If you don't give up, I'd like to be your adoptive father.

Chapter 1033 The Cruel Battle for the Dragon

During major floods, the water flow in the upstream river channels is not rapid, and the volume of water is not large.

When it reached the downstream area, the floodwaters surged, breaching the dikes and inundating thousands of miles of fertile land; the force was unstoppable.

The founding emperors of all dynasties who established their dynasties had few soldiers and generals when they first raised their armies, and even taking down a single county was difficult.

In the later stages, hundreds of thousands of troops swept across China, unstoppable, and within a year or two, they conquered most of the country.

Its momentum is like a drawn crossbow, its timing like the release of a trigger.

Building momentum is a long and difficult process, but once the momentum is established, it is overwhelming and invincible.

Xiaoyu subdued the "will of heaven and earth" of each county in the same way.

Having secured control of even the "land rights" of Sishui County and taken over most of "southern Shandong," Xiaoyu has gained control of the "general situation."

She entered Huaiyin with great force, and without much trouble, she reached under Huaiyin's thermal underwear and touched Huaiyin's soft skin.

I even touched a handful of blood!

Not long ago, someone slaughtered a large dragon in Huaiyin.

It is located 15 li outside Huaiyin City, below a small mound.

When Xiaoyu emerged from the earth's veins, she saw that even the soil she dug out was fresh.

The timeframe will not exceed half a month.

"They really went all out! Not only did they cut off the roots, they even scattered the bones."

Although the pit was sealed again, Xiaoyu could clearly sense that the birthplace of this dragon vein was now completely ruined.

The death of the Qinling Ancestral Dragon was like a sharp sword piercing its reverse scale and tearing out its heart.

The corpse was still lying there convulsing, and dragon energy was still leaking out.

This great dragon, however, directly pulled its corpse out of the earth's veins, chopped it into minced meat, and scattered it on the ground.

"This wasn't done by the Imperial Observatory; it must be a case of hidden dragons devouring each other!"

Just two weeks ago, Xiaoyu was still causing trouble in Sishui County.

At that point in time, it was impossible for any other Qin Celestial Master to have gone to the southeast to dig up the dragon veins.

Since it wasn't done by the Great Qin Celestial Master, it could only have been by a competitor.

"You old hag, what are you doing in my field? Are you trying to steal my loquats?"

Xiaoyu was wandering around the edge of the pit, looking around and constantly calculating with her hands.

Suddenly, a fat Taoist priest in a green robe appeared from the other end of the field.

They started cursing and swearing from a distance, their voices deafening.

"Taoist priest, is this your land?" asked Xiaoyu, an old woman in a gray linen dress, kindly.

The location of the dragon vein was left with only a large pit with a diameter of one and a half zhang.

The pit must have been quite deep before, at least seven or eight meters deep, but now it has been filled with soil.

March is a rainy month. After a rain, the newly filled pit sank several feet. It didn't accumulate much water, but instead became a muddy pit.

The mud pit was filled with excrement and water, and the stench was unbearable.

The mud pit is located at the foot of a small hill and was originally a vegetable garden.

The vegetable patch, about half an acre in size, had only a few sparse seedlings growing out of it; it must have been planted not long ago.

The vegetable garden is surrounded by a semi-circular fence, and an old loquat tree is planted in one corner of the fence.

Xiao Yu glanced at it briefly and estimated that it was four or five hundred years old.

It's not very big, with a trunk as thick as a large bowl, and its branches extend northeastward, resembling the shape of the Welcoming Pine of Huangshan. And the location that the "Welcoming Pine" points to is the lair of the great dragon.

The excavation of the dragon vein had little impact on the vegetables in the field, but the old loquat tree seemed to have suffered a serious illness.

The leaves are beginning to wither, and the large bunches of loquats that had formed, which should have been golden and plump, are now small and shriveled, mottled with green and yellow, and look unappetizing.

Moreover, Xiaoyu was still seven or eight zhang away from the loquat tree, how could he possibly steal loquats?

