Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 379 Five-Headed, Mysterious-Faced Maitreya, the Five Internal Organs and Five Elements Method to Break the Mystery, The Great Xia's Eastward Expansion Begins

"what…………"

May 2nd, 132nd year of the Moo calendar
It was already fully light.

The cold light of the sun illuminated the entire town of Ba Shang.

But unlike the shouts of battle that filled the town before dawn, at this moment, apart from the howling cold wind, not a single other sound could be heard inside or outside the town; the whole town was plunged into a deathly silence.

The entire city of Ba Shang seemed to have become a dead city.

A scream suddenly rang out, shattering the eerie silence.

The azure spiritual light filling the sky above the town had condensed into the body of a child wearing a yellow robe. However, this child was three hundred feet long, making him a bizarre giant child magnified nearly a thousand times in proportion.

It's not just its enormous size that's strange.

The giant child was glowing with a blue light, and did not seem to have a physical form. Moreover, it had five heads growing on its neck.

The five heads all had essentially the same face, with skin as smooth as a newborn baby's, two long, snow-white eyebrows and huge earlobes hanging down together, and their expressions were also remarkably consistent, all staring with wide eyes and grinning with a wide-open mouth, maintaining a laughing posture, which was extremely eerie.

Strangely enough, although all five faces have the same expression, they give completely different feelings.

The face in the center had a pair of bright green pupils, and its smile carried a hint of madness, giving people a feeling of extreme anger;
The face on its left has golden pupils. It is clearly smiling, but the smile is also filled with deep sorrow, giving people an extremely sad feeling.
The third face to the left has bright yellow pupils, glossy black lips, and a smile tinged with worry, as if it is concerned about something.
The fourth face has light blue pupils and a smile tinged with fear;

The fifth face, with its crimson pupils, seemed to radiate genuine joy compared to the other four. However, given its extremely eerie appearance, the more genuine its smile, the more unsettling it became.

The giant child stood in the northern part of Ba Shang City. Its head, with its bright green pupils, was looking down at the entire town of Ba Shang. It was opening its huge mouth and sucking into the town. With each suck, it could draw out tens of thousands of blue spiritual lights from the town.

But after that scream, the giant child's sucking motion stopped abruptly. It seemed to feel some intense pain, and its pupils were filled with fear and anger.

"Be bold!"

"Why are there more Xianyang-level beings here?"

"It's you! You're not a Xianyang-level cultivator from Nine Towns!"

………………

Above the other four heads of the giant child, the four great masters, Vajra, Black Nether, Giant Abyss, and Flame Dragon, were all staring at the head in the center, their pupils trembling and exclaiming in surprise.

On the top of the head in the center, a slender, bright silver knife was stuck in the lower right chest of Master Wusheng. The tip of the knife had already pierced through half a meter from his back, and thick black smoke was billowing from both ends of the wound. Master Wusheng's expression was one of extreme pain, clearly indicating that he had been attacked in a vital area.

"you……"

Master Wusheng withdrew his consciousness from the demonic dragon and looked down at the black-clad man holding a long sword in front of him, as well as the thousand-foot-tall skeletal phantom behind him. His pupils were filled with surprise and confusion, but he reacted quickly and realized that now was not the time to be confused. His emerald green pupils suddenly narrowed and met the black-clad man's gaze.

The man in black was none other than Xia Hong. The moment Wusheng Shangshi's eyes met his, he sensed something stirring in his lower abdomen. Without the slightest hesitation, his left pupil suddenly focused, shooting out a beam of intense light that struck Wusheng Shangshi's left eye directly.

bite…………

Xia Hong didn't know exactly how strong the Shattering Divine Light was, but so far, whenever he used it in battle, he had basically never lost.

This time, I think I shouldn't disappoint him either.

However, he was clearly overthinking it.

Master Wusheng's left eye was indeed briefly frozen after being struck by the shattering divine light, and the reaction in Xia Hong's liver area also disappeared.

But that's all there is to it.

"The Yin-Yang Mirror of the Demon Lord of Qishan in the Dark Realm has also descended into the Ice Abyss!"

Master Wusheng's pupils quickly returned to clarity, and as he stared at Xia Hong's left eye, his expression suddenly turned wary.

They can be recognized anywhere.

