Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

It was the dead of night, and outside the wooden house, the frost was biting and the wind and snow were raging.

Inside, however, it was as warm as spring and as bright as day.

Almost every five meters along the wooden beams above the house, there was a freely adjustable furnace hanging, with coal burning brightly inside.

It not only illuminated the entire interior space but also continuously released heat, maintaining the warmth of the whole wooden house.

The wooden house was a hundred meters long and about thirty meters deep, with a giant square in the middle and many semi-open rooms separated by wooden planks on the left and right sides.

In the first compartment, a group of bare-chested men were smithing iron.

The coal and iron ore on both sides of the compartment entrance were almost piled to the roof.

The wooden house was at least twenty meters high, and Xiang Liang roughly estimated that there were at least several million pounds of materials.

In the second compartment, a group of people wielding butcher knives were processing cold beasts, with others specifically butchering the meat.

At the entrance of the compartment, there were more than a dozen unprocessed cold beasts piled up, and Xiang Liang couldn't even recognize several species among them.

In the third compartment, a group of people with leather bags were sorting fruits.

Xiang Liang had never even seen most of the fruits and various plants on the ground.

In the center of the square, there were three giant two-wheeled trailers, each ten meters long.

Gulp…

After carefully examining the trailers, Xiang Liang immediately swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Those ten-meter-long trailers were actually made of pure iron!

“Could one of these trailers be made with five hundred thousand pounds of iron ore?”

Iron chisels, iron axes, iron hammers, and many other iron tools that Xiang Liang couldn't recognize and had never seen before were almost everywhere in this wooden house, not to mention the exquisitely crafted wooden products.

Xiang Liang even saw a large pile of iron hand axes and saws randomly stacked in a corner of the wooden house, and they all looked brand new.

If the countless abundant supplies of various kinds on the ground were merely enough to leave Xiang Liang speechless, then the people in the wooden house were even more shocking to his soul, giving him a tremendous visual impact.

As soon as he entered, Xiang Liang's eyes were attracted by the dazzling array of materials on both sides.

Now, upon closer inspection, he realized that the exquisite clothes worn by the more than two hundred people visible in the wooden house were almost the same as those worn by Xu An and his group next to him.

“This… this… how is this possible!”

Xu An and the others must all be at the Digging Earth Realm.

Judging from their attire and weapon equipment, as well as their activity in the northern foothills of Five Ape Mountain at night, it was not difficult to determine that they must be the hunting team of Great Xia.

For any camp, the hunting team was extremely important, so the status of the hunting team members must also be very high.

Since this was the case, it was normal for them to wear better clothes and have better weapons.

But at this moment, everyone in the Great Xia camp was like this, so what did this mean?

Could it be that all two hundred people in front of him were at the Digging Earth Realm?

Gulp…

The thought popped into Xiang Liang's mind, and he began to widen his eyes, observing the crowd more carefully and attentively.

Soon, cold sweat dripped from his forehead, and as he discovered more and more things, the expression on his face became even more shocked.

He discovered that almost everyone in the wooden house had a weapon hanging on their waist, or on their back, or on the ground nearby, and there was also an iron-core bow.

Not only that, but in the center of the wooden house, beside the three trailers, there were also thirty or forty people practicing martial arts, and the commotion caused by them wielding their weapons was enough to make Xiang Liang sweat profusely.

The feeling that these thirty or forty people gave him was that each of them was stronger than his father, Xiang Ping, the leader of the He Feng camp.

How… how is this possible?

“Boy, come with me.”

Slap…

“What are you spacing out for? The captain is calling you!”

Slapped on the shoulder by Li Hun, Xiang Liang immediately woke up from his shock.

Seeing Xu An in the distance calling him, he quickly walked over.

“Don’t you have some urgent intelligence, and you want to offer treasure to our leader? I’ll take you to see the Lord now, and you can tell him what’s going on.”

Walking to Xu An's side and hearing his words, Xiang Liang remembered the business at hand, quickly straightened his expression, nodded, and obediently followed him, heading towards the depths of the north side of the wooden house.

“Anzi is back!”

“I heard that you hunted a Frost Lightning Ape tonight, not bad.

Your Golden Sword Squad has only been here for five days, and you've already hunted three cold beasts.”

“Hey, a new face, not one of us, who is this?”

