Chapter 1526

"Looking for me? Strange — not staying home for the New Year, is there something you need?"

C

"The Huai King didn't mention it, only said there was important business to discuss with the Wolf Lord."

The Wolf Lord couldn't make heads or tails of it, glanced at the sunlight outside the window, not quite sure, and asked again: "You're sure the Huai King is looking for me? Not the Sweat King, not the Lion King?"

"Absolutely certain."

"Please wait a moment."

The attendant withdrew, the Wolf Lord grabbed his spirit robe and threw it on, hurried out the door, lost in thought.

The New Year is approaching, and not long after comes the Eastern Sea Great Hunt; with just over half a month left, everyone is staying home, sharpening their blades, the Huai King specially came to the Northern Court to find me — could there be some good news?

Ge Zu, the Huai King's consort, the Flood Dragon, the False Dragon, Zhang Longxiang — 【10】 These past days, it's all been lessons from experience; it seems as long as one is involved with Liang Qu, good fortune follows — alas, the Northern Court has had no share of it so far; only back when I descended into the underworld and obtained the essence of heaven and earth did I get anything, and even that didn't fall to him.

This period has been nothing but a cautionary tale — it seems as long as one gets entangled with Liang Qu, good fortune follows, but alas, to this day Beiting has had no share; he only once descended to the Netherworld and obtained Heaven and Earth Essence, yet even that wasn't his turn.

Could it be — 【12】 The Wolf Lord's eye twitched, his heart secretly hopeful.

The Wolf Lord's eye corner twitched, his heart faintly expectant.

He once stood toe-to-toe with Zhang Longxiang as a top-tier disaster dragon.

Who would have thought that shortly after, a Dream King Dynasty and the Great Li Taizu emerged, the three formed an alliance, battle conditions suddenly rose, those taking the field were all Lion Lords, Xin Daxian and their ilk, Zhang Longxiang relied on his unique fate and overwhelming talent to join the first echelon, while he lagged behind step by step, now he can't even smell Zhang Longxiang's fart.

"I too can become a dragon, I too can forge a furnace — 【16】 Water plants sway, Da He Li swings his flat tail, waves a small wooden mallet, bang bang bang, knocking down the notice board.

Aquatic plants swayed, the Da He Li swung its flat tail, waved a small wooden mallet, bang bang bang hammered down the notice board.

Fists come to do masonry, dig open the cave, bury oneself, solidify a chunk.

"Dump dump dump! Put put put! Okay, stop!"

The fat fish waves its long whiskers, directs the iron-head fish to move stones.

"Black brother."

The fat fish turns its head.

The Left Minister, Iron Rod, comes swimming over in a winding manner, grabs the fat fish and leads him to the corner, opens his yellow leather pouch at his waist, lightly taps the bottom, squeezes out two treasure fish, pulls one out and hands it to the fat fish, striking up conversation: "How about it, Black Officer? It's been several months already, before the New Year, the new palace — can we move in?"

The fat fish leans against the wall, stands shoulder to shoulder with Iron Rod, swallows fish and spits out bones, unfolds the engineering diagram, raises his long whiskers, points and gestures.

After listening for a while, Iron Rod nods: "Makes sense, makes sense, very good, quality is most important, cannot lose the big for the small, in this masonry matter, Black Officer is professional. No problem, this matter isn't urgent; but, it must be done quickly — what? Triple salary during the New Year? Year-end bonus? Really, there's such a thing?"

The fat fish nods vigorously, pats his chest, full of confidence.

"Select by public merit, reward and punish by trust — then who would not strive? What could not be obtained?"

"This — " Iron Rod grits his teeth, "Fine! Our Eastern Sea is not inferior to Jianghuai — what Jianghuai has, we must have too.

Triple means triple, year-end bonus means year-end bonus! Let's stimulate everyone's enthusiasm! Strive to move into the great palace after the New Year!"

"Wolf Lord! Long time no see, your bearing remains splendid."

"Hahaha, Huai King! The Huai King is truly the epitome of boundless glory, enviable to others; today your august presence graces us, my apologies for not welcoming you from afar — please, take a seat, sample our Northern Court specialties."

", specialties need not be, Wolf Lord, pleasantries need not be many, plain people speak plainly — the divine power of the Eagle among the Northern Court Eight Beasts, is it inherited from you, Wolf Lord?"

"That day's pine? I did teach him, I taught all the Eight Beasts, but his divine power — 【33】 "That day's pine? Who is that? I don't know, Wolf Lord, you've misunderstood — not this one, I mean the previous generation, Bersi Tai, the fallen one, the Blood Slaughter divine power!"