"Old woman, which village are you from? Who is your son? Why don't I recognize you?"

The fat Taoist priest walked up to them, squinted at them, and shouted, his few whiskers twitching.

"I am the Old Mother of Qiushan! Little Daoist boy, answer my question honestly, or I'll smash your head open!"

Xiao Yu squeezed her right hand, and the Qiaoshi Sword fell into her palm, transforming into a dragon-headed walking stick.

The first chapter of "Eight-Nine Mysterious Techniques" mainly discusses condensing the primordial seed to complete the "Nine Changes Foundation Building".

The nine changes are: changing Qi, changing blood, changing essence, changing pulse, changing marrow, changing bones, changing tendons, changing hair, and changing form.

The word "易" here means "change, transformation, or conversion".

The first seven changes involve a comprehensive transformation of the entire human body, from the internal organs to the bones and then to the skin and flesh.

The eighth term, "easily changed," does not simply refer to changes in hair.

The "hair" here refers to something close to the body, like hair (something that has been refined and has a connection with the body's energy).

For example, clothing, accessories, and weapons that are frequently worn.

After eating the giant peach, the eighth layer, "Yi Fa," is more than halfway complete.

What was lacking at that time was only Xiaoyu's own understanding and level of insight.

In the past year or so, Xiaoyu has made rapid progress in his cultivation, with a full-scale explosion of experience, insights, and wisdom, and he has already completed the Yi Fa (易发) technique.

She can now pluck a single hair and turn it into a "dummy".

It's somewhat similar to the Monkey King's "Dharma Body Outside the Body," but there's a huge difference in essence. The Monkey King's ability to pluck a hair and transform into a small monkey is a great supernatural power called "Dharma Body Outside the Body," not a simple transformation that can be easily activated.

Now, of the nine transformations, only the final one, "transformation," remains—transforming things that are touched into other material forms.

Currently, Xiaoyu has already achieved some success in "changing form".

The clever sword transformed into a dragon-headed walking stick, a feat she accomplished effortlessly.

But in the fat Taoist's eyes, conjuring up a dragon-headed cane out of thin air was seen as a divine act.

"Who are you? Don't try to scare this Taoist priest with illusions!"

The fat Taoist priest took two steps back, his face showing alarm. He pointed to the Taoist temple on the hillside and exclaimed, "Our Changchun Temple is looked after by the True Man of Maoxian Cave."

You'd better be sensible. If you dare to use evil magic to harm this poor monk, the True Man will surely—ouch, ouch, ouch!

Before he could finish his blustering but cowardly threat, the dragon-headed cane had already crossed two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) and struck him repeatedly on the head.

After three knocks, a bump the size of a peach visibly swelled up on the top of his head.

The Taoist priest was in so much pain that his fat face contorted, his knees went weak, and he collapsed to his knees in the mud.

"Mother, spare my life! I'm just a humble Taoist priest, with a seventy-year-old mother to support and a widowed woman at the village entrance who's pregnant with my child. I can't die!"

Xiao Yu shouted, "Tell me what I'm asking you, and stop making a racket and howling!"

"Old Mother, please ask~" The fat Taoist endured the excruciating pain and forced a fawning smile with tears welling up in his eyes.

They look a little pitiful.

Whose vegetable garden is this?

“If it really is from our Changchun Temple, then it’s under my jurisdiction,” the fat Taoist said.

“This land definitely didn’t belong to you before,” Xiaoyu said with certainty.

The fat Taoist priest paused, a hint of surprise in his eyes, and said, "It originally belonged to the Han family, a poor family in Huaiyin City. The Han family boy didn't farm, so he let it lie fallow."

Half a month ago, He Tangtou from our temple bought it from Han's boy for five taels of silver.

Look at the vegetable seedlings in the field, I planted them myself!
I weed and I till the fields. I contracted this land from He Tangtou, and I have to hand over sixty catties of fresh fruits and vegetables every year.

