149: Chapter 149 Taking the Treasure Fish

With the bamboo tablet in hand, Lin Tian did not delay; that same evening, he went to the Yunhai Fishery's warehouse.

The warehouse was behind the bamboo building, a structure built from bluestone with thick walls and a heavy door. Two guards stood at the entrance.

Lin Tian handed over the bamboo tablet. The guard verified it, turned to push open the door, and brought out a wooden basin from inside.

The wooden basin contained half a basin of clear water, and a fish was swimming inside. The fish was about a foot long, silver-white all over, with scales as fine as polished silver foil. As it gently swayed in the water, it refracted a faint fluorescent glow.

The fish's mouth opened and closed, spitting out a string of tiny bubbles. Lin Tian took the wooden basin and lowered his head to look at it for a long while.

This was the Treasure Fish. Unlike the medicinal herbs in the Baicao Valley that were often decades old, this fish was only three years old. The fluorescence on its scales still carried a hint of immaturity, lacking the restrained, deep luster of an adult Treasure Fish.

But even so, a crisp, cool Spiritual Qi was already rising from the surface of the water, brushing against his face and making his spirit feel refreshed.

He carried the wooden basin back to his bamboo house.

"How do I eat it?" Lin Tian squatted beside the wooden basin, watching the silver-white fish leisurely wagging its tail in the water, when he suddenly realized he had forgotten one thing—

Peak Master Su Hanyan had only mentioned how precious the Treasure Fish was, not how to eat it. Captain Ma had only told him to go collect the Treasure Fish, also without saying how to eat it.

He stared at the fish for a long time, and the fish also turned its eyes to look at him, its mouth opening and closing as it spat out a bubble.

Lin Tian stood up, pushed the door open, and walked out.

Chen Lang was squatting at the entrance of his own bamboo house, mending a fishing net. He held a bamboo shuttle in his hand, weaving it in and out of the mesh.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw Lin Tian walking over with the wooden basin. The silver-white fish in the basin was emitting a faint, eerie fluorescent glow under the moonlight. He grinned and placed the fishing net on his knees.

"Senior Brother Chen, how do you eat this Treasure Fish?" Lin Tian placed the wooden basin on the ground and squatted down, his tone as serious as if he were asking for advice on a profound martial art.

Chen Lang stuck the bamboo shuttle into the fishing net and held up one finger: "There are two ways to eat it. One is to grill it. Clean the fish, rub it with salt, place it over a fire, and roast it until the skin is golden and the aroma of the meat drifts out. Then it's ready to eat. The advantage is that it's convenient and fast."

He held up a second finger, "The other way is to make fish soup. Don't scale the whole fish, put it in cold water, and simmer it over low heat until the soup becomes thick and white like milk. The fish meat dissolves into the soup, and you drink both the fish and the soup together."

He retracted both fingers, his tone firm: "It's best to make fish soup. Although grilling is convenient, roasting over a fire causes some Spiritual Qi to be lost. Fish soup is different; the Spiritual Qi dissolves into the soup, and not a single drop is wasted. In my family, those of us who fish never grill good things; we always make soup."

Lin Tian carried the wooden basin back to the bamboo house, moved a few stones from behind the house to build a simple stove, and used the clay pot already in the bamboo house.

He scooped the Treasure Fish out of the wooden basin. The fish struggled in his hand, slippery and elusive, nearly jumping back into the basin.

Since Chen Lang said there was no need to remove the scales, he didn't scrape them off. He just rinsed it with water, put the whole fish into the clay pot, added cold water, and placed the pot on the stove. He blew on the fire starter to ignite it, stuffed it into the stove, and dry branches and bamboo strips began to crackle and burn.

The flames licked the bottom of the pot, and the firelight cast dancing shadows on the walls of the bamboo house, making the whole room flicker with light and shadow.

The water boiled. A gurgling sound came from the clay pot, and the steam pushed against the lid, causing it to dance gently. Each movement released a wisp of white mist.

That white mist was different from ordinary steam. Ordinary steam was just a mass of hot, damp vapor that dissipated into the air and vanished.

The white mist emerging from the clay pot, however, condensed and did not disperse. It gathered into a small cluster above the rim, rolling and rotating as if something were alive inside it.

