Chapter 1282

Whoosh!

Long Xu bowed at a ninety-degree angle.

On the deck, the fat fish packed his luggage, hoisted it onto a small wooden pole, shouldered it, bowed his fins to the various water beasts, then made a sharp, decisive turn without looking back, gazing out at the rolling yellow sands.

The river wind howled vast and mighty, Long Xu's whiskers fluttering.

The wind whistles bleakly, the northern waters are cold; the mighty fish departs, never to re————

"Wait!" Liang Qu raised a hand, stopping the fat one who was preparing to depart far. "No rush. The waterway you took back was swift as wind and lightning; normal travel couldn't be that fast. Even to see the Jade Qilin, a half-month delay is fine; dawdling in between, a month is normal. Moreover, I respectfully ask the National Preceptor to employ his profound arts once more and divine how the fat one contacting the Jiao Dragon faction would fare."

The crowd of water beasts turned their heads.

Long Eying asked, "Jiao Dragon?"

"Inspiration from the fat one." Liang Qu explained, "He claims to be a Jiao Dragon mole to the Jade Qilin. I think we might be able to turn pretense into reality and make it fact. We can try secretly contacting the Jiao Dragon's subordinates, see if we can hook that line up too. That way, we'll gain even more trust from the Jade Qilin. Three-way transport — in short, trying costs nothing."

The fat fish's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.

Since the Jiao Dragon's defeat and withdrawal from the Jianghuai, how could he not miss the military pay in the Great Huai Army? Those days of extorting the big fish inside the Vanguard Canyon — for the sake of an extra share of pay, the Third Prince, "Bu Neng Dong," Bai Awei — which of them didn't have to read his face to get by?

Alas, those beautiful days are gone, never to return.

"Divine once more————"

The old toad's eyeballs rolled; without waiting for words, Ta Ta Kai struck first, extending his left leg, his toes flicking the four upright and two inverted trigrams on the ground.

"You divine, I divine?" The old toad flew into a rage. "The same copper coins can only be used once! Once. Otherwise the spiritual mechanism gets confused — can you bear the responsibility? Should any mishap occur, the vast Jianghuai, the mighty Dragon Palace, will be ruined on your stingy yellow claws!"

"Master Frog, calm your anger. Ta Ta Kai, quick, give the money to Master Frog — for the Great Marsh, for the Dragon Palace, this is a necessary sacrifice. Later we'll have the hedgehog reimburse you."

Ta Ta Kai sighed, rummaged open the satchel at his waist, untied the string linking them, and with sharp claws picked out six coins————

The old toad glanced, spread his frog arms, lunged fiercely, snatched the whole string of copper coins in one grab, giving Ta Ta Kai no time to react. He stuffed the big share of nine hundred-plus into his own pouch, and tossed the small share of six into the Mystic Turtle shell.

Ta Ta Kai fell to the ground; his peripheral vision swept over the six copper coins from the previous divination, his face showed delighted surprise, and he spun and lunged.

Suddenly.

A piercing killing intent made Ta Ta Kai shiver; in his peripheral vision a residual shadow flashed past.

The old toad leapt into the air, swept out horizontally, kicked Ta Ta Kai flying, pinned the copper coins under both feet, clamped them together, leapt up again, executed a "Gambling Master style backflip," and the six copper coins clattered crackling into the Ac Qian Kun Treasure Bag.

Plop.

Water splashed up.

"————Water spirit bright, Grand Supreme Old Frog quickly manifest spirit————"

Crash clatter.

The turtle shell shook violently; the fat fish propped up and crawled out of the Yellow Shahe, baring teeth and waving claws at Ta Ta Kai.

A long while.

The old toad crouched on the ground, tilted the Mystic Turtle shell, and a row spilled out from the shell mouth.

Five upright, one inverted.

"Moderate auspicious!"

The fat fish patted his belly, licked his lips.

"As expected————"

Liang Qu stroked his chin.

Contacting the Jiao Dragon actually carries less risk than contacting the Jade Qilin, because after he took over the Dragon Palace, he was lenient by nature; aside from the Snake Clan and Ironhead Fish Clan who fled early, the clans in the Jianghuai willing to surrender all remained normally undisturbed.

The fat one is not of the Snake Clan; although his position in the Great Huai Army was not small, there are many great demons who similarly defected. Not to mention distant examples — isn't the Thorn Puffer Clan's Thorn Spike Leader precisely such a case?

As for how many among the remaining clans still remain loyal to the Jiao Dragon, Liang Qu never cared, and never even used the "Ear Recognition Art" or "Eye Recognition Art" to investigate.

The Jiao Dragon dispensed pay; the White Ape collected taxes.

