Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 350 Zhu Ling in a Dire Situation: The Eighth Battalion's Martial Arts Competition, a Five-Year Bet, and Dong Ling Suffers Defeat!

September 15th, 131st year of the Moo calendar
Beining Mountain, Zhuling Village

Zhu Ling has always considered himself the leader of the eight villages in Beining Mountain, and there is some truth to that.

Beining Mountain is located along the cliff on the west side of Shuanglong Mountain, so there are no camps further west; its southernmost section is also a cliff with no way to go; to its east is Beishuo Town, the uncrowned king of this area.

It seems that the only remaining campsite for survival near Buk Ninh Son is in the northern area.

Indeed, there may be many campsites along the entire Beining Mountain area, but only eight are village-level in size, and they are all clustered on the northern outskirts. Zhuling Village is the earliest of these eight.

There are rumors that Zhu Tong's ancestors once held high positions in Beishuo Town, but as they grew older, their cultivation stopped improving and their status gradually declined, leading to the downfall of the Zhu family.

Zhu Tong's lineage is just a branch. More than eighty years ago, he was sent by the family to expand the territory of Beishuo and make contributions, but due to his lack of strength in the early stages, he never achieved anything significant.

It wasn't until Zhu Tong's grandfather, Zhu Ting, that things finally started to improve.

Zhu Ting was very talented. He broke through the cold resistance level in his thirties and led Zhuling from a large camp to a giant camp. He also occupied the best piece of land on the north side of Beining Mountain, which can be regarded as laying the foundation for Zhuling to become a village.

Zhu Tong's father, Zhu Hong, was lucky to have a ready-made success. When he took office, the camp was already almost the size of a village. He had only been the leader for a few years when Bei Shuo issued a decree to reward the village with town and village items. Zhu Ling was successfully promoted to a village-level camp.
Then, more than twenty years ago, Zhu Tong took over the position of lord, and Zhu Ling Village became even more glorious. In terms of both strength and reputation, it became the undisputed leader of the seven villages.

Within the jurisdiction of Beishuo Town, villages are already the highest level; it's impossible to create another town. All nine towns of Mo'ao have clear laws stipulating that the population of any village camp cannot exceed 100,000. Once the population exceeds the limit, one-third of the population must be relocated to the town.

This one-third of the population, Beishuo, wasn't chosen casually.

One-third of the 100,000 people is about 30,000. These 30,000 people include two-thirds of the camp's cold-resistant level, half of the earth-digging level, and their families. The remaining slots are basically reserved for those with high talent.

Following this selection method, it's essentially the same as any camp whose population reaches the 100,000 limit, will immediately have most of its elite troops drained by Beishuo.

According to this law, the opinions of these village-level camps regarding the population exceeding the 100,000 limit are actually quite complex.

On the one hand, they certainly wanted to move to Beishuo City to live a better life;

On the other hand, once they are removed from the camp, they can no longer stay and act arrogantly. Everyone understands the principle of "better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond."

Therefore, for Zhuling Camp, with a population of 60,000 to 70,000 and its strength surpassing the entire Beining Mountain region, it not only overshadows the six other camps of the same level but can also intervene in the internal affairs of all camps in the region. This situation couldn't be better.

As the current leader of Zhuling Village, Zhu Tong has indeed been making every effort to maintain this status quo, and it has been maintained quite well over the years. Apart from Hongyuan Village, almost all the surrounding camps respect Zhuling.

However, in the last four years, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse!

Four years ago, in the 127th year of the Mo'ao calendar, a campsite called Dongling suddenly appeared in an area 15 kilometers deep outside Beining Mountain.

Lu Yang, the leader of Dongling, claimed to be originally from the north. His camp had suffered a strange disaster, and only he and more than 500 elite soldiers escaped.

Despite being refugees, their strength was ridiculously high. More than twenty of them were at the Cold Resistance level, and the remaining nearly five hundred were all at the limit of the Earth Digging Realm. This greatly shocked the camps in Beining Mountain, and they couldn't help but feel uneasy.

