Chapter 1298: Ten Thousand Essences

Mermaid tears are no match for treasure fish.

The voice was clear and strong.

The Ray King was stunned.

Just reminded by the king, realizing he could use mermaid tears to aid the Great Hunt, the mermaid king, his heart burning hot, had a bucket of cold water poured over his head.

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

From how many generations of mermaid kings onward, they, the merfolk, relying on their innate spiritual wit and dexterous hands, easy to process, began generation after generation engaging in sea trade, operating industries, and serving the Whale Emperor.

The East Sea demon kings are all his subordinates, yet also not entirely.

The mermaid king considered himself, compared to the other East Sea demon kings, a half-confidant, second only to his own clan's Cloud Whale; driving away the Sea Warden, 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 still insufficient, far from enough; he desperately wished to please the Whale Emperor, go further, and let the merfolk truly become the Whale Emperor's subordinate and face, expanding their business worldwide.

"Precisely because Huangzhou used them, we must distinguish even more—the East Sea merfolk are famed under heaven, and mermaid tears are even more a treasure upon the waves of the East Sea; born of great sorrow and pain, they cost lifespan to produce, especially you humans, who flock to them—how many merfolk have suffered harm? How could they not be inferior to treasure fish?"

"I have learned of the Huangzhou Great Hunt—treasure fish and treasure birds must be packed into several sacks, 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 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, then continued: "Huai King, I know the 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 tolerable, but for Nanjiang and Beiting, how unfair is this? If judging by the standard of seizing mermaid tears, it will surely make the Great Hunt more splendid than Huangzhou's."

"Yes yes yes."

"Right right right."

"Treasure fish are no match for East Sea mermaid tears."

The many great demons and demon kings again voiced support for the mermaid king.

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 vaguely impressed, but the mermaid king's words likewise made them alert.

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

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

Liang Qu shook his head: "This 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 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 merfolk can contribute mermaid tears—we Great Shun may not be unable to contribute Qiankun bags.

Moreover, as the mermaid king said, you demon folk have many born with huge bodies, able to gulp down untold big fish with open mouths, hanging a big sack on your bodies—this will inevitably restrict our human folk's actions; what business is it of yours demon folk?"

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

Or do you think, when you merfolk bring out mermaid tears to support the Great Hunt, after it ends, you will give away your clansmen's longing for kin to participants for free? Do sea folk also trade in jewels? Even if sold to humans, such vast quantities would cause a temporary price drop—how could they compare to treasure fish?"

"That also makes sense."

"I think it works."

"Indeed."

Many demon kings again felt treasure fish's benefits were more substantial—come to the Great Hunt, get sea core pills as well as treasure fish, better than needing to find humans to cash in, possibly facing price drops of mermaid tears—just treat it as a trip.

Whether human, merfolk, or great demon, all have contrary instincts.

Especially between Liang Qu and the sea merchants, 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 brains for reasons to rebut.

Liang Qu, unhurried, took two steps, spoke lightly: "Most crucial—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's 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 down there are only three obsessions."

"Which three?" the Whale Emperor asked.

"Violence, sex, and fine food!"

The demon kings looked at each other, some water beasts unconsciously scratching their groins.

Liang Qu paced, speaking at length.

"Violence brings safety, sex fulfills reproduction, fine food satisfies appetite.

These three are the demands of beings in their primal state, the most original cravings; thus only the satisfaction of these three things can most stimulate a creature's 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 judgment to ease direct combat's conflict, yet have everything's foundation return to the display of one's own strength."

Yun Bo wondered: "Isn't this 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 combatization, arena one-on-one, destroys the expression of these hidden strengths, pursues ultimate violence, thus the audience also excludes those who possess such strengths.

So I said, the essence of entertainmentization 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, spirit birds fly by themselves, spirit deer run by themselves—this is a difficulty; during the Huangzhou Great Hunt, the thirteen-layer water pressure, inability to breathe—is that also a difficulty?"

"Exactly so—turning person against person into person against environment; only a complex environment can bring complex conditions.

The past Huangzhou Great Hunt's setting of forest cabins was also a stroke of genius, because it let ambitious contestants focus on gathering, beyond mere struggle against environment, giving them a chance at greater harvest.

To concentrate the contestants' conflicts in a fixed environment for explosive outbreak, to seek rich returns, fierce competition, ultimately unavoidable to avoid human conflict, prevent turning into pure environmental struggle, satisfy the same." Liang Qu bowed, "Therefore I say, mermaid tears are no match for 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 collection difficulty, weakening environmental opposition, which will lose much splendidness—unless it can operate flexibly, that 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 upon his arrival, facing prepared opponents, he had no room for rebuttal.

The Ray King could not make heads or tails 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 be—【

"The reason I didn't give a gift?"

Wang was extremely regretful, 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 great creation elixir, originally thinking there was a certain foundation of trust, waiting until after the matter was settled to give benefits, why the hurry to ask first?

Not unwilling to give, but really no time, yesterday afternoon it only received a reply from its junior, still needing to prepare for these few days of the sea merchants' gathering and trade, leading to changes in tribute items, reorganization, only this morning formally paying homage to the Whale King, where would it find time to prepare?