These great demons nostalgic for past glory secretly making contact is perfectly normal; the Jiao Dragon's side will certainly react, and most likely will demand they continue lurking. As for whether that side believes them, that's another matter — trust needs accumulation, and depends on subsequent specific operations.

A thought settled.

"Fat one, in thirty days go to the North Sea again. During this period bring Master Frog, first return to the Jianghuai to seek contact opportunities. If you must wait for the other side's reaction, just return to the Yellow Sand first to farm black."

Whoosh!

Huff puff huff puff!

In the center of the South Water, snores like thunder; a huge round belly rose and fell continuously; scattered warships lay toppled everywhere; small mirage worms wriggled their bodies, crawling up and down.

Suddenly.

A snot bubble burst; air bubbles scattered and rose; water surged backward; parts scattered everywhere mixed together; the hurricane raised blew the fat worms away, dropping them into the large net woven of vines.

"Hmm——

Scratching his belly with his webbed claws, the Frog King opened his eyes, leaned against a giant boulder, and surveyed a circle.

An inexplicable rude awakening; his right eyelid kept twitching.

He just felt some danger was about to come————

Looking at the messy stalls outside, uncleaned for half a year, thinking it over, the Frog King sat up and decided on the spot to tidy up — throw out the trash, stuff the models into the cave; the originally piled-full parts and models were swept clean in one go, and the small exit instantly widened.

Just at this moment.

"Clang clang clang clang."

Gongs and drums sounded, resonating across half the water.

Bai Liu flew horizontally across the sky, laughing loudly shaking the heavens, like a brilliant meteor streaking across the sky.

"Hahaha, Great King, Big Fat, Second Fat, little ones, this Elder has come! Missed you to death!"

"Croak!"

"Croak!"

"Croak!"

On the continuous slopes, one after another red, yellow, blue, green frog heads poked out of their doors, raised their heads; at first two or three cries, then ten-odd, dozens, hundreds — frog cries blended into one piece.

"Elder! It's the Elder!"

"The Elder is back!"

"And the legless frog! He must have brought back good things!"

The frog tide surged out, undulating, they leapt and staggered, rushing toward the Frog King's cave, heading for the shooting star, the earth rumbled, dust flew.

A shooting star streaked toward the ground, when it was less than a hundred zhang above the earth, the old toad leapt hard, jumped off the fat fish's head, embraced the frog legs, spun three thousand six hundred degrees in midair, summoned a tornado of water, spread his arms, wrapped in a whirl of white bubbles, and landed lightly.

"The Elder is so handsome! Perfect landing!" The fat one rushed forward first to face the old toad.

"Damn, I should have said that first, Elder is mighty!" The second fat one followed closely.

Behind, the riverbed rumbled, dust rose, frog heads gathered, blocking everything, noisy and chaotic, taking advantage of the confusion, they shoved the last two model boats behind them, the twitching right eyelid finally stopped, the Frog King exhaled deeply.

The Mobile Corps Commander frog looked around, slightly disappointed.

"The Elder went out for half a year, why aren't there any full yellow leather bags?"

"Yellow leather bag? Hmph!" The old toad raised his frog head, took off the "small yellow leather bag" from his waist, "Those are all outdated old almanacs, old leather bags! Who still uses yellow leather bags outside?

Now everyone uses this, the Qiankun bag! A masterpiece of the Bureau of Heavenly Crafts, an art of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau, only a few in the world with super-large capacity, only the most handsome, wisest, most profound, and most venerable frog deserves to own it! Ah Fei, Liang Qing said, what is this called?"

"Trendy!" The fat fish shouted.

"Hmph."

The big frogs exclaimed, cheering the Elder's trendiness, the frogs couldn't keep up.

The Mobile Corps Commander frog couldn't help but bounce: "Where did the Elder go? Did he catch many treasure fish? Are the treasure fish outside tasty?"

"Average, the treasure fish of the Golden Sea are too spiny, those of the Yellow Shahe are too fishy, all mud and sand, the treasure fish of the North Sea are too cold, frozen teeth, none compare to my Huai River fresh fish, can only say make do. Enough, it's about to expire, no more talk, less chatter, let's eat!"

Expiring treasure fish piled into mountains, the frog clan cheered heaven-shaking, crowded into a encircling ring.

The fat fish squeezed in, tail swaying.

Big Fat and Second Fat blocked the frogs, shouting loudly.

"Don't rush, don't rush, Ah Fei, spit out the treasure fish in your mouth, I'll distribute!"

With no frogs around, the old toad quietly withdrew, alone lifted a large blue treasure fish, handed it to the Frog King, gave a hush, it tiptoed on its webbed feet, left a string of bubbles, a puff of smoke ran home to the third floor, the Qiankun bag tipped over, the empty third floor was again filled with colorful treasure fish, then summoned the Jiang Tun, nurturing spirituality.

