Chapter 1181: Changing Heaven and Earth (Combined)

Water spiders, octopuses, salamanders, and giant crabs lined up in a long queue like a train.

Seeing so many water beasts, Liang Qu had expected it, but hearing it with his own ears, his heart still sank.

"So, the Mermaid King has completely severed ties with you? And gave the position of Demon King of the Sea Abyss Palace to the King?"

"That's right! That Mermaid King is truly hateful. Counting the old thing, there was hundreds of years of friendship. As soon as Sister went back to explain, it told us to pack our things and leave."

Hai Yun was indignant, her pale pink skin gradually turning a deep pink, as if her anger had materialized, nitrogen-like. "That King had long wanted a share of the pie. Sister's accident was just what it wanted. It even sent demons everywhere to post notices, saying my sister had no credibility, which is why she was removed from the Whale Emperor's list. It even sent subordinates to besiege our sea merchants. Now, business in the sea is impossible to conduct, and all the demon kings I used to be familiar with have turned cold."

Sea Hai Fangzhu was helpless: "It was I who destroyed the neutral credibility of the sea merchants. I cannot blame the Mermaid King..."

"That's a good thing." Liang Qu smiled. He took out a notebook and wrote down the name of the Ray King.

"A good thing?" Hai Yun was dissatisfied, lacking the gentleness of their past meetings. Her two pink tentacles were intertwined, as if she were hugging her arms. "How is that a good thing? I'm returning the Creation Great Medicine to you. Sister and I came today because we have nowhere to go. We are staying in Jianghuai, eating your food and drinking your drink."

"We won't leave until we find a way out!"

"Hahaha!" Liang Qu sneered, grabbing the pink tentacles and wrapping them around his arm. "Little beautiful fish, you want to leave after coming to my territory? Where in the world is there such a good thing? A life for a life, a favor for a favor. The Hai Fangzhu and I are already even. If I caught you and refined you into pills, selling you as a beautiful fish to sea beasts, the world would have nothing to say."

Hai Yun's expression changed abruptly: "You, you, you, what do you want to do? Let go, hurry up and let go!"

"Little Shui, don't tease Little Yun, she is timid." The azure tentacles rolled down the pink tentacles. Sea Hai Fangzhu was dejected. "I didn't expect the Mermaid King to be so decisive. I thought I could do business alone, but the Ray King cut off the sea route. Coming to Jianghuai today—"

"I know what you mean. Don't worry, just settle down." Liang Qu put away his notebook. "If we can't be sea merchants, we'll be river merchants."

"My Huai River is no worse than the East Sea under the Whale Emperor. From now on, in the Jianghuai Great Marsh, Master Hai Fangzhu will be the North Water King!"

"Ah, isn't the North Water King me?" The little Mirage Dragon circled and popped its head out. Liang Qu pressed it down with a finger.

Sea Hai Fangzhu waved its tentacles repeatedly: "The North Water is too big. I've just entered the Demon King realm and cannot sit in command. We can go to Magistrate Jian Water, the Five Lakes of the Huai River..."

"Magistrate Jian Water?" Liang Qu was "dissatisfied." "The Imperial Court just granted me thirteen ports, and I am preparing to show my skills, connecting with the Jianghuai Great Marsh, using the Great Marsh as the center to build a Huai River trade chain, and having Master Hai Fangzhu sit in command. The channels that can transmit Demon Kings have a great cost and are not easy to get. If Master Hai Fangzhu goes to Magistrate Jian Water, how can you help me? Isn't that sacrificing efficiency and adding trouble?"

Listening to the dissatisfied words, Sea Hai Fangzhu felt joy in its heart: "Is that really okay?"

"Fake."

"Little Shui..."

"Of course it's true." Liang Qu grinned. "Master Hai Fangzhu, just take the Creation Great Medicine given by Round Head. Tomorrow I will write a decree and stamp it for Master Hai Fangzhu. However, I haven't had time to clean up the North Water yet, as I was in the Imperial Capital. I will send the Dragon-men, Dragon Sturgeon, and A-Fei to help you later."

"No need for trouble, cleaning up is still no problem."

"Whether you can clean it up is not your business, it's my business. I'm worried my business will be delayed. Coming to Jianghuai today is to visit relatives. In a few days, I have to look at my fief in the west. They are all fishing villages, without large ports, and I need to build them up. I'm very busy. Settle down early so you can help me. I have very high requirements."

Octopus King, Whale Emperor, Mermaid King...

Sea Hai Fangzhu thought of a lot in an instant, and lost a lot, finally leaving only one word.

