Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish

At dawn, Yang Ning opened his eyes and felt his mind brimming with energy, the world around him seeming to have come alive. He only wanted to shout, "Awesome!"

He had Entered Stillness. He had truly Entered Stillness!

Not the Entering Stillness of a Breathing Technique, but true mental Entering Stillness!

"Heart like a calm lake, body like a lone boat. I had thought Entering Stillness meant having nothing at all in the mind. So that wasn't it?" Yang Ning considered it and found it made sense.

He had only just begun, yet he was already thinking of reaching a state without thought or desire. That was far too unrealistic. Being able to Enter Stillness now was already a good start.

"Right, I'll name this meditation method the Calm Lake Lone Boat Meditation Method. But meditation depends on the individual, so this method will be difficult to record in writing!"

Yang Ning was excited for quite a while, only finally calming down when he recalled Lin Tianheng's casual finger-point.

As his mind grew stronger, his subconscious strengthened along with it. For example, he remembered that he had to absorb Innate Purple Qi every morning, so when he meditated until the sun was about to rise, he woke up on his own.

This was not some supernatural ability. Ordinary people could do it too. For example, if they set an alarm for six, they might wake up by themselves at 5:59.

He found the tallest nearby tree and climbed to its crown. There were no boats or people overhead, though he did not know whether anyone's divine sense was watching him.

Yang Ning guessed there was not. If Lin Tianheng were that diligent, he would have used his divine sense to find people himself. Why would he have the Immortal Seedlings search the mountain?

"That's it!" Yang Ning suddenly grasped a little of Lin Tianheng's mindset.

Lin Tianheng did not care about Tuo Buchuan at all, nor did he truly intend to search for him. He was simply playing.

What did the Golden Core Stage mean? It was the seventh level of Qi Refining. Upon reaching this realm, not only would myriad methods return to one, but one could cultivate more divine abilities. Their strength was hundreds of times that of the Qi Refining Fifth Level, and dozens of times that of the sixth level of Qi Refining.

Not to mention that Tuo Buchuan was merely Golden Core Fourth Level. Logically speaking, Lin Tianheng fighting Zhao Bu and Lin Tianheng fighting Tuo Buchuan were the same thing—both could be settled with one finger.

Just look at how Wang Yi used Tuo Buchuan's treasure artifact as a hairpin. The treasure you thought so precious was, in someone else's eyes, merely an accessory!

Could a Tuo Buchuan like that escape from Lin Tianheng's hands? Could he flee all the way from the Northern Barbarians to Qin Mountain?

The distance from the Northern Barbarians to Qin Mountain was over eight thousand kilometers!

How could someone severely wounded, with his magic power sealed away and able to rely only on his body, run eight thousand kilometers without being caught?

So Lin Tianheng's meaning was obvious: I just won't kill you. Heh, I'm just playing!

I won't even take action myself. I'll have a bunch of kindergarten children find you and capture you!

If that was the case, then slacking off did not matter. Lin Tianheng did not care at all.

Golden Core cultivators had lifespans of three thousand years. Forget forty days—what would forty years amount to?

"Carefree True Immortal, Carefree True Immortal. Only those with strength can be carefree. Those without strength can only become someone else's amusement!"

After absorbing the purple qi, Yang Ning returned to the boat and continued practicing his punches.

Practicing boxing trained not only the Qi-Blood Field, but also control over one's muscles.

He had discovered several days ago that he could imitate the physical techniques he had seen in his previous life, such as Iron Body, Finger Pistol, Eight Extremes Collapse, and Tai Chi Sky-Shattering Hammer.

He remembered Tang Zichen saying that once one's muscle control reached an extremely high level, one could even walk upon water without it reaching the knees.

Not by running fast enough to sprint across water, but by continuously pressing down the current through muscle vibrations, allowing oneself to stand atop it.

Yang Ning had not reached that level yet, but after training for an entire morning, he could control the boat without a pole, relying only on the vibrations of his leg muscles.

Not only could he control the boat's direction, he could even make it travel upstream.

It seemed to be related to the Calm Lake Lone Boat Meditation Method as well. After one night, he could clearly feel that his understanding of water currents had become much sharper. When practicing on the water, he often no longer needed to calculate anything, relying purely on instinct to adjust himself.

With such progress, he simply threw away the pole. Standing on the small boat, he practiced boxing while heading upstream. When he looked up at night beneath a sky full of stars, he discovered that he had advanced 220 kilometers in a single day!!

