Chapter 191

"What happened to the Mirror Immortal camp?"

Just now it was only a suspicion, but hearing this question, Watching Yue Feng could conclude that the middle-aged man in front of him was definitely a high-level member of the Hive camp.

Lu Sheng should have brought his words back last night.

This person coming to confirm it personally clearly meant he didn't believe that the Mirror Immortal camp had merged into Great Xia.

Of course, the most important purpose must still be to occupy the iron mine.

Watching Yue Feng looked at the sky outside the cave, his eyes flashing slightly. He put on a thoughtful expression and remained silent for more than ten breaths without speaking.

"Don't think about stalling for time. It's useless no matter who comes. This iron mine already belongs to our Hive camp. I'll give you five breaths to answer!"

With his scheme exposed, Watching Yue Feng had no choice but to answer quickly:

"The Mirror Immortal camp was plagued by ghosts. Seventy or eighty percent of the entire camp died, and the remaining people have all merged into our Great Xia camp."

Just as expected!

The middle-aged man's gaze condensed. Recalling that he had just seen that the houses within the Mirror Immortal station were not too damaged and he hadn't seen a single corpse, his heart immediately turned cold.

Normal camp warfare and annihilation shouldn't be like this. He had just guessed it was ghosts, and hearing Watching Yue Feng's answer, he finally confirmed it.

"He Yuanhun and Director Yu Wen Hu were both killed by ghosts?"

"He Yuanhun colluded with the ghosts, and everyone was killed by them. Director Yu Wen Hu was among them too. My leader, Xia Hong, defeated He Yuanhun and drove him away before rescuing the remaining people."

This answer from Watching Yue Feng made the middle-aged man's expression tighten.

He looked straight into Watching Yue Feng's eyes, first showing a hint of skepticism, then the skepticism gradually turned into ridicule, and finally he couldn't help but chuckle:

"Still thinking about stalling for time even now. You can be considered a smart person, but using such words to fool me—do you think I would believe..."

Watching Yue Feng's heart sank. Before he could figure out the reason for the other party's skepticism, the middle-aged man's tone dropped sharply and suddenly became low.

"Who is He Yuanhun? Just by relying on a leader of an unknown Great Xia camp like you to defeat and drive him away? Do you take me for a fool?"

Before the words had completely fallen, the middle-aged man's burly figure moved violently.

Over a distance of more than ten meters, Watching Yue Feng only felt a gust of wild wind rushing toward his face. He didn't even see clearly before the middle-aged man's fist was already reflected in his pupils.

The shadow of death floated into his heart. Watching Yue Feng had no time to make any reaction, and only two words popped into his mind.

"It's over!"

Bang...

A violent shockwave exploded. Watching Yue Feng's body instantly flew backward for more than ten meters. The fourteen people not far from him were all shaken and scattered; some couldn't even stand steady and fell directly to the ground.

However, after getting up, Watching Yue Feng looked at the black-clothed figure blocking in front of him, his face full of relief and surprise; on the other side, the fourteen people saw the situation in the field, and their expressions all became spirited.

"Leader!"

"The leader is here."

"Greetings, leader!"

…………

Xia Hong grabbed the white-clothed middle-aged man's right fist with one hand, his gaze low, a trace of indistinct killing intent flashing in his eyes.

And the middle-aged man, who had been incomparably domineering just a moment ago, now had a face full of solemnity. Especially when he discovered that he couldn't even pull his fist back and felt the terrifying power in Xia Hong's hand, his pupils even carried a hint of horror.

"Could your Excellency be the Great Xia leader..."

Bang...

Before the middle-aged man could finish his sentence, Xia Hong let go violently and kicked him directly in the abdomen.

The terrifying power caused the middle-aged man's abdomen to cave in by more than ten centimeters, and his body shot backward like a cannonball for dozens of meters. Not only did he fly out of the mine cave, but he also smashed directly into the snow, dragging for more than ten meters in the snow before stopping.

"Pfft..."

The middle-aged man stood up from the snow, spat out a mouthful of blood, quickly pulled out a soft sword from his waist, and stared fixedly at Xia Hong in front of him, his expression full of horror.

"I'm in a good mood today. Seeing that you are quite old, I'll also teach you how to speak. You don't have the qualifications to ask me questions. Whatever I ask next, you answer honestly. Do you understand?"

