Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 433 Emerging from Seclusion, Adding a Hairpin and Backfiring, The Grandeur of the Great Xia Dynasty and the Eve of its Explosive Growth
Star-Picking Platform, Enlightenment Lotus Platform
Xia Hong was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, his whole body radiating flames. Behind him floated a dark red skeletal figure nearly six zhang tall, its surface covered with a layer of golden patterns like molten lava, looking quite mysterious.

As his breathing became heavier, the golden patterns shone even brighter, as if they were providing support for the ever-growing, dark red bone structure.

Indeed, the skeletal phantom behind him was still growing larger.

Although the speed was incredibly slow, almost millisecond by millisecond, it was indeed gradually growing larger and stretching, and with the expansion, the aura emanating from the dark red bone structure became increasingly terrifying.

The height of its bones was already close to six zhang (approximately 33 meters).

With this final wave of enlargement and stretching, it is now almost six zhang in length.

But it was this last tiny difference that made Xia Hong's breathing become heavier and heavier, and the pain on his face intensified.

“Heh…heh…”

As the medicinal power rushed into his body at an accelerated pace, he even let out a suppressed, low hiss. A ball of white light suddenly emerged from between his eyebrows, and then a small portion of it split off, surging wildly into his body along with the medicinal power.

hum!
A deafening roar erupted in Xia Hong's heart, and the dark red bone statue behind him burst forth with a burst of intense light once more. With the intense light, the last inch of the critical point was finally crossed.

"The six-zhang (approximately 16 meters) bone structure is complete!"

Xia Hong suddenly opened his tightly closed eyes, and the flames surrounding him shot more than twice as high into the sky. The area of ​​temperature increase, which originally only radiated within a radius of 500 meters, also rapidly expanded outwards.

550米……600米……700米……900米……1100米……1300米……1500米。

The total depth of the inner city after the expansion of Daxia is only a little over five kilometers, with a radius of three kilometers. This means that at this moment, almost every movement in the inner city is within Xia Hong's perception.

"The temperature rise is three times greater than before, so what about the power..."

Xia Hong clenched his fist slightly, looked at the exposed sky above the Star-Picking Platform, a glint of light flashing in his eyes, and raised his hand to throw a punch directly into the sky.

The fist blasted out, almost instantly transforming into flames, like a fiery dragon soaring into the sky. The violent air explosion didn't completely reverberate across the heavens until a breath later.

boom…………

With the Flaming Dragon Fist Wind as its core, the airspace within a five-mile radius above the inner city was instantly dispelled, not to mention the snowflakes in the sky, even the surrounding cold air was instantly dispersed, forming a vacuum as if by a nuclear explosion, cleansing everything.

Buzz…………

Whoosh whoosh…

The shockwave spread for miles around, and as it spread, the previously dispersed airflow converged again, forming a powerful and domineering vortex.

Leaving aside the commotion in the inner city, Xia Hong was now staring intently at the clouds high above, which were being shaken by the force of his punches, his pupils filled with excitement and exhilaration.

"40 jun, 3 times, no, my base strength before breaking through the critical point was only 12 jun, so it's more than 3 times, almost 3.5 times the increase. This is too exaggerated, too exaggerated..."

At this moment, Xia Hong's pupils were filled with fervor.

One bristle is equal to 100,000 catties, and 100 bristles are equal to one jun. That is to say, one jun is approximately equal to 10 million catties, or even tens of millions of catties. This is a kind of power that cannot be intuitively represented by data, and it belongs to another level.

This is the core reason why, at the Xianyang level, one's power cannot continue to increase without breaking through the current cultivation level.

Because once you reach the Junyi level, it becomes extremely difficult to advance further!
Xia Hong had previously envisioned a doubling of the increase, from 12 jun to 24 jun, which was already his boldest idea.

Three and a half times! This was a huge surprise for him!
It's important to understand that this is only a change in the basic strength.

"I previously guessed that Yang Zun, Shangguan Yang, and Qin Feng were all at the late stage of the Manifestation Yang realm. Now it seems that all three of them are only at the mid-stage. However, compared to me, their mid-stage cultivation is far less impressive."

Xia Hong moved slightly behind him, closing his eyes to sense the changes in his bone structure.

The biggest change in the bone structure is, of course, its size, which has increased from three zhang in the early stages to six zhang now; secondly, the color of the bone structure is becoming increasingly shiny compared to before, and the color of the patterns attached to it is also turning towards an extreme gold; finally, a layer of transparent meridian tissue has appeared around the bone structure.

