“Heavenly dragonfish?” Bai Xiaochun had been curious about the nature of the visit, so when Chen Su brought up the heavenly dragonfish, he was a bit taken aback.
“Yes, the heavenly dragonfish,” Chen Su replied warmly. “If you’d be willing to part with it, Fellow Daoist Bai, I’d love to take it in trade.” Chen Su, despite being a celestial, actually had no heavenly dragonfish. After all, they were considered the personal property of the Saint-Emperor, and were rarely given out as rewards. In fact, throughout all history, only a few hundred had ever been distributed.
Each one was considered beyond priceless, and they were commonly referred to as national treasures, which was no exaggeration. In the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, people would pay astronomical prices to acquire even one. One of the main reasons for that was that their blood could be used as an immortal ingredient to concoct immortal pills.
Chen Su was convinced that his proposal would not be rejected. Bai Xiaochun was a newcomer to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, and wouldn't want to offend a celestial over a fish.
Bai Xiaochun hesitated for a moment, then said, “Uh… sorry, Fellow Daoist Chen, you’re a bit late. I ate it already.”
When Chen Su heard Bai Xiaochun’s response, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull.
“Did you just say… you ate it?”
Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times and then nodded. “Yep. Ate it.”
As far as Chen Su was concerned, Bai Xiaochun was obviously making up excuses. Voice cold, he said, “Come on, Fellow Daoist Bai. Don’t treat me like I’m three years old or something. If you don’t wish to part with it, just say so directly. Heavenly dragonfish are national treasures, and precious beyond imagination. Nobody who acquired one would ever possibly eat it! The best thing to do is keep it in a pond and extract its blood occasionally!”
With that, he flicked his sleeve as if to leave.
At this point, Bai Xiaochun sighed and gave the Giant Ghost King a look. The Giant Ghost King, despite not really wanting to, produced some fish bones from his bag of holding.
“See these fishbones, Fellow Daoist Chen….”
When Chen Su looked back and saw the bones, his eyes went wide. When he opened his mouth to speak....
“……..”
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Chapter
1059: Intolerable Bullying
The fish bones, and the aura of a heavenly dragonfish coming from them, caused Chen Su’s heart to seize, and his mind to spin.
As a celestial in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, he had seen heavenly dragonfish given out as rewards before. Whenever it happened, the recipients would keep them in ponds and take good care of them.
This was his first time hearing of someone doing something so shocking as eating a national treasure….
In fact, he almost couldn’t process it mentally. After staring blankly at the fish bones for a moment, he shook his head and sighed.
“What a reckless waste!” Unsure of exactly how he felt, he slowly left the blessed land.
After he was gone, Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King looked at each other in shock.
“It’s just a fish, right?” the Giant Ghost King said. “These Saint-Emperor Dynasty people are real weirdos.” The truth was that he was actually feeling a bit guilty at having gathered incomplete information the night before. Clearing his throat, he looked up into the evening sky.
“Well, Xiaochun, it’s actually a long way to Godsifter Prefecture. I really need to get going. Who knows when we’ll meet again.” He sighed. The two of them had accomplished a lot since their initial reunion in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, and as he thought back, he realized that there had been many twists and turns in their journey.
The upside was that he now had a firm foundation, and his own path to tread.
Bai Xiaochun was feeling a bit emotional as well as he escorted the Giant Ghost King all the way to the teleportation portal. After the Giant Ghost King faded away, Bai Xiaochun sighed, and then turned to head back to his blessed land.
“With the Giant Ghost King gone, I'm all alone now. I guess it's time to start working hard on my cultivation base breakthrough.” A glint of determination could be seen in his eyes as he proceeded along. There were other pedestrians, mostly cultivators, although the occasional mortal could also be seen. And yet, even the mortals seemed to have arrogance baked into them all the way down to their bones.
Everyone in the capital city seemed to have a very high impression of themselves, and the truth was that Bai Xiaochun didn’t mind that. As he walked along, he looked around at the buildings, and thought about how Saint-Emperor City rested on enormous lotus leaves. It all made him sigh.
“And to think that it’s all built on top of a huge mountain and a heavenly pond.” At one point, his path took him toward the very edge of the lotus leaf, where he took the opportunity to look over at the water below.
Heavenly dragonfish swam there, and would occasionally leap up out of the water, their golden scales glistening in the sunlight and making them look particularly beautiful.
Quite a few people were in the area. Although the locals were used to heavenly dragonfish, they were still such an amazing sight that people would come to scenic spots like this to look at them. And of course, passing visitors would always come to do the same thing.
“These are the national treasures of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, heavenly dragonfish!”
“These heavenly dragonfish are the most beautiful spirit creatures I've ever seen in my entire life! If the Saint-Emperor gave one to me as a gift, I would take care of it in my home forever. What an honor to my ancestors that would be!”
Many such expressions of praise could be heard. However, as Bai Xiaochun stood there in the crowd, he was thinking something very different. His mind was occupied with thoughts of how delicious the heavenly dragonfish were, and how beneficial they were to his cultivation base.
He couldn’t help but lick his lips. Considering the level of his cultivation base, it was easy for him to get a general idea of how many fish there were in the heavenly pond, and there were a lot. Even as he pondered if it might be possible to catch one, a visiting cultivator in the crowd turned to a friend and asked, “Considering that the heavenly dragonfish are precious national treasures, what would happen if one of them went missing…?”
When Bai Xiaochun heard that, his eyes glittered.
“Missing?” Laughter rippled through the crowd, causing the cultivator who had asked the question to flush in embarrassment.
Standing nearby was an old man with a Nascent Soul cultivation base, a person who had clearly lived in Saint-Emperor City for many years. Looking naturally pompous, he provided an answer.
“All of the heavenly dragonfish here are the personal property of His Majesty the Saint-Emperor. They're all branded with his mark. Who would possibly dare to try to steal one?! It would never happen, trust me. If someone did steal a fish, they would meet a horrific and grisly fate! In fact, forget stealing. It’s forbidden to do anything that would even come close to harming a heavenly dragonfish!” In response to the old man’s explanation, the visiting cultivator nodded vigorously.
As for Bai Xiaochun, he frowned, slightly frustrated by what he was hearing.
When the old man realized that he was now the center of attention, he proudly continued, “Of course, His Majesty the Saint-Emperor is generous and benevolent, and is not the type to become overly attached to his personal property. Furthermore, he pays close attention to matters regarding destiny. Therefore, he made a proclamation long ago stating that, in addition to acquiring heavenly dragonfish as a personal gift from him, anyone can take them as long as they do so by fishing!”