Carefree

Carefree

The Golden-Backed Red-Bellied Fish in the fish basket was released. This fish was a demon after all. The instant it sprang out of the basket, it leaped into the air, and before the pavilion, high in the sky, it actually transformed into a body dozens of zhang long. Its scales were like a formation of blades, its fins like sharp banners. It spat human words from its mouth, yet the sound it made was a pitiful woman's pleading voice:

"Senior, I am willing to swear an oath. I will never harm another human life. I beg Senior to spare me."

That enormous, savage fish head actually bobbed up and down, as if imitating a person kowtowing in the void.

Li Hao smelled gusts of fishy wind rushing into his face and could not help pinching the tip of his nose, nearly retching.

This fish... really was fishy!

"If I spare you, wouldn't I really become an air force fisherman?"

Old Master Li Muxiu's words made the fish demon despair in an instant. It trembled with rage, yet did not dare flare up.

"Into the pot!"

Li Muxiu raised a hand and pointed.

Though this fish demon had been pleading, the moment it had revealed its true form and risen into the air, it had long since made plans to flee at any time. Now, seeing that the old man would not let it off, it immediately swung its body, using the sky as a lake, wanting to fly away into the distance.

But before its body could even twist around, it suddenly shuddered all over as if struck by lightning. Immediately after, fresh blood sprayed violently from its fish head and gills. Its savage body split apart in the void, as though countless invisible blades were using the air itself as a chopping board and hacking it open.

And what was miraculous was that the splattered blood, before it could fall to the ground, was carried away by a gust of wind and vanished.

The same was true of the fish demon's mangled remains as flesh burst and separated. In the void, only a fist-sized, round and lustrous dark-purple Demon Core remained, along with several pieces of snow-white fish meat.

Li Muxiu beckoned with his hand. The Demon Core fell into the boiling pot, and the snow-white fish meat was sliced in the air by unseen blades into pieces as thin as cicada wings. Once the water came to a boil, they too slowly entered the pot.

At this moment, the old man took out a salt jar from who knew where, lightly scooped two spoonfuls into the pot, then covered it and began simmering again.

Li Hao watched this series of actions in utter amazement, and also gained a concrete understanding of the martial powerhouses of this world.

This was a demon, and this was a powerful martial artist! "Old man, that purple meatball is a Demon Core, right? Aren't you supposed to eat it raw?" Li Hao asked curiously.

"Where did you hear that?"

Li Muxiu slanted a glance at him and said flatly, "Aren't you afraid it'll stink you to death? Demon Cores need to be refined with many medicinal ingredients before they have any effect, and they can't be randomly paired either. After all, the various kinds of demons are all different. That has to be distinguished by those professional alchemists. Eating it raw... heh, that's the same principle as ordinary people hunting a fierce tiger and stewing tiger bones for soup to strengthen their bodies. Can you digest it raw?"

"Then what are you doing?"

"Eating it as an ingredient. Though a great deal of its effect will be wasted, eating this thing is already meaningless for me. I'm merely sampling the taste. As for you, later just drink a little soup and eat a few slices of fish meat to fill your stomach. A Demon Core of this level still isn't something you can withstand."

"So that's how it is."

Li Hao nodded and did not feel any particular regret or sense of loss.

After all, within the Divine General Residence, spirit pills and Precious Medicines were countless. Let alone raw materials like this Demon Core, those were finished pills refined and completed.

Only, after his Foundation Establishment had failed, he had already tested them. To him, these spirit pills and Precious Medicines could only be eaten as food to fill his stomach. The extraordinary medicinal effects inside would be directly cut off.

However, despite the abundance of spirit medicines, when the residence distributed them to the children of each courtyard, it was extremely restrained.

After all, even ordinary medicine was three parts poison. Relying on pills could certainly lead to quick success, but to reach the most pinnacle realms, most still had to borrow the power of themselves, making it less easy to suffer backlash.

The water in the pot boiled again, the steam lifting the lid until it gently rattled.

The old man directly used his Ruthless Iron Hand to pick up the pottery knob on the pot lid and open it. Hot steam immediately dispersed, but it was carried away by a faintly brushing cool breeze and did not cling to the beams and pillars of the pavilion.

A fragrance of fish meat spread out, though mixed with some fishiness.

Li Hao frowned slightly. Though he had not tasted it yet, his instincts told him it would not be good.

"Come, have a taste."

Li Muxiu produced a pair of chopsticks from who knew where, pitch-black and grimy. He wiped them on his body, thrust them into the Demon Core in the pot that resembled a braised lion's head meatball, and began eating in great mouthfuls.

At the same time, with a flick of his palm, a swaying branch outside the pavilion suddenly snapped and flew into his hand.

He handed it to Li Hao. "Peel off the bark and you can use it."

Li Hao had no fake to say.

But he was not a rigid and pedantic person either. At this moment, together with the old man, he sat down casually on the floor, right on the top floor of Listening Rain Pavilion, regarded as holy ground by the martial artists under heaven. He casually peeled the green skin off the branch in his hand, broke it, then stuck it into the pot and lifted up a crystal-clear slice of fish meat.

