Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 396 A Bountiful Harvest from the Dragon's Nest, The Rise of a New Generation

The chill of the icy waters is far more aggressive than that of the land.

Xia Hong had already experienced this when he developed the Wuyuan water area.

Humans can at least resist the cold of the land with fire and clothing. If they break through to the level of cold resistance, they can resist the cold air and cold light of the outside world with the reconstructed skin membrane, and there is basically no problem of being afraid of the cold during the day.

But not in water!
Once you enter the water, fire and clothing become ineffective.
Secondly, the Ice Abyss is covered by transparent, solid ice all year round, which should normally insulate it from the cold air from the outside. But don't forget that most of the cold air in the Ice Abyss comes from the sun in the sky. The sun casts down cold light. In other words, the light source is the biggest source of the cold.

The transparent ice surface not only fails to block the cold sunlight, but its transparency also creates a mirror-like effect, causing the water beneath it to absorb the cold light even more intensely.

Moreover, the thicker the ice, the stronger the light-gathering effect, and the more cold light the water below absorbs. As a result, the temperature of the water under the ice becomes unimaginably low.

Last year, Xia Hong drove away the red carp monster and took over the Wuyuan waters. He immediately went into the water to explore it. So when he went down to the White Tiger Pool and felt the bone-chilling cold of the water, he did not show any surprise on his face.

"Even I feel the chill, let alone those with a cold resistance level. They can only stay there for a few minutes at most, otherwise they will definitely freeze to death."

This also seems to explain why aquatic cold beasts are generally stronger than terrestrial cold beasts. It's probably because of the environment; those without some skills simply can't survive.

With that black dragon coiled here, there couldn't possibly be any other powerful beings underwater. The White Tiger Pool was very deep, and Xia Hong dived down for about 500 meters before reaching the bottom, where he began to search carefully.

Soon, he found a huge underwater cave entrance.

The opening was located on the left side of the pool bottom, with a diameter of about fifty meters. The water flow only submerged half of it, and there was clearly a huge cave inside.

Xia Hong's eyes lit up instantly when he saw the sharp claw marks around the cave entrance.

That black dragon really did build itself a nest underwater!

Xia Hong took a deep breath and quickly swam towards the cave entrance. He soon surfaced at the cave entrance, unleashing his full power. He first used the high temperature to evaporate the water from his body, and then stepped onto the water and walked directly into the cave entrance.

Upon entering the cave, a cave space more than 300 meters high and 500 to 600 meters wide suddenly comes into view.

Xia Hong looked around the cave, and when his gaze fell on the depths of the left side of the cave, his pupils suddenly contracted, and his expression became extremely excited.

Deep on the left side of the cave, there were twenty-four precious spiritual plants that emitted fluorescence. The roots of these plants were extremely thick, and their height was often tens or even hundreds of meters. Scattered around them were special minerals of various colors, some as large as five or six meters in diameter and others as small as a fist.

But it wasn't over yet. Behind those spiritual plants, there was a black dragon coiled and lying on the ground.

If it wasn't the one we just fought, who else could it be?

That black dragon is back!

Xia Hong tensed up instantly and immediately raised the Cold Blood Blade in his hand.

Seeing that the dragon remained motionless, he immediately stared at it with suspicion.

Upon seeing this, his expression immediately relaxed.

His expression only relaxed for a few seconds before becoming even more agitated.

It was a complete molted dragon, from the bulge on its forehead to its four sharp claws, and then to the black scales covering its entire body, exactly the same as the black dragon that had just fought against it.

"Dragons are known for their love of hoarding treasures, and the rumors are indeed true. That black dragon actually left so many treasures in its lair. We've struck it rich! We're really rich now!"

Xia Hong rarely lost his composure like this, mainly because he had led the Great Xia from the earthen slope to where it is today, and he had never really gotten such a great advantage before.

If we have to argue, the silver mine on the north slope of the mountain could be considered one, but with his strength at the time, he was only one step away from silver. That silver mine was at most icing on the cake. How could it compare to what we had in front of us?
Leaving aside the various minerals scattered on the ground, let's talk about the twenty-four spiritual plants. Among them, there is a black Heavenly Sun Branch that is exactly the same as the one on the surface of the White Tiger Pool, and there are nine Heavenly Sun Fruits on it that have not yet been picked.

