Chapter 594 – Excitement
Zhao Hai flashed out of the s.p.a.ce and then released Alien. He watched from inside the undead’s body as it slowly crawled towards the mountain.
Before long, Alien had arrived in front of the Diamond Ape tribe’s city. While inside Alien, Zhao Hai looked at the city with his own eyes. Just as Alien was halfway up the mountain, the people on the walls started to spot him. The Beastmen immediately took into action, the giant apes stood up, seemingly ready for combat.
Zhao Hai couldn’t help but stare when he saw what just happened, he immediately had Alien stop and then loudly introduced himself, “Beastman brothers, don’t panic. I’m not an enemy, I didn’t come to attack you.”
Zhao Hai’s words took the attention of the people on the walls. When his voice was heard, the Beastmen were shocked. Then they looked at each other in utter disbelief.
Zhao Hai understood the reactions of these Diamond Apes. They were in this place for over 5000 years. 5000 years wasn’t a short period of time, and in those years, they didn’t have any contact with the outside world. Otherwise, the Beastmen wouldn’t be clueless about their situation. Now that they heard someone else talking to them, they couldn’t help but doubt their ears.
However, Zhao Hai didn’t say anything else. He wanted to see what the reaction of the people on the wall would be and judge whether the enemy of the Diamond Apes were beasts or people.
While thinking about these, Zhao Hai walked out of Alien’s body. He appeared in his Magic Robes and staff. After going out, he stored Alien back into his body.
Upon seeing Zhao Hai come out, the Beastmen couldn’t help but see the excitement. Zhao Hai looked at the Beastmen on the walls and couldn’t help but smile. He could imagine what these people were feeling right now.
He had no worries as he walked up to about only 12 meters away from the wall. Making the people see him clearly.
Zhao Hai looked at the wall and the Diamond Ape beastmen that were present, The Diamond Apes stood still at the walls while looking at Zhao Hai, their bodies seem to be trembling.
Then Zhao Hai gave a salute to the Diamond Apes and said, “Beastman Brothers, I’m called Zhao Hai. I came from the Beastman Prairie.”
An elderly Diamond Ape’s face looked emotional as he suddenly shouted in grief, “It’s been 5000 years! My Diamond Ape tribe…” Then he turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Mister, please wait a bit, I’ll immediately have someone come over and get you.”
Then he gave an order to a Diamond Ape, who then brought his diamond ape down the wall and appeared in front of Zhao Hai.
The Diamond Ape beastman was more than 2 meters tall, from Zhao Hai’s eyes, they seem to be 3 meters. Zhao Hai looked at the Beastman and smiled, “Zhao Hai has seen Beastman brother.”
The Diamond Ape returned the courtesy and said, “Human Brother, did you really come from the Prairie?”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “I did.”
Then the Diamond Ape asked, “Can sir please tell me what the Prairie looks like?”
Zhao Hai stared, but he immediately thought that since the Diamond Apes have survived for 5000 years here, the current generation were people who hadn’t been to the Prairie before. So in their minds, the Prairie was a foreign place. To them, the Prairie was a place of legend, a beautiful place, their origin.
When Zhao Hai was about to answer the Diamond Ape, the elderly Diamond Ape shouted loudly, “Little Six, what is taking you long? Don’t ask mister any questions yet, quickly take him here.”
When this Little Six heard the old man, he embarra.s.singly scratched his head and said, “I’ve been unfair to mister. I actually forgot about my taks. Mister, please sit down on my Liwa’s shoulders. We’ll be taking you to the city.”
The Liwa that the Diamond Ape mentioned was naturally the gigantic ape right beside him. Zhao Hai looked at the diamond ape that was standing there like a human. It towered at a height of ten meters, it was a true colossus. For it to be called Liwa was actually very intriguing.
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Alright.” Then Little Six beckoned to the diamond ape as it squatted and extended its hand towards Zhao Hai.
The hand opened up as Zhao Hai stood directly on it.
Then the ape placed Zhao Hai on one of its shoulders before placing Little Six on the other. Then it stood up and crawled up the wall.
