Chapter 206

The True Dragon passed away, and the Jiaoren migrated?

Liang Qu stroked his chin.

"Why did the Jiaoren leave after the True Dragon passed away?"

"No one to protect them."

"No one to protect them?"

"Jiaoren tears are not ordinary tears; only great sorrow and pain can condense them, falling to become pearls, which can detoxify all poisons and are worth a thousand gold as ornaments; there is often talk of pearl kings.

The Dragon-Silk they produce is as light as a feather and does not get wet in water; these two treasures are coveted by countless people.

When the True Dragon was around, they were safe, but when the True Dragon was gone, the Flood Dragon took over, and it was far inferior; it couldn't even take care of itself, so how could it talk about protection?"

Liang Qu looked at the highly transparent Jiaoren tear in his hand and could roughly understand.

How does that saying go? In the absence of glass, the more it looks like glass, the more valuable it is?

"Is the strength of the Jiaoren themselves very poor?"

"Not necessarily."

"Oh?"

"I ask you, are all you humans Hunting Tiger martial artists?"

"No."

Liang Qu blurted out.

After saying it, he realized something was wrong; damn it, he was almost led astray by the old giant clam.

"Indeed, all Jiaoren can produce tears and silk."

"Got it."

Liang Qu suddenly realized.

It's not that there are no experts among the Jiaoren, but they can't help it; every Jiaoren is extraordinarily valuable, so there's no need to focus on the strong ones.

The Jiaoren tears worth a thousand gold require great sorrow and pain to be produced; what is great sorrow and pain?

Watching a few tragic plays can't be called great sorrow and pain.

Merchants would never go to the trouble of raising Jiaoren, waiting ten or twenty years just to collect a few Jiaoren tears; they could only be treating Jiaoren as consumables.

With tribe members being abducted as consumables every day and no fresh blood flowing in, that's pulling the firewood from under the cauldron; the overall strength of the Jiaoren naturally weakens more and more.

The weaker they are, the less they can stop it, which can be called a vicious cycle.

When the True Dragon was around, it had absolute ruling power over the entire Jianghuai marsh, the Demon Court was prosperous, and it could naturally protect one side.

When the True Dragon is not around...

Although Liang Qu doesn't know much, from the current information, he feels it's not that the Flood Dragon doesn't like to come out, but that it can only huddle in the Long Gong, guarding its own small acre of land.

Just like the sturgeon demon in the small river earlier, with a sixty-meter body, huddled in a pond the size of one mile; can it be comfortable?

The reason is that there is dragon bone; to grow steadily, the sturgeon can only huddle up and absorb it slowly to develop.

The Flood Dragon is probably in a similar situation, just not as serious as the sturgeon demon.

I don't know how much inheritance the True Dragon left in the Long Gong to allow it to hibernate for so long without taking a step away?

Too far, too far.

Liang Qu dismissed the thought; no matter how many treasures remain in the Long Gong, it has nothing to do with him now.

But he can think about the Jiaoren tribe.

"Old Shell, do you still remember where the Jiaoren lived back then?"

The old giant clam thought hard for a moment.

"I remember."

Liang Qu's eyes lit up.

Having an old person in the house is like having a treasure; the old thing is still a bit useful!

"Tell me quickly, where?"

"There were many Jiaoren tribes in the Jianghuai marshes in the past; I don't know them all, but there was one nearby; according to your terms, it is called Blood Shixian."

Blood Shixian?

Liang Qu frowned.

Is there a county nearby called that?

The area under the jurisdiction of Huaiyin Prefecture is already very large, but among the many counties under it, he had never heard of a place called Blood Shixian.

Could it be another prefecture?

At the old giant clam's pace, that couldn't be called nearby.

Liang Qu kept the name Blood Shixian in his heart and decided to ask his master when he went to Yang's mansion to pet the dogs in the afternoon.

His master grew up in the Jianghuai area since he was a child and should know more.

"Okay, thank you." Liang Qu patted the giant clam's shell, "But Old Shell, you've been here for so long, when will you change your way of speaking? It's too formal; we're used to speaking in plain language, so you have to keep up with the times."

The old giant clam spat out a series of bubbles.

"I will try my best."

Noon.

