Earth Excavation Realm

Bang...

The furnace was relit, and after the cave was sealed, warmth returned.

Everyone gathered around the bonfire again, and Xia Hong walked to Xu Ning's side.

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and others also gathered around him, their expressions heavy.

"Leader, we caught a big one this time, hehe."

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

Xia Hong didn't reply. He simply stepped forward to examine Xu Ning's right eye and, seeing it was hollow and empty, his expression immediately turned grim.

"Don't push yourself again in the future. Be cautious when facing unfamiliar Frost Beasts!"

He then turned to Xia Chuan and the others, adding, "The same goes for you all."

Xu Ning, perhaps to lighten the mood, spoke with a laugh, "At least I'm alive. Losing an eye is no big deal. My cultivation is still here, and my body is fine."

Seeing that no one responded, Xu Ning remembered something and continued:

"Oh right, Qiu Peng, your father used to be the only archer in our camp. When he shot arrows, he often closed one eye. Now that my right eye is blind, maybe if the camp becomes prosperous later, I can become an archer."

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

"That's true. I heard my father say that to be accurate when shooting arrows, they usually aim with only one eye. It's a shame we don't have any bows in the camp now..."

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and even Xia Hong felt a slight stir in their hearts.

Losing an eye was not as easy as Xu Ning made it out to be.

Although it didn't affect his cultivation, it greatly impacted his vision and body coordination. For people like them who often fought Frost Beasts for their lives, losing half their vision or having poor coordination were both extremely fatal.

Xia Hong's grim expression earlier was because he realized that Xu Ning would likely not be of much help even when venturing out in the future. He had even decided to leave Xu Ning at the camp to watch over things during future expeditions.

But Qiu Peng's words served as an indirect reminder.

When archers were in combat, in most situations, they truly only needed one eye.

Moreover, to some extent, because the other eye was completely gone, Xu Ning could focus his attention even more on his left eye.

This could actually become a unique advantage.

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

Xia Hong said with a solemn tone, making a promise to Xu Ning.

Upon hearing this, the others also chimed in to encourage Xu Ning:

"That's right, you even killed the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep leader. Getting you a bow won't be difficult at all."

"We're not even afraid of Grotesques anymore, why would we worry about not getting a bow?"

"Xu Ning, you just focus on recovering. When the bows arrive, if you don't practice well, we'll laugh at you."

Hearing everyone's encouragement, Xu Ning was moved. He didn't say anything, but simply nodded heavily in silence.

"I have something to do. You all go process the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep meat first."

"Yes, Leader."

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

The original strength-testing wooden stakes in the camp could only support up to a thousand jin. Later, as more people broke through to the Lumbering Realm, two five-thousand jin stakes were added for convenience.

Xia Hong's expression shifted slightly. He stacked the two five-thousand jin wooden stakes together, then held his breath, squatted down, and clasped the two stakes with both hands.

Whoosh...

He exhaled a breath of stale air, gritted his teeth, and suddenly exerted force with both hands, lifting them upwards.

The two wooden stakes rose from the ground.

A look of extreme joy immediately appeared on Xia Hong's face.

"I've really broken through!"

After killing the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep, he had felt a surge of strength within him. But then the Grotesques had appeared, so he hadn't had the time to pay attention.

Now, upon testing it, he had indeed broken through.

A base strength exceeding ten thousand jin was precisely the mark of breaking through to the Earth Excavation Realm.

Xia Hong had been so troubled by the matter of the Earth Excavation Realm during this period.

This was because he discovered that the closer he got to breaking through, the less efficient his absorption of Frost Beast meat became, and the slower his strength improvement.

The problem was that his quota of Frost Beast meat hadn't changed. He had even tried increasing his quota to break through, but the improvement was still negligible.

"It seems that only by experiencing such life-and-death struggles can one break through physical limits faster. Subsequent cultivation in the Earth Excavation Realm will still rely on Frost Beast meat. I wonder if it will be very slow."