During the Battle of Hongmen last September, Yang Zun also had a layer of similar meridian tissue around his bone structure. Xia Hong had previously thought that it was a sign of the late stage of Xianyang cultivation, but now that he had also broken through, he naturally understood.

"If the meridians appear in the middle stage, then in the later stage, flesh and blood will likely grow. And when the skin membrane appears at the peak stage, the entire skeletal battle body can be materialized. That should be the idea, right?"

Xia Hong looked at the changes in his bone structure, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Although he lacked the experience of his predecessors, his cultivation progressed step by step, and everything was traceable. He could roughly figure it out by guessing.

Combat aptitude is defined starting from the breakthrough of the Cold Resistance level, which is the stage of reshaping the skin membrane, and the subsequent increase in Cold Resistance level strength is closely related to it.
The battle body bone structure is defined starting when breaking through to the Manifest Yang level, and the subsequent increase in strength at the Manifest Yang level is clearly closely related to it.

Xia Hong clearly remembered the strength of each of the five stages: Iron Bones (3 jun), Silver Bones (4 jun), Gold Bones (5 jun), Jade Bones (7 jun), and finally Burning Bones (10 jun).

"The battle body's bone structure has been fully manifested. I'd venture to guess that it corresponds to the next major realm, the Venerable Aspect level. But for some reason, there's another Tribulation Body level in between. Tribulation Body, Tribulation Body, could it be that I'm about to undergo tribulation?!"

A strange look flashed across Xia Hong's brow. Judging from just these three words, this was indeed the only possibility he could deduce.

"No, no, I'm still a long way from the later stages. At the current rate, it will take at least five or six years. There's no use thinking about it too much. I'll go to the warlords' place and see what's going on!"

Xia Hong shook his head and chuckled, but then he quickly remembered something. He raised his right hand, and as a ball of pure white light slowly appeared in his palm, his expression immediately became excited.

"The breakthrough ahead of schedule is all thanks to the incense offerings!"

Last October, before Xia Hong went into seclusion, he had already predicted that it would take him at least two more years to break through to the middle stage.

His breakthrough is now truly more than a year ahead of schedule!

The reason is that at this moment, he holds a ball of light that embodies the sacrificial offerings of everyone in the entire camp.

To be precise, it's all thanks to the Level 5 Ancestral Spirit Stele!
[Special Feature 5: The host is the sole major sect and can enjoy an annual boost to incense cultivation. The boosting effect is related to the number of worshippers and their level of piety.]

This unexpected joy ultimately stems from last year's population boom!
Last September, the last round of population integration in Ba Shang exceeded 90.

These people, who had just been incorporated into the Great Xia, naturally did not immediately erect monuments for worship, but as a year passed, they all began to set up monuments for worship in the ancestral temple.

In May, when assisting Li Xuanling in his attempt to reach the Xianyang level, Xia Hong had already thought of this matter. So he instructed Xia Chuan in advance to move this year's ancestral worship ceremony to the fifth day of the eighth lunar month.

Firstly, he wanted to take advantage of this round of ancestral rites following the population boom to break through to the mid-stage of the Manifestation Realm; secondly, he didn't want to miss the hair-adding ceremony for his two children.

“Xuanling has also broken through. She has a different kind of Ice Bone. Although her strength is only 9 jun, it is on the same level as my Burning Bone. When she was at the peak of the Cold Resistance level, she was only 4 jun weaker than me. But as soon as she broke through to the Manifestation level, she widened the gap to 1 jun. Talent really determines so much. It is too difficult to make up for it.”

Xia Hong sighed softly, then suddenly remembered something and quickly leaped out of the divine lotus, flying rapidly towards the direction of the ancestral temple's sacred platform.

"I almost forgot, the two little ones are going to blame me!"

He was in such a rush to leave the pass today because he didn't want to miss his children's hair-adding ceremony that he almost got too excited and completely forgot about it.

The ancestral temple was just behind the Star-Picking Platform, only about 300 meters away. Xia Hong arrived in an instant and quickly flew to the top of the sacred platform.

Meanwhile, at the Grand Sacred Platform, Xia Yuyao and Xia Yusheng were performing the hair-adding ceremony.

