190: Chapter 190 Exchange

The night had deepened, and the moonlight in the alley was sliced into halves of light and shadow by the eaves on both sides.

The young man stood in the shadows; the pair of eyes beneath his half-mask stared at Lin Tian for a long while, his gaze filled with both scrutiny and an indescribable complexity.

After a long silence, he finally spoke, his tone carrying a hint of subtle surprise: "You want the production method? Could it be that you are a Breeder?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he shook his head, as if denying the thought: "No, you are not. If you were a Breeder, you would have no need to come to the black market to buy fish bait."

Lin Tian did not deny it, calmly stating: "I am indeed not a Breeder. However, I can become a Breeder."

The young man froze for a moment, then let out a laugh. The laughter was light, without any trace of mockery; rather, it felt like the helplessness one might feel when hearing a layman say, "I can also become an Alchemist."

He switched the cloth bag in his arms to his other hand, his tone becoming somewhat more serious: "Being a Breeder is not that easy. Do you think knowing how to make a few feed formulas makes you a Breeder?"

The threshold for a Breeder is even higher than that of an Alchemist—an Alchemist only needs to control the heat and medicinal properties, while a Breeder must simultaneously control water quality, water temperature, fish age, medicinal properties, and Qi concentration. They must adjust over a dozen variables at the same time; even the slightest discrepancy is unacceptable.

Those who can become Breeders are without exception people naturally gifted with a special affinity for water Qi and wood Qi. Such people are already as rare as a Phoenix feather or a unicorn's horn, not to mention the need for over a decade of systematic training.

I studied at home for nearly twenty years before barely graduating, and you—" He glanced at Lin Tian and swallowed the rest of his sentence.

Lin Tian did not take the bait, simply smiling slightly: "Whether I can become a Breeder or not is none of your concern. You only need to tell me if you are willing to give me the production method."

The young man fell silent. Lin Tian held up three fingers, the moonlight shining upon them: "Thirty Treasure Fish."

The young man's pupils contracted sharply.

Thirty was not a small number. His Master—who was also his father—served as a guest Breeder at the Family fishery, and the annual salary he received from the Family, converted into Treasure Fish, amounted to no more than this.

He had been trying his luck in the black market for several nights, but had been unable to trade for the desperately needed Treasure Fish, simply because no one was willing to trade Treasure Fish for a bag of fish bait.

Yet, the person before him not only wanted to buy fish bait but also wanted to buy his trump card, the production method.

He hesitated for a long time, finally gritting his teeth: "Fine, I can give you one fish bait production formula."

"Not enough." Lin Tian's voice was unhurried. "You know I am not a Breeder. Having just the formula is like having a Pill Formula but not knowing Alchemy; it is useless. I want you to give me the basic methods of becoming a Breeder as well."

The young man's hand pressed back onto the short blade at his waist, his knuckles turning slightly white.

The basic methods of a Breeder are different from a specific fish bait formula—the latter is a product, while the former is a craft.

Passing on the craft is equivalent to teaching one's livelihood to an outsider. But then he thought, this person before him had even reached the Transcendent level; with such talent and resources, if he really wanted to learn the Breeding Technique, he would find another way sooner or later.

Rather than letting someone else pry open this door using other methods, it would be better to use this door to trade for the thirty desperately needed Treasure Fish himself. He gritted his teeth and squeezed a few words through them: "Fine. I can give you the basic methods for becoming a Breeder. But let me say this first—whether you can Master it or not is your own business and has nothing to do with me."

"No problem." Lin Tian nodded. With the Proficiency System in his hands, as long as he got a foot in the door, the rest was just a matter of practicing over and over again. The craft that took others over a decade to hone was, for him, just a matter of time and the Proficiency System numbers.

The young man looked at his determined appearance and suddenly thought of an important question: "When will you be able to give me the Treasure Fish?"

Lin Tian thought about it. There were only two breeding fish in his private fish pond, and to breed dozens of mature fish, according to the experience of the Yunhai Fishery, it would take at least a year or more.

He stated this concern truthfully, but the young man shook his head: "It won't take that long. This bag of bait is a special, high-grade fish bait containing a formula that accelerates growth. Feeding with my bait for half a year is equivalent to feeding with ordinary bait for a year. Besides, I don't need Treasure Fish that are too old—three-year-old ones are sufficient for making medicine, and five-year-old ones are too expensive; I didn't expect you to be able to provide those. Half a year—use this bag of bait to urge your fish to three years of age; that will be enough."

Lin Tian quickly calculated in his mind: half a year, two breeding fish breeding the first batch of mature fish under the growth acceleration of the special bait, thirty three-year-old Treasure Fish—it was entirely doable in the spirit water environment provided by the water origin tree.

He lifted his eyes: "Fine. Half a year from now, in this same alley, at this same hour, one hand exchanges the method, the other hand exchanges the fish. However, you must give me this bag of fish bait tonight." The young man did not waste words: "Fine, then trade it for that bag of Vicious Beast Materials from before."

Lin Tian took the deerskin bag from his waist and handed it over. The young man tucked it into his robes without even looking, pressing the cloth bag directly into Lin Tian's palm. "See you in half a year."

The young man turned, and the hem of his cyan robes flashed at the alley entrance before melting into the night. The moonlight shone into the alley, leaving only a lonely, long shadow on the bluestone pavement.

Lin Tian tucked the fish bait bag close to his body and turned to head toward the fishery. Before he had even left the alley, his ears suddenly caught a very abrupt, strange sound—it was the clashing of weapons, mixed with several low, muffled groans and the sharp whistling of palm strikes cutting through the air.

It was not a fight between ordinary Martial Artists; it was experts at the Transcendent level in action. His figure flickered, and he silently pressed himself into the shadows at the corner of the alley.

The shadows in the corner of the wall, unreachable by moonlight, blended perfectly with his Shadow Movement Technique, and his whole body seemed like a drop of ink dissolving into a deep pool.

Several figures streaked across the street ahead. One of the figures was being besieged from all sides, wrapped in a dark green cloak. During the fight, the hood was knocked off halfway, revealing a pale, thin, wrinkled face.

It was none other than the Black-robed Elder who had traded three drops of Black-Armored Lizard essence blood for the Spirit Fox in the black market earlier.

The people besieging him were all at the Fifth-Grade Transformation Realm, their moves ruthless and without mercy. The door panels of two shops by the roadside were rattled by the force of their Qi.

And what made Lin Tian's gaze slightly narrow was the slender figure leading the attackers—a black dress, masked, with movements that were light and eerie, each palm strike she sent out wrapped in a layer of faint black mist. It was the very woman who had sold the Spirit Fox in the stone room.