Another Treasure Fish! Rapid Growth

Another Treasure Fish! Rapid Growth Dominating the six-whisker catfish had proven well worth it. Less than five days had passed since the last ox-horn pomfret was found, and today it brought another surprise. If he could catch a treasure fish on average every five days, then probably no one in the entire Yang Family Martial Hall was so extravagantly well-off. At the thought, Liang Qu quickened his pace considerably and made it back to Yixing in half a shichen. The edge of Pingyang Town was also Zeye Marsh, so he could have slipped straight into the water, but to avoid drawing attention, he still chose to return to the wharf. At the wharf, through the directional sense in his spiritual link, Liang Qu took the boat out to the vicinity. As the oars slapped the water's surface, the Sow Dragon, receiving his call, surfaced to meet him. The Zeye Marsh was not as calm as it looked. Never mind the great demons in the depths — in the shallows there were some Sow Dragons of a different species, four or five meters long, that could capsize a small sampan without any trouble. With Cannot Move as an escort, it was a bit safer. Liang Qu took his dip net and slipped into the water. After eating the ox-horn pomfret, he'd gone off to sell fish and study martial arts, and since his fusion rose he hadn't been in the water at all. Now he only felt a burst of ease and freedom. [Cauldron Master: Liang Qu] [Refined Marsh Spirit: Water Monkey (White) (Fusion: 8.3%)] [Essence of the Waters: None] [River Favor: None] [Dominated Water Beasts: Taihua alligator, six-whisker catfish] [Evaluation: The Water Monkey marsh spirit originates from the great Lord of the Huai and Guo Rivers; it can rouse only weakly in one of such meager nature and frail life — a small nobody.] His fusion had already reached 8.3, and the water flow he could control came to fifty jin, with a slight improvement in control — proof that Liang Qu's original idea had been right. As the marsh spirit's fusion rose, not only did the water flow grow stronger, but his command over it improved as well, turning it into a water blade, and controlling blood would be just around the corner. Everything was thriving. And when Liang Qu looked again at the evaluation at the very bottom, he had some thoughts of his own. After obtaining the Marsh Cauldron, he often studied the patterns on it. If he wasn't mistaken, the so-called Lord of the Huai and Guo Rivers should be the famous Wuzhiqi. Wuzhiqi's true form was a giant ape — green body, white head, golden eyes, snow-white fangs — matching the most striking pattern on the Marsh Cauldron. Legend said that even Yu the Great, together with Yinglong, could not kill it, and could only imprison it beneath the water. Who was Yinglong? He was a god of creation and a god who made things from ancient myth, the true dragon and progenitor of the dragon race — legend held that if a fish or shrimp drank a single mouthful of Yinglong's urine, it could become a true dragon! The comparison alone told you how formidable Wuzhiqi must have been. As for the other patterns, they were likely other water gods; the one with a human head and a snake's body was probably Gonggong. The Black Emperor on the other side — he didn't know who that was, but his gut told him it was someone seriously powerful. Especially since the spear held by the spear-wielding divine general looked a great deal like a three-pointed, double-edged blade. Could it be Erlang Shen? Was Erlang Shen a water god? If so, then the Marsh Cauldron was absolutely an extraordinary divine artifact. It was said that in the deepest depths of the Zeye Marsh lurked flood dragons that slept for a full sixty years at a stretch and stirred up wind and waves when they woke — but before Wuzhiqi, they were nothing more than a stick of spicy gluten. It was just a pity that he was only a Water Monkey, worlds apart from the Lord of the Huai and Guo Rivers. The road ahead was long — he still needed to work hard! Under the Sow Dragon's escort, Liang Qu found Fat Catfish and discovered that the so-called treasure fish was actually a big-headed fish covered all over in orange tiger stripes! It was exactly the tiger-head grouper that someone at the neighboring wharf had caught last month! Only this one before him was huge — as long as an arm, about six or seven jin. If he sold it, it might fetch even more than the earlier ox-horn pomfret! Ah Fei, you really are my lucky star! Liang Qu happily patted Fat Catfish's head, then sent the two beasts off in two other directions so that together they formed a three-sided encirclement closing in on the fish. With the Water Monkey's ability, Liang Qu was hard for fish to notice, so he had Fat Catfish and the Sow Dragon launch the attack first. The startled tiger-head grouper turned and fled, only to discover, when it rushed to Liang Qu's side, that someone had been lying in ambush there all along. By the time it wanted to escape again, it was already too late — its huge momentum left it unable to turn at all. Dozens of jin of water pressed in on the tiger-head grouper, locking its body in place. Liang Qu twisted his body and swept the dip net, as if playing a beautiful golf shot, and scooped the tiger-head grouper into the net! Beautiful! Liang Qu quickly flipped the dip net pole, wrapping the tiger-head grouper in the mesh, then