"That day's Song? Who's that, don't know him, Wolf Lord misunderstood, not this one, I mean the previous generation, Balsta, the fallen one, Blood Fiend Divine Ability!"

"

","

"Pa pa pa!"

The fat fish flaps his fins to draw attention.

All the fish plastering work stop their fin-head labor, lift their heads to observe, watching the whiskers wave.

"What, during the New Year period, salary increased by thirty percent, plus an extra treasure fish?!"

"My goodness, the Iron-Head Fish King is too generous!"

The fish school erupted in noise.

The spiky-headed fish in the school, upon hearing this, immediately dissatisfied, turned and jabbed the speaking big fish with his spine, shouting angrily: "What does this have to do with the Iron-Head Fish King? It's all the Black Officer fighting for us — if thanks are due, they should go to the Great Black Fish!"

"Thanks to the Great Black Fish, following the Black Officer means we have fish to eat!" The Spiky Warrior waved his fins, shouting loudly.

"Thanks to the Great Black Fish.

""

"Thanks to the Great Black Fish!"

"The grace of the Great Black Fish is not yet repaid!"

The fish school cheered.

The fat fish's eyes filled with hot tears, he wiped both corners, pressed down his fins, urging everyone to work quickly, today there's extra food, and simultaneously extend work by one watch into the night, lest the fin-heads have nothing to do, grow idle, miss their homeland and kinfish, and suffer torment.

He cannot let his brothers labor both body and heart!

But this matter must not be made public; if word spreads of increased pay, it will cause other big fish to clamor, ruin the market, leave no work, and instead be ugly.

The spiky-headed fish wept tears and snot, voice hoarse from shouting: "So moving, to have us finish quickly, so after the New Year we can idle away to watch the Great Hunt, even securing extra rewards for us — such a fine festival, Great Black Fish, compose a poem for us!"

"Yes yes, compose a poem, compose a poem."

Public sentiment called out, the fat fish showed difficulty, repeatedly refused, but in the end he closed his eyes, lifted his head to gaze at heaven, as if communing with heaven and earth to gain inspiration.

The spiky-headed fish's spirit lifted, he hurriedly cut a flat stone slab, preparing to record.

Suddenly, the fat fish opened his eyes, his aura shifted sharply, his gaze piercing, no fish dare meet it directly, within his round, swollen belly, it seemed as if ink was swirling.

"This great fish shall compose a poem, titled, February Eighth, Remembering the Huaijiang Brothers."

The spiky-headed fish hurriedly inscribed it.

"Alone in foreign waters as a stranger, each festival I think ever more of kin.

I know my brothers float on the water's surface, everywhere water plants grow, one fish is missing."

"Good, good, good! Good poem, good poem."

"A masterpiece for the ages! With no Black Big Fish in the Huaijiang, the poetry world is like an eternal night!"

"The Grand Hunt — Black Big Fish should be invited to preside!"

The cheers grew louder, accompanied by low, stifled sobs.

The earth heaved; a fist poked out a head, two eyestalks swaying, blowing bubbles, looking at the smug fat fish, full of suspicion.

How come it's only thirty percent?

After the fat fish left, the ground swelled into a shallow vein, following behind all the way to the alley; a crab claw lifted and snapped shut on the fish's tail.

The fat fish let out a miserable shriek, clutched its butt, and leapt skyward.

"Oh-hoh-hoh, this, King Huai, what is this thing? Why is it so majestic? So rugged?"

"It's naturally my self-cultivated Position Fruit, Wolf Lord; this place aids your cultivation, all gains and acquisitions belong to you. Today I'll lend you my divine ability for a use; in the future there will be a generous reward!"

"Double salary, three treasure fish, all right here————"

The fat fish clutched its butt and took out two yellow-skinned bags.

The fist clamped one with a pincer, satisfied, and swaggered away.

Watching the fist leave, the fat fish rubbed its fins and burrowed deep into the cave.

"This year the entire Huai East water situation is very good; cases of monsters harming people are fewer than in previous years————"

"What about the Yellow Shahe?"

"None there either; with the Dragon King, the current Yellow Shahe is even more peaceful than the Huaijiang."

His greatcoat flapped in the wind; Wei Lin blew in the river wind, listened to his subordinate's report on this year's situation, jumped off the bow, and headed for the government office.

But just as he crossed the threshold, he keenly sensed an unusual atmosphere inside the Heposuo; people kept sizing him up, intentionally or not.

