Chapter 1436: Swearing a Blood Oath to Seal the Alliance, Filling the National Treasury (Two-in-One)

"I! Zhang Longxiang, native of Youchu Qizhou, Great Shun King Longxiang, with heaven and earth as witness, swear this pledge: if one day I achieve the Furnace and attain the immortal rank, from this day forth, for a thousand years, I shall not in any direct or indirect form participate in any factional or power struggles of the Northern Court, interfere with the Northern Court————"

"I! Liang Qu, native of Huainan Pingyang, Great Shun King Huai, with heaven and earth as witness, swear this pledge: if one day I achieve the Furnace and attain the immortal rank————"

At Heiyuan Prefecture, the center of the Shuofang Platform, atop the vast expanse of the Flowing Gold Sea, waves rose and fell, flashing with faint light.

Resounding and forceful.

The oath reverberated through heaven and earth; countless banners stood straight and pierced the sky — there were Great Shun's gold-gilded flags, the Northern Court's wolf-and-leopard standards; golden light, silver light, snow light, three lights intertwined and entangled, fluttering and flying.

Snow mountains stretched continuously, like the spine of a long dragon.

The north was vast and boundless, the sky a deep azure; the Northern Court's Khan King, Wolf Lord, Eagle-Eyed Chana Yan, Wan'ehe King, Iron Spine King, Darhan King, Tiger King, and the rest led by the Calamity Dragons stood atop the high platform; the Northern Court's Eight Beasts, Halu Khan and other Heaven's Chosen, forty-eight Entering Zhen Xiang in total at their sides; additionally, thirty thousand troops of the Shuofang Platform stood as witnesses.

The south was magnificent, mist and waves vast and hazy; the Great Shun Sage Emperor, Zhang Longxiang, Liang Qu need not be mentioned further; the Wild Goose King, Red Peak King, Martial Might King and other former fellow Martial Saints, as well as Heiyuan Prefecture's Prefect, old acquaintance He Ningyuan and a crowd of Entering Zhen Xiang; Heiyuan Prefecture's thirty thousand troops were likewise present here.

In this way both sides together had nearly seventy thousand people; beyond people, there were also various strange beasts and great yaos.

Opposite, white wolf-dogs sat; lynxes, woolly mammoths, each several zhang tall. On the Great Shun side, the three little pink pigs were as always, wearing pointed helmets, heads held high and chests out, buttocks squeezed against buttocks, incomparably proud.

Apart from Great Shun and the Northern Court, there were also Southern Frontier's Li Daxian and two other Great Present figures on site, acting as a third party to accompany and witness.

With the deliberate indulgence and even summons of Great Shun and the Northern Court, not only soldiers but also surrounding villagers and fishermen watched from afar; a sea of people, spectacular beyond compare.

Liang Qu saw the Northern Court's highest leader for the first time; his appearance was unremarkable, eyes not large, yet they held a compelling radiance; his figure was extremely tall, a full two meters one, comparable to some of the shorter male dragon-people of Jianghuai; his shoulders were very broad, his beard and hair even more luxuriant, both thick and dense; he wore a white bear-skin greatcoat, looking like a black-maned male lion.

By the aesthetic standards of a lion pride, the Northern Court's Khan King was absolutely an unmatched, magnificent male lion; standing there, he was the kind who could conquer all the lionesses on the steppe.

Wind and snow howled.

The oath was complete.

Both sides sent forth great generals again to read out the alliance matters, every detail, confirming no mistakes.

A sturdy, honest-looking green ox was led forth by soldiers, standing in the center of the high platform, looking rather at a loss.

Zhang Longxiang strode forward, seized the green ox's left ear, cold light flashed, swung his saber and chopped it off.

The green ox suffered pain, its ox-eyes held tears. Zhang Longxiang patted the green ox's head, soothing it, his other hand quickly placing half the ox ear into the "Dun", not wasting a shred.

Fresh blood spilled from the ox ear, quickly covering the bowl bottom in a thin layer; Zhang Longxiang handed it to Liang Qu, Liang Qu handed it to the Sage Emperor; looking down, they discovered the fresh blood coagulated extremely fast in the cold wind; exerting a little force, he warmed it with heart-fire.

The Great Shun Sage Emperor, as alliance leader, unhesitatingly did his duty; he joined two fingers, dipped the fingertip in the blood, smeared it at the corner of his mouth, then passed the Dun tray to the Wolf Lord.

The Wolf Lord passed it to Suhebaru, Suhebaru passed it to the Khan King; the Khan King was even more heroic — he lifted the Dun tray and took a small sip.

Thereafter, Liang Qu, Zhang Longxiang and the others in turn swore the blood oath, some drinking, some smearing.

However, most only smeared.

Too many people; if all drank, one ear would not be enough.

