Cultivation Causes Trouble!

On the beach.

Hu Yong, Shangguan Yun, Shangguan Yu, Nan Ming, and the other Xiantian Lifeforms of the Jade Dragon Army's First Squad stood there, gazing at the pitch-black seawater with anxious expressions.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three figures soared down from the summit of Crouching Ox Island.

"What is going on?" Ju Wei swept his gaze across the group, his eyes landing on Hu Yong, who stood at the front.

"The Commander went into the sea to practice his arts and hasn't returned for nearly an hour," Hu Yong said urgently. "I beg the three Venerables to find a way."

Previously, when Zhou Hao had entered the sea, Shangguan Yun, Nan Ming, and the others had been waiting to see how long their Commander could endure.

But after waiting for nearly half an hour without seeing Zhou Hao emerge, and receiving no response to their loud shouts, they had immediately panicked.

Hu Yong had rushed over, only to find himself equally helpless.

After all, even Shangguan Yun and Nan Ming, who were at the late stage of God-Devil Body Refining, couldn't last a moment in those waters; he certainly couldn't either!

Clinging to hope, the group waited another half hour. Seeing an hour pass with still no movement, Hu Yong knew they could delay no longer.

The strongest individuals on Crouching Ox Island were the three Purple Mansion Cultivator Venerables. If anyone had a chance of rescuing the Commander, it had to be them.

"Foolish! There is a Sea Eye deep in the waters of Crouching Ox Island. Not only is it extremely frigid, but the crushing force of the whirlpools created by the surging currents is immense. As a mere Xiantian Lifeform, how dared he rashly enter the water!" Ju Wei roared in anger.

"What is the use of saying that now? Hurry and find a way to save him!" Shangguan Yun's face was full of anxiety.

It was he who had suggested practicing in the sea. If he had truly caused the Commander's death, he would never be able to atone for it, even with a hundred deaths.

"Save him? Who is going to save him?" Venerable Zhu Sheng said with a cold, mocking smile. "Even a powerful cultivator at the Purple Mansion stage of God-Devil Body Refining wouldn't dare claim they could survive in such frigid waters. We three are only Qi-Refining Purple Mansion cultivators; our bodies are barely stronger than yours. How are we supposed to save him?"

The group fell silent.

"Brother Qiu Ming, do any of your Gu insects have the ability to withstand extreme cold?" Ju Wei pondered for a moment before looking at the middle-aged man who had remained silent the entire time.

The middle-aged man had an ordinary appearance and looked so stiff that he seemed devoid of life. If not for his moving eyes, one might have mistaken him for a sculpture rather than a living person.

"I will try." Venerable Qiu Ming lifted his robe, revealing a palm-sized miniature bamboo basket tucked at his waist.

"Out."

The surface of the seemingly ordinary bamboo basket shimmered with black light, and a ferocious centipede—jet-black with three long golden stripes running down its back—scuttled out.

The moment the Three-Striped Centipede left the basket, it grew in the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into a massive creature over twenty feet long.

"Go."

Venerable Qiu Ming barked a command and pointed at the sea. The giant Three-Striped Centipede shot toward the water with a 'whoosh.'

Splash!

The front half of the centipede's body plunged into the water, while its countless hooked legs on the rear half gripped the ice on the beach tightly.

Hu Yong, Shangguan Yun, and the others watched with anticipation, hoping that this extraordinary Gu insect could rescue Zhou Hao.

Venerable Qiu Ming closed his eyes, using a secret technique to merge his soul with the Gu insect to search for traces of Zhou Hao in the freezing, frigid sea.

Soon, the Three-Striped Centipede had searched several locations to no avail, and its hard black shell began to turn a pale, sickly gray as time passed.

"I can't find him." Venerable Qiu Ming shook his head.

"Why keep looking? It's been over an hour. Even a Body Refining Purple Mansion cultivator would be dead by now," Zhu Sheng said coldly. "We should report this to the City Lord immediately and let him decide."

"You!" Shangguan Yun was filled with hatred, his eyes glaring at Zhu Sheng as if they were about to spit fire.

Hu Yong and the others were equally incensed, grinding their teeth in rage.

Not only were they refusing to help, but they were also making sarcastic remarks—it was absolutely detestable!

"That is all we can do." Venerable Ju Wei, seeing no other options, turned to head back to his residence on the summit to send a message to Jade Dragon City.

Crouching Ox Island was over thirty thousand miles away from Jade Dragon City, far beyond the range of standard communication talismans; they could only contact the city through the established communication Dharma formation.

Venerable Zhu Sheng felt immense satisfaction as he watched the others remain silent.

Haha, retribution!

That's what he gets for not showing me respect.

Serves him right!

Better off dead!

The new Commander of the Jade Dragon Army, drowning on his very first mission...

Venerable Zhu Sheng turned his head toward the sea, fearing he might burst out laughing.

But the moment he looked, his expression shifted instantly.

About a mile from the beach, a figure suddenly burst out from the surface of the water.

After leaping out, the figure stepped firmly onto the surface of the sea and began striding toward the beach.

"It's the Commander!" Hu Yong exclaimed in surprise after a closer look. "The Commander is fine!"

The others turned to look, and Ju Wei, who had just released his Great Sword Dharma Treasure, hurriedly turned to see as well.

