Chapter 146: Temporarily Leaving Pingyang County

A breeze blew, and water ripples gradually arose.

Awei on his wrist trembled a few times, its hundred feet shaking, and it crawled into the pool, swimming happily, while the small fish around fled in panic.

Liang Qu communicated with the four beasts in his mind again.

Before a quarter of an hour had passed, a small finless porpoise swam out of the well mouth first, a pair of eyes turning to look around, and called out to Liang Qu.

Then a big head pushed the small finless porpoise away, and the fat catfish followed closely behind, poking its head out.

Just as it wanted to come out, a huge force came from its tail, and caught off guard, it was dragged back into the well again.

Taking advantage of the dispute between Round-Head and the fat catfish, Fist and Cannot-Move grabbed the opportunity to come out first, Fist even holding a treasure fish in its hand.

Liang Qu was very gratified.

With this passage, treasure fish could be sent directly home in the future, without Liang Qu having to go to the river specifically to get them.

Feeding Sturgeon King meat was also more convenient; at mealtime, he could just let the four beasts come over along the undercurrent to eat.

Cannot-Move used its claws to grab the edge of the pool, its belly rubbing against the blue stone bricks as it crawled out, bringing out a large splash of water, and two small fish were also brought out, jumping on the ground.

It found a good place in the large courtyard, belly to the ground, limbs spread out, lying down to bask in the warm spring sun.

Fist followed closely behind, presenting the treasure fish to Liang Qu; it was a tiger-head grouper weighing over five jin.

"Well done."

Liang Qu took it smoothly, praised it, and put it into the water vat.

Going to drink with Li Libo and Chen Jiechang tonight, it wouldn't be good to go empty-handed.

The old monk finished breakfast and came to the courtyard, seeing the scene of the beasts active without much expression.

He just came to the side of the pool, picked up the two small fish on the ground, and put them back into the water.

Having traveled north and south for so many years, the old monk had seen countless masters of beast taming, and had even personally experienced the power of Gu insects in the Ten Thousand Mountains.

The so-called difficulty of raising beasts was for the imperial court.

What the imperial court wanted wasn't a specific tamed individual, but a species that could be stably produced, requiring generations of patient selection and breeding.

Like the finless porpoise, whoever held a token could command it, without needing to cultivate feelings.

If it was just taming an individual, raising it by one's side from birth to cultivate feelings, relying on absolute force to subdue it, there were many methods.

In some large aristocratic families, there were even demon beasts of near-Perfected Form level sitting in town.

Demon beasts of the same realm were already physically tough, and coupled with learning human techniques, no one dared to provoke them easily.

Now it was just a few water beasts, nothing strange.

In the courtyard, Cannot-Move saw the old monk, looked at Liang Qu who had no orders, and closed its eyes to continue basking in the sun.

Fist moved its steps closely behind Liang Qu.

The fat catfish got rid of Round-Head, poked its head out of the well mouth, and sprayed a mouthful of water to say hello.

"This spirit monster is quite spiritual."

The old monk admitted that he had misjudged it a bit; the strength and wisdom of this spirit monster didn't match, which was rare.

Liang Qu laughed: "Just want Master to know, I raised a few water beasts, if you come to the courtyard in the future, by no means treat them as spirit monsters and kill them."

Five beasts poking their heads out was Liang Qu's attempt.

Since commanding water beasts wasn't special, he could try to let them show their faces more.

"Good."

Evening.

Liang Qu followed the agreement, carried the tiger-head grouper to Li Libo's house to drink.

Looking around the street, the entire Yixing Town had truly changed, having a bit of the appearance of the former Pingyang Town.

Looking out, it was no longer that small village full of acquaintances; there were many people he didn't know.

One could still smell the faint scent of firecrackers in the air, and many new shops had opened on both sides of the road, new rice shops, cloth shops, and restaurants.

Liang Qu even saw two martial arts halls opened in Yixing Town, with apprentices coming in and out, only seven or eight, not large in scale.

It should be because many people hadn't completely settled down yet.

Grain prices had risen so high, and those with a little money at home had to hold it tightly to prevent accidents, not spending it easily.

