Chapter 1327: Love Rival (End-of-Month Monthly Ticket Request, Two-in-One)

"Trouble!"

Liang Qu pressed his forehead, pacing in circles, feeling that something was seriously wrong.

He had thought he could enjoy a happy vacation.

Damn it, he had guarded against this and that, but hadn't fully prevented it!

Previously, looking at the grand Southern Frontier plan, the priority was clearly the internal Demon Kings of the Yellow Sand River, then the sea Demon Kings. The internal Demon Kings of the Yellow Sand River hadn't even been settled yet — at least in the view of the Southern Frontier Rakshasa Fiends, he was still bribing the "Left General" to try to win over the Fish King — so how did a fish that slipped through the net suddenly appear in the East Sea?

Truly cunning and despicable.

The most critical thing was that it succeeded!

Who fails an external mission and still has the mind to buy gifts for juniors? It must have been a round of negotiations and bribes, both sides reaching a series of understandings easily and pleasantly, before he could pick up some things on the way back to amuse the juniors.

Adding another force, the complexity of the situation would increase geometrically, and it was very likely to drag down the Yellow Sand River's progress.

"Fragrant precious medicines, handed out to Demon Kings, what a sin!" Liang Qu beat his chest and stamped his feet.

Two portions of medicine per Demon King, ten Demon Kings twenty portions — a moment of carelessness, and he let the Southern Frontier seize several dozen times his root sea!

"No, I have to find out who it is. The precious medicines might not have been swallowed yet."

"Awei, where are you now? Is anyone around you? Are you with the Two-Faced Faction?"

"What? You're with the Tusi? Quite a lot of Great Manifestation quantity? Forget it, forget it. Don't tell the Two-Faced Faction this kind of thing now either. Safety first. Hide carefully. Wait until we return to Blue Valley to talk."

Liang Qu suppressed the urge to descend in spirit and question Li Xianghan face-to-face.

Where the Southern Frontier Tusi resides is equivalent to the Great Shun imperial capital. Rashly 【Descending】 is too dangerous. Exposing Li Xianghan is a small matter — at most losing a spy. Exposing Awei is a major matter.

He paced around the room several times.

"Taking this King's money to bribe East Sea Demon Kings — is there any heaven's law left? Any king's law left!"

Bowls and plates trembled.

Palm slammed the table, Liang Qu was trembling with rage.

Having exhaled too much mist, the Third Prince, who had been drowsy in spirit, bounced up: "Hmm, hmm? Is it time to exhale white mist? Hah, this Prince still has plenty!"

"Nothing."

"Oh~" The Third Prince lay flat again.

The East Sea "Stone in the River" showed no abnormality; he couldn't tell which Demon King had the audacity to oppose Great Shun. After the Sea Lord left the East Sea, there was no demon beast in the East Sea who could help. Liang Qu had no direction for action, so he could only write a letter first, telling the imperial court to pay extra attention.

Walking out of the room, he glanced at Zhang Xiang — discovering the Dragon Elephant King hadn't come out — Liang Qu immediately turned toward the Long Gong Treasury, seeking the coral and clam-shell prayer beads sent by Abbot Di Xian.

To forge iron, one must be hard oneself.

The Southern Frontier's bribe succeeded, Demon Kings are stirring trouble. As Great Shun's first underwater special envoy, a member of the Zhenhuai Army, Great Shun's Marquis of Changyuan, "contradiction handling" would be indispensable from now on.

Stockpiling more essence definitely couldn't be wrong.

The patinated coral prayer beads turned in his palm.

【Water Marsh Essence +1970】

【Water Marsh Essence +3741】

【Water Marsh Essence +91】

"How is it? How is it? Any news?"

Li Xianghan poked her head around, avoiding the crowd, asking carefully.

Awei shook his head, opened and closed his mouthparts, flicked his limbs, and pressed downward.

Hearing that Liang Qu wasn't descending in spirit so urgently, Li Xianghan let out a breath of relief, her suspended heart sinking slightly. The current situation seemed to still be within Liang Qu's tolerance. It looked like she might not get beaten?

Thinking about it, that made sense. Relying on clues and deduction, how could one find every single one without missing any?

It was too hard on her.

The most urgent task was to find a way to figure out which East Sea Demon King was bribed. Unfortunately, the little girl knew nothing when asked, and probing deeper would look suspicious.

"Why do all the difficult things in the world have to fall on a weak little woman like me?"

"Click click click."

Mouthparts opening and closing, Awei raised a limb, but saw Li Xianghan only wallowing in self-pity, ignoring him. It flew into a rage, and the raised limb stabbed hard into her shoulder.

