"Whoosh~~~"
Waves churned across the dark sea as a figure shot out of the water.
Whoosh~~~
A breeze swirled around Zhou Hao, carrying him toward the shore.
"I can finally fly." Zhou Hao felt how the Xiantian True Essence in his body had transformed into Purple Mansion Origin Power. Even his connection to the power of heaven and earth had grown closer.
When cultivators entered the Purple Mansion Realm, they truly left the mortal world behind and set foot on the path of immortality. From then on, they could be called cultivators.
With the support of Purple Mansion Origin Power, the Free and Easy Wandering movement art had advanced to its second stage, Wind Riding. He could now ride the wind just like a Myriad Phenomena True Person.
"That Chaos Star Fragment really is miraculous. In less than a day, it's already advanced my body refinement to the late Xiantian stage."
"At this rate, I'll reach perfection in the sixth stage in a day at most."
"Then, with my qi cultivation in the early Purple Mansion stage and my God-Devil Body Refining at the peak of the Xiantian stage, I'll be able to kill even a mid-Purple Mansion opponent with my own hands, without relying on the Blue Flower Water Vapor or the mist to boost my strength."
Zhou Hao's eyes shone brightly, like a pair of stars in the night.
In just one day, from entering the sea at dawn to emerging at night, his strength had undergone an earth-shaking transformation.
He had also chanced upon the legacy Immortal Mansion of Loose Immortal Hongchen, a Loose Immortal who had lived for nine hundred thousand years. It held not only a complete secret art inheritance but also a Cold Fiend Vein and a Chaos Star Fragment. And once the Immortal Mansion acknowledged him as its master, he would gain the Immortal Artifact Weiyang Palace and four Heaven-Rank Rare Treasures, the Five Elements Treasures...
Zhou Hao's heart brimmed with confidence for the future. The immortal path and eternal life he had dreamed of no longer seemed like the moon reflected in water.
Zhou Hao moved through the air with the Wind Riding art at tremendous speed. In an instant, he covered several miles of sea.
As the Immortal Mansion Spirit, Ou Huang could teleport Zhou Hao anywhere within the thousand-mile range covered by the white mist, though not with great precision.
Since Zhou Hao did not want to expose his discovery of the Immortal Mansion, he still had Ou Huang send him back to the seabed scattered with statues.
Returning to the Immortal Mansion was easy. As long as he was within the white mist, he could shake the Immortal Mansion Signal Talisman to activate the Reception Formation and let its power teleport him back.
"Hm? Have those miners come out for some fresh air?" From high above, Zhou Hao spotted flames blazing on the far side of Crouching Ox Island's mountain. The noisy clamor reached his ears, so he turned and flew in that direction.
It was the Jade Dragon Army's Fifth Squad's fourth day on Crouching Ox Island, and the day the underground miners came out of the mine for some fresh air.
"Move faster! Stop dawdling!" A burly Green Flood Dragon Army soldier shouted at the miners in front of him. "Get around the fire and dry off. Hand over the Origin Stones you dug up, then get back to your cells!"
Dozens of bonfires roared, driving the chill from the beach and its reefs.
More than a thousand miners in ragged coarse cloth and animal hides, their faces and bodies smeared with grime, huddled around the fires. Many were shivering, their lips blue with cold.
The sea around Crouching Ox Island was bitterly cold. Deep in the underground mines, several miles of seabed rock shielded them from the worst of it. But on their way out of the mines and up to the island, the rock grew thinner as they neared the surface, and the cold became increasingly piercing.
For these miners, none stronger than the peak of the Post-Heaven stage, every trip outside was a struggle between life and death.
Yet everyone yearned for the fresh air of the world above. Even if they had to suffer and risk dying from the cold seeping into their bodies, they still came out again and again whenever they had the chance.
Whoosh!
A figure appeared atop a reef more than ten zhang tall. It was Zhou Hao, who had flown over using Wind Riding.
He looked down and saw three thousand Green Flood Dragon Army soldiers surrounding the entire rocky beach, while ten Xiantian Lifeforms from the Jade Dragon Army stood at various points, watchfully surveying the area.
Hu Yong, who had been stationed on Crouching Ox Island for the previous seven days, saw Zhou Hao appear and hurriedly sprang onto the reef in a streak of light.
"Commander." Hu Yong landed one step behind Zhou Hao and saluted him. "Weren't you cultivating in the sea? What brings you here at this hour?"
"Has everything been running smoothly?" Zhou Hao asked.
