Chapter 212: Dragon Sparrow Cold Blood, Luo Ming's Melancholy

A thousand meters west of the valley, a black city wall running north-south had just cut into the eastern periphery of Red Wood Ridge.

If someone were to look at the whole scene from the sky, they would find that this city wall was not only terrifyingly long, framing a large circle around the western periphery of the Great Xia Valley and extending more than two kilometers into Red Wood Ridge, but it was also ridiculously thick, with a single side being five meters wide; even if a dozen people stood in a row, it wouldn't appear crowded at all. The height was even more astonishing, reaching fifteen meters; people standing below appeared extremely tiny.

On the west side of the city wall, there was a wide opening, about eight meters wide. The city wall above was connected, clearly left as the location for the city gate.

Xia Hong stood on top of the city wall, with Xia Chuan and the directors of the six departments behind him.

"Big Brother, this city wall is too powerful. Not only can it automatically piece itself together, but it can also be stacked and thickened. Yu Wentao and I have tested it; even if a large-scale mid-level cold beast charge comes, it can be blocked."

Xia Chuan's eyes were shining, and while touching the city wall, he spoke to Xia Hong with great excitement.

Xia Hong nodded with a smile, looked around the city wall, and spoke to Zhu Yuan behind him: "Half a month ago, didn't you say that the land might not be enough later? This large piece of land circled by the city wall should be enough, right?"

A smile appeared on Zhu Yuan's face, and he nodded: "It's more than enough. I estimate that even if the camp population exceeds 50,000 in the future, it will be more than enough."

Xia Chuan also spoke at this time.

"The north and south city walls are each three kilometers long, and the west city wall is four kilometers long. With fifteen square kilometers of land, plus the area inside the valley, let alone 50,000 people, even 100,000 people, or even more, is enough!"

Xia Hong nodded upon hearing this. With fifteen square kilometers of land, according to the current ten-by-ten housing plan, even if a portion of space was left for roads and other facilities, it would be enough for 100,000 units. One unit per household—let alone 100,000, even if it were three or four times more, it would probably be enough.

"A total of ten kilometers of city wall, five meters per layer—even if mid-level cold beasts charge in batches, it can be blocked. The key is that we also framed a large circle of Red Wood Ridge inside. Fortunately, there are only mid-to-low-level cold beasts here; otherwise, extending the city wall in wouldn't have been so simple!"

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, everyone nodded slightly. For the past half month, Xia Hong had led them out every night to first clear out all the cold beasts on the periphery of Red Wood Ridge before successfully laying out the entire ten-kilometer city wall.

"Alright, with this city wall, you shouldn't have any safety problems for a long time to come. However, pay attention to the Cold Ruins Cauldron; once it attracts cold beasts that are too strong, you must immediately extinguish the fire and hide. Once this city gate is installed, plus the city gate at the valley entrance, the two layers of defense plus you people working together, the probability of being breached shouldn't be too high."

Hearing Xia Hong's words, everyone nodded slightly.

Xia Chuan clearly realized something, and a trace of reluctance appeared on his face.

"It's already been agreed with Luo Ming, right? He's waiting for me north of Jinggu?"

Hearing Xia Hong's inquiry, Watching Yue Feng, who was behind, immediately stepped out and answered: "Last night after dark was the first trading day. When I went to Jinggu, I had already agreed with him according to the leader's instructions."

Xia Hong nodded with a smile, thinking about seeing an old friend again, and a smile appeared on his face.

Speaking of which, it was a coincidence. Four months ago, someone from the Beehive Camp intruded into Jinggu again, but unlike last time, this time they came wanting to conduct material trade with Great Xia.

And among the three who came, Luo Ming was actually there.

The Beehive Camp clearly knew about Luo Ming's relationship with Red Wood Ridge, so they used him to pave the way. Coincidentally, Luo Ming also knew Watching Yue Feng, so after Watching Yue Feng reported to the camp and Xia Chuan personally agreed, the material trade between Great Xia and the Beehive Camp began logically.

