Extremely Low Emotional Intelligence

"Did you hear? Zhang Chi was beaten so badly he's seriously injured."

"Who did it? Isn't he at the Second Refinement? Could it have been Shen Wu?"

"What Shen Wu? I heard it was Wei Luo."

"Wei Luo? Isn't he only at the First Refinement? How could he possibly defeat Zhang Chi?"

"I don't know either, but it just happened. From the looks of it, Zhang Chi won't recover without resting for several months."

News of Zhang Chi's severe injuries quickly spread across Stone Beach, and the sailors were all discussing it.

"Serves him right! Zhang Chi steals our leftover bait every day. He beat people up before, too. This is karma!"

Zhang Chi hadn't been a good person to begin with, and his reputation was even worse.

When they learned he'd been violently beaten, quite a few sailors applauded in delight. Some even called what Wei Luo had done a righteous act.

Wei Luo was simply sitting by Stone Beach. Whenever sailors saw him, they greeted him warmly.

Before long, though, Zhao Xiu came looking for him.

"You caused such a huge mess without making a sound, Wei Luo. I really don't know what to say about you."

Zhao Xiu stared at Wei Luo, examining him over and over as if he wanted to find flowers blooming on his body.

When he'd first heard that Wei Luo had severely injured Zhang Chi, he hadn't quite believed it.

But the moment they met, he knew Wei Luo had already entered the Second Refinement.

It wasn't that he looked down on Wei Luo, but with Wei Luo's aptitude, entering the Second Refinement within a year would've already been pretty good.

Yet unexpectedly, only a few months had passed since Wei Luo entered the compound. Not only had he reached the Second Refinement, he'd even defeated Zhang Chi!

"Just how many Treasure Fish did you catch, kid?"

"I got lucky and caught two more. Otherwise, I couldn't have broken through."

When Zhao Xiu heard that, even the way he looked at Wei Luo changed.

He'd been catching Treasure Fish at the Cold Pool with Sun Qianchuan and the others,

but after all these days, he'd only caught three Treasure Fish, and that was because the Cold Pool had the best resources.

"I have to say, your luck..."

Before he could finish, Zhao Xiu saw Wei Luo take something out and was rendered speechless.

"Brother Zhao, take a look. Is this thing worth anything?"

Looking at the carp whiskers in Wei Luo's hand, Zhao Xiu's mind went blank.

He immediately questioned Wei Luo in detail.

When he learned that Wei Luo had directly eaten the Dragon-Whisker Carp, Zhao Xiu stomped his feet in panic.

"A Dragon-Whisker Carp! You actually just ate it?! That's a top-grade Treasure Fish! Its entire body can be used as medicine—it's like a hen that lays golden eggs!"

The Zhao Family ran a medicinal shop, so Zhao Xiu naturally knew even better than Wei Luo how valuable Treasure Fish were for medicine.

Even if it wasn't raised, turning it into pills could double its effects. Yet Wei Luo had eaten it outright. Zhao Xiu's heart ached terribly.

Only after Zhao Xiu's explanation did Wei Luo learn that a single Dragon-Whisker Carp was worth several hundred taels of silver. It was also something with a price but no market, its premium extremely high.

"These carp whiskers can be made into quite a few pills. It's best to keep them."

Though Zhao Xiu was tempted as well, a pair of carp whiskers wasn't enough to blind him with greed, so he advised Wei Luo otherwise.

Wei Luo shook his head. The carp whiskers were valuable, but his savings had already run dry. Turning them into money was more practical.

Since he was going to sell them, selling them to Zhao Xiu was just right. It would also let him repay some of the favor he owed.

Zhao Xiu immediately said that once they returned, he'd buy the carp whiskers at a high price.

After their idle chatter was over, Zhao Xiu brought up the real matter.

"Let's go. This has caused quite a stir. Sun Chai wants to see you."

The Sun Family might not have cared if it had been an ordinary sailor, but Zhang Chi was a Second Refinement martial artist no matter how inadequate he was.

Wei Luo had long expected the Sun Family to intervene, so he wasn't surprised.

Inside the captain's cabin, Sun Qianchuan and Shen Wu were there in addition to Sun Chai.

"Qianchuan, are you familiar with this Wei Luo?"

