Chapter 983: Extortion and blackmail

White jade scattered.

The water beasts all surrounded them, big heads bumping against big heads.

The river otters and beavers squeezed in from the pillar-like thighs.

The Fat Catfish was triumphant, one hand behind its back, the other stroking its long whiskers, looking up at the sky at forty-five degrees, not knowing who it learned this pretentious manner from.

"Oh no!" The Little Mirage Dragon clutched its head and wailed.

The silly fish has silly luck.

This silly A-Fei has performed another great service!

*Clatter clatter. *

Fragments collided.

Liang Qu rummaged simply through the wooden box.

They were all Han white jade.

Han white jade was not jade; it was marble. The broken pieces were completely worthless, but although the things were worthless, the prospects were vast. Han white jade was the main component of the Immortal Island buildings!

There was a high probability that there were true Immortal Palace fragments in the Morning Dew Canyon!

"A-Fei, you did a great job!"

The Fat Catfish grinned, flicked its butt, pushed away the watching Golden-Haired Tiger and "Cannot Move," and secretly took out a small gourd from its waist. It opened the gourd, which contained water, and a pool of black liquid sank in the water, with distinct layers.

"This is—"

"Youlan Iron?" Long Long Eying, who had just returned from the prefecture city, was surprised.

"Does Madam recognize it?"

"Yes, it is also a semi-spiritual material. The Second Elder's weapon was forged using Youlan Iron—"

Long Long Eying took the small gourd and injected Qi.

Accompanied by her words, the black liquid inside flowed out automatically. There wasn't much, only the size of two thumbs, pitifully little. In her palm, it changed into various forms. Occasionally, at a certain angle, the black water would emit blue light.

Youlan Iron.

A strange metal in the water. In the water, it was completely a pool of liquid, which could change shape and harden according to the user's will. The more blood Qi injected, the harder it became. And once it left the water for more than three days, it would self-harden, and re-liquefying it would require a long period of soaking.

"There is such a magical metal in the Jianghuai Great Marsh?" Liang Qu took the black water. His Dragon Spirit Gauze needed metal reinforcement. Originally, he wanted to find the Toad to exchange for more Hantai Blue Gold, but now there seemed to be other choices. "A-Fei, did you dig this out?"

The Fat Catfish flicked its cheeks, then stroked its long whiskers again, looking triumphant.

Almost two months ago, it led the miscellaneous soldiers of the Great Huai Army to be responsible for dredging the Morning Dew Canyon, digging out Han white jade fragments, and immediately brought in big fish to dig deeper.

More and more fragments were dug out nearby. After confirming the situation, it immediately reported it and received many rewards.

Rewards?

Hearing halfway, Liang Qu communicated with the Marsh Tripod.

【Can consume 420,000 Water Marsh Essence to evolve the Tiger Flood Catfish into a Black Tiger Flood Catfish.】

*Hiss! *

Fast!

A few months ago, it was 510,000. Looking at it again this time, it was 90,000 less!

A-Fei was afraid it was the first Demon King under his command!

Inside the beast group, the hedgehog rolled its eyes. Suddenly feeling a gaze, it looked up and saw it was the Little Mirage Dragon again. It hurriedly smiled to curry favor, lifting its butt to hand over fruit.

"Hmph!" The Little Mirage Dragon exhaled through its nostrils, picked a fruit, and ignored it.

*Pfft~*

The hedgehog curled its lip.

"Hmm?"

The hedgehog smiled again.

After the rewards, the number of fish digging the canyon under the Fat Catfish increased sharply to several thousand monsters. There were more than a dozen monsters of the same level under its command. In the past two months, there had been some iron ore production, all worthless, until a few days ago, when a monster dug out Youlan Iron.

"You embezzled it?" Liang Qu guessed.

The Fat Catfish held up its index finger and thumb.

A little bit.

It saw at a glance that the black water was extraordinary, embezzled two-thirds, handed over one-third, and gave two treasure fish to dismiss the monster that dug it out.

Originally, the Fat Catfish wanted to embezzle it all, but on second thought, for two months, it had spent fish power and material resources, only digging up scrap copper and iron. It wouldn't look good if there was no profit. It should give the Great Huai Army some sweetness.

Sure enough.

On the day it handed over the Youlan Iron, the Fat Catfish not only received rewards, but the mining army also added three hundred more!

