Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Shi Ping's breakthrough to the Lumbering Realm was a joyous occasion, especially for Shi Qing.

Although much time had passed, Shi Qing's body had recovered somewhat, but the root of his permanent disability was set.

Now, he could at most walk around the valley; not to mention recovering his strength, even cultivation was impossible.

Having been a leader for so many years, Shi Qing was naturally unwilling to be reduced to a cripple, especially since the vast majority of the camp was frantically cultivating, while he could only stand by and watch.

Fortunately, his archery skills remained intact.

Although he couldn't demonstrate them to others due to his lack of cultivation, he could still offer guidance.

Moreover, with the camp now having a total of eleven bows and arrows, there were many who needed archery guidance, so he had found something to do.

By imparting archery skills, Shi Qing found his value.

Besides this, his most important task was to urge his son, Shi Ping, to cultivate.

Having been a leader, Shi Qing was well aware of the camp's hierarchical structure.

Although the current Great Xia was far stronger than the original Great Shi, the core principle remained the same.

Cultivation determined value, and value determined status.

This was the case in every camp.

This was also why he kept finding things to do even after becoming disabled.

Urging his son to cultivate was partly for his son's own sake, and partly for the sake of the hundred-plus people from the former Great Shi camp.

The current Great Xia, with its nine hundred-plus people, was strictly speaking, a merger of five groups.

Under the system of equally distributed Cold Beast meat, the camp had achieved considerable cohesion, but it must be said that the internal division of these five groups still existed.

This could be seen from the location of the five groups' residences within the wooden house.

Those closest to the stove were the original people of Great Xia; further out were the hundred-plus people from the Rogge camp; and the people from the Great Shi, Great Chuan, and Huang Zhao camps were on the outermost perimeter, with the people of Great Shi being the furthest back.

Such signs didn't necessarily mean that the camp was splitting apart.

People were emotional creatures and would naturally gravitate towards those they were familiar with.

This was a natural law that couldn't be changed no matter how much the camp's cohesion improved.

Just as they would be close to those they were familiar with, Xia Hong, as the leader, would naturally be closer to the original people of Great Xia.

Even if he could treat everyone equally in the distribution of Cold Beast meat, he would inevitably show it in the details of daily life.

Currently, the group with the highest status in the camp was the original people of Great Xia, which was justifiable considering their strength and Xia Hong's inclination.

Next were the hundred-plus people from the Rogge camp, because they had fifteen Lumbering Realm cultivators like Luo Yuan, and they occupied eight of the fifteen spots in the hunting team.

The captain of the lumbering team, Cheng Feng, and the head of the artisan workshop, Mu Dong, also came from their ranks.

Then came the Great Chuan and Huang Zhao camps, which together had ten Lumbering Realm cultivators, and Hong Gang, Huang Yong, and Zhu Shun had also joined the hunting team, while the other seven were all in the lumbering team.

Only the hundred-plus people from Great Shi didn't have a single Lumbering Realm cultivator, let alone anyone in the hunting team or the lumbering team.

It wasn't that Shi Qing didn't trust Xia Hong, or that he thought he would mistreat the people of Great Shi.

The key was that the people of Great Shi weren't contributing any value to the camp, and if this continued, they would definitely be marginalized.

Great Xia's development was visibly on the right track, and the speed of development was accelerating.

Such marginalization might eventually turn into being ignored, completely losing the right to speak, and not receiving any benefits.

Therefore, Shi Qing saw it in his eyes and was anxious in his heart.

He was now a cripple, and he himself had no say in the development of the camp, so he could only pin his hopes on Shi Ping.

In fact, it wasn't just Shi Ping; he would urge all the young people from Great Shi who had entered the reserve team.

Fortunately, his son, Shi Ping, gave him a pleasant surprise, being the first to break through to the Lumbering Realm ahead of the three hundred-plus reserve members.

This breakthrough not only boosted his prestige.

