Chapter 1505

"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 drumming stopped yesterday; until now there had been no movement whatsoever inside the cave, and the wind on 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 stones are unharmed; nothing will happen. There's been no conflict either. Perhaps the Huai King is merely probing whether the Myriad Manifestations suits his needs."

17

"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 with which fishermen on both banks caught treasure fish had clearly increased.

The prosperity is real!

Once a Long Wang emerges, even if not at its peak, it is still extraordinary — not only can it make up for the Southern Frontier's losses in young dragon combat power over the years. A prosperous Long Wang can also make the Lu Cang River's produce greatly abundant; on a long-term scale, it can even fill the resource deficit left by the former Demon King, returning to the thriving prosperity of yesteryear in one stroke.

Long Wang plus a minor Position Fruit, exchanged 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 affect the personal interests of the Tusi and Grand Wu Xin.

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

Without Old Tusi Xie, swap in the Black Stone Forest 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 swept across 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. I wonder if there was any message left beforehand."

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

"Then we trouble the Huai King's Consort." The Old Tusi bowed slightly.

"It's my duty."

Long Eying did her best to stall.

Liang Qu 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 a major problem.

The valley was dim and damp.

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

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

"Headache————"

"The Ba Snake swallows the Elephant, the Elephant splits the 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 Giant Spirit's whereabouts were found. The prior clues and all guesses were completely correct — the Myriad Manifestations Position Fruit is the Giant Spirit's prerequisite minor Position Fruit.

Bad news: the Advancement Ritual requires another minor Position Fruit, also untouchable!

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

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

Just like having nine hundred ninety-nine strands of the same type of Long Qi in hand, only one step away from condensing a Position Fruit, yet nowhere in the world does it exist.

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

"Motherfucker!"

【Advancement Ritual: Ba Snake Swallows Elephant, Elephant Splits Ba Snake; choose one among Ba Snake, Silkworm Fruit, Abyss Fruit, Du Fruit and swallow it, to advance to the subordinate Position Fruit — Giant Spirit】

"Ba Snake, Silkworm Fruit, Abyss Fruit, Du Fruit — choose one and swallow it————"

"Silkworm Fruit, Du Fruit — no trace at all, not half a shred of information; undoubtedly fishing for a needle in the ocean."

"Abyss Fruit I also don't know; nothing but speculation it's like the Yellow Shahe's Feng Yi Fruit, belonging solely to the White Long Wang — even more impossible!"

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

【Realm Ritual: Feng Fruit, Yi Fruit, Ice Fruit, Abyss 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 into two.

Correspondingly.

Ice Fruit, Abyss Fruit — most likely are a portion 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 also to split open the Middle Position Fruit after branching out!

The White Long Wang is a born True Spirit; his situation is utterly unlike the Tusi and Xin Daxian's. Whether he can survive the "branching out" even with 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, playing me? Why is the Ba Snake not in the Northern Court, but specifically in the Southern Frontier, all 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 Manifestations Position Fruit swap for one with even higher difficulty — die and come back to life, whatever — any Advancement Ritual he couldn't think of a way for, rather than smoothly obtain the Ba Snake.

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

"Sizzle, sizzle."

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, draw an elephant.

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

Liang Qu's eyes fixed tightly, pointing at the swimming dragon, analyzing frantically, constantly adding and subtracting points respectively.

Known that he wants Myriad Phenomena, therefore heading south to negotiate.

Long Wang plus Minor Position Fruit as conditions, the value of the two must be greater than one Myriad Phenomena Minor Position Fruit, six times over.

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

The rest are even smaller issues, Position Fruit refinement means complete control, like a person's limbs, at most a difference in development experience, also like a person learning to use chopsticks, negligible.

However, the Long Wang has a flaw, lacks a Position Fruit, profit cut by three hundred, and can only be equivalent to three same-rank Yao Dragons, counting the Long Wang's lifespan, perhaps equivalent to even more, plus the Long Wang's prosperity not fully covered, value greatly discounted.

