Chapter 25: The Dragon God Requests an Audience

Inside the temple, Ji Huo stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the statue on the altar while quietly listening to the elderly temple keeper slowly recount the stories of yesteryear.

The dragon-headed statue gazed into the distance, looking upon the heavens and earth with a sorrowful and compassionate air.

"If that is so," Ji Huo said calmly, "this Dragon God is truly worthy of the title of a 'god'."

The old temple keeper chuckled softly and said no more.

Ji Huo bowed respectfully to the old man, then turned and strode out of the temple.

After taking only a few steps, Ji Huo suddenly sensed two probing gazes upon him. He whipped his head around, only to see that the old temple keeper had already leisurely seated himself back in his chair.

The temple was completely empty.

Ji Huo searched the area once more, but finding nothing, he had no choice but to leave.

The next day, he rose early and ate some rice noodle rolls at a small street stall right outside the inn.

As for Tian Xun, that fellow had spent the previous evening mingling and playing with numerous martial arts heroines at the bonfire party, and in the end... in the end, not a single one took a fancy to him, leaving him to return all alone.

Moreover, because he had consumed a fair amount of liquor, he spent half the night vomiting.

Even from the neighboring room, Ji Huo could smell that sour, foul odor, yet the fellow kept grinning and chuckling foolishly while he retched, immensely happy with himself.

When Ji Huo asked him why he was laughing, he replied:

"So many heroines have never played with me before! I'm so happy! They even said I'm a good man! Heavens! It's the first time anyone has ever praised me like that! I'm so, so happy."

To this, Ji Huo could only silently respond:

"Wow."

After finishing his rice noodle rolls and letting the island breeze wash over him, Ji Huo strolled leisurely toward the seaside.

Wave after wave of seawater rolled onto the shore. Beneath the azure sky and against the azure sea, it truly felt like a utopian paradise.

As Ji Huo watched, he suddenly turned his head to look back at the serene yet vibrant coastal town, a sudden realization dawning in his heart:

Perhaps what he wished to protect was precisely this tranquility.

"What are you up to?"

Wu Sheng, who was also idling about early in the morning, rolled up his pants and came over wearing flip-flops.

Seeing Ji Huo standing rigidly by the sea, he cursed bad luck under his breath, walked up to him, and asked brashly:

"What are you doing?"

"Setting sail." Ji Huo fished out a geomantic compass whose needle pointed directly toward the East China Sea. This trip out to sea was unavoidable.

"Setting sail?" Wu Sheng looked at Ji Huo skeptically and asked in confusion, "You're a landlubber from the mountain hollows, do you even know how to sail? This isn't the season for it; the waves and winds out on the ocean are far too fierce."

"If you must go out to sea, you at least need to find a large vessel."

Ji Huo smiled and shook his head. "There's no need for all that trouble. I'm just going for a walk."

"A walk?" Wu Sheng looked bewildered.

Ji Huo grinned cunningly. "Once I head out to sea, some unavoidable situations might arise. If I'm not here, I'm leaving this place in your hands."

"No wait! What are you trying to do? What do you mean by unavoidable situations? I am not a member of your Heaven-Earth Sect!" Wu Sheng blurted out anxiously, but Ji Huo had already strode directly into the sea.

Wu Sheng's pupils dilated instantly as he watched the seawater submerge Ji Huo's ankles, then his body, until a final wave crashed down and swallowed him up in the blink of an eye.

"Hey?"

"Hey, hey?!"

Wu Sheng shouted a few times, but the only response he received was the crashing of the ocean waves. There was no trace of Ji Huo to be found anywhere.

"Dammit!" Wu Sheng muttered under his breath:

"Is being a grandmaster all that great? You call going out to sea walking across the ocean floor?"

He grumbled as he got to his feet, preparing to leave. Judging by Ji Huo's implication, trouble was likely to brew here, making it far from a safe place.

According to his professional instincts, this was the exact moment to run for it and scurry toward wherever was safest.