“He's from Shanbei, said he has a situation to report to the Lord, I'll take him over first, and I'll talk to you later.”

“If you need to see the Lord, then go quickly.”

“Your brother seems to be in a bad mood today.”

… … … …

When passing through the square in the middle of the wooden house, several people who were practicing martial arts greeted Xu An with a smile.

Hearing their address to Xu An, and Xu An's attitude when replying, the shock in Xiang Liang's heart couldn't be suppressed.

It was true.

He felt no mistake.

The strength of these people was definitely on the same level as Xu An.

In other words, it was very likely that they were stronger than his father.

This Great Xia camp was so terrifying!

There was hope, his father and the others had hope.

While Xiang Liang was excited and agitated, he also followed Xu An to the deepest part of the north side of the wooden house, to the entrance of a cave, where he saw a huge double iron door.

The iron door was wide open at the moment, more than five meters high, and the thickness should be more than half a meter.

Although the things in front had already given Xiang Liang some psychological preparation, he was still stunned when he saw this giant iron door.

Walking through the iron door, there was a passage in the middle, and on the left and right sides of the cave, there were many houses built of wood, with people sparsely entering and exiting, obviously a living area.

At this point, Xiang Liang had a concept of the overall structure of the Great Xia garrison.

The large wooden house more than a hundred meters long outside should be half-built on the stone wall on the south side of Middle Ape Peak, and by the way, the entrance of the cave was also covered, which was the Great Xia work area, where prey, iron ore, coal, vegetation, fruits, and other materials were stored.

The inside of the cave was their living area.

The giant iron door at the entrance of the cave was obviously used to deal with accidents.

If there was any danger, they could abandon the wooden house and everyone could enter the cave and close the iron door.

“It seems a bit unreasonable, important materials such as iron, coal, beast meat, tools, and weapons should all be stored in the cave.”

“Moreover, their population doesn't seem to be large, only more than two hundred outside, and judging from the buildings in the living area inside, there are at most a thousand people.”

“So few people wouldn't need much space, and the wooden house outside wouldn't be needed at all.

It wouldn't be a problem for everyone to enter the cave.”

“The wooden house outside is illuminated by coal, but the inside of the cave is also.

The amount of coal consumed by this Great Xia every day is probably more than a thousand pounds, which is too extravagant, isn't it?”

… … … …

After all, being the son of the leader of a medium-sized camp, Xiang Liang was not an ignorant person.

He noticed many unreasonable things and suddenly became confused.

Most importantly, he suddenly realized that he hadn't even seen a child or an old person since he came in.

No, there were also pitifully few women.

No matter how he looked at it, this Great Xia didn't look like a normal camp!

With a belly full of confusion, Xiang Liang quickly followed Xu An through the entire passage and came to the largest wooden house in the depths.

Because all the wooden houses in the cave were not capped, the sound of conversation inside could be heard as soon as they approached.

“It's been a few days, and those people still haven't attacked.

Are you sure that idea you had last time worked?”

“It definitely works.

On the last trading day, I knew they would follow, so I deliberately piled a lot of weapons and beast meat at the entrance of the wooden house.

Judging from the previous trading situations, they definitely couldn't resist this temptation.”

“So many times before, I didn't bring many people, and there were also a few people from the collection department mixed in.

They don't understand our strength, and if they've been unwilling to merge for so long, they must have bad intentions.”

“But it's been nine days since the last trade, and they're still not attacking, I'm already a little impatient.”

“Those four camps are so weak, adding up to only five or six thousand people.

It's only a matter of time before they merge into Great Xia, why is the garrison so anxious?”

“Great Xia Year 1 is about to pass, and when I went back to the camp last time, I heard that the New Year's Eve…”

Listening to the content of the conversation of the few people inside the wooden house, Xiang Liang's face was shocked at this moment, and a monstrous wave was set off in his heart.

He didn't even notice that the conversation inside the wooden house had stopped.

What did the words these people were saying mean?

“Golden Sword Squad Xu An, requesting an audience with Lord Garrison!”

As soon as the conversation inside the wooden house stopped, Xu An immediately knocked on the door and requested an audience.

“Come in!”

Xiang Liang's sluggish face had not yet recovered, and he numbly followed behind Xu An and entered the wooden house.

Inside the wooden house was a hall more than ten meters wide.

In the center of the hall was a three-legged round tripod, with a roaring fire in the tripod.

