Chapter 27: Harvest

Several days later.

Splash.

A spirit fish with a mouth like a long spear and a body of blazing red-gold leapt out of the sea, suddenly spreading its fish lips wide.

Puff puff puff!

Streaks of pitch-black water arrows instantly took shape, shooting forth like bolts from a powerful bow, stabbing straight toward Fang Qing.

Fang Qing’s expression did not change. His hands formed a spell seal.

The Ji Water true power surged. Streams of seawater surfaced, transforming into an enormous wall of water.

As the black arrow-like projectiles entered the water wall, they instantly dissolved, as if corroded away.

“So it’s a spirit fish? A genuine demonic beast!”

“I didn’t expect that a casual bout of sea fishing would reel in a Golden Spear Spirit Fish?”

A hint of a smile appeared on his face. “Since you’ve come out of the sea, don’t think about going back.”

With a lift of his hand, a Golden Blade Talisman was activated. A faint golden blade phantom appeared in midair and swept across half of the Golden Spear Spirit Fish’s body, causing patches of crimson scales to scatter and fall.

The Golden Spear Spirit Fish twisted its body, about to plunge back into the sea, only to discover that the surrounding seawater had already been seized by Fang Qing’s control, condensed into a massive sphere of water that floated up into the air.

A human figure flashed.

Fang Qing had already arrived on the opposite side of the water sphere. The muscles across his body bulged, his hands sheathed in a strange luster, as he struck heavily at the fish brain where the lines behind the two eyes intersected.

Bang!

The fish’s head instantly caved in at one spot, and the Golden Spear Spirit Fish immediately went limp.

Fang Qing carried the large fish back onto the ship, cut off a piece of fish meat, lightly roasted it, and took a bite.

“Mmm… as expected of a spirit fish. The flavor is even better than a Treasure Fish.”

As the fish meat entered his stomach and transformed into a warm current, even beginning to nourish his flesh and true power, a satisfied smile spread across his face.

If this Golden Spear Spirit Fish were brought back to the sect, it would be worth at least several hundred spirit stones! It could be refined into pills that assisted in breaking through early-stage Qi Refining bottlenecks.

If Li Yusu back then had possessed a single Golden Spear Spirit Fish, his breakthrough would never have failed.

“The sea… truly is a vast treasure trove.”

Fang Qing sighed with emotion. In the records of the Azure Sea Sect, there were many tales of cultivators who had fallen into misery, even poisoned beyond hope, fleeing into the deep sea and, by sheer luck, eating a spirit fish—cleansing all toxins, greatly increasing their true power, even improving their aptitude and defying fate, becoming legends of the Sea Dragon King’s return.

“I originally only meant to put on a show… who would have thought a real spirit fish would bite? Bringing this back to the sect… everything would be resolved.”

“Wait—if spirit fish are active here, there might be seabed spiritual items as well?”

At this thought, his heart stirred, tinged with an inexplicable excitement.

Although Fang Qing was not fond of taking risks, opportunities delivered straight to his doorstep were still worth picking up.

He formed a Water-Avoidance Art seal and entered the sea, beginning a careful search.

Three days later.

Fang Qing stopped before an enormous shell, exerting strength with both hands.

Crash!

The shell was forced open by brute force, revealing a pearl the size of a fist within.

The pearl was dazzlingly bright, suffused with a moist spiritual aura, radiating a pure and ethereal glow.

“A fine pearl—worth at least the equivalent of a mid-grade spirit stone…”

Fang Qing could not help but marvel.

Within the Azure Sea Sect, a single mid-grade spirit stone was equivalent to over a hundred low-grade spirit stones. Ordinary Qi Refining cultivators could hardly ever touch such a thing;

only Foundation Establishment cultivators were qualified to control them.

“Not only is its spiritual energy astonishing, this pearl is also an excellent artifact embryo. It could be refined into a water-aspected artifact…”

He had long felt how poor he was—aside from some talismans and the Green-Leaf Flying Vessel for travel, he did not possess a single truly suitable artifact.