stepped in and gathered fish and net together into his arms, swam up to the surface, and tossed it into the boat's hold. Climbing back into the boat, Liang Qu took out his stone knife and nimbly gutted the fish, tossing all the offal — innards, gills, scraps — to the two beasts. The two beasts opened their mouths wide and gulped it down, wagging their tails in excitement and splashing up a great deal of foam on the water's surface. "Wait — have you two gotten bigger?" Liang Qu was boiling water to cook the fish slices when he suddenly noticed that the two water beasts seemed to have grown a good deal. He'd been too anxious about catching the treasure fish to notice before; now, taking a careful look — turns out Cannot Move's body length, previously close to but not quite two meters, was now solidly over two meters. Fat Catfish too — originally just over two meters, and now it looked almost half a size larger, nearly two-point-three or two-point-four meters. All told, he'd dominated the two beasts for less than a month. This was absolutely not a normal rate of growth. Liang Qu suddenly thought of the Marsh Cauldron's earlier evolution prompt. Could it be that after the two beasts ate the treasure fish, they'd absorbed the essence of the waters from those scraps? He communed with the Marsh Cauldron. [Can expend 77.9 points of Essence of the Waters to evolve the Taihua alligator into a Hornwood Alligator] [Can expend 77.8 points of Essence of the Waters to evolve the six-whisker catfish into a tiger-head catfish] It really had dropped! Liang Qu was overjoyed — he hadn't expected that feeding them the treasure fish scraps would have such an effect. It was completely cost-free use of waste! "Good, growing bigger is good. Big is strong, big is beautiful. Come on, eat more — the fish head's for you two as well." Liang Qu sucked the fish brain clean, then tossed the fish head to the two beasts. Don't be fooled by how he seemed like a black-hearted boss, making the two beasts that found the treasure fish eat only scraps — but everything is a matter of comparison. Under his domination, they had developed spirit wisdom and were far smarter than before, which was why they could hunt treasure fish with purpose. Before, they'd been muddled and mindless — never mind finding treasure fish, they didn't even know what a treasure fish looked like. Even if they came across one, they'd take it for an ordinary fish, and as long as they weren't hungry, they wouldn't bother catching it. Treasure fish were stronger and faster, and harder to catch than ordinary fish. All in all, they'd come out ahead. A seven-jin tiger-head grouper, even after removing the inedible parts, still had over four jin of meat. Even though the fish meat itself was incredibly fresh and sweet, by the end he was practically force-feeding himself — luckily, the essence of the waters it contained did not disappoint him. [Essence of the Waters +3.4] After sucking the marrow from the fish bones and tossing the bones to the two beasts, Liang Qu was so stuffed he was panting a little and his whole body felt hot. Still, he forced himself to his feet and, following the refining method in the Ape Fist, began his conditioning. Training right after eating a treasure fish gave the best results — he couldn't waste such an opportunity. The tiger-head grouper's quality was inferior to the ox-horn pomfret's, but it made up for it in quantity, and its overall boost to qi and blood was even greater. As Liang Qu went through the fists, he quickly felt heat roused throughout his body, and then that thread of qi in his chest appeared once more. Before, it had only appeared halfway through; now it came after just three stances, which showed the treasure fish's effect really was extraordinary. As the qi circulated, it rapidly grew stronger. Liang Qu began to sweat and secrete oil quickly, and by the time he finished the whole set, he was as soaked as if he'd been fished out of the water. Liang Qu drank up the fish soup to replenish his fluids. Feeling the fish meat in his stomach still not fully digested, he forced himself through the whole set once more despite his exhaustion. He went through it three times in a row until dark, until the fish meat in his belly was completely digested. Now the qi in his chest had grown from a mere thread to the thickness of a tuft of hair, and afterward it did not dissipate right away — instead it circulated for a while longer. Liang Qu collapsed onto the boat, too exhausted to move, his eyelids drooping as he sank into a deep sleep. The Sow Dragon and the catfish circled the boat, keeping a silent watch. Early the next morning, Liang Qu, sticky all over, jumped into the water and gave himself a good wash. When he climbed back ashore, his body already showed fairly distinct muscle contours, he'd grown a bit taller, and he looked even more valiant. According to Hu Qi, once the qi in his chest grew as thick as a little finger, he could begin skin tempering and attempt the breakthrough. At his current rate, it probably wouldn't take more than three months, would it? Breaking through the skin gate was just around the corner! Liang Qu was in high spirits. Gazing at the rising sun in the east, he felt as though he could see a brand-new life ahead of him. "Ah Fei, go catch some fish. Cannot Move, go back and keep watch over the lotus root."