Chapter 496: Zhong Fai's Life
The throne room was large. It was at least a thousand square meters in size, and the entire floor was covered with members of the Frozen Brigade. They were standing in straight lines, not moving an inch. Every single one of them were looking at the platform in the middle which was raised fifteen meters into the air. On top of this platform was a throne formed from ice.
Seated on this throne was Zhong Fai. He was leaning against the back of the chair, and his arm was resting on the armrest. A smile played on his lips as he gently tapped his finger on the frozen chair beneath him.
Seeing these many members of the frozen brigade, Hui Yue felt startled. Were they here to wage war against him? He did not know, but even so, he still moved forward and entered the throne room. Behind him, his friends joined him. They saw no Crusaders or any other signs of An He being present, but everyone was vigilant.
"Everyone, back to your coffins!" Zhong Fai called out, and the entire hall was filled with sounds as the zombies in an orderly fashion left the hall one after another. Hui Yue and his friends were all staring shocked at the display. None of them were able to comprehend what had just happened.
"Sorry, I am reinforcing the poison in their bodies." The Frozen General said with a smile on his lips. "If I do not make sure that my Ice-Serpent poison is constantly potent in their bodies, they will decompose instead of staying frozen. I am not willing to have disgusting corpses under my control." He said with a great smile on his face, and Hui Yue nodded his head to show that he understood and approved. Even though he was shocked to see how many geniuses had left their life to the Frozen General, he did not mind it too much as long as he did not touch any of his friends or family and ensured that he did not commit massacres. No one knew how long it had taken the Frozen General to collect so many geniuses, but it was likely a few thousand years.
Hui Yue, who had killed countless people and even absorbed a few souls, felt that it was not his place to condemn others. Thus he ignored it and walked to the throne. Although he was walking towards Zhong Fai, his aura was released. It encompassed everything with an aura so imposing that the Frozen General had problems breathing. A self-deprecating smile appeared on his lips.
"So he became a God after all." He mumbled to himself, and although he felt slightly worried, he also felt excited. If Hui Yue had become a God, did this not mean that he too could become one?
"How did you know about the Formation of Life?" Hui Yue suddenly asked as he petted the small black fox which was laying in his arms. Although the fox seemed to be enjoying his caresses, her eyes were focused on this Ice Serpent. She didn’t blink, and all her muscles were taut ready to launch into action should anything unusual happen.
Looking at this fox, Zhong Fai felt even more unsettled than when he looked at Hui Yue for some unknown reason, and he dared not hesitate in his reply.
"I was told about it by one of An He's Generals. Back then he brought me information from An He saying that they were willing to let me become the sixth General. At first, I was intrigued, but when I heard that it was likely that I had to leave behind my little life within the realm where the formation was located, I declined."
"They then told me that it was possible to remove the formation and that when they found the right person to do so, they would once more offer me the same thing."
"Back then I wanted to become a General." Zhong Fai continued. "But as I thought about it, I realized that it was not such a good idea to enslave myself to An He. I am a divine beast, a beast which is supposed to roam the world. My parents were from the second generation, and I have been alive for eons, even longer than An He has been alive."
"To enslave myself to him, would it really be worth it? As time went on, I decided that it would not be. I started sending my own experts and my brigade members into this realm but nothing happened, and all of them died."
"Since then I have been on the search for experts. Real experts. You caught my eye very early on. At the very start, I wanted you to become a member of the Frozen Brigade, but you quickly improved so much that you could be considered a second An He. I suddenly started understanding that perhaps you were the one I had been waiting for."
"It was not until later that I understood that this General had been speaking about things he was not allowed to talk about to me. An He never wanted me to know about the Formation of Life, and therefore, the General was punished to five thousand years of imprisonment within this Divine Beast World. Although An He is our master, he is very far away. The one which we look upon as our real master is this General."
"Sadly, I cannot tell you his name or what he looks like." Zhong Fai said quickly as he looked at Hui Yue and shook his head. Having guessed what the white-haired young man wanted to ask about. "We all swore an oath that we would not tell anyone his name or appearance. Only then will we be enlightened about the true owners of this world."
