Chapter 286

48th Year of Longyou, 4th Day of the 6th Month

Not long after nightfall, about five kilometers deep into Longshan.

Bang!

A blue thorn wolf, riddled with iron arrows, fell to the ground in response. Li Hu led Xue Ping and the other four to leap down from a tree, his face full of excitement.

"Tonight is very smooth, we hunted a thorn wolf just after coming out."

Hearing Xue Ping's exclamation, Li Hu smiled without speaking, just walked quickly to the side of the thorn wolf and asked: "A-Zhong, you're not hurt, right?"

"Cough, cough, cough... I should be fine."

Yang Zhong's coughing sound came from under the thorn wolf's corpse. Xue Ping quickly lifted the thorn wolf's corpse, and Li Hu also walked up at the right time to help Yang Zhong up.

Only then did everyone discover that Yang Zhong's left leg was oozing blood.

"Brother Zhong, are you hurt again?"

Hearing Xue Ping's words, Li Hu didn't say a word, directly tore off a strip of cloth, bandaged the bloody position on Yang Zhong's left leg, then his eyes flickered slightly, and he asked in a low voice: "How is it, can you continue?"

"It's the old wound on my left leg from the day before yesterday that burst open. It's nothing serious, I can continue!"

Hearing that Yang Zhong's voice was a bit weak, Xue Ping said with full worry: "If I had known, we should have rested for a night. The wound burst once last night, and it burst again tonight. If this continues, I'm afraid it will never heal."

"It's fine, it's fine, don't worry about me. Let's go, let's continue!"

Yang Zhong stood up with difficulty, but his walking was limping, clearly abnormal.

Li Hu frowned and said directly: "Forget it, I can't let you continue. Like last night, you stay here and rest. The six of us will go in. We'll come find you after the hunt is over."

"This..."

Seeing Yang Zhong's look of difficulty, Xue Ping immediately followed: "The captain is right, Brother Zhong, you can't force yourself anymore. If the leg injury really leaves a root cause, it will be a big problem in the future. Just like the previous two days, stay here to heal, and we'll come find you after the hunt."

The other three in the team didn't speak. Yang Yue curled his lips, as if wanting to mock a few words, but seeing Yang Zhong's bloody left leg, he held back.

"Alright, then I'll stay here and watch this prey. You guys go in."

Yang Zhong was finally persuaded and nodded.

Everyone helped Yang Zhong hang the prey on the treetop, then cleared a place for him on the tree, and then continued to move toward the depths.

Before leaving, Li Hu exchanged a subtle look with Yang Zhong.

After everyone walked far away, Yang Zhong on the tree stood up immediately, tore off the strip of cloth tied to his left leg, and a flash of sharpness appeared in his eyes.

There was no injury on his left leg at all, only a small cut, and the amount of blood flowing out was not as terrifying as it looked.

He jumped down from the tree directly and began to search and grope in the snow forest, his legs moving freely, without any trace of injury at all.

After a moment, he arrived at a slope, groped on the slope for a while, and skillfully found the entrance to a small cave.

Yang Zhong was very vigilant; he didn't enter the cave directly, but first turned his head to look behind him to confirm no one was following, then walked in. After walking in, he didn't forget to immediately seal the cave entrance with wood.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

Inside the cave, Yang Zhong lit a small bonfire, then walked to the depths of the cave, and soon took out an iron pot, five pieces of reddish beast meat, a jar, and a porcelain bottle.

"It would be great if we didn't have to cultivate so sneakily. Today is the third day. If I don't break through, I really won't have time."

While Yang Zhong set up the pot to boil meat, he quickly took a Beast Spirit Pill and began to cultivate.

This cave was where he and Li Hu hid their supplies.

As for the injury, it was a play he and Li Hu directed and acted out, just to get away from Yang Yue's sight and cultivate with peace of mind.

Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan's surveillance was really too tight. After returning from Da Xia, he and Li Hu used the cultivation resources given by Xia Chuan secretly in this way.

Originally, the two took turns every day or two, but the trouble caused by Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan three days ago gave them a sense of urgency. Plus, Li Hu had already broken through the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm, so for the past three days, Li Hu had given the cultivation opportunity to him.

"Only two hundred more jin left. With one Beast Spirit Pill and ten jin of intermediate beast meat boiled with refined salt, breaking through tonight should not be a problem."

After the beast meat was boiled, Yang Zhong began to stuff it into his mouth directly. With the auxiliary effect of the Beast Spirit Pill, the energy contained in the beast meat immediately spread to all parts of his body.

He quickly began to punch to volatilize the energy and improve his strength and muscle intensity.

