Chapter 1173: The Cicada Chirps

"Woo~~"

The banana leaves are emerald green, and the spring rain falls in a drizzle.

Seven hundred and twenty Pan-Ox horns sound through the dense mountain forests, drowning out the cries of the descendants. The direct grandson of the Pan-Dong carries the coffin through the rain. The Centipede and Withered Bone factions stand on either side, feeling a sense of foreboding, looking north, watching the mountains and the rain.

Meng Yi huddles in a corner like a curled-up hedgehog. Seeing the Great Shaman's actions, he guesses that the new has replaced the old. He grabs a green gourd, takes a fierce gulp, and laughs at himself with a mocking sneer.

Click, click, click.

Its mouthparts open and close. A-Wei eats facing north, swallowing the fish belly meat sent by Li Xianghan.

A funeral feast.

"Charge, charge, charge!"

"Hahaha! Whoever runs the fastest, they are the next Great King of East Huai Water!"

"Woo-loo, woo-loo!"

The wooden planks thud rhythmically underfoot.

The Little Mirage Dragon flies over first, followed by a string of little fish-men swaying behind. They run back and forth on the treasure ship's deck. The Fat Catfish, Cannot-Move, Round-Head, Fist, and Otter-Open line up in a row. They are two feet tall, as long as they are wide, scurrying all over the ship like earth dogs on a field ridge, howling and yelping.

"Ouch! My shoe!"

Long Yao feels a pain on the back of her foot. Looking down, she sees a prickly, round footprint stamped onto the surface of her embroidered shoe. Her long-suppressed anger surges, and she grabs Otter-Open.

Otter-Open is held by one hand, dangling in mid-air. It refuses to admit fault and points at the Fat Catfish.

Long Yao points to the sharp marks on the footprint: "Claws! Claws! Only you have claws!"

Otter-Open still refuses to admit it. It swipes a claw, pointing at the emerald-green "Cannot-Move." "Cannot-Move" lifts its front limb, spreading its five claws.

"Bang!"

Otter-Open hits the deck, a large bump rising on its head.

Long Yao angrily takes off her shoe, soaks it in clear water with soap, and scrubs at the black mark.

It's all the Elder's fault! He used some kind of divine ability to shrink these big guys and bring them onto the ship. Doesn't he know what his own water beasts are like? They can't encounter anything new; once they do, they all go crazy, completely lawless!

Whoosh!

The Fat Catfish splashes water with a bucket, making itself slippery, kicks off the ground, and dives. Its white belly sticks to the deck as it slides up the slanted gangplank, zipping out like a cannonball into the Great Marsh, splashing the washed embroidered shoe.

"Sister Long Eying! Look at them!"

"Husband is entering the capital to be enfeoffed; it's such a joyous occasion, let them be happy too," Long Long Eying says with a smile. "Just leave it there, I'll have A-Fei wash it for you later."

Noisy and chaotic.

The Fat Catfish, with two strands of waterweed parted in the middle on its head, pokes its head out of the Great Marsh, flicks its tail to build up strength, and suddenly looks up.

A brilliant light shoots into the sky, scattering the clouds.

The thick white clouds become sparse and thin, the sky is blue for a thousand miles, and the sun shines down.

Long Yao and Long Li are overjoyed: "Sister Long Eying, has the Elder come out of seclusion?"

Long Long Eying stands up. The Imperial Envoy from the capital, Su Guishan, Xu Xu Yuelong, Wei Lin, Yang Yang Dongxiong, the Xu family, fellow sect members, colleagues from the River-Lake Office... all step out of their cabins.

Entering the Perfected Form Realm from the Hunting Tiger Realm takes a month of cultivation to reach the peak; entering the Sky Dragon Realm from the Perfected Form Realm requires the same.

Breaking through at the Awakening of Insects—it is already complete!

Inside the cultivation room, breath is exhaled, and a scorching white dragon circles, as if it were a living thing.

Liang Qu sits in the lotus position, looking inward at his own body.

Beneath the Immortal Island, his vast Qi sea, twenty-three thousand six hundred times larger than before, no longer has any clearly visible boundaries. It connects with the external world, boundless and infinite, without edges or frames.

