Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 976: Chapter 357: Losses of Eight Towns, Xiahou Zhang’s Certainty, Four Armies Arrive at Long Mountain

The name Xing River was chosen by Xia Hong.

In March of the first year, to gather enough beast blood for a breakthrough to the Cold Resistance Level, he hunted intermediate Cold Beasts madly, traveling south from Redwood Ridge to the riverbank for the first time.

Seeing the lush riverbank and the obviously extraordinary vegetation, Xia Hong named it Xing.

As the Lord of Great Xia, Xia Hong’s naming naturally carried official significance, so from the first year, everyone in Great Xia referred to the southern river as Xing River.

However, unlike the people of Great Xia, the Nine Towns referred to Xing River as the Heng River.

The name Heng River originally spread from Jiangxia Town.

From the map of the Nine Towns, it’s not very noticeable, but the east entrance on the north bank of Heng River seems sandwiched between two towns to the south and north. However, Chui Mountain Town is actually two to three kilometers away from the entrance, so Jiangxia Town was the one truly controlling the entire entrance.

You can tell from the word ”Heng” that Jiangxia Town discovered early on that this river generally flows east-west. This also indirectly proves that Jiangxia had long begun exploring the north bank of Heng River.

Year 131 of the Moao Calendar, September 28, night

On the north bank of Heng River, in an unnamed camp’s main building in the eastern section, Xiahou Qin paced back and forth nervously, occasionally glancing at the window on the west side of the main building, a hint of terror deep in his pupils.

”It’s nearly half an hour since nightfall, and they’re not back yet, what to do, what to do?”

”The Army Chief is so strong, nothing will happen, nothing will happen.”

”How could that Vajra Master be so powerful?”

”If the Vajra Master is that strong, what about the other four masters’ strength...”

.........

Half an hour ago, just before nightfall, he managed to escape the entanglement of the Bhikkhu with Hair from Dajue Temple, returning to Jinbi Village, already in a state of shock. His mind was racing now, worrying about the safety of Army Chief Xiahou Zhang, while being shocked by the terrifying strength exhibited by Dajue Temple this time, visibly flustered.

Thump thump thump...

Suddenly hearing hurried footsteps outside the door, Xiahou Qin abruptly turned his head, seeing a subordinate enter, and his expression visibly darkened.

”Sir, people from Beishuo Town have returned too, eighteen in total, led by two, Commander Huang Lin and Pei Yang of the Town Defense Army.”

Upon hearing the report from his subordinate, Xiahou Qin snorted coldly.

”Eighteen returned, Beishuo actually sent so many people, hmph!”

People from Jin Mountain, Wuchuan, Dragon Valley, Yangqu, Chui Mountain, Bashang of the Six Towns had already returned to Jinbi Village one after another, but no more than seven or eight from each town had returned. Beishuo, however, had as many as eighteen.

The return of eighteen doesn’t mean Beishuo only sent eighteen to Qinghe Village.

Not counting those killed by Zen Temple Bhikkhus during the arson, over 150 people successfully regrouped at the west wall of Qinghe Village after the arson ended.

Jiangxia led the arson tonight, Xiahou Qin knew they sent just over sixty people, and by the time they regrouped at the west wall, only over forty remained, meaning that over 110 others from the other six families were present, and even more escaped without being surrounded beforehand.

As they fled from the west wall, the over 5,000 grey-clothed Bhikkhus pursued relentlessly, killing more, leaving even fewer who escaped successfully.

”During the Eight Towns’ Army Chief meeting at the start of the year, it was clearly agreed that, except for Jiangxia, the seven families would not send more than ten scouts to Qinghe Village, but now it seems none kept their promise. With eighteen returning from Beishuo, I estimate they sent at least over forty scouts to Qinghe Village.”

After Xiahou Qin finished speaking, he laughed coldly. During normal times, he would be angry if the Seven Towns didn’t keep their promise, but tonight was different.

No one expected Dajue Temple to be so powerful.

If these seven families had truly followed the original agreement, sending only a few scouts, Jiangxia alone would have suffered tonight.

The subordinate obviously understood Xiahou Qin’s words, nodding: ”As of now, 23 of our people have returned, while the other six towns each returned seven to eight people. Beishuo returned the most with eighteen. Totaling up to less than ninety people, but judging by the fire’s scale at the start of the operation at dawn, there were over 200 involved in the sabotage, meaning the Eight Towns lost over a hundred Cold Resistance Level fighters this time.”

”Not only that!”

Xiahou Qin’s expression became solemn, his tone heavy: ”Don’t forget, there were experts sent to explore Dajue Temple, two to three from each family, none have returned yet. I estimate...”

By now, nearly an hour had passed since nightfall, and with no returns, it’s plausible to say they won’t be returning at all, Xiahou Qin understood this clearly in his heart.

The subordinate evidently hadn’t realized this, his expression froze upon hearing:

”Lord Gu, Commander Zhang, Commander Zhu, can’t come back either?”

Hearing these three names, a heavy look crossed Xiahou Qin’s face.

Xiahou Gu, Zhang Yuan, Zhu Qing, these three were prominent Cold Resistance Level experts in Jiangxia Town, each with a strength of over 25 tufts, among them, his cousin Xiahou Gu’s basic strength was as high as 35 tufts.

Yet these three experts were lost just like that on Dajue Temple’s side.

Of course, it wasn’t just the three of Jiangxia Town, but also the experts sent by the other Seven Towns to scout hadn’t returned either, it can be confirmed that they all met a disastrous fate.