Several days passed in a flash.

Qing Gong Bay.

Da He Li surveying and mapping, "cannot move" greening, round-head water purification, simultaneously directing his subordinate Jiang Tun and imperial court Jiang Tun to move—

Transport materials, fists colliding with double pincers, digging open a big hole.

Amidst the busyness, the fat fish puffed out his belly, double fins spread design drawings, long whiskers connected points, directed the engineering team, transported silt to the designated port.

The frog clan feasted greatly, the Yellow Shahe's sunk well chief engineer, officially took office!

Such a vast Qing Gong Bay, stretching over a thousand li.

Under He Li's arrangement, it was divided into eighty-one modules, from small to large numbers, successively sunk, finally for the palace, expected to be completed within a year.

So endless, there are still several major projects ahead.

Currently, only three demon kings exist in the Yellow Shahe, but throughout history, naturally there were more than three, these demon kings left their own traces, some clans still survive and inhabit, some drowned in the long river of time, each of these is no less than the great project of building the Northern Water Palace and transforming the frog clan's land!

Eating again the undercover expenses of the Jade Qilin and the Flood Dragon————

Ah Fei had a premonition, his spring had arrived!

The opportunity to become king, is now!

The Third Prince is not to be feared, "cannot move" is not to be dreaded, round-head is not to be worried about, Ah Wei is not to be troubled, fists are not to be feared, striking black is good, must strike.

By the way, who are the other two demon kings of the Yellow Shahe? Why not contract the project to them together?

How fast to eat the deposit into the mouth.

Eat the harvest before it's ripe, enjoy first, then work.

Ah Fei stopped a blue fish demon.

"The other two kings?" The blue fish demon blinked, naturally, "Of course it's King and Zhu King————"

The voice echoed in the mind.

Ah Fei scratched his head, then scratched his butt.

In an instant.

Countless spiritual light volcanoes erupted like shooting out, black clouds rolled, magma burst forth, blooming gorgeous flowers.

"All great fish, mealtime!"

The blue fish demon dragged a fish basket over.

The spiritual light instantly dimmed, Ah Fei shivered, lunged left and right, fins struck "cannot move", tail slapped round-head, collided with fists, surged straight to the front.

Wind sucked in!

"Three main materials, only missing the ice marrow of the Great Snow Mountain, don't know if Lao Ying Tian's side is going smoothly————"

The black Xuanming cold jade placed on the desk, frozen frost, above the Xuanming cold jade, another mass of North Sea沉银, like mercury, flowing steadily, emitting a chilling cold.

Harvest wave after wave, if it were ordinary days, would surely require more effort, personal attention, but now Liang Qu can only temporarily "set aside".

Lao Ying Tian's side cannot be contacted in real time, but he has always monitored the Northern Court situation, knows that a few days ago, "the sick tiger Suhe Barulu" briefly appeared in the Northern Court, dispelled the "retirement" rumor, strengthened morale.

Suhe Barulu's soul remains in the Ze Kingdom, thus we can infer that the body still houses Lao Ying

Tian, moreover, news came from the Jiang Tun side, saying the stone tower's color changed, the other side should have received the message, stood firm.

What comes next is just waiting.

But not idle waiting.

Liang Qu packed the two things on the table, sent Long Binglin to deliver them to the Imperial Astronomy Bureau in the capital.

All three materials need pre-processing, for example, the Xuanming cold jade needs advance carving of patterns, first come first served, during the wait for ice marrow, undoubtedly can greatly shorten the schedule.

Running between the Yellow Sand and Huaijiang, squeezing in time to eat a造化大药.

June 18.

Another acre of fully ripe wheat.

【Sacrifice to Huaijiang, River Favor +9.9647】

【River Dominance: 2.4 (River Favor: 95.1804)】

【Possessing the spirit of heaven and earth, the sovereign of all things! Extremely favored by Jiang and Huai, roaming in water, physical exertion consumption greatly reduced, divine ability consumption greatly reduced, waterborne injury greatly reduced, waterborne recovery greatly increased.】

"It actually rose?"

Favor reached a full hundred once again; Liang Qu was surprised by the favor amount of the fifth River God Festival — the fourth was 9.7, the fifth not only didn't drop but even rose slightly. Compared to the previous downward curve, it had clearly entered a plateau phase, and moreover the overall figures afterward were much higher than last year's.

He surveyed Anlan County.

The Thousand-Aperture Profound Wood rose from the ground, its entire body a dark hue, emitting a muffled murmur beneath the night curtain.

On the river surface, flames blazed fiercely, gray ashes soaring skyward.

The king boat's mast toppled toward the side of hope amid the people's cheers.

