Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

“The total area of Longyou is about 13,000 square kilometers. More than seventy years ago, there were at least two hundred camps of all sizes. At that time, everyone was weak and their range of activities was small, so there was little contact between them. But after Li Tianhua became the leader of Longshan, the situation changed… … ”

East of Longshan, the Blood Guard marched slowly eastward. Hou Hu accompanied Xia Hong alone, telling him the history of Longyou.

“Li Tianhua not only has a high talent for cultivation, reaching the limit of the Digging Earth Realm in his twenties, but also has amazing talent for combat and hunting. More commendable is his talent for developing camps, which is also not low.

When he first took office as the leader, Longshan was just a medium-sized camp with a population of just over a thousand. Relying on Longshan, he continued to absorb the surrounding camps. In just ten years, he developed Longshan into a scale of ten thousand people, with thousands of Digging Earth Realm cultivators and more than forty hunting teams… … ”

When mentioning Li Tianhua, Hou Hu's eyes contained both admiration and fear, indicating that his feelings for this person were quite complicated.

This is not surprising, considering that he previously called Li Tianhua 'Uncle-Master', it is obvious that he and Li Tianhua have a master-disciple relationship.

Listening to Hou Hu recounting Li Tianhua's legendary experiences, Xia Hong pretended to be shocked, but the real feeling in his heart was strangely tight.

Developing Longshan to a scale of ten thousand people with over a thousand Digging Earth Realm cultivators in ten years is of course very strong in the Ice Abyss.

But compared to Great Xia, it is too insignificant.

Of course, Xia Hong's vanity hadn't reached that point, so he wouldn't interrupt Hou Hu's narration, but continued to listen to see what Hou Hu was planning to say.

“After Longshan's strength greatly increased, it began to accelerate the annexation of surrounding camps through either grace or coercion. In the following few years, there were almost no other camps within a twenty-kilometer radius of Longshan. Longshan's population also reached as high as 40,000. Li Tianhua's super-grade battle body had eight bristles of strength when he broke through the Cold Resistance level. At that time, he was unparalleled in his glory. All human camps in Longyou were fighting to join Longshan… … … … ”

Super-grade battle body, eight bristles of strength upon breakthrough!

These words made Xia Hong's heart move slightly, and he pretended to be shocked and said:

“Having eight bristles of strength upon breakthrough, wouldn’t his strength be even more astonishing after breaking through to the mid and late stages?”

Hou Hu nodded and said, “Of course, each breakthrough in the three realms of the Cold Resistance level can increase the basic strength by one-fold. According to Li Tianhua's strength when he broke through, he would have sixteen bristles of strength in the mid-stage and thirty-two bristles in the late-stage. His strength when he broke through to the peak of the Cold Resistance level would be sixty-four bristles. Not to mention Longyou, I estimate that it would be difficult to find a Cold Resistance level cultivator stronger than him in the entire Pingxi Plain.”

Xia Hong finally understood the strength division of the Cold Resistance level.

Just breaking through the Cold Resistance level is considered the early stage, followed by the mid-stage, late-stage, and peak. Each breakthrough increases the basic strength once, and according to Hou Hu, the increase is calculated based on the basic strength at the time of the breakthrough.

When I broke through, I had nine bristles, and now I have seventeen, which means I am only one bristle away from the mid-stage. I will have thirty-six bristles in the late-stage, and my strength will reach as high as seventy-two bristles when I break through to the peak stage.

Eight bristles stronger than Li Tianhua!

Hou Hu has sixteen bristles of strength and is at the peak of the Cold Resistance level. Tracing back, when he first broke through the Cold Resistance level, he only had two bristles of strength, also a high-grade battle body.

Li Tiancheng's strength is only slightly stronger than him, it seems that he is at most a high-grade battle body.

Not only did he learn about the strength division of the Cold Resistance level, but he also deduced the battle body aptitude of Li Tiancheng and Hou Hu. Xia Hong's mood instantly improved a lot.

“All the human camps in Longyou wanted to join Longshan, and then what?”

Hearing Xia Hong take the initiative to ask, Hou Hu immediately continued to narrate:

“I said before that there were more than two hundred camps in Longyou at that time, with a combined population of nearly 150,000. No matter how capable Li Tianhua was, he couldn't afford to support so many people, so he refused the merger of other camps and only gradually increased the population according to Longshan's development.”

Xia Hong nodded slightly. Li Tianhua's choice was very reasonable.

The characteristics of the Ice Abyss world determined that only those in the Digging Earth Realm, those with hunting ability, had a positive effect on the development of the camp. Otherwise, more people would only be a burden.

However, the Digging Earth Realm must be cultivated with beast meat, and the demand for beast meat will increase after breaking through the Digging Earth Realm. Even the cultivation after the Digging Earth Realm requires more and more beast meat and beast blood resources.

In the case of limited resources, blindly expanding the population is not only useless, but also has a very strong negative effect. It can drag down the development of the camp, and in severe cases, it can bury hidden dangers and cause the camp to collapse, which is not impossible.

