Chapter 204: Wuyuan Garrison, Cold Marrow Iron

It was currently the middle of the night; outside the wooden cabin, the frost was bone-piercing, and wind and snow filled the sky.

Yet inside the cabin, warm currents surged like a tide, and it was as bright as day.

On the wooden beams above the cabin, a stove that could be raised and lowered freely hung every five meters. The coal inside was burning vigorously, not only illuminating the entire interior space but also continuously releasing heat to maintain the heating for the whole cabin.

The cabin was a hundred meters long and about thirty meters deep. In the middle was a giant plaza, and on the left and right sides, many semi-open rooms had been partitioned off with wooden boards.

In the first compartment, a group of shirtless men were forging iron. The coal and iron ore at the entrance of the compartment were piled almost to the roof. This cabin was at least twenty meters high; Xiang Liang just took a rough look, and there were at least several million jin of it.

In the second compartment, a group of people holding butcher knives were processing cold beasts. Beside them, others were specifically helping to pack the beast meat. At the entrance of the compartment, more than a dozen unprocessed cold beasts were piled up, several of which Xiang Liang couldn't even identify the species of.

In the third compartment, a group of people holding leather bags were sorting fruits. As for the fruits and various types of vegetation on the ground, Xiang Liang hadn't even seen the vast majority of them before.

In the plaza at the very center, three ten-meter-long giant two-wheeled trailers were parked.

Gulp...

Looking at the trailers carefully, Xiang Liang immediately swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Those ten-meter-long trailers were actually made of pure iron!

"Can this trailer, with fifty thousand jin of iron ore, be made?"

Iron chisels, iron axes, iron hammers, and many other iron tools that Xiang Liang couldn't identify—all kinds of ironware he had never seen before were visible almost everywhere in this wooden cabin. As for the exquisitely styled wooden products, that went without saying.

Xiang Liang even saw a large batch of iron hand axes and saws casually piled in a corner of the cabin, and judging by their condition, they were all brand new.

If the countless, abundant supplies of all kinds on the ground were enough to leave Xiang Liang speechless, then the people in the cabin were enough to shock his soul and give him a tremendous visual impact.

Just after entering the door, Xiang Liang's gaze had been attracted by the dazzling array of supplies on both sides. Now, observing carefully, he discovered that the two hundred or so people visible in the cabin were all wearing exquisite clothes, which were actually similar to those of Xu An and his group nearby.

"This... this... how is this possible!"

Xu An and the others were definitely of Earth-Digging Realm strength.

From their attire and weapon equipment, as well as their activities on the northern foothills of Wuyuan Mountain at night, it was not hard to judge that they were definitely a hunting team of Great Xia.

For any camp, the hunting team was extremely important, so the status of the hunting team members was certainly very high. Since that was the case, it was normal for them to wear better clothes and be equipped with better weapons.

But at this moment, everyone in the Great Xia camp before his eyes was like this. What did this mean?

It couldn't be that these two hundred or so people before his eyes were all in the Earth-Digging Realm, could it?

Gulp...

This thought popped into Xiang Liang's mind, and he began to widen his eyes, conducting a more detailed and serious observation of the crowd.

Soon, cold sweat flowed down his forehead, and as he discovered more and more things, the expression on his face became increasingly shocked.

He discovered that almost everyone in the cabin had a weapon hanging at their waist, or on their back, or on the nearby ground, there was an iron-backed bow.

Not only that, in the middle of the cabin, beside the three trailers, there were thirty or forty people practicing martial arts. Just the commotion caused by them waving the weapons in their hands was enough to make Xiang Liang break into a cold sweat.

These thirty or forty people gave him the feeling that each one was even more powerful than his father, the leader of the He Feng camp, Xiang Ping.

This, how is this possible?

"Kid, come with me."

Slap...

"What are you dazing off for? The captain is calling you!"

Being patted on the shoulder by Li Hun, Xiang Liang immediately woke up from his shock. Seeing Xu An not far away calling him, he hurriedly walked up with quick steps.

"Don't you have some urgent intelligence, and you still want to offer treasure to our leader? I'm taking you to see the lord now. Tell him whatever you have."

Walking to Xu An's side and hearing his words, Xiang Liang remembered the serious business. He hurriedly straightened his expression, nodded, and obediently followed him, walking toward the deep northern side of the cabin.

"Anzi is back!"

"I heard you hit a Frost-Electric Ape tonight. Not bad. Your Golden Sword team has only been here for five days and has already hit three cold beasts."