Wei Lin frowned slightly, let out a cold snort, strode toward the study, and only stopped when he pushed open the study's main door.

Click-click-click.

The floorboards beneath his feet blackened and carbonized uncontrollably, spreading a scorched smell.

The nanmu desk was bright and lustrous; kui-patterned treasure boots were raised high, legs crossed and propped on his favorite bronze lion paperweight; pages at the desk corner were stacked unevenly.

The visitor half-reclined, the pages blocking his face.

"Strange, why is there a burnt smell?"

Liang Qu twitched his nostrils and put down the pages.

The pitch-black spread halted, like a concrete floor after a firecracker went off; Wei Lin frowned: "King Huai?"

"Yo, Commander Wei, long time no see, you've grown; waited for you a long time, sorry, got bored waiting, found something to read, messed up your study a bit, haha." Liang Qu put down his legs and patted the desk.

Wei Lin replied coolly: "Although King Huai once served in the Heposuo, since you were enfeoffed as a king you have left office; quite a few documents here are imperial court classified reports, I fear it's improper to flip through them casually without prior notice."

"Haha, I like that unruly streak of yours! Got style!" Liang Qu's face was full of smiles, his index finger tapping.

Wei Lin's brows furrowed deeper: "Business?"

"There is one matter." Liang Qu straightened up, braced his arms on the desk, leaned forward, "Commander Wei, your Golden Crow Incinerates Heaven, extraordinary ability, I remember it vividly to this day, but you shouldn't have———— ever burned a Fledgling Dragon, right?

6

The cold wind blew bleakly, accumulated snow covered the eaves, hung with icicles.

The New Year festival approached; the whole Yixing County donned a festive look, every household hung lanterns, and the four corners of Yingchun Tower's moving display also showed crimson decorations.

"Creak, creak."

Returning from the Heposuo, having arranged everything, running circles all over the world, Liang Qu's heart was exceptionally calm.

He stood at the doorway, didn't go in, didn't take the main road, deliberately went toward the flower bed.

——

Watching the fluffy snow compress, clearly imprinting his shoe tread, leaving faint yellow earth prints.

Liang Qu didn't know why he suddenly did this, just felt great.

Listening to the snow rubbing against itself, making creaking harsh sounds.

Over ten years ago, it was probably this same road; back then it was still a dusty dirt road, connecting to a bluestone road, the yellow earth packed very solid; now it's all paved with a layer of bluestone strips.

It's over.

The dust has settled.

Only the word "wait" remains.

Before, waiting for people to pass; now, still waiting for people to pass.

Hoofbeats came from the end of the street; on the broad road, two tall horses, one behind the other, galloped fast against the cold wind, blasting conspicuous white vapor from their nostrils; seeing Liang Qu waving at the gate, both froze simultaneously and immediately reined in.

The horses halted, but the ground had thin snow, and the hooves skidded a good while before stopping.

"Shui Ge!" Chen Kui exclaimed in surprise, "Shui Ge, why are you outside?"

Liang Qu smiled: "Looking for your big brother; just got back from outside, originally wanted to go to your house, calculated the time, felt you'd be getting out of class about now, so waited a bit."

Chen Shun hurriedly dismounted: "King Huai!"

"Told you how many times, when we're out, call me Big Brother!" Liang Qu patted Chen Shun's shoulder, casually took the reins and handed them to Chen Kui, "You take the horses home first."

"Got it!" Chen Kui led both horses, one on each side, dragging them toward home.

"Sit!"

Liang Qu raised his hand.

A sweep cleared the stair snow; at the main gate, the two sat one on each side, exhaling white mist as they talked.

"How's the martial hall study going?"

"Same as always; Instructor Hu and the others all look after me well."

"How old are you this year?"

"After the New Year, I'll be twenty-four."

Liang Qu froze, not expecting to hear a number starting with two.

Twenty-four.

In his impression, the young man before him was clearly still in his teens, and that Xiao Kui should be eighteen or nineteen by now?

Thinking it over carefully, it seemed about right.

When they became master and disciple back then, Shunzi was six years old, and he himself had already cultivated for eighteen years. Wait a few more years, and another Bing Fire day of the Three Suns Rising Together would arrive soon; who knows, another Sun Taiyin might come.

"Time really flies." Liang Qu smiled. "Twenty-four isn't young. At your age, I was already a Grandmaster, right? How about it, any girl you fancy? Even Shi Tou and He Hanyu, younger than you, have already kissed."

