Chapter 336

The third year of Great Xia, the eighth day of the eighth month, at night.

On the north bank of the Xinghe, more than twenty kilometers east of Five Ape Mountain.

A team of over three hundred people is slowly moving north through the snow forest.

The vast majority of the people in the team are wearing Hundred-Forged grade Lei Kui golden armor, carrying thirty-stone strong bows on their backs, and wielding various weapons in their hands; only the dozen or so people in the lead are wearing standard Great Xia clothing.

Although the rear of the team is generally quiet, the dozen or so people in the lead are chatting as they walk, their expressions exceptionally relaxed; they are clearly not going hunting.

"Judging from the flow of the Xinghe, the terrain on both sides of the bank should be continuously rising from west to east. The Pingxi Plain where we live is either in the middle or lower reaches of the Xinghe."

"The mountain wall of Twin Dragon Mountain runs north-south for hundreds of kilometers, and the lowest point of the wall is over two thousand meters. The valley area through which the Xinghe flows is its only fault zone. To enter the Pingxi Plain normally, these slopes on both banks are the only way."

"I'm not sure about the south bank, but on our north bank, the width was previously at most five kilometers. Currently, only Songyang Ridge is an exception. I don't know if there are other wider areas further east. If we could discover a few more new resource points, our Wuyuan could gain even more face before the Lord!"

"Haha, Lord Zhao's ambition is a bit heavy. Being able to discover Songyang Ridge and give our Wuyuan the qualifications to wrestle with Longshan is already good enough. If we can swallow all seven camps in one fell swoop this time, it will be a great achievement. We might not necessarily lose to Longshan in the year-end assessment. If we discover other new resource points, our Wuyuan's limelight would be too bright."

"Hahahaha, that's also true!"

………………

Hearing the banter of Lin Kai, Zhao Bao, Yu Bin, and others behind him, and thinking of the sensations Wuyuan has repeatedly caused in Xia City recently, Xu Ning, who was at the very front, also showed a smile on his face. However, looking up at the north bank land before him, the things he was considering in his mind were more than just these.

He took a slight breath and spoke in a deep voice:

"The Lord has named this place Xinggu Pass, meaning the only pass connecting the Pingxi Plain with the outside world. For such an important pass, our Great Xia must naturally hold its entire territory firmly in our hands. Songyang Ridge is just the beginning. Once we resolve those seven camps, we must immediately begin exploring Songyang Ridge and head east to turn the entire north bank of Xinggu Pass into the territory of our Great Xia!"

Having said this, he paused, then continued: "In this way, our Great Xia can take advantage of the situation to head east, expand our territory to the east of the Pingxi Plain, and even take down the entire Twin Dragon Mountain to compete with the legendary Nine Towns of Mo'ao!"

Lin Kai, Zhao Bao, Yu Bin, Lin Ye, Xu Shicheng, and the crowd of Wuyuan Seven Department officials behind them all had their expressions become slightly more solemn upon hearing these grand and majestic words.

Among them, only Lin Kai knew about Xinggu Pass; the others were hearing it from Xu Ning for the first time. Only then did they understand that Wuyuan's geographical location was so critical.

"No wonder the Lord wanted to set up the Seven Departments in Wuyuan. So that's how it is!"

"I was just saying, a small Five Ape Mountain with few resources—there was no need to set up the Seven Departments. It seems I was short-sighted."

"The Lord is truly far-sighted; this Yu is convinced!"

………………

Hearing Yu Bin's last sentence, Xu Ning turned his head to look at him, a trace of satisfaction rising on his face.

Yu Bin was the former leader of the Xiling camp. It has been less than a year since he merged into Great Xia from Longyou. Because of the assassination of the Lord in Longshan last year, Xia Chuan had a very poor impression of him.

Of course, Xu Ning was the same.

But it must be said, Yu Bin's performance after joining Great Xia was indeed good.

Last July, when he was still in Longshan, he pulled together two Cold-Resisting Realm members from the original Xiling, Yu Cheng and Long Mu, to establish the Lingyuan team. He had a foundation, and at the beginning of the year during the Cold Origin Festival, Lingyuan was promoted to a high-level hunting team.

Originally, when the Seven Departments were established in Wuyuan at the beginning of the year, the position of the Logging Department's Medicine Elder was vacant. The Chief Administrator intended to let others compete for the position, but unexpectedly, not long after the Cold Origin Festival passed, Yu Bin made another great contribution in North Mangshan.

