Chapter Eleven: Fishing for a Flood Dragon

"So this is Purple Python Crossing River!"

Chen Fusheng felt as though he had suddenly become a powerful being who could summon wind and rain, swallow the waters of the surrounding rivers, command shrimp soldiers and crab generals, and do anything he pleased.

A Spirit Snake had to cultivate for a thousand years before it could transform into a Purple Python. Moreover, while under the enhancement of the Purple Python Diagram, its ability to detect the Black River surpassed that of the Spirit Snake Diagram by dozens of times.

He experienced the profound meaning of Purple Python Crossing River Diagram: in a place where tsunamis filled the heavens, one had to temper the body with the help of monstrous waves.

But what was the prerequisite for tempering? One needed to forge a shell tough enough to withstand the battering of the waves, thereby possessing the strength to cross the river and unleash world-shaking attacks.

Though a python naturally could not overturn rivers and seas like a flood dragon, its instantaneous explosive power was ferocious to the extreme. It could be viewed as a tyrant of the waters—merely turning over could send even a top-grade spirit fish flying.

Unfortunately, though he had spent three hundred star stones activating the Purple Python Diagram, he had no corresponding method of body cultivation... Its only use for him was enhancing his perception so he could search for top-grade treasure fish.

He could even see the appearance of the waters within a dozen or so li as clearly as lines on his palm... Fish swimming in the streams, crabs shedding their shells, old clams exhaling and inhaling, aquatic plants breathing.

Hmm? Weapons buried beneath the mud and sand, fragments of treasure ships, demon beast remains...

Chen Fusheng suddenly sensed a man and woman entangled inside a boat on the river, performing Inverted Dragon and Phoenix, swallowing dragons and overturning seas, their struggle extraordinarily fierce.

Chen Fusheng's face flushed scarlet. He lowered his head and glanced at his crotch, then suddenly understood.

"There's still no trace of a spirit fish..."

Chen Fusheng withdrew from the Purple Python Diagram and swiftly changed locations.

Half an hour passed. He appeared in another stretch of river and activated the Purple Python Diagram to sense the area.

Time trickled by.

After activating the Purple Python Diagram five times in succession, Chen Fusheng began to panic. There was nothing!

The Purple Python Diagram had dimmed considerably, making his heart ache so badly he could hardly breathe. He decisively absorbed the energy of star stones to replenish it.

He had already invested so many resources. How could he be satisfied with merely obtaining some treasures from the riverbed?

As a day and a night passed, Chen Fusheng watched his star stones dwindle to nothing, yet there was still nothing!

Looking at the hundred star stones he had left, Chen Fusheng gritted his teeth and hardened his heart.

"Life and death aren't decided by Heaven. Wealth is found amid danger!"

He used all his star stones to charge the Purple Python Diagram, then crossed the Black River and rushed a hundred li away.

"This is the last time. Come out, little darling!"

Chen Fusheng sat cross-legged atop a trembling old turtle. He activated the Purple Python Diagram with his eyes closed, and his perception surged wildly, like raging waves sweeping across the waters in every direction.

Chen Fusheng probed every inch of the area, sweeping through it again and again, but there was still nothing!

He fell silent, then fiercely slapped himself across the face. The human heart was never satisfied; a snake would swallow an elephant.

"This lesson is too profound."

Just as Chen Fusheng was about to give up completely, his heart trembled. He caught a faint fluctuation of energy, resembling the life signs of a Silver Moon Fish!

"Splash!"

Chen Fusheng swiftly approached the source. The river had grown even darker in the dead of night, but faint starlight flickered over the patch of riverbed mud and sand he had locked onto.

Chen Fusheng widened his eyes. Concealed among the aquatic plants, he pressed down on an old river clam blowing bubbles and stared at a pitch-black river cavern.

Of course, it looked well hidden. Aquatic plants almost completely covered it. Fish appeared in and out of the cavern's deep entrance, and the Purple Python Diagram could hardly detect what lay inside.

Chen Fusheng wriggled forward through the mud and sand like a spirit snake. His body, perfectly covered by the Azure Snake Treasure Garment, passed through layer after layer of aquatic plants as he swam toward the dark river cavern.

