Chapter 161: Preparation, Arrival

In the first year of Da Xia, the sixteenth day of the third month, at midnight.

The mine shaft on the southern side of the valley.

Ding… ding… ding…

Forty or fifty men stood scattered throughout the mine shaft, swinging their rodent chisels; the clashing of chisels against iron ore echoed continuously, a scene of intense activity.

Everyone was bare-chested, beads of sweat glistening on their foreheads, streams of sweat pouring down their upper bodies, their pants nearly soaked through.

"Thank heaven Da Xia has no women who've broken through to Digging Earth Realm—otherwise, if they were dragged here to mine with us guys, it'd be quite the sight!"

As Tong Xinglong spoke, everyone kept working but instinctively turned to glance at each other; the sight made them burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, Old Tong, your pants are soaked through too!"

"Hahaha, you're still got energy after a full day's work!"

"We've been worn out since last night—who hasn't soaked their pants?"

"Phew… mining really is exhausting. Since last night, I've only mined eleven chunks, totaling barely four hundred jin. I used to think it'd be easy, seeing how Senior Xia Chuan and Senior Luo Yuan could dig over a thousand jin in a single day!"

"Can you compare? Seniors Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and Zhao Long all have base strength exceeding twenty thousand—double our mining efficiency is normal."

"The leader's strength is something else. On the fourth, when he came to collect iron ore, I saw him—he only struck twenty times, and a chunk of ore fell. I'd guess, if he mined himself, he'd get five or six thousand jin a day, maybe more."

"Ssshh… five or six thousand jin…"

Hearing this, everyone involuntarily drew a sharp breath.

All forty-plus of them had just broken through to Digging Earth Realm in the past half-month.

Their base strength had barely surpassed ten thousand; with rodent chisels, their daily iron ore output maxed out at around four hundred jin.

Five or six thousand jin a day was truly unimaginable to them.

"Actually, the ore we've mined so far is already more than enough. The leader said last night it was sufficient—so why did Senior Xia Chuan summon us all here so urgently?"

Bai Wuting spoke with confusion; the others nodded in agreement.

Since the mining competition began on the twenty-seventh of January, the camp's resource inflow had been astonishing.

Never mind the timber—over five hundred Timber Cutting Realm cultivators brought back at least ten thousand jin every night; in these past fifty days, even a rough estimate put timber collected at nearly three hundred thousand jin.

The timber leaderboard confirmed this roughly.

In this period, the large trees within five hundred meters of Red Wood Ridge had visibly thinned out, proving how frenzied their harvesting had been.

If not for the leader's special method of transferring resources elsewhere, the valley couldn't possibly hold so much timber.

The same applied to coal and iron ore.

Initially, only seventeen hunters existed, and they had to accompany Xia Hong on expeditions to hunt mid-tier cold beasts, leaving little time for mining—so early output was low.

But since the one-kilometer restriction began, their mining time increased, and over the past half-month, new Digging Earth Realm cultivators appeared daily, swelling the workforce.

Naturally, coal and iron ore inflow rose accordingly.

"Judging by the leaderboard, coal totals over thirty thousand jin, iron over sixty thousand jin—roughly six hundred thousand jin each. That's a lot."

Since the mining competition began, resource inflows had been clearly displayed on the leaderboards; after quick mental calculations, everyone confirmed Bai Wuting's assessment.

This only deepened their confusion.

The leader himself said breakthrough resources were sufficient; the camp's daily needs for coal, iron, and timber were surely covered.

Then why, last night, had Xia Chuan summoned them all to the mine shaft to mine iron like mad?

"What else could it be? With so many of us breaking into Digging Earth Realm, we need weapons—swords and bows—so he's got us mine iron fast, and that makes sense."

Xu An, standing to one side, couldn't help speaking up.

Hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.

That's right!

None of them had proper weapons yet.

"But wait—we have forty-six Digging Earth Realm cultivators, and more will break through today. One sword and one bow together use at most a thousand jin of iron ore; even if we count fifty people, that's only five or six ten thousand jin."

"Five or six ten thousand jin? The storage in the Supply Office already holds more than that—why make us work so hard?"

"There must be another purpose!"

Bai Wuting nodded, turning to his uncle Bai Dongying. "Uncle Dong, do you know what Senior Xia Chuan plans to use it for?"

Even as they spoke, all of them kept chiseling without pause.