It seems the Yin-Yang Mirror has quite a background...

Upon hearing Master Wusheng's words and seeing the other person's eyes, Xia Hong couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Despite his sighs, he noticed that the giant child's hands were raised and reaching for him, and the other four masters above the giant child's head were also rushing towards him at the same time. Without the slightest hesitation, he gripped the Dragon Sparrow Blade and forcefully launched himself forward, crashing into the body of Master Wusheng.

boom…………

The three vertical blood-red holy marks between Xia Hong's eyebrows had already appeared. To be precise, from the moment he suddenly attacked Master Wusheng, he had already used every means at his disposal.

The sacred mark between his eyebrows, the illusory image of his bone structure, the condensed fire oil, the silver dragon sparrow blade that Mu Dong had reforged for himself with a grade of 100,000, the Yangxu Cauldron that was currently burning fiercely inside his body, and even the way he used his long fist routine when he attacked from mid-air, plus his own unique lightning spear technique.

With all five great masters present, and having created such a terrifying five-headed, grotesque Maitreya, he could not afford to hold back in his actions.

The reason for choosing to make a move was also because of this five-headed, grotesque Maitreya statue.

At the last moment before dawn, Xia Hong had already infiltrated Ba Shang City. When he discovered that all five Grand Masters were present, he had already decided to retreat.

He was indeed somewhat confident in his abilities, but not so arrogant as to believe he could take on five opponents at once, and besides, he had no reason to do so.

What truly prompted him to take action was the subsequent actions of Dajue Temple.

He saw that at Yan Xin's command, all the soldiers of Dajue Temple took out a blue pill and swallowed it, and then began to recite a scripture called the Rebirth Mantra.

Seeing this, Xia Hong was already starting to have doubts.

Ba Shang City has already been breached, and there is practically no resistance from within.

Even if the goal were to wipe them out completely, the appropriate weapon should be the Fire Melting Pill, which would enable the soldiers to fight during the day, not this blue pill.

What happened next was completely beyond Xia Hong's expectations.

As the chanting ended, blue spiritual light suddenly shot out from the pupils of everyone at Dajue Temple, as if something had been stripped from their bodies. Once the spiritual light was completely drawn out, everyone died on the spot.

Not only the people in Ba Shang City, but also a continuous stream of azure spiritual light converged on Ba Shang City from all directions in the north.

Upon seeing this bizarre scene, Xia Hong immediately realized what was going on.

He had witnessed this scene of mass killings once before in Mirror Valley, so it was not unfamiliar to him.

For the first half of the year, Dajue Temple repeatedly demonstrated the power of taking pills and chanting scriptures during the attack on the two towns. Not to mention those controlled by them, many people in the other seven towns were also bewitched. Under such circumstances, who would doubt that the blue pills were actually deadly?

So, unsurprisingly, the blue spiritual light that flew in from the north was from all the people in the more than sixty village-level camps controlled by Dajue Temple. Under their arrangement, they took the blue pills at the same time as the army of Ba Shang City and then recited the Rebirth Mantra.

That's over a million people!
Xia Hong was utterly terrified. The suicides orchestrated by the Mirror Immortal in the first year of the Great Xia Dynasty numbered only a little over 10,000, but this time the number had increased more than a hundredfold.

While feeling horrified, Xia Hong also realized that the five masters of Dajue Temple were using a feint to lure all the Xianyang-level beings from the Eight Towns to Qinghepu, while they themselves came to Bashang City and sacrificed all the population they had controlled over the past eight years. They were definitely about to do something earth-shattering.

As the cold sun fully appeared on the horizon, at the moment the ice abyss broke into daylight, countless blue spiritual lights gradually gathered together. Xia Hong witnessed a beam of blue light suddenly shooting down from the cold sun in the sky, leaving a blue spiritual body in Ba Shang City.

The azure spirit was initially only the size of a fist, and its appearance was not clear. However, as the azure spiritual light was absorbed into its body, it began to grow larger and larger, eventually becoming the five-headed, grotesque Maitreya Buddha that stands three hundred feet tall before us.

The name "Five-Headed, Mysterious-Faced Maitreya" was not given to him by Xia Hong, but was shouted out in unison by the five great masters when it was first formed.

