Chapter 161

First Year of Does Da Xia, March 16th, midnight

South mine of the valley.

Ding... ding... ding...

Forty or fifty people were scattered throughout the mine, wielding gnawing chisels. The sound of chisels striking iron ore was continuous, a scene of bustling activity.

Everyone was shirtless, sweat beading on their foreheads, sweat streaming down their upper bodies, and their pants were almost soaked through with sweat.

"It's fortunate that in our Does Da Xia now, no women have broken through to the Earth-Digging Realm. If they were also brought here to mine with us men, that would be interesting!"

As soon as Tong Xinglong spoke, although everyone didn't stop their movements, they subconsciously turned their heads to look at others. Seeing this, they all couldn't help but laugh.

"Hahahaha, Old Tong, aren't your own pants soaked too."

"Hahaha, tired for a day, you still have energy."

"We've all been tired from last night until now, whose pants aren't soaked through?"

"Hoo... this mining is indeed tiring. From last night until now, I've only mined eleven pieces, totaling only four hundred jin or so. Previously, seeing Lords Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan mining over a thousand jin a day, I thought it was very easy!"

"Can it be the same? Lords Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and Zhao Long all have basic strength over twenty thousand, so it's normal for their mining efficiency to be double ours."

"The leader's is even higher. On the night of the fourth, he came to the mine to collect iron ore. I saw it; he only chiseled twenty-something times, and a piece of iron ore fell off. I estimate that if the leader mines himself, it might be over five or six thousand jin a day."

"Hiss, five or six thousand jin..."

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but gasp.

The forty-plus of them had all broken through to the Earth-Digging Realm in the previous half-month.

Their basic strength had just broken ten thousand, and currently using gnawing chisels, their daily iron mining volume was at most four hundred jin.

Five or six thousand jin a day was indeed unimaginable for them.

"Actually, the ore collected over the past period is already enough. When the leader came to collect iron ore last night, he also said it was enough. Why did Lord Xia Chuan call us all to mine last night, and why was it so urgent?"

Bai Wuting's tone was somewhat confused, and the others nodded upon hearing this.

Since the mining competition started on January 27th, the camp's intake of various resources had been very astonishing.

Not to mention timber, with over five hundred Woodcutting Realm fighters, they brought back at least ten thousand jin every night. In the previous fifty days, just a simple calculation showed they had collected at least nearly 300,000 points of timber resources.

Looking at the ranking on the timber list, it was indeed about that much.

During the previous period, the large trees within five hundred meters of the outer perimeter of Red Wood Ridge were visibly decreasing, showing their crazy mining drive.

If the leader didn't have special means to convert resources to other places, the valley wouldn't even be able to store so much timber.

Timber was like this, and so were coal and iron mines.

Previously, there were only seventeen people in the hunting team, and they had to go out with Xia Hong to hunt mid-level cold beasts, so mining time was insufficient, and the early mining volume was indeed not large.

But with the start of the one-kilometer ban, their mining time increased, and in the following half-month, new Earth-Digging Realm fighters appeared every day, so more people were mining.

As a result, the intake of coal and iron mines naturally rose with the tide.

"Just looking at the leaderboard, the coal mine should have totaled over 30,000 points during this period, and the iron mine is even more, over 60,000 points. Converting it, that's over 600,000 jin, which is indeed quite a lot."

Since the mining competition started, the intake of various resources in the settlement was very clear through the leaderboard. Everyone made a rough estimate in their hearts and soon confirmed Bai Wuting's statement.

As a result, they couldn't help but be even more confused.

The leader said the breakthrough resources were already enough, and the coal, iron, and timber needed for the camp's daily use must also be sufficient.

Since that's the case, why did Xia Chuan call them all to the mine last night to mine iron ore for their lives?

"What other reason could there be? With so many of us breaking through to the Earth-Digging Realm, just making broadswords and bows requires iron ore. Calling us to hurry up and mine iron naturally makes sense."

