Innate True Spirit

The dark blue stars hung high in the sky.

The night breeze rustled through the courtyard, and the newly grown jujube leaves whispered and whispered.

Su Guishan lightly rubbed his fingers together and wiped them dry on the towel. Instead of answering directly, he threw the question to Liang Qu.

"How do you think the imperial court views the Jiang Huai Flood Dragon? Why did the Dragon Lord disappear? And what kind of power do the so-called Demon Court Four Pillars possess?"

There's hope!

Liang Qu was overjoyed.

Su Guishan's failure to immediately deny it proves he intends to reveal something! An opportunity!

Everyone has their own area of expertise. The Old Monk is indeed very skilled, but unfortunately, he didn't practice in the Jianghuai and therefore doesn't know much about him.

Since the Toad belongs to the Demon Race, and many of the questions are quite private, it's impossible to guess the relationship between the Fat Catfish and the Toad. Liang Qu felt that his relationship with the Toad was somewhat worse.

Later, when the relationship was exposed, Fat Catfish's problems had to be equated with his own, and it was inappropriate for him to ask on behalf of Fat Catfish.

After counting, Su Guishan was the person Liang Qu could contact, the one with the highest status, and the one who knew the most about the Jiang Huai Great Marsh.

Moreover, riding Black Tortoise across the Jiang Huai Great Marsh, the scenery was unparalleled, and his understanding of it was definitely deeper than that of the average person.

After some thought.

"The Jiang Huai Great Marsh stretches for thousands of miles and is rich in resources, which the imperial court must want to acquire. Unfortunately, both mining and treasure hunting require a large number of people."

Moreover, it's not something an ordinary person can do; one must be a master of breath control. Otherwise, even if one obtains it, its potential will be limited.

"Um."

Su Guishan neither confirmed nor denied the statement.

The underlying foundation determines the superstructure.

Grandmaster and Martial Saint do not appear out of thin air.

For someone like Liang Qu, having servants at home meant he didn't have to worry about anything.

Washing your own clothes is a waste of resources and time, and this is a simple example that can greatly save efficiency and time.

Mining and treasure hunting are low-labor activities that even Grandmaster wouldn't do. It's even unrealistic for a master like the Wolf Smoke Expert Martial Artist to engage in such arduous mining. But how can Galloping Horse Martial Master mine underwater? Wolf Smoke Martial Master can hold his breath for an hour, but once he moves, he can only last for a quarter of an hour or two.

The Galloping Horse was even worse off.

Are you suggesting we dig a couple of times, then surface for a breath of fresh air? If the mining tunnel is even slightly long, getting lost could suffocate us inside.

Upon entering the cave, one finds it filled with corpse fluid.

Human resources are the most valuable resource!

Therefore, the River Conservancy Office Great Martial Master be busy for two months in a row to deal with the flood caused by the breach of the dike in Hua Zhu County. If the Ghost Mother Sect comes and causes trouble, the imperial court will be furious.

There are many underwater treasures, but unfortunately, there's a lack of human resources to monetize them!

"Instead of keeping the unusable resources of the Great Marsh in our own hands, which we can only look at but not eat, it would be better to let the Water God, who controls the water resources, send his Spirit Monster to work and develop the land on our behalf, and then let the court trade with him using various processed products, thus achieving a win-win situation."

From this perspective, the imperial court should primarily adopt an attitude of cooperation and appeasement towards the Flood Dragon.

Unfortunately, the Flood Dragon lacked the strength of the Old Dragon Lord and dared not show itself easily. Moreover, it couldn't understand why the court would only profit once by killing it, but would benefit in the long run by keeping it.

In fact, the current imperial court is doing nothing but waiting for the dragon to transform into a Flood Dragon.

As for the flooding, perhaps there are other solutions? For example, relocating residents in advance?

Liang Qu rattled off a whole bunch of things in one breath.

He then glanced at Su Guishan twice, observing his reaction.

Su Guishan remained calm, tore open a crayfish, threw it into his mouth, sucked his fingers twice, and said leisurely.

"Good, continue."

Liang Qu used both his eyes Ear Consciousness Method to Eye Consciousness Method truth, but he couldn't sense Su Guishan's attitude at all. He couldn't judge whether what he said was right or wrong based on this, so he had no choice but to continue.

