Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Second floor hallway.

A frost wolf's limbs were entangled by white silk threads, its body already inverted, belly up, baring its fangs and claws, trying to flip over.

Puchi…

A large blade suddenly slashed from the side, instantly cutting the frost wolf's abdomen in two, causing dark green blood to explode, and intestines and organs to spill all over the floor.

After Xia Chuan killed the enemy with one strike, the bulging veins on his hands gradually subsided. He withdrew his greatsword and quickly looked back towards the north hallway.

Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, Zou Yuankai, and a dozen others were divided into three groups, each facing a frost wolf. All three groups were handling the situation with ease. Yue Feng's group had even forced a frost wolf into a corner and were about to kill it.

"Yue Feng, take your men to block the hole! I'll take care of this frost wolf!"

Xia Chuan sprinted forward, slashing his greatsword at the frost wolf, taking over the battlefield while shouting orders to Yue Feng and his men.

"Sir, we can't block it anymore! More than a dozen have already come up!"

Yue Feng was about to lead his men towards the end of the hallway when Xu Ning's warning came from nearby.

Xia Chuan swept the frost wolf away with his greatsword, turned his head to glance, and his heart turned cold.

The first two frost wolves that had climbed up had already been killed by him and the others. The four frost wolves they were currently dealing with were the second wave that had climbed up.

Four frost wolves were more than enough for a dozen Earth Burrowing Realm cultivators.

But the problem was that these four frost wolves had caused them to miss the best opportunity to block the hole.

More than a dozen frost wolves had already rushed into the hallway.

At the hole at the end of the hallway, frost wolves were still constantly squeezing in.

The moment those frost wolves' heads poked in, their gazes would quickly focus on the location of the stove on the third floor, their pupils filled with excitement and madness.

"Roar…"

The frost wolves that hadn't fully squeezed in were already so crazy; not to mention those that had already entered the hallway, and the one currently fighting him.

Swish… Swish… Swish…

If it weren't for Xu Ning leading a few people to frantically shoot arrows to suppress them, the frost wolves in the hallway would have already charged into the main hall.

The main hall on the second floor was currently filled with all the women and children of the camp.

"Take all the children to the third floor!"

Having finally dealt with the frost wolf in his hands, Xia Chuan withdrew his greatsword, casually wiped the green blood off his face, and turned to shout urgently towards the center of the main hall.

"Yes, sir!"

Lin Wan, Shi Lu, and the other women responsible for taking care of the children immediately acted.

"Children, hurry upstairs, quickly…"

"Okay!"

In the Ice Abyss World, the average lifespan of a weak camp was only a little over forty years old, so there were no elderly people. Great Xia was naturally no exception.

Of Great Xia's 1088 people, excluding the sixty-seven Earth Burrowing Realm cultivators and the five hundred plus Lumbering Realm cultivators, the remaining four hundred plus children were mostly under fifteen years old.

There was also a difference among those under fifteen years old. The older children had already started cultivating. Even if they hadn't broken through to the Earth Burrowing Realm, their strength was mostly three or four thousand pounds. The youngest were just infants who had to be held in someone's arms.

Logically speaking, with such a large-scale invasion of cold beasts, these children who had never been outside would definitely be panicked, but in reality, except for the cries of a few infants, none of these children made any sound.

The older children even helped hold the infants. Even the five or six-year-old children just pursed their lips and silently followed the team up the stairs quickly, in an orderly manner, without Lin Wan and Shi Lu needing to worry.

Of course, they also had fear in their eyes when they saw the bared fangs and claws of the cold beasts; some children like Luo An and Zou Ping's fathers were on the second floor fighting those cold beasts, so besides fear, they also had worry for their fathers; some women holding infants in their arms were also thinking about their husbands…

Although they had all kinds of emotions in their eyes, knowing that they couldn't help, the only thing they could do was obediently follow the commands of Xia Chuan and others, and not cause trouble for others.

So, even if they were afraid and panicked, they just gritted their teeth and didn't make any sound, afraid of affecting those who were fighting the cold beasts.

"Sir, there are more and more cold beasts in the wooden house. There should be many that have broken into the compartments as well. They are all rushing towards the stove. We can't stop them with just these people. If we don't put out the fire, it will be too late. I've already lit an ordinary bonfire on the third floor with wood. The temperature isn't a problem!"

Xia Chuan was blocking a frost wolf rushing towards the main hall in the north hallway when he heard Shi Ping's loud shout from the stairwell, and a hint of struggle instantly rose in his eyes.

