Chapter 266: Offering Advice, Elder Brother as Father [End of Month, Seeking Votes]

"Eldest sister, second sister, I'm here to deliver soup."

"Coming!"

In House No. 1 next to the main building, Xiao Heng carried a heavy box of meat bone soup and walked into the house with his second sister, Xiao Yu, who came to open the door.

"Why are you delivering it again? Didn't I tell Mother not to make it anymore? I'm almost sick of eating it every day."

Eldest sister Xiao Ning was sitting in the hall. Although she was blaming him, her face was full of smiles. When Xiao Heng came over, she immediately waved her hand to brush the snow off him, and then pressed him into a chair.

"Eldest sister, don't make me drink it anymore. I ate a meal at home, and then another meal when I came here. I'm almost bursting in the last few days."

Seeing his eldest sister take out bowls and chopsticks to fill him a full bowl, Xiao Heng waved his hands repeatedly to refuse, but Xiao Ning didn't listen at all and put the bowl directly in front of him.

Xiao Yu teased from the side: "Who told you to be so fond of delivering? If you just said you didn't want to deliver, it would be fine. If you deliver it, you have to eat it."

Hearing this, Xiao Heng's face turned bitter. With Mother's order, how dare he not obey!

Jokes aside, Xiao Heng actually knew very well that both his eldest and second sisters had Earth-Digging Realm cultivation and didn't lack contribution points themselves. Besides, with his brother-in-law Xia Chuan's status and ability, how could they lack things like beast meat?

Not to mention anything else, just in the last five days, every time he walked out of his brother-in-law's house, his hands were never empty. The two sisters would always find ways to stuff things for him.

Intermediate beast meat, refined salt, Beast Origin Pills, cloth, and the 1 jin of aged wine his eldest sister gave him last night were intercepted by his father, Xiao Kangcheng, as soon as he went back, and he only gave him a cup.

He also blamed his mother for the first few days, thinking that the good soup delivery had turned into taking things. But today, coming out of the Martial Arts

Brother-in-law Xia Chuan has been in Longyou for almost a month and hasn't been home at all.

Mother's true intention must be that since Brother-in-law is not in the camp, she is afraid that the two sisters will be too lonely at home, so she let him use the excuse of delivering meat soup to come and chat with them every day to relieve their boredom.

Having understood this, Xiao Heng was not as dull as the previous few times. While drinking the meat soup, he took the initiative to start a conversation with his sisters.

"Sisters, I heard at the Martial Arts Academy today that the rules for the Earth-Digging Realm group martial arts competition have all been released. The rewards are truly shocking!"

Seeing her younger brother take the initiative to talk, Xiao Ning immediately nodded with a smile and replied: "Indeed, there are so many good things that even I feel envious looking at them. It's a pity that neither your second sister nor I have the strength. My base strength is 27,000 jin, and your second sister's is 14,000 jin; there's no hope of even advancing."

Xiao Heng nodded and said: "That's for sure. The fifty Earth-Digging Realm practitioners who entered the Martial Arts Academy last night all broke through the 30,000-jin limit. I heard Father say that there are now nearly four hundred Earth-Digging Realm practitioners in the camp who have broken the 30,000-jin limit. You need at least 60,000 jin of base strength to have any hope of advancing!"

Xiao Yu thought of something at this moment and interjected: "By the way, Xiao Heng, I haven't seen Father or Uncle Yuan for a long time. What is their base strength now? Is there any hope of them advancing?"

Hearing this, Xiao Ning also became interested and looked at her brother with expectant eyes.

It has been more than a year since the Xiaohe camp merged into Great Xia. The Xiaoshan squad created by their father, Xiao Kangcheng, and their uncle, Xiao Yuan, has now been promoted to intermediate level, and their strength has naturally risen with the tide. Xiao Ning remembers that last September, both Father and Uncle Yuan broke through to the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm; they should be even stronger now.

"I don't know either!"

However, Xiao Heng did not know the cultivation situation of the two elders.

After he finished speaking, he recalled for a moment and said: "The two of them have recently exchanged for a lot of beast blood and often go to the Martial Arts Academy to practice. Their night hunting time is also getting longer and longer; they should be preparing as well."

Hearing their brother's words, Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu immediately understood that their father and uncle were definitely aiming for advancement, and smiles appeared on their faces.

"Big Sister, Second Sister, I heard that the martial arts competition for the Frigid-Resistant group will be personally overseen by the Leader. Do you think Brother-in-law will be the champion?"

The two women smiled upon hearing this, a slight sense of pride appearing on their faces.

People tend to focus their gaze on the strong.

For this martial arts competition, what everyone in Great Xia cares about most is the Frigid-Resistant group.

