Dominating a Spirit Creature!

A faint bloody radiance rose, tinting the amber-orange crab egg a deep blood-orange. Separated only by a thin, translucent membrane, the Marsh Cauldron's domination was not hindered in the slightest. The bloody water seeped through the membrane with ease. Like Mount Wuxing cast down by the Buddha to suppress Sun Wukong, the river character plummeted from above, pierced the nutrient fluid, trailed wisps of blood-colored mist, and struck the larval crab. Unlike the perilous ordeals of dominating Cannot Move and the Fat Catfish, the moment the connection formed, it felt as gentle as a breeze brushing against his face. Liang Qu felt it carefully. The final vacancy in his spiritual link was now completely filled, signifying that he had reached the limit of water beasts he could currently dominate. Unless he enhanced his mental strength, he would be unable to command any more. [Stone Pincer Crab successfully dominated. Ready for evolution.] As the bloody glow faded, the crab egg returned to its orange-yellow color. Inside, the eyestalks of the larval Stone Pincer Crab suddenly twitched. *Is it waking up?* Delighted, Liang Qu cupped the egg in both hands. The larvae inside these eggs developed differently from ordinary crabs, skipping the megalopa stage and progressing straight to the juvenile stage. The one he had chosen was the best-developed of the bunch, its body completely filling the spherical egg casing, so its imminent hatching was hardly a surprise. As for the remaining eggs, they could only be tossed into the pot and boiled down into another batch of essence of the waters. Raising them was out of the question. That was not something accomplished on a whim or with a few empty words. The crab monster had displayed far too little intelligence; it was difficult to imagine that without spiritual domination, the concept of a "master" would ever enter its mind. Troublesome, dangerous, fraught with uncertainty, and offering low returns—Liang Qu refused to touch such ventures. Within the translucent spherical membrane, the juvenile crab brandished its massive pincers, trying to burst through. But having just hatched with a soft shell, it struggled mightily, only managing to squash and deform the membrane again and again. Beside the sampan, Cannot Move and Ah Fei floated side by side on the water's surface, motionless, their eyes fixed on the soon-to-be-born juvenile crab. The juvenile crab struggled with mounting vigor, straining from its pincers to its torso until its entire body was twisting with effort. The membrane continually expanded, deformed, and twisted, until finally— *Pop!* With a sound like a popping bubble, the translucent egg membrane finally ruptured, collapsing into limp, crinkled folds. The viscous, clear nutrient fluid poured out and seeped between the cracks in the wooden deck. The newborn crab promptly crouched on the boards, using its pincers to tear off and nibble at its egg membrane bit by bit. At the same time, its white-jade soft shell grew lustrous and plump at a rate visible to the naked eye. Aside from its coloration being white due to its youth, it looked almost identical to the crab monster: its upper body stood upright in an inverted triangle tapering from wide to narrow, cinched at the waist with fuzz resembling a belt, and its lower body possessed six legs—a miniature of miniatures. Oh, and its abdominal apron was different too. A male crab had a pointed apron, making its chest look like two broad pectoral muscles, surprisingly handsome. Once the young crab finished eating, Liang Qu touched it with the pad of his index finger. The shell had hardened to a certain degree, taking on a jade-like texture, though it was not overly tough. He did not dare test it too hard, estimating it was probably about as firm as a thin piece of chocolate. The fist-sized juvenile puffed out its chest, head held high and claws on its hips, clearly brimming with pride at being acknowledged. Liang Qu chuckled, tapping the crab's head with a fingertip. "Since you're only the size of a fist, let's call you Fist." He focused his consciousness into the Marsh Cauldron once more to see how much essence of the waters this little fellow needed to evolve. [Consuming eight hundred points of essence of the waters will evolve the Stone Pincer Crab into a Stone Pincer Crab King.] *Eight hundred points?!* Liang Qu was taken aback by the sheer number of points required for the crab monster's evolution. Eight hundred was downright absurd. A whole crab monster had only provided a hundred points; eight hundred points would require killing more than eight of them. Just one crab monster had sent him and his two beasts fleeing in disarray, surviving by the skin of their teeth. If the creature had not been so dim-witted, they would have perished on the spot. Facing even one more was unthinkable, let alone eight. Perhaps only when the marsh spirit turned green or his martial arts broke through three stages consecutively, coupled with both beasts evolving, could he reliably kill a crab monster without getting hurt. *Still, this fighting power is mine now.