Extortion.

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

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

My slander is not wrong at all.

Adulterers!

"Resisting the environment, difficulties in gathering — " the Whale King seemed thoughtful, "In the past, at the Huangzhou Grand Hunt, watching them chase the treasure fish, it was 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 find gathering difficult?"

"This — "

Liang Qu stared blankly for a moment, furrowed his brows, fell into deep 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, from another small path, led in by the cloud giants, Yang Dongxiong and others heard the latter part.

"Yes, what treasure fish could be so difficult as to challenge a Wu Sheng who has nothing added to his body, rising to resist 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 under heaven?"

"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 rubbed 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 selfishness beneficial to themselves, jointly walk toward that most likely appearing target.

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, with my shallow knowledge, cannot think of what treasure fish could trouble a Wu Sheng, this is also why I dared not immediately reply to the Whale King back then, precisely due to this concern, time too short, my limited knowledge restricting my display, however, in my territory there is one Fenxian fish, willing to contribute it, to support the Eastern Sea Grand 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 so, 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 Grand Hunt, to this day it 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 quantity, treasure fish that increase the difficulty for Martial Saints to catch." 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 beloved granddaughter in his palm flew out, 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 flapped at high frequency, at high speed completely vanishing into invisibility, leaving only the crystal-clear, translucent merfolk tear hovering in midair.

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, flipping and flying around Liang Qu's hand and forearm!

Missed once, Liang Qu turned back and reached again, the merfolk tear, like an antelope's horns, suddenly sprang aside.

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

In an instant, Liang Qu and the merfolk tear played hide-and-seek in a tiny 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, glancing askance, committing each to memory.

Liang Qu's brow twitched, a bit of anger, he simply closed his eyes, rose and fell with breathing, unleashed his third divine ability, sensing the air currents around him, completely surrendering to his instinct as he stood before intent.

Buzz buzz buzz.

The merfolk tear's noisy disturbance gradually faded away.

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

Just as the fly clung to his back, momentarily hovering. In his mind there was 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 and shook it, then tiptoed, slightly raised their chins, provocatively looking toward the great demon and even demon king whose laughter had abruptly ceased.

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

He looked at the Whale Emperor, performed a curtain-call bow, spread his palms, and the Mermaid's Tears fluttered their wings, leapt lightly, and continued to circle.

The Whale Emperor exclaimed: "Impressive skill."

"Just a clever trick."

"In my estimation, others wouldn't find it so easy." The Whale Emperor waved his hand, summoning the Mermaid's Tears to the rear, before the Mermaid King, who likewise understood and reached out to grab.

Swish!

The Mermaid's Tears fluttered around his arm.

So fast!

The Mermaid King narrowed his eyes, reached back again, and failed just the same.

Swish.

The Mermaid's Tears fluttered, the Mermaid King tried several times, gradually feeling pressure, for he was a high-ranking demon king, several minor realms above Liang Qu, and just as he prepared to get serious——

A fleeting afterimage, the Whale Emperor recalled the Mermaid's Tears.

"No need to be earnest; it seems this level should suffice."

A crowd of demon kings gradually lost their smiles; they had originally seen nothing remarkable, knew the Whale Emperor was great, but didn't know his methods, and weren't too familiar with Liang Qu, yet the Mermaid King, who had dealt with merchants for hundreds of years, understood clearly—when the previous Mermaid King was still around, this generation was just a hothead, renowned far and wide, having fought many battles, only after the old Mermaid King's death did he restrain himself, having waited years in the Sea Abyss Palace, and yet——

"The Whale Emperor's divine traces are extraordinary; I, with my shallow insight, rashly discuss feasibility—if during the Great Hunt, the Mermaid's Tears possess such speed, indistinguishable from the treasure fish, then it is indeed viable."

Seeing all problems resolved, Liang Qu finally relaxed his lips, the Mermaid King overjoyed, bowed with hands on the ground: "Whale Emperor, my clan wishes to offer the Mermaid's Tears!"

The Whale Emperor nodded: "For this Great Hunt, I trouble the sea merchants."

"Thank you, Whale Emperor!"

The Mermaid King and Ray King prostrated excitedly.

Liang Qu asked: "I don't know how many Mermaid's Tears your clan can produce."

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

He had studied the Huangzhou Great Hunt; annual harvests numbered in the thousands, participants in the East Sea Great Hunt valued quality over quantity, a mere thousand Mermaid's Tears would suffice——

"Ten thousand?"

Silence.

The Whale Emperor cast his gaze.

The Mermaid King felt awkward, gritted his teeth: "Ten thousand——we have! However, the Mermaid's Tears are indeed cherished and missed by many clansfolk; this journey was rushed, we hadn't informed them, I must return to prepare, to persuade the clansfolk."

"Then how many can the Mermaid King provide in the short term? If he could supply a batch these few days, for a trial run, to help me check for gaps and fill them, that would be best."

"After I make a round trip, three thousand!"