Becoming a God from a Water Monkey

Chapter 1104 Ironclad and Resolute, with Powerful Influence (5k words, two chapters combined)

"You should have said so earlier, Second Elder! If you wanted to come down earlier, you should have just said so. How am I supposed to know you really wanted to come down if you don't say so? Even though you're looking at me very sincerely, you still have to tell me you wanted to come down..."

"It's unbearable! Stop the curse! Stop the curse! Great Sage, please have mercy on my head!"

"Why...why...didn't...say...this...sooner..."

"Hululu."

As the bubbles rose, seeing that Elder Che was almost out of breath, the white ape shifted its hips, lifted its buttocks, braced itself with its legs, and rolled backward to get off Elder Che.

Freed from the pressure, the giant clam suddenly opened its hard shell, spewing out streams of water, with two faint streaks of blood visible through them.

"Cough cough cough..."

Dead silence.

The young giant clam trembled, not from boredom, but from deep fear!
What did the white ape do?
Hug and kill!

It wasn't smashing, prying, or drilling.

It's a hug!

Long lifespan and hard shell are the only two unique abilities of the giant clam tribe. It can be said that all their abilities are contained in their shells, which are almost curved in shape.

In other words, there are many ways to crack an egg, but some people choose the most difficult one—squeezing! This disperses all the force!

Of course, the giant clam shell is not a single curved piece, so it cannot distribute the force evenly like an egg. However, the white ape's actions truly frightened them.

Witnessing the faint, delicate cracks appearing on the Second Elder's outer shell...

A tremendous force!

Strange power!

The outer shell couldn't withstand it; all that was left was a waste of effort.

A giant black fish has appeared in the group; we cannot defeat it!
Damn.

The Grand Elder is away from the clan territory today!

The old giant clam was also startled. It knew Liang Qu was strong, but it didn't expect him to be this strong! He could even crush the shell of a second-level giant clam.

It knew very well that Liang Qu was cunning and had another method of burning and freezing!
Admittedly, ordinary fire and ice are not very effective against Zhenxiang, which is extremely resistant to the environment. However, Liangqu can now find different kinds of "fire and ice", like the little girl next to him who builds icebergs in the pond in the summer and freezes so hard she shivers.

"Pfft!"

Elder Tridacna II slowly regained his strength and spat out three enormous tridacna pearls. The pearls were dazzlingly white, with rich fire-colored patterns on them, and were over three feet in diameter, more than a meter in length!
"Why are they so big? Wait, only three? Second Elder, don't be shy. Seven parts tea, eight parts rice, ten parts wine, and I'll take the smaller ones too, no problem!"

"Three at a time!" The giant clam was moving, but the clam couldn't keep up, and the Second Elder of the Giant Clam spoke angrily.

Liang Qu looked at the old giant clam shell with suspicion. He remembered that there were many giant clam shells, more than two hands' worth, of various sizes.

"The way of our clan is to nurture pearls, to absorb foreign objects and transform them into a body. There are two paths to cultivation: one is to specialize and refine, and the other is to learn from the strengths of many. The two complement each other, each with its own advantages," the old giant clam explained.

Liang Qu suddenly realized.

The process involves encapsulating materials to form a pearl, then refining and assimilating it into a shell. Some giant clams specialize in one or several materials, producing quick and beautiful results; others prefer alloys, creating a diverse mix with comprehensive and even somewhat unique properties.

The two cultivation methods are equally prevalent among the giant clam tribe, much like alloys and pure metals.

I wonder if the moisturizing essence I brought is any different?
Liang Qu's palm was over three feet long, and he almost couldn't grasp the huge tridacna pearl.

Elder Che Er convulsed. The pearl had been nurtured for so long and had never been touched by anyone!

Touch it?
snort!
It glared angrily at the old giant clam. Only such a stupid clam would believe such a story and easily let a wolf into the house!

Rape!

This crack in my skin will need at least six months to heal!
The old giant clam remained calm and unconcerned. After all, it had left home at a young age and never mingled with its own kind. Other clams didn't recognize it, and it didn't recognize other clams, so it didn't need to deal with inter-clamation relations.

【Water Essence +243】

【Water Essence +312】

The situation is better than that of the clam.

Even the dignified Second Elder of the Tridacna Clams yielded. The remaining young Tridacna Clams, far inferior to the elders, had nothing to say and instead opened their shells, spitting out their pearls.

Liang Qu held up the large pearl in one hand as he walked past, feeling the shimmering light and touching all the pearls in the clan.

The cauldron trembled, and the waves surged.

The blue tide is becoming increasingly deep in color.

【Water Essence +75】

【Water Essence +34】

As they traveled along, they found thousands of giant clams of varying sizes in the territory, including spirits, monsters, and only two great demons. The old giant clam was the third strongest.

