Chapter 42: The Legendary Figure Luo Feng

If you ask who has the greatest reputation around Redwood Ridge, it’s unquestionably Luo Feng.

The reason is simple: before him, not a single earth-digging realm expert existed in the entire surrounding area, nor was there a single medium-sized encampment.

In the early days, Redwood Ridge had a total of sixteen small encampments.

Twenty years ago, Luo Feng broke through to the earth-digging realm, becoming the first strongman in the vicinity qualified to hunt, and then led Luo Ge Encampment to grow steadily stronger; soon, two other struggling encampments voluntarily proposed to merge.

Logically speaking, other encampments seeking merger should have been a good thing—after all, more people mean greater strength—but the reality was otherwise.

Under conditions of ample resources, everyone knows to expand population and boost overall strength, but for these small encampments clinging to survival around Redwood Ridge, ample resources were an unreachable dream.

At that time, Luo Feng had just broken through; Luo Ge Encampment’s own people were still starving, waiting for him to bring back cold beasts so more could break through the wood-chopping realm—how could he possibly agree to absorb other encampments?

Remember, even the smallest encampment had at least a hundred or two hundred people; once merged, that meant three or four hundred extra mouths to feed.

No one believed Luo Feng would agree to the merger of those two encampments—even if he personally agreed, the rest of Luo Ge Encampment would never allow it.

Yet the result was that Luo Feng overruled all opposition and accepted those two encampments.

Those two encampments were already on the brink of collapse, totaling only six wood-chopping realm fighters; the remaining three hundred or so people had no cultivation at all. Everyone thought Luo Feng had become overly sentimental, completely ignoring his own encampment’s situation.

Luo Ge Encampment’s population had surged overnight—it surely wouldn’t last long.

But they were wrong: Luo Ge Encampment not only survived, but wood-chopping realm fighters sprouted like bamboo shoots after spring rain; within just a few years, their number grew from over a dozen to thirty.

Not only did their strength increase, but coal stone mining, iron ore extraction, and even daily life in Luo Ge Encampment rapidly outpaced all surrounding encampments—so much so that eventually, new earth-digging realm experts emerged.

Seeing Luo Ge Encampment flourish and its people’s lives improve, nearly every encampment leader voluntarily proposed to merge.

During Luo Feng’s tenure alone, he absorbed five encampments—nearly a thousand people altogether—demonstrating how rapidly Luo Ge Encampment’s strength grew under his leadership.

Without exaggeration, everyone at the time unanimously believed Luo Feng would unite all human settlements around Redwood Ridge and transform Luo Ge Encampment into a large, even massive, encampment.

The remaining eleven encampments were all waiting for Luo Ge Encampment to grow rich enough to absorb more people, then merge directly into it.

Unfortunately, an accident ended Luo Feng’s legend—and shattered all hopes of uniting the encampments around Redwood Ridge.

Fifteen years ago, Luo Feng led a hunting party into a supernatural encounter; every member died. He alone escaped, but for reasons unknown, he killed his own young son and went mad.

A legendary figure had fallen; no one failed to sigh in regret.

Their sorrow wasn’t just over Luo Feng’s downfall—it was over the loss of the hope to merge into Luo Ge Encampment.

As expected, after Luo Ming succeeded as leader, though his management was commendable, he clearly fell far short of Luo Feng’s caliber.

In these fifteen years, only two encampments—both barely holding on, each with barely over a hundred people—successfully merged into Luo Ge Encampment.

For any other encampment wishing to join, Luo Ming flatly refused.

Not only did he refuse, but years ago, he specifically summoned the leaders of eight encampments to demarcate the outer boundaries of Redwood Ridge, instructing all encampments not to cross borders and to gather resources only within their own territories.

Luo Ming’s actions were partly to give weaker encampments a chance to survive, and partly to crush any lingering hope they had of merging into Luo Ge Encampment.

If expanding population were possible, no one would be foolish enough to refuse; everyone understood that Luo Ming did this because Luo Ge Encampment’s growth rate could no longer sustain population expansion.

Whether in character or conduct, Luo Ming was universally praised; as leader of Luo Ge Encampment, his actions over the years were nearly unanimously supported by all surrounding encampments.

But people are judged by comparison: with Luo Feng’s brilliance shining ahead, even Luo Ming’s best efforts always seemed just a little short.

………………

In an instant, Shi Qing’s mind flooded with memories of Luo Feng.

No joke—he still regarded Luo Feng as his idol; in his youth, he had dreamed countless times of merging into Luo Ge Encampment and fighting shoulder to shoulder with his idol.

If circumstances allowed, Shi Qing truly would have asked whether Luo Feng was truly mad, and whether he could visit him.

Seeing Luo Ming had already stepped into the wooden hut, Shi Qing stopped thinking and quickly led Shi Dong inside behind him.

His younger brother Shi Dong, walking beside him, paused just before entering the hut and slowly turned his head to gaze wistfully at the small wooden cabin.

Unlike its exterior, which looked like a simple square wooden box.

Inside the hut lay a world unto itself.

As soon as they entered, warm air washed over them—it was no exaggeration to say it felt like spring; a stark contrast to the freezing cold outside.

In the spacious space, fifty to sixty meters wide, a massive stone-built furnace, five to six meters in diameter, stood at the center, burning coal stones fiercely, with a smoke duct rising above it.

On either side, wooden partitions divided the space into individual rooms, some occupied, voices echoing from within.

Behind the furnace lay the main hall, filled with dozens of wooden chairs, each padded with animal pelts; even just these chairs outshone every encampment around Redwood Ridge.

It wasn’t that making chairs was difficult—it was that this showed Luo Ge Encampment had no shortage of timber or pelts, something no other encampment could match.

They weren’t newcomers; they followed Luo Ming effortlessly to the main hall and took their assigned seats.

Yang Ning and Li Hu walked straight to the uppermost seats, taking the main positions.

Luo Ming, the encampment leader, sat in the third seat instead.

Yang and Li were naturally the strongest, and they were the primary ones fighting the supernatural; for the past half-month, the seating had remained this way, and no one objected.

Seeing everyone seated and silent, Luo Ming glanced at Yang and Li, then stood up.

“Stone Leader has decided to leave; Da Shi Encampment can no longer endure such losses—if either of them dies, the hundreds in the encampment won’t survive. I can’t reasonably stop them anymore!”

Shi Qing, hearing this, bowed respectfully to Luo Ming in gratitude.

Luo Ming nodded to him, then turned to the four leaders and continued: “I won’t urge you further, gentlemen. That wooden puppet demon is beyond our strength to defeat.

Once the two elders leave, all our encampments will suffer.

Whether you stay or go, decide for yourselves—I won’t stop you.

But I must make one thing clear.

If your four encampments also choose to withdraw, then I can only bid farewell to the two elders. It’s unrealistic to expect Luo Ge Encampment alone to handle that demon.”

After speaking this long passage, Luo Ming fell silent for a moment, then continued:

“If all else fails, I’ll have to lead my people to flee elsewhere and seek a new livelihood!”

At Luo Ming’s words, the faces of the four leaders instantly changed.

Still seeking continued reads—the first round of recommendations is going well, thank you brothers for your support, let’s keep pushing forward, there’s real potential here.

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(End of Chapter)