I'll write a manual called the Sunflower Manual, and the entire martial arts world will turn in

Baiyun County, the River Management Office.

The River Management Office was a special office, not under the jurisdiction of the county government, but under the jurisdiction of the River Management Office of the prefectural city.

The Guanhe Yamen (River Management Office) was mainly responsible for supervising the 200-li (approximately 100 km) stretch of the Huai River and the Grand Canal in Baiyun County. Its head official was the Guanhe Tongpan (River Management Magistrate).

Don't underestimate the position of Tongpan. It is a real seventh-rank military officer in the imperial court, on par with the county magistrate.

At this moment, Wang Zhuo, the prefectural judge, dressed in his official robes, was sitting in a side hall listening to the reports from Zhou Fu and Zhou Wu, occasionally glancing at the water monkey that had turned into a dried corpse on the ground.

Zhou Fu knelt on the ground, occasionally touching the cut on his severed left arm, his face showing pain. His words conveyed the difficulty and unwavering duty of suppressing the bandits.

Finally, Zhou Fu bowed deeply to the ground: "Please, sir, give me another chance to serve you faithfully."

Zhou Wu also bowed: "My father often admonished me to never forget the kindness and guidance you have shown me. My father is utterly loyal to you!"

Wang Zhuo sat at the head of the table, his right hand lightly tapping the desk, his brows furrowed: "You managed to quell the water monster in the inner cave this time, which is not a disgrace to my river. But now that you've lost an arm, your strength is greatly diminished. The area around Wuqiao Town is also not peaceful, with the Money Gang and the Dragon King Gang fighting fiercely. If you continue to serve as the inspector, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it. You should retire and return to your hometown as soon as possible."

Zhou Fu would never agree to that.

The Zhou family was able to establish itself in Wuqiao Town and accumulate a considerable fortune entirely thanks to his position as the River God's inspector. Without this status, the Zhou family would immediately collapse.

"This is a small token of my appreciation, please accept it, sir." Zhou Fu stepped forward and presented a stack of silver notes with both hands.

Wang Zhuo accepted the silver notes, his expression improving considerably. "You are indeed loyal. However, Wuqiao Town is located at the confluence of two rivers, and river monsters are frequently encountered in that section. If something were to happen to you, even if I wanted to protect you, I wouldn't know how to explain it to my superiors."

Seeing Wang Zhuo's expression, Zhou Fu knew that things had taken a turn for the better, and immediately said, "My lord, you may not know this, but the person who killed the water monkey was not me, but someone else. This person is a martial artist sponsored by my Zhou family. He is only eighteen years old, a young hero, and has been taken in as a disciple by Chen Lutang of Yongsheng Martial Arts School on behalf of his master. He is currently holding the position of clerk in the River and Lake Bureau."

Wang Zhuo's eyes lit up. He got up from his seat and examined the water monkey's corpse closely. "This water monkey was beaten to death, completely powerless to resist. This shows the person was incredibly brave and fierce. What was their name?"

Zhou Fu: "Xie An, born in Mingxi, was originally a child of the Xie family in Baiyun County. Xie Yunfei was his cousin."

Wang Zhuo returned to his seat, picked up his teacup, and took a sip of tea. "Xie Yunfei has gained the appreciation of Bailu Academy in Huanglei City at such a young age, and is also serving as a clerk in the county government. It's highly likely that he will pass the imperial examination for martial arts in the future."

Having said that, Wang Zhuo put the silver note into his sleeve. "Now that you have this help, you may continue to serve as the patrol inspector. I have only one request: there must be no major disturbances along the twenty-mile stretch of the Huaihe River and the Grand Canal in Wuqiao Town. At the beginning of the year, His Majesty issued an edict requiring all localities to be vigilant against water monsters and demons. If you are unable to protect your local community, no matter how loyal you are, I will not be able to use you."

After saying this, Wang Zhuo pondered to himself: Xie An is indeed a talented person. Now that my river management office is short of people, I might as well invest in him.

Wang Zhuo then took out a wooden box and handed it to Zhou Fu: "This is a Mingjin Inner Breath Pill. Take it to Xie An and tell him that I am grateful for his righteous act of eliminating the water monster."

"Thank you, sir!"

Zhou Fu bowed deeply three times before pulling Zhou Wu out of the river management office.

call!

Zhou Wu breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close! If Father hadn't invoked Fifth Master's name, our Zhou family would probably be finished."

Zhou Fu sighed, "That's right. Fifth Master is our Zhou family's savior. If our Zhou family wants to establish itself in Wuqiao Town in the future, we will inevitably need Fifth Master's help. This time when we go back, we must go all out and give Fifth Master a big gift."

Zhou Wu said, "Fortunately, Fifth Master has always been a righteous person, and we have a good relationship with him. Thanks to Father's foresight, he provided a large sum of money to Fifth Master before he gained power. Now it seems that this investment not only yielded huge profits, but also saved our family's lives."

