"It's nothing. I just want to join the Jade Dragon Army."
Determination shone in Xiangcao's eyes.
"You only recently broke through to the Xiantian Realm. You can wait until you reach the late Xiantian stage before joining," Zhou Hao said.
"You joined the Jade Dragon Army right after breaking through to the Xiantian Realm, and now you're a commander. Why can't I?" Xiangcao said.
Comparing yourself to me?
"I broke through to the Xiantian Realm through God-Devil Body Refining. If you reach the Xiantian Realm by cultivating the Chiming Nine Heavens Map, I definitely won't stop you." Zhou Hao shook his head.
"Besides, the Jade Dragon Army is changing its name and equipment this time. I have a feeling it's not as simple as it seems. If you really want to join, wait until I return from my garrison duty."
For an ordinary mortal, someone who had just entered the Xiantian Realm through qi refinement was tremendously powerful. But among Xiantian Lifeforms, they were at the very bottom.
The situation was still unclear. Once she joined the Jade Dragon Army, she would have to obey military orders and carry out missions.
With Iron Ox away, he had to look after Xiangcao's safety.
Seeing Xiangcao purse her lips and fall silent, Zhou Hao smiled. "You've only just entered the Xiantian Realm through qi refinement, and you don't even have a magic treasure. If you join the Jade Dragon Army now, won't the veterans bully you? When I come back from sea, I'll prepare a magic treasure for you. Then I promise I won't stop you."
"Really?" Xiangcao's eyes lit up.
"Really." Zhou Hao nodded firmly.
He was due to lead the Fifth Squad out to sea the next day. With only two days to go, there wasn't enough time to make arrangements for Xiangcao, so Zhou Hao decided to stall for now.
When he returned a month later, if Xiangcao still wanted to join the Jade Dragon Army, he would assign her to his squad so she could stay with Shangguan Yu.
Having him there to watch over and protect her would be safer. It would also keep her from secretly joining the Jade Dragon Army, which would make personnel assignments troublesome.
"Come on, let's eat." Xiangcao beamed. "Afterward, I'll go to the barracks with you. I want to tell Sister Yun I've reached the Xiantian Realm."
"Sure." Zhou Hao nodded.
Only last night had he learned that Xiangcao and Yang Yun had met years ago.
At the time, Yang Yun had just left the Hu Clan, and a Xiantian Lifeform from the Hu Clan was chasing after her, trying to bring her back to the family.
Yang Yun was a distant branch member of the Yang Clan and wasn't valued by her family. It was only after she met the Second Young Lady of the Liu Clan that she managed to escape.
Later, Yang Yun chose to leave the Liu Clan and seek protection in Jade Dragon City, a place of exceptional status. She even had an extraordinary encounter on the way, and her strength soared to that of a Xiantian Lifeform. That was how she joined the Xiantian Battalion, and later became the Fourth Commander.
Back then, Xiangcao was serving the Second Young Lady of the Liu Clan, so she had met Yang Yun.
Yang Yun had always remembered the kindness she'd received back then. Now that she had run into Xiangcao again, she treated her like a sister.
Time passed, and two days went by in a blink.
Night fell.
Zhou Hao watched Iron Pillar, Shitou, and the other four children sitting cross-legged in meditation. Their breathing was steady, and they had settled into the exercise. He nodded to himself.
The Supreme Clarity Moral Heavenly Venerable Visualization Technique he practiced placed high demands on its cultivators. They had to first understand the body's hundreds of meridians, then become familiar with the Dao Sect's many deities, and only then could they manifest the holy visage of the Supreme Clarity Moral Heavenly Venerable.
It would take years of instruction and guidance to teach six- or seven-year-old children to cultivate it. They wouldn't even manage the first step.
So, he had taught the six children a simple introductory Visualization Technique from the Dao Sect called the Starlight Visualization Method.
As its name suggested, one visualized the light of the stars pouring down from the heavens, nourishing the spirit with the imagined power of the stars.
It was simple, but easy to learn.
After all, they had never seen the myriad deities, but they could look up and see the starry sky at night.
As long as cultivators had no distracting thoughts and could steady their minds, it was easy to enter the right state.
What distracting thoughts could six- or seven-year-old children have?
An hour later.
"Wake up," Zhou Hao called softly.