However, after taking only two steps, his body froze. His expression flickered with uncertainty, and a moment later, he cursed in a low voice:

"Dammit! I knew nothing good ever comes from crossing paths with their lot!"

He simply plopped back down onto the sandy beach, scanned his surroundings, and upon spotting a young child who had come down to the shore early to play, waved and called out:

"Little Liu, come here, come here."

"What is it, Uncle Wu Sheng?" The child trotted over happily.

"Call me big brother! I just didn't shave today!" Wu Sheng glared at him.

The child eyed him sideways, his mouth pressed into a tight, stubborn line, refusing to open it.

"...Fine," Wu Sheng muttered, pulling a few pieces of broken silver from his tunic and tossing them over:

"Go to the Dragon God Temple and fetch my little stool, and also the jar of wine hidden beneath the table. Then go to the street corner and ask Granny Liu to fry up a plate of peanuts."

Little Liu snatched the silver fragments out of the air and giggled:

"You got it, Brother Wu Sheng!"

"You little rascal!" Wu Sheng lashed out with a kick, but Little Liu nimbly dodged it and scurried happily off in the direction of the Dragon God Temple.

Wu Sheng shifted his weight, crossing his legs as he sat on the sandy beach facing the surging waves.

His eyelids drooped slightly, and his expression was composed and tranquil, without a ripple of panic. His usually slumped shoulders squared up, and his back straightened rigidly.

At this moment, he was the sole soul upon the beach of the coastal town.

...

Entering the sea, Ji Huo channeled his true qi outward, forming a protective barrier that completely isolated him from the seawater.

Actually, normal martial artists couldn't pull off such a stunt, as maintaining a protective barrier consumed vast amounts of vital energy. It was only because Ji Huo was treading upon the earth that the elemental power of the ground continuously surged into his body, rendering his consumption virtually negligible.

Having cultivated the *Elemental Codex* to the great completion of the second layer, even he was unsure of just how powerful he had become; it felt as though as long as his feet touched the earth, he would never tire.

Ji Huo did not swim through the water; instead, he maintained a posture of walking along the seabed, marching swiftly toward the deep ocean floor.

When it felt deep enough, he simply used earth-escape techniques to travel right beneath the ocean bed.

Occasionally, when encountering deep oceanic trenches, the tremendous water pressure would slam against his body. While it didn't cause any real harm, a moment of carelessness would result in his face getting thoroughly plastered by water currents.

After all, this was his first time utilizing earth-escape beneath the ocean floor. The difficulty far exceeded doing so on dry land, and the crushing water pressure was far beyond anything the surface world could match.

To make matters worse, it was pitch black beneath the sea.

Though technically tunneling through the subterranean earth beneath the seabed, the distinction between light and dark made little difference.

Thus he tunneled onward, occasionally popping his head up to peer into the open water before diving right back down into the earth.

Until the final time he emerged from the soil, illumination suddenly appeared on the seabed.

It was the radiance emitted by countless corals and luminescent plants. These organisms lit up the entire ocean floor as if artificial lights had been switched on.

Ji Huo blinked in surprise, then crawled out of the earth entirely, enveloped in his protective energy barrier, and began to walk along the ocean floor.

"I used to think twenty thousand leagues under the sea was just a lie..."

He clicked his tongue in wonder, taking in the bizarre and breathtaking scenery of the seabed, which was far more magnificent than he had ever imagined.

Then, he spotted two erect, two-meter-tall seahorses clad in armor, holding pitchfork-like weapons as they swam swiftly toward him.

"Gibberish jabber blub blub!"

The two seahorses swam right up to Ji Huo, babbling in a flurry of bubbly sounds.

Ji Huo blinked and asked, "How about you guys speak human language instead?"

The two seahorses exchanged glances, and one of them finally spoke in halting, clumsy words:

"Are you the powerhouse from the mainland? The Dragon God requests your presence!"

Ji Huo's pupils constricted slightly, and a moment later, he smiled and nodded.