First Clash

"Leader, I've broken through."

"Brother, I've reached the Lumbering Realm too."

Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng had actually broken through at the same time!

Seeing the two of them successively lifting five-thousand-jin wooden stakes with his own eyes, Xia Hong let out a heavy sigh of relief in his heart.

The Lumbering Realm, three of them!

Although their strength was very weak compared to other camps, they had finally made a start.

Moreover, the improvements of Yue Feng and the other four during this period had also been substantial.

As long as they proceeded step by step and slowly restored to their previous state, it was only a matter of time.

Just as night fell the next day, Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng tucked stone axes into their waists with excited expressions and followed by Xia Hong's side.

"Let me say this again, Redwood Ridge is dangerous. Outside, you must listen to me in everything and cannot act on your own initiative. Tonight is mainly to get you familiar with our territory. Also, each of you must chop down a tree alone."

"Understood, leader!"

Catching the solemnity in Xia Hong's tone, Xia Chuan didn't call him brother, but for the first time followed Yuan Cheng in shouting leader.

Xia Hong nodded, gave a few words of instruction to Yue Feng and the other four behind him, and took the lead in walking out of the cave. Yuan Cheng and Xia Chuan closely followed behind him.

Xia Chuan was now going out as well, so the camp naturally fell to the charge of Yue Feng and the other four. The camp was secluded enough, and as long as no special circumstances arose, safety should still be guaranteed.

Even though it was night, under the illumination reflected by the white snow, Xia Hong could still see the excited expressions on the faces of Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng clearly.

In fact, not just them—when Xia Hong went out for the first time, he was excited too.

Because they always stayed in the cave, sealing the cave during the day, back when Xia Ding was around, they could still open the cave entrance at night to get some fresh air.

With Xia Ding gone, for this past month or more, apart from him, almost everyone in the camp had never seen the light.

Humans in this world must have been cursed...

As soon as he transmigrated and understood this world, Xia Hong had this feeling.

Forever freezing, unable to see the light, only able to hide in shadows, vastly disparate in strength from the frost beasts, and having inexplicable strange ghosts claiming lives.

The plight facing humans in this world was simply unimaginably bizarre.

This was no longer a hell-tier predicament.

The true eighteenth level of hell probably amounted to no more than this.

Whether there were humans living with dignity, Xia Hong didn't know, but at least what he saw right now was such a picture of hell.

Rogue Camp should be living all right, right?

While Xia Hong's thoughts were drifting, he had already walked to the outskirts of Redwood Ridge.

"Tonight there are only two tasks. One is to get you familiar with the environment here, including where the frost beasts are, how to distinguish frost beasts, the types of plant life nearby, and the sphere of influence of our Great Xia Camp.

The other is that the two of you must chop down a tree each and carry it back tonight."

The excitement on the two people's faces had not yet faded, and Xia Hong didn't dampen their spirits either. While leading them to patrol the outskirts, he introduced the situation to them.

Over twenty-some nights, Xia Hong could already be said to know the five-hundred-meter radius nearby like the back of his hand.

The locations of the three Ice Vast Trees; seven Golden Scale Trees confirmed to be occupied by frost beasts;

The area where Crimson Frost Trees were most densely distributed; the location with the most small Crimson Frost Trees.

After introducing them one by one, Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng did not speak either, silently listening all the way and firmly remembering it in their hearts.

Until the three of them walked to the location of the third Ice Vast Tree, an episode occurred.

Near the third Ice Vast Tree, there were people.

Unlike Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng, Xia Hong was constantly paying attention to the surrounding situation as he walked.

Therefore, when he was still over a hundred meters away from the third Ice Vast Tree, he noticed that there was movement over there.

"There are people ahead. Tread lightly and don't make a sound. Let's observe first."

Xia Hong crouched down first, and the two Xia Chuan followed suit, hiding behind trees around the snowfield and slowly approaching the third Ice Vast Tree.

Although the visibility in the snowfield was all right, it was night after all. Walking to a location more than thirty meters away from that Ice Vast Tree, Xia Hong finally saw the situation over there clearly.

