Deep within the lush, green mountains lay a depression. This hollow had been artificially modified and surrounded with white jade stone, forming a bottomless pool about several dozen zhang wide. The water was exceptionally clear, as if countless specks of light were shimmering within it.
Along the edges of the pool, complex glowing inscriptions were faintly visible, continuously absorbing the primordial energy of heaven and earth and merging it into the pool.
Clearly, this mountain pool was the "minor blessed land" created by the two major Divine Ability Clans of Qingyuan Ward, the Li and Yan families, in collaboration with five other slightly weaker clans.
The Spirit Fish Pool.
Such "minor blessed lands" were the true foundation of many top factions. Some higher-grade Divine Ability Halls would also construct similar "minor blessed lands" to attract a continuous stream of disciples.
However, the highest-grade Divine Ability Hall in Qingyuan Ward was only Grade 3, so they did not yet possess such a foundation.
It was said that those Grade 5 Divine Ability Halls or the top Divine Ability Clans in the Great Luo Territory possessed true "blessed lands."
When Lu Ming followed the crowd to this place, the stone seats carved out of the cliffs surrounding the Spirit Fish Pool were already filled with the patriarchs and elders of the various Divine Ability Clans of Qingyuan Ward.
Li Yan and the patriarch of the Yan family, Yan Jing, sat in the most prominent seats.
“Since everyone is here, let us begin this year's Spiritual Fish Feast. The rules remain the same: each family will fish using their own abilities,” Li Yan said, her gaze sweeping across the crowd. Her eyes paused briefly on Lu Ming before her voice echoed around the Spirit Fish Pool.
Her words were concise, without the slightest hesitation.
As her voice fell, the anglers put forward by each family stepped out. They all looked quite young, presumably the rising talents of these Divine Ability Clans. Judging by the fluctuations of primordial energy surging around them, they were all Grand Divine Ability Practitioners.
“Come with me, I've got your back,” Zhou Fuling said with a sweet smile, patting Lu Ming on the shoulder.
Just as Lu Ming was about to speak, Li Shuang suddenly said from the side, “Lu Ming, you are using our Li family's spot. According to the rules, you must go to the Li family's fishing platform.”
Lu Ming felt this made sense, so he bid farewell to Zhou Fuling and stood beside Li Shuang.
Zhou Fuling simply shrugged indifferently.
Li Shuang glanced at Lu Ming, then picked up a long golden rod from the edge of the Spirit Fish Pool and handed it to him. “This is a specially made fishing rod. When fishing, you need to channel your own primordial energy to form a fishing line and lower it into the Spirit Fish Pool. At the same time, you must condense your primordial energy into a ball at the end of the line to serve as bait.”
“The golden-eyed spirit fish love to feed on primordial energy, so they can only be caught using primordial energy as bait. However, this consumes a massive amount of your own primordial energy. If you can't hold out, you can just withdraw directly.”
“Furthermore, the deeper the line formed by your primordial energy penetrates into the Spirit Fish Pool, the higher the probability of catching a golden-eyed spirit fish.”
“One more thing: the higher the purity of your primordial energy, the greater the temptation it will be for the golden-eyed spirit fish.”
“Some divine ability spells that have special effects on fish can also confuse the golden-eyed spirit fish. In the past, some Divine Ability Clans have invited such specialists and reaped rich rewards.”
Despite her frosty demeanor, it was rare for her to speak such a long stream of words.
“Purity of primordial energy, huh?”
Lu Ming's heart stirred slightly, and he expressed his gratitude, “Thank you.”
Li Shuang nodded slightly. She hesitated for a moment before saying, “Be careful of Yan Qing. Watch out for him using underhanded tricks against you.”
“They can do that?” Lu Ming asked in surprise.
“The Spiritual Fish Feast is originally meant to be a form of training for the direct descendants of the various clans, so competition is naturally allowed. Usually, everyone doesn't go too far. But you are an outsider, and since Yan Qing dislikes you, they have plenty of ways to make you go home empty-handed. It's not like this hasn't happened before,” Li Shuang said indifferently.
“Dislikes me? What did I ever do to him?” Lu Ming frowned.