Xu An on the side couldn't help but speak up at this moment.

Hearing this, everyone's eyes brightened.

That's right!

Those of them who had broken through to the Earth-Digging Realm didn't have matching weapons yet.

"That's not right either. There are forty-six of us in the Earth-Digging Realm, and more should break through today. One broadsword and one bow, totaling the iron ore consumed, would be at most a thousand jin. Even calculating for fifty people, it's only fifty or sixty thousand jin."

"Fifty or sixty thousand jin, the iron ore stored in the camp supply office is already more than that. Why do we need to mine it so painstakingly?"

"There must be other uses!"

Bai Wuting nodded, turned to look at his uncle Bai Dongying beside him, and asked: "Uncle Dong, do you know what Lord Xia Chuan wants to use it for?"

Speaking was one thing, but whether it was Bai Wuting or others, their chiseling movements didn't stop while discussing.

Thinking that Bai Dongying was the captain of the logging team, his information must be better than theirs, so everyone curiously turned to look.

Ding... ding... ding...

Bai Dongying's brows furrowed slightly, and while digging, he spoke with a bit of speculation:

"I'm not very clear either, but I heard it has to do with cold beasts. Making weapons for us is also one of the purposes."

Cheng Feng, the captain of the gathering team on the other side, couldn't help but speak up at this moment.

"It seems to be for reinforcing the wooden houses. Mu Dong and a few people in the craftsman workshop also broke through to the Earth-Digging Realm. Didn't you notice they didn't come to mine?"

Everyone subconsciously looked at the crowd and found that Mu Dong and the others were indeed not there.

It has to do with cold beasts.

Reinforcing wooden houses.

Connecting these two things, everyone's expressions changed.

"Don't speculate wildly. If you have time to guess here, you might as well spend your energy mining more iron ore. No matter what purpose Lord Xia Chuan has, it is always for the safety of the camp!"

Shi Ping, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up and interrupted everyone.

Hearing this, a trace of thought flashed in the eyes of the others, and they immediately showed agreement, continuing to devote themselves to mining wholeheartedly.

Indeed, their curiosity couldn't change anything.

Iron ore currently seems to have only three uses:

One is to help the leader Xia Hong break through; one is to forge the weapons they need; and another is to forge various tools and utensils for the camp.

No matter what Xia Chuan's purpose is, it is ultimately for the camp's safety.

Besides, they aren't mining for free; the iron ore collected will be converted into contribution points and recorded in everyone's account.

"Shi Ping, the iron ore upstairs is exhausted, hurry up and collect it to send up."

Just then, Lin Kai walked in from outside the mine again.

Hearing this, Shi Ping hurriedly put down the chisel, took off the leather bag, recorded and collected the iron ore mined by everyone in turn, and handed it directly to Lin Kai.

"Used so quickly, the previous batch of over ten thousand jin is all used up?"

Hearing Shi Ping's inquiry, Lin Kai shook his head, his face showing visible fatigue, and said: "There are too many things to forge. The 100,000 jin reserve the leader left in the supply office is already used up. This bit of yours is not enough at all. I'll send this batch of iron ore up and come down immediately. The rest of the hunting team will also come down to mine together."

Hiss...

The camp supply office's 100,000 jin iron ore reserve is all used up.

The hunting team members are also coming down to mine!

What on earth are they forging upstairs?

Hearing Lin Kai's words, the confusion on the faces of the people in the mine deepened, and their movements slowed down unconsciously.

"Lord Xia Chuan has ordered that starting from tonight, all outdoor activities of the camp will be stopped. Except for fifteen people left in the blacksmith shop, all other Earth-Digging Realm fighters will stay in the mine to mine iron. Without his order, no one is allowed to leave without authorization. In short, mine iron with all your might."

After Lin Kai finished speaking, he didn't care about the crowd's reaction and hurried out of the mine with a bag of iron ore.

The others looked at each other for a while, a trace of tension appearing on their faces, and soon they threw themselves into intense mining again.

