Chapter 273: Terrifying Red Carp, precious wooden plants

"Stronger than expected. A total of sixteen squads advanced."

In the snow forest on the south side of Five Ape Mountain, Xu Ning, who had just finished presiding over the preliminary selection, hurried to find Xia Hong with only a horizontal blade.

The preliminary matches in Five Plains were synchronized with Xia City, and they started as soon as night fell. The 31 squads took more than eight hours, which was already very fast.

It was currently midnight, the coldest time of the day.

"Sixteen squads advanced, 1,600 people made it to the second round. Not bad!"

Xu Ning nodded with a smile: "The second round uses the Earth-Digging Realm competition system. Each person plays 10 matches to select 128 people to participate in the final. I took a look, and there are more than 20 good seedlings who should be able to enter the final."

Xia Hong led the way toward the Xinghe in the south, and said: "Definitely more than that. You can see the clues from the first round. The Woodcutting Realm people in Xia City and the other four stations are too different from yours. I estimate that in the 128 strong of the Woodcutting Realm group, Five Plains will account for at least 70%."

More than 70%—that's more than eighty people!

Xu Ning's face flashed with surprise, clearly a bit disbelieving.

Xia Hong didn't explain too much, just turned his gaze to the Xinghe, changed the subject and asked: "You have been stationed here for a year. Has there been any special situation in the Xinghe?"

Hearing Xia Hong mention the Xinghe, Xu Ning's expression became a bit more solemn, and he shook his head:

"Aside from the cold tide, no other special situation has occurred. I also tried to get close before, but every time I got close to a hundred meters, a strong sense of fear would rise in my heart. Just as the leader said, there must be some terrifying creature living inside, otherwise I wouldn't be like this for no reason!"

Xia Hong nodded. When Xu Ning came to be stationed in Five Plains, he had already instructed him not to get close to the Xinghe casually.

He was the first to discover the Xinghe itself.

On the seventh day of the third lunar month last year, he hadn't broken through to the Frigid level yet. In order to collect enough beast blood for the breakthrough, he had been hunting in Red Wood Ridge for a long time.

Later, when he came out, in order to facilitate the subsequent exploration of Five Ape Mountain by the camp, he came over to explore in advance. That was when he approached the Xinghe for the first time.

At that time, when he approached within a hundred meters, his heart started to beat violently, so he speculated that some terrifying creature must be living in the Xinghe.

"Now the strength is completely different from before. I want to see if there will still be that feeling!"

Xia Hong took Xu Ning and continued to walk south for a long time, soon seeing the cold mist on the river surface and the crystal-clear green water grass on the river bank from afar.

Unlike the first time, seeing those crystal green water grasses, Xia Hong was much more excited, and his pace quickened a bit.

When Xia Hong came for the first time, he knew that those water grasses were not simple.

Being able to survive smoothly in the bitter cold environment of the Frozen Abyss, and growing in such a place that makes people inexplicably afraid, it could never be any ordinary green water grass.

The problem was that he was too weak at that time, and he would feel palpitations if he got a little closer to the river bank, so he could only give up picking.

This time it was different. Not to mention going to the river surface to see, at least he had to pick a few kinds of these water grasses and take them back to the Alchemy Workshop for identification to see if they were any good things.

Xia Hong took Xu Ning and continued to move forward, soon walking to a position more than a hundred meters away from the river surface. It was also at this time that Xu Ning's footsteps suddenly paused.

"Why, is there still that feeling of palpitations?"

Hearing Xia Hong's inquiry, Xu Ning nodded solemnly, staring at the cold mist above the river surface from a distance, his eyes full of vigilance.

"In this way, you wait here first, I'll go over and take a look!"

Xia Hong had experienced that feeling of palpitations once before, so he didn't force Xu Ning to go over with him, ordered him to stay in place, and walked over slowly by himself.

"The stronger the strength, the less threat the creature in the river poses to me, so that feeling of palpitations will gradually disappear. It should be like this!"

Xia Hong took a breath, walked directly to the river bank in one breath, didn't pick the water grass vegetation on the bank first, but carefully observed the river surface.

As he had guessed before, the river surface was indeed covered with a thick layer of solid ice. The ice surface should have been there for many years and had become white, blocking what was underneath, making it impossible to see clearly.

Gurgle…………

However, after listening carefully, Xia Hong's expression instantly froze.

There is living water underneath.

And, it is flowing westward!

"There is no trace of the ice surface breaking. Even if there are creatures under the water, it proves that they have never been active on the shore. Since that is the case, why don't Cold Beasts dare to get close here? And that feeling of palpitations, what is going on?"

Xia Hong looked toward the middle of the river surface, his brows furrowed slightly.