Xia Hong gradually suppressed the excitement on his face, calming himself down.

As his physique strengthened, his demand for Frost Beast meat would also increase.

However, for him now, it wasn't a major problem.

When he reached the Lumbering Realm, he could lead people to hunt Frost Beasts, let alone now.

The key was that breaking through to the Earth Excavation Realm meant that from today onwards, he had the qualification to excavate and mine.

Coal, iron, silver, gold – as long as he could find a mineral vein, he could smoothly unlock the system's remaining eight buildings.

"Starting tonight, we'll expand our search range and see if we can find any mineral veins!"

Xia Hong's expression was filled with excitement as he put down the wooden stake.

Just then, the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep on the other side had also been processed.

Yuan Cheng excitedly reported the amount of meat from the demonic sheep to Xia Hong from afar.

"Leader, the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep yielded a total of 1,700 jin of meat, plus a whole hide, which can be made into five beast skin skirts."

1,700 jin, based on the current distribution of Frost Beast meat in the camp, would be enough for about twenty days.

"Oh, and this too."

Yuan Cheng thought of something and tossed an item to Xia Hong.

Xia Hong caught it; it was the short knife used to kill the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep just now.

Wang Ming's Great Saber, converted into the system's iron resources, was worth 60 points.

Upgrading the small bonfire used 50 points, leaving 10 points, which Xia Hong used to make this small dagger.

Calling it a short knife was an exaggeration; it was less than five inches long, and "dagger" was a more fitting description.

Because it was too short, it likely couldn't break through the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep's defenses, so Xia Hong hadn't used it before. It wasn't until he needed to attack the eye on its back and realized the stone axe was unsuitable that he used the dagger, which proved surprisingly effective.

Xia Hong put away the dagger and gathered Xia Chuan, Yuan Chuan, and the other six members of the lumber team, as well as the newly added thirty-one reserve members.

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

Also, the reserve members need to speed up. Let's see if we can get a few more to break through to the Lumbering Realm before we go out."

"Yes, Leader!"

Everyone answered in unison. While Xia Chuan and the other six were fine, the thirty-one reserve members had just witnessed Xia Hong and the other eight hunt that Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep. They were already envious, and their desire to break through to the Lumbering Realm had reached its peak.

It was likely that even if Xia Hong hadn't said anything, they would have desperately cultivated in order to join the lumber team soon and go out with him.

Time rewound to just now.

Just as Wang Ping, controlled by the Grotesque, was burned to ashes by the Fire Condensing Oil.

Five hundred meters east of the dirt slope where the Great Xia Camp's cave was located, a piercing scream rang out from the outermost tree of Redwood Ridge.

"Ah... Ah..."

A hunched-over old man in black, no more than five feet tall, held a ball of white silk thread in his hand. One end of the thread was held by the old man, while the other end extended far to the west.

The thread was originally white, and with the surrounding ice and snow, it was almost invisible to the naked eye. One could only judge from its direction that the other end was connected to the cave where the Great Xia Camp was located.

However, at this moment, the thread spontaneously ignited.

The old man's scream was caused by the flames on the thread burning his palm. He frantically slapped his arm, but still couldn't extinguish the potent flames.

As if realizing he couldn't put out the fire in his hand, the old man's pair of crimson eyes suddenly turned fierce. He extended his right palm and then raised his left hand.

He slashed down sharply.

Crack...

He actually used the small knife held in his left hand to sever his burning right hand at the root.

Despite having his right hand severed, the old man showed no sign of pain on his face; instead, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

After being severed, his right hand was burned to ashes by the potent flames before it could even fall to the ground.

Looking at the wisp of black smoke, a look of dread flashed in the old man's crimson eyes. He then turned his gaze towards the cave where the Great Xia Camp was located. The dread in his eyes turned entirely into malice and hatred.

"Just you wait, you can't escape. You definitely can't escape. Your lives are mine, all mine..."