"Good!"

"Yay, Sister!"

"Yes, Sister."

The pink and azure tentacles intertwined.

Octopus King, Flood Dragon—from the past to the present, they were all life-saving favors. They wouldn't be offset by one favor for another; instead, they appeared even more precious.

After settling Sea Hai Fangzhu and the Octopus Tribe, Liang Qu took the persimmon from the monkey's hand, wiped it, and ate it. He looked around; there were several hundred monkeys.

A proper large monkey troop, each holding a small wooden stick, with a bundle hanging from the tip of the stick: "What about you guys? Why did you run down from Shou Mountain?"

"Roar roar roar!"

The golden-haired monkey king jumped up and down, baring its teeth, leading the hundreds of monkeys behind it to rise and fall together.

"Old Yuan drove you out, huh." Liang Qu touched the monkey king's head, grabbed its paw, and pulled it onto his shoulder to squat. "Then how did you arrive with the sea merchants?"

The golden-haired monkey king huffed and puffed, and the hundreds of monkeys moved at the sound, running to the sea merchants and pushing out rafts.

The monkey king paddled with both hands, finally spreading its four limbs, sticking out its tongue, and lying on it, as if exhausted to death.

"Using this?" Liang Qu was surprised. "You paddled rafts all the way from Peng Ze?"

The Jianghuai Great Marsh alone was ten thousand miles across, not to mention the long stretch of the Huai River from Peng Ze to Jianghuai.

The monkeys were just a group of spirit monsters.

Hai Yun added: "These little monkeys were very hardworking. When we met them, they were all on the rafts. Sister just took them all on."

"Otherwise, they wouldn't have made it this year."

"Poor things." Liang Qu touched the monkey head, not knowing how they had angered the old turtle. "It's okay, Old Yuan doesn't want you, but I do. From now on, you're with me."

"Roar roar roar!"

Finding a new boss, the monkey troop almost had the momentum of a tsunami, pulling their sticks and swinging their bundles, dancing with joy.

The little Mirage Dragon secretly thought it was bad. Having a little hedgehog at home was already enough of a headache, and now another one of the same kind had come...

He summoned Round Head, let the finless porpoise lead the way, and went to the Dragon Palace to muster troops. When the fish fins were sufficient, they would go to the North Water. The majestic sea merchant team disappeared into the Great Marsh. Liang Qu brought the hundreds of monkeys onto the treasure ship, feeling a surge of emotion.

"Not stable."

The flood dragon had been driven away. The throne in the Dragon Palace should also have been remodeled by A-Fei into the shape his buttocks needed.

However, Liang Qu's control over the Jianghuai Great Marsh was not high, not even as high as the previous flood dragon. His orders couldn't reach outside the Jianghuai Great Marsh, and he had even lost control of the East Water and North Water within the Great Marsh.

The territory was large, but there was no resource output; it was an empty shell.

The West Turtle and South Frog had just helped him, so he certainly couldn't use the posture of a Water Lord to demand work or resources. That would ruin the friendship. The two kings helping the white ape was one aspect, but more so it was to advance further, not to find a boss who would restrict them.

Sea Hai Fangzhu's arrival helped Liang Qu control the North Water, thereby digging resources from the Jianghuai Great Marsh to provide development support and rapidly expand his influence.

Living beyond one's means.

The loans from the kings were also a problem.

He had promised the Turtle King and Frog King that they could take from the Dragon Palace treasury at will. Relying solely on the merits of the Southern Frontier and the Ghost Mother Sect, he was still far from the level of the Dragon Palace treasury.

"Yo, where did these monkeys come from? Quite clever."

Xu Xu Zishuai looked at the vast Great Marsh, then at the golden-haired monkey king on Liang Qu's shoulder, wondering where they had popped out from, before he could reach out.

"Roar roar roar."

One monkey after another climbed onto the deck along the ropes, like crabs chasing the sea after the tide receded, dense and crowded, squeezing into a patch. Those grabbing the railing grabbed the railing, those climbing the mast climbed the mast, acting like they were at home and occupying the treasure ship.

"Whoa! A-Shui, which deep mountain forest did you find these in? What are you doing with so many monkeys? Opening a circus? Martial Saint moonlighting? A bit interesting." Ke Ko Wenbin and the others all came out, surprised.

Liang Qu scratched the monkey's head: "Just in time to build the Prince's Mansion. No need to hire people; just let the monkeys do it."

"Alright, you have connections. I thought you just stayed on the ship practicing for a month, but it turns out someone sent you subordinates?"