By now, Zhou Hao had already strode half a mile, a Fire Dragon as thick as an arm coiling around his bare upper body, roasting him to dispel the chill within his frame.

"So handsome..." Shangguan Yu watched Zhou Hao walking across the sea, a fire dragon coiling around his body, and felt her heart pounding uncontrollably.

Though the others did not share her girlish sentiments, seeing the freezing sea—which had left everyone, including the three Purple Mansion Cultivators, completely helpless—now trodden beneath Zhou Hao's feet, they were left speechless and shaken to their cores.

"Why is everyone gathered here? Has something happened?" Zhou Hao stepped onto the sandy beach.

In the short distance of one mile, the cold energy within his body had already been purged by the fire dragon, so he ceased controlling it and let it dissipate.

"It's all because of you!" Zhu Sheng looked at Zhou Hao's young, robust physique, his jealousy intensifying, and he shouted in a shrill voice, "Commander Zhou, you aren't stationed on the island, so what are you doing running out into the sea? We thought you were dead and were just about to report it to the City Lord."

"Do I need to report my every move to you?" Zhou Hao, disgusted by his posturing, replied coldly.

He was merely a retainer—a hired thug kept by the City Lord's Mansion. If he gave him face, he called him a retainer; if he didn't, what could the man do?

As a commander of the Jade Dragon Army, Zhou Hao was one of their own, and his status was second only to True Person Muxuan, who held the dual roles of City Lord and General, and the two deputy generals.

He had no reason to humble himself for a mere retainer.

Zhu Sheng was fuming with rage, but upon seeing the Golden Crow and Moon Rabbit divine patterns behind Zhou Hao, he dared not utter another word.

A young monster capable of cultivating the premier God-Devil Body Refining technique, the Chiming Nine Heavens Map, to the Xiantian realm was a treasure in any major faction, sect, or clan.

He was not someone a cultivator who had lived for over three hundred years and only just reached the mid-Purple Mansion stage could compare to.

"Haha."

Seeing Zhu Sheng's face turn red with anger yet held back by his own misgivings, retainer Ju Wei could not help but laugh out loud before changing his tone: "It is excellent that Commander Zhou Hao is unharmed, haha."

Zhou Hao retrieved his Black Jade Dragon Armor from his storage Dharma Treasure and put it on, while Hu Yong stood by and relayed the events that had transpired via voice transmission.

"I have troubled you, retainer Ju Wei and retainer Qiu Ming." Zhou Hao cupped his hands in a salute to the two, feeling particularly grateful when he saw the Three-Striped Centipede of retainer Qiu Ming looking severely drained.

Although nothing had gone wrong, it was ultimately his own failure to provide prior notice that had caused the stir.

"A small matter." Retainer Qiu Ming nodded slightly, produced a few medicinal pills to feed the Three-Striped Centipede, and then tucked it back into his bamboo basket.

"I truly admire Commander Zhou Hao for being able to stay in such freezing seawater for over an hour," retainer Ju Wei said with a smile.

"However, if Commander Zhou Hao intends to practice in the water again in the future, remember not to go too deep. There is a Sea Eye at the bottom of this area. According to the information left by the Jade Dragon City predecessors who discovered this place, that Sea Eye is the source of this ten-thousand-mile region. The undercurrents within are far more intense than anywhere else in these waters."

"Many thanks for the reminder, retainer Ju Wei. I will be careful and keep my distance," Zhou Hao nodded and said.

A so-called Sea Eye refers to an outlet for seawater.

Just as spring water has a spring eye and well water has a well eye, seawater does not simply appear out of thin air.

Aside from the accumulation of rainfall from the heavens, most of it is formed by the constant gushing of water from Sea Eyes at the bottom, which gradually gathers to form an ocean.

Of course, a Sea Eye that serves as the source of a ten-thousand-mile sea region is merely a small one, considered quite ordinary in the eyes of true Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals.

If it were the true Sea Eye of the East Sea, that would be a rare and wondrous sight indeed.

Legend has it that even Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals cannot approach the true East Sea Eye; its terrifying power of heaven and earth could easily tear their bodies apart, leaving not even their souls to escape.

In addition to source Sea Eyes, there are also swallowing Sea Eyes—giant pits on the seabed where countless amounts of seawater are constantly pouring in—which are also unique and wondrous sights of the sea.

Once the three Purple Mansion retainers departed and Zhou Hao had finished calming his soldiers, he returned to his courtyard residence on the mountain peak.

"This hour of cultivation saved me at least two High-Grade Origin Stones." Zhou Hao sat cross-legged in his quiet room, sensing the increasingly potent true essence within his body, and felt quite pleased.

Moreover, with the dual pressure of the cold energy and the deep-sea water pressure, the process of circulating his technique to refine the impurities of the heaven and earth origin energy in the water had, invisibly, scoured and tempered his own meridians.

At this moment, not only had the hidden dangers from his rapid advancement been eliminated, but more importantly, he seemed to see countless Blue Flower Water Vapor permeating the Blue Flower Space, and it wasn't even generated by the consumption of High-Grade Origin Stones.

"The divine power in my body's cells has also increased significantly. That blockhead Shangguan Yun wasn't wrong; practicing in the sea really has excellent results."

Zhou Hao immediately made up his mind: he would not waste this month.

To others, the waters surrounding Crouching Ox Island were like a forbidden zone.

But to Zhou Hao, this was nothing short of a treasure trove!