Chapter 1302

"One suspects it's where merfolk once wept, the ground full of lotus leaves cradling true pearls."

Liang Qu curled his lips upward, grabbed a handful of merfolk tears, holding them half-loose half-tight, each smooth bead sliding into his palm, piling up in the treasure chest, crystalline and limpid, just like water droplets splashing from a waterfall, "Merfolk tears, truly a treasure of the East Sea, combined with the Whale Emperor's mighty power, spirited and magnificent, beautiful and splendid, like morning dewdrops bouncing and leaping, indeed better than mere treasure fish, a few days ago I was too arbitrary."

Han Su looked slightly pleased: "This is thanks to Prince Huai's suggestion. If Prince Huai likes them, you may pick out some treasure items from among them to take back and gift to your Lady, to enhance the affection a bit."

"Hahaha, can't enhance anything, already stuck like glue." Liang Qu closed the treasure chest, "A gentleman does not seize what others love. Merfolk tears are originally the merfolk's寄託物 for missing their kin. It's just that as jewelry, they're too dazzling, coveted by others.

The batch you gave all retain Qi traces. Presumably you'll have to return them one by one later. If I took them, the Merfolk King would surely demand special explanation and compensation. Trouble aside, acting first and reporting later doesn't accord with righteousness."

"Prince Huai is benevolent and righteous."

"Just an ordinary heart. Cultivation is arduous, opportunities rare, hence too much mutual deception. Brother Yun Bo————" Liang Qu turned to the Cloud Giant, "Although there's suspicion of being generous with another's property, the Whale Emperor's magnanimity is known to all under heaven. Please forgive my small offense, and hope you can agree."

Having given a high hat in advance, Yun Bo didn't dare agree directly: "Prince Huai has worked diligently preparing the Grand Hunt for Our Emperor, contributing greatly, all have witnessed it together. Where is there any offense? But speak freely, no harm."

"I feel that since the merfolk contributed so much, they should be given an extra reward as commemoration."

"Reward. What kind of reward? Treasure fish? Treasure plants?" Yun Bo pondered a suitable price.

"Yes, but not treasure fish or treasure plants. Ten thousand merfolk tears — give too few and it's of no help, give too many and the cost is excessive. Better to put a unique mark on each merfolk tear participating in the Grand Hunt, just like this————" Liang Qu reopened the lid, pinched out one merfolk tear, held it in his palm.

Faint Qi rose.

Before long.

Inside the crystalline merfolk tear, a trace of faint golden light emerged, like a cat's eye gemstone, a bit like the little leaf inside an old glass marble, quietly floating and rotating.

Yun Bo lowered his body, the white clouds on him swaying: "This is————"

"This is the product of my divine ability combined with a bit of talisman-drawing technique, condensed at the center of the merfolk tear. It can protect the wearer, calm the spirit and settle the Qi, assist cultivation, and ward off evil spirits once. However the strength is not high, Galloping Horse level. Fortunately the duration is greatly increased — maintaining twenty or thirty years is no problem. Benefit without cost. I don't know if the Whale Emperor is willing to act, or I can do it myself, just that time-wise it would be comparatively long."

"I see."

Yun Bo was truly worried Liang Qu would say something like giving one treasure fish per merfolk tear. As Liang Qu said, too few couldn't be justified, too many too heavy a burden. This method now was benefit without cost. "Not a big matter, even a good thing. Let me go ask————"

"No need to ask. What harm in this? It is only proper."

The Whale Emperor's voice came from the horizon, extremely penetrating and weighty.

Within a hundred li radius, water beasts floated on the water, raising their heads.

As the words resounded, auspicious clouds descended, wrapping around the treasure chests held by the merfolk.

The auspicious clouds dispersed.

The Qi inside the chests grew even richer. At the center of every single merfolk tear, an extra little leaf just like Liang Qu's appeared, only the luster differed.

Old thing, I knew you were peeking at the screen!

Liang Qu secretly cursed, reached out and picked up one. His was the golden light of the Dragon-Tiger Golden Body. The Whale Emperor's was a wisp of ethereal little cloud, gathering and dispersing unpredictably.

Hmph, not as handsome as his.

Wonder how the effect is.

Yun Bo's expression was solemn, as if listening attentively.