…………

This was what he had just said to Watching Yue Feng and the others. Now that it was returned word-for-word by Xia Hong, how could the middle-aged man not know that the other party was helping Watching Yue Feng and the others vent their anger?

The middle-aged man was so angry that his face turned green and red. Although his chest was full of rage, remembering that kick just now, he kept his mouth shut and didn't dare to say a single word.

Watching Yue Feng and the others behind were suddenly spirited and excited.

This is the leader. This middle-aged man also has Cold-Resistant level strength, but in front of Xia Hong, he doesn't even have the courage to refute, just like when he was facing him just now.

The Mountain-River squad was created relatively late. Except for Watching Yue Feng and a few others, most of them were Earth-Digging level members who came from Five-Ape Mountain later. This part of the people didn't have an intuitive feeling about Xia Hong's prowess yet.

Now, experiencing Xia Hong's strength for the first time, the same fanatical emotions as Watching Yue Feng and the others couldn't help but grow in their eyes.

Xia Hong watched the middle-aged man, his expression calm as he began to ask.

"Name and position."

"Chen Yingba, leader of the Hive camp hunting group."

"Do you know He Yuanhun?"

"Dealt with him twice; we cooperated twice before to hunt high-level cold beasts."

Hearing about high-level cold beasts, Xia Hong raised his brows, but he didn't delve into it and continued to ask: "How many people are in the Hive camp, and what is your leader's name?"

This question made Chen Yingba's expression stiffen.

But when he looked up and saw Xia Hong's gradually lowering expression, his heart tightened, but he still gritted his teeth and said: "The total population of my Hive camp has already exceeded sixty thousand. The first leader Chen Yingyuan and the second leader Wu Tianxing both have strength above mine. Your Excellency's strength is indeed very strong, but..."

Before Chen Yingba could finish speaking, seeing Xia Hong swing his right hand at him, his nerves immediately tightened, and he subconsciously dodged to the side.

Swish...

But before his body could move, a sharp sound of breaking air had already entered his mind.

A stinging pain came from his ear. He hurriedly reached out to touch it and realized that the ear cartilage had been pierced. Anger surged from the depths of his pupils, but fearing that Xia Hong would see it, he hurriedly lowered his head.

"Did I tell you to talk too much? Put away your little cleverness!"

Xia Hong looked at Chen Yingba, who had his head lowered, a trace of killing intent flashing slightly in his eyes.

A Cold-Resistant level powerhouse is most likely the number three figure of the Hive camp. Chen Yingba must be used to being arrogant and overbearing on weekdays. Being humiliated so severely by him, one doesn't need to guess how resentful he is in his heart.

"You should be glad that I only hit his earlobe just now. If it were any other place, your life would be left here today!"

Xia Hong stared at him for a long time, finally putting away the killing intent in his eyes. After speaking in a calm tone, he continued: "Mirror Immortal's territory has all returned to my Great Xia. You don't need to think about this iron mine either. From today on, ten miles north of Mirror Valley is all Great Xia territory. Next time, if I discover your people breaking in..."

Speaking of this, Xia Hong paused. Seeing a giant rock by his leg, he gathered a little strength and kicked it toward Chen Yingba.

That stone was as big as half a person and should have been dug out of the mine cave. It weighed at least two or three thousand jin. Being kicked by Xia Hong like this, it soared into the air as if it were weightless and smashed into Chen Yingba's face in an instant.

Whoosh...

A violent sound of airflow came. Chen Yingba's pupils condensed. Thinking of the power Xia Hong had just displayed, he quickly dodged his head to the side, held his breath, gathered his strength, and used his shoulder to catch it.

However, the moment the giant rock collided with his shoulder.

Bang...

With a loud noise, Chen Yingba's body flew backward like a kite with a broken string for dozens of meters.

He quickly climbed up from the ground, looked at his bloody shoulder that had already caved in a large chunk, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and didn't come back to his senses for a long time.

He could still say that the kick in the cave just now was because he was careless and unprepared, which was why he was so embarrassed.

But he had caught this giant rock kicked by Xia Hong after holding his breath and gathering his strength.

Yet the outcome was still the same.

What does this explain?

It explains that his strength is completely not on the same level as the leader of this Great Xia camp. How is this possible!

Could this Xia Hong be a powerhouse above the Cold-Resistant level?

It must be, otherwise how could he have defeated He Yuanhun?

"Get lost!"