"Great wisdom disguised as stupidity!" the Little Mirage Dragon exclaimed.

"Hmph, stupid worm! Stupid worm! Blind eyes! Fish eyes mixed with pearls! Old clam produces pearls!"

"Bleh bleh bleh!"

"*Pfft pfft pfft~*"

The Fat Catfish crossed its arms, looked up at the sky with a crooked mouth, and secretly looked down. Before the Little Mirage Dragon could pay attention, it opened its mouth and spat out black mist. But the Little Mirage Dragon knew the Fat Cat's thoughts, and was well-prepared. With a backflip, it threw out a Geng Metal Mirage Tiger from its mouth, tearing the black mist to pieces.

The Black and White Duo were about to fight again.

"A-Fei."

Long Long Eying reached out, and the Fat Catfish lowered its head happily.

She patted it.

After hearing the ins and outs, Liang Qu was amazed.

Bold and black-hearted.

Natural talent!

First embezzling the essence of its own brother, then cheating the miscellaneous soldiers of the Great Huai Army—A-Fei had very excellent talent in extortion and blackmail!

Although the two fingers' worth of Youlan Iron wasn't much.

He thought about it.

He allocated 20,000 essence.

【Can consume 400,000—...】

【Water Marsh Essence: 251,100】

"Keep up the good work. Continue digging the Morning Dew Canyon. You will be heavily rewarded."

"Wuhu, Heavenly God! Heavenly God!"

The Fat Catfish held its coral hammers high, twisted its waist, swayed left and right, and its whole body of flesh waves shook.

The Youlan Iron circled its fingertips.

*Splash. *

Liang Qu threw it back into the clear water of the gourd.

The last time the Dragon Spirit Gauze absorbed Hantai Blue Gold, it was the transformation of the Marsh Spirit, a time of surging blood Qi and nourishment. Now that the base had grown, the node when advancing to Grandmaster should be enough to cooperate with the Great Merit resources, and it wouldn't be too far away.

"Alright, A-Fei, pack up your things. Third Prince, call Huai Kong, tell Master and Senior Brother,

let's head West and set off!"

At the order, the tall and majestic water beasts carried baskets to the pier, making the villagers marvel.

*Splash. *

The big fish entered the water, and the treasure boat left the port.

Vortex waterways were built one by one.

In his spare time, Liang Qu flipped through the Great Merit Exchange Book.

Traveling West, passing through Southern Zhili, it was just right to exchange for some treasures.

Summer passed, autumn arrived, and winter was approaching.

He hadn't felt much warmth, and summer had already left.

Bai Bai Mingzhe looked toward the Snow Mountain again.

Looking in September, the Ice Mirror snow line was at its highest point of the year, like a young girl lifting her skirt, dipping her snow-white feet into the Blue Lake to wash. Looking again in November, the skirt was put down again, and the beautiful scene disappeared without a trace, the weather taking on a bit of desolation.

More than two months.

The three people didn't have any outrageous actions, just diligently learning the dialect, getting along well with the locals, and occasionally going out to inquire about news.

"Another group?"

Bai Bai Mingzhe guessed.

In the past few years, the Imperial Court had sent many people. Some stayed in Hantai Prefecture, some crossed the Blue Lake to the other side. If the groups were the same, there would be no need for this. They would just connect with their previous companions and exchange information.

Any force must have its own factions.

The interests between factions would never be exactly the same.

The Bai family itself was not of one mind. As mixed-bloods, there were those who were close to and admired the Great Shun, and those who had their own ideas, worshiping the Lotus Sect of the Great Snow Mountain.

With different interests, they naturally wouldn't trust each other one hundred percent. It was very normal to send their own subordinates to investigate separately.

Only one's own people could be trusted.

Southern Zhili accent.

The factions were mostly high-ranking officials from the same hometown.

I wonder which adult's faction these three belonged to?

"They should be here soon."

Bai Bai Mingzhe calculated.

The three were all hardworking people. With their efforts, the dialect was gradually maturing. Calculating by this speed, the true experts in the "faction" would arrive within this year.

*Puff! *

Ripples splashed.

The fishhook pierced the water surface, rippling, and slowly sank.

Outside a village by the Blue Lake, a short-haired middle-aged man sat on a rock, fishing with a rod. ===== CHAPTER 984 =====