Burrowing Ground Realm

Bang...

The furnace was lit once more. After the cave was sealed off, its warmth returned.

Everyone gathered around the bonfire again, and Xia Hong walked over to Xu Ning.

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the others also gathered around him, their expressions rather grim.

"Chief, this time we really brought down a big one, hehe."

Xu Ning opened his one remaining eye and pointed at the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep lying on the ground, forcing a smile onto his face.

Xia Hong did not answer. He merely stepped forward to examine Xu Ning's right eye. When he saw the empty socket, his expression immediately grew heavy as well.

"Don't be reckless again in the future. When facing a Frost Beast you've never encountered before, be careful!"

After saying that, he turned to Xia Chuan and the others and added, "The same goes for all of you."

Xu Ning evidently did not want the atmosphere to remain so heavy. He smiled and said, "At least I'm still alive. It's only one eye; it's no big deal. My cultivation is still intact, and there's nothing wrong with the rest of my body."

Seeing that no one answered, Xu Ning seemed to remember something and continued:

"By the way, Qiu Peng, your father used to be the only archer in our camp. He often closed one eye when shooting arrows. Now that my right eye is blind, maybe when the camp grows wealthier, I can become an archer."

Qiu Peng froze for a moment, then nodded with a strange expression.

"That's true. I heard my father mention it before. For accuracy, archers generally aim with only one eye. Unfortunately, the camp doesn't have any bows or arrows right now..."

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and even Xia Hong and the others were all stirred inwardly.

Losing one eye was nothing as easygoing as Xu Ning made it sound.

Although it would not affect his cultivation, it would greatly affect his field of vision and bodily coordination. For people like them, who often fought Frost Beasts to the death, losing half their vision or suffering poor coordination would be fatal in either case.

Xia Hong's expression had turned grim because he had realized that, even if Xu Ning went out in the future, he might not be able to help much. He had even decided that Xu Ning would stay behind to watch the camp whenever they went out from then on.

But Qiu Peng's words had reminded him of another possibility.

In battle, archers really only needed one eye most of the time.

Moreover, in a sense, because his other eye had completely disappeared, Xu Ning could focus his attention even more intently on his left eye.

This had instead become a unique advantage.

"We don't have any now, but we will in the future!"

Xia Hong spoke solemnly, effectively giving Xu Ning a promise.

The others also encouraged Xu Ning one after another:

"That's right. You even killed the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep leader. Getting you a bow and arrows will be a piece of cake."

"We're not even afraid of the eerie monsters now. Are we really going to be unable to get our hands on a bow and arrows?"

"Xu Ning, just recuperate properly. Once we get a bow and arrows, if you can't train well, we're going to laugh at you."

Moved by everyone's encouragement, Xu Ning said nothing. He merely nodded heavily in silence.

"I have something to take care of. You all go process the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep's meat first."

"Yes, Chief."

Seeing everyone happily go to process the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep, Xia Hong walked alone to the camp's strength-testing stakes.

The camp's original strength-testing stake could measure only up to a thousand jin. Later, as more and more people broke through to the Lumbering Realm, two five-thousand-jin stakes had been added for convenience.

A flicker passed through Xia Hong's eyes. He stacked the two five-thousand-jin stakes together, then held his breath and focused his mind. Crouching down, he wrapped both hands around the two stakes.

Whoosh...

Xia Hong exhaled a breath of stale air, clenched his teeth, and suddenly exerted force with both hands, hauling upward with a fierce jerk.

The two stakes shot up from the ground.

A look of wild delight immediately spread across Xia Hong's face.

"I really broke through!"

After killing the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep just now, he had felt his strength increase somewhat. But then the eerie monster had arrived, so he had not had the time to pay attention to it.

Now that he had tested himself, he had truly broken through.

A basic strength of over ten thousand jin was precisely the sign of breaking through to the Earth Excavation Realm.

During this period, no one knew how troubled Xia Hong had been over reaching the Earth Excavation Realm.

He had discovered that the closer he came to breaking through, the lower his efficiency at absorbing Frost Beast Meat became, and the slower his improvement grew.

The problem was that his Frost Beast Meat ration had not changed at all. He had even tried increasing it for the sake of breaking through, yet the improvement remained negligible.