Shi Ping's voice was very loud, and all the Earth Burrowing Realm cultivators blocking the cold beasts in the four hallways on the second floor turned to look at Xia Chuan when they heard it.

Noticing the struggle on Xia Chuan's face, a hint of confusion appeared on everyone's faces.

Bang!

Just at this moment, a room beside the main hall on the second floor was suddenly broken open from the inside. What flew out was actually the corpse of a magic sheep with its head already bitten off.

Many people were stunned and looked towards that room.

"Roar…"

A gold-armored Thunder Kui, more than nine meters long, slowly walked out of the room. Everyone who saw the Thunder Kui's pupils shook violently, filled with horror.

Then, a small number of people noticed the eyes of the Thunder Kui and clearly remembered something. The horror on their faces instantly disappeared, and instead, they were filled with hope.

"This is the intermediate Thunder Kui transformed from a wooden training dummy! It's the leader's wooden training dummy! Hahahaha, we're saved! We're saved!"

Yuan Cheng's words immediately solved the confusion of the others who didn't know what was going on.

Remembering the five wooden training dummies in the training ground, all the Earth Burrowing Realm cultivators, including those who hadn't completely reached the third floor, instantly had their faces filled with hope.

"No wonder, no wonder no cold beasts have rushed out of the compartments for so long. It was the cold beasts transformed from the five wooden training dummies that were dealing with them!"

Luo Yuan suddenly understood at this moment. The sound of cold beasts breaking into the compartments had been going on for a long time, but they had never seen them break through the walls. So that was the reason.

But at the same time as realizing this, his face instantly turned ugly.

Not only him, Shi Ping, Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, and the others in the hunting team, their faces instantly turned ugly.

They all understood why Xia Chuan didn't put out the fire in the iron smelting furnace.

The seventeen of them knew the camp's building functions best.

Wooden training dummies could only be activated within the radiation range of the iron smelting furnace.

"It not only affects the wooden training dummies, but once the fire in the iron smelting furnace is extinguished, it will be exactly what the Mirror Immortal Camp wants!"

Luo Yuan exchanged a look with Xia Chuan from across the room and instantly realized something even more serious.

This cold beast tide could basically be confirmed to have been caused by the strange creature behind the Mirror Immortal Camp.

The other party had been scheming for so long, just to get them to put out the fire!

Boom…

In the gap when everyone was stunned, a loud noise came from downstairs.

Yuan Cheng, who was closest to the window, quickly poked his head out to look down, his pupils shrinking. He quickly turned his head and shouted to Xia Chuan:

"Chuan, intermediate frost wolf! An intermediate frost wolf is here!"

There was no need for Yuan Cheng to remind him. Xia Chuan and the others had already been forced to the main hall by the cold beasts in the four hallways.

With so many cold beasts breaking into the wooden house on the second floor, the wooden walls on all sides were already riddled with holes, and the scene outside could be easily seen.

On the north side was a frost wolf; on the south side was a magic sheep; on the west side in front was a snow mane; and behind the east side of the valley was a Teng Snake.

Just like the low-level cold beast swarm attacking the wooden house from four directions, these four intermediate cold beasts were also frantically ramming the wooden walls from all sides.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

"Chuan, look at their eyes!"

"I've already seen them."

Yuan Cheng's reminder was a bit redundant.

Not to mention Xia Chuan, all the other Earth Burrowing Realm cultivators on the second floor noticed their eyes the moment they saw the four cold beasts.

Unlike the red eyes of the low-level cold beasts that had attacked the wooden house, the eyes of these four intermediate cold beasts were all silvery-white liquid, like a mirror. Even from dozens of meters away, you could see your own reflection in them.

"The other low-level cold beasts are normal. The Mirror Immortal Camp should be using these four intermediate cold beasts to cause this cold beast tide!"

Xia Chuan's expression became even more somber. The abnormality of the four intermediate cold beasts made him almost certain of his idea.

"The Mirror Immortal Camp is waiting for it to get dark!"

Looking up at the wooden house and finding that the sky had completely darkened, the thought popped into Xia Chuan's mind, and a layer of cold sweat instantly oozed out of his back.

"Bang…"

Another loud noise came from the east wall of the wooden house. The intermediate Teng Snake, with its head leading its more than ten-meter-long body, had already drilled in from outside the house, and was still constantly causing damage to the wooden house as its body twisted.

"Everyone, don't let go! Don't let go no matter what."

