Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 401 Rewards and Generous Gifts, Three Towns Jointly Apply Pressure
"You must have used many kinds of beast blood by now, right?"

Xia Hong naturally noticed Ji Hong's gaze and asked a question with a smile.

Ji Hong nodded emphatically and replied with his hands clasped, "Reporting to the lord, when my basic strength reached 120,000 jin, it became very difficult to improve it further. Using the blood of common cold beasts in the Longyou region, such as Snowmane, Frost Wolf, and Demon Sheep, no longer had any effect on my skin. I could only try to find other types of beast blood. So far, Ji Hong has used seventy-four kinds of beast blood."

"The Great Xia Records of Frost Beasts currently only records 76 species of frost beasts. Goodness, you've tried every kind of beast blood?"

Upon hearing Ji Hong's words, everyone's faces were filled with astonishment, and Xiao Kangcheng couldn't help but speak up, his tone full of shock.

The human body develops immunity to the same type of animal meat over time. If one cultivates by eating only a single type of animal meat, one will eventually be unable to convert the energy from the meat. Therefore, everyone in the camp tries to cultivate using different types of animal meat as much as possible.

After several years of continuous research by the Great Xia Dynasty, and with the increasing number of samples at the limit of the excavation realm, it has long been understood that beast blood and beast meat are basically the same.

The skin will continuously develop immunity to the blood of a single breed of animal, so once the blood of a single breed reaches its maximum potential, it must be replaced with blood of a different breed.

Moreover, beast blood varies in quality. For example, high-grade beast blood is several times more effective than mid-grade beast blood, and the highest-grade beast king blood is not only more effective, but can also enhance potential to a certain extent after the skin has become completely immune to ordinary beast blood.

"You've already used Beast King-level blood, haven't you?"

Xia Hong was the first to discover this, so he was fully aware of the situation. He only stared at Ji Hong for a moment and immediately realized that Ji Hong had already used the blood of a Beast King.

Ji Hong nodded, his face filled with gratitude, and said, "Lord Qiu knew that I was trying to break through to the top-grade battle physique. Two months ago, he specially gave me a five-jin exchange quota of beast king-level blood. Unfortunately, my potential is limited. When I used the fourth jin, my strength stopped increasing. Now I'm just one hundred jin short, but no matter what I do, I just can't increase it!"

Currently, Xia Hong is the only one in the Great Xia Dynasty capable of hunting Beast Kings. To date, he has killed a total of sixteen Beast Kings. The blood loss from a single Beast King is about 100 jin. In total, the Logistics Department currently has only about 1600 jin of Beast King-level blood in stock. It would be quite good if they could allocate 5 jin to Ji Hong for the exchange quota.

Beast King-level blood can only play a certain role, and its effectiveness mainly depends on the individual's potential. Moreover, using this level of beast blood to reshape the skin membrane involves considerable pain and risks, so it cannot be used on people indefinitely.

When Ji Hong used the fourth jin, it stopped working, which proved that his potential had basically reached its limit, which was indeed consistent with Xia Hong's observation.

"The beast kings I hunted before were all ordinary species. You've already improved to this level quite well. If you want to continue improving..."

Xia Hong smiled and spoke, then suddenly turned to Xu Ning behind him and gestured.

Xu Ning understood immediately and took out a string of animal hide pouches from behind him. There were about twenty pouches in the string. He took one out and tossed it to Ji Hong, congratulating him, "You've hit the jackpot today, kid. The lord just severely injured a Beast King-level dragon and obtained about twenty catties of dragon blood. I just checked this dragon blood, and it's much higher quality than other Beast King-level blood. Take one catty and try it out. The last hundred catties should be enough to get you to the top!"

The lord has just severely injured a beast king-level dragon...

Upon hearing this, Xiao Heng, Yuan Bai, and the others were shocked, their eyes instantly filled with admiration and fervor as they looked at Xia Hong.

