The wine was to Geoffrey's liking, and he was delighted. "I've traversed the universe and drank countless good wines, but I've never tasted something like this. Although it's not the best, it's very special." He then downed the entire barrel.
The Ice Emperor accompanied him and smiled. "The Royal Frost Continent is lacking in resources, so there's nothing much to thank you for. If you like, I'll have someone prepare some good wine for you."
Geoffrey waved his hand. "Give me a spacecraft."
Lu Yin was stunned; this was a true wine lover. Speaking of which, just how much did Geoffrey care about spaceships? Why did he always talk about spaceships?
The Ice Emperor held a banquet in Geoffrey's honor, but Geoffrey received a call halfway through and left. Before he left, he repeatedly reminded the Ice Emperor and Lu Yin that the seal could not be destroyed.
Lu Yin asked Geoffrey what was under the seal, but Geoffrey said that he did not know. However, with the symbol of the Hui Ancestor, it could not be destroyed.
After Geoffrey left, Lu Yin also bid farewell to the Ice Emperor.
The Ice Emperor apologized to Lu Yin once more.
"Senior, if I'd known that the seal was placed by the Hui Ancestor, I would have come even if you hadn't tied me up," Lu Yin joked.
The Ice Emperor replied, "We don't know if the seal was placed by the Hui Ancestor. If it wasn't for Senior Geoffrey, how could anyone have connected the tiny Royal Frost Continent to the Hui Ancestor?" He then clapped his hands, and Shao Yangxun stepped forward and took out a dozen cosmic rings.
Lu Yin was puzzled. "What's this?"
The Ice Emperor solemnly replied, "Apologizing is one thing, but Alliance Head Lu has helped the Royal Frost Continent, so we naturally have to thank you. Please accept this."
Lu Yin did not stand on ceremony and picked up a cosmic ring to check. His eyes widened when he saw that it was filled with star essence.
He picked up another one, and the same thing happened.
Lu Yin was excited. "Are these all star essence?"
The Ice Emperor smiled. "I've heard that Alliance Master Lu is rather interested in star essence. My Royal Frost Continent only has this many, and we don't usually use them, so I'm giving them all to you. There's a total of twenty-eight million star crystals, and I hope that Alliance Master Lu doesn't mind."
"I don't mind, I don't mind at all!" Lu Yin was truly excited. He had just spent a little over ten million star essence, and now, he had earned over twenty million. He had earned his money back in such a short amount of time. He had never thought that he would be able to obtain any star essence from the Royal Frost Continent. From his perspective, this place was just a continent, and no matter how he looked at it, it seemed to be barren. Who would have thought that it would actually give him so many star essence?
The Ice Empress smiled and glanced at Shao Yangxun, as Shao Yangxun was the one who had told her to deliver the star essence.
"The star essence is the Royal Frost Continent's way of expressing our gratitude to Alliance Master Lu. We can't just apologize for kidnapping Alliance Master Lu," the Ice Empress said.
Lu Yin's eyes lit up. Something good?
Ku Wei was eager to give it a try. He wanted to open his mouth and remind her that he had also been kidnapped.
The Ice Empress solemnly took out a box that was emitting cold air. As soon as she took it out, the surrounding void started to freeze.
Lu Yin was stunned, as this box made him feel cold just by looking at it.
"This is an extreme ice stone that only appears in the Royal Frost Continent once every hundred million years. It can freeze injuries, and it's a gift to Alliance Master Lu." The Ice Empress handed the box over to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin accepted it, and the moment he touched it, a cold air surged through his entire body. Even his fingers were frozen, and he hurriedly used his star energy to dissolve it. He slowly opened the box, only to feel the cold air fill his face and his vision freeze. He quickly closed the box and stored it in his cosmic ring.
"It can freeze injuries?" Lu Yin was puzzled.