A long while.

"Our Emperor says, this merfolk tear can remain undamaged for three jiazi, also calm the heart and settle the Qi, expel evil and protect. Strength roughly equivalent to a Hunt-Tiger Grand Martial Master striking once."

Damn!

Liang Qu's hand trembled, nearly couldn't hold the merfolk tear. He scanned the several hundred in the chest.

One each, twenty or thirty years, Galloping Horse strength.

One coverage over ten thousand, one hundred eighty years, Hunt-Tiger strength————

"The Whale Emperor's mighty power is boundless. Deeply admired."

"Prince Huai need not belittle yourself." Yun Bo comforted, "Those who hear the Dao have earlier and later."

"Many thanks Whale Emperor, many thanks Prince Huai."

Han Su was overjoyed, bowing repeatedly, heart surging with thick gratitude.

Prince Huai is stingy, sure, only touching not buying, dragging it out for half a day over just one or two items. But as a person he's truly benevolent and righteous. Clearly unrelated to him, yet willing to seek benefits from the Whale Emperor for the merfolk.

"Thank me for what? It's the Whale Emperor wanting to hold the Grand Hunt, providing this opportunity."

"Yes yes yes, ten thousand thanks Whale Emperor! Ten thousand thanks Whale Emperor."

"Since everything's gathered, let's put all the merfolk tears together. According to my selection, divide into————"

Something's wrong!

The Third Prince coiled around Liang Qu's arm, dragon claw propping his chin, frowning in deep thought.

Big Brother treats friends with spring-like warmth, treats enemies with winter-like cruel ruthlessness. This move both raised the Whale Emperor's benevolent reputation and helped the enemy Merfolk King.

It feels things aren't that simple.

When Big Brother is together with Sister Eying, he's childish to the extreme, completely losing normal intelligence, even saying things like 'I want a hug'.

When with Godmother and the sect, there's some intelligence but biased weak, only slightly higher than Jin Mao Monkey King, jumping up and down with Senior Brother Xu.

Discounting those two, other times it's normal intelligence. But as soon as key figures are involved, going all out, IQ breaks through the heavens.

Could benefit others and self, could harm others and benefit self, but impossible to benefit others without benefiting self.

This move definitely has extra benefits!

What are they?

"Ah, brain so hot, about to smoke, can't figure it out!" In a deserted place, the Third Prince rolled and twisted violently, "Invincible Big Brother, quickly teach me a bit of your sinister schemes! I want to use them against Fatty!"

"Smack!"

Dragon horns exploded apart. The Third Prince stopped going crazy, covered his head and behaved.

"Sinister schemes your head! This is called outsmarting!" Liang Qu snorted, looking quite dissatisfied. "What's the difference between blessed merfolk tears and ordinary merfolk tears?"

"What difference? Can protect people?"

"On the market, blessed merfolk tears are more expensive!"

The Third Prince rubbed his head: "So what?"

"If we charge the same price as before, we can only get ordinary mermaid tears."

The Third Prince pondered for a moment, his dragon eyes widening: "Oh! I understand now!"

When we previously asked Quan Linghan and the others for mermaid tears, Liang Qu repeatedly emphasized that they must be untouched, and only untouched ones have essence.

Ten thousand mermaid tears are different from the previous few dozen in small-scale skirmishes; the quantity is astonishing, and this portion originally belonged to the easily circulating category, not so tightly controlled by the merpeople, belonging to "shallow roots," so the commemorative and cherished meaning is not that strong.

If after the Great Hunt, we let them flow back into the merpeople tribe, then later when Liang Qu finds excuses to ask for them again, it's very likely we'll receive the same batch, overlapping each other, greatly diluting the acquisition of marsh essence.

But after the "mark" appreciates in value, the possibility of repeated inflow will greatly decrease.

Normal trade circulation, same price, cannot buy blessed and appreciated mermaid tears.

Abnormal circulation, for example, being conscripted by the Whale King, the merpeople will expect even those not marked to be marked and appreciated, so the probability of new mermaid tears appearing is similarly greater.

"The boss is indeed the boss!"

"Pa!"

"Ouch, boss, what are you doing~"

"Go find your sister Eying, I have important matters to attend to."