Tridacna clam shells that pair up and communicate are mostly spirits; those that can grow to over two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) are mostly elders, responsible for passing on knowledge.

Touch the last little pearl.

The blue tide washes over the walls of the cauldron.

[Water Essence + 216,000]!
[Water Essence: 3,243,600]
The white ape clenched its fist.

Two hundred thousand!
Water Essence reaches new heights!

It turns out that regardless of the type of cultivation, the essence content is roughly the same. Among all organic gemstones, the quality of giant clam pearls is the worst. Back then, an old giant clam was only worth 10,000, while the second elder giant clam was better than the old giant clam and was worth more than double, a full 30,000.

Comfortable!

Liang Qu was slightly excited to have earned 200,000 yuan. After all, he had only been out for less than half a month, which, roughly speaking, meant he was earning 10,000 yuan a day!
Every bit of essence in Ze Ding now will be transformed into bullets to shoot down the dragon next year!
I love this kind of windfall!
Next, let's look at the canyon porcupinefish.

After a month of hard work mining, you only earn two thousand, and that's all left over to "Cannot Move," Fist, and Round Head. This sense of accomplishment is magnified tenfold.

Returning the largest pearl to the Second Elder, Liang Qu patted E Ying's bottom, urging her to sit down again, and told the old giant clam to prepare to leave. Thunderous questioning resounded throughout the entire venue.

boom!
"Within the territory of the clan, how can we allow outsiders to spy on us?"

A wave of waves has risen again.

The sounds of nature are rolling, and the water is rushing.

In an instant.

A colossal giant clam, nearly five zhang in size and the largest of all giant clams, stormed into the territory. Its enormous shell was pure white, more like a white scallop than a giant clam. It opened and closed, fanning the water, and approached at a speed unlike any other giant clam, with a menacing aura!

"Elder Che!"

"Great! It's the Grand Elder! We're saved!"

"Elder, refine this arrogant monkey! Let it know just how tough my Tridacna Clan is!"

"That's right, the giant clam tribe has an iron shell! We were just being patient before!"

The giant clam eagerly swallowed the pearl, and then, as if summoned, its slow-moving body rose into the air, swirling like a fish, and returned to its position. Combined with some kind of peculiar formation, it transformed into a huge giant clam phantom, changing its defensive posture to become extremely fierce!
Elder Tridacna II was overjoyed and ascended to the sky with the group of tridacna: "You monkey! Great Sage? Bah! You wild monkey, lacking in wisdom and cleverness, this is the ritual of our tridacna ancestors..."

The old giant clam quickly explained: "In the past, our clan produced a demon king who left behind rituals. At dawn, he entered the belly of a clam, and after twenty minutes, he turned into pus!"

Once inside a giant clam shell, it turns into pus within a short time.

Liang Qu raised an eyebrow and looked at the giant clam phantom a hundred feet high in the sky. The Grand Elder had returned, gathering all the giant clams and opening their terrifying shells, which seemed capable of swallowing the sky and devouring the earth, with boundless power!

The heavens and earth trembled, and giant clams fell from the sky!

This move.

unstoppable!

A flash of golden light, as if something had vanished from the horizon.

boom!
The phantom collapsed.

Tridacna shells fell from the sky and crashed into the sand pit.

The First Elder felt dizzy and tumbled, sliding dozens of feet away. The Second Elder's shell cracked further, squeezing out air bubbles.

Both giant clams exhaled white sand, looking completely bewildered.

What happened?
What about the rituals and customs of our ancestors?
Before the two ancient giant clams could figure it out, it stomped down with its huge foot, raising a cloud of dust.

Wow!
A massive azure dragon pillar appeared in the white ape's hand.

The Qi Sea, once 1400 times stronger, suddenly dropped by 1000!
hum!
A mysterious aura swirled around the dragon pillar, and a terrifying, sharp force, spreading from the body to the spirit, shot straight at the face.

The elder was stunned for a moment, then screamed in alarm.

"Great Sage! Stop using your supernatural powers! Stop using your supernatural powers!"

boom!
The world was silent.

half an hour.

"Purr."

The small fish tentatively emerged from the algae, but was startled away by the sudden sound of voices.

"You should have said so earlier, you should have said so sooner."

The Great Elder opened its outer shell, opened its small eyes, and looked at the canyon that had split in two beside it. Countless grains of sand seemed to have found an outlet, converging into small "streams" that cascaded down like waterfalls.

It trembled all over, and involuntarily spat out a cloud of white sand, like a mature cow dung mushroom full of spores bursting open, scattering in all directions.

"Click."

Rocks crumbled and collapsed like a mudslide.