Hou Jing was enfeoffed at the beginning of the year because he found a silver mine in North Mangshan, and the clue to this silver mine was discovered by the Lingyuan team, which was stationed at the Zhaoyang outpost at the time.

Come to think of it, Yu Bin was also unlucky. He found several Zhu Silver Flowers under the mountain wall at the time, estimated to be only two or three kilometers away from the silver mine's location, and had already led people to start digging into the mountain, but ended up being discovered by nine high-level Giant Fire Lizards.

The Lingyuan team not only lost five people, but Yu Bin himself was also seriously injured.

Having no other choice, he could only choose to report the clue. At that time, the strongest hunting team in the north of Longyou was Hou Jing's Beizhao team. Thus, it facilitated Hou Jing's subsequent enfeoffment.

Of course, Yu Bin didn't determine the location of the silver mine, but his contribution was not small, so Xia Chuan gave him the position of Medicine Elder of the Wuyuan Logging Department.

Since Yu Bin took the position of Medicine Elder of the Wuyuan Logging Department, he has indeed done a good job. Not only has he extremely cooperated with his own daily work as Garrison Commander, but after discovering Songyang Ridge in June, he personally led a team to survey it and discovered more than ten new species such as Gold Pine Fruit, White Jade Hazel, and Blue Mulberry Tree. His contribution is not small.

And from his usual words and deeds, it can also be seen that his respect for the Lord Xia Hong is growing deeper and deeper, and he is indeed integrating into Great Xia at a very fast speed.

"My lord, we have arrived at Songyang Ridge!"

Xu Ning's train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a voice from behind. He looked up and realized that the team had walked out of the snow forest and arrived at the southern end of a mountain ridge.

The name Songyang Ridge was naturally not taken by Xu Ning. He also discovered this place when he led a team through the snow forest in May, and only learned of it after contacting the local people.

The reason it is called Songyang Ridge is, first, because the terrain here is relatively high, and second, because among all the vegetation on the ridge, the one that accounts for the largest proportion is a tree called Jade Pine Fluorescence.

This Jade Pine Fluorescence grows uniquely; its main trunk grows upward in a twisted manner, and it is at most twenty meters tall. It clearly looks malnourished, but the leaves on its branches grow extremely lushly.

Moreover, its leaves are transparent in color, and their appearance is extremely smooth, like transparent glass. Because snow does not remain on them on ordinary days, when the sun shines on them during the day, the entire ridge reflects extremely strong light, making it impossible for people to look directly at it.

Of course, it is night now, so one naturally cannot see this special scene.

"My lord, they have already come over!"

Hearing the reminder from his younger brother Xu An, Xu Ning nodded slightly. He had already seen more than a dozen people approaching them from a mile away on the west side.

There were sixteen people coming from the west side. Discovering that there were more than twenty powerful auras on the Great Xia side, as well as more than three hundred people wearing golden armor and carrying strong bows, their pace clearly became somewhat sluggish. But led by the middle-aged man at the head, they still walked over slowly.

"Sixteen people, only two in the Earth-Digging Realm. It seems all the Cold-Resisting Realm members of the seven families have arrived. The result will be out tonight."

"Those two in the Earth-Digging Realm are women, so young! They wouldn't be thinking of..."

…………

The other side observes them, and Xu Ning and others naturally observe the other side as well.

Xu Ning discovered Songyang Ridge in May. Over the previous three months, he had long secretly sent people to figure out the situation of the seven families in Songyang Ridge clearly, so he knew very well that each of the seven families had only two Cold-Resisting Realm members. Today, it is clear that all the Cold-Resisting Realm members have come.

Yu Bin is old and cunning. Seeing those two young girls with only Earth-Digging Realm cultivation, he immediately realized something, and his face was full of smiles.

Although he didn't finish his sentence, the others reacted immediately, and they all showed a faint smile on their faces.

Only Xu Shicheng, the head of the Prison Department, not only didn't smile but also had his brows tightly knitted. The look in his eyes as he watched the sixteen people opposite him became much deeper.

…………

Soon, the sixteen people on the west side walked up to Xu Ning.

It could be seen that there was a thick look of horror in the eyes of the sixteen people, especially when their gaze stayed on the three hundred fully armed people behind Xu Ning, several sounds of swallowing saliva were transmitted.

"Ji Yang of Wanlong, leading the six families of Songyang Ridge, pays respects to Lord Xu!"

Although he had dealt with Xu Ning many times in the previous three months, when he carefully examined the three hundred or so people Xu Ning brought tonight, Ji Yang still couldn't help but feel a thick horror rising in his heart.