The hair-adding ceremony was nearing its end, and Li Xuanling was currently styling the hair of the two little ones. She originally intended to do her daughter's hair first, but Xia Yuyao pouted and looked aggrieved, clearly unwilling to do it first. On the other hand, Xia Yusheng was full of excitement. Seeing that his sister was unwilling to do it first, he walked directly to Li Xuanling and handed her the back of his head.

Xia Hong guessed half of it correctly.

Clearly, only Xia Yuyao was blaming him.

Xia Yusheng finally turned six today, but he's so focused on cultivation that he's completely forgotten about his own father.

When Xia Hong appeared in the sky, Li Xuanling was the first to notice him, followed by Xia Chuan, Yuwen Tao, and the more than 300 people below.

As they watched Xia Hong, whose aura grew increasingly imposing, slowly descend, they knew that their lord's strength had increased considerably. Their faces were filled with excitement and exhilaration, and they all bowed deeply to him.
"Congratulations, Lord, on achieving your divine skill! May you live ten thousand years, and may the Great Xia Dynasty live ten thousand years!"

The group of children were startled, but quickly recovered, looked up at Xia Hong slowly descending, and shouted in unison along with their fathers:

"Congratulations, Lord, on achieving your divine skill! May you live ten thousand years, and may the Great Xia Dynasty live ten thousand years!"

On the altar, Xia Yuyao's tense little face instantly blossomed into a smile the moment she saw her father. She rushed to her father, glanced at her younger brother with a defiant look, and said in a crisp, triumphant voice, "Daddy, quickly help Ayao tie her hair!"

"cough……"

Xia Yusheng puffed out his cheeks in anger, instinctively wanting to rush to his father's side, but before he could make a move, he was stopped by a light cough from his mother, Li Xuanling, who was tying his hair.

"It's done!"

Today, not only Xia Yuyao and Xia Yusheng were performing the hair-adding ceremony, but also their eldest niece Xia Yuning. Xia Chuan was still the chief officiant. After tying his daughter's hair, he loudly announced that the ceremony was complete.

Next is the last segment, and it's Xia Hong's turn.

"Yuan Cheng, your eyes are practically popping out of their sockets!"

Seeing Yuan Cheng looking at the offerings on the table with anticipation, Xia Hong chuckled and teased him, which immediately drew laughter from the crowd below.

Yuan Cheng scratched his head and chuckled, "There are more tributes this year than in previous years! I'm really envious. I wish the lord could give me a bigger share."

"Dividing them by rank won't do. It'll be the same as every year, according to nobility!"

Xia Hong responded with a smile, then gently waved his hand at the table, infusing the remaining incense smoke from his cultivation into the four kinds of offerings.

The incense sticks can not only be used by themselves, but also added to the offerings used up in the annual sacrifices. Xia Hong had foreseen that the incense offerings this year would be far more abundant than last year, so he asked Xia Chuan to prepare more offerings in advance.

Under Qiu Peng's direction, the distribution of sacrificial offerings was completed quickly, and everyone received a portion of the tribute according to their rank.

"Alright, the ancestral ceremony is over. Xia Chuan, the chief and deputy chiefs of the eight departments, and all the garrison commanders of the major outposts, all of you go to the council hall. I haven't left my seclusion for almost a year, so you should give me a briefing on the situation at the camps. The rest of you, you can disperse if there's nothing else!"

Xia Hong left a message, picked up Xia Yuyao and Xia Yusheng, and flew directly towards the main hall, with Li Xuanling following closely behind.

Xia Chuan and the others who were called out quickly left the ancestral temple and headed towards the main hall. The remaining nearly three hundred people on the sacred platform also dispersed one after another.

…………

"21800 jin, 21500 jin, wow, in less than a year you'll have to start rebuilding your skin membranes, and you'll be able to break through to the cold-resistance level before you're 10 years old!"

The main hall, the council hall.

Xia Hong sat down in the main seat, looked at the two little ones in his arms, and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

"Hmph, of course, Ayao is Father's daughter!"

Upon hearing his daughter's words, Xia Hong burst into laughter.

"The others are about to enter the hall. Stop bothering your father and come over here quickly!"

Hearing their mother's slightly stern words, the two little ones immediately became much more subdued, quickly jumped down from Xia Hong's arms, and walked briskly to their mother's seat, sitting obediently on either side of her.

Seeing how obedient his children were to Li Xuanling, Xia Hong shook his head repeatedly, feeling a pang of jealousy in his heart.

