Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 680: Chapter 283: Breakthrough, New Army, High-Intensity Training (Part 2)

In Yang Zhong’s eyes, there was a longing for Great Xia.

To be precise, it was a longing for these mighty cultivation resources.

Due to his background, he and Li Hu never received fair treatment in Long Mountain, and instead were humiliated for years by Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan. Naturally, there was no loyalty to speak of.

On the contrary, even though Great Xia was unfamiliar to them, it had saved their lives twice and wasn’t stingy with huge expenditures on them. So, even though they knew they were being used, Yang Zhong and Li Hu found it worthwhile.

”The new army has been formed for two days now, and there are not many slots left. We must break through tonight, and Li Yuanqing has already started meddling with the Hunting Team. Those three should be leaving soon, and only Hu Zi, Xue Ping, and I will be left without the qualification to hunt in the mountains.”

That day, Li Yuanqing indeed didn’t lie to them. The next day, on the second day of the month, the camp issued regulations for forming a new army. Although it had only been two days until today, there were already over eight hundred people, leaving only the last 100 slots.

Li Hu broke through to the Earth-digging Realm Limit three days ago and has yet to apply to join because he’s waiting for him to break through together.

Joining the new army is partly to gather more information about the higher-ups of Long Mountain and the specific movements of the Longyou Army, to relay more useful intelligence to Great Xia. It is also to deal with the targeting from Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan.

Li Yuanqing sent someone the day before yesterday to recruit the other three from their team, and Yang Zhong didn’t even need to ask to know the purpose.

The Longshan Camp has a rule that an ordinary Hunting Team must have at least five people, and an elite Hunting Team must have at least ten people, to enter the mountain for hunting normally.

Of course, if the number is insufficient, you can prove your strength instead.

However, proving strength is also something Li Yuanqing can meddle with.

The original intent of this rule was to ensure the safety of hunting, which is not bad at all, but now it has become a tool for Li Yuanqing to use against them, which is ridiculously ironic.

Li Yuanqing sent someone to recruit the three team members, whose only task was to leave the Hunting Team, preventing them from hunting in the mountains normally, thereby cutting off their source of Beast Meat by indirect means.

Beast Meat is considered a basic equivalent for all major camps, and Long Mountain is no exception. If the income from Beast Meat decreases, all other cultivation resources naturally fall behind.

So Li Yuanqing’s tactic indeed hit them right where it hurts.

”As long as we enter the new army, it’ll be fine. The army has a stable allocation of Beast Blood, and Li Yuanqing, a mere Commanding Officer, wouldn’t dare meddle in this regard.”

While mulling over the plan, Yang Zhong had already devoured all the Beast Meat in the pot, with his speed of punches speeding up and the blood energy around him becoming more intense.

When the blood energy reached its peak, his body seemed to reach a critical point, letting out a muffled groan, he retracted his fists and gathered strength.

Slzzzz...

His skin suddenly tightened, emitting a faint sound, and then the blood energy enveloping him seeped back inside through his pores.

At that moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, punching the stone wall on one side of the cave with a blast.

Bang!

The mountain wall shattered violently, his fist penetrating more than ten centimeters into the rock.

”I’ve broken through!”

Yang Zhong withdrew his fist, feeling the basic strength of 30,000 pounds and the toughness after his skin tightened, his face full of excitement and emotion.

After standing still for a while, he moved inside the cave, opened a leather bag, and looked at the bright red Beast Blood inside, a flash of eagerness in his eyes.

But soon, he suppressed his emotions.

”The Minister only gave us 250 pounds in total. Instead of splitting it between the two of us, it’s better to give it all to Hu Zi, to fully support his breakthrough to Cold Resistance Level.”

Li Yuanqing has already broken through, and Yang Gan is about to; if neither of us can break through, we wouldn’t stand a chance against those two.

Having made up his mind, Yang Zhong put away all the materials, extinguished the bonfire, restored the cave entrance to its original state, and went to wait by the big tree where they entered, quietly awaiting the return of Li Hu and others.

”Ah Zhong, we’re here.”