"Eh, a fresh face. Not one of our people. Who is this?"

"He's from the north side of the mountain. He says he has a situation to report to the lord. I'll take him over first, and I'll talk to you all later."

"If you want to see the lord, then hurry up and go."

"Your brother doesn't seem to be in a good mood today."

Passing through the plaza in the middle of the cabin, several people practicing martial arts smiled and greeted Xu An one after another.

Hearing their form of address for Xu An, and Xu An's posture when replying, Xiang Liang's heart shook uncontrollably.

It was true.

His feeling was not wrong.

The strength of these people was definitely on the same level as Xu An's.

That is to say, they were highly likely to be stronger than his father.

This Great Xia camp, its strength, was actually this terrifying!

There is hope, his father and the others have hope.

While Xiang Liang was excited and agitated in his heart, he also followed Xu An to the cave entrance at the deepest northern side of the cabin and saw a huge double-door iron gate.

The iron gate was wide open at the moment, over five meters high, and the thickness should be over half a meter. Although the things before had already given Xiang Liang some psychological preparation, seeing this giant iron gate, he still lost his focus for a moment.

Walking into the iron gate, in the middle was a passageway. On the left and right sides of the cave, there were many houses built of wood, and sparse people were walking in and out, which was clearly the living area.

At this point, Xiang Liang also had a concept of the overall structure of the Great Xia station.

The large wooden cabin over a hundred meters long outside should be half-built on the stone wall on the south side of Zhongyuan Peak, and then it also covered the cave entrance, which was considered the Great Xia's work area. Supplies such as prey, iron ore, coal, vegetation, fruits, etc., were all stored in the cabin.

And inside the cave was their living area. The giant iron gate at the cave entrance was clearly used to deal with accidents. If there was any danger, they could abandon the cabin, and everyone would enter the cave and close the iron gate.

"It seems a bit unreasonable. Important supplies such as iron, coal, beast meat, tools, and weapons should all be stored inside the cave."

"Moreover, their population doesn't seem to be large. There are only two hundred or so outside. Judging from the buildings in the living area inside, there are at most a thousand people."

"With so few people, it doesn't need much space. The wooden cabin outside is not needed at all. It would be no problem for everyone to enter the cave."

"The wooden cabin outside is illuminated by coal. The cave inside is actually the same. The coal consumed by this Great Xia every day is probably over a thousand jin. This is too extravagant, isn't it?"

After all, as the son of the leader of a medium-sized camp, Xiang Liang was not someone without experience. Detecting many unreasonable places, his heart suddenly became confused.

The most critical thing was that he suddenly discovered that since he came in, he hadn't even seen a single child or old person.

No, women were also pitifully few.

This Great Xia, no matter how you look at it, doesn't look like a normal camp!

Carrying a belly full of confusion, Xiang Liang soon followed Xu An to finish the entire passageway and came to the largest wooden cabin in the depths.

Because all the wooden cabins in the cave had no roofs, as soon as he got close, he could hear the conversation inside.

"It's been several days, and that group of people still hasn't attacked. Are you sure your idea last time is useful?"

"It's definitely useful. On the last trading day, I knew they would follow, so I deliberately put a pile of weapons and beast meat at the entrance of the cabin. Judging from the situation of the previous few trades, they absolutely cannot resist this temptation."

"In the previous many trades, I didn't bring many people, and there were several people from the gathering department mixed in. They don't know our strength, and they haven't been willing to merge for so long. They must have had crooked ideas in their hearts."

"But it's been nine days since the last trade, and they have been slow to attack. I'm already a bit impatient."

"The strength of those four camps is so weak, adding up to only five or six thousand people. Merging into Great Xia is a matter of time. Why is the Garrison Commander so impatient?"

"The first year of Great Xia is about to pass. When I returned to the camp last time, I heard that on the night of the year-end..."

Hearing the content of the conversation of the few people in the cabin clearly, Xiang Liang's face was shocked, and a monstrous wave rose in his heart.

He didn't even notice that the conversation in the cabin had stopped.

What did the words of these people mean?

"Golden Sword team Xu An, requests to see the Garrison Commander!"

As soon as the conversation in the cabin stopped, Xu An immediately knocked on the door and asked to see him.

"Come in!"

Xiang Liang's dazed face had not yet recovered, and he just followed Xu An into the cabin in a somewhat numb manner.

Inside the cabin was a hall over ten meters wide.

