Statue! (Seeking Collection!)

Thirty thousand li north of Jade Dragon City, a black fortress stood at the edge of the East Sea.

People with sallow, gaunt faces emerged from their homes, gathering in the plaza at the center of the city.

Everyone gazed expectantly at the Lotus Dharma Altar, carved from a single massive block of black jade.

Night gradually descended.

BOOM!

A flame ignited out of thin air atop the Lotus Dharma Altar.

The fire, standing over twenty zhang tall, burned with an eerie, blood-red hue, shooting straight into the sky.

Crackle, crackle!

As it burned, the blood-red flames gradually took the shape of a lotus flower in the air, slowly blooming.

Whoosh!

All the people gathered in the plaza prostrated themselves before the Black Lotus Altar.

"The Holy Fire burns bright, incinerating all evil!"

"The Blood Lotus Flame blooms, the Holy King descends!"

The fanatical roars and terrifying waves of sound imbued the entire city with an uncanny atmosphere.

Whoosh!

A massive black shadow streaked across the night sky above the city, landing before a black palace.

What a bunch of lunatics.

Listening to the seemingly endless waves of fanatical chanting, Night Shadow felt secretly shaken.

Even as a Great Demon, he felt deeply uncomfortable every time he visited this city.

"Night Shadow." A voice as youthful as a child's drifted from the black palace. "Did Motai Xiao send you?"

"Commander Yuan Lie is dead. My master ordered me to return his remains and report the killer's information to the Altar Master."

Night Shadow waved his hand, and Yuan Lie's mangled corpse appeared on the ground before the palace.

Appearing alongside the body were several shards of Qingshi, each inscribed with blood-red characters that, when pieced together, read: 'Zhou Hao, slayer of the two Xiantian beings of the Black Hand Tribe.'

Having done this, Night Shadow waited for the Altar Master's reaction.

"I already knew of Yuan Lie's death. Since his weapon was taken, he could hardly have survived." An old man dressed in a black robe embroidered with lotus flames stepped out of the palace, looking down at Yuan Lie and sighing.

Though he was an old man with white hair and a face full of wrinkles, appearing as if his time were near, his voice remained as youthful as a child's—a chilling contrast in this already eerie city.

"This is the information on the one called Zhou Hao." The black-robed elder flicked his hand, and a scroll of black animal hide drifted toward Night Shadow. "He has already joined the Green Flood Dragon Army of Jade Dragon City and become a member of the Xiantian Battalion."

Night Shadow hurriedly caught it and curiously glanced inside.

The hide contained not only a portrait and a description of Zhou Hao's strength, but also information and portraits of the people from the Iron Ox Tribe who were with him.

How did the Fire Worship Sect manage this? Night Shadow was stunned.

He had been the first to discover Yuan Lie's corpse, yet by the time he arrived to report it, not only did they already know, but they had even investigated the killer's details thoroughly.

This was truly terrifying.

"Take this back and tell Motai Xiao," the black-robed elder said, looking at Night Shadow. "He owes me an explanation."

Night Shadow grew anxious upon hearing this.

The man had already joined the Green Flood Dragon Army; what more could they possibly do?

"But..." Night Shadow began.

Whoosh!

One of the blood-inscribed Qingshi shards on the ground suddenly transformed into a streak of light.

Bang!

The stone slammed heavily into Night Shadow's face, cutting his words short.

"Do not think that just because Motai Xiao offered a Holy Maiden to the main altar, he can act presumptuously before me. Whether she is even selected in the end is far from certain!"

The coldness in the black-robed elder's eyes reminded Night Shadow of his status.

This was the Branch Altar Master of the Fire Worship Sect, one of the five great hegemonic powers of the Great Wild Plains—a terrifying existence rumored to be able to rival a Myriad Phenomena True Person while still at the Purple Mansion realm.

"Tell Motai Xiao not to forget his place! Get out."

"Yes." Night Shadow dared not say more. He transformed back into his true form, a Night Owl, and flapped his wings, charging into the night sky.

"If the headquarters wants to enter the East Sea, my Great Wild Branch cannot remain idle." The black-robed elder watched the sky with cold eyes. "That fool Motai Xiao is just an appetizer; I must arrange a main course..."

On the ground, Yuan Lie's corpse was suddenly engulfed by blood-red flames that appeared from nowhere, quickly reducing it to a pile of ash.

Jade Dragon City.

Zhou Hao had just emerged from the inner city.

As night fell, the sea breeze from the east picked up, the damp, chilly air invigorating his spirit.

"Finally over." Zhou Hao rubbed his throbbing temples, thinking of Master Jingzhi, who still seemed unsatisfied even at the end. "If I go to the Martial Repository in the future and see Master Jingzhi looking like he wants to lecture, I'd better make a quick escape."

That said, Zhou Hao was actually quite grateful to Master Jingzhi.

Although he had read the original novel of this world in his past life, how could he have known he would one day truly arrive here?

Even though his soul was powerful and he had condensed his divine sense, allowing him to recall even the smallest details from his memory as if they were unfolding right before his eyes, there was a prerequisite.

First, you had to actually remember them in the first place.

When reading the novel in his past life, Zhou Hao had focused on the story and the plot, getting excited with the protagonist's every thrill and rejoicing in his every growth.

But as for the specific, detailed settings... would a normal reader even pay attention to those?

At the very least, it would take a veteran bookworm or a seasoned expert to study such things.

Therefore, Master Jingzhi's lecture, which lasted from high noon until nightfall, was an incredibly detailed, comprehensive introductory course that perfectly filled the gaps in Zhou Hao's foundational knowledge of cultivation.

