Chapter 1297: Collect the Tears of Mermaids Across the World, Gather Them in the East Sea (Seeking Monthly Votes, Combined Volume)

Mermaid tears are not as valuable as treasure fish.

The voice was clear and strong.

The Ray King was stunned for a moment.

Having just been reminded by the king, realizing that mermaid tears could aid the Great Hunt, the mermaid king, his heart burning with fervor, had a bucket of cold water poured over his head.

The East Sea Great Hunt gathers martial sages, masters, demon kings, and great demons—where the world's storms converge—and the Whale Emperor has even produced lavish rewards, showing how highly he values it; if one can provide assistance, they will surely gain the Whale Emperor's favor.

Since how many generations of mermaid kings began, they, relying on their innate spiritual intelligence and dexterous hands, convenient for processing, have engaged in sea trade generation after generation, operating industries, and making offerings to the Whale Emperor.

All the East Sea demon kings are his subordinates, yet again, not all are.

The mermaid king considered himself, compared to the other East Sea demon kings, to be a half-confidant, second only to his own clan's Cloud Whale; driving away the Sea Workshop Master, he also cleverly grasped Yun Bo's hint, nearly touching upon some unspeakable secret.

For hundreds of years, such contacts and orders have not been many, but not few either; yet they are insufficient, far insufficient, and he longs too much to please the Whale Emperor, to go further, letting the mermaid tribe truly become the Whale Emperor's subsidiary and facade, expanding their business worldwide.

Precisely because Zhou used them, we must distinguish even more: East Sea mermaids, famed across the world, their tears are even more the treasure on the waves of the East Sea—great sorrow and great pain, consuming lifespan to produce; especially you humans, flocking to them, how many mermaids have suffered harm? How are they not as good as treasure fish?

"I have investigated Zhou's Great Hunt: treasure fish and treasure birds require several sacks to be packed properly, for which special huts must be built—troublesome over convenient—but mermaid tears differ: a palm-sized small sack can hold hundreds; these are my granddaughter's tears at the moment of her death—please look, how small."

The mermaid king pinched a crystal-clear mermaid tear between his index finger and thumb, displayed it to the demons, eliciting resonance, and continued: "Huai King, I know that Great Shun has recently developed Qiankun bags—palm-sized, large ones nearly holding two shi, very convenient—but such treasures only circulate in Great Shun, not everyone has them; for giant demon beasts it's still manageable, but for Nanjiang and Bei Ting, how unfair is it? If judging by the standard of snatching mermaid tears, it will surely make the Zhou Great Hunt even more splendid!"

"Yes yes yes."

"Right right right."

"Treasure fish are not as good as East Sea mermaid tears."

The great demons and demon kings all voiced their support for the mermaid king in turn.

Liang Qu indeed spoke with head and tail, every rule he could spin into a pile of "theory," a pile of "new terms," coordinates and whatnot, leaving the demons feeling vaguely enlightened, yet the mermaid king's words likewise put them on alert.

Not to be overlooked, Liang Qu is a person of Great Shun; his suggested rules may not lack private benefit for himself; no matter what, we cannot let his opinion dominate alone.

Great Shun's Qiankun bags are too cheating—packing treasure fish aside, we don't even know how much the other side has, how to judge the fins? The difficulty of snatching also rises in a straight line.

Liang Qu shook his head: "This matter is simple—just ban the use of Qiankun bags, and it's solved?"

The mermaid king countered: "What if someone secretly uses them? Or you Great Shun folks suddenly invent another, not called Qiankun bag? Qiankun ring or some other name—same soup, different medicine—would you have the Whale Emperor change the rules on the spot?"

"Naturally we dare not change orders from morning to evening; then, one Qiankun bag per person, rented during the Great Hunt, returned afterward—how many flood dragons are there in the world? You mermaids can contribute mermaid tears; we of Great Shun may not be unable to contribute Qiankun bags.

Moreover, as the mermaid king said, you demon tribes have many born with enormous bodies, able to gulp down untold numbers of big fish with open mouths; hanging a large bag on your body will necessarily restrict our human movements—what business is it of yours, demon tribes?"

Furthermore, the Zhou Great Hunt uses treasure fish, spirit birds, and spirit deer as hunting targets, which are themselves rewards for participants; even if one does not reach a prize-winning rank, catching a decent treasure fish is not a wasted trip.

Or could it be that you mermaids produce your tears to support the Great Hunt, and afterward, you give away your longing for kin to participants for free? Do sea tribes also trade in jewels? Even if sold to humans, such a vast quantity would cause a temporary price drop—how could it compare to treasure fish?