Twenty-seven Cold-Resisting Realm members, and the remaining two hundred or so were all at the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm. And one could tell at a glance that they had begun to reshape their skin membranes. There were dozens whose auras were not very stable, clearly on the verge of a breakthrough.

This Great Xia is actually so powerful!

Xu Ning had previously sent many good things from Great Xia to him—high-quality cotton cloth, refined salt, Beast Spirit Pills, Blood Origin Pills... From those things, Ji Yang could actually already feel the power of Great Xia. This is also why he would strongly advocate for the other six families of Songyang Ridge to merge into Great Xia along with the Wanlong camp.

"As Xu Ning said, Wuyuan is just an external outpost of Great Xia. His position as Wuyuan Garrison Commander is a fourth-rank official position, which can only rank second to last in Great Xia. Just like this, he can easily pull out more than twenty Cold-Resisting Realm members and three hundred Earth-Digging Realm limit cultivators. Then the third-rank, second-rank, and first-rank above should be..."

Thinking of the partial information he had previously learned about Great Xia, Ji Yang felt somewhat numb all over.

Being powerful to this extent has far exceeded his cognition.

"Brother Ji, aren't you going to introduce these few?"

Hearing Xu Ning's words in a trance, Ji Yang immediately came back to his senses and hurriedly said to the six people beside him: "Lord Xu is the Wuyuan Garrison Commander of Great Xia. Everyone is seeing him for the first time, so introduce yourselves. Ji won't talk too much!"

Those six people immediately nodded and stood out, successively bowing to Xu Ning and speaking:

"Wang He of Songhu, pays respects to Lord Xu."

"Nie Zichuan of Zhaolu, pays respects to Lord Xu."

"He Qing of Songbei, pays respects to Lord Xu."

"Zhu Ziyang of Tiegu, pays respects to Lord Xu."

"Wei Dong of Binhe, pays respects to Lord Xu."

"Chai Biao of Qingsong, pays respects to Lord Xu."

The strength of Songyang Ridge is indeed not very good. Among the seven Cold-Resisting Realm leaders, the strongest, Ji Yang and Nie Zichuan, have a basic strength of only six manes, and judging by their skin membrane condition, they are both in the late stage of the Cold-Resisting Realm; their talent is clearly not good either. The other five leaders are even weaker, between three and five manes.

The remaining seven Cold-Resisting Realm members are even weaker, only between one and three manes.

Xu Ning scanned the six people and nodded slightly with a smile: "You have not yet entered Great Xia. Strictly speaking, this title of 'Lord' is flattering me. You are too polite!"

Hearing Xu Ning say that they had not yet entered Great Xia, the expressions of Ji Yang and the seven others changed slightly, and their hearts were clearly somewhat fluctuated.

Xu Ning clearly captured the subtle changes in the expressions of the seven people, and a look of strangeness rose in his eyes: "Although this is the first time I have met the six of you, Brother Ji must have already conveyed the meaning of our Great Xia to you. Since you have all come today, you must already have the answer in your hearts. Please speak directly!"

Ji Yang clearly didn't expect Xu Ning to be so direct. He turned his head and looked at the six leaders beside him for a moment. Finally, he stood out, bowed with some trepidation, and said: "Since Great Xia has the intention to accommodate us, we naturally will not be unappreciative. But Lord Xu, please forgive Ji for speaking bluntly. The seven families of Songyang Ridge have a total population of over 114,000, which is not a small number. If Great Xia is unwilling to offer any conditions, we..."

"It seems you all came prepared today. Brother Ji, just speak bluntly. I said before, feel free to raise any requirements. As long as it is within my authority and does not violate the current rules and regulations of our Great Xia, I can make the decision to agree!"

Xu Ning's straightforward attitude made Ji Yang even more apprehensive. He exchanged glances with the six people beside him for a moment before slowly speaking, proposing a total of five conditions.

"First, we will take out all the materials stored by our seven families previously and distribute them to everyone. Great Xia must guarantee that this batch of property will not be touched at all;

Second, regarding the iron and coal mines owned by the seven families, we seven hope to sell them to Great Xia at a price in exchange for the contribution points mentioned by Lord Xu. Of course, we will still distribute this batch of contribution points to the people below, so that they can have time to adapt after going to Great Xia;

Third, for our 14 Cold-Resisting Realm members, 10 Yang Origin Pills each; for the 129 Earth-Digging Realm limit cultivators, 100 jin of beast blood each;

Fourth, since we 14 have chosen to join, we naturally hope to make some achievements in Great Xia in the future. Therefore, we earnestly request the Lord to allow us seven to have an official position in the camp. Of course, we dare not think of positions as high-ranking and powerful as Lord Xu's; lower positions will suffice;

As for this fifth condition, it is..."

