Chapter 1129: Mayflies Drawing Blood, Long Wang's Lair Has a Long Wang (6k, Three-in-One)

The weather turned from cool to cold.

The green reeds lost their color overnight; the river wind blew past, and the yellow-white reed flowers would first float into the air, but because they were too heavy themselves, they fell back into the water not far off — from a distance it looked like a layer of drifting snow.

More and more water birds roosting in the Laize Wilds to escape the cold circled the Heposuo fleet, looking for a chance to forage; when tired of flying they folded their wings and perched on the masts.

The tower ships led the way, the Creation treasure ships abreast.

Tatuo opened a gangplank for one household, going up and down, stowing luggage, tidying and sweeping rooms.

"Ashui, how do we get to the Southern Frontier? Are there great rivers?"

Xu Zishuai carried two large bundles on his back, set up a shade awning, and gazed into the distance as he asked; he had few belongings and finished packing all by himself.

Lu Gang the blacksmith had somewhat more gear and tools on him, too much for one man to carry; Ao Cangyuan and Ao Miyun shifted into human form, one and a half zhang tall, and helped load everything onto the ship.

Liang Qu tossed his bundle to Awei.

"The provinces to the south are mostly hills; rivers are intermittent, running in every direction, forcing us to twist and turn, and hidden reefs are many — we can't go straight. We'll head east first, to the Huaijiang estuary, enter the East Sea; once in the East Sea we'll follow the coastline south, and past the Nanhai Commandery we'll basically reach the Son of Heaven Wharf — fast and steady."

"Son of Heaven Wharf — a major port?" Lu Gang looked up.

Liang Qu shook his head: "Never seen it; heard it's a circle larger than Lanzhou Port on the current Jinglan Canal, with a million dockworkers — but in a few years, who's bigger is anyone's guess."

People often use characters from the Thousand Character Classic to number things; the first line of the Thousand Character Classic is 'Heaven, Earth, Dark, Yellow,' the first character is 'Heaven,' hence the so-called 'Heaven Character Number One,' indicating that thing is the first, the highest — a wharf able to be named Son of Heaven Wharf,

its scale can be glimpsed.

"Going to sea — I've never seen the sea." Xu Zishuai was eager. "Any wonders or marvels? 'The bright moon rises over the sea' — let me brand that into memory?"

Liang Qu froze, then thought: he runs everywhere all day, often goes to the Haiyuan Palace; others don't necessarily.

The Jianghuai Great Marsh is too vast; going along the shore is no easy matter. Without a guide, ordinary people can't even leave a single county.

"It's novel to people from elsewhere; to us it's not much different. Aside from the water being a bit salty, it's no different from the Jianghuai. Let's go, shixiong — ahead they're signaling with flags, the fleet's about to depart."

At the bow, soldiers crossed and waved signal flags, signaling the fleet was fully ready.

Seeing this, Xu Zishuai and Lu Gang hurried aboard the treasure ship and steadied their minds.

Presently.

The burly men turned the windlass chains; the iron cables stretched arrow-straight, snapped back with a spray of mist, the meshing iron links clattered against the deck planks with a kaka sound,

hauling the great anchor out of the Jianghuai.

The masts shook violently, startling the water birds into flight.

White foam drifted auspiciously; the tower ship suddenly pressed down, cleaving the waves.

Leaving the wharf, reaching open water, the sails billowed full.

The ships were large enough; once off shore they gradually steadied, trailing white wakes, heading east all the way. Liang Qu went to the lead tower ship to discuss details with the military men; after learning the situation, he returned to his own treasure ship.

"Quite a lot of people."

Pingyang Prefecture has the Quyao Bureau and Three Law Bureaus holding the line, Su Guishan coordinating — enough to contend with the Guimu Sect.

