Wine was a perfect fit for Geoffrey’s preferences, so he was delighted. "This old man has traveled across the universe and drunk countless good wines, but I’ve never had this wine. Although it’s not the best, it is quite unique."

After speaking, he downed an entire bucket of the wine.

The Frost Emperor joined Geoffrey in drinking and smiled as he responded, "My Royal Frost Continent lacks many resources, and I have nothing else to offer to show my gratitude to Senior. If Senior enjoys this wine, then please allow this junior to prepare more wine for Senior."

Geoffrey waved a hand. "How about a spacecraft worth of wine?"

Lu Yin was stunned by what he heard. This was someone with a real talent for drinking; he used a spacecraft as a unit of measurement for alcohol! But Geoffrey seems to link everything back to spaceships, so really, how much does he like spaceships?

The Frost Emperor held a special banquet for Geoffrey, but Geoffrey merely finished drinking half of the wine that he had been given when he received a call and prepared to leave. Before leaving, he repeatedly reminded the Frost Emperor and Lu Yin to never allow the sourcebox array to be destroyed.

Lu Yin asked Geoffrey what was sealed away, but Geoffrey replied that he did not know. However, since it had Progenitor Hui’s symbol on it, then it was definitely something that could not be destroyed.

After Geoffrey left, Lu Yin also bade the Frost Emperor goodbye and prepared to leave.

The Frost Emperor once again apologized to Lu Yin.

"Senior, if you had known that the seal was set up by Progenitor Hui, then I would have come even without being kidnapped," Lu Yin joked.

The Frost Emperor said, "We never knew that Progenitor Hui was the one who left that command about the seal behind, and if not for Senior Geoffrey, then how could anyone have connected this small Royal Frost Continent to Progenitor Hui?"

He then clapped his hands, and Shao Yangxun stepped forward with more than ten cosmic rings.

Lu Yin wondered, "What’s this?"

The Frost Emperor solemnly explained, "Apologizing is one thing, but Alliance Leader Lu has helped my Royal Frost Continent. As the emperor of this continent, I am naturally grateful, and so, Alliance Leader Lu, please accept this with a smile."

Lu Yin was not polite, and he picked up a cosmic ring to check what they held, and his eyes went wide when he discovered that it was full of star essence.

He picked up another, and another, and yet another.

He grew incredibly excited. "All of these contain star essence?"

Frost Emperor smiled and explained, "I heard that Alliance Leader Lu has a strong desire for star essence. This is all that my Royal Frost Continent has, but I don't usually have any use for them. All of this is for Alliance Lord Lu, and there are more than twenty eight million star essence in those rings. I hope that Alliance Leader Lu will not criticize this gift."

"Absolutely not, I like this very much!" Lu Yin was very excited. He had just used up more than ten million star essence, but now, he was receiving more than twenty million star essence! His money had returned, but a bit too quickly this time. In Lu Yin’s opinion, this place was just a continent, and given how barren the continent was, he would have never imagined that they would be able to gather so much star essence.

The Frost Emperor smiled and glanced over at Shao Yangxun, as Shao Yangxun had been the one to suggest giving Lu Yin this star essence.

"This star essence is to show my Royal Frost Continent's gratitude to Alliance Leader Lu. As for kidnapping you, I cannot apologize enough," the Frost Emperor continued.

Lu Yin's eyes lit up; was he about to get something good?

Ku Wei grew eager and wanted to try his luck as well. In fact, he wanted to speak up and remind the Frost Emperor that he had also been kidnapped.

The Frost Emperor solemnly took out an insulated box, but as soon as the box appeared, the void in the surrounding area began to freeze over.

Lu Yin was surprised, as even looking at this box caused him to feel cold.

"This is a froststone that appears on my Royal Frost Continent only once after hundreds of millions of years. It can even freeze injuries, and I want to give it to Alliance Leader Lu." The Frost Emperor then handed the box over to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin took the box. The moment he touched it, he was overcome by the cold, and his fingers froze over. He quickly used his star energy to thaw out his fingers before slowly opening the box. He felt a fierce cold energy covering the surface of the box’s contents, and even his vision seemed to start freezing, so he quickly closed the box and put it in his cosmic ring.

"Even injuries can be frozen?" Lu Yin wondered.