If even those who escaped the calamity possessed such strength, how powerful must Lu Yang's previous camp have been? The key question is, if such a powerful camp was wiped out, wouldn't the monster's strength have been even more terrifying?
These confusions at most made the people in the Beining Mountain area more wary of Dongling, but not enough to make them afraid, since they still had the more powerful Beishuo Town behind them.

Lu Yang was a newcomer, like a tree without roots. Without any official decree, he unilaterally annexed the Baisong camp. Upon discovering this, Zhu Tong immediately and excitedly reported the situation to He Wuyang, the inspector of Beishuo.

The situation where Zhuling Village was the most prestigious village in Beining Mountain for so many years began to change from this point onwards.

Unauthorized annexation of other camps without a decree is a serious crime under the laws of Northern Shuo. At best, the leader will be executed; at worst, the entire camp will be disbanded, and all those at the Cold-resistant level of the Earth-digging Realm will be forced to become mining slaves.

Zhu Tong was happy because he believed he could use this incident to get rid of Dongling. Not to mention that Dongling was very powerful, the location where Dongling was based happened to be the hunting area of ​​Zhuling Village, so the two were naturally in conflict.

However, no one expected what happened next. Inspector He Wuyang actually accepted bribes from Lu Yang. Not only did he help Dongling cover up his crimes, but he also personally arranged for Lu Yang to obtain the Beishuo Town edict for building the village. At the same time, he spoke highly of Dongling in the Beishuo Supervisory Council. With these three measures, Dongling's crimes not only went unpunished, but he also successfully took root in Beining Mountain.

Even more deadly is that He Wuyang of the Supervision Office has been colluding with the Dongling camp ever since. With him as a backer, Dongling is no longer a rootless tree. Relying on its strength, Lu Yang opposes Zhuling at every turn. In just three years, it has shown a trend of replacing Zhuling as the leader of Beining Mountain.

Snap...

"In the past three years, the hunting teams from Dongling have been encroaching on our hunting grounds from the outside. The iron mine that was newly discovered at the beginning of the year was clearly within the territory of Zhuling, but Lu Yang seized it without saying a word!"

"He Wuyang, as the inspector, not only sat idly by and allowed Lu Yang to act so recklessly, but he also covered up for Dongling in Beishuo City, saying that our Zhuling was not strong enough and that instead of occupying such a large area, we should give some of it to Dongling so that we could pay more tribute to Beishuo."

"This He Wuyang, I don't know what kind of bewitching drug Lu Yang gave him, that he is so delirious towards the East Ridge, it is truly rare!"

"We've been working on this for so long, but the Control Yuan still refuses to replace He Wuyang and turns a blind eye to the evidence against him. What else can we do?"

…………

In the council hall of Zhuling Village, more than ten high-ranking officials, including Zhu Da and Zhu Mai, gathered together to denounce Dongling's crimes over the past three years. However, after speaking for a long time without any reaction from the leader at the head, Zhu Tong, their voices gradually fell silent.

Zhu Tong's eyes were also extremely gloomy at this moment. When it came to opinions about Dongling, none of the people below had as much opinion as him. However, as the leader, his greatest responsibility was to consider countermeasures, not to vent his emotions at will.

“In the past three years, Lu Yang has gone too far. Relying on the strength of Dongling, he has not only encroached on our territory, but also colluded with the Hongyuan and Ziqiang families to openly defy us. Now even the Yanggu and Wanxing families are somewhat shaken. If this continues, our position as the village leader will really have to be handed over to Dongling!”

After Zhu Tong finished speaking in a deep voice, he paused slightly, turned his head to look outside the hall, and realized that it was about to fall into night. He continued to sneer, "The year before last and last year, Dongling pulled Hong Yuan and Zi Qiang away from the Eight Camps Martial Arts Competition. This year, as soon as they heard that a big shot in Beishuo City wanted to take on a disciple, they immediately sent people over. I'll take this opportunity to teach them a lesson!"

