The Ten Thousand Li Black River stretched vast and boundless. It was said that deep within the Black River lay a Flood Dragon Nest, whose influence had turned the river water the color of ink.
Legend had it that an Ancient Black Flood Dragon lived inside the Flood Dragon Cave, possessing cultivation that reached through heaven and earth. Whenever it turned over, the entire Black River would tremble three times.
On the banks of the Black River, these were merely legends. But within Star Gazing Manor, they were established facts.
"Go!"
Liu Bai waved his wide sleeve with immense pride. With a thunderous boom, the yellow boat expanded against the wind, growing over six zhang long and three zhang wide. Treasure light flowed across its surface, making it look like a house had landed on the river as it splashed up great waves.
The group boarded the treasure boat. Inside was a warm and comfortable cabin, and the vessel could sail on its own without human effort.
Standing on the treasure boat, Chen Fusheng gazed at the surging river and the dark, oppressive ancient waters stretching into the distance. He could not help clenching his fists.
"A new beginning, a new starting point. Work hard!"
Chen Fusheng secretly encouraged himself. He turned around and glanced at Liu Bai and the others sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed in meditation, then thought to himself, They're using spiritual telekinesis to sense the movements of the fish schools.
Locking onto a spirit fish was somewhat unrealistic. Spirit fish were skilled at concealing their traces and restraining their auras, making the chances of finding them extremely slim.
"This treasure boat actually consumes star stones while sailing."
Chen Fusheng glanced again at the energy grooves inside the cabin. Several hundred star-stone fragments lay within, providing the treasure boat with the power to sail. Its speed was more than ten times that of ordinary boats.
"A round trip of three hundred li costs roughly several decades of my menial-worker wages. This is a cultivator's everyday life."
Chen Fusheng adjusted his state of mind and sat cross-legged, visualizing the energy of heaven and earth with his physical body. He discovered that the energy differed from what he had sensed before. It was bone-chillingly cool, yet once he drew it into his body, it felt incomparably warm and smooth.
"That's right. The Ten Thousand Li Black River is abundant in water qi, so the state of its energy matter is different too. Hmm?"
Chen Fusheng discovered that the Spirit Snake Diagram was charging faster!
"The spirit snake belongs to water. It seems the Spirit Snake Diagram is especially suited to recovering here." Chen Fusheng was delighted.
Moreover, as the treasure boat ventured deeper, the water-element energy he visualized grew continuously denser, and the speed at which it charged the diagram began to soar!
Time trickled by...
It was almost afternoon. The treasure boat had entered an area a hundred li deep. A thin layer of black mist hung over the river, and fewer boats passed by. Naturally, the river channel had also grown wider.
At present, the Spirit Snake Diagram began radiating dazzling light!
Chen Fusheng decisively communed with it. His body seemed to turn into soft matter, and he wanted to lie on the deck, tilt up his head, and feed on rosy clouds and qi.
"Snake, snake, you'd better coil up."
Chen Fusheng controlled his body and also discovered that the Spirit Snake Diagram differed from the Evil Tiger Diagram.
The Spirit Snake Diagram did not release energy to assist him, but it granted him an astonishing capacity to inhale and exhale, increasing it by roughly four or five times!
He was startled. Does that mean I've become a cultivation genius?
"The Ancient Prodigy recorded over five hundred beast diagrams, and each brings me different effects. As for the Spirit Snake Breath Diagram, it expounds the Dao of respiration."
"He observed the spirit snake and explored the spirit snake's breathing technique. What kind of comprehension does that require?"
Chen Fusheng silently comprehended it. The energy drawn in through his mouth and nose circulated back and forth along his spine, giving him the sensation of a spirit snake looking up at the sky and feeding on qi.
As time passed, Chen Fusheng felt that his body had grown a little taller!
This was because his great spine had changed. The spine was the pillar of the physical body, and now it had lengthened slightly. This was the effect of the Spirit Snake Diagram.
As the energy spread into his flesh and skin, his skin became soft and smooth, while threads of resilience emerged from within the skin layers, as though his muscles were being reborn.
"So comfortable!"
The various changes filled Chen Fusheng with a shivering emotion. Yesterday, he had been fiercely powerful; today, he was soft and boneless.
His originally uncoordinated body began to reverse its transformation. Skin connected to sinew, sinew connected to bone. This pure method of reshaping the physical body caused new energy to surge continuously through him.
Under the Spirit Snake Diagram's influence, he even felt an urge to dive into the Black River and swim freely through the water. He truly could not resist lying down and paddling at the river with his palms.
"This river is alive. It's breathing!"
"I can sense the fish's movements and the scent of water plants."
"There are schools of fish weaving through the water farther away. I really want to go swim with them. I wonder if they'd welcome me."