Knowing Bai Dongying was head of the Timber Crew and likely better informed, everyone turned curiously to look.

Ding… ding… ding…

Bai Dongying frowned slightly, chiseling as he spoke with cautious speculation:

"I'm not certain, but I heard it's related to cold beasts—making weapons for us is one reason."

At the same time, Cheng Feng, captain of the Gathering Crew, couldn't help chiming in.

"It's said to reinforce the wooden huts—Mu Dong and a few craftsmen also broke through to Digging Earth Realm. Didn't you notice they didn't come to mine?"

Everyone instinctively scanned the crowd and realized Mu Dong and others were indeed absent.

Related to cold beasts.

Reinforcing wooden huts.

Linking the two, everyone's faces changed.

"Stop speculating wildly. If you've got time to guess, use it to mine more iron. Whatever Senior Xia Chuan's purpose, it's all for the camp's safety!"

Shi Ping, who had been silent until now, suddenly interrupted.

Hearing this, others' eyes flickered with thought, then nodded in agreement and returned fully to their mining.

Indeed, their curiosity changed nothing.

Iron ore's uses were clearly threefold:

One, to aid Leader Xia Hong's breakthrough; two, to forge weapons for us; three, to make camp tools and equipment.

Whatever Xia Chuan's goal, it ultimately served the camp's safety.

Besides, they weren't digging for free—every jin of iron ore mined was converted into contribution points, recorded to each person's account.

"Shi Ping, the iron ore upstairs is gone—collect and send it up quickly."

Just then, Lin Kai walked back into the mine shaft.

Shi Ping immediately dropped his chisel, grabbed his leather sack, and collected and recorded each man's iron ore before handing it directly to Lin Kai.

"Used up so fast? The last batch was over ten thousand jin—already gone?"

Hearing Shi Ping's question, Lin Kai shook his head, his face visibly weary. "Too many things to forge. The leader's ten-thousand-jin reserve in the Supply Office is exhausted. What you've mined won't be enough. I'll deliver this batch up, then come right back down—others from the Hunting Crew will join us too."

Ssshh…

The Supply Office's ten-thousand-jin iron ore reserve was gone.

The Hunting Crew was coming down to mine too!

What on earth were they forging upstairs?

Hearing Lin Kai's words, the miners' confusion deepened, and their chiseling slowed unconsciously.

"Senior Xia Chuan's order: from tonight, all external activities in the camp are suspended. Except for fifteen men left in the forge, all Digging Earth Realm cultivators must remain in the mine shaft to mine iron. No one may leave without his command—in short, mine iron with all your strength."

After speaking, Lin Kai didn't wait for reactions—he grabbed a sack of iron ore and hurried out of the mine shaft.

The others exchanged glances, faces betraying faint tension, then quickly returned to their frantic mining.

They knew only a little about the cold beasts outside, but from Cheng Feng and Bai Dongying's remarks, they could guess something.

Xia Chuan's urgency in making them mine iron, and keeping so many in the forge, must mean something.

Reinforcing the huts was clearly to defend against enemies.

The only enemies were cold beasts, strange entities, and the Mirror Immortal Camp.

Either one posed grave danger to Da Xia.

The last time the entire camp worked so desperately to mine and forge was against the rodent swarms on the northern slope of the cliff.

Less than three months have passed, and now new trouble has arisen.

Inside the mine shaft, tension tightened in everyone's hearts, and their chiseling speed increased.

………………

Xia Chuan had directly changed the one-kilometer restriction into a total ban on leaving the camp.

Even the five hundred meters beyond Red Wood Ridge were now off-limits.

This made not only the miners in the mine shaft, but everyone else in the camp, sense something was wrong.

Especially as batch after batch of iron ore was hauled to the forge, where the sound of hammering never ceased, day or night.

This only confirmed their suspicions.

Something unknown was happening.

At the very least, Xia Chuan had withheld something from them.

The atmosphere inside Da Xia Valley grew tense.

All Digging Earth Realm cultivators remained in the mine shaft, mining iron day and night;

The moment someone broke through to Digging Earth Realm on the third floor, they immediately took a rodent chisel and went to the southern mine shaft;

More and more Timber Cutting Realm cultivators were summoned to assist in the forge;

Those not assigned to the forge received orders from Xia Chuan to move all timber from both sides of the valley and pile it around the wooden huts…

All signs pointed to a major event imminent!