Ever since the news of the Crimson Blood Demon Dragon of Qinghepu spread throughout Xia City, everyone's understanding of dragons and other cold beasts has gradually become clearer. They know that as long as a cold beast is associated with the word "dragon," its strength must be incredibly powerful.

Upon learning that Xia Hong had severely injured the dragon, they were naturally deeply shocked.

Of course, amidst their shock, they couldn't help but cast incredibly envious glances at Ji Hong.

"Ji Hong thanks the lord for the reward!"

As for Ji Hong, the person involved, he was tightly gripping the animal skin bag with both hands, feeling the intense heat of the dragon blood inside. He was extremely excited and bowed to Xia Hong. If it weren't for Xia Li's explicit rule that Xia people could not kneel and worship at will, he would definitely have knelt down and kowtowed to express his gratitude.

"No need for that. Your increased strength is also a good thing for Great Xia. Consider this jin of dragon blood an extra gift from me. There's no need to report it to the supply department."

"I will never forget the Lord's kindness..."

Upon hearing this, Ji Hong's expression changed, and his voice became choked with emotion.

He was a native of the Tupo era. His parents died in the disaster brought by the wooden puppet monster ten years ago. The Great Xia started from Tupo and was almost slaughtered by the wooden puppet monster. Today, its territory has expanded hundreds of times. It has not only become one of the Nine Towns, but also created the first town on the southern slope of Mo'ao. He is not only a witness to all of this, but also a participant.

Whether it was towards Xia Hong, the lord, or towards the entire Great Xia camp, Ji Hong's feelings were far more intense than those of others.

Qiu Peng was already flattered by the fact that he had been given a special share of Beast King-level blood for exchange, but now Lord Xia Hong had personally gifted him such precious dragon blood. How could he not be moved?

"I remember your younger sister, Ji Jiang, is also quite talented. How old is she this year?"

The population of Xia City is now approaching 130 million, and the population of Ba Shang has already begun to migrate. Once the migration is complete, the total population is estimated to reach over 250 million.

With such a large population in the Great Xia Dynasty, it's impossible for Xia Hong to know them all.

However, during the Tupo period, the total population of Daxia was only over 150 people, and Xia Hong still remembers most of them.

He happened to remember Ji Hong and his sister.

If Ji Hong's talent was lukewarm at first, only beginning to shine after the first martial arts competition in the second year of the Great Xia Dynasty, then his sister Ji Jiang was the kind of genius who was always dazzling.

From Xia Hong's perspective, it's normal for him to remember Ji Hong and his sister.

From Ji Hong's perspective, however, it was a completely different story. Xia Hong not only remembered his brother and sister, but could even accurately say his sister's name. His expression instantly became excited, and he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to the lord, my sister Ji Jiang is nineteen years old this year. She broke through to the Cold Resistance level last year. When she broke through, her basic strength increased to 130,000 jin, which is also a superior battle physique."

Upon hearing Ji Jiang's name, Luo An, Zou Ping, Liu Peng, Lu Dong, Zhao Yuankong, and the other group of people, who were around sixteen or seventeen years old, all twitched their brows, clearly recalling some unpleasant memories.

Xia Hong keenly noticed the change in everyone's expressions and immediately remembered that Qiu Peng had once told him that Ji Jiang was not only talented but also had a bad temper, often chasing and beating up Luo An and his gang in the inner city. He smiled.

"You and your siblings are both exceptionally talented, that's great!"

Hearing that Ji Jiang only had a superior combat physique, Xia Hong was slightly disappointed.

During this period, through his conversations with Murong Chui and Xiahou Zhang, he deduced quite a few things.

All the current Manifestation Yang level experts in the Nine Towns were top-grade battle bodies before their breakthrough. So far, not a single person with a superior battle body has broken through to the Manifestation Yang level.

Although nothing is absolute, we can basically deduce from this that the top-grade battle physique aptitude is likely to break through the minimum threshold of the Manifestation Yang level. Without this aptitude, breaking through to the Manifestation Yang level would be extremely difficult.

