Chapter 1283

On the banks of the Yellow Shahe, the river is wide and the water level, sparrows and swallows skim low, and the temple halls glow vermilion.

The half-moon tiles on the roof are sun-bleached to a faded gray-black, blocking the fierce sunlight of the second day, mist swirling hazy and faint, the clay deity sits enthroned on the high platform, gazing down upon all the people.

Once the Long Wang ranked second, today the White Ape strides ahead, treading the waves.

Inside the temple hall, wine cups swirl with vortices, the old man holds a long incense stick, faces the ape statue, straightens his back: "On the twelfth day of the seventh month of the eighty-first year, the elderly of Sanchun Township, Xinqu County, Tongyang Prefecture, Yuzhou, respectfully offer pure liquor and vegetarian fare, proclaim to the Spirit Ape of the Rippling Waves — "

Outside the temple hall, the yellow dog stands with tongue lolling, villagers kneel in worship, faces turned to the temple, prostrating and kowtowing: "On the seventh month of the eighty-first year, the villagers, respectfully offer pure liquor and vegetarian fare, proclaim to the Spirit Ape of the Rippling Waves — "

The crowd's voices rise and fall in resonance, indistinct, the mighty momentum startles birds and beasts from the forest, a black mass pressing down.

Only this one bow.

Far away, tens of thousands of li, the White Jade Palace streaks across the horizon.

Azure tide essence surges and swirls, the Marsh Cauldron radiates brilliant light, casting its reflection into the sea of consciousness!

【Initial entry into Yellow Sand, River Favor Degree +0.1451】.

Huaijiang: 【River Dominion Degree: 3.6 (River Favor Degree: 36.4712)】

Yellow Sand: 【River Favor Degree: 0.1451】!

Indeed!

In the quiet chamber of the White Jade Palace, Liang Qu's eyes narrow slightly, both surprised and yet anticipated.

Having come to Yuzhou to manage the waters for nearly two months, not long nor short, starting from scratch to build is unrealistic, not that fast, but upon the foundation of the existing temple, inviting the White Ape in is more than sufficient, seeing this prompt, it is indeed a place of high efficiency, first to invite the White Ape from within the temple itself, and he, like Huaijiang, has also received the favor of Yellow Sand.

A great delight.

Liang Qu strokes his chin.

"I have already taken over Huaijiang, yet still gain Yellow Sand's favor—could it be possible to become the Long Wang of both lands?"

If not for the pressing time, letting the Old Dragon Lord come to Yellow Sand would better suit current interests, he truly has a bit of anticipation.

Becoming the Water Lord of Huaijiang is too difficult, the difficulty of the Yellow Shahe King is significantly reduced, it seems such a situation has never appeared in history, Huaijiang, Yellow Sand, and Ehe are all non-interfering and independent, he is not without chance to become the first to eat crab.

But favor is opportunity, dominion is authority.

How to transform Yellow Sand's favor into dominion?

As if in response.

The favor's light hazily dissipates, more brilliant light radiates forth.

The field of vision is nearly entirely occupied by the Marsh Cauldron's radiance, the last time such brilliance appeared was when Huaijiang's favor was complete, informing that the positional fruit can be linked!

No need to look with the eyes, the information directly blasts into the mind.

【Your domain, then bordering Qi and Qin to the extremes, connecting Ji and Dao. Opening the chest, the Yin and Wei, stepping over Yan and Zhao. Mountain forests and deep valleys, rivers and marshes winding back. Hengjie, Chen Gan piercing the azure sky, the River Fen, vast irrigation and bright.】

【Taking over Huaijiang, standing shoulder to shoulder with Yellow Sand】

【Promoted to Water Ape Great Sage, grasping Yellow Sand's authority, able to command Yellow Sand, uphold the heaven-and-earth pillar, support the Marsh State】

【Yellow Sand General: None】

The dark pupils suddenly dilate.

"I oppose, Scaled Great Snake, this fat brute is no good fish, absolutely just wall moss, utterly untrustworthy! Back when we withdrew from Jianghuai, this fatty fish defected the fastest, tail not even visible, the likes of dog-head fish—who has such? At least save face a bit! It doesn't even bother to pretend, rumor has it this bastard now mixes in high rank, become a Red Fish, flaunting power, maybe even deliberately sent by the White Ape!" Black Viper shouts loudly.

"Deliberately sent? I think this is your malicious slander, Black Viper? Jealous of Black Whirlwind's talent?" Scaled Snake hisses, tongue flicking.

"You're full of it!"

"Hah, whether it's gas or not, the snake heart will decide, formerly you Black Viper led the frontier gorge, then Black Whirlwind stole the leadership, causing conflict, this is known to all snakes."

