I am the sacred tree, evergreen for eternity.

"Fortunately, they couldn't escape the oasis."

"Thank goodness?" Meng snorted through his nose. "We can't get in anyway."

Indeed, the human race has also lost its ability to attack.

Tens of thousands of puppets covered every inch of the oasis, forming an impenetrable human wall.

No, a wall of corpses.

Even if every human is an elite, when faced with an endless stream of enemies, their spiritual light will be exhausted, and their blades will dull...

And they won't stop.

"But... a stalemate is also a death sentence."

The wind was soft, yet every word pierced the hearts of those present like needles.

The abominations are still devouring the earth's veins.

It's not in a hurry.

After eating and cleaning up, their bellies were full and their intestines were bulging.

At that time, the monsters that have evolved again will emerge from the depths of the oasis.

At that time, humanity will become...

Fish on the cutting board.

The night wind blew from the wasteland, carrying sand and gravel that stung my face, cold and sharp.

In the distance, in the darkness of the oasis, the dim yellow flames could be faintly seen flickering.

Thousands upon thousands, it's terrifying.

The experienced and prudent travelers exchanged glances.

They didn't speak, but they both understood what the other was saying.

This expedition was never intended to be a quick victory.

Since we can't break through, let's at least establish a foothold first.

Resources are scarce in the desert.

Water had to be carried by four-legged lizards from underground rivers dozens of miles away, food had to be obtained by hunting sand lizards and scorpions that roamed the wilderness, and there was no wood or stone available at all.

However, half of the vanguard team consisted of experts at the Mingling Realm, and the rest were at least at the Breakthrough Stage of the Body Forging Realm.

If these people were placed in the Xia Kingdom, each of them would be an elite force capable of standing alone.

Humans are a race that excels at building.

Before dawn the next day, Qi led his men to draw the outline of the camp on the sandbar.

With the top of the sand dune as the center line, it extends southward, backed by the wasteland and facing the oasis.

The terrain should be high and have a wide field of vision, so that the spiritual light can cover the edge of the riverbed and prevent the puppets from launching a sneak attack at night.

Meng, the foremost craftsman of the Xia Kingdom, personally oversaw the forging, casting the ore he had brought with him into thick iron plates and sturdy iron pillars.

Xuan led a team deep into the wilderness and found a dried-up ancient riverbed dozens of miles away.

The riverbed is filled with gravel and coarse sand deposited over millions of years. After being screened by Lingguang, there is far more usable stone than expected.

Yu and the second-generation travelers are responsible for laying a solid foundation.

More than two hundred expedition members worked in shifts day and night.

A month later, the basic shape of the camp was clearly visible.

Three months later, the outer wall of the stockade was erected. It was a stone wall two zhang high, with arrow towers and watchtowers on top.

Six months later, the camp was fully formed.

From a high vantage point, it appears as a sharply defined military fortress, resembling a massive, armored beast crouching atop a sandbar.

Qi stood on the stockade wall, gazing at the still lifeless oasis, speechless for a long time.

The scouts were forced to retreat once again.

He had lost count of how many times this had happened.

The number of scouts decreased from ten to five, and then from five to three.

Fewer people mean more flexibility, but the result is always the same.

The moment the scouts set foot on the oasis, the puppets hidden everywhere would swarm out like a disturbed swarm of ants.

Frenzied, tearing.

The Gluttonous Ones didn't even need to lift a finger; their claws and teeth had already kept humanity firmly outside the yellow-green boundary.

Most recently, Yu led two criminals to the edge of the riverbed.

They concealed their presence with their spiritual light, crawled along the ground, and spent an entire night climbing across the open meadow.

Then, just as they were about to enter the palm grove.

A puppet hung upside down from a tree, its fiery eyes staring directly at Yu's face.

The distance was less than three feet.

Yu severed its neck with a single stroke, but the noise alerted the entire forest.

Thousands of puppets poured out of the darkness like a flood bursting its banks.

Yu and his two companions fought with all their might to escape back to the other side of the riverbed, leaving behind a trail of purplish-black pus and the remains of more than a dozen puppets.

"I can't get in." Yu gasped for breath, a bloody gash on his face.

"That forest is their eyes. There are no blind spots, neither in the sky nor on the ground."

The stalemate continues.

Spring passes and autumn comes.

However, there are no seasons in the desert, only huge fluctuations in temperature between day and night and the never-ending sandstorms.

Several more months passed.

That morning, the sentry on the watchtower suddenly blew the horn.

It was a long, guiding sound; our companions from afar had finally arrived!

Qi put down his charcoal pencil, walked out of the stone house, and climbed the village wall.

On the eastern horizon, a thin black line is moving slowly.

People, people of the Xia Kingdom!

Groups of people came from the depths of the wilderness.

The hooves of the four-legged lizard shattered the morning light, and its armor gleamed with a dull luster in the rising sun.

The first batch.

The second batch.

The third batch...

The reinforcements for the expedition finally arrived one after another, more than half a year after the vanguard team arrived at the oasis.

They followed the trail markers that the vanguard had risked their lives to establish, like fresh blood flowing into the heart of this desert fortress.

The clerk in charge of registration squatted inside the village gate, a thick animal skin scroll spread out in front of him, his charcoal pencil flying across his hand.

His lips moved as he uttered one name and one number after another.

"Third patrol team of the Northern Province, reporting for duty, all thirty-seven members present."

"Fifty-two men from the Seventh Naval Battalion of the Southern Xinjiang Province reported for duty, but two were lost en route."

"Twenty-three pharmacists from the Western Province have reported for duty, carrying forty packets of herbs."

"The Royal City Guard Battalion has reported for duty, with all personnel present."

The sound continued from dawn until dusk.

As the last group of people entered the village gate, the clerk checked the numbers on the animal-skin scroll several times, then looked up:

"Commander-in-Chief, Expeditionary Warriors... There are 312 people above the Mingling Realm."

"819 personnel from the logistics departments of each battalion, exceeding the time limit."

"Everyone has arrived!"

Xuan and the others stood aside, watching the bustling crowd in the camp, their hearts surging with emotion.

One thousand and thirty-one elite warriors—this is the strongest force that the Xia Kingdom can mobilize.

This is the indomitable backbone of humanity!

Qi returned the animal skin scroll to the clerk, turned around, and was about to walk down the stockade wall.

A familiar figure emerged from the last group of people.

With its grayish-white, stone-like skin and towering height of three zhang (approximately 10 meters), it stood out conspicuously in the crowd.

It walked very slowly, each step making the ground tremble slightly, but it carefully controlled its pace, afraid of stepping on the person in front of it.

In those crack-like stone eyes, a dark yellow light flickered in the twilight.

The earliest members of the pioneer team were all stunned.

"Little one?"

Yu rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating.

The stone giant had obviously heard it; it quickened its pace and walked to the front of the village gate.

On that stone face without clear features, the cracks in the mouth stretched to both sides.

"Hehehe."

Familiar laughter, accompanied by the crisp sound of ore colliding, echoed in the twilight.

"I didn't want to come either."

The small thought spread out, carrying with it a unique, seemingly simple, warmth.

It paused, the gaping mouth stretching almost to its ears—if it had ears at all.

"You've given us too much..."