Chapter 591 – The Icefield
The Beast King looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Mister, you should know that you’re gambling. If you bet wrong, then you’ll be forfeiting your life.”
Zhao Hai forced a smile and said, “Your Majesty, we’ve been pushed to a corner, so why don’t we gamble? If we don’t get the three artifacts when the Divine Realm comes, we’re done for. Even if we aren’t killed, we would still become their slaves. And I don’t want to live as a slave.”
The Beast King knew that what Zhao Hai said was true. It’s impossible to know when the Divine Realm would attack, Zhao Hai doesn’t need to take the risk. The Beast King thinks that the reason he did this was for the Beastman Race as well as the Ark Continent.
The Beast King stood up and looked at Zhao Hai, “Mister’s heart is broader than the Prairie. Let this king offer you his respects.” Then he gave Zhao Hai a bow.
Zhao Hai quickly stood up and said, “Your Majesty, there’s no need to be too polite. With your Majesty’s agreement, I’ll prepare for two days before leaving for the Northern Icefield.”
The Beast King nodded and said, “Alright, since Mister is settled on this matter, if Mister is able to bring back the Beast G.o.d’s Spear from the Northern Icefield, then I shall bestow Mister with the position of the Beastman Race’s Foreign Prince. Even if the Beast King changes in the future, your position would still remain.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “I thank His Majesty. Your Majesty, please arrange a warehouse for me. This time I’ve brought over some ironware from the Dwarves.”
The Beast King nodded, then he called for the guard and had him arrange the warehouse. Zhao Hai gave the Beast King a bow before leaving with the guard.
After depositing the ironware, Zhao Hai followed the guard back to the Beast King’s study. The Beast King then invited Zhao Hai over to a meal before letting Zhao Hai leave.
At this point, Zhao Hai’s goals had been achieved. He believed that the Beast King trusted Billy’s letter, and would take this matter seriously. The Beast King would certainly make proper arrangements.
After returning to his shop, Zhao Hai began to prepare for his expedition to the Northern Icefield. Since all that he would need is in the s.p.a.ce, Zhao Hai had a meal with Ah Tai’s family first before taking a rest in the s.p.a.ce.
Zhao Hai only stayed in Beast G.o.d City for two days before leaving. The Beast King also sent a secret letter to the White Tigers, Polar Bears, and the Hawk King, who were stationed near the Icefields, commanding them to treat Zhao Hai with hospitality. He also told them what Zhao Hai was about to do in the Icefield.
The Beast King didn’t tell them that Zhao Hai was going to retrieve the Beast G.o.d’s Spear in order to deal with the G.o.ds, that information must be kept confidential. The Beast King only told them that he had sent Zhao Hai to the Icefield in order to retrieve the Beast G.o.d’s Spear.
The Beast King sent the letter two days prior to Zhao Hai’s departure. Therefore, when Zhao Hai reached Hawk King mountain, he was immediately warmly received by the Ice Hawk King.
Although their cooperation had just started, the Hawks had gained a lot of profits. Since Zhao Hai was also going to the Icefields in order to retrieve the Beast G.o.d’s Spear, this made the Hawks look at Zhao Hai in a much better light. They immediately regarded him with more respect compared to before.
Beastmen respected heroes, not to say about Zhao Hai retrieving the Beast G.o.d’s Spear, his courage alone made him a hero in the eyes of the Beastmen.
Zhao Hai didn’t stay in Hawk King mountain for too long, he only stayed there for one day. Moreover, he also deliberately told the Hawk King that no matter what happens to him, the milk wine cooperation would still continue, so the Hawk King wouldn’t have to worry.
When the Hawk King heard what Zhao Hai said, he couldn’t help but respect him much more. In his opinion, this was equal to Zhao Hai handling the matters after his death.
When leaving the Hawk King mountain, Zhao Hai sat on the back of a Blood Hawk and headed directly to the Northern Icefield. He didn’t bother to visit the White Tigers and the Polar Bears. He wants to quickly settle the matters in the Icefields and then look at the other Forbidden Areas to see if he can get something from them.