Especially Xia Chuan's final order—clearly suggesting the camp was about to face a great enemy.

Cold beasts? Strange entities? Or the Mirror Immortal Camp?

Even Da Xia's five- or six-year-old children knew the camp's only enemies were these three—and suddenly, everyone began speculating.

Of course, during this process, his mood naturally grew heavier.

…………

First Year of Great Xia, March 17

"Could it really be a cold beast? Could it be a high-level cold beast?"

On the north side of the valley, Lin Wan propped up a massive log at an angle and spoke to Shi Lu with a worried expression.

Shi Lu shook her head upon hearing this and murmured, "Unlikely. My brother told me that the strongest cold beast ever seen within Redwood Ridge was only mid-level. They've never even had contact with high-level ones—how could one suddenly appear in camp?"

Remembering that Lin Wan's husband and younger brother were both in the hunting team, Shi Lu continued:

"Sister Wan, don't your husband and younger brother know anything?"

Thinking of her husband Yue Feng and younger brother Lin Kai, Lin Wan's expression grew even more anxious:

"Since the night before last, they haven't returned home. At first, they stayed in the forge, but later Lin Kai went with several others to mine. When I asked them, they wouldn't say a word…"

"My husband's the same—he's been in the forge since the night before last. My brother went into the mine to mine iron, and he hasn't come out yet either."

Hearing Shi Lu's words, Lin Wan suddenly remembered that her husband Yuan Cheng and her husband Yue Feng were both in the same hunting team.

"After nightfall, I saw Mu Dong and many others hauling out countless iron lumps and thick chains from the forge, placing them at the four corners of the wooden house, then bringing out a massive iron door to replace the original one.

They've reinforced the wooden house with so much iron and piled up wood all around us—this clearly means they're preparing for cold beasts. But I can't figure out what kind of cold beast would require such extreme precautions."

Though Lin Wan was a woman and only at the Woodcutting Realm, since both her husband and younger brother were in the hunting team, she knew more than most others.

The camp normally used firepits, congealed fire oil, and torches to deal with strange entities. This time, using so much iron to reinforce the house and piling so much wood around it strongly suggests they're preparing for cold beasts.

Yet precisely because of this, she was even more confused.

According to her husband and younger brother, high-level cold beasts were beyond their reach, and mid-level ones couldn't possibly threaten the camp.

There was no need to prepare this way against Mirror Immortal Camp. On previous returns, Yue Feng had personally said that Xia Hong's power was enough to intimidate Mirror Immortal Camp—they'd never dare come to them.

The recent reduction in camp activity was merely to accumulate strength; once enough people reached Earth-Digging Realm, Mirror Immortal Camp would be no threat.

"Could it possibly be those rodents coming back again?"

Lin Wan and Shi Lu weren't the only ones puzzled—everyone else in camp felt the same. But due to their limited strength and understanding, most could only guess it was for cold beasts.

Even guessing rodents was already quite good.

Only a very few, those who knew about the recent disappearance of cold beasts beyond Redwood Ridge, combined with Xia Chuan's recent orders, quietly formed a terrifying suspicion.

Of course, upon reaching this terrifying guess, they also immediately understood why Xia Chuan hadn't revealed it.

Realizing this, they all unanimously chose silence.

………………

First Year of Great Xia, March 18, nearing nightfall

Clang… Clang… Clang…

=9+Book_Ba

On the second floor, inside the forge, the sound of hammering never ceased.

Fifteen people were divided into three groups, each surrounding a furnace, gripping iron hammers to strike the iron ingots together.

Zhao Long's group of five forged arrows.

Nearby, over a hundred Woodcutting Realm cultivators were helping melt arrow blanks and sharpen arrowheads, so efficiency was highest—arrows were being produced in batches.

Luo Yuan and Mu Dong's group of five forged iron-bodied bows.

Luo Yuan led three Earth-Digging Realm cultivators hammering the bow frames, while Mu Dong, beside them, oversaw over a dozen Woodcutting Realm cultivators assembling and tuning bowstrings. Already beside Mu Dong stood forty or fifty iron-bodied bows; one was clearly larger than the others, and its bowstring differed in color—not fully transparent, but faintly streaked with white.

Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng's group forged a long, narrow iron ingot—its shape remained unrecognizable before completion.

