Chapter 237: Probing, Arrangement, Hou Hu's Confidence

Being able to challenge Longshan's status, Zhaoyang's strength was unquestionable.

The main materials used for the houses in their camp were actually bluestone and iron.

The specific operation method should be to drive piles first, then use giant stones and small stones to pile up the embryo shape of the house, and finally burn the iron ore into pulp, and while it hadn't solidified, pour it into shape quickly.

Houses built this way had a layer of black-bright iron patterns on the outside. Beauty was only secondary; the key was the defensive power, which was shockingly amazing.

And the Zhaoyang camp, not only hundreds of houses, were all like this, and there was also a circle of city walls built in the same way on the outermost perimeter, with a total length of about three thousand meters.

Xia Hong looked at the stone in his hand carefully while walking toward the main building.

The stone was cyan, with very clear black patterns on the inner layer. Xia Hong needed to use slight force to crush the stone, but he could easily break it by gently hooking it with his fingernail along the black patterns.

"Stones are everywhere, but stones that are this hard and can be easily broken along the patterns are hard to find. And normal iron pulp cools too fast to be poured so perfectly. There should be other special materials added in the middle."

Xia Hong looked up toward the north side of Zhaoyang. A giant frost rock wall several thousand meters high stretched from east to west, and he couldn't see the end at all.

Just like the Does Da Xia camp was on the west side of the Twin Dragon Mountain, Zhaoyang was also located on the edge of the north side of the Pingxi Plain. The rock wall in front of him was the northern end of the Pingxi Plain.

"The scale of this North Mangshan looks larger than Longshan and Twin Dragon Mountain. The ice crystals on the upper rock wall are a hundred meters thick in the thickest places. This cyan stone, if nothing goes wrong, was taken from under the rock wall."

Coming to Zhaoyang for two days, even without specifically asking, Xia Hong had learned a lot of information about Zhaoyang just by stealing ears.

Rely on the mountain to eat the mountain, rely on the water to eat the water!

All camps in the Frozen Abyss, because their scope of activity was too small, could only seize resources in a limited space, so the buildings all had extreme regional characteristics.

Like Does Da Xia, because it relied on the Redwood Ridge, the buildings were mostly wood;

And the camps in the Five Plains before, because there were many caves, most camps built their camps in caves. Besides using wood, they also had to add iron materials to stabilize the cave structure;

The Beehive was more direct. The plain wasn't safe, so they put the camp underground;

Xia Hong exerted force to crush the cyan stone in his hand, realizing its defensive power was even more fierce than pure iron. Looking at North Mangshan again, his expression immediately became a bit different.

Clearly, whether it was other camps or his own Does Da Xia's buildings, the defensive ability was not as good as this kind of house made of cyan stone and iron pulp.

"There are no traces of cold beast activity on the rock wall side. Zhaoyang's back can basically be ensured safe. There is a three-thousand-meter ring-shaped cyan iron wall guarding the front, plus such solid buildings inside, it's easy to resist the impact of ordinary cold beast tides. If you count their Cold-Resistant Realm and Earth-Digging Realm experts, it's even more incredible. No wonder they dare to challenge Longshan. Their strength is indeed very strong!"

Ping Valley, North Mangshan, cyan stone iron houses...

These things were certainly important, but at most they helped Xia Hong broaden his horizons. What he focused on stealing ears in these two days was naturally the content about Zhaoyang camp's strength revealed when people in the camp were communicating.

The house he lived in was beside the main building, so those coming in and out nearby were all considered middle and high-level in Zhaoyang. So after two days of stealing ears, he learned a lot of information, which was really not little.

"The number of Cold-Resistant Realm experts should be around twenty, over five thousand Earth-Digging Realm experts, over twenty thousand Woodcutting Realm experts, and the total population of the camp is about sixty thousand-plus. This gap with Longshan is already negligible. If Hou Hu can hold his breath and develop for a period of time, exceeding Longshan should only be a matter of time."

While Xia Hong was pondering, he had already walked into the main building, and the person who notified him just now immediately greeted him and took him to the second floor of the main building.

The Ping Valley where Zhaoyang was located was next to North Mangshan, similar to the terrain of the Border Valley. It was a valley that protruded and recessed. The main building was located at the northernmost and deepest part of the valley floor, leaning against the North Mangshan rock wall. Overall, it was square, and although it was only built with two floors, the horizontal length was over three hundred meters, and the height was twenty meters, which was much larger than Does Da Xia's main building.

