Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 346 Five Rounds of Bone Tempering, Thousand Mane Burning, and Manifestation of the Yang Realm

Hong Ye and the Zhao family happened to be walking below the Zhaixing Palace when they were attracted by the loud noise overhead. Cheng Fang and the three ladies of the Zhao family were not far away and naturally heard it as well.

Zhao Long and Hong Gang, who were walking at the front and were about to have a drink, stopped in their tracks, looking up at the Star-Picking Hall with surprise and doubt on their faces.

Your Highness, it's not just them.

Today is the day of ancestral worship. Many people, like the Zhao Longhong Gang family, have just returned from the ancestral temple or are preparing to go to the ancestral temple to worship. So there are at least several thousand people below the Zhaixing Tower at this moment.

The loud noise had already drawn everyone out from the three pavilions of martial arts, weapon crafting, and medicine refining. All eyes were focused on the Star-Picking Platform above their heads, on the intense, blazing fireball that was three or four meters in diameter.

To be precise, it was Xia Hong, who was sitting cross-legged inside the fireball.

Compared to the younger generation like Hong Ye, Zhao Yuankong, and Zhao Yuanwu, Zhao Long, Hong Gang, and many others below them, their discernment is clearly much higher.

As they saw Xia Hong's condition inside the fireball, their expressions gradually shifted from initial surprise and doubt to intense joy and anticipation.

"The lord is inside!"

"The clothes aren't even torn, so this doesn't look like it's on fire, does it?"

"I think I can see the lord's skeleton."

"I saw it too, the lord's skeleton seems to be like a normal person's..."

"It's different. Normal bones are white, but the lord's bones are dark red, with many bright golden fluid-like substances in the middle, just like flowing magma!"

"That flame looks like it was made of bones."

"The lord's eyes are closed, as if he's in a meditative state! Why is he able to float directly in mid-air?"

"It's a breakthrough, it's definitely a breakthrough."

"It should be a breakthrough. I can feel that the temperature within a 500-meter radius is increasing significantly based on the Sacred Cauldron's furnace fire!"

"A Manifested Sun level?"

"Nonsense, the lord has been in seclusion for a full five years. Would he have come out of seclusion and made such a commotion if he hadn't broken through to the Manifestation Yang level?"

"Great!"

"The lord's strength has definitely undergone a complete transformation!"

………………

Unlike the crowd below who were filled with joy and anticipation, Xia Hong, who was suspended in mid-air with his eyes closed, was actually feeling uneasy and even a little scared.

He was looking at his dark red bones through internal vision. He didn't yet know what the situation was with these bones that had undergone five temperings.

"Just like the process of reshaping the skin membrane when breaking through to the Cold Resistance level, there are different levels of bone tempering and marrow production. Last May, I completely tempered all the bones in my body. After the first tempering, the color of the bones was pure black, and the marrow produced inside the bones was also black. Now that I think about it, it should be right to describe them as iron bones."

Xia Hong's eyes flickered slightly. He was a person who pursued the ultimate. With such strong talent as a foundation, plus the blessing of the Enlightenment Lotus Platform, he had no reason not to pursue a perfect breakthrough.

So instead of rushing to break through, he boldly attempted a second round of bone tempering.

This attempt indeed yielded new discoveries.

Four months later, the black iron bones, having completed their second tempering, turned silver. The newly formed marrow within the bones also turned silver. Even more astonishingly, the strength and self-healing ability of the bones increased by about three times.

If there are silver bones, then there must be gold bones too!
A normal person would think this way, and Xia Hong was no exception. However, despite the strong thoughts in his mind, he didn't have much confidence. Not to mention the pain of the bone tempering process, the terrifying consumption of Yang Yuan Pills alone was enough to make him feel heartache.

Left with no other option, he could only try to find a solution within the system architecture.

Over the previous four years, his silver resources also became abundant.

