The rare peace and warmth were torn to shreds by a notification that suddenly exploded in his mind.
Li Hao shuddered all over. The blissful, laid-back smile on his face froze in an instant.
The Martial Soul Fishing Rod... had undergone an unknown mutation?
Almost instinctively, he reached out with his right hand.
Wait.
He glanced at Xiao Wu, who was sleeping soundly in his arms, her little face flushed. His movements turned careful.
Gently, he shifted Xiao Wu's head off his lap and settled it on a soft bed of grass. Only then did he stand and walk to a patch of open ground a little farther away from them.
Cailin had been standing in the shadows the whole time, her golden, slit-pupil eyes calmly following his every move.
Li Hao took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement stirring in his heart.
He slowly held out his right hand and called in a low voice,
"Fishing Rod!"
A soft glow appeared in his palm, and a pitch-black fishing rod gradually took shape.
But this time, it was completely different.
The Tattered Fishing Rod had once been plain and unremarkable, looking as if it would snap at the slightest bend. Now, countless mysterious, intricate golden patterns flowed across its shaft.
Fine as strands of hair, the patterns slowly shifted beneath the night sky, as if they held within them the truths of heaven and earth.
Even stranger was the fishing line.
It was no longer an ordinary thread. It had grown faint and indistinct, as if woven from pure light. One end connected to the rod, while the other vanished into the void, its end nowhere to be seen.
Li Hao stared blankly at the Martial Soul in his hand.
Was this... really the same trash Martial Soul that had left him with only one level of Soul Power and gotten him rejected by Nuoding Academy?
With those sparkling golden effects and that elusive air of mystique, it didn't look like anything ordinary!
Could it be... my cheat had finally remembered to give its host some benefits?
Just as he was ranting to himself, the system's notification sounded again.
[Martial Soul 'Karma Rod' has partially awakened.]
[Current ability: Fishing for Luck (Low Tier)]
Karma Rod?
Fishing for Luck?
Li Hao was completely dumbfounded.
What did any of that mean? It sounded impressive, but he couldn't understand a word of it!
"System, speak plain English!" he roared in his mind.
[Within Paradise Space, the host can use 'fishing' to randomly catch a trace of 'luck' from a person, event, or object with which the host has formed a 'causal connection'.]
[Note: 'Luck' can take many forms, including insights into cultivation techniques, a trace of Soul Power, certain materials, fragments of memories, and more.]
[Note: This ability is currently low tier. Both the success rate and the value of the catch are random.]
The system's explanation made Li Hao's head ring.
Fish... someone else's luck?
He immediately seized on the key point.
People with whom he had formed a "causal connection"...
Wouldn't that mean...
The first person he thought of was Tang San, whom he'd met just that day—a guy who practically had "protagonist" written all over his face!
At the entrance to Nuoding Academy, Xiao Wu had mocked his Blue Silver Grass, and the admissions teacher had treated him with great respect. That definitely counted as a "causal connection"!
What could he catch if he fished for Tang San?
The Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record? The Purple Demon Eye? Or the Twenty-Four Bridge Moonlit Night he carried?
A daring and thrilling idea made Li Hao's heart pound uncontrollably.
Let's do it!
Clutching the transformed Fishing Rod, he turned and ran straight to the clear stream.
"Dad, are you going fishing?"
At some point, Xiao Wu had woken up. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and watched him curiously.
Li Hao gave a vague "Mm," focusing all his attention on the Karma Rod in his hand.
Just as he had done before, he swung the fishing line made of light and cast it into the stream before him.
The line entered the water without a sound.
It was as if it hadn't entered the stream at all, but had pierced the barrier between spaces and dropped into some unknown dimension.
Li Hao held his breath and waited nervously.
One second.
Two seconds.
Ten seconds.
Nothing happened.
Had he imagined it? Or was his "karma" with Tang San not strong enough?
Just as he started to feel disappointed and prepared to reel in the line,
A faint tug suddenly came through the rod in his hand!
He'd hooked something!
Li Hao's spirits soared. He yanked the rod back!
Splash!
Water sprayed everywhere.
Something came flying out of the stream.
It wasn't a fish.
It was a fist-sized ball of... hazy white light?
The orb traced an arc through the air, then shot straight toward the space between Li Hao's brows.
He instinctively tried to dodge, but it was moving too fast. He had no time to react.
Buzz.
The orb sank into his body, instantly becoming a cool stream of information that flowed into every limb and bone.
At the same time, the system's notification sounded for the third time.
[Successfully caught a trace of Tang San's fateful luck.]
[Obtained: Minor cultivation insights into the Mysterious Heaven Skill.]
Almost as soon as the notification ended,
A set of methods and tricks for practicing a peculiar internal cultivation technique appeared in Li Hao's mind from nowhere.
The insights were insignificant, yet exquisitely subtle, as if a master who had cultivated this technique for years had forcibly poured a portion of his hard-won experience into him.
Li Hao stood frozen in place.
The Mysterious Heaven Skill...
It really was the Mysterious Heaven Skill!
He'd actually... fished something that belonged to Tang San right out of the air!
Even if it was only a tiny bit of cultivation insight, it had already proven just how heaven-defying this fishing rod was!
Meanwhile.
In the woodshed of the blacksmith's shop in Holy Soul Village,
Tang San was sitting cross-legged, working hard to break through a bottleneck, when his body suddenly jolted for no reason.
He snapped his eyes open.
A nameless sense of unease welled up inside him without warning.
It was as if... he had lost something very important.
But when he carefully examined himself, his Soul Power was full, his mind was clear, and the Twenty-Four Bridge Moonlit Night hidden in his belt was safe and sound.
Nothing was missing.
"Was it just an illusion?"
Tang San frowned and murmured to himself.
He shook his head, pushed the strange feeling aside, and closed his eyes again, sinking back into cultivation.
But he didn't notice that his understanding of the Mysterious Heaven Skill had inexplicably grown a trace more obscure and halting.
Inside Soul Beast Paradise.
After standing dazed for half a minute, Li Hao was swept by an immense, indescribable joy that erupted through him like a volcano!
He stared at the Fishing Rod in his hand, its golden patterns flowing along the shaft, and trembled with excitement.
A trash Martial Soul?
This was a trash Martial Soul?
This was a god-tier cheat! A causal weapon that could cross planes and snatch away opportunities!
With this, what the hell did I have to fear from Spirit Hall?
Give me enough time, and I could fish the entire Douluo Continent clean!
Li Hao's breathing quickened. An even more reckless thought rose in his mind, impossible to suppress.
He could fish for Tang San's opportunities.
What about his enemies'?
Like Spirit Hall, with whom he'd just forged a blood feud!
That jade pendant the Purple Poison Sect Master had crushed before he died had definitely formed a "causal connection" with Spirit Hall!
What would happen if he fished for Spirit Hall...
What could he catch?
A Titled Douluo's Soul Skill? A Soul Bone? Or Bibi Dong's secret stash?
Once the idea took hold, it could no longer be restrained.
Dazed by greed and excitement, Li Hao didn't think twice before raising the Karma Rod again.
This time, his thoughts locked firmly onto the vast organization that had just spied on this place, its intentions brimming with malice.
"Spirit Hall!"
He growled and threw all his strength into casting the line of light into the void!
But the instant the fishing line vanished,
The rod in his hand began to shake violently, nearly wrenching itself free!
A terrifying aura hundreds of times more frightening than the Purple Poison Sect Master's arrival surged back along the invisible line, filled with evil, chill, chaos, and slaughter, its counterattack unstoppable!
Before you continue