Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Traveling from Wushuang to Wuyuan, one must pass through Jing Valley and Xia City.

Upon reaching the two locations, Xia Hong paused quietly for a moment, roughly checked out the selection situation of the divisions within the Logging Realm, and finally left, shaking his head in disappointment.

Similar to what Wushuang saw, the vast majority of these logging groups had not even decided on a leader, or they had decided, but just before entering the field, internal disagreements still existed. Xia Hong could almost tell without looking that they couldn't advance.

Xia City was already in the seventh round of assessments, yet only two teams advanced.

This result completely extinguished Xia Hong's interest in observing further.

"Wuyuan is probably similar, but I should still take a look!"

Leaving Xia City, Xia Hong traveled swiftly for over ten minutes through the snowy night and soon arrived at Five Ape Mountain, currently the location for the Great Xia's Wuyuan station.

The Wuyuan station was on Middle Ape Peak, rebuilt on the basis of the former site of the Three Tigers Camp. Besides clearing its interior anew, they also constructed a closed wooden shed thirty meters wide and a hundred meters long along the mountain wall.

From afar, Xia Hong saw three iron cages outside the shed.

Inside each of the three iron cages, there was a team of a hundred people hunting Cold Beasts; around them were more than twenty hundred-person formations, clearly all participants from the Logging Realm; at the forefront of the formations, Xu Ning held a strong bow, keeping a keen eye on the three iron cages, seemingly preventing any Cold Beast rampages or unexpected events during the assessment.

"Oh...!"

Seeing the situation within the three iron cages from afar, Xia Hong immediately showed a hint of surprise in his eyes. He then found a spot with a relatively open view, continued watching for a while, and gradually looked more satisfied.

Unlike Xia City and the other four stations, here in Wuyuan, the three teams participating in the assessment within the cages each had a leader issuing commands, and the remaining members, whether grouped or scattered, clearly demonstrated having their own formations.

Just this aspect was far stronger than Xia City and the other four stations.

"Could it be that Xu Ning faked things, revealing the assessment contents in advance?"

Xia Hong frowned. The assessment objectives of the Logging Realm divisions included courage, morale, and teamwork and cooperation.

Selecting a leader, solving team morale and internal conflicts, and finally finding ways to unite the team and foster cohesion were inherently part of the assessment. If Xu Ning had told these people in advance, then this martial gathering would have no meaning.

That would be no different from cheating!

"No, Xu Ning doesn't seem like someone who would engage in such shams. Let me listen first."

Xia Hong moved closer, getting a bit nearer to the Logging Realm participants who hadn't entered the assessment yet, eavesdropping on their discussions.

"Hahaha, thanks to Lord Guardian, when we're not picking fruits or logging, he organizes us to go hunting with the Hunting Team. Turns out, this martial gathering rests on hunting Cold Beasts."

"It's still about hunting severely injured Cold Beasts. With over a hundred from the Logging Realm joining forces, as long as the leader is clear-headed, there's absolutely no problem."

"The key is, those who went out with the Hunting Team before are all at the peak of Wood Cutting Realm cultivation. This time, they've all been distributed among various teams; with thirty-one squads, each having fifteen members. As long as no one in the team messes up, advancing is entirely no problem!"

"In the past, I didn't understand why Lord Guardian did this. The Logging Realm going out with the Hunting Team, apart from odd jobs, couldn't help much. Now I realize, he was planning ahead, hahaha."

"Xia City didn't handle it like our Wuyuan. I reckon the Logging Realm there is all dumbfounded now. Very few will advance this time."

"Hahaha, Lord Guardian is really foresighted."

...

After listening for a while, Xia Hong's frowned brows immediately smoothed, looking at Xu Ning at the front of the cages with eyes full of praise.

Doing the groundwork in advance and then accidentally hitting upon it, that at most only counts as good luck, certainly not cheating.

"Good luck only favors those who prepare in advance!"

Since the camp's expansion direction changed to Longyou, Xia Hong truly hadn't paid much attention to the situation on Wuyuan's side. Xu Ning had also been focusing deeply in Wuyuan, rarely appearing in Xia City.

Coming up with the idea to let the Logging Realm go hunting with the team to enhance their hunting experience shows that in the year or so Xu Ning served as Wuyuan's garrison, his growth speed far exceeded Xia Hong's expectations.

Xia Hong's eyebrow twitched slightly. He snapped off an ice shard as long as his thumb and lightly flicked it towards the treetop.

Paghh...

The noise from the martial event at the station was loud, the sound of the snow cluster falling from the treetop was almost inaudible, yet Xia Hong noticed at once that Xu Ning at the front of the cages had already vanished.

"Sneaky, who goes there!"

Xu Ning's low shout, together with the swipe of his large knife, simultaneously reached Xia Hong's ears.

Whoosh...

The three-meter-long Barrier Blade swept through the air, the immense force stirring up a fierce wind that tore all the icicles off the trees, slashing quickly towards Xia Hong's head.

"Leader!"

At the last moment, when Xu Ning recognized the visitor as Xia Hong, he sheathed his knife.

But once unleashed, such a massive weapon as the Barrier Blade was difficult to retract, especially as Xu Ning hadn't been breaking past the Cold Resistance Level for long; his control over his own strength was clearly not very strong.

Thus, the large knife still sliced down.

Seeing he couldn't pull back the blade, Xia Hong didn't even draw his sword. Xu Ning's face was not only filled with regret but also a touch of fear.

He worried that he might truly injure Xia Hong.