After seeing it clearly, his brows suddenly tightened, and his expression was a bit ugly.

From such a distance, faces could not be seen clearly, but he saw that there were four people on the other side, and among them, one was even carrying a Great Saber.

They were people from Big Stone Camp.

This was already the fifth time Xia Hong had seen people from Big Stone Camp trespassing into his own territory.

That's right, ever since that Snow Mane incident, over the next twenty-odd days, Xia Hong had seen people from Big Stone Camp in his own territory three more times in between.

During this period, he had found a total of three Ice Vast Trees.

The first one was on the west side, which was the one closest to Big Stone Camp.

The second one was a hundred meters north of the entrance where he entered Redwood Ridge every time.

The third one was this one right before his eyes, located towards the eastern side of the entire territory.

Great Xia's territory was only five hundred meters wide in total, and Xia Hong always entered from the middle. The previous four times, he had seen people from Big Stone Camp on the west side, but this time they were actually on the east side.

This meant that the people from Big Stone Camp not only swaggered in, but the depth of their intrusion was also becoming increasingly outrageous.

"The four of you from Big Stone Camp, you've crossed the line!"

This time, Xia Hong did not choose to turn a blind eye. He stood up directly, walked toward the Ice Vast Tree, and sternly rebuked them.

Hearing Xia Hong's words, Yuan Cheng and Xia Chuan realized that those four were people from Big Stone Camp, so they angrily stood up and followed behind Xia Hong.

Thieves always had a guilty conscience. The four people from Big Stone Camp were originally picking crystal fruit on the tree. Hearing a rebuke, they immediately jumped down from the tree and turned around to nervously stare at Xia Hong's side.

And while approaching, Xia Hong's gaze also continuously stared at the surroundings.

Big Stone Camp had two archers; he didn't know if they were around.

"May I ask which three you are?"

One of the four stood out and asked about the identities of the three Xia Hong. Judging from the voice, it was a middle-aged man.

Xia Hong walked closer and saw the four of them clearly. They were all middle-aged in appearance, and the one who stood out was precisely the only one among the four holding a saber.

The previous owner of that saber had already been decapitated by Snow Mane.

"Great Xia Camp, Xia Hong."

"Old Ding's son."

Xia Hong saw the other party clearly, and the other party naturally saw Xia Hong clearly as well.

The man holding the Great Saber saw Xia Hong's appearance and immediately recognized him.

"So young?"

"Coming out at night, he's reached the Lumbering Realm."

"Old Ding gave birth to a good son."

The remaining three also seemed to recognize Xia Ding. Whether they were intentionally praising or truly shocked by Xia Hong's youth, they all spoke out.

"Four of you, don't talk about other things. You're picking fruit—haven't you crossed the line?"

"Hey, you fellow..."

The last person to jump down from the tree saw that Xia Hong wasn't playing along and was still bringing up the matter of crossing the boundary. He was obviously somewhat annoyed into anger, and while speaking, he even took two steps toward Xia Hong's side.

However, before he could finish his words, the one holding the saber reached out and stopped him.

"Nephew, my name is Wang Ming, and I even know your father Xia Ding. If you're willing, you can call me Uncle Ming too. Recently our camp has run into some problems, and the crystal fruit deficit is too large. There really was no way, which is why I brought them here tonight to borrow some food from your Great Xia.

Once we tide over this wave, we'll return it immediately, how about that?"

After hearing Wang Ming's words, Xia Hong's expression instantly turned gloomy.

The other party was treating him like a monkey!

Xia Hong merely stared at Wang Ming and did not speak for a long time.

However, Xia Chuan behind him couldn't help speaking up angrily at this moment.

"Stealing is stealing, what's all this talk about borrowing? Brother, don't talk nonsense with them. When Rogue Camp demarcated the territory back then, they already said that trespassing into someone else's territory is tantamount to murder. I'll go back immediately to notify my father and have him bring people over."

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, Wang Ming and the four behind him immediately saw their expressions sink.