The annual Eight Battalion Martial Arts Competition held on September 15th was personally organized by Zhu Tong. Of course, before Dongling came, it was the Seven Battalion Martial Arts Competition.

There are three purposes for holding this competition.

Firstly, it was to showcase Zhu Ling's strength, since Zhu Ling had won the championship in previous years;
Secondly, in order to reduce the burden of Zhuling's tribute to Beishuo City, the amount of materials that the village-level camps should pay to Beishuo Town was fixed, once every six months, each time consisting of 60 catties of jade bones, 1000 catties of beast blood, 1000 million catties of iron ore, and 1500 million catties of coal.

When Zhu Tong held martial arts competitions in his early years, he stipulated that each competition would reduce the annual tribute of the first-place camp by 70% based on the camp's ranking. This reduction would then be shared among the next six camps, with the second-place camp contributing half a percent, the third and fourth each contributing 10%, the fifth contributing 15%, and the last-place camp contributing a maximum of 30%.
As for the third objective, it can be seen from the second point that Zhu Ling was conducting a compliance test on the other six companies.

The annual tribute quota of 60% is, in detail, 72 catties of jade bones, 1200 catties of beast blood, 12 million catties of iron ore, and 18 million catties of iron ore. If 30% of it is taken, it will still hurt a bit. But the second and third places, half a percent, or even 10%, are not a big deal. It will still feel uncomfortable to spend it, but it is within the range of affordability.

In the early years, some people were dissatisfied and complained to Beishuo Town, saying that Zhuling Camp was bullying them. However, thanks to Zhu Tong's efforts, Beishuo Town did not pursue the matter and even expressed its approval, believing that this move would help promote competition among the village-level camps below.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. Their village-level camps might be considered strong in the surrounding area, but they are nothing to Beishuo Town. Even the supplies they pay as tribute are probably just a drop in the ocean for Beishuo. As long as they obediently hand them over every year, Beishuo doesn't bother with anything else.

To put it bluntly, Beishuo has recognized Zhuling Village Chief's status.

So, the rest was simple.

Since it's a martial arts competition, there are rules, and Zhu Ling, who presided over the competition, is naturally the rule-maker. In most cases, they can manipulate the final rankings by virtue of their strength, which far surpasses that of the other six families.

By using the annual martial arts competition, Zhu Ling can not only save a lot of resources to improve its own strength and widen the gap with the other six families, but also take the opportunity to suppress the other camps and make them obedient.

The Hongyuan and Ziqiang families, who disobeyed orders, went bankrupt year after year, a bloody example of which.

Unfortunately, neither of the two families had the strength or the courage to refuse, because if they did, they would face even fiercer suppression from Zhu Ling and the other four families.

The situation changed three years ago when Dongling Village was established.

In the first year, Dongling refused the invitation to the martial arts competition himself, and in the second year, he even dragged Hongyuan and Ziqiang families into refusing as well.

Zhu Tong was furious and, along with the other four families, began to openly and secretly blockade and suppress the three families of Dongling, but without exception, they all ended up suffering defeats.

There was no way around it; Dongling's strength was simply too great. At the beginning of the village's establishment, there were already twenty-four Cold-resistant level beings, and in the following three years, the number continued to increase. At the beginning of the year, when a conflict occurred over that iron mine, Lu Yang brought as many as 29 Cold-resistant level beings.

As Zhu Tong just said, if we don't find a way to suppress them, it's only a matter of one or two years before Zhuling Village loses its position as the village head.

Today's Eighth Battalion competition is an excellent opportunity to suppress them!