Every time a major power forms an alliance, one ox loses its ear.

The Northern Court and Great Shun formally formed an alliance!

Such terrifying news spread with an unmatched, exaggerated speed; countless powerhouses who didn't know the details were struck with fear.

The Northern Court and Great Shun had never gotten along; just two years ago they fought a great war; now they suddenly ally — is it to deal with the Southern Frontier, to utterly exterminate it?

Even more exaggerated, even more unexpected things were still to come.

Before the alliance news could fly to the Southern Frontier and terrify its people.

The Northern Court and Great Shun had just allied on the Flowing Gold Sea, and immediately turned direction; on the Luchang River, the Southern Frontier and Great Shun, similar yet slightly different oaths and covenants, likewise took place.

The news had a delay; the Northern Court thought they would join hands with Great Shun to attack the Southern Frontier, the Southern Frontier thought they would join hands with Great Shun to attack the Northern Court; both sides felt their own leaders were muddleheaded, drinking poison to quench thirst, separated by a Great Shun that didn't even border them — all benefits of a war would go to the other side; who knew the north-south horse-merchant intelligence would collide.

Turns out it wasn't a bilateral union of Great Shun and the Northern Court.

It was a three-way union of Great Shun, the Northern Court, and the Southern Frontier!

Earth-shattering.

The world's people felt their scalps go numb, hands and feet turn ice-cold.

The three strongest powers on land no longer wrestle, jointly forming an alliance — who are they going to fight?

Fly out beyond the Nine Heavens, to fight outsiders?

"This old lady has made something of herself too, ah."

Li Xianghan's eyes were lost in thought; she couldn't help but quip — she actually had a day where she could stand on a stage like this, watching a bunch of old fogeys perform.

She, Li Xianghan, was now a number-one figure of the Southern Frontier too; becoming the Tusi successor in the future is no dream!

Hee-hee-hee————

Bai Awei, coiled around Li Xianghan's wrist, likewise raised its head, opening and closing its mouthparts.

Supporting the bed-wetting Holy Maiden to become Tusi, it would become the first humerus under the Heavenly God!

Click-click-click————

"Tusi Xie is a heroic figure of the age; today the world is in peril, with fierce men eyeing it covetously, time waits for no one; the covenant is formed, I hope Tusi Xie will soon inventory the generals and campaign against the enemy bandits! This time our Great Shun will act only to hold the line, absolutely not to steal merit."

"Alliance leader rest assured, I shall certainly do so!"

Xie Tingliao glanced unintentionally at Zhang Longxiang and Liang Qu; his gaze paused especially long on Liang Qu, he sighed slightly, and agreed.

He knew perfectly well in his heart.

The Lotus Sect and the Great Li Heavenly Fire Sect have entanglements; moreover they provided the Great Li Founding Emperor with origins and a physical body — the connection is not shallow; Great Shun has already slain the Fifth Immortal, the contradiction is clear; if they act, it is a formal declaration of hostility against Great Li, a certificate of allegiance as allies.

He had no objection.

The Sage Emperor reaching the thirteenth stage in one day, Zhang Longxiang self-cultivating the Position Fruit, Liang Qu three days three breakthroughs — none fail to prove Great Shun's momentum is great.

In major affairs, one most taboos being of two minds.

Since we're doing it, we must carry through to the end.

Furnace immortals, eternal life — all the world's precious medicines are useless to them; yet the first immortal of all time, ancient and modern, is a freak and absurd.

Whether Southern or Northern immortals, none are willing to face a true Great Li who has a prior record on his hands!

At this point, the Southern and Northern covenants are both complete.

This alliance was extremely fast; on the fifteenth day of the third month, the Southern and Northern delegations had just arrived at the imperial capital and convened the martial examination; in seven days front and back the covenant was set, in ten days the alliance completed; today is only the twenty-fifth day, the martial examination hasn't even ended.

Strength, technique, archery, strategy, combat.

The five major events had barely progressed to the martial arts sparring.

Liang Qu went to the Ministry of Personnel and conveniently asked for the "report card," intending to check on Wen Wen Shi Yun's situation; after all, she was his personal disciple, and he had given extra attention to both Xi Ziyu and Lao Mengyao, those two soul bodies — let alone a living one, he should at least show some concern.

Unexpectedly, he didn't get the "report card," but a "bill" arrived first.

"The Ministry of Revenue? What do people from the Ministry of Revenue want with me?"

Liang Qu's mind turned.

The Ministry of Revenue is the money bag — did my territory evade taxes?

That shouldn't be right; he and the Hedgehog had repeatedly emphasized being upright in conduct and conscientious in management — better to pay more than less.

"Replying to the Prince of Huai, I'm not too clear on this matter either." The messenger clerk was very nervous. "The person is outside; would you like to see him?"

」

"Fine, let him in."

