Raising Spirit Fish

That afternoon, Zhao Yi went down the mountain to find the islanders' chief and proposed building water reservoirs.

There would be one in the east and one in the west, each ten zhang long, ten zhang wide, and two zhang deep. Once completed, they could store large quantities of fresh water for the islanders' use.

In addition, Jade Pearl Spring would become a cultivation site for the island's cultivators. The islanders were not to approach it casually anymore; from now on, they could draw their water from the reservoirs.

To lessen the islanders' resistance, Zhao Yi had the chief gather them together and took out a bottle of Origin-Nourishing Pills.

Zhao Yi told them to find ten people to dig the reservoirs. If they finished within two months, each person would receive a Spirit Pill that could cure all illnesses and prolong their lives!

The claim about prolonging life was false, but curing all illnesses was true enough. When mortals took Origin-Nourishing Pills, they really could cure certain illnesses, and once their illnesses were cured, their lives would naturally be longer.

The islanders had thought they would be working for nothing. They had never expected to receive payment, let alone the legendary Spirit Pill.

This greatly fired up their enthusiasm, and they scrambled over one another to take part in digging the reservoirs.

Zhao Yi gave the pills to the chief and left him to make the arrangements.

As a result, the question of who could participate and who could not sent chickens flying and dogs leaping at the foot of the mountain.

Zhao Yi paid no attention to the commotion below. Right now, his mind was entirely on the school of spirit fish.

Spirit fish were simply too delicious. Even after so many years, Zhao Yi still could not forget the one he had eaten at the Immortal Cloud Tower on Azure Cloud Island.

The flesh had been sweet, tender, and soft, melting in his mouth. He could feel the spiritual power it released traveling all the way down, seeping into his stomach before finally becoming a stream of spiritual power that nourished his internal organs.

When would I finally be able to eat Spirit Cuisine every day?

He had heard his master say that although the Tide-Subduing Sect's menial disciples spent every day handling mundane chores and had little time to cultivate, the sect still provided them with one meal of spirit rice every day.

The Tide-Subduing Sect had several thousand menial disciples. This expense alone was enough to show how wealthy it was.

If he could eat spirit rice for all three meals, Zhao Yi was confident he could reach perfection of meridian opening by thirty-no, before twenty-five.

Unfortunately, their purses were empty. The three cultivators on Linghua Island could only eat spirit rice once a month.

Now that he had the Sect Jade Register and had discovered spirit fish, life was improving day by day, and his hopes of breaking through to the Spirit Attraction Stage had grown considerably.

Once cultivators reached perfection of meridian opening, they could attempt spirit attraction into the body.

Once they succeeded in Spirit Drawing, spiritual energy entered their bodies and could constantly nourish and temper their flesh. Their lifespans would increase accordingly, reaching the full measure of a mortal lifespan: two sixty-year cycles.

Lifespan was determined by Heaven, and few people were born with a full two sixty-year cycles.

Thus, breaking through to the Spirit Attraction Stage was equivalent to gaining several decades of life.

What was more, upon reaching the Spirit Attraction Stage, one could command magical artifacts to soar through the skies and burrow through the earth, casting immortal spells with a casual gesture. Only then could one truly be called an immortal master.

Cultivators at the Meridian Opening stage still had to form hand seals and recite incantations to cast spells, which was exceedingly cumbersome. To use spells in battle, they could only rely on Spirit Talismans.

As for soaring through the skies and burrowing through the earth, they had to ride a flying boat, with tickets costing at least five spirit stones.

Alas, without reaching the Spirit Attraction Stage, I'm still only a mortal!

Still, the spirit fish he had seen last night were far too small. Perhaps a lack of spiritual power had kept them so tiny.

With that thought, Zhao Yi returned to the kitchen and took out a small cloth bag containing three jin of spirit rice.

This was what Zhao Yi had brought from Linghua Island, intending to treat himself to it occasionally.

For the sake of eating spirit fish in the future, Zhao Yi resolutely grabbed a handful of spirit rice and crushed it into flour with the strength of his palm.

Night fell, and Zhao Yi waited beside Jade Pearl Spring. A layer of spirit rice flour floated on the surface, giving off a rich rice fragrance.

Before long, the school of fish appeared at the surface. Perhaps it was their natural instinct, but several fish began eating the floating flour, while the others continued drawing in moonlight.

