Chapter 17: Dashan Camp

If the timing hadn't been so poor, Xia Hong would have truly wanted to praise Xia Chuan a couple of times.

He had originally been worried that his younger brother was too young and impulsive, but he never expected him to be this quick-witted.

Judging by the expressions on the faces of Wang Ming and his three companions.

Only the four of them should have come over tonight.

Xia Hong narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the four of them in a circle, before finally fixing his gaze on the large blade in Wang Ming's hand, considering whether or not to keep the four of them here.

He dared to come out tonight because he naturally had something to rely on.

Little did he know, this posture of Xia Hong's sizing them up was interpreted by Wang Ming as him considering whether or not to notify Xia Ding to come over.

Wang Ming wasn't afraid of fighting to the death against three people this young.

But if they couldn't be taken down in a short amount of time, or if one of them managed to slip away and really called over those people of Xia Ding's, it would be an irreconcilable situation.

No, if Xia Ding really brought over a dozen people at the Woodcutting Realm.

Even with this large blade, the four of them would be on a path to certain death tonight.

Wang Ming pondered for a moment in his mind and quickly made a decision.

"Two nephews, there's no need for this. We'll just put down the crystal fruits and leave. From now on, we will absolutely never trespass on Does Da Xia territory again. Farewell!"

Once Wang Ming made his decision, he didn't hesitate any longer. He signaled his companions to put the gathered crystal fruits on the ground, said his farewells, and quickly led the three of them toward the west, retreating without looking back.

Xia Hong watched the four of them walk far away until they disappeared from sight, and only after another while did he turn his head back and give Xia Chuan a thumbs up.

"Good lad, you've got it!"

Xia Chuan chuckled and said, "We definitely couldn't win a fight, so we could only borrow the tiger's skin to scare them off."

Hearing this, Xia Hong raised an eyebrow slightly, but he didn't say anything.

A direct confrontation with Dashan Camp right now was clearly unwise.

It had already been over a month since Xia Ding and the logging team had met with disaster, and having not appeared in this Red Wood Ridge area for such a long time, the people of Dashan Camp must have already discovered it.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have dared to cross the boundary to scavenge so brazenly.

If more time passed, there was no guarantee they wouldn't guess something else.

The previous three times Xia Hong encountered them, there were over seven people, so he could only endure and yield.

But tonight, the other side only brought four people, and there were no archers.

With such a great opportunity, Xia Hong naturally wouldn't let it slip by.

He believed that after this encounter, the people from Dashan Camp shouldn't be so rampant for a period of time.

"But we still need to find a way to let Yue Feng and the others break through as soon as possible. This kind of bluffing can be used at most once or twice; using it too much will only expose us."

Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng had already shouldered the crystal fruits on the ground, and upon sensing that they weighed over a thousand jin, smiles immediately appeared on their faces.

For their first time going out, having this harvest was indeed worth being happy about.

"Alright, remember the location of the third Ice-Fruit Tree. Next, follow me to chop down trees. Tonight, you two will each chop one down to take back."

The two hurriedly agreed and followed closely behind Xia Hong.

………………

To the east of Red Wood Ridge, on the north side of the dirt slope where the Does Da Xia camp was located, there was a straight, small mountain about a hundred meters high.

The small mountain was shaped like a vertical tower, about fifty or sixty meters long horizontally, with its top completely covered in white snow. In the middle, only the trees extending out were pressed down by snowflakes; the rest of the mountain body was composed of pitch-black stones.

Those stones were not only black, but their surfaces were also covered in a thick layer of crystals, clearly frozen over year after year by the cold air.

On the east side of the mountain, a long vine hung down.

At this moment, four figures were rapidly climbing up the vine.

Despite it being over a hundred meters high, the four moved very quickly, and within a few minutes, they had already climbed to the top of the mountain.

The top of the mountain was a platform fifty meters wide, without a single tree.

After the four arrived at the summit, they walked straight to the middle and scraped away a patch of snow-covered ground, and a five-meter-wide square wooden board immediately came into view.

The leader, familiar with the routine, lifted the wooden board, and underneath was actually a cave entrance three meters in diameter. Moreover, inside the entrance, a flicker of firelight immediately appeared.

