Moreover, not only are their abilities impressive, but the physiques of the two are exceedingly rare.

When Xia Yusheng sleeps, the temperature within a mile radius rises rapidly, making it unnecessary to light a fire for warmth;

Xia Yuyao is even more astonishing. Every night when she sleeps, Cold Apple Jade Dew continuously forms around her body, and the quantity keeps increasing. When she was an infant, it was only fifteen drops each night, but now it's over twenty.

Given the importance of Cold Apple Jade Dew, one could say that the elder daughter, Xia Yuyao, holds great strategic significance for the camp. If the outside world were to discover this, it would be troublesome, so her safety must be ensured.

"Your second uncle is getting on in years and rarely goes out now. Hasn't he already moved to the Inner City? It's good to let him take them around the Inner City when he's free, spoil them like seniors do. They should enjoy that."

Hearing this, Li Xuanling finally felt at ease and nodded.

Li Tiancheng is already ninety-three this year. Unless he encounters a great opportunity, there's no chance for him to break through to the Xianyang Level and increase his lifespan. So, two years ago, he handed over the Longyuan Squad to Lu Yushan and himself stayed in the Inner City, focused on researching and establishing the laws of Great Xia.

Of course, what the old man loves most are his two grandchildren. He often brings treats to see Xia Yuyao and Xia Yusheng. If he learns that Li Xuanling has entrusted the two little ones to him, he will surely be delighted.

"That's settled then. After breakfast and before fourth hour in the evening, you can move freely within the Inner City. However, you must be accompanied by Han Yue, and you must return to the Star-picking Hall by the fourth hour. If I find out you've sneaked out of the Inner City, you know the consequences!"

Breakfast is eaten around dawn, and fourth hour at night is four hours after nightfall, giving them four hours of freedom, which is quite generous.

"Understood, Mother, we won't do it."

"I'll just play within the Inner City and definitely won't run out."

Seeing Li Xuanling finally agree, Xia Yuyao and Xia Yusheng quickly replied, fearing their mother would change her mind if they delayed.

After speaking, Xia Yuyao shot her brother a triumphant glance, seemingly saying, "See, listening to me was the right choice, wasn't it?"

Xia Hong, seeing his eldest daughter's reaction, was momentarily stunned. Then, turning to meet Li Xuanling's eyes, he instantly understood.

"You're just realizing now that they never intended to go to Long Mountain. Mentioning Long Mountain was just a ploy to make you concede and allow them to roam the Inner City."

Upon hearing this, Xia Hong looked slightly bewildered, then glanced down at his eldest daughter in his arms, only to find her covering her mouth with a playful smile and mischief in her eyes, confirming that he had been outsmarted by her.

"Hahaha, only four years old and already scheming against dad. What will she be like grown up?"

Xia Hong couldn't stop laughing, full of pride, obviously extremely proud of his eldest daughter's cleverness.

Li Xuanling stood by, rolling her eyes at how amused Xia Hong was being outsmarted, something she witnessed for the first time.

Xia Yuyao clearly caught the meaning in her father's laughter and couldn't help but smirk arrogantly, lowering her gaze to challenge Xia Yusheng.

The meaning was clear: "You think you can rival your sister? You're still too inexperienced."

Xia Yusheng, however, lacked such complexity, gave a simple smile, rushed into Xia Hong's embrace, and climbed onto his right shoulder, securing a spot next to his sister.

The family of four continued their conversation, savoring this rare moment of togetherness.

......

Great Xia Year Seven, September 15

Qinghepu, Lower River Village.

In a tall building near the main building, six people sat around a stove. Leading them was a young man with one eye, next to him a woman of similar age, and with them were an elderly man, two young men, and a child about ten years old.

From their arrangement, anyone would think the elderly man was the family patriarch, with three sons, the eldest being the one-eyed man who's married, and the woman and child being his wife and eldest grandson.

But a closer look would reveal that the other five people, including the old man, looked at the one-eyed young man with obvious respect.

Clearly, this was not a typical family.

The one-eyed young man's expression was conflicted, clearly pondering something.