His five-zhang-tall body tilted, and the Grand Elder almost slipped down, but a large hand caught him.

Liang Qu pulled the Grand Elder up.

"Touch the Grand Elder's big pearl!"

"Puff."

[Water Essence + 51,000]

[Water Essence: 3,294,700]

The Grand Elder truly lives up to his name; his essence content is undoubtedly the highest among the Tridacna Clan!

"Goodbye!" The method was a bit crude, but since there was no enmity between them and Liang Qu had even gained an advantage, he cupped his hands in farewell.

Done and call it a day!

A streak of white disappeared into the horizon.

The elder looked at the intact pearl and was puzzled.

The timid young man opened a crack in the giant clam shell and cautiously looked around.

"And one more thing!"

Bang bang bang!
A series of soft clattering sounds startled the Grand Elder, who had just swallowed the giant clam pearl, so much so that he spat it out.

Liang Qu glanced around, not paying any attention. Holding the old giant clam in his hand and carrying Long Eying on his shoulder, he said, "I feel like your giant clam clan could totally develop a business branch. Anyway, you don't like to move around much when you have giant clams."

The First Elder and the Second Elder exchanged glances, then cautiously asked, "What is He Jia?"

“A safe!” Liang Qu held up a finger. “To give you an example, the human race has a place called a money exchange. In a money exchange, there is a place specifically for storing silver, which is placed in a sturdy safe and guarded by a martial arts master.”

"You giant clams can totally start a private business, going to other people's homes and acting as guardian beasts. Anyway, I was just saying, we can discuss how to do it later. If you need anything, you can go to Haiyuan Palace and find the Sea Merchant Haifangzhu, and have the Sea Merchant contact a man named Liang Qu in Pingyang."

The First Elder and Second Elder didn't take it to heart at all; they were only focused on getting rid of the plague.

"Yes, yes."

"That's right, that's right."

……

A trip to the giant clam tribe's territory easily netted me 250,000!

The Liangqu River connects Zeding, like embracing a treasure basin.

Delicious.

"How come you always have so many clever ideas?" Long Eying grabbed the white ape by the scruff of its neck as a handrail.

Liang Qu tapped his temple with his index finger: "The future Suijun's brilliant mind!"

If the old Dragon King can do business with the imperial court, he can only do it even better than the old Dragon King!
All things under the frosty sky compete freely.

The old giant clam, tucked under its armpit, was startled, as it conjured up memories from a long time ago.

It seems to be Fengbu County.

"I don't know if you can understand me, but I am going to be the water god of the Jianghuai River from now on. You know the Jianghuai River, right? It's the whole place you live in..."

At that time, a mere brat from the fourth level of the imperial examinations made outrageous remarks.

In the blink of an eye...

"They don't seem to care?" Long Eying asked.

"Whatever, I just said it offhand, whether they do it or not is up to them."

Tridacna pearls are nurtured and, theoretically, they are not completely depleted in one go. However, touching them again in a short period of time will not increase their value.

In addition, Liang Qu discovered that attracting the essence of water seems to be one of the abilities of high-level giant clam shells. If they could all be gathered together, could they set up a "spirit gathering array"?
……

Return to Pingyang.

"Ah Shui, where have you run off to again? The fleet of ships will be here today."

“I know, I know, I’m back on time, aren’t I? I didn’t miss it.” Liang Qu took out his seal and stamped it on the roll call book, thus completing the “marking of the roll call”.

"I was worried you wouldn't be able to come back. Speaking of which, why is it so difficult for us to send a message? A round trip to the capital takes at least two months. It's like you never worry about not getting any messages no matter how far you go." Xu Yuelong pressed Liang Qu's shoulder. "Did His Majesty secretly give you something good? A magical token like the Little Purple Lightning Ship?"

"The imperial court has such good things, why would I have a chance to use them?" Liang Qu shook his head and denied it. "I'm just good at using time and making plans."

Bullshit time management.

Xiang Fangsu and Ke Wenbin, standing nearby, curled their lips, not believing a single word.

Liangqu is a mysterious place with a lot of friends in its waters, and who knows, there might be some extraordinary fishermen among them.

Damn it, this guy never works, he makes all the errands run by the dragon people, and only comes to stamp things on certain days.

Why can't I find a family or relatives who can help me with my work?
Normally, if a family has three strong men, they can become a village bully and run rampant in the area.

For every wife Liang Qu marries, he gets an entire race as a bonus. Not to mention Zhen Xiang, there are hundreds or even thousands of strong laborers underwater, all of them the backbone of the Liang Qu army. Apart from a very few who hold official positions, they all bring their own food and pay their salaries from the river and lake authorities. It's enough to make anyone's scalp tingle.