Zhu Tong clenched his fist slightly, a cold glint in his eyes.
Everyone in the hall was clearly aware of this, and Zhu Tong's second brother, Zhu Da, even sneered twice, saying, "That Lu Yang has been arrogant for the past few years. I said that there was no one in Dongling who dared to participate in the martial arts competition, and he actually fell for it."

The third brother, Zhu Mai, also sneered, "It's not necessarily all because of your provocation. I'm sure He Wuyang told Lu Yang about Huang Yuanyuan's first disciple recruitment. The winner of this martial arts competition can go to Beishuo City to compete with geniuses from other villages for the spot of Huang Yuanyuan's first disciple. Lu Yang has been trying his best to curry favor with the big shots in Beishuo City for the past few years. He finally has an opportunity, how could he let it go so easily?"

After pausing, he continued smugly, "This is a blatant trick. If he wants to participate in the competition, he has to accept the leader's conditions and share the burden of all the supplies that the top three families will have to pay to Beishuo Town for the next three years, along with the other four families. He's really bold to even agree to this!"

"Hahaha, we already have people in Baisong Camp. He probably doesn't know that we know everything about the people under fifteen in the entire Dongling area. Those few good-for-nothings want to compete for the position of head disciple? Dream on!"

Hearing his two younger brothers' words, Zhu Tong's eyes also lit up with a smug look. He sneered, "We've suffered so much at Dongling's hands over the past three years. It's time to collect some interest. The tribute we've paid over the past three years is quite a sum. Let Dongling spit out that miniature iron mine they stole at the beginning of the year. Let's see if Lu Yang feels the pain!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall burst into cold laughter.

The total output of the micro-iron mine is at most 100,000 tons. At the beginning of the year, the scale of the iron mine was not large. They estimated at the time that the total output would be at most 50,000 to 60,000 tons. The village camp pays tribute to Beishuo every year. Putting aside other items, the iron ore alone is 10,000 tons. In the next three years, that will be 30,000 tons.

This time, the bottom five will bear the share of the top three's contributions for the next three years. Even if the value of the materials is divided equally, it will be much higher than that of this iron mine.

Whether Lu Yang felt heartbroken or not, the answer is obvious!

"With several times the burden of supplies, Dongling's development speed will inevitably be slowed down in the next three years. Meanwhile, we can take the opportunity to develop rapidly by saving the supplies we have to pay tribute to Beishuo in the next three years. After three years, Dongling will definitely not be a match for us. Then let's see how Lu Yang can still be arrogant in front of Zhuling!"

Upon hearing Zhu Tong's words, Zhu Da immediately nodded and continued, "The Yang Gu and Wan Xing families are so fickle and hesitant, it's truly hateful. We should take advantage of this martial arts competition to teach them a lesson and let Yang Quan and Wan Tianhe see for themselves who really calls the shots among the eight families of Beining Mountain!"

Originally, the stakes for the seven battalions' competition were that the bottom six would bear 70% of the tribute materials that the first-place team would provide for the year. This time, not only were the stakes increased to include all the tribute materials for the next three years, but the rules for dividing the tribute materials were also changed, with the bottom five now bearing the burden of the top three teams.

This change was clearly intended for the five families of Dongling, Hongyuan, Ziqiang, Yanggu, and Wanxing.

"My spies from Zhu Ling are spread throughout all the camps on the north side of Beining Mountain. I know exactly who the other seven geniuses under the age of fifteen are and what their general strength is. Even if Dongling turns upside down, there is absolutely no way they can make it into the top five. No, judging from their strength on paper, they can basically only be at the bottom!"

Zhu Tong's eyes were downcast. Recalling the situation at the Dongling camp reported by the spies, he sneered a few times.

Dongling's strength is indeed impressive, but it is mostly concentrated at the high level, namely the Cold Resistance level and the limit of the Earth Digging Realm. There are also many young geniuses among them, but they are all over twenty years old.

There are only two geniuses under the age of fifteen in Dongling. They are the original people from Baisong Camp, and their basic strength is only 18,000 jin.