A crisp, cool fragrance permeated from the white mist. It wasn't a fishy smell, but a very faint, clean scent, like the air in a pine forest after rain, or like the water vapor drifting over a lake in the early morning.

Taking a breath, his entire chest felt cool, but when that coolness sank into his Dantian, it suddenly turned into warmth, like a small flame slowly burning in his belly.

Lin Tian guarded the clay pot, watching the flames in the stove, and waited for half an hour.

Through the gap where the lid was pushed open, the color of the soup had already turned a rich white—not the white of rice soup, but the white of milk—thick and viscous, with a layer of fine oil droplets floating on the surface.

The silver-white Treasure Fish had completely dissolved into the soup; even the bones had been simmered until soft and dispersed in the broth. Only a few scales, like silver foil, still floated gently on the surface of the soup, emitting a faint fluorescent glow in the firelight.

He took the clay pot off the stove and placed it on the table. The bottom of the pot made a dull thud against the tabletop, and the fish soup inside sloshed. The cluster of white mist condensed at the rim dispersed, and the crisp, cool fragrance suddenly exploded, filling the entire bamboo house with its scent.

Lin Tian didn't bother with a bowl; he picked up the clay pot directly and took a sip from the rim.

The moment the soup entered his mouth, he froze. It wasn't hot; the temperature of the soup was just right, warm but not burning. It was the Spiritual Qi—as the soup slid down his throat, a crisp, cool Spiritual Qi, almost sharp, exploded from the liquid and rushed down his esophagus.

It didn't diffuse slowly; it exploded violently, like an ignited Medicinal Pill. A wave of Spiritual Qi surged from his stomach in all directions, slamming against the walls of his Meridians, rebounding, and slamming again.

The Internal Energy in his Dantian was stimulated by this Spiritual Qi, like a pile of firewood doused with a ladle of boiling oil, and it roared into flames.

Lin Tian put down the clay pot, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and circulated the Purple Qi Diagram.

His Internal Energy rose from his Dantian and began to circulate along his Meridians—one cycle, two cycles, three cycles.

The Spiritual Qi of the Treasure Fish mixed into his Internal Energy like a silver-white thread wrapped around his thick Internal Energy. As his Internal Energy circulated, it was refined bit by bit, merging into his Dantian, his Meridians, and his flesh and blood.

That crisp, cool chill traveled through his Meridians. Wherever it passed, his Meridians swelled slightly, as if countless extremely fine and gentle hands were softly stretching the walls of his Meridians from the inside out.

It didn't hurt, but it felt numb and tingling.

He sat like this for an entire day. From night until dawn, from dawn until the afternoon, and from the afternoon until dusk.

The light outside the window changed from black to gray, from gray to white, then from white to gold, and finally from gold to darkness.

The door of the bamboo house remained closed. The fire in the stove had long since gone out. The fish soup in the clay pot had been drunk clean, and only a few silver-white scales remained at the bottom, emitting a faint glow in the dim light.

At dusk, Lin Tian opened his eyes.

The Spiritual Qi in his body had been completely refined. That crisp, cool chill had vanished, replaced by a feeling of fullness and abundance, like a dry riverbed filled by a spring rain; although the water wasn't vast, every inch of the riverbed was thoroughly soaked.

He silently felt the growth of his Internal Energy in his Dantian, then exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

This one day of cultivation was worth a month of hard work.

That was no exaggeration.

Every day he meditated and practiced the Purple Qi Diagram, circulating his Mind-Cultivation Technique hour after hour. The growth of his Internal Energy was calculated in "threads," accumulating bit by bit, gathering little to make much, like piling sand into a tower.

But with this one Treasure Fish in his stomach, the Spiritual Qi exploded, and the growth of his Internal Energy was calculated in "wisps."

The thickness and strength of one wisp of Internal Energy was equal to the total accumulation of ten days of normal practice.

From the moment he drank the fish soup until now, the increase in his Internal Energy had truly caught up to a month of his hard cultivation.

Lin Tian looked down at the few silver-white scales at the bottom of the clay pot, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled up.

As expected of a Treasure Fish. Three thousand taels each, priceless. Worth it, absolutely worth it.