Beside them, over fifty Woodcutting Realm cultivators squatted on the ground, each holding a large knife, continuously sharpening it—clearly also for edge work.

Whether the fifteen forging or the others assisting, all were drenched in sweat.

Though their faces showed exhaustion, every expression was utterly focused. Except for occasional sweat stinging their eyes, prompting a quick wipe, no one made any unnecessary movement.

Thump-thump-thump…

A hurried footstep sounded outside. Shi Ping rushed in and placed a sack of iron ore beside Xia Chuan.

"How many jin?"

"Half a day's haul—twelve thousand four hundred jin total."

Hearing Shi Ping's answer, Xia Chuan didn't stop his hammering, only calculated briefly before speaking: "Send it all to Zhao Long. Use it all for arrows."

"Yes, my lord!"

Shi Ping carried the ore to Zhao Long's side, then immediately returned.

"My lord, the wood from both sides of the valley has been piled entirely around the house, stacked in diagonal crisscross fashion as you ordered. Special iron spikes have been driven into the outermost perimeter and roof, and the roof of the wooden house has been fitted too.

Additionally, the outer walls and wooden house have been covered with a layer of Tengjiao hide. I've informed everyone."

"The entire valley now has only one narrow passage for single-file entry and exit—ready to be sealed at any moment."

Hearing this, Xia Chuan immediately turned to look at Luo Yuan's side.

More precisely, he looked at Mu Dong, who was tuning the bowstrings.

Mu Dong noticed Xia Chuan's questioning gaze and nodded immediately: "My lord, rest assured—I led men last night to reinforce the wooden walls with iron!"

Hearing this, Xia Chuan finally relaxed, then turned to Shi Ping:

"Over these two days, have others in camp been talking a lot?"

Shi Ping nodded, speaking gravely: "Everyone senses something's up. They're uncertain, but a few have guessed it's for a large number of cold beasts. Still, they know you're not certain, so they haven't spread rumors."

Hearing this, Xia Chuan shook his head slightly, a flicker of worry in his pupils.

He wasn't deliberately hiding it from others—he simply didn't know whether the disappearance of cold beasts was connected to the strange entity in Mirror Immortal Camp.

In such matters, it was better to believe it might be true than to ignore it.

After all, if there truly was a connection, it would be a major problem.

Preparations had to be made.

But whether to loudly announce it was another matter entirely.

If he announced it and it turned out false, it would cause needless panic.

If he didn't announce it, preparations still proceeded—no real difference.

"I hope it's not true. The leader's still in seclusion with no sign of emerging. It's inappropriate to disturb him over something uncertain.

We'll continue our preparations. If the cold beasts' disappearance is just an accident, treat this as a trial for the camp. All this iron ore was going to be mined anyway—this is just an early start."

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, Shi Ping turned to look at the many weapons already forged inside the house, nodding with renewed vigor.

"That's true—this already exceeds expectations, doesn't it?"

"We've forged forty-nine iron-bodied bows. How many Earth-Digging Realm breakthroughs have we had recently? Just over fifty?"

"We still need more bows, but we already forged fifty-two great knives last night—plenty more than enough, heh."

"You stand there talking big—can you compare forging knives to forging bows? If you've got guts, you forge the bows and I'll forge the knives—see who's faster!"

The banter between Yuan Cheng and Luo Yuan lightened the forge's heavy atmosphere.

Xia Chuan didn't rebuke them. After two days of exhaustion, everyone truly needed to relax.

From March 15 to March 18, these three days, from the initial seventeen, to these fifteen, nearly everyone had been forging.

Exhausting as it was, the results were astonishing.

Besides the forty-nine ten-stone iron-bodied bows, fifty-two great knives, and the arrows still being forged, all the iron used to reinforce the wooden house and walls had been completed within these three days.

Of course, forging so much couldn't be done by just fifteen people.

Fortunately, Great Xia now had ample Earth-Digging Realm cultivators, and more were joining the forging efforts.

As with the previous rodent swarm, during the first three days, whenever mining outpaced forging—when iron ore piled up—every Earth-Digging Realm cultivator in the mine came up to help; when the opposite happened, they returned to mining.

Thus, they accomplished what seemed impossible.

"Thickened wooden walls, reinforced house, Tengjiao venom sacs, plus the endless stream of iron-bodied bows and great knives—everything necessary has been prepared. This is what Brother said: do your utmost. Now it's fate's turn!"