"I practiced for a month?"

"Yeah, came out in the ninth month, and now it's the tenth. Don't you feel the weather is much cooler?"

The monkeys' movements startled everyone on the ship. Su Su Xiaoran wanted to touch them but didn't dare. Ke Ko Wenbin grabbed one directly, scaring Su Su Xiaoran into running everywhere.

"Tsk tsk..."

Long Yao and Long Li took out biscuits, learning the sound of Wulong to call the monkeys. Several golden-haired monkeys carefully took them, tasted one, and squeaked wildly.

The monkey troop scrambled, piling up into a small mountain.

A monkey smell drifted across the territory. Datakai stepped out of the captain's cabin, arms crossed, looking down from above at the golden-haired monkey king.

The golden-haired monkey king turned its head, also stood up, and crossed its arms.

The river wind blew fiercely.

The golden and brown fur on their heads danced simultaneously.

It's an enemy monkey/otter!

"~Tsk!"

Like a nail driven into a wooden board.

Datakai's mouth squirmed, having accumulated for a long time, and it spat a mouthful of saliva fiercely onto the ground.

The monkey king was furious, climbing the mast, kicking off, and jumping.

Datakai hugged the mast and slid down, diving and falling.

In the sky and on the ground, stars collided.

A fierce battle.

Left hook, right hook, right whip kick, heart-piercing elbow, whirlwind palm...

Figures intertwined, then cleared. The monkey king was grabbed by the head fur, violently tilted backward, opened its mouth, and was pressed onto the floor again, its head kissing the deck again and again.

The monkey king lost all face, the monkey troop was in chaos, the golden-haired monkeys grabbing biscuits dropped the crumbs and swarmed up, attacking in a group.

Datakai's round eyes widened, murderous aura chilling. It supported the ground with both claws, performed a 360-degree Thomas flair, sent thirty monkeys flying, grabbed the tail of a monkey in mid-air to swing its position, performed a backflip three times to avoid the encirclement, cut with both claws, and set up a stance, attacking fast and hard.

Monkeys kept piling up, piling into a mountain, and monkeys kept flying out, falling into the Great Marsh to become drowned rats.

Screams, wails, squeaks, a scene of clamor. The monkey king used both hands to crawl out of the monkey pile, was grabbed by the head by Datakai, had its head grabbed and beaten violently, and fell again.

"Sigh, you, why are you so restless when you just arrived? Why provoke the ship captain?" Xu Xu Zishuai sighed, dragging the monkey king, who was covered in bumps, out. "The ship captain practices in the three nines of winter and the three nines of summer, dances with the rooster, never changes day by day, and has made a name for himself in the Martial Hall. Tempering actual combat, he is the number one actual combat instructor in the Martial Hall. Speaking of Ape Fist, I wouldn't dare say I'm better than it. How could you, a mountain spirit and wild monster, compare?"

The monkey king tilted its head and stuck out its tongue.

"It's dark, why is it still so noisy?" Xu Shi walked out of the cabin, finding monkeys all over the floor, with nowhere to step. "Where did so many monkeys come from? Are they dead?"

Bang!

Sending the last one flying, Datakai stood with its claws behind its back, standing proudly in the wind, fully displaying the demeanor of a grandmaster.

It didn't even need to use spirit weapons.

Its opponent had always been only one!

Xu Xu Zishuai laughed: "A-Shui's kin, here to work for him."

Xu Shi was speechless: "Can't you find some people to do the work?"

"They came to the door, just in time to use them." Liang Qu let Datakai clean the floor, walking over with a grin. "Did it disturb you? I'll have them quiet down."

"It's alright, it's not time to sleep yet." Xu Shi didn't care about this, looking at Liang Qu. "Is the practice finished?"

"Yes, it's come to an end. Does Mother have something to seek me for?"

Xu Shi nodded, signaling Liang Qu to follow her.

On the deck, Xu Xu Zishuai enthusiastically threw down a cable to fish for monkeys.

Following the little junior brother was always lively; there were always fresh things.

In the study, Liang Qu lit the gold-bright oil lamp, helped Xu Shi sit down, and turned to pour tea.

"I'm going to sleep, no tea."

"Understood." Liang Qu put down the tea canister and poured a cup of plain water.

"I wanted to find you to talk about it that day in Cangzhou, but in the blink of an eye, you went into seclusion to practice. You only came out today. I didn't want to interrupt and call you, and your master is a rough man who doesn't think of the details. If I really did as you said, by the time I knew and wanted to change it, it would be too late."

