Morning mist shrouded the vast waters of Golden Lake Village, and the air carried the faintly sweet fragrance of the reed beds.
Inside the wooden house, Lin He stretched luxuriously, feeling every joint crackle and pop, as though explosive strength lay dormant in every muscle.
After two rounds of body tempering with essence of the sun, his Qi and Blood now surged even in his sleep.
He turned to look at Su Qiuran, who sat on the edge of the bed.
The essence of the moon she had absorbed last night had produced immediate results.
Her delicate face, once so pale it looked sickly, now glowed with a healthy flush from within, and even her distinctive peach-blossom eyes looked a little more lustrous.
"Stop staring. I haven't grown three heads and six arms." Su Qiuran was rotating her wrists. Noticing Lin He's gaze, she tossed out the remark without looking up.
Lin He chuckled, rolled out of bed, and slipped on a coarse-cloth work outfit. "I'm checking on my wife's health. Well? Has that withered spirit root grown another notch thicker?"
Su Qiuran sighed, her graceful brows knitting slightly. "It has thickened a little. But the problem is..."
She pointed out the window. "We've moved, but the spiritual Qi in the air is still thin! Even the cleverest cook can't make a meal without rice."
Lin He poured himself a cup of cold water left overnight and gulped it down, then rubbed his chin. "So we still have to grow spirit rice?"
He emptied his pockets and lined up his assets on the rough wooden table: eight gleaming low-grade spirit stones, a few taels of broken silver, and a pile of copper coins.
"The cheapest low-grade green jade spirit rice seeds cost five low-grade spirit stones per tael! Everything we own would only buy a tael and a half of seeds."
Su Qiuran nodded and delivered another critical hit. "And seeds alone won't do. The soil in these mortal lands has no spiritual Qi. Spirit seeds won't sprout even if we sow them.
"We'd have to set aside some low-grade spirit stones, crush them, and mix them into the soil as base fertilizer."
Lin He sucked air through his teeth.
"Right. Whichever way you slice it, we still need to make money... make spirit stones."
While he was pondering this, a burst of frantic quacking suddenly came from the courtyard, followed by a dull clunk.
Lin He opened the door and saw Goudan, that duck-headed, dog-bodied little menace, wrestling with a battered wooden bucket, his furry backside sticking up.
His four short, thick legs scrabbled wildly, clawing straight through the bottom of the bucket. Now he was stuck inside and couldn't get out, quacking in distress.
"You little disaster! Tearing the house apart, are you?" Lin He went over, kicked the broken bucket to pieces, and lifted Goudan by the scruff.
The little creature promptly clung to Lin He's calf and rubbed against it furiously, his tail spinning like a propeller.
Just then, the deafening clang of a cracked gong suddenly rang out from the main road outside.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
"New arrivals! Everyone out! Gather under the big banyan at the village entrance! Hurry up, quit dawdling!"
Lin He poked his head out and saw two bailiffs in gray uniforms shouting their way down the street.
The wooden gates of the neighboring courtyards opened one after another, and the old neighbors who had fled Emerald Mountain Village emerged, peering about.
Old Man Sun, who lived nearby, heard the commotion too and ambled over with his hands tucked into his sleeves.
"Young fellow Lin, what are the officials up to now?" Old Man Sun lowered his voice, an old hunter's wariness showing in his cloudy eyes.
The half of his face Lin He had slapped swollen still hadn't fully recovered, making him look somewhat comical.
"We'll take it one step at a time. Probably teaching us how to make a living here and pay the rent."
Lin He dusted off his hands, turned toward the house, and called, "Wife, stay home. I'll go see what's happening!"
Then he joined Old Man Sun and the other villagers, heading toward the village entrance in a sizable procession.
More than a hundred people had already crowded beneath the great banyan there, its trunk so thick it would take several people linking arms to encircle it.
The village chief stood at the front, leaning on his cane, while Granny Zhao craned her neck on tiptoe among the crowd.
An official in a long gray-cloth robe stood before them, holding a register. Beside him stood a wiry old man with sun-blackened skin and a deeply furrowed face, carrying a fishy smell that years of washing could never remove.
The official cleared his throat and shouted, "Quiet, everyone! Listen carefully! The court, in its mercy, has settled you here in Golden Lake Village."
"This place has plentiful water and lush vegetation. As long as you aren't lazy, you won't starve! But don't think you can eat for free. You'll pay every last coin of rent you owe!"
