Even though the mountains in the north were quite barren, there were still some needle-leaved trees growing there. However, following the departure of the abyssal army, the entire landscape was revealed to have become completely lifeless, and even the earth had taken on a deathly grey color. Even the insects residing underground seemed to have been devoured by them, and there wasn't a single trace of life energy left behind.

What a truly terrifying race this was!

Tang Wulin's hands reflexively balled up into tight fists. He couldn't allow these abyssal creatures to reach further inland no matter what. Otherwise, disaster would befall the entire world.

"Please pull yourself together, Commander Guo; the Northern Legion still requires your leadership," Tang Wulin urged.

At this point, Guo Zhenfeng had already recovered somewhat from his stupor, and he rose to his feet before extending a military salute toward Tang Wulin and the four Limit Douluos.

"On behalf of the Northern Legion, I give you all my genuine gratitude. If you had come any later than this, the entire Northern Legion would've most likely..."

A hint of anguish flashed through his eyes as his voice trailed off here, but he quickly regained his composure, and asked, "Do you have any instructions for me?"

Tang Wulin replied, "Please just organize your legion as you normally would after a battle. We can't represent the federation, but on behalf of Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect, we thank the Northern Legion for the sacrifices it's made for the continent. Thanks to your diligent efforts, the abyssal creatures were unable to reach further inland, thereby avoiding the loss of more lives. Given the circumstances, you've already done extremely well."

Guo Zhenfeng extended another military salute. "For the federation!"

Tang Wulin returned his salute. "For the federation!"

Thus, Guo Zhenfeng went away to organize his troops. What remained of the Northern Legion still had to work to reconstruct a defensive line. Even though they were severely lacking in personnel and equipment, they had to at least complete the basic groundwork before reinforcements arrived.

No one was more familiar with the terrain here than the Northern Legion, and once the foundation was set, the reinforcements would be able to construct a more complete defensive line.

Meanwhile, Tang Wulin and the others scaled the tallest mountain in the area before peering into the distance.

The weather in this region was truly extremely cold, to the extent that the entire landscape was enshrouded under a blanket of icy mist, thereby limiting the range of one's vision; even Tang Wulin's Purple Demon Eyes were quite restricted here.

Despite this, he could still see a massive black mass in the distance, but from this vantage point, it was impossible to see where the exact exit of the new abyssal passageway was. However, the number of abyssal creatures that had appeared here far exceeded the numbers Tang Wulin had witnessed back in the Blood God Legion.

After all, the Blood God Legion was able to restrict the abyssal creatures to within the passageway so they weren't actually released. In contrast, the abyssal creatures here had been released into the open, and with sufficient space, their numbers would only continue to increase.

"I want to go and scout for the location of the abyssal passageway," Tang Wulin said.

Before anyone else had a chance to reply, Yali immediately said, "No."

Tang Wulin insisted, "Mother, we need to ascertain the location of the abyssal passageway so we know where to aim the large-scale destructive weapons once the reinforcements arrive!"

Tang Wulin didn't know how the abyssal creatures had developed over the past 6,000 years, but human soul technology had definitely been advancing rapidly during this time. Destructive weapons of all descriptions were currently being transported to the front lines, and all they needed now was a location to direct those weapons toward.

Yali refused to budge. "You are the most important key to this battle. Have you forgotten what the Amorous Douluo and the Heartless Douluo said to you before you left? Your safety is paramount above all else, so you can't take risks no matter what, understood?"

A slightly resigned look appeared on Tang Wulin's face. "I'm not taking any risk here, Mother. As long as I don't encounter the Holy Lord, it's virtually impossible for any abyssal creature to pose a threat to my life."

Setting aside the fact that his powers were already at the demigod level, he could leave this battlefield at any time through his connection with the tree of life. 

As such, unless the Holy Lord were to descend upon this plane in person, it really would be a very difficult task to kill him.

"I think it's best not to grow complacent, Pavilion Master. After all, safety is number one." Yuanen Zhentian was in support of Yali's opinion.

Tang Wulin couldn't rebuke the Limit Douluos, so he could only comply. "Alright then."

Right at this moment, he was suddenly overcome by a peculiar feeling, and a greenish-golden halo lit up around him.

All of the Limit Douluos reflexively turned toward him, but before he had a chance to do anything, a beam of greenish-golden light flew out of his body before landing on the ground in front of him.

This was a translucent greenish-golden ball, and it seemed to contain a seed.

The greenish-golden ball silently burrowed into the ground in front of Tang Wulin, and soon, the surrounding earth was also illuminated the same color.

A short while later, the greenish-golden light began to surge out of the ground, forming a tiny seedling that grew rapidly under the support of the greenish-golden light. After just a few minutes, the seedling had grown into a miniature tree of life that was close to 20 meters tall.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to this miniature tree of life, and all of them wore surprised expressions.

Only Tang Wulin's eyes were shut as he experienced the vastly abundant life energy before him. Moments later, an elated smile appeared on his face, and he knew exactly what was happening.

"There's no need to worry about my safety now; this is the tree of life's reciprocation. The tree of life has just converted the energy I transmitted to it into the purest Douluo Continent life energy, thereby allowing one of its seeds to take root here. I am the Son of Nature, so I'm closely tied to the tree of life. Regardless of where I am, I can teleport back to the tree of life or back here on a whim. Furthermore, with this secondary tree of life here, I'll be able to convert life energy for the tree of life faster and easier than before. To put it in simpler terms, this is like an outpost for the tree of life."

The tree of life was constantly protecting Tang Wulin, just as the Limit Douluos present were. After all, only he could bring the tree of life more life energy to help it grow.

All of the Limit Douluos were quite amazed by this; it was the first time they had ever witnessed something like this.

The tree of life undoubtedly possessed the purest life energy on the entire Douluo Continent as it was the source of all life on the continent, as well as the highest life form on this plane.

However, due to the constantly diminishing life energy on the continent, even survival had become a problem for the tree of life, so there was no way it would be able to produce a secondary tree. However, it could sense that there was a source of life energy here in the form of the abyssal creatures, so it had expended a portion of its power to create this secondary tree, both to protect Tang Wulin and to better receive the life energy here.

The more powerful the source of life was, the more it would be able to reciprocate the natural ecosystem of the continent. Currently, the tree of life still hadn't returned to the former glory of the ancient Golden Tree as it was lacking in life energy, so this was an opportunity that it couldn't afford to let slip.

A series of exuberant green leaves began to grow on the secondary tree of life, and the greenish-golden light quickly expanded in all directions, restoring vitality to the deathly grey ground, causing more and more plants to sprout out of the soil. Even though this miracle was only restricted to this hilltop, there was finally a tinge of lively green color in this barren landscape.

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