Azure Jade Ghost Carp School

Lin Qingli smiled and continued:

"Fellow Daoist Wang, if you have the time in the future, you may visit Evergreen Sect. Although Junior Sister Qingxue has divorced you, you were husband and wife once, after all. That bond of affection still remains."

Her words were gentle, and her smile sincere.

But Wang Mengde could hear that she was entirely trying to poison Shen Qingxue against him.

He glanced at Lin Qingli.

The woman was quite beautiful, with a pair of phoenix eyes that carried a touch of charm whenever her gaze shifted.

Yet every word she spoke was steeped in ill intent.

Wang Mengde said evenly, "Senior Sister Lin is too courteous."

He neither continued the topic nor said anything more.

Seeing how calm he was, Lin Qingli found it rather dull.

For a moment, the room fell silent.

Only the rain could be heard.

Pitter-patter.

The rain gradually eased.

Wang Mengde returned to his room and pulled a bag from beneath his bed. Inside were the spirit stones he had saved over the past twenty days.

Carrying the bag, he returned to the main hall.

A quarter of an hour later, the torrential rain stopped.

Sunlight spilled through the clouds and into the courtyard, bringing with it a hint of warmth.

Shen Qingyue emerged from her room with a bundle in hand.

She looked at Wang Mengde, her eyes brimming with reluctance.

Walking up to him, she said softly, "Mengde, I... I'm leaving."

Wang Mengde looked at her and gently patted her little head. "Go on. Cultivate well."

As he spoke, Wang Mengde handed Shen Qingyue the bag of spirit stones.

Shen Qingyue froze, then hurriedly tried to push the bag back.

She naturally knew that it held the more than twenty spirit stones they had saved over the past twenty days.

"No, Mengde. This is too much. You need to cultivate too—I can't take it."

Wang Mengde looked at her and smiled gently.

"Take it. You can pay me back later."

Shen Qingyue accepted the bag, her eyes reddening slightly as she nodded.

Shen Qingxue watched the scene, her brows knitting faintly.

She glanced at Wang Mengde, then at her younger sister. Her lips moved, but in the end, she said nothing.

Shen Qingyue walked over to Shen Qingxue and said quietly, "Sister, I've packed everything."

Shen Qingxue opened her eyes and rose to her feet. "Let's go."

She summoned her flying sword and stepped onto it, then turned back to Shen Qingyue.

"Get on."

Shen Qingyue gave Wang Mengde one last look.

That look held attachment, reluctance, and a trace of determination.

Then she went to her sister's side and stepped onto the flying sword.

Shen Qingxue formed a sword seal, and the flying sword soared into the air, shooting into the clouds.

Lin Qingli, Zhao Hongying, and Zhao Yutang also summoned their flying swords and rose into the air.

Four streaks of sword light cut across the sky, quickly vanishing into the distant clouds.

Wang Mengde withdrew his gaze and turned to enter the house.

The room suddenly felt far emptier.

So did his heart.

In the end, his strength was still too weak.

If he had been strong enough, how could he have let that girl leave alone?

He took a deep breath, rose to his feet, and returned to his room.

Cultivate.

Spring passed into autumn, flowers bloomed and withered.

In the blink of an eye, more than five hundred days had passed.

Rosy Cloud Pier.

More than a dozen fishing cultivators had gathered together, preparing to head out to sea.

A middle-aged fishing cultivator asked Qin Xiangnan, "Are you sure Wang Mengde is coming too? Half a month ago, he went out to sea and caught more than ten demon fish at the second level of the lesser demon realm. He sold them for over five hundred spirit stones."

The other fishing cultivators also looked toward Qin Xiangnan.

Qin Xiangnan smiled. "Don't worry. He told me himself yesterday and asked me to wait for him here today."

One fishing cultivator sighed. "Wang Mengde's aptitude for spells is truly incredible."

Another fishing cultivator sighed. "That fellow's fishing spells are truly formidable. I heard he has already mastered all three fishing spells."

"I think it may be more than that. His cultivation is about the same as ours, at the peak of the third level of Qi Refining, yet he can quietly catch more than ten spirit fish at the second level of the lesser demon realm. One of his spells may already have reached perfection."

"How could that be possible?"

Everyone wore expressions of utter disbelief.

Someone looked at Qin Xiangnan and asked:

"Xiangnan, you have the best relationship with Wang Mengde, and you often ask him to guide you in spells. What do you think? What level are his spells really at?"

