Xu Yang landed beside the Jade Waters Cold Pool. The Blackwater Spirit Loaches were still leaping out of the water as though possessed, but after a netful had been hauled away, their numbers had plummeted, and the pool was no longer churning as violently.
He singled out a Blackwater Spirit Loach more than seven inches long. The instant it leaped out of the water, he flashed over the pool and snatched it in one hand.
The creature was only eight or nine inches long, yet its strength was astonishing. It thrashed in his grip like a giant python.
I have to eat this thing right away! Xu Yang thought.
Before long, more people from the Heavenly Strategy Academy would surely arrive. He clearly could not keep holding the Blackwater Spirit Loach; eating it was the safest option.
At that thought, astral energy surged out and killed the Blackwater Spirit Loach in his hand. Xu Yang immediately activated the Iron-Refining Hand, pouring scorching power into it.
Steam rose from the Blackwater Spirit Loach. Within a few breaths, it was thoroughly cooked. He stuffed it straight into his mouth, chewed heartily, and swallowed it, bones and all.
Before he could circulate his cultivation art, the Blackwater Spirit Loach had already turned into a torrent of vital essence that swept through his limbs and bones.
Xu Yang's muscles and bones rumbled. His flesh was like earth parched by a long drought, ravenously devouring the vital essence.
"Oh no!"
He was just about to circulate his art to refine the Blackwater Spirit Loach's vital essence when his senses caught a streak of golden light shooting toward him. It was the Blackwater Spirit Loach King.
The Blackwater Spirit Loach King pierced the air like an arrow, trailing shrill whistles. Its speed was like a rushing