The Immeasurable Sea!

That which is infinite in number is called immeasurable!

Entering the Sky Dragon Realm from the Perfected Form Realm, the Qi sea transforms into the Immeasurable Sea. From this point on, divine abilities and creations are no longer constrained by the size of the Qi sea, limited only by the range of the world influenced by oneself.

The deeper the Sky Dragon cultivation, the wider the range.

A starting point of twenty-three thousand six hundred times...

Liang Qu does not know how long an ordinary Sky Dragon must cultivate to reach his starting point today.

On the Immeasurable Sea, the three Dragon Court Immortal Islands have expanded in prosperity more than tenfold compared to the Perfected Form Realm. Above the towering Dragon Court of the first Dragon Court Immortal Island, a second pavilion has grown, like the branching of a great tree.

He points a finger.

A flash of golden light suddenly engulfs the entire treasure ship and all the merchant and passenger ships nearby.

The canal is filled with exclamations.

Otter-Open taps the deck.

It sounds like metal; it is hard, and its claws cannot scratch it.

"Strange, what a vast divine ability," Ke Ko Wenbin says, pinching the ship's railing.

"Pointing the earth to become steel!" Imperial Envoy Li, who is well-traveled, touches the edge of the ship. "Marquis Baron Xingyi has derived yet another divine ability. It should be an extension of the Dragon-Tiger Golden Body, but..."

"But what?" Yang Yang Dongxiong worries that his disciple's cultivation has gone awry.

"Oh," Li laughs, waving his horsetail whisk. "Lord Yang, do not panic. There is no problem; I am merely surprised by the vast range of Marquis Baron Xingyi's divine ability."

Xu Xu Zishuai straightens his neck: "Lord Li, you are from the capital, your horizons are broad, and you have seen more Martial Saints than we have seen Perfected Form experts. Tell us, what is the significance of this range?"

"It is not a secret. As everyone knows, Perfected Form experts cultivate Heavenly Palaces—three Heavenly Palaces, three divine abilities. The use of divine abilities consumes the Qi sea, just as the use of Hunting Tiger Realm abilities consumes blood Qi.

And the size of a Perfected Form Qi sea often has a limit. An ordinary first-realm expert usually reaches thirty; to continue expanding without advancing, one must 'break the limit.'

Once you enter the Sky Dragon Realm, the Qi sea transforms into the Immeasurable Sea. 'Immeasurable' here has two interpretations: one is that the Qi sea connects with the world, inexhaustible; the second is that the Qi sea no longer has a limit, there is no such thing as 'full,' and one can continue to cultivate upward. The deeper the cultivation, the wider the range of influence naturally becomes—a great immeasurable is greater than a small immeasurable."

Xu Xu Zishuai ponders for a moment.

"I understand. Is it equivalent to using a bamboo tube to suck water? A Sky Dragon sucks from the ocean, endless, but the bamboo tubes vary in size, and the efficiency of sucking water also varies? A large bamboo tube is a great immeasurable, a small bamboo tube is a small immeasurable?"

"Exactly," Li laughs. "Young Master Xu has wisdom, worthy of being a high disciple of Lord Yang. Upon entering the Sky Dragon Realm, there are 'Root Seas' within the Immeasurable Sea. A Qi sea one thousand times that of the Perfected Form Realm is equivalent to one 'Root Sea' of the Sky Dragon Realm."

"Lord Li, look at my junior brother, how many Root Seas does he have?"

Li looks around helplessly: "This, I do not know. Marquis Baron Xingyi's range of influence is too broad; he does not look like someone who has just entered the realm, but rather like a Sky Dragon who has cultivated for decades or even a century..."

Twenty-three.

Long Long Eying says to herself.

She has heard Liang Qu tell her about the scale of his Qi sea; it is large enough to make one's liver tremble.

On the canal, the spirit pillars surged ceaselessly; those on both banks with keen sources of information vaguely guessed who was passing by, and on the boats and the banks alike, they bowed low in obeisance.

"Hoo!"

Liang Qu's breath becomes increasingly long, and his heart slowly stops beating.

