Chapter 263: Offering Advice, An Elder Brother Like a Father
"Big sis, second sis, I brought soup."
"Coming!"
Outside the main building in room number 1, Xiao Hen carried a heavy box of meat and bone soup, smiling as he entered the room with the second sister, Xiao Yu, who had come to open the door.
"Why bring it again? Didn't I tell mom to stop making it? I'm eating it every day; it's almost driving me nuts."
The eldest sister, Xiao Ning, was sitting in the living room. Though she was complaining with her mouth, her face was still full of smiles. As Xiao Hen approached, she quickly waved to brush the snow off him and then pushed him down onto a chair.
"Elder sister, please don't make me drink more; I ate at home, and now I'm here to eat again. These days I'm almost bursting."
Seeing his sister pull out a bowl and chopsticks, filling a bowl to the brim, Xiao Hen immediately waved his hands in refusal, yet Xiao Ning completely ignored him, placing the bowl right in front of him.
Xiao Yu teased from the side, "Who told you to love delivering stuff so much? Just say you don't want to deliver them, and problem solved. Since it's here, you have to eat it."
Xiao Hen had a bitter look on his face at these words; his mother had spoken, how could he disobey!
Joking aside, Xiao Hen actually understood very well; both elder sisters were in the Earth-digging Realm with their cultivation, lacking no Contribution Value. Besides, given brother-in-law Xia Chuan's status and abilities, how could they lack something like Beast Meat.
Not to mention, just these past five days, every time he left brother-in-law's house, his hands were never empty, as both sisters were always slipping him things.
Intermediate Beast Meat, refined salt, Beast Essence Pills, fabrics, and even last night, elder sister gave him 1 pound of aged wine, which was intercepted by father Xiao Kangcheng upon his return, only giving him a glass.
For the past few days, he was somewhat resentful towards his mother for good soup deliveries turning into things being given, but today, coming out of the Martial Arts Academy, he suddenly understood.
Brother-in-law Xia Chuan had been in Longyou for almost a month, always being away from home.
The real intention of his mother was probably seeing the brother-in-law absent from the camp, fearing the two sisters would be too lonely at home, hence asking him to use the reason of delivering meat soup to chat with the sisters, easing their boredom.
Understanding this layer, Xiao Hen wasn't as clueless as the last few times, drinking the meat soup while proactively chatting with the sisters.
"Sis, today at the Martial Arts Academy, I heard that the rules for the Earth-digging Realm group competition are already out, and the rewards are really frightening!"
Xiao Ning saw her brother initiate the chat and immediately nodded with a smile, responding, "Exactly, there's so much good stuff, I'm practically drooling over it. Sadly, both my second sister and I aren't strong enough; my basic strength is twenty-seven thousand, my second sister's is fourteen thousand, we don't even have hope of advancing."
Xiao Hen nodded and said, "That's for sure. Of the fifty Earth-digging Realm entrants to the Martial Arts Academy last night, all have broken through the thirty thousand-pound limit. I heard father say in the camp now, there are close to four hundred Earth-digging Realm who have surpassed thirty thousand; your basic strength has to be over sixty thousand even to hope for advancement!"
Xiao Yu thought of something at this point and interjected, "Right, Xiao Hen, I haven't seen father in a long time, nor uncle Yuan. What's their basic strength now? Do they have hope of advancing?"
Xiao Ning became interested upon hearing this, gazing at her brother with anticipation.
Xiao He Camp merged with Great Xia over a year ago; Father Xiao Kangcheng and Uncle Xiao Yuan formed the Xiao Mountain Team, and now it has advanced to Intermediate level, naturally raising their power. Xiao Ning recalled, last September, father and uncle both broke through to the Earth-digging Realm limit; they should be stronger now.
"I don't know either!"
Yet, Xiao Hen didn't know about the cultivation status of the two elders.
After speaking, he reminisced for a moment before saying, "The two of them have recently returned with a lot of beast blood and are often going to the Martial Arts Academy to cultivate. Their nighttime hunting sessions are getting longer; they must be preparing."
Upon hearing their brother's words, Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu immediately understood; Father and Uncle must be striving for advancement, their faces all showing a smile.
"Big sis, second sis, I heard the Cold Resistance Level competition group will be personally handled by the leader. Do you think brother-in-law will be the champion?"
The two women chuckled softly at these words, showing a bit of pride on their faces.
People naturally focus their gaze on the strong.
This time's competition, Great Xia's everyone is most concerned with the Cold Resistance Level group.
Currently, the camp has 23 Cold Resistance Levels, and the only one who truly understands everyone's strength is probably the leader, yet this does not affect everyone's discussions.
Currently, the favorites to win the Cold Resistance Level group are heard to be four people: Minister Xia Chuan, Hunting Department Director Yuwen Dao, and the newly added Hive Leader Chen Yingyuan, and Yang Lu Leader Peng Bo.
Xiao Hen asked this question clearly favoring brother-in-law Xia Chuan.
Of course, Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu favored their husband even more than he did.
The two women didn't directly answer the question, merely smiled in silence.
Xiao Hen saw the two sisters not answering, his eyes shifted, and he continued asking:
"Sis, the rules for the Logging Realm competition aren't announced yet; do you know any inside information?"
Bang...
"Ouch..."
No sooner had Xiao Hen asked than his second sister, Xiao Yu, knocked on his head.
"You brat, already starting to think about these crooked ideas. Not saying I don't know, even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
Xiao Ning didn't react as strongly, pondering for a moment, then saying, "Including Wuyuan, Mirror Valley, and Longyou over there, Great Xia now has at least over thirty thousand Logging Realm people. From my observations in recent days, deliberate carders like you not breaking through, there are at least two thousand, and with half a month still before the official start of the June 1st Martial Arts event, there will definitely be more and more later..."