The Frost Emperor explained, "A froststone is extremely cold, and it can freeze everything in the universe. In my opinion, it can even theoretically freeze time, but that is merely just my theory. It would take an infinite amount of time to form such a froststone, and although this stone cannot freeze time, it can still freeze injuries. For example, take Leader Hong. The poison that he was afflicted with could have been frozen to prevent it from aggravating him."

Lu Yin was pleasantly surprised to learn that there was such an item in this world. When he heard that these stones could theoretically freeze time, even though it would take an infinite amount of time to condense such a stone, he instantly thought of his die’s three pips; wasn’t this just a matter of upgrading the stone? Although the star essence consumption would definitely be obscene, as long as he had enough money, the froststone could definitely be raised to its theoretical limit.

What would it feel like to freeze time?

"Is Senior giving this junior such a precious thing just as an apology?" Lu Yin asked.

Frost Emperor smiled. "Of course. I apologize."

Lu Yin nodded. "Alright. Then this junior will take my leave."

"Alliance Leader Lu, please wait a moment." The Frost Emperor quickly stopped Lu Yin.

Lu Yin looked at the older man in amusement. "What else do you have for me, Senior?"

The Frost Emperor hesitated, but then he asked, "Did Alliance Leader Lu forget what was used as bait to lure Leader Hong and the others to my Royal Frost Continent?"

Lu Yin was stunned, as he had almost forgotten about this matter. "Senior, don't worry. This junior sent out some orders a few days ago, and the outside world should be quite lively right now."

The Frost Emperor felt puzzled.

Lu Yin smiled. "The Royal Frost Continent is not the only place where a secret technique has popped up. Rather, this was merely the first place, and it certainly won’t be the last."

The Frost Emperor understood, realizing that while rumors had already spread through the outside world about how a secret technique was hidden in the Royal Frost Continent, so too had similar rumors about many other places spread. If information about too many secret techniques in various places was spread, then people would consider them all to be nothing more than rumors. Also, with what the Great Eastern Alliance was capable of, none of the rumors would be obvious, and they would all seem authentic.

This would divert the attention away from the Royal Frost Continent.

Of course, there would still be quite a large number of people who would still target the Royal Frost Continent. However, the sourcebox array had already been repaired, so the tear in the void connecting the continent to Blazing Mist Flowzone would also disappear. It would soon be very difficult to find the Royal Frost Continent, and even if it was found, the Frost Emperor would still be present.

Even Leader Hong and others had been forced to turn away in defeat. Unless someone at the level of the Sword Sect’s Sect Master moved out, the Royal Frost Continent would remain unbothered.

However, how could people at that level casually make a move? The truth would soon be revealed, whether it was the rumors spread by the Great Eastern Alliance or the attack on the Royal Frost Continent by Blazing Mist Flowzone’s three top powers, everything would come out. The rumored secret technique was a complete joke.

The Frost Emperor let out a sigh of relief, as he had been the most afraid of attracting the attention of the Innerverse’s top powers. However, Lu Yin’s news meant that the continent should be fine.

"Also, even if someone who can threaten the Royal Frost Continent does make a move, Senior can just call this junior, and I’ll ask President Geoffrey to come speak up to prove that no one can threaten the Royal Frost Continent," Lu Yin said.

The Frost Emperor said, "That's wonderful. Thank you, Alliance Leader Lu."

"Is there anything else, Senior?" Lu Yin asked.

The Frost Emperor said, "We have caused enough trouble for Alliance Leader Lu, but there can be no accidents where this sealing sourcebox array is concerned. So, I would like to ask Alliance Leader Lu to take care of us in the future as well, as there might be more trouble."

Lu Yin smiled and said, "There’s no need to be so polite. We’ll help each other out."

The Frost Emperor smiled. "Thank you, Alliance Leader Lu."

Lu Yin blinked as he looked at the Frost Emperor. "By the way, I almost forgot about something. Earlier, you mentioned something about a Frostgate Army, and I was wondering if you could tell me more about it."

The Frost Emperor was stunned for a moment, as he could not understand why, when Lu Yin was about to leave, he would suddenly ask about the Frostgate Army. The older man replied, "The Frostgate Army is a guardian force of my Subzero City. When the city master is unavailable, he will send out the Frostgate Army, which is capable of suppressing everything. My Subzero City has never suffered from war, but the Frostgate Army has always existed.”

