Harvest

Wang Mengde chose a spot, dropped anchor, and secured the boat.

He took out the spirit-patterned fishing rod.

He removed a piece of bait from the bait box.

He hooked the bait onto the fishing hook.

He cast the line.

He closed his eyes.

He activated the Fishing Technique.

Spiritual power slowly flowed from his dantian, climbing along the meridians in his palm and into the spirit-patterned fishing rod.

The fishing rod quivered gently, and the few pale cyan spirit patterns on its shaft lit up one by one.

Wang Mengde held his breath and focused.

Spiritual power flowed along the rod, through the fishing line and hook, and finally sank into the bait.

The Bean Shrimp-shaped bait gave a slight twitch.

An exceedingly faint spiritual energy field spread outward from the bait, silently unfurling through the water to a diameter of roughly two zhang.

The range was not large, but it enclosed all the seawater surrounding the bait.

At the same time, guided by his spiritual power, the shrimp-shaped bait began to sway gently.

The fishing line was not pulling it.

It was moving on its own.

A twitch, a pause, a twist.

Just like the Bean Shrimp commonly found in these waters, swimming through the sea.

Only its shrimp scent was stronger, permeating the area within two zhang.

Wang Mengde opened his eyes, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

His cultivation had improved, and the Fishing Technique had become far more formidable as well. When the previous owner controlled bait, the surrounding spiritual energy field had only extended one zhang, and he had needed to control every movement of the bait with extreme care. The slightest lapse would snap the strands of spiritual power.

Wang Mengde split off a thread of his attention and activated the Spirit Eye Technique at the same time.

His gaze pierced through the clear blue seawater and probed downward.

Reefs, sandy seabed, seaweed...

Several Silver-Scaled Fish flashed past the edge of his vision, but he ignored them.

A moment later, a sea fish roughly half a meter long swam out from the shadow of a reef. It was a Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish.

It tasted far better than a Silver-Scaled Fish, and could sell for ten Blood Copper Coins per jin.

The Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish swam slowly, even somewhat lazily.

Wang Mengde controlled the hook, guiding the bait disguised as a "Bean Shrimp" slowly toward the fish.

Very slowly.

As though it had drifted over by chance.

The bait twitched in the water, silently wrapped in a spiritual energy field that evenly sent out that faint Bean Shrimp scent.

The Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish paused.

Its fins swayed lightly as it turned its head, its two black-bean eyes fixed on the bait.

Wang Mengde did not move.

The bait continued to wriggle gently in place.

The Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish flicked its tail.

It charged.

There was no probing, no circling to observe. It opened its mouth straight away, fast as lightning, and swallowed the bait in one bite.

The fishing line suddenly went taut.

Wang Mengde's wrist sank.

He formed a hand seal with his left hand.

Entwining Silk Technique.

Spiritual power surged from his fingertips. Through the seawater and across a distance of a full three zhang, it precisely formed an invisible binding force field around the Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish, swiftly pushing it toward the fishing boat.

At the same instant, he poured spiritual power into the spirit-patterned fishing rod.

The spirit patterns on the rod blazed brightly, and the reel automatically drew in the line.

Wang Mengde held the rod in his right hand to reel in while his left controlled the force field and pushed.

Very quickly, he pushed and pulled the Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish to the side of the fishing boat.

Wang Mengde set down the rod, grabbed the landing net by his feet, and reached out to scoop.

The fish entered the net.

It was satisfyingly heavy.

He lifted it up for a look.

Its belly was plump, its gills bright red.

This Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish weighed roughly five jin.

More than fifty Blood Copper Coins, just like that.

Wang Mengde beamed. Fishing with spells was simply too satisfying.

Having often come back empty-handed in his previous life, he absolutely loved these spells.

This was no longer fishing.

This was hauling fish out of the sea.

Hauling out sea fish that tasted good and sold for a high price.

Of course, this was also because his cultivation had improved. The previous owner had found fishing nowhere near this easy.

At that distance just now, the binding force field created with the Entwining Silk Technique would have been completely unable to restrain a sea fish.

He would have had to tire it out first before slowly reeling it in and lifting it aboard.

Wang Mengde took another piece of bait and hooked it on.

He cast the line.

The bait entered the water, and ripples spread outward.

He closed his eyes, activating the Fishing Technique and Spirit Eye Technique once more.

Before long, he caught a Silver-Needle Carp, worth more than forty Blood Copper Coins.

Then came a Gray-Finned Pompano, worth more than sixty Blood Copper Coins.

Then another Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish, worth more than fifty Blood Copper Coins.

Next came a Silver-Scaled Fish. Bad luck—it had avoided the bait, yet still rushed over to bite the hook.

But since it had already been hooked, he could only waste spiritual power hauling it up.

He continued.

The Spirit Eye Technique found the sea fish.

The Fishing Technique made them bite.

The Entwining Silk Technique assisted in reeling them in.

Wang Mengde barely needed to move from his position, yet the catches in his fish basket gradually covered its bottom.

They were almost all sea fish that tasted good and sold well. Any fish with horrible, hard-to-swallow flesh, he avoided outright.

When the sixteenth sea fish entered the basket,

he was about to hook on fresh bait.

Golden words suddenly surfaced in his mind.

[Fishing Technique +1]

At the same time, wisps of insight flooded into his mind.

The angle at which he held the rod, the timing of reeling in, the subtle rhythm of expanding and contracting the spiritual energy field...

Actions he had performed before, but perhaps never truly understood, now settled one by one in the depths of his consciousness.

