Chapter 267

Second Year of Great Xia, May 20th

Wu Shuang Boulder Camp, Main Building Top Floor Hall

Xia Chuan sat in the main seat, waiting for something with a smile on his face.

"Greetings, Deputy Si Zheng."

"Greetings, Deputy Si Zheng."

Soon, Chen Yingba and Wu Tianxing walked in from outside the door. Their faces were filled with surprise, and they saluted Xia Chuan one after another before sitting down below.

"How is it? The taste of the Yang Origin Pill is not bad, right?"

Seeing the surprise on their faces and combining it with their behavior of being in seclusion for two days, Xia Chuan immediately guessed that both of them had already eaten the Yang Origin Pill in their hands, so he teased them.

Qiu Peng sent the four Yang Origin Pills on the 10th of May, but at that time, only he and Zhao Long dared to eat them. Chen Yingba and Wu Tianxing were obviously a bit worried about the pills bestowed by Great Xia and did not dare to take them.

It wasn't until three days ago that Qiu Peng came again, bringing Chen Yingyuan's handwritten letter and letters from Wu Tianxing's family, that these two finally felt completely at ease.

Hearing the teasing in Xia Chuan's tone, the faces of Chen and Wu showed some unnaturalness, but their expressions quickly returned to surprise, and they answered one after another.

Chen Yingba: "The effect of this Yang Origin Pill is too strong, at least three times that of the Jade Bone Great Medicine. Since the Leader bestowed such a divine pill, Chen will surely follow the Big Brother and be at the Leader's beck and call from now on."

Wu Tianxing: "I cannot repay the Leader's grace of bestowing the pill. From now on, if the Leader has any orders, even if it's climbing a mountain of blades or descending into a sea of fire, I will not refuse!"

Hearing their words, Xia Chuan just nodded lightly and smiled without saying a word.

The stance of these two is actually not important.

Chen Yingba is obviously following Chen Yingyuan. According to Qiu Peng's description, Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo have both opened their hearts to Xia Hong. Since that's the case, it doesn't matter whether he states his position or not.

As for Wu Tianxing, it goes without saying. His family is all in Xia City, so it's even more impossible for him to have any second thoughts.

What prompted the two to make such a statement was, first, the news about Xia City brought by Qiu Peng, and second, I'm afraid it was the shock brought to them by the Yang Origin Pill.

To make Frigid-Resistant level practitioners like Chen Yingba and Wu Tianxing have a heartfelt sense of belonging to Great Xia, in the end, one must take out benefits that make them excited.

This Yang Origin Pill is undoubtedly one of them.

Xia Chuan knows very well why the Big Brother deliberately asked Qiu Peng to send the Yang Origin Pill.

But today, calling these two here is for other matters.

"There are ten more days until the martial arts competition officially begins. There are not many people in the Wu Shuang and Cold Jade camps. Now there is no one in charge of the Hive camp. I plan to send you two, together with Hong Tian, to be responsible for the Hive martial arts competition. How about it?"

There are no ordinary people in the three Longyou camps anymore; the rest are all Woodcutting Realm and Earth-Digging Realm practitioners. After all, the Hive is a transit station between Longyou and Red Wood Ridge, and it gathers the most Earth-Digging Realm and Woodcutting Realm practitioners, so the martial arts competition naturally needs more people to be responsible.

Wu Shuang and Cold Jade still have defense duties, so Xia Chuan took Hong Tian away from the four in Cold Jade, and then took Chen Yingba and Wu Tianxing away from his side, letting the three of them be responsible for the Hive martial arts competition together.

"No problem!"

"But Deputy Si Zheng, when will our Frigid-Resistant group martial arts competition begin?"

Wu Tianxing agreed first, and Chen Yingba also nodded, but he thought of something and asked again.

When Qiu Peng sent the Yang Origin Pill for the first time, he had already told them the rewards for the Frigid-Resistant group martial arts competition. After the two took the Yang Origin Pill, they were obviously paying attention to the start of the martial arts competition.

Also, one match can earn a Yang Origin Pill.

Even for himself, he was very envious of the rewards for the martial arts competition!

