Legendary Figure Luo Feng

Chapter 42: The Legendary Figure—Luo Feng

If you were to ask who had the greatest reputation around Redwood Ridge, it would undoubtedly be Luo Feng.

The reason was simple: before him, there wasn't a single Earth Excavation Realm expert in the entire Redwood Ridge vicinity, nor was there a single medium-sized camp.

In the early days, Redwood Ridge had sixteen small camps.

Twenty years ago, Luo Feng broke through to the Earth Excavation Realm, becoming the first qualified hunter in the area. He then led Rogue Camp to continuous development and growth. Soon, two other camps that could no longer sustain themselves voluntarily proposed to merge.

Logically, other camps requesting to merge should have been a good thing, as more people meant greater strength. However, the reality was different.

Under normal circumstances, everyone knew that to expand their population and enhance the overall strength of a camp, they needed to grow. But for the struggling small camps around Redwood Ridge, abundant resources were an unattainable dream.

At that time, Luo Feng had just broken through, and Rogue Camp's own people were still clamoring for food, waiting for Luo Feng to hunt Frost Beasts so more people could break through to the Lumbering Realm. How could he agree to let other camps merge?

It was important to remember that even the smallest camp had at least one to two hundred people. Once merged, that would mean three to four hundred mouths to feed.

No one thought Luo Feng would agree to the merger of those two camps. Even if he personally agreed, the other members of Rogue Camp would not allow it.

But the outcome was that Luo Feng, disregarding all objections, accepted those two camps.

Those two camps were already on the verge of collapse, with a combined total of only six Lumbering Realm combatants. The remaining three hundred-plus people had no cultivation. Everyone thought Luo Feng was being overly compassionate, completely disregarding his own camp's situation.

Rogue Camp, with its sudden population surge, surely wouldn't last long.

But they were wrong. Rogue Camp not only survived but thrived. Lumbering Realm combatants emerged like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, growing from a little over ten to thirty in just a few years.

Not only in terms of strength, but also in coal mining and iron ore extraction, Rogue Camp's quality of life rapidly widened the gap with other surrounding camps at an unimaginable speed. Eventually, they even had new Earth Excavation Realm experts.

Seeing Rogue Camp flourish and its living conditions improve day by day, almost all the camp leaders voluntarily proposed to merge.

During Luo Feng's tenure alone, a total of five camps were absorbed, bringing in nearly a thousand people. This demonstrated how quickly Rogue Camp's strength had improved during the years he was leader.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that everyone at the time unanimously believed Luo Feng would unite all the humans around Redwood Ridge and build Rogue Camp into a large, or even a mega-sized camp.

The remaining eleven camps were also waiting for Rogue Camp to have surplus resources and the capacity to accept more people before merging.

Unfortunately, an accident not only ended Luo Feng's legend but also shattered all hopes of unifying the camps around Redwood Ridge.

Fifteen years ago, Luo Feng led a hunting team that encountered Grotesques. All the hunting team members died. He alone escaped death, and then, for reasons unknown, killed his youngest son and went insane.

A legend was thus extinguished, and at that time, no one didn't lament.

They lamented not only Luo Feng's downfall but, more importantly, the loss of hope for merging into Rogue Camp.

The reality proved their fears correct. After Luo Ming succeeded him as leader, while his development was noteworthy, he was clearly more than one level below Luo Feng.

In the past fifteen years, only two camps, which were truly unable to continue and had a population of just over a hundred, successfully merged into Rogue Camp.

Luo Ming refused any other camp's request to merge.

Not only did he refuse, but a few years ago, he specifically convened the leaders of eight camps, divided the territories of each camp on the outskirts of Redwood Ridge, and instructed all camps not to cross boundaries, only to search for resources within their own territories.

Luo Ming's actions were partly to give weaker camps a way to survive, and partly to extinguish the desire of those camps to merge into Rogue Camp.

If they could expand their camp's population base, no one would be foolish enough to refuse. Everyone understood that the reason Luo Ming did this was that Rogue Camp's development speed was no longer sufficient to support population expansion.

Both in character and in action, Luo Ming's reputation was impeccable. As the leader of Rogue Camp, his actions over the years had been supported by almost all the surrounding camps.

But people are prone to comparison. With Luo Feng's brilliance as a precedent, no matter how well Luo Ming performed, people always felt something was lacking.

In an instant, many thoughts about Luo Feng flooded Shi Qing's mind.

No joke, even now, he considered Luo Feng his idol. In his younger days, he had countless times imagined how wonderful it would be to merge into Rogue Camp and fight alongside his idol.

If it weren't inappropriate, Shi Qing would have really liked to ask if Luo Feng had truly gone mad and if he could go visit him.

Seeing Luo Ming lead the way into the wooden house, Shi Qing stopped thinking and quickly followed him in with Shi Dong.

His younger brother, Shi Dong, who was by his side, slowly turned his head before entering the wooden house and cast a lingering glance at that small wooden house.

Unlike its appearance from the outside, which was just a square wooden box.

Inside the wooden house, there was a world of difference.

As soon as everyone entered, a wave of warmth washed over them, making it not an exaggeration to call it spring-like. This was in stark contrast to the freezing cold outside.

Within the space, fifty to sixty meters wide, a giant furnace five to six meters in diameter, built with stones, was located in the center. Coal and stones were burning fiercely in the furnace, and a smoke pipe led from above it.

The left and right sides were divided into rooms with wooden boards. Some of them were inhabited, and voices could be heard conversing.

Behind the furnace was the main hall, furnished with dozens of wooden chairs. The chairs were covered with animal skins. Just this detail alone could put all the camps around Redwood Ridge to shame.

It wasn't that making chairs was difficult, but rather, it indicated that Rogue Camp did not lack wood and animal skins, something other camps could not achieve.

It wasn't the first day they had been here, so they followed Luo Ming into the main hall as if they were familiar with the place and found their seats.

Yang Ning and Li Hu walked directly to the front and took the main seats.

Luo Ming, the camp leader, instead sat in the third position.

Yang and Li's strength was originally the greatest, and they were the main ones dealing with the Grotesques. This seating arrangement had been consistent for the past half-month, and naturally, no one had any objections.

Seeing that everyone had taken their seats and no one was speaking, Luo Ming glanced at Yang and Li and stood up first.

"The Stone Leader has decided to leave. Big Stone Camp truly can't afford any more trouble. If those two have another accident, the hundreds of people in the camp will truly not be able to survive. I can't stop them any longer!"

Shi Qing heard these words and clasped his fists in gratitude towards him.

Luo Ming nodded in acknowledgment, then looked at Hong Gang and the other three, continuing, "Four leaders, Luo Ming won't try to persuade you further. It's true that with just us, we can't deal with that Wood Puppet Grotesque.

Once the two esteemed adults leave, all our camps will be in danger.

Whether you stay or go, think it through yourselves. I, Luo, will absolutely not stop you.

But there's one condition I must make clear first.

If your four camps also choose to withdraw, then I can only escort the two esteemed adults away. It's certainly not realistic to expect my Rogue Camp alone to handle that Grotesque."

After finishing this long speech, Luo Ming was silent for a moment, then continued:

"If it comes to the absolute worst, I'll have no choice but to lead the people of my camp to flee to another place and seek a new livelihood!"

As Luo Ming's words fell, the expressions of Hong Gang and the other three immediately changed.

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