"Lord Mu, low-level cold beasts have already come in."

"There's a Teng Snake here, someone come and help!"

"Ah…"

Hearing the faint sounds coming from the first floor, Xia Chuan's expression changed.

The wooden house could persist until now only because the five hundred plus Lumbering Realm cultivators on the first floor were struggling to support it, but with the entry of the four intermediate cold beasts, they had obviously reached their limit.

Xia Chuan knew that if they dragged on any longer, once something went wrong on the first floor, the entire structure of the wooden house would collapse, and it wouldn't be something that could be solved by the death of one or two people.

Xia Chuan accelerated his swinging of the greatsword, forcibly drove away a frost wolf in front of him, and turned to shout loudly to Luo Yuan and the others: "Luo Yuan, you take people to continue guarding the main hall and don't let the cold beasts go up. Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, and ten of you come with me to the first floor to help!"

"Okay, we'll guard the main hall here. Even if we give our lives, we won't let them go up from here."

Luo Yuan roared angrily and led the others straight to the stairwell.

The Thunder Kui transformed from the wooden training dummy also walked to his side, helping to deal with the low-level cold beasts that were constantly rushing towards the stairs.

"This wooden training dummy, is it helping me of its own accord, or… … … …"

Seeing the wooden dummy's movements, Luo Yuan's eyes lit up. After pondering for a moment, he suddenly looked up at the third floor, his eyes filled with excitement.

… … … …

Meanwhile, on the other side, Xia Chuan led Yuan Cheng, Yue Feng, and twelve others down to the first floor. Seeing the scene before them, their hearts skipped a beat.

They had just said that the four walls on the second floor were riddled with holes, but compared to the first floor, it was nothing.

The four walls on the first floor were almost completely ventilated.

If it weren't for the iron chains forged in the past two days, forcibly linking the wooden house's structure together, and the fact that Mu Dong was leading more than four hundred people to hold on tightly, the wooden house would have collapsed long ago.

And this was just the main hall area. At the west-side main entrance of the first floor, there were also over a hundred people desperately holding onto the door chains. The double doors had already been forced open by one or two meters by the charging cold beasts outside. The snow mane's fangs and the magic sheep's sharp horns had already pierced through.

Not to mention the main door, even the wooden walls on both sides of the main door were now battered and broken. Several snow manes and magic sheep had already poked their heads in, and their bodies were still pushing inward with all their might.

"Yuan Cheng, take five people to help them guard the main entrance. Yue Feng, you six follow me to help Mu Dong, quick!"

At Xia Chuan's command, the twelve quickly split into two teams.

Yuan Cheng led five men, wielding broadswords, and charged towards the main entrance. They first hacked away the snow manes and magic sheep that had forced their way into the door, allowing the door to close again. Then, they aimed at the heads of the cold beasts that were squeezing in from the left and right sides of the door, hacking wildly.

The hundred-plus people holding onto the main door's chains immediately felt a great reduction in pressure.

On the other hand, Xia Chuan's support was not as effective.

In the center of the main hall, although there were more than four hundred people, the four iron chains they were pulling were connected to the entire wooden house's joints. The impact force they were bearing was many times greater than that of the hundred-plus people at the main entrance.

Moreover, the west side had the large iron door as a barrier, and the wooden house's structure had not completely collapsed, so basically no cold beasts had squeezed in. But the east, south, and north directions were different.

The wooden house's compartments were already empty, and the targets of all these cold beasts that had entered were the four hundred-plus people in the main hall. When Xia Chuan and the others came down, three or four cold beasts had already begun to feast, which was also the origin of the screams that Xia Chuan had just heard on the second floor.

Whoosh… … … …

Xu Ning hadn't even arrived yet, but he first shot an arrow at a Flood Dragon that was biting a person in its mouth. The iron arrow's power was astonishing, piercing through the Flood Dragon's pupil and pinning its head directly to the ground.

Puchi… … … …

Xia Chuan arrived, decapitated the Flood Dragon with a single strike, and then, together with Yue Feng, began to drive away the cold beasts in the other directions.

"Lord, we can't hold on any longer!"

Mu Dong's face was flushed at this moment. The bloodstains from the iron chains rubbing against his chest had already dyed his upper garment red. Although he said to Xia Chuan that he couldn't hold on, his hands were still tightly gripping the ends of the iron chains, without the slightest bit of slack.