Xia Chuan cleared this up and smiled: "The Frigid-Resistant group martial arts competition is personally overseen by the Leader. It will wait until the Woodcutting Realm and Earth-Digging Realm groups are finished before it begins. Don't worry, you will be notified when it starts."

The two bowed and nodded, a look of joy appearing on their faces.

Thinking of the martial arts competition rules Qiu Peng mentioned earlier, Chen Yingba's expression was extremely excited.

"With my strength of about six manes, even if there is no hope for the top three, as long as I don't encounter the four—Deputy Si Zheng, Yu Wen Tao, Peng Bo, and Big Brother—it shouldn't be a big problem to survive two rounds. If I'm lucky, I can get at most three Yang Origin Pills!"

Wu Tianxing's expression was similar to his; the two obviously thought of the same thing.

"No time to lose, you set off for the Hive now. You already know the competition rules for the Woodcutting Realm and Earth-Digging Realm groups. Handle it according to the rules. After it ends, you will return to Wu Shuang."

"Yes, subordinate takes his leave!"

The two stood up, saluted Xia Chuan, and exited the hall directly.

Not long after Chen and Wu retreated, Zhao Long came in excitedly.

"My Lord, the things from Longshan have all been unloaded!"

Hearing this, Xia Chuan immediately became energetic and asked:

"This is the third batch. How many things are there?"

"1 million jin of beast meat, 5 million jin of iron ore, 10 million jin of coal. Adding the previous two batches, the supplies promised by Longshan before have all been given in full."

"Hahahaha, good, worthy of being the hegemon of Longyou. Li Ying Xuan Ling is much more straightforward than Hou Hu. Next time Longshan wants Condensing Fire Oil, we can sell them more."

Xia Chuan's face was full of smiles. What he was waiting for in the main hall just now was Zhao Long. Arranging Chen and Wu to go to the Hive to be responsible for the martial arts competition was just a side matter.

"Longshan sent Zhou Yuan and Meng Ying this time, a total of ten large carts, accompanied by two hundred Earth-Digging Realm practitioners pushing the carts. I heard they walked for four days, tsk tsk..."

Zhao Long's tone was a bit sighing; obviously, the trailers full of goods just now brought him no small shock.

Xia Chuan smiled: "This batch of supplies alone weighs 16 million jin. I remember the first batch arrived on the 8th of May: 1 million jin of beast meat, 10 million jin of iron ore, 20 million jin of coal stone, a total weight of 31 million jin of supplies, which took ten days to deliver. This batch has half the weight and took a little less than half the time, which is understandable."

Zhao Long nodded. May 8th, May 15th, today is May 20th. He was responsible for receiving all three batches of supplies, so he naturally knew it clearly.

However, he still continued to sigh: "Three batches of supplies were delivered one after another, with basically no gaps in between. That is to say, Longshan didn't spend time saving up this batch of supplies at all; they took them directly from their inventory. This Longshan is still rich. I remember that the beast meat inventory of our Great Xia never exceeded 1.5 million jin at its peak, and they took out 3 million jin easily. Not to mention iron ore and coal stone."

Hearing this, Xia Chuan nodded, and his expression instantly became a bit more solemn.

Zhao Long's words not only pointed out the wealth of Longshan.

Being able to take out so many supplies easily also shows the strength of Longshan.

"It's no wonder. After observing, the armor and weapons of the Longyou soldiers, although the casting technology is not as good as our Great Xia, they have the advantage of being hundred-forged level. On average, one set of forging consumes at least 50,000 jin of iron ore. Calculated this way, for a thousand-man army, just manufacturing their armor and weapons would consume more than 50 million jin of iron ore. This is still the case of one set per person, and Longshan has three such thousand-man armies!"

The three thousand Longyou troops are no longer a secret in Great Xia.

After listening to Zhao Long's words, Xia Chuan frowned slightly and said in a deep voice: "After all, they have been the hegemon of Longyou for nearly fifty years and occupy the largest entrance to Longshan, so it's normal for their family foundation to be thick."