"Hmm? A group—a huge school of fish hidden among the water plants!"
With the spirit snake's talent empowering him, Chen Fusheng gained an intense ability to detect everything in the river and locked onto the school's location with even greater precision.
"The school of fish keeps swimming through that stretch of river!" Chen Fusheng wished he could jump in and scoop them all out.
By now, the treasure boat had entered a hundred and fifty li into the Black River. Wang Lie and the others opened their eyes in unison and gazed toward the river on the right. Clearly, they had also discovered the school of fish.
Liu Bai abruptly rose and hefted the heavy fishing net. It glimmered with a silvery sheen in the black mist.
This was a silver-wire iron net, commonly known as the Silver Silk Net. It was woven from silver threads and then infused with rare minerals, allowing it to effectively restrain spirit fish.
Spirit fish possessed frightening strength in the river. Ordinary fishing nets would burst apart at the slightest contact!
"Old Bai, are you sure you want to cast the first net?"
Wang Lie said, "You've come back empty-handed for months. Your luck's gotten pretty black."
Liu Bai's face darkened as he handed the net to Wang Lie. "Fine, fine. You're so damn capable, you do it!"
"Fusheng, you're a newcomer. Maybe you can hit it big. Come cast the first net." Wang Lie grabbed Chen Fusheng and pulled him to his feet.
"Wang Lie, have you gone stupid? Can a newcomer like him even lift the Silver Silk Net?"
Liu Bai cursed furiously. "Hurry and cast it where I marked! Don't let the school escape!"
The treasure boat currently radiated a faint glow that enclosed the stretch of river. It was roughly twenty zhang away.
Wang Lie said nothing as he watched Chen Fusheng. To establish himself within the group, he had to show what he could do. Otherwise, who would bring him along next time?
"There seems to be a big fish in the river."
Mu Zhen spoke for the first time. The coldly beautiful girl's voice was unexpectedly gentle as water, and she did not think highly of Chen Fusheng.
Besides, the Silver Silk Net was worth a great deal. If some of its fishlines snapped while pulling, they would have to split the repair costs.
"I think I can do it!"
Chen Fusheng strode forward, scooped up the Silver Silk Net with his backhand, and fixed his eyes on the enclosed area.
Wang Lie smiled. One had to take the first step. Just now, he had still been worried that Chen Fusheng would be timid and afraid to act.
"You brat..." Liu Bai rushed over to snatch it away, but Wang Lie raised a hand and stopped him. "Why are you in such a hurry? Didn't you see how easily he lifted the net?"
"Fine, old Lie, you've really got guts. If he pulls up a big one, I'll give him twenty percent of the catch!" Liu Bai said furiously.
"Twenty percent is your share," Wang Lie corrected him. Liu Bai had contributed the treasure boat and held forty percent.
Liu Bai laughed in exasperation. "Fine, I'll give it! You're Chen Fusheng, right? Be sensible and put the net down."
Chen Fusheng stood silently in place. His hearing and sense of smell erupted to their limits. Combined with the Spirit Snake Diagram's ability to detect the Black River, they precisely located the school's path!
Chen Fusheng's pupils suddenly widened. He raised his hand and violently shook the fishing net. The instant he threw it, it looked like a dense web of silver lines, dropping in unison to the right side of the enclosed area.
Mu Zhen could not help finding it amusing. He had cast it off target!
Even a newcomer should not miss by so much. It seemed his control over his strength was far too crude.
"Quite the hero. So this is what you picked!"
Liu Bai was both amused and enraged. Wang Lie's expression also became awkward. The platform he had painstakingly built had collapsed just like that?
"Bang, bang..."
Chen Fusheng's expression remained calm. With his waist and hips united, he pulled the Silver Silk Net backward with immense force.
"You can't even pull a little water?" Liu Bai wished he could kick him overboard.
"Damn it, can you stop making so much noise?" Wang Lie could not help cursing.
Chen Fusheng gripped the thick ropes with both hands and pulled backward even harder. Mu Zhen suddenly noticed something wrong. "There seems to be movement below."
"Crash!"
The moment she finished speaking, a great patch of bubbles churned up on the river not far away. They gurgled and seethed as though boiling water were about to explode.
"Splash!"
Wang Lie grinned wildly with delight. Kneeling on one leg, he braced the end of the rope as firmly as an ancient tree with roots coiled deep into the earth and roared, "For the first net cast in the Black River, we invite the spirit fish aboard!"
"Invite the spirit fish aboard!"
Chen Fusheng did not know whether chanting this would help, but he followed along and shouted too.
As he pulled with all his might, the river boiled. Waves surged dozens of zhang high, and vast numbers of fish rose with the churning water, splashing without end.
