Chapter 15: Big Fish! The Magical Fish Stone

At a bend in the river, Lu Qing finally discovered another new fishing spot.

【Beginner Fishing Spot: A nutrient-rich area with lush aquatic plants, a preferred foraging ground for schools of fish.】

【Exotic fruits grow above; these are favorites of certain strange fish. Fishing here may bring unexpected surprises.】

The white light it emitted was actually much denser than the previous beginner fishing spot he had found.

"Exotic fruits growing above?"

Lu Qing looked up, searching the banks of the fishing spot.

Soon, several peculiarly shaped plants caught his attention.

Under the scrutiny of his superpower, these plants also emitted a white light.

【Blood Apricot Tree: Produces blood apricots; non-toxic and medicinal.】

【Rumor has it that blood apricots contain a special substance highly favored by certain strange fish.】

"Blood apricots?"

Lu Qing looked at the small, red fruits hanging from the tree, each about the size of a pinky finger.

So these were the exotic fruits the strange fish liked to eat?

His heart stirred, and he walked forward.

Fortunately, the Blood Apricot Tree wasn't very tall, and he successfully gathered a handful.

"Brother, those fruits look so yummy."

Seeing the bright red blood apricots in Lu Qing's hand, Xiao Yan couldn't help but swallow hard.

"These aren't for eating."

Although the information from his superpower indicated that blood apricots were non-toxic, it also stated they were medicinal. Since they were medicine, Lu Qing didn't dare let Xiao Yan eat them recklessly.

"If they aren't for eating, what did you pick them for, Brother?"

"For fishing. Some fish really like eating these fruits. I want to see if I can use them to catch a big fish," Lu Qing explained.

"Big fish like eating fruit too?" Xiao Yan's eyes widened instantly.

"Yeah, fish like all sorts of things—earthworms, fruit, corn, grass, they like it all."

"They like corn and grass too?!" The little girl's eyes grew even wider.

It was her first time hearing such things, and she found it absolutely magical.

"So, Xiao Yan can't eat these fruits; they're for catching big fish."

"Mm-hmm! Xiao Yan understands!" The little girl nodded repeatedly.

Compared to the fruit, she was much more interested in the big fish.

"Xiao Yan, wait here for a bit. Brother is going to tidy up this area."

After instructing Xiao Yan not to wander off, Lu Qing tied his short-handled machete tightly to a wooden pole and began clearing the weeds and shrubs along the bank of the fishing spot.

Lu Qing had done this countless times in his past life, so the task was second nature to him.

Before long, he had cleared the weeds and trees, carving out a proper fishing spot.

He left the Blood Apricot Trees untouched, however; after all, they were white-light grade plants and quite valuable.

Once the spot was ready, Lu Qing prepared to start fishing.

He didn't use any chum. The food at home wasn't abundant enough for him to be wasteful like this.

Regardless, the resources in this otherworldly river were plentiful, and with a natural fishing spot selected by his superpower, he was confident he could catch fish even without chum.

Sitting by the bank, Lu Qing planned to start with earthworms to ensure they had enough food for the next two days.

He threaded an earthworm onto the hook, cast the line into the water, and watched the float settle on the surface.

As expected of the spot with the densest white light among the ones selected by his superpower.

No sooner had Lu Qing lowered the hook than he saw the float move, even before he could fully settle his fishing rod.

First, it trembled a few times, then it suddenly plunged downward.

With a flick of his wrist, a whistling sound rang out as he instantly pulled the fish up.

It wasn't a large fish, just a small white fish about two fingers wide.

Lu Qing raised an eyebrow. It seemed these small white fish were one of the most common species in this river, appearing everywhere.

"It's a little white fish!"

Xiao Yan also saw the fish and immediately cried out.

"Yeah, a little white fish. Looks like we'll have a big harvest today."

Lu Qing removed the fish and placed it in the bucket.

Catching a fish so quickly provided a smooth start, giving him a premonition that he might actually land a big one today.

Thinking of this, Lu Qing's spirits lifted.

However, the subsequent developments went somewhat against his expectations.

After catching a few more small fish, he cast his hook again, but after a long time, there was no sign of a bite.

"If the small fish aren't biting, it's either because there are no fish left, or a big one is driving the schools away."

As an experienced fisherman, Lu Qing immediately made his judgment.

He decisively pulled up the hook, removed the earthworm, and took out a small cloth bag.