"Alright, I'm leaving now, call me if you have anything."

The little flood dragon waved its dragon claws and leapt away.

Liang Qu left the small courtyard and hurried straight to the side hall; he still had one last matter to settle.

Ten thousand mermaid tears have been fully collected, and the merpeople are now sorting them by category.

"Huai Wang, I remember that at the Huangzhou Great Hunt, past prey numbered no more than a thousand, but your event had three thousand treasure fish; now the Great Hunt has even fewer participants, why do we need so many mermaid tears?" Upon seeing Liang Qu return, the cloud giant Yun Guan, larger in build than Yun Bo, stood up to inquire.

Naturally, to gather more mermaid tears and collect more marsh essence.

Liang Qu thought this in his heart, but he certainly wouldn't say it outright.

He had already prepared his speech in advance; returning to settle this matter was exactly what he intended!

He plopped down in the seat of honor.

"Because I want to change the most crucial reward mechanism."

"Reward mechanism?" Yun Bo flew in, the clouds shifting and changing, the giant appearing: "Could it be that Huai Wang wants to change the ranking rewards?"

"It's not about changing ranking rewards, but about changing how rewards are obtained—these are two different matters. Previously, the Whale King thought that as long as martial sages and demon kings participated, he would just give out a small root sea pill?"

If the demon king comes to participate, I'll give him a small root sea elixir.

"Exactly."

"What I want to change is precisely this: mere participation doesn't count; one must participate and catch three mermaid tears, and upon completion, they can exchange these three mermaid tears for a small root sea pill!"

The cloud giants exchanged glances, their hearts stirred.

Liang Qu continued: "Not only that, various heavenly pills and various rewards can also be exchanged for mermaid tears—one hundred mermaid tears, eighty mermaid tears, even the final little position fruit can be exchanged for one thousand, three thousand, or different quantities of mermaid tears!"

Yun Bo and Yun Guan quickly pondered the purpose of this approach.

Liang Qu seized the moment: "After that day's debate with the mermaid king, the Whale King took action, solving the biggest pain point of mermaid tears being immovable, but there remains a part, though not so important, that I also wish to resolve perfectly."

"The intrinsic value of mermaid tears?" Yun Bo recalled.

"Yes, mermaid tears differ from treasure fish; treasure fish themselves bring benefits, but mermaid tears cannot be directly advantageous. Yet once the mermaid tear exchange system is activated, the existence of mermaid tears gains tangible value meaning—each represents a precious resource, different rankings, and the possibility of higher reward ceilings."

"Wouldn't this increase the difficulty of obtaining basic rewards?" another cloud giant asked, "Originally, one could just come and get it; now one must grab three, which contradicts Huai Wang's earlier statement about gamification?"

"No, it doesn't contradict." Yun Bo's spirits soared, "That's precisely why Huai Wang wants ten thousand mermaid tears—such an obviously huge number?"

Yun Guan similarly saw the benefits of the exchange system, muttering to himself.

"Struggling against people is harder than struggling against the environment; such a large input of quantity will inevitably reduce the occurrence of having to snatch mermaid tears from others' hands, unless one insists on obtaining the little position fruit, heavenly pill masters—otherwise, one can entirely rely on finding methods in the environment to gather three."

"Originally, many low-level martial sages and demon kings, lacking ability, might just come to mooch a reward and leave; after exchange, the ceiling is raised, allowing them to strive to participate in the Great Hunt, and not just take one, but two, three—there's opportunity!"

"Pa!"

Those under the Whale King's command, capable of setting up the Great Hunt details, are naturally not foolish whales.

Liang Qu snapped his fingers: "Exactly so, and this does not affect masters exchanging for position fruit—masters can directly seize them, causing mermaid tears to accumulate upward. Essentially, it's still the higher the rank, the better the reward.

And originally, due to ranking reasons, if the rank didn't change, having one more or one less made no difference; after exchange, each one becomes important, the more the better. Besides medicinal hard currency, we can even place Xuan兵 rewards, mineral rewards, reducing the burden of medicine."

This is also one of Liang Qu's reasons for changing the reward system.

To prevent himself from accidentally overturning, having a poor ranking, and ending up with only a single small root sea pill to walk away with.