Xia Hong naturally wouldn't care about these trade matters, and even Xia Chuan would only ask about them now and wouldn't handle them personally. The first three trades with the Beehive Camp were all handled by Watching Yue Feng, the Jinggu Garrison Commander, so until now, only he had been in contact with Luo Ming.

Watching Yue Feng thought of something, and with a hesitant expression, he spoke to Xia Hong:

"Leader, Luo Ming is very curious about our Great Xia. During the first three trades, he repeatedly asked about the situation, but I brushed him off. I estimate that things aren't going very well over at Beehive. If it's possible..."

Xia Hong raised his eyebrows slightly. He could naturally hear Watching Yue Feng's subtext, which was nothing more than developing Luo Ming into an inside agent for Great Xia in the Beehive Camp.

"Discuss these matters with Xia Chuan; I won't ask about them. However, be careful not to be deceived by others."

Xia Chuan, who was on the side, nodded gently, looking thoughtful.

"Alright, let's send it off here. You guys go back. Later, prioritize installing the city gate. From now on, people must be specially stationed here at the city gate. The trees inside the city wall can all be cleared. Remember to plan the transplantation and living spaces separately. When I return next time, we can transplant the vegetation within our jurisdiction."

In this major building upgrade, the only thing Xia Hong didn't do was the yellow land.

The reason was simple: resources were insufficient.

Just redeeming these 50,000 meters of city wall had consumed all the resources. Redeeming yellow land on a large scale was no longer enough, so Xia Hong simply didn't redeem it, waiting until he returned to the camp next time.

"You can also try burning coal stone to soften the land and transplant a portion of medicinal plants first to see. It should be completely fine."

Xia Chuan nodded, thought of something, and signaled to Mu Dong, the Director of the Craftsman Department behind him.

Mu Dong understood and took off the two long wooden boxes he was carrying on his back, sending them to Xia Hong.

"What is it, weapons?"

The two wooden boxes—one was almost two meters long, and the other was just over a meter.

Seeing the shape of the wooden boxes, Xia Hong could basically guess.

Xia Chuan nodded and stepped forward to open the wooden box that was nearly two meters long.

A slender long blade with a blade length of 1.5 meters and a width of only two fingers came into Xia Hong's view, causing a trace of astonishment to rise on his face.

"Ceremonial blade, this…………"

An ordinary ceremonial blade would naturally not cause Xia Hong's astonishment.

The key was that the blade of this ceremonial blade had thousands of densely packed patterns.

Xia Hong directly took out the ceremonial blade, held it in his hand, felt the weight of sixty or seventy thousand jin, and a trace of brilliance rose in his eyes.

"Thousand-forged ceremonial blade, you guys forged this during this period?"

Xia Chuan nodded with a smile, and Mu Dong on the side answered: "The leader is going out, so it won't do without a handy weapon. More than three months ago, we drew out a portion of the Earth-Digging Realm members and began to forge continuously in turns. It lasted for more than a hundred days and nights, and finally, we managed to forge this thousand-forged ceremonial blade."

The ten-forged, hundred-forged, thousand-forged, and even the subsequent ten-thousand-forged classifications of weapons were actually not complicated; they were nothing more than forging patterns onto the formed iron ore.

When ordinary iron ore is forged into ten-forged, the weight does not change, but if you want to forge more forging patterns, you must add new iron ore and continuously compress the density through hammering.

A normal ten-forged blade weighs about six hundred jin; a hundred-forged weighs six thousand jin; a thousand-forged blade must be over sixty thousand.

Although the ceremonial blade Xia Hong used had a narrow blade, its length far exceeded that of an ordinary broadsword, so the weight was not much different from an ordinary broadsword.

"Leader, open this box and take a look!"

Mu Dong then took out the second, shorter wooden box, placed it in front of Xia Hong, and signaled him to open it with a somewhat mysterious expression.