"That also makes sense."

"I think it works."

"Indeed."

Many demon kings also felt that treasure fish's benefits were more substantial—come to the Great Hunt, and you also get small sea pellets and treasure fish, better than needing to find humans to cash in, possibly facing price drops, mermaid tears—just treat it as a trip.

Whether human, mermaid, or great demon, there is always a contrary mindset.

Especially between Liang Qu and the sea traders, due to Bai Yuan, there exists some opposition; the less they want mermaid tears, the more the mermaid king wants to prove mermaid tears are the best choice.

Without waiting for the mermaid king to rack his brain for reasons to rebut.

Liang Qu, unhurried, took two steps, spoke calmly: "The most crucial point—let me ask the mermaid king: will your mermaid tears swim by themselves, fly by themselves, run by themselves?"

"No." The mermaid king opened and closed his mouth, "But since it is already a judging standard, why must it swim, fly, run by itself?"

"Why not? Of course it must!" Liang Qu retreated to his original position, bowed to the Whale Emperor, raised three fingers: "No matter what creature, deep in their bones lie only three obsessions."

"Which three?" the Whale Emperor asked.

"Violence, sex, and fine food!"

The demon kings looked at each other, some water-dwelling ones unconsciously scratching their crotches.

Liang Qu paced back and forth, speaking at length.

"Violence brings safety, sexual satisfaction brings reproduction, fine food satisfies appetite.

These three are the demands of beings in their most primitive state, the most original pleasings; thus, only the satisfaction of these three things can most stimulate beings' senses.

If the Great Hunt wishes to be splendid, at its core, it must involve violence to be so pursued; hence, we must use third-party judging to ease direct combat's conflict, yet have everything's foundation return to the display of one's own strength."

Yun Bo wondered: "Is this not self-contradictory?"

"No, not contradictory, because the manifestation of strength has many forms—wisdom is strength, high morality, high charm inspiring unity is also strength, traps, ambushes—these are all strength.

Absolute competition, one-on-one on the stage, destroys the expression of these hidden strengths, pursuing ultimate violence, thus the audience also excludes those who possess such strengths.

Therefore, I said: the essence of entertainment is to turn a single coordinate axis into a shared multi-dimensional coordinate axis, adding unpredictability to outcomes; to manifest different dimensions, one must set up multiple difficulties."

Yun Bo suddenly understood: "Treasure fish flee by themselves, treasure birds fly by themselves, spirit deer run by themselves—this is a difficulty; during Zhou's Great Hunt, the thirteen-layer water pressure, inability to breathe—is that also a difficulty?"

"Exactly so—letting person face person become person facing environment; a complex environment can bring complex conditions.

The past Zhou Great Hunt's setting of forest cabins was also a stroke of genius, because it let ambitious contestants, while focusing on collection, beyond mere struggle against environment, have a possibility of greater gain.

Letting contestants' conflicts concentrate and explode in a fixed environment, to seek rich returns, fierce competition, ultimately unavoidable to avoid human conflict, prevent becoming pure environmental opposition, satisfy the same." Liang Qu bowed, "Therefore I say, mermaid tears are not as good as treasure fish.

The value of treasure fish is merely an extremely small part of the reason; producing tens of thousands of top-grade treasure fish is unrealistic; ordinary treasure fish's value to flood dragons is just so.

The key lies in: mermaid tears do not run, do not swim, do not fly, greatly reducing the difficulty of collection, weakening environmental opposition, which will lose much splendidness—unless it can operate flexibly, then it would indeed be a very good choice, alas———"

Silence.

The mermaid king spoke hesitantly, wordless.

He could not utter a word.

Liang Qu's theories, one set after another, because he advised the Whale Emperor, he had a belly full of drafts, distilling phenomena into logical causes by peeling silk from cocoons; yet, having just arrived, facing prepared opponents, he had no room for rebuttal.

The Ray King could not make head or tail of it, looking at his two equally dazed little brothers in his caravan.

Strange.

The suggestion was Liang Qu's, the rebuttal was also Liang Qu's.

Could it not be———

"Why didn't I give a gift?"

Wang felt deep regret, missing the chance to advertise for the sea merchants and boost performance, inwardly cursing the other party as too greedy, a real miser, and never expecting Liang Qu to be so impatient, having already given two portions of the great creation elixir, originally thinking there was a certain foundation of trust, planning to give benefits after the matter was settled, why the hurry to ask first?