The four characters “Great Xia Five Plains” on the tripod wall were clearly visible.

On both sides were more than twenty chairs, each with a small table in front of it, and ten people were sitting in them at this time.

At the top of the hall, there was also a main seat, with a larger table in front of it, and a person was also sitting behind the table.

Xiang Liang's eyes were immediately attracted to the person at the head.

For no other reason than that he had never seen the clothes worn by that person.

That person's clothes were actually composed of light golden armor pieces, shining brightly under the illumination of the fire, not only dazzling, but also giving people a sense of inexplicable oppression.

On the table in front of him sat a round helmet, its color similar to the armor he wore, clearly meant for his head. Beside the table leaned a massive, three-meter-long, double-edged greatsword of unique design.

No, there's more than just him.

The man at the head of the table on the left was also draped in this golden armor.

"Greetings, Commander!"

While bowing, Xu An didn't forget to nudge Xiang Liang beside him.

Commander, is that what the Great Xia camp calls its leaders?

Despite his curiosity, Xiang Liang followed suit and lowered his head in greeting.

"Greetings, Commander!"

"Rise. Who is this man?"

"This man is called Xiang Liang. Your subordinate rescued him from the northern foothills of Five Ape Mountain. He said he has an urgent matter to report. He doesn't seem to be lying, so I brought him here."

As the man at the head of the table spoke, Xiang Liang raised his head and saw his face. But at that sight, he was immediately stunned.

This Great Xia leader was blind in his right eye.

"Greetings, sir. I am Xiang Liang, son of Xiang Ping, the leader of the River Edge Camp. I have come to inform you that Wang Lie of the Flying Tiger Camp has learned the location of the Great Xia garrison. He has colluded with the Yang and Yue families to attack Great Xia. I hope you are aware of this, and that Great Xia can..."

Gulp...

Xiang Liang didn't say the last four words, 'prepare early'.

Because as he spoke, he kept his attention on the Great Xia leader at the head of the table and the ten people around him.

Sure enough, the one-eyed Great Xia leader and the ten people on either side of him all showed joy on their faces when they heard his words.

Having heard those words outside the house, Xiang Liang was already mentally prepared.

Combined with the reactions of these nine people, he couldn't help but realize that the reason the Flying Tiger Camp was able to discover the location of the Great Xia garrison was clearly orchestrated by these people in front of him.

Their purpose, as he had just heard outside the wooden house, was to deliberately arouse the greed of the people from the Flying Tiger Camp and lure them to attack Great Xia.

This way, they could rightfully annex the Flying Tiger Camp...

"Hahahaha, that Flying Tiger Camp has guts! I thought it was just them, but I didn't expect them to pull in the other two families. This is helping us save trouble, hahahahaha..."

Lin Kai, at the head of the table on the left, stood up from his chair with a whoop, laughing non-stop. The other seven people also smiled upon hearing this.

Xu Ning, at the head of the table, couldn't help but smile as well.

He looked down at Xiang Liang and glanced at the wooden box in his hand. After a moment of thought, he said thoughtfully, "Since Wang Lie knew to pull in the other two families, he must have gone to the River Edge Camp as well. Your father refused, so he sent you to inform us?"

Xiang Liang didn't have time to worry about the shock in his heart. He quickly nodded and said, "Sir, you are as insightful as a god. I admire you. Wang Lie, seeing that my father disagreed, led the other two families and attacked our River Edge Camp together last night. If nothing unexpected happens, my father and the rest of our camp should have been controlled by Wang Lie and the three families. I was lucky to escape during the chaos, and was able to survive thanks to Sir Xu An's rescue."

After listening, Xu Ning thought for a moment and looked at his younger brother, Xu An.

Xu An nodded and said, "He's not lying. When I rescued him, he had three arrows in his back and was almost dead. I used a Hot Wind Pill and applied Golden Sore Ointment, and he only survived because of that."

Only then did Xu Ning smile and nod, looking at Xiang Liang, "I know your father, Xiang Ping. He's a good man, so your words... I believe them!"

Hearing Xu Ning's last two words, Xiang Liang's expression immediately became excited.

Now, he was no longer worried about Great Xia being attacked.

What he had just seen with his own eyes, heard with his own ears, and the conversations and reactions of the nine people in the hall were enough to prove that Wang Lie gathering three families to attack the Great Xia garrison was simply a complete joke.

