They've all become top scholars in the imperial examinations, and you're telling me this i

Chapter 202 Reencounter with the Heavenly Court Patrol Division

The water vapor from Bibo Pool, carrying a fishy coolness, hit my face. Benboerba and Baboerben stood straight on the shore, their eyes darting around.

Yuan Shoucheng wiped his face. "Scholar Chen, you know how much effort I've put into this Third Prince of the Dragon Clan. Our lineage's patriarch risked his life, burning out his lifespan, to calculate the last divination. The divination said that our lineage's rise to prominence depends entirely on this Third Prince."

The more he spoke, the more aggrieved he became. Thinking of the countless cold nights he spent shaking fortune sticks on the street, his nose tingled and his eyes reddened.
"I have traveled the world and calculated every secret of heaven before finally finding him. But I have followed him all these years and calculated eight hundred times, yet I have never once found any sign of a turnaround!"

His voice trembled with tears. "The only thing that's even remotely related is that the divination predicted that when the Buddha of the East takes over Buddhism, it will be the day my lineage rises again. My God, even the Buddha of the East himself doesn't believe he'll live to take over Buddhism that day, and besides, the divination didn't say anything about it having anything to do with him."

"Pfft!" Yellow Wind Monster knew Mount Ling well. If Maitreya Buddha was in charge of Buddhism, then Yuan Shoucheng's lineage was definitely doomed. He couldn't help but laugh out loud, then quickly put on a serious face again.

"Old Yuan, I'm not trying to be sarcastic. Aren't you afraid... I mean, what if your ancestor's divination..."

He hesitated for a long time, too embarrassed to say the words "coaxing people," and just glanced at Chen Guangrui.

"What is it, King Yellow Wind? Speak plainly," Yuan Shoucheng asked, sobbing.

Huang Feng gave Chen Guangrui a strange look.

Chen Guangrui looked at Yuan Shoucheng,
"Old Yuan, when your ancestor was alive, did he spend more time sitting in his cave cultivating in seclusion, or did he walk the streets and alleys shaking a divination stick?"

Yuan Shoucheng's sobs abruptly ceased. He blinked blankly, tears still clinging to his eyelashes, his mind racing with images of his ancestor's life: the oil lamp he used for divination on the street, the fortune-telling stall under the old locust tree at the village entrance, the smile on his face when he charged three copper coins for matching people's birth dates...

"Of course, I spend more time wandering the streets and alleys," Yuan Shoucheng murmured, his confidence clearly waning.

Chen Guangrui said "Oh" and didn't say anything more.

Yuan Shoucheng suddenly shuddered, "Scholar Chen, are you saying that our ancestor was just like you, a fraud?"

Once this thought crossed his mind, and considering his ancestor's usual demeanor, his legs went weak, and if he hadn't been supporting himself on the nearby rock, he would have almost fallen into the water.

"What do you mean by 'just like me'? You're just fooling people," Chen Guangrui thought to himself.

"Yes, it's so similar!" Huang Fengguai nodded repeatedly, agreeing wholeheartedly. His gaze towards Yuan Shoucheng suddenly held seven parts understanding and three parts sympathy.

Well, Chen Guangrui also said that what they felt was all an illusion. Although he was not convinced, he still accepted it.

Yuan Shoucheng stood frozen by the water, his face a mixture of despair and resentment.
"So my ancestor tricked his disciple, who searched his whole life and felt he couldn't be at a disadvantage, so he told his disciple, and it was passed down to my master, and then to me?"

That's probably how things are; what else could Yuan Shoucheng do?
"I've spent half my life searching for this person, and now you want me to give up? What if the ancestral master's divination is true? Even if there's only a 10% chance, a chance as thin as a hair, I have to... I have to seize it and try!"

He turned to look at the pool, then deflated.

"But the Third Prince has barged in again. That Nine-Headed Insect is not to be trifled with. And that old mudfish, the Ten Thousand Saints Dragon King, is in cahoots with the Nine-Headed Insect. This time, we're really going to get burned..."