Although I don't recognize the other twenty-three Xia Hong trees, I can imagine that they must be very precious, since they were hidden in the cave by the black dragon along with the Tianyang branch.

Xia Hong's expression flickered. Suddenly, he thought of something and quickly began to examine the ore on the ground. After checking all the stones that gleamed with gold one by one, a look of disappointment appeared in his eyes.

"Pity!"

The system can detect resource-type ores, but clearly these gleaming golden ores do not contain gold.

Xia Hong shook his head slightly, cursing himself for being too greedy, and continued walking forward to examine the dragon molt.

The black scales on this dragon's molt, while not as hard as the 58 pieces he had just collected, still offered at least two jun of defensive capability, making it perfect for use in a cold-weather combat armor.

The key is that this dragon molt is large enough, at least 600 meters long, and at least 4,000 scales can be extracted from it. These scales are about 40 centimeters in diameter, and with iron as the auxiliary material, at least 1,000 sets of armor can be made.

Moreover, not only are there scales, but beneath them lies a thin, soft layer, as thin as a cicada's wing, making it an excellent material for both protective gear and clothing.

It might even be used as a medicinal ingredient!
Xia Hong suppressed his excitement, looked at the giant dragon molt in front of him, and suddenly thought of something, his expression thoughtful.

"So not all beast kings are small. For example, the red carp monster in the Five Plains Waters is over 200 meters long; the black dragon just now was also over 1,000 meters long. This dragon molt must have been left behind from its previous stage, so its previous stage was over 600 meters long!"

Xia Hong had been puzzled during his last battle with that red carp monster.

The beast kings he had previously fought were basically divided into two forms: one was their true form, which was very small; and the other was their battle form, which could expand hundreds of times in size instantly.

But that red carp monster, from its appearance and battle to its eventual escape, always maintained a body length of over two hundred meters, which was clearly different from the other beast kings.

Of course, the same is true for this black dragon today.

"The Crimson Blood Demon Dragon in Qinghepu is also over a thousand feet long, but it is definitely above the Beast King level, so it is basically not of any reference value. Therefore, I can draw two conclusions."

One is that aquatic cold beasts and terrestrial cold beasts are completely different species, so when they reach the Beast King level, their sizes are also completely different;

Another issue is bloodline. The higher the bloodline of a cold beast, the larger its size will be at the Beast King level!

The red carp, the black dragon, and if you add the crimson blood demon dragon of Qinghepu, judging from their bloodlines, these three are clearly superior to any of the beast kings he had fought before, which is why Xia Hong came to his second conclusion.

"Unfortunately, I haven't been able to kill a single beast king from the waters yet. If I could kill one and observe any changes in their skeletons, I could basically find the answer!"

Xia Hong frowned slightly. In terms of raw strength, neither the red carp monster from last year nor the black dragon from today could match him.

The problem is that these aquatic beast kings are extremely intelligent. Once they realize they can't win, they will immediately flee. Moreover, they have many ways to escape. In addition, the water is their home ground, so killing them is indeed incredibly difficult.

"We can only take it slowly. Let's take these things first: the Heavenly Sun Fruit and other mature spiritual plants, including small ores and soft molts. We can take those first. As for the rest..."

Looking at the scales on the dragon's molted body and the more than twenty giant ore stones on the ground, each over half a meter in diameter, Xia Hong was immediately stumped.

"I've been in Ice Abyss for almost ten years and haven't even managed to get a storage ring yet. I guess I'm the most unsuccessful transmigrator ever?"

Xia Hong suddenly made a self-deprecating remark, then shook his head and chuckled, thinking to himself that whether storage rings even exist in this world is still debatable, and that he was overthinking things.

"This place is closest to Heyin, so we can only have Xiao Kangcheng send some people over to transport the goods back to Ba Shang first!"

Heyin was originally a village-level camp at the southernmost tip of the Baisong Camp, right next to Mo'ao Mountain. In July, Jiangxia Town had already assigned it to Daxia, so it has now become a Daxia outpost.

