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After listening to the exchange between the father and son, Tai Tan and Bai He stood frozen for a moment. They struggled to recover from the sheer shock of what they had just witnessed. At this moment, they could not even spare a second to wonder why Tang Hao actually had another son or where he had been all this time. What was most urgent right now were their two old brothers lying on the ground, heavily injured and bleeding.
"Old Rhinoceros! Old Goat! Are you guys alright?" Tai Tan exclaimed in a low voice, exchanging an anxious and fearful look with Bai He.
In the next second, both of them flashed forward simultaneously. They moved as fast as the wind, instantly reaching the side of the collapsed Yang Wudi and Niu Gao. Tai Tan bent over with worry to support Niu Gao.
The patriarch of the Defense Clan looked terrible; his chest was sunken in from a massive blow, and his mouth was constantly leaking blood. Meanwhile, Bai He reached out to support Yang Wudi. The leader of the Breaking Clan was leaning against a shattered stone pillar, his face as pale as gold paper.
"Old Rhinoceros, quickly, let me help you up so you can start to heal!" Tai Tan's voice was filled with visible heartache for his old friend.
"Old Goat, please do not move recklessly. Stabilizing your injuries is the only thing that matters right now!" Bai He's tone was full of deep concern as he reached out.
However, before their hands could even touch the fallen men, a reaction came that they did not expect.
"Get lost!"
A weak but intensely furious roar erupted from Yang Wudi's mouth. He jerked his head up suddenly. Every movement he made pulled at the severe injuries in his internal organs, causing more red blood to foam from his lips. Despite the physical agony, the hatred and coldness in his eyes were even sharper than the freezing winds of the Extreme North Land.
"Don't you dare use your dirty hands to touch me!" Yang Wudi hissed. He glared fiercely at Tai Tan and Bai He, who were within arm's reach. His voice was broken and shaky due to his injuries and his heavy agitation, yet every word he spoke was crystal clear.
"You... you two... you are nothing but dogs of the Clear Sky Sect! From this very day on, I, Yang Wudi, sever all ties with you! The Breaking Clan and the Strength Clan, the Speed Clan... we will have no more association from this point forward! If we happen to meet again another day, we shall be enemies!"
Upon hearing this declaration, Tai Tan's outstretched hand froze in mid-air. His face instantly turned deathly pale, and his large, tiger-like eyes were filled with unspeakable pain and disbelief. "Old Goat! What... what kind of nonsense are you spouting right now?"
Bai He's body also trembled violently. His outstretched hand was shaking as if he had been struck. His thin, refined face was etched with deep shock and hurt. He spoke sadly, "Old Goat! Why must you go this far? Our brotherhood has lasted for decades. Could it really end like this?"
Even Niu Gao, who was still being half-supported by Tai Tan, shuddered all over upon hearing Yang Wudi's resolute and cold words. A flash of intense struggle and pain crossed his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but it ultimately turned into a heavy, near-sobbing sigh.
He turned his head away, not daring to look into the eyes of Tai Tan and Bai He anymore. Having suffered heavy injuries alongside Yang Wudi, he could better empathize with that chilling sense of despair and betrayal.
At this moment, his heart was also torn apart by internal conflict, but Yang Wudi's determination had undoubtedly influenced him as well.
After finishing his speech, Yang Wudi seemed to have exhausted his very last bit of strength. He coughed up a few more mouthfuls of blood before closing his eyes tight. He no longer looked at Tai Tan or Bai He. He adopted an attitude of complete heartbreak and shut everyone out of his world.
Tai Tan and Bai He remained frozen in place. Their outstretched hands neither moved back nor stayed where they were. Their hearts were filled with the endless sorrow of being completely cut off by their old brother.
Could it be that the decades of weathering storms and sharing hardships among the four of them were really going to vanish completely today? Was their friendship turning into enmity just because of the Clear Sky Sect's intervention and Tang Hao's sudden appearance?
Meanwhile, just as Tang Hao's figure was about to rush into the ten-meter radius around Tang Chen, the black light of the Clear Sky Hammer was already illuminating Tang Chen's calm face. Tang Hao intended to end this quickly, but something changed.
"Crack... crackle..."