A Sky Dragon Martial Saint's heart beats once every seven days, but the sound can be like thunder, shaking others to death.

"Crack."

Deep in the Root Sea, a dark golden peach blossom suddenly takes root, sprouts, grows into a peach tree, the tree blooms, and a small, bright red fruit grows at the top.

"Yin-Yang Spirit Seed Art"!

A supreme dual-cultivation technique that Lu Jia of the Heavenly Ship Merchant Guild once bought for him from the Heavenly Human couple on the Moon-Gazing Tower, divided into four layers: Grain-in-Ear, Star Fruit, Moon Fruit, and Sun Wheel.

This technique has benefits without drawbacks, only the cultivation is difficult.

The third layer, Moon Fruit, is already hard to come by; the Heavenly Human couple had only cultivated it three times.

In the past, he could cultivate it to the point where the Moon Fruit broke its shell and turned into a peach blossom Sun Wheel, which was already the result of years of accumulation from Liang Qu's Perfected Form primordial yang, the Eight-Clawed King's multi-jointed arms, the Dragon-Subduing Tiger-Subduing Body, the "Ten Thousand Victories Holding Origin" steel refinement, and multiple talents like the Red Mountain 【Pure Yang】 and precious medicines.

The effect was extraordinary, comparable to a great medicine of creation; one fruit helped Long Long Eying enter the second realm.

Now that he has completely advanced, the Sun Wheel has actually broken through the limit of the four-layer fruit realm recorded in the "Yin-Yang Spirit Seed Art" and entered an unprecedented "fifth layer" realm!

Perhaps this technique has never been cultivated by a top expert in the Sky Dragon Realm, and even if a Martial Saint cultivated it... it is unlikely to be a Martial Saint who retains their "primordial yang."

Although the situation is somewhat strange, the facts are as they are.

Dead wood meeting spring and coming back to life, the silkworm cocoon breaking and standing again, the "Ten Thousand Victories Holding Origin" fourth realm "Steel Refinement" returning to the innate... Liang Qu does not know which mechanism played a role in his recovery of primordial yang, or if it was the combined force of all three, which cannot be replicated.

In short, Liang Qu is now truly a "virgin," a Martial Saint-level "virgin," a "primordial yang."

There is only one such person in the world.

There were no predecessors, and... and it will be very difficult for there to be successors.

What effect will the fifth layer have?

While pondering, Liang Qu adds the posture of the peach tree blooming and bearing fruit, and the feeling of the fruit's essence, as the fifth layer "Holy Fruit," recording it in detail on the technique for future generations to refer to.

Finally.

Liang Qu stands up and comes to the weapon rack.

The Wave-Subduing spear lies across it, the Abyss Wood bow lies flat.

The Wave-Subduing spear fought the Pan-Dong, a small profound weapon, but in the end, it could not defeat a true Martial Saint. The Pan-Dong fell, and the Wave-Subduing spear blade broke into three pieces. Not only the Wave-Subduing spear, but the Kui boots and silver armor gifted by the former Holy Emperor were all destroyed.

Fortunately, the Wave-Subduing spear is a spirit weapon, like a living thing, with the ability to self-repair. In the three months since, the surface has been reconnected, but it is not enough!

He raises his hand and beckons.

Liang Qu firmly grips the shaft of the Wave-Subduing spear with both hands.

Their minds are connected, as if using his own arm.

"Ten years."

The light on the Wave-Subduing spear flows in response.

Liang Qu laughs lightly, twists his palm, and hears a crisp sound; the wooden shaft of the spear bursts open.

Inside the wooden shaft is a black-gold iron core.

This iron core was initially tungsten gold sent by Senior Brother Lu, worth a hundred gold, later replaced by Ink Dragon Gold provided by the Frog King, a core mineral produced by dragon-species demon beasts living in it for a long time and splashing blood, worth tens of thousands of gold.

Later, it was infused with a portion of "self-nature" by the old monk, transforming into a small profound weapon. At this time, it can no longer be called Ink Dragon Gold; perhaps it can be called "Dragon-Subduing Diamond Gold"?