Chen Shun subconsciously scratched his head, evading the topic: "Who can compare to Brother Shui? What did Brother Shui come find me for anyway? It's freezing out there."

"You brat!" Liang Qu smacked Chen Shun on the head. "Can't I look for you if there's nothing wrong? The hell, you're even busier than me?"

"Not exactly, just feels pretty unexpected today."

"Rebellious phase, I get it." Liang Qu stopped the idle chat. "Know about the East Sea Grand Hunt?"

"Of course, nobody in the world doesn't know. Brother Shui, you should be the top seed, right?"

"You know quite a bit. Planning to go watch?"

"Of course, everything's ready. When the time comes, I'll go to the East Sea to cheer for you, Brother Shui."

"Cheer? Do you know what 'add oil' means?"

"Don't know, but you say it all the time, Brother Shui. It should mean adding oil to a dish, right? A dish with more oil tastes better, pretty much the same as encouraging someone. And my dad has six VIP tickets; the whole family's going then."

"Six tickets?" Liang Qu froze. "Uncle Chen bought them?"

"Not exactly. Ci Wei sent them over."

Liang Qu understood: "Go home and tell your dad not to go. Sell the VIP tickets, buy more stuff, get yourself a spirit weapon forged, just go watch at the county's Yingchun Tower, no difference."

Chen Shun was puzzled.

Liang Qu patted his butt and stood up: "Waiting for you at the door was just to say this."

Chen Shun nodded, hearing the seriousness, just didn't quite understand; seeing Liang Qu not explain.

"Alright!"

February 17, seven days left until the Grand Hunt on the 25th.

The snow fell even heavier. Yixing was packed all year round, but today alone, the streets were nearly empty. The clamor had shifted

from outside the doors to inside. Everyone shut their doors to pass the winter.

The Prince of Huai's Mansion was bustling. Everyone filed in. Hui Zhen, Elder Qi, all came.

Confirming the last person entered, Ta Ta held up a torch, stretched it out to light the fuse.

*Sizzle—*

*Whoosh! *

*Bang! *

A black ring remained on the ground. Sulfur smell mixed into the air, adding a touch of New Year flavor. After setting off the door-closing firecracker, dispelling a year's bad luck, Ta Ta shut the main door, flipped out a white chef's hat, and went back into the kitchen.

The Third Prince and Awei hugged the dried fruit, watching the animation on the Dragon Spirit Gauze and shouting excitedly; the three-foot-tall round head led the bags, handing out treasure fish to everyone one by one; Da He Li gnawed on the table leg; "Bu Neng Dong" tended to the potted plants; Fat Fish and Fist fought in the East Sea.

Outside, the sky was cold and the ground frozen; inside, a fire blazed and the atmosphere was lively.

Cultivation is fast, so everyone is here.

"Agreed on one Entering Zhen Xiang a year. How can you not put in the effort? Tradition, our sect's tradition. It's broken on you, Junior Sister Duan!"

As soon as Liang Qu entered the main hall, he saw Senior Brother Xu pressuring Fifth Senior Sister.

Hating iron for not becoming steel.

Liang Qu laughed loudly: "That's enough. Still tradition? The year before last wasn't it broken too?"

"That's because Second Senior Brother and Third Senior Brother entered Zhen Xiang together, continuing it, right?"

"Then next year Senior Sister and Senior Brother Cao do it together, wouldn't that continue it too?"

Xu Zishuai sighed, dejectedly taking his seat: "Fortune is like a dragon. How can it be three times, five times—"

Everyone roared with laughter.

Liang Qu lifted his leg, straddled the stool backward, hands resting on the chair back: "Senior Brother's so idle. I'll find you something to do. Go easy on Senior Sister."

"What thing?"

"Four Gates is Warrior, Galloping Horse and Wolf Smoke are Martial Master, Hunting Tiger is Grand Martial Master, Entering Zhen Xiang is Grandmaster, Perishing Dragon is Wu Sheng, Melting Furnace is Immortal. What should this Transforming Rainbow be called? Help me think."

"Huh? True, only Transforming Rainbow has no title. Wait, why do you want this?" Xu Zishuai was curious.

"What if I make it? Thinking now beats thinking on the spot then."

"Bragging!"

"Say what you want. Just testing Senior Brother."

Hearing this, everyone started pondering along.

"Immortal Lord?" Lu Gang said.

"Dragon Lord exists already. Boring to pair them." Liang Qu vetoed.

"Immortal Emperor!" Xu Zishuai declared.

"Vulgar!"

"True Lord?" Xiang Changsong spoke up.