Zhou Fu's face showed a very fortunate expression. "I never expected that this young Fifth Master would rise to prominence so quickly. It's truly a blessing from our ancestors. I'll go back and offer some incense to them."

"By the way, I just met with some colleagues from the county government and heard some news... that someone reported that Fifth Master killed Chen, the third leader of the Dragon King Gang, and that Chief Clerk Li even had someone bring Fifth Master to the county government for questioning."

"What was the result?" Zhou Fu asked anxiously. The Zhou family had finally managed to get on the good side of Fifth Master, and they couldn't let anything happen to him.

Zhou Wu said, "Wei Xiang and Shen Lie accompanied Fifth Master to the county government office, and even the county magistrate Shen Guhong showed up. Since Chen the Calculator's body wasn't found, the matter was eventually dropped. In my opinion, this is most likely true. The Dragon King Gang will probably hold a grudge against Fifth Master from now on."

Zhou Fu waved his hands repeatedly: "It's alright. Fifth Master has Chen Lutang's backing, the Dragon King Gang can't do anything to him. Go back and prepare the gifts as soon as possible."

……

Yong Sheng Martial Arts School, Bai Cao Tang.

[Talent: Dragon Breath (Unskilled): 0.0000032]

[Talent: Dragon Breath (Unskilled): 0.0000033]

[Talent: Dragon Breath (Unskilled): 0.0000034]

"..."

Xie An was completely stunned as he watched the dragon's breath progress surge.

"We've never seen such a rapid increase before..."

"And the fact that my blood can melt these scales... is truly unbelievable."

You should know that this scale is so severely corroded that it must have been eroded by more than ten or twenty years. That big green-eyed fish was originally just an ordinary fish, but it was by staying next to the scale that it was nourished and transformed into a giant amberjack.

These scales... were actually absorbed by me!?

"It seems these scales are closely related to dragon breath, meaning they have a very close relationship with the Dragon King."

After several minutes, the scales were completely absorbed into Xie An's blood.

hum!

An extremely terrifying heat suddenly erupted within Xie An's body, coursing through his limbs and bones. His skin instantly turned crimson from the heat, and fine beads of sweat continuously flowed out from his pores.

"It's so hot!"

Xie An felt as if his body was about to explode, so he immediately went to the courtyard to practice Bajiquan. Then, feeling unsatisfied, he picked up a Tang sword to practice as well.

A full hour passed, and as dusk approached, Xie An finally felt the heat in his body dissipate, and his body gradually returned to normal.

[Talent: Dragon Breath (Unskilled): 0.0000071]

"A single, badly corroded scale increased my talent progress by a full 40 points, more than I've accumulated over the past few months. That's outrageous!"

The higher the progress of Dragon Breath, the stronger the boost after activating the talent.

Xie An pondered that if he activated his talent now, he should be able to hold his own against a master who had reached the peak of Ming Jin, and even be able to compete with a master who had just entered An Jin.

This is still a conservative estimate...

But Xie An was not blinded by joy.

He realized something terrifying—a single, rotten scale, corroded for over twenty years, increased his dragon breath by forty points. What kind of power would a complete scale possess?

Then... what kind of terrifying water monster must the owner of the scales be?

What's more, there's also the Dragon King!

It's really unsettling.

Compared to these, the Dragon King Gang, this enemy, is nothing.

"I've got dozens of kilograms of treasure fish meat, so I won't be going far anymore. I'll just stay in the martial arts school and town. I'll eat all the treasure fish and develop a bit more before making any moves. By then, I might have already reached the Dark Force realm. Then... everyone in the Dragon King Gang will be dead."

Xie An made a plan for the development path ahead.

Before long, Xie Yu returned. Xie An instructed Xie Yu not to go out recently, and then prepared dinner. Xie An ate the remaining two tiger-head catfish, while Xie Yu ate the ox-horn catfish, repeatedly saying how delicious it was.

After eating the precious fish, Xie An went to the courtyard to practice.

[Martial Arts Realm: Ming Jin (Minor Success: 34/100)]

"The two treasure fish increased the progress by a total of eight points, which is not bad."

Although progress was not significant, Xie An was not in a hurry.

The tiger catfish was just an appetizer; the real main course was its large green eyes. There were also over forty pounds of fish meat, plus even more precious tendons and bones. Enough to keep me entertained for months.

Practicing martial arts... Practicing martial arts is important, but taking drugs is also indispensable.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Xie An opened the door and saw Li Shengnan arriving with two other people.

It was Zhou Fu and Zhou Wu.

"Fifth Master looks radiant; it seems your martial arts have improved again. Congratulations!" Zhou Fu said with a smile, cupping his hands in greeting.

Xie An cupped his hands and said, "Lord Zhou, has someone come to visit? Is there some trouble at the River and Lake Management Office?"

Zhou Fu laughed and said, "No, not at all. I went to the county's river management office today to report to Magistrate Wang. The magistrate was grateful for Fifth Master's righteous act and specially gave him a Mingjin Inner Breath Pill. There are also some personal gifts from me. Xiao Wu, bring it up."