A trace of curiosity also rose on Xia Hong's face, and after opening the box, his eyes lit up.

In the wooden box lay a horizontal blade quietly; the blade part was only eighty centimeters long, and including the handle, it was just over a meter.

The four styles of Xia blades: Ceremonial, Horizontal, Barrier, and Mo. Now, all blade weapons in the camp were customized according to these four types. An ordinary horizontal blade naturally couldn't make Xia Hong's eyes light up so much. The problem was that the blade of this broadsword was actually bright red like blood.

No, it wasn't an ordinary blood color, but a color closer to blood jade texture, more precious and beautiful, making one feel happy at first sight.

"Half a month ago, Xiang Liang from the He Feng Camp who came from Wuyuan presented five pieces of Cold Marrow Iron to the leader. We took four of them and forged this horizontal blade. Leader, take a close look at the forging patterns on the blade."

Hearing Mu Dong's words, Xia Hong reached out and took out the horizontal blade. After feeling the weight, a trace of surprise rose in his eyes, and then seeing the densely packed thousand forging patterns on the edge of the blade, his gaze froze slightly.

"The weight hasn't changed, how can you forge so many forging patterns, what's going on?"

Xia Hong had already personally seen those five pieces of Cold Marrow Iron. He knew that each piece averaged only about a hundred jin. This horizontal blade was forged from four pieces, so a weight of over four hundred jin was no problem.

But what was going on with the thousand forging patterns?

Special material!

Sure enough, as soon as this guess popped into Xia Hong's mind, he immediately received Mu Dong's personal confirmation.

"This Cold Marrow Iron should be a special material. When we forged the blade blank, after forging ten forging patterns, we tried to continue hammering, and unexpectedly, we could still forge new forging patterns. So we divided people into groups to forge simultaneously, and unexpectedly, we really forged thousand-forged patterns, which can be considered an unexpected joy."

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Looking at the two wooden boxes, which were also specially equipped with inconspicuous wooden scabbards, a trace of warmth rose in Xia Hong's heart. He turned his head to look at Xia Chuan, Mu Dong, and the others, and spoke softly: "You guys have put your hearts into this!"

Even though Great Xia now had a large number of Earth-Digging Realm members, forging two thousand-forged weapons in such a short time—there was no need to think to know that the process was definitely not easy. Xia Hong was naturally moved in his heart.

"Leader, please don't say that. This is all we can do. If we couldn't even forge a handy weapon for you after such a long time, then we people in the Craftsman Department would truly be good-for-nothings."

Hearing Mu Dong's words, everyone couldn't help but chuckle.

Mu Dong thought of something and continued: "By the way, leader, these two blades don't have names yet. You should name them!"

Xia Hong took out the ceremonial blade, inserted it into the scabbard, and tied it directly to his back. Then, after inserting the horizontal blade into the scabbard, he hung it at his waist. After pondering for a moment, he spoke directly:

"Dragon Sparrow, Cold Blood."

Great Xia Dragon Sparrow, Great Xia Cold Blood!

Cold Blood, as the name suggests, implies drinking the blood of the cold beasts of the Ice Abyss. It not only fits the attributes of the Cold Marrow Iron but also endows this horizontal blade with the destiny of slaying cold beasts.

As for the former, although they didn't understand the meaning of the two words "Dragon Sparrow," after everyone silently recited the four words, they found that they were not only exceptionally smooth to say but also carried an inexplicable dominance.

Xia Hong, after getting the two blades ready, took out a mask with a vermilion inner layer from his bosom. After sticking the vermilion side to his face, he immediately turned into an ordinary young man nearly thirty years old. Cooperating with the black animal skin cloak he specially wore today, he immediately became inconspicuous when standing in front of Xia Chuan and the others.

