Hooked an Ancestor

When Tang San came running back with the academy's biggest bucket, Lin Yuan was still in the same position, gripping the rod with both hands.

"Got the bucket!" Tang San set it on the ground and leaned in. "How's it going?"

"Don't talk." Sweat covered Lin Yuan's forehead. "It's still there."

"What do you mean, still there? It hasn't moved?"

"Not an inch."

Tang San stared at the fishing line, then noticed something strange. "Your line... why is it hanging straight down?"

Lin Yuan gave a wry smile. "I'd like to know that too."

Normally, when a fish took the hook, the line stretched away at an angle. This one plunged straight into the water.

Grandmaster and Flender arrived too. Grandmaster clutched his notebook, while Flender carried a long bamboo pole over his shoulder.

"What's going on?" Flender asked.

"He hooked something," Tang San said.

"What?"

"We don't know. He can't pull it up."

Flender stepped beside Lin Yuan and glanced at the arc of the bent rod. His expression changed. "What's this rod made of?"

"Bamboo."

Flender fell silent, then turned to Grandmaster. "The things in that notebook of yours are getting more ridiculous by the day."

Grandmaster ignored him and crouched by the lake, staring at the water.

"Lin Yuan," Grandmaster said, "you said it sank a little, then stopped moving?"

"Right."

"How long ago?"

"Almost as long as an incense stick takes to burn."

Grandmaster's face changed. "You let out line, and it doesn't move. You reel in, and it still doesn't move. It's sitting steady at the bottom of the lake, as if it's waiting for you to decide what to do."

Lin Yuan turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Grandmaster rose and adjusted his glasses. "It's testing your patience."

Flender frowned. "A Soul Beast testing a human's patience?"

"If it were an ordinary Soul Beast, it would have started struggling long ago." Grandmaster looked at the lake. "But this one's different. It doesn't struggle, flee, or attack. It just stays down there, letting you know it can keep its composure longer than you can."

Lin Yuan stared at the water for three seconds.

Then he laughed.

"Patience?" He set the rod down and sat cross-legged on the bank. "Fine. I once stayed put for three days straight. A fish wants to test my patience?"

Flender grew anxious. "You're not reeling it in?"

"No. If it wants to stay there, let it." Lin Yuan laced his fingers behind his head and lay back on the grass. "Let's see who gets hungry first."

Tang San crouched beside him. "What if it doesn't move for days?"

"Then we wait for days."

"What about the academy?"

"The academy isn't going anywhere." Lin Yuan closed his eyes. "But if this fish gets away, where am I going to find another one?"

Grandmaster stood nearby, looking from Lin Yuan to the lake. Then he suddenly wrote several lines in his little notebook.

Flender leaned over. "What are you writing?"

Grandmaster turned the notebook toward him. It read: Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Extremely intelligent. Capable of psychological warfare.

Flender sucked in a sharp breath. "Ten thousand years?"

"At least." Grandmaster closed the notebook. "Have you ever seen a Thousand-Year Soul Beast with that kind of composure?"

Lin Yuan was still lying there. The rod was still propped up, and the line was still taut. Whatever lay beneath the water had not budged.

Tang San grilled two crucian carp and handed one to Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan finished it lying down, then tossed the bones into the lake.

"What are you doing?" Tang San asked.

"Chumming the water."

"With fish bones?"

"Fish bones are bait too. If that thing down there won't eat them, other fish will. Once they do, that thing will know there's food on shore." Lin Yuan rolled over. "That's called information warfare."

Grandmaster heard him, and his pencil scratched out another line.

Darkness fell completely.

Flender returned to the academy to handle its affairs, and Grandmaster could no longer stay awake, so he went back to catch up on sleep.

Only Lin Yuan, Tang San, and the bent fishing rod remained beside the lake.

"Tang San."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think it's possible that thing down there isn't a Soul Beast?"

Tang San froze. "If it isn't a Soul Beast, what is it?"

"I don't know." Lin Yuan opened his eyes and gazed at the star-filled sky. "Grandmaster said a meteor made this lake. What if it wasn't a meteor that fell?"

Tang San's heart tightened. "You mean there's something else at the bottom of the lake?"

"I'm not sure." Lin Yuan sat up and looked at the water. "But I don't think it's a Soul Beast at all."

The two fell silent for a while.

The float suddenly moved.

It rose out of the water and drifted on the surface, motionless.

