Near dusk, Zhao Yi returned after a patrol around Jade Pearl Island.
While still aboard, Zhao Yi cut up the giant-mouthed fish with his short sword. When he disembarked, he took the head and left the six-foot-long body for the islander who had steered the boat.
After all, the islander had worked hard all afternoon, piloting the boat for Zhao Yi's patrol.
For dinner, he stewed the fish head. The flesh was tender and silky, and the brains melted in his mouth. Paired with rice, it was impossible to stop eating!
The sun was setting now, and fishing boats were returning to port, filling the harbor with a clamor.
Sitting in the pavilion in the rear courtyard, Zhao Yi sniffed hard, almost able to smell the fishy odor drifting above the harbor.
Keeping a place safe was also a deed of boundless merit!
After dinner, the kitchen had run out of water, so Zhao Yi shouldered a carrying pole with wooden buckets and prepared to fetch some from Jade Pearl Spring.
Before long, he arrived at Jade Pearl Spring.
Jade Pearl Island took its name from Jade Pearl Spring. Beneath the setting sun, the spring's rippling surface shimmered, reflecting the blue sky.
Trees clustered around the spring, and grasses grew thickly. Only at the spring's outlet did a small stream flow down the mountain.
Though called a spring, Jade Pearl Spring was really more of a pool, with an opening ten feet across and a depth of several dozen feet. Through the water, its bottom was faintly visible.
This was the entire island's only source of fresh water, and the little stream on the island originated here.
Setting down the wooden buckets, Zhao Yi crouched, scooped up a handful of spring water, and lowered his head to take a few sips.
The water was sweet and bracingly cold. He smacked his lips and thought he detected a faint trace of fishiness.
"Where did that fishy smell come from?"
Though this was an island, where even the wind smelled fishy, underground spring water certainly should not, unless there were fish, shrimp, snakes, or eels in it.
Pondering this, Zhao Yi scooped up another handful and drank again. He smacked his lips. There was indeed a fishy taste.
There was something in the water.
"Could it be a snake?"
At this thought, Zhao Yi frowned slightly and listened for movement nearby, then rose warily and surveyed his surroundings.
Several breaths later, he had found nothing unusual. He bent down again to examine the bottom of the spring carefully, but after scanning it for a while, he still found nothing.
He picked up a stone and tossed it in, sending out rings of ripples. Even after the stone sank to the bottom, there was still no reaction.
Interesting. No matter-time was the one thing Zhao Yi had no shortage of now.
Seeing a stone ledge above the spring, Zhao Yi simply sat cross-legged on it, closed his eyes in meditation, and stilled his breathing and focused his mind, listening for movement nearby.
Time slowly passed, and the moon climbed to the middle of the sky.
In the moonlight, the surrounding vegetation seemed to bare its fangs and brandish its claws. Occasional birdcalls came from the mountain woods, making the scene rather eerie.
Zhao Yi paid it no mind, concentrating on resting with his eyes closed. Every so often, his ears twitched a few times, and he sniffed sharply.
Pop!
A bubble rose from the bottom of the spring, rippled to the surface, and burst.
Zhao Yi opened his eyes and circulated the true qi within his body. A layer of spiritual light gradually spread over his eyes.
This was Linghua Island's secret art, the Spirit-Piercing Dharma Eye. Combining the ordinary Spirit Eye Art with the Spirit-Seeking Secret Art, it could observe the flow of spiritual energy between heaven and earth and see through illusions and falsehoods.
Before the Dharma Eye, spiritual power could hardly hide.
Through the Dharma Eye, a school of small fish appeared on the surface of Jade Pearl Spring. They were crystal clear, almost transparent, and extremely difficult to spot in the water with the naked eye.
A careful count put the school at roughly forty or fifty fish. The largest was only two inches long, while the rest were around an inch.
Through the Dharma Eye, he could see specks of spiritual light on their bodies. This was very likely a school of Spirit Fish.
"Spirit Fish!"
At this thought, Zhao Yi suddenly could not help feeling a surge of excitement.
If they really are Spirit Fish, my Linghua Island will have another source of income.
Zhao Yi suppressed his excitement and stood up without a sound.
He leaped lightly down to the water's edge and stood behind the school, watching quietly.
A dozen or so of the slightly larger fish floated at the surface, their heads protruding just above the water. Their mouths opened and closed as they instinctively breathed toward the moon.
Through the Dharma Eye, he saw a few motes of radiance shed by the moonlight enter the fish as their mouths opened and closed, then emerge again. Between each intake and release, some of that radiance merged into their bodies.
