, and the other side can be honest for a while and really not come to the Red Wood Ridge side. But this possibility..."

Xia Hong shook his head; this possibility was almost non-existent.

=9+Book_Bar

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Mirror Immortal Camp will ignore my words. Their people will still continue to enter Red Wood Ridge to hunt, and even judging by the personality He Meng showed before, it is very likely that they will continue to cross the boundary, create conflicts, and extract greater benefits from Great Xia.

After all, their strength is right there..."

The strong are respected; this "respect" doesn't just refer to status.

Xia Hong frowned slightly, and after thinking for a moment, he quickly made a decision in his heart.

"Avoid them. Don't worry about Lu Shang's territory for now. Mine resources at full capacity and upgrade the buildings. At the very least, ensure the safety of the base. Secondly, the progress of my own breakthrough must also be accelerated."

Upgrading buildings could at most ensure the safety of the base, but he couldn't just shrink into the camp and not go out. If he wanted to drive the people of the Mirror Immortal Camp out of Red Wood Ridge completely, he still had to speak with strength.

Clarifying his thoughts, Xia Hong turned his head, only to find that except for Xia Chuan, everyone else had already left.

"Where are the others?"

"Provoked by you, Big Brother, they've all gone to get busy—some to cultivate, some to mine."

"Hiss..."

Xia Hong was smiling and about to answer when a bone-chilling cold suddenly came from his skin.

Looking down at his skin, which had begun to turn blue, Xia Hong hurriedly closed the window and then put on his clothes.

Since he hadn't successfully broken through to the Frost-Resistant Realm, he naturally couldn't stay in the sunlight for long. From the moment he opened the window just now until now, it seemed like a long time, but in reality, only five or six minutes had passed.

With two percent progress in reshaping the skin-membrane, staying for five or six minutes—calculating this way, when the skin-membrane progress was exactly one hundred percent complete, he would be able to stay for the full four hours of daylight.

Xia Hong calculated this result in his heart. Through the gap in the window that hadn't been fully closed, he glanced at the sky outside, a strange look appearing on his face.

How was this like it had been calculated? Could there be some connection between the sun and the human body?

With his current strength, it was naturally impossible to understand such a complex problem. Since he couldn't figure it out, he stopped thinking about it, turned to something else, and asked Xia Chuan:

"By the way, how are the injuries of Zou Yuankai and Zhu Shun?"

Previously, when hunting that mid-level snow mane, the snow mane had played dead at the end and shot out the barbs covering its back. In fact, everyone had been injured at the time, but Zhu Shun and Zou Yuankai were the unlucky ones; each had been pierced through the body by a barb and had fainted directly.

Now that three days had passed, he didn't know how their injuries were.

"Zhu Shun's situation is a bit better. He was pierced through the leg by a barb. It's still a bit inconvenient for him to walk at the moment; it should take another three to five days. Zou Yuankai's piercing position was in the waist, and the situation is more serious. He is still lying down, and judging by the situation, he won't be able to get up for half a month."

A heavy look appeared on Xia Hong's face. Although the physical fitness of humans in the Frozen Abyss world far exceeded that of ordinary people, and their self-healing ability increased exponentially after reaching the Woodcutting and Earth-Digging Realms, they couldn't withstand the fact that the cold beasts were even stronger!

Whenever they went out, they would inevitably come back injured. This was the case for the gathering teams and woodcutting teams, and the situation for the hunting teams was especially serious.

More importantly, at the moment, besides the gold-wound powder, the camp had no other means of treatment. No matter how serious the injury was, they could only apply the gold-wound powder and wait for self-healing.

Even for himself, the scar on his face from the gnawing rat's tail hadn't completely recovered yet, and it was estimated that it would take some time.

"By the way, notify Cheng Feng that the gathering team can enter the area beyond five hundred meters of Red Wood Ridge to search for more medicinal materials. In addition, since coal is now sufficient, take all the prey harvested by the camp to the medicine-decocting pot to identify them and see if more medicinal formulas can be synthesized. Relying entirely on self-healing when injured won't work!"

Xia Chuan nodded, thought of something, and said: "By the way, Big Brother, I have already started expanding the gathering team and the woodcutting team."

Only then did Xia Hong remember that he had previously ruled that the woodcutting team would only take 80 people and the gathering team would only take 40. Now that there were more and more people in the Woodcutting Realm in the camp, and the artisan workshop and camp supply station couldn't use that many people, it was indeed time to expand.

"By the way, how many people are in the Woodcutting Realm in the camp now?"

Hearing this question, Xia Chuan immediately became spirited and answered excitedly:

"312!"

Hearing this question, Xia Hong was subconsciously startled as well.

If he remembered correctly, around the 20th, when he was forging the ten-stone iron-fetal bow in the blacksmith shop, he heard it was 283. Only seven days had passed, and there were 29 more.

"The speed is still increasing. The Woodcutting Realm has no threshold to begin with. The first batch of people who broke through were all around twenty years old, and basically all of them have broken through.

Those who are breaking through now are considered the second batch, mostly aged fifteen to eighteen, as well as those over twenty-five. This batch of people has just started. I estimate that in less than a month, they should all be able to break through. By then, the total number of people in the Woodcutting Realm will probably reach over 500."

