Chapter 1419

"Heaven!! God!..!"

The calling voice was very distant, as if drifting from the high and distant horizon, squeezing through the window cracks and bursting into the room. Liang Qu raised an eyebrow, leaned against the windowsill, and poked his head out.

The Shahe River surged, black-and-white spheres racing across the water at such speed they seemed to run directly on the surface. As the words fell, the speaker tripped over his own feet, lost balance, and fell, rolling across the water like skipping stones for half a li before plunging headfirst into the Yellow Shahe River. He then shook his head, crawled back up, and continued sprinting across the water.

"Can't sleep, can't sleep! Wake up, wake up!"

At the yin-yang boundary, there was no waterway shortcut—only a fish tail to rely on for travel. The fat fish swayed its belly, one tendril coiling around the little white dragon's waist, raised high overhead like holding a three-foot white silk. The other tendril whipped out an afterimage, crackling as it struck the Third Prince's head.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm————ha?"

The dazed Third Prince opened his eyes—now not only his tail hurt, but his head too. Before he could make sense of the situation, he saw the murky water surface lunge close, and his own head plunged into the icy cold, forcing him to gulp a large mouthful of Shahe River water.

"Ooo-ooo-ooo————cough cough, damn fatty, your heart of destruction————ooo-ooo-ooo, so dizzy, I can't take it anymore————"

The Third Prince felt dizzy, as if the heavens had inverted. Icy river water pressed against his head, smooth and unimpeded as it slid over. He hastily condensed dragon horns, then fainted again, his long body swaying in the wind.

Pa!

The fat fish leapt from the water, flipped two and a half times in midair, and smashed into the window like a solid cannonball—fortunately, Liang Qu had shrunk it beforehand in midair, so it was only two feet long and wide.

Whoosh.

The room trembled.

The fat fish landed in an eagle-style stance, tiptoed toward Liang Qu like an elementary school student buying candy at a shop counter, and slapped the Third Prince onto the table, waving its two tendrils with a whooshing sound.

Liang Qu's expression turned solemn after hearing this. He cradled the limp Third Prince, and his heart jolted.

Really hot!

Though the Third Prince was soaked in the bone-chilling river water of a month-long winter, it hadn't lowered his temperature at all. As a great demon, he shouldn't suffer headaches, brain fever, or colds.

Liang Qu's gaze grew serious as he immediately turned to the bandaged dragon tail.

"Dok dok dok."

The fat fish ran to tiptoe and open the door.

"What's wrong?" Long Eying rubbed the fat one's head, gazing at Liang Qu. "I saw Xiao Ya Jiang bringing the Third Prince rushing over in a hurry."

"Something happened."

Liang Qu rotated his wrist, his index finger wrapping around the gauze, and untied the bandage on the dragon's tail.

Light and shadow from outside the window penetrated the gauze, illuminating the dragon tail.

The shocking wound was exposed to the air. Long Eying slightly opened her mouth, deeply distressed, and carefully took the unconscious Third Prince.

On the half of the dragon tail, flesh and scales had completely fallen off, leaving only blackened, grayish bone. Moving upward, where flesh still clung to the cross-section, the wound appeared grayish-white, like a dead fish soaked too long in water, turned cotton-wool-like.

"How could this be?" Long Eying held the Third Prince in her arms, stroking his mane.

The Third Prince's tightly furrowed brows slightly relaxed, he tilted his head, and let out a faint little snore.

"The Furnace Will corroded and worsened the wound, preventing healing." Liang Qu rubbed his brow, equally surprised by the situation, but after connecting the dots, he understood: "The Fourth Immortal awakened, detected the Guimu ritual, and sought to destroy my way into the Yin Realm."

"At that time, the Third Prince had just finished consuming the Rebirth Pearl Pellet, tried to put the ritual away, didn't make it in time, and hid in my Ze Guo. In the end, his tail was caught in the attack wave of the Great Li Taizu."

"After the strike, the Third Prince regained vigor, bandaged himself, and could still wrestle with Ah Fei upon returning. I thought it wasn't serious. Recently, not seeing the dragon's shadow, I assumed it was clinging to you."

