Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

"Arena number three, tenth match for Meng Ning, starting now!"

"Arena number forty-one, eighth match for Chen Hua, begin."

"Arena number seventeen, ninth match for Zhu Xing, begin."

"Arena number fifty, tenth match for Tong Xingsheng, begin."

.........

The main road of the Inner City was bustling with noise.

As the voices of the referees echoed, in the arenas surrounded by fifty wooden stakes, blades and swords were flashing. Some matches with significant strength differences concluded in just over ten breaths, while evenly matched competitors fought tirelessly with no winner in sight even after a hundred breaths.

"Dad, go for it!"

"Go, Daddy, go! Go, Daddy, go!"

By arena twenty-one, siblings Xiang Yan and Xiang Rong were shouting hoarsely with flushed faces to cheer on their father Xiang Ping on the arena, completely disregarding the teasing glances from those around them.

"How many matches has Father had so far?"

Suddenly, two hands patted the siblings' shoulders, and as they turned their heads, smiles filled their faces.

"Brother, is the Logging Realm group selection over?"

"Big Brother, did you advance?"

Xiang Liang didn't verbally answer, he just nodded with a chuckle.

"Brother, I just heard only seven groups advanced, you're incredible!"

"Big Brother is the best."

Seeing the smile on their older brother's face, the siblings immediately understood that he had advanced, and they cheered joyfully. Xiang Rong, only eight years old, couldn't help but leap into their big brother Xiang Liang's arms.

Normally, Xiang Yan and Xiang Rong had a lot of admiration for their big brother Xiang Liang, especially after he risked his life to escape from the camp to offer treasures to the Great Xia, sparing their family from labor duties, which made them admire him even more.

They didn't notice the faint disappointment on Xiang Liang's face.

But Xiang Liang didn't say much more. Looking at Xiang Ping on the arena tangled with his opponent, he asked again: "How many matches is Father on now?"

Xiang Yan immediately answered with a hint of pride: "Father has won four matches in a row, and now he's on the fifth."

Only the fifth match...

Xiang Ping watched the arena where his father's signs of defeat were emerging and sighed slightly.

Father probably won't advance!

The Logging Realm preliminaries, although difficult, are still group selections. As long as the luck is good enough, there's always hope of advancing, and I'm an example of that.

The Earth-digging Realm is different.

Though there are ten opportunities for matches, once you lose even one, you're directly eliminated with no chance for further matches. Even winning ten matches in a row doesn't guarantee advancement, as it all depends on the time taken to win compared to others.

Xiang Liang had just come from the Outer City, having passed by many arenas, and had already heard a lot of information. In the Earth-digging Realm groups, more than 128 people have already won ten matches consecutively, so comparing the victory time is inevitable. On the arena, with his father Xiang Ping only on the fifth match and showing signs of defeat, advancing is naturally hopeless.

Clang......

"I concede!"

As expected by Xiang Liang, on the arena, as the large blade in Xiang Ping's hand was directly knocked away by his opponent, he chose to concede outright.

"Xiang Ping, fifth match, lost, eliminated!"

"Zhou Yingkai, seventh match victory, took 126 breaths, prepare for the eighth match."

Following the announcement of the match results by the Camp Supply Department referee at the side, Xiang Ping was not angered by his loss. Instead, he clasped his hands with a smile towards his opponent, saying: "Congratulations Brother Zhou on your breakthrough at the last moment, maybe you can advance to the next round!"

Xiang Ping considered his combat talent not weak; his shortcoming was in basic strength. At the start of the year before joining the Great Xia, his strength was close to fifteen thousand. With half a year's time passing and relying on the Great Xia's abundant beast meat resources, his basic strength surged up to nineteen thousand.

Nineteen thousand basic strength sustaining till the fifth match was in itself quite remarkable.

The Earth-digging Realm group selection was said to be completely random in opponent pairing, but with keen observation, one would notice that opponents grow stronger as you go further. So winning ten matches in a row without exceeding the thirty-thousand-jin limit is practically impossible.

His opponent this round, Zhou Yingkai, originally had a basic strength of over twenty-nine thousand. Using rich combat experience, Xiang Ping barely managed to hang in there for dozens of breaths. Unexpectedly, Zhou Yingkai managed a breakthrough at the last moment, surpassing the thirty-thousand-jin limit, his skin and membranes changed. He immediately realized that he couldn't win and straightforwardly chose to concede.

The opponent breaking through the thirty-thousand-jin limit had the qualification to sprint for the 128 strong. Continuing to entangle would just lengthen his opponent's time, so instead of that, it would be better to go with the flow and show a favor, maybe leaving a good impression on the other person.

Zhou Yingkai evidently noticed Xiang Ping's intention, shaking his head with a wry smile and said: "Seems Brother Xiang hasn't been paying much attention to the Earth-digging Realm groups' situation. Now to advance into the 128 strong, the basic strength needs to be at least over forty-thousand jin, I'm definitely out."

Forty-thousand jin, how is that possible!

Xiang Ping was stunned by this revelation, his face filled with disbelief.

But the Camp Supply Department judge of arena twenty-one, the Earth-digging Realm, was smiling and nodding: "Absolutely correct, the currently ranked 128 have a minimal basic strength of over thirty-eight thousand jin, with more than half yet to compete. The standard will surely rise to forty-thousand jin by the end."

Currently, the minimal basic strength of the 128 is thirty-eight thousand!

Xiang Ping's expression froze immediately, his pupils filled with disbelief.

What shocked him even more was yet to come.

Zhou Yingkai, seeing Xiang Ping's expression, knowing he wasn't aware of other arenas' situations, sighed slightly and said: "Brother Xiang might not know, at the start of the Earth-digging Realm group selection last night, four people immediately broke through to the Cold Resistance Level—Ying Xuan, Ying Yi, Zou Yuankai, and Tong Xinglong—announcing their direct advancement. Later, it's been said a few others also broke through in succession. For someone like me, breaking through the thirty-thousand-jin limit, there are probably nearly two hundred already, I never really hoped to advance!"