Hui Yue frowned. So one of the Generals was actually present within this Divine Beast World. This was something he was happy to hear. It was clear that this person was going to find Hui Yue for a fight sometime soon. Now that Hui Yue was the Crowned Sovereign and even had access to the Formation of Life, he was nothing more than a sitting duck for An He. He had so many things which An He was going to want.
"So tell me, where is the Formation of Life?" Zhong Fai who was filled with curiosity asked. His eyes were shining with excitement, but Hui Yue just snorted. Zhong Fai was very ambitious, and if he knew the location of the Formation of Life, one bad thing after another would happen.
"Currently someone else is using it." Hui Yue said with a sigh. He had to allow Zhong Fai to enter this formation. He had to repay the kindness he had been shown, even if it was going to cause troubles in the future.
"When the day comes I will come here and pick you up. I have my own method of bringing you to the Formation of Life, and when I do, you will not know where it is located or how to get there. I will, however, allow you to become a God."
Hui Yue was not speaking politely as he was unsure of Zhong Fai's intentions and goals in life. The fact that he had previously considered becoming a General for An He was enough for Hui Yue to label him as an enemy.
It was not only Hui Yue who was like this, but the rest of his friends had tensed up as well. When Zhong Fai spoke these words, he realized that he had said something wrong as the atmosphere had changed, but no matter how he thought about it, he had no idea why this had happened.
He knew many things about Hui Yue, and he had, by now, understood that there definitely was enmity between him and An He but he was not aware of just how deep it ran. He did not know how much hate the two sides felt for each other.
"I already said I was not going to enslave myself." He mumbled surprised. "Can it be that just because I considered it I am being treated like this?"
Zhong Fai finally guessed the reason and contemplated for some time. "I am willing to sacrifice a lot for power." He said after some time, deep in thought as if he was ruminating through old memories. "Back when I was young I was just one of many snakelets. When we had just hatched our mother and father were gone, and many of my brothers and sisters died of starvation."
"As I grew up I was nothing more than an ordinary beast. You see, although I am a divine beast, I am far from being as strong as my parents were as second generation beasts. I had to fight for everything I wanted in life, and I had to start using other people as a means to get what I wanted. I soon found that there was safety in numbers and as my Ice-serpent poison evolved, I started to create my Frozen Brigade."
"When I left the sea I entered the continent and traveled from forest to forest, always trying my best to escape humans. Back in the sea, it had been stronger beasts constantly trying to capture or kill me, and now it was the humans. There was no place that was peaceful and quiet; no place where I could rest. I was always on the run."
"I lost many of my Frozen Brigade members, but even so my army kept expanding. Every time I survived a battle, my army would increase by at least one, and when I finally reached this frozen mountaintop, I finally found a place where no other living being was capable of surviving."
"After fleeing for so many years, I finally found a place where I could relax. A place where I could focus on getting stronger and more powerful without worries. I stayed at this location for a full thousand years and focused solely on my cultivation."
"During this time, I finally became a King ranked beast and only then did I dare leave my icy mountain, but never for a long period of time. Another few thousand years went by where I went down the mountain once every ten years or so. Every time I returned, I had more and more members of my Frozen Brigade."
Zhong Fai paused for a moment to see if Hui Yue was listening, and he was satisfied to see this human paying attention to his life’s story. He had never before spoken about his past, so it was quite a strange, enjoyable feeling, therefore, he continued.
"It took me a total of seven thousand years to reach the Saint rank. Although my talent is poor, I was able to achieve this much, but in the end, I know my limits. This is the very peak of my abilities. Because I realized that my talent was limited, I started to panic. What could I do to improve? I went down the mountain more often to increase the power of my Frozen Brigade; I started to consume human flesh in the hope that I could gain their cultivation base and I ate thousands of high ranked beast cores."
"While humans do not increase their strength by eating beast cores, in fact, they lose strength, but beasts are not the same. A beast's core can absorb the energy of other beast cores which in turn increases their strength. Just look at me, my strength soared to the skies, but now I reached a limit to how much I can improve from consuming external pills, cores, and flesh. I am still a long ways from becoming a God."
"It was at this point when I was feeling the most dejected, that An He's General came to find me. I was in despair, and they promised me a chance at becoming a God. It was almost too good to pass up."