Chapter Summaries

Xia Hong trained to reach Lumberjack Level while learning about the dangers facing Great Xia Camp in the endless winter. When Xia Ding returned from the woods, he warned that a monster had emerged from Redwood Ridge and ordered the camp to extinguish its fires before dawn.

• Xia Hong practiced Long Fist outside the cave as Xia Chuan admired his progress toward Lumberjack Level.
• Xia Hong reflected on his new life, his martial arts training, and Great Xia Camp’s weakness compared with Rogue Camp.
• Xia Ding’s Lumber Team returned safely from Redwood Ridge, carrying six large trees.
• Xia Ding asked how long remained until dawn, then ordered everyone to enter the camp and put out the bonfires.
• Xia Ding told Xia Hong that the monster in Redwood Ridge had come out.

Xia Ding ordered Great Xia Camp to extinguish its fire and hide from a monster that had wiped out two nearby camps. As he explained the monster’s ability to impersonate people, another Xia Ding called from outside the sealed cave, leaving the camp terrified that the monster had reached them.

• Xia Ding sealed the cave entrance and ordered everyone to extinguish the bonfire, warning that the monster of Redwood Ridge had killed everyone in Iron Peak Camp and Shenju Camp.
• Xia Hong gave his thickest coat to Xia Chuan, and the camp gathered in the dark to endure the falling temperature.
• To distract the freezing residents, Xia Ding explained that Luo Feng of Rogue Camp had survived an encounter with the monster and later gone mad.
• Xia Ding said the monster could imitate anyone, trick its victims into trusting it, and turn them into human stakes while it slowly cut away their flesh.
• A voice outside the cave called for the entrance to be opened, and the residents realized it sounded exactly like Xia Ding.

Xia Hong and the camp faced two indistinguishable Xia Dings and two identical Lumber Teams, each claiming the other was a Redwood Ridge creature. As dawn’s deadly cold approached, everyone looked to Xia Hong to choose whom to trust, but the chapter ended as he and Xia Chuan recognized a crucial clue.

• A second Xia Ding and an identical Lumber Team arrived at the cave, revealing that one group included the strange creature from Redwood Ridge.
• The two Xia Dings and their teams fought while Xia Hong searched for differences and the cave grew colder as dawn approached.
• Both Xia Dings urged Xia Hong and Xia Chuan to support them, making clear that choosing wrongly could doom the camp.
• The Xia Dings cited different private memories to prove they were real, and Xia Hong reacted to their claims before Xia Chuan understood what he had noticed.

Xia Hong and Xia Chuan exposed the fake Xia Dings, but the monster revealed that their father was dead and led an assault on the camp. As Xia Chuan faced death and the camp was being slaughtered, Xia Hong heard that the rebuilt Camp System had granted him a Small Bonfire.

• Xia Hong and Xia Chuan attacked the two Xia Dings, revealing that the later arrival was a wooden-bodied monster.
• The monster repaired its split head, explained that Xia Ding had died protecting the camp, and advanced with twenty-four Lumber Team members.
• Xia Hong rallied the camp to fight, but the two Xia Dings killed dozens of people and drove him into the cave wall.
• One of the monsters seized Xia Chuan by the throat while Xia Hong watched helplessly amid the slaughter.
• The Camp System announced that it had been rebuilt and granted Xia Hong a Basic Building, Small Bonfire.

Xia Hong used the Small Bonfire to drive off the impostor Xia Ding and the remaining aberrations, though the camp suffered devastating losses. After the threat left, the survivors grieved and Xia Hong began sealing the cave entrance against the freezing cold.

• Xia Hong summoned the Small Bonfire, which burned the impostor Xia Ding and two other impostor Lumber Team members to ash.
• Xia Hong gathered the survivors around the fire, and they carried over wood to make it seem as though its protective flames could spread throughout the cave.
• The impostor Xia Ding and his remaining twenty-two impostor Lumber Team members retreated after an hour-long standoff.
• Xia Hong realized only the original Small Bonfire's ten-meter radius could deter or kill aberrations, and that the rest of the spreading fire had been a bluff.
• The survivors mourned the dead, while Xia Hong worried that they knew nothing about the Redwood Ridge aberration.
• Xia Hong began sealing the cave entrance against the falling temperature, and Xia Chuan and the other survivors joined him.

After the slaughter left only 154 people in Great Xia Camp, Xia Hong decided they had to abandon Cave One and lead everyone to Cave Four. The group set out after nightfall, leaving their Small Bonfire behind as they moved through the snow.