Their strength is not even comparable to Zhu Ling's, and they are not even as good as the other six families.

Thinking of this, Zhu Tong looked at his second brother Zhu Da and asked in a deep voice, "Make sure Bai Xu and the other five are all ready. Dongling is nothing to fear, but the other families all have a few good talents. Be careful and don't let them capsize in an unexpected way."

Zhu Da nodded immediately upon hearing this: "Leader, you're overthinking it. I estimate that Bai Xu won't even need to make a move. Liu Yan, who is currently the weakest among the five, already has a basic strength of 21,000 jin. He doesn't even need any combat techniques; his strength alone is enough to crush the other seven families!"

"Don't be careless. Better safe than sorry. Hong Fan's youngest son, Hong Yang, is quite strong. The Bai Yuan and Long He families each have two promising talents. If possible, I hope the other seven families won't win a single match."

Upon hearing Zhu Tong's last words, Zhu Da was momentarily stunned. He quickly realized that his elder brother intended to use this competition to intimidate the other seven families. He immediately nodded emphatically and said, "In that case, I will prepare five Blood Qi Pills for each of Bai Xu and the others, and give them some further instructions. They should be able to manage that!"

The Eight Camps Martial Arts Tournament adopted a ring system. Each camp sent five people, and there were three rings in total. First, three champions were randomly selected by drawing lots. The remaining people all had two chances to challenge the champions. After the first three champions left the ring, they only had one chance to challenge. The contestants who used up their challenge chances were eliminated.

Both defending and attacking the title successfully earn one point. The final ranking of the eight villages will depend on the total score accumulated by their five players.

With this rule in place, a war of attrition is unavoidable.

Under normal circumstances, it would be almost impossible to prevent the other seven families from winning a single match. However, with the help of the Blood Qi Pill, a healing elixir produced by Beishuo, and with Zhu Baixu and his group being more cautious, it would still be possible to achieve this.

"Alright, it's almost dark. Zhu Da, go and tell Bai Xu and the other five to get ready at the arena. Zhu Mai, go and tell He Wuyang to come over. The rest of you, come with me to the entrance of the camp. Those seven families should be arriving soon!"

Everyone in the hall stood up and did what Zhu Tong ordered.

………………

The eight villages of Beining Mountain are actually not far from each other and are all under the jurisdiction of Beishuo. Although there are frictions, there is no concern about each other annexing each other. Therefore, the exact location of the eight villages is clear to each other.

After nightfall, Zhu Tong waited at the door for less than half an hour before Bai Bo, the leader of Baiyuan, and Nie Ying, the leader of Longhe, each arrived with a small team of people.

After all, they were in someone else's territory. Even though the two had a good relationship with Zhu Tong and both families had clearly stated that they would respect Zhu Ling, they still brought four Cold-Resistant level fighters with them in addition to the five contestants. This was obviously for safety reasons.

Zhu Tong didn't say anything, but glanced at the five young men behind the two men, a smile appearing on his face. He gestured and said with a smile, "There are still five families who haven't arrived yet. How about the two leaders and I wait here for a moment?"

"Yanggu and Wanxing are closer to us than we are, why didn't they arrive first?"

As soon as Bai Bo finished speaking, he saw Zhu Tong's face darken immediately. He realized that he had brought up a sore spot and quickly shut his mouth.

"Bet on the tribute supplies for the next three years in one go, it seems Brother Zhu is determined to succeed this time. Lu Yang has indeed been too arrogant for the past three years, relying on Lord He's protection. If he is not dealt with soon, he may cause a big mess."

Nie Ying was clearly much better at speaking. After listening to him, Zhu Tong's gloomy expression immediately eased. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly looked up at the outside of the camp and noticed something. His pupils immediately flashed with anger.

"Yangquan and Wantianhe have arrived..."

"Not only that, didn't you see there was a huge group of people?"

"Hong Fan and Zi Jing are both here, and the leader... is Lu Yang!"