There was another world inside. A natural cavern formed from silver-gray river pebbles stretched before him, and those stones possessed an especially dense, vigorous force.

Chen Fusheng was startled. A mineral vein beneath the water?

The underwater cavern resembled an enlarged ant nest, so dense and intricate that it was easy to get lost. In his current Spirit Snake Diagram state, he sensed faint, intermittent signs of life.

"It must be it. I never thought it would have a nest in the outer river region!"

Chen Fusheng approached with extreme caution. He swam through tunnel after tunnel, and just as he neared the target, a surge like a monstrous flood and beast crashed toward him!

Chen Fusheng gripped the rock wall with both hands and poked his head out to look inside.

It was like the moon reflected in the water, delivering a tremendous visual impact. The main reason was that this fish was simply too huge, nearly the size of his own body. Its silver-white scales emitted a golden radiance and were incomparably splendid.

The spirit fish's entire body bore more than a dozen wounds that cut deep into its bones. Large patches of scales were missing, and its pair of pearl-bright fish eyes were cold and merciless as it ate.

Chen Fusheng nearly stopped breathing. The spirit fish was gnawing on a Silver Moon Spirit Fish, extracting its essence to heal its wounds.

"This big fellow is about to evolve into the Silver Moon Fish King. It's actually feeding on its own kind..."

Chen Fusheng forcefully suppressed the tension in his heart and waited in a state of internal stillness. He was also glad that the big fellow's intimidation kept the other fish from approaching.

As time passed bit by bit, the Silver Moon Fish King closed its eyes and lay on the river pebbles. Its gills drew in the energy of the river as it entered a state of cultivation.

Chen Fusheng clenched his fists, then slowly drew the Retractable Fish Spear from his back. His blood energy quietly gathered in his palm.

He waited for the spirit fish to sink deep into cultivation—at this very moment!

Chen Fusheng hurled the fish spear like lightning. It pierced through layer upon layer of water, and just as it was about to run through the fish's brain, the spirit fish awoke and dodged with a sweep of its tail.

"Pfft!"

Though the spirit fish avoided the fatal attack, a large chunk of flesh was still torn from its head. The fish spear ripped apart its lips and teeth!

"Boom!"

The Silver Moon Fish King was startled. With a whoosh, it burst out of the underwater cavern. As it turned, Chen Fusheng charged out with a wide grin.

His arms were like spirit snakes, twisting into corkscrews with a series of cracks as they wrapped around the wounds at the fish's waist. The sight was horrifying, as though he might be crushed to pieces at any moment.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The spirit fish resisted fiercely, bursting out of the underwater cavern and dragging Chen Fusheng through the water in a mad dash.

Chen Fusheng nearly split apart. The seriously wounded spirit fish's explosive power was truly astonishing, and the impact of the river water possessed a terrifying tearing force. If not for the Azure Snake Treasure Garment, he would already have been gravely injured.

"Where do you think you're going!"

The energy in Chen Fusheng's qi sea erupted. The major tendons in both his arms bulged fully, and his fingers suddenly curled like tiger claws, viciously stabbing into the wound in its hide.

The Silver Moon Spirit Fish let out a pained cry. Damn this accursed human!

It crossed the water even more frantically, thrashing its tail and churning up huge sprays from the riverbed. The man and woman who had been attending to their business in the distance were startled and hurriedly fled while pulling up their pants.

Splash, splash!

The top-grade spirit fish charged toward the depths of the Black River like an enraged dragon. Madness gleamed in Chen Fusheng's eyes as he refused to let go, embracing it and continuing to exert force in the water.

The spirit fish had been frightened. It repeatedly slammed into the reefs in the river, trying to smash the damned human into minced meat!

Bang, bang, bang...

After one collision after another, the Azure Snake Treasure Garment was torn in places. Chen Fusheng was covered in wounds and truly felt he could not hold on any longer. Yet, amid his limit-breaking eruption, his heart thundered without pause, and Life Essence Blood kept emerging to replenish his body.

This was the benefit of having a powerful heart. At a critical moment, it could release life essence. If the heart remained vigorous enough, it could even produce Treasure Blood to sustain the battle!