Liang Qu waved his hand, then turned and discovered the visitor was actually the Minister of Revenue.

Holy crap!

The Minister coming in person — what treatment is this? Did I really evade taxes?

Liang Qu's expression didn't change; he stepped forward quickly.

But he saw the Minister of Revenue smiling broadly, handing over a thick volume: "Lately busy with official duties, I haven't had the chance to congratulate the Prince of Huai on three breakthroughs in three days, greatly boosting our dynasty's prestige.

I was also present for the earlier alliance negotiations with the Southern Frontier and the Northern Court; the position of alliance leader among the three parties was secured by our Great Shun utterly effortlessly and incomparably smoothly, with every distribution comprehensively favoring us — the Prince of Huai's breakthrough imposing manner absolutely contributed a helping hand!"

"Haha, where where, it's all His Majesty's bestowal; I'm a brick of Great Shun, move me wherever needed. His Majesty told me to break through to scare them a bit — even if I hold my breath till my face turns red, I have to do it. I wonder what instructions the Minister has come with today?"

The Minister of Revenue smiled, long familiar with Liang Qu's personality; during the previous reign he was also a high official of the Ministry of Revenue and often lent Liang Qu merit credits, all sorts of queue-jumping, all sorts of talent discounts. He pulled out the account book: "Where would I dare speak of instructions? It's just some account issues——"

Liang Qu's heart sank to the bottom; who knew that opening it, the table of contents flew like dragons and danced like phoenixes: "Detailed Statistics on Prince of Huai's Breakthrough Losses——"

Breakthrough? Losses? Who?

Me?

The Minister of Revenue narrated leisurely: "The Prince of Huai's first two breakthroughs had no issues; the third was different — Cang Mountain turned green overnight, saplings sprouted from thin air along the road, the affected range was extremely vast, the entire imperial capital, a radius of three thousand seven hundred li, was completely encompassed, and even beyond the capital there were——

Losses include but are not limited to: post roads damaged, city walls needing construction, temples damaged, civilian houses collapsed, carriages shattered, river algae blooming causing silting and blockage, irrigation farm tools——

The most critical, I fear, is the granaries; quite a few reserve granaries in the capital collapsed, the seeds inside directly sprouted and burst them open. Coincidentally, it was the third month, the Awakening of Insects, weather warming, right in the rainy season — once they sprouted and got rained on——

The Ministry of Revenue alone spent nearly ten days tallying, and this is still a rough summary report."

The more Liang Qu listened, the more his heart trembled; simultaneously flipping through the bill, he finished and discovered, it seemed——

No flaw?

Gou Mang's power is too great! The affected range too wide!

Every single entry isn't high, but the quantity is overwhelming, dense and packed, listed from start to finish.

The Minister of Revenue took a sip of tea.

Actually he also didn't know until he checked, and one check scared him.

That day he only thought it was an overnight return of spring, beautiful scenery, and even felt refreshed and delighted; the weather was slightly chilly, suitable for a spring outing — he never expected that checking into it, the concrete problems would be this big.

Roots splitting rocks, growing Poria.

Seeds and such were directly catalyzed to sprout, able to directly pry open rocks.

The key is, there are simply too many types of seeds, countless.

Just the bird droppings falling on roof tiles — who knows how many seeds they carried; once they took root and sprouted, the house would cave in. Especially at midnight, deep night, everyone asleep — caving in and crushing people to death in their dreams was possible; fortunately there were night watchmen, the anomalies were too obvious, gongs and drums beating warnings even late at night, and so far no deaths have been heard of.

Civilian houses are only one part; grain and such are even more fatal.

The Minister of Revenue felt he couldn't cover this up; this thing was fast catching up to half a disaster relief effort — the account book had to be handed over whether he wanted to or not.

The Prince of Huai has money; back when developing his fief, he borrowed tens of millions from the Ask-Heaven Merchant Guild and various local sources; supposedly most of it has been repaid by now.

Liang Qu fell silent.

Great Shun popularizes brick-and-stone structures, but main objects like house beams and carriages are all wooden products, even more prone to letting seeds sprout — not to mention far-off places, even his own meditation room grew a vine that pried open the brick and stone.

Glancing at the final figure, dizzy and blurred vision, glaring, truly fucking glaring.

How did I end up owing this much?

Next time I cultivate Gou Mang, I'll have to go to the Huaijiang Dragon Palace.

Took a deep breath.

"The Prince of Huai needn't rush to pay; His Majesty said there's another way to repay."

"What way?"

The Minister of Revenue smiled faintly: "Prince of Huai, please come with me."

"Wangyue Tower? What are we doing here?"

Liang Qu tilted his head to gaze up, attracting worshipful glances from passersby.

"The Prince of Huai will know once he ascends the tower; please."