Merely so, Southern Border still makes a huge profit.

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

"Minor Position Fruit equivalent, Long Wang is a throw-in————"

And also.

"There are also differences among Minor Position Fruits."

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

The Long Wang's Position Fruit refinement requires swallowing rivers to refine rivers, at minimum needing a self-contained universe space, must prepare in advance when hunting the tiger, plus strange stones to open up, not to mention strange stones are precious, who can foresee the unknowable, be certain that today hunting the tiger, tomorrow a Yao Dragon?

The Ba Fruit and the other Four Calamities are likewise, none lack "death and rebirth", if Ancestor Ge is not here, how to refine in the future?

Can only shelve it, can see but not use, Xin Daming's personal sacrifice is huge.

Conversely Myriad Phenomena, literal meaning, almost any Yao Dragon can achieve it, just a matter of time.

One is a Yao Dragon can obtain the inheritance, one————

Writing here, Liang Qu stops his finger, somewhat 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 bigger or smaller, entirely depends on respective starting perspectives, no distinction of superiority.

Liang Qu rises and paces.

"Xin Daming can agree, first because Xin Daming 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 Myriad Phenomena, thus development experience can also compensate, at most a loss in the direction of divine ability construction? No, possibly none."

Liang Qu thinks of the Sea Hylid royal clan.

The Sea Hylids constructed the same divine ability for the whole clan to inherit Evil Life, just he feels it's unlikely.

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

Heavenly Dragons can be cultivated, just cultivating out Yao Dragons is unlikely.

The premise of resource investment being useful is investing in the right place.

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

"Myriad Phenomena Meng's base is huge, can stably inherit several Yao Dragons, the whole clan revolving around the Position Fruit instead weakens overall comprehensiveness, also haven't observed Myriad Phenomena Meng's masters all being one module, this aspect's loss should not exist————

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

But, not over.

Liang Qu halts his steps.

Critical step.

What the Long Wang adds isn't a "cash" Position Fruit, it's a "loan" Position Fruit!

"Value matches, risk not equivalent————"

Finger draws a balance scale, throws out two stones, serving 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 towards each other.

Switch to a new "bank" to store the Bashe, for example the Northern Court, Liang Qu might also successfully borrow, continue to latch onto the "Southern Border Tusi Bank" for loans————

Dream on.

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

Not just one more, it's two more!

"The Bashe is the key to swapping for Myriad Phenomena, both are needed, Xin Daming's portion of loss, cannot be digested internally, also must be shifted to me, how do I refill this part?"

Give Whale Pearl? Attributes compatible, Mountain Long Wang turns into Water Long Wang, cross the Dragon Gate, pile 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 total.

Not only materials insufficient, experimental subjects also insufficient, fundamentally cannot even begin to discuss, afraid even the Whale Emperor's true whale coming wouldn't explain clearly, can only give a "trivial".

Unless there are five six seven eight pearls, directly smash them out in one go, smash into reality, otherwise a single one, completely not equivalent.

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

Great Shun aside, whether the Long Wang has a Position Fruit or not are two different matters, Holy Emperor agreed, originally thinking to actively create a crippled Long Wang, occupy the Luchang River ecological niche, indirectly suppress Southern Border, so agreed to Liang Qu's behavior, reverse it and still get away with it?

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

"Demanding the Bashe also has great risk————"

"Snatch and run? Even more no————"

Although Old Tusi plus Xin Xian can't beat himself, Liang Qu likewise doesn't feel he's shameless to this extent, he's also not someone who would do things for your own good, first I Transform Rainbow myself, let Southern Border suffer a bit.

If dare to snatch, the foundation collapsing won't just be Southern Border side, but including Shun, including Louguantai.

The family has already allied.

Some actions, once taken, reveal that so-called morality and karma are not absolute but conditional on the object and past circumstances—rather than being a fixed line.

False finger: the more you draw, the messier it gets; the more you write, the more chaotic it becomes.

With no rare treasures at hand, I can only trade position fruit for position fruit.