According to what I saw before, the total area of Longshan must be larger than Redwood Ridge, and the cold beasts and other resources must be extremely rich.

The problem is that no matter how rich the resources are, you can't successfully obtain them without sufficient strength; just like Great Xia, the exploration of Redwood Ridge is still ongoing. If Xia Hong remembers correctly, when he went out, the depth that the Great Xia hunting team could enter Redwood Ridge was only seven kilometers.

Moreover, only the stronger intermediate hunting teams can go.

This is still Great Xia, which has a system and is developing rapidly.

No matter how capable Li Tianhua is, he will still be restricted by the harsh environment of the Ice Abyss. Steadily increasing the camp population and expanding the sphere of influence based on the ability to extract resources is the best way.

“If Longshan only refused the merger of other camps, it wouldn't be a big deal, after all, we are the weaker party. But the problem is that after he refused the merger of other camps, he forcibly occupied all the outer entrances of Longshan!”

Hearing this, Xia Hong roughly understood.

He had been curious before, of the twelve families in Longyou, Longshan camp goes without saying, they are at the foot of the mountain. In addition, the two families of Beehive and Yanglu are next to Redwood Ridge, and they also have a place to hunt. What about the other nine families?

You must know that most of the Pingxi Plain is a plain area with very low vegetation coverage. Although there are also cold beasts, there are too few. Not to mention supporting nine giant camps, even two or three may not be able to.

Relying on the mountain for food, from a distance point of view, it is obviously more convenient for them to go to Longshan. Li Tianhua occupied all the outer entrances of Longshan. For the development of his own camp, it is actually understandable, but in this way, the living space of other camps is squeezed.

Then the subsequent development is not difficult to guess.

“Longshan acted domineeringly, and the remaining camps began to unite to resist in order to protect themselves. In the following years, either merged, resisted, or were eliminated. Finally, with their strength, they forced Li Tianhua to open a few entrances, but of the more than two hundred camps, only more than twenty remained.”

Although these words are only a few words, the fact that there are only more than twenty camps left from more than two hundred is enough to prove how cruel and bloody that period of Longyou was.

Hou Hu was a hostage from Longyou thirty years ago. At that time, he should have only been the son of the leader, which means that he had not experienced that period, but his tone was equally heavy, probably because he had some deep feelings about his father's generation.

“But even so, the struggle has not stopped!”

Hou Hu looked solemn and continued: “To be honest, in terms of single strength, none of us can compare with Longshan. The fact that we can force Li Tianhua to open a few entrances is entirely due to the fact that we have more than twenty families connected to each other. Over time, Longshan began to divide us, so the struggle has never stopped.”

That is inevitable!

Opening the entrance of Longshan means giving up one's own interests. If the camp wants to continue to develop, it must occupy more resource lands. The ultimate goal of all camps is to annex others to strengthen themselves, and Li Tianhua is no exception.

“Everything changed in the first year of Longyou… … ”

Speaking of this, Hou Hu's face suddenly turned gloomy, and he continued: “That year, my father Hou Hai discovered a cold apple tree in Longshan… … ”

Cold Apple Jade Dew!

Hearing this name, Xia Hong immediately remembered the three major medicines that the alchemist Liu had said in Beehive before.

One of them is called Cold Apple Jade Dew.

Moreover, when eavesdropping on Hou Tong and others talking later, Hou Tong also said that as long as Beehive defected to Zhaoyang, the share of Cold Apple Jade Dew for each family would double after overthrowing Longshan.

“Hong Xiong should also know how precious the Cold Apple Tree is. It is one of the three most important medicines for boiling Jade Bone, and it is also the most difficult to find. My father knew that it was unrealistic to occupy such an important treasure alone. Based on the cooperation with other camps at that time, he told the news about the Cold Apple Tree, hoping that everyone could unite to defend it.”

Speaking of this, Hou Hu's expression suddenly became angry.

“But I didn't expect that two families had secretly defected to Longshan at that time!”

Hearing this, the following things are not difficult to guess.

Cold Apple Tree, this kind of treasure related to Cold Resistance level cultivation, Li Tianhua would definitely take action to seize it even if it wasn't reasonable;

Other camps are even less likely to give it away for nothing.

“The war broke out, and half of the more than twenty camps were gone. Although Li Tianhua was strong, the remaining camps were not weak after the big waves washed the sand. The war intensified, and both sides were red-eyed… … ”

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It turns out that the Longyou Alliance is built on this basis.

A trace of understanding flashed in Xia Hong's eyes. He had previously heard about the Longyou Alliance from Yu Wentao for the first time, and thought it was the twelve families of Longyou who united to resist the encroachment of external forces.

Now, it seems that Li Tianhua pulled the remaining eleven families together to negotiate and establish the alliance in order to avoid the expansion of the war in Longyou.

“The Cold Apple Tree finally belonged to Longshan, but Li Tianhua also made a promise to our eleven families that Longshan would account for 30% of the annual output of Cold Apple Jade Dew, and the remaining 70% would be distributed according to the number of Cold Resistance level cultivators in the eleven families of Longyou.”