Long Eying was somewhat annoyed: "Back when you were attacked by the Guimu Sect on the Qinzhou River stretch, you suffered for a long time. How come you didn't think of this this time?"

"Fortunately, Ah Fei noticed in time—you owe him credit!"

The fat fish gloated inwardly, fins akimbo, smug and self-satisfied.

Treachery is treachery—plotting to harm it with life, a desperate strike.

If it had died silently at home, Heaven would surely suspect it, and then there'd be no way to clear its name. Fortunately, it was resourceful and loyal, avoided the trap, earned Heaven's favor, turned danger into safety, and transformed waste into treasure.

Haha!

To deal with it, did you even think of suicide?

Ha Ji Chong, you scoundrel, truly will stop at nothing to win—but before the mighty Fierce Tooth General, all schemes and plots will ultimately go bankrupt!

Liang Qu said helplessly: "You know the reason for the Third Prince's injury, yet you didn't remind me."

"You're the Third Prince's elder brother—you should care more!"

"Okay, okay, okay, mine, mine."

From white worm to white dragon, the Third Prince's intellect remains immature, carefree, and everyone treats him like a child. Liang Qu and Eying both feel like parents to him.

"What now?" Long Eying combed the Third Prince's mane, her face showing concern.

The Ancestral Master's will is hard to dispel, but at least there are ways. The world's Entering Zhen Xiang are numerous—if all else fails, there's still the Wu Sheng.

The Furnace Will is different. Liang Qu tried several times, using his own heart-fire to burn and replace it, but found no trace, no starting point. He pondered.

"I can't handle it—I must go find the Great Shun Immortal. If that fails, I'll just slay the dragon—should work too, since it's merely a remnant."

Liang Qu hopes the immortal can resolve this, because he currently lacks a suitable water-attribute fruit to substitute on hand. To upgrade, he'd have to directly use ten points of Dominion Degree.

Feng and Yi can theoretically advance to Feng Yi, allowing a bug exploit: upgrade one dragon, keep one in use. But filling seas to create land and redirecting rivers take time, and once started, cannot be halted—water control would stall as well. Even just managing water would take two or three years; rerouting only slows, never speeds. Liang Qu's greatest lack is time.

The fat fish was startled.

Bad!

Could this be Ha Ji Chong's true purpose?

"Wait—first let the Third Prince use Tie Mu Shan's divine ability, then we'll go. I'll send Long Yao and Long Li to check nearby for osmanthus cake sellers."

"That's right."

Green light flew into the Third Prince's body. Long Eying then froze the hind half of his tail to numb the pain. The Third Prince dazedly awoke, smelled the familiar scent, grabbed his collar, and wailed loudly.

"Waa, Eying sister, elder brother, am I going to die!"

"Nonsense. Stay calm, it's fine—your elder brother always has a way." Long Eying tapped his little head to comfort him, then handed him a steaming glutinous rice cake. "Your wound hasn't healed—why didn't you tell your elder brother sooner?"

"I don't know. Originally, it just wasn't healing—I thought it would get better with time. Today, for no reason, it suddenly went 'gaba' and knocked me out."

The Third Prince blinked away tears, touched his dragon horn to confirm it was still there, wiped his eyes continuously with both claws, then opened his mouth to bite the glutinous rice cake, swallowing it down in a muffled way.

"Gaba once?" Liang Qu mused darkly, then turned to seek the Holy Emperor.

Not that hard.

Immortals were hard to find before, but ever since the Great Li Taizu appeared out of nowhere, they've become much more "approachable." The Great Li Taizu transformed his qi into the Three Purities, directly creating three furnaces, and with the addition of the Old Yin Whale, that's equivalent to five or six ordinary furnaces.

The so-called Great Shun, Southern Border, and Northern Court powers were originally external matters, but now they've become a powerful organization probing Great Li, no longer merely the ordinary dynastic succession of the past.

It's said that because he was injured while exploring the netherworld, the Holy Emperor immediately arranged personnel to escort the Third Prince to the capital for treatment.

