Chapter 871: Far North Snowfield

Qin Hao knew that Ku He was not joking. If he didn't go to the temple with him, this guy might not kill him, but he would definitely give him some pain.

Fortunately, it would take at least half a year to go from Beiqi to the Far North. By then, he would be able to recover to his peak. With the help of the complex terrain there, the chance of escape would definitely be higher than in Beiqi.

With this in mind, Qin Hao seized every minute to recover his strength in the next half month.

Of course, this process was full of pain, and the muscles and internal organs of the whole body were constantly under the impact of external energy.

Lang Tao and Haitang Duoduo were moved by what they saw, and they became more diligent in practicing.

Before, they always thought that Qin Hao was so strong because of his extraordinary talent, but when they saw Qin Hao's abnormal training method, they changed this concept.

The most terrifying thing in the world is not the lack of talent, but the people who are more talented than you, and work harder than you.

In this way, Qin Hao recovered from the fourth rank to the seventh rank in just half a month. Although it was still far from his peak, time was tight and he could only do this.

Half a month later, under the leadership of Ku He, Qin Hao and his four companions secretly went to the Northern Qi Palace.

The Queen Mother seemed very interested in Qin Hao. She looked at him for a while, then turned to Ku He and said, "Master Ku, are you sure this boy knows how to open the temple?"

After that, she smiled and explained, "It's not that I doubt Master Ku, but the national strength of Northern Qi has been declining in recent years, and it has suffered a new defeat. It is not easy to accumulate these belongings."

Ku He glanced at Qin Hao with murderous intent: "If he can't open the temple, then there is no need for him to live in this world."

As soon as the voice fell, Ku He turned to look at the Queen Mother again.

"Neither you nor I have the next twenty years to wait."

The Queen Mother sighed softly when she heard this: "Yes, there is no next twenty years."

"Then I wish Master Ku to get what he wants and open the temple as soon as possible. I wish my Northern Qi to regroup and restore the glory of our ancestors, the Wei Dynasty."

After worshiping the Northern Qi royal ancestral temple, the Queen Mother personally escorted Ku He, Qin Hao, and Lang Tao out of the palace through a secret door. Behind the door, there were already a thousand elite knights waiting in full battle array. The reason why Haitang Duoduo was not brought along was probably because they were afraid that the journey would be too dangerous. If something unexpected happened, they would not be left without a successor.

The young emperor of Northern Qi stood at the city gate, watching the team leave, and said to the queen mother with a worried look: "Mother, when the late emperor was still alive, he sent a cavalry of a thousand people to the far north to find the temple. In the end, only Ku He and Sean came back. These 1,000 elite knights could have fought against the existence of the black knights of Nanqing. It's a pity to be buried like this?"

The queen mother sighed: "Now Nanqing is strong and powerful. More importantly, Emperor Qing is not young. He won't give us too much time. Now we can only hope that Master Ku can open the temple and help my Northern Qi change its fate. Otherwise, your fate and mine will be..."

The queen mother did not finish her words, but the young emperor knew very well that in all dynasties, which last emperor could have a good end?

At the same time, not long after Qin Hao and his 1,000 cavalry left the scope of Shangjing City, an old man selling firewood on the roadside took out a pigeon from the firewood pile, stuffed a secret letter into the pigeon's legs, and the pigeon flapped its wings and flew high.

Northern Qi General's Mansion

"Godfather, is there any movement from Master Ku?" Shangshanhu asked curiously when he saw the strange look on Sean's face.

Sean nodded: "Well, they really took the same road as before."

"Godfather, let's set off quickly."

"Don't worry, with Ku He here, we will be easily discovered if we follow too closely. Anyway, I know the route, it won't be a problem later. Besides, before we leave, we have to send our 'old friend' off."

When Sean said the word "old friend", his face was grim and he gritted his teeth.

If he had to say who he hated the most in his life, besides Chen Pingping, it would be Shen Zhong. If Qin Hao hadn't rescued him, he would have been killed by Shen Zhong.

"Shen Zhong, your death is coming!"

The next day, at the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, there was a peaceful atmosphere in the Northern Qi Palace.