They only knew a little about the situation of the cold beasts in the outer perimeter, but based on what Cheng Feng and Bai Dongying said, they could roughly guess a little.

Xia Chuan was so anxious to let them mine iron and left so many people in the blacksmith shop; there must be a reason.

Reinforcing wooden houses must be to defend against enemies.

The current enemies, besides cold beasts and strange monsters, are the Mirror Immortal camp.

No matter which one it is, it is very dangerous for Does Da Xia.

The last time the whole camp mined iron and forged so desperately was for the gnawing rat group on the north slope of the mountain wall.

Less than three months have passed, and a new situation has arisen again.

The people in the mine couldn't help but tense up, and their mining movements accelerated continuously.

………………

The original one-kilometer ban was directly changed to stopping all outdoor activities by Xia Chuan.

Even the five hundred meters in the outer perimeter of Red Wood Ridge could not be visited.

Now, not to mention the Earth-Digging Realm fighters mining iron in the mine, even the rest of the camp felt something was wrong.

Especially as batches of iron ore were sent from the mine to the blacksmith shop, the forging sounds inside continued day and night, almost never stopping.

As a result, everyone confirmed it even more.

There must be some situation they didn't know about.

At the very least, Xia Chuan had something he didn't explain clearly to them.

The atmosphere in the Does Da Xia valley suddenly became tense.

All Earth-Digging Realm fighters stayed in the mine and didn't come out, mining iron day and night;

Once someone on the third floor broke through to the Earth-Digging Realm, they immediately took a gnawing chisel and went to the south mine;

More and more Woodcutting Realm fighters were summoned to the blacksmith shop to help;

The remaining Woodcutting Realm fighters also received Xia Chuan's order to move all the timber on both sides of the valley to the surroundings of the wooden houses and pile them up...

Various signs indicated that something big was about to happen!

Especially Xia Chuan's last order, it was not hard to guess that the camp was likely to face a major enemy.

Cold beasts, strange monsters, or the Mirror Immortal camp?

Even a five or six-year-old child in Does Da Xia knew that the enemies the camp was currently facing were these three. Suddenly, everyone started to speculate.

Of course, in this process, their moods naturally became heavier.

…………

First Year of Does Da Xia, March 17th

"Cold beasts? That shouldn't be it, right? Could it be high-level cold beasts?"

On the north side of the valley, Lin Wan set up a giant log diagonally and spoke to Shi Lu beside her with a worried look.

Hearing this, Shi Lu shook her head and whispered: "It shouldn't be. I heard my brother say before that the most powerful ones seen in Red Wood Ridge so far are only mid-level. High-level cold beasts, they don't even have a chance to come into contact with them, so how could they suddenly break into the camp..."

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

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

Thinking of her husband Watching Yue Feng and younger brother Lin Kai, Lin Wan's expression became even more worried:

"Since the night before last, they haven't returned home. At first, they stayed in the blacksmith shop, and later Lin Kai and others went to mine together. When asked, they didn't say anything..."

"Mine is the same; he has stayed in the blacksmith shop since the day before yesterday, and my brother also went to the mine to mine iron and hasn't come out yet."

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

"After nightfall, I saw Mu Dong take many people to move many iron lumps and thick chains out of the blacksmith shop, install them at the four corners of the wooden houses, and even take out a large iron gate to replace the original one.

Using so much iron to reinforce the wooden houses and asking us to move timber to block the surroundings, looking at this posture, it must be to defend against cold beasts. I just don't know what kind of cold beasts require such a battle-ready posture."

Although Lin Wan was a woman and her strength was only in the Woodcutting Realm, her husband and brother were both in the hunting team, so she knew more than others.

The camp used fire furnaces, Condensing Fire Oil, and torches to deal with strange monsters. This time, spending so much iron to reinforce the wooden houses and piling so much timber around them was likely to deal with cold beasts.

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

According to her husband and brother, they couldn't come into contact with high-level cold beasts, and mid-level cold beasts certainly couldn't threaten the camp.

