Chapter 164: Who told you the furnace needs people to light it?

The reason why humans can't withstand the low temperature during the day.

The main reason is sunlight.

The sun in the Frigid World clearly has problems.

The light it shines contains bone-chilling cold.

Ordinary human skin-membranes simply cannot resist it. As long as they stand in the sunlight, it won't take a few breaths for the skin-membranes to be pierced by the cold light, and the blood in the body will be frozen accordingly. The final outcome is to turn into ice sculptures to welcome death.

Sleeping during the day and coming out at night is applicable to all humans who haven't broken through to the cold-resistant level.

The strange monster behind the Mirror Immortal camp chose to create this cold beast tide at the time of nightfall, and its intention was already very clear.

Forcing them to extinguish the fire of the iron-smelting furnace, and then waiting for nightfall, the Earth-Digging Realm cultivators under the Mirror Immortal camp could come over.

"Knowing that the fire source of the iron-smelting furnace can attract cold beasts, then you should also know the function of torches quite well!"

Although the effect of the cyan bamboo fence was strong and successfully blocked the first wave of low-level cold beast impacts, the problem was that the number of cold beasts was really too many.

Not counting the dozens that climbed to the second floor along the wooden wall, the cold beasts that rushed in from all four sides of the first floor were at least nearly four hundred. The number that fell in front of the cyan bamboo fence sharp thorns was at most fifty or sixty.

With just a glance, Xia Chuan roughly inferred that there were at least three hundred more cold beasts rushing toward them after crossing the cyan bamboo fence.

At this number, whether it was low-level or medium-level, the difference was not big.

Relying on these dozen Earth-Digging Realm cultivators and five hundred Woodcutting Realm cultivators, let alone blocking them, as soon as the two sides came into contact, this group of people would be crushed into slag instantly.

Xia Chuan turned his head and looked around the wooden house, his expression gloomy to the extreme.

After the five hundred or so Woodcutting Realm cultivators on the first floor let go of the iron chains, the walls on all four sides of the entire wooden house had already been collapsed by the cold beasts;

The battle between the four medium-level cold beasts and the wooden dummies had destroyed the interior of the wooden house even more beyond recognition; the second floor had also been riddled with holes by the cold beasts that drilled in earlier.

At this moment, the entire wooden house only had the stairs in the central main hall and the space of more than ten meters around it that were still maintained without collapsing, but it was basically crumbling and on the verge of collapse.

"Shi Ping, extinguish the fire first, then light it again!"

At the critical moment, Xia Chuan raised his head and shouted at the upstairs.

On the second floor, Shi Ping, who was blocking a frost wolf with all his might, changed his expression upon hearing Xia Chuan's voice.

"You go up first, I'll hold on here!"

A broadsword slashed across from the right. Luo Yuan, regardless of the snow-maned beast still chasing him from behind, slashed at the frost wolf in front of Shi Ping, and spoke sharply, signaling him to go upstairs first.

"Alright!"

Seeing that he was in danger while fighting one against two, Shi Ping knew that this was not the time to be soft-hearted. He gritted his teeth, stepped on the shattered wooden stairs directly, and climbed to the third floor.

The entire wooden house, only the middle part of the third floor main hall was still relatively complete, but the main structure was already crumbling, and even if it wasn't ravaged by cold beasts, it started to shake constantly, and many parts had already started to crack and collapse.

In the middle of the third-floor main hall, four or five hundred children gathered together. Lin Wan, Shi Lu, and some Woodcutting Realm women in the camp stood on the periphery, protecting the children in the middle. Shi Ping went up to the third floor, and everyone looked at him nervously.

"Brother Shi Ping, will we die?"

On the outermost periphery, Luo An, who was only six years old, although his expression was also nervous, protected the people inside like a little adult. Seeing Shi Ping, he couldn't help but ask crisply.

It was a pity that Shi Ping didn't have the heart to pay attention to him at all. He rushed to the fire furnace in the center in one step, took off his clothes, and quickly extinguished the flames.

Then he took out the iron-core bow that had been hanging on his back, and while walking toward the west side, shouted loudly: "Don't be afraid, none of us will die!"

Luo An, Zou Ping, and the rest of the children heard Shi Ping's voice, and hope appeared on their faces instantly.

And the adult women on the periphery, Lin Wan and Shi Lu, were not as simple as them, just pretending to show a smile, their eyes were still full of despair.

Many of those holding infants even started to sob lowly.

The moment the iron-smelting furnace was extinguished.

Inside the entire wooden house, the madness of all low-level cold beasts disappeared instantly.