It was a pity there was only one per month. He picked the scales up from the bottom of the pot and held them up to the last glimmer of twilight seeping through the window. The scales were so thin they were almost transparent, with a faint fluorescence on the surface. When viewed against the light, one could see fine, circular patterns on them, like the growth rings of a tree.

Three of them. If he could have ten, twenty, his cultivation speed would not be what it was now.

But there was no rush. Field Master Zhou had said that the guards' salary was paid monthly.

As long as he was still working at the Yunhai Fishery, he would get one Treasure Fish every month. Steady and solid, take it slow.

Life returned to its previous rhythm. Morning meditation, patrolling the fish ponds, practicing sword and palm techniques, going into the water to practice movement techniques and the breathing technique, patrolling again in the evening, and practicing the throwing knife at night.

Every half month, he dealt with a Vicious Beast attack. He would draw the cold moon bow, and the arrows would fly like meteors, accurately piercing the fatal spots of the Vicious Beasts from the rear.

The members of Team 6 had completely gotten used to this style of combat—they held the front, and Lin Tian provided support from the rear.

"Leaving one's back to Junior Brother Lin is more reassuring than wearing iron armor."

At the end of the month, the second Treasure Fish.

Lin Tian stewed the fish soup, drank both the fish and the soup, and sat in meditation to refine it. This time it took a day and a night, and his Internal Energy increased by another large chunk.

Another month later, the third Treasure Fish.

The fish soup entered his stomach, the Spiritual Qi exploded, and that silver-white, crisp, cool aura surged in his Meridians once again.

After finishing the refinement, Lin Tian felt the Internal Energy in his Dantian, which was nearly twice as thick as it had been three months ago. He closed his eyes and brought up the Proficiency System panel.

Name: Lin Tian.

Realm: Fourth Grade Middle Stage.

Martial Arts—

Purple Qi Diagram, Proficient, 2300-3000.

Xiaguang Sword Technique, Proficient, 2500-3000.

Cloud Shadow Step, Proficient, 2000-3000.

Flying Knife in the Sleeve, Proficient, 1800-3000.

Meteor Arrow Technique, Proficient, 1000-3000.

Great Strength Vajra Palm, Proficient, 1500-3000.

Thunderclap Sword Technique, Proficient, 50-3000.

Dragon Roar Iron Shirt, Minor Achievement, 200-1000.

Divine Turtle Breathing Technique, Minor Achievement, 66-1000.

White Dragon in the Waves, Minor Achievement, 260-1000.

His gaze swept across the panel line by line. The proficiency of the Purple Qi Diagram had increased from 1,300 to 2,300, getting closer and closer to Major Achievement.

Both Xiaguang Sword Technique and Cloud Shadow Step had broken through the 2,000 mark. The Meteor Arrow Technique had become increasingly refined through actual combat, its proficiency firmly standing at the Proficient Realm.

The Thunderclap Sword Technique had broken through from Skilled to Proficient; with a single thrust, the power of the thunder sound was more than a notch stronger than before.

The Dragon Roar Iron Shirt had broken through from Skilled to Minor Achievement. The layer of "copper skin" beneath his skin had changed from faint and indistinct to solid; when pressed with a hand, one could clearly feel a sense of resilience rebounding from under the skin.

The Divine Turtle Breathing Technique and White Dragon in the Waves had also stepped into the Minor Achievement Realm; his time holding breath underwater had nearly doubled, and the flexibility and speed of his movement technique were also significantly stronger than when he first started.

His cultivation had also improved; the Internal Energy in his Dantian was nearly twice as thick as it had been three months ago, but there was still some distance to go before the Late Stage of the Fourth Realm.

The transition from the Middle Stage of the Fourth Realm to the Late Stage is a hurdle; the quantitative accumulation of Internal Energy must reach a certain level to trigger a qualitative change.

Although the Spiritual Qi from three Treasure Fish was thick, it was not enough to bridge this hurdle.

Lin Tian was not in a hurry. The Proficiency System feared nothing more than the slow and steady grind; by practicing day by day and receiving Treasure Fish month by month, a Breakthrough was only a matter of time.

