Daily Intelligence: From Water Snake to Jinghe Dragon King

"Now that the cause and effect are settled, I, your senior brother, will take Taiyi back and punish him by confining him to his quarters for a thousand years."

"If you need anything during your journey eastward, please let me know. I will definitely lead the other junior brothers to come and support you."

Liu Qing bowed and saw Guang Chengzi and Taiyi Zhenren off.

Watching the departing figures of the two Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect, Liu Qing's eyes flickered, and a thousand thoughts raced through his mind.

The reason why the Chan Sect backed down this time was simply because they were afraid of their teacher, Daoist Yu Yu.

If Guang Chengzi's fortunes are ever good enough to allow him to step into the Primordial Dao Fruit realm with his other foot, and he can be fearless of his teacher, Daoist Yu Yu, then his act of admitting defeat today will surely be the cause of his outburst in the future.

Everything is due to strength. At present, only Yu Yu Dao Ren stands at the peak of the Three Realms. Therefore, whether the Chan Sect flatters and seeks peace, or Buddhism and the Heavenly Court dare not speak out, they are all afraid of Yu Yu Dao Ren's strength.

Whether it's the Buddha, Dipankara Buddha, Guangchengzi, or the Jade Emperor, they must all be holding back their anger, but given their current strength, they can only swallow their pride.

If he breaks through to the Primordial Dao Fruit in the future, he will surely settle the score with the Jie Sect for today's karma.

They were enduring, waiting for a breakthrough, and Liu Qing was also waiting. It was a matter of who would be the first to seize the Primordial Dao Fruit and subdue the Three Realms.

Not long after Guang Chengzi and Taiyi Zhenren left, a shrill scream suddenly came from inside the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover. When they looked again, Nezha was gone, and only a precious pearl remained in the distance.

Nezha's soul and spirit were destroyed, but his essence was refined into a spirit pearl. Liu Qing waved his hand and took the spirit pearl in his hand. His eyes flashed, and he made a plan.

Afterwards, Liu Qing descended from the clouds and arrived at the foot of Tongguan City.

Seeing that all the Buddhist and Heavenly Court figures on the walls of Tongguan had died in battle, he sent a telepathic message to Wen Zhong: "Nephew, Tongguan can be handed over now."

"I will obey the orders of my master."

"At midnight tonight, Uncle, you will have Li Shimin lead his troops to attack Tongguan. I will lead my army out of the city to meet the enemy, pretend to be defeated and retreat, and leave Tongguan to Li Shimin."

"Alright, you will continue to return to the Eastern Capital as Prince Yang Lin, recruit soldiers again, and quell Li Shimin's rebellion. At that time, my Jie Sect's Heavenly Gods, who have descended to other places in the mortal realm, will surely come to join you."

"After you reunite, you can garrison a city and return to the Eastern Journey. In addition, the second wave of Buddhist reinforcements will likely arrive. At that time, Shen Gongbao will continue to cooperate with you to send the heads of the Buddhist reinforcements and the confidants of the Jade Emperor. Meanwhile, I will also take the opportunity to rescue the other gods of my Jie Sect from the Investiture of the Gods."

"This disciple will obey the sect leader's instructions."

"Well, there's still some time before midnight. Later, you can leave a clone in Tongguan while your real body comes to find me. That should be the time to rescue you from the Investiture of the Gods."

Wen Zhong was overjoyed: "Thank you, Master."

Now, all the Jiejiao Heavenly Gods and the Sixteen Heavenly Lords of the Thunder Department in the lower realm of Tongguan have been rescued. The Jade Emperor is entangled with Yu Yu Daoist and cannot spare the time to check the Investiture of the Gods. Taking advantage of this good opportunity, Liu Qing plans to rescue all the Jiejiao disciples in the next tribulation.

Even if the Jade Emperor found out afterward, it was too late.

Because the Investiture of the Gods had lost many of the Heavenly Gods of the Intercepting Sect, it was bound to be severely damaged and could no longer sense the movements of all the Heavenly Gods in the Heavenly Court at all times.