Within just a few breaths, the spirit fish that had tasted the flour began frantically fighting over it.

In an instant, water splashed everywhere. More and more fish tasted the spirit rice flour, until the pool became a chaotic tangle.

Seeing this, Zhao Yi tossed out another handful of flour, finally putting a stop to the struggle.

The spirit fish were simply too small, after all. After Zhao Yi fed them two handfuls of flour, they were all full.

Once no flour remained on the surface, the larger spirit fish began drawing in moonlight again, only stopping at the rooster's crow.

Watching the school of spirit fish sway as they swam into the dark underwater cave, Zhao Yi returned to the Daoist temple to rest.

The cycle repeated, and a month passed.

During that month, Zhao Yi's life was regular and fulfilling. Every day, he rose early for his Morning Cultivation, then spent two hours meditating and regulating his breathing. He also patrolled the sea once every three days.

With Zhao Yi patrolling, the waters around Jade Pearl Island became much safer, and the fishermen's catches increased.

Each time, Zhao Yi would also catch a few large fish and share them with the fishermen who accompanied him on patrol.

The fishermen were all grateful and became even more attentive to the reservoir digging Zhao Yi had arranged, working faster as well.

The sixteenth day of the eighth month, year 5492 of the Yuangguang Calendar.

That evening, Zhao Yi scattered two handfuls of rice flour over the water, then sat quietly watching the fish compete for food.

Suddenly, the two-cun-long lead fish leaped out of the water, spat a water arrow at Zhao Yi, and fell back in.

Heavens, it's been a month!

Zhao Yi had almost forgotten that these were spirit fish-living spirit fish, not spirit fish on a plate. Living spirit fish could cast spells.

Unable to dodge in time, Zhao Yi could only raise his arm to block the water arrow.

The water arrow struck his arm squarely. Zhao Yi felt the impact, followed immediately by a burning pain in his arm.

Zhao Yi frowned and rolled up his sleeve to look. A small patch of his dark skin had turned red.

Against the surrounding skin's normal color, the redness was particularly conspicuous.

Zhao Yi shook his head helplessly and gave a wry laugh. He had been careless.

Shaking the water off his arm, Zhao Yi looked into the pool. The little two-cun fish was blowing bubbles at him as though in provocation.

Zhao Yi smiled and studied the lead fish. The longer he looked, the more he felt it seemed a little bigger. It looked slightly over two cun long now. It seemed spirit rice really did help spirit fish grow.

However, there was no spirit rice left on the island. Over the past month, Zhao Yi had fed all three jin to them.

After a moment's thought, he reached into his robe and took out an Origin-Nourishing Pill.

Zhao Yi crushed it and scattered it into the water. The Spirit Pill's fragrance was even stronger than the spirit rice's, and another bout of chaos immediately erupted.

Relying on its larger size, the lead fish managed to snatch quite a lot.

After eating, it actually blew bubbles at Zhao Yi again.

Zhao Yi smiled, understanding that it wanted more. He took out another Origin-Nourishing Pill, broke off a small piece, and flicked it toward the water.

Splash!

The lead fish leaped from the water and caught the pill fragment squarely in its mouth, then flicked its tail like a carp in midair and plunged back into the water.

At this sight, Zhao Yi felt playful and flicked out another piece.

Bit by bit, the lead fish ate an entire Origin-Nourishing Pill this way, then sank into the water and did not come out again.

An hour later, dark clouds obscured the bright moon, and the school of fish returned to the dark cave.

Late at night on the seventeenth day of the eighth month, when Zhao Yi saw the lead fish again, he was surprised to discover that its spiritual power had increased and it had grown to three cun long.

It was the largest fish in the school. This spirit fish could already be considered their king.

After a month, Zhao Yi had also finished counting them. There were fifty-seven fish in total. Only this one was three cun long; there were not even any two-cun fish, and the rest were all around one cun.

Raising the spirit fish for the past month had consumed three jin of spirit rice and two Origin-Nourishing Pills, altogether worth about two spirit stones.

Now that Jade Pearl Island had neither spirit rice nor Origin-Nourishing Pills left, it was time to return to Linghua Island for more. But if he left, he would worry about the spirit fish.

Since that was the case, Zhao Yi decided to arrange for an islander to take a message to Linghua Island, asking Liu Yu to come over.