"Speaking of this makes me a little angry. The original plan was to give them one Spirit Milk Pill every month, but the two of them actually ran into my room, found the Spirit Milk Pill, and secretly hid it for themselves, taking an extra one every month. If I hadn't noticed that their growth rate was a bit abnormal after I came out of seclusion, probably no one would know by now."

Xia Hong was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then looked at the two little ones and said with a slightly stern expression, "You two dare to take pills indiscriminately, you're getting bolder and bolder!"

Xia Yuyao and Xia Yusheng were already feeling a little guilty after hearing their mother's words, and when they heard their father's stern tone, they immediately lowered their heads.

"This time, you'll be punished by being forbidden from leaving the inner city for a month. If you dare to take pills recklessly again, it will be a year. Will you dare to do it again?"

"Never again!"

Hearing the two little ones answer in unison, Xia Hong finally felt relieved.

Although the two little ones have good aptitude, they are only at the Digging Realm cultivation level. Fortunately, the Spirit Milk Pill has a mild effect. If they had eaten some pills that they shouldn't have at this stage, the consequences would have been very serious.

"My original plan was to keep them in check, but now it seems they really will have to break through to the Cold Resistance level before they turn 10. If that's the case, none of you will be able to leave Xia City before you get your crown at 15!"

Upon hearing Li Xuanling's words, Xia Yuyao and Xia Yusheng's faces immediately tightened like bitter gourds, as if the word "regret" was written all over their foreheads.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Xia Hong couldn't help but laugh when he saw the expressions on the two little ones' faces.

Last year, when the two little ones took the Spirit Milk Pill for the first time, Xia Hong watched the whole process. He knew then that, given their aptitude, the maximum number of pills they could take each month should be three.

The decision to give only one per month was made by Li Xuanling.

The reason wasn't complicated; they were just afraid that the two little ones' extraordinary talent might attract some great trouble. The Great Xia Dynasty was indeed quite powerful, but there were still two powerful vassal states watching over it. No one could predict what the future would hold, and if the two little ones performed too exceptionally well, it might not necessarily be a good thing.

The wood is beautiful in the forest, and the wind will destroy it.

With this in mind, Xia Hong finally agreed to Li Xuanling's decision.

Who would have thought that the two little ones would actually find the Spirit Milk Pills on their own, and even secretly eat one more each month. No wonder their basic strength is now over 2 jin. Just one more pill a month can improve them so much. If they were to take them at the maximum limit, wouldn't they be able to reach the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm?
In this light, Li Xuanling's decision did indeed seem to have some foresight.

The two little ones dreamed of going outside Xia City to see the world. Originally, according to Li Xuanling's plan, if their strength didn't grow that fast, it wouldn't be a problem to take them out for a trip when they reached a certain age.

The two's attempt to steal and consume the Spirit Milk Pill clearly backfired, resulting in Li Xuanling's ban on leaving Xia City before the age of 15.

Xia Hong couldn't help but laugh when he saw the two of them with tense little faces.

"Be good, don't make your mother angry, she'll let you out!"

Xia Hong smiled and comforted the two of them. Noticing that a large number of footsteps were approaching outside, he immediately sat up straight and faced the entrance of the main hall.

"Meet the lord!"

Xia Chuan quickly led more than thirty people in.

"Huh? Xia City has added another district?"

Xia Hong glanced at everyone briefly before asking with curiosity.

He had just summoned the eight chief ministers and all the garrison commanders to the hall. There were 41 people in the hall at the moment. In the front row were Xia Chuan and 11 chief ministers of the eight chief ministers, and in the back row there were 30 people.

He remembered that when he went into seclusion last year, Xia City had a total of 22 districts. Adding Longshan, Dongling, Wuyuan, Hongmen, and Bashang, there should have been a total of 27 magistrates. The Great Xia had not expanded outwards, so the three new districts were naturally the three new districts that Xia City had added.

As expected, as soon as Xia Hong finished speaking, three people immediately stepped forward and respectfully bowed to him.
"Peng Bo, the garrison commander of the Sixth District of the Outer City, pays his respects to the lord!"

"Forestry, the magistrate of the seventh district of the outer city, pays his respects to the lord!"

"Li Yuankun, the garrison commander of the Eighth District of the Outer City, pays his respects to the lord!"