His voice was gentle, and he bolstered it with divine sense, sending it straight into the minds and spirits of the six children.
"That felt so good."
"It was like taking a nap."
Iron Pillar and the others woke one after another, their eyes shining.
"Remember how you feel today. From now on, spend an hour practicing your horse stance each morning and evening, then use this Visualization Technique to relax before bed," Zhou Hao instructed. "Go on. Don't meditate tonight. Remember, don't be greedy for quick results."
"Yay, bedtime!"
"Don't run! I'm first!"
Watching the six children dash away in a flurry, Zhou Hao couldn't help but shake his head with a smile.
"Are you leaving for sea tomorrow morning?" Xiangcao emerged from the house.
"That's right." Zhou Hao smiled. "Why aren't you asleep yet?"
"Sister Yun told me there are lots of pirates in the East Sea. Some of them are so powerful they don't even care much about Jade Dragon City's Green Flood Dragon Army." Xiangcao sounded worried.
"They just haven't run into me yet." Zhou Hao laughed.
"We're not going into the depths of the East Sea. The island we're garrisoning, Crouching Ox Island, is only a little over thirty thousand li from Jade Dragon City. There's no need to worry."
The vast East Sea covered an area comparable to hundreds of inland commanderies.
With such a vast territory, scattered islands, and immortals and demons mixed together, even the Great Xia Dynasty could only exert limited control over the East Sea, no matter how powerful it was.
The islands not far from the mainland had some semblance of order. But once one entered the open sea, it was the law of the jungle in all its naked brutality: the strong ruled.
Immortal and demonic rogue cultivators, supernatural beasts, great demons, wanted criminals who had fallen afoul of the Great Xia Dynasty, and cultivators who had escaped into the deep sea after offending top powers... All of them made the East Sea a mixed bag and a place of constant peril.
However, Jade Dragon City was backed by the Jade Dragon Sect, and its Green Flood Dragon Army and Jade Dragon Army served as a powerful deterrent. At least in the waters within a hundred thousand li of Jade Dragon City, they commanded enough respect.
"Here. Take this."
Xiangcao seemed to have finally made up her mind. She walked over, took Zhou Hao's hand, and placed the object she had been clutching in his palm.
"What's this?"
Zhou Hao felt something smooth and warm in his palm and looked down.
"Isn't this the jade pendant you always wear? Why are you giving it to me?"
As soon as he said that, Xiangcao's cheeks flushed even redder, as if they were burning.
After all, the jade pendant had always been something she wore close to her body.
"When I left the Liu Clan, the Second Young Lady gave it to me. It's a protective magic treasure." Xiangcao tried to sound composed. "The Second Young Lady said it could hold off even a Purple Mansion Cultivator for a little while. From now on, you—you wear it."
"Since the Second Young Lady gave it to you, how could I take it?" Zhou Hao said, moving to hand it back to Xiangcao.
He might not have understood romantic feelings between men and women, but he wasn't completely clueless.
Until he understood what he truly felt for Xiangcao, accepting something from her—especially an item she wore close to her body—just didn't seem right.
"You've already touched it. How could I wear it now? If you don't want it, just throw it away."
Before Zhou Hao could say anything else, Xiangcao turned and ran back to her room.
The room went dark as she put out the lamp.
"Huh?"
...Forget it.
He would return it to her in the morning.
Zhou Hao looked at the jade pendant in his hand and gave a wry smile.
The entire pendant was a deep emerald green, and even in the dark it had a lustrous sheen.
One side was carved with countless tiny, mysterious markings. He could faintly sense a deeply concealed fluctuation of magical power. The other side bore a single character: "Shadow."
"Shadow? Does it mean something special?"
"I've heard that the Second Young Lady's given name includes the character 'Shadow.'"
Zhou Hao shook his head. Whatever it meant, it wasn't appropriate for him to keep the pendant.
Early the next morning, the courtyard was already bustling.
Everyone knew Zhou Hao was leaving Jade Dragon City that day. Sister-in-law Zhamu and Sister-in-law Qingshi had gotten up early to prepare food, and the six children had risen early too, saying they wanted to see Uncle Zhou off.
But Zhou Hao waited and waited, and Xiangcao never appeared. He went to knock on her door, but there was no answer.