"The furnace methods are truly formidable — "

Liang Qu watched the departing Third Prince, secretly marveling.

The erosion of will by this thing isn't automatic upon contact; it requires killing intent and must be directed at the correct target to be strongest. At that time, the Fourth Immortal's goal was to destroy the ritual, with the target not being the Third Prince, which nearly cost him his life.

In ordinary combat, one must at least strike a vital point to kill the opponent — is this furnace not so filled with killing intent that it kills the opponent just by touching their hair?

Could cursing death techniques have originated this way?

Liang Qu increasingly wanted to advance.

Only by becoming a furnace can one truly transcend the Three Realms!

Liang Qu looked at the Holy Emperor: "Your Majesty, there's still one matter; I dare to ask boldly."

The Holy Emperor was surprised: "Between us, why be so formal? Liang Qing, just ask freely."

"As the saying goes, with a calamity dragon comes a three-hundred-year kingdom; with a furnace, a three-thousand-year dynasty. Now I only see immortals in the Southern Border, Northern Court, and my Great Shun? But what about Great Qian and the dynasties before it — where did their immortals go?"

"Haha, what's there to dare ask? Great Qian has no immortals."

"Huh?" Liang Qu exclaimed in surprise, "How is that possible? No immortals, how can they stand firm in the Central Plains?"

The Holy Emperor laughed: "How impossible? Moreover, our immortals didn't instantly help Taizu found the present Great Shun upon achieving immortality; you know we started from an uprising in South Zhili, right?"

Liang Qu nodded.

Before Great Shun rose to power, it already possessed the most fertile lands in South Zhili, maintained good relations with the Dragon Lord, traded dragon-blood horses, and grew rich beyond measure. When Great Qian lost the Way, we rose in revolt.

Wait a moment.

"One capital, one South Zhili — the Two Capitals, the world wealthy and prosperous. How could an ordinary dynasty possibly enfeoff territories? Even if you made an exception and gave you the Huai King, it would be no more than a small county; thus, the tax revenue would still be shared with the court. Enfeoffing the entire South Zhili — Liang Qing, do you think that's possible?"

"Could it be — "

The Holy Emperor nodded: "Li, He, Huang, Qian, Shun — thus far five dynasties. Great Li was the first person to become an immortal; after he and the Mirage Dragon suffered mutual defeat, there were no immortals in the world, and then Great He arose.

The founding emperor of Great He was not an immortal at the start of his reign, merely a very charismatic martial sage, unrestrained and beloved by all, who together defeated the Hegemon and established Great He.

After Great He came Great Huang; you're probably familiar with the Great Huang Taizu — his 'Ten Thousand Victories Art' is one of the sources of your 'Ten Thousand Victories Embracing Origin' technique."

Liang Qu nodded: "Very familiar."

"I don't know whether Great He produced immortals, or whether the Great He Taizu and the Hegemon later became furnaces. Time is too distant; some say they did, but Great He's people were very unrestrained; after serving as emperor for a lifetime, he went straight beyond the Nine Heavens, intending to seek other realms.

At that time, on the earth, Northern Court and Southern Border were tribal systems, with great demons lurking and few martial sages; it was only during the Great He period that they gradually developed.

Later, Great He fractured internally, and then the Great Huang Taizu unified it. Great Huang clearly produced immortals, titled Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal, and this Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal is actually a senior of the Great Qian royal lineage. It's not some vague claim from eight hundred years ago that they were one family; to this day, we are all actually descendants of immortals — Liang Qing, you might even be a descendant of Martial Huang. At that time, the Great Qian royal clan was the kind whose lineage can be clearly traced in genealogies.

Likewise, shortly after Great He ended and before Great Huang was established, Southern Border produced an immortal who invaded the Central Plains, merely without success."

Liang Qu felt a bit dazed.

The Holy Emperor continued: "So between Great Qian and Great Huang, there's a bit of internal strife; Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal's ties faded, he was no longer attended to, and it became a nearly three-hundred-year chaotic era; Southern Border and Northern Court weren't even called by their current names then — it was a time of warring warlords.