Li Shuang's red lips curled slightly. Setting aside the matter of Jing Yi, this Yan Qing had now set his sights on Zhou Fuling. Yet, no matter how hard he tried to get close to her recently, he had gained very little, whereas Zhou Fuling's attitude toward Lu Ming was clearly different.
Li Shuang felt that if she were in Yan Qing's shoes, she would probably be extremely annoyed as well.
Is this kid deliberately targeting the girls I like?
“Let's go.” Li Shuang said no more. The only reason she had warned Lu Ming so much was entirely for Jing Yi's sake. Otherwise, given her habitually cold personality, she wouldn't have bothered to pay him any attention even if he was using their Li family's spot.
Lu Ming followed Li Shuang toward the Spirit Fish Pool. On the wide surface of the water, several stone pillars protruded. At this moment, the figures of other Divine Ability Clan disciples leapt out, landing on the pillars one by one.
Clearly, these stone pillars were the fishing platforms.
Li Shuang's graceful figure landed on a stone pillar, while Lu Ming landed not far from her.
Lu Ming sat cross-legged on the stone pillar, holding the golden rod. The Divine Ability Bone inside his body let out a low rumble, and the Divine Ability Dharma Inscriptions on it flowed with mysterious light. In the next moment, a robust amount of primordial energy surged out, rapidly extending along the golden rod, and finally transforming into a rainbow of primordial energy about the thickness of a fist at the tip.
A few low chuckles echoed around the Spirit Fish Pool.
Li Shuang's helpless voice came over, “That is way too thick!”
Who on earth fished with a line as thick as a fist!
Lu Ming felt a bit embarrassed. It was his first time doing this, so he was not very skilled yet. With a thought, he controlled the flow of his primordial energy. The rainbow of primordial energy extending from the tip of the golden rod rapidly thinned out, eventually turning into a primordial energy fishing line about ten zhang long.
Splat! Splat!
By this time, the other anglers had already cast their primordial energy lines into the water. At the tips of those lines, balls of condensed primordial energy served as bait, sinking rapidly toward the depths of the pool. The brilliance of the primordial energy shimmered like stars that had fallen into the water.
Lu Ming also condensed primordial energy at the tip of his line to form a ball of energy, then cast it into the water. He watched with great interest as his primordial energy line continued to sink, finally reaching a depth of ten zhang.
Lu Ming's ten-zhang-long primordial energy line was not particularly outstanding. The other anglers present all had lines of over a dozen zhang. However, this was merely the strength of the primordial energy Lu Ming was currently displaying, which was only at the level of two Divine Ability Dharma Inscriptions. If he were to activate the other two Divine Ability Dharma Inscriptions as well, his primordial energy line should be able to reach about fourteen zhang.
The longest primordial energy line on the field belonged to Zhou Fuling, whose line actually reached twenty-eight zhang.
Next was Yan Qing, with a line twenty-four zhang long.
Li Shuang's was twenty zhang.
Lu Ming did a quick estimation. The number of Divine Ability Dharma Inscriptions condensed by Zhou Fuling, Yan Qing, and Li Shuang had likely already exceeded ten.
He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. These direct descendants of the Divine Ability Clans indeed possessed deep foundations. Previously, Lu Ming had only thought they had the advantage of pills, but now he realized he had been too shallow. The golden-eyed spirit fish in a "minor blessed land" like this were their exclusive cultivation resources.
And they were merely Divine Ability Clans in Qingyuan Ward. It was hard to imagine what kind of unimaginable, top-tier cultivation resources were possessed by the top factions in Fengyang Prefecture, or even the entire Great Luo Territory.
As everyone began to fish, the Spirit Fish Pool fell into silence. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the depths of the pool.
There, silver streaks of light began to appear faintly.
After a moment, the silver streaks of light gradually became clearer.
They were fish about the size of a palm, their entire bodies covered in silver scales. The most unique feature was their eyes, which were as brilliant as molten gold, shimmering with an extraordinary light.
Clearly, these were the targets of their fishing—the golden-eyed spirit fish.
These golden-eyed spirit fish swam up from the very depths of the Spirit Fish Pool. The balls of primordial energy hanging from the lines were reflected in their golden eyes. Flicking their tails, they began to swim around the energy balls.
However, these golden-eyed spirit fish clearly possessed some simple intelligence. They tested the bait bit by bit, using their mouths to carefully nibble and peel away the primordial energy balls.