"This time that time!" Black Viper rages, "Back at the frontier gorge, I did target Black Whirlwind, but that was private conflict, I am loyal to the death to the Great King, I will not thus delay great affairs!"

"Such loyal to the death, loyal to the death, dreaming such a treasonous dream? Bold, I am for the Jianghuai Dragon Lord", this is whose dream talk?"

Black Viper's throat lets catch, only manages to choke out: "You're talking nonsense!"

Scaled Snake does not dwell further, turns toward the Scaled Great Snake.

"Scaled Great Snake, I think this is credible, Black Whirlwind's poetic fame spreads far, talent overflows, throughout the Jianghuai great marsh, unique, all fish know.

It could well use this talent to curry favor with the new ruler, could it be that White Ape dislikes it? Not to say White Ape loves grandstanding, for the monkey to show off, upon entering the Dragon Palace, first thing levies taxes, grand construction, holds banquets, music and dogs and horses, often goes to northern waters, not like a low-key monkey.

And even if it dislikes poetry, Black Whirlwind would not be so utterly without trying, but it has not, not only has not, but since White Ape took over, not a single poem! A great poet fish not writing poems—what is this? Equal to a monkey unable to get peaches, black fish turning to vegetarian, this proves its red-heart loyalty to our king!"

"Fake, all fake! Its disguise! Scaled Martial, did you take its bribes! Back when White Ape died, the Great Huai Army's disbandment list was yours!" Black Viper rages.

"You've dreamed too much, taken your dreams as reality?"

"You dare say there was none?"

"You're talking in your sleep!"

"You definitely took the bribes!"

"You're talking in your sleep!"

The Viper clan and the Scale clan each hold their own views, from disagreement rising to snake-body attacks.

No matter what Black Viper says, Scale Martial just says one sentence: "You're talking in your sleep."

Scaled Great Snake Scale Jie looks toward the fewer, silent and reserved Boa clan.

Boa clan's Tall Boa Yan extends awareness, slowly crawls out, glances at Scale Snake and Viper Snake, weighs and says: "I have had little contact with Black Whirlwind, also little interaction, merely feel that both great snakes' words have some reason, but also both are inaccurate."

Black Viper, Scale Martial cease arguing, the other great snakes all look over.

Scale Jie nods to indicate continue.

Boa Yan continues: "I think Black Whirlwind may be neither loyal to White Ape nor loyal to the Great King, it is an opportunist."

"Opportunist?"

"Yes, hearing the two great snakes' words, this Black Whirlwind, one side curries favor with White Ape, rises to high position, one side again uses not writing poetry as soft resistance, and again, two years later, secretly contacts us, thereby showing loyalty.

I think, all it does is premeditated, it simultaneously lays two retreat paths for itself, simultaneously hedges bets, no matter who finally succeeds, it will have a place."

"Exactly, exactly, exactly, this Black Whirlwind, absolutely is eating inside and stealing outside, head and tail both ends, a terrible fish!" Black Viper loudly agrees, "Should send snakes to assassinate!"

Scale Snake is silent.

That possibility is not nonexistent.

Ran Yan shook his head: "It doesn't count as eating from the inside and clawing at the outside. For a ruler, one must have magnanimity; employ talent based on ability. If it truly is that kind of fish, loyalty or disloyalty doesn't matter — as long as the benefits are in place, anyone can be sold out, and anyone can be won over.

Used well, it can still serve a great purpose. It is currently serving under Bai Yuan, the highest-positioned among all water beasts we can contact. We can indeed make use of it to obtain some useful intelligence; we just need to take care to distinguish truth from falsehood."

Three parties, three attitudes, three views.

Lin Jie deliberated for a long time, then made up his mind.

"What you all say makes sense. But whether good or bad or opportunistic, in reality they can all be contacted first. If loyal, best; if not loyal, then turn their scheme against them. Truly two-faced — wait for the opportunity to act!"

The snakes looked at each other in dismay, heads lowered.

"Big Snake Lin is right."

"Good. Since no one has objections — Lin Wu, you go find an inconspicuous minor demon, go to the treasury and take one top-grade treasure fish, plus five — ten premium East Sea treasure fish. At the agreed time, go to the north bank of the sea entrance at Biluo and see Black Whirlwind —"

For Black Whirlwind to "speak up for justice," the scaled snakes who had opposed Black Viper lowered their heads;

"As you command!"

Undercurrents surged in the East Sea.

In Bai Yu Palace, Liang Qu's thoughts were in turmoil.

