Chapter 1368

The warm current of midsummer came from the southeast, sweeping across the North Sea seabed; the few warm months of the year were the only time the ice-crystal grass melted, its crystals following the flow, swaying in the waves.

Besides the cold wind from above blowing hard and fast, everything here grew slowly; a timber that grew three feet a year in the southern borders, upon reaching the North Sea, could only grow three inches a year.

Even the speed of obtaining information was slow by a beat.

"You say, Bai Yuan has gathered the position fruit?"

The Jade Qilin gazed southward, hearing the report from his subordinate, and suddenly turned around.

"Yes." The Azure Qilin knelt on one knee, "Such rumors are everywhere outside; the East Sea and South Sea already know, the human divination rites have also received the news, all saying Bai Yuan has already obtained the position fruit and is now refining it, unstoppable, even the new Dragon Lord of Jianghuai—if not, it's merely a matter of time.

Many demon kings of the East Sea have all sent their subordinates to go congratulate, largely overlapping with those sent to the southern borders; surely not baseless rumors, Your Majesty, should we also send gifts? The North Sea is far from Jianghuai; if it truly becomes a demon emperor—"

"How could Bai Yuan have a position fruit? Where did it get the position fruit from?"

"My subordinate is incapable, unable to gather more information; it is said the position fruit was born in the central courtyard of Jianghuai, within the Dragon Palace, even its form resembling a stone monkey, bestowed by heaven and earth, gifted by the world, a true innate spirit, far beyond what flood dragons can compare.

Currently Bai Yuan is not in Jianghuai, but in the Huangsha River, which is under the surveillance of the Great Shun from top to bottom; merely hearing that Bai Yuan is conducting a flow-breaking operation in the Huangsha River, my subordinate went downstream to investigate, but found no signs of flow interruption, unsure if true or false."

The Jade Qilin paced left and right.

The Azure Qilin hesitated for a moment: "If Your Majesty wishes to know more, why not ask that black fish? It lives in Jianghuai, serving Bai Yuan, perhaps it knows some details as well."

"Black fish?" The Jade Qilin was first startled, then suddenly recalled who it was, "I had forgotten about it—"

Fish fins hooked the treasure fish; the fat fish was first stuffed into the yellow leather bag, tied to the waist, then grabbed a handful of buttocks, while frantically contacting the heavens, but Liang Qu was in the critical moment of refining, fully immersed in the position fruit, with no response to the linked messages, temporarily losing contact; facing the urging of the black viper, he could only cough and say: "You this matter, I say it's not completely clear, nor completely unknown, but then, nothing has been said, no single matter has been discussed, saying it must be this or that, saying I don't know—also not.

We discuss matters in fish terms; at first I didn't know, we can think of a way, we can think of a way, Bai Yuan's vigilance is so high, and I, having defected over, have a weak foundation, always seeking its trust.

Fortunately, this fish has a weak foundation but excellent conditions, infiltration has been highly effective, now many things can be accessed, but this way, the situation is temporarily, you this later, we then—right?

Looking left and right, sneaking over for a private meeting, paying attention to every small fish, constantly worried about being discovered by other fish, the black viper listened for a long time, yet heard nothing useful, and flew into a rage.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Do you know or not?"

Even when the elder brother was away, sneaking around with the elder sister-in-law wasn't this tense; being caught in an affair meant at most a beating and losing face, but being exposed as an undercover agent could cost one's life; bearing such great risk, coming personally, the result was this black wretch talking for a long time, with not a single useful thing.

Thinking of it as a great demon, yet sent out as a liaison with such enormous risk, the black viper couldn't help but have its emotions stirred.

It's all because of this fat fish; back when it was in Jianghuai, it harmed it!

The fat fish flew into a rage, immediately seizing the opportunity to vent, angrily accusing the black viper of suppressing meritorious fish, having no patience, treating colleagues with only the austere chill of autumn wind, chilling colleagues' hearts; how can flood dragons contend with Bai Yuan when keeping such worms?

As an undercover agent, it trembled every day, treading on thin ice, fearing it couldn't reach the opposite shore; countless times it wanted to leave Jianghuai, return to the East Sea, and rely on the flood dragon; each time it wanted to give up, only thinking of the flood dragon king's favor could it steady its resolve; it merely organized its wording, never expecting to be so insulted by the black viper—

"So much nonsense, feeling bold now, are you? Say or don't say; if not, I'll take back the treasure fish!" The black viper was furious, flicked its tail, and went to grab the yellow leather bag.