Inside the Huaidong Heposuo, Wei Lin and Xu Yue, both Tiling, went along together; moreover, not just within Pingyang Prefecture — Entering Zhen Xiang masters from the surrounding prefectures and from the Nanzhili capital Ducheng also converged into the Heposuo contingent, all heading south together, cooperating with Long Eying, Long Binglin,

Long Yanrui, even the great yaos Ao Miyun and the little Shenlong — the Entering Zhen Xiang-level top experts openly on the fleet reached an astonishing forty-plus!

Entering Zhen Xiang was like this.

The remaining Huhu and Langyan — even more so.

As a reinforcement force, this is absolutely no small number; it can greatly sway the battle situation.

Especially forty-plus people, most of whom have never been to the Southern Frontier in this life; Southern Frontier troops cannot capture their qi through flesh and blood, so they can do many 'surprise attacks' the local garrison cannot.

From this number one can see how bad the Southern Frontier situation is — people on board gazed about at the novelty.

Everyone soon fell into journey-weariness, a weariness born of aimless boredom.

However, this boredom was soon ended by crucial pre-battle intelligence.

Before dinner.

Tianren master Ji Yanyu from the Nanzhili capital Jingcheng ordered the cloud-board struck, summoning all masters and great yaos to the top deck of the tower ship to admonish them on important matters.

Masters filed in; the little Shenlong coiled around Long Eying's forearm — it liked the fragrance on Long Eying and always coiled around Eying, never around Liang Qu; of course, in the fat catfish's view this was serious meddling by maternal relatives, eunuch behavior, deserving of immediate death by beating.

The great yao Ao Miyun outside the cabin tried to enter, tried and failed.

When the tower ships were built originally, the craftsmen never accounted for a behemoth of this sort.

Ji Yanyu looked at Liang Qu.

Liang Qu waved a hand: "You sit at the door and listen."

Ao Miyun then sat cross-legged at the doorway, lowered his head, and listened with ears cocked.

Seeing everyone, beasts in place, Ji Yanyu stepped to the fore, tapped the wooden board to draw attention: "As everyone knows, the Southern Frontier excels in the Gu insect way; after thousands of years of selection and cultivation, this way may have aspects unacceptable to people, further damaging lifespan, not favored by our Central Plains dynasty — yet it truly has merits.

As of today, the Southern Frontier has developed this way flourishingly, distinct from our Central Plains and the Northern Court; every tribe has its own specialty in Gu insect cultivation; all Gu insects recognize the master, not the person; recognize blood, not face — even if we want to catch up, we are left far behind."

Everyone nodded.

So-called recognize master not person, recognize blood not face.

That is the Southern Frontier's unique anti-counterfeiting measure for Gu insects, based on the individual and the clan.

Gu insects, after thousands of years of selection and secret rearing, grow inside a person's Lower Dantian, highly bound to the individual and clan — even if they fall into an outsider's hands they are useless, cannot be commanded.

Like from wolf to dog, Southern Frontier people have bred Gu insects into 'hunting dogs' only their own tribesmen can command; in another's hands they remain a wolf full of wild nature.

Not ruling out rare individuals who can tame a 'wild wolf,' yet there is no way to make it a widely transmissible 'technique' like the Heposuo Jiang Tun — this is also one reason the Central Plains cannot catch up even if they want to; unable to obtain the latest samples, they cannot innovate on their own.

If starting from scratch, researchers are fewer than Southern Frontier people; at most a few provinces near the south are willing to try; even with imperial court support and investment,

progress doesn't compare to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains at all; instead it's copying blindly, abandoning one's own advantages.

Moreover, the Southern Frontier's climate itself is a major feature, yielding twice the result with half the effort.

Everyone relies on their own abilities to contend.

"However," Ji Yanyu's tone shifted, "the reason our Great Shun suffered such heavy losses this time is precisely because two of the Southern Frontier's nine great tribes, the Tiantong and the Baicaojian, separately developed two unique Gu insects!"

Ji Yanyu picked up a soapstone stylus and wrote large characters on the wooden board behind him.

"Blood-Collecting Technique? Blood-Concealing Gu?"

"What kind of Gu is this?"

