Please Forgive Us for Not Accompanying You

On a snowy night, the pale, densely packed trees pieced together the outline of Redwood Ridge.

Gale-force winds and loneliness were the main themes of this jungle, and they had never changed.

Although nine camps surrounded the area, with a combined population of three or four thousand in the early days, that number was still far too small for a place as vast as Redwood Ridge.

When the territories had initially been divided, even the powerful Rogue Camp had only dared to operate within one kilometer of Redwood Ridge's outskirts. As for the other eight camps, their operating range was limited to the outer five hundred meters.

This standard had not been set arbitrarily. It had been explored with human lives by Luo Camp's previous leader, Luo Feng, who had led the Hunting Team.

The outermost five hundred meters of Redwood Ridge were basically occupied only by low-grade Frost Beasts. Farther in, the number of mid-grade Frost Beasts increased considerably. Deeper still, within one kilometer of the interior, there were basically only mid-grade Frost Beasts.

The reasoning was simple. The farther into Redwood Ridge one went, the larger the trees grew. Frost Beasts were creatures that liked to roost in trees, so the Frost Beasts capable of occupying those enormous trees were certainly no pushovers.

Thus, although all these camps knew that the depths of Redwood Ridge held inexhaustible resources, after all these years, no one had dared cross that line.

That included Rogue Camp, the only camp with hunting rights.

Even low-grade Frost Beasts possessed strength of at least eight thousand jin in most cases. Stronger adult Frost Beasts could wield more than ten thousand jin of force. For humans to confront a low-grade Frost Beast head-on, they needed at least the cultivation of the Earth Excavation Realm.

Not to mention those mid-grade and even high-grade Frost Beasts.

This was also one of humanity's dilemmas.

Compared to humans, Frost Beasts seemed to be the species favored by heaven and earth.

Fifteen years ago, Luo Ming had taken over as leader from his father, Luo Feng. Although he had led the Hunting Team out countless times, he had always followed the rules and never ventured more than one kilometer into Redwood Ridge.

So, when he crossed that one-kilometer boundary for the first time, he was still somewhat stirred up.

On the surface, the interior did not seem much different from the outskirts. But with a careful look at the surrounding trees, one could discover that many details were vastly different.

On the outskirts, the trees were mainly Scarlet Frost, followed by Golden Chill, with the fewest being Ice Vast Trees. Here, however, Golden Chill was the main species, Scarlet Frost came second, and Ice Vast Trees were the rarest. Besides these three, there were seven or eight other species that Luo Ming had never seen on the outskirts.

The next difference was the density of Frost Beasts. Luo Ming raised his head and gave the surroundings a cursory sweep. With his wealth of experience, he immediately saw that at least three Frost Beasts were roosting in the dozen or so nearby trees.

Moreover, judging by their physiques, two of them were mid-grade.

Luo Ming unconsciously lightened his footsteps further, trying to minimize the noise.

Although Frost Beasts slept deeply at night and generally would not wake as long as no one provoked them, they were mid-grade Frost Beasts after all. If anything went wrong, there would still be danger.

Luo Ming turned around and saw Shi Qing following behind him, his expression still gloomy. He immediately stopped, walked over to him, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Shi Qing, don't worry. We're this close, and those two lords are watching over them. Nothing will happen to your brothers. Even if that Wood Puppet Grotesque really comes, they have Bone Whistles. One blow, and we'll rush over to help."

Shi Qing first forced a smile. Then a trace of hesitation appeared on his face as he prepared to speak.

Suddenly—

Beep...

As if to prove Luo Ming's words, just as Shi Qing was about to speak, a clear Bone Whistle sounded from the left.

Both their expressions changed drastically. Shi Qing reacted first, drawing the bow from his back. As he sprinted toward the left, he had already nocked an iron arrow.

Luo Ming quickly followed him. In just a few breaths, the two of them reached the place where the Bone Whistle had sounded.

But when they arrived and saw what had happened, their expressions changed again.

They saw Shi Dong limping toward them from not far away, with two figures in hot pursuit behind him.

The reason their faces changed was not that Shi Dong was being chased. It was that they both recognized the two figures pursuing him.

"Wang Rui, Sun Xinzhu, what's going on? Why are you attacking Shi Dong?"

"They aren't Wang Rui and Sun Xinzhu. They've already been replaced. They suddenly ambushed me just now."