Xia Hong remembered clearly that the five people had incredibly fanatical expressions and shouted: "Welcome the five-headed, masked Maitreya Buddha to descend upon the Ice Abyss."

"Buddha" is clearly an honorific title; the five-headed, grotesque Maitreya is the true identity of this spirit.

From the moment Xia Hong heard the news about Dajue Temple two years ago, he was basically certain that Buddhism existed in the Ancient Abyss Era. However, judging from the series of actions taken by Dajue Temple afterward, even the Buddhist disciples, like all the other strange creatures originating from the Ancient Abyss Era, underwent extremely bizarre changes, completely unrelated to the Buddhism he knew in his previous life that was dedicated to guiding people towards goodness.

If just one spirit descends, more than a million lives must be sacrificed. What good could these five-faced Maitreya be?

Moreover, it's far more than a million.

The sacrifices at Dajue Temple only began after they entered Ba Shang City, meaning that the more than 1.5 million people in Ba Shang City were also their targets.

As Xia Hong had predicted, the subsequent developments were exactly as follows: after the masked Maitreya spirit body grew to three hundred feet, it seemed to gain some consciousness and began to inhale into the city. With each inhale, it could draw out tens of thousands of cyan spiritual lights from the city.

The azure light is the soul!
The moment Xia Hong saw the spiritual light, he had already guessed it, and he was basically certain that Xu Ning had become like that because half a year ago, when he was spying on the Great Awakening Hall, a part of his soul was taken away by Master Wusheng.

Therefore, the masked Maitreya's actions were to absorb the souls of more than one million people in Ba Shang City. At this point, Xia Hong basically understood all of Dajue Temple's plans and why they were determined to break through Ba Shang City.

A six-year-old child is probably a prerequisite for the revival of the five-headed, grotesque Maitreya. After the seven years of plundering Qinghepu, the five great masters should have already met this condition.

However, the appearance of the Nine Towns spies in September last year made the Five Great Masters realize the crisis. They realized that they had been discovered by the Nine Towns, so they had to revive the Masked Maitreya in advance, which led to their actions of taking the initiative to attack the two towns in the past six months.

The revival is probably at a critical moment, only lacking the next step of acquiring a large number of souls.

The total population of the more than sixty village-level camps was not enough to fully revive the five-headed, masked Maitreya. Therefore, they deliberately slowed down the pace of their attack, allowing Ba Shang to gather all the population within its territory into the city. They then used the blue pills to prepare the more than sixty village-level camps in advance, and then launched a decisive attack in one battle. Once they broke through Ba Shang City, they immediately began their plan.

Therefore, at this moment, only one final step remains before the five-headed, masked Maitreya Buddha is revived.

It will be fully revived once it absorbs the more than one million souls within Ba Shang City!

Having figured this out, Xia Hong didn't hesitate for a second and immediately realized that he had to take action no matter what.

The fact that he can absorb souls alone is enough to prove that this five-headed, masked Maitreya is not someone he can touch at this stage. So once the opponent is revived, not only will the Nine Towns suffer, but the Great Xia will also be doomed.

To say it's bad luck is an understatement; the consequences will only be more severe.

Having decided to make a move, the next step is to find the right opportunity!

He could tell at a glance that among the five masters, the one who held the dominant position was Master Wusheng, who had a pair of bright green pupils, so he hid in the shadows and kept observing Master Wusheng's condition.

The coincidence happened at that moment!
Master Wusheng had been cooperating with the spirit of the masked Maitreya to absorb the souls in the city, but just now, he seemed to have been shocked by something, his pupils flashed with a golden light, and his expression suddenly became dazed.

Xia Hong, who had been keeping a close eye on Master Wusheng, was not about to let this opportunity slip by!
Having been lurking in the city for a long time, he unleashed all his skills in that instant, striking out suddenly and stabbing Master Wusheng in the lower right chest with a single blow.

The billowing smoke emanating from the two wounds on Master Wusheng's body completely confirmed many of Xia Hong's suspicions, so he was no longer as worried as before.

Even when pursued by the spirit of the masked Maitreya and the four great masters, he did not let go of Master Wusheng. He directly raised his knife and struck him, carrying Master Wusheng's body, and flew away from the head of the masked Maitreya's spirit.

"You wretched creature, let go of me now!"

