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As soon as these words were spoken, Tang Xiao's brows furrowed instantly, and a complex and troubled expression appeared on his face. He sighed deeply and said, "Brother Hao, I understand your intentions. The four affiliated Families—the Strength, Speed, Defense, and Medicine Clans—were indeed the strongest aid to our Sect back then. But..."
He paused for a long time, his tone filled with helplessness and guilt.
"Back then, the Sect sealed the mountain gate for self-preservation. It was equivalent to heartlessly abandoning them and leaving them to bear the terrible wrath of Spirit Hall. We have ignored them for many years," Tang Xiao explained.
"This debt is truly too deep for us to repay easily. If we seek them out now, while our power is still diminished, the resentment in their hearts probably hasn't faded at all. How can they be willing to trust us again and return to our banner after what we did?"
Thinking of those past events, Tang Yuehua also nodded slightly. A hint of sadness flashed across her beautiful eyes. That period of history was a scar and a disgrace that the Clear Sky Sect could not erase from its memory.
However, Tang Hao waved his hand decisively, interrupting their concerns. With an expression mixing guilt and absolute confidence, he said solemnly: "Big Brother, Yuehua, I understand everything you're saying! All the mistakes and all the debts, I, Tang Hao, will bear them alone!"
"Precisely because the Sect failed them, I need to personally go and make amends. I will beg for their forgiveness. If others go, they might not succeed. But if I, Tang Hao, go personally, perhaps I can convince them!"
As he finished speaking, his gaze finally settled on Tang San, who had remained silent beside him the whole time.
"Little San," Tang Hao said softly. "Let's go. You will accompany me to the Strength Clan later."
Tang Hao offered no further explanation, but the action itself spoke volumes. He was going to take his son and personally knock on that door that had been closed for many years. He wanted to face his former subordinates and repay that heavy debt of loyalty.
"Yes, Father," Tang San responded respectfully without any hesitation.
Meanwhile, far away in the Extreme North Land, things were much colder. This was a white kingdom ruled by eternal winter. Looking around, there was only one color left between heaven and earth: a dazzling, blinding white.
The lead-gray sky hung low over the frozen world. it looked as if it might collapse at any moment and merge with the continuous, undulating ice plain in the distance. The biting cold wind endlessly swept across the land. It stirred up crystalline snow particles everywhere, forming patches of White-Haired Wind that made it impossible to see.
The cold here was capable of freezing a person's Spirit. The air was extremely thick and viscous. Every breath felt like inhaling countless tiny ice needles into the lungs. However, above this region, where even spirit power seemed capable of being frozen solid, something was moving.
A crimson meteor was shooting towards the core region of the Extreme North Land in an untamed manner. It was the Red King, carrying Tang Chen and Xiao Ruier on its back!
The deeper they went into the core region, the faster the surrounding temperature plummeted. The cold Qi had materialized into a light blue ice mist that lingered in the air. An ordinary Spirit King level expert would likely be frozen into an ice sculpture in less than an hour in this place.
At this moment, Tang Chen and Xiao Ruier, seated on the Red King's broad back, looked perfectly normal. They were completely unaffected by this potentially fatal extreme cold. The Red King's massive body resembled a small, moving volcano. The searing fire attribute energy naturally emitted from its body formed a warm and stable energy field around them.
Those terrifying cold currents that attempted to invade them did not stand a chance. They emitted soft hissing sounds the moment they made contact with the fire energy field. They were either evaporated into nothingness or pushed far away, unable to approach the group even slightly.
The Red King's four hooves stepped through the air with power. Dark red flames seemed to burn beneath them, dispelling the cold Qi wherever it passed. Sitting on its back, Tang Chen could even feel waves of warmth emanating from below. It felt like two completely different worlds compared to the extreme cold outside that froze everything in its path.
The biting cold wind still howled, stirring up thousands of piles of snow. It dyed the space between heaven and earth into a blurry paleness. Just then, Tang Chen, seated on the Red King's back, suddenly twitched his brow. Almost simultaneously, Xiao Ruier beside him also sensed something strange. Her pair of golden eyes instantly turned solemn as she looked toward a forest ahead. It was a forest surrounded by massive ice pillars and snow pines.
"There's movement," Tang Chen said. His deep voice broke the silence brought by the high-speed flight.