The water mist in the middle of the river surface was thicker, and the line of sight was basically blocked, so he couldn't see anything clearly.

"Why don't I go to the middle of the river and take a look!"

This thought rose in Xia Hong's heart, and he immediately stretched out his right foot, but just as he was about to step on the ice surface.

Gurgle…… whoosh……

A huge sound of water flow suddenly came from under the ice surface.

That feeling of palpitations rose sharply from his heart again. Xia Hong's expression changed greatly. He pulled out the Dragon Sparrow Blade from his waist, didn't even think about it, slashed the water grass on the bank with his blade, grabbed a handful at random, and retreated rapidly.

But his movements were still slow.

Crack……

Bang!

The solid ice surface burst instantly, followed by a shocking loud noise.

The two sounds were separated by only an instant!

The originally quiet river surface suddenly rose with a giant wave of tens of meters high, like a mountain, crushing toward Xia Hong.

Boom………

The huge water wave hit his back. Xia Hong didn't even have a chance to look back. Glancing at the red beast shadow under the water curtain, his heart contracted violently twice, and he fled toward the north frantically.

"Run quickly, run quickly!"

Seeing that Xu Ning didn't run away for the first time and was still drawing his bow, trying to shoot arrows at the red beast shadow behind the water curtain, Xia Hong roared to stop him immediately.

Xu Ning gritted his teeth and put away his long bow, but didn't run away directly either, waiting until Xia Hong was less than ten meters away from him before following him to retreat and run away.

Bang!

Before the giant wave hit his back, Xia Hong had already held his breath and mobilized his skin-membrane defense, but after truly colliding with that force, a touch of fear still rose on his face.

Puchi……

Xia Hong's body was like a cannonball, directly sent flying for hundreds of meters.

Before being sent flying, Xia Hong still gritted his teeth and pulled Xu Ning.

With the power of this giant wave, he didn't doubt at all that if Xu Ning was hit like himself, his body would directly explode.

Bang…………

Xia Hong didn't know how many big trees he had smashed through. He only knew that his body kept flying forward for at least five hundred meters, almost a distance of more than a mile, and finally half of his body was inserted into the ground before he barely stopped.

Puchi!

Stopping wasn't the end. He couldn't suppress the injury on his back at all, sprayed a mouthful of blood, looked at the red beast shadow in the direction of the river bank, his eyes full of horror.

"Leader, you……"

"Don't talk nonsense, keep running!"

The giant wave raised by that red beast shadow was still approaching this side.

Xia Hong interrupted Xu Ning, endured the great pain on his body, and fled toward the north rapidly;

Xu Ning didn't talk nonsense either. He didn't even dare to look back, and followed Xia Hong to gallop away.

"Especially Li Li Li Especially Li Li Li…………"

A series of urgent sharp cries like bird calls came from behind. Xia Hong, who had just taken the Blood Sore Pill, had a face full of horror and shock, and didn't dare to slow down at all, continuing to take Xu Ning with him to flee north.

"Leader, this cry, it seems to be…………"

"It's a warning. It's warning us not to get close to the river surface!"

Xia Hong's voice was full of horror, and also mixed with deep fear.

A hundred manes…… a thousand manes?

No, the power of the giant wave hitting his body just now, Xia Hong couldn't quantify it at all. It was like the power of another dimension, desperate.

The key was that this was not the power exerted by the other party's flesh, but only the power of the giant wave it raised after breaking the ice surface.

Xia Hong took Xu Ning and ran for a full three or four kilometers, running all the way to the foot of Five Ape Mountain, before stopping.

After stopping, he immediately turned to look at Xu Ning and asked:

"What is that red beast shadow? Did you see it clearly just now?"

The moment the giant wave rose, Xia Hong only saw a flash of red beast shadow and immediately turned and fled. The whole process was back to that fierce beast, so he didn't see it clearly at all. Xu Ning had been facing the river bank, so he should have seen it clearly.

Xu Ning had lingering fears, calmed down for more than ten breaths, and then opened his mouth to answer:

"That water curtain just now was too big, and I didn't see it completely clearly. I only saw that it had a pair of green glowing eyes, no limbs, and the main body seemed to be oval, covered with a layer of red scales, and just the part exposed to the water surface was more than a hundred meters."

While speaking, he also roughly drew the shape of the fierce beast on the snow.

Seeing what he drew, Xia Hong's expression froze instantly.

Others might not recognize what Xu Ning drew.

But he recognized it at a glance.

That was clearly a red carp!

Of course, considering the size and strength of this fierce beast, as well as the strange cry it made, it certainly had nothing to do with the red carp of his previous life.