Among the four masters behind, the fastest, Master Yanlong, was the first to catch up with Xia Hong. His eyes flashed with cold light as he raised his spear high, conjuring a giant fire dragon that stabbed straight at Xia Hong's back.

call out…………

The crimson spear instantly drained the surrounding airflow, condensing into a fan-shaped spearhead with a radius of two or three miles. The spearhead arrived in an instant, pressing against Xia Hong's back, piercing through the skin and flesh, and instantly hitting his bones.

That means we've reached the skeletal stage.

Master Yanlong found that his spear could not advance any further, but his expression did not change much. He had fought with Xia Hong once last year, and he was the first to realize that Xia Hong was not from the Nine Towns.

Knowing Xia Hong's strength, he did not continue to try to break through the bones, but instead swept his arm to the left, attempting to drive Xia Hong away and rescue Master Wusheng.

His spear strike was incredibly powerful. Although it couldn't break through Xia Hong's bones, it had no problem breaking through flesh and skin. Normally, a person swept like that would retreat to the side to avoid it.

But Xia Hong didn't!
Xia Hong gritted his teeth and used his back to withstand the blow from Master Yanlong, letting a large chunk of flesh on his back be ripped open. Then, he suddenly pulled a silver dagger from his waist with his left hand, turned halfway to the side, and stabbed it fiercely into Master Yanlong's heart.

Pfft...

Xia Hong's basic strength is close to eleven jun. As the progenitor of the Saint Rune bloodline, he has a 50% strength boost. With the addition of the 30% boost from the Long Fist, even though he is using a dagger now and without the enhancement of martial arts techniques, his strength has reached an astonishing nineteen jun or more.

With this dagger strike, Master Yanlong not only had his heart pierced through, but the entire area surrounding it was also blasted through.

The dagger, still attached to the fist, pierced straight through Master Yanlong's back.

If a normal person's heart is pierced like this, it's an instant death.

But Master Yanlong was not dead. Instead, he looked down at his heart, then looked up at Xia Hong, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
"How...how...did you know..."

His heart was now in Xia Hong's hand.

Unlike the blood-red heart of a normal human, Master Yanlong's heart is pure black, and it is covered with a strange face that looks exactly like the face of the Five-Headed Ghostly Maitreya.

laugh…………

Xia Hong's silver dagger was still stuck inside, just like when Master Wusheng's right chest was pierced. It was now emitting billowing black smoke, clearly reacting violently with the silver.

Master Yanlong deflated like a punctured balloon, instantly becoming listless, just like Master Wusheng just now. He could only be held in Xia Hong's hand, seemingly without the strength to even move.

Just as Master Wusheng was successfully ambushed by Xia Hong, the other four masters immediately chased after him. Seeing that Master Yanlong was also severely injured and was clearly not far from death, the remaining three masters, Vajra, Black Nether, and Giant Abyss, immediately stopped in mid-air, looking at Xia Hong with fear and suspicion in their eyes.

"I noticed it last year when he didn't dare to take the sword to my chest!"

Xia Hong answered Master Yanlong's question directly, glanced at Master Vajra, a glint of light flashing in his eyes, and continued: "The lungs store the soul, which belongs to metal in the five elements and governs the nose. The Six Paths Vajra Mantra is precisely a means of using the nose to inhale Zen gold powder into the lungs to strengthen the body."

The mind contains the spirit, which belongs to the fire element in the Five Elements theory and governs the tongue. The Shurangama Mantra teaches people to hold the Fire-Melting Pill under their tongue to concentrate the fire of their mind and spirit to resist the cold light.

The liver stores the soul and belongs to the wood element in the Five Elements theory. It governs the eyes. Although your Rebirth Mantra has different effects than the previous two, it still corresponds to many situations. Therefore, your fatal weakness is naturally the liver area!

The liver area is located on the lower right side of the chest, which is the spot where I just stabbed myself with the Dragon Sparrow Blade.

Upon hearing Xia Hong's words, the remaining three masters trembled violently, their pupils filled with fear and apprehension.

"Hehehehehe... I never thought that someone from the Ice Abyss would know the Five Secret Techniques of Lingyin Mountain. It's just a pity that you're too late. The arrival of the Maitreya Buddha's soul is irreversible. Even if you..."

puff!