Moreover, the thickness of the main building's walls was over three meters, almost the same as the thickness of the outermost city wall, and the defensive power was also extremely shocking.

"My lord, I cannot enter here. You can go in yourself. Please!"

"Many thanks."

At the door of the main hall on the second floor, Xia Hong thanked the person who led the way, then walked in with big strides. Seeing fifteen people sitting on the left and right in the main hall, his eyes swept around, and then he walked forward slowly.

"Among the eight Cold-Resistant Realm experts who went to Longshan, Hou Hua, who led the Blood Guard Army, and Hou Tong were not there. The other six were all there; among the other nine people, I haven't seen seven of them. Judging by their clothes, they are also Zhaoyang people. Those two whose clothes are slightly different, one is Bai Qiucheng, the leader of Bai Yuan, and the other is Dong Zhong of the Dongkang camp. These two camps have also come!"

Coming to Zhaoyang for two days, he hadn't taken the initiative to know anyone, and Hou Hu hadn'

However, he still recognized the identities of Bai Qiucheng and Dong Zhong, who were sitting in the front row, because he had secretly spied on them before. Counting the six others he had seen once before, there were only seven people in the hall he had truly never met.

Just as Xia Hong finished scanning everyone in the hall, Hou Hu, who was in the seat of honor, had already personally come down to greet him.

"Brother Hong, come, come, come, sit next to me!"

Not only Hou Hu, but the other fifteen people in the hall also stood up, slightly cupping their hands toward Xia Hong, their eyes filled with a trace of respect.

In the Frozen Abyss, the strong are respected!

Clearly, the strength Xia Hong displayed during his clash with Li Tiancheng that night had already won the respect of these people.

Xia Hong wore a kind smile. Seeing that Hou Hu had placed an identical chair next to the main seat and was signaling for him to sit, he first withdrew the smile from his face, then slowly revealed a trace of anger.

"Brother Hou, what is the meaning of this?"

Although Hou Hu clearly saw the anger in Xia Hong's eyes, he still feigned ignorance and asked: "Zhaoyang has always respected the strong. Brother Hong's strength is no weaker than mine, so you deserve to sit on equal footing with me. Why do you, Brother Hong...?"

"The reason I, Hong, am willing to stay in Zhaoyang boils down to two points: first, I cannot stand the overbearing style of Longshan; second, I am moved by your righteous act of raising an army to oppose Longshan. With these two factors, I decided to stay and assist you in overthrowing Longshan, to seek justice for the thousands of humans living on the Longyou land..."

Xia Hong paused after speaking, let his emotions brew for a moment, and then angrily retorted:

"Not to mention that I have no interest in staying in Zhaoyang, could it be that you, Brother Hou, think in your heart that I am the kind of petty person who cares about the order of seating?"

Hearing these two passages from Xia Hong, the confusion on Hou Hu's face quickly turned into joy. But upon discovering that Xia Hong's angry expression had not faded, he immediately suppressed all the joy, then revealed a look of trepidation, slapped his forehead hard, and apologized:

"Brother Hong is full of sincerity and chivalry; it was I, Hou, who had the heart of a petty person. I truly hope you will calm your anger, Brother Hong. This seating arrangement was indeed based on strength. If you don't sit, Brother Hong, how could I possibly sit in..."

"Brother Hou, say no more. You are the leader of Zhaoyang, the host, and I, Hong, am merely a guest in Zhaoyang. Furthermore, in the upcoming fight against Longshan, Zhaoyang will take the lead and other camps will assist. I am alone and cannot contribute much strength, so how could I dare to sit ahead of the host? Just find any seat for me!"

Deep in Hou Hu's eyes, the smile grew increasingly intense, but on the surface, he waved his hands repeatedly and said solemnly: "Although Brother Hong is alone, your strength is astonishing. You were even able to force Li Tiancheng to retreat. We must rely heavily on you, Brother Hong, to deal with Longshan. How could you say you cannot contribute much strength?"

He pondered for a moment, gave a look to someone on his left, and said: "How about this, I will have Hou Quan give up his seat. You sit there first, Brother Hong, how about that?"

"Then I shall not decline!"

Xia Hong did not continue the act. Seeing that the person in the first seat on the left had given up his place, he nodded directly, walked over, and sat down.

After leaving him hanging for two days, upon meeting again, this Hou Hu had actually tested him first.

Xia Hong could not help but feel a bit surprised in his heart, but after lowering his head and pondering for a moment, he felt that Hou Hu's behavior was within reason.

