Big Fish (Thanks to Reader 20230802130237975)

Xu Feng rolled over and went back to sleep.

Normally, he would have studied for a while before sleeping. This time, his body simply would not let him.

Without the Dragon-Tiger Plaster, it did not matter that he had eaten, drunk, and slept.

His body still felt wrong.

He needed rest.

Even so, while sitting beside the fire as Master spoke with Uncle Sun, the Yellow River Corpse Collector, he suddenly thought of something crucial.

The game's deadline was fixed right in front of him. It would not move.

That meant that whichever path he took, he would face that deadline in the end.

It was just like rushing to finish homework or meet a work deadline.

He could put it off at the start.

But when the deadline truly arrived,

every delay he had made would become another straw piled onto this camel's back!

This time, the third act's objective had been unexpectedly easy—so easy it almost seemed like a transitional chapter. Instead of relaxing, Xu Feng grew fully alert, every hair standing on end.

After all, stories had their beginnings, developments, turns, and conclusions.

Once the beginning was over came the development, and after that, the conclusion would not be far away!

Of the three events, he had completed one tonight without doing a thing.

He was not happy about it.

He felt the pressure all the more!

Corpse Stitching was a vast and profound craft.

He did not know how strong a corpse steeped in Baleful Intent could be, or how to deal with one now.

But he did know one thing.

Corpse Stitching held at least four disciplines—Inspection, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation—and he had learned only inquiry.

Even that was incomplete.

Xu Feng understood nothing of the other three arts.

He had read only a few books on the four arts of Corpse Stitching. He was no blind man feeling an elephant; he had a framework for learning. But he could hardly wield those arts at will like a master.

The system's assessment of him was fair.

For now, he was merely a "proficient Corpse Stitcher"!

And in terms of Skill Proficiency,

beyond beginner, familiar, and proficient lay expert, consummate mastery (with memory approaching perfection), flawless, ingenious, and skill approaching the Dao.

Quantity would eventually become quality.

Beyond those levels lay Stitching Calamity, which Xu Feng had yet to touch.

There was too much to do and too little time.

Xu Feng felt an urgency he had never known before. But his body needed to recover, so he had no choice but to put it first.

He could not save one thing only to lose another. If his body gave out, everything would be over.

He slept until dawn began to break.

When Xu Feng got up and came out of the upper room, he saw that the sky outside was gloomy.

It was no longer raining, but it was not sunny either.

Downstairs, he found the Earth God Shrine's main doors wide open. Neither Master nor Uncle Sun was in the side room.

The whole shrine looked almost "brand-new." Master must have tidied it up.

"Master?"

Seeing no one, Xu Feng called twice. Master came in through the door.

"Awake?"

Master asked.

"I'm awake. I overslept."

Xu Feng said.

"No. Sleep well and eat well, and you'll live long."

Master went on, then pointed at Xu Feng. "Go wash up. It's time for breakfast, and we've plenty to do today!"

"Right."

Xu Feng answered. Once he had washed up, a mouthwatering aroma reached him.

He turned to see Master carrying a basin of fish soup out of the kitchen. The soup had clearly been made earlier and left warming in the pot. When Master brought it into the side room, the rich white fat gleaming on the fish made Xu Feng's mouth water. A few green wild vegetables floated on top.

Xu Feng helped by bringing over the bowls, chopsticks, and spoons. "Master, is this the Yellow River Carp Uncle Sun brought last night?"

"Yes. Eat it while it's hot and fresh. I made the broth with lard on purpose. It smells better hot."

With that, Master ladled out a bowl for Xu Feng and one for himself.

Xu Feng looked at it and breathed in its aroma. It smelled wonderful.

To be honest, he had never eaten Yellow River Carp.

Not inside the game or outside it.

Together, they ate the entire big fish. As the hot soup went down, warmth spread through Xu Feng. Then he suddenly felt the aches throughout his body begin to ease, all because that bowl of soup and that big fish were in his stomach.

He did not need to look to know his face must be rosy—Master's face, across from him, certainly was.

Steam was even rising from both their heads!

They wolfed down the meal.

Xu Feng and Master practically licked their bowls clean! The fish seemed to have some magical power that made them unable to stop until they had swallowed every last bit.

After eating, Xu Feng cleared the dishes and asked, "Master, has Uncle Sun left?"

"Yes. He left before dawn. It's a long walk to Fisherfolk Village. Even as a Yellow River Corpse Collector, he wouldn't dare enter the village after dusk."

"Master, is there something unusual about Fisherfolk Village?"

"Don't ask. Just have as little to do with Fisherfolk Village as you can from now on. We're not the same sort of people."

"Right."

As Xu Feng wondered how to ask about something else, heat kept welling up from his stomach!

He did not need to look at Master.

He could see white vapor rising even from his own arms!

He could smell nothing in the vapor, but the sight alone was enough to make him nervous.

"Master, what's happening to me?"

As he spoke, he opened his [Character Panel].

He checked his condition.

And there it was!

Something really had changed!

On his [Status Bar], [Hidden Virtue Blessing] had run out.

But a new [status] had replaced the original [Hidden Virtue Blessing].

It was [Great Fish Essence (Crimson)].

[Great Fish Essence (Crimson): Because you consumed Great Fish Essence (Crimson), your qi and blood have been strengthened.]

[Great Fish Essence (Crimson): The Yellow River holds an essence that takes the form of a great fish and returns every seven days. Crimson means blood, vigor, and strength born of inexhaustible marrow.]

[Note: It surpasses the divine ao and pounds the wind and waves, bearing Penglai Island lightly upon its back. Beneath the setting sun, its brocade back rises high across ten thousand miles. It turns and still resents how small the eastern ocean is—how could Grand Duke Jiang ever catch it?

You have eaten something belonging to a certain great fish. That fish has therefore become entangled with you, and within a certain distance, you may encounter its master.]

Xu Feng stared at the status. Unlike [Hidden Virtue Blessing], which had a time limit,

[Great Fish Essence (Crimson)] clearly worked differently. And judging by this, was there more to the Yellow River Carp than just the crimson kind?

Before Xu Feng could think it through, Master said, "Nothing's wrong. You've eaten something good. You just need to let the heat out."

Master tossed him a shovel. Once Xu Feng caught it, he said, "First, repair the shrine's drainage ditch and bury the Soul Bottles in the ground a little deeper.

"Then we need to visit Lost-Trace Forest and build up your Yin Virtue. That'll do you good, too!

"Most importantly, you must work that heat off. If it stays trapped inside you, sooner or later it'll become a serious problem."