The Ice Empress, Situation Takes a Sudden Turn

Tang Lie recovered from the shock and rage of his damaged martial soul, his eyes instantly bloodshot as he roared hideously, "Kill him!"

The other three also snapped out of their astonishment, suppressing the fear in their hearts as they lunged toward the weakened and swaying Qian Qizhou.

Yet, facing this certain death, Qian Qizhou's pale face held no despair; instead, a smile curled upon his lips, as if his scheme had succeeded.

His goal had been achieved—to stall for time and create a disturbance large and unique enough to broadcast his coordinates.

Just as the trio's attacks were about to land—

The temperature between heaven and earth plummeted!

A single, crystalline snowflake drifted down without warning.

Following it came a second, then a third... in the blink of an eye, a blizzard swept across the battlefield.

Goose-feather snowflakes danced wildly in the night sky, and an extreme cold instantly permeated the air, as if even soul power were about to be frozen solid.

"What is happening?!" The charging figures of the men stalled abruptly, looking around in suspicion and alarm.

Before they could fathom the source of this bizarre weather shift, an indescribable pressure crashed down!

"BOOM—!"

A terrifying shockwave erupted with Qian Qizhou at its center. The three men in the air felt an irresistible force slam into their chests.

"Pfft!"

The three spat blood simultaneously, sent flying backward like kites with broken strings before crashing heavily beside Tang Lie.

Amidst the swirling snow, a tall, slender, and breathtakingly beautiful figure surrounded by countless snowflakes appeared silently in front of Qian Qizhou.

The newcomer was none other than the leader of the Three Great Kings of the Far North, the Ice Empress, Snow Empress, who possessed nearly seven hundred thousand years of cultivation.

As it happened, Qian Qizhou, who had left home for the first time recently, had lost his way and accidentally wandered into the Far North.

By chance, he had been hunted by a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, and through a twist of fate, he had met the Snow Empress and forged a friendship.

Her ice-blue hair danced in the wind and snow. Her face was peerless yet cold as frost, and her eyes, which seemed to hold ten thousand years of glacial ice, swept indifferently over the men who had been blasted away.

Her gaze finally returned to the weak Qian Qizhou behind her: "Little Zhou, are you alright?"

It was fortunate that this place was not far from the Far North; the Snow Empress had sensed Qian Qizhou's aura and rushed over, just in time to save him.

Qian Qizhou looked at the back standing before him and finally relaxed completely. He coughed lightly and managed a weak smile: "Sister Snow, if you had arrived any later, you would only be here to collect my corpse."

He glanced at the men below and said, "Send them home."

Hearing this, there was not a ripple in the Snow Empress's eyes. She nodded slightly: "Very well."

A single word pronounced the death sentence for Tang Lie and his men.

Without the slightest hesitation, and without giving the other side any time to beg for mercy or react, the Snow Empress slowly raised her hand, white as jade.

In an instant, the power of extreme cold gathered in her palm, and the temperature in the air plummeted once more.

Tang Lie's soul nearly left his body. A premonition of imminent death made him shriek: "Who exactly are you?! I am the Seventh Elder of the Clear Sky Sect! There may be a misunderstanding here..."

He tried to use the prestige of his sect to make the other party hesitate.

However, the Snow Empress remained unmoved.

Her fingertips pointed at the group, and the ice elements of the world condensed instantly.

A chill that seemed capable of freezing the soul permeated the air.

"CRACK—!"

In an instant, they, along with the swirling dust around them, were sealed within transparent black ice. They could not move, and even their thoughts were frozen.

The faces of Tang Lie and the three Spirit Douluos were still locked in expressions of terror and despair.

Immediately after, cracks spread across the black ice, which then shattered with a boom into countless tiny ice crystals, scattering with the wind without leaving even a trace of blood.

The four powerhouses of the Clear Sky Sect had been utterly annihilated by that casual strike, as if they had never existed in this world.

The Snow Empress slowly lowered her hand as the surrounding snow gradually settled. She turned to look at Qian Qizhou: "It is done."

Come to think of it, this little fellow's talent was, if not unique, certainly rare to find a second of on the Douluo Continent.

Even if he could help her survive her seven-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation, human life was limited. He would not live to see her next tribulation, and since that was the case...

Qian Qizhou looked at the scattering ice crystals and exhaled softly. He nodded: "Thank you, Sister Snow."

Then, his gaze swept over the chaotic battlefield, sensing the various auras lingering in the air.

These traces were too obvious; if left untreated, they would surely invite endless investigation.

The Snow Empress clearly noticed this as well, and her slender fingertips rose once more.

In only a moment, the entire battlefield fell into a deathly silence. No traces of the previous battle could be sensed, leaving behind only a pure, cold desolation.

After finishing this, the Snow Empress turned to Qian Qizhou: "The traces are cleared. This place is not suitable for a long stay."

She reached out, and a gentle stream of soul power supported the exhausted Qian Qizhou: "Let's go."

Qian Qizhou steadied himself with her help and nodded.

The two figures flashed, turning into a blue and a purple streak of light, and quickly moved away from the area.

As time passed, while Qian Qizhou was recovering from his injuries, the entire Douluo Continent surged with turmoil in just a few short days, and the situation shifted drastically!

A shocking piece of news spread to every corner of the continent at a terrifying speed.

Tang Hao had broken through to become the youngest Title Douluo on the continent.

Qian Xunji, the Pope of Spirit Hall, had actually been killed by Tang Hao!

Once the news broke, the whole world was in an uproar!

Following closely behind were even more chaotic and scandalous details.

Tang Hao had coupled with a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast and sired a child.

Now, after killing the Pope, he had fled with the hundred-thousand-year spirit beast and his young child, disappearing without a trace.

To appease the monstrous rage of Spirit Hall and avoid total war, the Clear Sky Sect actually announced that they were expelling Tang Hao from the sect and severing all ties.

Within the Clear Sky Sect, the atmosphere had reached a point of extreme oppression.

Facing the aggressive posturing of Spirit Hall and immense internal pressure, Sect Master Tang Wei, under the resolution of the Council of Elders, painfully announced that Tang Hao was officially expelled from the sect and struck from the family genealogy.

This move was viewed by many spirit masters on the continent as a capitulation to Spirit Hall, and the reputation of the Clear Sky Sect as the number one sect in the world suffered a heavy blow.

Yet, even this could not quell the fury of Spirit Hall.

After all, Tang Hao was the son of the Clear Sky Sect Master; how could a flippant statement about expelling him from the sect suffice? Who would believe it?

Consequently, in a fit of rage, Spirit Hall immediately declared war on the Clear Sky Sect.

For a time, the flames of war swept across half the continent, leaving the people in a state of panic.

No one had expected that the fall of a Pope would act like the first domino to topple, instantly triggering a massive storm that engulfed the entire spirit master world.