The 18 districts in the East City are full, and the North City has now opened up to 8 districts, which means that Xia City currently has a total of 26 districts.

"No need to be polite, get up!"

【Population: 2782762】

Xia Cheng opened the camp system, and after seeing the population data, a look of understanding immediately appeared in his eyes. He waved his hand to signal the three people below to stand up.

"Tell me about the situation in the three departments: supplies, weaponry, and hunting!"

Qiu Peng, the director of the Logistics Department, was the first to step forward, cupping his hands in greeting:
"Reporting to the lord, after the three towns merged, a large number of hunting teams from the camp went to Muyin and Jiangxia in the past year, and entered Mo'ao Mountain to hunt and gather through the two towns. The pressure on our camp's supplies has been greatly reduced. At present, the price of low-grade beast meat is maintained at 5 contribution points per catty. The prices of refined salt, spirit wine, pills, weapons and other supplies have remained basically stable."

Secondly, Hongmen has been open to the public for over a year, and it brings in at least 1500 million taels of silver for the camp every month.

Due to the grand martial arts tournament in the three towns, revenue has been rising steadily since April this year: 3158 million taels in April, 4821 million taels in May, 5021 million taels in June, and 5018 million taels in July. It is expected to decline in August, but it is still expected to remain above 4000 million taels.

The Ministry of Supply's silver inventory currently stands at 67620 million taels. The silver exchange rate in the camp remains at 100 contribution points per jin, just as before. Exchanges are only open to camp personnel, and the exchange quota for each person is limited based on their cultivation level and rank.
Finally, let's talk about the availability of local products.

Last year, the Jiuqu River was added, along with the entrance to Mo'ao Mountain in Heyin Village. After the three towns were integrated, many hunting and gathering sites were added in Muyin and Jiangxia towns. Including all the newly established outposts on the north bank of Xinghe River and Bashang, there are currently 65 outposts outside Daxia. In addition, there are 26 districts under the jurisdiction of Xiacheng, for a total of 91 outposts.

In the seventh year of the Great Xia Dynasty, our camp's annual profit was 13.97 billion.

Last year, Daxia's total profit creation amounted to 23.87 billion yuan. This year, the profit creation amount for the first seven months has only accumulated to 27.92 billion yuan, and it is expected to exceed 4 billion yuan for the whole year.

Whoosh...

When Qiu Peng announced that the total profit value for this year was expected to exceed 40 billion, everyone in the room erupted in excitement.

Even Xia Hong, who was sitting at the head of the table, couldn't help but show a hint of excitement on his face.

Yingchuang Value was first created by Xia Chuan at the beginning of the third year of the Great Xia Dynasty. It means the value created by the surplus of the outpost. Simply put, it is how much material each outpost can supply to Xia City. The value of these materials is basically measured by contribution value.

Yingchuang Value has been operating in Daxia for more than six years, and those present today are all senior executives, so they naturally understand what it means.

The 27.92 billion yuan in profit creation value, if converted into an equivalent contribution value and then into silver, would amount to 2792 million jin (1.4 tons).

Of course, this method of transformation is very crude and can only partially, or even one-sidedly, reflect the value of these products, but it has some reference value.

The key is this, called Earnings Creation Value!
It is the value created by the surplus, not the total output value.

In other words, this 1.4 tons of silver is only the total value of the materials that all the outposts unilaterally transported to Xia City in the first seven months.

Given the current population size of Great Xia, the resources needed to maintain the operation of all outposts and for everyone's cultivation would be several times, or even more than ten times, this number.

"Territorial expansion, an increase in hunting and gathering sites, the boost from trade, and the overall strengthening of the camp—with these four factors combined, the surge in profit creation value is only natural!"

Unlike the astonishment of others, Xia Hong immediately analyzed the reason for the surge in the total value of profit creation in the past two years. He turned his head to look at the full map of the Great Xia territory behind the main seat, and his expression brightened slightly.

If we can take over the entire southern foothills of Mount Mo'ao, the total profit of the Great Xia Dynasty can increase by at least several times.

"Who organized the Three Towns Martial Arts Tournament?"

After calming down, Xia Hong immediately asked with a smile what Qiu Peng had just mentioned about the Three Towns Martial Arts Tournament.

He understood just from those four words, but he wanted to know whose idea it was, so he asked that question on purpose.

Qiu Peng immediately smiled and turned to look at the crowd.

"My lord, it was my idea!"