At the very least, compared to those elite descendants raised in cultivation families, the gap between Zhou Hao and them was no longer so vast.

"It's a pity I still can't determine what time it is." Zhou Hao frowned. "The Xia Dynasty doesn't even keep chronological records. Truly worthy of a world of Gods and Devils—are they really so indifferent to time?"

The truth was, the Xia Dynasty had ruled this Great World for far too long.

Standing tall since the ancient era of Gods and Devils, the history of the Xia Dynasty spanned hundreds of millions of years. Furthermore, since the founding of the dynasty, the entire world had only ever had one master: the Xia Emperor.

Zhou Hao had read the original work and knew that the Xia Emperor was a "Pure Yang True Immortal," a level higher than a Heavenly Immortal, and that his background and strength were truly staggering.

"For the Xia Emperor, a single session of cultivation might take a hundred million years; who knows how many generations of his subjects have come and gone in that time." Zhou Hao sighed inwardly. "For such an existence, time really isn't that important."

But time was very important to him!

Without knowing the current era, Zhou Hao couldn't tell if the plot of the original story had begun.

Although Zhou Hao had no intention of snatching Ji Ning's opportunities for growth—well, even if he wanted to, he had no chance—he did have some regrets from his past life about not finishing the Immortal Fate Assembly, and he truly wanted to know the outcome in this life.

"Right! The Immortal Fate Assembly." A thought struck Zhou Hao. "I can use the Immortal Fate Assembly to determine the current time."

It was a grand event for geniuses that spanned the entire world; he didn't believe there would be no records left of such a major occurrence.

"My strength is still too weak right now." Zhou Hao mused.

He remembered clearly that those who participated in the Immortal Fate Assembly were all at the peak of the Myriad Phenomena realm. With his current cultivation level of just having entered the Xiantian realm, let alone participating, even showing too much interest would be incredibly conspicuous.

With various possibilities for the future running through his mind, Zhou Hao walked along the street toward Zhu Da Restaurant, where Iron Ox and the others were waiting.

Beyond the Green Flood Dragon Army, Jade Dragon City was a massive metropolis with hundreds of thousands of citizens.

The West City Market outside the west gate was where most of the common folk gathered, and traveling merchants usually set up stalls along this street to sell items that interested the common people.

Even though it was dark, the merchants on both sides of the street had lit torches and lanterns, and with many citizens out for a stroll after dinner, it felt quite like the night markets on Earth in his past life.

Zhou Hao walked and watched, soaking in the atmosphere of life in this world.

On both sides of the street, there were vendors selling animal hides, weapons, wild beasts, medicinal herbs... a dizzying variety of goods, and even slaves were for sale.

Looking at the dozens of slaves with straw tags stuck in their hair, dressed in filthy, tattered animal skins, Zhou Hao shook his head inwardly.

The Wilderness World was far from as peaceful as the world he had lived in before.

"I'm telling you, this is the last treasure I risked my life to take from that cultivation family. If I weren't absolutely broke, I wouldn't be selling it. Fifty gold beast-heads—whoever pays fifty gold beast-heads can take it!" A hoarse voice came from nearby.

Zhou Hao followed the sound and saw a crowd of over twenty people gathered around an old man with a massive, bulbous red nose, who was hawking a red metal animal figurine the size of a fist.

"Is that a... civet cat?" Zhou Hao looked at the figurine in the old man's hand; it looked more like a cat than a civet, and he was uncertain.

After all, he had never heard of cats existing in this world.

"You dare ask for fifty gold beast-heads for that piece of junk?"

"Old Man Wine, did you drink too much tonight and haven't sobered up yet?"

Someone in the crowd shouted at the top of their lungs.

"What do you know? This is called a Feifei, a spirit beast from the ancient era of Gods and Devils, kept by immortals in their caves to relieve boredom." The red-nosed old man glared at the two hecklers.

"Even if it is an ancient spirit beast, this is just a statue, not a real one. It's not worth that much gold."

"Exactly."

Seeing the red-nosed old man arguing with the two men that his item was definitely a treasure, Zhou Hao swept a strand of divine sense over it.

It was just an ordinary statue made of red copper, perhaps crafted with more detail than most, and having existed for a long time, it had developed a thick, glossy patina from being handled frequently.

"And here I thought it was something good." Zhou Hao smiled and turned to leave.

But as the old man waved the metal figurine around in his excitement during the argument, Zhou Hao's divine sense was startled to detect a faint, elusive ripple of energy flash by.

The fluctuation was extremely weak and showed no abnormalities when the figurine was still; had his divine sense not been lingering, he would never have noticed it.

A magic treasure? A strange object?

Zhou Hao was starting to get interested.

Regardless, fifty pieces of Dog-Head Gold—just for the fact that they possessed energy fluctuations, even if they were merely red copper statues, they would be worth the price.

PS:

(Ox-Head Mountain) Forty miles further north is Huo Mountain, where the trees are mostly paper mulberry. There is a beast there, shaped like a raccoon with a white tail and a mane, named Feifei; keeping one can dispel sorrow. -- <Classic of Mountains and Seas · Volume 5 · Classic of the Central Mountains>

Thanks to 'Qiuran Ke' for the 2000-point tip.

Thanks to 'Pingyi Jinren 2014' for the 100-point tip.

Thanks to 'Hello World' for the 100-point tip.

Thanks to 'Zhang Gaoyao' for the 1000-point tip.

Thanks to 'Eternal Heavenly Emperor' for the 1500-point tip.

Suifeng bows in gratitude!