It wasn’t until the middle of the night that Li Hu finally returned with several people.

Seeing Yang Zhong jump down from the tree, Li Hu could obviously feel something, his expression slightly brightened, but he said nothing, merely urged everyone to take their prey and head back to the outpost swiftly.

As soon as Yang Zhong returned to the outpost, Li Hu took him to report to the military camp.

Having reached the Earth-digging Realm Limit entitled them both to join the new army, so there was no issue, and they were directly assigned to the new army’s second regiment.

As expected, the commanding officer of the second regiment was Li Yuanqing.

Moreover, they were assigned to Yang Gan’s squad.

The Longyou Army has five hundred men per regiment and a hundred men per squad. With Yang Gan’s cultivation, it’s natural for him to be a squad leader, but it’s suspicious how they coincidentally ended up in his squad.

Yet Li Hu and Yang Zhong said nothing about it, neither did they complain to the Commanding Captain Cheng He, choosing instead to accept this arrangement silently.

”If Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan want to give us a hard time, let them. Staying in the new army is our most important task. Be sure to keep things calm during tomorrow’s formal military training camp.”

After returning from the military camp, Li Hu advised Yang Zhong.

Yang Zhong had a slightly bigger temper and was easily provoked. If during the new military training, Li Yuanqing caught hold of any mistake, being expelled from the army would be a minor issue, but violating military orders could have severe consequences, so he had to speak more.

Yang Zhong listened to his advice, nodded, and said in a deep voice, ”I understand. It’s just tolerating it. We’ve tolerated for over ten years; this isn’t much.”

Only then did Li Hu feel relieved, as they practiced martial arts together in the courtyard.

Yet, what unfolded next was clearly beyond their expectations.

On the fifth of June, after entering the new army for training, Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan surprisingly didn’t cause any trouble.

Although Li Yang and the others had military duties, they also had to participate in training, so Li Hu and Yang Zhong could face them.

Judging by the looks in their eyes, it was clear that Li Yuanqing still wanted to cause trouble, but for some reason, he never actually did.

”This Longyou Army is indeed remarkable!”

After pondering for a long time, Li Hu and Yang Zhong could not come up with any reason, ultimately attributing it to the stringent military regulations.

But soon, they vaguely began to understand.

The intensity of the new army training was exceptionally rigorous.

Training in spear coordination at the camp was already something, and once the second regiment reached full capacity, they were taken to Long Mountain that very night to hunt Cold Beasts together.

Every night thereafter, the first half was spent practicing with spears, and the second half was engaged in actual combat in Long Mountain, leaving virtually no time to rest.

Commanding Captain Cheng He was constantly observing from above, and even the New Army Captain Zhou Yuan was present, either patrolling or directing.

Under such high-intensity and high-standard training, Li Yuanqing and Yang Gan were exhausted each day, not to mention lacking the opportunity, they likely lacked the inclination to cause them trouble.

”With such intensive training, as I expected, the camp must be preparing for something major. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be like this.”

On the tenth of June, at dawn, everyone in the camp was deep in dreams. Lying in bed, Li Hu spoke softly to Yang Zhong beside him.

”But we haven’t heard any news, and the other three Longyou Army units also show no signs of action, following the same schedule as us in the camp every day.”

Hearing Yang Zhong’s words, a gleam shone in Li Hu’s eyes. He said, ”Being in the camp every day is the signal. The other three Longyou Army units don’t even need training. Under normal circumstances, they should be out hunting or busy with other matters, but during this period, they’ve stayed in camp, clearly preparing for something!”

He paused for a moment before continuing, ”It should be soon.”

As if to confirm his words, there was suddenly the sound of clattering metal from outside the camp, easily identifiable as the collision of a large number of iron objects.

”Get everything ready; it needs to be sent over after nightfall. No mistakes.”

”Move them over here, ten boxes per squad, don’t mix them up.”

”Move them over here, quick!”

......

Hearing the commotion outside the camp, Li Hu and Yang Zhong exchanged a glance, a simultaneous gleam appearing in their eyes.