"Coming with Lu Yang, Yang Gu and Wan Xing aren't planning to pretend anymore?"

The words of Nie Ying, Bai Bo, and the others undoubtedly fueled Zhu Tong's anger even more. However, after a moment's thought, he forced himself to suppress his anger and gradually calmed down.

When Lu Yang approached, he took a step or two forward with a smile, and said with a slightly sarcastic tone, "Chief Lu has only been in Beining Mountain for a little over three years, and he already has a large entourage of followers. I, Zhu, am truly envious!"

As he spoke, his gaze was clearly fixed on Yang Quan and Wan Tianhe.

The two men knew perfectly well that Zhu Tong was mocking them, but they were both in their fifties or sixties, so they naturally wouldn't change their expressions because of this sarcasm. They simply ignored Zhu Tong and pretended not to have heard him.

This undoubtedly made Zhu Tong even angrier.

But what angered him wasn't over yet.

"I have failed to win Brother Zhu's respect for three years. At the beginning of the year, we even got into a fight over an iron mine. I am ashamed. When Brother Zhu is in this entourage, that will be a real achievement."

"Lu Yang, how dare you!"

"Lu Yang, how dare you humiliate my leader like this."

Too embarrassing!

Lu Yang's arrogant attitude, showing no regard for Zhu Tong whatsoever, was simply too overbearing. Coupled with his suppression of Zhu Ling over the previous three years, before Zhu Tong, the person directly involved, could even react, the group of Cold-Resistant level members behind him couldn't help but stand up and shout angrily.

laugh…………

"What, isn't today a competition for the juniors? Are we going to have a match first?"

Before Lu Yang could speak, Zhao Hu, who had a fiery temper, had already drawn his sword from his waist. His blood and qi surged, and the cold edge of the sword alone caused several of Zhu Ling's Cold-Resistant level warriors to take a few steps back.

Including Zhu Tong, along with the two leaders Nie Ying and Bai Bo, the three families totaled more than twenty people at the Cold Resistance level. Looking at Zhao Hu, they all showed deep fear on their faces.

"Zhao Hu!"

"He is Zhao Hu, the mountain fortress of Dongling Village, who is in charge of the hunting team. Rumor has it that he is the strongest cold-resistant level hunter in the entire Beining Mountain."

"The Fierce Tiger of Dongling, is that him?"

…………

Upon hearing the whispers, Lu Yang smiled slightly.

Three years ago, Zhao Hu already possessed the cultivation level of the late stage of the Cold Control realm, with the strength of fourteen manes. Now, he is only one step away from the peak of the Cold Control realm, with a basic strength of nineteen manes. It is indeed no problem to say that he is the strongest Cold Control level cultivator in the entire Beining Mountain.

In the past three years, Dongling has mainly been fighting for hunting grounds. Zhao Hu, the mountain guard in charge of the hunting department, has naturally been the one to fight the most. With so many times, he has become famous. Local gossips have given him the nickname "Dongling Tiger". When they first heard about it, they often teased Zhao Hu with those four words.

"Please calm down. Chief Lu is as straightforward as ever. Today is a competition among the younger generation, so we older folks won't get involved. But Chief Lu..."

Zhu Tong was clearly also wary of Zhao Hu. He first calmed the people behind him and then tried to change the subject. However, when he looked down and saw the five young men in black robes behind Lu Yang, his brows furrowed.

Judging from their postures, it was easy to tell that the five people were young, but the problem was that he couldn't detect even the slightest movement of their qi or muscle.

The Cold Resistance level and the Earth-Digging Realm level judge the level of basic strength by observing the movement of Qi and muscles. If one cannot see through Qi and muscles, then it is naturally impossible to judge how much basic strength these five people have.

The black robes they wore were no ordinary objects!

