Tiger Fiend Stockade
Wang Yue paced back and forth in an underground chamber, pondering Zhou Hao's purpose in coming here.
"Could he be after my Fire Core Flower?" he muttered to himself.
Beneath this underground chamber lay a firestone mine, and within that mine grew a Fire Core Flower—his hope of returning to his peak.
Back then, he had discovered the Fire Core Flower here, which was why he had built a stockade in this place to throw others off the scent, slowly waiting for it to mature.
"Could he really be here for the Fire Core Flower?" The more Wang Yue thought about it, the more something felt wrong. Yet Zhou Hao truly had no purpose in coming here; Wang Yue was merely so tense over the Fire Core Flower that he had begun imagining things.
"Probably not." Wang Yue shook his head again. He had set up a concealment formation below, hiding even the Fire Core Flower's aura. No one should have been able to discover it.
Besides, if someone had discovered it, they should have come looking for it directly, not gone to Shilpo Mountain Stronghold.
But what if Zhou Hao had sensed it through some special method? Perhaps he was waiting to strike when the Fire Core Flower matured.
"Ah..." Wang Yue crazily scratched his head. He desperately wanted to believe Zhou Hao had no purpose and that no one would discover the Fire Core Flower, yet he could not help suspecting Zhou Hao's motives for coming here.
Most importantly, Zhou Hao was definitely in the Spiritual Consciousness Realm. Wang Yue himself had once been in the Spiritual Consciousness Realm, so he could not possibly have mistaken it. That was why he had wanted to test Zhou Hao when he saw him, but unfortunately, Zhou Hao could not be bothered with him.
Though he had looked calm and composed at the time, chatting and laughing with ease, he had actually been panicking like mad inside, always feeling that something was off about Zhou Hao.
Now that he had returned to the stockade, he still could not focus on cultivating, constantly thinking about Zhou Hao's purpose.
But the problem was that Zhou Hao truly had no purpose at all. Wang Yue simply refused to believe it; because he was too nervous about the Fire Core Flower, he had developed a severe persecution complex.
Wang Yue could not take it anymore and declared firmly, "I should go test him again! Otherwise, I won't be able to rest easy."
He decided to make another trip to Shilpo Mountain Stronghold. Of course, he had to prepare gifts first. Since he was paying a visit, he had to show some sincerity!
Seeing that the piglet had finally lowered its guard, Zhou Hao carried it to a relatively open area in the room. Then he injected Metamorphosis Power into its body, letting it circulate and wash through it.
"Oink oink~"
The piglet grunted comfortably, rolled over in enjoyment, and exposed its belly.
Zhou Hao was somewhat surprised as well. This was his first time using Metamorphosis Power on a spirit beast, and he had not expected it to feel comfortable.
He had always thought metamorphosis would be painful, like when he had taken that Body-Reforming Pill. But for now, Metamorphosis Power seemed to work gently, though he did not know what kind of effects it would produce.
This allowed Zhou Hao to gradually increase the output of Metamorphosis Power without worry. The piglet showed no problems at all; it even fell asleep and began snoring softly.
After that, Zhou Hao continuously sent Metamorphosis Power into the piglet.
Ice and Snow Divine Realm
After Murong finished handling her official affairs, she took out the packet of sunflower seeds Zhou Hao had given her, opened it, grabbed a handful, and then searched through her Ring of Holding.
She suddenly froze, abruptly raised her head, and rubbed her temples with a wry smile. "Could my book have gotten mixed in with Zhou Hao's books?"
Thinking back carefully, she seemed to have tucked "Three Lifetimes of Love" inside them.
"Smack~"
"Foolish." Murong slapped her forehead. The thought of Zhou Hao finding out that she read such books made her feel utterly miserable.
She felt that she needed some romantic techniques, which was why she had read those books to gain some experience. Who would have thought that they were actually rather enjoyable? She had gradually kept reading them.
Most importantly, she had even made notes inside. Whenever she came across a romance scene she found particularly good, she wrote it down along with her own thoughts.
She did not know whether Zhou Hao would see them. That would be truly awkward. Still, he probably could not see them, right? After all, she had written them with divine power, and they required divine power to activate.
No matter what, at this very moment, Murong only wanted to teleport to Zhou Hao's side immediately and retrieve her book. Unfortunately, time did not allow her to do so.
Murong viciously cracked a sunflower seed between her teeth. She had been careless.
Just then, someone came to seek an audience. It was a woman wearing a straw hat.
"Your Majesty, did you summon me?" Tian Lingling asked as she knelt on one knee in salute.
Murong waved her hand. "Rise!"
Then, with a flick of her jade-like hand, a sunflower seed flew before Tian Lingling. She asked, "Lingling, can you grow this plant?"
Tian Lingling casually glanced at it and immediately nodded. "Yes."
She was responsible for cultivating divine medicinal plants in the Ice and Snow Divine Realm. Growing an ordinary sunflower could not have been easier; she could even upgrade these sunflower seeds.
Murong nodded. "Then I'll leave this matter to you. Help me plant a few mu of them."
"Yes." Tian Lingling nodded lightly, paused, and asked, "Does it need improvement, or should I leave it as it is?"
Murong thought for a moment before answering, "Improve it! But don't overdo it. Mysterious Grade Low Rank will do."
"Alright, understood." Tian Lingling accepted the order.
"Do you crack sunflower seeds?" Murong suddenly asked.
Tian Lingling paused, then quickly understood. After hesitating briefly, she nodded and softly uttered a single word.
"I do."
Murong made them look rather delicious, so she wanted to try them too.
With a wave of Murong's hand, a handful of sunflower seeds flew into Tian Lingling's palm.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Tian Lingling bowed in salute.
Murong waved her hand. "You may leave!"
Then Tian Lingling went back holding a handful of sunflower seeds.
Murong let out a faint sigh. After thinking it over, she decided to go to the Library Pavilion and find another book about romance to read.
"Doesn't seem like there's any change?" Zhou Hao was still sending Metamorphosis Power into the piglet.
Three or four hours had passed, yet the piglet still showed no changes whatsoever.
"Dad, you didn't cultivate some fake technique, did you?" Zhou Yuanbao stared at the piglet with a puzzled expression.
From beginning to end, the piglet's greatest change had been sleeping more comfortably.
Zhou Hao shook his head. "No way. Murong said this technique was good, so it must be useful."
Though he said that, he was actually rather panicked inside. What if he really had cultivated a fake technique? Would he not have to cripple his cultivation and start over?
He did not want that. It had taken him more than half a month to cultivate to this point, and he did not want to spend another half month or more cultivating all over again.
If others knew what he was thinking, they would probably die of envy, jealousy, and hatred. Reaching the Spiritual Consciousness Fifth Stage from an ordinary person in just over half a month—was that even a cultivation speed a human should possess?
In the end, Zhou Hao squeezed every last bit of Metamorphosis Power out of his body, yet he still could not make the piglet change.
Zhou Hao stopped sending Metamorphosis Power. Even if he wanted to continue, he had none left.
He would cultivate first and restore his Metamorphosis Power, then see what changes the piglet had tomorrow. After all, perhaps Metamorphosis Power simply worked slowly.
Just as he immersed himself in cultivation, Ma Hongyun came knocking and said that Wang Yue had returned, this time bringing gifts.
Zhou Hao ignored him and told Ma Hongyun to pass on a message to Wang Yue: "They really weren't familiar with each other."
When Wang Yue learned that Zhou Hao would not see him, he sighed helplessly. Still, he gathered some information about Zhou Hao from the stockade residents before finally leaving Shilpo Mountain Stronghold.
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