Chapter 1501: The IOU Works, Ba Snake Swallows Elephant (Two-in-One)

"Centipede Grandpa, it's been a whole day, how come————" Xie Hongyu sat restlessly.

He adjusted his sitting posture, so his trouser waistband wouldn't stick to his buttocks.

The drumbeats stopped yesterday; until now there had been no movement whatsoever inside the cave, and the wind over the Lu Cang River grew stronger and stronger.

"Put your mind at ease." Bai Zu opened his eyes, looking toward the surging Lu Cang River below the cliff. "The Tusi and Grand Wu Xin's River-Center Stone are unharmed; nothing will happen. There's been no conflict either. Perhaps the Huai King is merely probing whether the Myriad Phenomena suits his needs."

"Hope so."

Xie Hongyu frowned slightly with worry, temporarily suppressing his emotions.

Grand Wu Bai Zu blew in the mountain wind, his temples flying, his thoughts unconsciously drifting back to Pan Dong and Ku Gu — fellow frontline guardians, naturally good friends.

The Southern Frontier — could there be a Long Wang?

Taking advantage of the Huai King's Consort being in the Southern Frontier, the Tusi had long ordered him to secretly observe the number of treasure fish in the Lu Cang River; statistics from all sides showed the frequency of fishermen catching treasure fish on both banks had clearly increased.

The prosperity is real!

Once a Long Wang appears, even if not at full strength, it is still extraordinary — not only can it make up for the Southern Frontier's losses in dying-dragon combat power over the years, but a thriving Long Wang can also make the Lu Cang River's produce greatly abundant; on the long-term scale, even the resource deficit left by the former Demon King can be filled, returning in one stroke to the former thriving prosperity.

Long Wang plus a Minor Position Fruit, swapping for another Minor Position Fruit — for the Southern Frontier as a whole, it's absolutely not a loss, even a gain. Only the refining difficulty and the differences in Position Fruit authority targeting mean personal gains and losses for the Tusi and Grand Wu Xin individually.

He has always admired the Tusi, and also admired Xin Daxian.

Without Old Tusi Xie, swap in the Heishilin Tusi, and the Southern Frontier would never have had a great change — three thousand years running. Without the venerable and respected, self-sacrificing Grand Wu Xin, the Southern Frontier likewise would not have a dreaded foundation.

Wind scraped past the cave mouth, whistling.

"Huai King's Consort." The Old Tusi opened his eyes. "The Huai King has been inside for a day now, still no word. Wonder if there were any words left beforehand."

"My husband said, it might take one or two days' methods to stimulate the Position Fruit, probe its connection with the Martial Bone. In another half day, if there's still no movement, I'll go check for you all and get definite news."

"Then many thanks for the trouble, Huai King's Consort." The Old Tusi bowed slightly.

"It's my duty."

Long Eying did her best to stall.

Liang Qu had of course never said these things to her————

Long Eying pondered silently; it must be that Liang Qu ran into some thorny problem. She could only hope what he encountered wasn't anything major.

The valley interior was dim and damp.

In two days' time, a thin layer of slippery green moss had grown on the corner stone walls.

The smooth cliff overhead clung with a faint layer of water vapor, crystalline, like a water membrane.

"Headache————"

"Ba Snake swallows Elephant, Elephant splits Ba Snake————"

Liang Qu's brain turned to mush; he completely didn't know how to solve it, stuck dead here.

He thought for a whole day; countless thoughts collided and scattered.

His brain was smoking.

Good news: the Ju Ling's whereabouts were found; the prior spider-silk horse-tracks, all guesses completely correct — the Myriad Phenomena Position Fruit is precisely the Ju Ling's prerequisite Minor Position Fruit.

Bad news: Pu Yi needs another Minor Position Fruit, likewise untouchable!

What he wants isn't the Kui Fruit; it's Ju Ling — Ju Ling is what's useful.

Unable to advance in rank, that means it doesn't exist!

Just like having nine hundred ninety-nine strands of same-kind Long Qi in hand, only one step away from condensing a Position Fruit, yet under heaven there is none.

Just missing this one thread, missing by a thread — nine hundred ninety-nine strands of Long Qi can only be used to manufacture several hundred Entering Entering Zhen Xiang, no other use.