In that case, Ji Jiang, who shone brightly in her early years, is not as good as her older brother Ji Hong, who has been accumulating experience and making a breakthrough.

Disappointed as he was, Xia Hong naturally wouldn't show it. After praising Ji Hong and his sister, he turned to Xiao Heng and the others and smiled, "Your actions in rescuing people were risky, but I'm a person who only judges by results. Since you succeeded, you've done a good job. Let me think about how to reward you..."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Heng and his group immediately became excited.

Not only Ji Hong, but they also received rewards!
"That dragon's molt had so many scales. There were 59 of them in total, so we gave each of them a scale. It was a good opportunity for them to join the hunting team and go to White Tiger Pool to move things."

"My lord, this is too precious, perhaps..."

"Alright, that's settled then. It's fine to share some of the four thousand dragon scales!"

Xiao Kangcheng instinctively wanted to decline, but before he could finish speaking, Xia Hong interrupted him, so he could only nod.

"Thank you, Lord!"

Xiao Heng, Yuan Bai, and their group were naturally very excited. They quickly bowed to Xia Hong to express their gratitude. Even though they didn't know the specific effects, just from the words "dragon scales," they were certain that it was an extremely rare treasure.

Xia Hong smiled and waved his hand, signaling everyone to stand up.

He didn't bring Xu Ning and Xiao Kangcheng here on purpose to see Xiao Heng and his group. After leaving Baihutan in the first half of the night, he immediately went to Ba Shang to inform Xu Ning to send ten high-level hunting teams to move the things from Baihutan back.

The three of them had set off ahead of time. When they passed through this area, Xia Hong sensed that Xiao Heng and his group were in trouble, so he took Xu Ning and Xiao Kangcheng and hid in the shadows to observe their response.

Judging by the time, the ten advanced hunting teams should have arrived by now.

"They're here, Xu Ning and Xiao Kangcheng. You take them to meet up with those high-level hunting teams. You can find the location of Giant Tiger Mountain and the hiding place using the map I gave you!"

Xia Hong sensed something and noticed a large group of people heading deeper into Mo'ao Mountain from the east. He immediately turned to Xu Ning and Xiao Kangcheng and gave them instructions.

"I obey my orders!"

Xu Ning and Xiao Kangcheng bowed in unison and immediately led Xiao Heng, Yuan Bai, and fifty-nine other young disciples to head east.

"wait a second!"

Suddenly, Xia Hong remembered something and abruptly stopped the two of them. He then turned to look into the depths of the snow forest and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Xu Ning and Xiao Kangcheng clearly knew something, so they immediately exchanged a glance and stood obediently in place waiting.

Xiao Heng, Yuan Bai, and the others looked puzzled, their faces full of confusion.

boom…………

Before everyone had even waited twenty breaths, a golden object suddenly fell straight down from mid-air and landed in front of them with a loud bang, sending the snow on the ground flying more than ten meters high.

As the snow and mist dissipated, Xiao Heng, Yuan Bai, and the others were instantly stunned when they saw the golden object, their pupils filled with horror.

Lying on the ground was a golden tiger with a head and body length of over a meter. Its fur had almost all turned golden, its eyes were wide open, and its pupils were filled with terror. Its mouth was still open, and apart from a tiny cut between its eyebrows, there were no other injuries on its body.

"It's that high-ranking golden-spotted tiger!"

"Twenty breaths, not counting the time for travel, did the lord take any time to kill this high-level golden-spotted tiger?"

"It would have been dead in one hit, right? The lord's strength is too great!" "That's a high-level golden-spotted tiger!"

"Couldn't even withstand a single exchange?"

Just how powerful is the lord?

………………

"Alright, what's the big deal about a high-level cold beast? It won't take the lord long to deal with a beast king."

Seeing everyone making a fuss, Xiao Kangcheng couldn't help but scold them.

