Time passed swiftly, another month gone in the blink of an eye.
The Northern Plains.
Gale-force winds howled as heavy snow swirled through the air.
The world was a vast expanse of white. Blinding snow blanketed the endless grasslands, and bone-piercing cold swept across heaven and earth. At times the wind coalesced into tornadoes; at others it tore up deep drifts from the ground.
A decade-long blizzard had been ravaging the Northern Plains. Living beings wailed, all things withered, and in the few habitable pockets, surviving humans and animals barely clung to life.
They not only had to endure the cold, but also fight desperate battles against snow monsters and other creatures.
Yet in these brutal conditions, the snowmen thrived like fish in water, becoming extraordinarily active and energetic.
The freezing gale and snow, to the snowmen, felt like a warm spring breeze.
They hunted within the blizzard, and a multitude of wild Snow Path, Ice Path, and Water Path Gu Insects attached themselves to their bodies in droves.
During normal times, snowman tribes that were hunted, suppressed, and trafficked by Gu Masters all experienced tremendous growth, their power expanding at a rapid pace.
Amid the howling blizzard, two dark figures flickered into view.
The dark figures stood atop a cliff, radiating an otherworldly aura. They were none other than two Gu Immortals of the Hei family — Hei Bai and Hei Cheng.
They gazed down from their lofty perch at the valley below.
The blizzard still raged furiously, yet it could not so much as stir the hems of their robes. Heavy snow fell in sheets, but it could not obstruct their probing gazes.
In the valley, ice houses had been constructed one after another — densely packed, numbering in the tens of thousands.
A group of valiant snowman warriors had just returned from a hunt, laden with spoils once more, filing in through the valley mouth.
Sixth Transformation Wood Path Gu Immortal Hei Bai frowned. "Hmph, these snowmen. They've certainly been making the most of the situation! This is the seventh time in three days we've encountered a tribe of this scale."
Those of different blood must harbor different hearts. Though the snowmen had "human" in their name, they were still an alien race.
Once the blizzard finally ended, the human tribes of the Northern Plains would surely develop vigorously and engage these snowmen in many great battles.
The more snowmen there were, the more numerous and powerful the enemies of humanity would become.
Hei Cheng, standing nearby, patted Hei Bai on the shoulder and smiled. "Brother should be happy. Look at it from another angle — these snowmen are all our wealth. If we capture them, we can not only trade them to other Gu Immortals for Immortal Essence Stones, but also teach Xue Songzi a little lesson."
Hei Bai's lips curved into a slight arc. "Brother is most thoughtful. If not for Xue Songzi, I would have obtained the Wooden Chicken Gu long ago. This time he actually chose to interfere in the struggle for the Royal Court as well. These past days, we've been hunting snowmen everywhere and selling them to the Treasure Yellow Heaven. Heh heh heh. I'd love to see the look on Xue Songzi's face right now."
After saying this, the smile on Hei Bai's lips vanished instantly, replaced by a hint of urgency in his eyes. "Brother, Hei Loulan has been inside the Royal Court for so long now. By our calculations, the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building should have formed over twenty floors already. Why hasn't there been any trace of the Wooden Chicken Gu?"
Hei Cheng laughed heartily. "Patience, patience. The Eighty-Eight True Yang Building has eighty-eight floors in total — how many has it formed so far? Hei Loulan may have a bit of a temper, but he handles important matters with care. Since he entered the Royal Court, his communication with us has never been cut off, has it? Besides, Hei Loulan now holds a Tower Lord Token. As soon as the Wooden Chicken Gu is captured and before a floor is even fully formed, Hei Loulan will be able to sense it, and we'll receive word immediately."
The Hei family was a superpower. Though they did not possess the talent to rival Fairy Mo Yao, they had their own methods for using Gu Insects to communicate between the inside and outside.
Hei Bai sighed. "The Royal Court Blessed Land and the outside of the Northern Plains flow at different rates of time. One day outside corresponds to over twenty days in the Royal Court Blessed Land. I'm a bit worried that Hei Loulan might not be able to notify us in time. If that happens, the help we can provide will be limited."
Hei Cheng smiled and reassured him. "Brother, worry breeds anxiety. Don't fret — with Hei Loulan's current strength, clearing three or four floors shouldn't be a problem. In the meantime, let's deal with this snowman tribe right in front of us."
"Good." Hei Bai's anxiety eased slightly, and he nodded.
The two figures shot down like lightning, hurtling straight toward the snowman tribe in the valley.
Hei Cheng opened his mouth and let out a soft laugh.
Instantly, a magnificent laugh shook heaven and earth, piercing through the clouds! The entire valley trembled and hummed, and the torrential snowfall faltered for a moment.
Boom, boom, boom, boom...
The sound waves swept outward, shattering countless ice houses into fragments of snow and ice.
In an instant, the snowman tribe suffered devastating losses!
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"Powerful enemies! Powerful enemies have appeared! Warriors, the time to defend our homeland has come!!"
"Defend our homeland! Remember, we cannot fall — behind us stand our wives, children, and parents!"
The snowmen roared and screamed. After a brief moment of panic, they rallied to fight back.
"Hmph. Like a mantis trying to stop a chariot — utterly delusional." Hei Bai hovered in midair, watching the snowmen swarm toward him with cold indifference, as if observing ants gathering in a colony.
He waved his great sleeve lightly, and buzz, buzz, buzz...
A dark mass of Gu swarmed forth. First hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands.
In the end, hundreds of thousands of Gu blanketed the entire sky above the valley, like dark clouds bearing down on a city.
The snowmen gazed up at the sky, their faces frozen in terror and shock. The fighting spirit that had just surged within them was completely frozen by the overwhelming might of the Gu Immortal.
In that moment, they truly felt the bone-piercing cold of the blizzard.
Gu Immortals possessed Immortal Essence, and a single wisp of Immortal Essence could be considered virtually limitless True Essence. This meant that any Gu Immortal could control a massive number of mortal Gu without ever worrying about running short on True Essence.
Though the snowman tribe was formidable, when faced with the combat power of a Gu Immortal, they were nothing but lambs awaiting the slaughter, completely at the mercy of their executioners.
The next moment, Hei Bai pointed lightly, and the swarm of Gu crashed down with thunderous force.
Piercing screams echoed endlessly through the valley.
More than ten days later...