The fat fish immediately shielded the yellow leather bag; seeing the snake's tail coming with great force, it shook its head and swayed its tail, then butted its head against the black viper's chest.

The black viper immediately felt a shock in its chest, utterly unable to withstand this blow, blood flow reversed, nearly vomiting blood and choking on water.

Pain.

So painful.

The black viper retreated several steps, startled and dismayed.

Back then in the Frontier Canyon, the two of them were both lesser demons who could still contend; just now, what was that blow? How much of Bai Yuan's treasure fish tribute had it embezzled to sustain itself?

Accidentally revealing its strength, the fat fish coldly snorted, carried double fins, and pretended to have high fins.

Realizing the black fish was no longer what it once was, the black viper's face alternated between overcast and clear.

Indeed, as judged by the Scales-Exhausted Great Snake, this black wretch—claiming to have surrendered to the flood dragon king—was all fake; at its core, it was merely an opportunist, two-faced, three-edged blade, afraid not that whoever gave more benefits would get its service, and it would gorge itself on brains and intestines.

No wonder so much nonsense—perhaps it was dissatisfaction with the price?

Thinking of the Scales-Exhausted's instructions: three bags of treasure fish, first give one bag to test the situation, then give one bag to ensure authenticity, finally give one bag depending on the situation, the remaining half all goes to it; rather than saying it came to contact the undercover agent, it's more like coming to buy information from a donor.

The black viper could only swallow its anger, then produced another yellow leather bag: "Great Black Fish, don't be angry; we all serve the flood dragon king, I was just a bit anxious; this bag of treasure fish, all top-grade—"

With a light flick of the tail, before finishing speaking, the black viper sensed the yellow leather bag had vanished, a long whisker straight poking its snake pupil.

"I knew you little brat ate back the flood dragon king's benefits I gave you! If I don't give you a good lesson, I truly wouldn't know how much you could embezzle."

A blood vessel in the black viper's head burst, but it endured.

The fat fish continued its endless chiding, the black viper's blood vessels bursting more and more, eyes turning blood-red.

The spiritual link suddenly jumped.

"Speak normally."

The fat fish trembled all over, lifted its belly: "Almost done saying this; listen well, these are all the good news I exchanged my life for with the flood dragon king; not bad, Bai Yuan has refined the position fruit, that fruit is entirely—"

The black viper startled, didn't have time to connect the blood vessels, hurriedly opened the small notebook to record, the more it ate, the more astonished.

Changyou Fruit? Stone monkey?

Wasn't it just said Bai Yuan was on the Huangsha River, which I don't know much about? How in a blink does it know so clearly?

Speaking halfway, the fat fish paused, the black viper anxious: "Speak, why aren't you speaking?"

The fat fish said nothing, merely extended its fin.

The black viper gritted its teeth, producing the final bag of treasure fish.

The fat fish cleared its throat, the black viper continued recording, astonishment unceasing.

Swallowing rivers, spitting rivers?

You can even know that?

The black viper was overjoyed, fiercely recorded the information, cast aside humiliation, filled three pages, brimming with hope to return, preparing to go back and report to the flood dragon king for merit; upon leaving, worried the fat fish might fully turn toward Bai Yuan due to its great power, it didn't forget to warn, to frighten it.

"Ability not great, movement not small, still thought Bai Yuan truly became a Dragon Lord, a mere minor position fruit, the flood dragon king wouldn't even glance at it; you think the flood dragon king's dragon legacy is obtained for nothing?

Actually, long ago from the legacy I obtained benefits, likewise gained a minor position fruit, currently refining, and stronger than whatever Changyou!"

The fat fish was startled and dismayed, hurriedly sent a message.

"It's bragging."

Turns out it's Xiao Tai San.

The black viper still spoke at length: "You think why the East Sea has so many hegemons, yet only my flood dragon king came to power?

First, my king is strong, ranks among the top; second, Bai Yuan doesn't observe martial virtue; second, merely following water can't connect to the position fruit—only when the position fruit appears is it key; before the end, who—"

"Ah, yes, yes, yes."

"Yes, yes, yes."

"Right, right, right."

The fat fish stifled a yawn, scratched its bottom, and shouted loudly: Jiao Dragon loyal, Dragon Lord's right-hand man, looking forward to the Jiao Long Wang killing his way back to the Dragon Palace, restoring a bright and clear world to the Huaijiang.

The Black Viper nodded, satisfied, and left.

The fat fish waited a long while, confirmed the old geezer had left, patted its yellow skin bag, and returned to the frog clan fully satisfied. Just as it reached its doorstep, its eyes narrowed; it looked left and right, dug out the small mound of earth by the door crack, and found the bamboo tube.