The villagers from Emerald Mountain Village immediately began whispering among themselves, worry written on every face.
Their families had hunted in the mountains and farmed dry fields for generations. What did they know about making a living on the water?
The official pointed at the dark, wiry old man beside him. "This is Old Man Wang, an experienced hand from Golden Lake Village!"
"Starting today, he'll teach you how to knot nets and catch fish! Prick up your ears and learn properly! If you can't learn and can't pay your rent, you'll all be driven out of the village to live on the northwest wind!"
Old Man Wang stepped forward and grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth with several missing.
"My new neighbors," Old Man Wang said in a raspy voice, his waterside accent thick.
"This Golden Lake is a treasure basin. You might be worried now, but once you learn the temper of its waters, there's plenty to be earned from this lake."
As he spoke, he brought out a worn fishing net from behind him and began demonstrating on the spot. "Fishing is about reading the currents and judging the wind. When you cast your net, you need a deft flick of the wrist..."
Lin He stood at the back of the crowd with his arms folded, listening intently.
He had, after all, been a science-trained programmer in his previous life. A little thought was enough for him to grasp most of the principles behind applying force that Old Man Wang explained, such as the "triangular net" and "drawing the bottom closed."
And after his body tempering with essence of the sun, his muscle control had reached an inhuman level. Casting a net like this was even easier than writing code.
After sharing practical tips for a while, Old Man Wang saw that the mountain folk below still looked bewildered and unenthusiastic. His eyes shifted, and he suddenly lowered his voice, leaning forward mysteriously.
"Everyone, do you really think fishing only means catching a few fish and shrimp to fill your bellies?"
The crowd instantly fell silent, every gaze fixed on him.
Old Man Wang pointed toward the broad, shimmering lake in the distance and said in a low voice, "There's more than loaches and turtles at the bottom of Golden Lake!"
"Years ago, a penniless fellow was setting nets at night and hauled up a lump of iron glowing green. Guess what happened?"
The villagers stared, eagerly asking, "What happened?"
Old Man Wang slapped his thigh, spittle flying. "It was something an immortal had dropped during a magical battle!"
"That pauper sold it to a cultivator lord for a full five hundred taels of gold! He moved to the county town that very night and bought a mansion. I heard he even took three lovely young concubines in one go!"
"Hiss-" The crowd drew in a sharp breath, and quite a few young men's eyes reddened on the spot.
Standing at the back, Lin He raised his eyebrows slightly.
An immortal's possession? Sunk at the bottom of the lake?
The terrifying Immortals' Mass Grave behind Green Mountain instantly flashed through his mind.
It seemed the cultivators of the Cangming Realm really weren't picky about where they fought.
Since Golden Lake connected to the waterways near the town, perhaps some assorted Storage Bags or damaged Law Artifacts really had washed down underground rivers and ended up at the bottom here.
Seeing that he had thoroughly fired up the crowd, Old Man Wang smiled smugly. "So, as long as you work hard and put your backs into casting your nets, who knows? One day, blue smoke might rise from your ancestral graves, and you'll haul up a treasure. Then you won't have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of your lives!"
"We're in!" Several hot-blooded young villagers were already boiling with excitement, itching to strip off their clothes and dive into the lake to hunt for treasure right then.
Old Man Sun tugged Lin He's sleeve and leaned close to whisper in his ear. "Young fellow Lin, you've got a quick mind. How much of what that old man said is true?"
Lin He scoffed and curled his lip. "He's painting us a big pancake. If there were that many treasures just waiting to be scooped up, would Old Man Wang still be slogging away here teaching us to fish? He'd have taken eight concubines long ago."
Old Man Sun nodded in deep agreement. "That makes sense."
Despite his dismissive words, however, Lin He's mind had quietly begun turning.
Others might drown or run into water monsters underwater, but he was already a budding body cultivator impervious to blades and spears.
If there really were any fish that had slipped through the net down there, perhaps he could seize the chance to make an unexpected windfall.
"Line up, everyone! Come collect your fishing nets!" the official began organizing them.
Lin He obediently walked over and collected a crude fishing net along with the crowd.
"Heh, life finally has something new to look forward to." He held the large net, weighing dozens of jin, in one hand, yet it felt like a weightless toy.
He looked up at the boundless expanse of Golden Lake, and the corner of his mouth curled into a smile.