Xia Hong naturally wouldn't waste time listening to Master Wusheng's nonsense. He directly drew the Dragon Sparrow Blade, with a dark liver stuck in the tip, the same color as the heart of Master Yanlong that was stuck in the dagger.

Both clumps of internal organs were emitting thick smoke, clearly indicating that the strange energy on them had not completely dissipated. Xia Hong casually wrapped them up with a cloth, then turned to look at the three masters, his expression changing slightly.

The three masters simultaneously rushed towards the spirit of the masked Maitreya.

From the moment Master Wusheng died, the spirit of the grotesque Maitreya became noticeably sluggish. Originally, only its central head could move, and it was the one that absorbed the souls in the city. The other four heads were drooping and motionless.

After Master Wusheng died, the head in the center drooped down, and the soul began to thin, gradually becoming shaky. It was clear that it could not continue to exist because it could not get enough soul replenishment.

The three masters fled aimlessly. Each of them went to the top of their corresponding head, pulled out a piece of something, and then turned and ran north.

The spirit of the masked Maitreya began to disintegrate rapidly immediately after the three people took the object away; that object was clearly the key to its descent into the Ice Abyss.

"Trying to run!" The arrival of the masked Maitreya Buddha's soul was irreversible.

Thinking of Master Wusheng's words, Xia Hong's expression became extremely solemn. Without the slightest hesitation, he chased after the three of them.

His primary target, of course, was the slowest Vajra Master.

The Vajra Master looked extremely flustered. As Xia Hong drew closer and closer behind him, golden light blazed around him. He gritted his teeth and suddenly threw a ball of light in his hand toward the west.

call out…………

He had fought Xia Hong before and knew very well that his physical body could not resist Xia Hong's power. So when the Dragon Sparrow Blade came down, he simply raised his palm to block his chest, trying to deflect Xia Hong's attack.

Unfortunately, his plan did not go as planned!

Xia Hong had no intention of wasting time with Vajra Master. Seeing that what he threw was a ball of light, most likely a soul substance, and that it dissipated and disappeared after being thrown, he realized that he had no means to deal with soul substances. He immediately gave up the idea of ​​chasing and focused on killing Vajra Master.

He was already going all out at that moment, transforming the Dragon Sparrow Blade into a spear. After stabbing the Vajra Master's palm, he suddenly gathered his strength and pressed down on the ground, directly slamming the Vajra Master to the ground.

boom…………

A loud crash was heard, and Vajra Master lay on the ground, his hands still in front of his chest, unable to even stand up.

Xia Hong's power is truly terrifying.

With his full strength, Nineteen Jun's power was almost three times that of Vajra Master; how could he possibly resist?

"what!"

The Vajra Master was unwilling to sit and wait for his death. He swept his hands horizontally, first deflecting Xia Hong's long sword, then his body jolted, and he prepared to get up and escape.

However, before he could even stand up, a crimson spear pierced straight through his upper chest, right in the lung area.

That crimson spear was Master Yanlong's weapon, and it was already covered with a layer of black oil, which was obviously just applied by Xia Hong.

laugh…………

Thick smoke billowed from his lungs, and the Vajra Master's pupils trembled as he looked at Xia Hong with eyes full of hatred and madness.

"Hehehehehe... Killing me is useless, killing me is useless. I am protected by Maitreya Buddha, and I will live forever. I will remember you, I will remember you..."

"Noisy!"

Xia Hong directly pulled out the Vajra Master's blackened lungs, then turned to look at the other two escaped masters, his pupils suddenly narrowing.

call out…………

The Black Nether Master on the left was suddenly forced back by a silver spear. In his haste, he tried to deflect the spearhead with his black longsword, but the spearhead's power far exceeded his expectations. Not only did he fail to deflect it, but his own longsword was also knocked away.

After the spear tip knocked the longsword away, it swept downwards sharply, knocking the Black Nether Master's body to the ground. The spear then plunged downwards, its final target being the area around his kidneys in his lower abdomen.

"what!"

At the same time, the Great Abyss Master on the right also let out a roar.

Suddenly, a silver sword appeared in front of him, blocking his path and aiming straight for his upper left abdomen, piercing his spleen.