"Motherfucker!"

【Advancement Ritual: Ba Snake Swallows Elephant, Elephant Splits Ba Snake; choose one among Ba Snake, Can Fruit, Yuan Fruit, Du Fruit and swallow it, can advance to Governing Position Fruit — Ju Ling】

"Ba Snake, Can Fruit, Yuan Fruit, Du Fruit, choose one and swallow it————"

"Can Fruit, Du Fruit — no trace at all, not half a shred of info, undoubtedly fishing a needle in the ocean."

"Yuan Fruit I also don't know; nothing but guessing it's like the Yellow Shahe's Feng Yi Fruit, solely owned by the White Long Wang — even more impossible!"

Liang Qu pinched the bridge of his nose, kneading it nonstop.

【Realm Ritual: Feng Fruit, Yi Fruit, Bing Fruit, Yuan Fruit — gather the Four Calamities, Water Lord as King, can guide the Bright River Realm.】

Feng Fruit, Yi Fruit — after the Yellow Long Wang fell, the Position Fruit split one into two.

Correspondingly.

Bing Fruit, Yuan Fruit — most likely are a part split from the Middle Position Fruit after the White Long Wang fell.

If so, this not only requires the White Long Wang's fall to "branch out," but further requires splitting open the Middle Position Fruit after branching out!

The White Long Wang is a born True Spirit; his situation is utterly unlike the Tusi's and Xin Daxian's. Whether he can survive the "branching out" aided by Ge Zu and Zhang Longxiang's methods is unknown, let alone missing a part.

Two with no trace, one completely impossible.

Then————

"Ba Snake!"

"Damn it, messing with me? Why isn't the Ba Snake in the Northern Court, but instead all in the Southern Frontier, entirely in the Southern Frontier? If it were the Northern Court, same trick again, writing another IOU would be fine."

"Ba Snake, Kai Shan — appearing in the Southern Frontier doesn't seem so strange either?"

Liang Qu would rather the Myriad Phenomena Position Fruit swap for an even higher-difficulty one — die and come back to life, whatever Advancement Ritual — anything but no way to get the Ba Snake smoothly.

Tian Wu in hand, the Blue Maiden's prerequisite and Ju Ling's prerequisite likewise within arm's reach————

"Scritch, scritch."

Lime piled up, gravel splashed, fingers trembled.

Liang Qu drew a vertical line along the ground, dividing it into left and right columns.

On the left side he wrote Long Wang, Arbitrary Minor Position Fruit.

On the right side he drew a big elephant.

Must find a way — it hasn't reached the point of being utterly helpless yet!

Liang Qu's eyes fixed intently, finger tracing the wandering dragon, analyzing frantically, constantly adding and subtracting points for each.

Known that he wants Wuxiang, therefore heading south to negotiate.

Long Wang plus Small Position Fruit as conditions, the value of both must be greater than one Wuxiang Small Position Fruit, six times over.

As such, Southern Border makes a killing, profit margin five hundred percent. Xin Damian personally takes a small loss, the loss lies in the longing and cherishing being gone, but this part can be compensated by the additional output conceded from the Long Wang's prosperous Lcang River, an internal Southern Border interest issue.

The rest are even smaller issues; Position Fruit refinement being completely under control, like a person's limbs, at most a difference in development experience, likewise trivial as a person learning to use chopsticks.

However, the Long Wang has a flaw — no Position Fruit, profit cut by three hundred, and can only be equivalent to three same-rank Yaolong; factoring in the Long Wang's lifespan, perhaps equivalent to even more; adding the incompletely covered Long Wang prosperity, the value is greatly discounted.

Merely so, Southern Border still profits hugely.

Liang Qu's finger shifted, drawing an equals sign between the elephant and the Small Position Fruit.

"Small Position Fruit equivalent, Long Wang is a bonus————"

And yet.

"There are also differences among Small Position Fruits."

"Inheritable and non-inheritable, that is, knowing the refinement method, and the difficulty of refinement————"

The Right Position Fruit's refinement requires swallowing and refining rivers, at minimum needing a self-contained universe space; preparation must begin when hunting the tiger, and then there's the strange stone opening — not to mention the stone's preciousness, who can foresee the unknowable, be certain that today they hunt the tiger, tomorrow a Heavenly Dragon appears?