He didn't have many options at the time. Both the Yangxu Cauldron and the Enlightenment Lotus Platform required gold to upgrade. Although the resources for upgrading the Three Pavilions were sufficient, he gave them up due to the subsequent consumption. As for the Iron Wall and Black Soil, they were not worth mentioning, as they did not help him solve his cultivation problems.

After considering all the options, only the Spirit Stele remains!

After spending 200 million silver, 2000 million iron, and 5000 million wood resources, he selected the level 4 Spirit God Stele and upgraded it to level 5.

[Zongling Stele (Level 5): Mother stele, used for enclosing land and sacrificial buildings, with a maximum radiating distance of 100 li]

【Special Feature 1: Can exchange for four sub-steles, which, after establishing a connection with the main stele, form a base area. Sub-stele exchange price: 20 silver, 1000 million iron】

[Special Function 2: Within the designated area defined by the sub-monument, all activity traces of any external life form will be detected and reported back to the main monument.]

【Special Feature 3: Can exchange for small clan spirit tablets, unlimited quantity. Those whose names are recorded on the clan spirit tablet can enjoy incense offerings. The living will have their cultivation speed doubled. Life, death, and location can all be confirmed through the clan spirit tablet. After death, the incense will continue, and the heroic spirit will live on forever, protecting future generations. 1 clan spirit tablet / 500 silver】

[Special Function 4: Can be exchanged for yellow candles. Once lit, any strange or supernatural methods within the illuminated area will be rendered ineffective; yellow candles can be used in sacrifices to enhance the divinity of spirit tablets.]

[Special Feature 5: The host is the sole major sect and can enjoy an annual boost to incense cultivation. The boosting effect is related to the number of worshippers and their level of piety.]

The Level 5 Spirit Stele brings a huge surprise.

First, the safety zone of Great Xia was directly upgraded to a range of 100 li, covering not only the entire Xia City, but also extending outwards by 30 kilometers, including the eastern outer perimeter of Redwood Ridge and the southern outer perimeter of Arrow Bamboo Forest.

Secondly, there are the minor ancestral spirit tablets, which not only provide an additional means to enhance the overall strength of the camp, but also allow the establishment of a clan and its ancestral rites in the Great Xia Dynasty by leveraging the attributes of the ancestral spirit tablets.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to add the establishment of ancestral temples to the Xia rituals, Xia Hong has established a complete set of patriarchal clan system in the Great Xia Dynasty. From the main lineage and the secondary lineage, to the succession of the lord's position, to the continuation of the clan, to the father-son succession, and the order of seniority, almost everything has been clearly stipulated. It can be said that a more complete Longshan succession system has been created.

Of course, the most important part of a Level 5 Spirit Stele is the last one.

A boost from a single incense offering!
Last year, as soon as the Spirit Stele was upgraded to level 5, Xia Hong immediately announced the regulations for establishing a sect and setting up a shrine. Then he summoned everyone in the entire camp to begin the first sacrifice. Taking advantage of the sacrifice, he directly experienced the boost from incense cultivation.

The terrifying cultivation enhancement effect immediately gave Xia Hong an opportunity to continue refining his silver bones.

After three months, in January of this year, he successfully tempered his silver bones to the level of gold bones. This time, the increase in strength was even more exaggerated, a full five times.

Is the Golden Bone the ultimate limit?

Xia Hong was still not satisfied and chose to continue his seclusion.

It took five months, and Xia Hong completed the fourth round of bone tempering in June.

At this point, his bones had turned into a transparent jade-like color, and were about 70-80% similar to the bones of a high-level cold beast.

This time, the intensity has increased fivefold!
"I've gone mad! After four tempering sessions, my bone strength is already thirteen times that of normal iron bones, and I'm still not satisfied. I actually went through a fifth one by some kind of madness! What's wrong with my bones now?!"

Xia Hong came to his senses and stared inward at the dark red bones inside his body. He saw the bright golden marrow flowing out of the bones and his expression was full of surprise and doubt.

