Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

"Yuan Cheng and Lin Kai, go put out the stove! Xia Chuan, Yue Feng, you five come with me to the cave entrance! Everyone else, retreat further inside, quickly!"

Faced with this sudden change, Xia Hong quickly made a deployment.

The cold beast was already very close to the cave entrance, so running outside was not realistic.

Besides, it was daytime. Even those with Lumbering Realm cultivation wouldn't be able to withstand the extreme cold outside, let alone the others in the camp.

The cave wasn't large, but it was no problem for the group to move back ten meters or so.

"It's daytime now. Once the fire is out, they won't last long…"

Yuan Cheng was confused when he heard the order, but the situation was critical, and he didn't have time to ask. Only after putting out the fire did he finally ask.

"Have you forgotten? The small torches we used when we went hunting with the leader came from this stove."

Hearing Lin Kai's answer, Yuan Cheng's expression immediately changed.

They had all personally witnessed the cold beasts' frenzy towards the small torches.

If the cold beasts were to discover this blazing stove, that would be terrible.

"Luckily, the leader reminded us, or we would have been in trouble. I remember that the torches could not only heal the cold beasts but also enhance their strength."

"Yuan Cheng, Lin Kai, come over and help once you've put out the fire!"

Hearing Xia Chuan's voice, the two quickly rushed towards the cave entrance.

"Quickly, move the wood over here to block the cave entrance, just in case."

The ground continued to tremble. Xia Hong had everyone move all the stored wood from inside the cave to the very center of the cave entrance. He then walked to the side of the cave entrance and carefully dug a small hole, wanting to see clearly what was outside.

The moment the small hole was opened, a beam of light immediately shone in.

The cave was pitch black since there were no longer flames for illumination.

It was daytime outside, so it was normal for sunlight to shine through the small hole.

However, along with that beam of sunlight, there was also a bone-chilling cold that entered the cave.

Xia Hong, who was closest to the small hole, could even see with his naked eye that the dust and particles in the sunlight were condensing at an extremely terrifying speed. In just three or four breaths, they condensed into snowflakes out of thin air and then gently fell to the ground.

Xia Hong's pupils slightly trembled. He tentatively extended his palm into the sunlight.

Sizzle…

Almost the instant the sunlight shone on his palm, a piercing chill shot straight from his palm to his head. That part of his palm quickly turned blue, and even the blood inside stopped flowing.

Realizing that his palm was starting to go numb and was spreading to other parts of his body, Xia Hong's expression changed slightly. He hurriedly retracted his hand and rubbed it dozens of times before the numbness gradually disappeared.

"The daytime temperature can actually be this low. No wonder it's said that humans can only live in the shadows. Even with Earth-Digging Realm cultivation, I'm afraid they can't walk freely in the sunlight."

Xia Hong shook his hand. After it returned to normal, he put his eye to the small hole and looked outside.

The sunlight was already so invasive to the skin, let alone shining directly on the eyeballs. The moment his eyes met the small hole, a sharp pain shot up to his head. Xia Hong endured the pain and quickly checked the situation outside.

With this one look, Xia Hong's heart sank to the bottom.

A behemoth with six horns and four limbs, about five or six meters long, resembling a mountain goat, was charging frantically towards the hillside, as if frightened by something.

That behemoth was at least two meters tall at the shoulder. With its violent charge, not to mention trees, even some smaller mounds were directly plowed open.

"It's that goat-like cold beast, charging towards us!"

Xia Hong's eyes reached their limit, and he quickly withdrew and sealed the small hole.

Xia Chuan and the others' expressions changed upon hearing this.

They had all seen that goat-like cold beast.

But each time, it was at night when they saw it sleeping on the Goldscale tree.

That goat-like cold beast was too large, and they didn't understand it well enough, so each time they hunted, Xia Hong would deliberately avoid it.

"Don't worry. Although the direction is towards the hillside, it might not be able to find our cave here. Let's assess the situation first."

The cold beast was already very close to the cave entrance. Afraid of being discovered, Xia Hong didn't open the small hole again, but instead had everyone guard both sides of the cave entrance.

Everyone hoped that the cold beast wouldn't find the cave and would retreat on its own.

Thump… Thump… Thump…

Perhaps the prayers of the crowd were truly effective. The footsteps of the cold beast suddenly slowed down. Not only was it not as violent as before, but from the sound, it seemed to be getting further and further away from the cave entrance.

The hearts of the crowd were slightly steadied.

"It should be an accident. This cold beast didn't find the cave; it's going back."

Only Xia Hong frowned tightly, vaguely feeling that something was wrong.

Thinking of something, Xia Hong suddenly lay down, his ear to the ground.

Listening for less than three breaths, Xia Hong's expression changed drastically. He suddenly jumped up from the ground and shouted loudly at the crowd:

"Quickly, scatter to both sides!"

Everyone shuddered, moving quickly and retreating to both sides of the cave entrance.

Almost at the instant the eight people retreated to the sides, six sharp horns instantly broke through the cave entrance. Not to mention the branches and turf that had been used to block the cave entrance, even the wood that the crowd had just brought over was instantly pierced by the sharp horns, turning into countless wood chips, flying everywhere.

Under the violent impact, the entire cave entrance was destroyed.

Deadly cold air seeped into the cave along with a large swath of sunlight, and the eight people closest to the cave entrance immediately had a layer of frost covering their beast-hide skirts.

"You guys retreat further inside first. We can't fight it here at the cave entrance!"

Xia Hong told the others to retreat inside, but he gritted his teeth and rushed up first, grabbing the cold beast's horns.

After grabbing the horns, Xia Hong was almost sent flying by the opponent. Even though he forcibly stabilized his body, the cold beast's violent impact knocked him back unceasingly.

Even so, Xia Hong still used the force of his footsteps to constantly adjust the direction of the cold beast's charge. After retreating twenty or thirty meters, the direction of the cold beast's impact changed from the inner side of the cave to the left wall.

Of course, he didn't rush up just to compete with the cold beast in strength.

This goat-like cold beast was much stronger than the Snowmane, judging by its size alone. With his current strength, which was at most comparable to an adult Snowmane, he definitely couldn't stop it.

He just wanted to change the direction of the cold beast's charge.

Everyone was retreating inside. If the cold beast were to charge further inside, with that impact force, no one would be able to stop it.

Just as it was about to hit the left wall, Xia Hong propped up his legs and kicked hard against the wall, releasing his right hand. He drew a stone axe from his waist and, aiming at the moment when the cold beast crashed into the right wall, chopped down fiercely on its head.

Clang…

However, the cold beast, whose head was covered in horns, didn't even move its body much.

It simply tilted its head slightly and used its horns to block Xia Hong's stone axe.

Not only did it block it, but it also shattered the stone axe in Xia Hong's hand.

Looking at the stone axe in his hand, with only the wooden handle remaining, Xia Hong was almost numb.

"Leader, catch the axe!"

Xia Hong raised his hand and caught the axe thrown by Xia Chuan, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the others had already surrounded him. They held ropes, three on one side and four on the other, throwing ropes from the left and right sides to tie up the cold beast. Then, together, they exerted force and suddenly pulled back.

Although the seven people were only in the Lumbering Realm, the combined strength was still astonishing. After the cold beast's torso was tied up, it staggered for a moment due to the sudden pull and almost fell over.

Roar…

The cold beast forcibly stabilized its body and roared angrily. The echoes reverberated throughout the cave. Discovering that it could not break free from the ropes in the hands of the crowd and could only form a stalemate with them, its anger was obviously rising rapidly.