Fish Ball

Biodata

Properties

Fish Balls are Sea Sand Style ancestral secret medicines made using rare “strange fish.” Unlike ordinary food and tonics, they can directly increase a martial artist’s qi and blood, though the user must circulate a training method to refine the medicinal power. 21 44

• The medicine is sold as a small pill with a fishy fragrance; the initial Fish Ball given to Li Xiuwen was white and smelled of wild blue crucian carp. 10
• It melts immediately upon consumption, becoming a warm or scorching current that enters the acupoints, limbs, bones, and meridians. 10 63
• Fish Balls accelerate training methods such as the Sea-Sand Stance by stimulating the acupoints and meridians, but they do not directly improve technical fighting methods. 17
• They are best used at cultivation bottlenecks rather than as a substitute for ordinary training. 20
• Their efficacy diminishes as a user becomes accustomed to them; ordinary Fish Balls eventually offered Li Xiuwen less than 1% progress each. 43 63

Variants and Availability

Cultivation Effects

Skin Membrane Gate

Fish Balls can provide the push needed to cross the Membrane Gate, particularly for practitioners with weaker foundations. Huang Sihai gave Li Xiuwen one because he believed Li would otherwise struggle to cross the gate with his natural bones and aptitude. 10

• Li Xiuwen used his first Fish Ball while practicing the Sea-Sand Stance and entered Azure Membrane. 10
• Repeated use greatly accelerated his Azure Membrane progress, raising his Sea-Sand Stance from 44% to 88% over three days with two Fish Balls. 17
• He used Fish Balls during his later breakthroughs to Black Membrane, though Huang Sihai warned him against excessive reliance. 43
• Refined Fish Balls advanced Li Xiuwen’s Sea-Sand Stance by more than 30% across four doses as he approached the limit of Black Membrane. 64

Limits

• Fish Balls cannot replace stance training; their medicinal energy must be refined through cultivation. 10 44
• They are less useful for fighting-method proficiency, which still requires practice and comprehension. 17
• Huang Sihai set Li Xiuwen a limit of twenty-four Fish Balls per year to prevent him from becoming a “medicine jar.” 58
• The medicine becomes increasingly inefficient for frequent users while still adding medicinal poison. 49 63

Risks and Side Effects

Every Fish Ball contains medicinal poison. Excessive consumption can damage a practitioner’s potential, destabilize qi and blood, and affect the mind. 17 20 58

• Long-term accumulation may lead to the “three poisons” of greed, wrath, and delusion; individual tolerance differs, but crossing one’s limit is described as a ticking time bomb. 58 63
• Huang Sihai warns that overuse can lead to qi deviation. 20
• The Nine Dragons Patriarch’s pointed skull and altered appearance are attributed to Fish Ball consumption. 20 21
• Brother Ji was said to have forced his way to Azure Membrane through Fish Balls; the resulting medicinal poison allegedly muddled his mind and left his qi and blood unstable. 19 25
• Refined Fish Balls cause especially severe pain and physical strain when their potency is being refined. 63

Distribution at Four Seas Martial Arts Hall

• Huang Sihai sells Fish Balls to disciples and has raised prices when raw-material costs increase. 44
• First-floor disciples can obtain Crude Fish Balls, while second-floor disciples receive one Refined Fish Ball each month. 52
• Victory in the challenge against Night Heron Martial Arts Hall was initially rewarded with Fish Balls, waived fees, and a movement technique. 16
• Thunder Boy gave Li Xiuwen three Fish Balls as repayment for prior assistance. 50

Trivia

• Fish Balls are named after their strange-fish ingredients, but Huang Sihai refuses to reveal what the strange fish look like or where they are kept. 44 63
• Other martial arts schools are stated to possess secret medicines similar to Sea Sand Style Fish Balls. 21
• Huang Sihai compares Fish Balls to advanced food with poison mixed in: useful when taken critically, but dangerous when abused. 51