Following the street outward, houses stood dignified, pavilions rising side by side.

Liang Qu remembered.

Last year it also rebounded here, and he simultaneously understood why.

The first year, time was tight; aside from Yixing kept as a personal reserve with deep foundations already, the remaining thirteen counties were mostly scattered little fishing villages.

But leveraging the vortex waterways, the harbor, and the investment pull of the "Bu Neng Dong" Longevity Seal, and further leveraging the drainage effect of the leading county Yixing, they now had preliminary scale!

Especially Anlan, which accepted investment earliest; the River God Festival's form of sending off the king boat was also more interesting. As the spinal dragon, it bore a wave of traffic very well.

"Should focus on developing the head first; the middle two counties and the last two counties got muddled————"

Liang Qu patted his forehead.

He had actually forgotten the most important "peak effect"; moreover, with key counties diverting flow, it could instead help the previous wave of tourists follow on to stay in the middle counties.

"Have Ciwei revise the development plan————"

Too many matters, too busy; even Yinglong's Favor hadn't been sublimated yet, already no leisure to attend to all aspects. The matter of "fertilizing" could only be delegated to subordinates.

June 21.

【Sacrifice to Huaijiang, River Favor +8.9547】

【River Dominance: 2.4 (River Favor: 100 (104.1351))】

【Possessing the spirit of heaven and earth, the sovereign of all things! Receiving extreme favor of Jiang and Huai! Heavenly gods protect, earthly deities welcome; roaming in water, gathering spirit and condensing qi, covertly avoiding calamity. Physical exertion consumption————】

【Water Wang Yuan is a heaven-born divine species, heaven and earth concentrate spirit; receiving extreme Huaijiang favor, nurturing life, the hundred numbers are perfectly complete — already the limit of heaven and earth's favor, cannot be increased.】

【Zen mind brightly illuminates a thousand river moons; true nature contains the ten-thousand-mile sky. Water Ape Great Sage once more steadies his nature, can temporarily break through the perfect-complete upper limit, yet does not alter heaven and earth; beyond the hundred numbers, the remainder may drift and fade with time.】

【Water Ape Great Sage perfect-complete; may consume one hundred Favor, promote to one point of Dominance.】

Outside these rays of light, equally floating side by side, were the three additional Position Fruit information entries that appeared after Favor previously reached perfect-complete.

Not a shred of hesitation.

The Water Ape Great Sage's illusory shadow emerged behind him, roaring at heaven and earth!

【River Dominance: 3.4 (River Spring Favor: 4.1351)】!

Blue tides roamed.

Liang Qu let out a long breath.

Compared to Essence and Favor, Dominance growth is far too difficult.

But as long as there is a stable source channel————

Sense of security skyrockets!

What flood dragon, what whale emperor — one punch each, beat them into a soy sauce shop!

The sky-full of rosy clouds reversed direction, returning once more to yellow sand.

Nothing else, just lots of land!

June 24.

【Sacrifice to Huaijiang————】

July 12, the thirteenth county.

Two days rising together, golden light blazing.

Roof tiles scorching hot, birds and sparrows do not alight.

——

【Sacrifice to Huaijiang, River Favor +3.0547】

【River Dominance: 3.4 (River Favor: 36.4712)】

【Great flourishing achievement, renowned name resplendent.】

【River Dominance: 3.6 (River Favor: 36.4712)】

The cut wheat spread on flat ground to sun-dry.

The River God Celebration concluded perfectly!

【Marsh Spirit Promotion: 3.6/60】

【Long Right Fruit: 3.6/10】

Progress god-speed!

"Three point six, 0.1 more than last year; more people?"

Liang Qu gazed at the radiance.

Last year after finishing, it was also Great Flourishing Achievement, but only increased 0.1.

Additionally there are three layers of Yinglong's Favor not yet upgraded; once upgraded, there might still be Dominance.

"Before the East Sea Grand Hunt, I'll absolutely be able to reach ten points of Dominance."

Liang Qu grew increasingly expectant.

If by then he could also refine the Long You Fruit, he would hold water calamity in his left hand and drought calamity in his right, both hands working in tandem; even if his realm was insufficient, his strength would advance by leaps and bounds to the forefront of the Martial Saints, and with the Old Dragon Lord's assistance, he might not be unable to openly and legitimately claim the top-ranked Small Position Fruit!

He might not even need the Long You — the Mei Fruit would suffice!

"Flourishing by the day."

The White Jade Palace crashed through the drifting clouds.

As Liang Qu pondered the future, two pieces of information popped up simultaneously.

One came from Fat Fish; it had made contact with the Flood Dragon!

The second ————

The Ze Ding blossomed with radiant light.

【First Entry into Yellow Sand————】

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