Chapter 220: Hesitation, Departure, Sending a Letter

Hive settlement, top floor of the main building

Above the spacious hall, an opening suddenly opened. Chen Yingyuan fell from it first, followed by Wu Tianxing and Chen Yingba.

Chen Yingyuan fell into the hall and went directly to the head seat on the high platform.

The other two sat on the left and right sides below.

The three remained silent for a full ten minutes. Finally, Chen Yingba couldn't hold back and spoke first.

"Big brother, there's nothing to consider. Hou Tong makes sense. Li Tianhua hasn't appeared in the previous three alliances. Whether he is still alive is a question. Even if he is alive, he doesn't have much strength left. Zhaoyang Hou Hu is in his prime. Comparing the two, it shouldn't be hard to choose."

Chen Yingyuan looked up at his younger brother, pondered for a moment, and said, "You think too simply. I ask you, why do you think the Alliance Leader Order issued by the eldest young master last year was issued? Was it really because he went crazy?"

Alliance Leader Order?

Hearing this, Chen Yingba was startled, but soon remembered.

Last year, which was the last alliance, the eldest young master of Longshan issued an Alliance Leader Order. The content was: let the eleven camps of the Longyou Alliance each contribute five million jin of iron ore, ten jin of Jade Bone, and send another hostage to Longshan.

Last May, the three of them were beaten by the Great Xia leader in Jinggu. On the way back, big brother Chen Yingyuan mentioned the Alliance Leader Order. At that time, his own thought was indeed that the eldest young master of Longshan had gone crazy.

From a normal logic, his own thought was absolutely no problem.

Old Alliance Leader Li Tianhua hadn't appeared for three years, Zhaoyang Hou Hu was eyeing the position of Alliance Leader. At this juncture, that eldest young master of Longshan didn't properly appease the camps below, but was thinking about large-scale money-grabbing, and even didn't hesitate to use the Alliance Leader Order to scrape them. If this wasn't going crazy, what could it be?

Not to mention five million jin of iron ore. Even if all seven hundred Earth-Digging Realm experts in the Hive camp went up, it would take at least two months of continuous mining;

Ten jin of Jade Bone was even more outrageous. The normal bone yield of a high-level cold beast was only a little over three jin. Ten jin meant three high-level cold beasts;

Not to mention the last hostage sending. This hostage wasn't just anyone who could be one. It had to be the leader's biological offspring. If there were no offspring, send direct relatives. When the Longyou Alliance was founded, each of the eleven camps sent a hostage. Since then, every fifteen years, one had to be sent for rotation.

It is worth mentioning that his big brother Chen Yingyuan was the hostage sent by the Hive to Longshan fifteen years ago.

This year was the forty-eighth alliance. Three years ago, his big brother sent his eldest son Chen Yuan over. How long had it been, and actually another hostage had to be sent over.

And the eldest young master's Alliance Leader Order said very clearly that all camps had to add one hostage to be sent to Longshan. That is to say, from now on, the eleven camps of Longyou had to have two hostages staying in Longshan at the same time.

This Alliance Leader Order, three requirements, could be said to be one more outrageous than the other. Being issued at this juncture, no matter how you thought about it, it felt incredible.

"Was it really him going crazy?"

But this sentence, Chen Yingyuan just used a rhetorical tone.

Chen Yingba was not stupid. He lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and soon understood the meaning contained in his big brother's words.

"Big brother means that the eldest young master already knows that Hou Hu is secretly winning over other camps to resist the alliance's rule, so he deliberately used such harsh requirements to test the loyalty of our ten camps?"

Although Chen Yingyuan didn't answer, his heavy expression already explained everything.

But just at this moment, Wu Tianxing spoke.

"It could also be bluffing, deliberately using this way to deter the camps below, making us feel fearful and not dare to lean toward Zhaoyang!"

Hearing Wu Tianxing's words, Chen Yingba's eyes lit up instantly, and he nodded slightly.

But Chen Yingyuan clearly didn't agree with this.

He shook his head and said in a deep voice: "None of you understand Li Ying Xuan Yan. I was a hostage in Longshan back then and was in the same hunting squad as him, so I understand him very well. With his steady and introverted temperament, he absolutely couldn't do things like bluffing. Even this Alliance Leader Order doesn't look like it was issued by him. This domineering style of doing things, I rather think it looks like............"

Speaking of this, Chen Yingyuan paused, and a trace of fear flashed in his pupils.