Ji Yanyu introduced: "Blood-Collecting is a type of tiny Gu insect invisible to the naked eye, which even Zhen Xiang masters cannot perceive, penetrating almost everywhere.

This Gu insect itself does not possess much killing power, yet it has an extraordinary ability: it lodges inside the human body, collecting 'flesh and blood',

then brings it back to the controlling Gu master, thereby allowing the Gu master to track the victim's location through thousand-mile soul-locking.

In other words, because of this Gu technique, we in the Southern Frontier have completely fallen into passivity; all our Zhen Xiang movements are captured by the enemy. We should not have been so passive, but the Southern Frontier happens to have this Blood-Concealing Gu!

This Gu insect can graft Zhen Xiang Qi mechanisms, achieving the effect of passing off the fake as real! Although it can only conceal for a short time and exposure occurs upon approach, by the time of exposure, they have often already closed to within thirty li! Even closer — within thirty li, we cannot track the enemy's traces!"

Everyone frowned.

One grabs, one hides; combined with the Southern Frontier's unique environment, just thinking about it gives one a headache.

Upon hearing 'Blood-Collecting', Long Eying could not help but feel nauseated.

Liang Qu raised his hand.

"Marquis Xingyi?"

"Blood-Collecting — how does it collect Zhen Xiang flesh and blood?"

Zhen Xiang strength is all-round strength, not only the body surface, but even more so the interior.

An inconspicuous little insect, can it break through the defense?

Even if it can break through, it shouldn't be to the extent that masters cannot detect it; thousand-mile soul-locking isn't said to be doable with just a strand of hair, it requires at least the equivalent of a finger.

"This is precisely the brilliance of the Blood-Collecting Technique, and also what I am about to explain next." Ji Yanyu waved his hand, and someone brought a tray; on the tray were exquisite sachets. "Because of their small size and the need for concealment, these Gu inherently lack strong aggressiveness. They collect flesh and blood not by rigid blood-sucking or flesh-cutting, but by collecting your body's internal circulation."

"Circulation?"

Ji Yanyu picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea, and displayed it to everyone.

"I drink water, I sweat, I urinate — this is part of circulation. I eat food; of course, cultivation to Zhen Xiang allows food to be almost completely digested. Not counting that part, just the former alone carries away a portion of our body's 'flesh and blood'. It's just that we usually cannot perceive it ourselves, and pay it no heed. However, they silently collect it, bit by bit accumulating, until the quantity becomes enough to be perceived."

"How long?" Wei Lin asked.

"Three months of latency is sufficient."

"Can going to the Southern Frontier for three months without eating or drinking avoid entry into the body?" Xu Yuelong asked.

"Theoretically yes; they basically propagate in water and enter the body through drinking water. However, there are occasionally trace amounts in the air,

and they self-replicate; in practice it is very difficult to achieve.

Furthermore, Zhen Xiang can go three months without food or water, but Hunting Tiger and Wolf Smoke cannot. As far as I know, they can likewise spread between people; in other words, it would require three months of abstinence and minimal speech."

"So we have three months; within these three months, the Southern Frontier cannot capture our tracks?"

"Not three months — five months!" Ji Yanyu picked up a sachet from the tray. "The devil rises one foot, the Dao rises ten zhang; all things have a way out. The Southern Frontier produced these two Gu insects, and caught off guard, we indeed suffered a heavy loss.

But from June to now, the imperial court has already devised a simple countermeasure: wearing this sachet on the body will suppress growth to a great extent. Changing it every ten days, eating and drinking normally, can drag three months out to five months or even half a year and beyond!"

Everyone's brows relaxed slightly.

Half a year should be enough to ease the war situation, waiting for the imperial court to produce a better solution.

However, the problem has not been fundamentally resolved.

A hard battle.

Soldiers distributed sachets to everyone one by one. Liang Qu received one and could smell a unique herbal scent; up close it was rather pungent. Hanging it at his waist, he could barely tolerate it.

"Half a year."

In the remaining time, Ji Yanyu further popularized several of the more dangerous Southern Frontier Gu insects and their corresponding handling methods.

