Had Lin Ling not previously laid down a protective array around the small mountain temple, the brilliance of the golden light orb in Ji Shaoli's hand would likely have drawn the immediate attention of other cultivators.
"Th-this..." Zhong Shentong stared dumbfounded, pointing at Ji Shaoli, unable to form a complete sentence for a long time.
"Sigh, what a pity it's not a purple-gold or dark-gold orb. Still, I suppose it's barely acceptable," Ji Shaoli said indifferently. Right before everyone's eyes, he reached into the light and began feeling around.
The golden radiance gradually dispersed.
In its place was a round bead radiating a seven-colored aura.
The instant Zhong Shentong laid eyes on the seven-colored bead, an indescribably complex storm of emotions surged in his heart.
There was greed, a sense of having lost something dear, and even more so, bitter regret.
It left his mind in utter disarray.
"Seven-Colored Jade Void Flowing Light..." The moment his fingers brushed the bead, information regarding the object surfaced naturally in Ji Shaoli's mind.
It originated from a cultivation realm named Chongyan.
That realm possessed neither sun nor moon in its sky; only seven beams of colored light appeared in turn, illuminating the world.
Later, a great cultivator gathered and refined those seven flowing lights.
Though this yielded a peerless Dharma treasure, it directly brought about the demise of the Chongyan Realm.
As ages passed, that cultivator had long since perished, and the treasure he had forged had somehow drifted into this fishing pond.
...
Ji Shaoli's heart was profoundly shaken.
Not merely because this Seven-Colored Divine Light was of an extraordinarily high caliber, surpassing ordinary Dao Integration treasures.
Even more shocking was that a treasure of such magnitude was ranked merely as a golden-tier catch in the fishing pond.
What kind of terrifying entities would the purple-gold and dark-gold orbs be?
And just what level of Dharma treasure was this fishing pond that could encompass them all?
"It is definitely no ordinary immortal artifact."
"Yet all of them are ownerless..."
"What on earth happened in the Immortal Realm?"
Myriad thoughts flashed through his mind, but Ji Shaoli did not immediately refine the Seven-Colored Divine Light.
He simply put it away to hand over to his original self later.
Gathering his thoughts, he looked at Zhong Shentong, who was still frozen in shock, and asked with mild curiosity, "What is it? Are golden light orbs that difficult to catch? You've held this fishing platform for decades, Fellow Daoist Zhong. With your skill, you must have pulled up quite a few. Is there any need to be so astonished?"
Zhong Shentong opened his mouth, then hesitated.
"Heh... heh..."
Confusion filled his eyes, and he could only manage a dry chuckle in response.
"Well then, luck is conserved. What I caught today was quite decent, but if one doesn't know when to stop, any further attempts for a good while would likely be wasted effort."
"I'll leave things here in your hands, Fellow Daoist Zhong."
"The Association is busy with affairs, and I cannot linger here indefinitely," Ji Shaoli said with a hint of regret.
"By the way, some of our Association's prodigies may occasionally come over to try their hand at fishing in the future. I'll notify you beforehand." Tossing a communication talisman to him, Ji Shaoli cast another reluctant backward glance at the fishing pond.
Then, calling Lin Ling, he finally left the small mountain temple.
Zhong Shentong looked around at the scene inside the temple—familiar down to the last detail, except for the addition of the protective array.
Everything that had transpired over this period felt like a dream.
It left him in a daze.
Only when the faceless stone statue suddenly flashed before his mind's eye was he jolted back to reality.
After pondering for a long while, he let out a soft sigh and resigned himself to the situation.
Then he looked toward the fishing pond, refused to accept his bad luck, and sat right back down.
Even though he had already used up all his casts for the day, he still wanted to recapture the feeling.
Even if Ji Shaoli surpassed him in cultivation, realm, divine abilities, or anything else, Zhong Shentong would not have felt this aggrieved.
What he truly could not accept was that in such a short span of time, this man had hooked a golden orb of light—something Zhong Shentong had managed only twice in his entire life.
"When it comes to the Dao of fishing, I am inferior to no one!"
Zhong Shentong steeled his resolve, repeatedly rehearsing his casting motion in his mind.
...
Above the small mountain temple.
From the shadows, Ji Shaoli spent two or three days closely monitoring Zhong Shentong's daily routine.
Only after confirming that the man showed no abnormal behavior other than growing increasingly obsessed with fishing did he depart with peace of mind.
"Relying solely on the name of the Compassionate True Immortal of the Mortal Realm to fool him won't do in the long run."
"To ensure the secret here never leaks, additional measures will still be necessary."
"At merely Foundation Establishment cultivation, there's no need to use a Truth Enticement Fruit on him. Once my original self completes his breakthrough, the Bloodline Transfer secret art will suffice."
The endless treasures within the fishing pond obviously could not be exhausted in a short time or even in a single lifetime.
Thus, Ji Shaoli had no intention of squatting here every single day to fish.
Relying on himself alone, even if he fished for a hundred years, it would be a mere drop in the ocean compared to that boundless starry sky. Moreover, fishing purely by luck without knowing what treasures were down there was far too inefficient.
"Yes. In the future, anyone in the Myriad Realms Association who makes outstanding contributions shall be permitted to come fish here once."
"Even if someone actually catches a supreme treasure, there's no need to worry. In the end, it will all belong to me anyway."
While turning these thoughts over, he and Lin Ling paid a personal visit to the Spirit Wood Realm, delivering the Seven-Colored Jade Void Flowing Light to his original self.
Only then did he return to Haixuan Island.
As usual, he checked the Lesser Heavenly Profound Mirror for updates.
During the time he had spent focused on fishing, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had been anything but quiet.
The vast majority of the several hundred candidates for the Thirty-Three Immortal Chosen had already returned one after another.
Only thirty-three cultivators remained at the Alliance headquarters.
This signaled that the Immortal Chosen had been definitively finalized!
Everyone knew that these Immortal Chosen were virtually guaranteed to reach Dao Integration in the future, their prospects boundless.
Their origins and backgrounds had long since been thoroughly investigated.
Whether to fawn over them or simply establish friendly ties ahead of time, every cultivator who wasn't utterly foolish began trying by any means possible to build a connection with these thirty-three Immortal Chosen.
And though Wei Qizheng, who had successfully earned a spot, was entirely on his own without a family backing him, many cultivators still traveled great distances to reach out to his friends.
Naturally, the group Wei Qizheng had once belonged to, the Congyun Sea Mutual Aid Association, was also thrust into the public eye.
Yet after some investigation, people discovered that the members of this Mutual Aid Association were all minor cultivators within the Alliance system, none possessing deep backgrounds.
Furthermore, the highest cultivation among them was merely Nascent Soul.
"It's nothing more than huddling together for warmth,"
many inevitably concluded.
They could only marvel at this small group's incredible luck—despite having so few members, one of them had actually become an Immortal Chosen.
In the beginning, the members of the Mutual Aid Association had felt rather nervous facing the flood of inquiries.
However, upon noticing that cultivators from these so-called major factions paid little attention to them and steered every conversation back to Wei Qizheng within a few sentences, they gradually let go of their worries.
In truth, they had nothing to reveal anyway.
The secrets of the Mutual Aid Association rested solely on Ji Shaoli.
Chapter 858