Qin Xiangnan rubbed his chin and pondered. "Well... I really don't know. You all know what he's like—he keeps an extremely low profile and never shows off in front of others."

After a pause, he added, "But I do feel that one of his spells has probably reached perfection."

The others looked at one another.

Just then, a disdainful voice came from behind them:

"That coward has such powerful spells, yet he doesn't dare go to the deeper waters. He just wanders around this coastal sea. He truly has no ambition at all."

Everyone turned to look.

Zhao Youming was approaching with more than a dozen fishing cultivators.

Beside Zhao Youming, Zhou Lie chimed in, "Youming is right. That fellow is far too timid. He has such powerful spells, yet he doesn't dare go into the deep sea."

The two echoed each other, speaking with great enthusiasm.

At that moment, Qin Xiangnan said, "Wang Mengde is here."

Zhao Youming and Zhou Lie's expressions changed slightly, and they immediately shut their mouths.

The two exchanged a glance. Without lingering, they led the dozen or so fishing cultivators behind them onto their small spirit boats, cut through the sea, and hurried away.

Wang Mengde approached at an unhurried pace, a fishing rod over his shoulder.

He glanced at Zhao Youming and the others as they departed, his expression calm.

Zhao Youming and Zhou Lie had originally fished in the same group as them.

After their conflict with him, they had joined another group of fishing cultivators.

Those two had nearly gotten him killed back then. He remembered it perfectly clearly.

Qin Xiangnan and the others hurriedly rose and greeted him with smiles.

"Fellow Daoist Wang has arrived."

"Brother Mengde, we've finally been waiting for you today."

"Brother Wang, which waters are we heading to today?"

Wang Mengde walked over and smiled as he clasped his hands.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

He looked at Qin Xiangnan and said gently:

"Let's go to the reef area east of Rosy Cloud Island today. I passed by a few days ago and found quite a few schools of fish there."

Qin Xiangnan and the others promptly agreed.

"Fine, we'll follow Brother Wang's lead."

"The eastern reef area—let's go, let's go."

Everyone boarded their own small spirit boats, activated their spiritual power, and sailed eastward.

One small boat after another sped across the sea, kicking up trails of white spray.

An hour and a half later.

They arrived at a familiar stretch of sea.

Only to discover that more than a dozen small boats were already moored there.

They belonged to Zhao Youming, Zhou Lie, and their group.

Qin Xiangnan frowned. "Why are they here too?"

Wang Mengde glanced over, his expression unchanged. "The sea belongs to everyone. It's normal for them to come here."

The others could not say anything further.

The small boats scattered across the sea, each finding its own position.

Wang Mengde chose a spot beside a reef, steadied his small boat, and took out his fishing rod.

He activated the Spirit Eye Technique, his gaze piercing the surface as he surveyed the waters below.

He quickly spotted a school of fish.

With a flick of his wrist, the hook traced an arc through the air and landed precisely among the fish.

The instant the hook entered the water, a fish bit.

Unhurried, Wang Mengde used the Entwining Silk Technique to bind the sea fish. With a lift of his wrist, a sea fish over a foot long burst from the water. He caught it steadily and tossed it into his fish basket.

Then came the second cast, the third, the fourth...

One sea fish after another was rapidly reeled in.

The pace was astonishingly fast.

It was as if he was not fishing, but stocking up on goods.

A little farther away.

Qin Xiangnan and the others watched the scene, their eyes filled with envy.

Farther still.

Zhao Youming, Zhou Lie, and the others also saw Wang Mengde's fishing.

Zhao Youming was so jealous his cock turned purple. "That bastard."

Zhou Lie muttered softly, "With skills like that, he still won't go into the deep sea to catch demon fish. What a coward."

Just then.

A cry of alarm shattered the sea's tranquility.

"A demon fish school! There's a demon fish school!"

Everyone followed the voice and looked south.

The sea to the south churned violently. Azure figures burst from the water one after another, arcing through the air before plunging back into the sea.

That aura...

"Azure Jade Ghost Carp!" someone cried in terror. "It's a school of Azure Jade Ghost Carp at the third level of the lesser demon realm!"

Everyone's faces instantly turned deathly pale.

"This is bad. How did we run into a school of Azure Jade Ghost Carp?"

"Run!"