Xiao Yu's heart skipped a beat, and she asked, "Which Han family? What's Han boy's name?"

"It's that brat Han Xin from Huaiyin City, who crawled between the legs of Butcher Wang."

The fat Taoist's expression and tone were extremely contemptuous.

—It really is Han Xin! I never expected he had the destiny of an emperor. It's a pity that his potential was thwarted before he could rise to power.

Xiao Yu remained expressionless and asked again, "Why did Han Xin dig up his own ancestral graves?"

The fat Taoist priest was startled again.

There were no graves in the vegetable garden at that time, only a mud pit.

This old woman doesn't even recognize Han Xin; she must have never seen his grave before.
However, when he thought about how the "Old Mother of Qiushan" could conjure a walking stick out of thin air with extraordinary powers, he felt relieved.

—Even if this old woman isn't a deity, she's still an extraordinary person, capable of divination and magic. Oh well, it's not a big deal anyway, I'll just answer whatever she asks!

Thinking this to himself, he immediately said, "Han Xin is a spendthrift. He squandered his family fortune and now he goes to other people's houses to freeload every day."

Even the kind-hearted head of the Nanchang Pavilion who had once taken him in couldn't tolerate his laziness and kicked him out.

But he still refused to properly take care of his vegetable garden.

If he had continued to farm honestly, he might not have been able to make a living, but at least he would have starved to death a few years later.

Seeing that he had been leaving the vegetable garden to fall into disuse, He Tangtou decided to buy it and use it as temple land for Changchun Temple.

After all, our Changchun Temple is right next door.

Xiaoyu said, "This vegetable patch is nothing. But his family's ancestral graves are here; can they just sell it off like that?"

Even Chen Fugui, the spendthrift son of Tianmen Town, only considered selling Cuipingxian when he had lost so much money gambling that his whole family was on the verge of starvation.

She couldn't believe that Han Xin could be more immoral than the "debt collector" Chen Fugui.

"Originally, Han Xin absolutely refused to sell. As his mother said, his parents' and grandparents' graves were all in the fields!"
Although he doesn't farm and lets the garden grow wild, he still comes here to sweep the tombs during festivals.

Later, the outhouse in our temple got clogged.

After a spring rain, the manure flowed down the hillside into the field, flooding the Han family's ancestral graves.

Only then did Han Xin agree to move his ancestral graves to the underground palace of our Changchun Temple.

The saying goes that after achieving great success and fame in the future, they will build new tombs for their ancestors.

At this point, the fat Taoist priest revealed a mocking expression, "That good-for-nothing son of a bitch is willing to crawl into Butcher Wang's stinking crotch, and he can't even farm. What future can he possibly have?"
If he could rise to prominence, I would have already ascended to immortality!

He Tangtou is also an overly kind person.

They actually believed him, not only giving him five taels of silver to buy land, but also storing the remains of Han Xin's ancestors in the "Haihui Pagoda."

The fat Taoist was both puzzled and annoyed, muttering, "Back then, when our Lord Qin of Huaiyin wanted to send the Second Madam's memorial tablet to Haihui Pagoda, he was willing to donate 500 taels of silver, but Headmaster He did not agree."

He must have lost his mind to grant this favor to Han.

The temple has an underground palace specifically for storing the coffins of relatives and friends.

The "Haihui Pagoda" is a pagoda built on a site with auspicious feng shui in a temple, and can be considered a VIP burial site.

Xiaoyu frowned and said, "So, this big pit was dug by Han Xin himself?"

The fat Taoist priest curled his lip and said, "Isn't it him who dug it up? That lazybones wants to hire someone, but does he have the money?"

Xiaoyu stared at the sewage at the bottom of the pit, her expression shifting between light and dark, and said, "The sewage from your temple shouldn't have just flowed into Hanjia Garden this year."

The fat Taoist was startled again and nodded repeatedly, saying, "My mother has good eyesight; she noticed that."

That's right. Our Changchun Temple is built on a hilltop, and when it rains, sewage inevitably flows down.

