"Good brother, come look! Quick, come take a look!"
Upon returning to the martial hall, Liang Qu hailed Chen Jiechang and led him excitedly back to his room.
Chen Jiechang followed behind, puzzled. "Look at what? The thing in that long box?"
"That's right. Let me show you my prized treasure."
Liang Qu opened his long wooden box, revealing the magnificent spear in all its glory.
A dark purple shaft resembling red sandalwood, a black-gold spearhead—every part was breathtakingly exquisite, yet concentrated with an astonishing baleful aura.
"What a gorgeous spear!"
A look of awe crossed Chen Jiechang's face, and he gasped in admiration.
"Impressive, right? My third senior brother gave it to me!"
"Incredible!"
Chen Jiechang couldn't resist reaching out to touch it, but the moment he took hold, he was stunned. "Hiss—so heavy! Just how much does this spear weigh?"
"Ninety-six jin!"
"That heavy? Wouldn't a graze wound and a solid hit kill? Can you even wield it?"
"If I go all out, barely."
"Impressive, truly impressive." Chen Jiechang praised him, turning back to study the spear. The more he looked, the more striking it seemed. He asked, "Does your spear have a name?"
Liang Qu was taken aback. He really hadn't thought about that, and Senior Brother Lu hadn't mentioned it either, so it was clearly up to him to decide.
"How about the Tiger-Head Gold-Dusted Spear? Look at this chihu—so imposing and gorgeous."
"That's way too cliché. Every general's weapon in historical romances is called that. Pick another one, pick another one."
Liang Qu found himself stumped.
Naming things truly wasn't his strong suit—one look at his four little critters made that obvious. He racked his brain, frantically searching through historical lore in an attempt to borrow something suitable.
"How about the Wave-Subduing Spear?"
Chen Jiechang pondered it for a moment. At first hear, it didn't sound overwhelmingly domineering, but there was a distinct resonance to it.
When fishermen set out in their boats, what they feared most were storms and violent waves; the symbolism was auspicious.
"The Wave-Subduing Spear—what a great name! Ah Shui, you truly are an educated man who's studied books after all."
"Haha, then Wave-Subduing Spear it is!"
Having received a name, the connection between Liang Qu and the Wave-Subduing Spear seemed to deepen by a fraction, feeling all the more wondrous.
The two of them admired it together for quite a while until Hu Qi called Liang Qu out for special training. Only then did Liang Qu reluctantly close the wooden box before leaving.
Chen Jiechang found it amusing. "It's not going to run away. The way you're acting makes me think spiritual weapons can fly off on their own."
"Haha, I couldn't help myself, couldn't help myself."
"Oh, right. When I went to the academy this morning to ask for leave on your behalf, a young teacher named Si Hengyi told me that as soon as you're free, you should go to the academy. He said he'll be there even on his rest days."
"All right, got it."
Liang Qu nodded. It seemed his "method" was fermenting, but he wouldn't have time to visit the academy for the next few days.
"I'm planning to take a boat back to Yixing this afternoon to deliver the Blood Qi Pills to Li Libo, and I'll be back before dark," Chen Jiechang said. "Do you have anything you want me to bring?"
"Actually, I do."
Liang Qu took out the small porcelain vial containing the Flesh-Replenishing Pills, shook out one pill, sliced it in two, and separated out half.
"It's for healing wounds. Just put it in the Blood Qi Pill bottle and give it to Li Libo together. Half a pill is plenty; the injury on his hand will heal in a day or two."
Back then, the situation had been urgent, and he hadn't had the time to harvest a couple of lotus roots to grind into powder.
"All right, I'll thank you on his behalf."
"It's nothing. Also, check in on Uncle Chen's family for me. Tell them to stay inside as much as possible these next two days."
Liang Qu had considered bringing Uncle Chen's family to the martial hall, but on second thought, the martial hall would likely bear the brunt of any clash, and it might not actually be safer than Yixing. So he had dropped the idea.
"Understood, I've got it all noted."
"Then that's all. I'm heading out to train."
Chen Jiechang nodded and began packing his things.
On the training ground, Liang Qu stood with a staff in hand.
With Hu Qi's assistance, his grasp of the force-exertion method had grown increasingly adept. He could now ensure his qi did not scatter within three exchanges of blows, and he was currently attempting to integrate weapons.
Hit by Hu Qi for the fourth time, the qi and blood within Liang Qu was completely drained.
A few apprentices watching the commotion let out jeers.