In addition, before being entangled by Yu Yu Dao Ren, the Jade Emperor ordered his trusted celestial gods to descend to the mortal realm, where they were scattered throughout the Sui Dynasty.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Investiture of the Gods was damaged and unable to constantly sense these confidants of the Jade Emperor, Liu Qing planned to kill them one by one and completely cut off the Jade Emperor's wings.

Liu Qing possesses the Earthly Treasure, the True Scripture of Earth, and is naturally opposed to the Jade Emperor, who represents the Heavenly Dao. A battle between them is inevitable sooner or later. Since it is unavoidable, they must start planning now to weaken the Jade Emperor's power.

Liu Qing instructed Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and others to return to Li Shimin's army and send a telepathic message to Li Shimin, suggesting that he launch a surprise attack on the camp that night. Although Li Shimin did not understand the reason, he believed Liu Qing's message without question.

The Bull Demon King, the Flood Dragon Demon King, and others remained hidden in the clouds, protecting the pilgrim team on their journey to the East.

On the side of Tongguan Pass closest to the Wei River, Crab Left Hand, who had been waiting impatiently, and Shrimp Traveler, leading ten thousand river monsters and sailors, finally received their master's order.

"At midnight tonight, you will advance towards Tongguan by waterway, and together with Li Shimin and others, you will surely be able to capture Tongguan in one fell swoop."

Now that Li Shimin is vying for the Central Plains and has joined forces with the Jie Sect's eastward journey, as Liu Qing's trusted confidants who rose to power, Crab Left Hand and Shrimp Guest will naturally be taken care of and given some credit. After the eastward journey ends, they will share some of their fortune and merits and be granted longevity and freedom.

After making the arrangements, Liu Qing opened the Lesser Thousand Worlds and let Wen Zhong, who was waiting in Tongguan, in. Then, he successfully rescued Wen Zhong from the Investiture of the Gods and appointed him as the "Heavenly Venerable of Universal Transformation of Thunder and Lightning in the Ten Earths" by the True Scripture of the Earth.

He was also a ninth-rank official, but he was not promoted. Wen Zhong only knew that he had been rescued from the Investiture of the Gods, but he did not know that he was now under the control of the True Scripture of Tan Di.

When Wen Zhong was taken away from the Investiture of the Gods, all the Heavenly Merits he had accumulated as the 'Nine Heavens Responding to the Origin of Thunder and Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable' were given to Liu Qing.

[Heavenly Merit: 179]

As expected of the Thunder God, he controls all thunder in the Three Realms. Since the Investiture of the Gods, he has worked diligently and has been rewarded by the Heavenly Dao with 146 points of merit, almost equivalent to more than ten Heavenly Lords of the Thunder Department. Wen Zhong thanked him profusely and left, returning to the top of Tongguan City. After midnight, he sensed with his divine sense that Li Shimin was leading a large army to quietly approach several miles away from Tongguan City.

With a mocking smile, he immediately removed the Thunder Pool used as a defense for Tongguan, and then ordered the ordinary soldiers stationed inside the pass to gather. When Li Shimin arrived at the foot of Tongguan, he ordered the gates of Tongguan to be opened, allowing the 20,000 elite Sui soldiers stationed inside the pass to launch an attack.

The military order stated that they were launching a surprise attack on Li Shimin's camp, but in reality, they were sending Li Shimin to his death.

Li Shimin was puzzled. Liu Qing had ordered him to launch a surprise attack on Tongguan at midnight tonight, but midnight was approaching and Tongguan was still standing, showing no signs of distress. Was he to send his soldiers to launch a full-scale attack? How many soldiers would lose their lives in that?

Just as Li Shimin was racking his brains, wondering what to do next, he suddenly saw the Tongguan city gate, which was several feet thick, slowly open.

Then, the elite Sui soldiers inside the city cautiously peeked out.

Li Shimin was immediately delighted. "We have already quietly reached the front of Tongguan City, and you only just thought of launching a sneak attack on my camp."

Unfortunately, I have just set up a trap to swallow you all whole.

Li Shimin was deeply shocked by Liu Qing's brilliant strategies. At this moment, he no longer had the same ordinary attitude he had when they first met, but instead looked up to Liu Qing with awe.