"No wonder Cold Beasts don't dare to get close to the water surface. The time from breaking the ice surface to raising the giant wave is just an instant. Even if it were a high-level Cold Beast, in the position I was just now, I'm afraid it would be swallowed by it in one bite!"

And, who knows, can that fierce beast go ashore?

Just like all Cold Beasts can climb trees, the underwater creatures of the Frozen Abyss certainly cannot be inferred by common sense, so Xia Hong took Xu Ning and ran so far.

"An ordinary underwater fierce beast is so powerful, then the danger of the underwater world is probably more terrifying than the land."

Hearing Xu Ning's exclamation, Xia Hong nodded slightly, and at the same time, his gaze toward the Xinghe gradually brought a touch of heat.

The greater the danger, the greater the reward—this is an eternal truth!

That red carp is so powerful, it must have something to do with the abundant resources under the Xinghe, and the warning it gave at the end clearly has a sense of defending its territory. That red carp likely regards the water area near the north bank and the river bank as its territory.

"Even picking is not allowed. These water grasses are probably not simple!"

Xia Hong took out a total of five crystal green wooden plants from his hand, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, smelled the fragrance emitted by the wooden plants, and was full of expectation.

The five wooden plants were all the same, clearly the same variety.

There was no help for it. The situation was critical just now, so the last picking could only be in one area, so it was inevitable to get only one kind.

"It's a pity I didn't see Bai Shuang Grass. It will probably be a long time before I can get close to this side again. It seems I still have to find a way in Longyou!"

Approaching the Xinghe this time, although it was mainly to explore the situation, Xia Hong also had other purposes, which was to find Bai Shuang Grass.

Bai Shuang Grass generally grows near water sources and is one of the eleven medicinal materials for refining Yang Yuan Pills, and it is also used in refining several other types of pills. The ones traded from Longshan and Zhaoyang before have been used up. If it can be found on the Xinghe side, Great Xia will have a fixed output in the future.

It's a pity that it was disrupted by that red carp.

Xia Hong took a deep breath and instructed Xu Ning:

"That fierce beast is likely to be entrenched near the north bank for a long time. From now on, without my order, don't let anyone get close to the Xinghe again."

"Yes, Leader!"

If Xia Hong hadn't pulled him just now, he would have lost his life tonight. Without Xia Hong's instruction, Xu Ning wouldn't let anyone get close to the Xinghe again.

"You don't seem to have many Earth-Digging Realm people here. Are you planning to send those Woodcutting Realm people who advanced to Xia City tonight, or tomorrow night?"

During the Longyou war in April, most of the Earth-Digging Realm people in Five Plains, including the members of Xu Ning's Black Arrow squad, were transferred away, so there were indeed not many people.

Without many Earth-Digging Realm people, it means that Five Plains cannot hold the selection for the Earth-Digging Realm group Martial Arts Meet.

"I have only seventy-plus Earth-Digging Realm people here. They happen to be going back to Xia City to participate in the selection. After the Woodcutting Realm group selection ends in the first half of the night, I will arrange for these seventy-plus people to escort the 1,600 Woodcutting Realm people back along the Xia Straight Road. They should have just set off now."

After the first round of the Woodcutting Realm group advances, they have to go to Xia City to participate in the second round of selection.

There are 1,600 people in Five Plains who advanced. So many people setting off from Five Plains to Xia City, and they are only in the Woodcutting Realm cultivation—even if they take the Xia Straight Road, they must arrange for people to escort them along the way.

"That's just right, I'm also going back to Xia City, so I'll escort them for a while."

Xu Ning bowed and nodded immediately. Remembering something, seeing that Xia Hong had already turned to leave, he immediately asked:

"Leader, when will the Frigid-level group Martial Arts Meet start?"

He was also coveting the generous rewards of the Frigid-level group Martial Arts Meet. He had been preparing for it during this period, and it happened that Xia Hong was in front of him, so he couldn't help but ask.

"It will start after the Earth-Digging Realm and Woodcutting Realm Martial Arts Meet ends. It should be the fifth day. Don't worry, I will have someone notify you."

"Good, Leader, I'll go back first!"

Getting the answer, Xu Ning nodded and bowed, and walked toward Five Plains.

Xia Hong didn't linger either. He took the five wooden plants, swept through the snowy night, first found the straight road between Five Plains and Xia City, soon discovered the team that set off from Five Plains, and then hung on the side of the team to ensure their safety.

When Xia City appeared in his line of sight, Xia Hong left the team directly, arrived at the main building first, and immediately ordered someone to bring Cheng Feng.

"Cheng Feng, take these five medicines to the Alchemy Workshop for identification."

"Yes, Leader!"

Cheng Feng took the five wooden plants and ran to the Alchemy Workshop immediately.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 274 =====