Wang Mengde froze for a moment.

He lowered his head and looked at the spirit-patterned fishing rod in his hand.

The flow of spiritual power that had felt somewhat sluggish moments ago now ran much more smoothly.

He baited the hook again and cast the line.

Spiritual power flowed down the shaft, climbed onto the bait, and spread open the spiritual energy field.

Two zhang and three chi.

A full chi wider than before.

Wang Mengde turned his divine sense inward.

[Fishing Technique (Beginner) 99/100]

[Entwining Silk Technique (Beginner) 99/100]

Both were only a step away from minor mastery.

He raised his gaze toward the waters ahead, anticipation glimmering in his eyes.

One Gray-Finned Pompano.

Another Gray-Finned Pompano.

Then a Fireseed Fish.

Sea fish entered the basket one after another, and the basket gradually grew heavier.

Who knew how much time passed.

Another sea fish was dragged to the side of the boat by the binding force field. Wang Mengde scooped with his landing net, and the fish entered it.

Golden words appeared again.

[Entwining Silk Technique +1]

A vast amount of insight flooded into his mind.

The pathways of spiritual power, the methods of weaving the force field, how to spread spiritual power more densely and make it more resilient...

All those understandings that had once been vague, awkward, or done correctly without him knowing why they were correct—

at this moment, all became crystal clear.

Wang Mengde lowered his eyes.

He raised his left hand, his fingertips loosely curling.

Spiritual power poured from his palm like spilled mercury, instantly forming a binding force field more than a zhang away over the sea surface.

More solid.

More resilient.

Like a veil with substance.

Wang Mengde looked up.

Under the Spirit Eye Technique, a Gray-Finned Pompano weighing roughly two jin was swimming out from the shadow of a reef, utterly unaware.

He closed his fingers in the air.

The binding force field descended soundlessly.

The fish's body suddenly stiffened.

Its fins thrashed wildly, its tail lashed frantically.

Wang Mengde drew his hand back.

Wrapped in the force field, the sea fish shot toward the fishing boat.

Halfway there,

the Gray-Finned Pompano struggled violently.

The force field shook slightly, and a thin crack appeared at its edge.

The sea fish squeezed out through the gap and fled swiftly.

Wang Mengde's brow twitched. He rapidly drove his spiritual power, which surged forth in a torrent and formed an even sturdier binding force field that enveloped it.

He bound the Gray-Finned Pompano and dragged it back.

The Gray-Finned Pompano struggled madly, but it was futile now.

The Gray-Finned Pompano was forcibly dragged to the side of the skiff.

He thrust out the landing net and scooped up the fish.

The fish whipped its tail inside the net, striking the net ring with sharp crackling sounds.

Wang Mengde looked down at the Gray-Finned Pompano.

The Entwining Silk Technique at minor mastery.

It could catch sea fish directly.

He could not help grinning, joy spilling from his brows and eyes despite his efforts to contain it.

This was far too powerful.

From two zhang away, with a flick of his hand, he could catch a sea fish and bring it back.

Wang Mengde focused inward.

The spiritual power vortex in his dantian slowly turned. His spiritual power had decreased by around ten percent.

Wang Mengde sucked at his teeth. Fully unleashing the Entwining Silk Technique at minor mastery had drained a tenth of his spiritual power in those brief breaths.

Using the Entwining Silk Technique alone to catch fish was convenient, but it consumed too much spiritual power.

And that Gray-Finned Pompano had weighed only two jin. If it had been a five- or six-jin sea fish, it would have been difficult to catch it this way.

He should just fish properly.

He picked up the spirit-patterned fishing rod.

He baited the hook.

Cast the rod.

Fishing Technique.

The bait entered the water, swaying lightly.

Spirit Eye Technique.

A sea fish quickly took the hook.

The instant the line went taut, he formed a hand seal with his left hand, sending out thread after thread of spiritual power and casting a tiny binding force field over the sea fish.

The line reeled in, and the binding force field pushed.

The sea fish was quickly dragged over.

With a scoop of the net, the fish went into the basket.

Wang Mengde smiled. Such a tiny Entwining Silk Technique condensed from spiritual power could actually push a sea fish over so easily.

One Silver-Needle Carp.

Another Silver-Needle Carp.

Then another Fireseed Fish.

Wang Mengde gradually reduced the spiritual power output of the Entwining Silk Technique, feeling out the minimum amount needed to push sea fish of different weights.

The total spiritual power in his body was limited. If he conserved some, he could catch a few more sea fish.

One Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish.

Another Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish.

Then another Silver-Scaled Red-Gilled Fish.

When the forty-ninth sea fish was added to his haul, Wang Mengde stopped.

Two-tenths of the spiritual power in his dantian remained.

Fishing in the near seas came with unknown risks.

Though this was only the near sea, low-level demon fish occasionally roamed through. They were not as ferocious as high-level demon fish, but they were still not something he could handle after exhausting his spiritual power.

And besides demon fish, human cultivators were even more dangerous.

Out of the corner of his eye, he swept his gaze over Chen Dahu and his brother, as well as the low-level fishing cultivators nearby.

To drain his spiritual power dry was to court death.

He raised his eyes toward the sea.

The sun had shifted from the bow to the stern, and the clear azure reflections on the sea had taken on a thin layer of gold.

Most of the spirit boats in the distance had already left. Only two or three remained scattered about, and they too were hauling in their lines and weighing anchor.

Wang Mengde withdrew his gaze without hesitation.

Reel in the line.

Stow the rod.

Return voyage.