The Second Master of the Sun Family sat in the seat of honor and asked casually.

After learning that Zhang Chi had been beaten into serious condition by Wei Luo, Sun Chai had summoned the two of them.

Before Sun Chai, Sun Qianchuan and Shen Wu had lost their usual arrogance and appeared somewhat restrained.

"Second Uncle, he's a boatman recruited into the compound last time. Just a small fisherman with ordinary aptitude. Other than being on fairly good terms with Zhao Xiu, there's nothing special about him."

Sun Qianchuan answered respectfully.

At those words, a trace of disdain flashed through Sun Chai's eyes, too subtle to notice.

If there was nothing special about Wei Luo, could he have beaten Zhang Chi so badly that he still couldn't get out of bed?

At that moment, Shen Wu spoke.

"Second Master, I've heard people say that Wei Luo has good luck. He's also quite perceptive when practicing boxing, one of the first to get started in the fist technique."

Sun Chai rubbed his fingers together.

Good luck and decent comprehension?

Wei Luo sounded utterly ordinary—not someone of exceptional talent like Shen Wu. Yet that only made Sun Chai more interested in him.

That was because his experience far surpassed that of Shen Wu and Sun Qianchuan.

Most of the time, those with outstanding talent had smooth sailing in everything they did. But the ones who truly went farther were often those who seemed unremarkable, yet continued improving without end.

While he was pondering this, Wei Luo had already arrived at the captain's cabin.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in."

Wei Luo swept his gaze around the room, then respectfully bowed.

"Wei Luo, you severely injured Zhang Chi and treated my Sun Family's rules as nothing. Do you know your crime?"

Sun Chai rose and strode forward, glaring at Wei Luo with tiger eyes. His powerful blood and qi were completely undisguised.

Wei Luo could clearly sense that Sun Chai was extremely strong. Even if he hadn't reached the Three Refinements, he was only a hair away.

Sun Chai's pressure was immense, as though he'd strike the moment Wei Luo said a single wrong word.

"Wei Luo knows his fault and is willing to accept punishment."

There was no proud defiance, nor any unnecessary explanation. Wei Luo's attitude in admitting fault was exceptionally sincere.

Sun Chai hadn't expected Wei Luo to be so compliant. He'd originally intended to establish his authority a little further, but now it felt like he'd punched cotton.

After pondering for a moment, Sun Chai finally asked,

"Tell me. Why did you attack and injure someone?"

Wei Luo then told him everything about Zhang Chi stealing Liu Changle's bait.

Once he understood that Wei Luo had acted to avenge a friend, Sun Chai's gaze softened considerably.

Martial artists were mostly in competition with one another. There were plenty who fought fiercely over a single Treasure Fish.

There really weren't many like Wei Luo, someone who valued loyalty and friendship. Sun Chai couldn't help but think more highly of him.

But Sun Chai didn't show it. Instead, he turned to Sun Qianchuan beside him and asked,

"Qianchuan, by the rules, Wei Luo severely injured Zhang Chi, so one of his fingers should be cut off. What do you think?"

Sun Qianchuan had been watching coldly from the side all along. Caught off guard by the question, he froze for a moment.

But after glancing at Wei Luo, he said disdainfully,

"Second Uncle, in my opinion, not only should a finger be cut off, his hand should be cut off as well! Only then can we kill a chicken to scare the monkeys and better manage the other sailors."

Wei Luo couldn't help glancing at Sun Qianchuan, his expression slightly strange.

For a moment, he couldn't tell whether Sun Qianchuan was truly stupid or deliberately targeting him.

Zhang Chi was already lying in bed. That was a fact.

To lose another Second Refinement martial artist over Zhang Chi—Sun Chai would have to be mad to do that.

Sun Chai's question had clearly been meant to give everyone a way out, but Sun Qianchuan had thrown flirtatious glances at a blind man.

Sure enough, after hearing him, Sun Chai fell silent for a long while. He couldn't be bothered with Sun Qianchuan anymore and said directly,

"Since Zhang Chi provoked this matter first, your punishment will be to compensate him twenty taels of silver for medical expenses. After that, you are to remain aboard the ship and may no longer catch Treasure Fish. Let this be the last time."