What surprised Li Hao was that the fish meat, despite being simmered under a lid in boiling water, had not fallen apart. When he lifted it, it was like bean jelly, tender and slippery.

He picked up the pot lid to catch it, lest the broth spill on his body, then slurped it up with a hiss.

"How does it taste?"

"Not bad. Quite good, actually. It's just a little fishy."

"Fishy? How come I don't feel it?"

"You're covered in fishiness yourself, of course you don't feel it."

"Hey, brat, is that how you talk to me?"

"That's how it is. I'm not wrong."

"Hmph, you're lucky you ran into me. You little ghost, no rules, no manners. If it were someone else, they'd have beaten your butt into eight petals long ago."

"I wouldn't even be willing to say that to other people."

"Oh? Big words."

Thus the old and the young began eating. The old one did not have much of a senior's bearing, and the young one was not particularly trembling with fear either. After eating the fish meat and drinking the soup, the two of them both lay backward, spread their legs, and sighed in comfort with one voice, "So comfortable!"

Their postures were actually exactly the same.

"You brat..." Li Muxiu glanced at Li Hao, then suddenly burst into loud laughter.

Li Hao, however, smiled faintly, using his hands as a pillow behind his head as he looked forward. Beyond the eaves, the sky had already entered night, and faint starlight gradually emerged from the horizon.

A slow, cool breeze blew up from below the pavilion and from the surrounding mountains and wilderness. It actually carried quite a pleasant, relaxed feeling.

He suddenly felt that all the bustle and splendor of the mortal world, all the servants gathered around him,

were not as good as the freedom and ease of this moment.

Just as he lay quietly resting for a while, Li Hao suddenly thought of something. He turned his head and said, "Old man, if you go fishing, you should have some kind of fishing method, right?"

"What, you want to learn already?"

Li Muxiu looked at him with great interest.

"Tomorrow I want to try too. Why don't we see who catches more?" Li Hao said with a grin.

Hearing this, Li Muxiu could not help laughing.

He had not expected that among those wooden heads of the Li Family, such a lively and interesting child would actually be raised.

"Very good. From now on, follow me and learn fishing. I'll teach you. Fishing is also a kind of cultivation. Take this old man, for example. Once I cast out a hook, even a Three Immortalities Realm expert will be yanked into a Warped Mouth!"

Li Muxiu said with a soft laugh, his eyes filled with self-satisfaction. And this self-satisfaction was not toward his cultivation, but more toward his own fishing skill.

Li Hao could not help laughing as he listened. He even filled in some images in his mind, and could not help laughing out loud.

The image of a Three Immortalities Realm powerhouse standing at the peak of countless martial artists being yanked crooked-mouthed by a fishhook... it was fucking too vivid! "What are you laughing at? You don't believe me?" Li Muxiu raised an eyebrow, his face turning slightly stern.

Li Hao laughed and said, "I believe you, I believe you, of course I believe you. I just think that scene is too funny."

After saying that, he doubled over laughing again.

Li Muxiu thought about it carefully and also felt that scene was indeed interesting. He chuckled and said, "When we get there tomorrow, I'll teach you how to fish. First, you'll get some practice. Empty talk now and you won't understand anyway. Sleep early tonight. I'll go get you a fishing rod."

After saying that, he sat up, patted his backside, and with a sweep gathered the embers of the firewood and the iron pot on the terrace. They all rolled into his sleeve and disappeared.

Then he took one step out and vanished into the night that filled the sky.

The next day.

Early in the morning, when the sky had only just begun to brighten, Li Muxiu woke Li Hao.

Fortunately, Li Hao had slept early last night and was not too sleepy. He asked, "We're going this early?"

"Of course. Morning fishing must be early. This is when they're easiest to hook."

Li Muxiu had a smile on his face. On ordinary days, when he went fishing by himself, it was one man, one rod, one fish basket. Today, with a little fellow at his side, his enthusiasm for fishing was even thicker by several degrees.

"This is your fishing rod. Hold it well."

From who knew where, the old man took out a black fishing rod and handed it to Li Hao.

When Li Hao took it, he found that it was actually rather heavy. However, to his strength at Power Through Realm Completion, it did not count for much, not to mention that his strength was ten times greater than that of an ordinary Power Through Realm Completion cultivator.

But Li Hao estimated that at the very least, someone at the fourth or fifth level of the Power Through Realm would be needed to swing this fishing rod freely.

Seeing Li Hao take it with ease, a trace of surprise flashed through Li Muxiu's eyes. He said, "Looks like that kid Li Fu wasn't talking blind after all. You really do have talent in body refinement. Which method are you cultivating? Did you really reach major accomplishment?"

Only then did Li Hao understand that the fishing rod this old man had chosen had been picked according to his cultivation, and he had put some thought into it.

Wild Bull Strength was a low-grade body-refinement method. Cultivated to major accomplishment, it was only about the strength of the sixth level of the Power Through Realm.