"Li Tianhua's handwriting!"

"Even if it's Li Tianhua, so what? He is about to die of old age, big............"

"Shut up!"

Chen Yingyuan shouted to interrupt Chen Yingba and reprimanded sternly: "Stupid!

Hou Hu has peak Frost-Resisting Realm cultivation. With such strong strength, until now he only dared to send people to secretly win over our few families. Why do you think that is?

Hou Tong speaks nicely. If Hou Hu was really that sure, why didn't he go directly to Longshan? He spent so much effort winning us over. In the final analysis, he is also afraid in his heart, so he will pull people to embolden himself.

As long as Li Tianhua's death news hasn't been confirmed one hundred percent, the eleven families of Longyou, including Hou Hu, dare not act rashly. Isn't this enough to prove Li Tianhua's terror?

Don't look at Wu Xiong, Han Jiuli, and the other three families jumping happily now. If Li Tianhua is not dead, they will all suffer.

Besides, don't think Longshan only has one Li Tianhua. His younger brother Li Tiancheng, three sons and one daughter, as well as the Eight Great Vajras under his command, and the Longyou Army, are not simple characters. If you defect rashly and something happens, when the autumn comes to settle accounts, you will know how miserable it is."

"But leader, Hou Tong's attitude today is already very bad. If we continue to waver like this, Longshan and Zhaoyang, we will offend both sides!"

Wu Tianxing's words made Chen Yingyuan fall into conflict again.

He was a hostage in Longshan at the same time as Hou Hu, and he also understood Hou Hu very well.

Compared to the gentle Li Ying Xuan Yan, Hou Hu's temperament was much more domineering. From the style of his subordinate Hou Tong, one could also see a thing or two. If he had to choose between the two, he would choose Hou Hu without hesitation.

But Li Tianhua was like a big mountain pressing on his heart, making him unable to make a decision smoothly.

"Let me consider it again, consider it again. There is still over a month until the alliance. Wait again, wait again............"

Seeing Chen Yingyuan waving his hand with a troubled face, Chen Yingba and Wu Tianxing couldn't say anything more, so they could only bow and exit the hall one after another.

………………

Chen Yingyuan's conflict, Xia Hong naturally didn't know.

Peeking at too much information all at once, returning to the Hive settlement, he entered the courtyard directly, thinking about Great Xia's follow-up response while waiting quietly for the arrival of the alliance day.

Of course, during this process, he would still take time to point out Luo Cheng.

Not only Great Xia had a calendar, but the Hive also had one. However, they were the Longyou Calendar.

Looking at the name, one knew that the Longyou calendar should be founded by Longshan, and all twelve camps of the Longyou Alliance used this calendar.

Coincidentally, the difference between Great Xia and Longyou's calendar was only ten days.

In order to facilitate his own remembering of the days, Xia Hong didn't care about the Longyou calendar and just counted the days according to Great Xia's calendar.

Soon, a month passed.

Great Xia Year 2, March 25th.

In the courtyard, Luo Cheng, holding the spear with both hands, had a bright light in his eyes. His hands leaned back, his body leaped upward fiercely, his arms drummed and exerted force, and the long spear drew a zhang-long semi-arc from back to front, splitting downward suddenly.

At the same time as splitting downward, his body also moved forward a lot. Five meters in front of him on the ground, a small knife was placed, which was his previous personal blade.

Bang............

The spear tip splitting downward collided fiercely with the blade body. Luo Cheng, who had been practicing for more than a month, felt the long spear in his hand as if entering no man's land. Not to mention splitting the small knife with a crack, it even split a deep mark more than half a meter long on the ground.

Luo Cheng looked at the deep mark on the ground, his expression startled, then walked up, touched the mark with his hand, and a burst of disbelief erupted on his face.

"Earth-Digging, I can actually break the ground?"

That deep mark, although only half an inch, was a solid mark.

He actually used brute force to break the ground.

How is this possible!

The disbelief on Luo Cheng's face soon transformed into thick ecstasy, and his expression became incomparably excited.

"Only broke open this little bit, what are you excited about? Give me the spear!"

Seeing Xia Hong walk out of the house, Luo Cheng hurriedly handed the long spear to him.

Xia Hong took the long spear with one hand, drew a semi-arc lightly from behind, and split downward toward the mark on the ground casually.

The seemingly casual movement split precisely on the mark.

Bang............

With a loud noise, the ground within a few meters vibrated instantly.