On the evening of the last day of the third month, after Lin Tian finished patrolling the fish pond and returned to the bamboo house, he was just preparing to meditate and Cultivate when Captain Ma walked over from the other end of the gravel path.

"Junior Brother Lin." He stood at the door of the bamboo house, holding a bamboo slip in his hand. "There is a mission for you."

Lin Tian stood up. Having stayed at the Yunhai Fishery for over three months, his understanding of the word "mission" was no longer the same as when he first arrived.

When he first arrived, he thought missions meant patrolling the fish ponds and defending against Vicious Beasts, but later he realized that was just a daily routine.

The fishery's official missions were errands that required leaving the fishery to handle.

"What kind of mission? Patrolling?" he asked.

Captain Ma shook his head and handed over the bamboo slip in his hand: "Escorting Treasure Fish back to the Sect. Every month, the fishery selects a batch of the best quality Treasure Fish to send back to the Qixia Sect for the Sect's Elders and Personal Disciples to consume. A few guards are selected to escort the team each time, and this time it is your turn."

Lin Tian took the bamboo slip and looked at it. The bamboo slip contained the assembly time and location for the escort team, as well as the name of the Senior Brother leading the team—an old Disciple from Bixia Peak named Senior Brother Sun Heng, who had stayed at the Yunhai Fishery for over five years and knew the routes and rules for escorting Treasure Fish by heart.

The next morning, Lin Tian carried his cold moon bow and autumn water sword on his back and went to the pier in front of the bamboo building to assemble.

A small covered boat was already docked at the pier. The boat was not large, but the materials used were extremely solid; the gunwales and the bottom of the boat were covered with iron plating, and a row of copper nails was driven near the waterline to prevent things underwater from colliding with the bottom of the boat.

Inside the cabin, dozens of small wooden barrels were neatly arranged. Each barrel contained half a bucket of water, with a Treasure Fish swimming inside. The three-year-old ones were grouped in one pile, the five-year-old ones in another, and the numbers were marked on the lids with cinnabar.

Senior Brother Sun Heng stood at the bow of the boat, and seeing Lin Tian walking over, he waved at him.

There were six guards on the boat in total, four from Bixia Peak and two from Zixia Peak. Besides Lin Tian, there was another old Disciple named Captain Meng Ping.

The covered boat sailed along the outlet of Yunhai Lake into the river channel, moving downstream.

Both banks of the river were covered in dense forests. As the boat traveled on the water, the sound of the water rushed by. Occasionally, birds would sweep overhead, call out twice, and fly away. The journey was so smooth it was somewhat boring.

There were no Vicious Beasts blocking the way, and no blind Loose Cultivators robbing the path. The Qixia Sect's Cloud Mist flag was planted at the bow of the boat; as the mountain wind blew, the flag flapped loudly. This one flag alone was more effective than any guard. Within a radius of hundreds of miles, anyone who dared to touch the Qixia Sect's things had not yet been born.

The boat docked at the pier outside the Qixia Sect's mountain gate. Senior Brother Sun Heng led the guards to move the wooden barrels off the boat one by one and loaded them onto the carriages that had come to meet them.

The carriages drove along the mountain road into the mountain gate and headed in the direction of Bixia Peak.

Senior Brother Sun Heng patted the water stains off his hands and said to everyone, "You have one day of rest. Tomorrow morning, assemble here again, and we will return to the Yunhai Fishery together."

Lin Tian nodded, shouldered his cold moon bow, and walked along the mountain road toward Zixia Peak.

He hadn't returned for several months. The mountain path of Zixia Peak was still the same, with verdant pines and cypresses and swirling mountain mist.

He walked up the mountain path and turned into that secluded trail. Before he reached the gate of his courtyard, he ran into a few new Disciples.

Those Disciples were stunned for a moment, then their eyes widened.

"Lin Tian?!"

"Senior Brother Lin? You're back?"

"We haven't seen you for several months, where have you been?"

Several people surrounded him, the surprise on their faces genuine. Lin Tian's presence on Zixia Peak was originally not high; for the first half of the year, he was in a state of being almost forgotten by everyone.

But ever since the assessment, his name had spread among the new Disciples—the person whom the Peak Master had personally judged to be trash had not only not been kicked out within a year, but the Peak Master had personally taken him to the back hall to teach him martial arts alone.