The only thing he was worried about now was Great Xia settling accounts after the autumn harvest.

Xu Ning believed him, so there would be no problem with the River Edge Camp.

No wonder, no wonder his father insisted on not agreeing to Wang Lie's proposal. He must have understood the strength of the Great Xia camp.

That's right, didn't this Great Xia leader just say that he knew his father?

Had they met before?

Xu Ning's doubts were quickly resolved by the words of someone in the hall.

"Xiang Ping is indeed a good man. In several transactions with the four camps in the northern mountains, he was the only one who proposed sending someone to Great Xia to take a look, but Wang Lie stopped him every time..."

Hearing Lu Yang's words, Xu Ning nodded.

Lu Yang's Eastern Sun Team had always been responsible for transactions with the four camps in the northern mountains, and he was the only one who had contact with the leaders of the four camps.

Xu Ning said he knew Xiang Ping, which he learned from Lu Yang.

Pa...

Lin Kai, clad in golden armor, stood up directly from his chair, turned to look at Xu Ning, and said, "Since that's the case, then let's not wait. I'll take a team over now and clean up these three camps together. What do you think, Xu Zi?"

Xu Ning thought for a moment and nodded directly, "Alright, I'll go with you. It just so happens that we're going back to the garrison tomorrow night to celebrate the New Year. Let's treat these five thousand-plus people as a congratulatory gift from our Five Plains side for the leader's exit from seclusion!"

Hearing the two casually decide to take action to clean up the Flying Tiger Camp, Xiang Liang was horrified, but before he could calm down, he noticed the last sentence Xu Ning said, and his expression instantly froze.

Return to the garrison?

This, isn't this the Great Xia's garrison?

That's not right, this one-eyed sir isn't even the leader of the Great Xia camp?

This...

While a monstrous wave surged in Xiang Liang's heart, his mind was also racing.

Soon he realized that this was an excellent opportunity, and he immediately spoke loudly to Xu Ning at the head of the table:

"I have a treasure to offer to the Great Xia leader, and I hope you will introduce me, sir!"

As Xiang Liang's words fell, the entire hall fell silent.

Xu Ning at the head of the table, and everyone below, including Lin Kai, who had already put on his helmet and left his seat, ready to gather his men and set off, all looked at Xiang Liang on the ground, their faces full of strangeness.

"You want to see our leader?"

After a long time, Lin Kai finally couldn't help but open his mouth. After saying that, he immediately walked slowly towards Xiang Liang.

Lin Kai was over 1.9 meters tall, and his light golden armor, coupled with a helmet that covered half of his face, made his burly figure even more majestic.

Coupled with his deliberately heavy footsteps, he appeared even more oppressive.

Kneeling on the ground, Xiang Liang only felt a mountain walking towards him, his back was immediately drenched, and his body couldn't stop trembling.

"Offering a treasure, is it this thing in your hand? Let me see."

Although his body was trembling, hearing Lin Kai's words, Xiang Liang gritted his teeth and insisted, "Sir, forgive me, this treasure is of great importance, I must see the leader himself."

Lin Kai raised an eyebrow, immediately turned to look at Xu Ning, and seeing Xu Ning nod, he immediately smiled and turned around directly.

Pa...

Without seeing any movement from him, Xiang Liang stood up with a whoosh, looking at the wooden box in his hand that had already been taken by Lin Kai, and his face immediately showed anxiety.

"Sir, no..."

"Shut up, let me see what it is first. If it's really a good treasure, I'll take you back."

Seeing Xiang Liang's fierce reaction, Lin Kai immediately stopped him, his words carrying a clear hint of disdain.

The four camps in the northern mountains were no different from chickens and dogs in his eyes. What good treasure could such a place produce, and they even dared to dream of seeing the leader.

Even he himself hadn't seen the leader for several months.

Lin Kai shook his head and opened the wooden box in his hand.

Inside the box were five crystal clear, emerald green stones.

The stones were only the size of a fist, with uneven surfaces, very irregular, but the color was very bright and beautiful.

Lin Kai's brow furrowed, a familiar feeling surged into his heart, and he immediately picked up one of them.

But as soon as he picked it up, his face immediately showed a hint of surprise.

"This must weigh over a hundred pounds, so heavy!"

