Chapter 40: Grilling on the Palm
The next day, Li Fuchen reeled in a 20+ kilo normal treasure fish.
Then the day after that, another 10+ kilo first tier treasure fish.
His astonishing fishing ‘luck’ made the stalwart youth’s group stare in amazement. But it too sparked the greedy hearts of many.
If they could take Li Fuchen’s harvest for themselves, they could at least use the contribution points to last for the next few months.
“Fish more, fish like mad! Anyway, when it is time, they will be all mine.” A terrifying glow flashed in the eyes of the stalwart youth.
In just half a month, Li Fuchen fished a total of 4 first tier fishes and 10 normal fishes.
At this juncture, 20 of the 50 boxes of fish bait was used.
As to why it was used up so quickly, was because once the bait was left in the water for a period of time, its effectiveness faded and so a constant change of bait was required.
Other than that, some of the sly fishes stealthily nimble at the bait and did not show any signs of it.
***
Night time…
Li Fuchen knelt in the middle of the hut.
With the sixth rank Red Jade Technique revolving, a pale red glow could be sighted on Li Fuchen’s abdomen. At the same time, a blazing qi rushed up to the top of Li Fuchen’s head, exuding an white hot mist.
Half a month of cultivation brought Li Fuchen’s sixth rank Red Jade Technique to its peak state and with a a final push, it would breakthrough to the seventh rank.
As time passed quickly, the white mist on Li Fuchen’s crown became denser. In the midst of it, spots of pale red could be seen, as if sparks igniting a fire.
As the pale red mist gradually increased, the temperature within the room rose sharply. It was as if a furnace was floating atop Li Fuchen’s head.
As time continued to speed past, the mist above Li Fuchen’s head had turned completely pale red. A sudden puff of qi exploded from within Li Fuchen, and for a single second, it felt like the dawn of a demon god. Red Jade Technique, seventh rank, attained.
Boom!
Tightly clenching his fist, Li Fuchen threw out a punch.
Visible to the human eye, the air within the hut distorted for a moment. The punch was fiery and too domineering, causing a twisting mirage at the space in front of where the punch hit.
“An extra 9 meridians unblocked, the qi is now even more intense and conflagrant when I circulate it.”
With more meridians during cultivation, the power during qi circulation gets stronger. Legends foretold that Heaven class techniques could unlock the entire body’s meridian and acupoints. With the revolution of qi, the explosiveness is enough to wreck the heaven and earth.
But this topic was too early for Li Fuchen. Don’t even talk about Heaven class techniques, Earth class techniques were already all a sect’s ultimate secret technique that established the sect and aren’t easily imparted.
“I wonder how hot the temperature is?”
Li Fuchen scooped out a 1 kg Silver Steel Fish from the pond, cut opened the fish and cleared out its intestines. He seasoned the fish and spreaded his palm wide open. With the Red Jade qi gushing out from his palm, he started to grill the Silver Steel Fish.
Sizzle sizzle…
The skin of the Silver Steel Fish began to char, a rich fragrance of grilled fish could be smelled.
“As expected from the seventh rank Red Jade Technique.” Li Fuchen was very satisfied.
The sixth rank Red Jade Technique had a good enough temperature to grill fishes too. But a treasure fish was still worthy if its name, its flesh contains mysterious powers and had a high density.
A slightly pale red qi can be seen emitted from the palm of Li Fuchen, as it enveloped the Silver Steel Fish.
Manifestation of Qi. It was something only an Origin Realm expert can do.
With qi manifesting on the palm or on the blade, it could drastically increase the lethality of the attack. Qi manifesting on the skin could help increase one’s defenses.
With the breakthrough to the seventh rank in the Red Jade Technique, Li Fuchen actually succeeded in manifesting qi. Li Fuchen who is only at the sixth level of the Qi Realm is still quite a way from the Origin Realm.
But the way Li Fuchen manifested qi is very much different from an Origin Realm expert.
Origin Realm experts could manifest qi at anytime, but Li Fuchen required a long time to gather the qi before manifesting it.
Not being able to instantly manifest qi, would mean it was useless in battle. As opponents would not be still targets and wait for a beating.
“I wonder what sight it would be once the Scarlet Fire Technique reaches the ninth rank.”
The Scarlet Fire Technique was even more intense than the Red Jade Technique. With the Scarlet Fire Technique at the sixth rank, it was already on par with the seventh rank Red Jade Technique. What power would it display once it attained seventh, eighth or ninth rank?
With the Silver Steel Fish grilled, Li Fuchen took a bite, the flavour wasn’t bad.
But it wasn’t over yet… As the flesh entered his stomach, Li Fuchen felt a rush of warmth dispersed, nourishing and tempering his body.
The flesh of the treasure fish was similar to a body tempering pill. It strengthened the body, increased physical strength, but just that its effect was a few times weaker than a body tempering pill.
Which is why the price of a body tempering pill is 500 gold and the Silver Steel Fish is only worth tens of gold. Li Fuchen roughly knew the price of a Silver Steel Fish as he once saw merchants buying them.
Perhaps with the Red Jade Technique at rank seven, two days later, Li Fuchen successfully cultivate the Scarlet Fire Technique to the fourth rank.
With the circulation of qi, the immense heat dissipated. Li Fuchen felt if he could bring the Scarlet Fire Technique to ninth rank, even with his Qi Realm being at the sixth level, he could manifest qi on his palm at any time, increasing his lethal strength.
“This fellow junior, may I know what your family and given name is?”
Just as Li Fuchen pushed opened the doors and planned to resume fishing, a smiling young man who looked to be 16 or 17 years of age, stood in his path.
Li Fuchen had a slight frown on his brows, ‘He who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come.’ Truthfully, he did not want to invite any trouble with veteran outer sect disciples yet, as he did not have any certainty he could go against them.
“Li Fuchen.” Li Fuchen calmly replied.
“Junior Li my name is Huang Shitian, and I would like to strike a bargain with you.”
“What bargain?”
“This half a month, Junior Li has hooked up many treasure fishes. I as a senior would like to buy off all your normal treasure fishes for 1 gold per kilo and 10 gold per kilo for all the first tier fishes. I wonder what you think?”
“Senior Huang, even though Fuchen is still new, I am not completely ignorant. From what I know, normal treasure fishes go for the price of 20 gold per kilo and first tier fishes go for 200 gold per kilo.”
Huang Shitian chuckled, “Senior’s price may have been a low, but at least Junior Li wouldn’t have worked so hard for nothing. Junior Li, you understand what I am getting at right?”
Li Fuchen possessed nearly a hundred kilos of normal fish and dozens of kilos of first tier fishes. Even at 1 gold per kilo for a normal fish and 10 gold per kilo for first tier fishes, it would still Huang Shitian a few hundred gold.
If the prices were 20 times higher, that would be around 10,000 gold. He didn’t have so much gold, but even if he did have the gold, he wouldn’t spend so much to buy them as it wasn’t worth it and wasn’t unnecessary.
Li Fuchen lifted his head, “Senior Huang… And if I were to not sell?”
Huang Shitian, “I hope Junior considers carefully before making a decision; not ruining our fellow discipleship ties. Some statements come with grave consequences.”
Huang Shitian didn’t believe that he couldn’t manage the newcomer.