The Ice Empress explained, "The extreme ice stone's cold air is extremely heavy, and it can freeze everything in the world. The way I see it, it can even freeze time in theory, but that's only in theory. It takes an endless amount of time to form an extreme ice stone, and while this one cannot freeze time, it can still freeze injuries. For example, if Crimson Sovereign had an extreme ice stone, his poison and cold air would have been directly frozen, and his injuries would not have worsened."
Lu Yin was pleasantly surprised that there was such a good item. Theoretically speaking, freezing time would take an endless amount of time. Then, he thought of his die's Enhance. Wasn't that just an upgrade?
Although the cost would be ridiculous, as long as he had enough money, he could definitely upgrade this extreme ice stone to its theoretical peak.
Lu Yin wondered what it would feel like to freeze time.
"Senior, you're not giving me such a precious item just to express your apology, right?" Lu Yin asked.
The Ice Empress smiled. "Of course it's to express my apology."
Lu Yin nodded. "Alright, then I'll take my leave."
"Alliance Master Lu, please wait." The Ice Empress hurriedly stopped him.
Lu Yin looked at the Ice Empress in amusement. "Senior, do you have any other instructions?"
The Ice Empress hesitated. "Alliance Master Lu, have you forgotten what bait you used to lure Crimson Sovereign and the others here?"
Lu Yin suddenly understood, as he had almost forgotten about that. "Senior, don't worry. I've already sent out orders a few days ago, and the outside world should be very lively right now."
The Ice Empress was puzzled.
Lu Yin smiled. "It's not just the Royal Frost Continent. Many other places have had secret techniques appear. The Royal Frost Continent is just the first, but it definitely won't be the last."
The Ice Empress understood what Lu Yin meant. If a secret technique appeared on the Royal Frost Continent, then it would appear in other places as well. If there were too many of them, then others would think that it was just a rumor. However, with the Great Eastern Alliance's methods, the rumors would not be very obvious, and each of them would appear to be true.
This way, the Royal Frost Continent's attention would be diverted.
Of course, there would definitely be a group of people who still coveted the Royal Frost Continent. However, the seal had been repaired, and the spatial crack that led to the Blazing Mist Flowzone had also disappeared. It would be very difficult to find the Royal Frost Continent, and even if they did, there was still the Ice Empress.
Even Crimson Sovereign and the others had been defeated. Unless someone at the level of the Sword Sect's Sect Master acted, they would not be able to affect the Royal Frost Continent.
However, how could someone at the level of the Sword Sect's Sect Master act so easily? Soon, they would discover the truth. Regardless of whether it was the rumors spread by the Great Eastern Alliance or the news that the Blaze Realm had attacked the Royal Frost Continent, they would all be dug up. The so-called secret technique was nothing more than a joke.
The Ice Empress relaxed. She had been afraid of attracting the attention of the Innerverse's major powers, but she should be fine now.
"Also, even if there are people who can threaten the Royal Frost Continent, senior can contact me, and I'll ask President Geoffrey to prove that no one can threaten the Royal Frost Continent," Lu Yin said.
The Ice Empress replied, "That's good. Thank you, Alliance Master Lu."
"Is there anything else, senior?" Lu Yin asked.
The Ice Empress replied, "I've already troubled Alliance Master Lu enough, but we cannot allow any accidents to happen to the seal. Thus, I'll have to ask Alliance Master Lu to be more patient in the future as there might be more trouble."
Lu Yin smiled. "Don't be so polite. We'll help each other out."
The Ice Empress smiled. "Thank you, Alliance Master Lu."
Lu Yin blinked and looked at the Ice Empress. "Right, there's something I almost forgot. Senior mentioned that there's a Humble Corps in Extreme Ice City. Can you introduce them to me?"
The Ice Empress was stunned, as she did not understand why Lu Yin had suddenly asked about the Humble Corps when he was clearly about to leave. The Ice Empress replied, "The Humble Corps is one of Extreme Ice City's protective forces. When the City Lord is inconvenient, the Humble Corps will be mobilized, and they can suppress everything. Of course, Extreme Ice City has never experienced any unrest since ancient times, but the Humble Corps has always existed."