The roar of the Great Abyss Master was clearly extraordinary. Even Xia Hong, who was far away, was momentarily disoriented. However, he quickly recovered and saw that the spear and sword were attacking the two masters' vital points. His expression immediately became more serious.

At the same time, the owners of the spear and the longsword also appeared. Both of them were middle-aged, but one was dressed in white and the other in black. Their clothes were tattered and they had many wounds on their bodies, clearly indicating that they had just come from a great battle.

Yang Zun, Qin Feng, Dajue Temple has indeed set a trap in Qinghepu!
"You are not one of the Nine Towns, yet you have interfered in the battle at Ba Shang without cause. I hope you can give me an explanation!"

"That's Master Yanlong's spear! Enough talk, attack!"

As soon as Xia Hong recognized the two men, Yang Zun and Qin Feng spoke up, one after the other. Qin Feng was particularly shrewd, charging towards Xia Hong without saying a word.

Xia Hong had actually already put away the organs of the three great masters, Wusheng, Yanlong, and Jingang, so the two of them couldn't see them at all. However, Qin Feng immediately judged from the crimson spear in his hand that he had killed Master Yanlong.

Without saying a word, they attacked Xia Hong, clearly intending to steal his belongings.

Yang Zun took the initiative, while Qin Feng attacked directly.

These two are really arrogant, one more so than the other!

Xia Hong was injured at the moment. When he saw the two men rushing towards him without saying a word, he sneered inwardly. He was about to fly away when his brows suddenly furrowed.

"call…………"

Two large blue swords suddenly slashed down from above. In his panic, Xia Hong could only raise his spear and Dragon Sparrow Blade to block the blows.

Click...

The instant the blade was blocked, two grotesque phantoms of blue-faced, fanged demons suddenly appeared overhead and lunged at Xia Hong's weapon.

hum!
Xia Hong's hands trembled violently. He almost dropped both weapons. Noticing that the two blue-faced demons were still above him, anger rose on his face. He looked up and stared straight at the sky, his left eye shooting out a beam of light at the golden-robed old man behind the twin swords.

call out…………

"what!"

The old man's voice was full of surprise and doubt. He reacted quickly and immediately dodged when he saw the bright light. He managed to avoid it, but the two blue-faced, fanged demons were pierced by the bright light and disappeared instantly.

At the same time, the two cyan broadswords in his hands also felt a tremendous impact, which directly pushed him and others back more than a hundred meters.

Clang...

"Shangguan Yang is here too, and it seems the other Xianyang-level experts will all be here soon!"

After forcing the old man back, Xia Hong immediately raised the Dragon Sparrow Blade and the spear, simultaneously parrying the attacks from Yang Zun and Qin Feng with both hands. He noticed his blood and qi surging violently and his back wound being torn open. His brows furrowed, and he immediately flew towards the north of Ba Shang.

He had already sensed from that moment that both of them possessed strength exceeding thirteen jun, with Shangguan Yang being slightly stronger at fourteen jun.

In his prime, he could definitely take on these three.

That won't work now, and he can sense that several more Yang-level auras are rapidly approaching this area.

Staying here could easily lead to an unexpected disaster!
"Want to run!"

Qin Feng and Yang Zun immediately saw through Xia Hong's intentions and tried to stop him, but Xia Hong's speed far exceeded their expectations. He not only flew to the north of Ba Shang City in an instant, but also rescued a person from the ground.

"That is……"

"It's Xiang Fuhai! Why is this person saving Xiang Fuhai? Something's fishy!"

"There's nothing we can do, he's incredibly fast, faster than both of us!"

Yang Zun and Qin Feng flew into the air and looked at Xia Hong, who had fled into the distance. Their expressions instantly became much more serious.

"Master Yanlong must have been killed by that bastard. What about Masters Vajra and Wusheng?"

Shangguan Yang, who had failed to ambush Xia Hong, looked extremely ugly. He was especially furious when he noticed the black organs in Yang Zun and Qin Feng's hands. He rushed into Ba Shang City below to ask someone about the situation.

Yang Zun and Qin Feng quickly followed behind him and landed in the city together.

Not all the people in Ba Shang City were dead; there were still quite a few at the Cold Resistance level who had witnessed what had just happened. So, after the three of them entered the city and inquired, they quickly learned what had happened.

