Chapter 159: Don't you go coveting what belongs to others

However, these were not the main points; the most urgent matter right now was to greedily seize as much as possible!

He suppressed his excitement, but soon sensed something was wrong: it was too little.

After waiting for a long while, he felt a slight coolness on his face again; a tiny, minuscule amount of Imperial Flow Fluid had landed on his cheek.

At this rate, even if it dripped all night, let alone filling half a wine jar, it wouldn't even cover the bottom of a snuff bottle!

He Lingchuan was deeply disappointed.

A dispute suddenly broke out on the threshing floor; it turned out that Wu Shaoyi's men and the veterans of the Support Army were refusing to yield to each other over the Imperial Flow Fluid.

The object of their contention was a piece of Imperial Flow Fluid the size of a pinky fingernail.

This treasure dripping from the heavens was mostly as fine as rain, but in very rare cases, it would condense into a jelly-like state, half-green and half-white in color, resembling jade paste.

At first, it was just a dispute between two people, but in the face of the desire ignited by the Imperial Flow Fluid, the soldiers were all irritable, and in no time, it turned into a brawl between two groups.

Zeng Feixiong and Wu Shaoyi had no choice but to waste precious time stepping in to mediate.

The mountain forest, which had been quiet at night, was now noisy; the previously sleeping birds stretched their wings toward the sky, squabbling with their neighbors in hopes of snatching a bit more Imperial Flow Fluid.

Around the farmstead, even the dormant tree frogs and long snakes slithered out, rolling in the undergrowth, trying to rub the Imperial Flow Fluid off the grass leaves and onto themselves.

The great mountain seemed to have come alive. In the presence of the Imperial Flow Fluid, almost no living creature could remain calm.

This burst of Imperial Flow Fluid lasted only a little over an hour before it died down.

He Lingchuan leaped onto a high branch of a large tree, scouring the leaves and collecting the Imperial Flow Fluid bit by bit.

During this process, he had to constantly compete with other creatures, and twice he was nearly bitten by snakes and scorpions.

Others followed suit in droves.

The descent of the Imperial Flow Fluid lasted only about an hour, but everyone stayed awake until morning, spending most of the night trying every possible way to collect it. Fortunately, the discipline of the Support Army was relatively better than its peers, and Wu Shaoyi's restraint over his men was also very strict, so no further trouble occurred.

At the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), the sun rose.

Once touched by the sunlight, the remaining Imperial Flow Fluid instantly turned into white vapor and vanished without a trace.

The collective sighing of the crowd marked the end of the night's commotion.

Everything was about to return to normal.

The cook began to prepare food, and before long, He Yue came to call his elder brother for breakfast, asking him at the same time: "How much did you get?"

"Sigh, not even enough for a single gulp." He Lingchuan's "lucky general" attribute hadn't manifested; after working half the night, the Imperial Flow Fluid he collected only filled half a small jade bottle.

By his own estimation, it was at most ten milliliters.

"A chance that comes only once in decades; being able to encounter it is a blessing." He Yue was more open-minded.

He Lingchuan asked him: "How do you plan to use it?"

"I've already swallowed it, and I'm planning to add the tiny bit left over to my bath."

No wonder this kid looked radiant and full of energy; it turned out he had eaten the Imperial Flow Fluid directly. That was fine, too, to avoid being constantly coveted by others.

He Yue urged him again: "The efficacy of the Imperial Flowing Nectar lasts for a mere twenty-four hours. It expires after that, so Big Brother, you must seize the time well and not waste such a supreme treasure."

"I know." He Lingchuan hadn't figured out what to do either. The most common practice should be to swallow it directly or bathe in it, like He Yue. The Imperial Flowing Nectar appears so rarely and its shelf life is so short that there are almost no specialized recipes for it. However, there are more human methods for processing the Profound Crystals formed after the Imperial Flowing Nectar settles into the ground.

But using these methods on fresh Imperial Flowing Nectar might either increase or decrease its efficacy; no one knew for sure.

It is not easy for anyone to collect Imperial Flowing Nectar, and he didn't want to use the meager stock in his hands for experiments.

He Lingchuan took this question to He Chunhua, but the latter had already consulted the military mages and likewise had no definitive answer.

In fact, ever since the Imperial Flowing Nectar rain ended, He Chunhua had repeatedly and strictly purged military discipline, forbidding mutual theft, robbery, verbal abuse, and fighting, with the punishment for violators being the loss of a hand. He even had everyone sit in rows on the threshing ground, ordering the elite personal guards to watch them closely, allowing no one to leave the field, which barely suppressed the eagerness of those with ulterior motives.

As soon as the sun rose, He Chunhua organized the entire army to collectively swallow the Imperial Flowing Nectar they held.

He Lingchuan also sat down, tilted his head back, and drank.

Although his movements were grand and his posture heroic, he actually only drank a few drops, stowing the rest away with lightning speed—he was always unwilling to just drink it all up like that.

You see, he drank it all under the watchful eyes of everyone, and everyone served as witnesses—this approach was intended to dispel everyone's suspicion, so as to avoid mutual distrust and fighting later on, which would affect military morale.

In fact, everyone knew the Imperial Flowing Nectar was precious, but it had come so suddenly that there was no better way to handle it than to drink it directly, and it would expire if kept.

So at this moment, most people tilted their necks and downed it. Even those who had already finished drinking it earlier had to hold up their empty pouches and jars and drink again for others to see, in order to dispel the covetous glares of those around them.

It must be said that this method was crude but effective. After everyone finished drinking the Imperial Flowing Nectar, the looks they exchanged became much kinder, no longer like wolves or tigers.

This sudden stroke of fortune, or perhaps crisis, was finally resolved by He Chunhua's decisive action.