Xu Ning, who had been looking up the whole time, saw that Xia Hong had already transformed into a streak of light and flown away towards Hongmen. He immediately turned to the others and said, "Let's go. Don't waste any more time here. Go to White Tiger Pool and bring the things back safely first!"

The lord said that the items from White Tiger Pool were priceless treasures and definitely not simple. His most important task tonight was to ensure that those items could safely reach Ba Shang City.

Everyone nodded and hurriedly followed Xu Ning, heading towards the White Tiger Pool area deep within Mount Mo'ao.

………………

[Resources: Timber 87261 million tons, Coal 90872 million tons, Iron 98625 million tons, Silver 2182 million tons]

"On the tenth day of the ninth month, the first batch of transactions with the eight towns... no, the seven towns should have been completed. According to what Qiu Peng said the day before yesterday, the first batch of transactions earned a total of 4.2 million taels of silver, which is equivalent to 840 million system resources. Adding the silver we mined ourselves over the past year, we are finally not short of silver!"

Above the outer edge of Mount Mo'ao, Xia Hong flew towards Hongmen City while calculating the total amount of silver resources in the system.

He knew about the disturbance caused by Yang Ning and Li Hu in Hongmen City on the first day of September before he went to Baihutan, and he was also aware that Qiu Peng refused to trade with Beishuo Town.

To be fair, of the three northern towns, Xia Hong fears Bei Shuo the most, so he is quite supportive of Qiu Peng's decision.

The core objectives of Daxia's foreign trade were twofold:

One was to use the goods of the Great Xia to change the living habits of the people in the eight towns. You could call it winning them over or transforming them, but in short, it was to carry out infiltration under the guise of trade.
Another natural way is to earn silver from the eight towns.

Regardless of what Great Xia's motives are, selling those cultivation resources to the Eight Towns will ultimately have a certain effect of aiding the enemy. Xia Hong is most wary of Beishuo Town, so not trading with them is a good thing.

Qiu Peng's sales strategy was meticulously planned, treating all members of the Seven Towns Chamber of Commerce equally. A certain amount of precious cultivation resources were offered in conjunction with a large quantity of daily necessities. Anyone who wanted to buy them had to purchase the entire package. The Seven Towns had no choice but to agree in order to secure those cultivation resources.

The trade volume of the seven towns is a fixed 6000 million taels of silver, which is why Xia Hong was able to arrive at the figure of 4.2 million taels at once.

The things that Da Xia bought from the Seven Towns were basically negligible. After all, Lu Yang had thoroughly investigated the products of the Nine Towns over the past four years. Apart from a very few special resources such as the Blood Ginseng Pill from Muyin Town, Da Xia basically didn't need to buy anything from the Seven Towns.

"The trade volume of the Seven Towns Chamber of Commerce is definitely the bulk of the business. The silver that the village-level camps in the remaining eight towns can offer should be quite limited. However, every little bit helps, and the core objective is to make the people in these village-level camps in the eight towns dependent on the resources of the Great Xia. Therefore, we must continue this process!"

Looking at the 2182 million silver resources on his body, Xia Hong finally felt much better. From the time he first came into contact with silver to now when he no longer had to worry about silver resources, it had taken him almost seven years, which was indeed not easy.

The more than 20 million silver resources were mined by the camp itself from the silver mines he opened up in Longshan last year after he left seclusion. This does not include the silver he has earned from the Seven Towns.

"After the Seven Towns have tasted the sweetness, as long as nothing unexpected happens, trade should not be interrupted. In the future, they can earn at least nearly one billion taels of silver from the Seven Towns Chamber of Commerce every year, which is equivalent to 2000 million silver resources. They really have no shortage of resources. The Martial Arts, Weapon Refining, and Medicine Refining Pavilions can continue to plan for upgrades. It won't be a problem to accumulate Iron Wall and Black Soil for a few years."

