“Fishing?” blurted one of the other nearby cultivators.
“That’s right. Fishing. With a hook and line! Magic isn’t allowed. Only ordinary fishing techniques!” The old man cleared his throat before continuing. “Dragonfish are intelligent, and if you are connected to one by destiny, it will allow you to hook it and even eat it.” Stroking his beard, the old man pointed to another location at the edge of the lotus leaf, where it was just possible to see someone seated in meditation, but with a fishing pole in his hand.
“Look, over there. That’s Preceptor Seadeep. He’s been fishing in that exact same spot for over a hundred years. He hasn’t changed fishing spots by even an inch. I guess it just goes to show that he isn’t connected by destiny to any of the dragonfish.” Most of the people in the crowd actually knew all of these things already, and were clearly very proud of them. Eventually, the visiting cultivator offered profound thanks, and the crowd dispersed.
Bai Xiaochun remained behind, peering down at the heavenly dragonfish, and occasionally looking at the demigod, who had been sitting there fishing for over a hundred years.
“This Saint-Emperor really is stuck up!” he thought, rubbing his chin.
Although the Saint-Emperor’s decree seemed like an expression of benevolence, the truth was that… it was close to impossible to hook a dragonfish. One would probably be lucky to catch one after fishing for a few decades.
After all, they were intelligent, and were used to eating precious materials of heaven and earth, making them almost like immortal creatures. According to the Saint-Emperor’s decree, anyone who was connected by destiny to a fish could eat it, except… that was not something that would happen for most ordinary cultivators. The more Bai Xiaochun thought about it, the more obvious it was. And likely, there were other powerful experts in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty who would realize that such matters of destiny made the prospect of catching a dragonfish basically impossible.
Few people could have the raw determination of Preceptor Seadeep.
Bai Xiaochun was already starting to feel a bit let down. He really wanted to eat some heavenly dragonfish, but it seemed like getting his hands on one would be too difficult.
After thinking about the matter for a while, he decided that it was possible he was thinking too deeply into the subject. Therefore, he went and bought some fishing gear and found a good place to try his hand at it. After several failures, he sighed and gave up.
“There’s no way you can hook one of those fish!” The fish in the water would simply pass by his line. Sometimes they would look up at him, and although he couldn’t be sure, he was fairly convinced that they were mocking him.
“How dare some fish make fun of me!!” he thought angrily, glaring down into the water as fiercely as he could. However, he soon shivered in defeat.
He usually won staring contests, but now… the mocking gazes of the heavenly dragonfish had him scowling on the verge of tears. Eventually he stomped away from the water’s edge.
“Complete and utter bullying!” he thought bitterly. However, he was out of options. Throwing his fishing pole down, he returned to his immortal's cave.
A few days later, an emissary came from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty to discuss the matter of Ghostmother with the Saint-Emperor. In the end, three prefectures were ceded to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty to get her back.
By the time Bai Xiaochun heard about it, the bone lizard battleship was flying off into the distance. He just barely made out Gongsun Wan’er on deck, toward whom he clasped hands and bowed, wishing her well after she got back to the Vile-Emperor Dynasty.
After all, the person returning to the Vile-Emperor was both Ghostmother and… not Ghostmother!
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Chapter
1060: Crazed Dragonfish
Everyone in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty was both proud and elated with how Ghostmother was traded away.
After all, the Vile-Emperor had given up three prefectures to seal the deal, prefectures which had belonged to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty to begin with, but had been lost over the years of minor conflict between the two dynasties.
To cultivators who were not in the know, it might seem like a major victory in the overarching conflict between the dynasties.
But the powerful and influential individuals in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, and of course the Saint-Emperor himself, knew that the three prefectures in question had been reduced to virtual wastelands over the course of the occupation.
To the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, they were now of little value or interest. But to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, anything was better than nothing. Furthermore, the Saint-Emperor knew that if he pushed things too far, the Vile-Emperor could very well just abandon Ghostmother and refuse to offer any concessions at all.
If that happened, then the onus would be cast on the Saint-Emperor Dynasty for being greedy, and would ensure that not even the Vile-Emperor would take blame from his subordinates.
After all factors were considered, an agreement was reached that appeased both sides, and prevented greater issues from arising.
None of it had much to do with Bai Xiaochun. In fact, neither side mentioned him at all during the negotiations. Although he had played a critical role within the entire affair, it was in the interests of both parties to just pretend as if he hadn’t.
Bai Xiaochun didn't care about that. At the moment, he was sitting in his blessed land, scowling on the verge of tears, a thousand thoughts running through his head as he contemplated the issue of the heavenly dragonfish.
In an attempt to stop thinking about them, he took some time to make inquiries regarding pill concocting in Saint-Emperor City. What he came to find was that the techniques used here were in the same vein as those in the Heavenspan Realm. However, there were also some major differences that made the concocting process very difficult. They were also very expensive to produce.
In terms of medicinal pills that were appropriate for demigods, not only were they rare, they were ridiculously overpriced.
Another problem was that Bai Xiaochun didn't exactly have a huge savings built up. Worse, although he had some medicinal plants, he had no pill formulas, and creating new formulas from scratch was a very gruelling and expensive process. Unless he could think of some ways to earn a lot of spirit stones, he would definitely go broke trying to rely on medicinal pills.
“The best way to save money would be to use heavenly dragonfish!” It was with bloodshot eyes that he stared in the direction of the heavenly pond, which seemed the only viable path to further his cultivation. Gritting his teeth, he said, “I'm not gonna just give in. Considering those fish dared to despise me, I'm definitely going to teach them a lesson!”
Grabbing his fishing pole, he hurried over to the edge of the lotus leaf. Picking a different area than last time, he spent a few days fishing, but in the end, sighed and gave up again.
The fish really were like immortal beings. No matter which fishing spot he picked, they would just swim right past his line, and would often gaze at him with contemptuous looks in their eyes.
Several days passed in which Bai Xiaochun was eyed disdainfully by thousands of individual fish. Eventually, his world began to grow dark. At the same time, people noticed what he was doing, and gossip began to spread.
“Duke Heavenspan is fishing?”
“Well he is a barbarian foreigner after all. Back when he was talking himself up at court, he really sounded like some amazing figure. But it turns out he’s just a moron who doesn’t understand the true meaning of the Saint-Emperor’s rule about the heavenly dragonfish. I’ll tell you what, if that guy manages to catch a fish, I’ll change my surname to match his!”