Lin Yuan stood and gripped the rod.

The line was still taut, but its direction had changed. Instead of dropping straight down, it now stretched diagonally into the distance.

"It's moving," Lin Yuan whispered. "It's coming up."

Tang San edged closer, tense. "Coming up?"

"Yeah. It's swimming toward shore."

Lin Yuan began reeling in. One turn, two, three. The line came in smoothly. Whatever was underwater put up no resistance and obediently followed it.

"No." Lin Yuan suddenly stopped. "This is too easy."

"What do you mean?"

"A Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, hooked by a level-six soul master like me, coming ashore this obediently?" Lin Yuan shook his head. "It's putting on an act for me."

The moment he finished speaking, the line went violently slack.

The rod sprang straight, and the float bobbed on the water.

Gone. There was nothing on the line.

Tang San's eyes widened. "It got away?"

Lin Yuan stared at the empty hook. The corn kernel was still attached.

"It didn't." He crouched and drew the hook close to the water, examining it carefully. "The hook isn't bent, the line isn't broken, and the corn hasn't fallen off. It didn't break free..."

"Then what happened?"

"It let go on its own." Lin Yuan stood and looked at the calm lake. "It took the hook on purpose and let me pull it in. Then, halfway here, it spat the hook out."

Tang San frowned. "Why would it do that?"

Lin Yuan did not answer.

A system notification sounded:

[Ding! Unknown Soul Beast released the hook of its own accord. Assessment: It's toying with you.]

The corner of Lin Yuan's mouth twitched.

"Tang San."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think it's possible that thing down there has been watching us the whole time?"

A chill ran down Tang San's spine. "What do you mean?"

"It took the hook and let me pull because it wanted to see what the angler on shore could do." Lin Yuan reeled in the line and baited the hook again. "Spitting it out halfway was its way of telling me I wasn't good enough."

"A fish mocked you?"

"A Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is smarter than a human." Lin Yuan cast the line back out. "Now it knows how strong I am. Next time it bites, it won't be so polite."

Tang San was silent for a while. "And you're still going to fish for it?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Lin Yuan sat back down and propped up the rod, his expression far more serious than before. "If it wants to play, I'll play along."

"What if you catch it and can't beat it?"

"I won't need to fight."

"Then what are you going to do?"

Lin Yuan looked at the lake. Under the moonlight, silvery ripples shimmered across its surface.

"I'm going to make it a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"It gives me one little fish, and I let it live." Lin Yuan closed his eyes. "A fair exchange. No cheating, young or old."

Late that night.

Tang San could not hold out any longer and fell asleep.

Lin Yuan closed his eyes too, but he did not sleep. His fingers rested on the rod, feeling every faint tremor that traveled down from its tip.

Near dawn, the tip dipped sharply.

The pull was immense, but it lasted only an instant before the rod sprang back.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes.

Something new rested on the float.

A scale.

It was the size of his palm and black as ink, with flecks of silver light flowing across its surface.

A system notification rang out:

[Ding! Received gift from unknown Soul Beast: Star Scale. Grade: Cannot be measured. Effect: Absorption grants a Star-Attribute Soul Power Seed.]

Lin Yuan held the scale in his palm and raised his eyes to the lake.

The surface was still as a mirror, reflecting the sky full of stars.

He suddenly understood. It was not that he could not hook that thing.

It had come to him of its own accord.

"Interesting." Lin Yuan tucked the Star Scale into his clothes, baited the hook again, and cast it into the water.

"You want to play? I'll play along."

When the sky turned pale as a fish's belly, Tang San woke.

He saw Lin Yuan still sitting there, the rod bent, though Lin Yuan looked completely relaxed.

"Another bite?" Tang San asked.

"No." Lin Yuan glanced back at him and smiled. "I've snagged the bottom."

"Snagged the bottom?"

"The hook's stuck in a crack between the rocks." Lin Yuan stood and stretched. "I'm done fishing. Let's go back to sleep."

Tang San looked at the bent rod. "What about your hook..."

"Forget it." Lin Yuan waved a hand. "It can keep it."

"Who can?"

Lin Yuan did not answer. He slung the empty rod over his shoulder and walked back.

After a few steps, he turned to look at the lake.

Beneath the morning water, a vast black shadow swam slowly past.

Then it sank into the depths and disappeared.

Lin Yuan smiled and walked away.

"I'll come back for you next time."