"What kind of Corps is this?" Lu Yin was curious.
The Ice Empress looked at Shao Yangxun.
Shao Yangxun stepped forward and whispered, "If your cultivation reaches the Enlighter realm and you're willing to be sealed in ice to protect Extreme Ice City, you can join the Humble Corps."
Lu Yin's eyes widened, and he cried out, "An Enlighter?"
Shao Yangxun explained, "Only Enlighters can withstand the erosion of time while sealed in ice. Otherwise, after a thousand years, their bodily functions will begin to deteriorate. Within the Humble Corps, the oldest person has been sealed in ice for ten thousand years. After ten thousand years, he or she will retire from the Humble Corps and enjoy the rest of his life. That's why the Humble Corps maintains a hundred people throughout the year."
Lu Yin's eyes lit up. This was truly a good Corps.
"The last time the Humble Corps was mobilized was when the Blazing Mist Flowzone attacked, and it was similar to this one. However, the scale of the attack was larger, and the Humble Corps sacrificed more than thirty people to defeat the Blazing Mist Flowzone's three great powers." The Ice Empress recalled.
"How many people are there in the Humble Corps now?" Lu Yin asked.
Shao Yangxun answered, "Eighty-six."
Lu Yin sucked in a breath of cold air. This was eighty-six Enlighters, which was too exaggerated. If the Royal Frost Continent could do it, then did that mean that the other powers could do it as well?
As time passed, more than a hundred Enlighters had been born from those behemoths. Even if an Enlighter was born every thousand years, there would still be more than a hundred people. The Blaze Realm had existed for more than a million years, so what about the Daynight clan?
Why hadn't they seen such a terrifying army when they overthrew the Daynight Flowzone?
The Daynight clan was not something that the Royal Frost Continent could compare to.
The Ice Emperor seemed to have seen through Lu Yin's thoughts, and he continued, "Only my Royal Frost Continent has formed the Humble Corps, and joining the Humble Corps is completely voluntary. My Royal Frost Continent is only so big, and we rarely venture outside. We lack resources, and we can't afford to raise Enlighters. Enlighters either die of old age or freeze to join the Humble Corps. This is also the foundation for the Humble Corps. In the outside world, Enlighters are capable of roaming the universe, and no one would willingly freeze to join the Humble Corps.
Lu Yin relaxed when he heard this, as this was not a bad idea. After becoming an Enlighter, who would be willing to join an army? They would rather roam the universe and cultivate to a higher realm. Once a Hunter reached the Enlighter realm, they would experience exhaustion, and unless they were frozen, they would be forced to search for resources.
The reason why cultivators cultivated was so that they could live longer. What was the point of being frozen after becoming an Enlighter? Enlighters were not Sentinels or Melders, and they could be created at will.
From the looks of it, it was unlikely that the great powers in the outside world would be able to form a Humble Corps. However, nothing was absolute, and Lu Yin had to be careful.
"Senior, if this junior has any difficulties and needs the help of the Humble Corps, would you be able to help me?" Lu Yin asked as he looked at the Ice Emperor fervently.
The Ice Emperor knew that Lu Yin's sudden question about the Humble Corps was not a good thing, and he hesitated.
Lu Yin's expression turned ugly. "If senior is making things difficult for you, then forget it." He then turned to leave.
The Ice Emperor hurriedly said, "Alliance Master Lu, you're overthinking things. I'm not making things difficult for you, but I'm afraid that you won't be able to command them. They only listen to me, and I can't leave the Royal Frost Continent as I wish."
Lu Yin pointed at Shao Yangxun. "He's Frostfall City's Battle Chief, and he knows the Humble Corps so well. If I'm not wrong, he can also command them."