The Ba Fruit and the other Four Calamities are the same — none lack 'death and rebirth'; if the Ge Ancestor is gone, how to refine in the future?

Can only shelve it, can see but not use; Xin Damian's personal sacrifice is enormous.

Conversely Wuxiang, literal meaning, almost any Yaolong can achieve it, just a matter of time.

One is that a Yaolong can obtain the inheritance, the other————

Writing here, Liang Qu stopped his finger, humorously thinking of an analogy.

Android Long Wang + Android Position Fruit, swap for an Apple Position Fruit.

At this point.

The value of the two is already basically equal.

Specifically which is larger or smaller depends entirely on each's starting perspective, no distinction of superior or inferior.

Liang Qu rose and paced.

"Xin Daqian can agree, first because Xin Damian is also a Southern Border person, venerable and respected; second because the old Tusi shifted the sacrifice onto himself, using the Bashe to exchange for Wuxiang, thus the development experience can also compensate, at most a loss in the direction of divine ability construction? No, possibly none."

Liang Qu thought of the Sea Hylid royal clan.

The Sea Hylids built the same divine ability across the whole clan to inherit the Evil Life; merely he feels it's unlikely.

Wuxiang Meng's base population and the Sea Hylid clan's scale are completely different.

Yaolong can be cultivated, merely cultivated Yaolong are unlikely.

The premise for resource investment to be useful is investing in the right place.

Resource investment without screening is drawing water with a bamboo basket.

"Wuxiang Meng's base is huge, can stably produce several Yaolong inheritors; the whole clan revolving around the Position Fruit instead weakens overall comprehensiveness; also haven't observed Wuxiang Meng's masters all being one module; the loss in this aspect probably doesn't exist————"

"For Southern Border, the trade is absolutely fair; internal compromise and concession, not my business————"

But, it's not over.

Liang Qu halted his steps.

The crucial step.

The Long Wang added isn't a 'cash' Position Fruit, it's a 'loan' Position Fruit!

"Value matches, risk asymmetrical————"

Finger drew a balance scale, tossed two stones to serve as weights.

Liang Qu's personal credit placed on the left, the old Tusi's Long Wang longing placed on the right.

Both sides rushing toward each other.

Switch to a new 'bank' to store the Bashe, for example the Northern Court, Liang Qu might still succeed in borrowing, continue lending from the 'Southern Border Tusi Bank'————

Dream on.

With Liang Qu's credit and strength, the Long Wang as down payment, borrowing one is plausible, borrowing two is absolutely impossible.

Not just one more, it's two more!

"The Bashe is the key to swapping for Wuxiang; both are required; Xin Damian's portion of the loss cannot be digested internally, and must also be shifted onto me; how do I refill this part?"

"Give the Whale Pearl? Attributes compatible, coincidentally turning the Mountain Long Wang into a Water Long Wang, crossing the Dragon Gate, piling up materials, is there a chance of self-breeding? Trivial————how much counts as trivial?"

Under heaven there are only two Whale Emperor Whale Pearls in total.

Not only are materials insufficient, experimental subjects are also insufficient; fundamentally cannot even begin to discuss; afraid even the Whale Emperor's true whale form arriving couldn't explain clearly, can only give a 'trivial'.

Unless there are five, six, seven, eight pearls, directly smash them all out in one go, smash them into reality; otherwise a single one is completely asymmetrical.

Let alone this matter is not only asymmetrical, the risk is also damn huge.

Dashingun aside, whether the Long Wang has a Position Fruit or not are two different matters; the Holy Emperor agreed, originally thinking to proactively create a crippled Long Wang, occupy the Lcang River ecological niche, indirectly suppress Southern Border, so agreed to Liang Qu's actions; reverse it and see if he'd still agree?

"Fengyi is the Yellow Shahe, Bingyuan is the Ehe, Water Lord as King, heaven and earth may have long since given the transformation answer————the Whale Emperor schemed against the Dragon Lord, may have already completed a part; what if the Lcang River's self-breeding can replace one of them, the whale sits at home, transformation comes from the sky, play a few rounds of eggs————"

"Demanding the Bashe is also very risky————"

"Snatch and run? Even more impossible————"

Although the old Tusi plus Xin Damian can't beat him, Liang Qu likewise doesn't feel he's shameless to that degree; he's also not someone who would do things for your own good; first achieve transformation myself, let Southern Border suffer a bit.

