The Sky-Gazing Hound paused slightly, then tightened his grip on the Seven-Colored Golden Carp even more.
"No. Whoever got it gets to keep it! I caught this fish, so it should belong to me!"
He muttered under his breath, "I've tasted dragon meat before. They say this Seven-Colored Golden Carp is no less delicious than dragon meat. Though this one's a little skinny, it's still enough to get between my teeth and let me sample something fresh."
Held fast by his divine sense, the Seven-Colored Golden Carp's body immediately caved in by a large chunk. Its eyes rolled white nonstop, and it looked as though it was about to faint.
Xu Chunniang could endure it no longer. Using her divine sense, she snatched the Seven-Colored Golden Carp from the Sky-Gazing Hound's grasp.
"You're about to crush it to death! It belongs to the Treant Race, not to me. If you kill it and the Treant Race holds us accountable, are we supposed to hand you over?"
As she spoke, she tossed the Seven-Colored Golden Carp into the Spirit Pond, releasing it outright.
Once it returned to the water, the golden carp shed its half-dead state from when it had been caught and immediately perked up. The sunken portion of its body swelled back out, restoring itself in an instant.
With a sharp dive, it plunged into the depths of the Spirit Pond and vanished from sight.
The Sky-Gazing Hound was furious. "Look! It was obviously pretending just now! Hmph, does it think that hiding in the depths again means I can't find it? I'll catch it again!"
This time, Xu Chunniang did not stop him. She merely said flatly,
"Don't forget that you're only a remnant soul now. Even if you catch it, you can't eat it."
The Sky-Gazing Hound