Xia Chuan took a deep breath and resumed hammering the long, narrow iron ingot.

Hearing him, the others in the room also set aside idle chatter and returned to their hammering.

The ceaseless sound of forging once again filled the room, echoing throughout the wooden house.

The forge's activity had continued for three days; everyone was already accustomed to it.

Night had not yet fallen—over an hour remained until darkness. Outside, the sky was still bright. Aside from the Earth-Digging Realm cultivators still in the mine and the nearly two hundred busy in the forge, most others in camp still slept.

After half an hour of continuous hammering, seeing the long iron ingot nearly take shape, Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the other four on their team couldn't help but show a flicker of excitement.

"My lord—something's happened!"

Just as Xia Chuan prepared to strike the final blow and complete the ingot, someone rushed in, face pale with urgency.

"Third floor—the marker stone has reacted!"

"Keep forging. Don't stop. I'll go check."

Hearing this, Xia Chuan's expression changed drastically. He dropped his polishing hammer, gave a brief instruction, then rushed upstairs with the man.

The main hall on the third floor was a training ground, where many were currently cultivating. Seeing Xia Chuan arrive, they all bowed.

But Xia Chuan had no time for them—he merely waved and followed Shi Ping to the center.

In the center of the hall stood a half-meter-long rhombus-shaped jade.

Four corners of the jade emitted a faint glow. On its transparent surface, a fan-shaped region displayed over thirty glowing red dots, with more appearing continuously.

"My lord, these past few days, besides cultivating, I've watched this marker stone nonstop. Just now, a single red dot suddenly appeared, then another every few minutes—now there are over thirty, and they're still increasing!"

Tong Xingsheng looked puzzled. His brother had broken through to Earth-Digging Realm ten days ago, filling him with envy. He'd planned to break through himself on the third floor, but Xia Chuan suddenly assigned him a task: monitor changes in the rhombus jade.

What kind of change could a jade stone possibly have?

Though confused, Tong Xingsheng naturally obeyed Xia Chuan's orders—and the unusually serious tone of the command made him take it even more seriously.

He could only cultivate while keeping his eyes on the jade, constantly monitoring its changes.

Today, the changes finally appeared.

Seeing Xia Chuan's terrified expression, he immediately realized the jade's transformation was likely tied to Xia Chuan's recent frantic mining and forging.

After staring for days at the fan-shaped region on the diamond-shaped jade, Tong Xingsheng had begun to suspect it represented the area one kilometer outside the encampment.

If the fan-shaped region was the encampment, then those red dots couldn't be…

As Tong Xingsheng's face turned pale, the diamond-shaped jade changed again.

Dozens more red dots suddenly surged in the lower west.

The upper side had arrived too.

No, it wasn't over.

Red dots along the edge of the fan-shaped region kept multiplying nonstop, rising from hundreds to thousands in moments, with no sign of slowing.

Worse, those red dots were already moving toward the east.

"Go warn everyone in the mine—get them all back!"

"Wake everyone up! Wake everyone up, now!"

Xia Chuan's face darkened with alarm; he gave Tong Xingsheng an order, then turned to the training ground and barked commands to the group.

Tong Xingsheng had already guessed the truth—he didn't wait for further instruction and rushed downstairs.

The trainees on the training ground froze for a moment, then snapped to attention, halting their cultivation and sprinting downward.

Finally, he turned toward Xia Hong's door, hesitated two steps forward, then clenched his teeth and stopped.

Boom… boom… boom…

Just then, a thunderous tremor shook the ground.

Xia Chuan snapped his head toward the west, toward the valley's edge, swallowed hard, and bolted downstairs.

It was daytime—no doubt about it.

The beast tide had truly arrived!

He hadn't been wrong.

The strange entity at Mirror Immortal Encampment had indeed commanded the cold beasts to assault the encampment.

Though he'd prepared thoroughly, the sight of hundreds of red dots on the marker stone, coupled with the violent shaking of the wooden hut, made his heart tremble.

Xia Chuan's heart still quaked uncontrollably.

"What's shaking?"

"What's going on with all this noise?"

"Why did they pull us out of the mine during the day?"

…………

The commotion was too great, and with the trainees spreading out to warn everyone, most of those asleep soon woke up.

(End of Chapter)