Dealing with people from the Mirror Immortal camp was even less necessary to do this. When they returned several times before, Watching Yue Feng had personally said that Xia Hong's strength was enough to deter the Mirror Immortal camp, and they certainly wouldn't dare to take the initiative to come to the door.

Shrinking the camp's activity range during this period was just to accumulate strength. Once the number of Earth-Digging Realm fighters rose, the Mirror Immortal camp would be nothing to fear.

"It wouldn't be that the gnawing rat group is back, right?"

It wasn't just Lin Wan and Shi Lu who had such confusion; the rest of the camp was the same. But limited by strength and cognition, most people could only speculate on the result of defending against cold beasts.

Being able to reach the result of the gnawing rat group was actually quite good.

Only a very small number of people who knew about the recent disappearance of cold beasts on the outer perimeter of Red Wood Ridge, combined with Xia Chuan's orders over the past two days, had a terrifying guess vaguely rising in their hearts.

Of course, while reaching this terrifying guess, they also immediately understood why Xia Chuan didn't say it publicly.

After realizing this point, they also unanimously upheld the principle of silence.

………………

First Year of Does Da Xia, March 18th, near nightfall

Clang... clang... clang...

=9+Book_Bar

On the second floor, in the blacksmith shop, the forging sounds were endless.

Fifteen people were divided into three groups, each surrounding a fire furnace, all holding hammers and cooperating to strike the iron embryos on the furnace.

Zhao Long's group of five was forging arrows.

There were also over a hundred Woodcutting Realm fighters on the side helping to melt arrow embryos and grind arrow tips, so the efficiency was the fastest, and arrows were produced in batches;

Luo Yuan and Mu Dong's group of five was forging iron-fetal bows.

Luo Yuan led three Earth-Digging Realm fighters to forge the bow frames, while Mu Dong led over ten Woodcutting Realm fighters on the side to assemble and adjust the bowstrings. It could be seen that there were already forty or fifty iron-fetal bows placed beside Mu Dong, one of which was clearly a size larger than the others, and the bowstring color was also different, not completely transparent, but mixed with a hint of white in the transparency;

Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng's group was forging a long, narrow iron embryo. Before it took shape, it was impossible to tell what it was.

But beside them, there were over fifty Woodcutting Realm fighters squatting on the ground, each holding a broadsword and constantly grinding, clearly sharpening them.

Whether it was the fifteen people forging or the Woodcutting Realm fighters helping on the side, at this moment, without exception, they were all drenched in sweat.

Although their faces were full of fatigue, everyone's expression was focused to the extreme. Except for occasionally wiping sweat when it seeped into their eye sockets, there were no other unnecessary movements.

Thump thump thump...

A burst of hurried footsteps came from outside the door. Shi Ping walked in hurriedly and placed a bag of iron ore beside Xia Chuan.

"How many jin?"

"Half a day's amount, totaling over twelve thousand four hundred jin."

Hearing Shi Ping's answer, Xia Chuan didn't stop his movements, only calculated for a while and immediately said: "Send it to Zhao Long's side, use it all to make arrows."

"Yes, my lord!"

Shi Ping sent the iron ore to Zhao Long's side and immediately returned.

"My lord, the timber on both sides of the valley has all been piled around the houses. As you said, we used a diagonal cross method to build wooden walls; special iron thorns were inserted at the outermost perimeter and the top, and the top of the wooden houses was also installed.

In addition, the outer perimeter of the wooden walls and wooden houses has been covered with a layer of rattan dragon skin, and everyone has been instructed.

The entire valley now only has a small opening for a single person to enter and exit, which can be sealed at any time."

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

To be precise, it was Mu Dong who was adjusting the bowstrings beside him.

Mu Dong noticed Xia Chuan's inquiring gaze and immediately nodded, saying: "My lord, rest assured, last night I already led people to reinforce the wooden wall structure with iron materials!"

