37: Chapter 37 Earth-digging Realm [Seeking Votes and Followers] 37: Chapter 37 Earth-digging Realm [Seeking Votes and Followers] Boom……
The furnace reignited once more, and after the cave was sealed, warmth returned.
Everyone gathered around the bonfire again, as Xia Hong walked over to Xu Ning.
Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and others surrounded him too, their expressions rather heavy.
“Leader, we caught a big one this time, haha.”
Xu Ning, with his single eye open, pointed at the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep lying on the ground, forcing a smile on his face.
Xia Hong did not respond, instead moving forward to examine his right eye.
Seeing the hollow space, his face turned heavy with concern.
“From now on, don’t be reckless.
Be cautious when facing unknown Cold Beasts!”
Then he turned and added to Xia Chuan and the others, “The same goes for all of you.”
Apparently, Xu Ning didn’t want the atmosphere to be so heavy, so he laughed and said, “At least I’m still alive, it’s just an eye, nothing too serious, my cultivation is intact, and I’m not injured.”
Seeing no one responding, Xu Ning remembered something and continued:
“Oh yes, Qiu Peng, your father was our camp’s only archer.
He always closed one eye when shooting arrows.
My right eye is blind, so maybe when the camp becomes affluent, I can be an archer too.”
Qiu Peng was first stunned, then strangely nodded.
My father said that for precision in archery, one usually aims with only one eye.
Unfortunately, we don’t even have bows and arrows in the camp now…”
Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and even Xia Hong felt a slight stir in their hearts.
Losing an eye is not as easy as Xu Ning suggested.
Though it doesn’t affect one’s cultivation, it significantly impairs their vision and physical coordination, which is exceptionally deadly for those who often fight to the death with Cold Beasts.
That’s why Xia Hong’s face was heavy earlier; he realized that even if Xu Ning goes out in the future, he might not be able to help much and had decided to leave Xu Ning in the camp during outings.
But Qiu Peng’s words served as an indirect reminder.
In combat, archers do typically only need one eye.
Moreover, because he has completely lost the other eye, Xu Ning may focus even better with his left eye.
This, in turn, becomes a unique advantage.
“We don’t have it now, but we will in the future!”
Xia Hong’s voice was solemn, as he gave Xu Ning a promise.
The others, upon hearing, also began to encourage Xu Ning one by one:
“Exactly, you’ve killed the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep leader, getting you a bow and arrow is a piece of cake.”
“We’re not even afraid of deceitful monsters now, getting a bow and arrow is nothing to fear.”
“Xu Ning, just heal well.
Once we have a bow, if you don’t practice well, we’ll definitely laugh at you.”
Hearing everyone’s encouragement, Xu Ning was touched but said nothing, just nodded silently and heavily.
“I have some matters to attend to.
You guys go ahead and deal with the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep’s meat.”
Seeing everyone enthusiastically dealing with the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep, Xia Hong walked alone to the force measuring stake beside the camp.
The original force measuring wooden stakes in the camp could handle a maximum of a thousand catties, but as more people broke through to the Logging Realm, two additional stakes of five thousand catties each were added for convenience.
Xia Hong, slightly moved, stacked the two five-thousand-catty stakes together, then holding his breath, squatted down, and clasped both stakes with his hands.
Exhaling a turbid breath, Xia Hong gritted his teeth, suddenly tensing his arms and lifting them forcefully upwards.
The two stakes were pulled from the ground.
Xia Hong’s face instantly showed a look of ecstatic joy.
“I’ve truly broken through!”
Just after killing the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep, he felt that his internal strength had increased, but the subsequent deceitful monster encounter left him with no time to focus on it.
Now, testing it, he indeed made a breakthrough.
Breaking the ten-thousand-catty basic strength is precisely the hallmark of stepping into the Earth-digging Realm.
For some time, only heaven knew how distressed Xia Hong was about the Earth-digging Realm.
As he approached the breakthrough, he found that his efficiency in absorbing Cold Beast Meat had decreased, and his strength improvement slowed.
Despite trying to increase his meat quota to break through, the improvements remained negligible.