"It's the secret weapon!"

Xiao Yan recognized it immediately as something her brother had tucked away before they left home.

Lu Qing opened the bag and took out several golden-yellow kernels.

They were fresh kernels of corn.

Lu Qing had asked Auntie Wang from next door for this corn this morning, specifically to use as bait.

In his past life, whenever Lu Qing went wild fishing to catch big fish, he almost always used corn.

Species like carp and grass carp especially loved corn; it never failed.

He wasn't sure if the big fish in this world were the same, but he had to try.

If that didn't work, he planned to try the freshly picked blood apricots.

Hooking a plump, fresh kernel of corn, Lu Qing began fishing again.

To his surprise, this time, things went unexpectedly once more.

The hook had barely hit the water, and the float hadn't even settled, and he was still half-crouched preparing to sit down.

Suddenly, without warning, the float plunged violently into the water and vanished. The line went taut, and a massive force surged through the rod, causing Lu Qing to stumble.

Fortunately, Lu Qing reacted quickly, stepping forward to steady himself.

"Alright then, playing dirty, are we!"

Gripping the rod with both hands and feeling the immense pull, a look of excitement crossed Lu Qing's face.

A big fish—this was definitely a big fish!

That kind of strength certainly couldn't come from a fish weighing less than five pounds.

*Whish!*

Seeing that he couldn't break free, the fish below began to exert even more force, pulling the line so hard it whistled through the air.

"You think you can slip away from me? No way!"

Seeing the fish surge again, Lu Qing didn't panic. He slightly loosened his grip to bleed off most of the tension, then tightened it again to continue the tug-of-war.

His newly made rod had been verified by his superpower to withstand a force of a hundred pounds; he didn't believe this fish could break it.

"Go, Brother, go!"

Beside him, Xiao Yan was extremely nervous.

But she didn't dare shout too loudly for fear of scaring the big fish away, so she could only clench her small fists and cheer him on in a whisper.

The following time became a battle of wits and strength between Lu Qing and the fish.

After a grueling thirty-minute struggle of back-and-forth pulling, Lu Qing finally felt the fish's strength begin to wane.

"Finally wore you out," Lu Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

This struggle had exhausted a significant amount of his stamina.

If not for the acupuncture session with Old Doctor Chen two days ago, which had restored much of his vitality, he might not have been able to outlast this fellow.

Once a fish reached its limit, it was impossible for it to escape Lu Qing's grasp.

After a while, with another surge of strength from Lu Qing, the large fish that had been wrestling with him finally surfaced.

The siblings finally saw the true face of the creature.

"Such a big fish!"

Seeing the fish's head and back, Xiao Yan could no longer contain her screams of wonder.

Even Lu Qing couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

Good heavens, with a body like that, this fish must weigh at least ten pounds.

Suppressing his excitement, Lu Qing continued to hold the rod firmly.

In fishing, the more you reach the end, the less you can relax.

Otherwise, if the fish escaped at the very last moment, he would likely regret it for years to come.

However, despite all his caution, an accident occurred just as Lu Qing was about to land the fish.

He realized a very important problem.

He hadn't prepared a landing net!

Of course, he couldn't really blame himself, as there were no landing nets in their home.

Forget a landing net; they didn't even have a simple hand net.

Without a net, he couldn't just scoop the fish up; Lu Qing had to choose to continue playing it.

He waited until the fish was completely exhausted before having Xiao Yan hold the rod while he lay on the bank, intending to pull the fish up himself.

This was actually dangerous; a fish of this size, if it still had any strength left, could easily knock a person unconscious with a single flick of its tail.

Fortunately, Lu Qing had indeed played the fish until it had no strength left.

In the end, everything went smoothly without incident, and Lu Qing managed to pull the fish up.

"Brother, this big fish looks even taller than Xiao Yan!"

When Lu Qing carried the fish to the bank away from the water, Xiao Yan gestured and exclaimed in amazement.

"It does seem a bit taller."

Lu Qing looked; it really did.

This large fish was over a meter long; held up, it was indeed slightly taller than Xiao Yan.

"Let me see what kind of fish this actually is."

Seeing the fish's long body and scales that were as neat and shiny as armor plates, it possessed an air of dominance.

He immediately activated his superpower to check the fish's information.

Under his gaze, a dense white light soon surfaced on the fish's body.