Hum~

Heat waves are scorching.

Otter-Open and the other water beasts outside can feel the stuffiness.

"It's a profound weapon!" Lu Gang is the first to know what Liang Qu is doing.

Liang Qu also has a tacit understanding with his senior brother, knowing that Senior Brother Lu loves weapon refining and would not want him to miss the scene of this profound weapon being born. He walks out of the cultivation room and comes to the deck.

"Senior Brother Lu, watch closely!"

Lu Gang's expression is spirited: "Good!"

Everyone gathers in a circle, and Xiang Fangsu and others on the building ship also cannot bear the loneliness and jump onto the treasure ship.

Click, click, click.

As his hands twist, the red-hot iron core and spear blade expand and swell rapidly, as if puffed up, golden-red and dazzling, as thick as a house beam, looking more like a club than a spear. The outer layer of jade-white wooden shaft turns completely into charcoal, black and charred.

Lu Gang does not blink, knowing that this is his junior brother channeling all the "self-nature" produced by advancing to Martial Saint into the spirit weapon.

"Pitter-patter."

The wooden charcoal shell falls to the ground, revealing a milky-white spear shaft. Countless emerald-green buds emerge, growing in the blink of an eye into countless vines, winding around the golden-red iron core like snakes, twisting and knotting, covering it all like braiding a hemp rope. In this way, it looks even larger—more than just a house beam, it is like a pillar in a palace.

White steam gushes out.

The iron core cools, shrinking from the thickness of a house beam, and the vines on the spear shaft also constantly contract, twisting and knotting, slender and tight.

A cold glint gradually appears.

The Wave-Subduing spear hangs in the air.

From a palace pillar that two people could embrace, it tightens to the thickness of a single grip.

The water beasts widen their eyes. Outside the crowd, A-Fei, who is just over half a meter tall, jumps up and down, but is tripped to the ground by a tail sweep from the Little Mirage Dragon.

The battle begins again.

After the refining is complete, Lu Gang cannot wait to get closer. At close range, he can still see that the wooden shaft is actually composed of thousands of "vines," but macroscopically, it is very smooth, delicate like palm prints and fingerprints, providing a very comfortable grip.

The tiger's mouth spits out a blade, sharp and exposed, like half a peerless sword; one look is enough to be cut.

Everyone is afraid to touch it.

The tiger head and dragon head can still be switched at will, and the weight is as desired.

Hum!

The spear blade rings lightly.

Once the profound weapon is formed, Liang Qu seems to have an extra "eye" detached from his body, able to sense the environment around the Wave-Subduing spear through it, and the range of manipulation is infinitely extended.

In the past, Xu Xu Yuelong and Wei Lin, at the Great Martial Artist realm, could use profound weapons to defeat Ghost Mother Sect Grandmasters. In other words, the current Wave-Subduing spear can also be taken by Great Martial Artists like Senior Brother Lu and Senior Brother Xu to cross a major realm and kill a Perfected Form Grandmaster!

With the Wave-Subduing spear formed, it lies dormant like a dragon.

Liang Qu grabs the Abyss Wood bow again and pours the last trace of "self-nature" into it.

The Abyss Wood was originally a wooden bow, and it also regrows.

This great bow was gifted by colleagues from the River-Lake Office, Lu Lu Kaiyun and Ren Ren Yipeng, due to their failure in flood control, and came from Uncle Liu in the capital, with a long heritage, a semi-spirit weapon formed in one piece.

It has no bowstring, and usually does not need to be strung or unstrung, which is very convenient. It only needs to be infused with blood Qi, and the bow body will be covered with red patterns, as if black rock cracked after a volcanic eruption, revealing dark red magma that has not completely cooled, and then a bowstring grows from the center, and the bow strength increases in proportion to the blood Qi.

Since the Perfected Form Realm, the Abyss Wood has rarely appeared, and with the Water Dragon Piercing Clouds, it has become completely useless, but upgrading it one last time to be a "tiny, tiny profound weapon" fulfills the sentiment.

The Abyss Wood is reshaped, and the originally somewhat rough bow body is now extremely smooth.