The Queen Mother announced in public that Da Qi was going to do business with Fan Xian, and asked the Jinyiwei to discuss the matter with the foreign officials of Nanqing. Shen Zhong immediately stood up to oppose it, but the Queen Mother had made up her mind. Shang Shanhu took the opportunity to impeach Shen Zhong for colluding with the Nanqing Inspection Institute to sell military intelligence, pointing out that Shen Zhong's sister had a private affair with Yan Bingyun, and also informed Yan Bingyun. Shen Zhong made all kinds of excuses and denied telling his sister any news. The Queen Mother asked the young emperor for his opinion, and the young emperor let her handle it with full authority. The Queen Mother dismissed Shen Zhong's official title and stripped off his python-patterned official uniform on the spot. Shen Zhong tried his best to stop the Queen Mother from doing business with Fan Xian. The Queen Mother was furious and ordered Shen Zhong to be driven out of the hall.

"My dear Xiao, from now on, the Jinyiwei will be under your command."

"I accept your order and thank you."

Shao En's respectful worship made the Queen Mother more dissatisfied with Shen Zhong, thinking that he was arrogant because of his favor.

After the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, Fan Xian and Xiao En walked out of the palace side by side.

"Master Fan, I'll ask you to take care of me in the future."

"Master Xiao, what are you talking about? You are the senior, and you should help the juniors."

After a round of greetings, the two smiled knowingly and parted ways outside the imperial city in tacit understanding.

In the carriage, Shangshan Hu asked suspiciously: "Godfather, you seem to treat Fan Xian differently from others."

"Oh? Is that true?"

"Is that true?"

Sean glanced at Shangshan Hu and said, "Are the personnel and materials ready for the Far North?"

"Everything is ready according to your request, one hundred retired soldiers, all of whom have died several times on the battlefield. When shall we set off?" Shangshan Hu said seriously.

"Well, don't worry. As long as Shen Zhong is alive, he will be a hidden danger." Sean's eyes were filled with murderous intent.

"Shen Zhong has lost the trust of the Queen Mother, and he has offended so many people in the court in the past. Even if we don't kill him, those people in the court will not let him go easily, right?"

"Eliminate all evil, how could Shen Zhong have thought that he would die in my hands one day?"

Uesugi Hu hesitated and said, "But the Queen Mother only took away Shen Zhong's official title, and did not punish him. If my adoptive father imposes a crime, I am afraid it will cause dissatisfaction with the Queen Mother."

"Yes, so we have to let Shen Zhong hand the knife to us himself."

"Shen Zhong has lost his power now, so he shouldn't be able to cause any trouble, right?"

"No, although Shen Zhong is vicious and cunning, he is loyal to Northern Qi, otherwise he would not have angered the Queen Mother. Since he wants to stop Northern Qi from trading with Fan Xian, I will give him this opportunity."

"Does my adoptive father mean to kill with a borrowed knife?"

The next day, the Nanqing envoys set out to leave Shangjing City, but were intercepted and killed by the assassins led by Shen Zhong on the way.

After a fierce battle, Shen Zhong was defeated and seriously injured. Seeing that the defeat was inevitable, Shen Zhong told Fan Xian that the smuggled property in the inner treasury had flowed into the Ming family, the largest family in Qing, and the masters behind the Ming family were the second prince and the eldest princess Li Yunrui. He used this information in exchange for Fan Xian to bring his sister back to Qing.

Shen Zhong was taken back to Shangjing City, and Xiao En had already "welcomed" him at the city gate.

"Sir Shen, do you feel that this scene is very familiar? This moment is just like that moment."

"Xiao En, you cooperated with the people of Qing for revenge and betrayed Northern Qi. You will not die well!" Shen Zhong cursed.

Xiao En was not angry, but walked to the prison car with a smile: "Sir Shen, there is no need for us to say these high-sounding words. How much blood has been stained on your hands over the years? Do you dare to say that they are all traitors? All of them are people who are not good for Northern Qi?"

As he spoke, Xiao En opened the prison car, pulled Shen Zhong down, and threw him on the ground.

"That's how Lord Shen treated me back then. Now that I'm back, it shouldn't be too much, right?"

"Ah~~~"

Before Shen Zhong could answer, he screamed. His calf was broken by Xiao En's foot. The broken bone pierced the epidermis directly, and his whole leg was dragged limply on the ground, bleeding.

"Xiao En, if you have the guts, kill me, kill me."

Xiao En stared at Shen Zhong with a cold look, pulled up his hair, and dragged him on the ground.

"Want to die? It's not that easy. You are very familiar with the methods of the Jinyiwei, but you probably know very little about the methods of the Tiqi. Don't worry, I will leave you a breath. It would be boring if you died?"

At the same time, Qin Hao and his party had arrived at Beilaoguan. Further north was the endless northern snowfield, which was a barren land where even the snowy northern barbarians could not survive, and was covered with snow all year round.