Chen Yingba no longer had any anger in his heart. Hearing Xia Hong say these two words, he only felt the relief of being unburdened, and even a hint of luck. Holding his shoulder, he ran toward the north without looking back.

"Leader, you are too amazing!"

"That Chen Yingba was so arrogant just now, but he actually fled away in such a sorry state. Hahahaha."

"He was so ruthless to us, but didn't dare to let out a fart in front of the leader."

"He should have been taught a lesson."

…………

Once Chen Yingba left, the mood of everyone in the cave immediately relaxed.

Although Watching Yue Feng's expression was also spirited, his reaction was relatively calm. Seeing that the sky had turned dark, he led everyone out of the cave.

"Leader, it's fortunate that you arrived in time, otherwise these two iron mines would probably have fallen into the hands of the Hive camp."

Xia Hong turned his head to look at Watching Yue Feng and the others, a look of appreciation on his face as he said: "Guarding the iron mine is correct, but you must act according to your ability. This Chen Yingba's strength is not on the same level as yours. Next time you encounter such a situation, you should compromise if you need to. Saving your life is the most important thing. If the iron mine is gone, we can snatch it back, but you only have one life; once it's gone, it's gone."

Hearing this, a look of being moved appeared on everyone's faces.

While moved, Watching Yue Feng remembered the humiliation just now, clenched his fists tightly under his sleeves, and his desire for strength grew even more. If Xia Hong hadn't arrived in time just now, his little life would definitely not have been saved.

"Leader, have you been in the Arrow Bamboo Forest all this time?"

Xia Hong shook his head and said: "I have indeed been here for the past few days, but I usually only come during the day. After finishing some things just now, as soon as I returned to the camp, I heard Li Yuankun say there was trouble here. Since they couldn't come over during the day, I simply rushed over alone first."

Upon hearing this, Watching Yue Feng and the others all showed relief on their faces.

It's fortunate that Xia Hong is already Cold-Resistant level and his activity pattern is different from theirs. If it were like before, this group of them would be dead tonight. "Leader, since Chen Yingba was taught such a harsh lesson by you, he shouldn't dare to cross the boundary to Mirror Valley again in the future. We can safely manage this Mirror Valley area."

"He still dares to come? Doesn't he want his life anymore?"

"He can't even catch a stone kicked by the leader; what face does he have to come back?"

"Haha, he definitely won't dare to come again."

…………

Hearing the discussion of the Mountain-River squad, Xia Hong's brows condensed.

Not only Xia Hong, but Watching Yue Feng on the side also had his expression pause slightly.

Chen Yingba was taught a harsh lesson just now. From his reaction just now, it could also be seen that he was most likely scared and wouldn't come again.

But the other party is only the hunting group leader of the Hive camp. If nothing unexpected happens, he is only the number three figure. Above him, there are still the first leader Chen Yingyuan and the second leader Wu Tianxing.

Chen Yingyuan and Chen Yingba should still be brothers.

Whether the Hive camp will have a reaction later is not certain.

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"The leader didn't use lethal force just now and let him go. As long as those two leaders of the Hive camp aren't stupid, they should be able to see the meaning."

Seeing that Watching Yue Feng saw through his intention, Xia Hong was not surprised. He nodded and said: "Let's wait and see the subsequent situation. I will stay here in Mirror Valley for this period. It's nightfall; Xia Chuan will bring people over soon. I left a piece of prey at the entrance of the Arrow Bamboo Forest. You take people to carry it over and have it brought back to the camp later."

Watching Yue Feng nodded and pointed to three people to walk toward the Arrow Bamboo Forest together.

"Left a piece of prey? Captain, does the leader also go out to hunt cold beasts?"

The three people who went with Watching Yue Feng were all curious. They hadn't been in Great Xia for long and hadn't heard that Xia Hong also hunted personally.

"Of course he does. Our camp being able to have the days we have now is because the leader killed cold beasts one by one in the early days. When it comes to hunting ability, our hunting squads added together probably aren't as good as him."

Hearing this, the three looked at each other, a hint of skepticism flashing in their eyes.

Of course they didn't doubt Xia Hong's strength, especially after experiencing that scene just now, but the problem is that hunting ability and personal strength are two different things.

Cold beasts are not simple. Not only is their strength far beyond that of humans of the same level, but each of them has unique skills, and their vitality is extremely tenacious.

Earth-Digging level members have the qualifications to hunt, but they must form teams with many people. This is no exception in any camp, which can also be considered humanity's affirmation of the strength of cold beasts.