Luo Cheng, standing not far away, staggered and almost fell. Then he looked down at the spear mark, which directly became a big ditch. His eyes became dull instantly, and the pride that had risen in his heart vanished in an instant.

Gulp............ "Your base strength is already six thousand seven hundred jin. If this splitting spear style is practiced to the pinnacle, an instantaneous explosive power increase of thirty percent is no problem. You currently have at most twenty percent. Don't be too proud, continue practicing."

"Uncle Yu, I understand!"

Luo Cheng took a deep breath, gripped the long spear, and continued to practice. What he practiced was still the splitting spear style that had lasted for more than a month.

"This kid, staying here is a bit of a waste, have to think of some way............"

It had to be said that in the past month, the talent Luo Cheng showed in spear techniques refreshed Xia Hong's cognition again.

Lasting for a month, practicing splitting the spear ten thousand times every day, not to mention that the long spear was specially made by Xia Hong, weighing fifteen hundred jin, which was very difficult to wave. Even if it was an ordinary wooden stick, it wasn't easy to wheel it ten thousand times.

But Luo Cheng not only could perfectly persist, but even looking at his appearance, it was clearly becoming more and more handy, from constantly adjusting his posture at the beginning to basically being able to do it at will now, and there was no impatience in the whole process, which was even more commendable.

His spear technique talent was not bad, and his cultivation aptitude was also very strong. Although he only increased by four or five hundred jin in the first month, the increase did slow down, but considering Luo Cheng was only ten-something now, this was not simple.

"The further back, the slower the increase will be. Even if he stays in the Hive, he is estimated to be able to break through the Earth-Digging Realm before fifteen. If he goes to Great Xia, this time should be able to be earlier............"

If Xia Hong remembered correctly, the youngest Earth-Digging Realm expert in Great Xia was only thirteen-something. Considering Great Xia's abundant materials and many things to assist cultivation, by comparison, Luo Cheng's aptitude was even more frightening.

Read it all in one go!

Such a good seedling, Xia Hong naturally couldn't let him stay in the Hive to be covered in dust.

"Kid, do you want to go to Great Xia?"

Clang............

Luo Cheng, who was practicing splitting the spear, paused, looked back at Xia Hong, and a look of joy appeared on his face instantly: "Of course I want to go. My father, Uncle He, Uncle Kang, Uncle Ping, everyone wants to go. Uncle Yu, can you take us there?"

Hearing this, Xia Hong pondered for a moment, shook his head and said: "Your father and the others, not for the time being. But you can go first."

Luo Cheng's face showed dejection instantly, saying: "I can't go alone. The Hive is not a good place. Leaving my father and the others here, I'm not at ease."

Still quite filial!

Xia Hong could see through Luo Cheng's thoughts at a glance, smiled and said: "You also know the Hive is not a good place. Your aptitude is not bad. With my recommendation, Great Xia should take you in. But your father and the others can't. Their aptitude is not considered good, and they haven't done anything for Great Xia. That side won't take them in for no reason."

Luo Cheng's expression stagnated instantly, lowered his head, and fell into thought.

"Your father and the others, you don't need to worry about for the time being. If you really want to bring them over, go there first to improve your strength. When your strength is strong enough, Great Xia will take your father and the others over for your sake, isn't that better?"

This sentence made Luo Cheng moved instantly.

After all, he was a child. The scene Xia Hong depicted, just thinking about it, made his vanity explode. Showing a moved expression was naturally unavoidable.

Just at this moment, Xia Hong raised his eyebrows slightly, glanced outside the house, and then said: "You go back and consider it first, tell me next month!"

Luo Cheng nodded, put down the long spear, and left the courtyard.

Just after Luo Cheng left, not long after, Cheng Ping walked in.

"My lord, the leader announced today that he will set off for Longshan at the end of the month!"

Hearing this, Xia Hong's expression brightened, and he immediately asked: "Who will be brought along?"

"Only the hunting squad under Chen Yuan and Chen Yingba."

Done!

Xia Hong nodded, and a smile appeared on his face instantly.

As expected, every year the alliance had to hand over tribute. Chen Yingyuan couldn't possibly bring so many materials himself. He definitely needed people to accompany and escort them. Chen Yingyuan didn't have a hunting squad under his name. Choosing nearby, he would definitely let Chen Yingba's hunting squad follow.

He was now the twenty-fifth member of Chen Yingba's hunting squad, so naturally, he could follow Chen Yingyuan to Longshan.