Ordinary iron ore in the Ice Abyss World is also the size of a fist, and normally a piece is only forty or fifty pounds, but this emerald green stone is twice as heavy.

Lin Kai weighed the other four pieces separately for a while, and after squeezing them hard, a hint of curiosity really rose on his face, and he looked at Xiang Liang and asked:

"What is this?"

Xiang Liang also resigned himself to fate at this moment, knowing that he could not personally hand this thing over to the Great Xia leader, so he no longer insisted and said, "Sir, can you get some cold beast blood?"

Lin Kai nodded and said to Xu An, "An Zi, you go. Also, notify the Azure Dragon and Black Arrow teams and let them assemble first, there's work to do soon."

Xu An nodded and immediately turned and ran out.

Lin Kai then handed the wooden box in his hand to Xu Ning.

Xu Ning carefully examined it for a while, but couldn't see what it was. The other seven people also came over to take a look for a while, and finally returned the things to Xiang Liang.

Soon, Xu An brought a basin of emerald green beast blood.

"Sir, the members of the Black Arrow and Azure Dragon teams have been notified."

Lin Kai nodded and gestured to Xiang Liang.

Xiang Liang walked to the side of the basin, took out a stone from the wooden box, and threw it directly into it.

Chī...

Hearing a burst of stimulating sound from the wooden basin, Xu Ning and Lin Kai and the other nine people all gathered around, and seeing the scene in the wooden basin, their expressions suddenly froze.

That green stone was actually rapidly absorbing the beast blood in the basin.

Moreover, as the blood in the basin decreased, the color of the stone's surface became more vibrant, and there was even a slight tendency for its size to increase.

“Esteemed sirs, this is not a stone. It is called Frost Marrow Iron. My father dug it out of an iron mine. It is extremely bloodthirsty, and only craves the blood of beasts. As you can see, it can grow by absorbing beast blood.

Every time our camp forges weapons, we mix in powder ground from it. This makes the weapons we forge more lethal against Frost Beasts.”

The eyes of the crowd instantly lit up.

Lu Yang, who was standing to the side, immediately picked up the Frost Marrow Iron and examined it for a good while before turning to Xu Ning and Lin Kai and saying:

“What this kid says should be true. Among the four families in Shanbei, only the He Feng and Fei Hu camps have iron mines, but their forging techniques are lacking…”

As if realizing something, Lu Yang slapped his head and suddenly understood, “I was wondering why Xiang Ping had proposed several times to trade weapon blanks with me. I thought he wanted to steal our smelting techniques, but it turns out he wanted to trade for the blanks so he could add Frost Marrow Iron powder and re-forge them.”

Lu Yang smiled, placed the Frost Marrow Iron back in the wooden box, and said, “This treasure is indeed not bad. If we take it back and give it to the Sicheng, I don’t think there will be any problems!”

Xu Ning and Lin Kai both nodded and smiled. Just the fact that it could absorb the blood of Frost Beasts and grow on its own was enough to prove that this Frost Marrow Iron was a good treasure.

“Alright, then you can stay here for now. Tomorrow night, you will return to the garrison with us. At that time, you can hand the item over to the Sicheng.”

“Thank you, sirs.”

Xiang Liang immediately nodded in response as the wooden box returned to his hands.

At the same time, he felt increasingly curious about the Great Xia camp.

He had personally witnessed the massive amounts of beast meat, iron ore, coal, and all kinds of materials inside the wooden house. Even if all four camps in Shanbei were combined, they wouldn't have this much in reserve.

And this wasn't even their garrison?

What would the real Great Xia garrison be like?

Not only the Great Xia garrison, but also the Sicheng that Xu Ning mentioned, who was clearly of a higher status than anyone here.

Could he be the leader of Great Xia?

Just now, everyone had addressed Xu Ning as Garrison Commander, and Xiang Liang had thought that this was Great Xia's special term for their leader. Now that he knew it was a misunderstanding, he naturally didn't dare to be certain about the title of Sicheng either.

“Alright, Xu An, you can arrange a place for him to stay. Lin Kai, let's prepare to depart.”

“Yes, sir.”

Xu Ning instructed Xu An and quickly left with Lin Kai.

“I have to lead a team over there too. There are still several coal mines and iron mines to check.”

Lu Yang remembered something, called out, and followed them out.

Xu An, on the other hand, led Xiang Liang out of the hall.