The other four hundred-plus Wood Forging Realm cultivators, although they didn't speak, their eyes were all intentionally or unintentionally glancing at Xia Chuan.

Clearly, Mu Dong's words also represented their current thoughts.

Tonight's cold beast tide had at least five hundred beasts in total.

The wooden walls, iron spikes, Flood Dragon poison skin, and poison sacs that they had placed beforehand, as well as their earlier archery on the third floor, had indeed dealt with quite a few, but added together, it was less than a hundred, which was only one-fifth of the entire cold beast tide.

Nearly four hundred cold beasts charging at the same time, coupled with the subsequent four intermediate-level cold beasts, the fact that the wooden house had managed to hold on until now without collapsing could be said to be entirely due to the five hundred-plus Wood Forging Realm cultivators on the first floor.

Even though he knew that the five hundred-plus people on the first floor had reached their limit, Xia Chuan bit his teeth after hacking a snow mane to death in front of him, and hardened his heart to say:

"Hold on a little longer. The four intermediate-level cold beasts are already being dealt with by the cold beasts transformed from the wooden training dummies. As long as the wooden house doesn't collapse and we hold off this batch of low-level cold beasts, we'll have a way out!"

Although the second floor had been infiltrated by cold beasts, the numbers weren't that large. Luo Yuan and the others should be able to hold on for a while.

But if the first floor were completely breached and the wooden house collapsed, then it would be over!

"There are only a few minutes left until dark. Once it's dark, these cold beasts won't be as strong. Hold on a little longer!"

Still have to hold on.

What exactly are we holding on to?

"Lord Xia Chuan, where is the leader? Is the leader outside, dealing with other, stronger cold beasts?"

Among the group of Wood Forging Realm cultivators who were pulling the iron chains, one person suddenly asked loudly.

As soon as this person spoke, the others couldn't help but look at Xia Chuan, including Mu Dong.

More than an hour had passed from the start of the night until now.

There were only a few minutes left until it was completely dark.

But the leader, Xia Hong, had not shown his face until now.

The wooden house was only so big. Xia Chuan could hear the movements on the first floor from the second floor, and the people on the first floor could also hear the movements upstairs.

Indeed, from the beginning, they had not heard Xia Hong's voice.

In such a critical moment, how could the leader, Xia Hong, not appear?

Is the breakthrough going to reach this extent?

The wooden house had been destroyed to this extent, and Xia Hong was still in seclusion?

No matter how you think about it, it's impossible!

A very frightening guess gradually surfaced in some people's minds.

The gazes they cast at Xia Chuan slowly became desperate.

Especially since Xia Chuan hadn't spoken for a long time, this feeling of despair continued to grow stronger and gradually spread among the crowd.

"Da Xia has come to this day. You know better than I what kind of person the leader is. Don't let your imaginations run wild. If he doesn't come out, then it proves that the time hasn't come yet. We only need to do what we should do. Whether we can live or not depends entirely on ourselves. If you really don't trust the leader, don't trust Big Brother… … … …"

More than an hour of tense nerves had made Xia Chuan irritable. After reading what they were thinking from the crowd's eyes, the anger in his heart grew even stronger. After saying the first part of these words, he hacked the Frost Wolf in front of him back with a single strike, turned around, and continued to roar angrily at the people behind him:

"You can let go now and run!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions shook, and images of Xia Hong's past appeared in their minds, including everything he had done for the camp: cold beast meat, wooden puppet tricks, Gnawing Rat packs, Mirror Immortal camp… … … …

"The leader is not that kind of person. He wouldn't leave us and run away on his own."

"That's right. Whoever dares to distrust the leader, I'll be the first to not spare him."

"It's already come to this point, and you're still letting go? The leader might be just a little bit away from breaking through. Hold on, brothers! As long as we hold on until the leader comes out of seclusion, we can live!"

… … … … … …

Trust in Xia Hong ultimately prevailed.

With a series of roars and angry shouts, the crowd's flagging morale suddenly rose again, and the four iron chains even pulled back inwards a little.

Bang… … Bang… … Boom… … … …

Several tremors came from around the wooden house. Xia Chuan looked up at the four corners and found that the four Thunder Kui transformed from the wooden training dummies outside the wooden house had each confronted a cold beast.

The wooden training dummies had transformed into Thunder Kui because the Thunder Kui's overall strength was the strongest.

Normally speaking, the Flood Dragon, Snow Mane, Magic Sheep, and Frost Wolf, these four intermediate-level cold beasts, even if they were facing a true intermediate-level Thunder Kui, wouldn't suffer a loss no matter which one they faced.