It didn’t take a long time before the ape had climbed up the wall and placed Zhao Hai back down. The old Diamond Ape then arrived in front of Zhao Hai and said, “Human friend, I am Patriarch Tess of the Diamond Ape tribe.What is your purpose in coming here?”
Zhao Hai gave respects to the Patriarch before he smiled faintly and said, “Patriarch, I’ve received a task from the current Beast King to retrieve the Beast G.o.d’s Spear inside the Northern Icefield. I didn’t expect the Diamond Apes to still be living here, if I bring this news back, I’m sure the entire Beastman Race would be very shaken.”
When Tess heard Zhao Hai, his face couldn’t help but turn gloomy as he said, “My tribe is deemed to be criminals. If we return to the Prairie, we would certainly not be popular. Mister, please come with me and discuss this matter some more.”
Zhao Hai complied and then walked together with Tess towards his house. The people of the Diamond Ape tribe came over and surrounded Zhao Hai. He seemed to be regarded as an attraction, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
Before long, Zhao Hai and Tess finally arrived at a house. This house was quite ordinary. It didn’t have much of a difference compared to the other Diamond Ape houses.
Below the house were seven diamond apes, four big and three small. The three small apes followed Zhao Hai and Tess inside the house, the others were driven out.
Tess welcomed Zhao Hai to the second floor to see his family. Tess’ family was quite simple, he and his wife were a couple, and then he had a son and a daughter in law as well as three grandchildren.
Zhao Hai exchanged greetings with the family before they sat down. Then Tess turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Mister, did you just say that you were sent to the Icefield by the Beast King in order to search for the Beast G.o.d’s Spear?”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Yes. My relations.h.i.+p with the Beastmen is quite good. In the entire continent, it was impossible for this matter to be revealed. Because of this, the Beast King gave me an order to retrieve the Beast G.o.d’s Spear inside the Icefield.”
Tess then sighed and said, “In the past, my tribe has lost the Divine Artifact in this Northern Icefield, which was a serious offense that we had committed. In the end, the tribe was sent into exile here. It has been 5000 years since the first Diamond Apes were recorded to have penetrated the Northern Icefields, with a resolve to die here if they couldn’t retrieve the Beast G.o.d’s Spear. In the end, only 5000 members were able to reach the volcano and had settled here. We still haven’t given up in looking for the Divine Artifact. But it has not been very easy these past thousand years. We don’t know when it started, but ice beasts had started to desperately attack us. Because of them, we were forced to bunker up and defend, causing the retrieval of the Divine Artifact to be delayed.”
The only thing that Zhao Hai knew was how serious the losses of the Diamond Apes were. Stored in his s.p.a.ce, there were about 700 thousand Diamond Ape corpses. Surviving with 5000 people was just short of being extinct as a tribe. Only after 5000 years of development did they had manage to recover and become 100 thousand. One could clearly see how severe the price they had paid just because of the Divine Artifact.
But Zhao Hai didn’t think about these now, from what he heard from Tess, the Beast G.o.d’s Spear was still lost. It was still somewhere inside the Northern Icefield.
Zhao Hai quickly responded, “Patriarch, what were these ice beasts and ice people that you were talking about? I’ve seen some traces of attack on your walls, were they the cause of it?”
Tess sighed again and replied, “That’s right. According to the records of my tribe, these people appeared more than 1000 years ago. I don’t know what they are, but their bodies were all made up of ice, may they be in the shape of a person or a beast. Despite the composition of their bodies, they can still move freely. They didn’t seem to be intelligent, but they were very difficult to deal with. If you don’t break their heads, they would not die. Fortunately, the volcano had somewhat weakened them. Otherwise, our tribe would have already been exterminated a long time ago.”
Zhao Hai stared, it was the first time that he had heard of such a life form. He looked at Tess ands aid, “Patriarch, did you say that their bodies are all made of ice?”
Tess nodded and said, “Right, their entire bodies are comprised of ice, we’re sure of it because their bodies were somewhat transparent. When they are killed, they would immediately turn into water. They don’t look like a lifeform, but their fighting strength wasn’t very weak.”