"What kind of army is it?" Lu Yin was curious.

The Frost Emperor looked at Shao Yangxun.

Shao Yangxun stepped forward and quietly explained, "If one becomes an Enlighter, then they can willingly enter cryostasis and be placed in reserve to protect Subzero City. That is how you can join the Frostgate Army."

Lu Yin's eyes went wide and he nearly lost his voice. "All Enlighters?"

Shao Yangxun continued, saying, "Only Enlighters can survive such a long period of cryostasis, as others can only be frozen for a thousand years at most before suffering physical damage from being frozen. After 10,000 years have passed, the members of the army can exit from cryostasis and continue their lives. This allows there to be hundreds of members of the army at any given time.”

Lu Yin's eyes lit up, as this was an absolutely amazingly strong army.

"The last time the Frostgate Army was sent out was when Blazing Mist Flowzone’s powers attacked. It was similar to what we just witnessed, but the scale was much larger at that time, and there were more than thirty casualties within the Frostgate Army. However, they defeated all three of Blazing Mist Flowzone’s major powers," the Frost Emperor recalled.

"In that case, how many members does the Frostgate Army currently have?" Lu Yin asked.

Shao Yangxun replied, "Eighty six."

Lu Yin sucked in a breath of cold air. Eighty six Enlighters! That was too ridiculous! If the Royal Frost Continent could produce such an army, then did that mean that the rest of the Innerverse powers could do the same?

Over the course of time, the major powers of the Innerverse would produce more than 100 Enlighters. Even if only one Enlighter appeared every 1,000 years, it would still amount to more than 100 people since the Blaze Realm had been around for more than a million years. However, why had such a terrifying army not appeared back when Lu Yin had attacked the Daynight Flowzone? There was no way that the Royal Frost Continent could compare to the Daynight clan.

Seemingly reading the thoughts running through Lu Yin’s mind, the Frost Emperor spoke up, saying, "Only my Royal Frost Continent has something like the Frostgate Army, and the all the army members are volunteers. My Royal Frost Continent is only so big, and there is very little trade and few resources. If a person cannot support their cultivation after becoming an Enlighter, then the cultivators here will either die of old age before becoming an Enlighter or die upon becoming an Enlighter. This is what led to the formation of the Frostgate Army. Once someone becomes an Enlighter in the outside world, then they can simply roam the universe—no one would willingly enter cryostasis just to join an army. An army of such powerhouses consists of strong individuals, and they will not obey commands like simple machines.”

Lu Yin let out a sigh of relief when he heard the Frost Emperor’s words. This was not too bad. After all, who would want to join an army after becoming an Enlighter? Those powerhouses would generally want to roam the universe and continue rising to greater strength. And that wasn’t even mentioning how there would be a state of regression after entering the Hunter realm. Unless a powerhouse entered cryostasis, all of them were forced to search for resources to improve their strength and fight against the decline. Cultivators trained mostly in order to live longer, so what was the point of training until becoming an Enlighter only to be frozen? An Enlighter was not the same as an Explorer. After all, Explorers could be raised up and trained by the handful.

By taking this line of thought, it seemed unlikely for the major powers of the outside universe to have an army like the Frostgate Army, but there were no absolutes in the world. Thus, Lu Yin made it a point to remember this matter.

"Senior, if this junior encounters any difficulties and needs the help of the Frostgate Army, I wonder, can I ask Senior for help?" Lu Yin asked, eagerly looking at the Frost Emperor.

The Frost Emperor understood why Lu Yin had suddenly asked about the Frostgate Army, and he was a little hesitant to respond.

Lu Yin's face fell. "If this would cause trouble for Senior, then please just forget about it."

He then moved to leave.

The Frost Emperor quickly spoke up, "Alliance Leader Lu is overthinking things. However, although this is a bit embarrassing, the army only listens to me, and Alliance Leader Lu would not be able to command them as I cannot easily leave the Royal Frost Continent."

Lu Yin pointed over at Shao Yangxun. "He’s Subzero City’s general, and he knows a great deal about the Frostgate Army. So if I’m guessing right, then he’s also able to command the Frostgate Army."

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA