Movie: Get Alpha Dog at the start

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 not make him suffer.

Fortunately, it would take at least half a year to travel all the way from Northern Qi to the Far North. By then, he would be able to recover to his peak state. With the help of the complex terrain there, his chances of escape would definitely be higher than in Northern Qi.

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

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

Langtao and Haitang Duoduo were moved by what they saw, and they practiced even harder.

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

The most terrifying thing in the world is not having no talent, but having people who are more talented than you and work harder than you.

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

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

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 he finished speaking, Ku He turned to look at the Queen Mother.

"Neither you nor I have another twenty years to wait."

The Queen Mother sighed softly upon hearing this: "Yes, there won't be another twenty years."

"Then I wish Master Ku to fulfill his wish and open the temple as soon as possible. I also wish that our Northern Qi will regroup and restore the glory of our ancestors' Great Wei Dynasty."

After paying homage to the Northern Qi royal ancestral temple, the empress dowager 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 for battle. The reason why Haitang Duoduo was not brought along was probably because they were afraid that the trip would be too dangerous. If something unexpected happened, they would not be left without even a successor.

The young Northern Qi emperor stood at the city gate, watching the team leave, and said to the Queen Mother with a worried look on his face: "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 Xiao En returned. These thousand elite knights could have fought against the Southern Qing Black Cavalry. Isn't it a pity that they were destroyed just like this?"

The Queen Mother sighed: "Now Nanqing is strong in both military and national strength. More importantly, Emperor Qing is not young anymore. He won't give us too much time. Now we can only hope that Master Ku can open the temple and help Beiqi change its fate. Otherwise, our fate will be in vain..."

The empress dowager did not finish her words, but the little emperor knew very well. Throughout the dynasties, has there ever been a last emperor who could have a good ending?

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

The General's Mansion of Northern Qi.

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

Sean nodded: "Well, they really did go the same way as before."

"Godfather, let's set off quickly."

"Don't worry. Ku He is here. If we follow too closely, we will be discovered. Anyway, I know the route well. It won't be a problem later. Besides, we have to see our 'old friend' off before we leave."

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

If we were to say who he hated the most in his life besides Chen Pingping, it would be Shen Zhong. If Qin Hao hadn't come to his rescue, he would have been killed by Shen Zhong long ago.

"Shen Zhong, your death is coming!"

The next day, the Queen Mother’s birthday banquet was held, and the Northern Qi Imperial Palace was filled with a peaceful atmosphere.

The Queen Mother announced in public that Da Qi was going to do business with Fan Xian, and asked the Embroidered Uniform Guard 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 an affair with Yan Bingyun, and also tipped off Yan Bingyun. Shen Zhong made all kinds of excuses and denied telling his sister any news. The Queen Mother sought the opinion of the young emperor, and the young emperor let her handle it with full authority. The Queen Mother dismissed Shen Zhong's official title and stripped off his official uniform with python pattern on the spot. Shen Zhong tried his best to stop the Queen Mother from doing business with Fan Xian, and the Queen Mother ordered Shen Zhong to be driven out of the hall in a rage.

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

"I accept the order and thank you."

Sean's respectful worship made the Queen Mother even 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 good care of me in the future."

"Master Xiao, what are you talking about? You are the senior, and you should be the one to help the younger generation."

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

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

"Oh? Is there any?"

"have it?"

Sean glanced at Uesugi Tiger and asked, "Are the personnel and supplies ready for the trip to the Far North?"

"Everything has been prepared according to your request, foster father. We are one hundred elite soldiers who have retired from the army, all of whom have died several times on the battlefield. Foster father, when shall we set off?" Uesugi Tora said seriously.

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

"Shen Zhong has lost the Queen Mother's trust, 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?"

Shang Shanhu hesitated and said: "But the Queen Mother only stripped Shen Zhong of his official title, and did not punish him. If my foster father charges him with a crime, I am afraid it will cause dissatisfaction to the Queen Mother."

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

"Now that Shen Zhong has lost his power, 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."

"Foster father, do you mean to kill someone with a borrowed knife?"

The next day, the Nanqing delegation set out to leave Shangjing City, but was intercepted and killed by the assassination squad led by Shen Zhong on the way.

