The Statue Under the Sea!

After the minor stir caused by Zhou Hao's cultivation, Crouching Ox Island returned to its original, tranquil state.

For the next several days, Zhou Hao would enter the sea from the beach every morning to cultivate, only returning to his courtyard residence after nightfall to continue his practice.

As the days passed, the divine power and true essence within Zhou Hao's body grew rapidly.

Over the next three days, his Water Source Sutra first broke through to the sixth level, reaching the late Xiantian stage.

Following that, his Chiming Nine Heavens Map also reached the fifth level, elevating him to the mid-Xiantian stage—a level sufficient to rival the peak perfection of other God-Devil Body Refining techniques.

As he ventured into the sea more frequently and made breakthroughs in both Qi refining and body refining, the time he spent cultivating underwater grew longer and longer.

At his longest, he did not emerge from the sea for an entire day.

The other Xiantian lifeforms of the Jade Dragon Army went from their initial tension and worry to eventually finding it unremarkable.

In the end, no one bothered to pay attention to how long their Commander spent in the sea each day.

Except for one person.

"Good morning, Commander." Shangguan Yu stood prettily by the shore, her smile as bright as a flower.

"Morning, Xiao Yu." Zhou Hao nodded. "I see you here every day these past few days; why aren't you cultivating?"

As they spent more time together, Zhou Hao grew increasingly familiar with his subordinates. He called Shangguan Yun 'Old Yun' and Shangguan Yu 'Xiao Yu'.

Although they were his subordinates, there was still a rank between them.

Zhou Hao consciously managed his troops through Hu Yong.

Therefore, aside from balancing kindness and severity with Hu Yong to ensure he didn't become lax, he maintained a more approachable demeanor toward the Guild Leaders and Squad Leaders who were one rank removed.

He let Hu Yong play the cold-faced villain while he himself bestowed favor and kindness to win over the hearts of the soldiers.

He hadn't spent his past life reading those political and workplace webnovels for nothing; he knew a thing or two about management.

"The heaven and earth essence is denser here than in my residence. Since I can't enter the sea like the Commander, I can only cultivate here for a while longer." Shangguan Yu recited the excuse she had prepared, her eyes fixed on Zhou Hao with a hint of anticipation.

"Hmm, being able to endure the cold to cultivate is good." Zhou Hao nodded in approval. "Go ahead and cultivate; I'm heading into the water."

With that, he turned and walked toward the sea.

"Sigh, he didn't take off his armor today either." Shangguan Yu muttered in disappointment as she watched Zhou Hao walk further away, soon disappearing beneath the surface.

On the seabed rock shelf.

Only after his entire body was submerged did Zhou Hao remove his Black Jade Dragon Armor and store it within his Dharma Treasure.

This little girl, cultivating on the beach every day, forces me to come into the water just to take off my armor, Zhou Hao thought to himself.

After all, there were boundaries between men and women. It didn't matter when Shangguan Yun and Nan Ming were present, as stripping to the waist in front of them was fine.

But with just the two of them, taking off his armor in front of a young girl was simply inappropriate.

He wasn't one of the 'Four Beasts of Jade Dragon' like Cao Rong or Yang Qiong, and with the unresolved matter of Xiangcao back home, Zhou Hao had no desire to provoke another entanglement with Shangguan Yu.

This is much more comfortable! Zhou Hao stretched his body, feeling the cool pleasure of the surrounding seawater pressing against him as his pores absorbed endless amounts of essence. He couldn't help but start swimming.

Why take off his armor to enter the sea?

Anyone with swimming experience knows that ordinary clothing not only clings uncomfortably to the body when soaked, but the added weight of the water makes movement cumbersome.

Although the Black Jade Dragon Armor wasn't like ordinary clothing, the seawater was bone-chillingly cold. Wearing cold, rigid armor made it even more unbearable in the water.

Furthermore, with the armor blocking the seawater, his body's ability to sense the surging undercurrents would be greatly diminished.

Indeed.

Over these past few days, Zhou Hao's cultivation in the sea had not only improved his Qi and body refining, but his insights into the Way had also significantly increased.

Water flows in the sea, and wind flows in the air; if one views the sea as the world, then undercurrents and wind are no different.

In fact, water currents have traceable patterns, making them easier to comprehend than the intangible wind.

In just a few days, Zhou Hao had gained many insights into the Way of Flowing Water and the Way of Flowing Wind while on the seabed.

Even his Free and Easy Wandering movement technique felt like it was constantly improving.

Whoosh~~~

Zhou Hao swam along an undercurrent, a layer of water resembling a swirling wind on his skin propelling him deeper into the seabed.

"So cold." Zhou Hao felt a bone-piercing chill that threatened to freeze his marrow, signaling he was nearing his physical limit.

That's enough; I can't go any deeper.

He estimated that he was nearly fifty miles away from Crouching Ox Island, and the water was nearly two or three miles deep. Both the pressure and the cold far exceeded the gentle seabed shelf at the edge of the island.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Holding his Red Gold Copper Rods, Zhou Hao's body, which had been swimming along the current, suddenly plummeted toward the seabed.