"Yellow Sand General — can become a furnace pillar for transforming into a Rainbow?"

—

【Realm Rite: Changyou Fruit, Heyin Fruit, Huashe Fruit, Ying Fruit — the four calamities gathered, Water Lord as king, can guide the Bright Hong Realm.】

【Realm Rite: Wu Fruit, Qingnu Fruit, Juling Fruit — the three cures gathered, together worshipping the Water Lord, can guide the Bright Cangming Realm.】

【Realm Rite: Ba Fruit, Ying Fruit, Fei Fruit, Yong Fruit — the four calamities gathered, Water Lord as king, can guide the Bright Calamity Realm.】

Great Li Taizu, the Whale Emperor — they were all furnaces, all making various efforts to break through to Transforming Rainbow.

The Old Dragon Lord also said the East Sea Grand Hunt might be the Whale Emperor selecting "Generals."

The Netherworld also has grand schemes.

From Liang Qu's perspective, and with the information currently grasped.

A corner of the Dying Dragon, a furnace for a land, a Rainbow for a realm.

But from a land to a realm, more "pillars" are needed for support. Different pillars have different lengths, different attributes; the worlds propped open are completely different.

Cultivating to the Furnace stage, almost all have pursuits — pursuing a better world. Great Li Taizu's opened half Netherworld is already impressively awesome. The Whale Emperor is even more sinister, wanting to pluck the sun from the sky, take the rivers of the mortal world, and the nether souls of the Netherworld — three realms united as one.

The Furnace needs to choose suitable pillars, and at the same time pillars need to choose suitable Furnaces.

If I myself can appoint Yellow Sand as a General, wouldn't that mean —

"Is it a Realm Rite containing Yi Fruit and Feng Fruit? Or are there more choices? If the Position Fruit is plucked, can a Long Wang definitely not be born? Back then the Mirage Dragon's Position Fruit was taken — how was the Old Dragon Lord born? Could it be Great Li Taizu only seized half?"

Liang Qu paced in place; for a moment there were too many, too many questions.

A person can refine more than one kind of Position Fruit. If one simultaneously swallows a full system's large, medium, and small Position Fruits, it is one person "opening heaven and splitting earth," creating a realm.

The Whale Emperor selects "Generals"; Great Li Taizu distributes nine Position Fruits to first-rank sects — it also seems they don't need to go to such trouble, can let others bear the burden. Just two people, refining two kinds of Position Fruits — how do they establish this inseparable connection between them?

Does the large Position Fruit have means like 【Command】?

Or must they undergo some special ritual, same as refining Position Fruits, to establish it?

Must the "pillar" itself be "alive"?

Will my self-nurtured Position Fruit have entered some dead end?

Liang Qu rubbed his brow, deeply worried.

The further one cultivates, the fewer fellow travelers; no one to reference or guide.

Relying on the Time Insect, he merged nine completely different long Qi into one at once — truly satisfying. Functionality far surpasses others, even greatly expanding his own Qi Sea limit — directly nine times the limit of others. At the Perfected Form Realm, invincible under heaven.

It felt great rushing through then — but won't there be a debt to pay when it comes to the Furnace stage?

Nurturing a mixed Position Fruit that can't find a matching "pillar" — unable to Transform into Rainbow for a lifetime?

Temporarily giving up, yet conflicted.

So many peerless merits all exchanged for the Creation Great Pills that rushed the Root Sea. The remaining untouched ones on the books are already being researched — how to merge them into one large pill for maximum benefit —

Head aching and conflicted all the way back to Yuzhou. At the foot of Chishan, white clouds gradually thinned, and the Yellow Shahe, Xu Xu, emerged upon the earth.

Liang Qu's heart-fire blazed, conviction firmed, and he halted his thoughts.

"If it really won't work — before the Whale Emperor and Great Li Taizu Transform into Rainbow, self-nurture a Position Fruit, advance to Marsh Spirit, be a gatekeeper. That's fine. No one will succeed! Can't harm me!"

As a "mere Dying Dragon," Liang Qu once more deeply realized why the Whale Emperor must protect his own reputation, play the nice old whale, repeatedly game over the matter of saving the Flood Dragon. Achieving things is hard; ruining things is too easy. If I can't succeed, ruining others is simple.

Letting someone else pinch a needed minor Position Fruit is the same as having one's balls pinched.

Hua.

Red clouds descended.

The Bai Yu Palace arrived and moored — the Creation Treasure Ship at Yellow Sand.

Liang Qu pressed all problems to the bottom of his heart, feigned an untroubled air, and stepped onto the deck — only to immediately have Si Nan stuff a pile of documents at him.