Speaking of the fifth point, Ji Yang suddenly stopped.

It wasn't because the people of Great Xia had any reaction; Xu Ning and the others had been listening quietly, and there had been no fluctuation in their expressions from beginning to end.

"Ji Yun, Nie Rou, come to the front!"

The two Earth-Digging Realm girls from behind slowly walked forward.

Both girls were fifteen or sixteen years old, and their appearance was indeed superior. It could be seen that they had both been deliberately dressed up. It's just that the conditions in Songyang Ridge were really limited. A light red cotton jacket paired with a snow-white animal fur-lined jacket was their advantage because they were young. Plus, they must have applied something to their faces, so their skin was not as dark as ordinary people's, which indeed made the eyes of Xu Ning and the others brighten slightly.

"This is my daughter Ji Yun and Leader Nie's daughter Nie Rou. Ji dares to be bold and wants to propose a marriage for the two, letting the two marry the Lor..."

"Bold!"

Before Ji Yang could finish his sentence, he was sternly interrupted by Xu Shicheng on Xu Ning's left.

Xu Shicheng was clearly speaking in anger. He had late-stage Cold-Resisting Realm cultivation, and his basic strength reached eight manes. With his momentum fully exploded, all the Cold-Resisting Realm members of Songyang Ridge were startled, and the two girls were even more pale, their bodies trembling slightly.

Ji Yang didn't understand why Xu Shicheng was so angry, but seeing that Xu Ning didn't speak and realizing that Xu Shicheng's identity was also not simple, his heart suddenly sank, and he felt some regret.

Of course, more of it was confusion.

He had proposed four conditions earlier, all of which were asking for things. Only this last condition could be considered them giving something to Great Xia, a gesture of allegiance. Why did this person have such a big reaction?

"Lord Xu, our Great Xia relies not on marriage for annexation and expansion. For figures like the Lord, there will inevitably be more and more camps wanting to send women to him in the future. If we accept one every time one comes, the inner residence will be hard to keep peaceful, and the Lady will probably not be happy either. I think this fifth condition should be waived!"

………………

This Xu Shicheng must be a person on the side of the Lord's Lady.

Ji Yang reacted instantly, but after exchanging glances with Nie Zichuan beside him, he still gritted his teeth and continued to speak to Xu Ning:

"Garrison Commander Xu, although Great Xia is strong, our seven families in Songyang Ridge haven't been doing badly here. If you are unwilling to agree to these five conditions, our seven families will not merge into Great Xia..."

"Hehe!"

Swish...

Xu Shicheng sneered directly. The two people standing behind him, along with the more than forty elites of the Qingmang hunting team in the rear, all drew their weapons and stared at Ji Yang and the other fourteen people with hostile intent.

"It's just as well if you don't agree. We'll just finish you all off right now, and it will save a large batch of cultivation resources!"

"Lord Xu, calm down!"

Just as Ji Yang and the others were full of shock and anger, Xu Ning finally spoke.

He first signaled Xu Shicheng to calm down, then turned his head to scan the two girls, and finally looked at Ji Yang and said in a deep voice: "Brother Ji, we have known each other for three months. Songyang Ridge cannot continue to drag on. I won't hide it from you either. Since we came over tonight, no matter what you seven families think, there is only one path to take, and that is to merge into Great Xia!"

Hearing this, the expressions of Ji Yang and the others sank slightly.

When they saw the three hundred fully armed people of Great Xia just now, they actually already had a premonition in their hearts. It's just that with Xu Ning saying it so bluntly, everyone's hearts couldn't help but sink a bit more.

"You just proposed five conditions. I can agree to the first three. The fourth is definitely not possible. If you want to hold a position in Great Xia, you must either make contributions to the camp and perform meritorious service, or have enough strength to make the Lord and the Chief Administrator look at you with respect. It is a pity that you fourteen people of Songyang Ridge do not meet either of these two points. Therefore, giving you positions is impossible.

As for this fifth one!"

Xu Ning paused here, turned his head to look at Xu Shicheng, whose face was still gloomy, thought quickly in his mind, and continued:

"Lord Xu was right just now. If anyone can send people to the Lord's side, and something goes wrong, we will be hard-pressed to shirk the responsibility. How about this! I can send them to the Lady to see. Whether they can stay by the Lord's side to serve depends entirely on the Lady's wishes. It just depends on whether you agree or not!"