Lu Gang infuses it with blood Qi, and it feels like holding a living thing, with a demon beast's great mouth devouring it.

"Does this count as a profound weapon!"

"Let me touch it, let me touch it."

"Woo-woo, it's alive, it's alive!"

"I feel like I can take on two Grandmasters at once, two!"

"Lent out for ten years, and it grew into this. If Uncle Liu sees it when he comes back, he'll laugh himself to death, teeth and all. No, Uncle Liu is an elder, he can't die early. Give this bow to me."

The senior brothers and colleagues shout like monkeys, their fingers touching the spear shaft and the great bow, unable to put them down.

A rare treasure!

Outside, a fragment of a Martial Saint profound weapon is a sky-high price, unique. When a weapon is cultivated to this stage, it is basically impossible to find materials in the world that can directly compare in strength.

The Martial Saint himself is the pinnacle of the world.

Without putting away the Abyss Wood and Wave-Subduing spear, Liang Qu leaves them to attract attention and finds Long Pingjiang on the side.

"Are there any leftovers or changes?"

"Returning to the Water... Elder, half a catty of blood remains, and the operation is very stable."

Liang Qu nods: "You and Long Pinghe pay more attention. Once there is any special situation, such as the blood dimming, notify me immediately through the link."

"My Lord, rest assured, your subordinate knows the weight of this."

The River-Lake Stone is the most critical priority.

In the past, the Northern Court Eagle Balstai used the Blood Fiend divine ability to mislead Liang Qu into a thousand-mile soul chase, taking a long detour, which is still fresh in his memory. Afterward, he spent a full four hundred great merits to buy the three-in-one divine ability order, just in the hope of this scene.

If it were just the effect of a divine ability, Liang Qu naturally would not spend money unjustly; it is almost impossible for a divine ability to forge a Martial Saint.

The Blood Fiend divine ability is different; its essence is "maintenance," "replication," maintaining a pile of fresh blood and broken flesh in a "living" state, thereby releasing aura, rather than creating something out of thin air.

Liang Qu sits in the Dragon Palace, letting Long Pingjiang take the divine ability order to the Southern Frontier front line, and then continuously transports fresh blood and tissue to fill the Blood Fiend human body. A brand-new "River-Lake Stone," under his sitting in Jianghuai, reaches a critical point and appears out of thin air in the Southern Frontier.

When the situation stabilizes, the imperial court issues an order, and he has Long Pingjiang control the Blood Fiend human to return to Jianghuai. A blood fiend overlap, a passing by, seemingly communicating with the White Ape, but actually stealing the sky and changing the sun.

The "White Ape" sits in the Dragon Palace, while Liang Qu goes north to the capital.

"A-Shui, are there any arrows on the ship?" Xu Xu Zishuai lifts the Abyss Wood bow.

"I forgot too. Long Eying, are there any?"

"There are two baskets in the cabin. I'll have Otter-Open go get them."

The river wind is vast, and the sails are bulging.

Great laughter and shouting.

Liang Qu stands with his hands behind his back, blowing in the wind, watching the sunset, the world is vast, and the road ahead is infinite.

Martial Saint Marquis Baron Xingyi, the high mountains are towering, all mountains look up to him, along the Jing-Lan Canal, all the way north.

"Snap!"

A crisp sound in the sky, an arrow explodes, leaving a long rainbow.

Wei Lin's fingers move, and he turns back to the cabin.

At the hour of the snake (9-11 AM), the shadow of the sundial shifts. The treasure ships and building ships line up and anchor. Those who have not entered the Jishui Pond do so according to the "Great Shun Collected Statutes" system: "Meritorious officials return in triumph, naval forces anchor outside the port."

Imperial Envoy Li bows and leads the Red Mountain horse over: "Marquis Baron Xingyi, please mount."

Red Mountain is tied with vermilion tassels and a golden bridle.

Liang Qu adjusts his crown and tassels, strokes his jade belt hook, turns and mounts the red horse, the River-Lake Office follows, and amidst the ranks of the Heavenly Feather Guards and banners, they move slowly north.

Clouds drift slowly, shadows change.