These two copper rods are quite the tool for diving, Zhou Hao thought.

After sinking more than a mile, Zhou Hao looked down at the seabed, searching for a relatively flat area to begin his cultivation.

Just like on land, the seabed had towering sea mountains, undulating hills, and, of course, vast, level plains.

"Hmm? What is that?"

About several hundred zhang away, a seamount on the seabed caught his attention.

It was not that the shape of the seamount was particularly strange, but rather that he saw a patch of red exposed on the far side of the peak.

In these deep ocean depths, seamounts were typically covered in ice, and even where the rock was exposed, it was always black.

What could possibly be red?

With a thought from Zhou Hao, the surrounding water currents dragged him along, pulling him toward the seamount as he descended.

Boom!

Stepping onto the summit of the seamount, Zhou Hao stared at the scene before him, dumbfounded.

Starting from the side of the seamount beneath his feet, countless Red Copper Statues carpeted the entire seabed, extending as far as his eyes could see.

What was most bizarre, and what shocked Zhou Hao the most, was that while these countless Red Copper Statues varied in size and posture, they all depicted the same animal.

A cat? Or a Feifei? Zhou Hao was stunned.

How much would one have to love a Feifei to create so many statues?

Just within the range of his divine sense, a rough sweep revealed at least over a hundred thousand of them!

Wait!

Red Copper Statue?

I have one too!

Zhou Hao snapped out of his shock.

He had purchased it back when he first arrived at Jade Dragon City to join the Green Flood Dragon Army, just after leaving the city following Master Jingzhi's lecture at West Gate Market.

At the time, he had sensed an extremely faint energy fluctuation within the metal statue and bought it, intending to examine it later.

But then, he had focused on practicing his Qi-refining techniques to reach the Xiantian realm, experimented with the Blue Flower Space to produce Blue Flower Water Vapor, and immediately afterward, participated in the martial arts tournament.

With so many things piling up, if he hadn't seen these countless Red Copper Statues today, Zhou Hao might have forgotten that he still had an identical Feifei Red Copper Statue inside his Mustard Stone Space.

"It's a good thing I didn't hand the Mustard Stone over to Zhao Hu when I asked him to help me sell my items last time, or it would have likely been tossed out as scrap," Zhou Hao thought. He put away the Red Gold Copper Rod he was holding in his right hand, then retrieved the Feifei statue from his Mustard Stone Space to compare it with the ones on the seabed.

The comparison made things even clearer.

Not only was the red copper used for the statues identical, but even the eyes, brows, and tails of the Feifei were exactly the same; it seemed as if all these statues had been crafted by the same person.

Was this meant to record the daily life of a cat?

How bored would someone have to be to do this? Zhou Hao muttered to himself.

Could it be the Loose Immortal predecessor Hu Yong mentioned, the one who once occupied Crouching Ox Island?

Could a Loose Immortal really be this idle?

Without even considering the Three Disasters and Nine Tribulations, could one simply pass the time by making statues?

Zhou Hao found it hard to believe.

"Let's see if these statues have any energy fluctuations." Zhou Hao picked up one of the statues and carefully probed it with his divine sense.

Nothing.

Just like the one he had bought from that old drunkard, there wasn't the slightest trace of energy.

"Let me try again. Perhaps not every statue has energy fluctuations."

Zhou Hao continued his attempts, but after checking several more spots, he still failed to find any Feifei statue with energy fluctuations.

Is there really such an idle immortal? Zhou Hao was speechless.

Even if one made a statue a day, it would take at least thousands, if not tens of thousands of years, to cover this stretch of the seabed.

But the real question was, what was the point of covering the seabed in them?

For aesthetics?

For the spectacle?

Come to think of it, it was indeed quite beautiful and spectacular.

As Zhou Hao pondered, he absentmindedly shook the Feifei statue in his hand, wanting to confirm if he had been mistaken before and that there really were no hidden energy fluctuations.

Just as he shook the statue in his hand, that faint ripple of energy appeared once more.

Whoosh~~~

A burst of red radiance suddenly erupted, wrapping around Zhou Hao before he could even react.

Zhou Hao's expression changed drastically.

At the same time, he realized he couldn't move at all, as if the red light had cast a binding spell upon him.

Swish!

The red radiance dissipated.

Zhou Hao vanished into thin air.

Only the countless red copper Feifei statues remained on the seabed, as if nothing had ever happened.

PS: I have updated daily for 21 consecutive days; the new book investment achievement for thirty days will be completed soon.

For those who haven't invested in the new book yet, don't forget to do so.

There are only 600 investments right now; surely you guys don't think Suifeng can't even manage this most basic task?

You underestimate me too much.

The second update is here. I'm off to spend time with my daughter; please show your support, everyone.

Thanks to book friend ending in '0397' for the 1500-point tip.

Thanks to Rowan Tree of the Urals for the 500-point tip.

Thanks to QWER5883 for the 200-point tip.

Thanks to Peerless Wind and Cloud Lu Fengxian for the 5000-point tip.

Thanks to Nameless Nobody for the 100-point tip.

Suifeng bows in gratitude!