Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 940: Chapter 349: Attempting to Cheat, East Ridge’s Strength, Lu Yang’s Tactics

Upon hearing these words, Zhu Tong was finally certain that Lu Yang’s attitude had genuinely softened. He immediately gritted his teeth, clasped his hands, bowed deeply, and solemnly said, "Brother Lu, for the past three years, it was I, Zhu, who was misguided. With the strength of East Ridge, not to mention taking a small part of our Hunting Area, even dividing half of my Zhu Ling Hunting Area would be justified."

All of them being leaders, Bai Bo and the other four were quick to react as well. As soon as Zhu Tong finished speaking, they all rushed to express their stance to Lu Yang.

"Leader Lu, I, Bai Yuan, never intended to be on bad terms with East Ridge. The past three years were all a misunderstanding! Once I return this time, I, Bai, will certainly restrain the Hunting Team in the camp properly, ensuring they don’t trespass into East Ridge’s Hunting Area."

"Leader Lu’s righteousness shames me, Wan. Our Wanxing Camp henceforth..."

...........

"Good!"

After hearing the declarations from the leaders of the five families, Lu Yang’s expression immediately showed approval. He nodded and smiled, saying, "Since the five of you are so insightful, if I, Lu, were to persist, it would indeed be too ungracious. However..."

Upon hearing the first part of his sentence, the five of them were filled with ecstasy, but before they could savor the joy, it was interrupted by the two words that followed from Lu Yang.

All five of them looked up at him with expressions of extreme anxiety.

"This wager concerns everyone in the camp, after all. I, Lu, can’t just waive the debt of the five families with a single sentence. Let me think..."

Lu Yang looked troubled, pondering for a moment before his eyes lit up. He smiled and said to the five, "Here’s an idea. I don’t have many hobbies in life; accepting students is one among them. The talents of your five families have opened my eyes today. If the five leaders don’t mind, have your sons acknowledge me as their master and stay in East Ridge for the next five years under my personal tutelage. I guarantee that they will be returned to you unchanged five years later. How about it?"

......

Upon hearing this, the eyes of Zhu Tong and the other four immediately showed a hint of wariness.

Nobody would believe that Lu Yang genuinely intends to accept disciples.

Sending their sons to East Ridge is tantamount to sending them as hostages, isn’t it?

As for the promise to return them unchanged, that was just empty talk. If there are no conflicts between both parties during these five years, all will be fine. But if anything happens...

With this thought, Zhu Tong and the other four’s expressions hardened.

They instantly understood Lu Yang’s intention.

Sending their sons is essentially sending hostages. If they behave obediently during these five years, their sons will remain safe. Five years later, the debt will be cleared, and East Ridge will have no reason to detain their sons. If East Ridge genuinely refuses to release them, they can always seek judgment from the Beishuo Inspection Office.

Upon this realization, Zhu Tong, Bai Bo, Wan Tianhe, and Nie Ying each turned to look at their sons, Zhu Baixu, Bai Wuji, Wan Qingyu, and Nie Shen. Even though Yang Quan’s son wasn’t present, his expression mirrored the struggle and hesitation of the four others.

"Oh, I haven’t made myself clear. If the sons of the five leaders come, five-tenths of the debt can be waived each year. For other sons of Cold Resistance Level, one-tenth can be waived each year. This means each family has only six slots. If you agree, I can write an agreement now to waive the first year’s debt for the five families immediately. What do you think?"

Seeing their expressions of struggle, Lu Yang struck while the iron was hot. After finding no reaction from them, he continued, "Rest assured, your sons in East Ridge will not lack any Cultivation Resources at all. You can even visit them at any time. Aside from not being able to take them away, I won’t restrict them in any way. How about it?"

"Leader Lu, do you really mean what you say?"

Zhu Tong finally couldn’t hold back any longer and asked.

Lu Yang smiled and nodded, "All seven leaders of the camps are present here today. If I, Lu, deceive you, I won’t have the face to stay in Beining Mountain in the future."