Five times the root sea, for others is years of bitter cultivation, but for Liang Qu, it's only two or three months—you've painstakingly cheered for me, before and after the competition, how much time have you spent?

Playing around?

Using mermaid tears for exchange, loafing around—how could you possibly produce two or three?

"But this way, won't the reward quantity become too large?" Yun Bo raised a question.

Ten thousand mermaid tears, exchanged at three for one, yields over three thousand small root sea pills.

The Whale King couldn't afford it, nor could any faction.

"Simple: let heavenly pills and position fruits take the bulk, while setting individual exchange limits for small pills will do; moreover, so many mermaid tears won't all be collected by people, or if three mermaid tears aren't enough, set it to five, ten, twenty—see how many you have."

"His Majesty has already declared that participation grants a small root sea pill; changing rules temporarily—would it not—"

Liang Qu leaned back in his chair: "Individual exchange of the first small root sea pill requires only one mermaid tear; the second requires five or ten, increasing stepwise. Before the Great Hunt begins, each person can be directly issued and receive one mermaid tear.

Afterward, they will randomly appear at various positions; during the Great Hunt, participants must not snatch from each other within the first half-hour; after half an hour, they may choose to withdraw unconditionally, exchanging this mermaid tear, just as participation alone makes no difference—how about that?"

"Good!" Yun Bo agreed.

"I think————"

Questions kept being raised, and kept being resolved.

Liang Qu sat at the front, his words never ceasing, as if holding a chisel, carving a stone statue.

Gradually, a reward exchange system utterly different from the original ranking-based version emerged, freshly forged, and soon won the approval of all cloud whales.

The cloud giants all sighed in admiration.

Hearing that rankings determine rewards, this is commonplace.

Exchanging according to scores, unheard of.

Using merfolk tears as a kind of "currency".

Hot pot, fries, shadow puppets, merfolk, Da He Li knife-forging competition, Pingyang Temple, Pingyang bathhouse —

"The Huai King truly is a marvel — first the Huangzhou Grand Hunt, then territorial port affairs, and now before our eyes today, we are sincerely convinced and delighted."

"Where, where — just a bit of cleverness, idle and bored, I can only ponder some fun things, some tasty things."

"Speaking of eating." Yun Bo chuckled, "Remember when the Huai King previously asked me when I would host a feast — "

Liang Qu's eyes lit up: "How so?"

"The morning worship will soon end; three days from now at dusk is precisely the time for the banquet."

"That is truly something to look forward to." Liang Qu clapped and laughed, "Not for any Eastern Sea treasure fish — having come to Yun Tian Palace for seven or eight days, I have only seen the Whale Emperor a few times, truly regrettable; finally I can see him again, not just part in haste."

"The Huai King has labored greatly, for the Grand Hunt he did not shirk hardship, even delayed the management of the Huangsha River; His Majesty has said, if the Huai King has any needs, he may voice them all at the banquet, within his ability, nothing should be refused!"

Good, good, good.

Just waiting for you to say that!

Liang Qu glanced at the yellow earth mother qi inside the Ze Ding.

Thirty million essence, merely the beginning, not the end.

He only asked one sentence: Do you want to reclaim the summons?

Three days passed in a flash.

Before Yun Tian Palace, the endless worship procession vanished without trace.

The sun slanted westward, gradually emitting a hint of red light.

The old toad emptied his cosmos bag, drank a cup of water, gurgled and rinsed his mouth, then tilted his head and swallowed.

"Boss!"

The little mer-dragon flew back, clutching the treasure box.

"How was it, did you get it?" Liang Qu stepped out the door.

"Got it, got it!" The Third Prince raised the treasure box, "I exchanged it with a shark king, he was still reluctant! I said all the nice things, used all my learning, boss."

Liang Qu took the treasure box, glanced at it, and knew there was no problem.

—

Silver Lotus Fruit!

The fish king gave him three portions of great creation elixir, one of which enhances divine abilities, which he has no use for, so naturally he sought to exchange it during the sea merchants' gathering; during that time he also specially sent aquatic beasts to the capital to ask Fu Shuo, Tu Song, and Yu Cong, several master alchemists, about suitable elixir choices, convenient for alchemy.

All preparations complete.

"Go, to the banquet!"