"Why did the Dragon Lord disappear, and how did he disappear? This humble one is too weak and knows too little to have any clue."

And the strength of the Demon Court Four Pillars...

Logically speaking, there should be four Celestial Grandmaster, since in the entire Southern Zhili, there are only two Martial Saint in charge.

Even though the Jiang Huai Great Marsh have vast waters and enough space for people to live, it's unlikely that five of them would suddenly appear.

But now, I think it's true that he deserves to be called Martial Saint.

"Oh?" Su Guishan asked in surprise, "Tell me your reasoning?"

"Firstly, there are two publicly known Martial Saint in Southern Zhili, but the actual number is unclear, so I dare not make any rash statements."

Secondly, people strive for higher positions, just as water flows downhill. Huaiyin Prefecture has two Grandmaster, but in other counties, the highest-ranking expert is only Wolf Smoke Expert.

Demons are no exception. I recently learned that when the Dragon Lord was alive, many Great Demon would go downstream to develop in the Jiang Huai Great Marsh.

Therefore, although the Jiang Huai Great Marsh appears to be thousands of miles away, it is actually the place where the power of the entire Jiang Huai River reaches its peak. We should not limit our attention to the Great Marsh alone, but also consider other large lakes.

And... if I'm not mistaken, the Northern Demon King among the Demon Court Four Pillars should come from the sea, right?

In this way, it seems quite reasonable for the Huai River to develop three to four Martial Saint Great Demon.

Liang Qu's analysis made Su Guishan Orthodox God and put down the chicken leg in his hand.

"I remember you came from a fisherman's family and didn't go to school, right?"

Liang Qu emphasized, "I attended the academy for more than half a year and have been reading regularly."

"To possess such coherent logical thinking and insights without having attended an academy is truly remarkable!"

"I attended for half a year and persisted in reading..."

"Alright," Su Guishan interrupted Liang Qu's explanation, "Let me ask you, how many dragons do you think there are in the world today?"

How many dragons are there in the world today?

Liang Qu was taken aback, and asked hesitantly, "How many are there?"

Su Guishan laughed, shook his head, and held up three fingers.

Liang Qu was greatly alarmed.

"Sanjo?"

"That's right, just three!"

"But there are only three. How can they reproduce? Could they all be like Flood Dragon, transformed from snakes?"

Liang Qu began a brainstorming session. He knew that functional extinction meant that the propagation of true dragons was unlikely, so only...

"Don't overthink it. I'll tell you straight: of these three true dragons, one is in the Huai River, one is in the Yellow Sand River, and one is in the Northern Court E River. Oh right, the ones in the Huai River and Yellow Sand River are gone. Right now, there is only one true dragon in the world!"

One Huai River, one Yellow Sand River, one Northern Court E River? The distribution is far too even...

Liang Qu frowned deeply.

"Kid, what do you think a dragon is now?"

"Could it be... a naturally formed Spiritual Items born from the river?"

"That's right! A naturally occurring Spiritual Items. Have you ever eaten Treasure Fish?"

Liang Qu's pupils contracted sharply, and he blurted out.

"Is the true dragon Treasure Fish?"

"Don't get excited. This is just the mainstream speculation. We don't actually know for sure how the real dragon appeared. We are only certain of three points."

First, true dragons can only be found in the great rivers and lakes of Heaven Mountain; they have never been heard of in the sea.

Secondly, one river is like one dragon. Unless the Yellow Sand River comes to visit the Huai River, then for now, we can consider them as two separate entities.

Thirdly, once the true dragon departs, it will reappear within Jiazi Year.

"What's the deal with that Flood Dragon? I've heard that it was once a giant Flood Dragon that transformed into a dragon after entering the Dragon Palace! And it's been trying to become a dragon ever since?"

Su Guishan was quite surprised. "You know quite a lot..."

Liang Qu coughed awkwardly.

"It's alright, you probably learned it from the Dragonfolk or your White Ape friend, right?"

"Uncle has a discerning eye!"

"We believe there are two ways a true dragon can appear: one is through natural gestation, and the other is through inheriting its legacy and transforming into a true dragon! The way that the Flood Dragon is doing is the second one! As for the court's attitude towards the Flood Dragon, it is actually not much different from your guess, only some details are slightly different."

