Dihua Continent, located about a mile north of Qingliu Ruins, is an island in the middle of the Lio River.
The soil here wasn't particularly fertile, but it supported vast fields of reeds. In the autumn, when the reeds bloomed, the sight was beautiful enough to attract large crowds of tourists.
But now, in early spring, the reeds showed only leaves, no flowers, so naturally, there were few people on Dihua Continent.
On this day, Lü Zhong rowed a small, barely-floating sampan to the island.
The sampan was rickety, but it had taken quite a bit of persuasion for him to borrow it.
On the sampan sat a small clay pot, from which came the faint sound of splashing water. It was the secret weapon he had specially prepared.
The clay pot was filled with live bait: small loaches called Dragon-beard Loaches, named for their long, thin barbels that resembled the whiskers of a legendary dragon. Peach Blossom Mandarin Fish loved to eat them—a fact Lü Zhong had learned from a kitchen hand at Jiangwei Pavilion in exchange for a Cleaning Talisman. The helper had told him that every time they gutted a Peach Blossom Mandarin Fish, they found the remains of these little loaches inside. It was clear how much the fish adored them.
What he had to do now was row the boat to a spot above a hidden reef at the tip of Dihua Continent.
Lü Zhong didn't know exactly where on Dihua Continent Yanr Liu had caught his Peach Blossom Mandarin Fish. However, based on years of fishing experience from a past life, he knew this was the most likely spot. After all, there were always clues to where fish would hide.
'To think I've actually become the kind of person I used to hate the most!'
Lü Zhong sighed to himself before pushing a heavy stone anchor, tied with a hemp rope, into the river. This secured the little sampan against the strong current.
The decaying sampan CREAKED, its bow dipping slightly as the rope went taut. The rushing river slammed against the hull, and the planks groaned, the entire vessel looking as if it might fall apart at any moment.
Fortunately, it held together.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Lü Zhong took out a spool of fishing line with a small, shimmering silver hook attached.
Above the small hook was a knot tied to a small stone, which would serve as a makeshift sinker.
He took a Dragon-beard Loach from the clay pot, wrapped its slippery body in a tattered rag, and then worked the hook through it. The rig was now complete.
Next came the most important step.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly let the fishing line out from his hand.
With no proper fishing rod, Lü Zhong had no choice but to use a handline.
He felt a faint tug, a sign that the bait had reached the bottom.
Now came the wait. He had to hope a Peach Blossom Mandarin Fish would take the bait.
He wasn't sure how long he waited. The hot Sun was making him thirsty, so he untied the bamboo canteen from his waist and took a few sips of cool water.
Suddenly, the line wrapped around his left hand went taut!
A violent struggle traveled up the line, cutting painfully into Lü Zhong's hand.
"A bite!"
Lü Zhong's eyes lit up. He tossed the bamboo canteen aside and frantically started pulling in the line.
The fish on the hook wasn't large, but its pull was terrifyingly strong. He had no idea what he'd caught; he just pulled with all his might, trying to haul it out of the water as quickly as possible.
If the fish made it into a crevice in the reef, all his work would be for nothing.
After a fierce struggle that left his hand bleeding from the line, Lü Zhong finally managed to pull the fish out of the water.
SPLASH!
Unfortunately, it was a flash of silver-white.
Lü Zhong's heart sank with disappointment, but he pulled the fish, which weighed only a few taels, onto the boat anyway.
The fish had big, round eyes, and its head was angled sharply upward, giving it a rather comical appearance.
Although it wasn't the fish he was after and didn't seem to emit any Spiritual Qi, it would at least make a meal. He just wondered if the meat would be too pungent or full of tiny bones.
He threaded a rope of woven grass through its gills and tied it off to keep it from flopping out of the boat.
Lü Zhong baited the hook with another Dragon-beard Loach.
He'd learned his lesson this time, wrapping the tattered rag around his hand to keep the line from cutting into his skin again.
After another long wait, he felt a tug on the line.
But when he pulled, it felt surprisingly light.
He pulled it up and saw that it was another one of those strange fish.
This one didn't even weigh three taels; one look told him it was a recently hatched fry. God knows how it had dared to swallow a Dragon-beard Loach as thick as a finger without choking itself to death.
Rolling his eyes, Lü Zhong unhooked it and casually tossed it back into the water.
He looked into the clay pot; he was down to his last three Dragon-beard Loaches.
Muttering to himself, he baited the hook again and dropped it into the river, just as he had the last two times.
But this time, the bait had barely sunk before an immense force yanked on the line.
Even with the rag as padding, Lü Zhong felt the line cut into his hand, the pain so sharp his fingertips quickly turned purplish-black.
Even so, he refused to let go.
'What kind of fish is this strong!' Lü Zhong gritted his teeth and pulled, locked in a tug-of-war with whatever was in the water.
For a moment, they were evenly matched.
The outcome would depend on who gave out first: Lü Zhong, whose grip might fail, or the fish, which might exhaust its strength.
'Would the line snap? Would the hook bend out of shape?'
Neither was likely to happen.
The fishing line was braided from Furious Bull grass. Although this weed rotted easily, its tensile strength when fresh was terrifyingly high; even a fish weighing over a hundred pounds probably couldn't snap it.
As for the hook, Lü Zhong had traded his refined steel sword for it.
It might look small and unassuming, but it had been forged from a scrap piece of a Magical Artifact.
The hook itself was incredibly hard and remarkably resilient.
The only real risk was the fish tearing its own flesh in its frantic struggle. That was its only way to get free.
He lost track of time, his clothes becoming soaked with sweat.
In the end, the fierce battle between man and fish concluded with his victory.
The great fish, having lost all ability to resist, floated belly-up to the surface. It was a species he had never seen before.
Lü Zhong was dumbfounded. He muttered, "What kind of fish is this? It's even stranger than the other two."
The fish floating belly-up was about five feet long and covered in fine, jet-black scales. Its markings were more like those of a serpent than a fish, and even its head looked almost identical to a snake's.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. After all that effort, this was what he had pulled from the depths.
Seeing the Sun about to dip below the distant mountains, Lü Zhong, with his low cultivation, dared not linger in the wild. According to common rumors, this was when Evil Cultivators came out to hunt. He quickly untied the rope at the bow, letting the small sampan drift downstream toward Qingliu Ruins.
During the day, Evil Cultivators wouldn't dare approach the Ruins Market, but that wasn't necessarily true under the cover of night.
He had been fishing here for a long time; it was entirely possible an Evil Cultivator had already taken notice of him.
'Best to play it safe and leave quickly!'
Paddling as fast as the current would allow, Lü Zhong finally made it back to Qingliu Ruins just as the lanterns were being lit for the evening.
After mooring the small sampan at the bank, he wrapped the large fish in cloth, heaved it over his shoulder, and started walking toward Jiangwei Pavilion.
Jiangwei Pavilion might not take it, but it was worth a try.
'What if they did?'