Chapter 530: Chapter 234: Probing, Arrangements, and Hou Hu’s Confidence
The strength of Zhaoyang, which challenges the status of Long Mountain, is beyond doubt.
In the station, the primary materials used for the houses are surprisingly green stone and iron.
The specific construction technique was to first set the foundational pillars, then pile large and small stones into the shape of the house, and finally melt the iron ore into slurry, quickly pouring and molding it before it solidified.
Houses built in this way have a layer of shiny black iron patterns on the exterior. While the aesthetics are secondary, the key feature is the astonishing defense capability.
And the Zhaoyang Station not only has hundreds of such houses, but also a perimeter wall built in the same way, stretching for over three thousand meters.
Xia Hong walked towards the main building while carefully examining the stone in his hand.
The stone was green in color, with clear black patterns inside. Xia Hong had to use a bit of force to crush it, but with a light pick along the black patterns using his nail, the stone immediately broke apart.
"Stones are everywhere, but ones this hard, that can easily be broken along the patterns, are hard to find. Plus, normal iron slurry solidifies too quickly for such perfect molding; there must be some additional special materials added in."
Xia Hong looked up, gazing towards the north side of Zhaoyang, where a massive frost-rock wall, several thousand meters high, stretched from east to west, disappearing into the horizon.
Just as the Great Xia Station is located on the west side of Twin Dragon Mountain, Zhaoyang is situated on the northern edge of Pingxi Plain, and this rock wall marks the northern end of Pingxi Plain.
"The scale of Beimang Mountain looks larger than both Long Mountain and Twin Dragon Mountain, with the upper rock wall having ice crystals over a hundred meters thick in places. This green stone is undoubtedly sourced from beneath the rock wall."
After two days in Zhaoyang, even without specifically seeking out information, Xia Hong had learned a lot about Zhaoyang just by eavesdropping.
Take from the mountains near the mountains, take from the waters near the waters!
All camps in Ice Abyss, due to limited activity range, can only extract resources within limited space, hence the architecture is highly region-specific.
Like Great Xia, which relies on Redwood Ridge, hence most structures are made of wood.
And the previous camps in Wuyuan, due to many caves, built most stations inside the caves, using both wood and iron materials to stabilize cave structures.
Beehive took a more direct approach, building the station underground because the plains are unsafe.
......
Xia Hong crushed the green stone in his hand firmly, noting its defensive capability was stronger than pure iron, and his expression changed as he gazed at Beimang Mountain.
Clearly, whether it’s other camps or the architecture of Great Xia, none could match Zhaoyang’s houses built with green stones and iron slurry in defense capability.
"There are no signs of Cold Beast activity by the rock wall, making Zhaoyang’s rear essentially safe. With three thousand meters of circular green iron walls guarding the front and interiors with such strong structures, it’s easy to fend off typical Cold Beast tides. Factoring in their Cold Resistance Level and Earth-digging Realm, it’s no wonder they’re able to challenge Long Mountain; their strength is indeed formidable!"
Ping Valley, Beimang Mountain, Green Stone Iron House...
These things are certainly important but at most only broaden Xia Hong’s knowledge. The focus of his eavesdropping these past two days was undoubtedly on the information about Zhaoyang Camp’s strength revealed during exchanges among people.
The house he stayed in was right beside the main building, and the people coming and going nearby were mostly middle to high-ranking officials of Zhaoyang. So, after two days of eavesdropping, he actually learned quite a bit.
"The number of Cold Resistance Level individuals is likely about twenty, over five thousand in the Earth-digging Realm, and more than twenty thousand in the Logging Realm, with the total camp population being approximately sixty thousand, nearly equal to Long Mountain. If Hou Hu remains patient and develops further, surpassing Long Mountain should only be a matter of time."
While Xia Hong pondered, he was already inside the main building, and the person who had just notified him quickly welcomed him and led him to the second floor of the main building.
Located in Ping Valley, Zhaoyang is adjacent to Beimang Mountain, similarly situated to Jing Valley, in a sudden sunken valley with its main building at the northernmost depth by the rock wall of Beimang Mountain. It’s square-shaped, though only two floors high, it spans over three hundred meters long and twenty meters high, larger than Great Xia’s main building.
Furthermore, the main building’s walls are over three meters thick, similar to the outer wall’s thickness, presumably providing extremely strong defense.
"Sir, I cannot go further here. You can proceed alone, please!"
"Thank you very much."
At the entrance of the second-floor main hall, Xia Hong thanked the guide and then strode inside, immediately scanning the fifteen people seated, before slowly making his way forward.
"Among the eight Cold Resistance Level sent to Long Mountain, Hou Hua, who is leading the Blood Guard Army, and Hou Tong are not present, while the other six are here; among the other nine people, seven are unfamiliar to me, judging by their attire, they should be from Zhaoyang. The two with slightly different clothing are Bai Qiucheng from White Abyss and Dong Zhong from Dongkang Camp, they’ve come too!"
After spending two days in Zhaoyang without actively meeting anyone, and Hou Hu had not approached him in these two days, Xia Hong didn’t know many people.
However, he recognized Bai Qiucheng and Dong Zhong, who were seated in the front row, having spied on them earlier, so aside from the six he had seen before, only seven people in the hall were unknown to him.