A teeth-gritting, subtle, and dense freezing sound rang out without any warning in every corner of the hall. Immediately after, everyone present felt it. Tang Hao, who was the closest to the center, felt it the most. It was a bone-chilling cold that seemed capable of freezing a person's Soul. This chill was not just some intangible mental pressure or killing intent. It was a concrete, physical, and terrifyingly low temperature that defied logic.
The air in the hall began to condense into pale blue ice crystal particles at a visible rate. They fell like a flurry of snow. On the floor, on the walls, and even the breath exhaled by the onlookers instantly turned into thick frost. The temperature plummeted by dozens of degrees in the span of a single breath.
With this sudden change in the surroundings, Tang Hao's high-speed forward momentum was forced to a stall. His brows furrowed deeply, and his pupils constricted as he felt the air thicken. He wondered to himself, "Wait, why is it so cold? Could it be... the Slaughter God Domain?"
He instinctively associated the sensation with the cold killing intent brought by the Slaughter God Domain he had once obtained during his own trials. But in the next moment, he immediately dismissed the idea as impossible.
"No! This is not mental killing intent or a psychological coldness. This is a real, concrete, and extreme low temperature!" His expression changed slightly as he realized the danger. Tang Hao could clearly feel that the circulation speed of his blood and spirit power was being significantly slowed down by the frost!
Immediately following this realization, an indescribable premonition of danger suddenly arose in his heart. It was the survival instinct of a Titled Douluo. In the next second, Tang Hao forcibly suppressed his forward momentum and stopped his charge. He jerked his head up, looking toward the direction where the chill was most intense. That spot was directly behind Tang Chen!
There, in the Void Realm about three steps behind Tang Chen, a snow-white figure had appeared silently. No one knew when she had arrived. She was floating in the air with an ethereal grace. That figure was not a physical person of flesh and blood, but rather a phantom condensed from the purest ice and snow energy.
Its outline was vaguely that of a breathtakingly beautiful woman wearing an ice-crystal dress. Her silver hair fluttered in the phantom wind. Her features were blurred and hard to see, yet she radiated an ethereal and majestic Aura that looked down upon all living things. She seemed completely indifferent to everything in the world.
What was most heart-stopping for everyone watching was what appeared beneath her. Beneath this snow-white phantom, two orange-gold spirit rings were slowly circling. These were not ordinary rings; they radiated a power that felt ancient and overwhelming.
Just at the moment when Tang Hao's attack faltered due to this sudden turn of events, the snow-white phantom floating in mid-air moved. As if possessing her own will, she slowly raised her flawless right hand, which was formed entirely from ice and snow.
There were no unnecessary movements and no earth-shattering eruption of energy. There was only an absolute chill. It was a power that was restrained and pure, seemingly capable of freezing the very concept of coldness itself. It swept out and instantly locked onto Tang Hao's position.
"Emperor's Palm." "Great Cold Without Snow."
The instant the words fell, that raised hand of ice and snow pressed down gently. It seemed like a casual, effortless gesture in the direction Tang Hao was standing. There was no sudden blast of palm wind, nor was there any roaring sound of an explosion.
Suddenly, all the raging wind and snow in the hall stopped in an indescribable manner. In this instant, it felt as if time and space itself had come to a complete halt. Every snowflake was frozen perfectly in mid-air, and all the cold winds stilled in an instant.
Then, a gigantic ice palm appeared. It was formed entirely of pure, flawless ice that looked like it had been carved from ten-thousand-year black ice. It condensed out of thin air with terrifying speed. Carrying the most fundamental Origin power of the Extreme North Land, it silently yet incredibly swiftly slapped down directly toward Tang Hao below!
At the same time, Tang Chen's right hand was also raised high into the Void Realm. The Snow Empress phantom also raised her right hand in perfect sync. Her stunning figure instantly merged with Tang Chen's body. Following that merger, a deep blue longsword appeared. It was condensed from ice crystals and seemed to glow with a chilling light. It appeared out of thin air right in Tang Chen's palm.
"Emperor Sword, Ice Extreme Peerless!"
Before Tang Hao could even clearly see the appearance of the longsword or process what was happening, the hand holding the sword had already slashed down with lethal precision.