"It seems only this kind of life-and-death battle can let me break through my physical limits faster. Subsequent cultivation in the Earth Excavation Realm will still depend on Frost Beast Meat. I wonder if it'll be very slow."

Xia Hong gradually restrained the excitement on his face and calmed himself.

As his physique grew stronger, his need for Frost Beast Meat would also grow.

But for him now, that was not much of a problem.

Even in the Lumbering Realm, he had been able to lead people in hunting Frost Beasts, let alone now.

The key was that breaking through to the Earth Excavation Realm meant he was qualified to excavate and mine starting today.

Coal, iron, silver, gold—as long as he could find ore veins, he would be able to unlock the remaining eight buildings in the system.

"Starting tonight, we'll expand the search area and see if we can find an ore vein!"

Xia Hong was tremendously invigorated as he set down the stakes.

As it happened, the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep had also been processed on the other side.

From far away, Yuan Cheng excitedly reported the amount of meat yielded by the demonic sheep.

"Chief, the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep yielded a total of seventeen hundred jin of meat, as well as one complete hide. It can make five beast-hide skirts."

Seventeen hundred jin, according to the camp's current allocation of Frost Beast Meat, would last nearly twenty days.

"Oh, right. There's also this."

Yuan Cheng seemed to remember something and tossed an object toward Xia Hong.

Xia Hong caught it. It was the short blade that had just been used to kill the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep.

Wang Ming's Great Saber had converted into sixty points of iron resources in the system.

Upgrading the Small Bonfire had used fifty points, leaving ten. Xia Hong had used those ten points to make this small blade.

Calling it a short blade was actually generous—it was not even five inches long. Dagger would have been a more fitting description.

Because it was too short to pierce the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep's defenses, Xia Hong had not used it earlier. Only when he attacked the eye on its back and realized that the Stone Axe was unsuitable did he use the dagger. It had produced a surprisingly effective result.

Xia Hong put away the dagger and summoned all six members of the Lumber Team—Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the others—as well as the thirty-one reserve members, who had recently been added.

"Distribute all the meat directly. In ten days, we'll go out as usual. Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the four of you, focus on improving your strength during this period.

"As for the reserve members, you need to speed up too. See if a few more of you can break through to the Lumbering Realm before we go out."

"Yes, Chief!"

Everyone answered in unison. Xia Chuan and the other five were one thing, but the thirty-one reserve members had just personally witnessed Xia Hong and the other seven hunt that Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep. They were already green with envy, and their desire to break through to the Lumbering Realm had reached its peak.

Even if Xia Hong had said nothing, they would likely have trained with everything they had, hoping to join the Lumber Team as soon as possible and go out with him.

Returning to just now.

At the moment when Wang Ping, controlled by the eerie monster, was burned to ash by the Fire Condensing Oil.

Five hundred meters east of the slope where the cave of Great Xia Camp was located, a shrill scream rang out from a large tree at the outermost edge of Redwood Ridge.

"Ah... ah..."

A hunched old man in black, no more than five feet tall, clutched a bundle of white threads in his hand. One end of the thread was held by the old man, while the other stretched far into the west.

The thread itself was white, and with the snow and ice all around, it was nearly impossible to see with the naked eye. One could only judge its direction. The other end was clearly connected to the cave where Great Xia Camp was located.

But at this moment, the thread spontaneously caught fire.

The old man's screams came because the flames on the thread had already burned to his palm. He frantically slapped at his arm, yet he still could not extinguish those overbearing flames.

As if realizing that he could not put out the fire in his hand, the old man's scarlet pupils suddenly hardened with ruthlessness. He extended his right palm, then raised his left hand.

With a fierce downward slash.

Crack...

Using the small knife clutched in his left hand, he actually severed his burning right hand cleanly at the root.

Though he had chopped off his own right hand while still alive, not the slightest trace of pain appeared on the old man's face. Instead, he let out a long sigh of relief.

After being severed, the right hand had not even hit the ground before it was burned to ash by that overbearing flame.

Looking at the wisp of black smoke, wariness flashed through the old man's scarlet pupils. He then turned to stare at the cave where Great Xia Camp was located, and the wariness in his eyes transformed completely into venom and hatred.

"Wait for me. You won't escape. You definitely won't escape. Your lives are all mine, all mine..."