"Alright, hand the luggage to me. You guys send it off here. Watching Yue Feng will follow me to Jinggu and then take me to meet Luo Ming. My departure date is uncertain this time. Remember to watch the camp well. Once I infiltrate the Beehive Camp, I will leave contact information there. At that time, if there is really an emergency, you can send a message to me through Luo Ming."

Xia Chuan took out a large bundle from behind and handed it to Xia Hong.

There were many bottles and jars in the bundle, clearly having prepared many things.

"Alright, everyone go back. Watching Yue Feng, let's go!"

Seeing the reluctance in everyone's eyes, Xia Hong shook his head slightly. After calling out to Watching Yue Feng, he jumped off the city gate directly and walked toward the north, and Watching Yue Feng hurriedly followed behind him.

………………

Ten miles north of Jinggu, which was the southeastern part of Pingxi Plain.

In the middle section of a large tree with a diameter of seven or eight meters, there was a faint firelight, and listening carefully, there were even voices of conversation coming from inside.

If someone looked inside from the outside, they would find that the middle section of this large tree was completely hollow, and there was a tree hole space three or four meters wide inside, which could accommodate three or five people without any problem.

In the tree hole, two people were sitting opposite each other around a small fire. From the way the two twisted their bodies from time to time, it was clear that they had been sitting for a long time.

And the two people sitting here were none other than...

Luo Ming and Shang Ping, who had left Red Wood Ridge nearly two years ago.

Compared to two years ago, both of them looked much more weathered, and there were faint white hairs on their temples, clearly not living very comfortably.

"Old Shang, do you think if we propose to return to Red Wood Ridge, will Leader Xia Hong and the others agree?"

Shang Ping, opposite the fire, hearing Luo Ming's inquiry, had a hesitant expression: "Agreeing, they will naturally agree, but after returning, our situation might be a bit awkward, and Luo Yuan and the others, how will they look at us..."

Luo Ming, hearing this answer, immediately revealed a trace of bitterness on his face.

That's right, back then he took all the Earth-Digging Realm members, left the two hundred people in the camp to Xia Hong, and left Red Wood Ridge.

Now wanting to go back, not to mention how Xia Hong would look at him, even Luo Yuan and that group of people would probably feel awkward in their hearts!

Thinking about the situation of the first three trades with the Great Xia Camp, Luo Ming's expression became melancholy.

Luo Ming was not stupid. Although he tried to ask Watching Yue Feng about the current situation of Great Xia three times, he was brushed off by Watching Yue Feng. But just by looking at the trade situation and some of the things he saw, he could also imagine that Great Xia's current strength was no longer what it used to be.

Not to mention the massive amount of bamboo silk, beast meat, cloth, silk, and high-quality weapons that Great Xia brought out during the three trades... just from Watching Yue Feng's own strength and the strength of the few people he brought each time he traded, it was enough to see the big picture.

"Two years ago, not even two years, Watching Yue Feng only had the strength of the Woodcutting Realm, but now he is almost the same as me. The growth of the Great Xia Camp over these two years is probably far beyond our imagination!"

Hearing Luo Ming's words, Shang Ping shook his head and said: "This is nothing. The leader's unfathomable attitude every time he mentions Xia Hong is what makes me even more curious. Even the Mirror Immortal Camp has merged into Great Xia. To what extent has Leader Xia Hong's strength reached? I'm afraid only the Great Leader, the Second Leader, and Commander Chen know."

"If I had known this, I shouldn't have taken you guys and left..."

Before he finished speaking, Luo Ming fell silent.

Shang Ping naturally knew what he wanted to say later, but after thinking about it, he didn't say anything in the end and fell silent with him.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this. Watching Yue Feng finally took the initiative to let us help. Let's do this thing beautifully. Maybe in the future..."

Toot... toot... toot...

Before Luo Ming finished speaking, three long bone whistle sounds came from not far away.

He and Shang Ping stood up immediately upon hearing the sound.

"They're here."

"Let's go, let's go out and pick them up."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 213 =====