"Five-headed, masked Maitreya? As expected, Dajue Temple deliberately led us to Qinghepu. They're after the more than one million people in Ba Shang City!"

"The villages along the way were full of dead people, all caused by Dajue Temple."

"The three great masters all died at that man's hands?"

…………

As they learned more and more, Yang Zun, Qin Feng, and Shangguan Yang's expressions grew increasingly grim. Shangguan Yang, in particular, who had gained nothing from the trip, turned completely dark upon hearing that the three great masters had died at the hands of that man.

"One person killed three great masters in succession, this person's strength..."

"Even those at the Xianyang level outside of the Nine Towns specifically rescued Xiang Fuhai..."

Yang Zun and Qin Feng exchanged a brief glance, both seeing the gravity and worry in each other's eyes.

No matter how unwilling Shangguan Yang was, he could only accept that his trip had yielded nothing. Remembering something, he turned to look at Yang and Qin, and said in a sinister tone, "The Xiang family is gone, and the neighboring Jiangxia Town has long lost its will to fight; they probably wouldn't dare to make any moves now. This vast territory of Ba Shang—we three families can start to discuss it..."

Upon hearing this, Yang Zun and Qin Feng's expressions both brightened slightly.

Just as the three were about to discuss their options, twelve figures suddenly flew in from the north of Ba Shang.

These were the same Xianyang-level beings who had just been trapped in Qinghepu with them.

"Brother Yang, Brother Qin, and Elder Shangguan, the three of us, Chen, have come here but have not been of much use. I am truly ashamed."

Upon seeing the situation in Ba Shang City, three middle-aged men immediately stepped forward from among the twelve. The leader bowed to Yang Zun and the other two, speaking apologetically.

Upon seeing this, Yang Zun and the other two immediately returned the greeting with slightly flustered hands:

“Brother Chen, Brother Huang, and Brother Li have come from afar to help us eliminate the monster. How could we blame them? Just now at Qinghepu, if it weren’t for the three of you helping us, that demonic dragon would not have been so easy to deal with.”

"I will remember Chen Cang's noble deeds. Rest assured, all three of you, I, Wu Chuan, will fulfill every single one of the conditions I promised you."

"Shangguan Yang will definitely go to Chencang another day to thank Lord Fangbo. The three of you can rest in Jinshan City for a few days, so that I can show you the hospitality of a host."

The three men from Chencang were clearly pleased to hear Yang Zun and the others' words, but they seemed to know that they hadn't really played a significant role, so they didn't reply. They remained silent for a moment, and finally, the middle-aged man surnamed Chen spoke up.

"You three are too kind. A few days' rest is certainly not enough. We need to bring the news of the demonic dragon back to Chencang and report it to Lord Fangbo. As for the conditions that the three towns agreed to before, we can bring them to you when you come to Chencang on your next business. We'll take our leave now."

"Well... alright then, I'll see you off, Brother Chen!"

"Farewell, gentlemen."

Seeing how respectfully Yang Zun, Qin Feng, and Shangguan Yang treated the three from Chencang, the remaining nine native Mo'ao Xianyang-level warriors naturally dared not be negligent and also bowed to the three to see them off.

After Chen Cang and the other two left, Yang Zun and the other twelve people officially began to discuss the division of the Ba Shang territory.

In no time at all, the crowd started arguing in the sky above Ba Shang City.

This negotiation is clearly not going to go smoothly.

………………

"You are hurt?"

More than 30 kilometers north of Ba Shang, Xia Hong, with his wife Li Xuanling in his left arm and dragging a long spear in his right hand, with the spear tip carrying the unconscious Xiang Fuhai, was speeding towards Hongguan.

"It's alright. Those twelve Xianyang-level beings must have all come from Qinghepu. We were almost discovered by them, thank goodness!"

Although Xia Hong said he was fine, Li Xuanling still tore open her white sleeve and bandaged him in mid-air.

Seeing that a large chunk of flesh had been ripped off Xia Hong's back, with bones clearly visible, Li Xuanling's face was filled with heartache.

She set off from Baiping Village before dawn and had long since arrived in Bashang City. However, she did not know where Xia Hong was, so she could only observe from a distance. She witnessed Xia Hong suddenly launch a sneak attack on Master Wusheng and then kill two other masters in succession, until he was finally attacked by Yang Zun and the other two.

