Chapter 55: The Vengeance of Demons

Ten minutes or so later, Chang Xin and the other two returned.

"The people in the camp did not play any tricks; they were very well-behaved," Chang Xin said. "I took a look around on my way. About three hundred meters away, there is a frozen riverbed, and no other dangers were found nearby for the time being."

"Did you say there's a frozen riverbed nearby?" Liu Hen asked quickly.

"That's right." Chang Xin nodded.

Liu Hen's eyes lit up. He walked around the homestead building, and seeing that the area was relatively flat, he immediately declared, "I've decided. We'll settle down right here."

"Are you planning to..." Chang Xin seemed to have guessed something.

"Exactly. I plan to make my home here. This place is already over a hundred kilometers away from the Red Snail Camp, and roughly the same distance from the Copper Dragon Camp. The location is just right." Liu Hen smiled gently. "As a stopping point between those two camps, if I bring out some products that the camp people cannot resist, I should be able to attract some popularity."

Originally, the camp people were reluctant to go outside, but that might be because the surface was too cold and the camp people were "spoiled," unable to withstand such low-temperature environments.

However, with thermal clothing, most of the camp people would likely return to the surface—or at least a portion of them would want to.

Those people would be his customer base.

Of course, the primary reason for choosing to settle here was something else—

Previously, he only had a casual agreement with the people from the Copper Dragon Camp.

If he left this place, it would be very difficult for him to acquire copper ore and flint again.

He would develop here for a period of time first, and if a better option presented itself later, moving then wouldn't be too late.

"Since you've decided, let's make it here. I don't have any objections," Chang Xin said. "However, if you really plan to settle down here, I suggest taking more precautionary measures. It just so happens that your abilities seem to include building."

"Naturally," Liu Hen nodded.

There was no rush for that, though. He needed to upgrade the All-Things Pickaxe another level first.

There happened to be four small pieces of copper ore left, and upgrading the All-Things Pickaxe from Bronze Tier 2 to Tier 3 only required three pieces.

By then, his spatial backpack would be even larger, making construction much more convenient.

Thinking this, he prepared to upgrade the All-Things Pickaxe.

*‘Sir, the fiend... the fiend is here again, it's the one from before...’*

Suddenly, the anxious voice of Little Black Stone rang out in his mind.

Liu Hen's expression shifted slightly, and he quickly drew the Tang saber.

"What's wrong?" Chang Xin asked, immediately turning vigilant at the sight.

"A fiend!" Liu Hen said in a deep voice. Although he couldn't sense anything yet, he trusted Black Stone.

"A fiend?"

"There's a fiend again?!"

The expressions of the Wu siblings, Zong Ni, and Chen Ye all changed drastically.

Chang Xin quickly summoned her silvery-white battle armor and stood on high alert. "Where is the fiend?"

Before Liu Hen could reply, a large amount of white joss paper suddenly fell from the sky. At the same time, the ground in the distance cracked open one after another, and skeletons crawled out from underground.

Those pieces of joss paper falling from the sky caught fire the moment they entered the protective zone of the bonfire.

However, the skeletons crawling up from the underground seemed completely unaffected.

"White joss paper? Although the color has changed, it should still be that red sedan chair from before. With the change in color, its strength might have undergone a certain change as well!" Liu Hen's expression was gloomy. "That fiend has actually been following us all along, and its methods are clearly no longer as ordinary as before. It came prepared."

"Temporary martial spirit..." Chang Xin was about to form incantations to buff Liu Hen.

"Don't use that ability yet," Liu Hen said. "Temporary conferment consumes your power, and now is not the time; that sedan chair hasn't shown itself yet."

At this moment, the skeletons that had crawled out first had already charged into the protective radius of the bonfire, their speed plummeting instantly.

Even so, the sight of a massive horde of skeletons charging together was terrifying.

"A fiend... This is a real fiend, a fiend that can summon subordinates..."

The Wu siblings, Zong Ni, and Chen Ye were shaking with fear. This was the kind of fiend in their impression—an invincible fiend!

"There's nothing to be afraid of about a fiend!" Liu Hen frowned, suddenly striking out heavily with one palm, completely exhausting the body heat stored in him.

*“Boom—”*

An air cannon erupted, directly blasting seven or eight skeletons away, shattering them mid-air before they vanished into thin air.

"You actually have this kind of method?!" Chang Xin was extremely shocked at the sight, as this was the first time she had seen Liu Hen use such a trick.

Meanwhile, upon seeing Liu Hen's display, the lingering despair in the hearts of the Wu siblings and the two women, Zong Ni, eased somewhat. While it wasn't enough to boost their morale sky-high, they were no longer as terrified.