At the end of July, during the final stage of the fifth bone tempering, he discovered that his originally indestructible jade bones had all cracked.

Upon witnessing this, he naturally assumed that the bones, having turned a jade-green color, had reached their peak strength and could no longer be tempered, thus cracking under the influence of the medicinal power. Terrified, he immediately stopped the medicinal tempering and chose to break through directly.

But to everyone's surprise, it was already too late!
The cracked bones were out of control, and even seemed to be demanding more medicinal power from him. Helpless, Xia Hong had no choice but to continue taking Yang Yuan Dan to maintain the medicinal power needed for the bones to crack.

In two months, he consumed a total of two thousand Yang Yuan Pills. The immense medicinal power nearly burst his body, yet it was all absorbed bit by bit by his bones.

As the cracks multiplied, Xia Hong gradually realized that if he continued to provide the medicinal power, even if his bones didn't burst, his physical body would eventually give way and explode.

As soon as it got light, he realized that this was a good opportunity.

On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the day of ancestral worship, everyone in the camp would go to the ancestral temple to offer sacrifices. His once-a-year opportunity to enjoy the enhancement of his cultivation through incense offerings had arrived.

If we don't break through now, we're doomed!
Breaking through to the Manifestation Yang level hinges on four words: tempering bones and generating marrow.

The final step in completing this process is to mobilize the newly generated marrow fluid to flush through the entire skeleton.

After Xia Hong used the newly formed bright golden marrow to cleanse his bones, he did indeed break through smoothly. However, his bones turned dark red. The marrow was not absorbed by the bones as Li Tiancheng had said. Instead, it adhered directly to the outer layer of the bones, forming a shape similar to solidified magma.

"My strength has definitely increased. In the Iron Bone stage, when I released my full energy, I could only significantly increase the temperature within a 10-meter radius. In the Silver Bone stage, it was 30 meters, in the Gold Bone stage it was 80 meters, and in the Jade Bone stage it was 130 meters. But now it has reached an astonishing 500 meters, covering a radius of one mile!"

Xia Hong's eyes flickered slightly. Although his face still showed surprise and doubt, there was also a clear hint of excitement in his pupils.

Only when the bone tempering was completed did he truly understand the meaning of the two characters "Xianyang".

He used to think that the Manifestation Level meant that when a person cultivated to this level, they would no longer be afraid of the cold light and could expose themselves to the cold sun without restraint.
Now he realized that the so-called "manifest yang" means that a person himself is a blazing sun, and that by simply releasing the energy of his bones, he can quickly dispel a large amount of cold air and suddenly raise the temperature of the surrounding area.

"The increase in temperature is secondary; the key is still strength. My base strength increased more than threefold during the Iron Bone stage, totaling less than 300 manes. It increased by another 100 manes during the Silver Bone stage, another 100 manes during the Gold Bone stage, and another 200 manes during the Jade Bone stage. Now..."

After completing the fifth round of bone tempering, Xia Hong had not yet tested his strength. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he dared not. He was afraid that if he went all out, his already cracked bones would not be able to withstand the pressure and would collapse.

"It should be fine. I can clearly feel that these cracks are not fatal injuries. On the contrary, they are somewhat similar to the sacred mark between my eyebrows, and they seem to enhance the stability of my bones. I'll give it a try. It should be alright!"

Xia Hong pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand and threw a punch at the sky.

boom…………

A violent air explosion rang out, and within a radius of five miles above the Star-Picking Palace, the large snowflakes that were originally fluttering were instantly shattered, first turning into a sky full of snow mist, and then the snow mist, along with the cold air, was directly shaken away by the shockwave caused by the fist wind.

The entire sky above the Star-Picking Palace was like a nuclear explosion, creating a vacuum.

"More than a thousand bristles—no, the fist I unleashed carried an intense heat capable of melting everything. This is entirely different in nature from the previous power; describing it as bristles is insufficient, and moreover..."

