Chapter 169: Search Party - 169
The next morning, Zhou Fan picked up the chicken and walked towards the forest. He had a mission for today. He would find the crow that he had created and given intelligence to.
He didn't know if the crow had encountered an accident or had just been hiding, but it hadn't made an appearance since the day of its birth.
As for the koi, it had remained in the pond. Zhou Fan hadn't checked if it had gained intelligence yet, but it had just been staying there without speaking or trying to grab anyone's attention.
Although Zhou Fan could easily find the crow using his divine sense, he hadn't used it since he created the manor, and he didn't plan on ever using it within the manor.
"Hey chicken." Zhou Fan said while flicking the chicken's head.
"What?!" The chicken said as he felt the pain from the flick.
"Do you remember the day I created the koi and the crow?" He asked.
"Yes." The chicken responded.
"I need you to keep an eye out for the crow. He hasn't shown up since that day and I am starting to worry about him." Zhou Fan said.
"Alright. But stop flicking me." The chicken said before looking around and scanning the area for the crow.
First, Zhou Fan walked through the forest path. He and the chicken kept an eye out, but they never saw him, even after walking through the entire area.
Next, they visited the cave. The cave was on the side of the forest, and they just so happened to finish their forest search near it.
Zhou Fan and the chicken looked around the cave, but they didn't find the crow. Therefore, they entered the cave to look for him. The cave was fairly small and after walking through about ten feet of tunnel big enough for Zhou Fan to not have to crouch, Zhou Fan reached a dome shaped area.
In the middle of the dome-shaped area, the fox was peacefully sleeping. Zhou Fan tried to tiptoe around her and look for the crow, but she was woken up just as he confirmed the crow wasn't there.
"What are you two doing here!" She yelled as she saw them.
"Sorry. We are looking for a crow. He's black, probably goes caww. Have you seen him?" Zhou Fan asked after apologizing.
"No." She said. "What happened to him?"
"We don't know. That's why we are looking." The chicken said, responding for Zhou Fan.
"Do you want to help look?" Zhou Fan asked.
"Sure, I have nothing else to do." The fox responded, before getting up and following them out of the cave.
Zhou Fan decided that the next best place to look would be the hill. As he walked towards the hill, he passed his yard and saw the butterfly and the deer playing in the yard.
"Hey!" Zhou Fan shouted from afar. "Do you two want to help us find a missing animal?"
The deer and the butterfly turned around after hearing him and nodded. They then ran over and joined the search party.
"What does he look like?" The deer asked after arriving.
"He has black feathers and can fly." Zhou Fan responded. "That should be all you need to spot him."
Zhou Fan and the group walked through the yard and continued towards the mole hill after the deer and the butterfly had asked him some more questions.
Once they reached it, they walked around its base. Unfortunately, they once again failed to find the crow, even among the tallgrass. After they made a complete circle, they made their way to the top of the hill just in case.
At the peak, there was no crow, but a hole in the ground leading down.
"Hey!" The deer screamed down the hole.
After waiting a couple seconds, the mole popped its head out of the ground and looked at the search party.
"Am I in trouble?" He asked.
Zhou Fan laughed and explained their goal. Afterwards, the mole agreed to join the search party.
Zhou Fan, along with the mole, the chicken, the butterfly, the deer, and the fox, made their way to the only area left. The desert.
On their way, they passed through the forest and made sure they didn't miss anything.
Soon, they arrived at the area where the bearded dragon stayed. They entered the desert and looked around for a while.
Since its size wasn't that big, the search was pretty quick. Sadly, there was once again no crow.
This time, Zhou Fan was really confused.
'Did I actually make a crow?' He asked himself. Despite being so powerful, he couldn't help but question his memories.
"Hey! Bearded Dragon!" Zhou Fan yelled into the desert. Not a minute after he yelled, the bearded dragon came running towards the search party.
"Join us for dinner." Zhou Fan said. He had given up looking for the crow. They had searched the entire place after all.
The entire search party unhappily walked towards the waterfall, where they ate everyday. Zhou Fan quickly got the food from his house and they ate quietly.
"Sorry for getting your hopes up." Zhou Fan said.
"It's ok brother fan. What matters is not the journey, but the destination." The chicken said.
"That's backwards." The fox responded.
"Oh." The chicken sighed sadly.
"Mmm. What's that smell." A sudden voice said from the direction of the waterfall. Everyone, including Zhou Fan, was confused for a moment, until a winged animal flew out from behind the waterfall.
It was the crow. Zhou Fan stared blankly at him. He and the other animals had spent the whole day searching, but he had been behind the waterfall the entire time. Perhaps Zhou Fan had made a mistake when he created the crow and the koi in the room behind the waterfall.
Soon, Zhou Fan shook his head and tried to forget the entire thing. The animals, however, weren't so easily forgetting.