In the middle of the hall was a three-legged round tripod, the furnace fire in the tripod was burning vigorously, and the four large characters "Great Xia Wuyuan" on the wall of the tripod were clearly visible;

On both sides were placed more than twenty chairs, and in front of each chair was a small table. At this time, ten people were sitting separately;

In the position directly above the hall, there was also a main seat, with a larger table in front, and behind the table, a person was also sitting.

Xiang Liang's gaze was immediately attracted by the person in the upper seat.

No other reason, because he had never seen the clothes that person was wearing.

That person's clothes were actually composed of pale golden armor plates, shining brightly under the firelight. Not only was it dazzling, but it also gave people a sense of inexplicable oppression.

On the table in front of him was also a round helmet, similar in color to the armor plates on his body, which was clearly used to be worn on the head; on the side of the table, there was also a giant long-handled saber with a unique shape and double-edged blades, over three meters long.

No, not just him alone.

The person in the first seat on the left below was also wearing this kind of gold armor.

"Greetings, Garrison Commander!"

While Xu An bowed and saluted, he did not forget to bump into Xiang Liang on the side.

Garrison Commander, is that what the Great Xia camp calls the leader?

Although he was curious in his heart, Xiang Liang still followed and bowed his head to salute.

"Greetings, Garrison Commander!"

"Get up. Who is this person?"

"This person is named Xiang Liang. He was saved by his subordinate just now on the northern foothills of Wuyuan Mountain. He says he has urgent matters to notify us. Seeing that he doesn't look like he's lying, I brought him over."

As the person in the upper seat asked the question, Xiang Liang also raised his head and saw his appearance clearly. But just at this look, he was stunned for a moment.

This Great Xia leader was actually blind in his right eye.

"Greetings, my lord. The humble one is Xiang Liang, the son of the leader of the He Feng camp, Xiang Ping. This time, I came to notify you lords that Wang Lie of the Flying Tiger camp has already learned the location of the Great Xia station. He colluded with Yang Ping and Yue Ming to attack Great Xia. I hope you lords are aware, and I hope Great Xia can..."

Gulp...

The last four words, "make preparations early," Xiang Liang did not say out loud.

Because while he was speaking, he had been paying attention to the reaction of the Great Xia leader in the upper seat and the ten people around him.

Sure enough, the one-eyed Great Xia leader, as well as the ten people on the left and right sides below, all showed joy on their faces after hearing his words.

When he heard those words outside the cabin just now, Xiang Liang already had psychological preparation. Combining it with the reaction of these nine people before his eyes, how could he not realize that the reason the Flying Tiger camp could discover the location of the Great Xia station was clearly that this group of people before his eyes had done it on purpose.

The purpose, just as he heard outside the cabin just now, was that they deliberately seduced the people of the Flying Tiger camp to be greedy, inducing them to attack Great Xia.

In this way, they could annex the Flying Tiger camp in a justified manner...

"Hahahaha, this Flying Tiger camp has guts. I originally thought it was just them, but I didn't expect them to pull in the other two camps. This can be considered as saving us trouble. Hahahahaha..."

Lin Kai in the first seat on the left stood up from his chair with a thud and laughed non-stop. Hearing this, the other seven people also showed smiles on their faces.

Xu Ning in the upper seat couldn't help but show a smile on his face at this moment.

He looked down at Xiang Liang below, glanced at the wooden box in his hand, and after thinking for a moment, said thoughtfully: "Since Wang Lie knows to pull in the other two camps, he must have gone to the He Feng camp as well. Your father didn't want to, so he sent you to notify us?"

Xiang Liang couldn't care about the shock in his heart at this moment and hurriedly nodded, saying: "My lord's judgment is like a god, the humble one admires it. Wang Lie saw that my father didn't agree, so he took the other two camps and attacked our He Feng camp together last night. Without accident, my father and the rest of our camp should have been controlled by the three camps of Wang Lie. The humble one escaped by luck during the chaos at that time, and later, thanks to the rescue of Lord Xu An, I was able to survive."

After hearing this, Xu Ning thought for a moment and looked at his younger brother Xu An.

Xu An nodded and said: "He didn't lie. When I saved him, he had already been hit by three arrows on his back and almost died. It was only after I got a Hot Wind Pill and applied Golden Sore Powder that he survived."

Only then did Xu Ning smile and nod, looking at Xiang Liang and saying: "I know your father Xiang Ping, he is a good person, so your words... I believe!"

Not a single error in the content at a glance!

Hearing Xu Ning's last two words, Xiang Liang's expression suddenly became excited.