Shi Dong's voice was filled with shock and fury. As he ran, he barely managed to draw his bow and shoot at the two people behind him, but his leg was already injured, and his mind was in chaos. How could he shoot accurately?

Whoosh... whoosh...

Fortunately, Shi Qing had reacted by then.

The expressions of Wang Rui and Sun Xinzhu were wooden and clearly abnormal. After confirming that something was wrong with them, Shi Qing fired two arrows in succession, one to the left and one to the right, stopping them from approaching Shi Dong.

After Shi Qing fired the two arrows, Shi Dong was safely rescued and reached his and Luo Ming's side.

Shi Dong was drenched in cold sweat. He lifted the fabric covering his leg, revealing a wound seven or eight inches long that was still gushing blood. He casually scooped up a handful of snow from the ground and pressed it against the wound before looking up at the two of them.

"Just now, in the woods, the two of them said they were going to relieve themselves. In less than fifteen minutes, that grotesque monster had replaced them. They cut my leg."

Luo Ming and Shi Qing exchanged a glance. Both their faces were grave.

"Tiger, over here."

"Where do you think you're going, you vile beast!"

The two were about to speak when Yang Ning and Li Hu's furious shouts suddenly exploded nearby. All three of them, including Shi Dong, turned to look.

Two or three hundred meters away, Yang Ning and Li Hu, holding blades, had already charged beneath a huge tree six or seven meters in diameter.

Li Hu's brows drew together slightly. After exchanging a glance with Yang Ning, he tightened his grip on his blade and suddenly inhaled. The muscles in his arm bulged high as he raised the blade behind his back and fiercely swept it horizontally at the tree before him.

He can't possibly be trying to cut down that huge tree, can he?

How could anyone cut it down with a single stroke?

This question flashed through Luo Ming's mind, and he immediately had his answer.

"Impossible!"

The goose-feather saber in Li Hu's hand was less than two meters long at most.

That tree, however, was six or seven meters in diameter alone.

Crack... boom...

Yet despite the distance of two or three hundred meters, the crisp sound of the tree splitting still reached them.

A huge tree six or seven meters in diameter had been cut down with one stroke.

After the tree fell with a crash, a black-clad figure indeed leaped out from its crown. It was the Wood Puppet Grotesque that had appeared last time.

Yang Ning and Li Hu swiftly surrounded the Wood Puppet Grotesque from opposite sides and began fighting it.

Meanwhile, Luo Ming was still stunned by Li Hu's previous strike, unable to recover for a long while.

"How could he possibly have done that?"

Li Hu and Yang Ning were indeed stronger than him, but both had said that they were only in the Earth Excavation Realm.

They were all in the Earth Excavation Realm, yet could the gap between them really be this enormous?

"Leader Luo, we're here."

Luo Ming, still in a state of shock, was roused by someone nearby.

When he turned around, he discovered that besides Shi Qing and Shi Dong, four more groups had arrived beside him.

Over there, after the Wood Puppet Grotesque was surrounded and lost control of Wang Rui and Sun Xinzhu, the two of them collapsed directly to the ground and became corpses.

Among the four groups were four leaders. Two of them saw the corpses of Wang Rui and Sun Xinzhu, and their expressions immediately turned terribly ugly.

"Four died on my side. Adding these two, that's six more dead."

"This is already the fourth wave. If this continues, all the Lumbering Realm fighters from our camps will die here!"

"Leader Luo, if we still can't kill that Wood Puppet Grotesque this time, forgive us for not accompanying you any longer. Your Rogue Camp has a huge family business and plenty of Lumbering Realm fighters. Losing a few doesn't matter to you, but our small camps can't afford it."

The four of them all spoke up in turn. Even Shi Qing, standing nearby, could not hold back any longer.

"Leader Luo, this really can't continue. We know those two lords are highly capable, but we can't keep sending our brothers out as bait. If we still fail to kill that grotesque this time, please forgive Big Stone Camp for not accompanying you any longer!"

Hearing the complaints of the five men, a trace of guilt immediately flashed across Luo Ming's face, and his heart began to waver.

Brothers, the momentum hasn't slowed at all. Thank you! I'll keep asking for your support. I promise there'll be an explosive update once the new-book period ends, so everyone can read to their heart's content. I only ask that things don't fall flat during this period. Whether you're saving the book or reading it, please take a few seconds to click once. I am endlessly grateful!!!