When he forced Li Tiancheng to retreat that night, the strength he displayed was not weaker than Hou Hu's. It would be strange if he weren't wary of him at all.

It was just that by using such a simple method of offering a seat to test him, it seemed that Hou Hu had truly taken to heart the appearance of being guileless and easily fooled that he had displayed on the way back from Longshan.

Regarding that seat just now, Xia Hong could be basically certain that if he had truly agreed to sit in it, someone below would inevitably have raised an objection. Then Hou Hu would have stepped forward to scold them, the other party would have stated a bunch of reasons, and he would have had to accept it in the end. Not to mention Hou Hu's overbearing nature, no leader of any camp would allow someone to sit on equal footing with them. Even if he allowed it, the people below would never agree.

This is a characteristic of the Frozen Abyss camps, let alone a camp as powerful as Zhaoyang.

Of the fifteen people in the hall, except for the leaders of the two camps, Bai Qiucheng and Dong Zhong, the other thirteen Cold-Resistant-level members of Zhaoyang looked at Hou Hu with the exact same expression that the Does Da Xia people looked at him with. How could Xia Hong not understand?

So this was Hou Hu's test. He was testing whether he would rely on his strength to harbor thoughts he shouldn't have, so that he could adjust his arrangements for him in the subsequent great battle. That was the high probability.

Now that he had passed the test, the arrangements for him should be a bit bolder.

Xia Hong's eyes flashed slightly, and he looked at the bland fruit platter on the table, curling his lips slightly.

Although Zhaoyang's strength is strong, the variety of their supplies simply cannot compare to Does Da Xia's.

Tonight, the leaders of two camps were present, and all the Cold-Resistant-level members currently remaining in the Zhaoyang camp had also come. For such an important occasion, there were only two fruit platters on the table.

"The Blood Cold Wine and aged brew we brought out are all finished. My mouth is almost fading to the point of boredom; I must find a way to get some more when I return to the encampment..."

While Xia Hong was disgusted by Zhaoyang's lack of supplies, Hou Hu in the seat of honor was beaming with joy because of the perfect effect of this test, and even the way he looked at Xia Hong became extremely satisfied.

"I had many insights from the battle with Li Tiancheng on the night of the 14th, so I began closed-door cultivation as soon as I returned to the camp and haven't come out for two days. The matters I arranged before I left, have you all handled them?"

!

As soon as Hou Hu spoke, the expressions of the fifteen people below all stirred slightly. Their sitting postures immediately straightened, and they all turned their heads, looking at him with respectful expressions.

This scene made Xia Hong's expression slightly solemn.

The other thirteen people were nothing; it was mainly Bai Qiucheng and Dong Zhong.

The leaders of these two camps also held such a respectful attitude toward Hou Hu.

The significance contained within that was huge.

"This doesn't look like just leaning toward the Zhaoyang side; it looks like they are preparing to merge their entire families into Zhaoyang. Dongkang is on the right, Bai Yuan is to the northwest; both camps are adjacent to Zhaoyang, so a complete merger isn't strange. However, in this way, Zhaoyang's strength will become increasingly formidable!"

Xia Hong's gaze was slightly solemn as he continued to listen to the conversation between Hou Hu and the others.

Hou Quan, who had just given up his seat to Xia Hong, stood up at this moment and cupped his hands:

"Reporting to the leader, two days ago, I already dispatched eight people separately, telling them to go to the eight camps of Longyou to report the news. The news that Li Tianhua is no longer at Longshan should currently have spread everywhere;

The people sent to report to Changning and Songyuan have both returned. According to them, there are Longyou troops patrolling everywhere within the territories of these two camps; they should have been controlled by Longshan;

The people sent to report to Yucheng have also returned. They couldn't even sneak into the Yucheng encampment and couldn't find anyone from Yucheng; they still don't know what the situation is."

Hearing the last piece of news, Hou Hu's expression froze slightly, then he chuckled twice and said coldly: "Yan Chuan must have met with an accident. Since Longshan wants to strike first to gain the advantage, the first people they would use to make an example of would inevitably be those who are two-faced.

Yucheng, Changning, and Songyuan have all been taken by Longshan. By using the ordinary people of these three camps, the number of Earth-Digging Realms they control has increased by at least five thousand. This move was indeed very fast."

Xia Hong raised his eyebrows slightly, marveling in his heart at Hou Hu's keenness.

He had seen Yan Chuan's corpse with his own eyes, but Hou Hu could infer that Yan Chuan had met with an accident based on just this bit of news, and even incidentally think of Yucheng being taken by Longshan. This was a bit extraordinary.