"How much of this Frost Apple Jade Dew can be produced in a year?"

"Brother Hong is clever, getting right to the heart of the matter!"

Hou Hu admired Xia Hong's keenness, his tone full of praise.

Xia Hong was a little puzzled, but as Hou Hu continued to explain, he understood why the other party reacted that way.

"That Frost Apple Tree used to be jointly supervised by our twelve families. From Longyou Year 1 to Longyou Year 20, it steadily produced about 200 drops each year. But later, Longshan wouldn't let our camps supervise it anymore. Starting from Longyou Year 21, the output decreased year by year. By Longyou Year 40, it only produced 40 drops. Brother Hong, if this happened to you, would you believe it?"

… … … … … …

Xia Hong remained silent. Regardless of whether Hou Hu's words were true or false, he understood the meaning behind them.

"The treasure discovered by Brother Hou's father was seized by Longshan, and now they don't even intend to honor the promises made to your camps. This is clearly concealing the production of Frost Apple Jade Dew, deliberately withholding your shares. Such overbearing behavior, this Longshan… … … …"

After saying a few words, Xia Hong appropriately revealed a bit of righteous indignation, and then continued in a deep voice: "It's simply outrageous!"

"That's right, Brother Hong is indeed clever, understanding at once."

Seeing Xia Hong's reaction, a hint of joy flashed in Hou Hu's eyes. After praising him, he continued in a deep voice: "It's not just the Frost Apple Tree. In recent years, Longshan, under the guise of being the alliance leader, has been making us pay tribute. Iron ore, coal mines, medicinal herbs, all kinds of resources, they've plundered countless things from our eleven families. At the same time, they're expanding wildly within Longshan, not allowing other camps to enter. Even the coal and iron mines that we find ourselves are immediately seized upon discovery.

Such behavior is no different from bandits and wolves. The eleven families of Longyou have suffered under Longshan for a long time. Hou is left with no choice but to fight back. In the end, it's both for myself and to seek justice for them…"

The atmosphere has reached this point!

Xia Hong looked up and saw the expectation in Hou Hu's eyes, and immediately opened his mouth angrily:

"Since I came out of the camp, it's been almost half a year, and I've never seen such an overbearing camp. If I hadn't encountered it, it would have been fine, but since I have, I must take care of it. Brother Hou, don't worry, I don't have any other important things to do right now, so I'll stay in Zhaoyang Camp for the time being and deal with that Longshan with Brother Hou. I don't believe there's no justice."

There really is such an honest person!

He actually succeeded in fooling him…

Hou Hu looked at Xia Hong, slightly lost in thought, but his acting skills were not bad. He quickly adjusted his expression, his expression was extremely moved, and he bowed to Xia Hong:

"On behalf of the thousands of humans in Longyou, I thank Brother Hong for his righteous act!"

"Hehe, this… … … …"

Xia Hong rubbed his hands again at the right time, and said with a slightly awkward expression:

"Brother Hou doesn't need to be like this. I also have some selfish intentions. To be honest with Brother Hou, I am from outside Shuanglong Mountain. My camp's method of boiling jade bones is a bit outdated. I was thinking of going to other camps to inquire and see if there are any other better formulas. Brother Hou, if you don't mind…"

"Brother Hong, don't worry, Hou has received your life-saving grace. The mere formula for boiling jade bones will naturally be offered with both hands. Not only that, but this time when I return to the camp, twenty catties of jade bones, plus five drops of Frost Apple Jade Dew, will also be offered together. As long as Brother Hong can help me overthrow Longshan this time, there will be even greater benefits in the future!"

Xia Hong's eyes lit up immediately, and he nodded heavily and said: "Okay, then it's a deal, I will help Brother Hou."

At this moment, Hou Hu's heart was truly settled.

If this Hong Xia had no needs at all and was really going to help him with a surge of blood, he would be suspicious instead. Having needs is the right thing.

The formula for boiling jade bones is not a big secret to the Yu Han level in Longyou. Besides, this Hong Xia knows Frost Apple Jade Dew, and obviously has his own formula, just wanting to improve it, so it doesn't matter to tell him.

As for the twenty catties of jade bones and five drops of Frost Apple Jade Dew, if Zhaoyang can really overthrow Longshan this time, what are these things?

"Being able to force back Li Tiancheng, this Hong Xia's strength is roughly equivalent to mine. With such a powerful helper, as long as the subsequent arrangements are proper, the hope of overthrowing Longshan can be increased by at least 20%. The era of Zhaoyang dominating Longyou is about to arrive!"

In the gap of moving forward, Hou Hu looked back and looked to the west, seeing the shadow of Longshan in the night, clenched his fists slightly, and his eyes were full of desire and ambition.

"The strength division of the Yu Han level, the formula for boiling jade bones, is so easily obtained, and… … … …"

Twenty catties of jade bones, five drops of Frost Apple Jade Dew.

Xia Hong's face behind the mask was full of smiles.

The act of forcing back Li Tiancheng was really worth it.

The key is that this Hou Hu is probably secretly happy like him right now.

Who is the one being fooled, he still hasn't figured it out!