There are currently 23 Frigid-Resistant level practitioners in the camp. I'm afraid only the Leader knows the true strength of everyone, but this does not affect everyone's discussion.

It is said that there are four favorites to win the Frigid-Resistant group: Deputy Si Zheng Xia Chuan, Hunting Department Si Zheng Yu Wen Tao, the newly joined Hive Leader Chen Yingyuan, and Yanglu Leader Peng Bo.

Xiao Heng asked this question clearly because his heart leaned toward his brother-in-law, Xia Chuan.

Of course, Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu leaned even more toward their husband than he did.

The two women did not answer the question directly, just smiled without saying a word.

Seeing that his two sisters did not answer, Xiao Heng rolled his eyes and continued to ask:

"Sister, the competition rules for the Woodcutting Realm haven't been announced yet. Do you know any inside information?"

Thump...

"Ouch..."

As soon as Xiao Heng finished asking, he was tapped on the head by his second sister, Xiao Yu.

"You brat, you're starting to have crooked thoughts. Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."

Xiao Ning's reaction was not that big. She pondered for a moment and said: "Including Wuyuan, Jinggu, and Longyou, the total number of Woodcutting Realm practitioners in our Great Xia is at least over 30,000. According to my observations over the past few days, there are at least 2,000 people like you who are deliberately holding back from breaking through. And there is still half a month until the official start of the martial arts competition on the first of the sixth month; there will definitely be more later..."

Xiao Heng had seen many people in the Martial Arts Academy over the past few days who were holding back from breaking through to the Earth-Digging Realm, but he guessed there were at most three to five hundred of them.

Hearing Big Sister Xiao Ning say there were over 2,000, and that there would be more later, he was instantly dumbfounded.

"How can there be so many?"

"Pfft..."

Second Sister Xiao Yu chuckled and said coquettishly: "Silly brother, Deputy Si Zheng Qiu doesn't care about Zhao Yuanwu and his sister because there are simply too many people holding back from breaking through. A mere dozen people can't affect the martial arts competition at all. Wait and see, there will definitely be a huge crowd of people who will break through as soon as they enter the arena."

Hearing this, Xiao Heng's expression instantly became much more solemn. With two or three thousand people holding back from breaking through, his base strength of 9,900 jin could not be considered an advantage at all.

Judging by the ratio that 4,000 people will be eliminated in the first round of the Earth-Digging Realm screening, at least 30,000 people will be eliminated in the first round of the Woodcutting Realm. That is to say, whether his meager strength can survive the first round of screening is a question.

"Are you already discouraged? Silly boy, although your base strength doesn't have much of an advantage, at least you haven't fallen behind. Your brother-in-law personally guided you in Long Fist. In terms of force-exertion techniques, even if you aren't the best, you are stronger than the vast majority of people. As long as you follow the competition rules and use your brain a bit more, I don't believe you can't even make it into the top hundred."

After Xiao Ning finished speaking, Xiao Yu also followed up: "In the Earth-Digging Realm group, it is said that everyone has 10 fighting opportunities, but judging by the number of people, it is estimated that you will be eliminated as soon as you lose one match. Only by winning 10 consecutive matches, and with short victory times, will you have a chance to advance.

Your Woodcutting Realm group has too many people. To decide the top hundred out of 30,000, it's impossible to follow the rules of the Earth-Digging Realm group. They will definitely change to a different method by then, and the first round will inevitably eliminate more than 90% of the people. Think carefully, what kind of method can achieve this?"

Xiao Heng's expression calmed down slightly. He wasn't stupid; he knew his second sister was helping him devise a strategy to advance, so he immediately lowered his head and began to ponder.

Soon, his eyes lit up, and he said: "To eliminate more than 90% of the Woodcutting Realm practitioners in one go, they will definitely arrange a completely unbeatable opponent for all of them. Only in this way can large-scale elimination be caused."

Quite smart!

A look of approval appeared on Xiao Ning's face, and she continued to guide him: "That's right, since it's a large-scale, indiscriminate elimination, it's impossible to take care of everyone's strength. So I guess that strength is definitely not the deciding factor in this first hurdle. You can think of ways in other aspects."

Strength is not the deciding factor!

Then, besides strength, what else will they test?

Xiao Heng instantly fell into deep thought.

Luck, connections, ability, team coordination...

Knock, knock, knock!

A knock on the door suddenly interrupted Xiao Heng's train of thought.

The three of them immediately turned their heads to look at the door, a trace of curiosity appearing on their faces.

People rarely visit Xia Chuan's house, and since he has been in Longyou recently, the high-level officials of the camp basically know this. It's almost dawn now, who would come over?