Liu Bai crouched there, staring at the hundreds of jin of fish hauled up with an expression as though he had seen a ghost. Was this something a newcomer should be doing?
Fish, shrimp, crabs, and the like were not worth much. Even a giant fish weighing over a hundred jin was nothing special.
However, the golden Yellow Orange Fish weighing roughly ten jin, along with an old turtle bearing a two-colored shell, were the true prizes.
Yellow Orange Fish grew incredibly slowly. A specimen weighing ten jin was second only to a spirit fish. It was a top-grade wild delicacy that nourished the body and could extend an ordinary person's lifespan. When struggling in the river, it could casually erupt with a thousand jin of force.
Of course, the Yellow Orange Fish was secondary. The key was the old turtle with the purple-red shell. It was roughly the size of a washbasin, its claws razor-sharp, and the Silver Silk Net wrapped around it was tattered and torn. It had nearly escaped!
"That's a Multi-Treasure Turtle! We actually invited this great lord aboard!"
Liu Bai's breathing quickened. He let out a crazed roar of shock. "If I serve this dish at my woman's birthday feast, who dares contend?"
"What kind of idiotic dream are you having?"
Wang Lie shoved him aside with one palm. "A two-colored Multi-Treasure Turtle is worth at least several hundred star stones. This one has lived for at least a century. You couldn't buy it for even a thousand star stones!"
"And according to the rules, whoever catches a spirit fish gets sixty percent of the share!"
Chen Fusheng's pupils widened infinitely. Over a thousand?!
Even Huang Tiancheng's former monthly salary would have required three or four years to equal that. Yet he had hauled up such a treasure with a single net?
The only thing that dampened his spirits was that the biggest fish had escaped...
More precisely, he had cast the net a little too slowly. He had startled the fish away before enclosing it. He had also cast a little off target. Otherwise, the harvest would have been even greater.
Mu Zhen glanced at Chen Fusheng. Had he really cast off target just now, or had he locked onto the school's core?
Chen Fusheng's physical strength also surprised her. No wonder Wang Lie had insisted on bringing him aboard. Physical ability was crucial during fishing, especially for controlling the net with precision.
"Lie-ge, I was just lucky. I cast off target by accident."
Chen Fusheng spoke weakly. "You can split the Multi-Treasure Turtle among yourselves. I want this Yellow Orange Fish."
In the path of physical cultivation, vital essence was paramount.
The Yellow Orange Fish was crucial to his cultivation at this stage. As for the Multi-Treasure Turtle, its greatest value lay in its shell, which could be crafted into a sturdy item.
Though this would clearly leave him at a great disadvantage, Chen Fusheng also wanted to see how broad-minded they were. After all, it involved over a thousand star stones—a fortune more vast than anything he had ever possessed.
"One thing is one thing. You get exactly what you deserve. That's the rule."
Mu Zhen's faint voice came over. "Liu Bai, if you want the Multi-Treasure Turtle, just buy it. How about this? You give Chen Fusheng five hundred star stones, while Wang Lie and I each take two hundred. That's a fair price."
"Ha ha ha..." Wang Lie nearly laughed himself to death. He had originally wanted to lend Chen Fusheng a hand, but before a day had passed, he had instead delivered him a tremendous gift.
"Fine, fine, we'll do as you say." For the tremendous fortune he would gain at his girlfriend's birthday feast this year, Liu Bai gritted his teeth and agreed.
Chen Fusheng looked at the few of them. This team seemed quite decent.
Wang Lie began calculating the harvest. After accounting for the treasure boat's wear and tear, the fishing net, and other expenses, Chen Fusheng ultimately received a little over four hundred star stones.
What surprised Chen Fusheng was that Wang Lie brought a large stove out of the cabin, along with pots, bowls, ladles, chopsticks, ingredients, seasonings... He even pulled a large bundle of rare medicinal herbs from his robes, all of them aged medicines that had been preserved for many years.
He understood. They would kill and cook the fish on the spot, adding medicinal herbs as ingredients. The Yellow Orange Fish was naturally the main medicinal catalyst.
"Chen Fusheng, here are two hundred star stones. I'll make up the rest later."
Liu Bai was already thinking that he absolutely had to haul up one or two thousand star stones with the next net and make a killing.
Chen Fusheng accepted them, his gaze flickering. The Spirit Snake Diagram could help him sense the movements of fish schools. If he jumped into the Black River and swam through it, he could lock onto spirit fish even more effectively!
But this thought...
"Demon beast!"
Mu Zhen's words left Chen Fusheng horrified. He stood and looked toward the distant river shrouded in black mist.
He sensed an incomparably savage and violent might. Hundred-zhang waves were surging across the river, rumbling like thunder!
Before you continue