By now, he was no longer worried about Great Xia being attacked.

What he saw with his own eyes, heard with his own ears, and the conversation and reaction of the nine people in the hall at this moment were all enough to prove that Wang Lie gathering three families to attack the Great Xia station was simply a complete joke.

The only thing he was worried about now was Great Xia settling scores after the autumn.

Xu Ning believed him, so there was no He Feng camp's business.

No wonder, no wonder his father insisted on not agreeing to Wang Lie's proposal. He must have had some understanding of the strength of the Great Xia camp.

By the way, didn't this Great Xia leader just say that he knew his father?

Had they met before?

Xu Ning's doubt was soon resolved by the words of someone in the hall.

"Xiang Ping is indeed a good person. In the several trades with the four camps north of the mountain, only his family proposed to send people to Great Xia to take a look, but unfortunately, they were all stopped by Wang Lie on the spot..."

Hearing Lu Yang's words, Xu Ning nodded.

The trade with the four camps north of the mountain had always been the responsibility of Lu Yang's Dongyang team, and he was the only one who had been in contact with the leaders of the four camps.

Xu Ning said he knew Xiang Ping, which he also learned from Lu Yang.

Slap...

Lin Kai, wearing gold armor, stood up directly from his chair, turned back to look at Xu Ning, and said: "Since that's the case, then we won't wait. I'll take the team over now and clean up these three camps together. How about it, Xu Zi?"

Xu Ning thought for a moment and nodded directly: "That's fine. I'll go with you. It just so happens that we are returning to the station for the New Year tomorrow night. These five thousand people will be considered as a congratulatory gift from us in Wuyuan for the leader to come out of seclusion!"

Hearing the two of them decide to take action to clean up the Flying Tiger camp so lightly, Xiang Liang was shocked, but before his mood could calm down, noticing the last sentence Xu Ning said, his expression froze instantly.

Returning to the station?

This place is not the Great Xia's station?

No, this one-eyed lord is not even the leader of the Great Xia camp?

This...

While a monstrous wave rose in Xiang Liang's heart, his brain also spun rapidly.

Soon he realized that this was an excellent opportunity. He immediately spoke loudly to Xu Ning in the upper seat:

"I have a heavy treasure to offer to the Great Xia leader, and I hope you lord will introduce me!"

As Xiang Liang's voice fell, the entire hall suddenly became silent.

Xu Ning in the upper seat, and everyone below, including Lin Kai who had already put on his helmet and left his seat, preparing to gather people to set off, all looked at Xiang Liang on the ground, their faces full of strangeness.

"You want to see our leader?"

After a long time, Lin Kai finally couldn't help but speak. After speaking, he walked slowly toward Xiang Liang.

Lin Kai's height was over one meter nine, and a suit of pale golden armor plus a helmet that covered half of his face set off his burly figure even more majestically.

Coupled with his deliberately heavy footsteps, the whole person appeared even more oppressive.

Xiang Liang knelt on the ground, feeling as if a giant mountain was walking toward him. His back was suddenly wet, and his body couldn't stop trembling.

"Offering treasure, is it this thing in your hand? Let me see."

Although his body was trembling, hearing Lin Kai's words, Xiang Liang gritted his teeth and insisted in his tone: "My lord, forgive me, this treasure is of great importance, the humble one must see the leader in person."

Lin Kai raised an eyebrow and immediately turned back to look at Xu Ning. Seeing Xu Ning nod, he smiled and turned around directly.

Slap...

He didn't see any movement, but Xiang Liang stood up with a thud. Seeing that the wooden box in his hand had already been taken by Lin Kai, he immediately showed anxiety on his face.

"My lord, no..."

"Shut up, let me see what it is first. If it's really some good treasure, I will take you back."

Seeing Xiang Liang's intense reaction, Lin Kai immediately scolded him, with a hint of obvious disdain in his words.

The four camps north of the mountain were no different from a mob in his eyes. In such a place, what good treasure could be brought out, and he actually dared to dream of seeing the leader.

Even he himself hadn't seen the leader for several months.

Lin Kai shook his head and opened the wooden box in his hand.

Inside the box were five crystal-clear dark green stones.

The stones were only the size of a fist, the surface was uneven and very irregular, but the color was very bright and had great aesthetic appeal.

Lin Kai's eyebrows condensed, a familiar feeling surged into his heart, and he immediately picked up one of them.

Just at the pick-up, a look of shock appeared on his face.