"Ah ow, it hurts." Li Xianghan covered her shoulder, tears squeezing from the corners of her eyes. She pulled down her collar, revealing a small red dot on her skin, beads of blood oozing out. "Okay okay, I get it, stop stabbing me. I'll work hard."

【Water Marsh Essence +4494252】

【Water Marsh Essence: 34,220,000】

Blue tides surged, a full 4.5 million essence pouring in.

"Truly rich." Liang Qu set down the prayer beads.

This amount of essence rivaled the wave when the imperial court bestowed coral and he opened the Yin-Yang Five Elements Plate back then. It not only filled the evolution expenses from the previous period, but even left a surplus!

The *Vijnaptimatratasiddhi* is good, must learn it.

——

Next time I go to the Netherworld, I have to ask Hui Zhen if there are new dreams and new goods.

Leaving the treasury, he glanced at the sky.

Closed-door cultivation for one day, today is already the second day of the month. Tonight I have to go to Master's house for dinner. On the fourth, I'll go to North Water, and by the way ask the Sea Lord. She knows the East Sea Demon Kings better, perhaps she can analyze who might be tempted by the Yellow Sand River.

At the same time.

The river dolphin near Great Snow Mountain successfully obtained Ice Marrow.

Liang Qu didn't have that much curiosity — he didn't have to see what the raw materials looked like before making a Position Fruit container. He had the river dolphin hand it to Round Head, and directly ran to the capital's Qintian Observatory.

Round Head rushed out of Jishuitan, toured the Qintian Observatory. Aside from a few duty clerks, he found no heavyweight figures. Worried that handing it to clerks might cause mishaps, Round Head didn't hand it over on the spot. He asked a couple of questions, got a map, bought some gifts, led the team across Jishuitan, and ran straight to Lan Jicai's backyard.

"Ah!" A piercing scream.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? What happened?" Lan Jicai held talisman paper, running out in a panic. One glance at the pond, he saw Round Head. "Is it you? King Huai's subordinate?"

Round Head bowed in apology.

Around the entire Jishui Pond were officials' residences; the whole pond was a "public pool" with no fence, only two stone stairways, making it inevitable to startle the maids.

Setting down the pastries bought on the road, Yuan Tou handed over the treasure chest and explained the reason.

"Damn it, don't you know what day it is today? The court session is recessed, not sent early, not sent late — why send it now when there's no time?" Lan Jicai cursed grumpily. "Only the Prince of Huai gets a holiday in all the world, nobody else does, huh? Leave it here; handle it at the government office on the tenth!"

Yuan Tou bowed again.

He delivered it personally mainly for fear the Ice Marrow would be damaged, not because time was pressing; now that he confirmed it was correct, he turned and left.

"Ah—— what a New Year's, no peace at all."

Driving off Jiang Tun, Lan Jicai's head ached; he crouched down, picked up the treasure chest, quietly pried open a crack — freezing wind pierced the bone, thoughts frozen stiff — and couldn't help but marvel: "He actually got it himself? Something only found on the Great Snow Mountain, where did this kid get it? Yo, full weight and measure, all for me — is this meant as extra reward for me?"

"The second day at Master's home, the third day with fellow disciples, today Hai Fangzhu——"

Liang Qu calculated the days, cultivating in meditation in the Long Gong.

In just three days, aided by the Time Sequence digesting the lingering resonance, the Root Sea within his body had already grown to 745 times! Another increase of three times.

These three times might equal several years of cultivation for an ordinary Yao Dragon.

Correspondingly, Zhang Longxiang had been in seclusion the whole time.

Also normal; relying on the Time Sequence, Liang Qu used one day as five and a half, three days equaled half a month, while Zhang Longxiang's three days were just three days, within the normal range.

Anyway, his daughter Zhang Jin was "too happy to think of home" in the Long Gong; if not for fear of slighting the Dragon Elephant King's family, these past two days when they went out to eat Liang Qu and Long Eying both brought her along — Zhang Jin didn't even want to leave herself.

"Husband, we can set off; everything is packed."

"Coming!"

Beneath the fire trees and silver flowers, the carriage was fully equipped; Chishan tossed his head, chains rattling, and the water beasts — Fat Fish, "Bu Neng Dong", Fist, Ta Ta Kai, Da He Li, and the rest — stepped out running one by one, overjoyed.

The banquet the day before yesterday had no share for them; they couldn't get a seat at the table. Today Hai Fangzhu was different — water beasts under the Heavenly God's command, every single one had an invitation; they were going to eat their fill!