If they dare snatch, it's not just Southern Border's foundation that collapses, but including Dashingun, including Louguantai.

Everyone has already allied.

Some behaviors once done, regardless of the target, regardless of the past, only show that so-called morality is nothing more than a condition on some balance, not a bottom line.

The index finger drew more and more messily, wrote more and more chaotically.

I have no more precious treasures on hand, so I can only exchange a Wei Fruit for a Wei Fruit.

As it happens, the Wei Fruits on hand are all nearly complete sets, none of which can be missing; even the Xuan Fruit is a rare Wei Fruit capable of assimilating the Ruling Degree.

Especially since it can, at a critical moment, ascend to the Chuan State, letting the Lord's Bones transform.

Have the imperial court produce it?

Drip, drip.

The dampness inside the cave grew heavier and heavier; mixed with lime, it turned into paste.

Bang!

One foot stomped down, and the vertical lines on the ground left and right turned to dust, their contents blurred.

Loan to hunt Tiger, loan to Enter Entering Entering Zhen Xiang, loan to hatch Dragon — can I loan to transform into a Rainbow?

I can loan it!

Many debts don't weigh the body down; loan more, repay slowly.

Cheering himself on, gazing at the twelve ivory pieces inside the Ze Ding, Liang Qu took them out again, placed them in the vessel, and walked out slowly.

Footsteps rang out inside the mountain cave; Old Tusi and Xin Damian both had a change of expression.

"Tusi, Damian!"

"Prince Huai, how did it go?"

Old Tusi saw Liang Qu's expression was not relaxed, and his heart gave a sudden thump.

Could it be ————

"Although it's only been a short month, I can tell — Xie Hongyu is a talent, even more outstanding than I imagined, truly worthy of being the Xie family's qilin son!" Liang Qu raised a thumb, suddenly praising him.

"?" Old Tusi couldn't make heads or tails of it; what was this about? He thanked him as per custom, "Hahaha, many thanks for Prince Huai's praise; I know Hongyu well — more than enough to maintain the status quo, but lacking in drive. If there's anything he did wrong, Prince Huai feel free to discipline him; I wonder if ten thousand ————"

"How about I take Hongyu as a disciple?"

"??"

Old Tusi, Xin Damian, Ge Zu, Zhang Longxiang, and even Long Eying were all startled.

The old toad scratched his butt, a bit hungry, leaned against the corner, pondering how to swindle the legless frog's treasure out of him; Zhang Longxiang glanced sideways.

Waiting three years and taking a disciple are completely different matters; did the Sage Emperor agree?

A pie falling from the sky — is there such a good thing?

Old Tusi was completely astonished.

Although Hongyu is older in years, the accomplished comes first; taking a disciple, no problem.

Immediately after, he became vigilant.

Taking a disciple means being responsible for the disciple; it's entirely a restraint after an alliance forms and dissolves, a tether that can't be shaken off — would the Great Shun Emperor agree to such a thing?

"I guarantee, I will cultivate Hongyu into a Yao Dragon! Before a hundred years of age!"

"Plop."

The water film on the cave roof gathered and dripped onto the ground, splashing a tiny spray.

Quiet.

Old Tusi's pupils dilated.

What the hell is this guy mumbling about?

"Ah, truly a case of seeing prey and rejoicing, feeling like old friends at first sight; if not for the age being a bit awkward, I'd even want to take him as an adopted son." Liang Qu beat his chest and stamped his feet in regret.

"???"

Long Eying reached out and touched Liang Qu's forehead, then touched her own.

Ge Zu felt he had become muddleheaded.

He had slept that long; the relationship between Great Shun and the Southern Frontier, he knew it too, and he was no political idiot.

Could it be Xie Hongyu is Liang Qu's illegitimate son left outside, using this as an excuse to reclaim him? But a man in his thirties, why would he have an illegitimate son in his forties?

"Cough, cough." Liang Qu coughed twice, "Sorry, lost my composure; truly, ah, don't know how to put it ————"

"Could it be Prince Huai's intuition was mistaken?" Old Tusi took a deep breath, "Prince Huai need not feel guilty; the grand array only opened for two days, there is loss but not great, only three-tenths of the array's preparation; moreover, it was my own arbitrary decision, an act to boost morale."