Coincidentally, the position fruits I have are all half-complete sets—missing any one dish renders them useless; even rotating fruits are rare, and few can be transformed into governing fruits.

Especially since, at a critical moment, I promoted Chuan Guo, causing Lord Bone to metamorphose.

Let the imperial court come out?

Drip, drip.

Inside the cave, moisture grew heavier; lime was poured in, turning into paste.

Bang!

One foot stomped, and the vertical lines on the ground turned to dust, their content blurred.

Loan tiger hunt, loan Entering Zhen Xiang, loan infant dragon—can loans be turned into rainbows?

Loans can be made!

Many debts don't weigh on the body; many loans are slowly repaid.

Cheering myself on, I gazed at the twelve ivory tusks in the Ze Ding, Liang Qu took them out again, placed them in the container, and slowly walked out.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the cave; the old tribal leader and Xin Xian all stirred.

"Tribal leader, divination!"

"Huai King, how?"

The old tribal leader saw Liang Qu's expression unchanged, and his heart gave a sudden jolt.

Could it be————

"Although only a short one vegetable month has passed, I, Ding, have seen it—E Hongyu is a vegetable talent, surpassing my imagination in summoning excellence; Xi Kui is truly the Qilin child of the Xie family!" Liang Qu raised his thumb, suddenly praising.

"？" The old tribal leader scratched his head, bewildered—what kind of nonsense is this? He habitually expressed thanks: "Hahaha, many thanks, Huai King, for the praise. Hongyu, I know well—he's sufficient in maintaining tradition, lacking in initiative. If there's anything wrong, Huai King, just admonish me—I don't know, 'How about I take Hongyu as my disciple?'"

"？？

"

The old tribal leader, Xin Xian, Ge Zu, Zhang Longxiang, and even Long Eying all started in surprise.

The old toad scratched his butt, a little hungry, leaned against the corner, pondering how to trick the treasure from the legless frog.

Zhang Longxiang glanced sideways.

Waiting three years and accepting disciples as Ding are entirely different matters—did the Sacred Emperor agree?

A pie fell from the sky—could there really be such good fortune?

The old tribal leader was utterly astonished.

Although Hongyu is young, Ding prioritizes those who have attained—taking disciples is no problem.

Immediately after, he became alert.

Taking on a disciple means bearing responsibility for them—entirely a later constraint on alliance dissolution and dissolution dragging, a binding knot—will the Emperor agree to such a thing?

"I guarantee I will train Hongyu into an infant dragon! Before a hundred years!"

"Pa-ta."

Water film on the cave ceiling gathered, dripped to the ground, splashing a tiny water flower.

Silence.

The old tribal leader's pupils dilated.

This family's posture—what is it chirping and gurgling about?

"Ah, truly, seeing game stirs joy, love at first sight feels like owing—were it not for the unsuitable age, I'd want to take him as an adopted son." Liang Qu sighed, beating his chest and stamping his feet.

"？？？"

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

Ge Zu felt himself muddled.

He had slept so long, he knew the relations between the Shun Emperor and Nanyang, and was certainly no political fool.

Could it be that Xie Hongyu is Liang Qu's illegitimate child, abandoned outside, using this as an excuse to reclaim him? A man in his thirties—why would he have a forty-something illegitimate child?

"Cough, cough." Liang Qu coughed twice: "Sorry, I lost composure—really, ah, I don't know how to put it into words————"

"Could it be that the Huai King's intuition is mistaken?" The old tribal leader drew a deep breath: "The Huai King need not feel guilty—the formation only opened for two days, there was a loss, but only thirty percent of the preparation was used; moreover, I acted unilaterally, to boost morale."

"I do feel guilty, but not for this aspect—my intuition regarding — is also not correct."

"Not correct? What does that mean?" The old tribal leader grew confused.

Liang Qu shifted his tone: "When was the tribal leader's Ba Snake position fruit passed down?"

"Not as vast as myriad phenomena—about two thousand years ago, transmitted through nine generations—could it be————" The old tribal leader suddenly shuddered: "Actually, it's the Ba Snake? Not the myriad phenomena?"