Liang Qu now understood.

Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal, both the reliance of Great Huang and the reliance of Great Qian, spanned two dynasties, the same immortal for both.

The Holy Emperor continued: "Only when Great Qian succeeded did Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal possibly become utterly disillusioned, no longer lingering in the mortal world, departing; at the same time, the Southern Border immortal fell into slumber.

"Departed? Where to?"

"Well, no one knows where he went; some say that Great He Taizu became an immortal in his later years, so during Great Huang he was still alive and again accompanied Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal, the two setting out together to seek the outer realms; others say Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal found a place to rest in eternal slumber.

Therefore, after Great Qian, there were no more immortals; roughly in the middle of Great Qian, my ancestor, the Immortal of Linchuan, appeared in the world, and at that time Great Qian granted us South Zhili.

Liang Qu understood, fully understood.

The succession of dynasties does not completely match the birth times of immortals; the birth of an immortal does not immediately trigger dynastic change, but rather there's a mismatch!

Or slumber, or internal succession, disillusioned departure.

Everyone has immortals to rely on, but the ways of reliance differ. The immortal behind Great Qian is actually the Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal of the Great Huang era, and Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal, due to the Huang-to-Qian transition, has already become disillusioned and departed.

The immortal of Great Shun appeared very early.

"And what about Northern Court?"

"The Northern Court immortal was born while the Southern Border immortal slept, launched a major invasion of the Central Plains, nearly causing Great Qian to collapse; fortunately, not long after, the Immortal of Linchuan succeeded in advancing, barely restoring balance, and afterward the Southern Border immortal also awoke, at which time the three immortals emerged together.

However, the strong of the Central Plains dwell there; Linchuan Immortal is first among the three immortals; today Great Shun has also achieved the greatest territorial extent in all dynasties. On the contrary, the Northern Court immortal is now in a state of half-slumber."

"The three immortals emerged together? Such a coincidence?"

"What's that? In sect times, martial sages were few; in dynastic times, furnaces appeared, furnaces are immortal, and thereafter furnaces will only increase. Liang Qing, the martial way has always been developing; our human race's peak has always been climbing higher.

From the first person immortal of Great Li to now, our recorded history grows ever more, our grasp of position-fruit information ever more complete, the ways to advance position-fruit ever more comprehensive, cultivation methods ever more numerous, with difficulties of all kinds — not to mention distant matters, you and Zhang Qing haven't just contributed two self-cultivation methods?

And that old ancestor of Louguan Terrace — isn't he about to awaken?"

Liang Qu's heart held no more doubt.

Then came regret — she truly had no extra help.

Martial Huang Heavenly Immortal, where are you?

Also, Great He Taizu, wake up! You overthrew Great Li, and it came back to life!

"Liang Qing, cultivate well." The Holy Emperor pressed Liang Qu's shoulder, "You needn't rush over the Third Prince's matter; after all, he's a junior of the Mirage Dragon; immortals will act, in a few days the great formation will be fully set up, requiring your effort."

"Understood!"

End of January.

"Ahaha! This prince has returned! Alive in a second life, and again a splendid hero!"

The Third Prince stroked his dragon horns, claws akimbo, fists raised in joyous cheer, striking his double pincers, "Can't move" produced money, round head presented the recovery gift, a steaming hot glutinous rice cake.

"Hmph!" The fat fish turned its head, "I thought who was coming — turns out it's the crying-nose dragon."

"Ah!!! Such gall!!! You dare slander me! Hmph, I originally prepared several treasure fish to share!"

The fat fish's expression changed abruptly, rubbing its fins.

"Your Majesty, the grand formation is fully set!" Lan Jicai arrived dusty and weary.

The Holy Emperor looked toward Liang Qu, and Liang Qu nodded.

The Holy Emperor waved his sleeve: "Begin!"

"Yes!"

Long Chen, Long Yin, and the other elders of the Dragon Sect held their breath.

On the water's surface, the crimson great dragon grew tense.