Hearing this, Xia Chuan showed a relieved expression and turned to look at Shi Ping:

"Over the past two days, there has been quite a lot of discussion among others in the camp, right?"

Shi Ping nodded and said in a deep voice: "With such big movements, everyone probably has an idea, but they are just not sure. A few people have guessed that it is to defend against a large number of cold beasts, but they should also know that you, my lord, are not sure, so they didn't go around talking about it."

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

Of course, he wasn't deliberately hiding it from the others; the key was that he himself wasn't sure whether the disappearance of the cold beasts had anything to do with the strange monster behind the Mirror Immortal camp.

For such matters, one must naturally uphold the principle of better safe than sorry.

After all, once there is truly a connection, it is a big problem.

Preparatory work must be done.

But whether to publicize it widely is another question.

If it's said out loud and it turns out not to be true, making everyone have a false alarm, it's unnecessary.

If it's not said out loud and the preparatory work is still done, the difference is not big.

"I also hope it's not true. The leader hasn't moved since he went into seclusion, so it's inappropriate to disturb him for uncertain matters.

We will just do the preparatory work. If the disappearance of the cold beasts is purely an accident, then treat this time as a trial for the camp. These iron ores have to be mined anyway; it's just advanced."

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, Shi Ping turned to look at the many weapons and iron tools already forged in the wooden house, nodding with excitement.

"That's for sure, it's almost exceeded, right?"

"We have already forged forty-nine iron-fetal bows. How many Earth-Digging Realm fighters have broken through recently? Just over fifty, right?"

"Bows are not enough. We forged fifty-two broadswords last night, which was already more than enough, hehe."

"You kid, standing and talking doesn't hurt your back. Can forging swords compare to forging bows? If you have the ability, come forge bows, and I'll go forge swords to see who is faster!"

Yuan Cheng and Luo Yuan's bickering made the blacksmith shop less dull.

Xia Chuan didn't stop them either. Everyone who had been tired for two days indeed needed to relax their nerves at this moment.

From March 15th to March 18th, during these three days, from the initial seventeen people to the fifteen of them later, almost everyone was forging.

Tired as they were, the results were undoubtedly astonishing.

In addition to the forty-nine ten-stone iron-fetal bows in front of them, fifty-two broadswords, and the iron arrows being forged, as well as various iron materials used to reinforce the wooden houses and wooden walls, all were completed within these three days.

Forging so many things certainly couldn't rely on just the fifteen of them.

Fortunately, Does Da Xia currently has sufficient Earth-Digging Realm fighters, and more and more people can participate in forging.

Just like the gnawing rat group incident, for the first three days, as long as the mining speed exceeded the forging speed, that is, iron ore overflowed, the Earth-Digging Realm fighters in the mine would all come up to help; and if the situation was the opposite, the Earth-Digging Realm fighters would go down to mine.

As a result, they really completed an almost impossible task.

"Thickened wooden walls, reinforced wooden houses, Rattan Dragon poison sacs, plus the iron-fetal bows and broadswords forged continuously now, the preparations that should be made should have been made. This is what big brother said: do human efforts, and then listen to heaven's will!"

Xia Chuan took a deep breath and continued to forge the long, narrow iron embryo on the furnace.

As he started, the others in the room also put away their chatting mood and threw themselves back into forging.

The endless forging sounds resounded through the room again, transmitted to all parts of the wooden house.

The activity in the blacksmith shop had lasted for three days, and everyone was long used to it.

At this time, it was not yet nightfall, and there was still more than an hour before dark. The sky outside was bright. Except for the Earth-Digging Realm fighters left in the mine and the nearly two hundred people busy in the blacksmith shop, most of the rest of the camp were still immersed in dreams.

After forging continuously for half an hour, seeing that the long, narrow iron embryo in his hand was about to take shape, Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the other five couldn't help but show a trace of excitement.

"My lord, something happened!"

Just as Xia Chuan was preparing to make a final effort to forge the iron embryo, someone suddenly walked in from outside the door with a look of urgency.