Xin Xian: "？"

Xin Da Xian wore a face of confusion, while the old tribal leader instead felt delighted.

The myriad phenomena position fruit is easy to refine—with the infant dragon's ability, a few vegetable months suffice; though lacking in effort and energy, Ding has the Azure Dragon Holy Longevity to compensate—just treat it as work.

Directly it is the Ba Snake—under the exchange condition, nothing changed; instead, it let me owe less favor to the myriad phenomena people!

"Cough, cough." Liang Qu coughed incessantly.

The old tribal leader's excitement faded; he still didn't understand, and immediately recalled something.

If it were merely exchanging position fruits, how could Liang Qu have just gone hysterical, saying he wanted to take Hongyu as a disciple?

"Huai King, you might as well speak clearly————"

"Old tribal leader, when you transmitted the position fruit, did you ever consider promoting to Ba Snake?"

"Of course I considered it." The old tribal leader frowned: "Every generation that refined the Ba Snake took it as their duty—but how could the position fruit be so easily promoted?"

"Has that Tusi's Bashe ever come into contact with Shen Xi's Wanxiang?"

The old Tusi's heart skipped a beat: "What exactly does Prince Huai mean?"

Liang Qu let out a long sigh, tilting his head back at a forty-five-degree angle to gaze at the sky: "Why did the Tusi name the Chuan Wuwei fruit Bashe?"

"Because the Bashe fruit's authority is stagnant, like eating one's fill but unable to digest; once refined, it will have the negative effect of realm law growth. Our clan's ancestors saw this and thought it the same as the legend of swallowing an elephant————"

The old Tusi stopped, his pupils violently dilating.

Shen Jixian also followed suit, his eyes darkening, a sense of incredulity surging in his heart.

He thought of a certain legend, a legend that had existed within the clan since early on.

"Two village stockades, oaths passed down, one Bashe, one Wanxiang. Restless, they became the outstanding ones among the nine stockades, yet restless, they never had the fruit authority fully analyzed, the time of meeting together, until today.

Just now I got the Bashe, felt something fishy; got the Wanxiang, also felt something fishy. Always felt my martial bones needed it, but then again both didn't need it. The National Preceptor also felt so. The Tusi knows, the National Preceptor has come to calculate the karma legacy strategy, resourceful and wise."

"Gua!" The old toad thinking of deceiving the frog froze, only hearing himself called resourceful and wise, immediately puffed out his chest and raised his head, "Right, no mistake! It's this Lord!"

"Before going to Wanxiang Meng, I once flipped through the Wanxiang Meng classics, investigated what was different about Wanxiang, and as a result discovered a legend.

【182】 Legend says the Wanxiang fruit is the manifestation of the Python God, that the Python God swallowed ten thousand giant elephants, vomited Buddha in the mountain stream, vomited out the Wanxiang fruit, and was later slain by the Wanxiang ancestors who obtained the legacy grace. Thus, I thought of the two names————"

Legend has it that the Myriad Manifestation Position Fruit is the manifestation of the Python God, who swallowed ten thousand giant elephants and spat out the Myriad Manifestation Position Fruit in a mountain stream, after which the Myriad Manifestation Ancestor slew it and obtained its legacy. Thus, I thought of the names of the two —

"Bashe swallows elephant?" The old Tusi was dumbstruck.

Liang Qu continued faintly: "Bashe swallows elephant, three years and out come its bones. As expected, Tusi, the path to promotion of the Dao is right in there."

"Gulong!"

Shen Da Xian, the old Tusi rolled their Adam's apples.

Long Eying's eyes flickered; she was used to Liang Qu's miraculous abilities, a born Water Lord, knowing some things was normal, and having slept together that many times, knowing cold and heat, knowing short and long, all preferences known like the back of her hand, she likewise understood Liang Qu's character, understood things weren't that simple, there must be something off somewhere.

Perhaps it's————the second dish flipped over?