"Everything's in order," Hu Yong replied. "There were 1,162 miners due for fresh air this time, and 1,123 came out. The others who died were carried out by the rest. We've also checked the required amount of Origin Stones, and it all matches."
"Good." Zhou Hao nodded. "Have someone make them some meat soup. They may all be pirates, but they're still living beings. Don't treat them too harshly."
"Yes, I'll arrange it at once." Hu Yong summoned a Green Flood Dragon Army soldier and gave him a few instructions. The soldier hurried off.
Before long, more than a hundred people came over, set up large pots over the beach fires, and soon filled the area with the aroma of meat.
Zhou Hao watched the miners begin scrambling for the food before it had even finished cooking. They looked as though they had not eaten meat in ages. He shook his head with a sigh.
He did not pity them. After all, the people the Green Flood Dragon Army captured and put to work mining were all bloodstained pirates or cultists from the Fire Worship Sect.
Still, his modern sensibilities from his previous life meant that when circumstances allowed, he was willing to provide them with some basic necessities for survival—like a full meal.
The Green Flood Dragon Army soldiers on guard stepped forward to suppress the commotion. A few lashes from their whips soon got the pirates to line up properly and collect their meat soup in order.
"At this rate, they're dreaming if they think they'll survive ten years here," Hu Yong said.
To ensure the pirates kept mining instead of killing themselves out of despair, the Green Flood Dragon Army had promised each one that if they survived ten years of mining, they could leave Crouching Ox Island for another place with more tolerable living conditions.
Very few pirates survived ten years. The harsh conditions were one thing, but even among their fellow pirates, fighting was unavoidable—over a mouthful of food, an Origin Stone, or any number of other things. In all these years, few had managed to leave Crouching Ox Island alive.
"Commander, you should get some rest. I'll see to things here. Nothing will go wrong," Hu Yong said.
"Mm, I came to let you know what I'd be doing." Zhou Hao paused, then said, "I feel like I'm on the verge of a breakthrough. I'll close myself away in the sea for a few days, using the rich Origin Power on the seabed. I'll come out when the seven-day period is up."
"You're about to break through, Commander?"
Unless cultivators revealed their strength, others could hardly tell their realm just by looking at them, unless they had a spell for detecting it or a divine pupil ability.
"That's good news!" Hu Yong said with a smile. "There's no rushing a breakthrough. Don't worry about the timing. Come out once you've broken through and stabilized your realm. I'll handle everything on the island."
Zhou Hao had just tasted the exhilaration of rapid cultivation in the Red Dust Immortal Mansion, and he still had a Cold Fiend Vein and the Great Five Elements Extinction Divine Light secret art to cultivate. Naturally, he did not want to waste time.
He had come out this time to give them a heads-up. He did not want Hu Yong and the others to think he had run into trouble again, as they had a few days ago, and alarm the general back in Jade Dragon City. That would cause problems.
Three days should be enough, but to allow for any unexpected delays, Zhou Hao nodded. "All right. If I'm delayed, you can cover for me. I'll make up the extra time later."
After explaining his upcoming seclusion, Zhou Hao saw how diligently Hu Yong was carrying out his orders and felt quite pleased.
"Keeping watch over the island must interfere with your cultivation. Take this High-Grade Origin Stone. When the mission is over, the brothers who perform well will all be rewarded. Make sure everyone stays alert and doesn't let their guard down."
He was carrying five jin of Origin Liquid, and there were plenty more Stone Platform Water Drops to collect later. The High-Grade Origin Stones he had once prized so highly no longer meant as much to him.
Punish wrongdoing and reward merit. That was the only way to manage an army.
"Thank you, Commander!" Hu Yong exclaimed, delighted.
As deputy commander, his monthly pay was less than one High-Grade Origin Stone. Now, after just a few days of hard work, he had received such a generous reward. He felt all his effort had been worth it.
Neither of them noticed the cold, malicious gaze of someone hiding among the pirate miners. The person secretly watched the Green Flood Dragon Army and Jade Dragon Army soldiers from the corner of his eye, lingering for a long time on Zhou Hao and Hu Yong.
After arranging the affairs on the island and ensuring his absence for a few days would not cause any trouble, Zhou Hao used High-Grade Spirit Stones to trade for a few robes, jade flasks for holding wine, and other Human-Rank Magical Treasures he could use from Shang Ren's storage treasure, which Hu Yong had been holding.
Then he went back into the sea that very night and used the Signal Talisman to activate the Reception Formation of the Red Dust Immortal Mansion.
Whoosh~~~
A flash of red light, and Zhou Hao vanished into the seawater.
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