"The third floor, the marker stone on the third floor has reacted!"

"You continue forging, don't stop, I'll go take a look."

Hearing this, Xia Chuan's expression changed drastically. He dropped the grinding hammer, instructed the others, and immediately took the person and rushed to the third floor.

The main hall on the third floor is the martial arts field. At this moment, quite a few people were cultivating inside. Seeing Xia Chuan come up, they saluted one after another.

It's a pity Xia Chuan had no intention to pay attention to them, only waving his hand and walking to the center with Shi Ping.

In the center of the main hall stood a half-meter-long diamond-shaped jade stone.

The four corners of the jade stone were emitting a fluorescent light. On the transparent mirror surface in the middle, there was a fan-shaped area. In the middle part of the west side of that area, there were already over thirty glowing red dots, and more were being added continuously.

"My lord, besides cultivating, I have been staring at this marker stone for the past few days. Just now, a red dot suddenly appeared, and then a new one would appear every few minutes. So far, there are already over thirty, and they are still increasing!"

Tong Xingsheng's expression was somewhat puzzled. His big brother broke through to the Earth-Digging Realm ten days ago, which made him very envious. He originally planned to break through in one go on the third floor, but Xia Chuan suddenly gave him a task, which was to observe the changes in this diamond-shaped jade stone.

A jade stone, what changes could it have?

Although Tong Xingsheng was puzzled, he naturally had to listen to Xia Chuan's order. Plus, with Xia Chuan's unusually serious tone when giving the instruction, he took it even more seriously.

He could only stare at the jade stone while cultivating, observing the changes at any time.

Today, it really changed.

Seeing Xia Chuan's horrified expression at this moment, he immediately realized that the change in this jade stone was probably related to Xia Chuan's urgency in mining and forging during this period.

Staring at the fan-shaped area on the diamond-shaped jade stone for several days, Tong Xingsheng had already guessed that it should represent the one-kilometer area on the outer perimeter of the camp.

The fan-shaped area is the settlement, so the red dots, wouldn't they represent...

Just as Tong Xingsheng's expression changed in horror, the diamond-shaped jade stone changed again.

Below the west side, dozens of red dots suddenly surged.

Above, they also came.

No, it's not over yet.

The red dots on the edge of the fan-shaped area increased continuously, soon surging from over a hundred to several hundred, and there was not the slightest sign of slowing down.

Even more terrifying was that those red dots had already started to approach the east side.

"Hurry up and notify the people in the mine to all come back!"

"Go wake everyone up, go wake everyone up, hurry!"

Xia Chuan's expression changed in horror. He instructed Tong Xingsheng, then turned to look at the people in the martial arts field and gave the order directly.

Tong Xingsheng had already vaguely guessed it. When Xia Chuan spoke, he immediately went downstairs.

The people in the martial arts field were stunned for a moment, but soon reacted, all stopping their cultivation and running toward the bottom quickly.

Finally, he turned to look at the entrance of Xia Hong's room, hesitated, took two steps forward, but ultimately gritted his teeth and stopped.

Thump thump thump... thump thump thump...

Just at this moment, a earth-shaking sound came from the ground.

Xia Chuan suddenly looked up toward the west, the direction outside the valley, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and rushed downstairs quickly.

It is daytime now, without a doubt.

The beast tide has truly arrived!

He really didn't guess wrong.

That strange monster in the Mirror Immortal camp really controlled the cold beasts to attack the settlement.

Although sufficient preparations had been made, thinking of the hundreds and thousands of red dots on the marker stone and feeling the violent shaking of the wooden house at this moment.

Xia Chuan's heart was still trembling uncontrollably.

"What is shaking?"

"Such a big movement, what's wrong?"

"Why did they call us back from the mine during the day."

…………

This movement was really too big, plus the people in the martial arts field dispersed to notify everywhere, most of the people immersed in dreams soon woke up.

(End of chapter)