"It's the sound of fighting, and the energy fluctuations are very chaotic," Xiao Ruier replied.
Hearing this, Xiao Ruier nodded slightly. Her perception was sharper than most, and she had already captured the sounds of spirit power clashes and shouts carried on the wind. The two exchanged glances, needing no further words to understand each other. They both saw the same decision in the other's eyes: they had to go and investigate.
Tang Chen gently patted the Red King's fur at the neck. The fur was as hard as fire itself. The next second, the Red King, whose mind was connected to his, immediately let out a low roar. Its massive body traced a graceful crimson arc in the air. Then it changed direction, diving toward the snow and ice forest below. It looked like a falling meteor heading toward the sounds of fighting.
The closer they got, the clearer the sounds of the battle became. The roar of Spirit Ability explosions, the crisp sounds of energy clashes, and angry shouts mixed with gasps shattered the usual deadly silence of the Extreme North Land.
A moment later, the Red King's massive body lightly landed on a huge ice pillar. Immediately afterward, it retracted most of its Aura. It looked down at the battlefield below from its high position. Looking down, they saw that the battle was extremely fierce in a relatively open snowy area within the forest.
The besieged party consisted of two men. One of them had a somewhat familiar face. Although his clothes were torn and blood stained his mouth, making him look quite wretched, Tang Chen knew him. The various strange Sausages he continuously threw out, along with his unique fighting style, allowed Tang Chen to instantly recognize his identity. It was Oscar!
Guarding Oscar was an extremely burly man. His hair and beard were white, and his body exuded a biting cold Qi. With his Spirit possessed, he seemed to transform into an upright Ice Plain Giant Bear. He was swinging giant palms covered in solid ice. Every strike carried terrifying strength and extremely cold freezing Qi. He was clearly an Ice Bear Spirit Saint!
However, the situation for the two of them was very dangerous at this moment. Those attacking them numbered nearly ten Spirit Masters. Judging by their spirit ring configuration and the powerful Aura surging around them, they were all uniformly Spirit Emperor level experts!
These people cooperated very well, and their attacks were vicious. Various long-range Spirit Abilities and close-quarters assaults intertwined to form a net of death. They firmly suppressed Oscar and the Ice Bear Spirit Saint within a small area. Although the Ice Bear Spirit Saint was brave, two fists could not defeat many hands. Several wounds had already been added to his body, and his movements were gradually slowing down.
Tang Chen's gaze swept across the battlefield and instantly noticed the source of the bloody battle not far away. There was a massive Spirit Beast corpse lying in a pool of blood. Its shape resembled a leopard but wasn't quite one. Its entire body was covered in scales like icy mirrors. It was the extremely rare Ten Thousand Year Mirror Shadow Beast!
Most eye-catching, however, was a faint circle of black light emanating from the position of the Mirror Shadow Beast's skull. A unique energy fluctuation spread out from that spot.
"Is that... a Spirit Bone?" Xiao Ruier exclaimed in a low voice.
Clearly, Oscar and the Ice Bear Spirit Saint had somehow killed this Ten Thousand Year Mirror Shadow Beast. It had dropped an extremely precious Head Spirit Bone. And these nearly ten Spirit Emperors had come precisely for this Spirit Bone. They were willing to kill and steal to get it!
At this moment, the battle below had reached its most critical juncture. To block a fatal attack for Oscar, the Ice Bear Spirit Saint forcefully took a heavy blow on his back. The attack came from an attack system Spirit Emperor. The Saint immediately spat out fresh blood and staggered with his massive body.
"Big Brother Haote!" Oscar roared in fury. His eyes were splitting with rage. He quickly produced a Big Recovery Sausage in his hand. He wanted to give it to his companion, but the Spirit Emperors wouldn't give him the chance. Several fierce attacks had already sealed off all the space around him.
"Should we help them?" Xiao Ruier asked. She looked at Tang Chen with a questioning look.
Hearing this, Tang Chen's gaze turned cold. Without the slightest hesitation, he nodded.
"Uncle Red King, we're counting on you!"
With a single command, the Red King's mountain-like Aura was no longer restrained. It erupted with a loud crash! Immediately afterward, its terrifying Vicious Beast power, mixed with scorching waves of fire, descended from the sky like a meteor. It instantly engulfed the entire battlefield.