Treasure

Night fell.

Xu Fan was cooking a Single-Horned Pomfret, a treasure fish he had just caught, when his gaze fell on the reed marsh three li away. Two faint lights glimmered there.

That was where Liang Chi's covered boat was moored.

Tonight, however, it had received uninvited guests.

"With a lowly background, all the more reason to keep a low profile and lie low. Now trouble has come knocking."

Xu Fan raised an eyebrow, though he wasn't particularly surprised.

Fishing alone on Peach Blossom Spring Lake, a person could easily attract attention by showing a little wealth.

Liang Chi had sold three treasure fish in a month. Even after the sixty percent stall fee, he had at least three to five taels of silver on hand.

That was a fortune of three to five thousand copper coins, enough to feed and support an ordinary farming family of five for a year or two.

"Perhaps I should thank Liang Chi?"

If Liang Chi hadn't stood out so much, someone might have come tonight to "ask" Xu Fan for protection money, or bring him into a group and charge him a "joining fee," or something of the sort.

The petty clerks at the fish market weren't willing to take risks for eighty or a hundred copper coins, but some of the fishermen who banded together on Peach Blossom Spring Lake were no pushovers.

Especially when dealing with orphans and widows.

If they refused to pay, they could forget about living in peace.

"Over so soon?"

Watching the lights in the distance go out, Xu Fan shrugged.

"Looks like there are people who play the pig to eat the tiger everywhere in the world. I need to be even more careful."

Even the little Peach Blossom Spring Lake was like this. How dangerous would that Qi-gathering world be?

"I forgot I can't really die in that world. Never mind, then."

"I just need to be careful in this world."

He withdrew his gaze and turned it to the treasure fish that had been stewing for a while. Its savory aroma wafted out, tantalizing his taste buds.

He sprinkled in a small pinch of salt, picked up a spoon, and took a careful taste. His eyes lit up at once.

"What rich Qi and Blood and spiritual essence!"

"No wonder supply can't keep up with demand. The fish market even generously offers the high price of one tael per jin."

"If I ate one treasure fish every day, my cultivation would yield twice the result with half the effort!"

Ignoring the heat, he picked up the Single-Horned Pomfret, which weighed over a jin, and began gnawing on it.

Before long, he had licked even the soup in the pot clean, and only then did he begin refining the spiritual essence filling his body.

After half a shichen, he finally let out a long breath.

"If I really could eat one treasure fish every day, I could form the Chengming Wheel in a month at most."

"There are plenty of treasure fish and exotic beasts in Peach Blossom Spring Lake. With my immortal cultivation methods, this place is a treasure waiting to be discovered!"

Gazing at Peach Blossom Spring Lake as it reflected the starlight, Xu Fan's outlook had clearly changed.

Before, he had felt nothing but awe toward Peach Blossom Spring Lake and had lived with extreme caution, not daring to go anywhere near the deep water for fear of running into an exotic beast.

"Once your Grandpa Xu gets a little stronger, I'll go beat you all and bring you back to make fish-head soup."

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Xu Fan tried to absorb the moonlight, the [Taiji Dao Evolution Diagram] turning slightly deep in his eyes.

"Can I only wait until the moon is full, or charge it with other spiritual items?"

"Treasure fish should count as spiritual items too, but using them to charge it isn't worth the cost."

"Slow is fine. Now that I have a cultivation method, I'm in no hurry to go to the Land of Wu. Raising my cultivation is what matters."

After thinking it over, Xu Fan abandoned the idea.

There weren't many treasure fish in the shallows, and he had to spend quite some time catching even one. He was better off keeping them for himself to eat.

Charging it would take at least a double-digit number of treasure fish. It was far more practical to wait for the next full moon.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

At the fish market dock.

Xu Fan moored his covered boat, paid three copper coins as usual, and carried his bamboo basket into the fish market.

"Oh, Little Xu, you're here? Haven't seen you in quite a few days."

"Did you net any treasure fish this time?"

