Chapter 39: Fishing Errand
Li Fuchen undertook a fishing errand which was simple, like most of the outer sect disciples’ jobs.
The fishing spot was located at Cang Lan Lake situated at the center of the Cang Lan Mountains.
This was a 7-8 mile wide lake, and it went as deep as one could imagine. It is said that at the bottom of the lake is an unique treasure. It emitted a qi that caused all the fishes to mutate. All normal or demonic fishes turned into treasure fish.
Treasure fish too have their own rarity tier and the Cang Lan Sect segmented them into: Normal, first tier, second tier, third tier, etc…
Treasure fish are exceedingly high in nutritional value. If medicinal pills and herbs were called medicine nourishment; treasure fishes would be food nourishment.
But treasure fishes aren’t easy to hook.
Even a small sized normal treasure fish of the lowest rank had the power of tens of kilograms. Big sized normal treasure fishes had strength that ranged from hundreds to the thousands of kilograms.
By weight, a normal treasure fish was worth 10 contribution points per kilogram; a first tier treasure fish would be 100 points per kg, etc…
Before even starting to fish, one would first need a good rod and rare bait.
Both fishing rods and bait were categorized into normal, first tier, and second tier as well.
After giving it a thought, Li Fuchen spent 3000 gold to purchase a second tier rod and 500 gold for 50 boxes of first tier bait.
***
Following the mountain tracks, Li Fuchen finally arrived at the lakeside of Cang Lan Lake 3 days later.
With a look at the lake, it was clear blue and pristine. The surface of the lake reflected the sunlight, like a crystal with rainbow colors, blinking with blinding radiance.
At Cang Lan Lake, in order to hook up fishes quickly, a suitable fishing bay was of utmost importance. It would be inefficient if you were to start casting at the shores, as the rate of success was far lower.
2 hours later, Li Fuchen was satisfied with the fishing bay he found. The fishing bay looked like a stone bridge, it reached far into the deeper parts of the lake. On it were many huts that were meant for disciples that were here to fish and sleep during the night.
“Finally an empty hut.”
There were other fishing bays at the front that Li Fuchen liked, but unfortunately, all the huts were occupied.
After unpacking his belongings, Li Fuchen grabbed the rod and bait, then walked to the edge of the fishing bay.
A single fishing bay could have up to dozens of people fishing. When Li Fuchen just arrived, the 100 meter round platform had people fishing there, 20 meters apart from each other.
“Senior Luo, there is a newcomer.” A tanned youth giggled happily. The best spots were occupied by the elder disciples and the tanned youth is one of them.
Not far away was another young and stalwart looking man around the age of 17, he sized up Li Fuchen and spoke, “Hopefully he can catch more treasure fish, then we can draw some of it from him.”
“Aieee, catching treasure fishes is too difficult. Having a few within a week is already good enough.” The tanned youth didn’t paid attention to Li Fuchen anymore and went back to concentrate on fishing.
With time passing gradually, Li Fuchen patiently waited. When it was almost evening, the rod moved slightly.
Li Fuchen eyebrows twitched, he quickly lifted the rod.
“What powerful strength!”
Feeling the pull force, Li Fuchen estimated that this fish was weighed at least in the tens of kg. Had it been a normal person pulling it, they would have been dragged into the water.
Splash!
A silverish white fish suddenly broke out from the water.
This fish was the size of a palm, it was covered in silverish white scales that looked like it was forged with metal, and thus had a indescribable texture.
This Silver Steel Fish, was a small sized normal treasure fish. Even though the fish was only 600g in weight, it had an incredible pull force that was a few dozen kilograms, as demonstrated by the fish when it is in water.
“No wonder it is called a treasure fish.”
Li Fuchen couldn’t imagine why a fish the size of a palm could wield so much power.
“That is some great luck, reeling in a treasure fish on his first day.” A stalwart looking youth coldly snorted.
***
For the next few days, Li Fuchen caught one treasure fish a day on average. The heaviest fish was around 1200g and the lightest was 600g. Everyone felt his luck was extraordinary.
Even though fishing could net him some contribution points, Li Fuchen couldn’t dedicate all his time to fishing.
He had tasks that were much more important on hand. First was to cultivate the Red Jade Technique to the highest seventh rank. The second was to raise the Scarlet Fire Technique’s rank as quickly as possible.
As his soul spirit’s color turned from pale green to green, Li Fuchen’s perception got better too. When compared to before the soul spirit turned pale green, his perception had gotten a few times better. If not, he wouldn’t have been able to progress the Red Jade Technique to the sixth rank and chase after Guan Xue.
He heard that since Guan Xue entered the sect, her talents were even better than before. In just four months, she broke through to the eighth level of the Qi Realm and fifth rank of the White Wave Technique. It is said that her ability is already at the top 500 of the outer sect disciples.
It is a known fact that there are more than 30,000 disciples in the outer sect. There are at least 5000 disciples that are at the ninth level of the Qi Realm, yet Guan Xue displayed her incredible talent and got into the top 500 with just being at the eighth level of the Qi Realm.
It was different when cultivating the Red Jade Technique and Scarlet Fire Technique.
Even though the Red Jade Technique belonged to the fiery yang type, its intent was very humble and shy. Thus, cultivating during the day would disperse its intent and halve the effect of the cultivation.
The opposite was the same for the Scarlet Fire Technique. If the Red Jade Technique was a stable and consistent fire, then the Scarlet Fire Technique was a fierce and blazing one. Its intent, high profiled and overbearing, cultivating it during the day would double its effect.
When the moon was up, Li Fuchen cultivated the Red Jade Technique. And when the Sun was up, Li Fuchen cultivated the Scarlet Fire Technique.
Alternating the cultivation of the two techniques allowed Li Fuchen to slightly understand the essence of the heaven and earth.
Splash!
The sound of the water surface breaking surged, and could even be heard a few hundred meters away.
“What vibrant colors, it must be a first tier treasure fish.”
“Look at this, it is at least 7 kilograms, that is 700 points.”
The one who hooked the first tier fish was obviously Li Fuchen. With strength generated from his qi igniting, he wrangled the rod backwards, then out came a tri-colored foot-long treasure fish.
The Tri-Color Fish, a first tier treasure fish that had the strength of a few hundred kilograms when in the water.
Both the stalwart youth and tanned youth were stunned in place. For the past few days, they knew Li Fuchen had exceptional luck, fishing up one normal treasure fish every day. But they didn’t expect for him to hook up a first tier treasure fish.
Even if they were the same treasure fish, first tier fishes were much stronger than normal fish. They were much more cunning too, and were the main reason why sometimes bait disappeared without a trace.
“Senior Luo, this newcomer has some luck that opposes the natural law!” The tanned youth couldn’t hold back.
The stalwart youth narrowed his eyes, “Without any ability, even if he had the best of luck, it will be for nothing. I do hope his luck gets even better.”
What these two didn’t know was that Li Fuchen didn’t rely on luck to fish, but used his soul spirit to fish.
He realized that his consciousness could be attached to his qi and travel to where the hook was. As such, he could see clearly where all the treasure fishes were and moved the hook towards the fishes.
But, attaching his consciousness to his qi consumed a large amount of mental strength, thus Li Fuchen didn’t dare overuse it.