Zhao Long nodded, thought of something, and continued: "This Hou Hu is too straightforward. It's been almost a month. Longshan has delivered everything, and he has only delivered two batches of supplies. The two batches added up to 600,000 jin of beast meat, 3 million jin of iron ore, and 9 million jin of coal stone, not even one-fifth of the total. I don't know if he is really poor or has other plans?"

Hearing Zhao Long's final inquiry, a cold light flashed in Xia Chuan's eyes. He shook his head and said: "As long as he doesn't blatantly renege on his debts, don't worry about it. As long as he wants to continue buying Condensing Fire Oil from us, he will eventually have to deliver the subsequent supplies."

With 200 jin of Jade Bone, 400 jin of white silver, and eleven kinds of spirit medicine, Great Xia has already made a steady profit from this transaction.

3 million jin of beast meat, 20 million jin of iron ore, 50 million jin of coal stone—this amount is indeed too large. Xia Chuan was not actually as optimistic as he is now before; he just thought of opening his mouth like a lion. Even if the two families sent half, or even one-third, Great Xia would be considered to have made a huge profit.

But Longshan has delivered everything now, while Hou Hu has only delivered so little. Xia Chuan inevitably had some thoughts about the Zhaoyang camp.

As long as he holds the Condensing Fire Oil in his hand, there will always be a way to deal with Hou Hu.

Moreover, whether that Cold Dew strange monster is dead or not is still a matter of debate.

Who knows what will happen later?

Xia Chuan put away his mood and turned to look out the window. Seeing that the sky was already glowing with a little light, he immediately asked: "It's almost dawn, how will their two hundred people leave?"

The people who delivered supplies from Longshan the previous two times arrived in the first half of the night, and as soon as the supplies were delivered, they returned directly. This time, they might not have grasped the time well.

It's not that they can't leave, mainly because it's troublesome when it's dawn; they have to find a place to hide before they can go far.

Instead of this, it's better to stay and rest for four hours and leave after nightfall.

Zhao Long replied: "I kept them. Zhou Yuan and Meng Ying didn't want to stay and left directly. I have already arranged a room for the remaining two hundred Earth-Digging Realm practitioners. They will leave after nightfall."

Xia Chuan nodded and asked: "There are ten more days until the martial arts competition begins. There are not many people in Wu Shuang, so I will leave it to you to be responsible. How about it?"

"No problem!"

Hearing about the martial arts competition, Zhao Long's expression immediately became excited.

On one hand, he was very envious of the rewards for the Frigid-Resistant group martial arts competition;

On the other hand, this can be considered the top grand event of Great Xia, so he was naturally motivated.

"There are only one thousand garrison troops in Wu Shuang, plus those who have broken through recently, the total number of Earth-Digging Realm practitioners is just over a thousand; there are only 3,000 Woodcutting Realm practitioners. With so few people, according to Qiu Peng's preliminary selection method, it is estimated that even fewer people will be able to advance smoothly, so the workload is not very large."

Xia Chuan smiled upon hearing this: "That's true. I've been paying attention these past few days. Among the Earth-Digging Realm practitioners in Wu Shuang, there are over seventy people who have broken through the 30,000-jin limit, 90% of whom have just broken through. Currently, it seems only Liu Yuan can be confirmed to be shortlisted. As for the others, count them as lucky if some can win ten consecutive matches, but in the end, comparing the victory duration, it is estimated that it will be difficult to enter the top 128."

The situation in Cold Jade should be about the same as ours. There are not many Earth-Digging Realm practitioners in the Hive, so the hope of advancing is even smaller.

Not to mention the Woodcutting Realm. According to the preliminary competition standard set by Qiu Peng, I estimate that among the 12,000+ Woodcutting Realm practitioners in the three Longyou camps, let's see if 10 groups of people can advance to go to Xia City to participate in the second round of the competition."

"Hahaha..."

Zhao Long laughed loudly upon hearing this and said: "Deputy Si Zheng thinks too highly of them. Qiu Peng's preliminary competition standard is set too difficult. At most 5 groups, I even doubt there are even 5 groups."

Xia Chuan's expression froze slightly. He lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then nodded.