"This cold beast, it doesn't seem as fierce as just now!"

"It's night, they will naturally become weaker at night."

"No, not just this, they seem... not to look upstairs anymore."

Luo Yuan and the others who were entangled with cold beasts in the main hall on the second floor felt it most deeply.

Especially Luo Yuan, he had already turned over and ridden on the back of a frost wolf. Although the frost wolf had been slashed by him several times, it still dragged its injuries and rushed to the stairs.

But just now, the frost wolf seemed to have crashed, and the action of rushing upward stopped abruptly. Following that, it gave up going upstairs, turned around, and focused on fighting him.

"It should be the iron-smelting furnace, it was extinguished!"

Luo Yuan felt a glimmer of hope in his heart, slashed his broadsword into the spine of that frost wolf, turned his head to look outside the west side of the valley, his eyes full of expectation.

"Go upstairs, go upstairs first!"

The moment the iron-smelting furnace was extinguished, Xia Chuan on the first floor also clearly perceived it.

The reason was very simple. The three hundred or so cold beasts that had already crossed the cyan bamboo fence also suddenly crashed for a while. The madness in their eyes clearly decreased a lot, and their eyes all shifted from the roof to this group of people.

The fire of the iron-smelting furnace was extinguished, and their target naturally became people.

Everyone heard Xia Chuan's voice and rushed to the stairs quickly, but after all, there were five hundred or so people, so no matter how fast they were, it was impossible for them all to go up at once.

And at this time, the cold beasts that had just crashed for a while rushed toward them again.

"Separate, protect the stairs, guard for a while, just for a while!"

Xia Chuan gave an order to the twelve Earth-Digging Realm cultivators, Yuan Cheng and Yue Feng, and he blocked the west side of the stairs directly.

The others also quickly dispersed, surrounding the five hundred or so people who were going up the stairs in the middle, resisting the few cold beasts that had already rushed over from the periphery.

One must know that Luo Yuan on the second floor, leading fifty or so Earth-Digging Realm cultivators, only guarded dozens of low-level cold beasts, and it was already extremely difficult.

And on the first floor, on Xia Chuan's side, counting himself, there were only thirteen people.

But the cold beasts rushing toward them were three or four hundred.

How could this be guarded!

A snow-maned beast hit Xia Chuan's chest violently, and the long sharp fangs pierced through his right shoulder directly.

Xia Chuan's eyes went dark. Noticing that the snow-maned beast was opening its mouth and sticking out its tongue at him, his hands moved slightly, and transparent silk threads flew out from his hands instantly, binding the long tongue the snow-maned beast had just stuck out, and then pulled it to the side.

Although the snow-maned beast was pulled away, his right shoulder could no longer exert force.

Xia Chuan gritted his teeth, changed the broadsword in his hand to his left hand, and slashed horizontally at the blood-red mouth of the snow-maned beast that hadn't closed yet.

The snow-maned beast's mouth was slashed open directly, the wound extended to the back of its head, and its body was also slashed and flew out for three or four meters under the strong force of this sword.

After killing the snow-maned beast with one sword, Xia Chuan's expression didn't relax, but became even more nervous.

Only because the cold beasts had already surrounded them tightly.

On the other side, Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, and the other ten Earth-Digging Realm cultivators were all surrounded by cold beasts. Not only was his shoulder pierced by the snow-maned beast, but the bodies of the others also appeared with injuries, and basically, they were all heavier than his.

But those five hundred or so Woodcutting Realm cultivators, only half had gone up the stairs.

Those on the periphery who hadn't gone up were already helping them deal with those cold beasts, but they only had Woodcutting Realm strength, and the damage caused to the cold beasts was minimal, at most playing a role of delay.

The situation was precarious. Xia Chuan raised his head directly and roared at the third floor:

"Why isn't it ready yet, where is the fire? Where is the fire? Shi Ping, what are you doing!"

Boom...

At the same time he roared, on the west side of the wooden house, that is, outside the valley entrance, a loud noise suddenly occurred.

Outside the west side of the valley, a flame pillar with a diameter of five or six meters suddenly rose into the sky, rushing all the way up to a height of a hundred meters.

The moment the flames rose into the sky, all the low-level cold beasts inside and outside the wooden house had their pupils shrink suddenly. Just like the look when they drilled into the wooden house and looked at the iron-smelting furnace earlier, their eyes all looked toward the flames in an instant.

"Roar..."