Hearing this, Xia Hong couldn't help but show an excited look on his face.

Over five hundred people in the Woodcutting Realm—a year ago, in the cave on the dirt slope, they probably wouldn't have even dared to think about it, but now, it was about to become a reality.

Although the Woodcutting Realm couldn't hunt, gathering and woodcutting were equally important to the camp. At critical moments, the Woodcutting Realm could also exert huge effects, such as the gnawing rat swarm incident last time.

"By the way, have any new Earth-Digging Realm members appeared?"

Of course, compared to the Woodcutting Realm, Xia Hong was more concerned about whether anyone had broken through to the Earth-Digging Realm, but clearly, his expectations were a bit out of reach.

Xia Chuan shook his head slightly and answered: "Not yet, but I have already observed that Cheng Feng, Bai Dongying, Bai Wuting, Lin Kai, Lu Sheng, Xu Ning, and Lu Yang—these seven people all have a basic strength of over nine thousand jin. They are considered the first tier. If nothing unexpected happens, they should be the first seven to break through.

The second tier below them is not as strong, with the highest being only seven thousand-plus jin. To break through, it is estimated that it will take another two months or so."

Hearing the names of the seven people in the first tier, Xia Hong showed a look of surprise.

The first four were all Woodcutting Realm members from the former Luo Ge camp and had a foundation, so it wasn't strange that they broke through quickly. However, the three brothers Xu Ning, Lu Yang, and Lin Kai surprised him a bit.

All three were among the earliest batch of Woodcutting Realm members in Great Xia. It wasn't anything strange that their strength improved quickly, but being able to squeeze into the same tier as the first four was not simple.

Xia Chuan clearly read the surprise on Xia Hong's face and said with a smile: "It's not just Lin Kai and these three. Big Brother, do you know how many of the earliest batch of Great Xia people are among the three hundred-plus Woodcutting Realm members now?"

Xia Hong shook his head, a trace of confusion appearing on his face.

"72!"

This number made Xia Hong slightly stunned, and then he showed an expression of disbelief, saying: "You mean, except for those who are too young, they have all broken through to the Woodcutting Realm?"

Xia Hong hadn't forgotten that after the disaster, Great Xia only had 154 people left. Excluding the 76 who were too young, there were 78 left. Excluding himself and subtracting the five from the hunting team, there were exactly 72 left.

Xia Chuan chuckled and nodded.

"With you, Big Brother, leading the way, they don't dare to slack off at all. I have watched these people; their drive to cultivate is much crazier than others. It is thanks to this group of people leading the way that the others have followed suit, which is why there have been so many Woodcutting Realm breakthroughs during this period."

…………

Unexpectedly, it was still the role he played. Xia Hong was speechless for a while and shook his head, but he immediately understood in his heart.

As the earliest batch of people in Great Xia, with Xia Hong as their leader, they all carried a sense of superiority to some extent. Superiority, after all, had to fall back on strength. The drive of these people to cultivate was naturally more frantic than others.

"That's good too. Being able to drive others to cultivate is not bad!"

Xia Hong pondered for a moment. The Earth-Digging Realm wouldn't increase in the short term, so they could only wait step by step. This kind of thing couldn't be rushed.

Since he couldn't wait, he would prepare for other things first.

"You are responsible for the expansion of the gathering team and the woodcutting team; I won't ask anymore. Notify Bai Dongying that from now on, unless there are special circumstances, all members of the woodcutting team must go out every night to improve the woodcutting speed to the greatest extent."

"Big Brother, do you need a large amount of wood resources?"

Xia Chuan immediately heard the subtext. Xia Hong needing resources was not a strange thing in the camp. Buildings appearing out of thin air, and every time he touched wood, iron ore, or coal, those materials would disappear directly—all kinds of signs could be seen.

"Yes, not just wood, but iron and coal—I need them, a lot, a lot. This relates to how fast I break through to the Frost-Resistant Realm..."

Speaking of this, Xia Hong paused and continued:

"The task of the woodcutting team will be doubled. If there are no special circumstances, the people in the gathering team will also go woodcutting together.

In addition, starting today, the hunting team will stop hunting low-level cold beasts and go out once every three days, with me leading the team personally to hunt mid-level cold beasts. All other time will be used to mine coal and iron.

Just do it this way until I break through to the Frost-Resistant Realm!"

Hearing that resources were related to how fast Xia Hong broke through to the Frost-Resistant Realm, Xia Chuan's expression became solemn, and he began to brew in his heart how to improve the efficiency of everyone extracting resources. Until Xia Hong finished the last sentence, he nodded, a look of approval appearing on his face.

The threat of the Mirror Immortal Camp was right in front of them. Xia Hong breaking through to the Frost-Resistant Realm was the most important thing for Great Xia at the moment. He believed that whether it was him or others in the camp, they could all realize this.

"Alright, you notify them first, starting from now. Notify me when Zhu Shun and Zou Yuankai's injuries are healed."

"Yes, Big Brother!"

(End of chapter)