• Xia Hong counted the survivors and decided the camp had to relocate because the ghost from Redwood Ridge knew their location.
• Xia Hong chose Cave Four and inspected the Camp System, finding that its other buildings and the Small Bonfire's upgrade required resources the camp lacked.
• Xia Hong realized their fifteen units of wood would keep the bonfire burning for only seven and a half days and resolved to cultivate faster.
• Xia Hong organized the 154 survivors into three groups, assigned adults to carry the felled trees, and ordered everyone to use the Bone Whistle if danger arose.
• After nightfall, the survivors left Cave One, and Xia Hong extinguished the Small Bonfire before catching up with the group heading west.

Xia Hong led Great Xia Camp to Cave Four and explained that the fire could attract Frost Beasts, so the entrance had to stay sealed. With food and Frost Beast flesh running low, the camp chose to give its remaining flesh to Xia Hong to help him reach Lumberjack Level, and he promised to repay their trust.

• Xia Hong led the 154 members of Great Xia Camp through deep snow to Cave Four, where they sealed the entrance and lit a fire.
• Xia Hong warned everyone that fire could both deter and attract monsters, so they needed to seal the cave whenever anyone entered or left.
• Xia Chuan reported that the camp had a little over seven hundred jin of Crystal Fruit and only sixty jin of Frost Beast Meat.
• Xia Chuan proposed giving all the Frost Beast flesh to Xia Hong so he could reach Lumberjack Level, while Yuan Cheng asked whether Xia Hong would abandon the camp afterward.
• Xia Hong refused to swear an oath but promised to repay the camp tenfold or a hundredfold, and the people agreed to give him the flesh.

Xia Hong trained with Frost Beast flesh and blood and taught Great Xia Camp the Ancestral Long Fist as his strength steadily increased. On the eighth day, he lifted five thousand jin of wooden stakes, reached the Lumbering Realm, and promised to search for Crystal Fruit that night.

• Xia Hong ate five jin of Frost Beast meat and demonstrated the Ancestral Long Fist, explaining that he would teach the camp once they had enough meat.
• Xia Chuan told Yuan Hong that Xia Hong had created the Long Fist and that practicing it accelerated the absorption of Frost Beast energy.
• Over the following days, Xia Hong's strength rose from 4,100 jin to 4,900 jin, while the camp's remaining Crystal Fruit dwindled.
• Xia Hong lifted the five thousand-jin wooden stakes before the camp, breaking through to the Lumbering Realm.
• Xia Hong told the camp he would go out that night to look for Crystal Fruit.

After reaching Lumberjack Level, Xia Hong left Great Xia Camp at night to search Redwood Ridge for food and wood. He found a heavily laden Ice Vast Tree, but his survey of its canopy left him alarmed.

• Xia Hong prepared a Small Torch and weapons, warned Xia Chuan about the signal and the camp's security, then slipped out before nightfall.
• Xia Hong reached Redwood Ridge and identified a Crimson Frost Tree, which was less likely to shelter Frost Beasts than a Golden Scale Tree.
• Recalling that Ice Vast Trees grew in sunny clearings, Xia Hong climbed a tree, spotted an open area within Great Xia's territory, and headed there cautiously.
• After more than an hour, Xia Hong found an Ice Vast Tree bearing over a thousand jin of Crystal Fruit.
• Xia Hong climbed a nearby Crimson Frost Tree to inspect the Ice Vast Tree's canopy, and his expression darkened at what he saw.

Xia Hong spotted a sleeping juvenile Long-tongued Snow Mane while gathering Crystal Fruit, but Big Stone Camp’s hunters woke and killed the beast with a coordinated ambush. He remained hidden as the hunters began harvesting their prize.

• Xia Hong recognized a sleeping juvenile Long-tongued Snow Mane on an Ice Vast Tree and tested whether noise would wake it.
• An arrow struck the Snow Mane, waking it, and Xia Hong realized Big Stone Camp’s hunters were attacking it.
• Big Stone Camp’s archers distracted the charging Snow Mane while the others trapped its limbs and head with ropes.
• The archers shot the Snow Mane in its remaining eye, and it eventually stopped struggling.
• The hunters confirmed the Snow Mane was dead and began harvesting it as Xia Hong watched from his hiding place.

Xia Hong watched a wounded, blind Snow Mane ambush Big Stone Camp and kill three of its people before the survivors fled. Realizing the beast was badly injured and worth hundreds of jin of Frost Beast Meat, Xia Hong began considering how to claim it safely.