Xiao Yu asked curiously as she walked: "Who is it?"

"It's me, open the door!"

Hearing the voice outside the door, Xiao Yu's expression froze, and a trace of nervousness appeared on her face. Xiao Ning immediately pulled her brother up from the chair and walked to the door with Xiao Yu to open it.

"Greetings, Leader!"

Xiao Heng was still a bit confused, but when the door opened and he saw the man in black outside, his expression instantly became nervous.

"Greet... Greetings... Leader!"

If Xiao Ning hadn't pulled him, Xiao Heng would probably have been stunned for a long time.

The person who came was actually the Leader!

Although Xiao Heng has been in Great Xia for more than a year, he had never seen Xia Hong at such close range. He hurriedly bowed and saluted, his voice even trembling a little.

It wasn't fear, mainly excitement!

In the year or more since coming to Great Xia, Xiao Heng had heard too many legendary deeds about the Leader, Xia Hong.

Inheriting the position of Great Xia Leader at eighteen; leading over a hundred people from the camp to escape death from the hands of strange monsters; hunting cold beasts alone while in the Woodcutting Realm; helping the Luo Ge camp destroy strange monsters as soon as he broke through to the Earth-Digging Realm; taking over the Twin Dragon Valley from Luo Ming and then unifying the Red Wood Ridge; driving away the rodent swarm on the northern slope of the mountain wall; being the first to hunt an intermediate cold beast; being the earliest to break through to the Frigid-Resistant level...

Like many young people in Great Xia, under constant influence, Xiao Heng also had an incredibly strong sense of worship for Xia Hong. This emotion could not be described by the word "idol"; it was already extremely fanatical.

Suddenly seeing Xia Hong at close range, one can imagine how excited he was.

"We are all family, no need to be so polite. Come in, it's cold outside!"

Xia Hong chuckled and walked into the house first. Seeing the exquisite furnishings in Xia Chuan's house, he nodded with satisfaction and said: "Xia Chuan shouldn't have treated you two sisters poorly."

Perhaps because Xia Hong rarely appeared in the camp normally, let alone Xiao Heng, the expressions of the sisters Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu were also obviously a bit nervous. Hearing his teasing, their cheeks flushed slightly, and their expressions relaxed a little.

"Lead... Big Brother, you're joking. My husband treats us very well. He went to Longyou during this period, and he handed over all his contribution points for us to use."

Xia Hong nodded with a smile. He also knew about this. When a husband goes out and hands over the right to use his contribution points to his wife, this is a model currently used by the vast majority of families in Great Xia.

He lowered his head and glanced at Xiao Ning's stomach, and sure enough, he sensed a faint breath of life. He immediately said with a smile: "Xia Chuan kept it from me, why did you two keep it from me too? How many months?"

Hearing Xia Hong's inquiry, Xiao Ning's face turned red instantly. After a long time, she replied in a voice as thin as a mosquito: "Returning to Big Brother, it's been almost two months."

Seeing this, Xiao Yu covered her mouth and giggled on the side.

It's only May now, and the Frozen Abyss also has a ten-month pregnancy. It's only been two months, so it's estimated that it won't be born until the beginning of next year.

This can be considered the first second-generation descendant of the family!

In this regard, the younger brother Xia Chuan is indeed stronger than himself.

The smile on Xia Hong's face grew richer. He took out three porcelain bottles—two large and one small—from his bosom and handed them directly to Xiao Ning, saying with a smile: "Speaking of which, I, as the big brother, haven't cared much about you. Even the fact that you are pregnant was something I overheard from others. It's a bit derelict of duty. These three bottles of spirit pills will be my gift to you."

The three bottles were clearly labeled: Beast Spirit Pill, Blood Origin Pill, and Yang Origin Pill.

Xiao Ning has been pregnant during this period and basically doesn't leave the camp, but she still often has to go to the Camp Needs Department. She knows very well that these three pills were only put on the shelves in the Camp Needs Department a few days ago.

The Beast Spirit Pill is an enhanced version of the Beast Origin Pill, and one pill costs 200 contribution points;

The Blood Spirit Pill is even more precious; it is a spirit pill that can only be used after reaching the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm to reshape the skin-membrane, and one pill costs 700 contribution points;

The Yang Origin Pill goes without saying; it is a cultivation spirit pill for the Frigid-Resistant level, and one pill costs 3,000 contribution points.

Moreover, these three types of pills have individual exchange limits; in other words, it means that there is not much stock in the Camp Needs Department.

Xiao Ning took the three porcelain bottles and felt the number of pills inside. Her breathing stagnated for a moment, but she immediately spoke to decline:

"Big Brother, please don't think that way. Actually, after my husband learned that I was pregnant, he also wanted to inform Big Brother, but thinking that Big Brother is busy with ten thousand things every day, he thought about waiting until I gave birth to the child before informing you. I absolutely cannot accept these pills!"