Learning martial arts was no different from gambling; without follow-up support, it was very likely to be money down the drain.

In a few months, after harvesting a crop of rice and letting grain prices fall, the number of apprentices would at least double.

He didn't know if he could continue to be the chief celebrant for the River God Festival on the sixth day of the sixth month.

Liang Qu touched his chin, very concerned about this matter.

He had secretly tried it a long time ago, finding a place to kill a chicken for sacrifice, but there wasn't even a hair, so he still had to rely on a proper River God Festival.

Another River God Festival.

With the number of people, the quality of sacrifices, and the identity of the chief celebrant all improved, he could guarantee that the favor would at least double tenfold, losing a zero.

But it was difficult. The current Yixing Town was no longer the Yixing City where a few village elders could have the final say.

Not many people bought Liang Qu's account, and it wasn't certain if the River God Festival could even be held.

No wonder everyone wanted to be a powerful local figure; the feeling of having the right to speak and having the final say locally was indeed comfortable.

"Eh eh, Ashui is here!"

Chen Jiechang stood at the door chatting with guests, and Li Libo patted his shoulder and pointed to the street.

Chen Jiechang took a look, said a few simple words to let people in, and hurried up with Li Libo to greet him.

Liang Qu looked around: "I'm not late, am I?"

Li Libo patted his thigh: "How could you be late? Brother Shui, you are the main guest. Only when you arrive can this banquet start, how could you be late?"

Liang Qu laughed loudly, lifting the tiger-head grouper in his hand.

"Look, good stuff I brought for you! Congratulations to you two for becoming true martial artists! And wish you both prosperity in martial arts in the future!"

"Hiss, tiger-head grouper? This must be five jin, right? I said before to just let you come empty-handed, how could we have the face to take this."

"No expense, caught it this morning. To tell you the truth, I eat tiger-head grouper every three days, I'm already tired of it."

"Why didn't I notice Brother Shui had the habit of bragging before?"

"Bragging my ass, take it! My hand is sore from carrying it."

Liang Qu threw the lively tiger-head grouper to the two of them and strode into the courtyard, just in time to see Xiang Zhangsong and Hu Qi, and sat down with them: "Brother Hu, Brother Xiang? You are here too!"

"Just happened to have nothing to do, they insisted on dragging me over." Xiang Zhangsong was eating fried peanuts.

Hu Qi poured a cup of tea for Liang Qu: "Brother Liang is about to break the blood barrier, right?"

Liang Qu nodded: "Within the last ten days."

"That's great, can eat another meal, don't cry poor when the time comes."

"Bring it on." Liang Qu patted his pocket, "Brother has a bulging purse!"

"How is the River-Dredging Office doing, any problems?"

"Quite good, Brother Xu and Commander Wei manage it separately. No one comes to bully me on Brother Xu's side, just fishing for merit every day to exchange for things, quite relaxed."

"This is your first time in office. Although Brother Xu helps, you still need to be careful in your words and actions. They are all young masters from the capital, and many have bad tempers."

"Don't worry, Brother Hu, I'm not someone who causes trouble, as long as they don't come to provoke me."

"Hmm."

Midnight.

Liang Qu, having finished his meal, loosened his belt and carried the Fubo spear to patrol the river. He carried several dead fish heads to the pleasure boat to register merit, but was called by Registrar Li just as he was about to leave.

"Don't go yet, there's a task today."

Liang Qu's footsteps paused: "Task? What task?"

Li Shoufu pulled open a drawer and took out a booklet from the cabinet.

"This morning, the neighboring county reported a water monster causing trouble. The powerful ones here have all gone to deal with the Ghost Mother Sect, and there aren't many River-Dredging Office personnel left, so it might trouble you to make a trip. I don't know if it's convenient or not."

Although the River-Dredging Office was built in Pingyang County, it managed the entire Huaiyin Prefecture.

Water monsters in other counties were all under the jurisdiction of the River-Dredging Office.

Liang Qu took the booklet. According to the description, it was just an ordinary spirit monster, and it wouldn't take three days to go and return.

"Done, then I'll go." ===== CHAPTER 147 =====