"I do feel guilty, but the guilt is not in that aspect; my intuition was right ———— and also not right."

"Right and also not right? What does that mean?" Old Tusi grew confused.

Liang Qu changed the subject: "When did Tusi's inheritance of the Wei Fruit begin?"

"Not up to Ten Thousand Images, roughly two thousand years ago; the inheritance has nine generations. Could it be ————" Old Tusi suddenly realized with a shock, "It's actually a Ba Snake? Not Ten Thousand Images?"

Xin Daxian: "?"

Xin Daxian wore a face full of confusion; Old Tusi, on the contrary, was delighted.

Ten Thousand Images Wei Fruit is easy to refine; with Yao Dragon's ability, a few months would suffice. A bit of effort and energy lost, but compensated by the Azure Dragon Sacred Lifespan — just treat it as working a job.

Directly a Ba Snake; the exchange conditions from all sides haven't changed, yet instead it lets me owe Ten Thousand Images one less favor!

"Cough, cough." Liang Qu coughed incessantly.

Old Tusi's excitement faded, and he was thoroughly baffled; immediately after, he recalled something.

If it was just exchanging Wei Fruits, why would Liang Qu just now have a hysterical fit, saying he wanted to take Hongyu as a disciple?

"Prince Huai might as well speak plainly ————"

"Old Tusi, when you inherited the Wei Fruit, did you ever think of ascending to Ba Snake?"

"Of course I thought of it." Old Tusi frowned, "Every generation of Damian who refined the Ba Snake took it as their duty; alas, how could a Wei Fruit be so easy to ascend?"

"Then, has Tusi's Ba Snake and Xin Daxian's Ten Thousand Images ever made contact?"

Old Tusi's heart jumped: "What exactly does Prince Huai mean?"

Liang Qu let out a long sigh, tilted his head back at a forty-five-degree angle, and looked at the sky: "Why did Tusi name the inherited Wei Fruit 'Ba Snake'?"

"Because the Ba She position fruit authority is stagnant, like being unable to digest after eating too much, once refined, it will have a negative effect of realm unable to grow, our clan's ancestors saw this and thought it was the same as the legend of swallowing elephants——"

The old chieftain stopped, his pupils violently dilated.

Shen Daming also followed with his eyes turning black, his heart surging with disbelief.

He thought of a legend, a legend long existing in the clan.

"Two villages, each with inheritance, one Ba She, one Wanxiang. Thus becoming outstanding among the nine villages, yet never having the position fruits all separated, meeting together, until today.

Just now I obtained the Ba She, feeling something odd, then obtained the Wanxiang, also feeling something odd, always feeling my martial bones need it, yet neither is needed. The National Preceptor also feels this, the chieftain knows, the National Preceptor never misses a strategy, resourceful and full of schemes."

"Gu!" Thinking of deceiving the legless frog, the old toad was stunned, only hearing his own resourcefulness and schemes, immediately puffed out his chest and raised his head, "Yes, correct! It is this lord!"

"Before going to Wanxiang Meng, I once browsed the Wanxiang Meng classics, investigating what differs about Wanxiang, resulting in discovering a legend.

The legend says the Wanxiang position fruit is the manifestation of the python god, is the python god swallowing ten thousand giant elephants, spitting eggs in the mountain ravine, spitting out the Wanxiang position fruit, later the Wanxiang ancestors slaughtered it to obtain the遗泽. Thus I thought of the two names——"

"Ba She swallowing elephants?" The old chieftain gaped.

Liang Qu softly continued: "Ba She eats elephants, at three years old its bones emerge. As expected, not mistaken, chieftain, the path to promotion lies within."

"Gudong!"

Shen Daming and the old chieftain rolled their Adam's apples.

Long Eying's eyes flashed, she was accustomed to Liang Qu's miraculous abilities, naturally a water sovereign, knowing some things is normal, and after sleeping for so long, knowing cold and heat, knowing short and long, all habits known like the back of her hand, she likewise understands Liang Qu's personality, realizes things are not that simple, certainly there is something wrong somewhere.

Perhaps it is————fell down. er?

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