After crossing Hawk King mountain, Zhao Hai received the Blood Hawk and retrieved his Blood Ghost Staff. He had the staff transform into a white v-shaped object and invited Laura and the others over as he sat inside to explore the Icefield.
This was the first time that Laura and the others had seen the transformation of the Blood Ghost Staff. It was too mysterious, they curiously explored the inside of the somewhat red and somewhat transparent room that they were in.
This room wasn’t very big, it was about 40 square meters. This room that was made by the staff has the ability to see the outside from the inside. However, there was a tint of red in it, it was like seeing through a red tinted gla.s.s.
Zhao Hai didn’t fly too high. Although he can just let the Blood Ghost Staff fly while they enter the s.p.a.ce and look through the monitor, they didn’t do it. Zhao Hai wanted to personally experience the scenery of the Icefield.
The outside was a world of ice and snow, but the inside of the room was actually very warm, one cannot feel even a point of coldness. Zhao Hai retrieved some furniture such as some table and chairs as they sat inside and drank while looking at the scenery.
The Northern Icefield looked like a huge stretch of desolate land. There wasn’t anything in it except ice and snow. Zhao Hai hadn’t met a single living being ever since entering the Icefield.
The place was indeed worthy of being called an Icefield. Zhao Hai looked through the monitor and discovered that beneath the layer of snow, there were actually at least ten thousand years worth of ice deposits. The ice was very thick, the snow on the surface seemed to be a small film in comparison to the ice beneath it.
After some time, Laura sighed and said, “This place is indeed to beautiful, however, it is also very cold. It seems like there aren’t any products that we can get here.”
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “That’s not necessary. You see that land? Although it seems like there’s nothing there, if you look carefully, you will find that there’s something white on top of it. That isn’t snow, but a living creature.”
Laura and the others focused their eyes on the area that Zhao Hai pointed to. And indeed, there was a very thin, thinner than paper, layer of white below the snow. It might look like snow, but if one carefully looks at it, one would discover that it was different. It was like a type of moss, a lifeform.
Megan said in disbelief, “Is that really a lifeform? That’s very weird, how can it survive in this environment? Brother Hai, let’s go down and take some of that stuff.”
Zhao Hai faintly smiled and said, “Alright.” Then with an intention, he had the Ghost Staff descend. After that, Zhao Hai retrieved the Staff.
Retrieving the Ghost Staff essentially made the group come in contact with the Icefield. Because of this they flew slowly towards the area. The moment Zhao Hai retrieved the staff, the group immediately felt coldness envelop their bodies. This coldness was different from what they had felt during wintertime. This cold seems to have an essence, it’s like water, squeezing down on their bodies.
One must know that Zhao Hai and the others were already 9th rank experts, their vitality was extremely strong. Even if one doesn’t mention their vitality, their equipment were made to withstand cold and heat. Normal changes in temperature usually doesn’t affect them.
However, the Northern Icefield was different. The coldness present there threatened to freeze their blood, even their minds were starting to slowly come to a halt.
When Zhao Hai discovered this, he immediately moved and had the Blood Ghost Staff cover them, immediately removing the coldness in their bodies.
Laura and the others were panting. Lizzy couldn’t bear it and said, “What was that coldness? I’m 9th rank right now, but I was actually about to be frozen. With this low temperature, is that thing really alive?”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly as he cleared the snow in front of him. The snow was thick and also quite hard. While Zhao Hai was stepping on it, Zhao Hai felt that it was no different from standing in stone.
After clearing some layers of snow, Zhao Hai stopped. Then with an intention, he retrieved a patch of land and absorbed it to the s.p.a.ce. The group entered as well.
It didn’t take too long before a prompt was heard, “Special lifeform discovered. Lifeform can survive in extremely low temperatures. Extracting the life form’s properties. Increased the Host’s resistance to cold.”