Lin Kai stepped forward, his tone unusually enthusiastic. He cupped his hands and continued, "Last year, the lord told me to accelerate the integration of the three towns. Every year, Great Xia holds a martial arts competition, which is a good opportunity to strengthen exchanges among young people. At first, I only invited Muyin and Jiangxia towns, but later I felt that since I had decided to invite outsiders, I might as well open it up to everyone. So, although it is nominally called the Three Towns Martial Arts Competition, in reality, people from all the towns on the southern slope of Mo'ao have come to participate..."

As Lin Kai recounted the entire story of the Three Towns Martial Arts Tournament, Xia Hong's expression of admiration deepened, and he looked at Lin Kai with increasing satisfaction.

To say he couldn't have imagined these things would be a lie.

But if he has to think about everything, then what's the difference between today's Daxia and the Tupo era more than ten years ago?
Xia Chuan, Yuwen Tao, Qiu Peng, Xu Ning, Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, Lu Yang, and now Lin Kai—these people have not only grown in strength, but also in vision and ability to handle affairs at a visible pace.

He is now able to dedicate more and more time to cultivation!
"The martial arts competition is not just about promoting the integration of young people from the three towns. Back in the Hongmen preliminary and semi-final rounds, I organized the Great Xia hunting team. When selecting team members, the focus was naturally on the young people from the outer towns. Once these young people joined the Great Xia hunting team, they basically became members of Great Xia. It was only a matter of time before their relatives also integrated into Great Xia."

Lin Kai finally came to the end, having listed all the benefits. He seemed to realize he had gone a bit too far, and chuckled with his hands clasped in a gesture of respect.

He said, "Of course, it's not all good. This martial arts tournament will cost at least 3000 million taels of silver, which is a downside..."

"What kind of downside is that!"

Xia Hong interrupted him directly, waving his hand and saying, "Whether it's silver or supplies, even if the warehouse is piled up with them, they're just a bunch of dead things. Only when they're spent can they truly be considered useful."

This martial arts competition is very well organized. It should be held every year from now on, and the scale should be upgraded each year. If you organize the competition well, the camp's income will only increase.

"I obey my orders!"

Receiving Xia Hong's personal praise, Lin Kai was naturally even more excited.

"Alright, what about the hunting department?"

Luo Yuan, the head of the Hunting Department, immediately stepped forward and bowed, saying:
"Reporting to the Lord, the Hunting Department currently has more than 5 hunting teams under its jurisdiction, including 1822 high-level teams, more than 1 mid-level teams, and nearly 4 low-level teams."

To balance the hunting and gathering efficiency at various resource points, our hunting department has evenly distributed these 50,000-plus hunting teams across the 91 outposts below. Also, due to the integration of the three towns, I have allocated 20% of the hunting teams specifically to hunt in Muyin and Jiangxia towns, and we expect to continue to increase this number in the future.

In addition, the hunting department began forming specialized fishing and hunting teams last year. However, fishing and hunting are quite difficult, so so far only a little over 100 teams have been formed. We will continue to improve this in the future.

From Xia Hong's current perspective, the extreme cold environment of the Ice Abyss has already determined that hunting and gathering will remain the eternal theme for humankind. The reason is simple: the food cultivated by humans simply cannot replace the status of cold beasts.

It's a very simple principle: a person can't just maintain vital signs to live; you have to adapt to and integrate into the environment, and eventually evolve to become a form suitable for survival in that environment.

For the humans of the Ice Abyss, the only way to adapt is to cultivate and become stronger!
If you want to cultivate and become stronger, beast meat is an indispensable resource. Other fruits and spiritual plants, no matter how much better they are at filling your stomach, can never replace it.

1822 high-level hunting teams!

Xia Hong nodded slightly, then looked at Yuwen Tao.

Yuwen Tao understood immediately, stepped forward, and cupped his hands in greeting:

"Reporting to the lord, in the past year, the military has not expanded its army and has maintained the size of fifteen armies. However, the soldiers' cultivation level has made great progress."

As of August, according to the reports from various armies, all soldiers of the five armies of Tulong, Hubao, Xuanwu, Shenwu, and Longyuan have broken through to the cold-resistant level; more than 70% of the soldiers of the four armies of Lieying, Shanhe, Xiongwu, and Beizhao have broken through; and 50% of the soldiers of the remaining four armies of Heijian, Qingjiao, Dongyang, and Feipeng have broken through.