Traveling upstream alone would have been one thing, but some stretches were so dangerous that they could have hosted extreme rafting tours, and he could still make his way upstream.

Controlling the lone boat had become as natural as instinct. Sometimes, because he was so immersed in cultivation, the boat had unknowingly traveled a great distance!

"With such a long distance, if Tuo Buchuan is hiding somewhere, won't I end up missing him?" Yang Ning thought about it, then shook his head. Whatever.

He had an excuse, anyway. He was just a tiny Body Tempering Triple Layer nobody. If the other party was determined to hide, how could he possibly find him so easily?

The difference between Body Refinement Tenth Layer and Body Tempering Triple Layer was greater than the difference between humans and pigs. Forget finding someone—if they used a pen to write an entire Record of Tengwang Pavilion on your back, you might not even notice.

Besides, out of a thousand people, there would always be 999 who could not find him. Why couldn't he be one of them?

He dragged the boat ashore, found another tree, climbed it, and began meditating.

With his experience from the first night, he entered meditation much faster this time.

Meditation felt different from entering the Spirit Realm. In the Spirit Realm, time was infinitely long; several years could pass inside while only an instant passed outside.

But during meditation, time was infinitely short. He felt as though he had drifted for only a moment, yet when he opened his eyes again, dawn was already close!

After absorbing the purple qi, his Qi-Blood seemed unchanged, yet also seemed much more active.

Yang Ning knew this was probably the work of water dripping through stone. This purple qi might show no effect after three or five days, or even three or five years, but after accumulating it for thirty or fifty years, three or five hundred years, it would definitely prove useful.

Cultivation did not contend for the strength of a morning or an evening, but for a long and drawn-out accumulation. Every scrap of effort he made now would become a step on the ladder of his future progress.

In any case, it did not take much time—just one breath at dawn.

"There are only three hundred kilometers left to the main peak. If I went at full speed, I could get there today. But why should I rush? It's not like a sect is recruiting." Yang Ning stood in the tree and examined the water's course. Beyond a long slope lay a pool, and farther upstream from the pool was a waterfall.

The waterfall was extremely high. Even from this far away, he could see a white ribbon seeming to fall from the horizon. Yang Ning did not know what it would feel like standing beneath it.

"I'll spend the night beneath the waterfall today!" Yang Ning remembered that protagonists in novels always had scenes of training beneath waterfalls. He wanted to try it too.

If he was going to stay here for a long time, he planned to build a wooden hut beside the waterfall and live there.

"Forward!" He stood on the little boat as though riding a surfboard. Today, he was even faster than yesterday, reaching the base of the waterfall in just over three hours!

"Holy shit, it's huge!" Yang Ning stared at the waterfall in shock. "How tall is this?"

"The vertical drop of this waterfall is 1,476 meters!" Deep Blue's voice rang out. "The waterfall with the greatest vertical drop on Earth is Angel Falls in South America, which has a drop of 979.6 meters. It was also the filming location for the movie Up."

Yang Ning clicked his tongue. Angel Falls had a great drop, but it was narrow. The waterfall before him not only had a greater drop, but was also exceptionally broad—258 meters wide!

Seen from below, it was like a white silk scarf hanging upon a cliff face. The roaring waves sounded like thunder. The pool it smashed out below was over thirty meters deep, eight hundred meters wide, and fourteen hundred meters long, shaped like a mulberry leaf.

Such a wondrous sight could probably only be found in another world!

Yang Ning rowed across its surface, watching the fish and turtles in the water. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He had spotted a small silver-white fish with a body shimmering in seven-colored flowing light.

"That is?" Yang Ning asked incredulously.

"Yes, a Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish, ranked seventh among the mortal-grade Eighteen Treasures recorded in the Vast Universe Records!" Deep Blue said. "It is an unparalleled delicacy. Due to its scarcity, ordinary people cannot eat it at all; cultivators have monopolized them. This one is one chi long and weighs four kilograms. In Ascension City outside Ascension Academy, it can sell for four hundred thousand taels of silver, or four Jade Crystals!"

"Damn!" What did four hundred thousand taels mean? Last year, the Yue Kingdom's fiscal revenue had only been 1.7 million taels, and that was after Yang Ning's reforms.

Do not think the Cultivation World had no use for money. It used money too. Cultivators below the Qi Refining Stage also used silver for transactions. Moreover, because the items cultivators used were scarce and expensive, the amount of money required was even more outrageous.

Yang Ning would need money for cultivation once he reached Ascension Academy, and he would need money to buy pills too. Yet when he had been an official, he had not known he would later cultivate, so he had never amassed any wealth!