"Gu insects are poisonous insects; nine out of ten Gu are poisonous. Each of your sachets contains a Detoxification Pill. It is not a panacea, but it can alleviate over seventy percent of toxins. I hope all masters will safekeep them well. The hour is not early; everyone, go have a meal first.

The journey to the Southern Frontier is long and cannot be accomplished in a single day. From now on, every day before meals, I will popularize Gu insects and Southern Frontier Gu insect characteristics and details here. Everyone must not miss it. If there are any questions, you may all come find me on the treasure ship."

With that said.

Ao Miyun sat up, clearing the way out of the war room.

Zhen Xiang masters found familiar people and left in twos and threes.

Returning to his own Creation Treasure Ship, Liang Qu picked up the sachet and examined it carefully.

He thought of a question.

Ji Yanyu said Blood-Collecting relies on internal circulation, but he is already dead now. If he does not activate the Blood Fiend Divine Ability Order, he cannot maintain basic organ functions. A purely dead corpse fundamentally has no body metabolism—"

Not letting the Blood Fiend maintain organ operation.

Would this Gu insect be of little use to him?

And Gu poison — perhaps he cannot be completely immune to toxins, but a corpse without metabolic circulation would likewise have high resistance to poison.

"."

The more Liang Qu pondered, the more amazed he became; he discovered he seemed to possess a certain unique advantage.

Blood?

Not flowing.

Tissue fluid?

Not flowing.

Wherever Gu poison is injected, it concentrates there, expanding slowly like a snail, giving ample time to process and force it out.

"We'll see when we get there."

The Southern Frontier journey is long; Liang Qu goes alone. His Creation Treasure Ship is fast; the other ships lack this speed.

Following the main force to the destination would take until at least late November. Such a long wait — he cannot just idle.

An inch of time, an inch of gold.

It is time to go explore the Long Wang's Cave!

Midnight.

Shedding the flesh robe, the soul flies beyond the nine heavens.

"Eying, the Blood Slaughter Divine Ability Order is given to you; I will return to the Blood River Realm for a trip, tell my senior martial brother a word, help me cover, and also, for the next few days of the poison insect class I will not attend, you help me record it, I will come back later to look."

"Good."

The next day.

Ko Wenbin and the others asked at the dining table why Liang Qu did not come out to eat.

"My junior martial brother?" Xu Zishuai slammed his fist on the tabletop, indignant and resentful, "Recently, in the Heaven-Shattering Absolute Land, he has been in seclusion consolidating his cultivation."

The visiting Zhen Xiang gasped in succession.

Is this a person?

"He is nothing but livestock!" Xu Zishuai continued to complain.

Sincere and heartfelt, sentence after sentence earnest, the people unknowingly all felt the same, nodding in unison.

Who on the path of cultivation does not have a Liang junior martial brother like this?

Reasonable.

"Yes, that's right."

"Exactly, exactly."

"Quite correct."

The Marquis of Xingyi's fellow disciples are indeed not so easy to be a phoenix, the pressure is too great.

"Say it again, say it again."

"Ah, you don't know, my junior martial brother this person—"

River God Sect.

"Divine God Great Fish! Divine God Great Fish! You have returned from your travels? This tail, these fins, truly ever more phoenix-mighty and domineering over the world, the number one fish under heaven!"

"Zhe le, say something I don't know about the phoenix, has anything happened in the sect that needs dismantling?"

"No, no, under your phoenix's leadership, our Divine God Sect, that is called rising steadily day by day, vigorous and flourishing." Shen Hengliang's interest rose high, "These past several months, your phoenix disciple, Shi Ziyu, I have diligently taught him to chew, progress is rapid, he will enter the first realm within the year! Talent overflowing."

"Ear Recognition Method": This is a lie.

Damn phoenix, giving phoenix resource peak is Shi Ziyu able to absorb phoenix limit, the cultivation method is also Liang Qu personally fin-improved, entering the first realm requires half a year, Shen Hengliang, with a guilty conscience, says out the four words 'talent overflowing'.