Hu Qi furrowed his brows and barked sternly, "What was that? Spacing out in the middle of combat? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Liang Qu bowed his head obediently and took the scolding.
"Over there—lift the stone weights thirty times! Once you're done, we train again!"
"Yes."
Liang Qu scurried dispiritedly to a corner of the training ground and began lifting the stone weights.
Senior Brother Hu didn't always wear a genial face. Once Liang Qu made a major blunder, he would get thrashed several times with the staff and then chewed out.
*Sigh.*
He hadn't anticipated that right while practicing, Fat Catfish would send a message saying it had found a horned treasure fish—a massive one.
A horned one—wasn't that an ox-horn pomfret?
An ox-horn pomfret weighing a little over one jin yielded 1.8 essence of the waters from its flesh alone, possessing far superior quality to red-blood perch or tiger-head grouper; they weren't even on the same tier of treasure fish.
The pair of horns also served a unique purpose. To this day, he still kept a pair buried beneath the rice vat at home.
When the mind wavered, qi easily fell into disarray.
Yet right now, he couldn't pull himself away.
He didn't know when Senior Brother Xu and Senior Brother Xiang would return. Even if it took until tomorrow, leaving now would look far too strange.
After mulling it over, Liang Qu decided to give up on this ox-horn pomfret.
Not that they shouldn't catch it—rather, he would have the three beasts figure out a way themselves, and once caught, they could divide it amongst themselves directly.
He just didn't know if they could pull it off.
Times had changed. Although an ox-horn pomfret was precious, it was no longer an indispensable resource for him.
If the three beasts could eat it, at least Fat Catfish and Cannot Move would take another step closer to evolving, which was a good thing either way.
In Zeye Marsh, Fat Catfish received Liang Qu's message, its two thickest barbels twisting together in what looked like a troubled frown.
Strange-looking fish were hard to catch; they possessed monstrous strength, swam far faster than ordinary fish, and were small and agile.
Yet at the thought of eating plump, tender fish meat instead of fish bones and fish entrails, Fat Catfish resolved to brace its fish skin and take a crack at it.
Cannot Move and Fist gathered round, and the three beasts began discussing their strategy.
In a quiet corner, catfish barbels flailed, alligator claws swiped at empty water, and crab pincers snapped in the void, sending a stream of bubbles rushing up to burst at the surface.
A moment later, the three beasts dispersed, surrounding the ox-horn pomfret in a triangle formation.
Once they closed to within five meters, Cannot Move struck first. Being the slowest swimmer, it wasn't suited for catching prey; its role was merely to drive the ox-horn pomfret toward Fat Catfish and Fist.
The tactics learned from the heavenly god truly proved effective. In its panic, the ox-horn pomfret fled blindly toward Fist. Just as it was about to dart overhead, Fist leaped up and clamped its giant pincers firmly onto the pomfret's tail!
However, this ox-horn pomfret was massive, weighing a full eight jin. Suspended in the water with nowhere to gain leverage, Fist was actually dragged along behind it.
Fortunately, frightened by Fist, the ox-horn pomfret veered in a new direction—playing right into Ah Fei's hands. As it brushed past, Ah Fei sprang out from the silt, whipped its tail, and slammed the ox-horn pomfret against the riverbed. Turning in a flash, it crunched down, shattering the treasure fish's skull in a single bite.
The hunt was a resounding success!
Cannot Move hurriedly paddled over, and the three beasts clustered together, all eager to feast.
Fat Catfish flicked the treasure fish in front of itself with its tail, twitched its barbels, and drew a line across the fish's head, pointing to Cannot Move; then drew a line across the tail, pointing to Fist; and finally drew a line across the belly, pointing to itself.
Cannot Move shook its head furiously, scraped the treasure fish under its own belly with its claws, extended a sharp talon, pointed at the fish head, and gestured toward Fat Catfish; traced the tail, gesturing toward Fist; and traced the belly, gesturing toward itself.
Fist clamped its pincer straight onto Cannot Move's claw! Cannot Move thrashed its tail in pain. Fat Catfish opened its wide mouth and blew bubbles, and Fist seized the chance to snap its pincer onto one of its barbels as well.
While the two beasts fumed with rage, Fist pinched the treasure fish, dragged it in front of itself, traced the fish head, pointed at Fat Catfish; traced the tail, pointed at Cannot Move; and traced the fish belly, pointed at itself.
The three beasts stared at each other.
In an instant, thick clouds of mud and sand billowed up through the water...
Chapter 76