However, Xia Hong interrupted her directly and waved his hand:

"Your base strength is already 27,000 jin. If you supplement this batch of Beast Spirit Pills with beast meat and go to the Martial Arts Academy a few more times, it shouldn't be difficult to break through to the 30,000-jin limit within a few months. I will have someone bring you 500 jin of beast blood later. You should try to break through to the Frigid-Resistant level as soon as possible, striving to do so before giving birth..."

Speaking of this, Xia Hong paused and continued: "I am not giving these things to you; if you break through to the Frigid-Resistant level, it will be beneficial to the future talent of the fetus in your womb."

Hearing this, Xiao Ning's expression froze. Knowing that she had no chance to refuse, she felt a bit moved in her heart.

"Your house is a bit cold and cheerless. Later, I will have Qiu Peng arrange two maids for you so that someone can take care of your daily life."

Hearing that he wanted to arrange maids for her, Xiao Ning subconsciously wanted to refuse.

In fact, during this period of taking down the three families of Wu Shuang, Hive, and Cold Jade, many female captives were taken, but the Camp Needs Department has never opened the door to maids, obviously brewing something for later.

Currently, in Great Xia, only the Leader, Xia Hong, is qualified to have maids. For others to use maids, it belongs to crossing the boundary. This can also be considered one of the current rules of Great Xia. Xia Hong arranging maids for her is obviously a bit against the rules.

"Alright, I will greet Qiu Peng, don't worry."

However, Xia Hong still didn't give her a chance to refuse. After speaking, he asked with a smile: "You haven't named the child yet, right?"

Hearing this question, Xiao Ning immediately remembered something and replied:

"Not yet. My husband said before that the eldest brother is like a father. This is his first child and also the first second-generation descendant of our Xia clan, so it should be named by Big Brother."

Hearing this, Xia Hong's expression was moved.

This is indeed Xia Chuan's personality and something he would say.

After pondering for a moment, a trace of difficulty appeared on his face.

Naming someone with the Xia surname is really not easy.

If you don't name it well, it will become a joke!

"What can Xia be connected to, and it needs to sound good..."

Seeing him lowering his head and pondering, Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu did not interrupt and continued to wait.

Soon, Xia Hong's eyes lit up.

"If it's a girl, call her Xia Yu Ning; if it's a boy, call him Xia Yu Zong. How about that?"

Hearing these two names, Xiao Ning's eyes lit up instantly.

"Yu Ning, Yu Zong, Big Brother, these two names are too well chosen!"

"Hahaha, it's alright..."

Hearing this, Xia Hong also felt a bit proud and laughed a few times. By the way, he didn't forget to tease Xiao Yu next to Xiao Ning, saying: "Work harder, you won't have less than what your sister has."

Xiao Yu immediately lowered her head, and her face turned red instantly.

Seeing that she was thin-skinned, Xia Hong did not continue to tease her. He smiled and turned to look at the young man behind the two women, saying with a smile: "You are called Xiao Heng, right?"

The Leader actually remembers my name?

A look of astonishment first flashed across Xiao Heng's face, and then a strong look of joy erupted in his eyes. He bowed to Xia Hong and said: "Xiao Heng greets the Leader!"

"You want to know the competition rules for the Woodcutting Realm group, right? I'll reveal some inside information to you first, how about that?"

So the Leader knew all about his little thoughts...

Xiao Heng couldn't hear the teasing meaning in Xia Hong's words. His face was instantly full of embarrassment, and he stammered for a long time without daring to answer him.

"Hahaha, your big sister and second sister are right. The screening mechanism for the first round of the Woodcutting Realm doesn't have strength as the deciding factor. Luck, connections, ability, coordination—anyway, none can be missing. I'll just reveal this much to you. Whether you can grasp the opportunity depends on yourself..."

It was rare for Xia Hong to be interested in teasing someone. After turning around and walking a few steps, he continued: "The reward for first place in the Woodcutting Realm is 30 Beast Spirit Pills, 1,000 jin of intermediate beast meat, 3,000 contribution points, a set of hundred-forged weapons and armor, a ten-day training quota for the Martial Arts Hall, and 20 jin of refined salt.

By the way, for this Woodcutting Realm and Earth-Digging Realm group, everyone who achieves a ranking can observe the Frigid-Resistant group competition at close range. Kid, I look forward to seeing you there."

Hearing this, Xiao Heng's breathing became much heavier. Even after Xia Hong walked far away, he hadn't recovered for a long time.

(End of chapter)