"They're not physical entities?"

Liu Hen frowned, feeling his body growing numb from the cold, and quickly handed both Tang sabers to Chang Xin. "Hold them off for a moment; I'll make a few more blades."

"Alright, leave it to me!"

Chang Xin took the two blades, swinging them a couple of times as if she couldn't bear to put them down, though she soon shook her head. "I'm not used to using two blades. Zong Ni, take one."

She tossed one of the blades to Zong Ni and then charged toward the approaching skeletons.

*“Slash!”*

With just a single strike, a skeleton was cleaved directly in two.

"So weak?"

She raised an eyebrow slightly and immediately accelerated to slaughter the approaching skeletons.

The Wu siblings and Zong Ni also hurriedly joined the fray to intercept the approaching monsters.

However, compared to Chang Xin's ease, they found it rather strenuous. Working together, the five of them could only barely hold off two of the skeletons.

Chen Ye, weaponless, didn't even dare to get close.

After all, the individual strength of these skeletons was much stronger than the twin-armed fiend-monsters.

*“Slash, slash, slash...”*

Charging at the front, Chang Xin sliced through the oncoming skeletons as easily as chopping vegetables, quickly stepping outside the bonfire's protective boundary.

Suddenly, a skeleton lashed out with its claw, and she instinctively met it with the same force as before.

*“Clang!”*

With a loud crash, she and the skeleton stumbled backward simultaneously, both their arms tingling from the impact.

"How is this possible?" Her expression shifted.

"Don't leave the protective zone," Liu Hen called out from inside the building.

Chang Xin hurriedly retreated.

Seeing the skeleton quickly giving chase, she threw everything she had into a single slash, only to find that this time, it took very little effort to cleave the creature into two pieces.

"This..."

A fresh wave of shock washed over her, filling her with awe at Liu Hen's methods.

By this time, Liu Hen had already upgraded the All-Things Pickaxe and placed the materials for the two sabers into the crafting slots of the Creation Workbench.

In just ten minutes, the All-Things Pickaxe would reach Bronze Tier 3, and by then, the bonfire's level could be increased once again.

During the wait, he walked straight up to the bonfire, placing both hands above the flames to absorb their warmth while keeping a close eye on the battle outside.

White joss paper continued to flutter down from the sky, clashing against the bonfire's evil-repelling properties.

Meanwhile, in the darkness in the distance, a continuous stream of skeletons crawled out from the ground, charging forward like an undead army.

The scene was terrifyingly surreal, resembling an encounter with a true army of the dead. Under the shroud of darkness, the spectacle appeared all the more dreadful.

Noticing that Chang Xin was beginning to look overwhelmed, Liu Hen rushed to the doorway and struck out with a palm toward the area where the skeletons were densest.

*“Boom!”*

More than a dozen skeletons in that sector, already suppressed by the bonfire, were blown backward instantly, shattering in mid-air before dissolving into nothingness.

The heat within his body was once again completely depleted, bringing him close to freezing stiff. He hurried back to the bonfire to absorb the warmth of the flames once more.

The set bonus of the thermal clothing he wore allowed it to rapidly absorb heat and distribute it evenly across his entire body, preventing him from getting burned by the flames.

*‘The power of the air cannon is actually immense, but unfortunately, it consumes body temperature.’*

When too much body temperature was lost, the body would freeze up, leading to sluggish movements.

Liu Hen felt a tinge of regret; the potential of this set bonus was indeed a bit low because of its severe energy-supply issues, making it usable almost exclusively as a one-time trump card.

Had it not been for the magical bonfire providing warmth, he would never have dared to use the air cannon recklessly, lest his body freeze completely.

As for the compressed air bomb, its power was minimal, and compressing the air required a certain amount of time, making it somewhat redundant.

*‘The thermal clothing still needs over an hour to finish upgrading.’*

He glanced at the upgrade countdown for the thermal clothing and frowned inwardly.

With no better breakthrough methods available at the moment, he could only hope that the Bronze-tier thermal clothing would prove powerful enough.

It was a pity that without flint, he couldn't manufacture grenades; otherwise, he would have taught those fiends a harsh lesson!

Suddenly, behind the ranks of skeletons, black fog rolled and churned, followed by numerous white paper figures emerging from the darkness.

Not red paper figures, but white ones.

Not only that, but as the black fog billowed, one tombstone after another surfaced. A vast number of graves appeared, and even more skeletons climbed out from them.

That sedan chair clearly held a grudge and had now returned for vengeance.

The change in color had completely altered its combat pattern.