"It's white light."

Lu Qing felt a hint of disappointment.

He had been wondering if a fish this large might reach red-light grade.

But on second thought, he felt he was being too greedy.

If this big fish were red-light grade, he wasn't even sure if he could have pulled it up.

One must remember that he had only seen red-light grade items twice.

First was Old Doctor Chen, and second was the Snow Silkworm Silk.

And both were extraordinary.

Old Doctor Chen was a cultivator, and the Snow Silkworm Silk was a celestial treasure.

If this big fish also reached red-light grade, it might possess some special ability.

In that case, it was anyone's guess who would be pulling whom.

He might have been dragged into the water in the very first round.

After calming his mind, Lu Qing turned his attention to the newly appeared text.

【Green-Armored Fish: A large fish species covered in green armor-like scales. A tyrant of the river, containing a fish stone.】

【Rumor has it that a mature Green-Armored Fish grows a fish stone in its throat. Once extracted and polished, it can be worn to soothe the soul and steady the mind.】

When Lu Qing read the information, he was struck by a wave of pleasant surprise.

A fish stone!

This large fish he had just caught actually had a fish stone!

The concept of a fish stone was not unfamiliar to Lu Qing.

In his past life, he had once caught a wild large grass carp weighing over twenty pounds that contained a fish stone.

At the time, a businessman had offered him tens of thousands to buy it, but he hadn't sold it.

Aside from his personal fondness for it, the reason was the long-standing rumor in the fishing community

A fish stone of sufficient age possessed the power to ensure safety.

Lu Qing wasn't sure if fish stones could actually ensure safety in his past life.

But the fish stone inside this Green-Armored Fish was identified by his superpower as having the effect of soothing the soul and steadying the mind.

Coincidentally, ever since her parents passed away, Xiao Yan had never slept soundly at night, often waking up startled from dreams and needing him to hold her to fall back asleep.

If the fish stone of this Green-Armored Fish truly was that miraculous, it would be wonderful.

In his excitement, Lu Qing almost couldn't resist gutting the fish right then and there.

Fortunately, his reason held out, and he ultimately restrained himself.

"Brother, how are we going to take this big fish home? The bucket doesn't look big enough," Xiao Yan asked with some distress.

She had just measured it; the big fish was much taller than the wooden bucket they had brought, making it impossible to fit.

"It's fine. I'll braid a grass rope later and just carry it back on my back!" Lu Qing said confidently.

It was just a fish weighing ten or twenty pounds.

Now that the fish was caught, what was there to fear about carrying it back?

"I see. Then are we going to keep fishing?" Xiao Yan asked again.

This question stumped Lu Qing.

Based on his experience, after such a long struggle with this Green-Armored Fish, the fish had been chased through the entire area near the fishing spot.

Usually, at a time like this, the area would be "blown out"—even if there were other fish, they would have all fled.

But thinking of the blood apricots he had just picked, he hesitated.

According to the information from his superpower, blood apricots were favorites of certain "strange fish."

As a veteran fishing enthusiast, he was quite curious about these so-called "strange fish."

What exactly made them "strange" enough to be labeled as such by his superpower?

Even this Green-Armored Fish, which possessed a fish stone, hadn't been called "strange."

Just how strange were these "strange fish"?

After agonizing for a while, Lu Qing finally decided to fish a bit longer.

They were called strange fish, after all; what if they weren't afraid of the Green-Armored Fish and hadn't been scared away?

With that bit of hope, Lu Qing fetched a bucket of water, placed the Green-Armored Fish head-down so it was partially submerged, and sat back down at the fishing spot.

However, he had also made up his mind: he would only fish for a little while.

If no fish bit after a short while, he would go home; otherwise, the Green-Armored Fish wouldn't stay fresh for long.

Dead fish weren't as tasty as live ones.

Resetting his stance, Lu Qing this time hooked a blood apricot directly onto the hook.

Casting the hook into the water, he began to wait quietly.

Time passed minute by minute, and soon, half an hour had gone by.

The float didn't move at all, as if it were frozen in place.

"As I thought, the area is blown out. Even the strange fish can't avoid that," Lu Qing sighed.

The result didn't surprise him.

He had simply been clinging to a sliver of hope.

"Better head back."

Just as Lu Qing was about to pack up his rod and prepare to go home...

Suddenly, he saw the float plunge violently into the water!