"Wuhu!"

Half a chi tall, reaching a person's calf, Fat Fish ran in front, whiskers streaming behind; it shoved aside the Dragon People, pinned down "Bu Neng Dong", grabbed Fist, rushed out first, made a sudden stop and spun, crouching beneath the carriage compartment, intending to serve as a fish-flesh staircase so the Heavenly God could ascend the steps. The plan failed; the fish tail drooped, its body lightened — Fat Fish was lifted up by Long Eying.

Long Eying patted A Fei's bottom and set it on the long bench.

"You can't crouch here."

Fat Fish lowered its head.

"Huu~"

White mist rolled out, manifesting a staircase.

Liang Qu stepped on the staircase into the carriage compartment; the Third Prince flew out leisurely from behind, his gaze meeting Fat Fish's on the long seat — one dragon, one fish both narrowing their eyes simultaneously.

Treacherous and crafty!

Killing intent permeated the carriage interior.

"A Wei, have you returned?"

Taking advantage of time on the road, Liang Qu communicated via the spiritual link.

Qinggu Valley, A Wei pushed aside the centipede and coiled around once.

Confirmed that Li Xianghan and A Wei had already returned to the stockade.

【Summon Spirit】!

"Ying~"

What the hell was that noise?

The Liang Qu summoned by 【Summon Spirit】 looked uncertain, glancing left and right, then discovered Li Xianghan cultivating on the meditation cushion.

"?"

Bulging his abdomen, Liang Qu directly spat a breath-arrow mixed with saliva, striking Li Xianghan on the forehead.

"Aiyo."

Li Xianghan's head snapped back; her forehead instantly reddened and swelled. She lowered her head, covered her mouth with a fist and coughed, a little embarrassed.

It wasn't that she deliberately made such a sound; merely because in just four or five days of the festival, that sensation of thunder-fire coursing through her meridians, numb and tingling, had actually risen another level — her whole body felt electrified, especially with such swift onset, making it impossible to suppress.

Has Liang Qu's cultivation made another great breakthrough?

No, impossible — only four or five days; it must be her own illusion.

"Illusions getting more and more powerful; just four or five days and they happen." Li Xianghan sighed inwardly.

Liang Qu couldn't be bothered to argue; he cut to the chase: "When? Who was bribed? When did it succeed?"

Li Xianghan sat upright: "The twelfth month of this year, about the same time as Huang Shahe, maybe a bit earlier. It was Jin Zheng, Elder Jin of Wanxiang Meng, an old-generation Tianren Sect master, over 180 years old. Early last year he decided to enter seclusion to comprehend Heaven-Man Union, but in the eleventh month he secretly emerged from seclusion while still publicly claiming to be in seclusion — not even his granddaughter knew.

The bribery plan was handled by Heishui Du Renye; he's also from Wanxiang Meng. I suspect perhaps when Elder Jin emerged, Heishui Du Renye caught his aura, so they doubled the secrecy and had Elder Jin make a direct trip — that's how they bypassed everyone. Great King, I didn't do it on purpose! Distinguishing loyalty from treachery!"

Clear thinking, well-founded.

Liang Qu waved his segmented limbs: "No need to worry about your feedback time decreasing; it is whatever it is. Who was bribed?"

"Don't know." Li Xianghan lowered her head, eyes glancing up, carefully: "The matter is too secret; only know the times Elder Jin went out and returned. In between he bought a pair of Twenty Jiaoren tear earrings for his granddaughter; one of them was given to me."

Liang Qu said nothing, frowning in thought.

A long while.

"The earrings?"

"Here." Li Xianghan hurriedly presented them.

A round trip.

【Water Marsh Essence +2699】

Fresh Twenty Jiaoren tears; cannot determine the past.

Returned the earrings to Li Xianghan; before Li Xianghan could react, the thunder-fire walking inside her body had already vanished without a trace — one rise, one fall — a hollow feeling assaulted her heart. Li Xianghan smacked her lips, a sense of loss rising.

"Bribery succeeded in the twelfth month; now it's late second month, one and a half months. If they wanted to act, they should have started by now — yet the 'river-center stone' has no major change——" Liang Qu rubbed his brow.

Not afraid of thieves stealing, just afraid of thieves scheming; absolutely must not let him produce a top-tier Yao King.

"Xiao Shui! Xiao Ying! Xiao Lv! Xiao Zhuang! Xiao Jiang! Xiao Long! Xiao Mao————Happy New Year."