Even though Li Shimin was the reincarnation of the Ziwei Emperor, he should still look up to Liu Qing, the leader of the Jie Sect. The Ziwei Emperor was merely a mortal who had stole the throne from Bo Yikao and got lucky. How could he be compared to the leader of the Jie Sect?

Wen Zhong was eager to offer his head as a sacrifice, and Li Shimin was happy to accept it. Both of them followed Liu Qing's orders and cooperated very well without realizing it.

Within an hour, of the 20,000 elite Sui soldiers in Tongguan, more than 1,000 were killed in battle, and the rest surrendered to Li Shimin.

There were two lieutenants in Tongguan City who assisted Prince Yang Lin in defending Tongguan. However, after Wen Zhong pledged allegiance to Yang Lin, these two lieutenants were sent to the water gate of Tongguan.

Just after midnight tonight, the two lieutenants saw towering waves rising in the Wei River outside the water gate. From the waves, countless water pythons, turtles, lobsters, and crabs launched a fierce attack on the water gate.

Leading the way were a river shrimp several meters long and a crab almost the size of a room. Faced with the river monster's sudden attack, how could they, as mortals, possibly withstand it? In just a moment, the water gate was torn apart by the shrimp and crab's pincers, and the Sui army guarding the place, from the lieutenant general to the soldiers, all surrendered without a fight.

Following Master Liu Qing's orders, Shrimp Traveler and Crab Left Hand only aimed to breach the water gate and did not kill any mortals or commit any other atrocities. Therefore, after the water gate was breached and the soldiers surrendered, they sent their river demons to report their achievements to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin was overjoyed and immediately gave Xia Kexing and Xie Zuoshou a great credit.

Wen Zhong led some of the personal guards of Prince Yang Lin and fled from Tongguan City.

Wen Zhong wouldn't have wanted these personal guards of Yang Lin if it weren't for the need to prove their identities.

Wen Zhong pretended to be a defeated general and fled south in a panic. In half a month, he escaped back to Jiangdu, where Emperor Yang Guang of Sui was located.

Upon returning to Jiangdu, as Yang Guang had predicted, he did not punish Wen Zhong, the only remaining pillar of the Sui Dynasty who single-handedly supported the empire. Instead, he offered gentle words of comfort and then issued an edict entrusting all the nation's military forces to Wen Zhong, instructing him to coordinate the nation's military power and once again suppress the rebels.

At this time, Li Shimin used Tongguan as a bridgehead, and his army continuously marched out of Guanzhong and Longxi to conquer cities in all directions.

After Li Yuan moved to Chang'an, he declared himself king there, openly rebelled against the Sui Dynasty, pacified the local areas, trained a new army, recruited talented individuals, and accumulated wealth and provisions, determined to seize the throne from the Yang family.

Following the reminder of his ancestor Li Hu, who is now the acting City God of Chang'an, Li Yuan immediately issued an edict to appoint Liu Qing as the Dragon King of the Wei River upon becoming king.

At the same time, Feng Liuqing's first incarnation was the river god of the Jing River.

At this point, the Jing and Wei rivers were completely under Liu Qing's control. The moment the decree was issued, countless acts of merit and fortune surged toward Liu Qing.

Humanitarian Merit: 1100 points

In an instant, Liu Qing's human merit increased by more than a thousand points, forming a golden light of merit three feet above his head.

Subsequently, Liu Qing sent hundreds of river gods to create clones and bring rain to the Li family's territory, as a way of repaying the Li family's kindness and helping them pacify the local area.

More importantly, he sent his clone to clean up the damaged ley lines caused by the aftermath of the great battle. A month later, all the ley lines in the territory occupied by the Li family were cleaned up and repaired, and Liu Qing once again gained a wave of merit from the underground channels.

[Territory Merit: 112 points]

Now that the merits of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity have gathered once again, Liu Qing has not yet figured out what to do with them, so he has temporarily set them aside.

After the Battle of Tongguan, Liu Qing moved all his wives and concubines, including Hong Gu and Bai She'er, to his own little world.

Previously, four little spider girls had decorated the environment on the island where the Jing and Wei rivers meet in the Little Thousand Worlds.

Now, all that's needed is to leave the magical dragon treasure behind, and the relocation will be completed quickly. (End of Chapter)