He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, pacing around the wet stone in circles.

“You won’t die.” Chen Guangrui’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was like a pillar of strength. His gaze fell on Yuan Shoucheng’s frightened face. “Since you think there’s still a sliver of hope in the ancestral master’s divination, I’ll point you in the right direction. Go and take a look at Xiaoleiyin Temple.”

"Little Leiyin Temple?" Yuan Shoucheng abruptly stopped, grabbed Chen Guangrui's sleeve, his cloudy old eyes flashing with a sharp light, and asked in a low voice,

"Scholar Chen, do you know something? The Buddha of the East is at Little Thunder Temple, did you foresee that..."

Chen Guangrui didn't answer, but gently brushed his hand away and turned to walk towards the two fish spirits that were frozen in place.

Benboerba and Baboerben stared in horror, their eyes nearly bleeding, as the scholar drew closer.

Chen Guangrui stopped in front of them, bent down, and spoke in a voice that was neither loud nor soft, yet felt like ice needles piercing their ears.
“Hey, you two patrolmen, that young man in white just slipped into the Dragon Palace right under your noses. If your Dragon King and his consort, the Nine-Headed Insect, find out about this…”

He paused deliberately, watching as even more beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of the two fish spirits, before slowly continuing.

"Do you think the Dragon King will skin you alive, or steam you up to go with his drinks?"

"Oh my god!" Benboerba let out a desperate sob, his eyes almost rolling back. Baboerben was trembling all over, and if he hadn't been restrained, he probably would have collapsed into a lump of mud.

"What should we do?" Benboerba squeezed out a few words with a sob in his voice, which was trembling uncontrollably.

Chen Guangrui straightened up, his tone as calm as if he were offering guidance, “Simple. Once this matter is settled, you can leave Bibo Pool. Go to the West Sea, find the West Sea Dragon King, and tell him exactly what happened today: someone broke into the Dragon Palace of Bibo Pool, the Ten Thousand Saints Dragon King colluded with the Nine-Headed Insect, and set a trap to ambush the Third Prince of the West Sea. The Dragon King will be furious and will surely send troops. You will have rendered meritorious service by reporting the news; not only will you not die, but if the West Sea Dragon King is in a good mood, he might reward you with a menial job by the Dragon Transformation Pool, which is a hundred times better than being a patrolling fish in this wretched pool.”

“West…West ​​Sea?” Benboerba and Baboerben exchanged a glance, both seeing immense confusion and fear in each other’s bulging fish eyes.

Benboerba looked distressed. "Sir! We are fish in the river. We've been splashing around in this Bibo Pool since we were little. As for the sea... we don't even know if the sea breeze is salty or fresh. How are we supposed to get there? What if we get lost? What if we get eaten by a big fish on the way?"

Chen Guangrui's face remained expressionless; he simply asked in return,

"If the fish in the river don't dare to try their luck in the sea, where else can they go?"

His gaze swept over the two fish spirits' plump bodies, and he slowly uttered the second half of his sentence, "Are you waiting to be fished out and thrown into a pot to stew with tofu?"

"Tofu..." Ba Bo'er repeated subconsciously, his mind flashing back to the horrible image of himself being fried with scallions, ginger, and garlic and then thrown into boiling white tofu. A fishy, ​​foul smell suddenly wafted from his lower body, and this silly catfish was so scared that he peed himself.

Just then, with a loud "splash," the surface of the Bibo Pool suddenly broke open, and a white figure flew out in a disheveled state, crashing heavily onto the wet muddy ground on the shore, splashing up a large amount of water and mud.

It was none other than Ao Lie, the third prince of the West Sea Dragon King. His white brocade robe was torn in several places, his forehead was bruised and purple, and there was a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. Most conspicuously, several silver-white dragon scales had been forcibly scraped off, with bloody edges, and were embedded in the wet mud.

He struggled to prop himself up, his handsome face filled with anger and resentment, and even his dragon horns seemed to be slightly crooked.

"Nine-headed worm, you despicable and shameless wild monster, what kind of skill is it to rely on having more heads to launch sneak attacks?"