When she realized that Xia Hong would definitely choose to escape, she left Ba Shang City ahead of time. Having witnessed Xia Hong's battle with the three masters and the strength of Yang Zun and the other two, she knew very well that staying in the same place would not help Xia Hong at all, but would only become a burden.

Xia Hong quickly caught up with her, first hiding her in the snow forest to avoid the group of Xianyang-class warriors rushing from the north, and then setting off again towards Hongguan.

How long until it gets dark?

Upon hearing Xia Hong's question, Li Xuanling immediately replied, "In about an hour and a half, all five great masters will be dead, and Dajue Temple will be gone. After we return, we can inform Xia Chuan to lead the Yunjiao Army eastward."

From Xia Hong's killing of the three masters to the appearance of Yang Zun and the others, it actually took less than half an hour in total, which didn't take much time.

Li Xuanling clearly understood Xia Hong's next move and immediately ordered the Yunjiao Army to advance eastward.

Xia Hong's expression brightened slightly upon hearing this, and he nodded, saying, "An hour and a half is enough to travel from Qinghepu to Hongguan, a distance of nearly fifty kilometers. The Yunjiao Army can march during the day without any problems, so an hour and a half is definitely enough. We can capture Hongguan before dark!"

The Yunjiao Army has been focusing on improving its marching speed on normal snowfields since the sixth year of the Great Xia Dynasty. Last year, they were able to march more than 15 kilometers in one hour. Now, all members have broken through the cold resistance level, and the overall marching speed has increased by at least three or four times. Fifty kilometers can be covered in one hour at most.

"You only intend to occupy Hongguan?"

Li Xuanling looked somewhat surprised when she heard Xia Hong's words.

With the disappearance of Dajue Temple, a great deal of land has been vacated.

Outside Hongguan, the three major camps of Fengshan, Longzhou, and Xuyang within Jiangxia, along with more than thirty village-level camps in the surrounding area, and the three major camps of Zouyang, Qinggu, Jiuqu, and Baisong in Bashang, along with thirty-nine village-level camps in the surrounding area, and to put it more dramatically, Bashang City is now empty.

Moreover, at this moment, Xiang Fuhai, the lord of Ba Shang, was being impaled by Xia Hong with a long spear.

Judging from Xia Hong's words, it was clear that he only intended to occupy the fifty-odd kilometers on the north bank of the Xinghe River and the Hongguan camp, which naturally puzzled her.

Xia Hong shook his head slightly upon hearing this, a glint of shrewdness appearing in his eyes. He said, "We should not be too hasty. Dajue Temple has only just been defeated. If we show too much of an intention to expand eastward, the Eight Towns might regard us as the second Dajue Temple."

Moreover, the territory left behind by Dajue Temple is mostly empty land, with everyone dead. Occupying it now would be pointless; it's better to leave it to the people of the Eight Towns and let them expend the effort to seize it.

He paused slightly, turned to look at Xiang Fuhai behind him, and said with a slight change in expression, "Ba Shang Town alone is enough for those eight families to fight tooth and nail for. We can just stay at Hongguan and watch the show first."

Li Xuanling was incredibly intelligent; she immediately understood Xia Hong's meaning after hearing it. After pondering for a moment, she couldn't help but look at her husband with a hint of admiration in her eyes.

"If Yuwen Tao can successfully protect Muyin Town, then including Jiangxia, we will have two friends in the Nine Towns. If Xiang Fuhai can be saved, he can also be counted as one. At that time, no matter what happens to the three northern towns, our Great Xia will be able to establish a firm foothold in the Nine Towns. Then things will be much easier."

The Nine Towns have been severely damaged by the turmoil caused by the Great Awakening Temple. With the support of two staunch allies, Great Xia is basically not afraid of the towns joining forces. Establishing a firm foothold is the first step, and further expansion and annexation are matters for later.

Given the rapid development of Daxia, Xia Hong has absolute confidence in its subsequent expansion and acquisitions.

"The Five-Headed Masked Maitreya, Lingyin Mountain, the Five Treasures Secret Technique, the Dark Realm, the Qishan Demon Lord... This world is far larger than I imagined, and the strength of those powerful beings is far more terrifying than I imagined. I must proceed step by step!"

(End of this chapter)