Water and Fire Intermingling

The River Dolphin Steward walked in front of Liang Qu and Li Shoufu. The three of them stepped on the floating wooden platform built on the water, and the rope joints creaked.

The smooth backs of the River Dolphin cleave the water's surface, roll around on the Great Marsh, and then disappear from sight.

Liang Qu even saw a huge black shadow, nearly thirty meters in size, looming in and out of sight underwater.

Its aura was much stronger than that of the Crimson Beast, approaching the level of a "demon".

Clearly, it is the true "Great Leader" of the entire Ping Yang County River Conservancy Office, commanding a population of over a hundred River Dolphin.

Xu Yuelong and Wei Lin each have one, and the whereabouts of the other one are currently unknown.

The entire system of leadership for the River Dolphin finless porpoise is structured like that of a decimal, centurion, and chiliarch.

Ordinary River Dolphin are led by the River Porpoise King, River Porpoise King is led by the even more powerful Spirit Porpoise. This system is simple to understand and easy to manage.

Several bold River Dolphin poked their heads out and hissed at Liang Qu, who was standing on the wooden frame.

I wonder which of my companions will be taken away today.

The Steward carried a wooden bucket full of small fish and fed a few pickled mackerel to the approaching River Dolphin, then pointed ahead.

"This is it. Infuse your Qi and Blood into it, and it will attract the River Dolphin corresponding to the token. Lord Liang, are you sure you want to choose 374? The last digit is even, which means it is a female beast."

One hundred Minor Merit for a single River Dolphin is not cheap.

The reason for this is that the River Dolphin Treasure Plant is different from precious medicinal plants.

Once the precious herbs and medicines are consumed, they will be gone. The Treasure Plant River Dolphin is a powerful helper underwater. Exchanging Minor Merit merits for River Dolphin is equivalent to using the money earned to buy a new loom. It may seem like less money is earned, but in reality, more will be earned in the future.

But River Dolphin can get injured, and they certainly can't work tirelessly.

Just like when buying a loom, you definitely have to buy a good one, that's the only way to make money back on your investment faster.

I really can't understand why Liang Qu wanted to switch to a female.

Breeding? Don't be ridiculous. Not to mention that the River Dolphin has a low reproduction rate, even if it does get pregnant, the gestation period can last for more than a year without miscarriage.

Furthermore, given that the Little River Porpoise will take three to five years to grow up, it will be impossible for them to develop combat capabilities.

Instead of wasting time, it would be better to exchange more adult finless River Dolphin for "compound interest".

"I'm sure."

"Alright, please, Lord Liang."

The Steward gestured to the side, saying that offering advice once was well-intentioned, but repeatedly doing so would offend people and was not worth it.

Liang Qu wrapped the token around his wrist and skillfully guided his Qi and Blood into the miniature River Dolphin token marked with numbers.

"Three seven four..."

A stream of water flew in from afar, raising a white curtain of water that swirled around the Liang Qu on the floating logs.

To be honest, Round Head often took Little River Porpoise back to the River Conservancy Office to see his wife, but this was the first time Liang Qu had seen him like this.

In terms of body shape, female River Dolphin porpoises are more slender and not as "fat" as males, and their color is also lighter, so there are indeed sexual differences.

He remembered that before the Round Head evolved, it was about six meters long, but the one in front of him was only five meters long.

Can they still be a match? Liang Qu made a strange connection, noting that the current Round Head and his wife were almost twice the size.

No, Scarhead's wife is also a common River Dolphin, but she is over eight meters long just like that. Perhaps this is a biological characteristic of River Dolphin? "Please accompany me, gentlemen."

After receiving the River Dolphin, Liang Qu thanked Li Shoufu and the Steward the River Dolphin.

"You're too kind, Lord Liang. It's just my duty."

"Let's go, A Zhen!"

Liang Qu quickly gave Round Head's wife a name, and after calling her name a few times, he made A Zhen remember it.