The thought flashed through Zhu Tong's mind, and his heart skipped a beat, but he continued, "However, Chief Lu should know that the age limit for today's martial arts competition is under fifteen years old. The five people you brought shouldn't be able to..."

"Don't worry! We'll know your bone age with a test later. I can't do anything to you. Let's just go to the arena!"

Lu Yang's current style of doing things is clearly imitating Xia Hong. He waved his hand and led Zhao Hu and his group towards the camp.

The people from Dongling went inside, and naturally, the people from the Hongyuan, Ziqiang, Yanggu, and Wanxing families followed them in.

"So arrogant, so incredibly arrogant."

"That's outrageous, leader!"

"This Dongling camp is really going too far."

…………

Lu Yang's arrogant attitude naturally enraged everyone.

However, while everyone was speaking out in low voices of anger, Zhu Tong remained silent, only staring at the five men in black robes with a gloomy gaze, his expression gradually becoming uncertain.

Zhu Tong couldn't see through the aura of the five young men in black robes, and naturally, the other Cold-Resistant level cultivators couldn't either. So, when everyone saw Zhu Tong's expression, they immediately knew what he was worried about.

The two cold-resistant cultivators from Zhuling, their eyes darting around as if they'd figured something out, immediately moved closer to Zhu Tong and spoke in succession:

"Leader, it's just a bluff. We know the situation in Dongling perfectly well. The fact that they're shrouded in black robes just proves that Lu Yang can't find anyone, which is why he's resorting to such a clumsy tactic."

“That’s right. I suspect that Lu Yang never intended to participate in the fight. His arrogant attitude is clearly a way to force us to fight so that he can take the opportunity to back out.”

………………

Hearing their guesses, Zhu Tong's expression brightened slightly, but he still felt something was amiss, so he shook his head and said, "Come in with me first and see what Lu Yang is really up to!"

Zhu Ling had clearly put a lot of thought into this annual martial arts competition, with three 20-meter-wide square arenas made of pure iron erected in front of the main building of the garrison.

"Chief Hong, what's the situation with those five people?"

Zi Jing, the leader of the Zi Qiang camp, finally couldn't resist his curiosity and asked Hong Fan in a low voice.

Like Zhu Tong and the others, he couldn't figure out the situation of the five people from Dongling. Thinking that Hong Fan had met up with Lu Yang and the others before him, he might know, so he asked.

Unfortunately, Hong Fan was also unsure. His eyes were filled with worry as he said in a deep voice, "I don't know either, but since Chief Lu has dragged us into this competition, he must have been prepared. The robes covering these five people can prevent us from seeing them. They might be some new geniuses who have recently emerged from the Dongling camp."

Upon hearing this, Zi Jing's expression froze, and a look of worry immediately appeared in her eyes.

Beining Mountain is only so big. When hunting and gathering, the eight families usually interact with each other. If a genius emerges from any of the camps, the news will spread quickly. There are basically no secrets.

Dongling Village has only been established for three years. The strong people are basically the more than 500 people that Lu Yang brought when he fled. The rest are all people from Baisong Camp. Don't they know whether there are any geniuses among them?

Geniuses don't just appear out of nowhere.

This competition is clearly going to be fraught with danger.

Not only the two leaders, Zijing and Hongfan, but even Yangquan and Wantianhe, who had just decided to side with Dongling, looked somewhat uneasy.

This competition involves the tribute supplies for the next three years, and with He Wuyang as a witness, plus its connection to the first disciple of Huang Yuan in Beishuo Town, it would be difficult to deny the outcome afterward.

If they lose, the consequences will be absolutely dire.

"Now that all eight families are present, I won't waste any more words. This competition will continue the rules of previous years, with three arenas open simultaneously. As we agreed last month, today's bet is on all the tribute materials to Beishuo Town over the next three years. The tribute materials required from the top three camps will be shared by the bottom five. Do any of you have any objections?"

When Zhu Tong asked these questions, his eyes were fixed on Lu Yang, trying to figure out what Lu Yang was thinking by observing the changes in his expression.