On the second floor, a magic sheep that was fighting with Luo Yuan suddenly shook its head, pushed him away with its sharp horns, then turned its head directly to look at the flames outside the valley, its eyes instantly bloodshot. Then, regardless of anything else, it leaped down from the wooden house and rushed toward that side.

This magic sheep was just a microcosm. On the second floor, on the first floor, all the cold beasts abandoned the entanglement with Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and the others in an instant, and all rushed toward the flame pillar on the west side of the valley one after another.

On the third floor, at the west end, Shi Ping still had the bowstring pulled and hadn't reset. Looking at the flame pillar three or four hundred meters away, noticing that all the low-level cold beasts in the wooden house were rushing out, extreme ecstasy appeared in his eyes.

"Lord, the Lord's method really worked, hahahahaha, the cold beasts are gone, the cold beasts are all gone!"

Taking the opportunity to loudly notify everyone in the house, Shi Ping also completely vented the emotions in his heart.

From the beginning of the cold beast tide, he had always been the one responsible for the iron-smelting furnace. Whether it was shooting arrows in the corridor with Xia Chuan earlier, or guarding the stairs with Luo Yuan in the middle, his attention was always on the iron-smelting furnace.

He did forget about the wooden dummy earlier when he took the initiative to prompt Xia Chuan to extinguish the fire, but the more important reason was that he knew that on that big tree outside the west side of the valley, there was a backup left by Xia Chuan in advance.

Outside the west side of the valley, that flame pillar more than a hundred meters away was a tree.

The difference was that that tree was covered with small torches produced by the system.

"Hahahahahaha, good, good, good!"

Xia Chuan on the first floor saw the cold beasts that were fierce just now, and at this moment, they were rushing westward like a tide. He laughed heartily, said three "good"s in a row, and the nerves that had been tense for more than an hour finally relaxed.

Three days ago, when a large number of cold beasts disappeared, from the moment he had a premonition that the strange monster behind the Mirror Immortal camp was going to make a fuss about the cold beasts, Xia Chuan had already started making preparations in advance.

Relying on Great Xia's current strength, wanting to block a cold beast tide head-on, there was no possibility at all.

Using wood to pile up and thicken the periphery, using iron to reinforce the wooden house, moving the cyan bamboo fence into the house... relying on these, it was also wishful thinking.

Driving the cold beast tide away or guiding it away was the only feasible method.

Just like the gnawing rat group on the north slope of the mountain wall earlier, strictly speaking, the final method used was also driving away, not confrontation.

Coincidentally at this time, Xia Chuan noticed a big tree with a diameter of more than five meters about a hundred meters outside the valley.

The Mirror Immortal camp created this cold beast tide, nothing more than forcing them to extinguish the fire of the iron-smelting furnace. Since that was the case, then follow the plan, and while extinguishing the fire of the iron-smelting furnace, start another fire to lure all the cold beasts away.

More than ten thousand torches used up almost half of the inventory of the camp supply office.

This fire was really worth it!

The cold beasts retreated, next, it should be...

Bang!

Xia Chuan just put away the joy on his face, his expression just condensed, and a loud noise came from overhead.

He looked up and his expression froze instantly.

Teng Jiao, snow-maned beast, magic sheep, frost wolf, four medium-level cold beasts, actually rushed up from all four directions, surrounding everyone in the middle of the main hall.

"Forgot, these four medium-level cold beasts are controlled!"

Just now Xia Chuan noticed that the moment the iron-smelting furnace fire was extinguished, the eyes of the four medium-level cold beasts clearly recovered from the white fluid-like state to normal blood red.

At this moment, their eyes looked completely indistinguishable from normal cold beasts, but unexpectedly, these four medium-level cold beasts were not attracted by the flames outside the west side of the valley, but stared fixedly at the group of people in the main hall.

"Shi Ping, light the fire!"

Around the wooden house, any cold beast that could move had already retreated and gone to find the big tree covered with torches outside the west side. It should be no problem to light the iron-smelting furnace for a while now.

Xia Chuan shouted at Shi Ping to light the fire, worried that he wouldn't understand what he meant, and rushed upstairs quickly.

"Extinguished the fire, wanting to light it again, it won't be so easy!"

However, a rampant voice suddenly sounded from upstairs.

Xia Chuan's expression froze instantly. Not just him, Luo Yuan, Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, and the members of the Great Xia hunting team, the expressions on their faces almost all froze.

Bang...

"Pfft!"

Shi Ping's body fell from the third floor like a cannonball. The wooden house was already riddled with holes. Xia Chuan, who had just rushed to the stairs, caught him, but found that he couldn't bear the force at all, and his body retreated violently for six or seven meters.

Luo Yuan and the others also rushed to his side, helping to support Shi Ping. Seeing the footprint on Shi Ping's chest, they instantly realized that it was the person who spoke just now who kicked him down.

The group of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators on the second floor looked up toward the third floor. The others didn't have any reaction, but the seventeen people of the hunting team, including Xia Chuan, had their pupils shrink, and their frozen expressions were as if they had seen a ghost.

=9+Book_Bar

Beside the iron-smelting furnace on the third floor, two people were standing there.

It was actually He Meng and He Gang!

The seventeen members of the hunting team remembered very clearly, on the 25th of last month.

He Gang was slashed into two halves by Xia Hong; He Meng was kicked in the abdomen by Xia Hong, and then beheaded with one sword.

Because it was to avenge the eight Woodcutting Realm cultivators killed by the camp, the scene at that time was quite satisfying, and the seventeen people remembered the details very clearly.

Two people who were clearly dead could not be deader, yet they appeared before their eyes.

No, not only that...

Under the night, He Meng's skin even emitted a layer of faint luster, combined with the strength he felt when he caught Shi Ping just now...

Not only resurrected, but even broke through to the cold-resistant level!

Although he had previously learned from Xia Hong that the strange monster behind the Mirror Immortal camp could make dead people resurrect.

But knowing, and truly seeing, were two different things.

Xia Chuan and the group of people from the hunting team instantly felt extremely heavy in their hearts.

Other Earth-Digging Realm cultivators in Great Xia, even if they didn't know the specific situation, could feel his hostility from He Meng's current demeanor.

"Brothers, you can all come out!"

He Meng gave an order toward the outside of the valley, and a large wave of black-clothed people holding long bows and broadswords rushed in from the destroyed west valley entrance.

Xia Chuan only glanced back and immediately found many familiar faces in the front row, all of whom were the same batch as He Meng, people who had been killed by Xia Hong.

The wooden house had actually completely collapsed, only the stairs structure in the middle was barely supporting, and all the people in the Great Xia camp were almost gathered in this small area near the stairs.

Two hundred or so people from the Mirror Immortal camp surrounded everyone in an instant, and they all raised their long bows, nocked iron arrows, and aimed at the group of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators on the second floor. Clearly, they all knew that the only ones who possessed a threat to Great Xia at present were this part of the people.

The joy of the cold beast tide retreating hadn't dissipated, and in less than a few dozen breaths, they had fallen into such a dead end again.

Whether it was the group of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators like Xia Chuan, or the five hundred Woodcutting Realm cultivators, or the children on the third floor curled up in a ball, despair flashed in their eyes.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you, but..."

He Meng had a cruel smile on his face. He turned his head and shifted his gaze away from those children, stared at Xia Chuan and the others for a while, and his brows condensed:

"Where is that scum leader of yours? Let him come out. Today, as long as he obediently accepts death, the rest of the Great Xia camp, we can kill none of them. Not only will we not kill them, but you can also become a part of my Mirror Immortal camp in the future!"

No one answered He Meng's words.

From the hunting team and the group of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators who went up to the camp, down to the third floor, even the children who were only five or six years old, were just looking at He Meng quietly at this moment. Although no one spoke, the hateful eyes were enough to explain everything.

"Very good, very good, it seems that you are very loyal to that scum, it's just a pity that he acted like a tortoise today, and doesn't seem to have taken you all to heart..."

Everyone's reaction made He Meng laugh out of anger. He first belittled Xia Hong, then turned his head and looked at the group of children closest to him, took out a dagger from his bosom, and threw it violently at a child in the crowd who was glaring at him.

"Xia Hong, get out here!"

Whoosh...

"An'er!"

Luo Yuan on the second floor saw the direction the dagger was flying, and his face was instantly covered with horror, because the child who was glaring at He Meng was his son, Luo An.

He rushed upward subconsciously, but that was completely a drop in the bucket.

With He Meng's strength, even if it was just a casually thrown dagger, he couldn't catch up.

In the Frigid World, death was a constant companion to humans.

Luo An, who was nearly six years old, actually had a concept of death.

Watching the dagger fly toward him, although he was afraid, he still subconsciously blocked in front of another child who was younger than him.

Clang...

At the critical moment.

A cold light suddenly flew from directly above the valley.

That was a long sword, a long sword that everyone in Great Xia was extremely familiar with.

The narrow long blade of 1.5 meters fell vertically in the air, with exaggerated force and speed, almost bringing out a snow-white airflow.

The airflow broke through the air and fell, hitting that dagger directly.

That dagger was actually nailed to the floor by the tip of the sword.

With the force of that long sword falling, how could a mere floor block it?

There was only one explanation, and that was that the person who threw the long sword used clever force.

He only wanted the effect of nailing the dagger.

Everyone in Great Xia looked up at the sky, their eyes full of hope.

He Meng and the others were not, looking up, their expressions slightly tightened.

"Boom... crack..."

After the long sword fell, what followed was a huge explosion sound.

Above the valley, the two mountain bodies that were originally connected and intersected seemed to show signs of breaking, and countless rubble fell downward, as if they were about to collapse at any time.

"Uh... ah..."

A shrill scream came from above. Xia Chuan and the others' expressions were a bit suspicious at first, but noticing the worry on He Meng and the others' faces, they reacted quickly, and excitement suddenly started to stir in their hearts.

"Your strength... how could it be... how could it be..."

After the scream, the person spoke tremblingly, clearly having discovered some fact that he found hard to accept, his voice full of horror and shock.

"Wasn't it you who deliberately came to the valley to tell me about the battle body? Low-level, medium-level, high-level, look, which level does my battle body belong to."

Xia Hong's voice came from above, and everyone in the Great Xia camp below was instantly full of ecstasy and excitement.

Everyone looked up, looking at the sky, their eyes full of expectation.

Bang...

Another air explosion sound came.

A white figure smashed down from above the valley like a cannonball.

That person smashed directly into the stone wall on the north side of the valley, at least three or four meters in, and the rubble that flew out could pierce through the ground, which showed how terrifying the force that person had just endured was.

Although the dust and smoke of the air explosion completely covered the scene above, the eyes of the Great Xia crowd below were still hot and expectant.

In everyone's line of sight, a right leg pierced through the dust and smoke first.

Following that was Xia Hong in a black cloak, panting and breaking out of the dust and smoke, falling directly from a height of several hundred meters.

Bang...

"Big brother!"

"Leader."

"Leader, are you okay?"

The moment they saw Xia Hong clearly, the expectation in everyone's eyes disappeared, leaving only worry and horror.

Especially Xia Chuan, who couldn't help but rush toward Xia Hong directly.

Xia Hong's black cloak was already riddled with holes, his whole body was almost soaked in blood, his exposed left arm had countless tiny cracks, like broken pottery, or like cracked earth after a drought, the bright red blood color exposed in the cracks was extremely conspicuous, and the form was terrifying to the extreme.

There were two wounds on his left face, and more than ten blood holes on his chest, all of which were seeping blood.

Even on his thigh, there was a large piece of skin and flesh turned outward.

"I'm fine!"

Although his injuries were so heavy, Xia Hong still turned his head and looked at everyone, gave Xia Chuan and the others an approving look, then suppressed his injuries, turned his head, and gazed at the position of the mountain wall.

"Heh heh heh heh... discovered, so what if you discovered it, can the fire in your furnace still be lit, you all have to die, you all have to die!"

That white-clothed person flew out from the mountain wall, not caring about Xia Hong below, but leaped and ran directly to the furnace on the third floor.

"Brothers, kill!"

The moment the white-clothed person flew out, the worry on He Meng and He Gang's faces disappeared, turning into a ruthless look, and they gave an order to the two hundred or so black-clothed people from the Mirror Immortal camp on the periphery.

The four medium-level cold beasts that were eyeing them covetously also started to move at this time.

"Who told you that my furnace needs people to light it?"

Xia Hong's counter-question made the white-clothed person, He Meng, He Gang, the two hundred or so people from the Mirror Immortal camp, and even the four medium-level cold beasts all freeze for a moment.

Sss... sss... sss...

The sound of flames igniting, although extremely subtle, made the white-clothed person, He Meng, and He Gang's bodies shake violently.

The iron-smelting furnace that had originally been extinguished actually ignited again out of thin air.

A burst of warmth quickly spread to a hundred meters around.

The firelight instantly covered the white-clothed person, He Meng, He Gang, the four medium-level cold beasts, and the two hundred or so people from the Mirror Immortal camp.

"Ah... ah..."

The two hundred or so people from the Mirror Immortal camp on the periphery were the first to make terrifying screams. Their eyes instantly transformed into silver-white fluid-like, and even as the firelight shone for longer and longer, they started to flow out silver liquid.

Then, the four medium-level cold beasts also showed expressions of pain.

Then it was He Meng and He Gang.

Finally, even the white-clothed person's expression started to twist, and his eyes underwent the same change.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 165 =====