The city gates are high and dangerous, the capital is prosperous and glorious.

The common people stand on both sides, shoulder to shoulder.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

The drum surface shakes off the dust. The armored Harmony-Coordinating Official beats the great mallet, according to the ancient method of "Three Drum Beats for Triumphant Return" in the "Book of Music · Military Rites": the first beat clears the way, the second beat solemnizes the appearance, the third beat pays respects.

The great flag occasionally flutters in the breeze, the divine beast Mo-Yun soars, and the complex gold-stamped "Shun" character twists and tangles in the wind, rustling loudly.

Where the banners are divided, the current Prime Minister leads the ministers of the three departments, holding the Emperor's scepter, waiting on the official road, standing in the position of heaven and earth. Seeing the Marquis's honor guard, the Prime Minister steps forward and says loudly:

"His Majesty has a decree: You have traveled far, Marquis! Marquis Baron Xingyi has pacified the Southern Filth, his merit is for the country!"

The officials behind him respond in unison: "You have traveled far, Marquis! Marquis Baron Xingyi has pacified the Southern Filth, his merit is for the country!"

The sound shakes the wilderness.

Liang Qu immediately dismounts and bows deeply: "This is all due to His Majesty's temple calculations and the soldiers' dedication; the subject dares not claim the merit!"

The eunuch respectfully holds the cloud tray, raising it high above his head.

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: You, Marquis Baron Xingyi Liang Qu, possess the strength of heaven and earth, and have carried out your might according to the temple calculations. You have captured the ugly, restored the royal seal of ten thousand miles; pacified the chaos and calmed the borders, settling the miasma and rain of the three Xiang..."

The Prime Minister reads the imperial decree and personally presents the imperial golden cup with coiled-snake patterns, filling it with fine wine.

Liang Qu raises the cup to the ground to inform heaven and earth, covers his face with his sleeve, bows again, and drinks.

After the ceremony, the honor guard is reorganized.

Arriving at the Meridian Gate, beneath the Dan steps, the Meridian Gate music uses six of each of the Zhu and Yu instruments.

"Woo~~~"

The Great Music Official orders the striking of the Yellow Bell, the Harmony-Coordinating Official bows and raises the banner, beats the Zhu, and plays the great music of breaking the formation according to the Gu-Xi standard. The Great Music Official holds the banner and draws the hexagrams of heaven and earth.

Imperial Envoy Li shouts loudly:

"The Holy Carriage personally labors!"

The palace gates open wide, the Imperial Guards stand in solemn ranks, holding Green Dragon halberds and White Tiger shields, the banners covering the sky.

The Holy Emperor rides out in a carriage, the canopy spreading nine layers of silk.

"The ugly captives are exterminated, the borders are peaceful, you have settled the chaos, you should be inscribed on the tripod of the Grand Temple, this is to reward your merit, forever inscribed as a pillar of stone."

Three thousand Heavenly Feather Guards shout in unison:

"The Holy Carriage personally labors, rewarding your meritorious service! Marquis Baron Xingyi has settled the chaos, inscribed on the tripod of the Grand Temple!"

Walking a few steps, Liang Qu arrives before the steps and performs the great kowtow.

"Relying on His Majesty's divine martial arts, the great fortune of the country! The subject is fortunate not to have failed the mission!"

Su Guishan, Xu Xu Yuelong, Wei Lin, and Yang Yang Dongxiong kowtow and shout in unison.

"Relying on His Majesty's divine martial arts, the great fortune of the country!"

The drums beat deeply, the returning troops are orderly.

The carving knife rotates, the bamboo silk curls, falling into the wind.

"Hoo..."

The scribe carves on the green jade bamboo board, blowing away the bamboo shavings, revealing the characters.

"Shun History Records · Southern Pacification Volume" records:

"In the summer of the 79th year of Shun, Marquis Baron Xingyi pacified the Southern Frontier, the Great Shaman was beheaded, and the remnants of the former dynasty were all pacified. The troops returned to the capital in triumph. The Prime Minister received the decree to welcome them in the suburbs, and the Son of Heaven personally labored at the palace gate..." ===== CHAPTER 1174 =====