It's not that I don't want to give, I simply don't have time, yesterday afternoon it only received word from its junior, still needing to prepare for these few days of the sea merchants' gathering and trade, leading to changes in the tribute items, requiring reorganization, and only this morning did it formally pay homage to the Whale King, where would it find time to prepare?

Extortion.

In the Eastern Sea it's like this, in the Great Shun imperial court as an official what it's like it dares not imagine.

From this to that, the white ape wearing a pair of trousers is certainly no good thing either, indeed, whose good fish and widow flirt? I heard their husbands were all killed by one monkey and one fish together.

My slander is not wrong.

Adulterers!

"Against the environment, difficulties in gathering — " the Whale King seemed thoughtful, "In the past, the Huangzhou Great Hunt, watching them chase the treasure fish, indeed interesting, turns out this is the reason."

Liang Qu bowed: "Exactly so."

Yun Bo asked: "But, what treasure fish could make a Wu Sheng and Demon King feel gathering is difficult?"

"This — "

Liang Qu froze for a moment, furrowed his brows, sank into thought.

Seeing this, Yun Bo and the other cloud giants realized this was a major problem, silently recalling the types of treasure fish.

The paying homage demons whispered among themselves, more and more aquatic creatures carrying tribute objects entered the great hall.

And among the sea merchants' procession, early on curious to pay homage, taking another small path, letting the cloud giants lead them in, Yang Dongxiong and others heard the latter part.

"Yes, what treasure fish could be so difficult as to challenge a Wu Sheng who has no equal under heaven, to rise to opposing the environment?" Ran Zhongsi pondered.

"Fenxian fish? Can't catch, can't see, I think it's only Ashui, ordinary Martial Saints just can't catch it." Ko Wenbin thought.

Su Gu Shan shook his head: "That's too rare, how many could there be in all the world?"

"As a hidden reward."

Everyone was struggling to recall the types of treasure fish.

Only Long Eying, her eyes slightly widened, covered her chest, opened her small mouth to exhale slightly, endless brilliance flowing in her gaze.

Liang Qu touched his chest, pulling out two pages of a book, at that moment her breath nearly stopped, until now, watching Liang Qu at the front together with everyone "dazed", watching Liang Qu use his own rhythm, letting all demons out of selfish self-interest jointly walk toward that most likely target to appear.

She understood, she understood completely.

Is this all the idea she came up with after seeing the fish queen yesterday afternoon?

Liang Qu stopped his ferry step, shook his head.

"I am shallow in experience, cannot think what treasure fish could trouble a Wu Sheng, this is also why I dared not immediately reply to the Whale King before, precisely due to this concern, time too short, my limited experience restricts my display, however, in my territory there is one Fenxian fish, willing to contribute it, to support the Eastern Sea Great Hunt."

"Is there only one Fenxian fish?" Yun Bo puzzled.

"There is only one, but it can serve as a hidden reward, for example, catching the Fenxian could offset a thousand treasure fish or the like, the exact amount depending on the number of participants and score weight."

"Better to use merfolk tears!" The merfolk king seized the opportunity to advise, "Ordinary treasure fish, for demon kings and great demons, pose no capture difficulty at all, using treasure fish again is merely gilding the lily. Moreover, being too similar to the Huangzhou Great Hunt, it now feels stale, lacking my Eastern Sea's character, better to directly use merfolk tears, merfolk tears are tiny, lack living creature qi, conversely can use terrain to hide, increasing search difficulty."

"Indeed no bulk, increasing the difficulty for a Wu Sheng to catch treasure fish." The Whale King admitted.

The merfolk king's heart leapt with joy.

"However — "

However?

However what?

"What difficulty is there in making treasure fish and merfolk tears hard to find? Merfolk king, lend me your merfolk tears for a use."

The merfolk king hastily presented it.

The merfolk tear of his granddaughter flew out from his palm, first arriving before the Whale King.

The Whale King blew a breath.

This breath was exactly like the depiction of blowing air in children's linked picture books.

The merfolk tear became a small cluster of white cloud, sprouting two pairs of white, delicate tiny wings, thereafter tracing a faint afterimage only a few could see clearly, floating before Liang Qu.

Air currents disturbed.

Wings fluttered at high frequency, at high speed completely vanishing into invisibility, leaving only crystal clear, translucent, hovering in midair the merfolk tear.

Liang Qu glanced at the Whale King, the Whale King nodded slightly, instantly he understood, raised his hand to grab.

Swish!