Zhao Yi dared not act rashly. He simply stood quietly behind them, watching the fish draw in and release the moon's radiance.
Time slowly passed. Only when a few rooster calls sounded in the distance did the Spirit Fish finish cultivating.
Led by the sole two-inch fish, the school slowly swam to the bottom of the spring. There was a crevice there, and they gradually swam inside and vanished.
Beside the spring, Zhao Yi slowly exhaled, his heart brimming with excitement.
These were Spirit Fish. If he could catch and raise them, they would be a wealth that could be passed down.
The first time Zhao Yi had accompanied his master to work on Azure Cloud Island, he had visited the island's Immortal Cloud Restaurant.
His master had ordered a pot of spirit wine, one Spirit Fish, a serving of crystal lobster, and two bowls of spirit rice, spending four spirit stones in all.
A single Spirit Fish, not even a catty in weight-only about five taels-had sold for two spirit stones.
A serving of crystal lobster cost one spirit stone, and a pot of spirit wine cost another. Zhao Yi had thoroughly enjoyed the meal, but when it came time to settle the bill, the pain had nearly made him cry.
To this day, the Immortal Cloud Restaurant remained the only restaurant Zhao Yi had ever eaten at.
Living amid the sea, there were plenty of Spirit Fish. The question was whether one could catch them.
Of course, Spirit Fish in the sea had to be called demonic beasts. If one encountered them, there was no telling who would eat whom.
Finding Spirit Fish on this barren little island was truly an extraordinary stroke of luck.
Could my cheat ability have started working?
Thinking back over everything that had happened lately, that really might be the case!
At this thought, Zhao Yi wanted to jump into the spring and catch the Spirit Fish at once.
But on second thought, these fish hid by day and emerged at night. Entering the water now could easily startle them.
If the spring connected to underground waterways and the Spirit Fish swam away through them, his joy would have been for nothing. It would not be too late to wait until daylight before entering the water to investigate.
He glanced at the bright moon overhead and estimated the time. Daybreak was another four hours away. He would return to the Daoist temple first.
After finishing his morning practice and breakfast, Zhao Yi hurried to Jade Pearl Spring.
He looked around to make sure no one was there, then stripped off his clothes and jumped into the water. The pool was cold enough to pierce the bones.
Ignoring the cold, Zhao Yi took a deep breath, submerged, and slowly swam down to the bottom of the spring.
Holding a luminous pearl, he examined the crevice by its faint light and could vaguely make out a hidden cave.
Zhao Yi used the Spirit-Piercing Dharma Eye and discovered a cluster of spiritual power in the pitch darkness, its scattered points shining like stars. It was the school of Spirit Fish.
The Spirit Fish swam back and forth inside the hidden cave. Judging by their movements, he could roughly estimate that the cave was only about five feet across in every direction.
Apart from the cluster of spiritual lights belonging to the fish, a few scattered motes of light drifted inside the cave.
If he was not mistaken, this hidden cave contained extremely faint spiritual power, much like the spirit spring on Linghua Island.
Of course, Linghua Island's spirit spring contained far more spiritual power than this hidden cave.
His grandmaster and master had nourished that spirit spring with Five Elements Spirit Stones for nearly a hundred years.
Zhao Yi carefully investigated for a while longer, then swam to the surface.
Bracing himself lightly against the pool's edge, Zhao Yi leaped out of the water. He cast a cleansing spell on himself, dispelling the moisture from his body and instantly leaving his clothes pleasantly dry.
"Daoist Mu, oh, Daoist Mu, you really were an ascetic cultivator. If you had investigated Jade Pearl Spring a few more times, these Spirit Fish would surely have been yours!"
In saying this, Zhao Yi had wrongly blamed Daoist Mu.
As the only flowing spring on Jade Spring Island, how could Daoist Mu not have paid attention to it?
Even Zhao Yi's grandmaster and master had visited Jade Pearl Island to investigate many times before Daoist Mu took up residence.
It was just that the hidden cave at the bottom of the spring had not yet begun to emanate spiritual power. How could the three cultivators have noticed it?
As for the fish, there had always been a school of small fish in Jade Pearl Spring.
In fact, this hidden cave had only gradually begun to release spiritual power over the past ten years.
It was only after that spiritual power appeared that these fish had gradually consumed it and the moon's radiance, becoming Spirit Fish.
From now on, Jade Pearl Spring would have to be sealed off, and no one else could be allowed near it.
But Jade Pearl Spring was the island's only freshwater spring. All the islanders depended on it for drinking water!
He had to think of a way. The immortal path cherished life, and that was all the more true out here amid the seas.
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