After a moment of intense contemplation, he took a map from his pocket and placed it on the edge of the stove, speaking softly: "Lower River Village has over fifty thousand people, Upper River Village over seventy thousand, and Qinghe Village has the most, with over one hundred and ten thousand.

We haven't yet gathered detailed information about the other two villages, but we have the situation in Lower River Village: 27 Cold Resistance Level, over 4,800 Earth-digging Realm. All 27 at Cold Resistance Level have entered Dajue Temple, but regardless of inquiry, they refuse to speak. The only known fact is that before entering, they were at Earth-digging Realm cultivation, and after approximately six months, they emerged as Cold Resistance Level.

Every February, when Dajue Temple sends people to collect children from the camps, they select some from both Earth-digging and Cold Resistance Levels to receive the Enlightened Master's guidance from Dajue Temple. Post-training, they return with significantly enhanced strength, which is clearly unusual.

There are eighteen households across the three villages and, given they all revere Dajue Temple, it's highly likely the situation is similar. In this huge camp, most households have three to four Cold Resistance Levels, meaning throughout Qinghepu, there are at least 150 Cold Resistance Levels, maybe more.

Qinghepu's strength, although considerable, shouldn't be able to withstand Jiangxia Town, indicating the issue lies with Dajue Temple."

As the one-eyed young man finished speaking, the old man immediately nodded in agreement, saying, "Lord Xu's assessment is right, but Dajue Temple is too secretive. They only appear in February to collect children, and even then, only some Bhikkhus with Hair show up. It's said that even they can't enter the monastery gate of Dajue Temple, suggesting their understanding of Dajue Temple's internals is extremely limited. Efforts directed at them are likely futile."

The one-eyed young man, known as Xu Ning, heard the old man's words, and his brows furrowed as he stared at Dajue Temple, located at the center of the Qinghepu map, filled with hesitation.

He had arrived at Qinghepu last October, and upon discovering Dajue Temple's presence, immediately sensed something amiss. After secretly investigating for over four months and grasping part of the situation, he formally assumed the name Xu Yang in March, and selected five companions at Wuyuan Camp to join him, pretending to be a family fleeing from afar, blending into Lower River Village.

Given their infiltration for more than six months, there should be some gains, but the truth is, Xu Ning hadn't had contact with anyone from Dajue Temple. Besides knowing that every February, Dajue Temple dispatches people to each village camp to collect children aged six, he knew nothing else.

Not only Lower River Village, throughout Qinghepu, there's extreme fervor towards Dajue Temple, bordering on madness.

Since adopting the name in March, Xu Ning faced failure after failure when trying to discreetly inquire about Dajue Temple from Cold Resistance Levels in the village, stirring their suspicion. If he hadn't remained composed and unexposed, he would have long been expelled from the camp.

As a result of this discreet probing, despite possessing Cold Resistance cultivation and residing in Lower River Village for over six months, Xu Ning had yet to access privileged circles, not even the main building, and was relegated to a wooden house over a hundred meters away.

His meticulous scheme to infiltrate Lower River Village with five selected aides from Wuyuan had ended in complete failure.

"The higher-ups in Lower River Village are already cautious of me. Continuing like this won't yield useful intelligence. Fortunately..."

Xu Ning turned to the elder, his gaze sharpening slightly.

The elder, named Bai Shanqiu, was an elder from Great Xia who had luckily broken through to Cold Resistance Level two years ago and joined the Hunting Team at Wuyuan. Xu Ning needed an elder matching his character's age to play his father when infiltrating Lower River Village, and Bai Shanqiu fit perfectly, so he brought him along.

In this hidden operation at Wuyuan, Bai Shanqiu was responsible for conveying information, and presently, the reason for Xu Ning's conflict was the news Bai Shanqiu had just delivered.

The Lord had personally ordered withdrawal from Qinghepu and to cease contact with Dajue Temple.

Xu Ning knew well the dangers of Dajue Temple, yet after six months of disguise in Lower River Village yielding no valuable information, he was reluctant to return empty-handed.

This was the root of his current dilemma!

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