A tributary of the Yellow Shahe has burst its banks!

Liang Qu was startled, and could only ask about the situation while reading.

Fortunately, the problem isn't too serious. The tributary itself was severely dried up; it was seepage caused by silt blockage. The Heposuo has already dispatched people to handle it.

Clearly the River God ceremony just ended, yet it's still busy non-stop. The whole deck is also crowded with water beasts — Da He Li and Jianghe otters crossing back and forth.

Not to mention the silt, Liang Qu himself has a pile of matters.

Fat Fish is about to set off for the North Sea. This time is better than when undercover with the Flood Dragon. Back then, most time was spent on Flood Dragon territory. Now it's reversed — Jade Qilin sends it undercover to probe Bai Yuan and the Flood Dragon; the Flood Dragon sends it undercover to probe Bai Yuan. Its main body is still by Bai Yuan's side, so it can also attend to the engineering transformation.

Awei is in the Southern Frontier. At Saintess Li Xianghan's place, there are two Heaven-Earth Long Qi not yet collected.

The Netherworld side still needs a trip — strive for the Yong Fruit and handle the loophole from Lao Ying Tian's disappearance.

The remaining territory development, Demon King contacts — these "routine tasks" need not even be mentioned.

As their power grew ever greater, with the Whale Emperor and the Great Liang Taizu pressing down, Liang Qu could only take on several jobs at once if he wanted to seize a chance to turn things around.

He had no time to digest the unparalleled merit and the Yinglong's favor.

After May, he also had no time to pay attention to the dragonfolk's breakthroughs from swallowing the Long Qi.

Without a doubt, many things, once they happen once, will happen a second and third time, so his wedding with Long Eying could only be postponed again.

The deck.

The otter dragged a precious fish, legs pumping as it ran.

Long Eying directed the dragonfolk, preparing a pile of Jianghu specialties—little jiaolong, monkey king, otter otter—giving the fat fish carrying bags, big and small, just like the old toad who returned daily from treasure hunts when they had no Qiankun bags.

"The plump, snowy-white precious fish given to the qilin—what a sin!" The Third Prince sighed long and short.

After confirming the situation was under control, Liang Qu closed the book, glanced at A Fat's waist where a bulging pouch held something alive, and asked: "Do you really need to carry so much?"

The pouch was full of the East Sea treasure fish sent by the jiaolong side, plus the extra "activity funds" he'd applied for; the fat fish hadn't eaten a single bite, saying he had to bring it all to the North Sea to trade with the lin beasts.

The fat fish raised its tail and patted its waist-mounted large backpack.

More gifts, no complaints from the fish.

To give and to receive—only by giving more gifts can things get done smoothly!

Liang Qu nodded: "Just be careful yourself. If something can't be done, it's fine—even if your identity is exposed, the worst is losing money. Go on."

Long beard folded and swayed, swinging.

The fat fish leapt up, plunged into the Yellow Sha River, dove into the waterway, and vanished without a trace.

The Yellow Sha flowed eastward, stretching to the horizon.

"A Fat really is self-taught," Liang Qu remarked with feeling.

Long Eying glanced sideways.

"What are you looking at me for?" Liang Qu touched his face, "Is there something on my face?"

"Nothing."

"Are you angry with me?"

"Angry about what?"

"Isn't it because the wedding was postponed? Or could it be the South-Pointing Chariot? Hah!" Liang Qu punched his palm, "Lady must be jealous, right?"

Long Eying said helplessly: "I'm just wondering if A Fat really is self-taught?"

"That's true too," Liang Qu nodded seriously, "He often goes to the frog tribe—maybe he learned from the old toad?"

Long Eying's expression turned strange, but she didn't spell it out: "The elders of the tribe are about to emerge from seclusion, and the Long Jun side too—roughly by August they'll all be out. Do you want to meet them? I'll have them come to the Yellow Sha."

"That works. I'm not convenient to move—"

Confirming territorial matters.

Long Eying and the hedgehog returned to Yixing to handle the financial surplus after the celebration.

Liang Qu rushed nonstop to the tributary, dredging silt, digging mud, expanding the river channel.

A Fat scattered treasure fish and specialties throughout the qilin's domain, always calling himself an old townsman.

End of July.

【Second entry into Yellow Sha, River Favor Degree +0.7843】

【Third entry into Yellow Sha, River Favor Degree +0.5412】

【River Favor Degree: 1.4709】

Early August.

【Obtained a wisp of red qi; if fused with ten thousand water-essence, it can produce a spirit fish, enabling ascension of the Yinglong's favor.】

【Draconic seed qi wisp】*5

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