Xiao Kangcheng had done a good job in Zhaoyang for the past six months. Taking advantage of the incident in Heyin in July, Xia Chuan promoted him to the position of Mountain Guard of Ba Shang Hunting Division, and also appointed him as the Garrison Commander of Heyin.

Xia Hong had been staying in Xia City during this period, so he was very clear about the personnel changes.

Having made up his mind, he wasted no more time and began to pack.

………………

The eighth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, the tenth day of the ninth month, in the first half of the night.

About twenty kilometers deep in the snow-covered forest at the southeastern end of Mount Mo'ao.

"Roar…………"

The once silent snow forest was suddenly awakened by a roar.

Icicles fell from the surrounding trees with a soft rustling sound.

A rock-armored bear, standing upright and about seven or eight meters long, covered in yellow mane, was roaring angrily beside a large tree. Its left leg was gripping a trap more than half a meter in diameter, and its roars clearly stemmed from the intense pain inflicted by the trap.

"Luo An, Luo Cheng, Zou Ping, pull the ropes, the rest of you shoot arrows!"

Before the rock-armored bear's roar could stop, a command suddenly rang out.

Three young men clad in golden armor jumped down from a nearby tree. Each of them held a rope in their hand. Upon hearing the command, they planted their weapons in the ground and then pulled backward simultaneously.

laugh…………

The three ropes were all connected to the animal trap.

With a sudden, forceful pull, the trap moved southwards, naturally pulling the rock bear's left leg along with it.

The rock-armored bear was not only seven or eight meters tall, but also extremely robust, and its weight was obviously not light. More importantly, its strength was obviously not weak. It reacted after its left leg was pulled only half a meter. It stomped hard and actually fixed the animal trap in place. No matter how hard the three young men tried, it did not budge.

"Roar…………"

Not only did it remain motionless, but the Rock Armored Bear roared and began to retract its left leg, actually pulling the three young men back a short distance.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

Unfortunately, it had to deal with more than just these three young people.

Suddenly, more than a dozen silver arrows flew out from the surrounding trees, heading straight for the rock-armored bear's vulnerable spots, such as its eyes, armpits, mouth, and neck.

boom!
The rock-armored bear was not going to sit idly by and wait to die. It first swatted away the arrows flying towards it with its paws, then put its two front paws down on the ground, using its back to block the arrows while suddenly leaping forward and charging directly at the three people who had just been pulling the rope.

However, when they saw the rock-armored bear charging towards them, Luo An, Luo Cheng, and Zou Ping showed no fear whatsoever; instead, they all revealed expressions of eager anticipation.

"This rock bear's skin is too thick; arrows can't penetrate it at all. Let's just charge in and let me handle this alone!"

Luo An couldn't hold back any longer. Excitement flashed in his eyes. He shouted and threw away the rope, pulled out the horizontal sword he had just stuck in the ground, stared at the rock-armored bear charging towards him, and leaned forward slightly.

His blood and qi surged, and he gripped his sword tightly with both hands. Just as the rock-armored bear was only one or two meters away from him, he pushed off the ground with both legs, leaping high into the air with his iron armor, raising his sword above his head, and then slashing down fiercely.

call out…………

The horizontal sword has a narrow blade, so the sound it makes when chopping is exceptionally sharp.

Of course, the sharpness of the sound depends on the amount of force.

Luo An's power is clearly extremely astonishing.

The sound he made when he swung his sword down was almost a whistle.

The horizontal sword in his hand was a thousand-times-forged weapon, so the silver blade that followed the downward slash instantly lit up the night, and suddenly struck the rock-armored bear's forehead.

Click...

As he swung his sword down and heard the sound of the rock-armored bear's forehead bone shattering, a look of joy immediately appeared in Luo An's eyes.

However, this joyful expression did not last long!
The rock-armored bear's forehead skull was indeed split open, but its forward momentum did not decrease. Instead, it became even more ferocious due to the pain, forcefully shoving aside the horizontal blade and directly slamming into Luo An's leg.

boom…………

The rock-armored bear's diving force was terrifying. When Luo An's leg was hit, he was instantly dizzy and his upper body leaned forward and landed on the rock-armored bear's forehead.