As Xia Hong finished testing his strength, he saw that his bones had not cracked, and the cracks on the outer layer of his bones did not even show the slightest fluctuation. His face was immediately filled with surprise.

"As expected, these shouldn't be cracks, but rather a bone structure of a higher level than jade bones. My bone strength is perfectly fine; based on my current rough estimate, it's at least twenty times stronger than normal iron bones. The self-healing ability still needs to be verified, but my control over my bones..."

Xia Hong suddenly opened his eyes. He was already suspended in mid-air, and with a slight leap of his legs, he appeared more than a hundred meters above the Star-Picking Platform in a flash.

"Indeed, the secret to the flight of the Xianyang-level is to control the overall weight of the bones and flesh in a very short time, and then use the airflow and instantaneous explosive force. In this sense, the stronger the control over the flesh and bones, the stronger the ability to fly and the faster the speed."

He took a single breath to make that quick movement.

One breath is a little over two seconds, let's say three seconds. Three seconds is 100 meters, which means that when he flies at full speed, he can reach more than 30 meters per second.

This speed already surpasses all ground-based cold-weather gear.

"That's right. Even without the four subsequent bone temperings, my strength at the Iron Bone stage was enough to crush all the Cold-Resistant level opponents. Even if I were at the peak of the Cold-Resistant level, I wouldn't stand a chance against my Iron Bone stage opponent, let alone the other Cold-Resistant level opponents. The Manifestation level, this is the Manifestation level!"

Xia Hong hovered in mid-air, clenching his fist slightly, his eyes filled with joy.

The realm that was originally expected to take decades to break through was achieved in just five years.

Moreover, his breakthrough was extraordinary; a normal Yang-level cultivator probably wouldn't even be able to touch it.

"Since there's nothing wrong with my bones, it proves that there is indeed a higher level of bone structure above the Jade Bone. It's dark red in color, with patterns like molten lava, and when fully released, it can directly form flames outside the body. I'll name it Burning Bone. Let's see if there's anyone else in the Great Xia who can reach this level in the future!"

Xia Hong took a deep breath, looking at the flames on his body, which were still blazing fiercely. He felt the powerful force that urgently needed to be released from his bones, and his expression tightened slightly.

"I just broke through, and my power hasn't stabilized yet. I need to find a place to properly release it. I also need to learn how to control it freely. Otherwise, I'll be as conspicuous as a furnace wherever I go, and that would be terrible!"

Xia Hong pondered for a moment, then turned to look towards the north of Xia City.

"The beast tide in the arrow bamboo forest happens to be at this time, and Xia Chuan is also there with the Six Armies. We can go and take a look!"

Whoosh……

The fireball above the Star-Picking Platform flew straight north with a whoosh.

Zhao Long, Hong Gang, the Zhao family members, Hong Ye, and many other people from the Great Xia Dynasty all stared blankly at the fireball, unable to recover for a long time.

"Where did all the snowflakes go?"

"Was that shockwave released by the lord?"

"I saw that the chill in the air above the inner city had been completely dispelled!"

"It wasn't a fist, was it? That shockwave, could a human possibly generate that?"

"You must have misread it. The lord must have used some means."

"The shockwave shouldn't have been unleashed by the lord, but it's true that the lord just flew! The lord can fly now?"

"Not only can it fly, but its speed is astonishing!"

"The lord has definitely broken through!"

"One hundred percent, it's at the Manifestation Yang level."

………………

Xia Honggang was floating in the sky the whole time.

The younger generation and those with weaker Digging Realm skills couldn't see others clearly, let alone see his punching movements. They could only guess, and most people simply didn't believe that the commotion just now was caused by someone.

They judged from Xia Hong's final flight posture that his cultivation had broken through, and their faces were full of envy and excitement.

Unlike them, Zhao Long, Hong Gang, and all the other Cold-Resistant level beings fell silent at this moment.

Having seen everything clearly, their pupils were now filled with horror and shock.

(End of this chapter)