The old monk was so absorbed in studying that scroll of scriptures that he didn't respond when called to eat.

Liang Qu scratched his head.

That scroll was as thick as an arm, the paper was tough and thin, and he estimated that if it were fully unfolded, it could be more than ten meters long, and the characters on it were small, with a huge amount of content; his eyes felt sore after looking at it for a long time.

The old monk could actually be so devoted.

"Could it be some lost scripture?"

Liang Qu wasn't into that; no matter how profound the scripture was, it wasn't a martial art, and the cultivation method was meaningless to him; he cared more about the Buddha carving made of Ming wood root.

The Buddha carving was a seated Great Buddha with a lotus pedestal underneath.

He didn't know if he could saw off the lotus pedestal and process it into small pieces to distribute to everyone.

It's a good thing that helps with enlightenment; if children wear it, they can also be smarter, and it's not bad as a family heirloom.

"Aunt Zhang, leave it for now; when the Master comes out, help heat it up again."

Liang Qu put down his bowl and chopsticks, left an order, mounted the Red Mountain, and hurried to Pingyang County.

At noon at the end of the fifth month, the air was sultry.

In the garden, Black Tooth was napping under the shade of a tree, and a few puppies were pouncing and playing.

Among them, one was very different from the others: black head, black paws, black tail, black belly, a typical "Five-Black Dog," its puppy fur not yet shed, its fur fluffy, and it was the most lively, biting Black Tooth's tail and not letting go, shaking its head and tearing from side to side.

Black Tooth was bitten impatiently and swept its big tail, sweeping the little black dog away.

The little black dog rolled a few times on the ground, barked a few times, and then heard footsteps behind it; it turned its head, immediately forgot about what was in front of it, and ran over with its tail wagging.

Liang Qu picked up the little black dog by the scruff of its neck, held it in his arms to pet its puppy fur, and then continued the previous topic.

"Master, is there a place called Blood Shixian in the Huainan area?"

"Blood Shixian?" Yang Dongxiong looked at Liang Qu in surprise, "Where did you hear this name?"

"Master knows it?"

Liang Qu was overjoyed; looking at Yang Dongxiong's reaction, he had clearly heard of it.

"Yes." Yang Dongxiong reached out and stroked Black Tooth's head, "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten this name. Blood Shixian was what it was called a long time ago; I was only ten years old then, and I hadn't even stepped into the martial path. Now, it has been renamed Xiangyi County; it's normal that you don't know."

Xiangyi County!

Liang Qu was much more familiar with this name than Blood Shixian, because it was in Huaiyin Prefecture!

No wonder the old giant clam said it was nearby, and he had never heard of it; it turned out it had been renamed decades ago.

"Why was it renamed?"

Liang Qu didn't understand; the name of a place wouldn't be easily changed even if dynasties changed.

"That's a long story."

Yang Dongxiong found a flower terrace step to sit on.

"The reason it was called Blood Shixian before was because they had a mountain there called Blood Stone Mountain; the stones dug out from inside were blood-red and had a strange fragrance; it was said that it was so miraculous because it had been splashed with dragon blood.

I don't know if it's true or not, but the locals were adamant about it; however, the stones were indeed good, used for glaze, pigments, carving, and even as medicine, and by mining and quarrying, the entire Blood Shixian was very rich.

It's just that they were eating away at their resources; the mountain wouldn't grow out of thin air, and as they dug day after day, the Blood Stone vein slowly dried up.

It used to be called Blood Shixian; the name was strange, but it was glorious to say it out loud. Later, when the blood stones dried up, having 'blood' in the name was more or less unlucky, so it was renamed Xiangyi County."

Liang Qu suddenly realized.

No wonder it was renamed.

It's just the legend of dragon blood...

He couldn't help but think of the Over-Dragon River in Pingyang County; the content and form of the two were almost the same.

He had explored the river channel with the idea of trying his luck, but he didn't expect to really have gains.

It seems he has to pay attention to whether there are any tasks for Xiangyi County in the River-Lake Office recently; if possible, he'll go there by the way to take a look.

Finding the Jiaoren's relics would be a huge profit.

It's just that he'll have to wait a couple of days; the River God Festival is coming up soon.