Zhu Tong’s face struggled for a long time, before he eventually turned to look at his son.

"Father, to relieve the camp of such a significant debt burden, I am willing!"

Zhu Baixu, despite showing some anxiety, did not tarnish the honor of a leader’s son and still stood up first.

"Father, I am willing to go to East Ridge!"

"Father, so am I!"

"Father, let me go to East Ridge!"

Young and exuberant at fifteen or sixteen, after Zhu Baixu stood up, Bai Wuji, Wan Qingyu, and Nie Shen naturally refused to lag behind and all stood up.

Although Yang Quan’s son wasn’t present, seeing the other four families agree, he too could only sigh and clasp his hands toward Lu Yang, "Yanggu agrees as well, I will personally escort my son to East Ridge soon."

"Good, you five leaders are indeed forthright!"

Lu Yang laughed heartily and casually exchanged a glance with Wang Tao behind him, a hint of a successful smile flickering in both their eyes.

Whoosh........

No one noticed that after the dust had settled from Lu Yang’s discussions with everyone at the Zhu Ling camp, a gust suddenly swept across the sky above the camp.

"Obtaining a thousand catties of silver is not as valuable as obtaining a promise from Yang Zhun. Interesting!"

In the high altitudes east of Zhu Ling’s camp, Xia Hong, clad in black, flew through the sky, quietly repeating a phrase Wang Tao had said, and shook his head with a light chuckle.

There must be some commonality among the calendrical systems of the various camps in the Ice Abyss.

In the past, the difference between the Longyou Calendar and the Great Xia Calendar was only ten days. Now, the Moao Calendar and the Great Xia Calendar differ by even less—only four days.

Today, according to the Great Xia Calendar, it’s the eleventh of September.

In the Moao Calendar, it’s the fifteenth of September.

The morning of the tenth of September, before dawn, he set off from Mirror Valley, flying along the Double Dragon Mountain Wall to Beining Mountain, spent a day familiarizing himself with the new environment, hunted several flying Cold Beasts in the mountains, and then headed directly to East Ridge.

After hearing about the duel from He Ning and others, he thought of witnessing it for himself and traced his way to Zhu Ling’s camp. He hid in mid-air the entire time, not only watching the entire duel but also witnessing Lu Yang’s step-by-step strategy, manipulating the five leaders.

"Lu Yang’s tactics are becoming more and more shrewd. He plans to first use hostages to control the five leaders, then use this to penetrate the five families and achieve control over them. The idea of hostages must have been suggested by Wang Tao!"

It was clear to Xia Hong from the start that Lu Yang never really intended to take those wagered goods.

After all, to Great Xia, the goods lost by the five families were indeed insignificant, like a drop in the ocean. Exchanging those goods for five hostages to control the leaders of the five families was of much greater value.

For Lu Yang, the most worrisome thing in East Ridge these three years had been getting noticed by Beishuo.

Coincidentally, Zhu Ling’s five families were always watching him. Now, with these five hostages, East Ridge could utterly eliminate this concern. Indeed, a very clever strategy.

As for saying it was a suggestion from Wang Tao, that’s simple enough.

The strategy of using hostages was previously employed by Long Mountain.

Wang Tao, having been from Long Mountain, was naturally familiar with this tactic. To suggest such a strategy to Lu Yang, it was likely Wang Tao.

"Having seen Moao Mountain, next I should visit the legendary Beishuo Town!"

Glancing eastward in the air, Xia Hong’s eyes flashed as he accelerated his flight toward Beishuo City.

"Eh, it’s him!"

But after having flown for a while, he seemed to have noticed something and looked down at the snowy ground below with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

"I had noticed before; this Zhu Yang, although possessing Peak Cold Resistance Cultivation, is clearly only in a Lower War Body, yet his Basic Strength reaches as high as twenty-seven manes. He must have some special channel for enhancement, perfect opportunity to inquire!"