Indeed, the preliminary selection method Qiu Peng thought of is indeed too difficult for these Woodcutting Realm practitioners. I'm afraid not many will be able to pass in Xia City.

"Deputy Si Zheng, then I will go and prepare first."

"Good, go ahead!"

Xia Chuan sent Zhao Long away and sat back in the main seat. He picked up a wooden coal pen, took out a pile of beast skin scrolls, and after detailed comparison, began to outline the Longyou map on the table.

Sitting in Longyou for more than twenty days, he has not been idle. Taking advantage of the lack of war during this period, he sent out hundreds of Earth-Digging Realm practitioners to carry out exploration around Wu Shuang, making the surrounding terrain, including the boundaries bordering other camps, completely clear.

"Luo Ming said that Yang Ning and Li Hu three years ago were scouts of the Beishuo Town Garrison. The reason why the two broke into Red Wood Ridge was because they were ordered to draw a map around Beishuo Town. It can be seen that the importance of the map is that only by figuring out everything around you can you be unexpected and win in one blow when there is a real war."

The importance of the map itself is only one.

A faint light flashed in Xia Chuan's eyes. More importantly, the incident three years ago was enough to prove that the distance between Great Xia and Beishuo Town should not be far; otherwise, the two Yang and Li would not have mistakenly broken into Red Wood Ridge.

This also means that one day in the future, Great Xia is very likely to encounter Beishuo Town, and even the other eight towns of Mount Mo'ao.

If there really is such a day, Xia Chuan does not want to be like three years ago.

He still remembers Li Hu's kick clearly.

Xia Chuan's focused drawing work only lasted for more than ten minutes before it was interrupted by a burst of footsteps outside.

The person who came in was Liu Yuan, the deputy captain of the Cloud Dragon squad. There was a look of annoyance on his face, and his mood was obviously very bad.

Seeing Liu Yuan's expression, Xia Chuan felt a burst of amusement for no reason.

Liu Yuan had long since started using beast blood, and now his base strength is over 80,000, which is considered one of the top ten favorites for this Earth-Digging Realm group. He has been hiding in seclusion for the past half month, so he must have been disturbed by something, which is why his expression is so bad.

"What's going on?"

Hearing Xia Chuan's inquiry, Liu Yuan put away some emotions and bowed to report:

"Deputy Si Zheng, we caught a sneaky person downstairs. He is one of the people who came to deliver supplies from Longshan tonight. He said his name is Li Hu and he has important matters to seek an audience with you. You will understand once you see him!"

When he said Li Hu, he kept paying attention to Xia Chuan's expression.

Seeing Xia Chuan's expression settle, Liu Yuan immediately realized that the person he had just caught was telling the truth, so he hurriedly spoke to the outside of the hall.

"Bring him in!"

Not long after his voice fell, two Great Xia soldiers immediately escorted a young man wearing Longshan white clothes and walked in.

Li Hu, who was being escorted, was full of helplessness. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Xia Chuan. Before the two people on the side untied him, he quickly said: "Li Hu greets Deputy Si Zheng."

"Untie him, you all go down!"

Seeing Li Hu salute Xia Chuan as soon as he came in, Liu Yuan was stunned. Immediately after hearing Xia Chuan's words, he understood something, signaled to the two people on the left and right, and hurriedly led people to retreat.

"Not bad, you have made great progress in these twenty days."

Xia Chuan stared at Li Hu for a while before showing a smile and praising him.

After not seeing him for more than twenty days, Li Hu's base strength is already 29,000 jin, just one step away from the 30,000-jin limit.

"Thanks to the pills and beast meat given by the Lord, Li Hu is extremely grateful!"

Li Hu had just been caught by Liu Yuan and must have suffered a bit. While replying, he kept rubbing his arms, his face full of bitter smiles.

"You are quite bold to break in here. If you were discovered by others first, you might even lose your life."

On the side of the main building, not to mention Zhao Long, Chen Yingyuan, and Wu Tianxing, there are many people who have broken through the 30,000-jin limit, and there are many who have higher base strength than Li Hu. If he could break in rashly, that would be something.