After rowing a boat for several miles, Yuan Round Head, who had received the news early, led Little River Porpoise to wait in the distance. When they saw A Zhen beside Liang Qu, the two of them, one big and one small, rushed over impatiently.

They had been separated for nearly three months, but now they were finally reunited. The family was overjoyed and played and chased each other around the boat.

Liang Qu sat on the edge of the boat and took out the two Source Water Fruit.

The Source Water Fruit looks very similar to an apple, except that its skin is dark blue and it is longer.

This Treasure Plant, worth twenty Minor Merit, not only boosts Qi and Blood but also strengthens the spleen and stomach, nourishes the kidneys and blood. It's practically an enhanced version of the Cockscomb Fruit. I wonder how effective it is.

Take a bite, and a faint sweet taste fills your mouth. The texture is so-so, a bit gritty, and there's a strong watery feeling.

I ate two.

[Marsh Essence +242]

[Marsh Essence +239]

Not many.

Liang Qu frowned.

If one piece is of poor quality control, then two pieces being roughly the same basically indicates that the quality is within this range.

Two Minor Merit can be exchanged for three Cockscomb Fruit, yielding approximately twenty-five Marsh Essence, equivalent to twelve and a half Marsh Essence from one Minor Merit.

If you calculate the Source Water Fruit in front of you, one Minor Merit of Marsh Essence is only twelve points, which is half a point less than that of the Cockscomb Fruit? No wonder the Cockscomb Fruit is always a bestseller.

I reckon it's a very cost-effective item to exchange within the River Conservancy Office's Minor Merit system.

It's somewhat similar to a flagship product in a store. It may not be better than other products, but it's definitely more cost-effective and can be mass-produced to meet the huge demand gap among Martial Artist.

However, most people probably can't tell the difference.

No one else has Ze Cauldron, so they can quantify the effects of an underwater Treasure Plant using the Marsh Essence.

The difference between 0.5 and 12 is only 4%, and very few people can really appreciate it.

"I need to start saving up my Minor Merit again and try to exchange for all the Treasure Plant with less than 30 Minor Merit points to see if there are any with better value for money."

Liang Qu set a small goal: to get Round Head and his wife back to the Lotus Root Waters to settle down, and then he would go home for dinner.

The next day was also the last day of working on the boat at the River Conservancy Office Management Office. Liang Qu went back on the boat to exchange for Minor Merit. For the next few days, he stayed at home to cultivate and never went to the River Conservancy Office.

There was no other reason than the relocation of the River Conservancy Office, and the need to prioritize the immediate needs.

The conflict between Xu Yuelong and Wei Lin was too great.

Not to mention mortal enemies, they should at least be the kind of people who would glance at each other sideways on the street, and could start a fight over a single question like "What are you looking at?"

Previously, the two groups operated their own offices, keeping to themselves. This time, moving to the shore is equivalent to removing the partition from the hot pot, causing the chili oil and clear broth to mix together.

As a subordinate of Xu Yuelong's faction, Liang Qu must not stand out during this time of Water and Fire Intermingling.

Who knows if one of Wei Lin's subordinates might suddenly jump out, trying to curry favor with their superior by undermining his authority.

Liang Qu is merely a Galloping Horse Martial Master who knows a little about water skills; he absolutely must not be the one to stick his neck out.

They'll stay put for at least seven or eight days, and only resurface after the auction ends on June 18th.

The intensity of the conflict should be less then.

It wasn't that Liang Qu didn't want to stand out because he had received benefits and care from Xu Yuelong; it was simply that if he stood out, he would be looked down upon by Xu Yuelong and the others.

What's the point of your subordinates winning by showing off their power?

Could it bring more Great Merit to our ancestors and overshadow the arrogance of our rivals? No.

Such low-level tactics of vying for attention are only used by sycophants desperately trying to squeeze into the circle, like Bao Guowei who likes to smear egg drop soup on his hair.

Of course, sometimes it's not that the lackeys are too stupid, but that they have no other choice.

Playing the clown to please the powerful is their only way to curry favor with their superiors and demonstrate their existence.

Liang Qu was only slightly luckier than them.