The soldiers of both the Yunjiao and Longwu armies were almost all at least level 6.

Whoosh...

The previous events were already shocking enough, but Yuwen Tao's last sentence instantly caused a stir among the crowd.

The Yunjiao and Longwu armies both had soldiers with a strength of 6 or higher...

Putting everything else aside, the few officers in the hall who were in charge of the troops immediately felt a sense of urgency.

That's a huge difference!
"Of the seven cold-weather-grade military units, four have 70% and four have 50% remaining. The cold-weather-grade personnel alone number over 12000..."

Xia Hong's focus differed from the others. After pondering for a while, he immediately turned to look at Xia Chuan in the front row.

Xia Chuan understood immediately, stepped forward, and cupped his hands in greeting:

"Reporting to the lord, as of August, the total population of Great Xia has exceeded 278 million, of which there are more than 17800 at the Cold Resistance level and more than 11 at the Earth Digging Realm limit. Moreover, this number is increasing every day."

Xia Chuan didn't even bother to mention the number of people with the Earth-Digging Realm cultivation level.

Upon hearing these two numbers, Xia Hong couldn't help but perk up.

He remembered clearly that last September, the number of Cold-resistant and Earth-digging Realm limit users were 7252 and 24272 respectively.

In one year, the number of people requiring winter protection more than doubled;

The limit of the Digging Realm is even more exaggerated, expanding by nearly five times.

"This rate of improvement is outrageous. Simply increasing the population base wouldn't be enough to cause such a huge impact. It's mainly trade that has led to the diversification of cultivation resources, allowing the people in the camp to enjoy more cultivation resources..."

As if afraid Xia Hong wasn't happy enough, Xia Chuan continued:
"I have observed that the increase in cultivation level this year has been basically in a step-by-step manner. The age of the people who break through is basically between 30 and 40, which means that we are still relying on our past achievements."

The breakthroughs of the new generation are just the beginning. I predict that after this year's martial arts competition, there will be a wave of breakthroughs, and by next year, or at the latest the year after, in the eleventh year of the Great Xia Dynasty, there will be a massive surge in breakthroughs. At that time, the number of Cold-Resistant level units in the camp will increase several times over.

The geyser surge hasn't officially arrived yet, but it's coming soon!

Xia Hong instantly understood the meaning of Xia Chuan's words, and his expression immediately became excited.

If you think about it carefully, you can understand it. The Cold Resistance level is over 17800, but the limit of the Earth Digging Realm is over 11. This is itself a sign of the impending boom.

At the latest by next year or the year after, these 11+ Digging Realm Limit Breakers will inevitably break through to the Cold Resistance level one after another. Wouldn't that be the explosive growth period that Xia Chuan mentioned?

As Xia Hong's gaze swept around, Yuan Cheng, the head of the Garrison Department, Mu Dong, the head of the Craftsmen Department, Cheng Feng, the head of the Logging Department, and Zhu Yuan, the head of the Civil Affairs Department, came out one after another to introduce the improvements and changes over the past year.

Finally, Li Tiancheng, the head of the prison department, stood up with a slight tremor in his body and bowed as he spoke about the changes in the prison department.

Seeing Li Tiancheng's aged and decrepit appearance, Xia Hong's expression froze slightly. When he saw that Li Tiancheng's flesh and blood had withered to the point that he had less than 10 hairs left, his heart skipped a beat. He then subconsciously turned his head to look at Li Xuanling beside him.

Sure enough, Li Xuanling looked at her second uncle, Li Tiancheng, with an unusually gloomy expression.

As if sensing Xia Hong's gaze, Li Xuanling turned to meet his eyes, and as if remembering something, a glimmer of hope rose in her eyes.

Xia Hong sighed slightly, and only after Li Tiancheng finished speaking did he smile and say, "The nearly three million people of Great Xia are able to live and work in peace and contentment, thanks in no small part to the Ministry of Prisons. The Xia Law, the Heavenly Prison, the Prison Warden, the Chief Justice, the Case File System... Although Elder Li has no military merits, he has devoted himself wholeheartedly to Great Xia and his contributions are immense..."

At this point, Xia Hong paused, then continued, "By imperial decree, Elder Li of Jin is granted the title of Fifth-Rank Viscount of the Golden Palace, effective immediately."

Upon hearing this, Li Tiancheng's expression suddenly changed.

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(End of this chapter)