A mature woman's voice reached the ear.

Liang Qu's side hadn't moved yet, but the water beasts rushed out first in a swarm; by the time Liang Qu came out, what he saw was the palace entrance, where the water beasts were raising both hands, hopping and jumping, surrounding Hai Fangzhu and Lady Hai Yun. Hai Fangzhu and Lady Hai Yun swung their eight arms, each holding a bag with one wrist-arm, the other seven taking turns going in and out like a windmill, distributing red carp treasure fish one by one to Fei Yu, "Bu Neng Dong", Yuan Tou and the rest, calling them "New Year's money fish".

Xiao Jiang the otter couldn't even hold the big fish, letting the fish tail slap him twice across the face before it slipped from his claws; Lady Hai Yun just wanted to help, but saw Xiao Jiang the otter fly into a rage, dart out, plunge both claws into the fish gills, and violently tear it out.

——

Fresh blood dispersed.

Pink wrist-arms froze in mid-air; blue wrist-arms did not stop their motion.

"Today is also Xiao Lv and Xiao Zhuang, but one size smaller."

"Wow, Fangzhu Jiejie is so pretty today too!" The Third Prince hugged the struggling, tail-thrashing big red carp and praised.

Hai Fangzhu covered her mouth with a wrist-arm and smiled lightly: "Is that so?"

"Yes yes, on land Eying Jie is the prettiest, in the water Fangzhu Jiejie looks the best!" The Third Prince wagged his tail.

"What about me? What about me?" Lady Hai Yun leaned in.

"Hmm." The Third Prince propped his chin and pondered, "Lady Hai Yun Jiejie can only rank second in the water."

"Hahaha, give you an extra one, can you be first then?"

"That wouldn't be right." The Third Prince fidgeted bashfully.

"Fangzhu my lord need not spend so much." Liang Qu smiled wryly, "Year after year you come, year after year there are gifts, it's no small expense."

Hai Fangzhu didn't acknowledge the expense remark, instead waving her blue wrist-arms again, pulling out two big red carp and stuffing them into Liang Qu and Long Eying's arms: "Xiao Shui and Xiao Ying have them too."

The carp jumped about lively in their arms, giving Liang Qu and Long Eying no chance to decline; Hai Fangzhu had already called Fei Yu and the other water beasts, shoving them in with her wrist-arms: "Lunch is still early, but there are lots of dried small fish inside the house."

"Wuhu!"

The water beasts all ran out wildly like unbridled wild dogs.

Liang Qu sighed, just about to speak, when icy-cold wrist-arms coiled around, wrapping around his waist; he and Long Eying were directly pulled by Hai Fangzhu to another fish-free corner, and Lady Hai Yun hurriedly followed.

Before Liang Qu could react to what it meant to be singled out and pulled aside, he heard Hai Fangzhu lower her voice.

"Xiao Shui, something happened."

Something happened?

Liang Qu's expression turned serious: "Fangzhu my lord, what happened? Could it be a yaoguai is causing trouble for you in Jianghuai? Or have traveling merchants in Huaijiang encountered difficulties?"

Hai Fangzhu shook her head: "Merchants having difficulties, I can solve myself; it's that a Yaowang wrote me a love letter"

O

Yaowang? Love letter?

Liang Qu's expression was splendid.

Lady Hai Yun said excitedly: "Jiejie is the East Sea's great beauty fish after all! But coming to Jianghuai, there's actually still a fish daring to pursue you; word outside says Jiejie is the Yuanwang's fish, wow."

Hai Fangzhu waved a wrist-arm and smacked Lady Hai Yun on the head.

Long Eying looked at Liang Qu.

Liang Qu stroked his chin, uncertain: "So, is this a bad thing?"

"If it's just courtship, then of course it doesn't count as a bad thing; at worst I just refuse." Hai Fangzhu shook her head, "At first I was also at a loss, not knowing how to handle it, but after I thought it over carefully, I felt something was off."

"What's off, Jiejie." Lady Hai Yun didn't understand, "Isn't this a good thing? It proves Jiejie has charm, is a great beauty fish."

"Of course it's off. Guessing right, this overtly endured letter is written as a love letter to me, but actually it should be written for Xiao Shui!"

"Ah, a love letter for the Huaiwang? Is that right?" Lady Hai Yun gasped in shock.

In a split second.

Parallel threads linked up.

Southern Border, East Sea, Bai Yuan, Hai Fangzhu————several pieces of information all connected through in Liang Qu's mind.

"Fangzhu my lord, you mean, a letter of challenge?"

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