As soon as he entered the fish market, Old Man Huang, who had been well acquainted with his parents, bared a mouthful of yellow teeth and waved warmly at him.

"Treasure fish are hard to find and hard to catch. I was just lucky last time."

Xu Fan came over and squatted beside him, shaking his head as he set the bamboo basket in front of himself.

"Luck is one thing, but over the past two months, quite a few people have netted one or two treasure fish. The chances are much better now."

Old Man Huang shook his head and sighed.

"Unfortunately, my luck's a little worse. I've seen treasure fish several times but couldn't net them. That's fate for you."

Something stirred in Xu Fan's mind, and he asked:

"Are there more treasure fish now, or is there some other reason?"

Over the past half month, ten treasure fish had already gone into his belly, leaving only two or three around that reed marsh that had slipped through his net.

He hadn't felt that there were more treasure fish.

But now that Old Man Huang mentioned it, on closer thought, there shouldn't have been so many treasure fish in a reed marsh in the shallows.

"I heard Master Zhao at the fish market say it was because of that phenomenon that appeared in the sky a few months ago."

"Something spiritual dripped from the sky into the lake, causing many exotic beasts and treasure fish to appear, and plenty of treasure fish were driven into the shallows."

"Several fishermen have already been dragged underwater by exotic beasts in the shallows. You'd better be careful."

Old Man Huang sighed, then added the warning with lingering fear.

He was one of the few fishermen who had lived to nearly fifty, an old man who had been caught up in incidents involving exotic beasts several times and survived by luck.

He knew full well how terrifying exotic beasts were. Even ordinary martial masters had trouble fending them off and could only end up as food.

Perhaps he couldn't catch treasure fish because he had used up all his luck escaping death those times.

"Because of that phenomenon again?"

Xu Fan frowned. His parents in this world had also died because of it. He hadn't expected its effects to linger.

"What kind of spiritual item could bring forth treasure fish and exotic beasts?"

Such a spiritual item was bound to be extremely precious.

No wonder a martial arts grandmaster had come here back then.

Could it be the thing that fiend who cultivated the Wedding Robe Divine Art had snatched from a true disciple of the Clearwater Sect?

"I don't know either, but don't you go into the deep water."

"Better not follow those people's example and risk going into the deep water. A lowborn household's status isn't something a few treasure fish can change."

Old Man Huang shook his head and stood up. After adding that warning, he picked up his bamboo basket and slowly left the fish market.

Xu Fan looked away from the departing old man and turned to the other fishermen. Yet he saw little worry among them; there was more excitement instead.

They were all discussing where treasure fish were plentiful, how to cast their nets, and how to haul them in for a better chance of catching one.

And how to change their household registration.

"The bigger the wind and waves, the more expensive the fish."

A fisherman's life was cheap, living was hard, and finding a wife to carry on the family line was harder still. Bride exchange was extremely common.

Who didn't want to cast off their lowborn household status in the lowest three classes?

Xu Fan spent over a shichen at the fish market before he finally disposed of all his fish, selling some and practically giving the rest away. After paying the sixty percent stall fee, he had less than thirty copper coins in hand.

He then went to a grain shop and bought some white rice before poling his covered boat back to that reed marsh.

"Fishing normally, I can't buy enough white rice to last a few days."

He glanced at the small bag of white rice and couldn't help rubbing his forehead.

As a modern man, he really couldn't get used to eating coarse rice that scraped his throat.

"As it happens, quite a few fishermen are catching treasure fish now. I won't stand out if I sell another one."

Over the past half month, ten treasure fish had already gone into his belly, and he would form the Chengming Wheel in another ten days to half a month.

Even if someone set their sights on him, with his current strength, killing a few ordinary people would take no effort at all, and he could pin it on an exotic beast.

It would be killing two birds with one stone!

"While it's dark, I might as well look for those few fish hiding after slipping through my net, and see if any new treasure fish have come in to hide."

After eating his fill, Xu Fan got right to it. Slowly poling his covered boat, he searched at a leisurely pace along the edge of the reed marsh.