With the assistance of the medicinal power, his body constantly emitted steam, and the power of his punches became heavier one after another, his physique clearly strengthening continuously.

This cultivation speed, five or six times faster than before, although it was not the first time he had experienced it, Yang Zhong, feeling his base strength growing rapidly at this moment, couldn't help but sigh in his heart:

"The previous Beast Origin Pill was strong enough, but this Beast Spirit Pill is at least ten times more effective than the Force-Gathering Powder used in Longshan; not to mention the refined salt, which not only makes the beast meat so delicious but also helps the body absorb the energy of the beast meat. Being able to easily produce such divine objects, Da Xia's strength is definitely not simple. Maybe they have even more magical things in their station!"

Longshan also has things to improve cultivation speed, but compared to these things from Da Xia, they are simply worthless.

"Tiger and I haven't broken through yet, and the Grand Coordinator is willing to take out 200 jin of beast blood, plus so many spirit pills and refined salt. Not to mention after breaking through. If we can provide more useful intelligence for Da Xia, Tiger and I won't lack subsequent cultivation resources."

In Yang Zhong's eyes, there was full longing for Da Xia.

To be precise, it was longing for these super-strong cultivation resources.

Because of his background, he and Li Hu had never received a day of fair treatment in Longshan, but instead were humiliated by Li Yuanqing, Yang Gan, and others year after year. Naturally, there was no loyalty to speak of.

On the contrary, Da Xia was clearly unfamiliar with them, saved their lives twice, and was willing to pay such a high price for them. So, even knowing they were being used, Yang Zhong and Li Hu were willing to accept it.

"The new army has been established for two days, and there aren't many spots left. I must break through tonight. Moreover, Li Yuanqing has already started to play tricks in the hunting team. Those three should leave soon. By then, only Tiger, me, and Xue Ping will be left, and we won't even have the qualifications to go into the mountains to hunt."

Li Yuanqing didn't lie to them that day. The next day, the second day of the month, the camp promulgated the regulations for establishing the new army. Although it had only been two days until today, the number of people had already reached over eight hundred, with only the last 100 spots left.

Li Hu broke through the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm three days ago and hadn't applied to join yet, just to wait for him.

Joining the new army is, first, to listen for more news about Longshan's high-level officials and the specific movements of the Longyou Army, so as to pass more useful intelligence to Da Xia; second, it is to deal with the targeting by Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan.

Li Yuanqing sent people to find the other three in their team the day before yesterday. Yang Zhong knew what the purpose was without asking.

Longshan camp has a rule: ordinary hunting teams must have at least five people, and elite hunting teams must have at least ten people to hunt in the mountains normally.

Of course, if the number of people is insufficient, you can also prove it by showing your strength.

The problem is, Li Yuanqing can also play tricks on the part of proving strength.

The original intention of this rule was clearly to ensure the safety of hunting, which naturally cannot be said to be bad, but now it has become a tool for Li Yuanqing to deal with them, which can be said to be ridiculous to the extreme.

Li Yuanqing sent people to find the three in the team, nothing more than to let these three leave their hunting team, making them unable to hunt in the mountains normally, which is equivalent to disguisedly cutting off their access to beast meat.

Beast meat can be considered the basic equivalent of major camps, and Longshan is no exception. If the income from beast meat is reduced, all other cultivation resources naturally cannot keep up.

So Li Yuanqing's move indeed hit their Achilles' heel.

"As long as we enter the new army, there is a fixed quota of beast blood in the army. Li Yuanqing, an overseer captain, doesn't have the guts to play tricks on this."

While Yang Zhong was calculating, he had already swallowed the beast meat in the pot. He punched faster and faster, and the blood energy emitted from his whole body became thicker and thicker.

When the blood energy was thick to the extreme, his body seemed to reach a critical point, emitting a muffled grunt, and he retracted his punch to store energy.

Sizzle...

His skin and membranes tightened suddenly, emitting a subtle sound, and then the blood energy covering his whole body drilled back into his body through his pores.

It was also at this moment that he suddenly opened his eyes and threw a punch at the stone wall on one side of the cave.

Bang!

The stone wall shattered, and his fist was inserted more than ten centimeters directly.

"Broken through!"

Yang Zhong pulled out his fist, feeling the base strength of thirty thousand jin and the toughness after his skin and membranes tightened, his face full of excitement and emotion.

After remaining stagnant in place for a long time, he moved to the inside of the cave, opened a leather bag, looked at the crimson beast blood in the bag, and a flash of eagerness appeared in his eyes.

But soon, he suppressed his emotions.

