Chapter 391: The Second Point Five True Grit

Long Pingjiang and Long Pinghe, knowing Liang Qu had made up his mind, knelt on one knee and begged to follow him.

The Dragon People, as personal guards who slew serpents, ought to escort him forward!

Liang Qu could not refuse; after careful thought, he agreed.

Perhaps the Dragon People, upon seeing Ze Rong's manifestation, would no longer cling stubbornly to their rigid beliefs?

Moreover, these two Wolf Smoke Dragon People possessed considerable strength.

Long Pingjiang and Long Pinghe were overjoyed, returned to their standalone wooden cabin, packed their belongings, leapt into the water, and headed for the dock to find a Fuchuan.

With the Dragon People gone, the entire pond grew even more desolate, leaving only Old Zhaqu behind.

Moonlight slanted down, casting lonely shadows.

Even the beaver family, usually holed up gnawing wood, boarded the boat and left.

According to the Great Da He Li, it longed for a family journey far from home.

Liang Qu did not refuse.

After helping build so many boats, he couldn't have never ridden on one himself.

It wouldn't be right.

"Old Bei, the whole household depends on you—you're old, experienced, and Scarface and Old Toad will come help me out."

"Oh, there are a few river dolphins staying behind in the marsh, resting near the lotus roots; if you get too bored, you can go find them, and if anything happens, you can contact them—I'll receive the message."

Among the river dolphin pod were several young ones; Liang Qu never took them on any "campaign," to avoid distraction and care duties, and instead left two adult river dolphins in Pingyang County to guard the fish, letting the Fish Team continue operating.

Liang Qu had established spiritual links with those two adult river dolphins—effectively anchoring a point in Pingyang County.

Old Zhaqu didn't fully understand why he told those two dolphins Liang Qu could receive messages, but he still agreed.

"Go in peace—your courtyard, I shall watch over."

At midnight.

Liang Qu rode Chishan to the dock, had Chishan step onto the gangplank, and leapt onto the Fuchuan.

The otters scurried left and right, hauling sails and steering.

The night wind was cool.

The white sails swelled.

The boat slowly drifted away from Shengang, followed by numerous water beasts, stirring up trails of water.

Once the boat had distanced itself from the riverbank and no human figures remained in sight, Liang Qu ordered the otters to lower the sails halfway, stood at the bow, and practiced several times until he successfully made the water beneath the hull alternate and surge, propelling the great vessel forward.

The fat catfish, lazily swimming, had to exert effort to keep up with the Fuchuan, silently adding the otters to its list of grievances.

The complete assimilation of Ze Rong made Liang Qu's water control increasingly refined.

He combined the traits of water-lifting, wave-riding, and water-traveling, controlling the water beneath the boat to form a tread-like self-propelling motion.

Its speed was slower than water-traveling or wave-riding, but it required no constant mental focus—making it a product of ability fusion.

At the bow.

The beaver family lay together along the rail, enjoying the river breeze.

The Great Da He Li gripped the wooden plank, squinted, his fur fluttering in the wind, baring his long fangs.

The next day.

Otter Kai held up the Luo Pan, studied the map, carefully verified direction, and occasionally waved his paws to signal the Dragon People to push the crossbar and adjust the sails for course changes.

Long Pinghe pulled the long rope, deeply frustrated.

"Big brother, can we really trust the otters to steer?"

Long Pingjiang shrugged.

"The Dragon Lord's enlightenment is like this—turning the mundane into the miraculous. Have you ever seen an otter that doesn't fight but can cook?"

Long Pinghe turned back, his words of disbelief stuck in his throat.

Otter Kai was responsible for verifying direction; the other young otters busily prepared breakfast.

Roasted fish, grilled chicken, fish porridge, steamed buns…

The variety was abundant.

Anything involving roasting or stewing posed no challenge to them.

The Great Da He Li glanced around, picked up a roasted chicken from the table, tiptoed to the ship's edge, and tossed it into the gaping mouth of "Can't Move."

"Can't Move" twisted its body to catch it, then swallowed it whole.

The fat catfish, seeing this, flicked its tail, pushed "Can't Move" aside, and pointed its whiskers at its own large mouth.