This kind of drama of bouncing from the bottom of the valley to the top of the mountain was far more eye-catching than the natural progression of a born Genius.

"I went to the Yunhai Fishery to execute a mission," Lin Tian said.

The few new Disciples looked at each other. Yunhai Fishery?

They had never heard of it. The new Disciples had only been in the Sect for a little over a year and hadn't even fully recognized the places on the surface of the Sect, let alone an industry like the Yunhai Fishery that was not inside the mountain gate.

But the news spread quickly. After the new Disciples went back and chatted with the senior students, the senior students' eyes widened.

"Yunhai Fishery?!"

"He went to the Yunhai Fishery to hold a post?"

"That's a lucrative job! One Treasure Fish a month! Do you know how much a Treasure Fish costs? Three thousand taels! And you can't even buy one!"

"I've been in the Sect for nearly three years, applied twice for a guard position at the Yunhai Fishery, and was rejected both times. He's only been in for a year or so, on what grounds?"

The senior students' shock was a shock over real money, not just polite conversation. They knew better than anyone how sought-after the job at the Yunhai Fishery was on Zixia Peak.

Every time there was a vacancy at the fishery, applications from Disciples of various peaks could pile up on the desk of the managing Elder.

Those who could get this kind of position were either Personal Disciples of the Peak Master, children or nephews of Elders, or Geniuses with extremely outstanding talent who were favored by those above.

Lin Tian, a newcomer who had just passed the assessment and had been in the Sect for less than a year and a half, could go to hold a post at the Yunhai Fishery—if the Peak Master hadn't personally nodded in approval, who would believe it?

When the news reached the ears of Junior Sister Zheng Xiaoyun, she was practicing swordplay. She suddenly stopped halfway through a sword move, turned her head to look at the new Disciple who brought the news, her mouth slightly agape, and it took a while before she closed it.

She had been at Zixia Peak for nearly three years and had applied twice for a guard position at the Yunhai Fishery, both times to no avail. Lin Tian had joined much later than her, yet he got the position as soon as he went.

She was truly envious, but mixed in with the envy was a trace of admiration she hadn't even realized herself.

That young man who had originally spent one thousand taels of silver to ask her to teach him the Purple Qi Diagram had, in less than a year, gone from being taught by her to someone she had to look up to.

When Senior Brother Li heard the news, he just smiled and shook his head. He was a practical person; envy was envy, but he wouldn't take it to heart.

Everyone has their own destiny; that Lin Tian could go to the Yunhai Fishery was his own ability.

When the news reached the ears of the Zhao siblings, Zhao Mingyue was wiping her sword scabbard.

Her hand stopped, and she looked up. The expression on her face changed from surprise to silence, and from silence to an indescribable complexity.

She remembered the scene where she questioned the shopkeeper in the Wanbao Pavilion, and she remembered the sentence she said on the Training Ground: "Could it be that you are a Genius like my brother?"

Thinking back on it now, every word was like a slap, stinging her face.

Zhao Mingyang was sitting in his room, holding a newly purchased Qi Gathering Pill in his hand, preparing to take it to Cultivate.

When he heard the news, his fingers tightened suddenly, and the Qi Gathering Pill was crushed into powder with a snap. The medicinal powder fell from between his fingers, scattering all over the floor.

On what grounds? These three words were like a red-hot branding iron, searing his heart.

He was the top newcomer; he was a Genius whom the Peak Master had personally praised as "not bad," and he had broken through to the Fourth Realm in less than a year.

He, Zhao Mingyang, in what way was he worse than Lin Tian?

On what grounds could Lin Tian go to the Yunhai Fishery to hold a post and receive one Treasure Fish a month, while he could only struggle in the Sect relying on that one Seven Clouds Pill each month?

He was not convinced.

He threw the medicinal powder in his hand onto the ground, stood up abruptly, pushed the door open, and strode out.

The night wind blew into his face, making his robes flap loudly. He walked down the mountain path, his steps getting faster and heavier, causing the gravel road to creak under his feet.

He was going to find Lin Tian.

He wanted to challenge him. He wanted to let everyone see clearly who the true top newcomer was.