Zhao Hai knit his brows, this was the first time that he had heard of this detail about the Northern Icefield. It was indeed worthy of being called one of the Five Forbidden Areas.
Tess looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Mister, has come at a tricky time. I estimate that in the coming days, those ice beings would attack. At that time, I think mister would understand after seeing them with your own eyes.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Alright. I have also been travelling for a long time, I really need a good rest. I apologize to the Patriarch for disturbing your city.”
Tess smiled and said, “Mister is too polite. You’re our first visitor for more that 5000 years. Naturally, we would need to entertain you well.”
Zhao Hai nodded, then he looked at Tess and said, “Patriarch, while on the way here, I’ve discovered a lot of Diamond Ape corpses. I have brought those corpses with me, how would you want those to be processed?”
Tess stared, then he stood up as his expression changed, “Did Mister really bring those corpses?”
Zhao Hai also stood up as he nodded, “I did. To be honest, I’m very astonished by it. There were about 700 thousand corpses in total. If I didn’t have a s.p.a.ce equipment, then I simply couldn’t bring them with me. Patriarch, I really admire your tribe. For your tribe to still strive up to this point, I believe that you have already been redeemed.”
When Tess heard Zhao Hai, he couldn’t help but stare for a moment before he suddenly cried and said, “Ancestors, can you hear this? Someone said that our crime has been redeemed, you can now rest in peace.” Tess’ wife, son, and daughter-in-law stood up as well.
Zhao Hai knew that the Beast G.o.d’s Spear was a huge thorn in the hearts of the Diamond Apes. He said that in order to somewhat appease their hearts. But him saying this was not without foundation. He truly thinks that the Diamond Apes have already paid enough for their crime.
After some time, Tess’ mood slowly calmed down, then he turned his head to Zhao Hai and said, “Mister, may I be able to see my ancestors’ remains?”
Zhao Hai nodded, then he walked outside as Tess’ family immediately followed him behind. Upon arriving outside, Zhao Hai discovered that the place was full of Diamond Apes, they were all looking at him curiously. Zhao Hai smiled faintly, he felt like a monkey in a zoo, being gazed upon by onlookers.
Tess looked at the faces of these people and said, “Everyone, come to the city’s wall with me. Mister Zhao Hai just told me that he had brought the remains of our ancestors. Join me in bringing respects to them!”
Upon hearing Tess, the surrounding Diamond Apes turned silent for a moment before an uproar came about. They immediately pa.s.sed the news around, and before long, every person in the city came to know about it.
Zhao Hai knew how the Beastmen regarded their ancestors. For Zhao Hai to bring their ancestors’ bodies with him was already a huge gesture of kindness towards the Diamond Apes.
Zhao Hai didn’t waste time. As he got on the wall with Tess, and then down again to the area outside, he immediately released the petrified corpses.
Tess looked at the corpses on the ground as tears came flowing out of his eyes. He gently walked towards on of the corpses, and then as he was sobbing he said, “This is indeed my ancestors’ remains. At that time, because they were afraid that the corpses would disintegrate in the harsh environment of the Icefield, they decided to place the bodies inside their companions. The skin of a diamond ape would slowly petrify as soon as it dies, allowing it to protect what was inside its body. Since they were hurrying along, they can only resort to this method of burial.”
Zhao Hai only released about a hundred corpses before he stopped. The area outside the wall was too small, it was impossible to release every single corpse. Therefore, he just released a hundred before turning to Tess and said, “Patriarch, the corpses are just too many. I cannot place them all down here, what do we do?”
Tess looked at the remains and sighed, “I’ll have to trouble mister to bring the remains down the mountain and then release them into the Icefield. After we give our respects, then we would be cremating them.”
Zhao Hai then asked, “Cremate? How come I couldn’t remember any ritual of cremation among the Beastmen?”
Tess nodded and said, “That’s true, there wasn’t a ceremony of cremation among the Beastmen. But our Diamond Ape clan decided to do it as a form of grat.i.tude to the life that was given to use by this volcano. Since the time we settled here, we had changed our death ceremonies into cremation.”