The four jumped into the cave one after another, and the last person to go down casually brought the wooden board along, covering the entrance once again.

Below the entrance was actually a massive square space over thirty meters in diameter.

Moreover, this space was a full thirty or forty meters from the top to the ground, and in the middle, it was partitioned into a layer using wood and stones.

On the stone ground portion, a bonfire over two meters high was burning.

Three or four hundred people were gathered around the bonfire, laughing and talking.

There were also a few small children playing on the side.

The spirit and energy of the people here were clearly much better than those on the Does Da Xia side.

As soon as the four jumped down, someone in the crowd immediately walked up with a smile.

However, after walking closer and seeing that the four were empty-handed, that person immediately showed a look of confusion.

"Old Wang, how come you came back empty-handed?"

"Bad luck, don't mention it. Where's the boss? I have something to tell him."

"Practicing archery on the bottom level."

"Good, we'll go over first."

After Wang Ming gave a couple of perfunctory replies, he hurriedly walked toward the east side of the cave.

The stone wall on the east side slanted slightly toward the bottom. Wang Ming followed the slanted slope downward and soon walked to the bottom level of the cave.

The bottom level was not much different in space from the upper level, and it also had a bonfire lit, but it was smaller than the one above.

Beside the bonfire were two people, facing a wooden board on the wall, holding bows and shooting arrows.

"Boss, there's a situation over at Red Wood Ridge."

Hearing Wang Ming's words, the two simultaneously put down their bows and arrows and turned their heads to look at him.

Both were middle-aged in appearance, and their builds were quite similar; both were lean, and their hands holding the bows were full of calluses.

Not only their builds, but even their features were seventy percent similar.

However, the person on the left had a scar an inch long across his face, which, combined with his fierce expression and slightly dark complexion, made him look full of murderous intent.

The one on the right was three shades fairer than the former, and his face was also very kind.

Wang Ming walked directly toward the person on the right.

Clearly, the boss he spoke of was this one on the right.

Seeing Wang Ming approach, that person narrowed his eyes slightly and asked in a calm tone:

"What situation?"

"Just went to the outer perimeter to pick crystal fruits and ran into three people from Does Da Xia."

"Old Ding?"

"No, it was his two sons."

Hearing Wang Ming's answer, Shi Qing was stunned for a moment, then showed an expression of disbelief and asked again: "Old Ding's two sons, are you sure?"

Wang Ming pondered for a moment, nodded, and said with certainty: "Sure. I saw both those brats clearly. They look very much like Old Ding, and their ages match too. It must be his sons."

"How old are his two sons? With just those thirteen people in Does Da Xia, where would they get extra cold-beast meat to train his two sons?"

Shi Dong, who hadn't spoken until now, exclaimed in surprise.

But after finishing, he turned his head and discovered that his older brother Shi Qing's complexion had become somewhat ugly.

Although Shi Dong had a violent temper, he wasn't stupid and immediately realized the key point.

"Big brother, are you suspecting that the Snow-Mane last time was ultimately picked up as a bargain by Old Ding and his group?"

Wang Ming slapped his forehead hard and said with a sudden realization: "Right, it must be like that. There are thirteen people on the Does Da Xia side, and their strength is far worse than ours. All these years, they could only rely on luck to pick up some cold-beast carcasses. They don't even have enough for their own training, so where would they have extra cold-beast meat for two sons? It must be that Snow-Mane."

The three reached a consensus, and their complexions immediately became incomparably ugly.

Last time they hunted that Snow-Mane, they paid the price of three lives in total, and the one holding the blade among them was Shi Qing's third brother, Shi Kong.

In the end, they still fled in a panic and gained nothing.

Now that they learned Does Da Xia Camp had picked up a bargain, one could imagine their mood.

It wasn't just picking up a bargain; it was even very likely that when they were hunting that Snow-Mane last time, the people from Does Da Xia Camp had been hiding in the dark the whole time.

They only came out to pick up the bargain after they had run away.

"To dare to play such dirty tricks behind our backs. In a few days, when we go to Red Wood Ridge, I will lead the team myself. I want to see what kind of strength Does Da Xia has now."

Shi Qing's tone was grim, and his originally kind face instantly became much more somber.

Beside him, Shi Dong and Wang Ming were even more furious.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 18 =====