“It seems that only experiencing such life-and-death battles can swiftly push past the body’s limits, though continued cultivation in the Earth-digging Realm will still rely on Cold Beast Meat.
I wonder if it’ll be slow.”
Gradually, Xia Hong calmed his excitement.
With enhanced physique, the demand for Cold Beast Meat will increase.
But for now, there’s no major issue for him.
Even in the Logging Realm, he could lead others to hunt Cold Beasts, let alone now.
The crucial point is that breaking through to the Earth-digging Realm means he’s officially eligible to dig and mine from today.
Coal, iron, silver, gold—if he can find a vein, he can efficiently activate the system’s remaining eight buildings.
“Starting tonight, expand the search range to see if we can find a mineral vein!”
Xia Hong, filled with excitement, set down the stakes.
Coincidentally, on the other side, the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep was dealt with as well.
From a distance, Yuan Cheng excitedly reported the harvest from the demon sheep to Xia Hong.
“Leader, the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep produced a total of one thousand seven hundred catties of meat, and there’s a whole hide, enough to make five beast skin skirts.”
One thousand seven hundred catties, enough to last the camp’s current Cold Beast Meat allocation for about twenty days.
“Oh, and there’s this too.”
Yuan Cheng remembered something and tossed a thing towards Xia Hong.
Xia Hong caught it; it was the short knife he used to kill the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep.
Wang Ming’s big knife, when converted, counted as 60 points of system iron resource.
Upgrading the small bonfire used 50 points, leaving 10 points, which Xia Hong used to make this little short knife.
It’s called a short knife, yet it’s not even five inches.
More aptly described as a dagger.
Due to its short length, it probably couldn’t pierce through the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep’s defenses, so Xia Hong hadn’t used it earlier until he needed to strike its back eye.
Realizing the stone ax was inappropriate, he resorted to the dagger, yielding striking results.
Stowing the dagger, Xia Hong summoned the six logging team members Xia Chuan and Yuan Chuan, as well as the newly added thirty-one reserve members, all together.
“Distribute all the meat right away.
Ten days from now, we’ll venture out as usual.
Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, you six, seize this time to enhance your powers.
Additionally, for those in reserve, accelerate your pace to see if we can have a few more breakthroughs to the Logging Realm before heading out.”
All responded in unison, with Xia Chuan and the six being fine, but those thirty-one reserves had just witnessed Xia Hong and the other eight hunt that Golden-eyed Demon Sheep.
They were already envious beyond words, reaching a pinnacle of craving to break through to the Logging Realm.
It’s likely that even without Xia Hong’s words, they would have trained fiercely, eager to join the logging team soon and go out with him.
Rewind to just earlier.
At the very moment deceitful monster-controlled Wang Ping was burnt to ashes by Solidified Fire Oil,
500 meters east of the Great Xia Camp cave, on the edge of Redwood Ridge, a heart-wrenching scream rang from a big tree.
A hunched black-robed elder, no taller than 1.5 meters, clutched a strand of white thread in his hand.
One end was in his grasp, the other extending far to the west.
The thread was originally white, so within the snowy surroundings, it was nearly invisible, with only the direction indicating it connected to the cave housing Great Xia Camp.
But now, the thread spontaneously combusted.
The elder’s scream resulted from the flames on the thread scorching his palm, as he frantically slapped his arm, unable to extinguish the domineering fire.
Realizing he couldn’t douse the fire in his hands, the elder’s blood-red eyes suddenly turned ruthless.
He extended his right palm, then raised his left hand.
With a swift downward slash.
He used the small knife clenched in his left hand to sever his burning right hand at the wrist.
Though he severed his own right hand, there wasn’t a trace of pain on his face; instead, he exhaled in relief.
The right hand was incinerated to ashes by the domineering flames before touching the ground.
Watching the whiff of black smoke, a flicker of dread crossed the elder’s blood-red eyes.
Turning to stare at the cave housing Great Xia Camp, his eyes filled with venom and hatred, instead of dread.
“Wait for me, you can’t escape, you won’t escape.
Your lives, they are mine, all mine…”