* Liang Qu let the juvenile crab leap into his palm, hoping in his heart that it would grow up quickly. As a male crab, its combat strength would surely be even greater. When the time came, he would be able to strut through the shallows without fear. Any four- or five-meter-long alligator would learn its place with a single snap of those claws. He just wondered when he might be able to change his method of domination. Slicing his fingertips every time really stung. Looking past the crab, Liang Qu saw that the cuts on three of his fingertips were slowly healing, the restorative properties of the lotus root he had eaten earlier not having completely dissipated. Sadly, during the battle with the crab monster, nearly a third of the lotus root patch had either been eaten or destroyed. His heart bled at the thought. *My lotus roots! All my lotus roots!* Liang Qu had a deep attachment to the very patch that had earned him his first pot of gold. The only way to make up for the loss was to smash the useless pieces of crab shell and bury them under the lotus root patch as fertilizer. The crab monster's massive teal dorsal shell could serve as a greatshield, the two enormous pincers as smaller shields, and the pointed tips of the six legs beneath could be fashioned into harpoons. The rest was completely useless, so this at least salvaged some value from the waste. In the middle of the boat, the water bubbled and boiled. The crab eggs he had put in earlier were cooked. Liang Qu fished one out, let it cool a bit, and gulped it down broth and all, nearly scalding a blister onto his tongue. [Essence of the waters +0.6] *Only that much?* Liang Qu was thoroughly disappointed. Under normal circumstances, he would have been overjoyed, but now that his belly was already stuffed, a fraction of a point simply could not tempt him to force it down. "You guys can have them." Liang Qu tossed the rest of the crab eggs to the two beasts, shaving a bit more off the essence of the waters they needed to evolve. He spared the juvenile crab. Cannibalism was far too cruel, especially when the meal consisted of its own siblings. When they finished eating, Liang Qu looked at the sky. It appeared to be around four-thirty; he had not realized dealing with a crab monster would take up so much of his time. He recalled Senior Brother Xiang mentioning that morning that Master Yang would be teaching at the martial hall that afternoon or evening, staying until the hour of Xu. He definitely could not afford to miss it. Fortunately, there was still time. Liang Qu urged the Fat Catfish and Cannot Move to hurry and catch some fish. The two beasts submerged and vanished from sight, leaving behind only floating froth on the surface. Watching the two beasts depart, Liang Qu looked back at Fist on the prow and suddenly remembered something. If he remembered correctly, didn't crabs hibernate too? The crab monster underwater had been so ferocious that Liang Qu had subconsciously overlooked this fact. Out of the three underlings he had recruited, two needed to hibernate... Liang Qu suddenly felt a pang of worry. He could only hope that spirit creatures had a higher tolerance for low temperatures. Even if it did, a fist-sized juvenile crab would not be much help anyway. Until the coming spring, all their catches would likely depend on the Fat Catfish alone. Just past five o'clock, the Fat Catfish rested its head against the bow and spat out three more fish along with a splash of water. In one hour, the two beasts had caught twelve fish in total, worth around thirty or forty wen. "That should be enough. Any later and I won't make it in time." Liang Qu turned to Fist at the bow. "From now on, you'll live in the water alongside Ah Fei and Cannot Move." The juvenile crab clicked its large pincers, walked along the gunwale, and then bent its legs and leapt onto Cannot Move's head. The three beasts floated on the water—Fist perched atop the Sow Dragon's forehead—as they watched Liang Qu row away. Back at the wharf, Lin Songbao called out a greeting, then weighed the catch and counted out the coins. Looking out over the Zeye Marsh, Liang Qu could not help opening his arms wide and planting his feet apart, his damp trousers rustling sharply in the cold wind, looking thoroughly dashing. The sea was wide enough for fish to leap, the sky high enough for birds to fly! "You seem pretty happy," Lin Songbao asked with a smile. "Sure am." "Tell me so I can share the joy." "If I tell you, it won't be fun anymore." "?" Liang Qu chuckled, tossed the coin pouch into the air, and snatched it back as it fell in front of him. Now, time to head back for class!