Li Hu obviously learned his lesson, and with a lingering fear on his face, he said: "I almost lost my life just now. Lord, please give me something that can prove my identity, otherwise the risk I have to take to see you is too great."

Xia Chuan shook his head with a smile. After pondering for a moment, he took out an iron token engraved with the words "Cloud Dragon" from his bosom and threw it to Li Hu.

"This is my hunting squad token. Take it first. Don't break in randomly next time. Zhou Yuan and Meng Ying have already left. It shouldn't be difficult to avoid the sight of your own people. If you encounter people from Great Xia, just let them bring you directly. Don't use such a sneaky way..."

Xia Chuan paused and continued to ask: "Why, do you have important news?"

Not only did he mix into the team delivering supplies, but he also took such a big risk to see himself. Li Hu obviously had some news to tell him.

Li Hu nodded and didn't talk nonsense, directly taking out a beast skin scroll:

"Lord, this is the topographic map of the Longshan camp, covering all buildings and population distribution in the camp. It also records in detail all the situations in Longshan that I know so far. It was compiled by Yang Zhong and me during the twenty days I went back. It should be useful to our Great Xia!"

A sharp light appeared in Xia Chuan's eyes. He immediately stepped forward to take the beast skin scroll, opened it to check it, and his eyes were instantly full of joy.

He took a deep breath, looked at Li Hu again, and continued to ask:

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Yes!"

Li Hu's expression became serious, and he continued: "Li Xuantian, Cheng Guang, Yue Qian, and Song Kang, along with a total of more than four hundred Longyou troops, have all returned to Longshan."

Hearing these four names, Xia Chuan was stunned at first, and then after reacting, his expression instantly became solemn.

"The Lord should know that these people are all those who went missing after attacking Yanglu before. They all returned half a month ago."

Xia Chuan lowered his eyebrows and quickly asked: "Li Ying Xuan Ling is not that stupid, right? She let this group of people enter the camp directly?"

Li Hu nodded and replied: "Li Ying Xuan Ling and others were suspicious. At first, they didn't let these people in and used Condensing Fire Oil to test them, but they had no problems at all. To ensure safety, Longshan let them stay outside the camp for a full seven days, used various methods to test them, and confirmed that everyone was fine before letting them into the camp..."

The Condensing Fire Oil was exchanged from Great Xia, and Li Hu knew it. So after speaking, seeing Xia Chuan fall into deep thought, he did not show any surprise and continued:

"Since changing to our Condensing Fire Oil, the dew plague in Longshan has all disappeared. Li Xuantian and his group are all normal, and it has been seven or eight days since they entered the camp, and the plague has not appeared again, so they should be fine..."

Xia Chuan waved his hand to interrupt Li Hu directly. With Li Hu's cultivation and vision, his judgment naturally doesn't count, but this news is too important for Great Xia.

A look of approval appeared on his face, and he said:

"Li Hu, the two pieces of news you brought are very useful. If there are any important situations later, continue to find opportunities to pass them to me..."

Speaking of this, Xia Chuan paused, then took out a porcelain bottle from his bosom, and then walked to the back of the hall to take out two leather bags.

"This bottle is Beast Spirit Pills, which are several times stronger than Beast Origin Pills. In addition, there is this 200 jin of beast blood. You go back and share it with Yang Zhong, half for each. If you are still short of anything for subsequent cultivation, find an opportunity to come to Wu Shuang. Let's stop here tonight. You go back first and don't let anyone discover anything unusual."

Li Hu had already tasted the Beast Origin Pill. Hearing that the effect of the Beast Spirit Pill was several times stronger than the Beast Origin Pill, his breathing instantly became heavier.

He took the porcelain bottle, carried the 200 jin of beast blood, calmed his mood, bowed respectfully to Xia Chuan, and said: "Subordinate takes his leave first. Lord, don't worry, if there is any unusual situation in Longshan, subordinate will definitely report it in time."

After speaking, he turned and walked out.

"Big Brother's vision is too vicious. These two are indeed talents!"

After Xia Chuan watched Li Hu leave, he sat back in the main seat, looking down at the beast skin scroll sent by Li Hu, the excitement in his eyes could not be calmed down for a long time.

(End of chapter)