Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Beside the bonfire, everyone from the Great Xia camp was present, some lying down, others leaning against something.

A small number of the younger ones, exhausted from the earlier journey, had already fallen asleep.

The vast majority, however, kept their eyes open, their gazes fixed on the left side of the fire, on a tall man wearing only a beast-hide skirt, his upper body bare.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the people were not staring at the man,

but rather at the piece of meat he held in his hand.

The meat in the man's hand was clearly freshly roasted, still sizzling and emitting a fragrant aroma.

Almost without exception, everyone awake was constantly swallowing saliva.

The man was naturally Xia Hong.

Having just moved to a new environment, others might need time to adapt, but he couldn't afford to; he had to improve his strength as soon as possible and break through to the Lumbering Realm.

"Five catties at a time should be no problem!"

The flesh and blood of Frost Beasts contained extremely strong energy, and eating too much at once could lead to death.

Xia Hong had eaten it before, so he naturally knew this. Based on his previous experience, five catties at a time should be manageable for him.

As the meat entered his stomach, the first sensation was a feeling of fullness.

As the feeling of fullness grew, his blood gradually began to boil, and a strong burning sensation suddenly arose in his abdomen.

Immediately afterward, his forehead, shoulders, back, lower limbs, and even the ends of his body like the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands, began to sweat profusely.

The muscles in his hands gradually bulged, and the veins on his forehead, the backs of his hands, legs, and various parts of his body also began to swell.

Xia Hong's breathing became heavy, even carrying a burning sensation, and the exhaled airflow was exceptionally clear in the eyes of the people in the camp.

Suddenly, Xia Hong moved.

He retracted his fists, then suddenly thrust his waist forward, throwing a straight punch. Although there was nothing at the point of impact, the air vibrated incessantly. If a person were to take that blow, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Watch carefully, this is Changquan (Long Fist). It starts like a hurricane and strikes like lightning. The front hand leads, the back hand chases, and the two hands alternate to destroy in one breath. Once we have enough Frost Beast meat, everyone in the camp, regardless of gender, will practice with me."

Xia Hong explained the Tai Zu Changquan to the people in the camp while practicing.

Crystal fruit could only maintain basic sustenance; to cultivate, they needed Frost Beast meat.

It was easy to understand that eating enough would only allow the body to maintain basic functions.

To temper the body and improve its functions, they had to eat meat.

The cultivation method in this world was simple and crude: consume large quantities of Frost Beast meat, and then, through venting, continuously absorb the energy from the flesh and blood, and the body's strength would continuously increase.

In fact, no one in the camp didn't want to cultivate.

But when survival was a problem, cultivation became an extravagance.

Even now, as Xia Ding taught them the Changquan routine, they could only lie quietly on the ground and listen.

It wasn't that they didn't want to get up, but they wanted to move less and reduce consumption.

"Chuan, did Uncle Ding teach Hong this Changquan?"

Looking at Xia Hong, who was still awe-inspiring in the field, Yuan Hong's eyes revealed a hint of envy as he turned to ask Xia Chuan beside him.

Xia Chuan's face was full of pride as he whispered, "This was created by my brother a month ago. Let me tell you, practicing this Changquan will make the speed of absorbing Frost Beast meat energy faster."

Yuan Hong's pupils suddenly contracted upon hearing this.

He had also eaten Frost Beast meat and knew what this sentence meant.

Absorbing the energy of Frost Beast meat would increase strength, and this process was actually cultivation. Increasing the speed of absorbing energy meant increasing the speed of cultivation.

"Really?"

"Of course, it's true. My brother taught me, and I've tried it myself."

"Okay, then I'll practice it too when we have Frost Beast meat."

"Don't worry, didn't you hear? My brother just said that he'll teach us when we don't lack meat."

… … … …

In the following days, Xia Hong ate five catties every day, unswervingly, according to his body's limit, and his strength did indeed increase steadily.

Before the camp was attacked, his basic strength was already four thousand catties. In the five days since then, he had been able to increase his strength by almost a hundred catties every day.

The Great Xia camp's tool for measuring strength was a set of brown, circular wooden stakes.

There were twelve stakes in total: five weighing one hundred catties, two weighing five hundred catties, and five weighing one thousand catties.

When Xia Hong measured his strength every day, everyone in the camp watched.

From 4100 catties on the first day to 4900 catties on the seventh day.

The mood of the people became more and more excited, and looking at the constantly closed cave entrance, hope gradually rose in their eyes.

In the past, when Xia Ding and the lumber team members were still around, they could open the cave entrance at night to get some air. Now that they were confined in the cave for years, they naturally felt even more uncomfortable.

More importantly, the crystal fruit was running out.

Although they were allocated according to the minimum amount, there were only seven hundred catties in total.

With 154 people, more than five hundred catties had already been consumed in seven days.

What was left wasn't even enough for three days.

Everyone's hope could only be placed on Xia Hong.

So, before nightfall on the eighth day, when Xia Hong walked in front of the brown wooden stakes,

Everyone's eyes were focused on him.

Xia Hong, who was well aware of the camp's situation, naturally understood their feelings.

He didn't say anything, just silently stacked the five thousand-catty wooden stakes together.

He slowly squatted down, wrapping his arms around the bottom stake.

Taking a deep breath, he then began to exert force.

Five thousand catties was a weight difficult for ordinary people to imagine.

But for the people in this world, five thousand catties was just the foundation.

Being able to lift something weighing five thousand catties did not mean that one could only exert five thousand catties of force.

Just like Xia Ding, his basic strength was more than seven thousand catties.

But Xia Hong had observed that Xia Ding's strength when swinging his axe was definitely more than ten thousand catties.

The force exerted would change due to individual skills, body, and even the situation, but basic strength could not be faked.

Xia Hong had asked Xia Ding earlier why one had to have a basic strength of more than five thousand catties to go outside and lumber.

Xia Ding didn't answer, just threw him a stone axe and told him to chop a tree.

The trees that the lumber team brought back from the outer edge of Redwood Ridge.

Xia Hong's basic strength at the time was more than two thousand catties. Who knew that when he struck with the axe, his tiger's mouth split open, and his elbow joint was directly fractured.

It should be known that these trees were cut down by Xia Ding and the lumber team from the outside and brought back to the cave, and they had been there for many days, and the original crystal layer on the outer skin had already melted.

A basic strength of two thousand catties couldn't even break the outer skin.

Xia Hong immediately realized that, being able to survive in this extremely cold environment, whether it was people or trees, couldn't be viewed with common sense.

Moreover, just looking at the towering dense forest on the Redwood Ridge side, one would know that, compared to humans, these trees actually lived better.

"Five thousand catties is just the first step!"

Xia Hong let out a low roar, his eyes widened in anger, and he suddenly exerted force upwards with both hands. The muscles all over his body began to bulge, and his blood seemed to boil.

The five thousand-catty wooden stakes slowly lifted off the ground in the expectant gazes of everyone in the camp, until they were raised above Xia Hong's head.

"Brother, you've broken through."

"Leader, strong!"

"Five thousand catties, hahahaha, the leader is amazing."

"Hong, you're already in the Lumbering Realm."

Bang… … … …

Xia Hong threw the wooden stakes on the ground, making a loud noise. He turned his head to look at everyone, and a long-lost look of relaxation finally appeared on his face.

"Once it gets dark, I'll go out to find crystal fruit!"