Hou Quan below nodded to express his agreement, then said:

"Li Ying Xuan Yan has had an epiphany?"

"He doesn't have the brains to act so decisively. I estimate that Li Tiancheng personally stepped forward to take charge. They didn't just take these three camps, right? What other situations are there? Tell them all to me!"

Mentioning Li Ying Xuan Yan, Hou Hu's tone was very contemptuous, directly asserting that he couldn't do these things. Clearly, his understanding of him was not ordinary.

Another person walked out from behind Hou Quan and cupped his hands: "Wu Shuang and Hanqiong have already captured Yanglu as promised. Our scouts have already sent word back from Wu Shuang. Wu Xiong and Han Jiuli are stationed in Yanglu with a large number of people, just waiting for Hou Ming of the Beehive to finish his business. Once the two sides merge, the four camps of Wu Shuang, Hanqiong, Beehive, and Yanglu will be connected as one, and the entire southeastern part of Longyou will be completely out of Longshan's control!"

"Good!"

Hou Hu's expression was spirited. He stood up directly and turned his gaze toward Bai Qiucheng below, saying in a deep voice: "You said that the Longshan army is currently partially stationed on your west side, cutting off the main road between Xiling and you, and another part is stationed in the south, neither letting your large forces go south nor letting you come to Zhaoyang to merge with us. That is correct, right?"

Bai Qiucheng stood up and bowed, nodding: "That is indeed the case. The number of Longyou troops is somewhat abnormal. Longshan must have used the Longyou troops to be able to take Yucheng, Changning, and Songyuan so quickly. But among the two thousand people stationed on the west side of our camp, half of them look like Longyou troops based on their attire, and the two thousand stationed in the south are the same. How could Longshan have..."

"Li Tianhua likes to keep an ace up his sleeve in everything he does. Longyou originally had more than a thousand people; I knew this early on. But to have so many is still somewhat beyond my expectations."

A trace of pressure appeared on Hou Hu's brow, then he sneered: "Blocking the main road so that we cannot have large-scale personnel movement between us is because they are afraid of us merging. Among the four thousand plus people, even if I count them as truly having two thousand Longyou troops, it is too naive to think they can block all the main roads between the six camps..."

He pondered for a moment, turned his head, and asked Hou Quan: "The one thousand Blood Guards of Hou Hua are already in position at the Bai Yuan camp, right?"

Hou Quan bowed and nodded with a spirited expression.

"Notify him to stand by on the spot; I will be there immediately. Also..."

Hou Hu's gaze turned to Xia Hong, who had been listening quietly, and he said with a smile: "Brother Hong, I must trouble you."

"Brother Hou, please just speak!"

Finally, it was time to arrange for him. Xia Hong immediately stood up, cupped his hands in salute, and gave Hou Hu plenty of face.

"Brother Hong, there is no need for this..."

Hou Hu raised his hand to press down, signaling that he didn't need to be so polite, then said: "Zhaoyang has 1,500 people stationed at the Hanqiong camp, currently led by Hou Tong. I would like to ask you, Brother Hong, to go to Hanqiong to assist Hou Tong. It would be best if you could break Longshan's blockade of the southern part of Bai Yuan. If you cannot break through, you must hold them off so they cannot interfere with the battle on the west side. How about that?"

He wanted to personally lead the Blood Guards to deal with the Longshan garrison on the west side of Bai Yuan; he himself would help Hou Tong hold off the Longshan garrison on the south side of Bai Yuan.

"Good, I, Hong, will definitely do my best!"

Xia Hong understood Hou Hu's deployment in an instant and nodded directly in agreement.

Although Xia Hong had not personally experienced the strength of the Longyou troops and the Blood Guards, he had seen them fight. Not only did their individual strength reach the limit of 30,000 jin, but they were also equipped with special weapons, and their combat proficiency was far stronger than that of the hunting squad members of ordinary camps.

Such an army, as long as it numbered over a hundred, could threaten a Cold-Resistant-level member. This was also the reason why Hou Hu had to flee frantically toward the Blood Guards when he was being hunted down by Li Tiancheng that night.

And Longshan had more than a thousand of such an army.

Zhaoyang only had one thousand Blood Guards, and he was asked to hold off the south side. Did Hou Hu have such confidence that he could defeat the Longshan army on the west side?

Xia Hong's expression flashed slightly. Looking at Hou Hu, who was still arranging tasks above, a thick curiosity arose in his heart.

(End of chapter)