"This must be over a hundred jin, so heavy!"

Ordinary iron ore in the Frozen Abyss World was also the size of a fist, and normally one piece was only forty or fifty jin. This dark green stone was actually twice as heavy.

After Lin Kai weighed the other four pieces separately, he squeezed them hard. Only then did a hint of curiosity really rise on his face, and he looked at Xiang Liang and asked:

"What is this?"

Xiang Liang had resigned himself to his fate at this moment, knowing that it was impossible for him to hand this thing to the Great Xia leader himself, so he simply stopped being persistent and said: "My lord, can you go and get some cold beast blood?"

Lin Kai nodded and said to Xu An: "Anzi, you go. Also, notify the people of the Green Flood Dragon and Black Arrow teams, let them gather and get ready, there will be work to do immediately."

Xu An nodded and immediately turned and ran out.

Lin Kai also handed the wooden box in his hand to Xu Ning at this time.

Xu Ning examined it carefully for a while, but couldn't see anything. The other seven people also gathered around to look for a while, and finally returned the thing to Xiang Liang.

Soon, Xu An brought a basin of dark green beast blood.

"My lord, the members of the Black Arrow and Green Flood Dragon teams have all been notified."

Lin Kai nodded and signaled to Xiang Liang.

Xiang Liang walked to the side of the basin, took out a piece of stone from the wooden box, and threw it directly in.

Hiss...

Hearing a stimulating sound from the wooden basin, Xu Ning, Lin Kai, and the other nine people all gathered around. Seeing the scene in the wooden basin, their expressions were stunned.

That green stone was actually rapidly absorbing the beast blood in the basin.

And as the blood in the basin became less and less, the color of the stone's surface became increasingly bright, and there was even a slight trend of the body size expanding.

"My lords, this is not a stone. It's called Cold Marrow Iron. My father dug it out of an iron mine. It is extremely bloodthirsty, and only bloodthirsty for beast blood. You lords must have seen it too. It can grow by absorbing beast blood.

Every time our camp forges weapons, we will mix in the powder ground from it. In this way, the forged weapons will become stronger in lethality against cold beasts."

Everyone's eyes lit up instantly.

Lu Yang on the side picked up the Cold Marrow Iron directly, looked at it for a long time, and then turned to Xu Ning and Lin Kai and said:

"This kid's words should be true. Among the four camps north of the mountain, only the He Feng and Flying Tiger camps have iron mines, it's just that the forging craftsmanship is not good..."

Thinking of something, Lu Yang patted his head and suddenly realized: "I said that Xiang Ping proposed several times before that he wanted to find me to exchange for weapon blanks. I thought he wanted to steal the smelting craftsmanship, but it turned out he wanted to exchange for weapon blanks and mix in Cold Marrow Iron powder to forge them himself."

Lu Yang smiled, put the Cold Marrow Iron back into the wooden box, and said: "This treasure is indeed good. Take it back and hand it to the Secretary. I think there's no big problem!"

Xu Ning and Lin Kai also nodded and smiled. Just for the point that it could absorb cold beast blood and grow, this Cold Marrow Iron was definitely a good treasure.

"Fine, then you stay here first. Wait until tomorrow night to return to the station with us, and then you can hand the thing to the Secretary."

"Thank you, my lord."

The wooden box returned to his hand, and Xiang Liang nodded in response immediately.

At the same time, he felt increasingly curious about the Great Xia camp in his heart.

The massive amount of beast meat, iron ore, coal, and various supplies in the wooden cabin just now, he had witnessed with his own eyes. Let alone the He Feng camp, even if the four camps north of the mountain were added together, they wouldn't have so many stored supplies.

And here, this was actually not their station?

Then what would the real Great Xia station look like?

Not only the Great Xia station, but also the Secretary mentioned by Xu Ning clearly had a higher status than the people here.

Then, would he be the leader of Great Xia?

Just now everyone called Xu Ning Garrison Commander, and Xiang Liang thought this was a special title for the leader in Great Xia. Now that he knew it was a misunderstanding, he naturally didn't dare to be sure about the title of Secretary.

"Alright, Xu An, you arrange a place for him to stay first. Lin Kai, we are ready to set off."

"Yes, my lord."

Xu Ning gave Xu An an instruction, and soon went out with Lin Kai.

"I also have to take the team over, there are still several coal mines and iron mines."

Lu Yang remembered something, called out, and followed out.

Xu An on this side took Xiang Liang and finally walked out of the hall.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 205 =====