If he could find a capable artifact refiner to slightly modify this pearl, it would at the very least become a mid-grade first-tier artifact. With good fortune, even a high-grade one was possible!

“A huge harvest… Even when Li Yusu followed the Double-Tusked Great Ship out to sea, his gains might not have exceeded mine…”

After securing the sea pearl, Fang Qing was thoroughly satisfied and steered his ship back toward port.

…

Ten Thousand Treasures Island, Administrative Affairs Hall.

“Junior brother, these gains of yours…”

Hua Lian stared at the Golden Spear Spirit Fish and the sea pearl Fang Qing displayed, his face full of envy. “I’ve seen quite a few fleets—ones that come back with harvests like yours are extremely rare…”

“Just luck.”

Fang Qing handed the Golden Spear Spirit Fish to Hua Lian. “I’ll trouble senior brother to consign this item for sale. As for the sea pearl I have, I intend to refine it into an artifact.”

“Oh?” Hua Lian smiled. “Then you should go look for Huo Tianhuo. He knows many senior brothers who cultivate fire-aspected arts. Among them, that ‘Mingling Zhen’ is a first-tier high-grade artifact refiner.”

This was how sect connections were built. “Your pearl is brimming with spiritual energy. It truly deserves a good artifact refiner—don’t let it go to waste.”

“Oh? Then I must thank senior brother.”

Fang Qing felt a quiet joy in his heart. He followed Hua Lian to find Huo Tianhuo, purchased another batch of talismans, and asked him to help introduce Mingling Zhen.

Mingling Zhen looked middle-aged, with a face full of thick, coiling beard and bulging muscles. Yet his temperament was forthright and bold.

He took the sea pearl, examined it carefully, and nodded. “Not bad… the spiritual energy is abundant. It’s naturally an excellent embryo. Even a low-grade first-tier artifact refiner, if they put in some effort, could make it into a mid-grade artifact. If I handle it personally, it should reach high-grade.”

“Then I’ll trouble senior brother.”

Fang Qing immediately offered the deposit.

“Hm. What kind of high-grade artifact does junior brother want? With this kind of pearl-shaped artifact, I only know two designs. One is called the ‘Stabilizing Light Barrier’—a defensive artifact. Once deployed, it envelops the entire body in a layer of spiritual radiance, offering excellent defense against various Five Elements spell effects, though it’s weaker against direct artifact strikes.”

“The other option is to modify it into a semi-storage type. Normally, it can store one hundred thousand catties of seawater. In battle, it can be released and combined with water-control arts for unique power. Ordinary seawater can also be refined—if junior brother can find some spirit water or poisonous water, the damage against enemies will be even greater.”

“This…” Fang Qing pondered. For cultivators, defensive artifacts were obviously more valuable than offensive ones.

Moreover, in the Small Huan Sea Cultivation World, water was hardly a scarce resource.

But in the Land of Ancient Shu, it was different!

The Land of Ancient Shu was an inland region. For a water-method cultivator, having vast amounts of accessible water vapor during battle would naturally be a huge advantage.

‘Even if I can’t beat metal and fire, bullying earth and wood should still be possible, right? But the generative and restraining relationships there are really unreasonable… Water-virtue cultivators might actually be the weakest among the Five Elements.’

Fang Qing thought this with little confidence.

‘Still, I already have a body-tempering art for defense… better to enhance offense.’

“Then I’ll take the offensive artifact.”

He voiced his decision.

“Oh?” This choice clearly exceeded Mingling Zhen’s expectations. He chuckled. “For a high-grade artifact, I’ll need to use the sect’s fire vein for refinement. Come back in a month to retrieve it. Also… according to the rules of pill and artifact refinement, if it fails, I won’t compensate for the raw materials.”

“Thank you, senior brother.”