• Xia Hong decided to avoid contact with Big Stone Camp because Great Xia was too weak to risk exposing its condition.
• Big Stone Camp's chief led his people to claim the Snow Mane, but the beast sprang up and killed three men with its claws and long tongue.
• The chief recognized that the blind Snow Mane tracked them by sound and ordered everyone to remain silent, but an archer diverted the beast by firing an arrow into a distant tree.
• The survivors fled west while Xia Hong stayed hidden in the Ice Vast Tree as the Snow Mane returned, climbed up, and settled onto a branch.
• After waiting for the Snow Mane to appear asleep, Xia Hong realized it was badly injured and considered how to take its meat; an idea made his eyes light up.

Xia Hong used a Small Torch to lure the blinded Snow Mane away from its tree, only to discover that the flames healed and strengthened Frost Beasts. A Bone-spurred Frost Wolf killed Snow Mane, then carried off the torch, leaving Xia Hong hidden beside the boulder.

• Xia Hong hid in a snow pit and lit a Small Torch to draw Snow Mane away from the Ice Vast Tree.
• Snow Mane approached the torch, and Xia Hong watched its wounds heal and its strength rise in the flames.
• A Bone-spurred Frost Wolf appeared and fought Snow Mane over the torch.
• The Frost Wolf exploited Snow Mane's blindness, pinned it down, and killed it after a prolonged struggle.
• The Frost Wolf enjoyed the torch's flames, then carried the torch into the forest while Xia Hong watched from hiding.

Xia Hong returned to camp with a Snow Mane he had rescued from a Frost Wolf, earning the camp’s admiration. He divided the meat to speed up the camp’s growth and prepare others to reach the Lumbering Realm.

• Xia Hong realized the Frost Wolf had taken the torch instead of eating the Snow Mane, then carried the carcass back to camp.
• Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng greeted Xia Hong and were astonished by the enormous Snow Mane, while the camp’s people looked to him with renewed hope.
• Xia Hong explained that he had not hunted the Snow Mane and warned Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng not to underestimate Frost Beasts.
• Yuan Cheng condemned Big Stone Camp for crossing into their territory, but Xia Hong said the camp had to focus on survival until it grew stronger.
• Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng estimated how quickly they could reach the Lumbering Realm with enough Frost Beast meat, and Yuan Cheng asked to learn Long Fist.
• Xia Hong allocated Snow Mane meat to himself, Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the other young people, urging them to grow stronger and earn future priority through breakthroughs.

Xia Hong held a contest to choose five young people for Great Xia Camp’s first core team and began training them in Long Fist to improve their cultivation. The camp had regained some strength, though Xia Hong still worried about the danger posed by Frost Beasts.

• Xia Hong gave twenty-two contestants a pound of Frost Beast meat each, then left Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng to oversee their contest while he cultivated.
• Xia Hong trained with Long Fist and reflected on the camp’s harsh conditions, the threat of Frost Beasts, and his own slowing progress.
• Yuan Cheng and Xia Chuan presented the five winners: Yue Feng, Lin Kai, Qiu Peng, Lu Yang, and Xu Ning, whose strength impressed Xia Hong despite his lack of prior training.
• Xia Hong gave the five winners Frost Beast meat and promised to teach them Long Fist, explaining that future shares would favor those closest to the Lumbering Realm.
• The five accepted Xia Hong’s instruction, and he felt more secure knowing Great Xia Camp had formed its first small core team.

Xia Hong taught Yuan Cheng and the other five men the Ancestral Long Fist, then gathered Crystal Fruit and cut Crimson Frost Trees to replenish the camp’s supplies. After weeks of work, the camp had over seven thousand jin of fruit and eighty-seven units of wood, and Xia Hong heard good news on the twenty-fourth day.

• Xia Hong taught Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, Lin Kai, Qiu Peng, Xu Ning, and Lu Yang the Long Fist forms suited to their builds and abilities.
• Xia Hong picked more than a thousand jin of Crystal Fruit and spent three hours felling a Crimson Frost Tree, gaining five units of wood.
• Xia Hong brought the fruit and tree back to camp, then went out nightly to gather fruit and fell a tree whenever he could.
• Xia Hong found two more Ice Vast Trees and brought their Crystal Fruit back in six trips, raising the camp’s supply to over seven thousand jin.
• After twenty days, the camp’s wood had reached eighty-seven units, and on the twenty-fourth day Xia Hong returned to camp and heard good news.