Then Zhao Hai threw the patch of land on the ground before turning to the others and said, “I’m not mistaken, that thing is really alive.”
Laura and the others looked at the patch of land that was thrown on the ground by Zhao Hai. After it fell, none of the snow fell down, it seems like the ice and snow was harder than stone.
Zhao Hai looked at their expressions and smiled faintly, “So what do you think? You still want to go and sightsee?”
When they heard this, Laura and the others couldn’t help but s.h.i.+ver. Laura said, “It’s fine, let’s just stay in the s.p.a.ce and have the Blood Ghost Staff fly outside.”
Zhao Hai smiled at the staff. To be honest, he didn’t want to go out of the s.p.a.ce. The scenery looked good, but it wouldn’t take a long time before he would get bored of it.
The group sat down in the living room as Zhao Hai retrieved a bottle of rice wine. After the group drank a cup, they couldn’t help but let out a long breath. The cup of wine made their bodies warmer, the coldness had finally started to leave their bodies.
After placing her gla.s.s down, Megan let out a long breath and said, “That was scary, too scary. Indeed worthy of being one of the Five Forbidden Areas. Even 9th rank experts would freeze to death here. I think that this place is much more frightening than the Carrion Swamp.” Laura and the others nodded in agreement.
Seeing their reactions, Zhao Hai smiled and said, “We’re just unprepared this time. If we had, then wouldn’t we know what we are going to encounter? And since we haven’t seen any Diamond Ape corpses, then it means that it’s possible to get into a deeper part of the Icefield. I want to go further until we spot some of them. After we do so, we’ll be able to gain some insights on where the Beast G.o.d Spear is.”
Laura knit her brows as she said, “Brother Hai, do you really think that there are any Diamond Apes left? This is the Icefield, how could that be possible? It’s impossible for those apes to be all 9th ranks. The coldness of the Icefield would be enough to freeze them solid. How would they be able to survive?”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “You shouldn’t underestimate the potential of people. Think about it, our Human bodies are much more inferior to the Beastmen, yet here we are having close to equal military power. Even if we cannot beat the physique of the Beastmen, we can breach the gap through cultivation. Not to say about the original Royal Race of the Beastmen. For a long time, the Diamond Apes had the seat of the strongest, it would do them disservice if we compare them to the current Royal Tribe.
Laura thought for a moment and then said, “Alright, then let’s go look for them. I really want to see what the Diamond Apes looked like.”
Zhao Hai smiled and then controlled the Blood Ghost Staff to continue flying in the Icefield. But to Zhao Hai’s disappointment, they didn’t meet any other living being aside from the white moss. They saw some ice cold bodies on the surface, but these were already here for a long time, their bones were now made of stone.
Zhao Hai didn’t care about it and just controlled the staff to search the Icefield. In any case, they were in the s.p.a.ce, so there was no reason for them to stop searching.
After two days of looking at the Icefield, the only moving people that Zhao Hai can see were some Polar Bears doing their own thing. Zhao Hai made sure that the staff goes unseen as he continued to search.
After two more days of searching, Zhao Hai still hasn’t seen anything besides the white moss. Aside from that moss, the only thing that he constantly saw were ice and snow.
These past couple of days of searching, Zhao Hai solidified his belief that some Diamond Apes have to have survived. And even if some of them died, he should still be able to spot some of their corpses. But until now, he wasn’t able to spot a large number of bodies.
The search went very tasteless, but Zhao Hai insisted. He didn’t believe that he cannot find a single clue about the Diamond Apes. Even if he didn’t, he was still sure that he would be able to see another kind of life form. It was impossible for the Northern Icefield to only house those white moss, there should be other beings living here.
The reason why Zhao Hai had such confidence was his experience back on Earth. Even in the most unforgiving environments of the planet, there were still lifeforms that managed to survive. The North Pole and the Antarctic of the Earth was just like the Icefield, so he firmly believed that other life forms was present here.