"Ah Shui, do you have any connections?" Ke Wenbin went behind Liang Qu and massaged his shoulders. "How about getting some pearls the size of a human head?"

After ten years as colleagues, I can tell what kind of nonsense Liang Qu is spouting just by looking at him.

"You want to give this to your wife?"

"Hey."

The neighbor's wife has been rich for three to five years; she used to be poorer than me, but now she laughs at me for being penniless.

The term "wife" has existed since ancient times.

Liang Qu sat in the main hall, his feet resting on the table: "Tell me, what kind of pearl do you want? I'll try to find a way to get it for you."

"A pearl!"

"Dream on!" Liang Qu scoffed. "A pearl the size of a human head? There's a special collection of one on the ceiling of the Haiyuan Palace. It's only about the size of a human head, almost the limit for a pearl. Do you want a giant clam pearl the size of a human head? Perfectly round."

“No giant clam, there are too many in the water.” Ke Wenbin shook his head. “Let’s get something rare.”

"A blood clam pearl the size of a fist?"

"This one is good, I'll take it!"

"I don't have any on me," Liang Qu said, shrugging.

"Ha, what are you saying? Brother Shui may not have it, but you have plenty of ways!" Ke Wenbin increased the pressure on his hands. "Everyone knows that in Jianghuai Zeye, nobody else can do anything but you, Brother Shui, who has connections everywhere. Even the Dragon King has to give you face!"

"Actually, you've come to the wrong person. I know there are some truths, but you also know some turtles."

龟？
Ke Wenbin's thoughts shifted: "Master Shou?"

"That's right! The West Water Turtle Clan's treasure trove has a bunch of them. You can ask Master Shou to buy them."

"When did you go to the Turtle Clan's Treasure Vault?" Xiang Fangsu craned her neck.

"The Dragonkin and the Turtle Clan are friends. When the Dragonkin became so many Grandmasters, they held a banquet. When they sent out the invitations, I went with my wife. The Turtle King even gave my wife a large dose of medicine."

"..."

"I can't really speak to Master Shou, and I feel bad troubling Lord Su for a pearl."

It's true that Wu Cangshou and Old Toad occasionally come to the river and lake area, but they only interact with Su Guishan and Liang Qu; they can't talk to anyone else.

"When Master Shou comes to the pond again, I'll give him a word."

"Alright! Brother Shui, how's the performance?"

"Just right."

"Flattery!" Xiang Fangsu was heartbroken to see his former good brother turn out like this.

"Woo~"

The trumpet sounded.

"My lords, the fleet has returned from the sea!"

The vast river and lake area became bustling with activity in an instant.

"What a pity...it would have been so much better if it had been a year later."

Liang Qu touched his chin.

If the fleet returns a year late, the Sea Monk can easily use the pretext of doing business to make a trip to the Jianghuai Marshland and lull the dragon into a false sense of security.

"Is the restaurant ready? We need to make sure everyone is there."

"Almost..."

"What are you good for? I asked you to make arrangements ten days ago, and you still haven't done it?"

"There's nothing I can do," the clerk said aggrievedly. "The provincial examination is at the end of February, and there are many people from Pingyang. This time, cheating was also discovered, so the results weren't released until the end of March. By then, many people had passed, and we had specially booked a banquet for the end of April. Everything was fully booked, and we couldn't postpone it..."

Chief Clerk Huang was immediately in a state of utter panic.

The provincial examination was held every year, always in February in the prefectural city. It was necessary to host a banquet, and it was impossible to notify all the relatives in various places a few days later, leaving time for travel. Thus, it was only in April.

The last time the fleet returned from the sea voyage was during the rainy season, and the imperial examinations had already passed.

This year just happened to be the year.

The fleet at sea had an astonishing number of people. It was a rare opportunity for them to dock, so how could they stay on the ship and not come down for some fresh air? They were all under the command of the Martial Saint. If they were not arranged properly, would the Martial Saint give them a good face?

This is just one of many things.

Fortunately, Liang Qu was a military officer, so this kind of work fell within the scope of Ran Zhongshi and Xu Yuelong's duties.

On the wharf.

It was misty.

The blue-maned horse was restless, its limbs stamping and leaving white marks on its hooves.

Eagles circled overhead.

Above the vast marsh, masts stretched out white streaks, and the fleet of ships, like the wings of a bird, slowly unfurled.

"Wow."

The bow of the boat broke through the waves.

"Let's go to the snowy mountains in June."

Liang Qu gazed into the distance, flicking his fingers.

I had planned to purchase the dragon statue this year, but time was too tight, so I naturally postponed the Jian Zhongyi matter. Now I have the time.

Let's get one thing done at a time!
(End of this chapter)