"You are talent."

"Without Bo Le, how can there be a thousand-li horse? Hengliang's today is inseparable from the Divine God Sect's cultivation!"

"Let go of me, let go of me! I want to sue the Divine God Sect, I want to sue the Divine God Sect! Shen Hengliang, you are greedy for wealth, take bribes, deceive the eyes and ears, to serve people again with intention, unwilling to advance the virtuous and hate evil———"

Shen Hengliang's expression changed abruptly.

"What kind of sound is this?" Liang Qu looked outward.

"Just a rabble-rouser, the River God Great Fish need not pay heed." Shen Zhongliang wiped his forehead.

"Next time do not let the rabble-rousers disturb my phoenix's eyes!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

"Have the female disciples who withdrew from the Jade Ripple Pavilion and joined my River God Sect arrived yet?" Liang Qu asked, he had not forgotten this matter.

Even if it is secret communication and melodic exchange, it must be said and done; moreover, after Senior Martial Brother Lu's suggestion, the second-rank disciple Lai Yingtian, who walks the path of judgment, has great use here for Liang Qu.

Sometimes small individuals can also achieve great things seeking.

"Here they are, here they are, I will go call her over?"

"Go."

Soon after.

Shen Hengliang led a woman walking slowly, her appearance was that of a twenty-eight-year-old beauty, her actual age unknown, three realms of strength, her appearance is not inferior, her posture tall and slender, her bosom full.

"Greetings, Elder Fish Ya." The woman bowed slightly.

"You are Lai Yingtian's phoenix younger sister, Lai Mengyao?"

"Yingtian is indeed Ya elder brother."

After confirming no error, Liang Qu waved his fin, swift and stern: "Since it is you, tidy up, three, no, five days later, Shen Hengliang, you take her to the Heaven Fire Sect; if I do not encounter you, then wait nearby with poison."

"Me?" Shen Hengliang startled.

"Any problem?"

"No, no." Shen Hengliang secretly puzzled, the Divine God Sect returning to the Heaven Fire Sect, bringing a young woman is following the phoenix's affairs, why make him come for what?

Could it be to reprimand him for what?

Shen Zhongliang's whole body trembled, cold sweat poured forth.

Is the Divine God Sect trying to draw him out, then afterward investigate the Divine God Sect's development?

Lai Mengyao was then overjoyed, secretly thinking the Heaven Fire Sect phoenix elder brother is reliable, indeed there is a way to pull her from one labor sect to the river labor! She is truly mixing in there and becoming human.

As the saying goes, better to be a chicken head than a phoenix tail, but she in the Jade Ripple Pavilion is also not a chicken head.

Moreover, chickens only have chicken feathers, but servants have servant plumes.

If you are not chicken feathers, how do you know you can only stick them on your buttocks?

Chicken feathers striving a lifetime, inserted in the chicken crown, are still just chicken feathers!

"Alright, go down now."

"Yes."

After simply understanding the Divine God Sect's situation, Liang Qu did not pay attention to Shen Zhongliang's small movements.

As long as there is no trouble on the surface, that is fine; he also did not have the energy to select what kind of confidants.

He Kun is greedy, but hard to resist being useful.

"Depart, depart."

"Boom—rumble—rumble."

The sound of water was deafening.

The matter of Tongtian was also dry; a strange fish then emerged in the water. Liang Qu arrived at the world pitch-black phoenix hemorrhoids, embryo, pitch-black phoenix gap.

The whole world was held as Dali creating phoenix; the Long Wang's Lair was so bizarre, yet brought such an eye-catching phoenix name what. Liang Qu did not believe the Heavenly Fire Sect's phoenix people did not know two or three inside details. They themselves organized a sedan chair phoenix fish tank ointment big hole; would they not know if there was something dismantled inside the big hole?

Especially the core sub-old Wu Lingxu's words, letting it go find the truth itself, was even more ironclad proof.

The matter of exploring the Long Wang chapter absolutely could not be publicized with great fanfare.