"Feels like it's missing something. Doesn't clearly sound higher than Immortal."

"Heavenly Venerate?"

"Change it, change it."

Everyone talked over each other. In a blink, all had joined the discussion, debating heatedly.

There were Xu Zishi, Hu Qi, Xiang Changsong and others who proposed vulgar ones, and the old monk, Huizhen and others who cited scriptures and were not vulgar.

But the vulgar ones were uninspiring, and the non-vulgar ones showed no impressive strength at a glance, and all were rejected one by one by Liang Qu.

Xu Zishuai, furious and flustered: "You, a little baby dragon, still worrying about ascending to the rainbow! This won't do, that won't do—wait until you ascend to the rainbow to come talk again!"

"Haha, you're in a hurry!" Liang Qu mocked.

Xu Zishuai completely flushed with anger.

"Alright, alright, it's all dark now, everyone's standing outside, hurry up, it's time to eat!" Xu Shi called out, followed behind by a line of little otters with plates on their heads, forming a long queue.

"Got it!"

Liang Qu sat on the stool, quietly smiling, watching everyone rise, brush past, and sit down one by one, himself like a reef standing in the water.

"What are you doing, Ashui, sitting there not moving?" Xu Zishuai suddenly turned around, "Still need to beg you?"

"Coming!"

Regretting that no name had been discussed, Liang Qu shook his head, stood up and followed.

"Alright, alright, since Shimei didn't succeed, we won't tell her, following convention, this year it's whose turn to say the祝词?" Xu Zishuai straightened his back and glanced around.

He looked left and right.

Everyone had no ideas.

"Senior Brother? Senior Brother just returned this year."

"Huizhen Dashi and Q Dashi, the elders go first." Yang Xu pushed responsibility.

"Well, I'll do it." Liang Voluntarily stood up, "This year I've made great progress in cultivation!"

"Makes sense!" Xu Zishuai's eyes lit up, "Shidi has cultivated the third fruit, also counts as continuing our sect's fortune, Shimei can wait a year, hey!"

Zhuo Shaoqin: "————"

"Alright, then Ashui will do it!"

Everyone stood up and raised their cups; the Third Prince, Bai Awei flew in holding wine cups, round-headed, "cannot move" standing beside the table at equal height.

All eyes turned to Liang Qu, waiting for him to speak.

Liang Qu pondered for a moment and said: "May the new year surpass the old, be smooth and untroubled, and may all obtain their wishes!"

The old monk, Su Gushan, Huizhen, Qijuyan, Long Eying and others were about to clink cups, but Xu Zishuai stopped them with one hand, shouting at Liang Qu: ", Shidi, who are you fooling? This祝词 wasn't it said before?"

"Has it been said?" Hu Qi scratched his head.

The old monk and others didn't understand.

"Well, Dashi, you guys came later, don't know, this phrase————" Xu Zishuai fell into recollection.

"Ashui's first year as disciple." Xu Shi stated plainly, "What your master said was exactly this, back then there weren't so many people."

"Exactly, exactly, I remember now!" Xu Zishuai's eyes brightened, "Still, the mistress remembers clearly, this has been said once, doesn't count, doesn't count, let's do it again, let's do it again!"

Liang Qu, annoyed: "There are only so many祝词 in the world, how can you really change one each year? Just this one! I like this one, when I became a disciple, I remember it clearly! It has to be said again!"

"No, can't change the rules! Even if a Wu Sheng came, he couldn't change it! If you want to do it, you don't prepare a new phrase yourself?" Xu Zishuai insisted.

"Master!" Liang Qu looked up.

Yang Dongxiong faintly puzzled, he felt it wasn't that serious to the point of having nothing to say.

"Alright, alright, what's there to argue about, just follow Xiao Jiu's suggestion!" Xu Shi decided, "Back then there were how many people, now there are how many? Nobody knows, so it counts as new, no problem."

Liang Qu's brows relaxed and eyes smiled.

Xu Zishuai painfully howled: "Shiniang, you're just being biased, being biased is fine, I'm going to make a fuss!"

"Go out and make a fuss!"

"Hahaha, Shixiong, hurry hurry, everyone come, everyone come." Liang Qu raised his wine cup flat, "May the new year surpass the old, be smooth and untroubled, and may all obtain their wishes!"

Xu Zishuai let out a long sigh, then immediately showed a smile: "Come come come!"

Cups raised and clinked.

Amber swayed.

"May the new year surpass the old, be smooth and untroubled, and may all obtain their wishes!"

February twenty-fourth.

Wind harmonious, day beautiful.

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