Sigh, manure may stink, but it's a treasure for fertilizing the fields!
It's all wasted.

Xiaoyu said, "In most households, manure is used to make fertilizer. You also think it's a waste, so why don't you make it into fertilizer?"

Composting is very simple; it involves piling rice straw, wheat stalks, or weeds and other debris next to the latrine.

Then scoop out the manure and pour it onto the straw pile. Let it sit for ten days to half a month, and it will become the best fertilizer.

It has an extremely high cost-performance ratio and is also very convenient and simple, so farmers never waste manure.

The fat Taoist sighed, "Old Mother, as you can see, the Han family's land is at the foot of the mountain, but it is not the temple land of our Changchun Temple."

Our Changchun Temple is quite famous in Huaiyin City, with a thriving incense offering service. Pilgrims from hundreds of miles around come to offer incense and pray for blessings.

However, most of the people at Changchun Temple were Taoist practitioners, and they did not acquire much land or land in the vicinity.

There was too much manure to use, so in the past it was given to the farmers at the foot of the hill.

For example, when Han Xiaozi's parents were still alive, they often went to the hillside to scoop up manure.

In recent years, many farmers have been conscripted into laborers, and the fields have been abandoned and no one is farming them. What use is manure and water then?

Just as the old mother saw with her keen eyes, the manure water did not just start flowing into this vegetable garden this year.

This year, however, Han suddenly became filial and, unable to bear seeing his ancestral graves defiled by sewage, moved his father and grandfather's remains to the 'Haihui Pagoda'.

He was lucky. Our Changchun Temple always helps its neighbors, and Head He was very kind; he didn't accept any money from him.

—Hmph, what a wicked kindness, he's hiding evil intentions!

Xiao Yu sneered inwardly, thinking that this He Tangtou was probably up to no good!

She was also puzzled.

Just as the fat Taoist priest said, the Han family and Changchun Temple are neighbors.

Changchun Temple had a good reputation and was very popular with worshippers. In the past, it often delivered manure to the surrounding villagers.

The head of such a Taoist temple should be happy to see his old neighbor prosper.

Even setting aside kindness and compassion, and even if it were purely for self-interest, doing Han Xin a great favor today would yield far greater rewards in the future than committing evil and ruining the Han family's feng shui.

Unless someone offers a higher price.

“Go back now. Go see the head of your temple and report what happened to you,” Xiaoyu said.

The fat Taoist waved his hands repeatedly, saying in a panic, "Mother, don't worry, I understand the danger and would never dare to gossip."

I didn't run into you at all today.

"Yes, I slipped on the path and got my clothes dirty, but everything in the vegetable garden is normal. No one has appeared, and no one has inquired about the Han family graves."

Xiaoyu said irritably, "You self-righteous idiot. Just listen to what I tell you to do, and get lost!"

The fat Taoist priest was just not shrewd enough, not a complete fool.

He paused for a moment, then suddenly realized: This old woman from Qiushan still wanted to interrogate He Tangtou!

How strange! What great secret does the Han family's tomb hold?

"I understand. I will immediately report today's events to Head Advisor He. However..."

In the end, he hesitated again, "Mother, He Tangtou and Xiaodao are not the same."

Xiao Dao gets sleepy as soon as he reads Taoist scriptures, and so far he has only practiced a set of "Five Elements Fist" for strengthening his body.

He Tangtou had cultivated in a Taoist temple and possessed supernatural powers such as subduing dragons and tigers, and exorcising ghosts and gods.

"Go ahead, go ahead, it doesn't matter if he's a god," Xiaoyu waved her hand and said.

—You bastard, a disciple of the Dao Palace with great supernatural powers, yet you remain unfazed and even quite impatient. Are you really a deity?

Then we must give He Tangtou a good talking-to and tell him not to be foolish. He should quickly slip away through the back door and not come to the Han family's vegetable garden to "die"!
The fat Taoist priest thought very "cleverly".

(End of this chapter)