Though merely a great demon, the crimson great dragon already fully displayed its draconic aspect.

Even the Horse Kings, great and small, were not so omnipotent as to directly nurture a demon king—that requires time and resources; reaching great demon level already is quite good, and the rest must rely on the Southern Border's Living Beings Grand Formation.

Communicating with the Marsh Cauldron.

Huangsha: 【River Dominion Degree: 1 (River Favor Degree: 0.9741)】.

After a full month of flood control efforts, the Huangsha River's favor degree likewise surged greatly, yielding a bit of dominion degree, while also fulfilling one of Liang Qu's predictions.

"Activate the formation!" Lan Jicai shouted loudly.

On the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Huangsha River, the Violet Lightning Ships simultaneously transmitted signals; along the river, multiple key nodes began operating, beacon fires relayed, and the "River Stones" shifted.

Three days passed, and heaven and earth underwent a tremendous change, spiritual qi surged.

Liang Qu ignited his golden eyes.

The chaotic qi of heaven and earth suddenly shifted, from disordered cloud scrolls into smooth flowing, like the northern frontier's aurora; the demon kings within the Huangsha River all felt something different.

The Marsh Cauldron trembled.

【Obtaining a thread of the Abyssal Current, if merged with ten thousand water marsh essences————】

On the Huangsha River, suddenly, frequent births of heaven-and-earth longevity qi occurred, treasure fish, treasure plants————

The water beasts noticed this, all went mad.

A great fish followed the treasure fish leaping above the water, then was flung away by a paddle-webbed claw; before it, the treasure fish dove into a yellow leather pouch and vanished.

"Guā! Footless Frog! Charge!"

The old toad led the imperial court officials, guiding the fish in a gallop.

The crimson great dragon's aura surged rapidly, awaiting the flow speed to reach a certain moment.

Liang Qu felt the agitation of the Feng and Yi fruits; he gazed toward the crimson dragon.

Their eyes locked.

The crimson dragon had already merged with this spiritual qi, this heaven and earth, becoming one, yet lacked the most crucial stroke.

Authority!

"Revive! Old Dragon Lord!"

The Marsh Cauldron blazed with abundant light.

【Can consume ten million water marsh essences, Feng fruit, Yi fruit, to appoint Huangsha】

【Appointable: Mirage Dragon, Vine Star Forest Net, Ink Tiger Jiao, Heavenly Wolf Fish King, Pot Mountain King, Blue Mother King.】

Liang Qu had neither the ability nor the means to command the Old Dragon Lord; within the appointment range, the Old Dragon Lord could not be found at all, yet he had anticipated this, so he prepared this dominion degree.

Favor transferred!

Huangsha: 【River Dominion Degree: 1 (River Favor Degree: None)】.

Sharing the same favor, one can sense the other's existence; formerly, the flood dragon relied on this to learn of his appearance, and one's own favor, via dominion degree, transferred and descended upon the crimson dragon, creating a unique linking relationship, also what Long Binglin had explored and obtained on his person.

Grasping Huangsha River's authority, the water incarnation became the Water Ape Great Sage.

Liang Qu clearly sensed that, before him, the crimson dragon now felt different—like a puzzle missing its center piece, and he happened to have it.

Can appoint!

Just like elevating water beasts.

"Go!"

The Blue Tide violently receded.

Two position fruits melted into flowing light; the surrounding heaven-and-earth flow speed surged violently, silt filled and blocked.

Roar!

The crimson dragon soared magnificently, bellowing in midair.

The Huangsha River waters surged violently!

Southern Border, Tu Si Valley.

The old Tu Si lifted his head; he felt it, felt his own Living Beings Grand Formation, felt the half-life of his devotion, felt the "River Stone" rising slowly!

Why, so bitter?

On the Huangsha River, the true dragon's aura surged majestically, the crimson scales shedding in patches.

The Marsh Cauldron trembled.

【Hong Kingdom (False) (Small) Transformation————】

【Obtained a thread of Imperial Long Qi————】

【Obtained a thread of Hidden Long Qi————】

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