The merfolk tear with a pair of tiny wings, like a butterfly, darted about, flitting around Liang Qu's hand and forearm!

One miss, Liang Qu withdrew then reached again, the merfolk tear antelope's horn, suddenly leapt aside.

It merely had a pair of wings, its actual speed and direction display completely violated the objective law of relying on air currents.

In an instant, Liang Qu and the merfolk tear played hide-and-seek within a small space, becoming entangled afterimages, merely from the Whale King blowing one breath, yet he failed to catch it several times in succession.

From afar came low laughter, Long Eying and the Xu clan narrowed their eyes, glanced askance, committing each to memory.

Liang Qu's brow twitched, a bit of anger, simply closed his eyes, rose and fell breathing, released the third divine sense, sensing the air currents around his body, fully surrendering to his instinct where his mind led.

Buzz buzz buzz.

The merfolk tear's noisy disturbance gradually faded.

Liang Qu seemed to return to the day he had never practiced martial arts, afternoon sunlight slanting in, disturbing flies buzzing near the ear —

Just as the fly clung to his back, momentarily suspended. In his mind no thought, no inspiration, his body for this annoying disturbance made the best choice.

Clap!

The merfolk tear touched his palm, emitting a crisp sound, floating far away.

"Great, Eying sister, caught it, caught it!"

Long Yao and Long Li grabbed Long Eying's arm, shook it, then tiptoed, slightly raised their chins, provocatively looking toward the laughing great demon and even demon king whose laughter had abruptly ceased.

Liang Qu opened his eyes, firmly grasped the merfolk tear.

He looked at the Whale Emperor, performed a curtain-call bow with hands spread, and the Mermaid Tear flapped its wings, leaping out nimbly to continue circling.

The Whale Emperor exclaimed in surprise, "Impressive skill."

"Merely a clever, frivolous trick."

"By my estimation, others would not find it so easy." The Whale Emperor waved a hand to beckon, and the Mermaid Tear came to the rear, before the Mermaid King, who likewise understood and reached out to grab it.

Whoosh!

The Mermaid Tear flew and spun around the arm.

So fast!

The Mermaid King's gaze sharpened; he reached back to grab again, and failed just the same.

Whoosh.

The Mermaid Tear flew and spun; the Mermaid King tried several times, gradually feeling pressure — it was a high-ranking Demon King, several minor realms above Liang Qu — just as it prepared to get serious —

A residual shadow flashed; the Whale Emperor recalled the Mermaid Tear.

"No need to be serious; it seems this level should be sufficient."

A pile of Demon Kings' smiles gradually faded; they originally hadn't seen through any mystery, knew the Whale Emperor was great but not the Whale Emperor's methods, and were even less familiar with Liang Qu, but regarding the Mermaid King who had traveled commerce for hundreds of years they knew full well — when the previous Mermaid King was still alive, this one had a violent temper, formidable reputation, fought many battles, only restraining himself after the old Mermaid King died, staying in the Sea Abyss Palace for years, yet unexpectedly —

"The Whale Emperor's divine traces are extraordinary; my insight is shallow, I dare not judge feasibility. If during the Great Hunt the Mermaid Tear all has this speed, on par with the Treasure Fish, it is indeed feasible."

Seeing all problems completely resolved, Liang Qu finally relaxed; the Mermaid King was overjoyed, bowed deeply, supporting himself with one hand: "Whale Emperor, our clan is willing to offer Mermaid Tears!"

The Whale Emperor nodded: "This Great Hunt, many thanks to the sea merchants."

"Ten thousand thanks, Whale Emperor!"

The Mermaid King and the Skate King excitedly prostrated themselves.

Liang Qu asked: "I wonder how many Mermaid Tears the Mermaid clan can produce."

"How many does the Huai King need?" The Mermaid King proudly countered.

He had studied the Huangzhou Great Hunt; over the years the prey numbered around a thousand; the East Sea Great Hunt participants valued quality over quantity; a mere thousand Mermaid Tears would be enough —

"Ten thousand?"

Silence.

The Whale Emperor cast a glance over.

The Mermaid King stiffened awkwardly, gritted his teeth: "Ten thousand — yes! However, Mermaid Tears are indeed many clansmen's cherished memories and longing; this trip was rushed, no notice given, I must return to prepare, to persuade the clansmen."

"Then how many can the Mermaid King provide in a short time? If a batch can be provided these few days, to simulate first and help me check for gaps and omissions, that would be best."

"Wait for me to make a round trip, three thousand!"