Ku He had made a lot of preparations for this trip to the temple. It was March now. In the next few months, the snow on the Far North Snowfield would melt as the temperature rose. At the same time, it could avoid the polar night that lasted for half a year in the Far North Snowfield. It was the most suitable time of the year to go to the temple.

Of course, even so, the temperature in Beilaoguan was below minus 30 degrees Celsius at this time, and some of the 1,000 knights brought had been frostbitten and reduced in number.

"What kind of a hell of a place is this? It's still so cold in spring." Lang Tao stood on the wall of Beilaoguan and tightened his bear skin coat.

Ku He, who was wearing a black robe beside him, stood in the cold wind with excitement in his eyes. He looked far to the north, and the temple seemed to be right in front of him.

"Boy, we are about to enter the Far North Snowfield. Did you take this road last time?"

Qin Hao nodded casually. He had never been to the Far North Snowfield, so he could only bite the bullet and agree to save his life.

"Apart from here, is there any other way?"

Ku He said nothing more, turned to Lang Tao and said: "Rest for a day, and set off tomorrow."

"Master, everyone has been traveling very hard recently, and the horses are exhausted. Why don't we rest for a while before setting off?" Lang Tao looked embarrassed when he heard this.

Ku He said firmly: "No, we don't have time to waste."

Qin Hao would naturally not sing against Ku He. The Arctic Snowfield is actually the Arctic. From March to September every year, it is polar day weather. After this period, it will fall into polar night. Once lost, even a grandmaster will find it difficult to survive.

When Lang Tao passed the order down, even if this cavalry was loyal enough to Northern Qi and had a grandmaster in charge, they still couldn't avoid complaints.

The next morning, just after dawn, Qin Hao and his party set out from Beilaoguan and stepped into the vast snowfield.

Because it was polar day, there was no darkness, and there were no timekeeping tools such as clocks. How long they had to walk in a day was entirely up to Ku He. After three days, more than a dozen cavalrymen had fallen ill.

"Master, how about sending someone to escort them back?" Lang Tao looked at the patients curled up in the tent and felt sorry for them.

"Find an ice hole and throw them in. We don't have time to waste on these rubbish." Ku He said without any emotion.

"This is, Master."

Under Ku He's cold gaze, Lang Tao still chose to obey orders.

As they went deeper into the Far North Snowfield, Qin Hao and his party encountered more and more problems. In addition to the severe cold of minus 30 to 40 degrees, the more deadly thing was the ice hole that would appear at any time under their feet. Once they fell into it, even if they were not frozen to death immediately, half of the people rescued would be useless.

In addition to people, horses would often fall into ice holes. In the end, these horse meats would become everyone's rations. There would be losses of people and horses almost every day, which also had a big impact on morale.

Ku He didn't care about this. As long as he could enter the temple, he could accept any price. When necessary, he didn't mind using all these people as rations.

While Qin Hao was on the hard journey, he did not slack off at all. One month after entering the Far North Snowfield, he returned to the realm of an eighth-grade warrior, which greatly frustrated Lang Tao's self-confidence.

However, Qin Hao knew very well that even if he recovered to the peak of the ninth rank, it would still be difficult to escape from Ku He's clutches, not to mention in such a harsh environment as the Far North Snowfield, so he never implemented the escape plan and cooperated very well and did not leave Ku He's sight along the way.

Heading north for almost a month, the entire team had lost more than a hundred people, and the remaining people were all desperate. These brave cavalrymen on the battlefield would charge even if they faced enemies that were ten or a hundred times more powerful than themselves, but facing the Far North Snowfield that could never see the edge, they only had fear in their hearts.

Suddenly, there was a commotion at the forefront of the team, accompanied by a roar of wild beasts, screams of people, and neighs of horses.

Qin Hao looked forward and found a shocking scene. A huge white bear was chasing and killing several cavalrymen. It was chewing the body of a cavalryman in its mouth, and blood flowed along the bite of its upper and lower jaws, staining its neck scarlet.

"Is this a polar bear?"

Isn't this polar bear too big? A normal polar bear is at most 2.4 meters long and weighs 450 kilograms, but this polar bear is nearly six meters long and weighs at least 1.5 tons. With one slap from its huge bear paw, the cavalrymen and their horses were beaten into meat patties.

What made Qin Hao even more dumbfounded was that the arrows shot by the cavalry were like tickling to the polar bear. They could only penetrate the epidermis and were thrown away by it at random, without even a few drops of blood.