After a fierce battle, Shen Zhong was defeated and seriously injured. Seeing that 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 State, and the master behind the Ming family was the second prince and the eldest princess Li Yunrui. He used this information in exchange for Fan Xian bringing his sister back to Qing State.

Shen Zhong was escorted back to Shangjing City, and Sean was already "greeting" him at the city gate.

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

"Sean, you cooperated with the people of Qing for revenge and betrayed Northern Qi. You will not die a good death!" Shen Zhong cursed.

Sean was not angry at all. Instead, he walked to the prisoner's car with a smile on his face. "Master 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? They are all people who are not good for Northern Qi?"

As he spoke, Sean opened the prison van, pulled Shen Zhong down, and threw him on the ground.

"That's how Lord Shen treated Xiao back then. Now that Xiao is back, it shouldn't be considered too much, right?"

"Ah~~~"

Before Shen Zhong could answer, he let out a scream. His calf was broken by Sean's foot, and the broken bone pierced the skin directly. His whole leg dragged limply on the ground, bleeding.

"Sean, if you dare, kill me. Kill me."

Sean stared at Shen Zhong with a cold gaze, pulled his hair up, and dragged him on the ground.

"Want to die? That'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. How boring would it be if you died?"

At the same time, Qin Hao and his party have arrived at Beilao Pass. Further north is the endless northern snowfield. It is a barren land where even the northern barbarians of the snowy region cannot survive. It is covered with snow all year round.

Ku He had made a lot of preparations for this trip to the temple. It was March now, and the snow on the Arctic snowfields would melt in the next few months as the temperature rose. At the same time, it would also avoid the polar night that lasted for half a year in the Arctic snowfields. This was the most suitable time of the year to visit the temple.

Of course, even so, the temperature at Beilao Pass was below minus thirty degrees Celsius at this time, and some of the 1,000 knights had already been frostbitten and there had been casualties.

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

Ku He, who was wearing a black robe, 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 snowy plains of the far north, so he had no choice but to agree in order to save his life.

"Besides this place, is there any other way?"

Ku He didn't say anything else. He turned to Lang Tao and said, "Take a day's rest and set off tomorrow."

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

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

Qin Hao naturally would not go against Ku He. The Far North Snowfield is actually the North Pole. From March to September every year, it is polar day. After this period, it will fall into polar night. Once you lose your way, even a grandmaster will find it difficult to survive.

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

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

Because it was polar weather, there was no darkness and no time-keeping tools like clocks, so how long they had to walk in a day depended entirely on Ku He's feeling. After three days in a row, more than a dozen cavalrymen had fallen ill.

"Master, why don't you send someone to escort them back?" Lang Tao couldn't bear to see the patients huddled in the tent.

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

"This is it, Master."

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

As they went deeper into the Arctic snowfields, Qin Hao and his team encountered more and more problems. In addition to the severe cold of minus 30 to 40 degrees Celsius, the even more fatal thing was the ice holes that might appear under their feet at any time. Once they fell in, even if they didn't freeze to death immediately, half of the people who were rescued would be useless.

In addition to people, horses would often fall into ice holes, and eventually the horse meat would become everyone's food. People and horses would be lost almost every day, which also dealt a heavy blow to morale.

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

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

However, Qin Hao was very clear that even if he recovered to the peak of the ninth level, 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. Therefore, he never implemented his escape plan and cooperated very well along the way without leaving Ku He's sight.

They marched northward for almost a month, and the entire team had lost more than a hundred people. The remaining people all had despair on their faces. These brave cavalrymen on the battlefield would charge fearlessly even when facing enemies that were ten or a hundred times their number, but facing the endless snowfields in the far north, they had only fear in their hearts.

Suddenly, there was a commotion at the front of the team, accompanied by the roars of wild beasts, the screams of people, and the neighing of horses.

Qin Hao looked forward and found a shocking scene. A giant snow-white bear was chasing several cavalrymen. It was chewing the corpse of a cavalryman in its mouth. Blood flowed from its upper and lower jaws, dyeing 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 paw, the cavalry and their horses would be smashed into meat patties.

What made Qin Hao even more dumbfounded was that the arrows shot by the cavalry were like tickles to the polar bear. They could only penetrate the skin and be thrown away by the bear at will, without even a few drops of blood being shed.