"You can't escape!"

Chen Fusheng's pupils were terrifying. He sensed that the spirit fish had reached the limit of its strength and was now weakening, blood pouring from wounds all over its body.

Chen Fusheng was likewise exhausted. Even his heartbeat had grown weak. Just as he prepared to activate the Evil Tiger Diagram and use its energy to restore his muscles and bones, taking the spirit fish down in one final push, a ghostly figure suddenly came hurtling straight toward him.

"What the hell is that?"

Before Chen Fusheng could see the newcomer clearly, the ghostly figure closed in, and a large hand clamped around his neck.

Chen Fusheng was utterly suffocated. He could barely move even a single finger, seized by a deadly crisis that made him feel his life had been placed in that person's hands.

"It's over..."

The instant this thought surfaced in Chen Fusheng's mind, the world spun around him. With a thud, he landed on a bamboo raft floating on the river.

Chen Fusheng's entire body hurt so badly that he could not even crawl up to resist. He had not been injured by the ghost; rather, he had exhausted his strength fighting the spirit fish in the water.

"That person didn't launch a sneak attack in the water. Does that mean I can still stay alive?"

Chen Fusheng's heart raced, and his mood sank to rock bottom. He had finally seized the spirit fish, only for this sudden incident to catch him completely off guard.

He raised his eyes and glanced at the top-grade spirit fish lying beside him. It was already half-dead.

He then turned his gaze toward a thin-faced old man in front of him.

The old man had crane-white hair and a youthful face. His skin was as smooth as a baby's, and he wore a cyan Daoist robe. Sitting cross-legged on the bamboo raft, he was fishing.

The ghostly shadow stood behind the old man like a guard. Its features could not be seen clearly; it seemed to have merged with the night itself, gazing at them like a terrifying vortex.

Chen Fusheng was horrified. This person was frighteningly powerful.

There was also a woman in a snow-white gauze skirt on the emerald bamboo raft. Sitting on the raft, she had taken off her shoes and socks, dangling her beautiful legs in the river. Her snow-white jade feet were crystal-clear, their toenails painted a vivid scarlet, stirring an almost criminal desire.

She had turned her head to the side, her cold expression fixed on the top-grade spirit fish that had been hauled up.

The white-dressed woman was even more beautiful than Mu Zhen. She seemed like a fairy who had descended beneath the moon, possessing an otherworldly, ethereal grace. Her skin was smooth and warm as fine jade.

Chen Fusheng determined that they were outsiders. Otherwise, given the woman's beauty, she would have long since become famous throughout Star Gazing Manor. After all, Mu Zhen was one of Star Gazing Manor's Ten Great Beauties.

"What a pity. Although this top-grade spirit fish has cultivated enough, it still hasn't evolved into a Silver Moon Fish King. Otherwise, it would be highly effective against Grandpa's Cold Abyss Poison."

The impact of the white-dressed woman's words on Chen Fusheng was even greater. This senior had been afflicted by the number-one poison?

And from her tone, it seemed she did not even regard the top-grade spirit fish highly?

This caused Chen Fusheng to relax slightly. Surely such a powerful group would not make things too difficult for a minor figure like him?

The thin old man remained silent, quietly fishing with his eyes closed.

"My lord, the fishing line moved again." The ghostly shadow reminded him.

"Forget it!"

The old man pulled on the purple-gold fishing rod. As vast sprays of water splashed into the air, a three-colored Multi-Treasure Turtle as large as a millstone burst from the water.

"A three-colored Multi-Treasure Turtle..."

Chen Fusheng's eyelids twitched violently. A five-colored Multi-Treasure Turtle was top-grade, while a three-colored one was comparable to a mid-grade spirit fish. Yet this one was absurdly large!

As for the legendary five-colored Multi-Treasure Turtle, it was a rare treasure of the Black River. Its shell could be fashioned into Five-Elements artifacts, and its value was unimaginable!

The white-dressed woman said regretfully, "The Abyssal Sea branch vein, the Ten Thousand Li Black River—there should be a flood dragon ruling this place. What a pity the Dragon Seeking Bait failed to lure it out."