Not to mention that the intermediate-level Thunder Kui transformed from the wooden training dummies were not afraid of pain.

Under such circumstances, it should be said that even if the four Thunder Kui transformed from the wooden training dummies couldn't kill the four intermediate-level cold beasts outside the wooden house, at the very least, they should be able to gain the upper hand.

But at this moment, the actual situation was that the four Thunder Kui were evenly matched with the four cold beasts outside, neither side gaining the upper hand.

On the east side, a Thunder Kui rammed into the Flood Dragon, directly crushing its chest.

But the Flood Dragon seemed as if nothing had happened, standing upright with half its body, its mirror-like pupils flashing with a cold light, and it charged towards the Thunder Kui again.

Not only on the east side, but the Snow Mane on the west side, the Magic Sheep on the south side, and the Frost Wolf on the north side were all the same.

These four intermediate-level cold beasts were not only unafraid of pain, but they were clearly unafraid of death, or rather, it seemed like they couldn't feel the injuries they were receiving.

Especially when he saw the Snow Mane on the west side, whose front limb was broken by a Thunder Kui's attack, actually stood up again as if nothing had happened after only four or five breaths, Xia Chuan's pupils suddenly constricted.

Not afraid of death, isn't that the same as the group of people in the Mirror Immortal camp!

No, it's not just not afraid of death. These four cold beasts can also ignore injuries.

Bang… … … …

Although the four intermediate-level cold beasts were restrained by the Thunder Kui transformed from the wooden training dummies, the large iron door on the west side finally collapsed under the continuous impact of two or three hundred Snow Manes and Magic Sheep outside.

"Yuan Cheng, lead the people back, quick!"

"Everyone listen to my command, wait for me to count to three, then let go together."

At the moment the door collapsed, Xia Chuan turned his head to look at the sky and immediately shouted twice in a row.

The first shout was to Yuan Cheng and the hundred-plus people at the door;

The second shout was to Mu Dong and the four hundred-plus people in the main hall.

"One,"

After Xia Chuan finished speaking, he immediately began to count down.

As the door collapsed, Yuan Cheng led more than a hundred people back. Outside the west door, a dense mass of Snow Manes and Magic Sheep poured in like a tide in an instant.

"Two,"

When he counted to two, the beast horde on the west side was less than a hundred meters away from the crowd.

"Three!"

As soon as he counted to three, Mu Dong was the first to let go, and then the four hundred-plus people, although there were some who were first and some who were last, the interval between them was only half a breath, so they could almost be considered to have let go of the iron chains in their hands at the same time.

Clang… … Clang… … Clang… … … …

Without the crowd's strength to pull them tight, the iron chains instantly returned to their original positions along with the iron materials at the key points of the wooden house. The speed was so fast that they even dragged out four long lines of fire on the ground.

Bang… … … …

Without the support of the reinforced iron materials, the impact of the approaching frost beasts was immediately apparent. The wooden house's walls began to collapse in the first wave.

Now, not only the Snow-Maned Magic Goats at the west-facing main entrance, but also the Soaring Serpent from the east, and the Frost Wolves from the north and south, all surged into the first floor of the wooden house through the collapsed walls.

The sheer terror of the earth-shattering tremor caused by the overwhelming influx of frost beasts was best understood by Xia Chuan and the others in the center of the main hall, who could barely stand.

Fear crept onto everyone's faces as they looked up at the approaching frost beasts from all four directions. Some, in despair, even closed their eyes.

However, just as the wooden house collapsed to its central point, and precisely when the frost beasts were only a hundred meters away from the crowd…

Clang…

The completely reset iron chains suddenly seemed to be blocked by something.

Half of the outer layer of the wooden house collapsed, revealing fifty-meter-long green bamboo fences on all four sides, blocking the path of the frost beasts.

These bamboo fences were diagonally crisscrossed and covered with a layer of sharp, dense thorns over twenty centimeters long. The moment the frost beasts tried to charge through, the thorns rained down on them.

Shoo… Shoo… Shoo…

Pfft…

The power of these thorns was terrifying to the extreme.

Seeing the frost beasts fall one after another behind the bamboo fences, the despair on the faces of Xia Chuan, Yue Feng, and the others instantly vanished.

Only Xia Chuan, looking up at the now completely dark sky, clenched his fist beneath his sleeve.

"It's dark. Those beasts should be here soon!"