Strength is of course a very important measurement factor, but team cooperation, hunting experience, and hunting tools are equally important.

Even if Xia Hong is strong alone, his hunting ability shouldn't be more powerful than all their hunting squads added together.

Of course, skepticism is skepticism, but the three of them couldn't possibly say it out loud directly.

Noticing the expressions of the three, Watching Yue Feng didn't deliberately explain. After all, they had only been in the camp for a month. When the days get longer in the future, they will naturally understand.

Recalling the days when he went out hunting with Xia Hong, Watching Yue Feng felt nostalgic and also slightly disappointed.

Ever since Xia Hong started breaking through to the Cold-Resistant level, he hadn't taken them out hunting together anymore. Watching Yue Feng naturally knew the reason, which was that the strength of these people could no longer keep up with the leader's pace.

"Before the leader broke through, he could hunt intermediate cold beasts alone. The next time he leads a team out to hunt, the target will probably have to be high-level cold beasts!"

Thinking of what Chen Yingba said just now about dealing with He Yuanhun twice because of cooperating to hunt high-level cold beasts, Watching Yue Feng's expression tightened.

A piece of information was hidden in the other party's words.

Only the Cold-Resistant level has the qualifications to cooperate in hunting high-level cold beasts.

"I must speed up my breakthrough, otherwise when the leader needs people to go out hunting next time, I won't even have the qualifications to go along."

The four of them soon arrived at the entrance of the Arrow Bamboo Forest, which was the location Xia Hong mentioned. They only searched for a while before finding the prey.

But after finding the prey, the three who had just questioned Xia Hong's hunting ability were instantly dumbfounded.

Above the bamboo thicket lay a snow-white cold beast with a body length of seven or eight meters and a burly figure. The cold beast's eyes were wide open, its large palms hanging powerlessly in front of its chest, and there wasn't even a trace of injury on its entire body.

"This... this is an intermediate... Bai Pi?"

"Where is its wound?"

"Here, on the back of its neck. Come over and look quickly."

Hearing that person's shout, Watching Yue Feng and the other two climbed onto the Bai Pi's back together. Seeing the wound clearly, their pupils immediately condensed.

Although there was only a narrow knife wound about a foot long on the back of this Bai Pi's neck, the knife wound had clearly been inserted very deeply, and a large amount of blood flowed out from it, almost dyeing more than half of its back red.

Watching Yue Feng's expression flashed slightly. After searching on the Bai Pi's back for a while and seeing several footprint marks, he immediately deduced the hunting process.

"The leader should have first used his feet to kick this Bai Pi down, then inserted a knife into the back of its neck to cut its spine and bleed it..."

Once the spine is broken, the Bai Pi naturally loses its ability to resist and can only wait for death.

"Such a big Bai Pi, the leader can kick it down with his feet?"

"Directly cut the spine?"

"This Bai Pi didn't even show any signs of resistance!"

"There are no injuries on the leader's body either."

…………

Gulp...

The three couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva. After exchanging glances, they completely realized how ridiculous their skepticism toward Xia Hong just now was.

"Don't use common sense to judge the leader's strength. In front of the leader, people like us are probably no different from five or six-year-old children."

Hearing Watching Yue Feng's words this time, the three of them all nodded, not daring to have the slightest skepticism anymore, and a thick sense of reverence and fanaticism toward Xia Hong rose in their hearts.

The four of them soon carried the Bai Pi back to the side of the Mirror Valley iron mine.

Half an hour after nightfall, the massive team finally arrived.

Xia Chuan didn't just bring all the members of his Cloud-Dragon squad; he also brought the squads of Director Yu Wen Tao, Luo Yuan, Yuan Cheng, and the three Zhao brothers—six squads in total.

Seven squads totaling 140 people gathered in a massive crowd by the iron mine.

"Greetings, leader!"

Seeing everyone finish paying their respects to Xia Hong, Watching Yue Feng immediately stepped forward to explain the previous situation to Xia Chuan and the others.

Hearing that the Hive camp had the intention to kill, although they were severely taught a lesson by his big brother in the end, Xia Chuan's gaze still lowered.

"Chen Yingba, I know this person. Cold-Resistant level strength, very bad temper. He had conflicts with my father before and was beaten once by He Yuanhun. He was beaten very miserably and only stopped after Chen Yingyuan mediated."