Liang Qu roughly understood what he was going to do; his heart sank, and he turned back for one last look at the daylight.

As expected——

The seventh floor of Wangyue Tower, the great doors pushed open, a refreshing plant fragrance surged into the nasal cavity with each breath; one turn around and a person feels several degrees lighter.

Shelves like living things, vines growing, inside spiritual medicines dense and packed, stretching beyond sight.

"This place has a total of ninety-three thousand Spirit-Nurturing Fruits——" the petty clerk recited from the file.

The Minister of Revenue's face full of smiles: "Heard the Prince of Huai has a method to double the efficacy of spiritual plants——"

The corner of Liang Qu's mouth twitched.

Got it.

If a position breaks through, compensate with a dragon, arrange it clearly for him.

Looking around, Liang Qu's eyes rolled, he rubbed his hands.

"I still owe a lot of creation elixirs, after this wave, the treasury will at least increase by ten percent, there should be a surplus, right, can't"

The Minister of Revenue said solemnly: "Your Majesty said, this depends on the Huai Wang's work efficiency and final quality."

"Pa!" Liang Qu snapped his fingers, "Leave it to me!"

The gate closed, all elixirs had numbers, he pointed with his hand, no consumption, the white ling fruit appeared out of nowhere in a larger circle!

The power of authority.

Ascension, activate!

Early martial bones evolved, authority already complete, ascension elixir, never fall again!

Although ascension can only be used once per item, its limit is not as good as universal illumination, but the elixirs in the Wang Yue Lou are numerous, one after another universal illumination is meaningless, efficiency too low, overall cost-performance far inferior to ascension.

This wave will definitely repay the debt, and besides——

There's profit!

Several ascension-enhanced elixirs were immediately taken by clerks to find people to test efficacy.

Soon after.

"Registrar Lin, I want thirty ling fruits!"

"Not enough, now one great merit can only exchange for twenty-five ling fruits."

"Are you mistaken? How did the price go up? Doesn't the exchange book say thirty?" The man looked suspicious.

The registrar felt offended, but he didn't know the inside story: "I haven't been lining my own pockets, the new exchange ledger is already being made, the old one doesn't count, anyway now it's this price, and the higher-ups said, now twenty-five has better effect than thirty."

"You're joking with me? Bullying me for not knowing math? Twenty-five is greater than thirty?"

"Hey, how are you talking?"

"I just talk like this, what's wrong?"

"What's the noise? What's the noise?"

Huai Wang Fu.

Bai Bai scratched and grabbed its buttocks, looked left and right, carrying a grilled fish to make a round.

It finally came back, where did the god go?

Said to return after the alliance.

After working several days at Long Jin Bridge, it thought its grilled fish skill had greatly improved, wanted to ask the god to taste and evaluate————

Huai Wang ascended elixirs, filling the treasury.

Nanjiang and Beiting mustered troops, lined up military formations.

Daxue Mountain, great temple, medium temples had no flood dragon, no venerable, only relying on the Entering Zhen Xiang master, could not sense the "stone in the river", lama monks chanted sutras as usual, peaceful and happy.

But in the Lian Hua Sect, four venerables had gathered together.

Dashun, Nanjiang, Beiting, three sides gathered, only Daxue Mountain knew nothing, even if dull, would have reacted.

Candlelight flickered, butter scent rich.

"Bei Ma Venerable————" the left-hand venerable raised head and called.

—

Bei Ma, meaning lotus, since the Lotus Great Scholar, only in each generation of disciples of the Lian Hua Sect, the strongest in strength, most respected in virtue, having reached the enlightenment realm can serve as venerable, if not, even vacancies may occur.

This generation's Bei Ma Great Venerable, formerly a guest of the Great Qian court, Great Qian fell, then strove for Beiting, adaptable, brought prosperity to the Lian Hua Sect! The sect's rituals reached their historical peak, creating many unimaginable things.

"This perhaps is aimed at us, Great Venerable, what should we do?"

"Why not first inform the disciples, gather them in our Lian Hua Sect?"

The other two venerables made suggestions in succession.

Candlelight made shadows sway and float.

Bei Ma opened eyes, looked around.

"Not afraid, my master had preparations early! First take away the remaining few supreme bodies!

Don't forget, my Daxue Mountain, though unable to resist the three sides united, ultimately has a retreat!"

End of March.

Long Jun reopened the Huang Shahe water control route.

Liang Qu completed ascension of all elixirs, turned head to go to Ehe, Lu Cangjiang and important tributaries, built the 【Vortex Waterway】, north and south coasts fully connected.

One after another water network spread out.

Human development to now, north and south gradually divided, for the first time such close connection arose.

Nanjiang and Beiting great armies set out, plop plop like dropping dumplings into doxor, heaven spun and earth turned.

Jianghuai Great Marsh.

North and south sides, gathered here.

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