Unfortunately, Lu Yang kept his eyes down the whole time, and Zhao Hu, Lin Fan, and Wang Tao next to him were also expressionless, revealing nothing.

"This……"

"Three years, isn't that a bit too long?"

Surprisingly, it was Zijing and Hongfan who were the first to back down today.

This immediately energized Zhu Tong, Nie Ying, and Bai Bo.

It should be noted that, over the past three years, relying on Dongling as their backer, Zijing and Hongfan, while not as arrogant as Lu Yang, have become increasingly tyrannical.

The key point is that their backing down at this moment means that even they don't have much confidence in Lu Yang, which at least proves that Lu Yang didn't reassure them.

In other words, there is a very high probability that these five young men shrouded in black robes are actually bluffing!
Once Zhu Tong's thoughts became clear, a bright light suddenly shone in his eyes.

"Since it was decided last month, there's no going back on it."

"That's right, it's only three years. Once you've agreed, you can't go back on your word!"

Nie Ying and Bai Bo have already spoken up in support.

"Still putting on airs, how ridiculous!"

Seeing that Lu Yang, Zhao Hu, and the others remained silent, Zhu Tong sneered inwardly. Just as he was about to speak, Lu Yang spoke first.

"No, no, no, three years is still too short. If we're going to gamble, let's gamble big. I think at least five years, or even ten, is not out of the question. What do you think, Chief Zhu?"

"Good! Chief Lu is indeed generous. We'll do as you say and bet for five years!"

At this point, Zhu Tong was basically certain that Lu Yang was bluffing.

He just wanted to scare him off with those five men in black robes.

If I'm not mistaken, he'll most likely renege on the bet later.

It's too late to stop gambling!

Zhu Tong sneered, as if he could already see Lu Yang's panicked expression. He stood up and said quickly:

"I forgot to tell you all that today's witness to this contest is not only Inspector He, but also Lord Zhu Yang, one of the seven chief ministers of the Censorate."

As soon as Zhu Tong finished speaking, an old man in white robes leaped down from the roof of the main building behind him and landed in front of the crowd.

At the same time, He Wuyang slowly walked out of the main building, but his expression was extremely ugly. When he reached the edge of the arena, he did not dare to look up at the group of people from Dongling below.

"Greetings, Chief Physician Zhu!"

Meanwhile, Zhu Tong and the others had already bowed to Zhu Yang.

Nie Ying, Bai Bo, Yang Quan, Wan Tianhe, along with the six leaders including Hong Fan and Zi Jing, and the group of Yu Han level warriors following behind them, all bowed their heads and paid their respects to the white-robed elder.

Only Lu Yang and the Dongling group behind him, including Zhao Hu, had drastically changed their expressions, as if their souls had been taken away. They were all in a daze and didn't even move.

The white-robed elder, Zhu Yang, saw the expressions on Lu Yang and the others' faces and immediately revealed a cold smile. He did not pursue the matter of them not bowing and directly waved his hand to Zhu Tong, ordering, "We just said five years, so it's five years. Now that everyone is here, let's begin."

"Zhu Tong obeys!"

Zhu Tong was in high spirits at this moment, especially when he turned his head and saw that the group from Dongling all looked like they had lost their souls, his expression became even more excited.

"Eight families, please announce the names of your participants. We will randomly select three champions. Please proceed!"

Zhu Tong said the last "please" almost directly to Lu Yang.

Hong Fan and Zi Jing had already lowered their heads and dared not speak.

Yang Quan and Wan Tianhe were filled with regret and dared not look up at Zhu Tong.

Nie Ying and Bai Bo's expressions were similar to Zhu Tong's at this moment, full of smugness.

Zhu Yang, one of the seven chief officials of the Northern Shuo Supervisory Council.

The old man's name alone tells a lot.

Dongling has definitely failed this time!

(End of this chapter)