According to the standard set by Xia Hong earlier, the first five to break through to the Lumbering Realm in the reserve team would receive a set of clothes.

This was a double win in terms of fame and fortune.

Watching Shi Ping receive the set of clothes from Xia Hong and put them on.

Although this set of clothes wasn't as exquisite as the one Xia Hong was wearing, it had all five pieces: a lining, a fleece hat, a coat, long pants, and leather boots.

Wearing it made him exceptionally eye-catching.

The onlookers in the wooden house all cast envious glances at Shi Ping, not to mention the reserve members, even the people from the hunting team and the lumbering team were no exception.

His sixteen- or seventeen-year-old son already vaguely resembled an adult.

While Shi Qing's heart was stirred, he couldn't help but feel tearful when he thought of his wife, who had died tragically, and his two brothers.

"Uncle Shi, you have a successor! Congratulations!"

Awakened by Xia Hong's congratulatory voice, Shi Qing came back to his senses and quickly bowed, showing respect: "What successor? If the leader hadn't led people out to hunt at the risk of their lives, how would Ping'er have this blessing?"

Xia Hong smiled slightly and said slowly: "Uncle Shi, don't worry.

Now that nine hundred-plus people are crammed together, the space in the wooden house is small, and inevitably some will be inside and some will be outside.

In a few months, when the new residences are built, the housing will be arranged uniformly.

I said earlier that I would treat all of you equally.

Could it be that you still don't trust me?"

Hearing these words, Shi Qing's expression froze.

Shi Qing subconsciously wanted to explain.

But Xia Hong shook his head, signaling Shi Qing not to explain.

Xia Hong was, of course, aware of Shi Qing's concerns.

To be precise, the camp was only so big, and people basically stayed in the wooden house.

If anything happened on weekdays, as long as you paid attention, you could find out.

As for the current factional division in the camp, Xia Hong subconsciously thought of the saying 'Many turtles in a shallow pond, great winds in a small temple'.

At first, he thought it was a bit ridiculous, and felt that it was not a good thing, worrying that it would affect the unity of the camp.

But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that it was not the case.

Any organization or collective will give birth to factions when it reaches a certain scale.

This is inevitable, because as long as it is a group composed of people, there will be differences based on the closeness of relationships, or different ideas, or related interests, and different factions will be born accordingly.

Factions mean competition.

Malicious competition will affect the unity of the camp, and may even lead to division in severe cases; but benign competition is absolutely indispensable for Bingyuan, a world that values force and respects the strong.

And the key to the problem lies in whether these differences are constantly expanded, or dealt with in a timely manner.

As long as he, as the core, can deal with these differences in a timely manner, the competition between these different factions will be benign.

This kind of benign competition will not only not affect the unity of the camp, but will also urge the people of the camp to cultivate, thereby increasing the development speed of the camp.

The reason why he only pointed out Shi Qing's concerns and didn't give him a chance to explain was this principle.

Xia Hong could accept factional competition within a controllable range.

Shi Ping's first breakthrough to the Lumbering Realm and wearing the clothes obviously stimulated everyone.

After everyone congratulated Shi Ping, they all plunged into frantic cultivation again, obviously extremely eager for the remaining fourteen sets of clothes.

Xia Hong sat down on his exclusive chair, looked around the wooden house, observed the changes in everyone's breathing, and a smile appeared on his face.

What others saw may only be Shi Ping's breakthrough.

But what Xia Hong saw was more than that.

The reserve members basically started receiving Cold Beast meat at the same time.

Even if there were differences in age and talent, the gap would not be too big.

If one person started to break through, it meant that others would soon follow.

The eruption period was coming soon!

In fact, it was just as Xia Hong expected.

The next day, two more people broke through to the Lumbering Realm;

The third day, another person, the fourth day, the fifth day...

In the following month, the Lumbering Realm cultivators of Great Xia sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and even the hunting team began to have breakthroughs.