【已开启建筑8：阳墟鼎（5级）、武道阁（4级）、炼药阁（4级）、炼器阁（4级）、铁壁墙（3级）、宗灵碑（5级）、黑土地（3级）、悟道莲台（4级）】

[Unactivated Building 1: Thick Iron Chain]

Upgrading the three buildings—the Level 5 Yangxu Cauldron, the Level 4 Enlightenment Lotus Platform, and the Level 5 Sect Spirit Stele—requires gold.

Of course, there was also a thick iron chain.

[Thick iron chain: 1000 for silver, 5000 for gold]

Xia Hong frowned upon seeing the amount of resources required to activate the thick iron chain.

He hasn't even seen what gold looks like yet, so 5000 points is an astronomical figure for him; he doesn't even need to think about it.

"When I get back, I'll upgrade all three pavilions first, and properly digest the massive amount of new species we've acquired this time. The Martial Arts Pavilion's capacity has increased dramatically, and the number of people at the Cold Resistance level in Great Xia will grow faster and faster. Once the next surge occurs and Xuanling breaks through to the Manifestation level, the Eight Towns will basically have no chance against Great Xia. I can then leave the camp and see for myself what kind of strength the legendary Caiqiu Warlord is!"

Xia Hong's eyes were filled with curiosity as he recalled Qiu Peng's report on the situation of the extraterritorial forces five days ago.

"The title 'Fangbo Lingfan, Guiwu Jindi' means that even monsters dare not invade a camp at the level of a regional military governor. Fangbo is a title that is one level higher than a leader or lord, which means that he is most likely a powerhouse above the Xianyang level!"

Besides curiosity, Xia Hong also felt a deep sense of apprehension.

There are powerful forces outside the region that have long been eyeing the nine towns on the southern slope of Mo'ao, and have even sent spies to infiltrate the nine towns for several years.

Qiu Peng accidentally uncovered Han Peng from Jinyang Village in Jinshan Town, but that doesn't mean that Caiqiu, the warlord, had bribed such a spy in the eight towns. Now that the Great Xia has made a public appearance in the southern foothills of Mo'ao, it's highly likely that Caiqiu, the warlord, has already taken notice.

"According to Han Peng, the Caiqiu vassal state is extremely powerful, enough to crush the Nine Garrisons. However, it has not attacked over the years. Either it looks down on the Nine Garrisons, or it has other difficulties. The latter is more likely."

No matter how developed the Ice Abyss Camp becomes, population is absolutely paramount, followed by resource areas. The combined population of the nine towns is at least 15 million, not to mention that it also occupies more than 800 kilometers of the entrance to Mount Mo'ao and the Xing River in the south. No matter how strong the Caiqiu vassal state is, it wouldn't be so insignificant as to disregard these resources.

Therefore, there must be some difficulties that have been restricting Caiqiu, preventing them from sending people south on a large scale to annex the territory and population of the Nine Towns.

"It's a pity that Han Peng was only bought off by Caiqiu warlord. He only knew that Caiqiu warlord was in the north, but he didn't know the exact location. Otherwise, I could have gone there myself to find out the situation."

Thinking of this, Xia Hong immediately shook his head slightly: "No, I almost forgot, I can't be too far away from Great Xia yet, at least not before I break through to the Profound Spirit realm!"

He is currently the only one at the Manifestation Yang level in the Great Xia Dynasty, which is a major weakness.

Moreover, with the trade between Great Xia and the Eight Towns, a large number of trading people have flowed into Hongmen City and Great Xia territory. The fact that he is the only one at the Xianyang level in Great Xia should soon be known to the other eight towns.

This matter is neither a big deal nor a small one.

The reason it is considered a major one is that the Xianyang-class is, after all, the ballast of a camp. The Eight Towns know this, especially the Three Northern Towns. They will definitely find a way to target the Great Xia soon, and they may even launch a joint offensive.
On a smaller scale, it's because of the overall strength of Great Xia. Currently, it is undoubtedly the strongest among the nine towns. As long as multiple towns don't unite, Great Xia can easily take on any one of them on its own. Even if two or three towns unite, Xia Hong isn't too worried.

