Chapter 57

Facing the dragon girl's gaze, Zhang Jian smiled faintly and did not deny that the dragon pearl was on him at that moment.

He only said: "Bai Xiaoniang, you are merely the daughter of the Dragon Lord, after all not the Dragon Lord, so your words may not carry weight; you would do well to discuss this matter with the Dragon Lord before making a decision!"

"Moreover, what I need is probably more than you imagine!"

Zhang Jian's gaze was calm, he gazed at the dragon girl with indifference.

Rescuing the White Water Dragon Lord is possible, but the problem is he needs to ascertain the White Water Dragon Lord's temperament; at least he cannot be a cruel and merciless master.

Otherwise, rescuing him would not only fail to bring down sweet rain and relieve the drought in Fengyang Commandery and surrounding regions, but might also trigger new disasters, which would be boundless evil power.

Bai Liying was stunned by Zhang Jian's direct gaze, then felt a bit unnatural, and suddenly a flush rose on her lovely face.

She obviously thought of something; her eyes looked at Zhang Jian with some complexity, then she nodded and said.

"Your Grace's request, I will return to report to my father again..."

After saying this, she waved her hand at Zhang Jian, but her figure turned into a stream of light and vanished into the water mist before the door, her form sinking into the depths of the White Water River.

Seeing the dragon girl suddenly leave with a bashful expression, Zhang Jian was somewhat dazed.

"Wait, my request, my request hasn't even been mentioned yet..."

But in an instant he recalled the dragon girl's rosy lotus-like face before her departure, and a strange feeling arose in his heart.

For a moment he felt both laughter and tears.

Zhang Jian shook his head; what he wanted was not the dragon girl.

But more.

Even to a true opportunity to establish his supreme Dao foundation.

……

And Zhang Jian later returned to the Qi residence, and intentionally or unintentionally passed by the well beside the garden, but unfortunately he could not obtain any useful information from the mouths of the two Well Dragon Kings at the bottom of the well.

Eavesdropping was also useless!

However, from the incident of the dragon girl being attacked today, it appears these two Well Dragon Kings and the Commandery Governor's residence may have some special connection.

Otherwise, the dragon girl would not have been ambushed by the Commandery Governor's left-path sorcerers so quickly after escaping from the White Water.

If these two are colluding, it would indeed be troublesome for the three great clans.

But Zhang Jian speculated in his heart that even if the Commandery Governor's residence cooperated with the two Well Dragon Kings, the direction of cooperation might not be against the three great clans, but possibly aimed at the White Water Dragon Lord?

"Perhaps the two Well Dragon Kings are dealing with the White Water Dragon Lord for the divine position, but what is the Commandery Governor aiming at the White Water Dragon Lord for?"

Zhang Jian could not fathom the crux of it.

……

In the depths of the White Water, turbid waves surged.

This time the dragon girl returned to the vicinity of the water spring, but she took a different route.

There are many hidden rivers around the White Water spring; if truly guarded, it is actually difficult to completely block.

In the depths of the water spring, the great white flood dragon waited impatiently.

Born with keen spiritual sense, it could feel an extreme danger approaching it, yet it could not resist, making it unusually irritable and uneasy.

The great water spring was stirred by its innate divine power, forming huge underwater vortices.

At this moment, a dark current surged from the underground river, and Bai Liying's figure emerged from the river water; she looked disheveled, her spiritual aura dim.

The white flood dragon had long sensed this; it lowered its dragon head and stared at Bai Liying.

"Who injured you to this state?"

The white flood dragon's voice was a low growl, greatly enraged.

Bai Liying, however, remained composed; after a slight bow, she recounted everything she had seen and heard recently, including Zhang Jian's final request.

At this moment, the white flood dragon's body faintly trembled with thunder and lightning, its expression suddenly furious.

"These little demons deserve death, daring to attack my White Water Dragon Palace's princess; they have great audacity!"

It seemed as if its dragon whiskers had been touched, true dragon fury blazing in its eyes with azure thunderbolts, containing the wrath of thunder.

The heavy exhalation carried intense cold, sweeping the surrounding water vortices.

Yet the white flood dragon also sensed the danger from within; Zhang Jian could guess part of the truth, and the white flood dragon could guess similarly.

"The Commandery Governor's residence, the City God, and those lurking in the dark who covet and control the White Water water spirits..."

The white flood dragon felt irritated in its heart.

Without the dragon pearl, his cultivation had been reduced by more than half; combined with the restrictive spell in the water spring before him, he had little ability to resist.

This feeling of being at the mercy of others made him deeply uneasy.

However, regarding Zhang Jian's 'conditions,' the white flood dragon was still furious; it snorted rough air from its nostrils, frost appeared, and its body trembled irritably.

"A mere mortal wants to marry my White Water Dragon Lord's daughter—how presumptuous! He thinks that because a dragon is stranded in shallow water, he can arbitrarily extort my White Water Dragon Lord? Truly, there is no such reason!"

Bai Liying gazed at the displeased dragon lord, her eyes lowered, not knowing what she was thinking.

Seeing this, the White Water Dragon Lord said: "Daughter, what do you think?"

Bai Liying raised her head, her eyes calm, and said: "As long as that Dao brother truly can assist my father in escaping trouble, I would be willing to be his concubine; as long as my father can safely pass this tribulation!"

In the air, the white flood dragon's expression froze for a moment, then it coldly snorted: "My White Water Dragon Lord's daughter cannot be a concubine; he dare not even dream of it. However, considering he saved you, I cannot refuse to give him a chance to marry you as his principal wife, but my White Water Dragon Palace's princess is not just anyone who can marry!"

"As for this youth's character and disposition, it still needs observation!"

After a slight pause, the white flood dragon gave Bai Liying some instructions, then let her go to the depths of the water spring to retrieve this cycle's nurtured heavenly treasure for healing wounds.

The white flood dragon gazed at the top of his head; he knew the time left for him to prepare was short.

"These years' hidden hands, it is time to deploy them!"

……

The next day, dawn light was faint.

Zhang Jian took Zhang Lu, and a group of old soldiers, heading toward the western direction of the city; this time they prepared to find a paper effigy shop, purchase some gold and silver ingots, and again perform ancestral sacrifices.

There are several old streets to the west of Fengyang County town, with paper-craft shops specializing in the buying and selling of funeral items.

However, it is extremely difficult to find a shop as dedicated as Fengxi Zhang's again.

Of course, there are still some.

As long as one has enough silver, they can still be found.

Several old soldiers took the lead in guarding ahead, while Zhang Jian kept his eyes on the surroundings, noticing that several small tails had appeared behind him.

Zhang Jian glanced at them, his thoughts flashing like lightning; he sent a few old soldiers ahead to select some gold and silver ingots, while he himself turned and left, wandering aimlessly through the city.

He suspected those small tails were aftereffects left from last night's skirmish; although he had cleaned up all traces at the time, for some people, mere suspicion without evidence was enough to confirm guilt.

Just then, Zhang Jian suddenly stopped in his tracks, gazing ahead to see what seemed to be a commotion, with many people gathered around watching the excitement and chatting noisily.

Many were still shouting bids.

Zhang Jian became interested, stepped forward to take a look, and after a brief inquiry immediately understood the situation.

It turned out that a fisherman had pulled up a rare object from the Bai River last night and was now selling it.

Zhang Jian pushed through the crowd and approached, only to see a turtle the size of a washbasin, its entire body white as jade, with heavenly and earthly patterns on its shell, making its appearance quite extraordinary.