The rock-armored bear was extremely cunning. Seeing that Luo An had lost his balance, it immediately swung its body violently, throwing him to the ground. Then it suddenly stood up and slammed its two huge bear paws down on Luo An's head.

Bang………………

Even if he was wearing a helmet, if he were hit by this, he would probably be half-crippled if not killed. How could Luo An possibly let it hit him?
In the brief moment between the bear's paws landing, Luo An rolled to the side to dodge, a fierce glint in his eyes. Taking advantage of the rock-armored bear's limbs touching the ground again, he quickly rolled over and stood up, kicking the rock-armored bear's abdomen with his right leg.

boom…………

The rock-armored bear's enormous body was kicked to the side and flipped over.

"good chance!"

Luo An seized the opportunity, and before the rock-armored bear could get up in time, he rushed to its neck, gripped the horizontal blade in reverse, and plunged it straight into its left eye.

The 1.2-meter-long blade was almost entirely embedded in the left pupil of the Rock Armor Bear.

Pfft...

The rock-armored bear's forehead skull had already been severely injured, and now its left eye was completely penetrated by the blade. With Luo An pressing down on its arm, blood gushed out from its skull. It only struggled on the ground for five or six moments before giving up.

boom…………

"He killed just one person?"

"This rock-armored bear must have more than one and a half times the strength of the mane, right?"

"It was injured by the animal trap, and it was also pierced through the neck and armpit by several iron arrows. It probably can't exert its full strength, but it can at least exert some of its strength. It's not easy for Luo An to kill it all by himself!"

"No wonder he refused to join the hunting team. He's almost capable of killing intermediate-level cold beasts on his own. Luo An is probably deliberately not breaking through to the Cold Resistance level, wanting to continue striving for a higher level of combat body."

"Nonsense, aren't all sixteen people here tonight like that?"

………………

As Luo An killed the Rock Armor Bear, all thirteen people around him came out.

"Luo An, are you alright?"

Luo Cheng and Zou Ping, who were closest to Luo An, went directly to his side. Zou Ping asked about his situation, while Luo Cheng, who was rather cold, showed a clear hint of concern on his face.

Luo An jumped off the rock bear's neck, stomped his left leg on the ground, and winced in pain, but still forced a smile at the two of them and chuckled, "It's nothing, I'll be fine after a few days of rest."

Zou Ping had grown up with Luo An since childhood and knew his friend's personality very well. He immediately rolled his eyes at him, but still quickly stepped forward to support him and asked with a light laugh, "What's your basic strength now?"

"Sixty-one thousand!"

"You're too fast! You've already reached the lower-level battle body?"

Seeing that not only his friend Zou Ping, but also Luo Cheng in front of him looked surprised, Luo An immediately revealed a smug look.

When he went to Dongling to participate in the martial arts competition last October, his basic strength was already more than 36,000 jin. He gained 25,000 jin in one year. This speed would rank him among the top five in the entire camp's Digging Realm limit.

"Luo An, if you continue to disobey orders like this, I will report you to the garrison commander when we get back to Heyin Village!"

Luo An's smile froze instantly. He turned to look at Xiao Heng, who was walking slowly from behind, and said with a slightly darkened gaze, "Xiao Heng, I was just temporarily assigned to the exploration team in Heyin Village. I'm not your subordinate. Why should I take your orders?"
Besides, your so-called effortless hunting is completely ineffective. That rock-armored bear was impossible to deal with with just arrows. Instead of wasting time here, we might as well have killed it sooner and had more time to explore!

“I think Luo An is right. It’s just a mid-level cold beast. Why waste time here? Let’s kill it as soon as possible!”

“We’ve only explored 21 kilometers, while Zhao Yuanwu and Zhao Yuankong’s team explored 27 kilometers yesterday. We need to speed things up if we want to catch up with them.”

"Xiao Heng, as the team leader, your most important task should be to lead us to accelerate the exploration progress. If we lose the competition, nothing we say will matter."

“That’s right, I agree with what Luo An said.”

………………

Seeing that apart from Xiao Lin, Xiao Jing, and Xiao Yan, the three members of his own family, all spoke against him, Xiao Heng's expression immediately darkened.

(End of this chapter)