Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1817: Chapter 581: Gold and the First Encounter

“The Dragon Shedding Period lasts at least a century; you still need to slumber for several decades. There’s no need to deceive a monk like me. Just obediently surrender your dragon body!”

Inside the grand hall, Xia Hong walked near the high platform, gazing at the Red Blood Demon Dragon coiled around the golden pillar. His mind immediately recalled what Master Wusheng had said five years ago while controlling this blood dragon’s body.

Master Wusheng said this at Chilong Lake; at the time, he was attacking the true form at Bashang, so it wasn’t heard directly, but told to Xia Hong by the Xia people present that day and the Xianyang Level cultivators like Mu Longhe, who later surrendered to Great Xia.

“The teachings in the camps around Qinghepu are obscure and unverifiable. We can only find some clues from the sayings passed down by the previous three villages. This demon dragon arrived roughly fifty years ago, and according to Master Wusheng, its Dragon Shedding Period has at least forty years left.

Now that its true form is known, there are roughly forty more years to completely resolve this trouble, which will require some careful thought…”

The demon dragon’s true form is right before him. Five years ago, even when Master Wusheng controlled it recklessly, it didn’t fully awaken. From this perspective, dealing with this dragon body doesn’t seem to be difficult.

However, the reality is far from simple!

Xia Hong, carrying the Yangxu Tripod, discovered upon entering the palace that this demon dragon, along with the entire golden palace, showed no deceitful monster aura, confirming that this demon dragon is not a monster but rather an unknown level Cold Beast.

Based on the strength it displayed five years ago, this demon dragon at most reached the Five Luminaries Realm Beast Emperor. The issue was it was in a dormant period and was forcibly awakened and controlled by Master Wusheng. Considering that when fifteen Xianyang Level cultivators joined forces to attack, it showed no autonomy, merely a conscious-less dragon body exerting such strength, its actual realm is hard to determine.

Moreover…

“You little punk from Lingyin Mountain, even your Venerable Master Five Treasures Tathagata must bow in respect before me. You dare plot against my dragon body? Get out of my body now!”

Five years ago, many heard this remark made by the demon dragon, which Xia Hong learned afterwards from others.

The truth of the statement aside, it can generally be inferred that, similar to the Dark Realm Qishan Demon Lord encountered before, Lingyin Mountain’s Five Treasures Tathagata is also an exceptionally powerful entity among the deceitful monsters.

The recognition of its association with the Lingyin Mountain faction by Master Wusheng further complicates the demon dragon’s background, proving its formidable strength.

In the Ice Abyss, the disparity in strength is extremely clear; Cold Resistance Level cultivators’ skin membranes have undergone remodeling, significantly boosting defensive capabilities, while those in the Earth-digging Realm, barring weaponry surpassing their level, cannot break through.

This holds even more true for Cold Beasts!

For instance, at this moment, even Xia Hong’s Eye of Truth fails to pierce the demon dragon’s skin membrane, making it impossible to glimpse its interior, proving the robustness of the dragon body exceeds his expectations.

“I’ve encountered many Beast Emperors of the Five Luminaries Realm, none could evade the Eye of Truth’s probing. Therefore this demon dragon’s strength is at least Heavenly Phenomenon Realm, which is equivalent to a Venerable Level Cold Beast akin to a Venerable Realm cultivator…”

The sleeping demon dragon continues to breathe, its tail’s scale armor subtly trembling with serene breaths. Xia Hong took a deep breath, a shadow flitting across his brows, his hand on the Cold Blood Blade’s hilt quivering slightly, ultimately resisting the impulse in his heart.

He wasn’t confident!

While the Cold Blood Blade indeed counters Cold Beasts, this demon dragon is a genuine Venerable Level Cold Beast, perhaps even beyond. Recklessly acting now, failing to breach its skin membrane or the Cold Blood Blade losing its usual effectiveness upon breaching would result in prematurely awakening the dragon, a catastrophic outcome.

At this moment, Li Xuanling and two children had been sent away by him. With the golden palace’s origins uncertain and unclear why Li Longyu summoned him here, he preemptively escorted Li Xuanling and the trio through the pool as a precaution.

Unable to resolve the demon dragon now, Xia Hong decided not to dwell on it any longer, bypassed the high platform’s golden pillar, and strolled toward the rear.

Upon reaching the rear, Xia Hong’s breath suddenly froze, and his pupils filled with intense excitement and surprise.

Behind the high platform lay a 20-meter-long, 10-meter-wide square, piled with more than twenty large and small… Jin Mountains.

Yes, Jin Mountains, actual Jin Mountains!

For nearly twenty years at the Ice Abyss, Xia Hong had never seen gold, yet this didn’t hinder his identification. Not only the twenty Jin Mountains before him but also the golden palace he stood in likely contained a large amount of gold.

“After searching for so many years, I obtained it in such an effortless manner…”

A trace of unreality flickered in Xia Hong’s eyes as he slowly walked to the nearest Jin Mountain, picked up a gold piece the size of a fist, and felt a slight ripple through his mind.

[Resources: Wood 10.8 billion, Coal 8.7 billion, Iron 7.8 billion, Silver 6 billion, Gold 412]

“As expected, gold has a 1:1 conversion rate, but the density is extraordinarily high, at least five times that of silver and ten times that of iron!”

A fist-sized iron ingot weighs about 40 pounds, silver ingot about 80 pounds, while gold incredibly exceeds 400 pounds in weight.