"Midnight, river mouth."

These undercover agents are really interesting, always making dates with fish to meet at the river mouth.

The fat fish rubbed its belly, opened its wide mouth, and spewed out a surging airflow.

"Burp~"

This batch hasn't finished digesting yet.

"The River God is turning over! The River God is turning over!"

"Quick, quick, quick, fellow villager, stop picking up fish, the water will rise in a moment! Hurry up and get to shore!"

"These mud-legged peasants, catch two fish and they don't care about their lives anymore; if they drown it serves them right!"

"Hey, old geezer, let you go up and you still dare to pick them up, want a whipping? Since you like going in the river so much, I'll let you stay down there for good!"

A villager's head was pressed into a muddy pit by a clerk, bubbling *glug glug*, body thrashing and struggling; suddenly a large hand reached out, gripping the clerk's forearm.

The clerk stared in horror at the hand on his forearm, looked up — the newcomer was extremely tall, looked to be nearly six chi, features handsome, skin like white jade.

Dragon-man!?

The clerk panicked: "My lord, I—"

Long Pingjiang squeezed hard; the clerk cried out in pain, tendons and bones contracting, involuntarily loosening his grip. The villager scrambled a couple steps away from the mud pit, just about to run.

"! The water's rising, risking your life for a fish isn't worth it, just one fish, go home!"

A shadow fell; a big green fish weighing over ten jin smashed into his arms, nearly knocking the wind out of him. He couldn't even speak, just hugged the fish and ran for all he was worth.

Long Pingjiang braced his thick arm and flung the clerk flying; he skidded over ten zhang through the mud.

"Big bro, why bother with them? That man's clothes have anti-wear patches only on the elbows and knees — he's not someone who can't afford food. A warning was enough; they're not children. Greedy for petty gain, throwing away their lives for two fish — that's their own choice." Long Pinghe walked over, a grass stem between his teeth.

"You forgot what the Elder said? This is called 'material conditions determine consciousness,' it's the shaping of environment. You let them live your life and see if they'd still care about picking up these two green fish, grass carp?"

"If what was in the river now wasn't grass carp or green fish, but Great Medicine, wouldn't you snatch it faster than anyone? What if the river held Immortal Fruit? Same thing. Even those doomed dragons are the same."

"So, no matter how rich or capable, they haven't changed; no one is stronger than anyone else. As long as they're not stealing from others, who cares how they are? Lending a hand won't hurt."

Long Pinghe spat out the grass stem: "True."

"River God turning over, River God turning over, water rising, water rising, get up here quick."

Clerks on both banks beat gongs and drums, shouting nonstop.

"Big bro, do you think that Heavenly God — is he really the Dragon Lord? Right now the rumors outside are crazy, they all say the Dragon Lord has appeared, turned into the Ape Lord—"

Long Pingjiang stopped in his tracks, as if opening a dust-sealed old house; a faint musty smell rushed into his nostrils, and his memory returned once more to that afternoon over a decade ago.

That year the Elder said the Dragon Lord was reincarnated, told them to go attend. He and Pinghe found Liang Qu in Pingyang. He thought Liang Qu was the Dragon Lord reincarnated too, even though Liang Qu never admitted it. Later Liang Qu grew stronger and stronger; gradually he also understood the Elder's purpose back then, speculated Liang Qu might be the new Qingling. Even later, he discovered Liang Qu wasn't a reincarnation, wasn't Qingling — Liang Qu is just Liang Qu.

Now, instead, it's everyone else who's starting to suspect—

"Big bro?"

"Does it matter?"

"Right— doesn't matter that much. Half a month, the Elder is finally coming out. Then you go that side, I'll go the opposite bank!"

At the Severed Flow Land, the water ripples slowly submerged the White Ape.

Long Chen and Long Zong Yin were wildly ecstatic inside, anticipating even more.

Lan Jicai beside them noticed nothing. He had waited half a month; at the final critical moment, inspiration exploded completely, unstoppable. Things he couldn't figure out before became clear all the way through. That relief after being constipated for a long time made him unable to stop continuing to write wildly.

"If it is a new Heaven and Earth Authority, what would it be?"

"All related to rivers; could the high positions really be worlds apart?"

"The White Ape and the Dragon Lord are worlds apart. The old Dragon Lord Bo Guangping was broad and peaceful; the White Ape— full of ferocity, doesn't match the Huaijiang's keynote, contradicts the Long Wang and Dragon Lord's natures. Could it be that Heaven and Earth, to resist, absorbed the lessons of the first two, and the new Dragon Lord's development skewed toward martial force?"

"Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat the myriad things as straw dogs. How is this spontaneity generated? Is it like instinct, water flowing downhill, or is it conscious? And to what degree?"

"What about Liang Qu then?"

"Heaven and Earth Qingling, could it be linked to an ordinary person?"

"Or perhaps, the Heaven and Earth Qingling of Long Wang and Dragon Lord level is itself bound to Authority. Because Authority was lost at the start, the Qingling's own existence couldn't be stably maintained, requiring another form of reliance?"

Lan Jicai's mouth was dry, tongue parched; he felt he had unearthed something extremely dangerous.

If the White Ape truly knows the Qing lineage, it's definitely a delicacy in the eyes of the Bald Furnace!

The seventh transformation of the Four Passes Seven Roads, Huahong, will probably soon give birth to the Qing!

"Mr. Lan, Mr. Lan?"

"Hm?" Lan Jicai snapped back to his senses, saw Long Binglin waving at him, smiled embarrassedly, "Nothing, haven't rested for half a month, spaced out."

Long Binglin let out a breath: "That's good then."

"Hm?"

"No, I mean, I thought Mr. Lan had detected some problem. Turns out it's just not resting well. After the Water Lord is born today, just rest more and you'll be fine."

The center of all storms.

【Cauldron Master: Liang Qu】

【Refining Marsh Spirit: Water Ape Great Sage (Deep Orange)】

【Authority: Hong Sha】

【Marsh Spirit Favor————】

"This is authority?"

The excruciating pain, like pulling silk from a cocoon, gradually faded, leaving behind some stubborn residue that could not be completely removed.

Bai Yuan sat cross-legged, floating in midair, enduring the immense agony within his body that had turned into a chaotic mess, not rushing to emerge, simply extending his hand to grip his fist, staring blankly into space.

After the unparalleled power came emptiness; he had not yet fully grasped the situation, and what exactly this authority known as "Hong Sha" represented remained unclear.

Control water?

He did not feel any increase in water control.

Cause floods?

That also seemed not quite right.

An indescribable strange sensation; the only correct perception was that it was unstoppable, gripping his fist as if he were holding "the flood."

He had grown stronger.

A qualitative transformation, a shift that allowed one to grasp the rules of heaven and earth, ascending from user to administrator.

The previously unbearable flood turbulence could now be released with a mere gesture, requiring no strength, no Boundless Sea; the world had become another kind of overhead perspective.

The only problem —

Unable to contact the Boundless Sea, unable to communicate with the Xiandao, meaning no grand momentum of heaven and earth, no divine abilities, adding insult to injury, his entire strength had plummeted to its lowest point.

"Why, after refining Chang You, has my Boundless Sea not only not improved? Not saying flood is also water, to moisten the cracked Boundless Sea, but instead further shattered the Dragon Palace Xiandao, rendering divine abilities unusable?"

"Strange, are others like this too? Wei Mu is too strong, the Flood Dragon Wu Sheng cannot withstand it; after refining Wei Mu, will one's own celestial palace collapse into a mess? Having authority but no divine abilities, the two are incompatible? This makes no sense — "

Suddenly.

Liang Qu noticed a reef in the river, and in a vague way became aware of something.

His index finger lightly tapped.

"Crack."

Cracks spread across the stones on the riverbed, and in an instant they split into five fragments, exploding open; from over three feet high, they uniformly shattered into head-sized pieces, sinking into the mire.

And it did not end there.

The mire exploded, mud mist billowing.

Liang Qu took no further action; the head-sized stones continued to shatter into bull's-eye-sized fragments, scattering across the ground; the bull's-eye-sized pieces further broke into fingernail-sized bits, until they became a pile of powder, an endless chain reaction, the water growing ever more turbid.

Throughout the entire process of the stone continually shattering, Liang Qu used no Wu Sheng techniques, merely activating the authority slightly at the beginning.

"This is — "

Breath held, golden eyes blazing.

Seven-colored hues emerged between heaven and earth, each with its own pattern, orderly arranged.

Wherever his gaze fell, colors instantly mingled in chaos, corresponding to turbulent water flow, shattered rocks, cracked earth, collapsing trees —

Liang Qu's pupils contracted and dilated, then he suddenly understood.

"Hong Sha is not a flood disaster or flood evil; it does not act solely on water, nor is it merely about using turbulence and flood force to attack, but rather like flood turbulence itself, a 'disaster'! Damn it, no wonder my Xiandao collapsed!"

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