"Is there something behind the waterfall?!" All of the animals, besides the chicken, asked.
Chapter 170: Freeze - 170
In the morning three days later, Zhou Fan woke up silently. He stared at the ceiling for a while and his thoughts drifted off.
'I can't stay here much longer. I'm becoming too content. It isn't good. But how can I leave? Their lifespans may be long, but leaving them for hundreds of thousands of years is bound to change them. I want them to stay as they are.'
Although he knew his desires were selfish, Zhou Fan couldn't help but have such thoughts. He couldn't stay forever. Even if he spent a hundred years with them, he would have to leave for a much longer time later on. By then, he would be even more attached to them.
He knew that he could technically bring them on his cultivation journey, but intelligent beings changed when so much time passed. They tended to be much more independent and much less lively. Zhou Fan knew that if he took the animals, nothing would ever be the same.
At the very least, they wouldn't be as immature and funny as they are currently.
Regardless, Zhou Fan knew that something had to happen. He didn't plan on leaving soon, but when he did, he needed to know what the best course of action was.
'Whatever. I'll spend the next few years thinking about it. I have plenty of time.' Zhou Fan thought to himself.
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In what felt like both the blink of an eye and an entire lifetime, five years passed. Throughout those years, Zhou Fan had repeated the daily life with the animals. Surprisingly, it never once got boring.
He had not added any more animals, keeping only the chicken, the fox, the deer, the butterfly, the mole, the crow, the koi, and the bearded dragon. After around a year, the crow became more friendly and social, but he oftentimes disappeared for days.
As for the koi, it never left the pond. It had the intelligence to speak, yet it never did that either. He had been living the most boring and consistent life of all living beings within the manor.
Zhou Fan had lived the life that many would dream of in the last five years, but as more time passed, he felt more and more anxious. He was becoming soft. He smiled whenever he saw the chicken, and laughed at all of his terribly unfunny jokes as if they were crowd killers. It was the same with the other animals.
He not only felt happy, but he felt fear. He knew that time was coming for him to leave, and he wasn't sure how he would leave everything and everyone behind.
After dinner and a bath, Zhou Fan grabbed the chicken and laid him in front of the door like he had been every day for the past five years.
This night, however, something changed. For the first time, Zhou Fan had a dream. It wasn't something cast upon him by another, but something he had instinctually done to himself.
In the middle of the night, Zhou Fan woke up panting and sweating while staring at the ceiling.
'Is it really possible?' He asked himself.
'Can I really do it, or would it kill everyone and everything within the manor?'
'Maybe, just maybe, everything can stay the same.' He thought to himself.
He was breathing heavier than earlier, and his nervousness had reached its peak. In what could only be described as a maniac episode, Zhou Fan's breaths were becoming faster and faster as he thought.
Suddenly, it stopped.
"Freeze." He said calmly.
His voice echoed around the manor, the galaxy, and the very tree-like cluster that he had first visited.
Then, it froze. Not everything, but the manor. it was perfectly encapsulated in ice. Not quite pure ice, but ice infused with life Qi. Zhou Fan had a dream about it.
If his theory was true, then the ice would freeze everything and everyone within the manor, but keep them alive. It was almost the same concept as freezing time, but much much different.
Still, if Zhou Fan was correct, it had nearly the same effect. The animals would remain in the same state as they were when he said freeze, until nearly a billion years had passed, or someone stronger unfroze them.
Right before it had frozen, Zhou Fan teleported outside of the manors barrier. The amount of power he had used was no joke. His Qi reserves were completely emptied in a millisecond despite the ice only covering the manor.
Normally, he could freeze an entire galaxy with all of his Qi. Yet, with the ice Qi and life Qi he used, and him multiplying their already incredible base power by thousands of times, his reserves were cleaned out.
Zhou Fan was only able to get one look at the manor, now perfectly frozen like an ice sculpture, before he passed out from Qi exhaustion.
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This time, the Qi exhaustion was different than before. Normally, using all of his Qi would still leave small bits behind, as if they were stains on a wall in a room once filled with water.
This time, however, he had scraped even those stains off the wall in order to perfectly freeze everything. He spent an entire year in a state of near death.
Only after a year passed did Zhou Fans Qi start recovering. After a week, it was completely recovered, and Zhou Fan woke up.
He hadn't drifted too far. He was now just outside the black hole. Despite its gravity, he weighed more than many planets combined. He normally used Qi to lighten his weight, but he was unable to do that while his Qi reserves were absolutely empty.
It was close, but the black hole had yet to even touch his skin before he woke up.
Once he was fully conscious, he looked at the manor. He was feeling less crazy, but he didn't feel any remorse. The animals wouldn't like being separated or forced to live non-mortal lives just as much as Zhou Fan wouldn't like them to.
Now, he could come back when he was bored and stronger. Perhaps by then he would be able to control the power of time, making the process much easier.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
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