Ahead, Xia Hong heard this and immediately turned to look at Director Yu Wen Tao, repeating everything Chen Yingba had answered just now, and then asked:

"How much do you know about the Hive camp? Are these words credible?"

"More than sixty thousand people? How is that possible? He is definitely lying..."

Director Yu Wen Tao paused and continued: "Everything else is fine. The Hive camp does have a hunting group. I don't know the specific number, but I heard He Yuanhun mention that there are more than five hundred. Chen Yingba is indeed the leader.

Chen Yingyuan and Wu Tianxing are also real; He Yuanhun mentioned them too.

It's just that sixty thousand people—that must be fake. If the Hive camp had so many people, it's impossible for there to be so few Earth-Digging level members."

Fake.

Then just now, Chen Yingba was lying to him.

It's not hard to guess; he was probably afraid that he would use lethal force, so he deliberately exaggerated the strength of the Hive camp.

Xia Hong shook his head slightly. Chen Yingba's little cleverness naturally couldn't deceive him.

"Next, let's wait and see the reaction of the Hive camp. I will stay here in Mirror Valley for this period. You all have been exploring the Arrow Bamboo Forest with all your might recently, so simply leave a few squads stationed here. The mine cave on the south side of the valley is almost bottoming out, so these two iron mines can also be put to use."

Xia Chuan nodded upon hearing this. Remembering something, he turned to look at Watching Yue Feng and said: "Today is exactly the 30th. Watching Yue Feng, Li Yuankun told me last night that your Mountain-River squad has already explored the Arrow Bamboo Forest to a depth of 31 kilometers in these nine days, right?"

Hearing this, Watching Yue Feng's expression stirred. He took out the animal hide scroll from his bosom, handed it to Xia Chuan, nodded, and replied: "My lord, this is the map I drew."

Xia Chuan looked at the contents on the animal hide scroll and raised his head: "I said nine days ago that at the end of this month, whoever explores the deepest area of the Arrow Bamboo Forest will be the person in charge of the Mirror Valley outpost. I have confirmed with all the other squads, and none of them have more than you. So, you will be in charge of this Mirror Valley outpost."

A look of joy appeared on Watching Yue Feng's face. He bowed and said: "Your subordinate obeys!"

Xia Chuan pondered for a moment, turned to look at Director Yu Wen Tao, and continued to speak:

"Mirror Valley still needs people who are familiar with it to guard it. For this period, let the people from the five squads—Dragon-Martial, Divine-Martial, Shake-Martial, Heroic-Martial, and Mighty-Martial—stay here. Together with Watching Yue Feng's Mountain-River squad, that makes six squads totaling 120 people. Minister Director Yu Wen, what do you think?"

Director Yu Wen Tao nodded and said: "It should be so. We are all relatively familiar with Mirror Valley and the Arrow Bamboo Forest. The lord's arrangement is fine."

After speaking, he turned directly to Hong Guang on the side: "Uncle Hong, go back to the camp now and notify the four—Hong Tian, Zhu Ling, Zhu Yuan, and Meng Yi—to lead their squad members and bring supplies to come over directly."

"Good, I'll go right now!"

Xia Hong, standing at the very back, swept a glance at Hong Guang and smiled slightly.

Hong Guang's Proclaim-Martial squad had already been disbanded. After the squad size was expanded, he went directly into Director Yu Wen Tao's Dragon-Martial squad.

After making a mistake, Hong Guang was obviously much more steady and not as impetuous as before.

"Alright, everyone go back. You aren't needed here for the time being. By the way, Xia Chuan, how is the preparation for your matter going?"

Xia Chuan was stunned upon hearing this. Realizing what Xia Hong was asking about, a look of helplessness appeared on his face. He walked to Xia Hong's side and said with a hint of bashfulness: "Big brother, do we really have to do it like that? It's not necessary, right? Just living together is fine, just like everyone else. There's no need to make such a big scene."

Seeing Xia Chuan's bashful posture, Xia Hong couldn't help but smile and shake his head:

"It's precisely because everyone hasn't done it like this that I'm asking you to do it, to set an example for them. Once you take the lead, the rest of the camp will naturally follow suit. Listen to me, there won't be any mistakes. Hurry back and prepare!"

Seeing Xia Hong so insistent, Xia Chuan could only nod.

"Alright, then I'll take people back now. Big brother, be careful here. If there's anything, remember to send someone back to pass the message."

(End of chapter)