Xia Hong took Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng into Redwood Ridge to teach them the territory and have them cut trees, but they encountered four men from Big Stone Camp harvesting crystal fruit on Great Xia Camp land. Wang Ming claimed they were borrowing food, and Xia Chuan threatened to summon his father and enforce the territory rules.

• Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng broke through to the Lumbering Realm, joining Xia Hong as the camp’s third member at that level.
• Xia Hong led them into Redwood Ridge, explained the nearby terrain and frost beasts, and ordered each of them to cut down a tree.
• The three found four men from Big Stone Camp picking crystal fruit beside the third Ice Vast Tree, deep inside Great Xia Camp territory.
• Xia Hong confronted the intruders, and Wang Ming identified himself and claimed Big Stone Camp was borrowing food because it faced a shortage.
• Xia Chuan angrily called the act stealing and said he would fetch his father and bring people over; Wang Ming and his companions’ expressions darkened.

Xia Hong and Xia Chuan bluffed Wang Ming’s group into abandoning their Crystal Fruits and retreating, while Big Stone Camp learned that Great Xia’s young fighters might have benefited from the snow mane’s death. Shi Qing decided to lead a team to Redwood Ridge in a few days to assess Great Xia’s strength.

• Xia Chuan’s bluff convinced Wang Ming and his three companions to leave the Crystal Fruits and withdraw from Great Xia’s territory.
• Xia Hong praised Xia Chuan, then warned that their bluff would only work briefly and said Yue Feng and the others needed to advance quickly.
• Xia Hong led Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng to gather trees after they carried away the Crystal Fruits.
• Wang Ming returned to Big Stone Camp and told Shi Qing and Shi Dong that he had encountered Xia Ding’s two sons at Redwood Ridge.
• Shi Qing and his companions concluded that Great Xia had likely obtained the snow mane’s meat, and Shi Qing vowed to lead a team there in a few days.

Xia Hong decided Great Xia needed frost beast meat to grow stronger and took Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng out to attempt a hunt using Small Torches to lure two beasts into fighting. The torch attracted a beast from the west, and the three men waited in hiding to see what would happen.

• Camps around Redwood Ridge assumed Great Xia had scavenged its snow mane because they were too weak to hunt frost beasts themselves.
• Great Xia’s stores rose to 12,000 catties of crystal fruits and 210 units of wood, but Xia Hong worried that their frost beast meat had run out and the camp could not grow stronger.
• Xia Hong told Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng they would attempt a hunt and warned them to follow his instructions.
• Xia Hong chose the snow mane and frost wolf as targets, planted a Small Torch between their trees, and had the others hide in snow pits.
• Two minutes after Xia Hong lit the torch, heavy hoofbeats sounded from the west.

Xia Hong and his companions watched an adult Snow Mane and an adult Frost Wolf battle over the torch, revealing the beasts’ intelligence and ferocity. After the Frost Wolf brought down the Snow Mane, the three men were stunned by what happened next.

• The adult Snow Mane approached the torch and grew stronger as it basked in the flames.
• The Frost Wolf attacked from beneath the snow, wounding the Snow Mane and making for the torch.
• The Snow Mane charged through the snow to stop the Frost Wolf, tossing it into a Crimson Frost Tree.
• The Frost Wolf feinted, bit the Snow Mane’s rear left leg, and held on through the Snow Mane’s attempts to crush it.
• The Snow Mane collapsed after the Frost Wolf tore apart its hind leg, leaving Xia Hong, Xia Chuan, and Yuan Cheng shocked.

Xia Hong attacked the wounded Snow Mane before it could reach the torch, cutting off its tongue and driving it back. He called Yuan Cheng and Xia Chuan down from the trees to attack its right hind limb as the fight continued.

• Snow Mane tricked the Frost Wolf with a feigned death, crushed it with its barbed back, and escaped after the wolf bit its badly injured left hind limb.
• After the Frost Wolf fled, Xia Hong ordered Yuan Cheng and Xia Chuan to climb separate trees and wait for his signal.
• Xia Hong rushed Snow Mane before it reached the torch and caught its tusks, but its charge drove him several meters backward.
• Snow Mane thrust its long tongue through a tree and curled it toward Xia Hong, who dodged and severed the tongue with his stone axe.
• Xia Hong hacked at Snow Mane's open mouth, then called Yuan Cheng and Xia Chuan down to attack its right hind limb.