The Heavenly Fire Sect did not stop it, did not look at the post; nothing more than thinking no one could enter.

A thought moved.

Splash.

This time there was no tornado; directly a flash of light, as if something in the water suddenly burst forth, poking up to above the Long Wang's Lair.

In the middle there was no substantive "pillar"-shaped object, yet precisely at the "pillar head" position, an extra supporting force appeared.

Sky-Supporting Pillar!

A hundred years without collapse!

Liang Qu repeated his old trick, threw a pebble onto the pillar head, and began calculating time.

Twelve hours later.

The pebble sat steady, dang-dang, did not fall.

A whole day, compared to the original quarter of an hour, the improvement in time was not merely a hundredfold.

Endurance ability surged, wildly surged!

"The time should be enough."

Liang Qu moved to withdraw the 【Sky-Supporting Pillar】, letting the pebble fall into the abyss, so that after he went down, if someone passed by and saw the pebble suspended above the Long Wang's Lair not falling, they would detect something suspicious.

It began laying out a spiral downward phoenix path.

"The Dragon Lord also has vortex waterways; the same can walk supporting islands. Today I use the Sky-Supporting Pillar to descend the Long Wang's Lair; it is quite a fate." Liang Qu thought to himself.

【Sky-Supporting Pillars】 stood up in succession, interlocking, erecting, assembling into a transparent phoenix spiral sub-ladder.

Relying on Liang Qu's six thousand eight hundred times phoenix world sea, and the 【Heavenly Water Morning Dew】 characteristic, almost using while recovering, zero consumption.

Sky light gradually disappeared.

The world slowly turned pitch-black.

Three days later.

"This deep?"

Liang Qu was shocked into looking up; here could no longer see sky light; everything phoenix all was pitch-black.

It did not know day or night building 【Sky-Supporting Pillars】, completely did not know how much it had descended.

Ten thousand li?

Twenty thousand li?

Perhaps even more.

Liang Qu was not worried about being unable to get out; in perception, the first phoenix 【Sky-Supporting Pillar】 was still there; also if it was a time problem, leaving the Heavenly Fire Sect would take nearly two more months.

It steeled its scalp, continued downward.

Another three days.

A full six days.

Liang Qu was thoroughly numb; heart completely had no bottom; could only repeatedly enter building, descending phoenix mechanical movements; had a kind of solitary confinement torture.

Fifty thousand li?

Eighty thousand li?

More?

Where does this hole lead to?

Wouldn't it simply be a bottomless pit?

Pierced through the world?

Will core underground sink further and further.

In darkness without any reference object phoenix, Liang Qu began unable to gauge time, really wanted to return to the living world to ask, until the seventh day.

At the end of the bottomless pit emerged a trace of blood light.

Hope!

The first phoenix hope in seven days!

Liang Qu's spirits greatly lifted; fin movements accelerated; not spiral downward.

Light grew brighter and brighter; the hole grew brighter and brighter.

Until finally, Liang Qu wedged the 【Sky-Supporting Pillar】 at the blood-red cave entrance, borrowing the cave entrance to observe the outside world.

Red!

Blood-red!

Crimson!

If one says the Tongtian matter's phoenix red merely makes one feel oppressed, that surging blood sea appearing before one's eyes, just one glance can make one uneasy, panic-stricken; an ordinary person looking one glance would likely go mad!

Gripping fish fins tight, Liang Qu inexplicably phoenix felt fear.

He first a step transformed into a blood ape, then donned the 【Vortex God Armor】, giving himself a bit of courage world; ape arms stretched, firmly grasped the 【Sky-Supporting Pillar】 as walking support, did sufficient ideological struggle; from the cave entrance hung upside down, quietly probed out half a body.

Turned a circle.

Panoramic surround.

The blood ape froze abruptly, its pupils shrinking to the size of needle points.

Golden eyes flickered, the world spinning.

Dragon!

Half-bone, half-flesh phoenix true dragon, crawling in the midst of the blood sea!