He never underestimated the allure of the Imperial Flowing Nectar, nor did he overestimate human nature.

Watching his methods of managing the crisis from the side, He Lingchuan also felt he had gained a great deal.

For a general or commander, besides being skilled in strategic planning, the courage and wrist to handle emergencies are also too important.

If you hesitate when you should act, you will surely invite disaster.

"The original plan has changed; I'm afraid we have to stay here for two more days." Facing the two brothers, He Chunhua sighed, "The Imperial Flowing Nectar erupted last night, and the entire Shuanghe Town, Fengling Ferry, and perhaps even the rivers are likely not peaceful."

He Chunhua had prestige and methods, and he suppressed the greed and riots of his subordinates with swift and decisive action. But this set of skills was not something everyone could learn or use.

Sure enough, the support army went to the town to investigate the situation and found that riots had indeed broken out from the second half of the night until sunrise, with over forty people dead from fighting over the Imperial Flowing Nectar and over two hundred injured.

Travelers intending to take boats at Fengling Ferry would all stay in Shuanghe Town, making it a place of mixed crowds, and last night they all seemed to have lost their minds, fighting incessantly. At that time, there were nearly seven hundred people in the town, and the number of injured alone was nearly one-third, with nearly twenty percent of the buildings damaged and over a dozen houses on fire.

When the scouts of the support army arrived, some houses were still emitting black smoke, and the fires had not yet been completely extinguished.

The extent of the Imperial Flowing Nectar's allure to living creatures is evident.

Going to Fengling Ferry again, the breeze-blown river surface frequently showed whirlpools, clearly indicating hidden undercurrents. Observing more closely, huge black shadows often swam on the river surface and underwater; it was unclear what kind of aquatic creatures they were, but they often attacked each other, clearly because the Imperial Flowing Nectar from last night had made them highly agitated and significantly increased their aggression.

Under these circumstances, it was very unsafe to sail on the river.

It was also because He Chunhua considered this point that he requested the entire army to rest and reorganize for two days.

At this time, the village head also approached He Chunhua, hoping to use the strength of the support army to quell the turmoil in Shuanghe Town and temporarily maintain order here. The whole town had been in chaos last night; there were casualties, and after dawn, those with grudges wanted revenge, and those with grievances wanted to seek redress. The Civil Peace Corps established by Shuanghe Town itself was too small in number to maintain peace.

Since the local authorities made a request, He Chunhua agreed immediately and dispatched three hundred support troops to patrol the town.

He Lingchuan, on the other hand, did not step out of the gate and holed up in the manor to cultivate with focus.

In the morning, he gulped down a few drops of Imperial Flowing Nectar. It tasted cool like mint upon entering his mouth, and after swallowing, his internal organs felt warm, his mind was stimulated, and his body was filled with overflowing energy, along with a heroic feeling that he could cross a thousand miles in a single step and ride the wind with ease.

Of course, that was an illusion; it was mainly because he had taken too much.

One drop of Imperial Flowing Nectar is equivalent to ten days of cultivation, so he had gained forty or fifty days of cultivation out of thin air. And that was just the benefit on the surface.

He Lingchuan could not miss such an opportunity, so he gulped down two mouthfuls of warm water and returned to his room to close his eyes and regulate his breathing, happily completing six major cycles and twelve minor cycles.

He Chunhua knew that both his sons needed to digest these heaven-sent benefits, so he sent people to guard the door to prevent others from disturbing them.

￥￥￥￥￥

The breathing regulation ended.

He Lingchuan stood up, stretched his limbs, and had a good stretch, feeling his body light and his spirit full.

Other than that, there was nothing special.

What about the efficacy of the Imperial Flowing Nectar? How exactly should it manifest?

He turned his head with questions, wanting to see how He Yue was doing. To his surprise, although the room was large, there was only the bed he had just climbed out of. In the direction he was looking now, there was a set of tables and chairs, a low cabinet by the wall, and a bunch of mugwort hanging on the door.

But there was no second person.

Wait, wait a minute, this is definitely not the room he was in before he entered meditation!

He Lingchuan walked out in long strides and found that he was actually on the edge of a village. A small stream gurgled in front of the village, a hen clucked by his feet, and a little yellow dog ran over by the fence, its tail wagging so fast it was about to fall off.

Not far away, children were playing, and several women were washing clothes and carrying water back.

The support army was gone, and this was not the farm manor he was in before.

Could it be?

He Lingchuan suppressed his mood and asked the woman washing clothes by the river: "Big Sister, may I ask where this is?"

"Xingqian Village," the woman looked at him strangely.

"How did I get here?"

The woman was even more puzzled: "How would I know?"

He Lingchuan pointed to the house behind him: "Then whose house is this?"

"Uncle Meng's. Aren't you the friend his son brought back?"

He Lingchuan had a rough idea: "Then, may I ask how to get to Panlongcheng?"

Yes, for over a month he had wanted to enter Panlongcheng but couldn't, and today he had worked hard to cultivate after getting the Imperial Flowing Nectar, only to be inexplicably dragged in again.

The broken blade or the Great Fang Hu, they are truly unreliable.

The woman indeed pointed to the east: "Follow the road, two li."

He Lingchuan thanked her and walked east.

The stream behind him still flowed happily, and several washing women whispered: "Is this young man's head broken?"

"After my uncle fell off his horse, he also didn't recognize us and asked everyone he met where his home was."

"What a pity, he's born so handsome!"

He Lingchuan: "..."

Before long, the magnificent Panlongcheng indeed appeared in his field of vision.

Following the main road, one could encounter quite a few travelers.

He Lingchuan observed the situation all the way, fearing that the experience of being identified and hunted down during his first entry into the Panlong Dream would repeat itself.

(End of chapter)