His only worry was the merger of the three northern towns.

Chuishan basically follows Beishuo. Yangqu and Longgu, being two fence-sitters, will inevitably side with whichever side the four families unite. When the six towns unite and all target Daxia, things will get a bit complicated.

Moreover, once the six towns unite, it's hard to say what the attitudes of Jiangxia and Muyin will be.

"Fortunately, we still have Xiang Fuhai as a backup plan. Even if the Eight Towns know that I am the only Xianyang-level expert in Great Xia, they still have to be wary of Xiang Fuhai's existence, so they should be more restrained!"

Xia Hong had already foreseen this day when he rescued Xiang Fuhai from Ba Shang City. Li Xuanling still needed time to break through to the Xianyang level, not to mention Xia Chuan, Yuwen Tao, and the others.

With only one Xianyang-level expert in the Great Xia Dynasty, his deterrent power is indeed insufficient!

Bringing a complete stranger of the Xianyang level back to Xia City at the last minute is risky. Even if he could find him, Xia Hong wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him in Xia City.

The severely injured Xiang Fuhai was precisely the best choice.

Xiang Fuhai's injuries had not yet healed, so staying in Xia City would be fine. And since the Eight Towns were unaware of this, they were bound to be wary of him. It couldn't be more perfect.

"Once this round of population migration in Ba Shang is over, all the remaining members of the Xiang family will move to Xia City. Xiang Fuhai's loyalty issue will also be basically resolved. We just need to wait for Cheng Feng to develop the elixir, and then we will immediately help him restore his cultivation. At that time, the safety of Great Xia will be basically guaranteed!"

With a thousand thoughts racing through his mind, Xia Hong quickly flew over Hongmen City. Looking down at the endless stream of people entering and leaving the city gate, a broad smile appeared on his face. Then, with a slight thought, he flashed towards the Siya Building in the center of the city.

………………

Hongmen City, top floor of the Siya Building, council hall
Xia Chuan sat upright in the main seat, his brows furrowed.

Qiu Peng and Lin Kai sat below, their expressions somewhat solemn.

Yuan Cheng stood in the center, holding a golden document in his hand. After reading its contents, he roared angrily, "Isn't Yang Zun making baseless accusations? Even if I were to kill someone, I would only kill Yang Ning and Li Hu. Yang Fan and his group didn't provoke me, so why would I kill them?"

After saying this, he paused and continued, "Besides, their team has fifteen people. Yang Fan's strength is 31, and the remaining 14 people are basically all above 20. I killed thirteen people in one go, and even managed to get two injured ones to escape. Does Yang Zun really believe Yang Ning's nonsense?"

"Sit down and calm down!"

Xia Chuan first gestured for Yuan Cheng to calm down, then said in a deep voice, "When you had a conflict with Yang Fan and others in the city on the first day of September, many people in the Eight Towns saw it with their own eyes and heard you say that you would kill these fifteen people. Now that these people have really been in trouble, coupled with Yang Ning's own testimony, how could Yang Zun not come looking for you?"

Qiu Peng nodded in agreement, his brows furrowing slightly. "Whether Yang Zun believes it or not is irrelevant. The key is that Yang Fan and his gang did indeed die near Hongmen City. Whether Yang Ning is talking nonsense or not is irrelevant. Yang Zun's letter directly identifies you as the murderer and demands that we hand you over. Moreover, it includes the signatures of Shangguan Yang and Qin Feng. This clearly shows that the three northern towns are using this incident to put pressure on us!"

Yuan Cheng's brows furrowed considerably.

He was certainly not worried about Xia Chuan handing him over.

The key point is that he has now realized that the words he said in front of so many people in Hongmen City nine days ago seem to be the root cause of the current problems.

His impulsiveness has clearly brought great trouble to the Great Xia!

(End of this chapter)