abnabooks Chapter 418 Fishing
Chapter 418 Fishing
The entire Tiantongji is actually just a large island in Yunze. Surrounding Tiantongji is a vast expanse of water, with boats coming and going in an endless stream. There are large multi-story ships that are tens of meters long, as well as flat boats that are only two or three meters long. The boat channels for coming and going are separate, and although they are intricate, they operate in an orderly manner. The sounds of waves, the cries of white seagulls, and the songs of fishermen are mixed together, creating a lively atmosphere.
Since Old Man Yang was only piloting a small boat that could normally only seat two or three people, Han Kexin and Xiaoying sat on the boat, while Qin Xiaochuan and Guo Shiyi rode Kaiming and flew in the air. Han Kexin sat at the bow and used wind-elemental spiritual power to create a vacuum zone in front of the boat, greatly increasing its speed. The fishing boat glided across the water like a water bird. Qin Xiaochuan saw white gulls flying past him from time to time in the air. The water and sky blended together, and a gentle breeze blew, making him feel refreshed and relaxed. Before long, he was immersed in the boundless beauty.
With Han Kexin's help, the group arrived at Lingxi Village, the fishing village where Old Man Yang lived, in less than half an hour. It was also a small island with a dozen or so families living sparsely. Their houses were all simple wooden houses. According to Old Man Yang, not everyone in Yunze lived on the island. Some who were able would build a large boat and live on it with their whole family. Others would choose islands with more banyan forests and build houses on the banyan trees.
At the same time, Old Man Yang told the group that the entire Yunmengze was governed by gods of all sizes. Among them, the god in charge of Yunmengze was someone Qin Xiaochuan was quite familiar with, the River God often mentioned by Zhuangzi. Below the River God were even smaller gods, such as the god in charge of Lingxi Village, who was called General Fubo. These gods were actually ordinary beings who had accumulated enough merit to be promoted.
Having learned this, Qin Xiaochuan understood even more the importance of merit in Yunmengze.
Old Yang's house was a simple wooden hut, not luxurious, but it had all the necessities. After tidying up a bit, Old Yang took a few people out to fish.
Old Yang led a few people to the fishing spot they usually fished at. They cast their nets several times, but when they pulled them up, there was nothing inside except some water plants.
"Sigh." Old Yang sighed and said, "See? I told you it's hard to catch fish these days. You've made a wasted trip." He stood on the bow of the boat, looking at the shimmering water with a worried expression.
Qin Xiaochuan and Han Kexin sat in the middle of the boat, while Guo Shiyi and Xiaoying rode Kaiming through the air. Looking at the empty fishing net, Qin Xiaochuan asked, "Uncle, have you rarely encountered a situation where you catch nothing at all?"
"Yes," Old Yang sighed again. "My family has been fishermen for generations. This kind of thing rarely happens. Even if we were unlucky before, we would always catch one or two fish or shrimp in the net. But look at this now, there's nothing at all."
"It's alright, old man. It's probably because there aren't many fish here. Let's go to another spot and cast our nets a few more times. Maybe we can catch some fish then." Qin Xiaochuan comforted Old Man Yang while opening his mental space to probe the underwater situation. He found that there were indeed not many fish underwater, so he expanded his detection range and quickly found a body of water with a relatively large number of fish, which was only about fifty meters away from them.
"Let's try over there." Qin Xiaochuan pointed forward, and Han Kexin used wind-elemental spiritual power to propel the small boat quickly over. However, before the boat had even come to a stop, Qin Xiaochuan saw in his mental space that the fish under the boat had scattered. By the time Old Man Yang cast his fishing net, there was not a single fish or shrimp to be detected in the water within a ten-meter radius.
Looking at Old Man Yang's empty fishing net again, Han Kexin couldn't help but ask, "What happened?" She knew Qin Xiaochuan's abilities, and this shouldn't have happened.
Qin Xiaochuan didn't speak, but stared at the water and expanded his perception range again. Then he pointed in a direction. After Han Kexin led the fishing boat there, Qin Xiaochuan sensed a faint spiritual energy fluctuation in the water. After that fluctuation, the fish immediately fled in all directions.
Seeing this, Qin Xiaochuan closed his eyes and focused his senses in the direction of the spiritual energy fluctuations. He probed all the way to the bottom of the water a thousand meters away from them before discovering a strange-looking fish. The fish was huge and lay quietly on the bottom of the water. It had a fleshy growth on its head that was flashing with light, and its spiritual energy was emitted through that growth.
"Let's go a little over there," Qin Xiaochuan said, pointing in the direction of the strange fish. When Han Kexin led the fishing boat less than a hundred meters away from the strange fish, Qin Xiaochuan suddenly released a burst of spiritual energy, quickly taking control of the fish's consciousness. He then pointed to a spot with a large number of fish and had Old Man Yang cast his net to catch them again.
When Old Yang pulled the net up again, it was full of jumping fish. Tears streamed down his face as he excitedly exclaimed, "I really caught some! I never expected so many! It's been so many years since I've caught so many fish in one net!"
"Gotcha! Gotcha! Now we have money, and we can go buy some delicious food." Xiaoying, sitting on Kaiming's back, waved happily. Kaiming then lowered the two of them from the air and hovered beside the fishing boat.
Han Kexin looked at Qin Xiaochuan and asked, "Is there something unusual underwater that's causing us to be unable to catch any fish?"
"I don't know if it counts as abnormal," Qin Xiaochuan replied, and then he described in detail what he saw in the water.
"Those are mirage fish," Old Yang explained as he tidied his fishing net. "They assist the gods in managing the fish in the water. Even though they live underwater, they can sense how many fishing boats are on the surface thousands of meters away and can drive the fish to migrate to avoid disasters and overfishing. That's why we also call them grazing fish."
Qin Xiaochuan said, "According to you, this mirage fish is driven by the gods, right? So its actions are also due to the gods' will?"
"Is it because you overfish that it's doing this?" Han Kexin asked.
"Impossible! Yunze is our home. We would never do something so foolish as to destroy our home," Old Man Yang quickly explained. "We have lived here for generations, and we have always caught the same kinds of fish. Nothing like this has ever happened before."
"Then why does it want to stop you from fishing?" Qin Xiaochuan asked.
"I don't know either." Old Man Yang shook his head. "Over the years, we have not offended General Fubo, and we have always sent our tribute on time. This shouldn't be happening."
Even Old Man Yang couldn't explain the reason, and Qin Xiaochuan had no idea either. Fortunately, they had already caught the fish, so they no longer needed to worry about the magic crystals.
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