Liang Qu was confused: "What is it?"

Xu Shi asked back: "Those thirteen ports of yours, all the way down, you don't intend to recruit people?"

"No need. I have the support of the Dragon-men and water beasts, Jiangchuan County has mermaids, and there's Master's Huaiyin Martial Hall. Every year there are good seedlings, senior brothers and sisters can come, and Yixing has fellow villagers. I don't lack people. Collecting them from everywhere would require special arrangements." Liang Qu said halfway, suddenly realizing. "Is there someone here who wants to come? It's fine, Mother, you say it, I'll take them all!"

Xu Shi laughed: "Who told you about this?"

"Then..."

"Other princes can choose not to recruit people, but you cannot."

"Why?"

Xu Shi rolled her eyes: "Is your cultivation too high, and with a hammer in your hand, everything looks like a nail? You don't even use your clever brain anymore. Are the places you were granted just ports?"

"Yes, thirteen of them, with Yixing as the head."

"Then on your way back, didn't you just pass through the canal and the Huai River? And were there many major clans from both banks coming to respond?"

"Yes."

Xu Shi explained patiently: "Your fief is a port, mainly for trade, not for other material output. Other princes can do the same behind closed doors, but you need circulation. You are taking over new ports, all needing construction. If people go to you, they won't go to others, and you will always be sharing the benefits of others."

"Many places we passed before were controlled by major clans. If you had recruited a portion at that time, firstly, they are all people who know the business, and recruiting them wouldn't be useless. Secondly, in the future, if you encounter something anywhere, you can send people to talk and find connections. Although it's all about solving things, the difficulty is different. Would people make things difficult for their own family?"

Liang Qu was stunned, immediately feeling it made sense. He slapped his thigh, but then felt awkward: "Mother, I've already put the word out. If I recruit more along the Huai River later, wouldn't that offend places like the canal and Cangzhou to death? I can't go back again; that would lose too much face..."

"You shouldn't have gone to your master for this kind of thing, at least not to him alone."

Liang Qu was helpless: "I'll definitely find you first next time. Now I can only continue like this."

Xu Shi sipped the plain water: "I've already remedied it."

"Mother!" Liang Qu stood up abruptly, scurrying behind the chair to massage Xu Shi's shoulders. "How did you remedy it?"

"You said you wouldn't recruit, so I could only have your master come forward and say in Cangzhou that the Huaiyin Martial Hall is recruiting instructors and students. If they perform well, they will be recommended to you. Some people have already set out."

Hiss!

"Mother! My own mother! The day I saw the Prime Minister at court, it wasn't even half as clever as you."

"Heh, you and Xiao Si are the ones who love saying things like that." Xu Shi stood up. "Tell the monkeys outside not to be noisy, I need to go back to sleep."

"Okay, I'll see you off."

"Alright, I'm not seventy or eighty and unable to walk. Go find your Long Eying."

"Heh."

Liang Qu rubbed his hands.

His fief form inevitably requires dealing with the outside world. With Xu Shi saying this, he really needed to recruit people along the way. Now it was even better; there was an extra screening buffer from the Huaiyin Martial Hall, and the Martial Hall expanded its income and instructors. Killing two birds with one stone!

Having elders to rely on is undoubtedly a great blessing in life.

Comfortable.

In the cabin, directing the river otters, Liang Qu arranged the rooms, stuffed the bruised monkeys inside, and let them spend a quiet night, to go to work on the dock tomorrow.

Communicating with the Ze Ding.

Fusion degree reached 50%, basically no innate skills, very rare. At 99%, only one extra 【Water Thorn】 appeared, just as the name suggests, a water reed in the water.

The key was 【Prosperity of the Prince】 and 【Spirit Descent】, two innate skills that only appeared at perfection.

In the past, the perfection of Ze had brought 【Spirit Transformation】, a divine skill, not a divine ability, stronger than a divine ability. If he couldn't transform into a white ape, Liang Qu wouldn't have been able to fight the flood dragon at all. He might have had to wait a few years, watching the flood dragon succeed in its journey.

【Spirit Descent: Manifest a spirit body, descend to control the beasts, observe the four directions, listen to the eight sides】.

【Prosperity of the Prince: There is a Water Lord in the river, benefiting all things, grasses and trees flourish; spiritual treasures appear in the world, pearls and jades are born frequently; the monarch's virtue is manifest, goods are abundant and the people are prosperous; the royal way is vast, prosperity is flourishing. The higher the governance, the more flourishing the prosperity.】 **Chapter 1182: Time Flies, Rewarding Merit**