A Great Marsh with a Dragon Lord is indeed much more advantageous to Da Shun than a Great Marsh marshland without a leader.

As long as the emperor favors Da Shun, Da Shun doesn't care who becomes the Dragon Lord. It could be Flood Dragon, it could be my Black Tortoise, oh, and maybe your White Ape friend will have a chance someday too.

Liang Qu's heart skipped a beat.

"But the Flood Dragon... firstly, it was born as a true dragon and has the problem of moving through water; secondly, this Flood Dragon is somewhat hostile to our Da Shun..."

"Hostility?"

"In the past, when the Flood Dragon was a giant serpent, it had a falling out with my Da Shun because of the Ghost Mother Sect, which was a remnant of the Great Qian Dynasty. Although the past is the past, but... the Flood Dragon is a demon, can you understand?"

Su Guishan emphasized the word "one".

Liang Qu understood.

The territory of the Da Shun Dynasty was vast, and Martial Saint emerged one after another.

Not to mention anything else, before Da Shun rose to power, his Lineage already had many Martial Saint.

If only one is like this, what about the others scattered around?

Furthermore, with other Martial Saint joining forces and forming alliances, the Sacred Emperor must consider the overall interests, not the gains and losses of any one family.

We had some unpleasantness in the past, but if we can make money together, we can put aside our differences and work together.

In this small place, the Flood Dragon, after transforming into a true dragon, becomes a top-tier individual. It can cooperate if it wants, and if it doesn't, there's nothing it can do but stay put.

No wonder they've been hiding; it's not just a matter of distrust.

There's a rift! To ensure stability, Da Shun would seize any opportunity to strike decisively, and replacing the Dragon Lord would be ideal, aligning with their interests.

Su Guishan continued, "I don't know why the true dragon disappeared, or rather, Xudu one in the entire Da Shun knows."

Lord of the Jiang Huai Waters is the strongest of the three Dragon Lord, a level above them all. Only the two Dragon Lord working together can match him.

Logically speaking, even if the Demon Court Four Pillars joined forces to rebel, they wouldn't be a match for it.

But the true dragon disappeared, leaving the Dragon Pearl in the Dragon Palace so that the giant serpent could transform into a dragon. Whether we consider it dead or not depends entirely on whether the Flood Dragon can truly transform into a dragon.

Liang Qu nodded, silently processing the information Su Guishan had presented.

I feel a bit full.

"As for your last question, the strength of the Demon Court Four Pillars..." Su Guishan narrowed his eyes slightly, "I want to know, why are you so sure that the Northern Demon King came from the sea?"

Because it looks like Dunkleosteus, Dunkleosteus lives in the sea.

Liang Qu complained.

"I suspect that when I was managing the floods in Hua Zhu County, I happened to encounter one of the Northern Demon King's men. They were heavily armored and had iron beaks. At the time, I didn't think they were the Water Beast from the Jiang Huai Great Marsh."

Su Guishan asked in surprise, "You saw the Northern Demon King's subordinates in Hua Zhu County? Do you have a pen? Draw a picture for me."

Liang Qu went to the kitchen to get a charcoal pencil and drew a simple sketch.

Su Guishan frowned.

"Really, the south is the Toad's territory, and they're at odds with the Northern Demon King. Why would an armored fish come to the south..."

Of course, they came to find me on the orders of the Flood Dragon.

Liang Qu hurriedly said, "It's probably a conflict, and they've sent spies on purpose! They're planning to take action against the Toad and eliminate dissidents!"

"A spy?"

Su Guishan fell into deep thought.

Liang Qu changed the subject.

"Uncle, you haven't finished speaking. The Demon Court Four Pillars, are they at the level of Martial Saint?"

"Hmm, you guessed right. Of the Demon Court Four Pillars, the Northern Demon King did indeed come from the sea and has been here for over three hundred years. Not only it, but the Flood Dragon has also been here for over five hundred years. The Northeast Demon King is also Demon King."

Furthermore, the Western Tortoise comes from Grotto Heaven Lake in the middle reaches of the Huai River, but the only true Demon King born from the Jiang Huai Great Marsh is the Toad in the south.

Liang Qu was surprised.

Toad really that righteous?