Ao Lie roared at the churning pool water. He tried to stand up, but his eyes were fixed on the water. He showed no sign of admitting defeat. Instead, his eyes were full of fierce determination to fight again. "Come on, I'll fight you to the death today!"

Yuan Shoucheng was terrified and scrambled over to help him up.
"Oh my little darling, don't be stubborn. As long as we're alive, we can always make a comeback. They have home ground and allies. Let's think this through carefully."

He clung tightly to Ao Lie's arm, fearing that the young master might impulsively jump back in a moment of madness.

"Hey, you lost pretty badly, huh?" Red Boy stood to the side with his arms crossed, his little face full of mocking amusement.
"Weren't you pretty brave just now, daring to charge in all by yourself? Hey, pretty boy, want me to lend you a hand and burn this lousy pond down?"

Tang Sheng squatted down beside Chen Guangrui's feet, took a bite of the sweet cake from Jisaiguo that he had somehow produced, and mumbled something indistinctly.
"Burning it dry? That would take forever. Besides, that monster in the water doesn't seem to be afraid of fire..."

Huang Fengguai frowned, looking at Ao Lie's miserable state, and sighed. He had thought Chen Guangrui had found a helper, but it turned out to be a useless show-off. He spoke in a gruff voice...
“Young man, listen to my advice: a wise man doesn’t fight a losing battle. That nine-headed worm is indeed formidable in the water; you can’t defeat it by yourself.”

Ao Lie wouldn't listen to a word. He shook off Yuan Shoucheng's hand and struggled to rush towards the pool, shouting, "Let go! I can't swallow this! I..."

Before he finished speaking, the pool water surged violently again, splashing everywhere. The aged and decrepit Dragon King of Ten Thousand Saints, supported by a beautiful woman, slowly rose from the water. The woman was Princess Ten Thousand Saints; she was dressed in gorgeous clothes, but her eyes held a hint of eeriness and smugness.

The old Dragon King of Ten Thousand Saints' cloudy old eyes swept over the crowd on the shore, lingering for a moment on the disheveled Ao Lie. His face plastered with feigned respect, but his voice carried a chilling undertone.
"His Highness the Third Prince's presence at my Bibo Pool is truly an honor. However..."

His tone suddenly turned cold, and he abruptly changed the subject.

"Your Highness, without distinguishing right from wrong, trespassed into the forbidden area of ​​my Dragon Palace and even attempted to harm my son-in-law, the Nine-Headed Insect Prince Consort. This is probably against the rules, isn't it? Even if you are the Third Prince of the West Sea, such behavior will likely damage the prestige of the West Sea Dragon Palace if word gets out."

Princess Wansheng chimed in from the side.
“Father is right. Your Highness, you are young and impetuous, and it is understandable that you acted rashly. But you must give Bibo Pool an explanation for what happened today. How about... Your Highness comes back to the Dragon Palace with us and apologizes to the Prince Consort in person, and then we can consider this matter over?”

As she spoke, her gaze was fixed on Ao Lie like a venomous snake. Clearly, her so-called "apology" was just a pretext, and her real purpose was to capture Ao Lie.

Yuan Shoucheng turned pale with fright and clung tightly to Ao Lie.

"Your Highness, you can't go! You absolutely can't go! If you go, you'll never come back!"

The Dragon King of Wansheng said to the water behind him, "Someone, please ask His Highness the Third Prince to return to the palace to rest."

Dark shadows swayed beneath the surface, and several ferocious-looking shrimp soldiers and crab generals wielding steel forks were about to emerge from the water.

"Wait a minute."

A calm voice rang out, not loud, but clearly overpowering the churning of the pool water and the words of the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Saints.

Chen Guangrui had somehow moved to the front, standing precisely between Ao Lie, Yuan Shoucheng, and the demons of Bibo Pool. His face remained expressionless, his tone calm.
“I am from the Heavenly Court’s Inspection Department, and this Third Prince of the Dragon is one of my men.”

(End of this chapter)