"The Grand Coordinator only gave a total of 250 jin. Instead of the two of us sharing it, it's better to give it all to Tiger, first fully supplying him to break through to the Cold-Resisting Realm."

Li Yuanqing has already broken through, and Yang Gan is almost there. If the two of them don't break through one first, they really won't have any chance of winning against these two.

After making up his mind, Yang Zhong put away all the supplies, extinguished the bonfire, restored the cave entrance to its original state after walking out, found the big tree he came to, and waited quietly for Li Hu and the others to return.

"A-Zhong, we're here."

Waiting until the second half of the night, Li Hu finally returned with a few people.

Watching Yang Zhong jump down from the tree, Li Hu clearly felt something, his expression vibrated slightly, but he didn't say anything, just told everyone to take the prey and return to the station quickly.

As soon as Yang Zhong returned to the station, he was immediately taken by Li Hu to report to the military camp.

Having the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm qualifies one to join the new army. Both of them had broken through, so naturally, there was no problem, and they were directly assigned to the second regiment of the new army.

Of course, unsurprisingly, the overseer captain of the second regiment was Li Yuanqing.

Moreover, the two were assigned to Yang Gan's team.

The Longyou Army has a regiment of five hundred men and a team of one hundred men. It is not strange for Yang Gan's cultivation to be a team leader, but it is clearly suspicious that the two were assigned to his team by such a coincidence.

But Li Hu and Yang Zhong didn't say anything, and didn't even go to complain to the military captain Cheng He, just silently accepted the arrangement.

"If Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan want to make things difficult, let them. Staying in the new army is the biggest task for the two of us. Tomorrow, we will officially enter the military camp for training. Be honest and don't make any mistakes."

After returning from the military camp, Li Hu exhorted Yang Zhong.

Yang Zhong's temper is slightly bigger than his and easily provoked. If he is caught by Li Yuanqing during the new army training, being expelled from the army is a small matter; if he violates military law, the consequences will be serious, so he has to say a few more words.

Yang Zhong listened to his advice, nodded, and said in a deep voice: "I understand. It's nothing more than enduring it again. We've endured the past ten years, so it's not a big deal for this little while."

Only then did Li Hu feel relieved and practiced martial arts in the courtyard with Yang Zhong.

But the subsequent development was clearly a bit beyond the expectations of the two.

On the fifth day of the sixth month, after the two entered the new army and began training, Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan did not come to cause trouble even once.

Although Li and Yang both have military positions, they also have to participate in training, so Li Hu and Yang Zhong can meet them.

Judging from their eyes, Li Yuanqing clearly still wanted to cause them trouble, but for some reason, he never really did.

"This Longyou Army is really not bad!"

Li Hu and Yang Zhong thought for a long time without finding a reason, and finally could only attribute the reason to the strict military discipline.

But soon, they vaguely understood a little.

The training intensity of the new army is ridiculously high.

Practicing spear coordination in the camp is secondary. Once the second regiment was full, they were dragged to Longshan that night and began to hunt cold beasts together.

Every night after that, they practiced spears in the first half of the night and went into Longshan for actual combat in the second half of the night, almost without any time to rest.

Military captain Cheng He was staring from above at all times, and even the new army commandant Zhou Yuan came to the scene in person, either patrolling or commanding.

Under such high-intensity and high-standard training, Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan were also covered in dust every day. Not to mention having no chance, they probably wouldn't have much thought to cause them trouble.

"With such high training intensity, as I expected, the camp must be planning some big move, otherwise it wouldn't be like this."

On the tenth day of the sixth month, at dawn, everyone in the military camp had fallen into dreams. Li Hu lay on the bed and spoke softly to Yang Zhong beside him.

"But we haven't heard any news. The other three Longyou Armies don't have any movements either, they are in the military camp every day, with the same schedule as us."

Hearing Yang Zhong's words, a bright light flashed in Li Hu's eyes, and he said: "Being there every day is the signal. Those three Longyou Armies don't need training at all. Normally, they should all go out to hunt in groups or be busy with other things, but during this period, they have been staying in the camp, clearly preparing for something!"

After speaking, he paused and continued: "It should be soon."

As if to verify his words, a crackling sound suddenly came from outside the military camp. Just by listening, one knew it was the sound of a large amount of ironware colliding.

"Set them all up, they have to be sent over after nightfall, don't make any mistakes."

"Put them over here, ten boxes per team, don't divide them wrong."

"Put them over here, hurry!"

………………

Hearing the movement outside the military camp, Li Hu and Yang Zhong looked at each other, and a bright light appeared in their eyes simultaneously.

(End of chapter)