After silently grumbling about these refinement rules, Fang Qing returned to his own cave dwelling.

…

Pill Island.

Fang Qing returned to his cave dwelling.

His cave dwelling had never been lavishly decorated, but now an additional stone chamber had been excavated. Inside was a pool of spirit water, bubbling with a spring that connected to the external water veins.

“A mid-grade first-tier spirit spring? Many thanks, senior sister…”

Fang Qing lifted a strand of spirit spring water with his finger, feeling the spiritual energy within, and immediately thanked Senior Sister Qin.

Senior Sister Qin wore a blue robe, her thighs long and graceful, her appearance gentle and refined. Hearing this, she smiled. “I was merely acting on someone else’s request—no need to be polite. This spirit spring of yours is normally only mid-grade first-tier, but I left behind an array disk. If in the future you wish to use a high-grade first-tier spirit spring for pill refinement, you only need to inlay the array disk with spirit stones to temporarily upgrade this spring to high-grade first-tier.”

“Additionally, I arranged a ‘Minor Lost Traces Array’ for your cave dwelling as you previously requested. It can prevent disturbances from others and should be sufficient within the sect.”

This Minor Lost Traces Array did not truly possess much power to repel or trap enemies. At most, when someone intruded, it could provide a warning.

And it was useless against high-level cultivators.

But within the Azure Sea Sect, once high-level cultivators began recklessly assaulting low-level disciples’ cave dwellings, no amount of talk would matter anyway.

“Senior sister truly lives up to being a high-grade first-tier formation master.”

Fang Qing took out a pouch of spirit stones—the remaining payment—and handed it to Senior Sister Qin, sighing inwardly at how profitable artifact refiners and formation masters truly were.

If not for catching a Golden Spear Spirit Fish this time, he would probably have had to stumble upon a loose cultivator’s cave dwelling and inherit their leftovers just to barely afford the cost.

“Mhm. Payment and goods are settled.”

Senior Sister Qin checked the spirit stones, nodded in satisfaction, and before leaving, turned back with a thoughtful look, staring at Fang Qing. “You’ve already joined the Five Dragons Society, so you’re considered one of the Five Dragons Child’s people… The next True Disciple competition will likely grow increasingly intense. I and the Five Dragons Child are allies, so I have to remind you a bit more… interact less with Floating Cloud Daoist’s faction.”

“Hm?”

Fang Qing was startled. He then thought of Xu Wusu’s usual conduct, and a realization dawned on him.

‘Could it be that Xu Wusu pulled me in not just because my talent is decent, but also because he’s competing with Floating Cloud Daoist’s faction—and the enemy of my enemy is my friend?’

‘Now that I seem to have lingering ties with Zha Zhu, is this a warning?’

‘This sect’s True Disciple competition is really troublesome…’

On the surface, Fang Qing naturally made repeated assurances that he needed to immerse himself in pill refinement next, improving his water-method pill refinement skills, and that he had long since ceased any meaningful association with Zha Zhu.

“That’s good, then.”

Senior Sister Qin smiled, mounted a streak of light, and flew away from Pill Island.

‘Wait… I still didn’t ask which of Floating Cloud Daoist’s faction is competing with the Five Dragons Child. It can’t be Zha Zhu, right? She’s too young—the one after next would be more likely. Her chances are even better than Hua Lian’s…’

‘Could it be Gong Susu, or perhaps Hua Lingsu?’

Fang Qing returned to his cave dwelling and gazed at his spirit pool. Now he truly felt there was hope that, in the next True Disciple competition, Senior Brother Five Dragons Child might emerge victorious.

‘But if I had previously felt humiliated and decided to go all out for revenge, Xu Wusu and the Five Dragons Society would probably help me too?’

‘What kind of logic is this? No matter how powerful the enemy, don’t be afraid—as long as you charge in headfirst, the system will automatically match teammates for you?’

‘What a pity… all I want is to cultivate immortality and live forever.’