The Great Da He Li turned back to get another.

On the other side, Fist marched on eight legs, knocking on the door, calling out: "Sky God, it's time to eat!"

Liang Qu ate a simple meal, showed up briefly, then retreated back into his cabin to cultivate.

The journey to Xiangyi County was expected to take five to six days; he needed to seize every moment to digest what he had gained before arrival.

The transformation from galloping horse to Wolf Smoke was too great.

Many things had been placed on the plate, but he couldn't swallow them all at once.

First, the Chong Meridian.

The key to the Wolf Smoke realm lies in condensing meridians and building bridges.

When blood-qi accumulates to its peak, large and small meridians can form in different parts of the body, allowing for renewed intake and circulation of qi, creating reservoirs.

Different meridians have different functions.

Foot meridian lightens the body, hand meridian strengthens the limbs, heart meridian resists destruction, yang meridian facilitates qi flow.

The Chong Meridian, connecting the upper, middle, and lower dantians, is the "Wave-Dispelling" meridian—it continuously purifies the entire body's blood and qi, refining and purging impurities, elevating them to a higher level.

Currently, the Wave-Dispelling process has barely reached one-quarter completion.

There is still a long way to go.

As for the subsequent bridge-building after meridian condensation, it is not yet Liang Qu's concern.

Different cultivation methods condense meridians in varying orders.

For example, both "Wan Sheng Bao Yuan" and "Jiang Long Fu Hu Jin Gang Gong" have the Chong Meridian as their first major meridian and the Heart Meridian as their second; differences emerge only at the third.

But no matter which meridians are condensed or in what order, one must ultimately build the Three Bridges—Heaven, Earth, and Human—to construct an internal landscape and greatly stabilize one's "essence."

When one's own "essence" strengthens, its influence over the external "essence" increases.

This manifests practically as greatly enhanced damage, destructive power, strength, injury resistance, and interference resistance.

This is the primary basis for dividing the three Wolf Smoke realms: Human, Earth, and Heaven.

Yet there are dozens of minor meridians, but only three bridges.

Thus, to build a bridge, one must use at least three major meridians as the core, with several minor ones as support, to ensure stability.

Liang Qu is still far from bridge-building.

Besides the Chong Meridian's Wave-Dispelling process needing digestion, the True Grit's return to nourish the flesh is less than half complete, and the True Grit itself is still undergoing transformation.

Inside the cabin.

The two True Grits manifested as blue and white lights, alternating and washing over his flesh.

Streams of light coalesced into a cyan dragon and a white giant ape, their forms growing increasingly solid.

The eyes of the two beasts shone like stars in the night sky.

At noon yesterday, the True Grits were only crude outlines; today, they had gained considerable detail.

In another two days, they would surely reach the stage of "lifelike realism."

Yet compared to the white ape, the cyan dragon's form, while gradually solidifying, had subtly changed—sometimes coiled, sometimes straight, like a coiled dragon pillar.

This strange manifestation was naturally the result of Liang Qu's bold idea.

His concept succeeded—but not completely.

Roughly one-third successful.

Condensing a third True Grit was unrealistic; not only had he never heard of anyone succeeding, but as the one condensing it, he could vaguely sense the difficulty.

Forcing it might backfire on himself.

Liang Qu, unwilling to waste the opportunity of his Wolf Smoke breakthrough, based on the foundations of the white ape and cyan dragon, attempted to evolve them into another True Grit form.

The cyan dragon became a spear, the white ape became a warrior; building upon the "Giant Ape Riding the Dragon," he constructed a divine general holding a spear!

The Wu Wu Zhiqi image transformed into the Chuanzhu image.

Perfectly matching the dual-faced beast-human nature of Ze Ding!

But the change occurred—only one emerged: Taiqing Dragon Grit.

And it wasn't a spear—it was a staff.

Even strictly speaking, it was a pillar.

The giant ape wielding a coiled dragon pillar!

In short, it was not a loss—it could be called the Second Point Five True Grit.

Liang Qu perfectly leveraged the benefits of his Wolf Smoke breakthrough, pushing his True Grit to its limit without wasting a single ounce of potential.