"Who is this Chen Yuan?"

"He is the leader's second son, eighteen years old this year............"

Cheng Ping paused when he said this, then hesitated for a moment, and continued with difficulty: "I heard a thing recently, I don't know if it's helpful to you, my lord. Last year the eldest young master of Longshan issued an Alliance Leader Order............"

Listening to Cheng Ping's narration, after learning about the hostage and the Alliance Leader Order, Xia Hong's eyes became increasingly bright, and his mind began to ponder rapidly.

Five million jin of iron ore; ten jin of Jade Bone; and an additional hostage.

In this situation, daring to issue such an excessive Alliance Leader Order clearly meant forcing the ten camps of Longyou to choose sides between Longshan and Zhaoyang!

Was it bluffing, or did they have enough confidence to want to reveal the dagger?

Or was there a bigger plot!

Xia Hong's eyes flashed. Being able to sit firmly in the position of Longyou Alliance Leader for nearly fifty years, he naturally wouldn't doubt Longshan's strength. It was just that the timing of this Alliance Leader Order really made him a bit confused.

Li Tianhua hadn't appeared for three years, Zhaoyang Hou Hu was in his prime, the whole of Longyou was panicked. That eldest young master who was in charge didn't think about appeasing, but instead came up with such a harsh Alliance Leader Order to make things difficult for other camps.

No matter how you thought about it, it felt weird!

Xia Hong pondered for a while, turned his head to see Cheng Ping looking uneasy, and immediately knew what he was worried about. After pondering for a moment, he smiled and said: "Alright, you go back first. Come to me on the first day of April, and I will give you the antidote for the next month. Don't worry!"

Hearing this, Cheng Ping's hanging heart finally fell. He bowed to Xia Hong and then retreated slowly.

Looking at Cheng Ping's respectful posture, Xia Hong chuckled.

Cheng Ping had been much better during this period, and his fear of him had clearly become stronger. Unsurprisingly, it should be the trip he made to the top floor of the main building last month that had a deterrent effect on him.

"No matter what Longshan's plot is, I have to intervene. Besides, the Hive side also has to leave a backup. Find a way to send a letter to Xia Chuan and the others first. There is a big change in the Pingxi Plain, Great Xia can prepare first!"

Xia Hong pondered for a moment, took a piece of white paper from his pack, and began to write a letter.

Great Xia Year 2, March 30th.

On the last day of March, Luo Cheng, as usual, was about to leave after finishing practicing the spear in the courtyard, but was stopped by Xia Hong.

"Notify your father and Li Baihe, let them come here."

"Yes, Uncle Yu!"

Luo Cheng thought Xia Hong was finally willing to accept his father and the others, a look of joy appeared on his face instantly. He nodded hurriedly and agreed, running home to call people.

Dong dong dong............

Not long after, Xia Hong heard a knock on the door.

"Is Lord Hong Yu in? Luo Ming requests an audience."

"Come in!"

Luo Ming and Li Baihe walked in slowly. However, unlike Li Baihe's expectant and slightly excited expression, Luo Ming's expression was a bit uneasy, clearly still worried that Xia Hong would blame him for the previous matter.

"Lord Hong Yu, it was my fault before. During this period, I troubled you to teach Luo Cheng. Luo Ming is eternally grateful!"

Hearing Luo Ming's words, Xia Hong immediately realized that Li Baihe only told Luo Ming about what happened in the mining area that day. As for his own identity, Luo Ming should still not know.

"I have a letter here. You find an opportunity to help me hand it to Watching Yue Feng. Besides, I hope you can tell Watching Yue Feng the precise location of the Hive settlement and all the defense situations inside the settlement. How about it, are you willing, or unwilling?"

As Xia Hong's voice fell, Luo Ming and Li Baihe's expressions were startled.

Both of them faintly realized something. After looking at each other, they raised their heads to look at Xia Hong at the same time, bowed, and said: "My lord, we are willing!"

A smile appeared on Xia Hong's face. He nodded and said: "That's good. Next time you go to see Watching Yue Feng, bring your son along too. He can go back to Great Xia first. From now on, you can listen to Watching Yue Feng's orders!"

A look of relief appeared in Luo Ming's eyes instantly. Together with Li Baihe, he stepped forward, took the letter from Xia Hong's hand, and nodded heavily.

"My lord, don't worry, we will definitely handle the matter well!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 221 =====