Thinking of the knowing smiles the two sisters-in-law usually gave whenever they saw him with Xiangcao, Zhou Hao finally abandoned the idea of having someone else pass the pendant to her.
That would only make things harder to explain. If everyone found out about the pendant, it probably wouldn't take two days for Iron Ox and the others, stationed at camp, to hear about it.
Xiangcao still hadn't appeared by the time Zhou Hao left the residence for the barracks.
Seeing this, Zhou Hao could only sigh and let it go for now.
He had no idea that as he headed for the North City Gate, Xiangcao was standing on the roof of the courtyard.
She stayed there until he was out of sight, until a towering, broad warship flew out of the inner city, and until there wasn't a single speck left on the horizon.
"You have to come back," Xiangcao murmured. "I'll wait for you!"
On the sea, a little over twenty thousand li from Jade Dragon City.
A merchant ship was cleaving through the wind and waves, heading toward Jade Dragon City.
"Come on, brothers, put your backs into it! We're almost in Jade Dragon City's waters. Once we get there, we'll drop anchor and rest."
A burly man, his skin baked a deep reddish brown and a thick beard covering his face, bellowed. His booming voice rang across the ship, drowning out even the howling sea wind.
"Don't worry, Boss Hai!"
"These waves are nothing!"
Dozens of burly men stood along both sides of the deck, each gripping a huge oar with both hands.
The oars, more than ten zhang long, jutted out through holes in the hull and reached into the sea.
As the men rowed together, the merchant ship shot forward against the wind like an arrow, churning up wave after wave of white water.
In the ship's second-story cabin, more than a dozen sea merchants who traveled among the islands of the East Sea crowded into the narrow space.
There were traveling merchants on land, and naturally there were sea merchants on the ocean.
The great sea merchants had their own fleets and handled huge deals by the shipload. The smaller merchants, with their limited means, could only join forces in groups of a dozen or so to rent a ship like this and travel together.
"Young Master." A middle-aged man came into the cabin from outside. Ducking low, he made his way to a boy huddled in the corner and spoke in a low voice. "We'll soon be entering Jade Dragon City's waters."
"Uncle Mo Er, once we reach Jade Dragon City, the people from the Shang Clan on Shangma Island won't dare kill us, right?" the boy asked.
"Jade Dragon City is the Green Flood Dragon Army's territory. Their Xiantian Battalion alone has five hundred Xiantian Lifeforms, as well as vice-generals at the Purple Mansion Realm and a general at the Myriad Phenomena Realm." The middle-aged man spoke with certainty. "As long as we reach Jade Dragon City, you'll be safe, Young Master."
"Uncle Mo Er, just call me Xia Jie. The Xia Clan is gone. I'm not a young master anymore." The boy's voice was hoarse. After saying this, he fell silent.
The middle-aged man saw his expression and let out a deep sigh.
Anyone would be devastated to witness their entire family wiped out overnight and go from being the heir of a great clan that ruled an island to a fallen youth forced to flee for his life. It was all the worse for a boy of only thirteen.
I hope the escape route the old clan leader left in Jade Dragon City will let Young Master grow up in peace, the middle-aged man thought.
As for revenge, he didn't even dare think about it.
The Xia Clan of Xiama Island, with six Purple Mansion Cultivators, had been wiped out overnight. The young master wasn't even a Xiantian Lifeform. Taking revenge would be unimaginably difficult.
Just as the middle-aged man was sighing to himself—
"Hahaha... Boss Hai, the wind's against you. Why haven't you dropped anchor? In such a hurry?" A hearty laugh rang across the sea outside the merchant ship.
"So it's Boss Dulong." Boss Hai's booming voice rang out from the ship. "I've changed careers and taken to sailing ships, earning every copper the hard way. I can't compare to you, free and easy, Boss Dulong."
"Boss Dulong, did you stop us because you want to do business with me? My ship's full of small-time sea merchants, so there's not much to be had. Could you let us pass for the sake of me, old Hai, and accept a little money for drinks?"
"Don't worry, Boss Hai. I'll certainly show you that respect," Boss Dulong laughed. "But I'm not here for money this time. I only want one person. Hand over the person I'm looking for, and I'll turn around and leave without another word."
The middle-aged man's expression changed at once.
This is bad. They're after Young Master!
Before you continue