How could such a precious fish appear here?

Still, there was no need to think too much about it. Who knew what habits this fish had?

What he needed to do now was catch it. If he took this fish back and sold it, he would not lack spending money for at least a year or two!

"Where do you think you're going, Little Seven!" Yang Ning stomped the small boat that had accompanied him for days to pieces, leaving behind only one plank. Then he stepped on the plank and skimmed directly across the lake's surface.

The Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish was extremely fast, but it was still only an ordinary fish. Within minutes, Yang Ning caught up to it. With a scoop of his hand, the fish landed in his grasp.

"Four hundred thousand taels in hand!" Though Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish were rare, that was because they were difficult to breed and were eaten by other fish. They themselves were not delicate. A makeshift fish tank would be enough to keep them alive.

"Yang Ning, another one!" Deep Blue cried out.

"Hm?" Yang Ning froze, then hurriedly turned his head. Sure enough, not far away was another Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish. It seemed not to have noticed that its companion had been captured and was still leisurely paddling along.

Yang Ning stepped across the waves toward it. He had only just bent down when he spotted another fish beside it!

"Holy shit, I've stumbled into a Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish nest!" Yang Ning caught the one at hand first, then hurried after the other. He had barely scooped it up when another one appeared before him!

Longer and bigger—this one was nearly two chi long!

"This!" Yang Ning was instantly dumbfounded.

When one Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish appeared on the market, that was called good luck. It was a rare treasure.

When two appeared, it meant smoke was rising from one's ancestral graves!

When four appeared, what did that mean?

People would suspect that you had found a huge nest, or discovered breeding techniques for Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish, and they would come for your life!

"No, I can't catch any more!" Yang Ning quickly came to his senses. Gritting his teeth, he took out a chisel and began gutting the Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish.

He had already killed fish for three days. He was so skilled that he cleaned all four fish in just over ten seconds, then opened his mouth and stuffed them all inside like spicy snack strips.

"Delicious!" Yang Ning's eyes lit up. He could not describe the flavor. He only felt an unbelievable freshness explode on the tip of his tongue, then spread along his skull toward his brain.

As expected of the seventh-ranked Eighteen Treasure. He had not added any seasoning at all, yet it was so delicious raw. If a professional chef prepared it, how delicious would it be?

But that was all. He could not take any more. After all, he was not the only person on this mountain. This waterfall was so conspicuous that sooner or later others would come here and discover the Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish in the lake.

That might happen in a few days, in over ten days, or perhaps the next second.

With profits this great, Yang Ning could not imagine anyone willing to share with him. It would be fine if Immortal Seedlings came—they could negotiate. But what if they were Ascension Academy employees at Body Refinement Sixth or Seventh Layer?

Though he had a talisman on him and Lin Tianheng would come if he were killed, what if someone impulsive came who did not care about the consequences and insisted on killing him?

A gentleman did not stand beneath a crumbling wall. Retreat!

Yang Ning turned around, then thought of the boat that had brought him here. He hurried back and kicked the boat planks caught on the grassy bank into the river, letting them drift downstream.

For the last plank, he stepped onto it himself.

"Master!"

"Master!"

Deep Blue shouted frantically.

"What?"

"Behind you, someone!"

Yang Ning's heart skipped a beat. He whirled around and saw a bald young man in a gray robe, with sunken eye sockets, a haggard expression, and pale skin, standing behind him at some unknown time!

He stood atop the water's surface without sinking even an inch!

The young man also held a gray pearl the size of a basketball. The pearl flashed with gray light like a breathing lamp.

"I was wondering who it was waiting for. So it was waiting for you!" The young man's voice was hoarse, his eyes bloodshot as he stared fixedly at Yang Ning.

Yang Ning nearly failed to draw a breath. Of course he recognized the man before him—Lin Tianheng had provided a picture!

Tuo Buchuan!

Yang Ning swiftly reached for his pocket, but before his hand had moved even a centimeter, he felt a heart-rending pain.

He turned his head and saw that his arm had already been twisted into a pretzel!

Fuck! Yang Ning cursed inwardly. I knew Tuo Buchuan was strong, but I never thought he would be so strong that I wouldn't even have time to press the talisman!

And you're fucking fleeing for your life. Why did you come to such a conspicuous waterfall? Playing dark beneath the lamp, huh!

Yang Ning's thoughts raced. Just as he was considering how to talk his way out of this, he felt pain in his neck the next second.

Then there was no then.