As the primordial energy balls on the lines gradually thinned out, some anglers grew impatient. Their primordial energy erupted, attempting to transform into rays of energy to forcibly capture the nearby golden-eyed spirit fish.
However, silver light flowed over the silver scales of the golden-eyed spirit fish. Their speed suddenly skyrocketed, and they instantly sliced through the pool water at an unimaginable speed, vanishing into the depths and leaving the anglers filled with regret.
Clearly, it was impossible to catch the golden-eyed spirit fish by force.
These fish were incredibly fast in the water.
Only by patiently waiting for the golden-eyed spirit fish to feed on the primordial energy and gradually lower their guard could one slip the primordial energy hook into their mouths, leaving them with no escape.
As time slowly passed, the sound of breaking water suddenly rang out.
Numerous gazes turned toward the sound. They saw a primordial energy line being pulled up, and at the end of the line, a golden-eyed spirit fish was struggling violently to break free, but its efforts were ultimately in vain.
Someone had successfully caught a golden-eyed spirit fish.
Lu Ming also glanced over and found that the person who caught the first golden-eyed spirit fish was none other than Yan Qing of the Yan family. It was clear that he had quite a bit of experience in this art, and combined with his robust primordial energy, such a performance was not surprising.
With a smile on his face, Yan Qing placed the golden-eyed spirit fish into the basket beside him. He then looked toward Zhou Fuling and said with a light laugh, “Lady Fuling, catching golden-eyed spirit fish requires some technique. Would you like me to teach you?”
Yet, just as his voice fell, Zhou Fuling flicked her delicate wrist and lifted her fishing rod. On her primordial energy hook, a golden-eyed spirit fish glistened under the sunlight, its silver scales reflecting a bright, dazzling luster.
“Lady Fuling's talent is truly extraordinary,” Yan Qing praised softly.
Zhou Fuling simply returned a smile and continued fishing.
Over the next period of time, more and more people successfully caught their first golden-eyed spirit fish, making the scene quite lively for a moment.
However, Lu Ming had yet to make any progress.
After all, his primordial energy line was only about ten zhang long, which was not outstanding among this group of anglers, so he could only quietly wait for some stray fish to swim up from the depths.
Fortunately, his luck was not bad.
Before long, a golden-eyed spirit fish swam up from the depths, gradually approaching the position of Lu Ming's hook.
Lu Ming's eyes lit up. He remained patient, quietly waiting for the golden-eyed spirit fish to nibble and peel away the ball of primordial energy bit by bit.
Just as Lu Ming was about to harvest his first golden-eyed spirit fish, a cold sneer appeared in the depths of Yan Qing's eyes on the other stone pillar. He then subtly gave a look to the anglers on several other stone pillars.
In the next instant, the hands of those other Divine Ability Clan anglers trembled, and their primordial energy lines vibrated violently. This immediately whipped up surging waves in the pool water of this area.
The waves rapidly spread to Lu Ming's position. The turbulent water directly startled the golden-eyed spirit fish that was about to take the hook. With a flick of its tail, it cut through the waves and vanished instantly.
Naturally, Li Shuang also witnessed these movements. Her willow-leaf brows furrowed slightly, but she had nothing to say. After all, this was not considered a violation of the rules. Moreover, although Lu Ming was using the Li family's spot, he was not a member of the Li family after all, so it was not appropriate for her to order the other Li family members to help him out.
Lu Ming's gaze darkened at this moment, and he looked coldly toward Yan Qing and the others.
However, Yan Qing didn't even bat an eye, acting as if he didn't care about Lu Ming's anger at all. He leisurely cast his primordial energy line and continued fishing, sneering in his heart, A bumpkin like you actually thinks you are qualified to touch the golden-eyed spirit fish?
Lu Ming withdrew his gaze and took a deep breath.
I originally wanted to get along and compete with you all as an ordinary person. But since you chose to play dirty first, don't blame me for becoming the ultimate cheater.
With this thought, Lu Ming no longer hesitated. With a shift of his mind, the robust primordial energy in his Divine Ability Bone surged out, pouring entirely into his Fire Lotus imprint.
In the next moment, the Fire Lotus primordial energy went to work.
Rate on N.U.
